The "Headed to the Queen City" Edition

The ACC Kickoff is underway in Charlotte and Swanny is making the trip to the Queen City.

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Now finally.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Clemson Sports Talk has come back two drive time. Hello everybody,
Low and Swan back in the saddle once again. It
is the show that shakes the south Land. Clipson Sports
Talk for you, each and every haven as you make
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(01:06):
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Put the dot com on it, dog on it. That's
Clemson Sports tal dot Com a three four five O
zero zero eighty six text line phone line. Don't forget
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(01:29):
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Plumbing dot com. That's the website as well. All right
out of the gates on a Wednesday, ACC kickoff coverage
in full full gear for you here on the program.

(01:51):
I actually played the old what shall I call it
the old traveling cards and recorded some of this show

(02:12):
obviously in advance because today I'm on the floor at
the ACC kickoff Tomorrow we'll have audio from that, and
then that means that our time with Clemson on Thursday
will have the majority of that for you on Friday,
all right, So that's what we're looking like for the
ACC kickoff.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
Now.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yesterday we played to audio from Jim Phillips. We played
his thoughts on the changes to postgame celebrations which could
impact the gathering at the pall for Clemson. We talked
about the changes in protocol and giving out information about
injury reports leading up to games. But there was also

(02:56):
a Q and a portion of this process with Jim Phillip,
and one of the questions that he was asked about was,
I guess kind of along the lines of the fact
that other commissioners and other leagues maybe being more public
about the issues. The argument is maybe the disagreements and

(03:18):
why Jim Phillips has kind of taken the approach that
he has with it, keeping things a little bit more reserved.

Speaker 5 (03:26):
I've always tried to be part of solutions and collaboration.
I think some of those things aren't really meant for
the public some of those private conversations. I think all
of us have a responsibility to our conference, and I
certainly feel that way each and every day about the ACC.

(03:46):
But I also know that I have a responsibility to
the enterprise and whether it's what's happening now with CFP,
and maybe there'll be another question later on directly about that,
or what we do with the new governance structure or
how we formulated the CSC. I think I'm pretty strong
in my convictions and try to bring people together and

(04:08):
understand that the best way to get a deal done
is to make sure that maybe you have to relent
a little bit, maybe you have to give up a
few things, but keep your eye on whatever it is
you're trying to achieve. And I'm thankful for that, I
really am. And we'll continue to lead in that manner,
protect the ACC but also try to do what's right

(04:29):
for college sports.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Jim Phillips was also asked about the possibility of the
College Football Playoff and all those conversations and many of
the disagreements that he was talking about previously coming from
what the future of the CFB will look like and
whether or not it could potentially even stay at twelve
teams and what what do you think about that?

Speaker 5 (04:53):
So I think some of my comments have been public.
Relative to the CFP, I've always believed in rewarding conference
champions and if you're in a really good conference I
think we have across the P four and you're also
part of the G six. Conference championships matter, and that's

(05:14):
been consistent in my five years that they should be rewarded.
Fairness and access should also be part of the equation,
and so we have a really good playoff right now.
It's the five and seven model. I'm open to five
nine and five eleven. I always look to our championships
to try to have as much access as possible within
reason has to make sense. I think five and seven

(05:38):
allows about nine percent of those that play college football
at the FBS level a chance to get into the playoff,
and it goes up about a percent and a half.
So I think you get to nearly twelve percent if
you go to a five and eleven model. I know
that there's questions about selection and selection committee. I have

(05:58):
great faith and confidence and those committee members I've served
on the men's basketball selection women's basketball selection committees. I
know how difficulty that is. These are honorable, honest individuals
with great integrity. I do like that we're reviewing the
protocol for selection and I think that that will help.

(06:18):
But I want to stay committed to access and fairness
to all of college football, not only the ACC, and
protect our AQ. So I look forward to our ongoing conversations,
and I understand why other leagues feel differently about positioning
of the of the Future format, So look forward to
some of those ongoing conversations.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
That's Commissioner Jim Phillips from Tuesday up of the ACC kickoff.
During his Commissioner's form with the media, he was also
asked about non conference schedules. But the Big Ten, of course,
has made a big deal about playing nine conference games.
The SEC also debating it, as we talked about here
on the program a little bit yesterday when we were
focused on South care Carolina at the SEC kickoff, I

(07:03):
think they started calling it that. By the way, I
know it's still the SEC media Day's YadA YadA, but
I definitely saw graphic in the background that said SEC
kickoff much like the ACC kickoff. But he was asked
if he feels that it's solid that the ACC should
stay at an eight game conference schedule, And what do

(07:24):
you feel like the league should need to go to
none if the Southeastern Conference decides to go to nine,
and how that might affect the ability to schedule, you know,
bigger or big out of conference games potentially, like the
matchup with Clemson and LSU, like the matchup with say
Virginia Tech and South Carolina or Alabama and Florida State

(07:44):
that will open the season.

