The "Brownell Re-Up" Edition

Clemson baseball falls in Game 1 at NC State, plus Brad Brownell gets a new contract in Tiger Town through 2031.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Each time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Swan.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Finally, Clempson Sports Talk has come back two drive time.
Hello everybody, Lawton Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes the South. Lay and
Clemson Sports Talk for you each and every afternoon as
you make your way around the great state of South

(01:03):
Carolina and beyond, listening to us on incredible radio stations
like Fox Ports Radio fourteen hundred the Midlands, heard around
the world on the iHeartRadio application downloaded today, It's free.
The website. Put the dot com on it, dog on it.
That's Clemson Sports saw dot Com. Lots of notes out
of the NFL Draft today for you. Legendary Clemson sid

(01:26):
timber regan to join the program. Will Bandivort from the
Clemson Insider joins the program as well. In our number two,
we will not jump right into timber Ray here because
I think there's a lot we can really get to
on the program today instead out of the gates, and

(01:46):
then we can also get some reaction to that information
from timber Ray. Now over the night, as I expected,
no Clemson Tigers taken in the NFL Draft.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
More on that minute.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Clemson last night, as I did not expect, gets drubbed
by NC State fourteen to four in eight innings. Clemson
led to nothing in the top of the first inning
after a two run home run from Colin Priest, and
you kind of felt like, there they go, there go
those Tigers again. Look, you know how good they are

(02:21):
in the first inning. We've talked about that being their
most explosive inning of the year, or excuse me, their
most explosive inning throughout the year. And then the wolf
Pack turned things on its head in the bottom half
of the first inning, being extremely aggressive against Aiden Connock.

(02:42):
The wolf Pack respond with three runs in the bottom half.
Then after the Wolfpack tacked on a run in the
second inning to take a four to two lead, they
then would score three runs on four hits in the
third and added a two out run in the fourth
inning to take a commanding eight to advantage. And certainly

(03:03):
in that moment, you knew the Tigers were going to
have their hands full and Clipson would make a couple
of you know, they would make a couple of little runs.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
I think Andrew.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Chuffo let off the fifth with a home run. Jacob
Jerrold had a run scoring single. You know, Clemson would
narrow it back a little bit, but then the wolf
Pack would just go back out there belting as Frasman
belted a two run excuse me, a solo homer in
the sixth inning, then a two run homer in the eighth,

(03:32):
giving the wolf Pack the final fourteen to four advantage.
For Aiden Connock, it was the first loss of the season.
He surrendered eleven hits and eight runs in a walk
with just two strikeouts in four innings, and I believe,
if my memory serves me correctly, he struck out the
first battery faced and you kind of thought, oh, yeah,

(03:54):
here we go, and then there it went. Now Clemson
faces for the first time really in a while, maybe
this season. I'd have to go back and check to
be one hundred percent sure, But is this the first
time that they have lost the opening game of a series.
They have yet to lose a series. I just don't

(04:18):
recall if there was one where they lost the opener
and then went on to win the final two games
to secure the series. Looking here, yeah, I think yeah,
this is the first series that Clemson's trailed one game
to none. So a lot of work left to keep

(04:39):
from being the or to keep being the only team
in the Atlantic Coast Conference that does not have a
series loss. By the way, I don't think I mentioned
this earlier. The show The Shakes of south Land, as
you know, is brought to you in part by our
good friends over at mets Plumb in to drip, Drip,

(05:01):
Drip drip. You know the jingle seven three to two drip.
That's mets Plumbing, mets Plumbing dot com. That's the website
for our friends over at mets Plumbing. All right, now,
how does Clemson bounce back? Drew Tittsworth gonna be on
the bump today for Clemson six o'clock right as we
go off the airwaves. The Tigers will look to even

(05:22):
the series. Obviously, if they do that, I would feel
pretty good about the opportunity on the Saturday, just kind
of giving the nature of what this team has been.
But credit to NC State, Credit the wolf Pack. As
I said that first inning, they came out, they didn't

(05:42):
sit back, they didn't let Aiden cannot get comfortable. They
attacked him at the plate. You gotta flush it and
move forward. I mean that's all that's all you can do.
Flush it and move forward. Go win tonight and just
put yourself in position to win the series on Saturday.
Then the Tigers will have about a week off before
they go down to Florida State and face the Seminoles

(06:06):
in a three game series next weekend. So no midweek
game this coming weekend up in Tigertown. But that's a
look at the loss yesterday again the final fourteen to four.
Over on the hardwood. Some news today as Clemson basketball
coach Brad Brownell and the Tigers agreed to a contract

(06:28):
extension through twenty thirty one. That news coming out earlier
this morning that off of the heels of the best
regular season we've seen in Clemson history, disappointing postseason losing
to McNeice in the NCAA Tournament, especially off of the

(06:49):
heels of the expectations that you had given the run
to the Elite eight a year ago, Brad Brownell saying
in the statement, I remain honored and grateful to have
led this program for fifteen years and for the opportunity
to continue to coach and develop young people in both
basketball and life at Clemson. Brownell would on to say,

(07:10):
I'm appreciative of the support from Graham NEF President Jim
Clements and our administration to continue to build upon the
success or excuse me, our successes in basketball on and
off the court. I'm proud of the continuity of my
staff in the critical role they play in winning, player
development and recruiting. You probably know this, but Brad Brownell

(07:33):
is the winningest coach in Clemson program history, with two
hundred and ninety two wins as the Tigers headman, earning
the twenty seventeen to twenty eighteen Sports Illustrated National College
Coach of the Year award. The Tigers have reached the
NCAA Tournament five times during Brad Brownell's tenure, including four

(07:57):
in the last eight seasons that culminated with a Sweet
sixteen appearance in twenty eighteen and an Elite eight finish
a year ago, one of just twenty schools to accomplish
both of those in separate seasons dating back to twenty eighteen.
Just twenty schools have pulled that off in the country.

(08:20):
In seven seasons, the Tigers won I guess technically six.
The Tigers won a school record twenty seven games this
past year, including wins over AP Top five Kentucky and Duke.
The Tigers finished eighteen to two in the ACC, the
most conference wins in school history, including a record fifteen
by double digits that's the third most in ACC history.

(08:43):
Clempson finished nine to one on the road in league play,
four more ACC road wins than any previous season. Clemson
has also won seventy four games under Brad brown Hills
leadership in the past three years, that's the most in
program history for a three year span, while also posting

(09:07):
a seven seventeen winning percentage in the ACC over the
same period of seventy one point seven I guess winning percentage,
the highest in consecutive seasons in program history, and since
twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen. The Tigers are fourth in
the league in total wins and fourth in the league

(09:29):
in the league wins one hundred and sixty eight total
and ninety wins in conference play. This is the third
consecutive year that Clemson has produced an All ACC First
Team performer as well. That's a pretty significant thing to say.
They're only five first team guys and you've produced one
on each of the last three first teams with Hunter

(09:51):
Tyson in twenty twenty three, PJ Hall in twenty twenty
four and Chase Hunter in twenty twenty five. Ss to
head coaches Dick Bender and Sean Dixon also will receive
new contracts through twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven, and
basketball associate head coach Billy Donlin will also receive a

(10:14):
new deal, according to Clemson's release, So Brad Brownell and
the Clemson Tigers again a record setting regular season. Certainly
a disappointing performance, especially the first half of that game
against McNeice in the NCAA Tournament, but that was not

(10:40):
enough of a poor performance to derail the mind sigh
of the Clemson Border Trustees and Graham Nef in terms
of Brad Brownell's value to the Clemson basketball program, and
so they didn't have to re up, but they re upped.
We'll see what happened this year, as it is a

(11:02):
complete rebuild, and I can almost guarantee that the conversations
will be if Brad Broonell and Clemson have a pretty
rough season next year, the conversations will be that he
was given this contract too early and you should have

(11:23):
kind of let this thing marinate.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
A little bit.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
And I kind of get a little bit of that,
and I'll tell you why we've kind of crossed over
into or to the point that might be the bead
way to put it. We've kind of crossed over to
the point where you don't really have to worry about

(11:49):
somebody poaching your head, coach.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
I mean.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
This news, I believe, if I remember correctly, kind of
all began to surface as we got closer and closer
to the postseason. But when you think about this time
of year, but this contract or his contract has been
updated several times over the past few seasons, you know.

