September 2, 2025 • 33 mins
This week on Weekend Warriors, Anish and Tom recap week 1 of the college football season, dissect North Carolina's embarrassing loss to TCU, preview the Panthers week 1 match up vs the Jaguars, discuss what role Travis Hunter will play in 2025, and so much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our world is changing, and I have a friend. Because
I can't think of a fake name on the spot,
I'm just gonna call him Jared.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Jared, Jared Jarared.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Okay, Jared has on our group chat an irrational fear
of what he feels is the incoming AI takeover. He
feels we're headed toward a world that looks a lot
like the Terminator movie franchise.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, or Eye Robot.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yes, so.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
A little bit of a scary moment. Do you remember
what we talked about in our open for the show
last week? Yes, talked about tigers.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, dude, I'm not kidding you.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
In less than twenty four hours my algorithm, I'm getting
all these nature videos. Here's a jaguar against a Cayman
tiger hunting a deer. Here is a lion going after
a zebra. I mean, it was like, somebody's out there listening.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Oh yeah, absolutely will. It's scary, you know what. I
My biggest fear in all of this stuff, especially in
the profession that we're in, is the ability to put
your face over somebody else's face, The ability to change
the movement of lips to match words and link it
(01:19):
to the correct sounding voice that could tie you to
saying something that could get you fired.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, you're not looking at that.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
You're not looking at that the right way, because it
also gives you leeway to say I never said that.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Oh I know, but I got I don't have I
don't have the IT department to prove otherwise.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
But it's funny. So I gave him this movie to watch.
I was on a plane this summer and you watch everything,
you've probably seen it. Yeah, And I didn't know what
it was until about like twenty five minutes of the movie,
and I'm going, oh, this is where we're going.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
It's called Companion.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Oh yeah, it's really good. Okay, I have a horror
thriller movie.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah, horror thriller like this dude's got an AI girlfriend
and then you know, things go haywire.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
So I sent this movie to Jared to go watch it,
and I think I scrambled him like it's his worst
fears now manifesting in real life.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
That was actually a pretty cool movie and a great concept.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
It was a great concept. Yeah, but what here's the thing.
You're you're walking away from that, going, we're not that
far off from that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
We're not.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
At all.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
See, now you're getting me worried about it. I never
worried about that until today.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
No, we've got all these things that are manufactured that
we're worried about. Yeah, and maybe you know, we should
all just be bracing for a robot overlords to control us,
and you know we'll be under their thumb by twenty forty.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, right, listen, Hey, all I know is not to
go down theot robot aipath. But you know, my son's
in college. Uh, he's striving to get a college degree.
He's fortunate enough to be on scholarship, so his goal
is to graduate early and then be able to earn
a master's degree while on scholarship so he doesn't have
(03:11):
to pay for it. Right, and then we've been had.
He really enjoys blue collar type of employment work, Like
he started his own little junk cauling business. Then in
this past summer, for like a month and a half,
he just posted on Facebook marketing place, hey, I'll come
up pick up your stuff. I'll drop it off of
the dumper, I'll take it to Goodwill, what have you.
(03:32):
He ended up making like fifteen hundred dollars just going
out and doing it on his own and he loved it.
And you know what I told him? Plumbers, electricians, contractors, roofers, flooring,
drywall guys. Guess what can't be replaced by AI?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Robots?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Those guys, dude, I'm telling you, go. I think that
there's so there's so much value in some of those
trade areas. And if I give you love it, go
get your degree and then go make fifty six dollars
an hour being an electrician.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
You know how we worry about somebody younger and cheaper
coming to us. Yeah, those might end up being robots.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Maybe maybe, but they won't be AI.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
There'll be something, Yeah, there'll be something, Ladies and gentlemen.
The Weekend prose to the.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Episode caught by Feeling Touchdown Carolina.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Weekend Warriors.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Week two of the twenty twenty five season is about
to start in college football Week one in the NFL.
We kind of previewed some of the big games for
the opening week of college football season last week. The
game that we didn't really talk about was the UNCTCU game.
It happened last night. Sure, we both watched it, and
(05:00):
I don't know, man, the disconnect between anticipation and reality.
I mean, that was the Gulf of America, the Gulf
of Mexico, whatever it's called these days. That was Rand Canyon.
It was a wide golf and for one drive, you're
kind of going, all right, Belichick, Carolina, let's go. Michael
(05:22):
Jordan's happy, Randy Moss is cheering. Roy Williams is up there.
And then it kind of felt like when TCU played
Georgia and the championship, except this time it was TCU
doing it to North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah, wah wah wah.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And then you know, right before the half of not
being able to capitalize off the interception, TCU gets the
pick six. Yeah, to begin the third quarter, you know,
the seventy five yard touchdown ballgame, and it just snowballed
from there. I walked away going, all right, Bill Belichick's
seventy three years old. All right, I still think he's
a good football coach.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
In a brilliance. She is.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
But this isn't a guy that you bring in to
be a part of some long term rebuild. The reason
you brought them in is so you can win now,
win immediately. Right for me, you don't want to jump
to conclusions after week one, but that is my concern
seventy new players, forty transfers. This may not get right quickly.
(06:19):
And if it doesn't get right quickly, you do have
to ask yourself, well, why him?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yes? And you know, to kind of put this into
a professional football type of analogy. This is the equivalent
of having an expansion franchise right over, seventy plus new players,
and then you don't have the luxury of a four
or five week training camp, three or four preseason games.
(06:46):
You kick the ball off week one. It's live and
it's real, and so is the result. And you know,
I made a joke last night to somebody, because I'm
sure you saw them this on social media that when
the press got into the press box and they saw
the flip carr, there were no names on it, right right, Well,
had they put names on it, it might have been
sixty eight to seventeen. I mean, I'm I'm I'm looking
(07:09):
at this from a personnel standpoint, and Bill Belichick's all
about personnel, right He and Micha Lombardi were tasked with
putting together a roster that could compete. To your point,
right away, clearly it is listen, it's one week we
got to avoid making you know, declarations about what a
team's gonna be all year long.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
At CCU might end up being real good. That's the
part Week one. They are good. They are good.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
That quarterback is a dude, right, And let's not forget
too not and I'll get back to my point. But
this was the same team that went through this already
two years ago in the exact same scenario with Colorado,
and they didn't take it seriously. And they did they
they did what Alabama did on Saturday two years ago.
(07:56):
They weren't following for the banana and the tailpipe two
times in a row. There was no way that was
going to happen. And at the end of the day,
this has become so much about Bill Belichick and not
about the players on the roster. The fact is they're
not good enough. They're not a good enough football team,
and in college football being the different game than it is.