Speaker 6 (07:47):
We have discussed nine.

Speaker 5 (07:48):
We've discussed nine several times in my five years as commissioner.
The group has always felt that at the end of
the day, those non conference games have really been good
for the league and we have really scheduled well. So
it isn't as if our league has just kind of
looked aside about strength to schedule they have if you

(08:10):
go to nine, if the SEC ends up going to nine,
and maybe we end up going to nine, I think
there's a few challenges those rivalry games that we really enjoy,
I think that the fans really enjoy. I think some
of those go away, and it now focuses more on
everybody's conference schedule than it is a mix of conference

(08:30):
schedule and non conference also, I think it's a challenge
for us with an odd number of schools at seventeen
and how you exactly work that out so that in
itself there's some difficulty there. And I continue to talk
to Greg and I talked to Tony and Brett all
the time. I mean, we have frequent conversations, so I mean,

(08:52):
no one's kind of moving in a vacuum on this.
We're exchanging, you know, thoughts there, and we'll see at
the end of the day day.

Speaker 6 (09:01):
I like where our league is.

Speaker 5 (09:03):
I like where we're at, where we're at in eight
games because we're playing the type of caliber that I
described twenty six really good non conference games. But we'll
adjust if we have to, and I think all of
this remains a work in progress.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Phillips was also asked about non conference schedules and the
thoughts on the balancing act that you have with strength
of schedules and how strength of schedule that metric might
be a part of the college football playoff expectations down

(09:40):
the line in order to kind of justify those if
you have like a five plus eleven model, who those
eleven are, especially if you don't give a decided advantage
to the Southeastern Conference in the Big Ten based off
of just four allocated spots to each of those leagues.
Phillips was asked about that and that balancing act that

(10:01):
they've got a piece together on that front as well.

Speaker 5 (10:05):
So I give Rich Clark and the CFP a lot
of credit and we've pushed them to It's also been
the Commissioner's wishes to really look at strength of schedule
and what that metric and how that metric is used
in the evaluation and ultimate selection of the CFP. We
started this this is year twelve, so eleven years ago,

(10:29):
and it was a smaller format and over the course
of the last year or so, going to twelve has
now I think put a greater emphasis because there's more
teams that you're looking at and the competitive balance and
resumes start to get blurred a little bit. So Sports

(10:51):
Source Analytics is helping us look at that in a
different way, and we had a really good kind of
presentation by them in June when we were in Ashville
as commissioners and then we ad our CFP meeting. So
we have to look at that. I think teams should
be rewarded for playing good schedules, and if you're in
a really good conference, like I feel like we are
and others are, you should get rewarded for you know,

(11:14):
playing good teams within that conference.

Speaker 6 (11:16):
But you just don't know.

Speaker 5 (11:17):
Every year is just a little bit different about how
good teams are. And with the transfer portal and the
movement of student athletes from one school to the next,
it's more and more difficult to really predict how teams
are going to be until they start to play. So
it's a you know, it's a it's an important element
that there's clarity about strength of schedule and strength of

(11:40):
record in the selection process. So we'll see kind of
where that ends up going. But now is the time
to kind of get that right, and that may that
may push us one way or the other with a
new you know, with a change in format or you know,
to to uh maybe eleven or seven, you know, or

(12:03):
or nine. So it just to we'll see what happens
moving forward.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
Phillips was also asked and I think this is important,
is trying to figure out like the classification of the
student athlete are the employees And he made a point
I want you to hear because he said he has
not had one student athlete that has come up to
him and say, hey, we want to be employees. And
I think it's an important distinction because again, we want
to keep college sports college, even if players are making money.

(12:32):
I think we still want it to feel like college
for not only the student athletes, but also for the
the other students in the student body at the schools.

Speaker 5 (12:45):
Well. One of the major facets that we're looking at
and the score Act is this reaffirmation that these are
student athletes, that these aren't employees, along with the national
standard some legal protection from the onslaught of.

Speaker 6 (13:05):
Lawsuits.