(12:20):
I know Brad Brownell had a new deal back in
October of twenty twenty one. He added coach Donlin in
April of twenty twenty two, and I'm not sure if
his package was restructured at that point.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
But then.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Last July, Brad Brownell, Mike Noonan, Eddie Radwanski, Eric Backage,
and Kelly Hester all agreed to new contracts. Brad Brownell,
after that run in the NCAA Tournament, got a new
deal ahead of this past season, and I don't remember,

(13:10):
I don't remember what the terms of that contract were.
I look back at the press release that came out
that day and it was not listed in there. But again,
I know that people will be critical if Clemson struggles
that this deal was redone just a year after being

(13:32):
somewhat redone, and I understand that. But in this day
and age, and that's what you're dealing with. You know,
you're dealing with coaches at getting new contracts seemingly every
single year. I know all of you wish your contract
at work was renegotiated and re upped every single year.
But that's the that's the news. I almost said, that's

(13:57):
the noise, and these things come up been Clumpson did
have a successful season, and Brad Brownell's name was absolutely
mentioned in regards to other jobs like the Indiana job.
Here's Graham Nef from our friends over at Tigernet talking

(14:21):
about the extension.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
Coach Brownell, Brad and the assistance couldn't be more proud
and excited of what's been achieved with that program this
year with record stting wins, let alone coming off an
elite aid and just the stature of position of the program.
Certainly there's a lot going on and basketball and men's
and women's and so what coach Poppy and Brownell have done,
I think you've seen public leaders over the past three weeks.

(14:45):
Month has been it's been awesome. And so this action
today with coach and his staff speaks to that and
our support there with him and and Clemson basketball. I
would say this too, just with for Brad in particular, right,
the changing environment of college athletics, house case, revenue share,
collective era, transfer portal, the importance of the skill sets

(15:09):
of roster construction, player evaluation and then development have never
been more important than and so I think that's where
Brad excels. We've seen he's shown that. And so that
identification of coaching skill set for most sports, but certainly
men's basketball and women's basketball, something that is of high
high regard and and so I think our our guys

(15:32):
Brad and Sean exemplify that. And so that is commitment
to him in the program from a go form standpoint.
There's certainly part of that confidence as well.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
So some comments there from Graham New about Brad Brannell
obviously showing Poppy the Clemson women's basketball coach as well.
Coming up the next three segments, we'll talk with longtime
climpsing s Id Tim Beray here on the program. But
before we do that, a little NFL conversation. As the

(16:01):
NFL Draft began last night with the opening round, and
I said, here on the program, you can lay out
all the mock drafts you want, but until the picks
are made, you have no clue. It is flying blind
if you put it together a mock draft. Cam Ward

(16:24):
was determined to be the number one pick by most people.
He did indeed go number one. The former zero star
prospect who came out the same year I believe as
dj uy Unglola saw a graphic on social media.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
DJ was a five star.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Going to Clemson. Cam Ward zero star to incarnate word
works his way up to playing eventually with the Miami
Hurricanes after playing at Washington State and becomes the number
one overall pick in the draft to the Tennessee Titans.

(17:04):
Then the second pick was supposed to be the Cleveland Browns.
People said, you can't mess this up, can you? The
Browns traded the number two pick to the Jaguars, and
the Jaguars promptly selected the Heisman Trophy winning wide receiver
slash cornerback Travis Hunter out of Colorado, giving Trevor Lawrence

(17:33):
a versatile weapon, one that I don't know where he
will eventually make a big impact, but the speculation is
certainly that he plans to attempt to play on both
sides of the ball. He becomes just the first wide

(17:55):
receiver taken in the number two pick since Calvin Johnson
and went number two, and I believe he is the
first cornerback taken number two. I believe I heard in
the modern NFL draft, so good pick up, solid pickup,

(18:19):
I think because of his versatility and his elite athleticism
for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The New York Giants were the
third team to select, and people thought they might take
a quarterback. They went with Abdul Carter, frequently talented defensive
end slash linebacker out of Penn State. After that, it

(18:46):
was the New England Patriots drafting offensive lineman Will Campbell
six six three, three hundred and nineteen pound tackle. And
then with the fifth pick in the draft, Mason selected
defensive tackle out of Michigan going to Cleveland, who dropped

(19:07):
back to that spot. I thought it was a great
day though for the Jaguars.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
We'll see.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
We'll talk with Will Van Dervoard about that. We'll talk
with Timber Ray about that as well. Whether you like
Colorado and Dion Sanders or not. I know a lot
of people were excited that Shador Sanders was not drafted
in the first round. Hey, look, it's it's you know,
when people are brash in nature, it's easy to hate

(19:33):
on them when they don't have success. I get it,
but let's admit this. I mean, Sanders the younger is
still a kid, you know, and I guess technically is
over eighteen. But he's gonna make a lot of mistakes.
He's gonna say a lot of dumb things. That's what
young adults do. But I don't think you have to
celebrate in him not getting drafted last night in the

(19:55):
first round. Quick breat We'll come back with timber Ray
right after this rocketed rolled along with you on a Friday,
shifted over from Thursday afternoon. Timber eight joins us here
on the program. Tim, welcome in hope you're doing well.
I want to get started with the NFL Draft and
the thought process on you know what goes into that

(20:16):
from the coaching standpoint when you got a bunch of
players in it. I know Clempson has got six, potentially
seven guys. I think three of those will get taken.
But in your capacity as a yes ideat Clemson, did
you ever participate or travel to any of these events
with Dabo Sweeney or some of the players.

Speaker 4 (20:32):
No, I didn't. That's one thing Ross has gotten to
do that I never did. Obviously had some pretty prominent players,
but having guys go to the draft. I think when
that started. Who the first Clympson player was. I believe
I don't remember Tommy Bowden ever going to the to

(20:53):
the draft, so I guess that kind of started relatively
recently with coaches going to the draft.

Speaker 5 (21:03):
You know.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
For the first thing that comes to my mind is
is in nineteen eighty one, of course, we had Jeff
Bryant was pick stick in the draft, and he was
over at the dorm and and then Perry Tettle went
I think twenty seconds Buffalo, and then you know, Jeff Davis.

(21:24):
We thought he'd go early, and it took a while.
I remember going into his room and he was tamping
it to his dorm room and see how he was doing.
He was just lying there in bed waiting to get
you know, phone calls. And finally did, of course to
Tampa Bay and had a great run with Tampa Bay.
But yeah, it was a lot different. Of course, you know,

(21:46):
forty years ago, it was he just kind of got
the guy's got phone calls or whatever, and they were
just hanging out in their dorm room.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
So okay, so take me through that.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
Like you had a back then, you wouldn't have had
a cell phone, so it would have been a land
in line and those guys were just sitting there hoping
the phone would ring. I mean that that stresses me
out thinking about it, quite frankly.

Speaker 4 (22:07):
Yeah, now, you know, Jeff Bryant was kind of a
surprise that he went that early. I pretty sure went
sixth to uh to Seattle and uh and yeah, Jeff Davis,
you know who of course, uh that just take us
to the national championship, highly regarded. But he had to
wait wait a couple of rounds and and uh. So

(22:29):
that but yeah, that's what they you know, you had,
you had landline phones, and guys basically had to hang
around their phone and hang around their their their their
dorm room to uh, you know, to wait for a
wait on a call.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Now, this might seem like a completely ridiculous question that
I should know the answer to, but was it on
TV or the radio or I mean, could you follow
along at that point?

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Do you remember?