(08:19):
And one thing that I noticed immediately was when TCU
started getting some first downs and they started going up tempo.
If you watched the defensive side of the ball for
North Carolina, they weren't even lined up like they were
so out of their element in relationship to how this
(08:40):
game is played as opposed to professional football, that they're
really going to have to get back to the drawing
board and say, okay, we got to start addressing defensively
how we approach what offensive football is in college football.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
You made me think about something before we started this.
We were talking there's a part of me that you know, wondered,
and this stemmed from a conversation I had with Luke
Keigley about a year or so ago. Luke's doing a
college football game, and you know, Luke is the beautiful
mind right watching football, and he's watching tape, and he
(09:19):
was kind of baffled, like at some of the concepts
that were in play, because one, you don't see them
in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
A couple of times he just said.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
They're reading half the field, like if you did this,
and if you did this and you could score on
every play, or why aren't they doing this and why
aren't they doing that? And I remember having that in
the back of my mind and going, Okay, now you
have a guy like Belichick, who, throughout his NFL career
with all the Super Bowls, was so good at watching
the film, picking apart your defense, knowing how to attacking
(09:47):
attack it, putting that game plan together. But what we
were talking about before we went on, right, I said,
you know, hey, you translate that to college. Shouldn't it
be an advantage? Shouldn't he just run circles around most
of these guys? You said, not so fast? And I
was thinking about it, right. Innovation in football, what does
that happen? Happens at the high school level, yep, to
the college level. Where do you see the least amount
(10:09):
of it at the National Football League level in the NFL?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yes? And you notice if you've noticed, and it started
with Andy Reid at Kansas City, not when he had
Patrick Mahomes. It was when they made the trade of
Alex Smith to Washington. What I think Andy Reid and
understand Andy Reid was born out of the West Coast
offense womb okay Man. Yeah, ap, and Andy Reid sat
(10:37):
back and said, guys, high school to college, especially at
the quarterback position, is not being coached or taught the
way the NFL for fifty years has coached and taught
quarterback play. So we're not going to change the stripes
on a tiger when we get a guy at twenty
two years old. So we need to stop trying to
(10:59):
stick a square pet in a round hole and saying, Okay,
we're gonna make this guy run the West Coast offense.
We're going to make this guy run the multiple pro
style what Andy Reid did, and go back and watch
Kansas City. Kansas City on offense looks like a college team.
They do. They look like a college team. And they
looked at Patrick Mahomes and said, how do we maximize
(11:20):
all of his traits? Well, we need to rethink what
our entire offensive philosophy is, all right, And you started
to see that, and then next thing you know, Philadelphia
did it with Nick Foles all right on their team.
And so now I think what the NFL is coming
to the realization with is if the guys that are
(11:42):
out there are going to be Baker Mayfield, they're going
to be Jalen Hurts, they're going to be Patrick Mahomes,
They're gonna be guys that have come up through some
form of the spread or the air raid zone read RPO, moving,
the pocket jet sweets, orbit motion, all of that up.
We better start adapting to who they are, well, not
(12:04):
the other way around.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
To your point, the NFL is always last in line
when it comes Yes, if you think about it, the
full back, right, the twenty one personnel offenses with.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
The full back.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
The full back died out last in the NFL. Breck
already gone in college football by the time it died
out in the NFL. When the NFL really started to
go to eleven personnel, three wide receiver, one running back
formation as more or less of its base setting, that
was after college had been doing it for a decade.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Absolutely right, Now, go ahead, go ahead and finish up
what I was. What I was going to say is
but now look what's happening. So I'm gonna use two
teams as example. So what you just outlined there is
more spread concepts. Eleven personnel spread the field, right, So
(12:58):
what an NFL defense is start doing? They starting smaller, smaller, leaner,
and faster because they're sitting there going we can't play
traditional defense against this anymore. So now the Eagles, the Ravens,
and the Eagles now are going, hmm, look at what
people are on defense. Now, maybe we start going back
(13:20):
to twenty two personnel twelve personnel and start utilizing the
defense in their personnel against them by now putting them
in a phone booth and saying Okay, six foot three,
two hundred and thirty pounds safety slash linebacker, hybrid guy,
let's see if you can hold up in a phone booth. Right.
And so it's starting to come around a little bit.
(13:41):
And this is this is cyclical. This is what happens
in football.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
And that's again we've talked about it. That's part of
the reason the running back position is making a comeback.
But yes, you kind of put a ball on this
Belichick thing. It is one week and I want to
hit pause. I don't want to, you know, jump to
some foregone conclusion here.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Yeah, but I think if you're a North.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Carolina fan today, boy, I mean you went from feeling hope, optimism,
and even if there was a big question mark, there
was sort of an excitement for what this could be. Because,
let's be honest, I mean, they've had Butch Davis as
their head coach, they've had Mac Brown as their head coach,
(14:22):
they have invested in football. Right for years, it was
a basketball school and there were a lot of people,
as you and I know we live in this state,
there are a lot of people associated with UNC who
always wanted it to be a basketball school first, right,
changed you don't go hire Bill Belichick if you're not
all in on football. So they have devoted a lot
of resources to football. They watched it all to be great.
(14:42):
That's why you're paying Bill Belichick eight figures a year. However,
I think all of a sudden, now you're going, oh, boy,
did we get the right guy? Because again, seventy three
years old, I still have to believe there's a part
of him that wants to get back to the NFL
and chase the all time wins record.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Yeah, and if this starts to.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Go off the rails a little bit, I think he
got a wonder like, does Bill Belichick want to ride
it out right?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Well? And I think the other if you dig even deeper,
you're not dealing with men, You're dealing with kids. And
when you're dealing with kids that in large part were
brought together to put together a roster where some of
them are making money and there's no real allegiance to
the university or the school, how do you psychologically get
(15:35):
those kids back? How do you get them in line?
How do you get those kids toning the rope in
the same direction. Now, to end this discussion, I do
want to give a bit of a silver lining here.
Clearly the moment the game and the speed of play
was too big for Geo Lopez. Okay they want out?
Yeah what that?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
It felt that way?
