The "ACC Challenge" Edition

Which school is the biggest threat to Clemson in the ACC in 2025?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Each time for Clipson Sports Talk with Loton Swan call
me Swinny. Finally, Clemson Sports Talk has come back two

(00:49):
drive time. Hello everybody, Low and Swan back in the
saddle once again. It is the show that shakes the
south Land. Clemson Sports Talk for you each and every
afternoon as you make your way or the great state
of South Carolina and beyond, listening to us on incredible
radio stations like Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred the Midlands,
around the world on the iHeart Radio application. Download it today,

(01:12):
it's free. The website. Put the dot com on it, doggonnet.
That's Clemson Sports Talk dot com. E three four five
oh zero zero eighty six. That is the text line
and the phone line. And again the show the Shakespeare
Southland brought to you in part by our good friends

(01:32):
over at mets Plumbing seven three two drip Drip, drip drip,
you know the jingle seven three to two drip. That's
mets Plumbing, mets plumber dot com. That's the website as well.
Man glad to be back. Hope you all had a
wonderful Fourth of July. Obviously the weekend the great celebration

(01:58):
across the country fireworks and all of that, and just
hot dogs and hamburgers and Joey Chestnutt returning and getting
a little closer to college football. I mean, I feel you.
I feel you on all fronts. And of course with
a holiday, having Friday off, the calendar continues to move

(02:21):
at a rapid pace towards the ACC kickoff. Now next
week we're actually on vacation. We're gonna be off all
next week. Then we'll come back for the ACC kickoff,
then college football seasoning practice and everything will be right
around the bin. We got the update from Clemson today
about Davosweeney's media outing, which will take place next week.

(02:41):
So it's it's almost talking season. We're almost there. Won't
be long. And again we'd love for you to follow
all of our work over on the website Clemson Sports
Talk dot com eight three four five zero zero eighty six.
But you know, a couple of things I do want

(03:03):
to talk about, certainly the fourth of July, the fourth
of July holiday, and you know, for families, it really
to travel. We came back. We are fortunate that we
were able to leave and get home before Sunday, because

(03:23):
I know traffic on the interstate yesterday was pretty rough
for everybody trying to make their way to and probably
from the beach, given the Sunday shift off of the
Fourth of July weekend with check ins and checkouts. But
you know, the great thing about it, and I think

(03:45):
the State of South Carolina does a really good job
with the salute from the shore, where you've got the
planes that will fly up and down the coast to
give an opportunity for people, you know, to wave and
show their preciation for our military. We also get a
chance to celebrate our independence from England, and many of

(04:08):
you participate in some sort of or you go to
some sort of Fourth of July parade. Of course down
where I wasn't for ap Island, there's a Fourth of
July parade every year and they basically dive into a theme,
whatever it is. In this case, I believe it was superheroes.

(04:29):
And it looked like everybody found about the same Spider
Man or Batman balloon to blow up for the parade,
because just about everywhere I looked it was kind of
the same one on the top of a golf cart
or whatever. But either way, Sand Shore, cold beverages of choice,

(04:59):
hanging out with the kids kids. We got lucky and
ran into some friends from Lexington, and that meant that
my kids had people that they could you know, go
and some kids that they could go and play with,
which obviously allowed them to have more fun. They didn't
have to drag Dad out into the ocean. And boy,
I'll tell you what the waves were rough. I know,

(05:20):
there was a tropical depression, tropical storm, you know, making
this way towards the East coast over the weekend. And dude,
that thing when I got in the water, I was
getting beat around. It was rough, tough sledding out there.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Now.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
I didn't try to do any body surfing or anything,
but had a good time. And then, you know the thing,
the other thing I can't get off my mind is
the situation that took place out in Texas with the
tragic flooding. And you know, I think this is a
good lesson for me in the sense of and I

(06:03):
think you can probably relate with certain situations where distance,
right like how far you are from the event, can
can give you the ability, as tragic as it is,
to kind of distance yourself a little bit. Unfortunately, I

(06:23):
think as humans we try to do that. We don't
want to think of the the tragic side of it,
you know what I mean? Like you say, you say
your thoughts and prayers, and you think about it briefly,
but you try to just move on because it didn't
happen in your backyard. And I think it was George
Carlin who talked about this at one point. And you know,

(06:46):
the closer tragedy is to you, the more impact that
you are by it. And in Carlin's situation, he was
making light of issues. But so many young children dying
it and and I want to refresh Karlin not making
light of you know, children dying by any means, but

(07:08):
you know, a comedy routine obviously, But for me, like
it really hit home because one of the fathers was
a turns out, not one of the fathers that died,
but one of the fathers of an eight year old
girl that passed away I knew. I took him across
the country. I actually stayed at a campground very similar

(07:31):
or very close to where these children were in Kerrville, Texas.
I took this young man who's now lost his daughter
in this tragic event back in two thousand, across the
country and to get to my point, I think, you know,

(07:53):
as human beings, Like I said, I think we do
try to distance ourselves because it's hard for us to
justify tragedy of that magnitude, and it's very difficult for
us to to fathom the loss. And when you don't

(08:14):
know anybody that's directly affected by it, I think our instinct,
I think it's just ingrained into us, is, you know,
to pray for the individuals who were affected by it,
and then we we rather rapidly move on. And that
is okay, that is it is perfectly divine. I'm not

(08:35):
telling you that you have to feel any differently than
you already do, because I know anybody that heard of
this situation absolutely their heart breaks for everybody that's involved.
And you question, how did it happen? Why didn't these kids,
why weren't they able to be evacuated? How did the
you know, how did the camp not have a better
insight into that this was going to happen, or you

(08:57):
know all of that, right, I mean, it's it's just tragic.
And so when I found out I got tagged in
a post on Facebook and that it ended up being
the daughter of a guy that I took out West
when he was probably sixteen seventeen years old on a

(09:18):
trip called Teens West Were Bound. I haven't been able
to shake it, and I think that also is probably
a bit of an indicator of the fact that there's
the other side of being a human. When you don't
have a connection, your instinct is to distance yourself, and

(09:42):
then when you do have a connection. I've been thinking
of what can I do right. I can't do anything
in Texas, and unfortunately this individual and his family now
live in the state of Alabama, so it's incredibly difficult
to support or go to any type of memorial or

(10:03):
anything like that. But man, my heart, just my I
can't shake it. Man, my heart just aches for those parents,
and especially for what I would consider again, I was
a counselor, but I would say at this point in
his age, I would say, and we haven't talked. We
haven't talked in you know, twenty twenty years, twenty five years.

(10:28):
But I would say that, you know, my thoughts and
prayers have certainly been with my buddy Patrick, his wife,
their entire family, and everybody that's been affected by a man.
It's just a horrific and unfathomable situation for everybody involved.