Speaker 4 (22:55):
Now that's a good question now that the way it worked.
I would be in the office and we wait till
somebody got drafted, and then the media would follow me
over to the dorm and I would go inside and
get the guy to come out. And seemed like we
did the interviews just in front of Malden Maldon Hall,

(23:17):
and we'd it was just for early round picks. Obviously,
if you were a seventh round pick, we weren't doing that.
You'd find out. Trying to think when ESPN's coverage of
the drafts, I think ESPN had started in nineteen eighty one.
I think they I think they were covering the draft
picked by pick. Of course he has been started in

(23:38):
nineteen seventy nine. I don't think they did it obviously
their first year, but it was soon after. Of course.
I do remember nineteen eighty four when William Perry was
drafted and there was a guy on there who said
it was a wasted It wasn't mel kiper was another

(23:59):
guy said it was a wasted wasted draft picks. So
I know in nineteen eighty four. They certainly had ESPN,
you know, doing the doing the show.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Wow, yeah, I see, I'm looking now. I just pulled
it up while you were talking. Eighty It started nineteen
eighty on ESPN. It looks like Bob Lee, George Grande
and Chris Berman.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
Grand George Grand George Grand.

Speaker 4 (24:24):
Yeah, George Grant, he was the original sports center guy
when it started in September nineteen seventy nine.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
Too much Starbucks calling for me. I guess I'm hitting
with the Grande there on George grand So thinking through
that as well, like when when those guys you know,
would get drafted, did the plane pick like you know,
like you say, it's now, it's so different. I mean,
there's gonna be a plane to pick up Travis Hunter

(24:54):
from the Jacksonville Jaguars probably last night. I mean, was
it like that if you were drafted pretty early?

Speaker 4 (25:00):
I think, you know, I think they actually flew him
in commercially, I don't. I don't know that they did that.
I guess to say for the first round guys, they
would do a press conference the next day, and of
course it's been in the timing, but it was soon
after that they they'd sent a private plane to to
uh to pick them up. But that's a good question

(25:22):
when that all Uh, when all that started as far
as you know, whether the guys went on a commercial
flight the next day or and the you know, the
team would just make the reservation. I'm not really sure
when how that how that started?

Speaker 2 (25:39):
Now for the Jaguars, as we mentioned, of course, a
lot of people follow him with Travis etn and with
with Trevor Lawrence there at quarterback. But they take Travis
Hunter cornerback slash wide receiver out of Colorado, and it
sounds like from everything I heard and I listened to
him talk with the Jacksonville media, he's gonna give it
a go and try to play both ways. I think

(26:00):
the coaching staff is going to allow it. We haven't
really seen anybody do it for like, you know, the
full season. We've seen guys like Deon Sanders do it sporadically.
What are your thoughts, I mean, do you think, based
on what you saw collegiately, can Travis Hunter pull this off?

Speaker 4 (26:15):
Well, he's obviously a very good all around football player,
and you know historically that's the way it was way
back in the day, that you go both ways. But
I got to believe that, you know, when you just
look at the injury risks that you have. But you know,
is he a better receiver or a better defensive back?
I don't know. I think he's terrific at both. Yeah,

(26:39):
and obviously, you know, just for the pure marketing of
his you know brand to be a guy who can
who could do this. And I look at all the
attention we had with Bo Jackson and Dion because they
played football and baseball, you know, showing their all around ability.
So if you were at the NFL level, we're able

(27:00):
to contribute on both sides of the ball, you know,
that would be something to see. I guess Woodson obviously
did it sparingly at Michigan. He was mostly a defensive player,
but he also you know, caught the ball as a
wide receiver and a public turner and all that. So
I bet they give him a shot. I mean, he

(27:20):
was pretty much about wanting to have a shot to
play both sides, and you know, I think they will
give him a shot.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
And see what happened Timbray with this year on the program,
We're gonna hit a quick break and come back on
a talk with him about Brad Brownell and his new
contract in tiger Town. Stay with us the show The
Shakes the south Land Clemson Sports Talk on a Friday,
Tim Beray held through the break with this. He's gonna
hang out with us for one more segment after this.
When the news came out earlier today, Tim Brad Brownell

(27:47):
with a new contract to Clemson. It'll keep him with
the program through twenty thirty one. I mean, you could argue, obviously,
outside of the finish this year that in back to
back seasons, Clemson really had two of the best years
they've ever had, the run to the Elite Eight and
then this season having a record setting regular season certainly
worthy of it. It is strange times, though, and I

(28:09):
said that to you off the air. How often coaches
now get these new contracts. Give me your thoughts on
Brad Brownell securing a new deal up in Tigertown.

Speaker 4 (28:20):
Yeah, I think you know, actually you can extend that
to really three years. You know, we won twenty three games,
you know, three years ago, and seventy two wins over
the last three years is the most in Clemson history.
Of the three year period, only Duke has more than
the acc over the over the last three years, so

(28:40):
it's really been quite.

Speaker 6 (28:41):
A three year run.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
I still think we should have been to the NCAA
Tournament in twenty two to twenty three. But but yeah,
I think, you know, when you have a year like
like we had, it's it's it's gonna happen, and you know,
you just want to show some stability in your your program,
whether it be in this era or the transfer error,

(29:04):
or or recruiting young men. Obviously we've got a dining class.
I guess it gets four now coming coming in with
the brother and the transfer. Well, I think that's uh,
you know, that's important, and it's you know, and I
you know, the fine trend obviously had had the phraseology
that you know, Brad would have the option after the

(29:28):
end of the contract to go into athletic administration. So
it certainly shows his commitment to Clemson. And you have
a coach who you know wants to be here. So
I think that's important in this day and age too.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Oh, there's no doubt about that.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
And you bring up the fact of the success that
they've had really over the past three seasons. I don't
know if it'll be matched at any point. Not saying
that Clemson can't do it. But to have three guys
consecutively be first Team All ACC with with Hunter Tyson
and then PJ. Hall the following year, and then Chase

(30:04):
Under this past season, I mean, the talent level that
that he's brought in there has been really unique, especially
by comparison to the history of Clemson basketball.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
Yeah, obviously just the first time we've ever had first
Team on ACC guy three years in a row, and
of course it's three different players, and then you know,
each of those years we also had other players who
made All Conference honors too, So yeah, I think he's
certainly done a good job of recognizing the talent, whether

(30:37):
it be in a transfer portal or whether it be
you know, freshman. So this year coming up will be
a little bit different. We only have one guy and
the team who who played the previous year. Of course,
they're to red shirts who I think are going to be,
you know, really good players, and we've got freshman coming
in and then we've got six transfers. So he's done

(31:00):
a good job of molding things together. He's got a
sixth sense, I guess, about guys that fit the culture
of the program, and it's resulted in seventy two wins
iguinst forty two in the ACC over the last three years.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Yeah, you mentioned six guys coming in and what that'll
look like when you get ready for the season. I
think it makes it certainly unique for you and Don
Munzon just trying to get an idea of what you're
looking at. Anytime you go on shows like this and
somebody says, hey, what do you think this club? And
I know we're way out from it, but what do
you think this club'son basketball team's gonna look like this year?

(31:40):
You really don't know. I mean I feel like you're
kind of flying into it a little bit blind.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Tim.

Speaker 4 (31:47):
Oh, yeah, no, you're right now. You don't have a
clue because, not to mention, you don't know how our
guys are gonna mesh, I haven't seen any of those
six transfers, if I take that back. Obviously I've seen R. J.
Godfrey play, but the other five guys I have not seen.
And that doesn't even take into account what the other

(32:08):
teams in the league are gonna are going to have
with their with all their transfers and whoever they have
as far as new players coming in. So yeah, it's
it's near impossible. And that's the one good thing about
new rules though, is you know it used to be
we couldn't really see him playing in the October fifteenth. Well,
they'll start, they'll start working out together in June. So

(32:29):
Don and I try to get over to practice as
much as we can during the summer and and get
a little familiar with the with the games of the
of all the new guys. We're sort of gonna have
a lot of new guys this year.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Again, Tim Bray with us here on the program for
a few more minutes in this segment. We're going to
hold him over for one more after that, Uh, Tim,
real quick, just kind of back to the NFL draft.
Before we finalist things, I want to talk baseball with
you in the final segment, Clipson got a couple of guys,
as I mentioned in the previous segment with you about
about possibly being drafted tomorrow or because I don't think

(33:04):
anybody's going to go today. Maybe maybe if you're a
little bit bullish on Barrett Carter, but I think Clemson
probably has at least three guys taken. Would you go
more than that? Would you go over three? Or do
you think that's about the number.

Speaker 4 (33:23):
And we could get I'm trying to think Carter, Mickens,
bringing Stool and MafA. I mean, that's that's what I'm thinking.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
Okay, b could be I said, if there was four,
it would be MafA. Do you think anybody goes today?
You think can Barrett Carter going the third round?