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Absolutely, And I'm broadcast at some of Geo's games at
South Alabama. Good player, solid player. Is he going to
change your roster? No, if you thought that, you were
fooling yourself, and they invested some money in him. But
if you want to look at a positive, they picked
the wrong quarterback and the one that went in the
(16:19):
game may be their best answer. And if you're listening
to this podcast and you're not as familiar with Max Johnson,
go google Max Johnson and look at his productivity when
he's played at LSU in Texas, A and m His
problem hasn't been not playing well, it's done. He hasn't
been able to stay healthy. Right, So, this was a
(16:40):
guy that beat out two other guys to be the
quarterback last year at North Carolina breaks his legs severely
in the opening game against Minnesota a year ago. But
if you're a North Carolina fan, you may be looking
and saying, okay, maybe you start building this thing around him,
all right? And then obviously there's a lot of work
that needs to be done on defense. But go go
google Max Johnson. You'll find a guy that has played
(17:03):
really good football to this point. He's older, he's more mature.
Brad Johnson's son has an NFL lineage. It's been around
the game his entire time. So there's a positive if
you're a North Carolina fan.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah, our biggest takeaways from week one, I'm gonna give
you I'm gonna give you one and I'll couch this
with I think sometimes where we get in trouble this
time of the year, after week one, we want to
come to these unbelievable conclusions.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Absolutely knee jerk reactions.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
And I remember last year it was Georgia Tech, I believe,
who beat Florida State to open the season.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Wow, what a win.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
For Georgia Tech. Right, then Florida State ends up stinking.
I mean they were awful last year. Like ten to
and ten two and ten a year ago, that win
ended up not meaning anything in the grand scheme of things. Right,
you may have that this year, Right, we see a
win where uh it might be Florida State against Alabama
(17:59):
maybe alb Amas a seven and five team this year, Right,
that wind doesn't mean as much. But I think for
Kaitlin de Boor, who I think is a really good coach,
that was an impossible situation to start with the old
adage you never want to be the guy after the guy,
and very few have been able to succeed, right. I
think Steve Young, Joe Montana. There's one Aaron Rodgers, Brett
(18:22):
Farb that's replacing Bobby Knight, Right, I mean who came
after Bear Bryant, right exactly. And again, if you're an
Alabama fan and you live to see the glory days
of Bear Bryant, Nick Saban, you're not getting that again
in your lifetime. You're not You're not gonna get You
may have good seasons, you may have great seasons, but
(18:42):
that level of continued dominance, you're not seeing that again.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
And I think there's a little bit of hey.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Man, I wish we appreciated the good old days while
we were in them if you're a Bama fan. But
I just think the bar in Tuscaloosa is so high
because of what Nick Saban did for you know, the
better part of a decade and a half there, and
I think it's an impossible bar to reach if you're
Kayalin Debor and there's already a lot of scars on
(19:11):
his resume early in his tenure. Like, you hate to
say it, but you almost feel like he's one more
bad loss away from I mean, I know he's got
what's seventy million left on that deal whatever, but yeah,
this just doesn't look like it's gonna work. I hate
(19:32):
to say it, Like, I know where in year two
it just doesn't feel like this is gonna work.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Well, I totally agree with you that it's almost an
impossible task. You could get gone out and hired nine
other guys. Okay, you might have the same thing. That's
the deal. I think where Alabama fans are deservedly concerned
is what took place on Saturday was a lack of preparation,
(19:58):
a lack of effort, lack of discipline, a lack of execution.
And that is coaching. That is preparing a football team. Now, Listen,
they were set up for a trap because when you're
dealing with young people like that, and you're playing a
team that was two and ten a year ago and
nobody really knows even if they are improved, you're Alabama
(20:22):
with the better roster. What a state won that game
the other Alabama still had. If you said, Okay, I'm
going to trade my roster and Mike Norba, I'm gonna
trade my roster in terms of talent for Alabama's, he
would do it, all right. So that tells you that
there are other factors at play here and he may
(20:42):
not be able to overcome them, because that was an
embarrassing outing that had nothing to do with talent, and
that I think is concerning and it's fair. It's a
fair criticism on behalf of Alabama fans now Alabama fans,
and we all know this, seventeen years of sustained dominance.
(21:04):
It's human nature to become complacent, to think it's easy, right,
to have fatigue.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
This is hug right, I mean that's absolutely that's how
you look at it.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
You're in your condition to do so. So then when
things don't go well, it gets overly magnified, maybe more
so than it should, especially a place like Alabama.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
And I think of Nick Saban's approach when he took
that job. Remember when he took the Alabama job, that
program was in tatters. Oh absolutely, and when he went
in there was a lot of Listen, I'm the CEO,
but I'm also a dictator.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
You need to accept that.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
And all the other people who wanted to cook in
the kitchen told him get out. Absolutely have to give
me the space to do this. We saw a lot
of this at Texas over the years. Was Mac Brown?
Why couldn't the next guy succeed? It wasn't that they
hired coaches who hadn't had success. Tom Herman was successful
at Houston, Charge successful at Louisville. Right, you had these guys,
(22:05):
but there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen,
and it took a guy like Sark to come in
and say no, just because he's a four star, we
don't like him on tape.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
We want to take it.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Instead of trying to win National Signing Day, we're trying
to win football games. And it finally took a guy
like Sark to kind of clear out that noise, build
the cocoon within the program. We don't know the inner
workings of what's going on with Alabama, but you wonder if, again,
is Kaylin debor equipped to handle that, because when you
had that kind of success, people want to be a
(22:38):
part of it. Saban's now gone, can you handle all
that white noise. And we're not talking about media and hype.
It's the people around the program. It's the boosters, it's everybody.
Why you know you want my money, then you got
to do this, and you gotta do this. And I
want to say in this like that stuff, especially now
with the money flowing in and out of the sport,
that stuff is real and you need a guy at
(23:00):
the top who can handle that well.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Even though maybe the worst component to what you just
outlined there is the Nick Saban Disciples, boosters fan whatever
that want to come in and say, well, Nick did
it this way. Because when the Bear Bryant Disciples tried
to do that, Nick Saban was in a position because
the program was at an entirely different place to say no,
get out of my office. And he you know, Mike
(23:25):
Shuler couldn't do that, Mike Debos couldn't do that right,
and so he was able to do that. Sark was
able to do that. Well. The DKR, the Darryl O. K.
Royal and the and the mac Brown people came well,
well we did this is how we did it. No,
get out, this isn't what, this isn't how this is
going to operate. There is one cook in the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And so to me, you're right, I don't know if
he's going to be able to overcome that because of
the status and the state of the program was in
as he inherited it, and that is uh, well, listen,
you know it comes with the territory. It's not as
if Kaylen n Boor didn't know what he was getting into.
(24:05):
Of course he did. But there's a lot of people
too that will sit there and say, when you hire
somebody that has not been involved in football in that
part of the country or been a coach in the
secerent animal, it's a different animal. And is that fair?