(10:49):
So again, thoughts and prayers to that entire community and
those people affected outside of the community, and man especially
again my buddy Patrick, his wife and their families. So
there's never a great way to shift from a story
like that to sports, but that's unfortunately the nature of

(11:12):
this business when tragedy does strike at some point. So
we'll do our best to shift forward here on the
program on a Monday afternoon. Again, William Qwalkin Bush set
to join us in our number two. Looking forward to
catching up with Qualk. I'm interested to get his thoughts

(11:33):
on this, and I'll pose the question to you here
as well in your estimation. And again, I know we've
got to get through some more of these these over unders.
We haven't gotten Clemson in South Carolina. We've saved a
handful of teams purposefully for the stretch run. But looking

(11:59):
at the Atlantic Coast Conference and thinking about all of
the expectations that Clemson has nationally, one of the things
that I think we can all safely admit at this
point is that you really don't hear a whole lot

(12:22):
about Clemson not winning the Atlantic Coast Conference. And it's
interesting because It's not as if this Clemson Tiger team
over the past few seasons has been invincible. I mean,
even last year with the run to the College Football Playoff,

(12:43):
you still got beat at home by Louisville fairly convincingly.
You obviously lost to South Carolina at home late, and
a disappointing performance, especially defensively, and I mean you just
kind of go through it all and you go Man's
This is not twenty fifteen to twenty twenty Clemson. This

(13:06):
is not like I saw a video over the weekend.
And you know, I think with the way Clemson won
against Notre Dame and Alabama and the national championship at
twenty eighteen, I think, to a degree, you forget what

(13:28):
that Clemson Tiger team did throughout the season. Right, this
is not sixty three to three Wake Force Clemson, fifty
nine to ten Florida State Clemson, seventy seven sixteen over
Louisville Clemson. Right, these games a year ago, in a

(13:50):
lot of respects, it was a lot of tight games
in addition to the losses. I mean, twenty nine to
thirteen win over Florida State. Sure, that's a sixteen point advantage. Yes,
Clemson beat Wake Forest, beat Virginia handily, but twenty four

(14:10):
to fourteen over Virginia Tech, twenty four to twenty over
Pitt thirty four to thirty one, arrest MU. This team
is not invincible, but we seem to look at them,
at least nationally. People seem to look at them from
the standpoint of the Atlantic Coast Conference and really feel

(14:31):
like the Tigers are almost no brainers to win the league.
Now here's what the oddsmakers would tell you, and I
think a lot of it's going to depend on, honestly,
just how good Carson Becki is at Miami. But the
Miami Hurricanes check in currently as the second most likely

(14:54):
team to win the Atlantic Coast Conference. They say Miami
seemed ryan for college football playoff with cam Ward. However,
it wasn't meant to be. The Hurricanes still won ten games,
six in the ACC, but played in the Pop Tart
Bowl instead of having a shot at the national title
in twenty twenty four. By the way, more on the

(15:15):
Pop Tart Bowl coming up in the next segment. So
make sure you hang with us, because I got some
news on that front. They say. While Ward is in
the NFL, the Hurricanes replacing with another promising transfer quarterback
and Carson Beck and a tough clash against Notre Dame
will be all the rage in Week one, But Miami

(15:36):
can make a major statement with a win, no doubt,
no doubt about it. And there is a significant gap
between Miami and then Louisville in the mind's eye of
people on three saying Louisville with a twenty twenty four
season that represented the second one under Jeff Brohms leadership.

(15:57):
The Cardinals won nine games, including five in the Lanticos Conference,
capped off their season with a one point win over
Washington in the Sunball. Heading into a new campaign, the
team's hole at quarterback was filled with transfer Miller Moss,
and they feel like he's got a chance to help
the Cardinals make a little bit of noise. Fourth is

(16:18):
the team that went undefeated a year ago and has
never lost a regular season ACC game. SMU checks in
despite falling to Clemson in the ACC title game. The
Mustangs won eleven games in their first season in the conference,
eight to zero in the league, made it to the
College Football Playoff, and while the folks out in Vegas
don't believe that SMU is going to be as good

(16:40):
as they were in twenty twenty five. On three says quote,
count the Mustangs out your own risks. They'll have plenty
of chances to prove the world wrong again. And I
go back to my over unders at eight and a half.
I have them at nine to three, you know, with
Florida State being at eight and four, and again we

(17:01):
haven't gotten to the seminals yet on this list. But
I also have Miami at nine and three, and I
think I had Louisville at seven and five. So I
like SMU more than apparently Vegas does. Georgia Tech, who

(17:22):
is a team that you might want to don't sleep
on the Yellow Jackets. I know they're over unders five
and a half. I have them at eight and four.
On three says Georgia tex seems to be on the rise.
Shock Florida State to begin in the four season. They
almost bookended it with a win over Georgia, but they

(17:43):
came up shorten an epic overtime battle five and three
in the league. Haines King Jamal Haynes. In addition to that,
at wide receiver Elite Rutherford and in uptick by the way.
In recruiting and I think confidence across the board. They've
got Georgia Tech as the fifth most likely team to

(18:04):
win the acc clympses at plus one twenty Miami plus
three sixty. This will give you an example of the
gap louisvill at plus eight hundred, SMU at plus eight
point fifty, Georgia Tech at plus fourteen hundred. That number
then doubles before you get to the Duke Blue Devils
at plus twenty eight hundred. As Mandy dis heads into

(18:25):
year two off of the heels of winning nine games
with the Duke Blue Devils, I probably should do an
over under for Duke quite frankly, I don't have them
on the docket, but I can always make the adjustment
slide them in before we get through it all. But
surprisingly to some for sure, myself included at plus thirty

(18:47):
one hundred behind the Duke Blue Devils, the Florida State
Seminoles on three says quote Florida State had the most
disappointing season in all the collage football last year, and
they'll go dot in history as one of the more
shocking turn of events the sports has ever seen. After
entering the year as a hot pick for the Coast
Football plaoff. The Seminoles finish two to ten, one in

(19:10):
seven in the ACC. On three says what's next for
Florida State. Seminoles added two new coordinators, in former UCF
head coach Gus Malzon on offense and forming Nebraska assistant
Tony White on defense. They opened the regular season, by
the way against Alabama. So Florida State, according to Vegas,

(19:36):
seventh most likely team to win the Atlantic Coast Conference.
And I think a lot of you would look at
the Seminoles and think, Man, that team's may be one
of the bigger threats talent wise. The Clempson the mini
team in the conference. All right, quick break, I'm into
the top. The pop Tart Bowl a minute ago. A
little significance for the pop Tart Bowl I'll tell you

(19:57):
about when we return. Keep it locked, Lawton Swan with
you on a Monday, that show the Shakespeare south Land.
So over the weekend it was a national holiday. But
for a portion of the population today is also a
national holiday. You say, what what holiday is that? Swany,

(20:19):
I'm not I'm not abreast of the situation. Well, I
can tell you today is World Chocolate Day. That's right
July seventh, fifteen fifty, when chocolate was first brought to Europe.

(20:41):
The day is celebrated by various countries around the world,
and you are one pathetic loser. It is also National
Strawberry Sunday Day, so lock in for that one as well.