Speaker 4 (33:43):
Possibly? Let's see, do we get into thirty we do
about one hundred and five picks something like that today.
I've seen I think some uh you know, draft predictions
that had him in the top hundred. So you know,
we'll just have to to see. But I can't you know,
some people said, well, see, that's just the point. I'm

(34:03):
only going to have three or four guys drafted, and
as well and nobody, nobody in the first three rounds.
Possibly said well, that means we've got a lot of
good players coming back. I mean, we were a college
football playoff team, and you can look at it two ways.
I mean, you look at it that we were we
were a college football playoff team last year, and we
didn't have anybody drafted in the first three rounds. That

(34:24):
means we've got a lot of good players coming back.
So I kind of look at it kind of look
at it that way. I believe we're slow. Today on
one of those Channel eighty fours on XM Radio, actually
picked Clemson as his team to win the national championship
this year.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Wow, well, I know Tiger fans will certainly take that again.
Tim Murray hanging out with us year with a quick break.
We'll come back and we'll talk with Tim about the
number two Tigers are back against the wall really for
the first time this season, as they are down the
game and they will play at six o'clock night up
in Raleigh against the wolf Pack. Keep it a lot
right here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred and of

(35:05):
course on the iHeart Radio application, final segment of outur
Number one. Tim Bray is still on the line. Tim,
we were talking earlier, just briefly that we're going to
get into some baseball Clemson ranked number two and all
five major baseball polls. But their backs against the wall
really for the first time this year, after losing an
eight innings last night fourteen to four. The ironic thing,

(35:27):
I mean, they've been good in the first inning. They've
scored the most runs of any inning all year in
that first inning. They jumped up to nothing, and I thought, Okay,
here we go. But then I thought, I thought the
wolf Pack took a smart strategy. They were aggressive against
Aiden Kannock and really turned the momentum in the bottom
of the first and then didn't relinquish that back to
the Tigers.

Speaker 4 (35:47):
No, you gotta get I watched the whole game, and
I mean, you got to give Into State a lot
of credit. They just played for terrific and they were consistent.
Would they score at least one run in each of
the first six innings? I think until they you know,
they're one one fella that do on Monson, I can
seven RBIs, but you know it's you know it's gonna
happen over a long baseball. He's I mean, we are

(36:10):
how about this with the number two ranked team in
the country. But we've been run ruled three times, we
might have we've been been we might have been run
rule the most of any team in the top twenty five.
And yet we're we're ranked, you know, second in the country,
in the country. But credit to UH, to Eric and
his ability to UH get his team refocused, you know,

(36:31):
in his careers at seven and oh the game after
they lose the game by ten runs, which I know
is as a kind of an odd stat but but
it also tells you how he's able to get his
team to uh to flush her and look forward to
the to the next game. I expected to get things tonight.
We'll see what happens.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
That and for the first time this season, with their
backs a little bit against the wall, they're the only
team in the conference that hasn't lost a series, uh,
you know, in conference play. So today's game at six
o'clock up and didn't. He's still gonna be a big one.
And you know, Drew Titsworth last week was really good
for Clipson in his first career start. He's on the
mound tonight. Uh, Tim, you've had a chance to see him.

(37:12):
Uh what do you like about Drew Titsworth on the bump?

Speaker 4 (37:15):
Yeah, big strong guy. I think he's got a pretty
good drincount to walk ratio. And you talk about, you know,
coming at guys aggressively, and that's kind of the way
he he pitches. But uh, yeah, he was. He was
terrific last weekend. And see if we could put back
to back starts together. And you know, well Garrison, most

(37:39):
we just get to the sixth inning and like the
Yankees used to be with whoever they had in the
seventh and eighth innings and then and then Mariano Rivera.
You know, he's been, he's been the terrific. I texted
with Mark Packer the other day said, if if ever
a release pitcher could be the MVP of the league, it's.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
I mean, do you think the reason he has so
much success is his style? Sort of that submarine that
side arm. I mean, is that what really benefits him
because that's kind of my hunch on it, But I
don't know.

Speaker 4 (38:12):
So the sard arm guys, you know, but you know,
when when I play, if you face the side arm guy,
they usually have the ability to have the ball work
back into a right handed batter, so it can have
a different kind of effect that they're not used to.
And that's one of the reasons he's been successfully. He's
been good against right hand hitters and left hand hitters,

(38:36):
and she's just got that kind of action on his
honest pitch and as a result, he's got fifteen saves
already in this year. What we had n't played forty
five games yet.

Speaker 2 (38:49):
Yeah, he's been he's been so solid. Once they get
to him out of the bullpen, Lucas small stand. That's
timber Ray. He's on Twitter at timber Ray. We got
him for about three more minutes. We'll shift slightly to softball.
They top number one Tennessee this past week. Tim on
the road. I know, you know, it's certainly the biggest

(39:10):
win for that program. I look back to being up
what three runs a couple of years ago at Oklahoma
and think about what could have been in that moment
in the in the super regionals of the postseason NCAA tournament.
But man, what a what a turnaround for this group
after starting three and six this season. I'll be honest,

(39:32):
I thought, oh boy, minus Valerie Cagle, this is gonna
be tough sledding. But what a turnaround for them. And
then to go and do what they did this past week.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
What a win?

Speaker 4 (39:41):
Yeah. No, I watched that entire game also, and you know,
when I first turned to nine, it's for this picture
for Tennessee. Is really it got? I mean, she was
fired him in there at seventy four miles an hour
pretty consistently, and I just didn't see how we were
ever gonna score. And then we kind of kind a
break a week or three runs on a swinging bunt

(40:02):
and then ended up winning four to three and at
the first time a women's sports program at Clemson be
the number one team on the road, So that was
really quite an accomplishment. But more the second basement there
has just played terrific hitting, hitting in the four forties,

(40:23):
and I really brought a lot of the other ladies
along along with her. So, yeah, you just get the
feeling that this team is peaking at the right time.
It seemed like when Valerie Cagle was there, we would
peak too early in the season and then not struggle,
but just not be at our peak when we got
into postseason. It looks like this team might be peaking

(40:45):
as it gets to posting well.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
And I don't know the resumes of all the coaches
on Clemson's campus, like you know perfectly well, but I
could you argue that maybe behind Dabosweeney, John Ritman is
sort of the next most successful coach, not in the
sense of what he's done just at Clemson, right, I'm
talking about the totality of his career.

Speaker 4 (41:10):
Yeah, he's certainly been Obviously, his tenure at Stanford goes
back to the early two thousands. I think he took
them to do a to two College World Series. But
you know that that would be a close vote because
you got a lot of a lot of coaches that
had But you're right, maybe not twenty five years back
as John. Yeah, but obviously Eric Eric back As to

(41:31):
take Michigan to the finals of the College World Series
is uh, pretty much an amazing accomplishment.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
We don't have to give Noon. I better get Noon
in his flowers. Got to give coach noonon his flowers too.

Speaker 4 (41:43):
Yeah, yeah, Coach Noon, and yeah, coach Yeah. I think
where you were coming from what you said is guys
have been you know, at other schools too. Of course
coach Noon was successful at his previous stop because it
was Brown too. So yeah, we got a lot of
good staff, I guess my so that is we've got
a lot of good coaches on this staff that has

(42:03):
been put together by Ram and uh well carried On
and Rady Covich. We've got We've got coaches out of
the staff were hired by three different athletic trick.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
Yeah, no doubt about it all right, Tim Bray, he's
on Twitter at Tim Bray. Tim have a great weekend.
Enjoy the golf, enjoy the baseball and everything that's going
to be going on.

Speaker 4 (42:22):
That's good.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
Good to talk to you around the bend. Will Van
Derbort keep it locked.

Speaker 6 (42:28):
Each time for clubs and sports talk with Lowton Swan.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
It is our number two. That's drive time right here
on the Show that Shakes thea Southland Clemson Sports talll
Lott and swaney't know with you. Will Van Derport from
the Clemson Insider joins us momentarily. But of course the
Show that Shakes the South lambroget in part by our
good friends over at Mets Plumbing seven three two drip, drip,

(43:29):
drip drip. You know the jingle seven three to two drip.
That's Mets Plumbing.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
Mets Plumbing dot Com. I cannot do that one, Mets
Plumbing dot Com. All right, Will Vandiwort, Willy B. What's up?