Maybe not? But right, wrong or indifferent, there's some reality
to it.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I remember at my alma mater, Syracuse, when they hired
Greg Robinson, a guy who really had no ties to
the Northeast, and he came in and it was disastrous
and in the program ten plus years to recover. He
didn't know anybody in the area. They lost some big
time recruits early on. You got to know Norwegian, you
got to know your surroundings, you got to know who
you're up against and know how people recruit against you.
(24:48):
It's a little different than Washington. Last thing here, Luke's
Panthers open up at Jacksonville and Travis Hunter, the number
two pick expected to play for the Jaguars. We saw
him a lot in college Heisman winner Bolitnikoff, one of
really the great collegiate careers we have ever seen. When
you think of the type of player he was, how
(25:09):
productive he was at two positions. I'll start with a
question for you, how do you think that all translates
to the NFL.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So people are going to hate this word, but for me,
because of the duration and the length of the season,
the duration and the length of camp in the preseason,
it's about maintenance. And I don't mean during the week
he doesn't practice or they give him days off. I'm
(25:42):
not talking about that. I'm talking about how do you
ensure that you get the best Travis Hunter? However, it
is that you want to use him not in week
one but in week seventeen. Right, So what is your
pitch count for him on defense? What does your pitch
count for him on offense? How do you utilize him?
(26:04):
How do you protect him? Let's listen at the end
of the day, as elite of an athlete and football
player as he is, He's not a physically imposing football player.
The toll on your body will eventually catch up with
you if you were overused. So how you maintain him
(26:25):
I think answers your question for the duration of the season,
because remember, the best ability is availability, is durability, and
that's what they've got to come up with a plan
that gets him from point A to point B where
he's uber productive. He's not overloaded mentally. Right, you can
(26:47):
do that too to guys and you get the best
version of him every time he's on the field.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I want to take that one step further because think
of what they invested in him. I mean, the Browns
have their number one pick next year, yep, right, this
season goes off the rails for Jacksonville. That's a potential
top five pick. Yeah, he took this guy second. Overall,
you view him as a franchise cornerstone. I look at
(27:14):
the longevity piece as beyond just a season as a career.
This guy is run down before the end of his
rookie deal. That does you no good, no no good.
And there's a part of me that was skeptical to
use an analogy from a different sport. And I brought
(27:34):
this up on her Panther talk show the other day.
We were having the same conversation when Shoheo Tani came
over from Japan. He both can't be a pitcher, you know,
they have their own routine and then he's gonna hit.
And the guy was really good at both. The difference
being he's had a couple of injuries that have limited
him as a pitcher, but he was still able to hit.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
You couldn't pitch, but you can dh.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
You could still see the bat and hit forty to
fifty home run and go steal thirty bases and all right,
you'll get back to the mound. Not being able to
do one didn't impact your ability to do the other.
And Eugene Robinson brought up this great point. He goes,
if something happens to.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Him, it's all three phases.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Well, it's all you're impacting two maybe three positions. Yeah,
he drafted him to be not just a starter, but
a star at corner and receiver, and so in theory,
the upside is, well, that's one roster spot to get
elite production at two positions. The downside is now if
you have an injury, that's two guys.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
You have to replace, and there's no one to one.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Right, and add the kicking game part of it too, right,
And so you know you're talking about three phases of
the game that are impacted and you get zero production.
To your point, you didn't get zero production with Otani, right,
you got some part of the game that's not the
case in football.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Otani last year and was the MVP right there. And
so again, I think the last piece here is, if
you're the Jaguars, and let's say you get through season one,
would Travis Hunter and the second half of the season, right,
if his production drops off, And the worry is if
it drops off on one side, it's probably gonna drop
(29:21):
off on the other for the same reasons fatigue maintenance.
Do you go back to the drawing board and say, okay,
let's just pick a position here, and if you do that,
where would you play?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
I would play him on offense?
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Initially, I would.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Because I think that his ability level gives them an
opportunity to have a Justin Jefferson, a Jamar Chase. He's
Thomas who right, right, right, and so and I and
I understand that receivers can be a dime ad dozen
and that corners are not. That was.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
My argument.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Yeah, and listen and I get that, but I also
think the transition is easier at wide receiver than it
is at corner.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
But you wouldn't you wouldn't leave him at corner as
a lockdown guy, especially giving out bad Jacksonville was on
defense last year. Yeah, Like to me, I think that's
where the need is.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Is he slated to be a starter on defense?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
We'll kind of wait and find out, like, yeah, right,
he had an injury in camp, And you know, I
use the word starter loosely because you know, the pitch
count thing is going to be very real. Absolutely, and
that's sort of what we're looking for, is you know,
what's the breakdown of snaps? Is he gonna play more here?
Is he gonna play more here? I think we're probably
gonna have more information on that as the week goes on,
(30:50):
and certainly on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I think the answer to that question, and it's one
that none of us will know, but internally in they're building,
they'll know where is he furthest along? Yeah, where is
he most prepared and most ready to make the biggest
impact and maybe that is defense, okay, And if it
is to me, that means that his mental side of
the game is really really strong, because there's more to
(31:14):
have to upload and download than just lining up and
saying you're here, this is your route. You know what
I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
What about this though, right, he's gonna be on the field.
You know how teams game plan them, and they did
this in college. We saw the Colorado State where they
took some cheap shots. Yeah, you're telling me that if
he's playing corner matched up against a big, physical wide
receiver on a run play, that guy's not going to
try to pancake Travis Hunter. Absolutely that if he's lined
(31:43):
up as a wide receiver, they're not going to try
to jack him up on the line of scrimmage. If
he's at the X, we'll, you know, make sure that
he's worn down by the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Every time he's on the field.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
That's real. That happens, it's real, and it's going to
not it happens. It's going to happen, and it's gonna
happen to him, and it's gonna happen right out of
the gate. They're gonna see what he can do. They're
gonna see can this guy handle press? To your point,
if he's playing wide out, can this guy get off
for press coverage? And if they get even a sniff
that he can't. He's gonna see it all day, Yeah, right,
(32:20):
all day.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
It's gonna be a fascinating experiment. We'll get to see
it firsthand. Sunday, one pm, Panthers Radio Network, Jaguars Panthers
to begin the season Week one. When we do this again,
next week, we'll have an NFL game to react to,
more college football to react to, animals, robots.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
I don't know, maybe you got some movie reviews. Next
week we'll figure out. I'll have some good stuff for you.
