January 3, 2025 • 46 mins
John Schmeelk and Tony Pauline discuss the recent declarations for the NFL Draft, review the second round of the College Football Playoff, and preview next week’s games.
:00 - Declarations for NFL Draft
4:04 - Bowl games
17:46 - Penn State vs Boise State
23:13 - Notre Dame vs Georgia
28:23 - Texas vs Arizona State
33:30 - Ohio State vs Oregon
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's now officially open. Welcome to another edition of Draft Season.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I am John Schmelk, joined as always by Tony Pauline.
He writes for sports Kita. The Draft Season is brought
to you by Moody's. Moodies is a proud partner of
the New York Giants, DCO, Risk, Unlock Opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Learn more at Moody's dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
All right, Tony, you for a lot of college football
plays since we last spoke last week. Thank you for
being with us, By the way, on a special Friday edition, folks,
we wanted to wait until we got all the second
round of the college football playoffs in the bags. I
guess he's the quarterfinals, right, so we could talk about
all those games and some of the other bowl games
as well. We'll leave the College FOOTBA playoffs for last
(00:46):
programming note. We hope to record next Monday and have
Eric Galco from the Shrine game on record that late
Monday after and hopefully that'll be up sometime on Tuesday
or Wednesday. So and then we're gonna look ahead to
the next round of College FOOTBA playoffs, and the following show
will react to the games next Thursday and Friday, they
will probably record that on the following Monday. So a
lot going on the college football playoffs, Tony. We're gonna
(01:10):
be talking about these games up until a week before
we leave for you know, First Go.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I'm trying to get my flights set up.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
First day of practice, by the way I've looked at
up I talked to mister Galco will be that Saturday
in Firstco, Texas, So I hope to get there on
that Friday and then write the Senior Ball so there
will be no shortage of things going on over the
next few.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Weeks, which is good. I mean, it's never boring. And
then you are from the Shrine the Senior prepare for
the Combine right in the pro days, and before you
know it, the draft will be here. So I mean,
I don't really like the playoffs being dragged until the
end of January. Kind of sets up problems as far
as which underclassmen are going to enter the draft, sets
(01:53):
up problems as far as combine in predictations are concerned.
You know, even the Shrine and the Senior Ball may
miss out on a few guys because that game is
so late, but it keeps us on our toes.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yes, it does, and so why don't we start there, Tony,
This wasn't even in your list of games, but since
you brought it up and we did have an announcement,
I believe it was yesterday on Thursday from this player
in the very very legendary RelA Quest Bowl. Michigan defeated
Alabama in that game nineteen to thirteen. And the reason
I want to bring the game up is that in
(02:25):
that game, Jalen Milroe is sixteen of thirty two one
hundred and ninety two yards a touchdown interception. Obviously, Alabama's
offense had trouble getting going over the course of that game.
But he did announce that he's declaring for the NFL Draft.
He's heading in coming off a not so great game.
What do you see as the prospects for him? We
talk in late first round, early second round. Can he
(02:47):
move up to the middle of the first round. What
do you think it's gonna look like for Jalen Milroe
once we get through kind of this draft process for him, Well, I.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Think it's gonna be first round. Remember we had Jim
Nagion and Jim talked about Jalen Milroe going to the
Senior bawl. So let's see if that comes to fruition.
I think it would be important for Jalen Milroe to
go to the Senior Bowl and have three good days
of practice. Anybody who's watched this program knows. I mean,
I'm a guy who has been on the Jalen Milroe
(03:16):
bandwagon since last year. I love his upside, but I
am concerned about his inconsistency. And that's what he showed.
I mean, he started the season hot. You can't forget
that Georgia game, how great he was in the first half,
quiet beginning of the second half, and then that seventy
five yeard bomb to win the game. And you know,
as we've talked about the past couple of weeks, he's
(03:37):
beaten teams more with his legs than with his arm.
So I think from a physical standpoint, no one comes
close to Jaylen Minroe. When you look at the running skills,
when you look at the arm strength, when you look
at the whole physical package, the consistency is a concern.
But I think he's shown enough good things. And remember
when scouts look at a player, they look at what
can he do? And really, from a physical good point
(04:00):
of view, and he doesn't make bad decisions either. Jalen
Milroll can do at all. I don't think he gets
out of the top twenty. I think if he goes
to the senior ball and has three good days of practice,
he could go even earlier.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, Wolf, Dwayne, and see how that goes for him.
Is you're right he didn't get into one of those
All Star games. And I was gonna ask you about that.
I think that could really help him. All right, Let's
go to the other couple top quarterbacks, Tony in the
bowl games they played in.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Let's go to the Alamo Bowl.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Colorado just gets obliterated by BYU in that game, thirty
six to fourteen. The game didn't even fuel that close
when you watched it, and Genor Sanders, you look at
his numbers, sixteen to twenty three, two hundred and eight
yard looks efficient, two touchdowns, the two picks you don't like.
But if you watch that game, he really struggled to
get anything going and just a couple big Travis Hunter
(04:48):
plays is what saved that stat line.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
And that was it.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
It was those two big plays by Travis Hunter. I mean,
first of all, was a strange game. The Alam mobow
was two Big Twelve teams playing against each other, and
when does that happen? And I think from a EYU perspective,
you know, they were kind of sick of the fact
that they felt they were a better team. They had
a better season than Colorado, who sucked the air out
of everybody. I mean, they were on every week and
Byu was basically undefeated until late in the season they
(05:13):
lost the Kansas and they lost another game which knocked
him out of the College Football Playoff, the Big Twelve
title contention. So I think this is a bit of
a vendetta game. They had more going into it wanted
to win than Colorado and Shador Sanders, who were just basically,
you know, finishing out the season. And you mentioned Byu'
is not that great of a defense that to shut
(05:34):
him down like that. But I think it was more
a situation with Sanders may never admit it. Let's just
finish out the season, let's get on with the you know,
the next portion of my NFL career.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, and the pass protection wasn't good again, he did
not do a great job navigating that, which is going
to be a as we talk about these quarterbacks for
the next few months. That's going to be a big,
big topic of the conversation in terms of how you
judge Shadoor based on the fact he played behind it
very shaky offensive line, and whether or not he helped
that situation or exacerbated that situation with the way he plays.
(06:06):
Cam Ward, on the other hand, Tony, he had quite
a nice swan song for Miami, plays only the first
half of that game, and a lot of people have
made a big deal about him coming out and not
playing in the second half. I think we've gone to
the point now in these games. This is something Elake
Neighbors did last year where we're not really worrying about
guys opting out of these Bowl games. You tell me
if you've gotten different feedback. But I thought cam Ward
(06:28):
was phenomenal again in the first half of that game.
Accurate in your notes, I agree, really good touch, good vision,
found the open player, accurate, showed some ability to scramble
and run a bit in that game. He's very slippery
in the pocket. I thought cam Ward, unlike Milrow and Sanders,
really went out on his college career on a very
high note.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Well, I mean, and that's been the story all season right.
I mean, you know, no one expected anything great from
cam Ward and he delivered week after week after week.
Where Shador Sanders, Jalen Milroe, Quin Viewers, Drew Allen, They've
all been disappointing. They've had their moments, but they've all
been disappointing. It's been one guy, cam Ward that has
carried the torch at the quarterback position this season. And
(07:08):
you know, people were upsetting it played the second half.
It would have made a great story if he played
the second half and pulled Miami to a victory, but
evidently this was decided before the game. Like you said,
the touch of ability to throw a catchable pass, the
way he sees the field, the poise is just incredible.
They're just gonna have to coach some of the things
(07:30):
such as holding the ball too long out of him,
trying to improvise and be too cute and do too
much out of him, or play from the pocket. He
can play from the pocket. But listen all the signs
appointing north from cam Ward. He is delivered week after
week after week. I mean, he is this year's version
of Jaden Daniels in the sense that a guy who
comes into the season viewed as a Day three, fifth
(07:53):
round pick by scouts, and now he's going to be
a top three or four selection.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, I'm gonna look, it's I haven't watched all the tape.
I'm gonna watch Tony, but it's gonna take a lot,
I think for me to have Wards slide out of
that top overall quarterback spot with what we've seen this
year and combine the physical package with that. Right, like
you talked about, you're not drafting a quarterback based on
production production. You're drafting him based on what they can be.
(08:19):
And while he doesn't have an eight plus arm, he
doesn't have an eight plus athleticism, mobility, he is like
a B plus at all those categories, all right, Right,
his lack of arm strength doesn't hold you back.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
He's mobile enough.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
His arm angles and stuff like that give him a
lot of arm talent. Even if it's not just arm
power and arm strength, you know, it's besides some of
the decision making and the big mistakes in spots where
he turns it over and things like that.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
It's hard to poke a ton of holes in his game.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
And it's not that he has a weak arm. His
arm is strong enough to play in the NFL. His
arm is strong enough for a vertical game, and people
will pick things. You know, the physical package is not
Jalen Milrose, but he's much more complete. He's much more
of a passer, and he's sure's heck, is much more
consistent than Jaln Milroe's been.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, no question. All right.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Let's go to the next game here, and that was
the Pop Tarts Bawl, by the way, which is like
the most American experience ever.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Watching that game, they lean into the campiness. I just
love it.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
It's fantastic. Let's go over to the Pinchtripe Bowl, Tony.
What were some of the guys that jumped out of
you in that game for Nebraska?
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Okay, I mean you look in Nebraska, we talk We're
going to talk about a couple of tight ends. Now.
Thomas Faedon five receptions for fifty yards. He's the guy.
He hasn't announced for the draft yet. I'm surprised because
Matt Ruhle has told people, as told Fiddon himself either
transfer or into the draft because he's so good and
(09:40):
he really doesn't fit what Nebraska wants to do on offense.
They really don't use the tight end, but you see him,
he easily moves around the field. He's a terrific pass catcher.
He doesn't get a lot of targets, but when he does,
he looks very natural catching the ball. So keep an
eye on for Don if he enters the draft. As
of last night, I had not seen that he did.
I don't know if he's still going through the process.
(10:02):
He's going to be a Day three pick. Maybe somebody
takes a chance on late and Day two. I doubt it,
but he's got a lot of upside. And then again,
my guy Ty Robinson talked about him throughout the season,
talked about him with Jim Naggy here when he was
out about the Senior Bowl. Four tackles, one and a
half tackles for the loss, one sack, broke up of pass.
I mean, this is a guy that gets no love.