Speaker 5 (13:07):
I had a chance yesterday as I described to talk
to our student athletes. They understand it. They understand I
haven't had one student athlete come up to me to
say that they want to be an employee. I think
they appreciate being in college, going to school, working critically
hard to earn a valuable degree, and playing a sport
at the highest level. It's wonderful that we can now

(13:30):
pay our student athletes. I think it's fantastic how that
distribution comes out and who gets those dollars, except those
are still to be determined by schools. But that's the
next step in the I think the modernization of college
sports is to get that reaffirmation that these indeed are
student athletes.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
Phillips is also asking about the College Sports Commission and
basically his thults on how it launched the ACC's guidance
any expect did legal challenges, and you know, he was
very complementary of the job that he feels Brian Seely
has done during the empathy of it. And then of
course he also talked about that they've taken some restrictions

(14:14):
on scholarship limits and things to work with that. And
I know that there have been some indicators that with
the what we would call walk ons in the past
trying to navigate I guess kind of the grandfathering in
of those individuals into this process until we can get
I guess to a solid number, but with the like

(14:36):
one hundred and five players on each roster. But they're
trying to do it, I think, very objectively and thoughtfully
as to not put student athletes that are currently in
good academic standing and out of school that don't want
to leave, forcing them to go somewhere else if necessary.

(14:58):
But I think that the Sports Commission is working to
create a more stable model, and it's just going to
take some time for all of this to sort of
get in place. Like think of it like maybe like
you buy a rug or something and there's some ripples

(15:19):
in it. It takes a while sometimes for those things
to smooth out and flatten out. And so I don't
think it necessarily means that if there are some bumps
in the road along the way, that it's not going
to be a more ideal system across the board. Given
the changes that we've had, given the things that we've seen,
that I continue to focus my attention on what I

(15:42):
think is the biggest detriment to not only the system,
but to graduation rates, etc. The transfer portal and the issues.
And I can't remember if it was earlier today or yesterday,
but we played the audio from Phillips I think it
was yesterday where he talked about the one off scenario
is where players are are suing and bringing litigation to

(16:05):
not only maybe stick around for extra years in the
college ranks, but maybe even open up the opportunity to
move and go somewhere else. And I think that is
still the transfer portal is still the biggest problem in
college sports today. No doubt about it. I don't think
there's any question, and it's a tough place to be
because I think when NIL came about, we all thought

(16:28):
it would be NIL that we'd look at and go,
that's the biggest problem. The problem is not the players
being paid that Let's let's face it, that doesn't That
is not what bothers you. It's the ability for the
player to get paid at school X, school Y, school Z,
and then all the way back around to school A
in a four year period. How many of those kids

(16:49):
are actually getting an education and graduating. You can't you
can't play up. Hey, we're gonna have student athletes. We're
gonna have this this college model that I think we
all support so well or so much, but then have
thousands of players moving during the off season, and it

(17:10):
just to me creates a farce about the academic side
of it. And was the academic side somewhat a farce
maybe in the past too, and people would make that argument, yeah,
no doubt. But I think or across the board, there
is the understanding of the opportunity that is created not

(17:32):
for the players that make it to the NFL, not
for the players who make a lot of money collegiately,
but for those that don't, and what that value of
that education is, and it needs to continue to be pushed.
I mean, that's something I always focus on here on
the program, not just because I'm an educator, but because
I remember what it was like to be in school
with players who weren't all that different from me. Sure

(17:56):
they had, you know, the all the swag and the
gear and everything that comes along with it. They had
the notoriety and the advantages of better food and better
weightlifting and so on and so forth. But they weren't
so indifferent from me that they weren't in my classes,
they weren't in my labs, that we didn't see each

(18:17):
other at fight and downtown and things of that nature.
And I think what we certainly don't want to get
to is a situation where that is lost from the
college experience, because that was a part of it for
the students to be in a group of four in
a chemistry lab and Caid Klubnik's your lab partner and

(18:42):
in those moments, regardless of what he does on the field,
regardless of how much money he's got from NIL, if
you keep them in the classroom and keep them a
part of the fabric of the school. It I think
creates great camaraderie amongst the students and the student athletes,

(19:04):
which only enhances the experience for everyone involved. So that's
my thing. The portal is maybe the thing that gets
at least talked about in this revenue sharing era, in
this college football playoff era, but I think it is
the most detrimental to the fabric of what has been