We'll come up with some good stuff. We'll come up
with some good stuff. He's Tom Lugan Bill. I have
any shrub subscribe, like all the stuff that the young
people do.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Please do that.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
This
Our world is changing, and I have a friend. Because
I can't think of a fake name on the spot,
I'm just gonna call him Jared.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Jared, Jared Jarared.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Okay, Jared has on our group chat an irrational fear
of what he feels is the incoming AI takeover. He
feels we're headed toward a world that looks a lot
like the Terminator movie franchise.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, or Eye Robot.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yes, so.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
A little bit of a scary moment. Do you remember
what we talked about in our open for the show
last week? Yes, talked about tigers.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, dude, I'm not kidding you.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
In less than twenty four hours my algorithm, I'm getting
all these nature videos. Here's a jaguar against a Cayman
tiger hunting a deer. Here is a lion going after
a zebra. I mean, it was like, somebody's out there listening.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Oh yeah, absolutely will. It's scary, you know what. I
My biggest fear in all of this stuff, especially in
the profession that we're in, is the ability to put
your face over somebody else's face, The ability to change
the movement of lips to match words and link it
(01:19):
to the correct sounding voice that could tie you to
saying something that could get you fired.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, you're not looking at that.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
You're not looking at that the right way, because it
also gives you leeway to say I never said that.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Oh I know, but I got I don't have I
don't have the IT department to prove otherwise.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
But it's funny. So I gave him this movie to watch.
I was on a plane this summer and you watch everything,
you've probably seen it. Yeah, And I didn't know what
it was until about like twenty five minutes of the movie,
and I'm going, oh, this is where we're going.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
It's called Companion.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Oh yeah, it's really good. Okay, I have a horror
thriller movie.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah, horror thriller like this dude's got an AI girlfriend
and then you know, things go haywire.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
So I sent this movie to Jared to go watch it,
and I think I scrambled him like it's his worst
fears now manifesting in real life.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
That was actually a pretty cool movie and a great concept.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
It was a great concept. Yeah, but what here's the thing.
You're you're walking away from that, going, we're not that
far off from that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
We're not.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
At all.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
See, now you're getting me worried about it. I never
worried about that until today.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
No, we've got all these things that are manufactured that
we're worried about. Yeah, and maybe you know, we should
all just be bracing for a robot overlords to control us,
and you know we'll be under their thumb by twenty forty.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, right, listen, Hey, all I know is not to
go down theot robot aipath. But you know, my son's
in college. Uh, he's striving to get a college degree.
He's fortunate enough to be on scholarship, so his goal
is to graduate early and then be able to earn
a master's degree while on scholarship so he doesn't have
(03:11):
to pay for it. Right, and then we've been had.
He really enjoys blue collar type of employment work, Like
he started his own little junk cauling business. Then in
this past summer, for like a month and a half,
he just posted on Facebook marketing place, hey, I'll come
up pick up your stuff. I'll drop it off of
the dumper, I'll take it to Goodwill, what have you.
(03:32):
He ended up making like fifteen hundred dollars just going
out and doing it on his own and he loved it.
And you know what I told him? Plumbers, electricians, contractors, roofers, flooring,
drywall guys. Guess what can't be replaced by AI?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Robots?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Those guys, dude, I'm telling you, go. I think that
there's so there's so much value in some of those
trade areas. And if I give you love it, go
get your degree and then go make fifty six dollars
an hour being an electrician.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
You know how we worry about somebody younger and cheaper
coming to us. Yeah, those might end up being robots.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Maybe maybe, but they won't be AI.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
There'll be something, Yeah, there'll be something, Ladies and gentlemen.
The Weekend prose to the.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Episode caught by Feeling Touchdown Carolina.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Weekend Warriors.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Week two of the twenty twenty five season is about
to start in college football Week one in the NFL.
We kind of previewed some of the big games for
the opening week of college football season last week. The
game that we didn't really talk about was the UNCTCU game.
It happened last night. Sure, we both watched it, and
(05:00):
I don't know, man, the disconnect between anticipation and reality.
I mean, that was the Gulf of America, the Gulf
of Mexico, whatever it's called these days. That was Rand Canyon.
It was a wide golf and for one drive, you're
kind of going, all right, Belichick, Carolina, let's go. Michael
(05:22):
Jordan's happy, Randy Moss is cheering. Roy Williams is up there.
And then it kind of felt like when TCU played
Georgia and the championship, except this time it was TCU
doing it to North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah, wah wah wah.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And then you know, right before the half of not
being able to capitalize off the interception, TCU gets the
pick six. Yeah, to begin the third quarter, you know,
the seventy five yard touchdown ballgame, and it just snowballed
from there. I walked away going, all right, Bill Belichick's
seventy three years old. All right, I still think he's
a good football coach.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
In a brilliance. She is.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
But this isn't a guy that you bring in to
be a part of some long term rebuild. The reason
you brought them in is so you can win now,
win immediately. Right for me, you don't want to jump
to conclusions after week one, but that is my concern
seventy new players, forty transfers. This may not get right quickly.
(06:19):
And if it doesn't get right quickly, you do have
to ask yourself, well, why him?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yes? And you know, to kind of put this into
a professional football type of analogy. This is the equivalent
of having an expansion franchise right over, seventy plus new players,
and then you don't have the luxury of a four
or five week training camp, three or four preseason games.
(06:46):
You kick the ball off week one. It's live and
it's real, and so is the result. And you know,
I made a joke last night to somebody, because I'm
sure you saw them this on social media that when
the press got into the press box and they saw
the flip carr, there were no names on it, right right, Well,
had they put names on it, it might have been
sixty eight to seventeen. I mean, I'm I'm I'm looking
(07:09):
at this from a personnel standpoint, and Bill Belichick's all
about personnel, right He and Micha Lombardi were tasked with
putting together a roster that could compete. To your point,
right away, clearly it is listen, it's one week we
got to avoid making you know, declarations about what a
team's gonna be all year long.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
At CCU might end up being real good. That's the
part Week one. They are good. They are good.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
That quarterback is a dude, right, And let's not forget
too not and I'll get back to my point. But
this was the same team that went through this already
two years ago in the exact same scenario with Colorado,
and they didn't take it seriously. And they did they
they did what Alabama did on Saturday two years ago.
(07:56):
They weren't following for the banana and the tailpipe two
times in a row. There was no way that was
going to happen. And at the end of the day,
this has become so much about Bill Belichick and not
about the players on the roster. The fact is they're
not good enough. They're not a good enough football team,
and in college football being the different game than it is.