(21:02):
But more importantly for the gaming variety around US, today
is the release of EA Sports College Football twenty twenty six.
If you bought the early Premium package or whatever, you

(21:24):
get a three day advantage over the rest of the world.
The game officially comes out on July the tenth, for
those of you that don't have that. Now, my son
does have that. He wanted the early release version and
he paid me for it and he ordered it. But

(21:46):
I bring up the Pop Tar Bowl because of the
significance of this, So you know the old phrase EA Sports,
it's at the game. Well, remember the Pop Tart Bowl
kind of went crazy with their marketing a couple of
years ago, crazy in a good way, and came up

(22:09):
with the idea of having the mascot put into a
toaster and then eaten by the team. Now, if you've
never seen it, it's they've got just a huge pop tart,
you know, in this toaster, and then the mascot goes

(22:32):
into the toaster, and then the huge pop Tart slides
out and the players can go over there and get
a big bite of the pop Tart or whatever that
is now in the game. Kudos to EA, and more specifically,

(22:53):
kudos to the folks at the Pop Tart's Bowl for
coming up with the idea in an era where creativity
in some respects around bowl games has dwindled, not at
the Pop Tart Bowl, and for the Pop Tart Bowl

(23:14):
to have that type of coverage and making it so that,
like the goal of sponsorship is visibility, the goal of
the reason that Pop Tarts and anybody else sponsors a
bowl is so that they get recognized during that three

(23:39):
and a half four hour window. What's incredible, and some
balls have done a good job with it. The Duke's
Mayo Bowl, where they dump the mayonnaise bucket on a
coach is certainly something they get shown on ESPN and

(24:01):
highlights and social media, but a lot of balls don't
have anything quite like that. And for Pop Tarts to
have made that event what they what they did, man,

(24:23):
is pretty cool and so much so this made this
way into the game, and I don't know, as a
matter of fact, to give an example, I don't know
if any other Bowl game has anything similar built into
the game, Like will they dump mayonnaise on you if
you win the Duke's Mayo Bowl. I guess we'll have
to wait and see. But the bigger point, and the

(24:45):
thing I wanted to come across, you know, get across here,
is that the pop Tart phenomenon is so big that
EA Sports put it in in the game. So pretty
cool moment, I'm sure for the folks down in Orlando,

(25:09):
the Florida Citrus Sports you know, that's the nonprofit group
that organizes the bowl games that are played in the
old Citrus Bowl stadium. Man, what a deal, What an
awesome idea they were able to put together to have
that balloon to the point that it did eight zero

(25:31):
three four or five zero zero eighty six. Don't forget
coming up around the Ben William Qualkin Bush joins the
program again. You can follow qualk on Twitter at quawk Talk.
Speaking of following people on Twitter, you can follow our
friends at Alumni Hall on Twitter as well. Of course,
it's Alumni Hall for all your officially licensed Clemson merchandise,

(25:53):
Clemson Hats, T shirts, tailgate Gearen Moore on the corner
of campus on College Avenue right there downtown Clemson. Check
them out online at alumni haul dot com. Don't forget
if you go to their website through our website and
you make your purchases there, we'll get a kickback from them,
and that way you can support us. Or you can
follow them, as I mentioned on Twitter at Alumni Haul

(26:15):
clem cl em go follow them. It's Alumni Haull where
Tiger fans shop. All right, quick break, we'll jump back in.
So over the weekend, had a chance to watch a
little bit of baseball, and you know, I tend to

(26:36):
try not to watch baseball, but I was with my
sister and her husband, my brother in law, and they
are big New York Yankee fans, and so they're watching
the Yankees. And the Yankees were in quite a slump.
I believe they won yesterday or day before yesterday, maybe
against the New York Mets. I'm not sure how the

(26:59):
Yankee are doing overall, but I know they have been
in a bit of a slump. But I saw a
graphic over the weekend of the most home runs in
MLB history, and it got me thinking about a couple
of things, including one former longtime Brave that some might
say maybe should be in the Hall of Fame, but
it is not, and there's a key stat that maybe

(27:22):
kept him out. We'll talk a little bit about the
home run mark, maybe even a little hot dog mark
as well, when we return Stay with Us the Show
that Shakes the South AIA Clemson Sports Talk on a Monday. So,
as I mentioned before the break, over the weekend, I
did see a little baseball. I didn't pay too much

(27:44):
attention to it. I've gone years where I didn't watch
any during the regular season, just to see if I
can pull off the feet as a guy that covers sports,
and you know, maybe you see a highlight on ESPN,
but never watching a live pitch. Well, this weekend and
that streak broke, I did watch a live pitch. I
don't know how much I paid attention to it, but

(28:05):
I watched it, and I can verify that I did
see live pitching taking place at the professional level over
the weekend. But it got me thinking because a graphic
came across my feed about the most home runs in
Major League Baseball history, and so I know we had

(28:32):
the steroids era that took place with Barry Bonds, who
was at the top of that list with seven hundred
and sixty two all time home runs, and a lot
of people would think about and I certainly can't help
but think about strength and weight training and all of that,
and Hank Aaron seven hundred and fifty five. Now, I

(28:53):
think strength and weight training works both ways. Pitchers, we're
certainly better. You know, the Barry Bonds faced better pictures.
I think the strategy in the game was much different
when Barry Bonds was playing a lot more walks. I

(29:15):
would assume more intentional walks, like all of that. So
it's two completely different eras. And then you got Babe
Ruth at seven hundred and fourteen. I think you probably
apply similar principles to the athleticism of the players that
he was facing versus even his athleticism. You go watch

(29:36):
Babe Ruth swing a baseball bat, and people will say,
that guy pounded seven hundred and fourteen, that guy set
the mark. Well, you drift down a little further on
the all time home runs list. Albert Poolholtz checks in
at fourth with seven oh three and then there's Alex

(29:56):
Rodriguez at FI with six hundred and ninety six. And
this was where my head sort of turns to the
left a little bit, kind of like a dog here
in a high pitched squeal. If you were at six

(30:17):
hundred and ninety six home runs and not that seven
hundred locks you in to the Hall of Fame by
any means, you're you've already surpassed that mark, that mark
being typically seen as four hundred home runs kind of

(30:38):
being one of the signature marks, if you will. But
if you were at six hundred and ninety six, just
for shy of seven hundred, just eighteen shy of equalling
Babe Ruth and maybe even passing him to become third
on the list all time, would you come back? Now,

(31:04):
there's a couple of things Jap to consider. One, how
was Alex Rodriguez playing in his final couple of years? Well,
he had been injured banged up. In twenty thirteen he
hit just seven home runs in forty four ball games,
and in twenty sixteen he hit just nine home runs
in sixty five ball games. But that twenty fifteen season,

(31:24):
his next to last year, in one hundred and fifty
one games, he stayed relatively healthy, he hit thirty three
home runs, and outside of those years that he was
injured and played in less games like twenty thirteen and
then twenty sixteen, why wouldn't you just come back and

(31:47):
surpass the mark? I mean, he was suspended for the
entire twenty fourteen season for the doping scandal and everything,
but none of that is overly relevant. Given Barry Bond
sitting atop that list, why not just come back for
one last ride and move into the top three and

(32:08):
call the day like I can't imagine. I can't imagine
just hanging it up, being that close first off to
seven hundred, but also a chance to move into the
top three. And maybe he felt like with the scandal
it didn't matter. He was always going to be talked about,
much like Barry Bond, So if your body was telling