(10:23):
He's going to be a Day two pick. I doubt
he gets out of the late part of round three,
and he's going to be an exceptional player on Sunday,
out a variety of spots. They line him up on
the inside, they line him up on the outside, they
put him at nose tackle, and all the guy does
is penetrate Blana scrimmage and cos Mayhem for the opponent.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
All right, let me put us in reverse a little bit, Tony.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I forgot to mention Damian Martinez in that Pop Tarts
Bowl for Miami. I should have. We been waiting for
him to kind of have that blow up game all
year where he plays really well.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
He had it.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Fourteen carries, one hundred to seventy nine yards in a touchdown,
and he's making the case to be a Day two back.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I absolutely agree, and I think he's one of the
most underrated back because he doesn't have the great name,
he does have the great production. Transferred to Miami from
an Oregon State. Had a better season at Oregon State
last year because when he went to Miami, Miami had
some younger backs, so he's used them more as a
rotational back rather than as the feature ball carrier. But
(11:17):
this is one of those and we're gonna talk a
lot about these guys, these bigger backs who are more
than just road graders. They're very quick, they can create yarders,
they can make defenders miss, they can bounce it around
the corner. They've got tremendous burst of speed. That's what
Damian Martinez is I agree with you. I see a
lot of people say, you know, fourth and fifth round,
somebody's gonna grab Martinez in the third round and they're
(11:39):
gonna get one of the steals of the draft. Because
number one, he is incredibly skilled, he's got great size
and speed, and he's not coming off a year where
he carried the ball a tremendous amount of times. Is
not a lot of there's still a lot of tread
on the tire. It really isn't worn down after this season.
But again, like you said, fourteen carrigs one hundred and
seventy hour yards tells you about his breakaway ability and
(12:01):
one touchdown.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, he had that big run earlier in that game
where he broke away and nobody really was able to
catch him. So night's game there by, Damian Martinez, Right,
let's go to these sixty eight ventures bowl Tony Arkansas
State defeating Bowling Green in that game thirty eight to
thirty one. But there was a bowling another tight end
from Bowling Green this time that drew your attention.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Well, he's draw on everybody's Harold Fatty. He's been one
of the best tight ends in the nation. Has some
incredible production for all pass catchers, receivers or tight ends
seventeen receptions, two hundred and thirteen yards. One TD just
announced last night that he's going to enter the draft
and announced what is today Friday, so an now Thursday night,
get my days mixed up here now Thursday night, that
(12:44):
he will be entering the draft. He's been a pass
catching machine for Bowling Green. Go back to the Penn
State game early in the year when Bowling Green hanged
hung tough with Penn State in the early part of
the game. You know, he was their offense. Penn State
knew the ball was going to be thrown to him
and he couldn't stop him. He had six or seven
catches in that game. I think his testing is going
(13:04):
to going to be very important because as good of
a pass catcher he is, he doesn't play like a
real top athlete. So I think it's one of these
situations where people are projecting him as a third round prospect,
but I think he's more could be more of a
Day three athlete, and that's maybe where he ends up.
Still quality player and he is in the draft now Tony.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I have not watched him yet, so I'm gonna throw
a name out there and you tell me if this
is on or off base. The way you're describing him
reminds me a lot of Trey McBride when he came
out of Colorado State where he's very productive, great pass catcher,
but didn't test out the ballpark and I think he
ended up be in what a late second round pick
McBride if I remember right.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
I think McBride's actually gonna I agree with I understand
what you're saying. McBride's a little bit faster. Ok, we'll
have to wait and see. We'll have to wait and see.
You know how Fatnon runs, But that is gonna be
the m on him. I think McBride is more. It's
also a little bit shorter. Fan is a little bit taller.
Mcgride was more of a tight end, h back, if
you will, kind of player. I think Fan is more
(14:05):
your traditional pass catching tight end who doesn't do a
bad job blocking. They just he's just the main cog
in that offense. Had more than one hundred receptions last year,
this year, this last past season at the Bowl in Green.
So why as in the block.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Of course, all right, we're gonna wrap up our tight
end portion of the episode. Apparently with the Birmingham Bowl
Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt finishing a strong season, they
win thirty five to twenty seven. Their quarterback is coming back,
by the way, I think for like his eighteen season.
I think he's about thirty five years old. He'll be
quarterbacking again for Vanderbilt next year. And then their tight end,
Eli Stowers we've talked about here before. Tony another good game,
(14:42):
four catches, fifty five yards in a touchdown. But there
still seems to be some question as to whether or
not he's gonna come out right here.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
You go, you beat me to it. You know, he's
listed or he was listed as a Shrine Bowl participant.
I'm told that the school has offered him an nil
deal worth about a million dollars to come back and
play next year. Now with the quarterback coming back and
the fact that they got Jerry Kill's guy I mentioned before,
Jerry Kill, outstanding coach at Minnesota, has had some medical problems,
(15:11):
went to New Mexico State, turned that program around, then
went and is a consultant Vanderbilt, and he brought a
lot of players from New New Mexico State with him
to Vanderbilt, Eli Stouers being one of them, and you know,
I think Stours is, well, do I go into the draft,
maybe I'm a third at latest fourth round pick and
then you know, you start my NFL career, or do
(15:33):
I stay at Vanderbilt one more year and collect a
million dollar paycheck to play play college football? Regardless, he
is your outstanding move tight end prospect. You know, he's
a lot like for Don in the sense that he
moves well around the field. He looks, if you will,
like a big receiver at the tight end position, but
(15:53):
he's like two one hundred and thirty five to two
hundred and forty pounds. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
I mean they're offering you a million dollars and you're
going to be possibly a Day three.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
It's hard to say no to that.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And I would say go join another year Vanderbilt, have
fun do in Nashville.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
That'd be a good time for you.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
All right, let's go over to the holiday boll Tony
Syracuse in Washington State, and it's funny. All we talked
about last year is how Kyle McCord was holding back
to the Ohio State Buckeyes. Right He shows up at
Syracuse this year and has a monster year, almost five
thousand yards passing, thirty four touchdowns, twelve picks. In this
game against Washington State, Syracuse puts up fifty two points
(16:27):
at Yankee Stadium. Right, sorry, I wasn't the Pitchtrip Bowl.
And in the Holiday Bowl twenty four to thirty four,
four hundred and fifty three yards and five touchdowns Kyle McCord.
And I was listening to Dame Bruwer the other day. He said,
there are NFL teams that really like Kyle McCord. Just
he's talking about a turnaround for what he did for
Ohio State last year.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
I mean last year in Ohio State, he was the
guy that would not move his head off the primary target.
He was staring down receivers, he was giving away his targets.
Wasn't targeting Marvin Harrison enough. Now he goes new coaching staff,
is able to do different things. The touchdown to interception
ratio thirty four tds to twelve interceptions is Bobison. But
(17:08):
remember he threw five picks against Pittsburgh and a bad,
bad Syracuse loss, then rebound incredibly well. So he's got
the terrific physical skills. He's got an NFL arm. He
can make all the passes. The numbers at Syracuse bear
out that he can air it out. He's done a
better job moving his head around and going through progressions
(17:31):
this year and spreading the ball around that he did
last year at Ohio State. So he's a guy who's
on the Shrine Bowl roster. So really, the arrow is
pointing up for Kyle mccordin. Here's a guy coming into
the season. You thought, based off of the way he
played at Ohio State in twenty twenty three, maybe a
seventh round pick. He's absolutely moved into the middle rounds
(17:51):
of the drafts.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah, look for him, and he'll be a guy we're
keeping an eye on down at the Shrine Bowl for sure.
All right, Tony, Let's get to the college football playoffs here, Yes,
the Bowl Penn State, Boise State. Penn State kind of
controls this game from start to finish. I knew got
a lot of Penn State guys listed here. Let's start
with the Boise State players. However, I don't want to
start with Aston genty. You do not have him on
your list, but I think we should mention him. Had
(18:14):
one hundred and four rushing yards with thirty carries. He
had two fumbles in the game as well, and while
the production wasn't as gaudy as it has been all year,
Penn State clearly was going to do everything they can
to stop the running this game, and I think he
made the most out of what was there in the
run game.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Hit and miss. But you know, they would put eight
men in the box. They dared Boise State to beat them,
the quarterback to beat them through the air, and he
couldn't because the quarterbacks all over the place with the ball.
So I mean, I think it was kind of a
bit of a downer. I would have liked to see
him get the record, but he felt like with forty
five yards short. I thought those two fumbles actually hurt
(18:51):
Boise States fishally since one one was early in the game.
But you knew this coming into the game. You knew
that Penn State, who has a good defense, got a
good defensive front seven and some good run stuffers, was
gonna load the box and basically make Ashton genty beat them.
And despite the fact that I thought the Penn State
offense did everything they could, the Keith Boise State in
(19:12):
the game he could They couldn't. I mean, it was
just too much. He would have a couple of really
big runs, you know, we're eight twelve, fifteen yards, and
then he had a lot of two and three yard runs.
All it was kind of it was that sort of
a wide spectrum, but you knew that going in.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Yeah, absolutely, all right, and then you want to talk
about one of the Boise State defenders that we I
think we mentioned them in last week. Yeah, yeah, you know,
we talked about how this could be a big game
for him and he ended up taking advantage of the situation.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yeah, Ahman Hassani and six tackles. One sacked three tackles
for the loss. Beat Tyler Warren badly in the early
in the first half for a TfL when Boise State
was still in the game. Junior, I don't think he's
gonna come out more of a form man front defensive
end pass rusher, but a guy that's been really I'd
(20:04):
like him up the twenty twenty three film, and I
think he's shown some progress in his game throughout the year.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
All right, let's go to Penn State and Drew Aller
three touchdowns. You like that, twelve of twenty five, one
hundred and seventy one yards nothing, you know, overwhelming, And
while he has said he intends to go back to school,
there are some shatter that that he could change his
mind if he plays well enough in these final couple games.
And you know he thinks he's going to be a
first round pick a quarterback. Have you seen enough from
(20:32):
him to make teams want to move him up the boards?
Here and get into what would I would for you
at least be Jalen Milroe territory top twenty, top fifteen
type of pick here?
Speaker 1 (20:41):
What did you think of alex performance? And what are
you hearing.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
About whether or not he might change his mind and
end up going into the draft.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Well, the first question is no, I mean I could
he go first round? Could he go late first round? Yeah,
he's got the physical skills, He's got a great deep arm,
he makes some incredible passes at times. He had that
sensational true freshman season, so you know he can do it.
But like Jaylen Milrow and like a lot of the
other quarterbacks in this class, there's been a lot of inconsistency.
(21:09):
There hasn't really been a time the past year where
Juwel lar has put the Penn State offense on his
back and carried it, you know it through a big game.
Even here, we're going to talk about Kaye Tron Allen
and that was the you know, the straw that started
to drink in this game for the Penn State offense.
Is he going to answer? Could he change his mind? Listen?
(21:32):
A month ago I wrote an article on sports Gater
that people at Penn State were telling me he was
going to enter the draft. So why was cond of
shocked when he made the announcement as early as he
did that he was going back to Penn State. So
that idea that he was going to enter the draft
has been out there for the longest time. I haven't
heard about what he's going to do as far as
(21:53):
next level. Could he change his mind? I think he's
more focused on the college football players, and why not
because it looks like Penn State's going to be playing
for a national title. But it wouldn't surprise me based
on what I wrote back in early November that people
in the Penn State program were telling me that he
was going to enter the draft.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, so we'll have to see what he ends up doing. Otherwise,
for Penn State. What'd you see that impressed you?
Speaker 3 (22:19):
I mean Kate tron Allen seventeen rushes one hundred and
thirty four yards. He's not fast, but he's big, he's powerful.