Speaker 5 (43:43):
Man?

Speaker 1 (43:43):
Welcome in?

Speaker 5 (43:45):
Now?

Speaker 6 (43:45):
What's going on? When? When is Bamberg and Barnba play?
We gotta we gotta kind of start playing up this rivalry,
don't we listen?

Speaker 1 (43:51):
What sport?

Speaker 2 (43:52):
I mean, I'm sure they're playing soccer or something at
some point, baseball. They gotta get on listen, people might
not know this will So I'm gonna let you you.
I'm gonna let you have your I'm gonna let you
have some flowers here about just how good the Bamberg
Earhart baseball program was many moons ago.

Speaker 6 (44:11):
Yeah, and let's be hond I mean, they're not bad now,
they they but yeah, back in the back in the day.
But you know Mookie Wilson, you know, he started it.
Mikeiy Wilson course wanted to play at South Carolina, went
on the first round pick of the New York Mets
and won a World Series and all that good stuff.

(44:31):
He you know, he started to run the eight consecutive
state championships from nineteen seventy four to nineteen eighty one.
And then they took a break there for a little bit,
won a few more, took a break for a little bit,
won a few more before coach Horton retired. Coach Horton
great greatst baseball coach in the country. And I'm not

(44:53):
just saying that because he was my coach. I'm saying
that because it's an actual fact. He's won more games
than any baseball coach in the country, not just the
state of South Carolina. He's won more state championships than
any coach in the in the in the country, and
he's in the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. He's
the only high school baseball coach and only one of
only three high school coaches in the South Carolina Athletic

(45:16):
Hall of Fame. And you know, so we won fourteen
state championships, played for it sixteen times. So he was
fourteen and two in state championship game appearances or series appearances,
I should say. And we're very proud of that. And
I know they're still playing well, but I don't know
if they've added onto that total or not. I haven't
been there in a while since the Paris Fastory, obviously,

(45:37):
but very proud of it in Bamberg, and we like
to be boastful about it whenever we can.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
No.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Listen, man, if you win fourteen state championships in anything,
I don't care what it could be. The chess tournament,
I mean, because you have to understand, regardless of what
level one, A two, A three, A five, A whatever,
you have to understand that the opponent in that championship
game has also earned the right to be there. They
didn't just get handed that opportunity so that you earned

(46:07):
it when you win state championships.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
I don't care what level you're playing.

Speaker 6 (46:11):
Absolutely, and it was it was a you know, coach
Jordan had a great program down there and just was
there forty three years. I might be off a year
or two on that, but I believe forty three years
he was in Bamberg and Man, just and that's not
counting all the region championships he won and going to

(46:31):
Upper States. You know, probably just you know, it was
an unbelievable run. And how how long they've dominated high
school baseball at Class two A for so many years?
And like I said, they're probably you know, still pretty
good at it. I haven't followed it lately. I need
to catch up and see what's going on down there.
But uh, they I know, as as a few years ago,

(46:52):
they were they were right in the mixed plane, uh
you know plane in the you know, in the top
five of the state or something in that standpoint. But I
don't know how they've gotten since then. It's coach Horton
retired a few years back. But unbelievable run, man, And
I'm glad you allowed me to talk about it. It's uh,
it's fun. Me and Brad Owens. You know, he's the
operations guy here at Clemson Baseball. And Brad went to

(47:13):
the same school I did in college. We both went
to Anderson College and he was a picture He's from
Barnall by the way. I don't know if you know that.
And so me and him have our little rivalry like
me and you do. And and we always talk about
those Bamberg Barnba baseball rivalries and and and uh and
they kind of like, you know, we talked talked ball
about it, and yeah, he's very proud of what Barnball

(47:34):
has done. So yeah, so we have a good kind
of talking about it. And uh, you know, he's uh,
he's just fun guy to talk about with baseball. And
also you know the Bamberg Barnble rivalry.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Listen, his mom taught me in third grade when I
was a kid. His sister Brantley, is a year younger
than me. We went to Non End Pops. I remember
the day Brad was born. I remember his first day
at the daycare. Well that's there at non and Pops.
That's how far I got back.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
I remember that.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
I remember that guy in dip anyway, Yeah, we are,
it does. He's a great guy though. He is a
great guy. All right, So let's talk about that Clemson
baseball team. Look for the first time this year, Uh,
they have their backs against the wall in a conference
series after falling last night fourteen to four and eight
innings at NC State. They've been good. In the first inning,

(48:22):
they jumped out after that Colin Priest home run, he
mashed another ball to a two to nothing lead, and
I thought, well, there you go.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
And then I think you have to give credit.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
I think you have to give credit to coach A
Mannett squad up at NC State because they were aggressive
against Aiden Kannock and even though he struck out the
first battery faced, you know, he didn't have but one
more strikeout during his limited time there on the bump
were What were your thoughts will watching that game unfold
last night?

Speaker 6 (48:49):
Well, I thought NC State had a great game plan
approaching him. They were very aggressive even with his breaking ball,
and they just weren't afraid of it. I think last year,
if I remember correctly, he like dominated them in the
game and they couldn't do anything on him, and so
it was obvious they were not gonna let that happen

(49:11):
this year, and he they came out right away swinging.
They were They really jumped on his fastball right from
the beginning. His breaking ball, though I thought was pitching.
He was pitching well. They were very aggressive there with
his breaking ball and not allowing him to settle that
in and get going. So you give them, give them

(49:33):
all the credit in the world. I thought it was
a you know, a lot of people I think were
saying Canak didn't have his stuff, but I really don't
think that was the case. I think m c State
just jumped on him, and so he realized that if
he plays them again in the postseason, he's gonna have
to come with a different game plan when it comes
to pitching, because I think it was more NC State
than it was anything Kennock was doing. And they kept

(49:54):
it going the whole game, and I think when you
got around that sixth inning or so, it was obvious
Clemson knew they weren't coming back. And I think at
that point when it's when you saw Package kind of
just put in guys on the mound that probably he
wouldn't put in in a normal situation in an ACC series,

(50:14):
right pitched a couple of young guys, which told me,
he says, okay, Eric Backage is like, we gotta win
the series, not this game, so we need to not
overextend our pitching at that point. So I wouldn't say
he waved the white the white flag, but at that
point he started thinking about the winning the series and
not just that game last night. And so we'll see

(50:35):
a different approach I think from Clemson pitching today as
they're gonna, I think throw Titsworth I believe for his
second start today, which will be uh, They're gonna need
a big outing from him, which is what they got
last week when he shut down a very good Louisville
offensive team.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
I know they had previously released that Titsworth was gonna
be on the bump. I don't know if that will
hold with the way the series is shaping up. Imagine
it would. I think he is your second best arm
in that regard. Tim Bray was on earlier and we
were also talking about, you know, the bullpen. Once you
get to read Garris and then once you get to Malstead,
what those two guys can do for you if you

(51:14):
get a good outing from Tensworth tonight, you'll give yourself
a chance because offensively, even though this team has some
issues man throughout the year, throughout the year, I think
what you do have to give Clempson credit for is
they make clutch plays at the plate. They score clutch runs.
That's the thing. They don't score a ton of runs,
but they score them when they need them.

Speaker 6 (51:37):
They do. Now. They struggled last week and against Georgia,
and we saw a little bit last night. They struggled
here with runners and scoring position as of late. But
I think it's more bad luck than anything they did have.
You know, people say, well, hold on, take it well.
They struck out six times with runners in scoring position
last week against Louisville in that game, and that's true,

(52:00):
but they also hit into two double plays and there
was one there was two plays where their Luba outfielders
made outstanding catches in the outfield that just robbed them
of extra bases and would have been obviously one to
two runs coming across the plate. And then the other
night against Georgia, if you remember, they get a nice

(52:22):
hit to the outfield and it looks like they're gonna
score a run and the Georgia left fielder just makes
the heck of a throw and they're able to throw.
I believe it's priests out at home plate that would
have given Clemson a three nothing lead at that time.
So they've had some opportunities. Just guys on the other
team are making plays, and so I think it's more

(52:42):
if they just get themselves in a position where they
get those one or two pits down, then they'll they'll
get back in their old ways, like they're saying, and
they'll they'll make some of those big plays with runners
in score and position. But you know, last week was
just uncanny, how mean they were Gosh, what was it?