(32:30):
you hang it up, just hang it up. But he's
not the one, well, I mean, I guess he is.
He kind of led me down this path, but he's
not the one I really wanted to talk about, because
the other one I wanted to mention is a little
closer to home for a lot of you, especially if
you grew up as a kid following the Atlanta Braves,

(32:52):
and that's Dale Murphy. Dale Murphy had some spectacle seasons
when we were kids. And the other reason I think
I started thinking about this too is what's kind of
going on in the major leagues right now with cal
Raley and what he's done as a catcher. But Dale

(33:15):
Murphy in eighty two hit thirty six home runs, and
he would hit thirty six the next two seasons in
eighty three and eighty four, he hit thirty seven in
eighty five. He would top out at forty four home
runs in nineteen eighty seven, and then his numbers would
tail off pretty significantly, to the point of where over

(33:38):
the last two years he didn't play in a ton
of games because he was injured, but he would only
hit two runs two home runs in the final two
seasons that he played combined, and he played in a
grand total of let's see, forty four games.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Maybe.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
But here's the thing that bothers me a little bit
about it. He's sitting at three ninety eight, three ninety eight,
and had Dale Murphy, some people would argue, had Dale
Murphy stuck around and hit four hundred home runs, Some
people argue that being a seven time All Star and

(34:16):
a two time nl MVP in eighty two and eighty three,
and a five time Gold Glove winner, his versatility, his athleticism,
that Dale Murphy would have been a Hall of Famer.
And it's probably for most people's surprised that he's not there,
given especially if you grew up in this area his

(34:37):
profile when we were kids. But one of the things
that people seemed to hold against him was not eclipsing
four hundred home runs. He needed two more, and you
have to wonder. You don't want to live in the
rear view mirror with regret, but you do have to
wonder if Murphy ever thinks about going back and hitting

(34:59):
four hundred home runs. I think I'm gonna throw that
in the Google machine see if he's ever said anything
in an interview. I'll let you know when we get
back Stay with us final segment of Our Number one.
Thought we were gonna get up with William Qualkinbush in
our Number two. Unfortunately quwk is on vacation, so we
will not have qualk on the show today. But anyway,

(35:21):
I was investigating during the break Dale Murphy and when
Murphy retired, he was twenty seventh on the all time
home run list and fourth among active players, a couple
of home runs behind Andre Dawson at the time. But

(35:42):
some people argue that given the fact that he only
got twenty three point two percent of the vote in
his second year voting at the Hall of Fame never
got better than that, then even if he had gotten
too four hundred, he wo have still not been elected
to the Hall of Fame. I tried to do a

(36:06):
little digging on whether or not Dale Murphy ever really
talked about it, and I didn't see a whole lot
made of it. His reflections on the time when he retired,
he said at the end, I could have even hit

(36:27):
one in Denver. I couldn't even hit one in Denver,
not even in batting practice, just kind of acknowledging that
he didn't have it left. And so I guess because
of that fact he rose he might as well just
hang it up, even if he was just too short.
Which I flipped that back to what I was saying

(36:48):
about Alex Trodricism minute ago, like, I don't have any
doubt a rod could have eclipsed seven hundred. Certainly, I
think he could have even surpassed Babe Ruth had he
wanted to, But it would not have changed the conversations
and the concerns about the doping and everything that followed

(37:12):
him late in his career as well. But what would
you do? It would have been hard for me. It
would have been very hard for me, very difficult to
step away that close to four hundred, that close to
seven hundred. Probably would have been harder if I had
to pick between the two. Certainly, given what I've just

(37:34):
read and learned about Dale Murphy, it would have been
harder to be a rod and hang that thing up.
I think I would have had to stick around eight
three four five O zero zero eighty six text line,
phone line. Again, you could be a part of the
program anytime, any place, anywhere. Over the holiday weekend, the

(37:54):
Clemson Tigers missed out on one of their top prospects
that they were targeting, Bryce Perry Right. What's disappointing I
think for a lot of Clemson Tiger fans about Bryce
Perry Wright, who committed by the way to Texas A

(38:15):
and M. I think the biggest issue that Clemson fans
have with it is the family relationship that Clemson has
or had to Bryce perry right, and if you followed
his recruitment or if you read anything we wrote about him.

(38:37):
I have my buddy James reach out to me over
the weekend before the commitment and he said, hey, you know,
what are your thoughts on it? And I told James
exactly what I thought about it is that Bryce had
not written me back, which is not always an decatur Okay,

(39:03):
not always an indicator, but most of the time players
do write you back if they are very interested in
the school that you're you're covering. And I wasn't asking
him to tell me if he was committed to Clemson.
I just wanted to get a couple of quotes from him.

(39:24):
But he's the cousin of Grady Jarrett. His mother is
Armand Mason. His is Arman Mason's sister, meaning Armand Mason,
who is a defensive end at Clemson, is his uncle.

(39:45):
And he's certainly one of the top recruits in the country.
But Bryce Perry Wright picks Texas A and m over Clemson,
and I think one of the things that some people

(40:06):
and he's rated around you know, top five, top six
players in the state of Georgia. Clemson has still got
the biggest fish in the state on the line, Tyler Atkinson,
linebacker out of Grayson High School in their cross here
certainly trying to figure out how they can land him.
But you know, this is another one of those players
in the state of Georgia where Clemson has done so

(40:28):
well for so long that you hate to see slip
away out of state and go all the way to
Texas out in Agiland because Clemson and Georgia had done
such a good job recruiting in that state for so long,
and there is so much talent there. But when you

(40:49):
have the family bond and the connection and things of
that nature, man, it was it was tough to see
him slip away. But he said something during his commitment
ceremony that raised some eyebrows. The Clipson Tiger faithful and uh,
I'll play this portion of his commitment for you here.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
Dream big time coming.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
I think my family friends, coaches, brothers, you know, my
family's friends who all been around supporting me.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
Well, you know what that man said, I'm taking my
talent to.

Speaker 5 (41:20):
Rac I gotta know how do the Abges get this
one done?

Speaker 4 (41:37):
Like I said before, you know d Lion University, you
know coach Echo being a defensive coach, defensive cordinerated coach for.

Speaker 3 (41:42):
A long time.

Speaker 4 (41:43):
So I think that defense definitely a defensive schore. I
wanted to be a part of, you know, Coach Tony
and the whole staff over there.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
I just loved it over there.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
So did you hear it? Defensive line University talked about
the defensive line and it's track record. I'll tell you
what it's. We don't have qualk coming up in hour
number two. Let's take a look. Let's take a closer look.
Let's take a deep dive into the defensive lines at

(42:11):
Clemson in Texas A and m over the past decade
or so. Let's see who's really defensive line you out
of these two schools. Stay with us. It's time for
Clemson Sports Talk with Lumton Swanny. It is our number two.