Go back to Damian Martinez. You know we're going to
talk about Camp Scatterborough in a little while. I mean,
these bigger backs are sort of now more in vogue
because they're not just put your head down and run
(22:40):
in the middle of the pile and push the pile.
They can create their quick They've got good speed, and
I think k tron Allen fits that mold, which is
why he's a middle round pick. I think defensively, when
you looked at Penn State, Danny, Dennis Sutton, who I
mentioned a week ago against SMU, Kobe King, the middle linebackers.
(23:02):
You Onlee read the safety. You know we talked about
shutting down Ashton Genty. Those three guys had good games
and they were part and parcel or main factor and
shutting down Ashton Genty and Dennis Sutton continues to show
himself to be a real good pass rusher right now.
I think all these guys are Day three prospects, but
they are legitimate NFL talent.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
The other game in that bracket, the Sugar Bowl Georgia
and Notre Dame.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
That game got delayed. One of the reasons why we
waited till Friday. The record this week because of the
terrorist attack down there in New Orleans. Just terrible.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
It was played at four o'clock on Thursday afternoon, and
this was exactly the type of game I think we
thought it was gonna be. You know, Carson Beck, we
talked about that. He's just done the girl elbow surgery.
Tony with his UCL so who knows when he's gonna
be able to throw football again.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
We could talk about that if you want to.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
But Riley Leonard just ninety passing yards in the game,
eighty rushing yards, but just a series of events from
the very end of the second quarter to the start
of the third quarter with a takeaway, a field goal,
a touchdown, and then a kick return for a touchdown
kind of swung.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
The game to Notre Dame.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
And early Trevor at and fumble deep in Notre Dame
territory was big for Georgia, and Notre Dame ends up
controlling the game. They beat Georgia twenty three to ten.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
I didn't think the game was gonna turn out like that.
I mean I thought going into it, you know, with
with Notre Dame losing Riley Mills and you know that
you looked at that Georgia defense against the Notre Dame offense,
I didn't think really Notre Dame had much of a chance.
But it was a David against Goliath.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
And well, I said Tony, I just made it kind
of like the amount of points scored.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
I didn't expect it to be some super high scoring game.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
I understanding. Yeah, but I think from a scouting point
of view, you can take more out of it from
what Georgia didn't do versus what Notre Game did. I
mean Notrere game players. They were solid. Some of the
guys came up with big plays. You saw that that
great sack by romanovin. Their safety continues to play well.
(25:00):
R j Oben, I'm sorry, I'm roman There you go.
Joben had a great sack.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I mean, you know Howard Cross played well I thought
in the.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Game until until he had he had cramp Lake in
the game. They're safety continues to play well. Riley Leonard
didn't react well with pressure, But I mean they were
breathing down his neck, but he didn't turn the ball
over and he won the game. From a Georgia perspective,
I think the Georgia offensive line continues to play poorly,
and they're a talented group that should not be that bad.
(25:30):
Jayalen Walker, I mean, I was impressed with Jalen Walker
because he seems to be getting better. He is just
a powerful guy. You saw him just obliterate some of
those blocks that from the Notre Dame offensive lineman to
penetrate the line of scrimmage and get pressure and force
Riley Leonard to move around. You know. But in the
Zier stack house, he has a good play and then
(25:52):
he disappears for long stretches. Then he has a good play,
he disappears for long stretches. The Georgia receivers make good
plays and then they drop passes that are basically placed
in their hands. So I think from a scouting perspective,
I came away with it more from the Georgia players,
and a lot of it was more negative than it
(26:14):
was positive.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
All right, now we have Penn State and Notre Dame Tony,
they're gonna take place. That's the Orange Bowl semi final.
Matchup next week. An old school Northeast you know, run
the ball type of game between these two teams that
are linked back when you know, Penn State went into
the Big Ten for the first time and no Dame
was supposed to they didn't, so a lot of links
between these two schools. Really an old school match up here. Well,
(26:37):
who are some of the guys you're gonna be keeping
an eye on?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
And not a great scouting matchup, you know, but not
a great game for NFL draft fans. And I looked
at my board and there were four players Abdull Carter,
Benjamin Morrison. Note you, Dame, Tyler Warren, Penn State, drew
a lar Penn State that projects either first or second
round choices, and Benjamin Morrison is in the game. He
(27:00):
hasn't played since the beginning of the season because of
a hip injury, but there's still some matchups to watch. Obviously,
he talked about Drew Lawer, does he change his name?
Xavier Watch has played very well. He's played very well
in the playoffs. He was good all season. Not a
not a big rangey safety, but a smart, instinctive guy
that knows how to make plays on the ball. And
you know that watch is gonna be keen on a
(27:22):
law trying to goat him into a mistake. Riley Leonard
against a dual carter, I mean Riley Leonard did not
react well to the pressure yesterday against Georgia. Now he
goes against a dual carter who's better than Jalen Walker.
I think the Georgia front four and pass rush on
a whole is better than what Penn State puts on
the field, which is not bad. It's just that George
(27:43):
is so good. But again, you know it's gonna come
down to or the guy the keyon obviously is gonna
be a dual carter who's going to be a top
four pick. And then that Notre Dame defensive line trying
to stop Nick Singleton and Kate Tron. Allen's sort of
like your thunder and lightning. Allen is your bigger pounder,
although he's fast and is quick that can run over you. Well,
Nick Singleton is the smaller, sleeker running back that create
(28:06):
can create yardage and you know, a smaller notes You
Dame defensive line who did a good job yesterday, you know,
running stunts and a lot of games to kind of
keep those big body. The Georgia offensive linemen off of
them at hit work. They're gonna have to come up
with another game plan to stop this. The Penn State
(28:26):
running game, which is better than Georgia's running game because
at And has really he's been injured for Georgia, but
it's really been a disappointment for most of the year,
including yesterday.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
All right, let's go to the other side of the
bracket and the Peace Bowl. Arizona State makes a run
of it. They were down two scores at halftime, but
they come back overtime full just short against Texas thirty
nine to thirty one. Had Texas what was on a
fourth and twelve in the second overtime and they end
up throwing the touchdown pass. They give themselves the lead.
They get the two point conversion. Real tough game by
(28:57):
Arizona State and they do it behind Cam Skataboo. They're
a big running back thirty rushes one hundred and forty
three yards, eight catches for ninety nine yards.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
He completed a pass as as a.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Running back option throw boy Tony. This guy is really
impressive as a player. I'm curious what kind of feedback
you're getting over him as a teammate in the guy
because he seems like a bit of a.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Out there type of fella.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
But just a very impressive performance against a very good
Texas team.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah, beat Texas. Running the ball, throwing the ball, catching
the ball. I'm told he even made a nice spaghetti
dinner for his teammates after the game. But does it
all We're gonna see him at the senior ball. I mean,
I think the thing is, you know, he was hurting
at the end of the game. He was obviously dehydrated.
He was vomiting on the side of the field, on
the sidelines. He would have to drag himself onto the field.
(29:51):
When he got tackled, he would have to drag himself
up off the ground. And I watched the game, and
I was concerned, if they give this guy the ball again,
he's gonna fumble it. I mean, he's just physically he's
not there. He produced, he scored that touchdown in overtime,
then he scored the two point conversion, and I mean
you could see, you know how how you know how
(30:12):
obliterated he was, both physically and mentally. After they lost
the game, and the teammates coming up to him and
you're trying to console him because I mean, you talk
about leaving everything on the field. That's exactly what he
did and produced in every way possible. You know, the
teammates like him. Remember he's only played at Arizona State
one year because he transferred over from Sacramento State, and
(30:35):
he was highly thought of by NFL scouts, highly thought
of being he was a mid day three pick, and
he's absolutely helped himself again, a bigger back who can
run over defenders as he likes to do, but also
has enough quickness to create yardage and move around piles
or make defenders.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Miss four six.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
You think, you know he's gonna time for six, but
he plays a lot faster. You know, he's got slow
forty speed, or he doesn't have great forty speed, but
he's got outstanding football speed, and he's got a football mind.
Never mind the fact that you know, besides the ball carrying,
he's also a good pass catcher.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
So someone here Tony said this to me. The other
said this would be yesterday, and I can't get it
out of my brain. Doesn't he just feel like a
Jim Harbaugh running back to the Chargers. To you, that's
what he feels like someone said that to me, and
now I just cannot get that match out of my head.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Yeah, I mean makes sense. Jim Harbrough likes the defensive
lineman on the offensive line, but yeah, makes sense. I
mean I go back to he himself has compared himself
to Mike Alstart. I remember Brian Leonard who played for Rutgers.
I remember Brian Leonard interviewing me at the Senior Bowl
and he blood all over the place and he just
wanted to get back out there. But Oliver is jersey
over his pants and he just wanted to get it
(31:50):
back out there to play. He's definitely helped himself and
he's played great football. I mean he's played great. He
has been the passing game at Arizona Dad has been
hit or miss although their top receiver was on the sidelines,
which hurt him, and scatter Boat literally picked up the
ball and carried that team.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Yeah, and I think their young quarterback too, is someone
to keep an eye on here next couple of years, Tony,
he played well. Rachel freshman not draft eligible, with someone
to keep an eye on moving forward. Here a couple
guys up front for Texas defense that you liked.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
In the game, Vernon brought and I thought played very well.
Had four tackles, penetrated the off of the line of
scrimmage A lot Trey Moore were spoken about continuously, especially
the past couple of weeks. Five tackles, two sacks, two
and a half tackles for lost good pass rusher transfer
from UTSA, Tennessee, San Antonio. I'm told he's very likely
(32:42):
to enter the draft. You know, quin you Weers twenty
for thirty three d and twenty two yards, three tds,
one interception, but again, a lot of inconsistency. He was
great on that first drive and you're like, okay, here
we go, Texas just going to blow him out of
the wallmount of stadium. And then literally for the next
three and a half quarters, he was inconsistent. At times,
(33:04):
he was bad, and then he comes back on that
last draft to tie the game, and then he was
terrific during overtime. So we got from Quinn Ewers what
we've gotten from him the past two years. A lot
of inconsistency, some wow moments and then some you know,
what is he doing moments. I think the Texas ol line,
which was injured, did not play well. Cam Williams is
(33:26):
out was out with the right knee injury. Though Kelvin
Banks didn't play that well. They give up nine tackles
for loss and three sacks against the very nice, but
not dominant Arizona State defense, and that is something to
watch moving forward.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
All right, then let's go to the Rose Bowl and
a game that I thought everyone was really looking forward to.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
I was too.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
I thought it was gonna be a fantastic game, and
Ohio State just ends up rolling over Oregon.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
It was they looked out match and outclassed.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
And I want to leave the Ohio State offense to
the side for a second, because I think we're not
surprised with all the talent they have on that offense,
with the receivers and the running backs and all that.
But this Ohio State defense, I thought Tony did an
unbelievable job. Oregan's been able to run a well oiled
machine on that side of the ball all year, running
the football doing Gabriel has had a really good year.
(34:16):
And that Ohio State defense. We've talked about all the
draft eligible guys and the guys that went back from
last year to this year to kind of try to
come back to beat Michigan, which they couldn't.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
But now all of a sudden, they dominate Oregon, who.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Could not do a thing offensively in the entire first half,
and the final score is forty one to twenty one.