(19:27):
college sports for the entirety of my life, which is
nearly fifty years A zero three four five zero zero
eighty six. We'll come back. We'll hear a little bit
more from Jim Phillips, will shift gears today as well,
and hear from some of the teams that took to
the stage on Tuesday up in Charlotte at the ACC kickoff.
As we roll along here on a Wednesday afternoon, keep

(19:49):
it a lot right here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen
hundred the Midlands and of course around the world on
the iHeartRadio application clumps is the sports sal Lalt and
Swan again the AACC Kickoff twenty five underway here on
a Wednesday afternoon. We'll have interviews from the floor in
Charlotte coming up for you. Over the next few days. Yesterday, however,

(20:15):
cal Miami, SMU, Stanford, and Virginia where on the docket.
We'll hear from some of those schools as well, plus
former clips of Tiger assistant and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott,
who is now the head coach at Virginia. You'll get
to hear some of his comments from the forum there

(20:36):
in Charlotte. I hate I don't get to sit down
with him, but scheduling conflict anniversary being yesterday, did not
want to go out of town for the ACC kickoff.
In the past, it's never that I recall. I don't
think it's ever influenced the anniversary. But remember a year
ago they expanded this thing to four days. This year

(20:57):
they trimmed it back to three, but for the first time,
encroaching on my anniversary with my wife. So we left
off with Jim Phillips and some of the Q and A,
and Phillips was asked about the legal settlement with Clemson
in Florida State and the fact that in the Big

(21:20):
Twelve there had been an unequal revenue sharing model maybe
somewhat similar to the ACC. But all those schools eventually
left and landed in other conferences, and so the question
was basically, how the ACC Board and the ACC presidents

(21:45):
balanced the desire to end the lawsuit lawsuits with Clemson
in Florida State, I should probably put plural form on
it and then pivot away from what's been a the
equal revenue sharing model over the seventy years of the conference.
Here's Commissioner Jim Phillips's response to that.

Speaker 5 (22:06):
Thanks, David, appreciate that question. It was good to run
into you earlier too.

Speaker 6 (22:11):
Listen.

Speaker 5 (22:12):
I'll stand by what I said about our board. Our
board was amazing, and it goes back to maybe Andrea's
first question about trying to collaborate and maybe you don't
get exactly what you want anybody, but you get to
a place that's for the greater good. And that's where
I felt, David. It was different because I know what
the Florida State and Clemson people were saying, and they

(22:32):
said it to the entire group about their desire to
be in the ACC and all the rest of that,
and I believe them, I really do. And I have
a responsibility to make sure that our ACC schools want
to be in this league, not just have to be
in this league, and I think that's important. And again,

(22:56):
just replaying five years ago, one of the things I
said was I wanted to make sure that I listened.
If you were going to serve the membership, you had
to listen to the membership. And I think that's what
we did, and in this particular case, we did that,
and we did it I thought in a very fair
and equitable manner. If you want to earn more money,
then you're going to need to invest. And we have

(23:17):
two prongs to this thing. You have the the overall
success initiatives where go perform in football and men's and
women's basketball, and you will get a bigger share of
the of the revenue from the from the conference than others.
And then viewership ends up being go put a good

(23:40):
team together, invest, play good competition, play good non conference games,
draw attention like last year's game with Georgia Tech and
Florida State did, and others that you know I listed
the Clemson LSU game, and go fight for those dollars
from a viewership stateandpoint, and everybody's going to get a

(24:03):
certain level of viewership dollars, which again I think there's
this there'll be a little bit of teeter tottering based
on your performance, based on your team, and that's healthy,
I really do. It may not fit all leagues or
other leagues, but I know that that was part of
what was right and a reconciliation for the league. And

(24:24):
since we've since we've had that take place in March,
I've not felt stronger about this league than I have
in the last five months. And I mean that I'm
not just saying that it's not hyper Bowl and all
the rest of that stuff. I really believe that when
you think about settling those lawsuits and being committed to
one another, you talk about viewership and success on how

(24:46):
to distribute dollars. You talk about coming back off of
the most revenue we've ever distributed, twenty nine national championships,
sport of football getting better, and we want to take
a another step this year. The league is situated nicely
right now. Difficult, bumpy, challenging, but let's not let a

(25:12):
lazy narrative from a standpoint of not people not moving
on and understanding kind of where we're going. I feel
like the league has earned that. Nobody gave that to us.
We were steady. You didn't see us at all move
this way or that way, people said a lot of
things about the league, but at the end of the day,
that's we're at and exercised our partnership with the ESPN,