(43:04):
That's the drivetime right on the show that shakes the
south Land. Clempson Sports Tal Long Swamp with you on
a Monday afternoon eight oh three four five oho zero
zero eighty six text line, phone line and again you
could be a part of the program anytime, any place,
anywhere on our website. Clempson Sports TALT dot Com and
the show The Shakes of Southland, brought to you in part

(43:25):
by good friends over at METS Plumbing seven three two drip, drip,
drip drip. You know the jingle seventh through two drip,
that's mets Plumbing, mets Plumbing dot com, that's the website. Okay,
So we were talking before the break about the comments
that were made by Bryce Perry Wright, who committed to

(43:45):
Texas A and m over Clemson and Texas over the weekend.
Here's what Bryce Perry Wright said during his event. And again,
remember high school kid, I don't really care all that
much about it, per se, but let's at least be accurate, right.

Speaker 3 (44:01):
Dream, big time coming.

Speaker 4 (44:03):
I think my family, friends, coaches, brothers, you know, my
family's friends who all been around supporting me.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
Well, you know what that man said, I'll be taking
my talent to.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
Racing.

Speaker 5 (44:28):
I gotta know how do the abges get this one done?

Speaker 4 (44:33):
Like I said before, you know d Lion University. You
know coach Echo being a defensive coach and defensive coordinated
coach for a long time. So I think that defense
definitely a defensive score that I wanted to be a
part of. You know, coach Tony and the whole staff
over there.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
I just loved it over there.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
And so the thing that bothered a lot of people,
including Clemson, not bothered, but kind of people raise their
eyebrows a little bit, the Kwan bowers even when the
Clempson assistant coach is tweeting out I ain't but one
d line. You check the records all in, and that
guy a retweet or a like from Tom Allen, Clemson

(45:06):
defensive coordinator. So I mean that comment clearly hit home
in Tigertown. So I put together a list comparing the
defensive lineman drafted from Clemson and Texas A and M
in the NFL draft since twenty fourteen. And so if
you do that, you will find that Texas A and

(45:27):
M actually has eleven players that have been put into
the NFL draft from twenty fourteen forward. But what they
truly lack is like the top end defensive line in
which a defensive line university should be putting out. And
that's where Clemson excels. As a matter of fact, since

(45:51):
twenty fifteen, I believe Clemson has had fifteen players on
the defensive line selected. I don't think I missed it.
But here's what I was able to come up with,
Vic Beasley in twenty fifteen, and Grady Jarrett. Beasley was
a first round selection, by the way, So we're gonna

(46:11):
keep up with first round selections here as well. Okay,
So that's two so far twenty fifteen and one first
round selection. In twenty sixteen, there were three players taken
Shaq Lawson first round, nineteenth overall, Vic Beasley, by the way,
it was the eighth overall pick, Kevin Dodd was taken,

(46:31):
and DJ Reider that runs our number up to five
from Clemson. Since twenty fourteen, I leaned in on like
the year before things really took off for the Tigers. Okay,
in twenty seventeen, I think there was just one Carlos
Watkins that runs that number up to six for Clemson
so far. In twenty nineteen, that number went from six

(46:51):
to ten. The Tigers put in three first rounders, though
the first I believe ever that that had happened in
the history of the NFL at that point, Cleveland Fair, Old,
Christian Wilkinson, Dexter Lawrence, all going within the top seventeen picks.
Austin Bryant would go in the fourth round, giving Clemson
their tenth draft pick at that point. In twenty thirteen,

(47:14):
the Tigers would also have two more first round selections
in Brian Brazil and Miles Murphy, and then kJ Henry
would go kJ Henry would go in round number five,
and that would be thirteen I think from Clemson at
that point. And then in twenty twenty four, Rooke o'roroo
went in the second round and Xavier Thomas went in

(47:38):
the fifth round, meaning Clemson has had seven I believe,
first round selections and fifteen. Let me double check my numbers,
shre let me recount them. Two, five, ten, fifteen, Yeah,
fifteen defensive lineman drafted in that span. I'm not as

(48:00):
abreast on Texas A and M. Seven though of Clemson's
fifteen were first round selections. I believe in that same span,
A and M has only had two first round selections, Okay,
Miles Garrett who was the first overall pick in twenty seventeen,
and then they had Shamar Stewart taken last year. That's

(48:22):
their two first round picks. Remember, Clempson had seven first
round selections in that same period. A and M has
had two, and the Aggies have had only eleven players
I believe drafted in the NFL Draft off of the
defensive line in that time. Last season, by the way,

(48:45):
the only other time they've had second round picks, Nick
Skirtin and Shamar Turner went in the second round a
year ago. So two first rounders, two second rounders, and
the rest third or fourth rounds elections based off of
what I was able to dig up trying to look
at both schools, but the Tigers dominant three straight seasons

(49:09):
with multiple defensive line picks. I don't think there's any
question of the two schools, Clemson has had the most
success out of the Aggies and the Tigers, no doubt.
But hey, you know what, the kid made this decision,
Good luck to him. Recruiting is never really over right,
I mean, that's the other thing. But in this day

(49:32):
and age, some people will say that money is the
bigger influence for some kids, and people will point to
any commitment that doesn't go to your school, just like
they did when money wasn't the thing. Well, when nil
and stuff like that weren't allowed and you couldn't pay
players out of revenue sharing, it was always if you

(49:52):
landed a kid, it was because you were a great recruiter.
You guys remember these days, you were a great recruiter.
If you didn't land a kid, it was because the
other team them, right. It's just like it's that whole
theory of when you're driving a car, if somebody passes you,
they're a maniac, but if somebody goes too slow, they're
an idiot. And so that means when you're passing that

(50:15):
quote idiot, you're the maniac, and when that maniac is
passing you, you're the idiot. Right. So it's sort of
one of those things that falls into that situation where
if he goes to your school, it's called we're great recruiters.
If he goes somewhere else, how much did they pay him?
How much money did they pay him? It kind of
reminds me that statement of when Hulk Hogan lost to

(50:39):
Andre the Giant and they had the twin version of
like Earl and Dave Heppner come out and Hogan's like,
how much money? Let me see if I can dig
that up?

Speaker 6 (50:48):
All right, here we go, All right, Fitz mc path,
Pendlam Pandamonium things in someone of the chaotics thing here,
Pulk Cogan, I'm sure there's gonna be a thorough investigation
by the World Wars san Federation into what happened here tonight.
And I know you could not be any more disappointed.