Ohio State could have scored sixty in this game if
they wanted to.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
And the thing is Ohio, like they did against Tennessee,
beat him from a word go. I mean, it wasn't
even close early on, and now Oregon had to play
catch up. And I think that, you know, just from
a conversation point of view, this is why a lot
of people are very angry at Ryan Day, because the
Ohio State team that we've seen the past two weeks
is the one that we should have seen all season long.
They shouldn't have struggled again Nebraska. They should have beat
(35:01):
Oregon the first time around. They shouldn't have lost to Michigan.
Maybe not lost to Michigan obviously was a wake up call.
Excuse me, a battle a little bit of a cold here,
But that's why people are upset about with Ryan Day.
But again, you mentioned the defense. You know, Cody Simon
is a guy that we don't talk about because of
the star talent around him. Eleven tackles, three tackles for lost,
(35:23):
two sacks, and a pants breakup on a big third
down play. And he's been like that all season long.
And Cody Simon is the guy who I think is come.
In the lead up to the draft, you're gonna hear
about him. He's not gonna be mentioned. Then all of
a sudden, people are talking about him at Day three,
mid Day three, What surprise me? If Cody Simon who
when you watch the film. He's smart, he's instinctive, he
(35:46):
doesn't have mental lapses. But he's also six two and
a half two hundred and thirty two hundred thirty five
pounds and runs a four to six and makes plays
all over the field. Could end up as a Day
two pick. We talked about early on about how the
college playoffs would allow for a player to really shoot
up draft boards or really improve his draft stock, and
(36:08):
we did it talking about the quarterbacks. If there's one
player I think has helped his draft stock more than
any other during these first two rounds of the playoffs,
it would be Tyleek Williams of Ohio State. Yeah, he
only had three tackles against Oregon, but his ability to
penetrate the line of scrimmage, the ability to basically command
(36:30):
double team blocks has consistently presented opportunities for the T. JT.
Tatum Alois and the Jack Sawyers of Ohio State. He's
creating a lot of opportunities for his teams. He's creating
a lot of habits. And I think that right now
you're looking at four defensive tackles in the first round. TYLERK.
(36:50):
Williams is definitely in that conversation. He could be the fourth,
he could be the third. But I think that he
has probably helped himself, has improved this draft stock more
than any other player during this college football players because
of his play. The stacks aren't great, but when you
watch the film is constantly reathing havoc the Ohio State
(37:12):
secondary again, Denzel Burke, Davidson, Bigness, Own Ransom, Latham, Ransom,
Jordan Hancock again. Guys who were victimized, especially the cornerbacks,
had a real good game for the second week in
a row. No lapsis, no big play breakdowns. This is
what we expected from them throughout the season. We're getting
(37:34):
it now. Jack Sawyer and JT. Toomlowell combined for four
sacks five tackles for loss against Josh Connelly and Johnny Cornelius.
Both of those guys are going to be drafted, Connor
in the top forty five, Cornelius a Day three pick,
and they just ate him alive. And you know, you
don't want to talk about the offense. I agree, But again,
Trayvon Henderson eight rushes, ninety four yards and two tds.
(37:56):
In my opinion, you know, just a guy who's gonna
go later than he should and if he stays healthy,
it's gonna be very productive running back on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Yeah, yeah, I just wanted to start the defense. I mean,
the offense was going. Do you know.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Henderson's that big play guy, right, he has that speed
to get the perimeter and make those big plays. He
had that big sixty yard touchdown run in this game.
And then the Meca book Again, I thought played well, Tony.
I thought he did a good job a wide receiver.
We know about Jeremiah Smith you know, unfortunately we can't
talk about him in the draft for another couple of years. Still,
he was fantastic. And then I know, you want to
talk about those guys. And then a couple of Oregon
defenders as well.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Yeah, I mean Derek Harmon was very good. He was
tough to stop, he had a couple of tackles for loss,
and he was penetrating the offensive line. But I think
as a whole, the banged up, really realigned offensive line
for a house state did well. You know, Jordan Birch,
the big pass rusher. We got what we saw, but
(38:49):
what we expected from Jordan Burch, or at least what
we've gotten, I shouldn't say what we expected what we've
gotten for him for much of the past two years.
Early On has a big pressure tackle for loss, forces
the action on a third down play, and then he disappears.
And that's the problem with Jordan Burch. That's what the
scouts and the teams are gonna have to decide. Are
we gonna take Jordan Birch very early because of these
(39:12):
flash plays, because of the potential that he shows, or
are we going to downgrade it because while he makes
these flash plays, he disappears for stretches and games on end.
Granted he's had a lot of injury, but there's never
been that production. There's never been that meeting of expectation
of Jordan Birch, whether it was early in the South
(39:32):
Carolina career or at Oregon. And that's what we saw
on the Rose bull against Ohio State.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
And then you mentioned now Notre Dame and Penn State
maybe not the best scouting matchup. Well, here's the opposite
of that spectrum of Tony because Texas and Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Just looking at the notes you gave me, we're.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Looking at five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten guys for
you that at first or second round grades. Another half
doesen't that of third or fourth round grades. A lot
of future pro are going to be taking on each
other in that Cotton Bowl.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Yeah, this is a big time scouting game for the
NFL Draft. This is some a game that a lot
of people are going to be focused on. I've got
sixteen players with top potential, top one hundred grade. Sixteen
players are going to be first, second, or third round picks,
and there are a lot of great matchups from a
game point of view. You know, you look at Ohio State,
who seems to be hitting their stride at the right time,
(40:23):
and Texas, who seems to be struggling to cross the
finish line. And I think if it's if it's like
that going into the game, we could see another Ohio
State blowout, especially if Texas plays the way they did
against the Arizona State. But again, you know, you start
with the Texas offensive line against the Ohio State defensive libe.
You know, is Cameron Williams who has that right king
(40:44):
is he gonna be able to come back at right
tackle and play effectively? How is Calvin Banks at one
hundred percent? And is he also going to be able
to play effectively? Those guys against two and Mayola and
Jack Sawyer who've been whites out the past couple of
weeks in the playoffs, It's gonna be a tough task
for those players. Even on the inside Hayden Connor and
(41:04):
Jake Majors both their Day three picks against Tyleek Williams.
They better be on their game. And then you flip
it around, or I'm sorry, you don't even flip it around.
You you go to the queen Ewers versus the Ohio
State secondary, which I as I just mentioned, has played
very well the past two weeks. They haven't had the
mental breakdowns and quin Ewers with the inconsistency quin Ewers
(41:27):
can't play the way he did against Averzon the State
because this is not only from a point of view
of a game incredibly important, but now he's playing against
a lot of talent or players that are as talented
as he's going to be playing against Sunday, and this
is gonna be a big measuring stick as far as
NFL scouts are concerned.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
And then flipping around, how about the other matchup but
defense against Ohio State's offense.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Yeah, Trey Moore who I mentioned, Baron Sowell, who've talked
about before, Ethan Burke who we talked about last week.
You know, can they exploit that Ohio State defensive line
that will two starters? You now have Donovan Jackson as
we've seen the former guard playing left tackle. No one's
been able to do it during the college football playoffs.
Really mean, I mean, they basically did a good job
(42:12):
against overall against Oregon. The Texas defensive line, the players
that they line up in the front floor may not
have the top talent or the top end talent that
Oregon has, but I think as a whole there are
more talented unit and they can rotake some guys in.
So this is gonna be another big challenge for Ohio
(42:33):
State offensive line. And I think even though he's played
well at Donovan Jackson, even though he's played well left tackle,
Donovan Jackson has helped his draft stock at guard because
he's not gonna play left tackle in the NFL. But
he did a good job at guard before being pushed
out to left tackle, and he's done a real good
job there filling in for Josh Simmons. So I think
(42:54):
that's major for him, be another big challenge. And then
you know John Day Bantry versus a Jeremiah Smith and
a Mecca Buca. Obviously John Day Barrett can't do it himself,
but that's gonna be a big matchup. You know, you
know Jeremiah Smith, he likes to talk a lot, is
very confident. He's said before the game, Oregon can't cover
me man demand and they couldn't. John Day Baron's a
(43:16):
guy who's got great ball skills. He's got I don't
want to say his cocky. He's very confident. He's helped
this draft stock this year. Whether he's lined up against Smith,
whether he's lined up against Abuca, it's going to be
a big time matchup which NFL scouts are going to
keep an eye on.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
I think we're gonna get in Ohio State Penn State
National chambiship game.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (43:36):
I agree we're gonna have two Big ten teams playing
for the national title, and which is kind of which
is kind of interesting because everyone talks about how great
the SEC is, which it is, but I think they're
gonna be left out of Nicole the Cup of January twentieth.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
And you know, all we talked about all year is
this can Ryan Day get over the top against Michigan.
They fouled, well, go Glasgow, Penn State fan all they
want to know if James Franklin can get over the
top against Ohio So we might get a chance to
find that one out too.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
Yep. And I mean it's good. It's gonna be an
interesting matchup because the first time Ohio State went into
Weddn State College and beat Penn State by seven points.
So the pressure is gonna be up both coaches.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Yeah, no question in those two games. Very wise by
college football.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
I don't know if they scheduled this with the NFL
on purpose, but they're staying away from the NFL playoff
matchups which will be next not this, So this will
be the second weekend in January, right Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
That's the NFL playoffs. The college football playoffs will be
Thursday night and Friday night. So we'll could be back
with you on draft season early next week, probably Tuesday,
that's gonna be our interview with Eric Galka, who runs
(44:41):
the Shrine game. And then the following Monday, I'm guessing Tony,
we'll probably try to get on review the college football
playoffs and we should then at some point have some
more declarations in terms of who's coming out in the draft.
So all if more news for you then can't wait.
It should be a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Absolutely, it's gonna get good, it's gonna get crazy, is
gonna get busy.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
No problem, Tony. Happy New Year, my friend. Always a pleasure.
And you can find more of Tony's work on sports Kidding.
You got mock draft anything coming out that people should
keep an eye on.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
Yeah, we've I've actually been tasked with doing team by
team mock drafts, so we've done it by division. We've
gone I go five round deeps five rounds deep every team.
I believe the NFC East went up yesterday, so Giant
fans may want to check that one out. Five rounds deep.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
Guys one or two players he gave to the Giants
in that it was.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
Very offensive in the first and second round. So guys
who handled the ball, so.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
You know they're a quarterback in there.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
There absolutely is. Now. Granted this was when the Giants
had the first you know, you got to try and
keep up. But this was submitted before the Giants had
their okawhelming victory on the Indianapolis Cults. But I still
think the Giants the way chicks out will come out
with the quarterback. So, yes, one was a quarterback at
the other one was the guy who was a player
that carries the ball. Uh, we're focused on helping the offense.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
All right, good stuff. Check that out on sports Key
to Tony. Good stuff.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
My friend always appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (46:12):
Look forward to next week, Jock.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Yeah me too.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Draft season was brought to you by Moody is a
proud partner of the New York Giants, uniting the brightest
minds that turn today's risk into tomorrow's opportunities. Learn more
at moodies dot com. For Tony Pauline, I'm John Schmilk.