Speaker 4 (53:01):
Boy?

Speaker 6 (53:01):
The finished what extra innings? Twelve innings and they finished
four for three for twenty two with runners in scoring position.
But during the first nine innings they were two for nineteen.
So you gotta think that's gonna change that. There's no
way you're gonna keep having that kind of bad luck
with runners in scoring position. And when it does, I

(53:23):
think it's gonna gode well for Clemson, and you hope
that starts tonight.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Will Van der Voort from The Clemson Insider with US
year on a Friday afternoon talking about that Clemson Tiger
baseball team again. They'll get underway in less than an
hour up in Raleigh against the wolf Pack, down one
game to none. But before we turn away from kind
of the diamond and slash circle, will I know you
had to be excited watching the Clemson softball team top

(53:50):
number one Tennessee.

Speaker 4 (53:51):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
That was incredible, And you know, I didn't think with
the way the season started three and six that this
team would turn it around the way they have. But
they're a fun group to watch and they're playing really well.

Speaker 6 (54:04):
I'm glad you brought that up. What are they thirty
two and six since that moment you just mentioned they
were three and six at that time now or maybe
it's even better than that, but thirty eight and six,
thirty eight and twelve overall, right, so they it's hard
to believe they were three and six at one point.
They're they're playing so good. That was that big win,

(54:26):
not just for this season, but for this program. They've
gone to Tennessee the last couple of years when they
had Valerie Tagle and all those superstars that they had
the last few years, right and McKenzie clark, you know,
lololo and they couldn't get it done. They couldn't beat Tennessee,
they couldn't get over the top. Well, they go up
there this year and Tennessee's pitchers pitching their best game

(54:49):
and they find a way to win the game despite
striking out nine times. They found a way to win
the game. And that's what this team has done this year.
They get big hits. You're talking about being clutched. This
team has been all year in big moments. Maddie Moore
coming through the other night, you had Jamison Brock and
bro coming through and by the way, the Tennessee transfer,

(55:11):
she makes two big plays in that game the other
night and helps them win the game, including the ending
where she doubles up the Tennessee player to end the game.
You know, And that's what they've been getting. They've been
getting it from freshmen. They got three, three or four
freshmen they're starting that are starting consistently, that are making

(55:31):
plays and hits pitching if you're count in centron, so
you know, they got the pieces to make a run.
I think because they're playing well at the right time
and they're in good position in the ACC to finish
in the top four. I think they're gonna finish probably
the top three if they win the series at Georgia
Tech this weekend. They will, and then they can also

(55:52):
get the forty wins if they win this series, and
if they went to forty wins plus, you count to
win over South Carolina, who's top ten RPI, the win
over Tennessee, who's number one team in the country and
top ten RPI. I think they're gonna host a regional.
And if you host a regional and you got a
shot to win it, and then if you can do that,
then you get a super Regional, and then anything can

(56:15):
happen when you get that far in the tournament. So
you know they're in good shape.

Speaker 5 (56:19):
Man.

Speaker 6 (56:19):
I think to go on a good postseason run. And
they've been fun to watch. And the best thing about it,
Lowton is they're young. This is a young softball team
and they got many more years of success ahead of them.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
He's on Twitter at Steelers Will joining us here on
the program, Will Van der Voart speaking of the Steelers.
The NFL draft was last night. Will, We'll start with
your Steelers. They took Dereck Harmon out of Oregon defensive
tackle six, five, three and thirteen pounds as a Steeler fan,
with the you know, changes to the NFL Draft where
they do the first round alone, you kind of you know,

(56:52):
most teams get one pick and then you just have
to reflect on your draft grade so far. How do
you grade the draft pick?

Speaker 5 (57:00):
You?

Speaker 1 (57:00):
Steelers A plus?

Speaker 6 (57:02):
Man a plus? And I know some Steeler fans out
there were wanting a quarterback. I don't know why, because
these quarterbacks aren't that great. The Steelers got burned a
few years ago with you know, with the Kenny Pickett
situation when he fell to him at twenty one and
they took him and it turned out not to work.

(57:22):
I don't think they were gonna get burned again. So
that's why I knew they were gonna take Sanders, and
they were targeting. If you listen to any Steelers podcast
that worth its weight and goal than any Steelers reporter
that knows the inside and what was going on, you
knew the Steelers were looking at him. That's who they
were targeting. They were hoping he would follow them at

(57:43):
that position, and if he was, they were taking them.
And so there was no doubt in my mind they
were gonna go with him in that first round pick.

Speaker 4 (57:49):
And it was.

Speaker 6 (57:50):
It was a great pick and because there's a need
of defensive tackle. You know, Cam Heywood's probably in his
last couple of years. They just got rid of Ogunjobe
to free agencies that they needed to get somebody in there.
Let's not forget guys, the last two times they played
the Ravens, the Ravens ran for over three hundred yards
of them in both games. Can't have that. You got
to figure o a way to stop it. They got

(58:11):
a good run stopper to go with Cam Haywood, and
now you go sign that deal with TJ. Watt and
anchor him for a few more years, and I think
your defense is going to be fine. So I loved it.
I think it was a great move. It's what we
needed well.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
And you know, again all this stuff is subjective, but
I think most people had him rated is maybe the
second best defensive tackling. Two other guys came off the board,
including Walter Nolan, the former Texas A and m Product
by way old Miss. So yeah, I mean, I think
you got a pretty good pick up there, especially in
the league where you got to disrupt the quarterback. Speaking

(58:46):
of a pretty good pickup, though, the one that I
think turned the most attention last night was Trevor Lawrence's
Jacksonville Jaguars moving up to get Travis Hunter cornerbacks lash
wide receiver. Regardless of what you thought you think of
Travis Hunter from his time at Jacksonville State to his
time at Colorado around Deion Sanders, the kid can make plays.

(59:07):
I like this pick for the Jaguars because I do
follow them because of ETN and Lawrence, etc. But I
think his versatility can translate to the NFL. I don't
know that he can be, you know, as frequently playing
on both sides of the ball, but I do think
he can play on both sides of the ball at
this level.

Speaker 6 (59:25):
Well, I think he can too. And I think he
can play in coverage. In other words, I don't think
he's a man the man guy necessarily, but when you
have different packages and you're playing in some zone defense,
which the Jags do with their system, it's kind of
what they do. They don't really ask their corners to
play straight up man. So I think you're gonna see,

(59:45):
you know, him excel in that because he's a ballhawk,
and so I'm with you. I think he can play.
I think he's in a good fit in Jacksonville. I
think this was a home run for the Jaguars because
he is going to help Trevor Lawrence in the offense immediately.
But I think he can put him in certain situations
and that's the beauty. He doesn't have to start on defense.
He can come in and be your dying guy, right

(01:00:07):
and and and I think it's a great mix for them.
And you know, and also let's keep in mind, he's
not just an offensive defensive guy. He's a special teams
kind of guy too, and so you know, you get
yourself a special teams player as well. And I think
it's a great home run hit for the Jaguars. It
was one of the best I think when it's all

(01:00:28):
said and done. And maybe I'm jumping the gun here,
and that's maybe because I want to see Trevor and
and Travis Dowell to extint because I don't want him
to obviously beat my Steelers, but but I do I
do want to see him do well. But maybe that's
what I'm thinking of. But I think when it's all
said and done, this will be like one of the
biggest draft moves probably in the history of the NFL,

(01:00:50):
because Cleveland, what are you doing? I thought Cleveland's definitely
taking this guy because he could have helped Cleveland out
a minute and immntly, especially the dynamics he brings, especially
again going up against asc North teams and they passed
on them. And I was just stunned that the Browns
did that. And I'm glad because you know why, because
I hate Cleveland. So I was happy to see Jackson

(01:01:13):
up up and grab them.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
I think the other thing too, what this could lead
to if you see success from Travis Hunter in the NFL.
We don't have time to really talk about it, but
I think a pretty quick answer from you will be yes.
I think you'll see more guys that might play both
ways collegiately with the hopes of maybe doing it in
the NFL.