Speaker 7 (51:05):
How much money did they spend on the plastic surgery?
Man who paces covered? I had to hold a maniac's
watching deep yalty. I had Bertial in his place. Never
in my wildest dreams met Jean. Would I think that
I would get ripped off by a penny pension to
Tommy referee? How much money on the plastic surgery? How

(51:26):
much money did he spend to pay the referee off?
When I turned around me, Jean, they were identical. Identify
right here? Hold here, it is not older brother that
don't get a shoulder a referee if paid off.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
Brother, how much money did they pay him? That was
a Saturday Night's main event. That was a spectacular night.
I remember that was February fifth. How do I remember that?
Without even looking it up? That was February fifth? I
know it was near yep, February fifth, nineteen eighty eight.
Just looked it up. It wasn't controversial finish. How much

(52:03):
money did they pay him? That's what everybody sounds like
when they lose a recruit, how much was it mean
Gene Anyway, Look, whether or not this has a huge
impact for clempses twenty twenty six recruiting class, or whether

(52:25):
or not he circles back around and maybe ends up
coming to Clemson at some point. I know this, Clempson
is not gonna like give up on the whole deal.
I know that for a fact, just based off of
you know, how recruiting works. Yes, it's a marriage and
YadA YadA, Dabo Sweeney commitment, you know, but you still

(52:50):
you're still stay in contact with guys that you believe
can help your program, regardless of their commitment status. And
you don't have to like go all in, but you
definitely you definitely kind of keep the text lines going,

(53:12):
say hey man, just check it in, make sure you
know you want to come see this there or the other.
And it was a defeat for sure for Clemson. But
that's recruiting at the highest level. And there been guys
over the years that you've you know, thought about and
perceived to be must get that ended up going to

(53:35):
other programs and maybe didn't blow up and play the
way that you expected. Now there are some that you
missed out on that did pretty well. I mean I
think back to like Robert Kimdchi and I remember the
feeling that people had when he ended up committing the
old miss and you had a good career there, but

(53:55):
it wasn't mind blowing. There were moments you missed him.

Speaker 7 (54:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
I think about maybe like Rashaan Gerry out of Paramost,
New Jersey, if I remember correctly that committed to Michigan
over Clemson. I think about like his mom and her
face in that moment when he committed to Clempson admitt
to Michigan instead of Clemson, and now he's going on
to Yeah, he had a good career collegiately, he's had

(54:22):
a good career in the NFL. He would have had
more success as a team, you know, as a as
a player if he'd gone to Clemson, because Clemson was
much better than Michigan in that moment in time. But
when you recruit elite guys and you go right now

(54:45):
to the wire with him, sometimes you end up missing out.
I just found it funny though, that that he would
talk about defensive line you and Texas A and M
in the same sentence as just after not committing to
Clemson given the profile that the Tigers have had, So

(55:08):
it's a big win for our buddies over at Texaggs
for sure. I know they were excited about Bryce period.
Right committing to the Aggies. He was actually offered by
the Jimbo Fisher era Aggis, so he had already had

(55:30):
a relationship with Texas A and M and back that
into now having or maybe a back maybe that's not
the right thing. Maybe fast forward to the coach like
Mike Elko stepping into the program. I think really maybe

(55:53):
more than anything, kind of from the outside looking at
the Aggies, it feels like the foundation is on more
solid footing than it was when Jimbo Fisher was there.

(56:13):
I think nationally people have viewed this Texas A and
M program as one that's always underperformed kind of given
its profile, they've never really taken off to the level
that I think their fan base certainly would hope. But

(56:37):
Mike Elko did a jam up job at Duke, and
while eight and five at A and M is about
the norm, I think for the fan base, they felt
like a year ago, probably outside of a few ball games,
I mean the loss of South Carolina three game loses
skid at the end of the season as well are

(57:00):
certainly frustrating, but only the South Carolina game was a
game that they weren't in. I mean, the game Cocks
mawed them forty four to twenty, But you know, the
Auburn game was a four overtime loss forty three forty one,
lost by just ten against Texas at home, and then

(57:21):
lost in their bowl game to Southern cal by four.
So the three game streak at the end of the
season certainly stings, But it's a fan base that I
think feels in a lot of respects like they deserve

(57:42):
more and they continue to give at that level, and
so this is a big pick up for them. They're
at seven and a half to eight and a half
in terms of the over under, depending on where that
number is. I had them at eight and four looking
at their record this season. But a good recruit win
at this point for the Aggies over Clemson, over Texas,

(58:07):
over Miami and all the other schools that offered the
highly talented defensive lineman out of the state of Georgia.
As for Clemson's recruiting board, it also got a little
more narrow over the weekend as another prospect came off
the board, with Devon Fitzgerald, wide receiver, the son of

(58:33):
Larry Fitzgerald, committing to Notre Dame. No real surprise. They
were both guys, Bryce period Wright and Devin Fitzgerald committing
over the weekend. But this is still for Clemson a
very good recruiting class. I mean, if you look at
and I know, now we've got the on three and

(58:53):
rivals ratings sort of combined, which I don't know how
I'm really like in the combination of the two. I
always kind of like having a little variety, you.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
Know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
I like being able to say, Okay, this is where
this group season, this is where this group season. Clempson's
class still stands at number eleven in the country with
a ninety point eight four overall score with thirteen four
stars and seven three stars. According to the all three ratings,

(59:28):
Miami is tenth ahead of Clemson, just barely. Miami has
one five star, twelve four stars, and seventh three stars
for a ninety point nine seven rating. Michigan is ninth,
Oregon eighth. LSU is at seventh. Ohio State checks in

(59:49):
with the sixth best recruiting class currently Alabama is or
has the fifth best and Alabama dominating when it comes
down to five star talent. They have five five stars,
eight four stars, and six three stars committed for a
ninety two point five to five rating, But there are
still four schools with better classes currently than Alabama.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Notre Dame.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Has a ninety two point sixty five to one rating
with just one five star, nineteen four stars and five
three stars. An m is at number three with a
ninety two point seven six rating. They have one five star,
nineteen four stars and four three stars. Georgia with the
number two radio class ninety three point nine overall with

(01:00:36):
one five star, twenty four and five three star prospects
for a total class of twenty seven, so they got
one guy that's less than a three star, obviously. And
then Southern cal who has the top rated class ninety
three point four to four rating with a five star,
twenty four stars and ten three stars, so a big

(01:00:58):
thirty one per class comes with just twenty players committed.
Right now and for our fine feathered friends hanging out
with us today, and of course, so you.

Speaker 5 (01:01:07):
Could continue to peek over the fence at the best radio.

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
Showing the naked the late Great Cleveland, the late great Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
Man there.

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
South Carolina has a very efficient ten prospects committed, but
ranked nineteenth in the country zero five stars, seven four star,
and three three star prospects for an eighty eight point
two sixty one rating. You look at the total commitments,

(01:01:37):
that is easily of the top twenty the fewest recruits committed.
That's a good sign for Carolina, but most notably, the
team right below them is North Carolina with thirty commits.
North Carolina has three times the commitments that South Carolina

(01:01:59):
does and is apparently behind the game Cocks. That tells
you how much better South Carolina's class is considered, and
how maybe over bloated right now North Carolina's might be.
But I'll tell you another school that's got an issue,
and it is with a big name. When we get
back rocking and rolling on a Monday, Clemson sports Salala
and swam with you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
So before the break, we were looking at recruiting classes,
kind of focusing on some of those teams at or
near the top. But there is a huge red flag
for me, and I'll be honest with the way things
were being run by Deon Sanders at Colorado. I had

(01:02:42):
a red flag initially with all the transfers, with everything
that Colorado's done, but more specifically, you know, Deon Sanders
is notably not overly interested in recruiting, and so one

(01:03:03):
of the things I notice looking at these stats is
that Colorado is currently ranked as the one hundredth best
recruiting class in the country, with zero five stars, two
four stars, and three three stars committed in the twenty