We'll see you next week on draft season.
It's now officially open. Welcome to another edition of Draft Season.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I am John Schmelk, joined as always by Tony Pauline.
He writes for sports Kita. The Draft Season is brought
to you by Moody's. Moodies is a proud partner of
the New York Giants, DCO, Risk, Unlock Opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Learn more at Moody's dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
All right, Tony, you for a lot of college football
plays since we last spoke last week. Thank you for
being with us, By the way, on a special Friday edition, folks,
we wanted to wait until we got all the second
round of the college football playoffs in the bags. I
guess he's the quarterfinals, right, so we could talk about
all those games and some of the other bowl games
as well. We'll leave the College FOOTBA playoffs for last
(00:46):
programming note. We hope to record next Monday and have
Eric Galco from the Shrine game on record that late
Monday after and hopefully that'll be up sometime on Tuesday
or Wednesday. So and then we're gonna look ahead to
the next round of College FOOTBA playoffs, and the following show
will react to the games next Thursday and Friday, they
will probably record that on the following Monday. So a
lot going on the college football playoffs, Tony. We're gonna
(01:10):
be talking about these games up until a week before
we leave for you know, First Go.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I'm trying to get my flights set up.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
First day of practice, by the way I've looked at
up I talked to mister Galco will be that Saturday
in Firstco, Texas, So I hope to get there on
that Friday and then write the Senior Ball so there
will be no shortage of things going on over the
next few.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Weeks, which is good. I mean, it's never boring. And
then you are from the Shrine the Senior prepare for
the Combine right in the pro days, and before you
know it, the draft will be here. So I mean,
I don't really like the playoffs being dragged until the
end of January. Kind of sets up problems as far
as which underclassmen are going to enter the draft, sets
(01:53):
up problems as far as combine in predictations are concerned.
You know, even the Shrine and the Senior Ball may
miss out on a few guys because that game is
so late, but it keeps us on our toes.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yes, it does, and so why don't we start there, Tony,
This wasn't even in your list of games, but since
you brought it up and we did have an announcement,
I believe it was yesterday on Thursday from this player
in the very very legendary RelA Quest Bowl. Michigan defeated
Alabama in that game nineteen to thirteen. And the reason
I want to bring the game up is that in
(02:25):
that game, Jalen Milroe is sixteen of thirty two one
hundred and ninety two yards a touchdown interception. Obviously, Alabama's
offense had trouble getting going over the course of that game.
But he did announce that he's declaring for the NFL Draft.
He's heading in coming off a not so great game.
What do you see as the prospects for him? We
talk in late first round, early second round. Can he
(02:47):
move up to the middle of the first round. What
do you think it's gonna look like for Jalen Milroe
once we get through kind of this draft process for him, Well, I.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Think it's gonna be first round. Remember we had Jim
Nagion and Jim talked about Jalen Milroe going to the
Senior bawl. So let's see if that comes to fruition.
I think it would be important for Jalen Milroe to
go to the Senior Bowl and have three good days
of practice. Anybody who's watched this program knows. I mean,
I'm a guy who has been on the Jalen Milroe
(03:16):
bandwagon since last year. I love his upside, but I
am concerned about his inconsistency. And that's what he showed.
I mean, he started the season hot. You can't forget
that Georgia game, how great he was in the first half,
quiet beginning of the second half, and then that seventy
five yeard bomb to win the game. And you know,
as we've talked about the past couple of weeks, he's
(03:37):
beaten teams more with his legs than with his arm.
So I think from a physical standpoint, no one comes
close to Jaylen Minroe. When you look at the running skills,
when you look at the arm strength, when you look
at the whole physical package, the consistency is a concern.
But I think he's shown enough good things. And remember
when scouts look at a player, they look at what
can he do? And really, from a physical good point
(04:00):
of view, and he doesn't make bad decisions either. Jalen
Milroll can do at all. I don't think he gets
out of the top twenty. I think if he goes
to the senior ball and has three good days of practice,
he could go even earlier.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, Wolf, Dwayne, and see how that goes for him.
Is you're right he didn't get into one of those
All Star games. And I was gonna ask you about that.
I think that could really help him. All right, Let's
go to the other couple top quarterbacks, Tony in the
bowl games they played in.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Let's go to the Alamo Bowl.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Colorado just gets obliterated by BYU in that game, thirty
six to fourteen. The game didn't even fuel that close
when you watched it, and Genor Sanders, you look at
his numbers, sixteen to twenty three, two hundred and eight
yard looks efficient, two touchdowns, the two picks you don't like.
But if you watch that game, he really struggled to
get anything going and just a couple big Travis Hunter
(04:48):
plays is what saved that stat line.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
And that was it.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
It was those two big plays by Travis Hunter. I mean,
first of all, was a strange game. The Alam mobow
was two Big Twelve teams playing against each other, and
when does that happen? And I think from a EYU perspective,
you know, they were kind of sick of the fact
that they felt they were a better team. They had
a better season than Colorado, who sucked the air out
of everybody. I mean, they were on every week and
Byu was basically undefeated until late in the season they
(05:13):
lost the Kansas and they lost another game which knocked
him out of the College Football Playoff, the Big Twelve
title contention. So I think this is a bit of
a vendetta game. They had more going into it wanted
to win than Colorado and Shador Sanders, who were just basically,
you know, finishing out the season. And you mentioned Byu'
is not that great of a defense that to shut
(05:34):
him down like that. But I think it was more
a situation with Sanders may never admit it. Let's just
finish out the season, let's get on with the you know,
the next portion of my NFL career.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, and the pass protection wasn't good again, he did
not do a great job navigating that, which is going
to be a as we talk about these quarterbacks for
the next few months. That's going to be a big,
big topic of the conversation in terms of how you
judge Shadoor based on the fact he played behind it
very shaky offensive line, and whether or not he helped
that situation or exacerbated that situation with the way he plays.
(06:06):
Cam Ward, on the other hand, Tony, he had quite
a nice swan song for Miami, plays only the first
half of that game, and a lot of people have
made a big deal about him coming out and not
playing in the second half. I think we've gone to
the point now in these games. This is something Elake
Neighbors did last year where we're not really worrying about
guys opting out of these Bowl games. You tell me
if you've gotten different feedback. But I thought cam Ward
(06:28):
was phenomenal again in the first half of that game.
Accurate in your notes, I agree, really good touch, good vision,
found the open player, accurate, showed some ability to scramble
and run a bit in that game. He's very slippery
in the pocket. I thought cam Ward, unlike Milrow and Sanders,
really went out on his college career on a very
high note.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Well, I mean, and that's been the story all season right.
I mean, you know, no one expected anything great from
cam Ward and he delivered week after week after week.
Where Shador Sanders, Jalen Milroe, Quin Viewers, Drew Allen, They've
all been disappointing. They've had their moments, but they've all
been disappointing. It's been one guy, cam Ward that has
carried the torch at the quarterback position this season. And
(07:08):
you know, people were upsetting it played the second half.
It would have made a great story if he played
the second half and pulled Miami to a victory, but
evidently this was decided before the game. Like you said,
the touch of ability to throw a catchable pass, the
way he sees the field, the poise is just incredible.
They're just gonna have to coach some of the things
(07:30):
such as holding the ball too long out of him,
trying to improvise and be too cute and do too
much out of him, or play from the pocket. He
can play from the pocket. But listen all the signs
appointing north from cam Ward. He is delivered week after
week after week. I mean, he is this year's version
of Jaden Daniels in the sense that a guy who
comes into the season viewed as a Day three, fifth
(07:53):
round pick by scouts, and now he's going to be
a top three or four selection.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, I'm gonna look, it's I haven't watched all the tape.
I'm gonna watch Tony, but it's gonna take a lot,
I think for me to have Wards slide out of
that top overall quarterback spot with what we've seen this
year and combine the physical package with that. Right, like
you talked about, you're not drafting a quarterback based on
production production. You're drafting him based on what they can be.
(08:19):
And while he doesn't have an eight plus arm, he
doesn't have an eight plus athleticism, mobility, he is like
a B plus at all those categories, all right, Right,
his lack of arm strength doesn't hold you back.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
He's mobile enough.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
His arm angles and stuff like that give him a
lot of arm talent. Even if it's not just arm
power and arm strength, you know, it's besides some of
the decision making and the big mistakes in spots where
he turns it over and things like that.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
It's hard to poke a ton of holes in his game.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
And it's not that he has a weak arm. His
arm is strong enough to play in the NFL. His
arm is strong enough for a vertical game, and people
will pick things. You know, the physical package is not
Jalen Milrose, but he's much more complete. He's much more
of a passer, and he's sure's heck, is much more
consistent than Jaln Milroe's been.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, no question. All right.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Let's go to the next game here, and that was
the Pop Tarts Bawl, by the way, which is like
the most American experience ever.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Watching that game, they lean into the campiness. I just
love it.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
It's fantastic. Let's go over to the Pinchtripe Bowl, Tony.
What were some of the guys that jumped out of
you in that game for Nebraska?
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Okay, I mean you look in Nebraska, we talk We're
going to talk about a couple of tight ends. Now.
Thomas Faedon five receptions for fifty yards. He's the guy.
He hasn't announced for the draft yet. I'm surprised because
Matt Ruhle has told people, as told Fiddon himself either
transfer or into the draft because he's so good and
(09:40):
he really doesn't fit what Nebraska wants to do on offense.
They really don't use the tight end, but you see him,
he easily moves around the field. He's a terrific pass catcher.
He doesn't get a lot of targets, but when he does,
he looks very natural catching the ball. So keep an
eye on for Don if he enters the draft. As
of last night, I had not seen that he did.
I don't know if he's still going through the process.
(10:02):
He's going to be a Day three pick. Maybe somebody
takes a chance on late and Day two. I doubt it,
but he's got a lot of upside. And then again,
my guy Ty Robinson talked about him throughout the season,
talked about him with Jim Naggy here when he was
out about the Senior Bowl. Four tackles, one and a
half tackles for the loss, one sack, broke up of pass.
I mean, this is a guy that gets no love.
(10:23):
He's going to be a Day two pick. I doubt
he gets out of the late part of round three,
and he's going to be an exceptional player on Sunday,
out a variety of spots. They line him up on
the inside, they line him up on the outside, they
put him at nose tackle, and all the guy does
is penetrate Blana scrimmage and cos Mayhem for the opponent.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
All right, let me put us in reverse a little bit, Tony.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I forgot to mention Damian Martinez in that Pop Tarts
Bowl for Miami. I should have. We been waiting for
him to kind of have that blow up game all
year where he plays really well.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
He had it.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Fourteen carries, one hundred to seventy nine yards in a touchdown,
and he's making the case to be a Day two back.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I absolutely agree, and I think he's one of the
most underrated back because he doesn't have the great name,
he does have the great production. Transferred to Miami from
an Oregon State. Had a better season at Oregon State
last year because when he went to Miami, Miami had
some younger backs, so he's used them more as a
rotational back rather than as the feature ball carrier. But
(11:17):
this is one of those and we're gonna talk a
lot about these guys, these bigger backs who are more
than just road graders. They're very quick, they can create yarders,
they can make defenders miss, they can bounce it around
the corner. They've got tremendous burst of speed. That's what
Damian Martinez is I agree with you. I see a
lot of people say, you know, fourth and fifth round,
somebody's gonna grab Martinez in the third round and they're
(11:39):
gonna get one of the steals of the draft. Because
number one, he is incredibly skilled, he's got great size
and speed, and he's not coming off a year where
he carried the ball a tremendous amount of times. Is
not a lot of there's still a lot of tread
on the tire. It really isn't worn down after this season.