(25:36):
which everybody said was not going to happen through thirty
five thirty six. What gives us a platform of the
ACC for the next decade.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
Jim Phillips. They are talking about the revenue distribution and
the way that all played out and shaped up for
the Atlantic Coast Conference A zero three four five zero
zero eighty six text line phone line. Again those comments
made on Tuesday in Charlotte at the ACC kickoff as

(26:05):
it got underway. One of the other notes that came
out from the ACC kickoff, former Florida State and Texas
A and M coach jimbo Fisher will be joining the
ACC network the Atlantic Coast Conference, releasing that on day
one right in the mid stuff. I think that almost
came out right in the middle of the Commissioners forum,

(26:27):
and so some strange timing on some of that stuff.
But either way, when we get back, I'll talk a
little bit about some of the changes that the Atlantic
Coast Conference is having on that front, and also what
jimbo Fisher's role will be in the future of the
ACC network and what other individuals that work at the

(26:49):
table with Eric McLane are impacted by this move. So
we'll give you the rundown of that and some more
from the Atlantic Coast Conference, the kickoff of the twenty
twenty five C and getting underway in Charlotte yesterday on
the Tuesday. As we are on the floor uptown Charlotte,
North Carolina. All right, quick breat we'll come back with
more right here on the show The Shakespa south Land.

(27:10):
It's Clemson's Sports Talk right here Fox Sports Radio fourteen
hundred in the Midlands, and of course you can listen
anywhere in the world on your Amazon Echo or your
Google Home device or your smartphone that's right there in
your pocket via the iHeartRadio app. Stay with us. Back
at it, Clemson's Sports Talk the Queens City, Charlotte, North Carolina,

(27:32):
ACC kick off Day two Again. We'll have some audio
from the event for you tomorrow. Interviews today with some
media members and just for timing and everything, trying to
work a little bit ahead of schedule. It just makes
the day much smoother. Not to mention the fact that
I don't have the pressure to get something to you

(27:52):
immediately that might otherwise put some delays in the timing
of when we're interviewing people and everything. So trying to
stay a day ahead. But the news that former Florida
State head coach and former Texas A and M head
coach Jimbo Fisher Clemson baseball player right for just a

(28:13):
brief moment in time, if I recall, we'll be joining
the ACC Network as the Atlantic Coast Conference put out
a release yesterday to update some of the changes that
are going to be made, including one two I know
a fan favorite, and that is former Miami and former

(28:34):
Georgia head coach Mark Rick. I'll tell you what that's
going to look like momentarily, but Jimbo Fisher national championship
winning head coach will be joining the ACC Huddle, and
the first ACC Huddle stops for the college football season
will begin with Clemson for that Clemson LSU game. They'll
also be at Duke and at Georgia Tech in Week three,

(28:58):
which I believe will be Clemson and or de Tech
as well. There will also be a new ACC Network
football podcast hosted by EJ. Manuel and Roddy Jones that
will debut This summer, the ACC Network unveiled a series
of programming announcements and initiatives for the twenty twenty five
college football season, most notably Jimbo Fisher, of the twenty

(29:21):
thirteen National Championship winning head coach at Florida State, joining
as a studio analyst for the ACC Huddle. Fisher will
appear alongside Taylor Tannenbaum, former Clipson Tiger offensive lineman, Errett McLane,
former Virginia Tech receiver Eddie Royal, and with EJ. Manual

(29:41):
transitioning into that podcast role. He will also have a
new studio role this year while maintaining a presence on
the ACC Network. Jimbo Fisher said in a statement, I'm
looking forward to joining ACC Network and the Huddle team
this season. I've always had tremendous respect for this conference
and I'm looking forward to breaking down the action each
week with such talented group. Now with that announcement again

(30:07):
I mentioned the three games. Week one will be Clemson
as the ACC Network will travel to see the Tigers
and k CLUBNY take on LSU August thirtieth. They'll be
in Durham as the du Blue Devil's host. Illinois on
September sixth, that's a noon kickoff on ABC, and then
they'll be in Atlanta for Week three when Clemson comes
to town to face the Yellow Jackets in a highly
anticipated ACC matchup, a noon kickoff on September the thirteenth. Now,

(30:31):
the full Saturday slate at the ACC Network will still
feature Mark Ricked, So if you are concerned, here's what's
gonna happen. Mart Ricked and Tom Lougan Bill will join
Kelsey Riggs Cuff Now I guess she got married recently,
and the trio will provide halftime reports, wraps, and into
the night ACC Network Final Score that recaps the day's

(30:53):
action in the conference with highlights, interviews, and more. So,
I guess it'll be a little bit less travel for mart.