(08:19):
And one thing that I noticed immediately was when TCU
started getting some first downs and they started going up tempo.
If you watched the defensive side of the ball for
North Carolina, they weren't even lined up like they were
so out of their element in relationship to how this
(08:40):
game is played as opposed to professional football, that they're
really going to have to get back to the drawing
board and say, okay, we got to start addressing defensively
how we approach what offensive football is in college football.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
You made me think about something before we started this.
We were talking there's a part of me that you know, wondered,
and this stemmed from a conversation I had with Luke
Keigley about a year or so ago. Luke's doing a
college football game, and you know, Luke is the beautiful
mind right watching football, and he's watching tape, and he
(09:19):
was kind of baffled, like at some of the concepts
that were in play, because one, you don't see them
in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
A couple of times he just said.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
They're reading half the field, like if you did this,
and if you did this and you could score on
every play, or why aren't they doing this and why
aren't they doing that? And I remember having that in
the back of my mind and going, Okay, now you
have a guy like Belichick, who, throughout his NFL career
with all the Super Bowls, was so good at watching
the film, picking apart your defense, knowing how to attacking
(09:47):
attack it, putting that game plan together. But what we
were talking about before we went on, right, I said,
you know, hey, you translate that to college. Shouldn't it
be an advantage? Shouldn't he just run circles around most
of these guys? You said, not so fast? And I
was thinking about it, right. Innovation in football, what does
that happen? Happens at the high school level, yep, to
the college level. Where do you see the least amount
(10:09):
of it at the National Football League level in the NFL?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yes? And you notice if you've noticed, and it started
with Andy Reid at Kansas City, not when he had
Patrick Mahomes. It was when they made the trade of
Alex Smith to Washington. What I think Andy Reid and
understand Andy Reid was born out of the West Coast
offense womb okay Man. Yeah, ap, and Andy Reid sat
(10:37):
back and said, guys, high school to college, especially at
the quarterback position, is not being coached or taught the
way the NFL for fifty years has coached and taught
quarterback play. So we're not going to change the stripes
on a tiger when we get a guy at twenty
two years old. So we need to stop trying to
(10:59):
stick a square pet in a round hole and saying, Okay,
we're gonna make this guy run the West Coast offense.
We're going to make this guy run the multiple pro
style what Andy Reid did, and go back and watch
Kansas City. Kansas City on offense looks like a college team.
They do. They look like a college team. And they
looked at Patrick Mahomes and said, how do we maximize
(11:20):
all of his traits? Well, we need to rethink what
our entire offensive philosophy is, all right, And you started
to see that, and then next thing you know, Philadelphia
did it with Nick Foles all right on their team.
And so now I think what the NFL is coming
to the realization with is if the guys that are
(11:42):
out there are going to be Baker Mayfield, they're going
to be Jalen Hurts, they're going to be Patrick Mahomes,
They're gonna be guys that have come up through some
form of the spread or the air raid zone read RPO, moving,
the pocket jet sweets, orbit motion, all of that up.
We better start adapting to who they are, well, not
(12:04):
the other way around.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
To your point, the NFL is always last in line
when it comes Yes, if you think about it, the
full back, right, the twenty one personnel offenses with.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
The full back.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
The full back died out last in the NFL. Breck
already gone in college football by the time it died
out in the NFL. When the NFL really started to
go to eleven personnel, three wide receiver, one running back
formation as more or less of its base setting, that
was after college had been doing it for a decade.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Absolutely right, Now, go ahead, go ahead and finish up
what I was. What I was going to say is
but now look what's happening. So I'm gonna use two
teams as example. So what you just outlined there is
more spread concepts. Eleven personnel spread the field, right, So
(12:58):
what an NFL defense is start doing? They starting smaller, smaller, leaner,
and faster because they're sitting there going we can't play
traditional defense against this anymore. So now the Eagles, the Ravens,
and the Eagles now are going, hmm, look at what
people are on defense. Now, maybe we start going back
(13:20):
to twenty two personnel twelve personnel and start utilizing the
defense in their personnel against them by now putting them
in a phone booth and saying Okay, six foot three,
two hundred and thirty pounds safety slash linebacker, hybrid guy,
let's see if you can hold up in a phone booth. Right.
And so it's starting to come around a little bit.
(13:41):
And this is this is cyclical. This is what happens
in football.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
And that's again we've talked about it. That's part of
the reason the running back position is making a comeback.
But yes, you kind of put a ball on this
Belichick thing. It is one week and I want to
hit pause. I don't want to, you know, jump to
some foregone conclusion here.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Yeah, but I think if you're a North.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Carolina fan today, boy, I mean you went from feeling hope, optimism,
and even if there was a big question mark, there
was sort of an excitement for what this could be. Because,
let's be honest, I mean, they've had Butch Davis as
their head coach, they've had Mac Brown as their head coach,
(14:22):
they have invested in football. Right for years, it was
a basketball school and there were a lot of people,
as you and I know we live in this state,
there are a lot of people associated with UNC who
always wanted it to be a basketball school first, right,
changed you don't go hire Bill Belichick if you're not
all in on football. So they have devoted a lot
of resources to football. They watched it all to be great.
(14:42):
That's why you're paying Bill Belichick eight figures a year. However,
I think all of a sudden, now you're going, oh, boy,
did we get the right guy? Because again, seventy three
years old, I still have to believe there's a part
of him that wants to get back to the NFL
and chase the all time wins record.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Yeah, and if this starts to.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Go off the rails a little bit, I think he
got a wonder like, does Bill Belichick want to ride
it out right?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Well? And I think the other if you dig even deeper,
you're not dealing with men, You're dealing with kids. And
when you're dealing with kids that in large part were
brought together to put together a roster where some of
them are making money and there's no real allegiance to
the university or the school, how do you psychologically get
(15:35):
those kids back? How do you get them in line?
How do you get those kids toning the rope in
the same direction. Now, to end this discussion, I do
want to give a bit of a silver lining here.
Clearly the moment the game and the speed of play
was too big for Geo Lopez. Okay they want out?
Yeah what that?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
It felt that way?
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Absolutely, And I'm broadcast at some of Geo's games at
South Alabama. Good player, solid player. Is he going to
change your roster? No, if you thought that, you were
fooling yourself, and they invested some money in him. But
if you want to look at a positive, they picked
the wrong quarterback and the one that went in the
(16:19):
game may be their best answer. And if you're listening
to this podcast and you're not as familiar with Max Johnson,
go google Max Johnson and look at his productivity when
he's played at LSU in Texas, A and m His
problem hasn't been not playing well, it's done. He hasn't
been able to stay healthy. Right, So, this was a
(16:40):
guy that beat out two other guys to be the
quarterback last year at North Carolina breaks his legs severely
in the opening game against Minnesota a year ago. But
if you're a North Carolina fan, you may be looking
and saying, okay, maybe you start building this thing around him,
all right? And then obviously there's a lot of work
that needs to be done on defense. But go go
google Max Johnson. You'll find a guy that has played
(17:03):
really good football to this point. He's older, he's more mature.