But again, like you said, fourteen carrigs one hundred and
seventy hour yards tells you about his breakaway ability and
(12:01):
one touchdown.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, he had that big run earlier in that game
where he broke away and nobody really was able to
catch him. So night's game there by, Damian Martinez, Right,
let's go to these sixty eight ventures bowl Tony Arkansas
State defeating Bowling Green in that game thirty eight to
thirty one. But there was a bowling another tight end
from Bowling Green this time that drew your attention.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Well, he's draw on everybody's Harold Fatty. He's been one
of the best tight ends in the nation. Has some
incredible production for all pass catchers, receivers or tight ends
seventeen receptions, two hundred and thirteen yards. One TD just
announced last night that he's going to enter the draft
and announced what is today Friday, so an now Thursday night,
get my days mixed up here now Thursday night, that
(12:44):
he will be entering the draft. He's been a pass
catching machine for Bowling Green. Go back to the Penn
State game early in the year when Bowling Green hanged
hung tough with Penn State in the early part of
the game. You know, he was their offense. Penn State
knew the ball was going to be thrown to him
and he couldn't stop him. He had six or seven
catches in that game. I think his testing is going
(13:04):
to going to be very important because as good of
a pass catcher he is, he doesn't play like a
real top athlete. So I think it's one of these
situations where people are projecting him as a third round prospect,
but I think he's more could be more of a
Day three athlete, and that's maybe where he ends up.
Still quality player and he is in the draft now Tony.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I have not watched him yet, so I'm gonna throw
a name out there and you tell me if this
is on or off base. The way you're describing him
reminds me a lot of Trey McBride when he came
out of Colorado State where he's very productive, great pass catcher,
but didn't test out the ballpark and I think he
ended up be in what a late second round pick
McBride if I remember right.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
I think McBride's actually gonna I agree with I understand
what you're saying. McBride's a little bit faster. Ok, we'll
have to wait and see. We'll have to wait and see.
You know how Fatnon runs, But that is gonna be
the m on him. I think McBride is more. It's
also a little bit shorter. Fan is a little bit taller.
Mcgride was more of a tight end, h back, if
you will, kind of player. I think Fan is more
(14:05):
your traditional pass catching tight end who doesn't do a
bad job blocking. They just he's just the main cog
in that offense. Had more than one hundred receptions last year,
this year, this last past season at the Bowl in Green.
So why as in the block.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Of course, all right, we're gonna wrap up our tight
end portion of the episode. Apparently with the Birmingham Bowl
Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt finishing a strong season, they
win thirty five to twenty seven. Their quarterback is coming back,
by the way, I think for like his eighteen season.
I think he's about thirty five years old. He'll be
quarterbacking again for Vanderbilt next year. And then their tight end,
Eli Stowers we've talked about here before. Tony another good game,
(14:42):
four catches, fifty five yards in a touchdown. But there
still seems to be some question as to whether or
not he's gonna come out right here.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
You go, you beat me to it. You know, he's
listed or he was listed as a Shrine Bowl participant.
I'm told that the school has offered him an nil
deal worth about a million dollars to come back and
play next year. Now with the quarterback coming back and
the fact that they got Jerry Kill's guy I mentioned before,
Jerry Kill, outstanding coach at Minnesota, has had some medical problems,
(15:11):
went to New Mexico State, turned that program around, then
went and is a consultant Vanderbilt, and he brought a
lot of players from New New Mexico State with him
to Vanderbilt, Eli Stouers being one of them, and you know,
I think Stours is, well, do I go into the draft,
maybe I'm a third at latest fourth round pick and
then you know, you start my NFL career, or do
(15:33):
I stay at Vanderbilt one more year and collect a
million dollar paycheck to play play college football? Regardless, he
is your outstanding move tight end prospect. You know, he's
a lot like for Don in the sense that he
moves well around the field. He looks, if you will,
like a big receiver at the tight end position, but
(15:53):
he's like two one hundred and thirty five to two
hundred and forty pounds. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
I mean they're offering you a million dollars and you're
going to be possibly a Day three.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
It's hard to say no to that.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And I would say go join another year Vanderbilt, have
fun do in Nashville.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
That'd be a good time for you.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
All right, let's go over to the holiday boll Tony
Syracuse in Washington State, and it's funny. All we talked
about last year is how Kyle McCord was holding back
to the Ohio State Buckeyes. Right He shows up at
Syracuse this year and has a monster year, almost five
thousand yards passing, thirty four touchdowns, twelve picks. In this
game against Washington State, Syracuse puts up fifty two points
(16:27):
at Yankee Stadium. Right, sorry, I wasn't the Pitchtrip Bowl.
And in the Holiday Bowl twenty four to thirty four,
four hundred and fifty three yards and five touchdowns Kyle McCord.
And I was listening to Dame Bruwer the other day. He said,
there are NFL teams that really like Kyle McCord. Just
he's talking about a turnaround for what he did for
Ohio State last year.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
I mean last year in Ohio State, he was the
guy that would not move his head off the primary target.
He was staring down receivers, he was giving away his targets.
Wasn't targeting Marvin Harrison enough. Now he goes new coaching staff,
is able to do different things. The touchdown to interception
ratio thirty four tds to twelve interceptions is Bobison. But
(17:08):
remember he threw five picks against Pittsburgh and a bad,
bad Syracuse loss, then rebound incredibly well. So he's got
the terrific physical skills. He's got an NFL arm. He
can make all the passes. The numbers at Syracuse bear
out that he can air it out. He's done a
better job moving his head around and going through progressions
(17:31):
this year and spreading the ball around that he did
last year at Ohio State. So he's a guy who's
on the Shrine Bowl roster. So really, the arrow is
pointing up for Kyle mccordin. Here's a guy coming into
the season. You thought, based off of the way he
played at Ohio State in twenty twenty three, maybe a
seventh round pick. He's absolutely moved into the middle rounds
(17:51):
of the drafts.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah, look for him, and he'll be a guy we're
keeping an eye on down at the Shrine Bowl for sure.
All right, Tony, Let's get to the college football playoffs here, Yes,
the Bowl Penn State, Boise State. Penn State kind of
controls this game from start to finish. I knew got
a lot of Penn State guys listed here. Let's start
with the Boise State players. However, I don't want to
start with Aston genty. You do not have him on
your list, but I think we should mention him. Had
(18:14):
one hundred and four rushing yards with thirty carries. He
had two fumbles in the game as well, and while
the production wasn't as gaudy as it has been all year,
Penn State clearly was going to do everything they can
to stop the running this game, and I think he
made the most out of what was there in the
run game.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Hit and miss. But you know, they would put eight
men in the box. They dared Boise State to beat them,
the quarterback to beat them through the air, and he
couldn't because the quarterbacks all over the place with the ball.
So I mean, I think it was kind of a
bit of a downer. I would have liked to see
him get the record, but he felt like with forty
five yards short. I thought those two fumbles actually hurt
(18:51):
Boise States fishally since one one was early in the game.
But you knew this coming into the game. You knew
that Penn State, who has a good defense, got a
good defensive front seven and some good run stuffers, was
gonna load the box and basically make Ashton genty beat them.
And despite the fact that I thought the Penn State
offense did everything they could, the Keith Boise State in
(19:12):
the game he could They couldn't. I mean, it was
just too much. He would have a couple of really
big runs, you know, we're eight twelve, fifteen yards, and
then he had a lot of two and three yard runs.
All it was kind of it was that sort of
a wide spectrum, but you knew that going in.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Yeah, absolutely, all right, and then you want to talk
about one of the Boise State defenders that we I
think we mentioned them in last week. Yeah, yeah, you know,
we talked about how this could be a big game
for him and he ended up taking advantage of the situation.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yeah, Ahman Hassani and six tackles. One sacked three tackles
for the loss. Beat Tyler Warren badly in the early
in the first half for a TfL when Boise State
was still in the game. Junior, I don't think he's
gonna come out more of a form man front defensive
end pass rusher, but a guy that's been really I'd
(20:04):
like him up the twenty twenty three film, and I
think he's shown some progress in his game throughout the year.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
All right, let's go to Penn State and Drew Aller
three touchdowns. You like that, twelve of twenty five, one
hundred and seventy one yards nothing, you know, overwhelming, And
while he has said he intends to go back to school,
there are some shatter that that he could change his
mind if he plays well enough in these final couple games.
And you know he thinks he's going to be a
first round pick a quarterback. Have you seen enough from
(20:32):
him to make teams want to move him up the boards?
Here and get into what would I would for you
at least be Jalen Milroe territory top twenty, top fifteen
type of pick here?
Speaker 1 (20:41):
What did you think of alex performance? And what are
you hearing.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
About whether or not he might change his mind and
end up going into the draft.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Well, the first question is no, I mean I could
he go first round? Could he go late first round? Yeah,
he's got the physical skills, He's got a great deep arm,
he makes some incredible passes at times. He had that
sensational true freshman season, so you know he can do it.
But like Jaylen Milrow and like a lot of the
other quarterbacks in this class, there's been a lot of inconsistency.
(21:09):
There hasn't really been a time the past year where
Juwel lar has put the Penn State offense on his
back and carried it, you know it through a big game.
Even here, we're going to talk about Kaye Tron Allen
and that was the you know, the straw that started
to drink in this game for the Penn State offense.
Is he going to answer? Could he change his mind? Listen?
(21:32):
A month ago I wrote an article on sports Gater
that people at Penn State were telling me he was
going to enter the draft. So why was cond of
shocked when he made the announcement as early as he
did that he was going back to Penn State. So
that idea that he was going to enter the draft
has been out there for the longest time. I haven't
heard about what he's going to do as far as
(21:53):
next level. Could he change his mind? I think he's
more focused on the college football players, and why not
because it looks like Penn State's going to be playing
for a national title. But it wouldn't surprise me based
on what I wrote back in early November that people
in the Penn State program were telling me that he
was going to enter the draft.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, so we'll have to see what he ends up doing. Otherwise,
for Penn State. What'd you see that impressed you?
Speaker 3 (22:19):
I mean Kate tron Allen seventeen rushes one hundred and
thirty four yards. He's not fast, but he's big, he's powerful.
Go back to Damian Martinez. You know we're going to
talk about Camp Scatterborough in a little while. I mean,
these bigger backs are sort of now more in vogue
because they're not just put your head down and run
(22:40):
in the middle of the pile and push the pile.