Speaker 6 (31:02):
Rickt and A.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
I think it'll probably be the day will be similar
in length, but maybe the job will be a little
bit easier because of course, you know, he is dealing
with Parkinson's which has taken a bit of an impact
on his speech and his gait when he walks, et cetera.

(31:27):
But just a great, great individual and a wonderful person
to sit down with and talk. So that's where Mark
Ritt will be alongside Kelsey Riggs, Cuff and Tom Louganbill
in studio, and Jimbo Fisher will be stepping to the forefront.
Now more on that podcast. The ACC Network is going
to be debuting. It's going to be a twice weekly

(31:47):
football show with Florida State legend EJ. Manuel, the former
quarterback and Georgia Tech captain and running back Roddy Jones,
one of our buddies. It'll be a one hour ACC
Network football podcast. It will air twice a week at
five pm on the ACC Network. Within depth, player and
team breakdowns, interviews, and more. The ACC Network Football podcast

(32:10):
will also be available on the ESPN app or anywhere
that you get your podcasts, So where you're listening to
this show, if you want to hear what EJ and
Roddy have to say, you can. So that's the news
there from the Atlantic Coast Conference, more specifically on Jimbo
Fisher joining the league as a analyst, which I think

(32:33):
he's going to bring a lot to the table, because
I did get a chance to hear him some with
EJ Manual a little bit on Serious XM at one point,
and of course he was EJ's coach at Florida State,
and he'll give some unique insight into it all. Now,
if there's anything to be hesitant of it, I can
tell you our friends over at Texas and Texas A
and M will tell you the dude talks about one

(32:55):
thousand miles a minute sometimes. I mean he can really
what's the Carret name? I'm might have to throw this
in my Google machine because I haven't watched King of
the Hill in a long time. Is it boom Hower?
I didn't have to look that up yet, but is
it boom Hower? Sometimes? Sometimes jimbo Fisher can get a
little boom Hower on you and you can't quite understand

(33:18):
what he's saying. He gets going so fast. But hopefully,
hopefully there will be some coaching for him as he
takes to the stage at the ACC Network again alongside
Eddie Royal and Eric McLean. And you know, I go
back to what I was saying about Mark Rick, And

(33:41):
you know, I love the opportunity that we had to
sit down with Coach Rick. But you could tell over
the years how much the Parkinson's disease that he's dealing
with has impacted his speech. And there there have been
sometimes on the on the stage or on the set
where there have been some exchanges that I think have

(34:06):
felt to the viewer maybe a little bit uncomfortable just
because you can. I mean, it's kind of like the
way people felt about the way people felt about Lee
Corso at times. And not that there was anything like
so bad, but there does get to be this situation

(34:26):
where you're if you don't know what he's dealing with,
that you wonder what's wrong, right, And so maybe this
is another part of that not going to be completely
off the air though, love his work, love the insight
that he's got, but they're going to go with what
might be a little bit more vibrant personality on the
ACC Huddle program and then have Coach Rick being more

(34:48):
of a studio capacity.

Speaker 4 (34:50):
All right.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
Speaking of Coach Rick, of course, he was the head
coach at Miami not all that long ago. We'll hear
some from the Hurricanes and Carson Beck when we get
back right here on the show the Shape to south Land,
final segment of our one on a Wednesday. Again, yesterday
at the ACC kick off, the Miami Hurricanes took to
the podium. We'll hear from Carson Beck momentarily, but we
do want to start with their head coach Mario Christobal.

(35:13):
Remember the Hurricanes went ten to three last season. Cam
Ward was the number one pick in the NFL draft,
and Commissioner Phillips made a note yesterday he said, hey,
this was only the sixth time ever that the same
league had the top two picks in the NFL in
the NBA draft. Of course, that that was cam warden football,

(35:34):
and then of course Cooper Flag out of Duke in basketball.
But Miami could have secured a birth in the ACC Championship,
probably would have eliminated Clemson from the College Football Playoff,
but they stumbled and blew a big lead against Syracuse,
which allowed Clemson to get into the the ACC Championship
and ultimately beat SMU and get into the College Football Playoff.

(35:57):
The Hurricanes last year though ten and three two. Here's
Christobaul talking about his twenty twenty five ball club.