Brad Johnson's son has an NFL lineage. It's been around
the game his entire time. So there's a positive if
you're a North Carolina fan.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah, our biggest takeaways from week one, I'm gonna give
you I'm gonna give you one and I'll couch this
with I think sometimes where we get in trouble this
time of the year, after week one, we want to
come to these unbelievable conclusions.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Absolutely knee jerk reactions.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
And I remember last year it was Georgia Tech, I believe,
who beat Florida State to open the season.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Wow, what a win.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
For Georgia Tech. Right, then Florida State ends up stinking.
I mean they were awful last year. Like ten to
and ten two and ten a year ago, that win
ended up not meaning anything in the grand scheme of things. Right,
you may have that this year, Right, we see a
win where uh it might be Florida State against Alabama
(17:59):
maybe alb Amas a seven and five team this year, Right,
that wind doesn't mean as much. But I think for
Kaitlin de Boor, who I think is a really good coach,
that was an impossible situation to start with the old
adage you never want to be the guy after the guy,
and very few have been able to succeed, right. I
think Steve Young, Joe Montana. There's one Aaron Rodgers, Brett
(18:22):
Farb that's replacing Bobby Knight, Right, I mean who came
after Bear Bryant, right exactly. And again, if you're an
Alabama fan and you live to see the glory days
of Bear Bryant, Nick Saban, you're not getting that again
in your lifetime. You're not You're not gonna get You
may have good seasons, you may have great seasons, but
(18:42):
that level of continued dominance, you're not seeing that again.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
And I think there's a little bit of hey.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Man, I wish we appreciated the good old days while
we were in them if you're a Bama fan. But
I just think the bar in Tuscaloosa is so high
because of what Nick Saban did for you know, the
better part of a decade and a half there, and
I think it's an impossible bar to reach if you're
Kayalin Debor and there's already a lot of scars on
(19:11):
his resume early in his tenure. Like, you hate to
say it, but you almost feel like he's one more
bad loss away from I mean, I know he's got
what's seventy million left on that deal whatever, but yeah,
this just doesn't look like it's gonna work. I hate
(19:32):
to say it, Like, I know where in year two
it just doesn't feel like this is gonna work.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Well, I totally agree with you that it's almost an
impossible task. You could get gone out and hired nine
other guys. Okay, you might have the same thing. That's
the deal. I think where Alabama fans are deservedly concerned
is what took place on Saturday was a lack of preparation,
(19:58):
a lack of effort, lack of discipline, a lack of execution.
And that is coaching. That is preparing a football team. Now, Listen,
they were set up for a trap because when you're
dealing with young people like that, and you're playing a
team that was two and ten a year ago and
nobody really knows even if they are improved, you're Alabama
(20:22):
with the better roster. What a state won that game
the other Alabama still had. If you said, Okay, I'm
going to trade my roster and Mike Norba, I'm gonna
trade my roster in terms of talent for Alabama's, he
would do it, all right. So that tells you that
there are other factors at play here and he may
(20:42):
not be able to overcome them, because that was an
embarrassing outing that had nothing to do with talent, and
that I think is concerning and it's fair. It's a
fair criticism on behalf of Alabama fans now Alabama fans,
and we all know this, seventeen years of sustained dominance.
(21:04):
It's human nature to become complacent, to think it's easy, right,
to have fatigue.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
This is hug right, I mean that's absolutely that's how
you look at it.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
You're in your condition to do so. So then when
things don't go well, it gets overly magnified, maybe more
so than it should, especially a place like Alabama.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
And I think of Nick Saban's approach when he took
that job. Remember when he took the Alabama job, that
program was in tatters. Oh absolutely, and when he went
in there was a lot of Listen, I'm the CEO,
but I'm also a dictator.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
You need to accept that.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
And all the other people who wanted to cook in
the kitchen told him get out. Absolutely have to give
me the space to do this. We saw a lot
of this at Texas over the years. Was Mac Brown?
Why couldn't the next guy succeed? It wasn't that they
hired coaches who hadn't had success. Tom Herman was successful
at Houston, Charge successful at Louisville. Right, you had these guys,
(22:05):
but there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen,
and it took a guy like Sark to come in
and say no, just because he's a four star, we
don't like him on tape.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
We want to take it.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Instead of trying to win National Signing Day, we're trying
to win football games. And it finally took a guy
like Sark to kind of clear out that noise, build
the cocoon within the program. We don't know the inner
workings of what's going on with Alabama, but you wonder if, again,
is Kaylin debor equipped to handle that, because when you
had that kind of success, people want to be a
(22:38):
part of it. Saban's now gone, can you handle all
that white noise. And we're not talking about media and hype.
It's the people around the program. It's the boosters, it's everybody.
Why you know you want my money, then you got
to do this, and you gotta do this. And I
want to say in this like that stuff, especially now
with the money flowing in and out of the sport,
that stuff is real and you need a guy at
(23:00):
the top who can handle that well.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Even though maybe the worst component to what you just
outlined there is the Nick Saban Disciples, boosters fan whatever
that want to come in and say, well, Nick did
it this way. Because when the Bear Bryant Disciples tried
to do that, Nick Saban was in a position because
the program was at an entirely different place to say no,
get out of my office. And he you know, Mike
(23:25):
Shuler couldn't do that, Mike Debos couldn't do that right,
and so he was able to do that. Sark was
able to do that. Well. The DKR, the Darryl O. K.
Royal and the and the mac Brown people came well,
well we did this is how we did it. No,
get out, this isn't what, this isn't how this is
going to operate. There is one cook in the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And so to me, you're right, I don't know if
he's going to be able to overcome that because of
the status and the state of the program was in
as he inherited it, and that is uh, well, listen,
you know it comes with the territory. It's not as
if Kaylen n Boor didn't know what he was getting into.
(24:05):
Of course he did. But there's a lot of people
too that will sit there and say, when you hire
somebody that has not been involved in football in that
part of the country or been a coach in the
secerent animal, it's a different animal. And is that fair?