They can create their quick They've got good speed, and
I think k tron Allen fits that mold, which is
why he's a middle round pick. I think defensively, when
you looked at Penn State, Danny, Dennis Sutton, who I
mentioned a week ago against SMU, Kobe King, the middle linebackers.
(23:02):
You Onlee read the safety. You know we talked about
shutting down Ashton Genty. Those three guys had good games
and they were part and parcel or main factor and
shutting down Ashton Genty and Dennis Sutton continues to show
himself to be a real good pass rusher right now.
I think all these guys are Day three prospects, but
they are legitimate NFL talent.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
The other game in that bracket, the Sugar Bowl Georgia
and Notre Dame.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
That game got delayed. One of the reasons why we
waited till Friday. The record this week because of the
terrorist attack down there in New Orleans. Just terrible.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
It was played at four o'clock on Thursday afternoon, and
this was exactly the type of game I think we
thought it was gonna be. You know, Carson Beck, we
talked about that. He's just done the girl elbow surgery.
Tony with his UCL so who knows when he's gonna
be able to throw football again.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
We could talk about that if you want to.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
But Riley Leonard just ninety passing yards in the game,
eighty rushing yards, but just a series of events from
the very end of the second quarter to the start
of the third quarter with a takeaway, a field goal,
a touchdown, and then a kick return for a touchdown
kind of swung.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
The game to Notre Dame.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
And early Trevor at and fumble deep in Notre Dame
territory was big for Georgia, and Notre Dame ends up
controlling the game. They beat Georgia twenty three to ten.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
I didn't think the game was gonna turn out like that.
I mean I thought going into it, you know, with
with Notre Dame losing Riley Mills and you know that
you looked at that Georgia defense against the Notre Dame offense,
I didn't think really Notre Dame had much of a chance.
But it was a David against Goliath.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
And well, I said Tony, I just made it kind
of like the amount of points scored.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
I didn't expect it to be some super high scoring game.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
I understanding. Yeah, but I think from a scouting point
of view, you can take more out of it from
what Georgia didn't do versus what Notre Game did. I
mean Notrere game players. They were solid. Some of the
guys came up with big plays. You saw that that
great sack by romanovin. Their safety continues to play well.
(25:00):
R j Oben, I'm sorry, I'm roman There you go.
Joben had a great sack.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I mean, you know Howard Cross played well I thought
in the.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Game until until he had he had cramp Lake in
the game. They're safety continues to play well. Riley Leonard
didn't react well with pressure, But I mean they were
breathing down his neck, but he didn't turn the ball
over and he won the game. From a Georgia perspective,
I think the Georgia offensive line continues to play poorly,
and they're a talented group that should not be that bad.
(25:30):
Jayalen Walker, I mean, I was impressed with Jalen Walker
because he seems to be getting better. He is just
a powerful guy. You saw him just obliterate some of
those blocks that from the Notre Dame offensive lineman to
penetrate the line of scrimmage and get pressure and force
Riley Leonard to move around. You know. But in the
Zier stack house, he has a good play and then
(25:52):
he disappears for long stretches. Then he has a good play,
he disappears for long stretches. The Georgia receivers make good
plays and then they drop passes that are basically placed
in their hands. So I think from a scouting perspective,
I came away with it more from the Georgia players,
and a lot of it was more negative than it
(26:14):
was positive.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
All right, now we have Penn State and Notre Dame Tony,
they're gonna take place. That's the Orange Bowl semi final.
Matchup next week. An old school Northeast you know, run
the ball type of game between these two teams that
are linked back when you know, Penn State went into
the Big Ten for the first time and no Dame
was supposed to they didn't, so a lot of links
between these two schools. Really an old school match up here. Well,
(26:37):
who are some of the guys you're gonna be keeping
an eye on?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
And not a great scouting matchup, you know, but not
a great game for NFL draft fans. And I looked
at my board and there were four players Abdull Carter,
Benjamin Morrison. Note you, Dame, Tyler Warren, Penn State, drew
a lar Penn State that projects either first or second
round choices, and Benjamin Morrison is in the game. He
(27:00):
hasn't played since the beginning of the season because of
a hip injury, but there's still some matchups to watch. Obviously,
he talked about Drew Lawer, does he change his name?
Xavier Watch has played very well. He's played very well
in the playoffs. He was good all season. Not a
not a big rangey safety, but a smart, instinctive guy
that knows how to make plays on the ball. And
you know that watch is gonna be keen on a
(27:22):
law trying to goat him into a mistake. Riley Leonard
against a dual carter, I mean Riley Leonard did not
react well to the pressure yesterday against Georgia. Now he
goes against a dual carter who's better than Jalen Walker.
I think the Georgia front four and pass rush on
a whole is better than what Penn State puts on
the field, which is not bad. It's just that George
(27:43):
is so good. But again, you know it's gonna come
down to or the guy the keyon obviously is gonna
be a dual carter who's going to be a top
four pick. And then that Notre Dame defensive line trying
to stop Nick Singleton and Kate Tron. Allen's sort of
like your thunder and lightning. Allen is your bigger pounder,
although he's fast and is quick that can run over you. Well,
Nick Singleton is the smaller, sleeker running back that create
(28:06):
can create yardage and you know, a smaller notes You
Dame defensive line who did a good job yesterday, you know,
running stunts and a lot of games to kind of
keep those big body. The Georgia offensive linemen off of
them at hit work. They're gonna have to come up
with another game plan to stop this. The Penn State
(28:26):
running game, which is better than Georgia's running game because
at And has really he's been injured for Georgia, but
it's really been a disappointment for most of the year,
including yesterday.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
All right, let's go to the other side of the
bracket and the Peace Bowl. Arizona State makes a run
of it. They were down two scores at halftime, but
they come back overtime full just short against Texas thirty
nine to thirty one. Had Texas what was on a
fourth and twelve in the second overtime and they end
up throwing the touchdown pass. They give themselves the lead.
They get the two point conversion. Real tough game by
(28:57):
Arizona State and they do it behind Cam Skataboo. They're
a big running back thirty rushes one hundred and forty
three yards, eight catches for ninety nine yards.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
He completed a pass as as a.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Running back option throw boy Tony. This guy is really
impressive as a player. I'm curious what kind of feedback
you're getting over him as a teammate in the guy
because he seems like a bit of a.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Out there type of fella.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
But just a very impressive performance against a very good
Texas team.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah, beat Texas. Running the ball, throwing the ball, catching
the ball. I'm told he even made a nice spaghetti
dinner for his teammates after the game. But does it
all We're gonna see him at the senior ball. I mean,
I think the thing is, you know, he was hurting
at the end of the game. He was obviously dehydrated.
He was vomiting on the side of the field, on
the sidelines. He would have to drag himself onto the field.
(29:51):
When he got tackled, he would have to drag himself
up off the ground. And I watched the game, and
I was concerned, if they give this guy the ball again,
he's gonna fumble it. I mean, he's just physically he's
not there. He produced, he scored that touchdown in overtime,
then he scored the two point conversion, and I mean
you could see, you know how how you know how
(30:12):
obliterated he was, both physically and mentally. After they lost
the game, and the teammates coming up to him and
you're trying to console him because I mean, you talk
about leaving everything on the field. That's exactly what he
did and produced in every way possible. You know, the
teammates like him. Remember he's only played at Arizona State
one year because he transferred over from Sacramento State, and
(30:35):
he was highly thought of by NFL scouts, highly thought
of being he was a mid day three pick, and
he's absolutely helped himself again, a bigger back who can
run over defenders as he likes to do, but also
has enough quickness to create yardage and move around piles
or make defenders.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Miss four six.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
You think, you know he's gonna time for six, but
he plays a lot faster. You know, he's got slow
forty speed, or he doesn't have great forty speed, but
he's got outstanding football speed, and he's got a football mind.
Never mind the fact that you know, besides the ball carrying,
he's also a good pass catcher.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
So someone here Tony said this to me. The other
said this would be yesterday, and I can't get it
out of my brain. Doesn't he just feel like a
Jim Harbaugh running back to the Chargers. To you, that's
what he feels like someone said that to me, and
now I just cannot get that match out of my head.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Yeah, I mean makes sense. Jim Harbrough likes the defensive
lineman on the offensive line, but yeah, makes sense. I
mean I go back to he himself has compared himself
to Mike Alstart. I remember Brian Leonard who played for Rutgers.
I remember Brian Leonard interviewing me at the Senior Bowl
and he blood all over the place and he just
wanted to get back out there. But Oliver is jersey
over his pants and he just wanted to get it
(31:50):
back out there to play. He's definitely helped himself and
he's played great football. I mean he's played great. He
has been the passing game at Arizona Dad has been
hit or miss although their top receiver was on the sidelines,
which hurt him, and scatter Boat literally picked up the
ball and carried that team.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Yeah, and I think their young quarterback too, is someone
to keep an eye on here next couple of years, Tony,
he played well. Rachel freshman not draft eligible, with someone
to keep an eye on moving forward. Here a couple
guys up front for Texas defense that you liked.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
In the game, Vernon brought and I thought played very well.
Had four tackles, penetrated the off of the line of
scrimmage A lot Trey Moore were spoken about continuously, especially
the past couple of weeks. Five tackles, two sacks, two
and a half tackles for lost good pass rusher transfer
from UTSA, Tennessee, San Antonio. I'm told he's very likely
(32:42):
to enter the draft. You know, quin you Weers twenty
for thirty three d and twenty two yards, three tds,
one interception, but again, a lot of inconsistency. He was
great on that first drive and you're like, okay, here
we go, Texas just going to blow him out of
the wallmount of stadium. And then literally for the next
three and a half quarters, he was inconsistent. At times,
(33:04):
he was bad, and then he comes back on that
last draft to tie the game, and then he was
terrific during overtime. So we got from Quinn Ewers what
we've gotten from him the past two years. A lot
of inconsistency, some wow moments and then some you know,
what is he doing moments. I think the Texas ol line,
which was injured, did not play well. Cam Williams is
(33:26):
out was out with the right knee injury. Though Kelvin
Banks didn't play that well. They give up nine tackles
for loss and three sacks against the very nice, but
not dominant Arizona State defense, and that is something to
watch moving forward.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
All right, then let's go to the Rose Bowl and
a game that I thought everyone was really looking forward to.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
I was too.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
I thought it was gonna be a fantastic game, and
Ohio State just ends up rolling over Oregon.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
It was they looked out match and outclassed.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
And I want to leave the Ohio State offense to
the side for a second, because I think we're not
surprised with all the talent they have on that offense,
with the receivers and the running backs and all that.
But this Ohio State defense, I thought Tony did an
unbelievable job. Oregan's been able to run a well oiled
machine on that side of the ball all year, running
the football doing Gabriel has had a really good year.
(34:16):
And that Ohio State defense. We've talked about all the
draft eligible guys and the guys that went back from
last year to this year to kind of try to
come back to beat Michigan, which they couldn't.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
But now all of a sudden, they dominate Oregon, who.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Could not do a thing offensively in the entire first half,
and the final score is forty one to twenty one.