Speaker 7 (36:05):
We're really excited, and I would say the most exciting
part about our team is they have the dominant trait
of being a group of guys that love to work,
and you can't throw enough at them, and they still
manage to get all that work done while being great students,
achieving the highest GPA they've achieved successively for seven straight semesters,
as well as leading the country community service hours. So

(36:27):
we're growing both as people and as players. But we
signed and developed an incredible group of players in different
forms and fashion from the high school level to the
portal method, and have brought in some really high level
coaches and human beings that we are really excited about
that have certainly helped us continue the upward trajectory of

(36:49):
our program. And that being said, there's just a ton
of energy momentum surrounding our program right now, and our
excitement is geared towards the fact that we get to
start football fall camping camp and get in there and
really just be focused on our team, to establish our identity,
to improve our technique and fundamentals, get in the best
shape that we possibly can, to master our systems inside

(37:13):
and out, name it, to get better at everything we do.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
The comments there from Miami head coach Mario Christobaal Obviously,
starting quarterback for Miami will be Carson Beck, who transfers
from the classic city of Athens, where he played with
the Georgia Bulldogs, down to Miami and Beck's first question
for the media was about, you know, why the decision

(37:38):
to go into transfer portal and why Miami.

Speaker 6 (37:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (37:40):
I think the biggest thing for me, obviously was the
offensive fit as a quarterback, the OC, the scheme, the
talent and guys that you're going to have around you
is huge to the success and ultimately the future a
of a quarterback, but of me, right, and this is

(38:01):
my future, And I think that this decision is one
of the better decisions I've made, and since I've been
here in January, and you know, developing the relationships and
building the chemistry between me, the wide receivers, the running backs,
the tight ends, the old line, and just trying to
develop you know, those relationships and that camaraderie. It's just

(38:21):
reinforced my decision in a positive way. I'm really excited
to continue to keep working with these guys. Obviously the
spring it was a little slow for me. I try
to take more of a coaching role, a coaching aspect,
you know, being behind every single play, trying to help
the other quarterbacks that were in there getting reps, picking

(38:41):
out one singular receiver of practice and watching every single
one of his reps and then going in and watching
the film with him after right, and teaching him certain things,
certain intricacies and routes and concepts, and trying to teach
everybody the way I see the game right, so that
we're all on the same page. But I mean, ultimately
the decison and I feel like he's really paid off
and this offseason has been really good and full of

(39:03):
really good work.

Speaker 3 (39:04):
That was Carson Beck. If you're just joining us, Miami's
new quarterback after transferring from Georgia. He was also asked
about if he feels any pressure at Miami given the
fact that, as I mentioned earlier, cam Ward was the
number one pick in the NFL Draft had an outstanding
season set program records. Carson Beck a year ago was

(39:25):
sixty four point seven percent completion percentage for three thousand,
four hundred and eighty five yards with twenty eight touchdowns
in twelve interceptions at Georgia. But here's what he had
to say about if he does feel pressure following a
star and maybe one of the best quarterbacks in college
football a year agoing cam Ward.

Speaker 8 (39:46):
No, not really. Obviously, his success is undeniable. Obviously I
don't really know him very well. I've been able to
meet him a couple of times, but obviously very I
don't want to say proud. I don't know the kid,
but what he was able to do is undeniable. The
last school I was that I followed up the two
time national champion and so that I really didn't feel

(40:09):
any pressure there. So it's just it's a game. And
I played football my whole life. I'll played quarterbacks since
I was seven years old and it's something that I
love to do, and I got a lot of good
talent around me and really good coaches and position I
think to help me. She not only achieved my goals
but be really successful. So again I'm really just looking
forward to the opportunity and again have the opportunity to

(40:31):
go out and play football again. I haven't done it
in a while, so looking forward to it.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
Beck was also asked about an interesting comparison that he
has from playing against SEC defenses and having played against
a handful of ACC defenses while being a quarterback at Georgia.
Of course, he went up against Clemson a year ago
in the opener, and he was asked about what are
the differences that he's seen between the two leagues.

Speaker 8 (40:55):
Yeah, I mean football is football at the end of
the day, and I think from team the team, you're
going to to get different you know, defensive coordinator, sorry,
different defensive coordinators with different philosophies.

Speaker 4 (41:06):
Right.

Speaker 8 (41:07):
I don't think it's as much of an ACC versus
SEC thing. I think it's just a team the team thing.
I mean, South Carolina is going to look different than
Duke as wake Forest is going to look different than
Washington State or Oregon.