Speaker 6 (01:01:33):
I hope so. And you saw some guys do it,
you know, you look at Deon Sanders, it's probably the
most popular bo Jackson. Obviously, There's been a couple of
guys in the last you know, even Woodson a few
years back, you know, with the Packers when he came
out of Michigan. I guess that's more like twenty something
years back, but still you know, so you've seen it.

(01:01:53):
Champ Bailey, right, another guy who did both, but they
didn't do it to the level Dion did. And he
ain't counter because he was coached by Dion. He's gonna
kind of do at the what level Dion did. I believe,
and so you're gonna see him on both sides of
the ball. And like you said, if he's successful, then
I think this is something you're gonna see more of.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
There you go, Will Van Derboort, the Clemson Insider, will
have a great weekend. I'm man, buddy, There you go,
Bamberg's finest. You don't hear me say that often? Will
Van de Devoort hear all the programs stay with us,
Lowton Swan with you to show that shakes the south Land.
Don't forget if you're up in Tigertown anytime soon, stop
by Alumni Hall on the corner of Campus on College

(01:02:34):
Avenue in downtown Clemson. It's Alumni Hall for all your
Clemson merchandise. Hats, t shirts, apparel, new stickers for your vehicle,
those magnets, everything you could want, officially licensed at Alumni
Hall on the corner of Campus on College Avenue. Don't

(01:02:54):
forget Clemson students faculty in all military received ten percent
off when shopping in its store, and ask him about
their Alumni Hall Rewards past program where you can save
a little bit of money when you're spending at alum
Night Hall. Don't forget. You can also get to their
website through our website and if you buy online, we'll
get a little support from them. And hey, you can

(01:03:15):
skip the line in store and pick it up right
there and save yourself some time. So go check them
out today. Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. All right,
thank you to will Van der Woord, thanking to Tim
Beray for joining us. Probably gonna push in a little
bit of William Qualkinbush from Monday coming up in the

(01:03:36):
next segment, just to give us a little bit of
a little bit of a timeline. We got our final
regular season soccer match coming up, and I need to
get over to the swamp as christ Church makes their
way down the Cavaliers make their way down to the
Midlands from Greenville. You know, all the years I spin
up at Clemson, I don't ever recall riding by or

(01:04:03):
near christ Church. Would I couldn't even tell you. Let
me look on a map here, Cavalier Drive. That doesn't
help me. I don't know what part of town it is.
It's funny, right, there are certain schools, you know, I
guess because of their proximity to the interstate or whatever

(01:04:25):
that you pretty quickly go, oh, yeah, there's Dorman, or
you know, there's Riverside or whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
Jail man. I wouldn't know what.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
I would not know what direction to drive if I
was going to christ Church, like you, if I was
at Clypson, you said, Hey, Swane, we're meeting over at
christ Church. Buddy, I don't know. Come here from Sickham.
All right, it looks like christ Church is off a
man road.

Speaker 1 (01:04:57):
Familiar. I take that road a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
When I'm going up to Clemson sometimes, actually like that
little cut through on Malden Road. But they gotta get
some more signage or something, because I had no idea.

Speaker 1 (01:05:16):
That that school was right there.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
All right, Well, I guess I do now nowhere ah
where christ Church High School is up in Maldon or
up in Greenville.

Speaker 1 (01:05:28):
I guess technically A.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
Three four five zero zero eighty six again in the
NFL draft will get back underway this evening again timber Ray.
You know, I think three maybe MafA timber Ray kind
of seemed to be in that same vein.

Speaker 5 (01:05:47):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:05:47):
RJ.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
Mickens is an interesting one that could come off the board,
maybe in round three. I think it would be a
bit of a reach, a bit of a reach at
this point still, but he's got NFL pedigree, his father
may have some relationships in the league that could benefit him.
It's not always about how good you are in some respects,

(01:06:13):
it can be about how well thought of you are
as well.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:06:19):
One former Clemson commit was drafted last night, Johded Campbell
out of Alabama. The linebacker had been committed to Clemson
before Brent Bimbles left to go to Oklahoma. Campbell was
picked with the thirty first selection by the Philadelphia Eagles,
the defending Super Bowl champions. Getting Johid Campbell with that picking,

(01:06:43):
I think they moved up. They actually traded spots with
Kansas City to move up one spot to pick him.
So I don't know if they felt like Kansas City
was going to take him, or if they felt like
somebody might trade up with Kansas City and take him,
but they jumped up and swapped that pick swapped the

(01:07:04):
thirty second pick with the thirty first pick to get
Jahid Campbell. And you know, anytime a guy goes and
is drafted that it was a commit. When you think about,
you know, the year you had or the year's plural
and not having guys like that, it can be a
little bit frustrating. I mean, fortunately, you know, Clemson really

(01:07:28):
hasn't faced that all that often. Now last season a
little bit more, you know, there was a little bit
more of that with guys who were committed that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
De committed.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
It could certainly become something where in a few years
when we get to the NFL Draft, we go, oh Man,
remember when he was committed to Clemson. But at this
point it really has not been something that you've really
had to deal with. And again, Round two of the
NFL Draft gets away tonight. The Cleveland Browns are on

(01:08:05):
the clock, so to speak. We'll see what the Browns
do with their second selection in the draft. And speaking
of second picks, there were a couple of teams in
the opening round that did have two draft picks. One
of the notable ones was the New York Giants taking
Abdul Carter out of Penn State with the number three picks.

(01:08:26):
Some people thought that they might take Shador Sanders there.
They moved back into the draft with a trade at
twenty five, and people thought they were going to take
Shardoor Sanders there.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
They didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
They took Jackson Dart, the quarterback out of Old miss
part of the reason that Shdoor Sanders is still sitting
over on the shelf. The Atlanta Falcons also had two
first round picks. They picked Jalen Walker, the linebacker out
of Georgia with the fifteenth pick, and then a little
bit later they picked in a trade with the Los

(01:09:02):
Angeles Rams, they picked James Pierce, defensive end out of Tennessee.
And I heard the conversations on ESPN about that, and
the thing they said was that Atlanta they they really
felt like Atlanta did a good job because the Falcons
needed help on the defensive line to create more pressure,

(01:09:25):
more sacks, and be disruptive, and they felt like both
of those guys had the ability to be disruptors at
the next level. So that's a quick look at a
couple of the teams that had two picks in last
night's opening round of the NFL Draft. All right, quick break,
We'll come back. As I mentioned, I was gonna do

(01:09:46):
some of our time with William qualkin Bush. But looking
at the time here, I've got enough time to wrap
this thing up with two segments. So we'll push that
qualk back. We won't worry about that. What's talk will
Qualt live on Monday. But when we get back, we'll
take look closer at Brad Brownell's contract when we return.
Stay with us, Lawton Swan hanging out with you on
a Friday. All right, we talked about Brad Brownell getting

(01:10:07):
a new contract today. Here's the skinny on it. Here's
the scoop, and what that contract looks like. Brad Brownell
getting a six year extension that will keep him at
Clemson until twenty thirty one. We played some audio from

(01:10:28):
Graham Neff talking about Brad in the ever changing environment
of college athletics. He talked about the house revenue sharing
cases coming, the collective error transfer portal, you know, managing
the roster roster construction, and feeling like Brad Brownell excelled

(01:10:50):
at that and has proven that he's excelled. Brownell has
signed six prospects this year out of the portal, as
we mentioned, and its Tember eight noted, I mean, you
really do feel like you're flying blind if you got
to go talk about this team and what they're gonna
look like competitively outside of what you see at practice,
and maybe you know some of those preseason scrimmages behind

(01:11:12):
closed doors the basketball teams can have. Brad Bronell this
past season, you might recall, was one of the names
that was frequented frequently, I should say, maybe discussed for
the Indiana job as that Indiana gig came open, and
Brad Brunell, being a native son of Indiana and having

(01:11:37):
the success that he's had at Clemson in the past
few years, was a name that was mentioned and talked
about and discussed. Now, one of the things that we
did not get into. We'll talk about the dollars in
the sense of the contract here momentarily, but there's a
clause in Brad Bronell's new contract that if he chooses

(01:12:01):
to step down at any point during this new deal,
he would be allowed to move into a role called
special assistant slash.