(01:03:28):
twenty six class. Now, there's a while until the twenty
twenty six class has to check in, but it's only
about six months if they're gonna enroll early, and Colorado
only has five players committed, Like, first off, if I

(01:03:49):
am one of these commits, and the most highly talented
of these players is a cornerback, fittingly right to go
with Deon Sanders, there a cornerback named Preston Ashley out
of Brandon, Mississippi, consensus four star across the board. He

(01:04:11):
is the twenty third best corner however, in the country.
But if you're one of those guys, including the best
rated of those individuals, how long would you stay committed
if that class didn't grow rather quickly? Now I want
to be fair here because prior to about two weeks ago,

(01:04:37):
Colorado only had two guys committed, a kid named Dematta
Pico and Gavin Mueller. Then on the twenty fourth of June,
they got Preston Nashley. On the twenty fifth, they got
another cornerback, Maurice Williams, a three star prospect out of
New Orleans, and then a couple of days ago they

(01:05:02):
got a three star linebacker named Colby Johnson on July
the first. But it's not like these are lighting up
the scoreboard recruits. And if you only have five guys
and you just had two not long ago, how do
you continue to land players? Like what's the long haul

(01:05:26):
game for Dion Sanders? If at this point, this is
how far behind you are with the recruiting numbers for
the twenty twenty six class, like you gotta ticket up
in a hurry. And again, South Carolina only has ten,
but it's a top twenty program. I mean, it's a

(01:05:47):
top twenty class so far, and there are plenty of
classes around them that have more. But I mean schools
currently that are out recruiting Colorado based off of recruiting
numbers Liberty, and I'm talking about like total rating of

(01:06:10):
the players or the class Liberty Georgia State, Temple, Connecticut, Tulsa.
You see what I'm saying, Like you're in a world
hurt in my opinion looking at the size of that class,

(01:06:34):
and it's not a bunch of five stars. It's gonna
take a lot for Colorado to finish with one of
the better classes. And how many years if you are
a Colorado Buffalo fan, how many years are do you
think that Dion Sanders's style right can work? Like I

(01:06:57):
love Deon Sanders as a ballplayer and one of my
favorite I think he does a lot of great things
as a coach. But college football is not a sport
at the highest level where you can just be casual.
Regardless of how big and important you were as a player,

(01:07:21):
you cannot be casual with it, especially with the recruiting.
And it doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter
if you are the greatest corner back in the history
of football, like I believe Deon Sanders is, you cannot
be casual. You might can be casual and get enough

(01:07:43):
good players to come join you at Jackson State and
you can have a couple of seasons where you go
eleven and two and twelve and one and undefeated in
conference play and parlay that into a power for job
at Colorado. But in your one there were four and
eight one in eight. Overall, they took a big step
forward this past season. There's no doubt nine and four

(01:08:05):
and seven and two. But don't you feel like nine
and four and seven and two should have turned into
some excitement in terms of recruiting and having players already?
And I'm not telling you that you got to have
your whole class booked. South Carolina again only has ten

(01:08:27):
guys committed. Ole Miss currently only has twelve. Oklahoma has fourteen,
but don't you need to have more than two a
couple of weeks ago and now five today, And maybe
maybe that number expands pretty quickly and they catch up
and move up the rankings. But for now, and I
don't know all their offers that they've got out, and

(01:08:49):
I'm sure they've probably offered a lot of players. But
if you don't make these kids an emphasis, if you
don't go see these kids when you can, when you
don't take advantage of the road in recruiting the way
that you should, this is what it looks like and
We'll see if these numbers hold for Colorado and how

(01:09:09):
long fans would allow this type of situation to continue
to exist. Knowing what the fans know about recruiting, man,
I would love to talk to somebody who's a Colorado
football fan to get their thoughts on the current situation
with just how Dion seems to be handling recruiting and

(01:09:31):
whether or not it's viable over the long haul. We
mentioned Oklahoma a minute ago fourteen current commits for Brent Vinnables,
but some big news out of Norman that could be
bad for Venables over the long haul. I'll tell you
about it right after this the show The shakesas Southland
and Clympson of Sports Talk on a Monday afternoon. Again,
if you're up in tire Town, don't forget about our

(01:09:53):
friends at Alumni Hall on the corner of campus on
College Avenue. Hey, Clempson. Students faculty in all military get
ten percent off on show opping in stores at Alumni Hall.
Don't forget to ask them about their Alumni Hall rewards
program as well. Plus, if you go through our website
and find the links to Alumni Hall, like in one

(01:10:14):
of the advertisements on our site. You make your purchases online.
You can't get that ten percent discount being a Clemson student,
faculty member, or military member, but you will support us.
So go check them out today Alumni Hall where Tiger
fans shot. So I mentioned Brent Vinibles here on the program. Obviously.
The other day we looked at Oklahoma's schedule, the over

(01:10:36):
under set at six and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:10:38):
I think.

Speaker 1 (01:10:40):
Seven to five kind of given the profile of who
they play and kind of where I see them now.
Look if John Mattier at quarterback who transferred in. If
if Matier is elite this year and puts up big

(01:11:00):
numbers and gives that offense a little firepower back behind
Brent Vitible's defense as well, then maybe they eclipse my
seven to five record. But it is a tough slate,

(01:11:23):
you know, second week of the season hosting Michigan, their
matchup later in the year with Texas, where I believe
the Longhorns have about like a seventy five percent chance
or so to win that ball game. I don't think
this matchup against South Carolina in Colombia is gonna be
easy ole miss. Obviously, it will be handful of Tennessee

(01:11:44):
Alabama LSU like, it's tough if you just assume that
they're going to lose to the big names, the teams
that are typically pretty well thought of in college football,
like a top ten Michigan team or top ten Texas team,

(01:12:04):
or top ten Old Miss team or top ten Alabama team,
top ten LSU team. I mean, you're at five losses
out of the gates, so you feel like they've got
to spring some upsets to get to eight and four,
even nine to three. I mean seven and five seems
about right. And that's not taking into account that they

(01:12:25):
could lose to South Carolina or that they could lose
to a Tennessee team that might be in the top
ten this year. But according to sources, Oklahoma athletic director
Joe Castiglione is planning to retire from his role as
athletic director at Oklahoma. He is the longest tenured athletic

(01:12:46):
director at a power for program. Now, he doesn't plan
to completely leave it. It sounds like he's going to
stick around as an athletic director emeritus. Castiglione is entering
his twenty eighth year at Oklahoma, a span that has
seen that program win twenty six national titles. One hundred

(01:13:07):
and seventeen league titles navigated the move from the Big
twelve to the SEC. Castiglione is sixty seven years old
and initiated the conversation about his retirement with school officials
nearly a month ago. According to reports, staying on would

(01:13:28):
allow Castiglione to continue to work on special projects at
the university, since he plans to live there in the
Norman area. But I bring up this because, again, even
though he's going to still be on as a emeritus,

(01:13:50):
a lot of times when there's an athletic director change,
and we talked Tim Bray about this, how unique it
is that Dabosweeney and Brad Brownell have kind of manned
to navigate through a couple of athletic directors without a change.
Both of those guys were hired by Terry Don Phillips,

(01:14:11):
meaning that when for all of the credit that I
think a lot of people would dole out to Dan
Radakovitz during his tenure at Clemson, and certainly the program
elevated while he was there, he didn't hire Sweeney, he
didn't hire brown El, and he was able to go

(01:14:35):
to Miami, and so Graham nef steps in to these
coaches who weren't even hired by the guy that was
there before you. It was the person before him.