Maybe not? But right, wrong or indifferent, there's some reality
to it.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I remember at my alma mater, Syracuse, when they hired
Greg Robinson, a guy who really had no ties to
the Northeast, and he came in and it was disastrous
and in the program ten plus years to recover. He
didn't know anybody in the area. They lost some big
time recruits early on. You got to know Norwegian, you
got to know your surroundings, you got to know who
you're up against and know how people recruit against you.
(24:48):
It's a little different than Washington. Last thing here, Luke's
Panthers open up at Jacksonville and Travis Hunter, the number
two pick expected to play for the Jaguars. We saw
him a lot in college Heisman winner Bolitnikoff, one of
really the great collegiate careers we have ever seen. When
you think of the type of player he was, how
(25:09):
productive he was at two positions. I'll start with a
question for you, how do you think that all translates
to the NFL.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So people are going to hate this word, but for me,
because of the duration and the length of the season,
the duration and the length of camp in the preseason,
it's about maintenance. And I don't mean during the week
he doesn't practice or they give him days off. I'm
(25:42):
not talking about that. I'm talking about how do you
ensure that you get the best Travis Hunter? However, it
is that you want to use him not in week
one but in week seventeen. Right, So what is your
pitch count for him on defense? What does your pitch
count for him on offense? How do you utilize him?
(26:04):
How do you protect him? Let's listen at the end
of the day, as elite of an athlete and football
player as he is, He's not a physically imposing football player.
The toll on your body will eventually catch up with
you if you were overused. So how you maintain him
(26:25):
I think answers your question for the duration of the season,
because remember, the best ability is availability, is durability, and
that's what they've got to come up with a plan
that gets him from point A to point B where
he's uber productive. He's not overloaded mentally. Right, you can
(26:47):
do that too to guys and you get the best
version of him every time he's on the field.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I want to take that one step further because think
of what they invested in him. I mean, the Browns
have their number one pick next year, yep, right, this
season goes off the rails for Jacksonville. That's a potential
top five pick. Yeah, he took this guy second. Overall,
you view him as a franchise cornerstone. I look at
(27:14):
the longevity piece as beyond just a season as a career.
This guy is run down before the end of his
rookie deal. That does you no good, no no good.
And there's a part of me that was skeptical to
use an analogy from a different sport. And I brought
(27:34):
this up on her Panther talk show the other day.
We were having the same conversation when Shoheo Tani came
over from Japan. He both can't be a pitcher, you know,
they have their own routine and then he's gonna hit.
And the guy was really good at both. The difference
being he's had a couple of injuries that have limited
him as a pitcher, but he was still able to hit.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
You couldn't pitch, but you can dh.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
You could still see the bat and hit forty to
fifty home run and go steal thirty bases and all right,
you'll get back to the mound. Not being able to
do one didn't impact your ability to do the other.
And Eugene Robinson brought up this great point. He goes,
if something happens to.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Him, it's all three phases.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Well, it's all you're impacting two maybe three positions. Yeah,
he drafted him to be not just a starter, but
a star at corner and receiver, and so in theory,
the upside is, well, that's one roster spot to get
elite production at two positions. The downside is now if
you have an injury, that's two guys.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
You have to replace, and there's no one to one.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Right, and add the kicking game part of it too, right,
And so you know you're talking about three phases of
the game that are impacted and you get zero production.
To your point, you didn't get zero production with Otani, right,
you got some part of the game that's not the
case in football.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Otani last year and was the MVP right there. And
so again, I think the last piece here is, if
you're the Jaguars, and let's say you get through season one,
would Travis Hunter and the second half of the season, right,
if his production drops off, And the worry is if
it drops off on one side, it's probably gonna drop
(29:21):
off on the other for the same reasons fatigue maintenance.
Do you go back to the drawing board and say, okay,
let's just pick a position here, and if you do that,
where would you play?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
I would play him on offense?
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Initially, I would.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Because I think that his ability level gives them an
opportunity to have a Justin Jefferson, a Jamar Chase. He's
Thomas who right, right, right, and so and I and
I understand that receivers can be a dime ad dozen
and that corners are not. That was.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
My argument.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Yeah, and listen and I get that, but I also
think the transition is easier at wide receiver than it
is at corner.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
But you wouldn't you wouldn't leave him at corner as
a lockdown guy, especially giving out bad Jacksonville was on
defense last year. Yeah, Like to me, I think that's
where the need is.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Is he slated to be a starter on defense?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
We'll kind of wait and find out, like, yeah, right,
he had an injury in camp, And you know, I
use the word starter loosely because you know, the pitch
count thing is going to be very real. Absolutely, and
that's sort of what we're looking for, is you know,
what's the breakdown of snaps? Is he gonna play more here?
Is he gonna play more here? I think we're probably
gonna have more information on that as the week goes on,
(30:50):
and certainly on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I think the answer to that question, and it's one
that none of us will know, but internally in they're building,
they'll know where is he furthest along? Yeah, where is
he most prepared and most ready to make the biggest
impact and maybe that is defense, okay, And if it
is to me, that means that his mental side of
the game is really really strong, because there's more to
(31:14):
have to upload and download than just lining up and
saying you're here, this is your route. You know what
I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
What about this though, right, he's gonna be on the field.
You know how teams game plan them, and they did
this in college. We saw the Colorado State where they
took some cheap shots. Yeah, you're telling me that if
he's playing corner matched up against a big, physical wide
receiver on a run play, that guy's not going to
try to pancake Travis Hunter. Absolutely that if he's lined
(31:43):
up as a wide receiver, they're not going to try
to jack him up on the line of scrimmage. If
he's at the X, we'll, you know, make sure that
he's worn down by the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Every time he's on the field.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
That's real. That happens, it's real, and it's going to
not it happens. It's going to happen, and it's gonna
happen to him, and it's gonna happen right out of
the gate. They're gonna see what he can do. They're
gonna see can this guy handle press? To your point,
if he's playing wide out, can this guy get off
for press coverage? And if they get even a sniff
that he can't. He's gonna see it all day, Yeah, right,
(32:20):
all day.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
It's gonna be a fascinating experiment. We'll get to see
it firsthand. Sunday, one pm, Panthers Radio Network, Jaguars Panthers
to begin the season Week one. When we do this again,
next week, we'll have an NFL game to react to,
more college football to react to, animals, robots.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
I don't know, maybe you got some movie reviews. Next
week we'll figure out. I'll have some good stuff for you.
We'll come up with some good stuff. We'll come up
with some good stuff. He's Tom Lugan Bill. I have
any shrub subscribe, like all the stuff that the young
people do.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Please do that.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
This
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