Speaker 1 (01:12:13):
Advisor to the athletic director.

Speaker 2 (01:12:20):
That administrative role would pay him two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars a year, So that's the deal that Brad
Brownell got. Now here's what the financial particulars of that
deal look like. So again, an extension through twenty thirty one.

(01:12:47):
For Brad Brownell. The contract raises his salary by two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars increments each season. He'll move
to four million dollars for this coming year, reaching five
million dollars a year in twenty nine thirty and will

(01:13:08):
stay at five million for the final year of the deal,
assuming he's still there. His assistance Billy Donalon, Sean Dixon,
and Dick Bender each have a year extended to their contracts.
Donald will make five hundred and thirty thousand, Dixon will
make three seventy five and Dick Bender will get an

(01:13:29):
increase to three hundred and twenty thousand dollars per year.
So that's the way Brad Brannell's contract currently looks, and
if you look at the structuring of it, he has
the same base salary three hundred and fifty thousand. Then
he has a supplemental salary this coming season there'll be

(01:13:50):
three point one twenty five million. He gets three hundred
thousand in licensing, two hundred and twenty five thousand in
deferred compensation for the grand total compensation this year this
year of four million dollars. So the licensing fee is

(01:14:13):
for the coach's name, likeness, appearances, trademarks, and similar instances,
and so that shall be paid to an LLC held
by the coach. So Brad Brown now LLC or whatever
gets a little licensing payment of three hundred thousand dollars

(01:14:34):
a year. So that's a quick look at the breakdown
of the new contract for Brad Brown now. And look,
he is the most tenured coach in the league. He
has had the most success that Clemson, a Clemson basketball

(01:14:55):
coach in back to back seasons, has ever had. And
that's probably short changing him, right, that's probably short changing
him because, as Timbrey noted, it's been three good seasons
for the Clemson Tiger basketball team, none though as good

(01:15:20):
as what you saw two years ago with their run
to the Elite Eight and then a fairly competitive game
against Alabama in that final game of the season. Now,
one of the other things real quick we can mention
off of that conversation with Graham Neft today is he

(01:15:42):
did comment on Clemson's gymnastics coaching search the Tigers part
of ways with head coach Amy Smith after just two seasons.
He declined to comment on the reasons that the school
parted way with Amy Smith, but said that members of
the team are looking forward as university conducts a national search.

(01:16:03):
He says, I can't say much more than what was
provided in the release, but the focus on the stature
of the program that we have, the competitive success that's
been seen in the student athletes that are here, get
excited for the forward looking approach now. There were some
questions that abound from Amy Smith's previous coaching tenures. Back

(01:16:30):
in twenty twenty three, there was a Washington Post article
which detailed allegations against her from former gymnasts at North Carolina,
where she was an assistant, and Utah State. Those allegations
claimed that Smith had fostered quote, a culture of disordered

(01:16:54):
eating and verbally berating players and so from there. Obviously,
having that in the backdrop has led to the speculation
by a lot of people that may be something similar
in that regard is what took place at Clemson, or
maybe not on the same level, but enough to make

(01:17:18):
Clemson feel uncomfortable with Smith as the head coach. Of
the gymnastics program, which is a program a lot of
people are really excited about. So again, not saying anything
happen at Clemson, but the previous allegations against her certainly
open up the questions about what happened and why she's
out after two years. Quick break, We'll put a ball

(01:17:38):
on the show right after this.

Speaker 7 (01:17:41):
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?

Speaker 8 (01:18:00):
What have you done? Always are the same. We win sometimes.

Speaker 5 (01:18:16):
Sometimes that sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:18:54):
Final segment on a Friday again, Brad b I know,
gets a new contract to Clemson. The NFL Draft, it's underway.
I'm making my prediction. I'm writing it down right now.
Three players drafted. I'm locking it in. I don't think
MafA gets drafted. I do not think MafA gets drafted.

(01:19:14):
Barrett Carter, I'm not sure he goes tonight. I think
Barrett Carter is going to be a fourth round pick.
Kind of feel the same about Brenning Stool for fifth round.
For Brenning Stool, I think Mickens has a chance to
go in the fourth as well.

Speaker 1 (01:19:28):
We'll see, we'll see.

Speaker 2 (01:19:29):
You never know, you never know, but I think no, MafA,
that's my that's my hunch. We'll see if I'm right.

Speaker 1 (01:19:38):
Again.

Speaker 2 (01:19:38):
Thank you to Tim Bray and Will Van der Voort
from The Clemson Insider as well for joining us here
on the program. Former clips of Tiger Guard Jake Heidbreeder
found his destination. That news came out on Wednesday. Heidebreeder
lands at Fresno State. So I feel like a little

(01:20:08):
bit that was maybe one of those not I'm not
gonna call it a forced exit, right, but a hey, look,
you might want to pursue other options. Am I wrong
on that front? Like Presno State be Clemson? Right, President

(01:20:31):
State versus Clemson? Which one is the place to be?

Speaker 1 (01:20:39):
There's no reason to leave Clemson for Fresno State unless
you were.

Speaker 2 (01:20:47):
Informed that you probably were not going to be playing
as much as you probably hoped. That's I mean, that's
the one thing I could figure now. Don't forget tomorrow
the Savannah bananas up in Tigertown, Death Valley, left field,

(01:21:13):
there's a short porch. I you know, I talked about
the Savannah Banana rules and how it all works. I
did not consider what it might be like if you're
sitting in left field as a fan, because I mean,

(01:21:35):
it's not far past is really not far past third
base before you get to the home run. The other
thing I wonder is like where do the player sit?
Like how does that work? The dugout thing? Now it's
the Savanna bananas versus the party animals. I know, I

(01:21:55):
know Eric Beckett is probably disappointed that he's not in
Clemson to be able to be there and be a
part of it. But for a lot of Clempson Tiger fans,
tomorrow will be a really fun day. If you've never
seen this Savanna Bananas. It will be on television. They've
got a partnership with ESPN. It'll also be streaming on

(01:22:16):
Disney Plus. So tune in for that one again. Don't
forget tonight coming up in just a few minutes, Clemson
Tiger baseball gets underway up at NC State as Clemson
looks to bounce back from a fourteen to four loss
last night. I thought Will Van Dervoort made a good

(01:22:39):
point about the loss in that, you know, it does
kind of feel like one of those things where once
y'all mentioned, Clempson kind of battled back and then NC
State took control. Maybe at that point it was not
necessarily the white flag, but more or less, hey, let's
just cut bait and come back tomorrow. Let's come back

(01:22:59):
to full strength. And I'm okay with that, Like I don't,
I think this team's got the right mindset. Saturday's game
one o'clock, both of these games on the ACC Network
extra between Clemson and NC State, And if the Tigers
lose either of these two games, remember this is the
first series they will have lost this year, which I

(01:23:24):
mean still at this point with what three series remaining.
They go to Florida State next weekend, they go to
Coastal Carolina in the midweek on May the sixth, then
then travel or excuse me, then host Duke before traveling
to pitt It would be nice, no doubt about it, tonight,

(01:23:46):
to go ahead and pick one up and give yourself
a fighters chance on Saturday to win the series. And
I think two I'll go on the record and say
this right now. I think if they win tonight, they
win the series. I think that's the confidence that this
group has. I'm not so certain that if they lose

(01:24:07):
tonight they don't just get swept, which is certainly bitterly disappointing.
But I think for me, if they win tonight, I
would come in here on Saturday before the first pitch
at one o'clock and I would say on the air,
Clemson wins this series tonight, Like that's how confident I

(01:24:28):
am in this group if they win today, So catch
that on the ACC Network Extra.

Speaker 4 (01:24:33):
Again.

Speaker 2 (01:24:34):
You could keep up with everything going on in Tigertown
on our website clemsonsports SAUW dot com. Don't forget to
subscribe to the podcast and tell your friends and neighbors
all about us man, especially if they're Tiger fans. All right,
we'll be back on Monday. Until then, as always, you'll
take care now and coat tigers