Ohio State could have scored sixty in this game if
they wanted to.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
And the thing is Ohio, like they did against Tennessee,
beat him from a word go. I mean, it wasn't
even close early on, and now Oregon had to play
catch up. And I think that, you know, just from
a conversation point of view, this is why a lot
of people are very angry at Ryan Day, because the
Ohio State team that we've seen the past two weeks
is the one that we should have seen all season long.
They shouldn't have struggled again Nebraska. They should have beat
(35:01):
Oregon the first time around. They shouldn't have lost to Michigan.
Maybe not lost to Michigan obviously was a wake up call.
Excuse me, a battle a little bit of a cold here,
But that's why people are upset about with Ryan Day.
But again, you mentioned the defense. You know, Cody Simon
is a guy that we don't talk about because of
the star talent around him. Eleven tackles, three tackles for lost,
(35:23):
two sacks, and a pants breakup on a big third
down play. And he's been like that all season long.
And Cody Simon is the guy who I think is come.
In the lead up to the draft, you're gonna hear
about him. He's not gonna be mentioned. Then all of
a sudden, people are talking about him at Day three,
mid Day three, What surprise me? If Cody Simon who
when you watch the film. He's smart, he's instinctive, he
(35:46):
doesn't have mental lapses. But he's also six two and
a half two hundred and thirty two hundred thirty five
pounds and runs a four to six and makes plays
all over the field. Could end up as a Day
two pick. We talked about early on about how the
college playoffs would allow for a player to really shoot
up draft boards or really improve his draft stock, and
(36:08):
we did it talking about the quarterbacks. If there's one
player I think has helped his draft stock more than
any other during these first two rounds of the playoffs,
it would be Tyleek Williams of Ohio State. Yeah, he
only had three tackles against Oregon, but his ability to
penetrate the line of scrimmage, the ability to basically command
(36:30):
double team blocks has consistently presented opportunities for the T. JT.
Tatum Alois and the Jack Sawyers of Ohio State. He's
creating a lot of opportunities for his teams. He's creating
a lot of habits. And I think that right now
you're looking at four defensive tackles in the first round. TYLERK.
(36:50):
Williams is definitely in that conversation. He could be the fourth,
he could be the third. But I think that he
has probably helped himself, has improved this draft stock more
than any other player during this college football players because
of his play. The stacks aren't great, but when you
watch the film is constantly reathing havoc the Ohio State
(37:12):
secondary again, Denzel Burke, Davidson, Bigness, Own Ransom, Latham, Ransom,
Jordan Hancock again. Guys who were victimized, especially the cornerbacks,
had a real good game for the second week in
a row. No lapsis, no big play breakdowns. This is
what we expected from them throughout the season. We're getting
(37:34):
it now. Jack Sawyer and JT. Toomlowell combined for four
sacks five tackles for loss against Josh Connelly and Johnny Cornelius.
Both of those guys are going to be drafted, Connor
in the top forty five, Cornelius a Day three pick,
and they just ate him alive. And you know, you
don't want to talk about the offense. I agree, But again,
Trayvon Henderson eight rushes, ninety four yards and two tds.
(37:56):
In my opinion, you know, just a guy who's gonna
go later than he should and if he stays healthy,
it's gonna be very productive running back on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Yeah, yeah, I just wanted to start the defense. I mean,
the offense was going. Do you know.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Henderson's that big play guy, right, he has that speed
to get the perimeter and make those big plays. He
had that big sixty yard touchdown run in this game.
And then the Meca book Again, I thought played well, Tony.
I thought he did a good job a wide receiver.
We know about Jeremiah Smith you know, unfortunately we can't
talk about him in the draft for another couple of years. Still,
he was fantastic. And then I know, you want to
talk about those guys. And then a couple of Oregon
defenders as well.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Yeah, I mean Derek Harmon was very good. He was
tough to stop, he had a couple of tackles for loss,
and he was penetrating the offensive line. But I think
as a whole, the banged up, really realigned offensive line
for a house state did well. You know, Jordan Birch,
the big pass rusher. We got what we saw, but
(38:49):
what we expected from Jordan Burch, or at least what
we've gotten, I shouldn't say what we expected what we've
gotten for him for much of the past two years.
Early On has a big pressure tackle for loss, forces
the action on a third down play, and then he disappears.
And that's the problem with Jordan Burch. That's what the
scouts and the teams are gonna have to decide. Are
we gonna take Jordan Birch very early because of these
(39:12):
flash plays, because of the potential that he shows, or
are we going to downgrade it because while he makes
these flash plays, he disappears for stretches and games on end.
Granted he's had a lot of injury, but there's never
been that production. There's never been that meeting of expectation
of Jordan Birch, whether it was early in the South
(39:32):
Carolina career or at Oregon. And that's what we saw
on the Rose bull against Ohio State.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
And then you mentioned now Notre Dame and Penn State
maybe not the best scouting matchup. Well, here's the opposite
of that spectrum of Tony because Texas and Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Just looking at the notes you gave me, we're.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Looking at five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten guys for
you that at first or second round grades. Another half
doesen't that of third or fourth round grades. A lot
of future pro are going to be taking on each
other in that Cotton Bowl.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Yeah, this is a big time scouting game for the
NFL Draft. This is some a game that a lot
of people are going to be focused on. I've got
sixteen players with top potential, top one hundred grade. Sixteen
players are going to be first, second, or third round picks,
and there are a lot of great matchups from a
game point of view. You know, you look at Ohio State,
who seems to be hitting their stride at the right time,
(40:23):
and Texas, who seems to be struggling to cross the
finish line. And I think if it's if it's like
that going into the game, we could see another Ohio
State blowout, especially if Texas plays the way they did
against the Arizona State. But again, you know, you start
with the Texas offensive line against the Ohio State defensive libe.
You know, is Cameron Williams who has that right king
(40:44):
is he gonna be able to come back at right
tackle and play effectively? How is Calvin Banks at one
hundred percent? And is he also going to be able
to play effectively? Those guys against two and Mayola and
Jack Sawyer who've been whites out the past couple of
weeks in the playoffs, It's gonna be a tough task
for those players. Even on the inside Hayden Connor and
(41:04):
Jake Majors both their Day three picks against Tyleek Williams.
They better be on their game. And then you flip
it around, or I'm sorry, you don't even flip it around.
You you go to the queen Ewers versus the Ohio
State secondary, which I as I just mentioned, has played
very well the past two weeks. They haven't had the
mental breakdowns and quin Ewers with the inconsistency quin Ewers
(41:27):
can't play the way he did against Averzon the State
because this is not only from a point of view
of a game incredibly important, but now he's playing against
a lot of talent or players that are as talented
as he's going to be playing against Sunday, and this
is gonna be a big measuring stick as far as
NFL scouts are concerned.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
And then flipping around, how about the other matchup but
defense against Ohio State's offense.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Yeah, Trey Moore who I mentioned, Baron Sowell, who've talked
about before, Ethan Burke who we talked about last week.
You know, can they exploit that Ohio State defensive line
that will two starters? You now have Donovan Jackson as
we've seen the former guard playing left tackle. No one's
been able to do it during the college football playoffs.
Really mean, I mean, they basically did a good job
(42:12):
against overall against Oregon. The Texas defensive line, the players
that they line up in the front floor may not
have the top talent or the top end talent that
Oregon has, but I think as a whole there are
more talented unit and they can rotake some guys in.
So this is gonna be another big challenge for Ohio
(42:33):
State offensive line. And I think even though he's played
well at Donovan Jackson, even though he's played well left tackle,
Donovan Jackson has helped his draft stock at guard because
he's not gonna play left tackle in the NFL. But
he did a good job at guard before being pushed
out to left tackle, and he's done a real good
job there filling in for Josh Simmons. So I think
(42:54):
that's major for him, be another big challenge. And then
you know John Day Bantry versus a Jeremiah Smith and
a Mecca Buca. Obviously John Day Barrett can't do it himself,
but that's gonna be a big matchup. You know, you
know Jeremiah Smith, he likes to talk a lot, is
very confident. He's said before the game, Oregon can't cover
me man demand and they couldn't. John Day Baron's a
(43:16):
guy who's got great ball skills. He's got I don't
want to say his cocky. He's very confident. He's helped
this draft stock this year. Whether he's lined up against Smith,
whether he's lined up against Abuca, it's going to be
a big time matchup which NFL scouts are going to
keep an eye on.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
I think we're gonna get in Ohio State Penn State
National chambiship game.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (43:36):
I agree we're gonna have two Big ten teams playing
for the national title, and which is kind of which
is kind of interesting because everyone talks about how great
the SEC is, which it is, but I think they're
gonna be left out of Nicole the Cup of January twentieth.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
And you know, all we talked about all year is
this can Ryan Day get over the top against Michigan.
They fouled, well, go Glasgow, Penn State fan all they
want to know if James Franklin can get over the
top against Ohio So we might get a chance to
find that one out too.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
Yep. And I mean it's good. It's gonna be an
interesting matchup because the first time Ohio State went into
Weddn State College and beat Penn State by seven points.
So the pressure is gonna be up both coaches.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Yeah, no question in those two games. Very wise by
college football.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
I don't know if they scheduled this with the NFL
on purpose, but they're staying away from the NFL playoff
matchups which will be next not this, So this will
be the second weekend in January, right Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
That's the NFL playoffs. The college football playoffs will be
Thursday night and Friday night. So we'll could be back
with you on draft season early next week, probably Tuesday,
that's gonna be our interview with Eric Galka, who runs
(44:41):
the Shrine game. And then the following Monday, I'm guessing Tony,
we'll probably try to get on review the college football
playoffs and we should then at some point have some
more declarations in terms of who's coming out in the draft.
So all if more news for you then can't wait.
It should be a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Absolutely, it's gonna get good, it's gonna get crazy, is
gonna get busy.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
No problem, Tony. Happy New Year, my friend. Always a pleasure.
And you can find more of Tony's work on sports Kidding.
You got mock draft anything coming out that people should
keep an eye on.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
Yeah, we've I've actually been tasked with doing team by
team mock drafts, so we've done it by division. We've
gone I go five round deeps five rounds deep every team.
I believe the NFC East went up yesterday, so Giant
fans may want to check that one out. Five rounds deep.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
Guys one or two players he gave to the Giants
in that it was.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
Very offensive in the first and second round. So guys
who handled the ball, so.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
You know they're a quarterback in there.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
There absolutely is. Now. Granted this was when the Giants
had the first you know, you got to try and
keep up. But this was submitted before the Giants had
their okawhelming victory on the Indianapolis Cults. But I still
think the Giants the way chicks out will come out
with the quarterback. So, yes, one was a quarterback at
the other one was the guy who was a player
that carries the ball. Uh, we're focused on helping the offense.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
All right, good stuff. Check that out on sports Key
to Tony. Good stuff.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
My friend always appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (46:12):
Look forward to next week, Jock.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Yeah me too.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Draft season was brought to you by Moody is a
proud partner of the New York Giants, uniting the brightest
minds that turn today's risk into tomorrow's opportunities. Learn more
at moodies dot com. For Tony Pauline, I'm John Schmilk.
We'll see you next week on draft season.
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