Speaker 2 (01:14:46):
But with.

Speaker 1 (01:14:48):
You know, college football being what it is and the
pressures that exist, and I think in a large respect,
unfortunately for Brent Divinnable, he's fallen into a zone that
I think coaches can fall into, where if you think

(01:15:09):
about Oklahoma and how good they were winning the national
title in two thousand, but we are a quarter of
a century down the road and they haven't sniffed really
that type of success in a while. They've gotten to
the College Football Playoff, they haven't played for the championship.

(01:15:33):
And then you have a couple of head coaching changes.
Bob Stoops retires and Lincoln Riley takes over and leaves,
and now they've gone to print vinables. It's an incredibly
difficult schedule in the Southeastern Conference. Fans don't care about that.

(01:15:55):
Fans don't just go, well, we're in a tougher league,
so seven and five is going to be the new norm.
These are fans that still want ten and eleven win
seasons and demand it, and they've been really good, but
they just haven't been elite. And when you bring in
a new athletic director, whomever that athletic director ends up being,

(01:16:21):
which heck, I don't know. I don't know what Bob
Stoops is up to either this. Bob Stoops seemed really
young twenty five years ago. But yeah, I just wonder
the impact that this might have on a guy like
Brent Vinnables as the Sooners have an incredibly difficult schedule,

(01:16:43):
and I think there's already a little bit of heat
on Brent Vinibles. Like if you go to coaching Hot Seat,
you'll see Brent Vinibles is on one of the five
hottest seats in the country right now. They've got him
listed at number four. Ironically, Lincoln Riley, the guy that
left Oakla for that job in Soun County, is ahead
of him. Lincoln Rally's at number three, third hottest seat

(01:17:05):
in the country. Kenny Burns at Kent State. I don't
know him. He's on the second hottest seat in the country.
And they claim Luke Fickle is on the hottest seat
in America. All right, quick bread, we'll come back and
put a bow on a Monday edition right after this.

Speaker 2 (01:17:26):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture. Don't forget history.
Lucky for us at Clemson, the answer to the questions
what have you done for me lately? And what have
you done? Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 1 (01:18:39):
Final seven on Monday. Lawton Swine Clemson Sports Talk again
back after the holiday. I hope you had a great
fourth of July. We talked a little bit about Joey
Chestnut going into the weekend with his return to the
world of competitive eating at well, he's still been in
the competitive eating but doing the Nathans Hot Dog Challenge

(01:19:05):
again after a year away, and he did indeed reclaim
his championship. So congratulations to Joey. Jaw's Chestnut put down
seventy dogs. Didn't break his record of seventy six, but

(01:19:26):
seventy dogs in the game and absolutely obliterated the competition,
winning by staggering twenty four hot dogs and buns by
the way, I need throwing buns. I think he ended
up with seventy and a half. He is now again

(01:19:46):
a seventeen time hot dog eating champion. And I went
into the weekend thinking I could eat five. I'm going
to lower that number. I think if I was doing
it to be competitive, I could do five, maybe six.

Speaker 2 (01:20:01):
But.

Speaker 1 (01:20:03):
Just eating a hot dog randomly, which I did have
one over the weekend, I don't think comfortably I could
eat more than four. After I ate one, I was like, man,
I don't think I could eat four more if they
were sitting in front of me. Like I told you, though,
I could definitely down two back in the day, easy peasy.

(01:20:25):
But wooe seventy dogs. He's back on top. You ever
want to see. I know some people can't watch it.
My sister, like you start talking about Joey Chestnut eating
hot dogs, she cannot handle it. She gets almost ill
to her stomach thinking about it. But I'll tell you
one of the most impressive videos I've ever watched. I mean,

(01:20:46):
you can go. You could go dig this up over
on YouTube. I can't remember if I mentioned this the
other day or not, but Joey Chestnut eating Big Max.
I think thirty two of them setting a mark. Man,
let me tell you, I like a big Mac. I

(01:21:07):
could not eat two big bags. I have no doubt
about it. I could say that with full transparency, there's
no chance I could eat two big bags, let alone
thirty two. But Joey Chestnutt did it. I mean the guy.
The guy is a site to behold when it comes

(01:21:29):
down to competitive eating. But go check that video out
if you do get some time. All right again, the
big story over the weekend from Tigertown missing out on
Bryce Perry.

Speaker 2 (01:21:38):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:21:38):
We talked about it quite a bit here on the
program today. You know it's it is a part. It
is a part of this when you cover recruiting. He
is not the first miss, he will not be the last.
The reason this one, I think stings for so many

(01:22:00):
of you more than some of the others, is when
you have a connection to a school and you know,
I'll give you an example of one that maybe some
of you didn't realize or hadn't paid attention to, but
like A and M also landed Storm Miller. Now, Storm

(01:22:25):
Miller is a four star linebacker out of Strongsville, Ohio.
And if the name Miller and Strongsville, Ohio ring true
to you, you will know that Storm Miller is Blake
Miller's brother. He did have an offer from Clemson and
he chose to go to Texas A and M. And
that's fine. Some people don't want to go follow in

(01:22:47):
their brother's shadows. I mean Trevor Etn for crying out
loud didn't come to Clemson. I mean that that happens.
You don't always land players just because you have some
kind of connection, but it does make it hurt a
little bit more. I don't know how your reactions were
when Storm Miller committed to A and M back in April.

(01:23:08):
I don't really recall that day being one that flashed
for a lot of you, but Bryce Perry Writ's commitment
did because you knew you were kind of down into
the you know, into the mix. But the Tigers still
have their eyes set on the top linebacker in the
twenty twenty sixth class, Tyler Atkinson. They are still squarely
in the mix. And remember I told you when we

(01:23:28):
were talking about Bryce Perry Wright, and I was saying that,
you know, I was a little red flagged when I
wasn't getting a lot of response or no response actually
at that point from him. He's responded the past, but
I can tell you Tyler Atkinson responds when I text,

(01:23:49):
Tyler Atkinson will message me with stuff as well. Open
lines of communication are always positive now in this day
and age. A part of that is the salesmanship of yourself, right,
and those guys benefit when people like me tweet things

(01:24:11):
that they send us. But open lines of communication are
always good. Perry Wright sort of turned down that volume
all the communication, and I can tell you Tyler Atkinson
has not, which doesn't mean he's gonna go to Clemson.
But it's not a bad thing. Typically, when these guys
stop talking to you, it's not great. All right, we'll
talk to you tomorrow right here on the show The
shakesa south Land on the Tuesday afternoon. Until then, as always,

(01:24:34):
y'all take care now and got tigers