Speaker 9 (41:20):
Right.

Speaker 8 (41:20):
I mean, I'm just naming random teams right now. But
I think it's more of a defensive cornator philosophy thing.
And you know, game to game, we will watch that
film and ultimately put together a good plan that we
think will be successful against that and then go out
on the field and hopefully execute that.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
Of course, Miami opens the season with a matchup against
the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on August to thirty. First.
We ran through their schedule earlier this summer. The over
under at the time was eight and a half. I
got them going nine to three again sort of looking
at it. They've got back to back matchups with Florida
and Florida State in the early portion of the season,

(41:57):
but they got a bye weekend between those two games, Uh,
they are at Florida State and they host Florida. They
also go to s m U and near the end
of the season matchup with Virginia Tech, which I think
is also gonna be interesting. All right, quick break, we'll
come back. Our number two around the Ben Jason Priester
joins the program stay with us.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
Each time Lord Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton schwand.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
It is our number two that's drivetime rater on the
show The Shakes the south Land. Clemson sports a lot,
so why hanging out with you? Jason Priester, the Clemson Insider,
joins us here the ACC kickoff underway day two up
in Charlotte, and of course we are on the floor
getting audio et cetera, et cetera today, and we'll have

(43:20):
some of that for you on tomorrow's program. Plus Friday,
of course, because we'll talk with Clemson on Thursday, we'll
have some stuff from the Tigers for you throughout not
only Friday's show, but even including into next week. We
got plenty of audio from last week's media days. Plus,
as you all are aware, if you've got children around here,

(43:41):
schools getting ready to get crank back up and being
a teacher. You know how busy this time of the
year is for me as well, So I appreciate not
the opportunity to have all this audio that we can
put in for you here on the program as well.
And don't forget our number two of the show, brought
to you in part by our good friends over at
METS Plumbing seven three two drip, drip, drip drip. You

(44:03):
know the jingle seven three to two drip. That's METS Plumbing,
mets plumbing dot com. That's the website as well. Jason
Priester JP, what's up, buddy, Welcome in.

Speaker 4 (44:14):
I'm doing well a lot and how much self.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
I'm good getting geared up, you know, as everybody. I
know Dabosweeney and the coaching staff will be on the
practice fields before long. But heck for us guys that
cover this thing, it feels like it's up and running already.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
Absolutely, man. I kind of my calendar always switches into
football full go once you had that annual outing there
at Clemson every year that we had last week, so
it is full steam ahead now. I know the games
don't start for another month or so, but man, for
us folks in the media, we are wide open already.

Speaker 3 (44:49):
Yeah, no doubt. Look, you can follow Jason's workover at
the Clemson Insider dot com. So let's start with some
of that. Jason, just what we heard this past week.
I know one of the bi themes Dabo Sweeney was
asked about the expectations, and I've made the argument. You know,
you and I have covered Clemson for many, many years.

(45:10):
I've made the argument that I really do feel like
in terms of preseason expectations, maybe by comparison to their
contemporaries in the world of college football. For whatever reason,
this year, Jason seems to be one, maybe more than
even twenty nineteen. After Clemson comes off an undefeated twenty
eight team season in the National Championship, it just feels

(45:33):
like there's more buzz around this team than I can recall. Maybe, Ever,
what do you feel like about this team? And some
of the comments to Dabo Sweeny I think he said,
quote we embrace it.

Speaker 4 (45:44):
Yeah, there's definitely a lot of buzz surrounding this team,
and I think rightfully so. And it's definitely comparable with
some of those other great teams, you know, going back
to the run of all those playoff appearances they had
in the two national titles, I think is definitely comparable.
You know. I think if this team is going to
go out and meet those expectations, and I think we

(46:06):
all expect them back in the playoff, there a lot
of people that think this team is capable of competing
for a national title. You know, if you want to
achieve those lofty goals, I think you need to embrace
those expectations, you know. I think you need to embrace
them with open arms, you know. I mean, you can't
just ignore it. Especially into the day's era with all

(46:30):
the social media stuff that's out there. You're going to
see it. So it's better to embrace it, man, you know,
bring it on. I think that's the kind of attitude
you would like to see in this team. Bring it on,
let's do it now.

Speaker 3 (46:41):
One of the other things that I think has got
a lot of people believing in this team this season
is the fact that for the five offensive lineman returns
and maybe most notably, the fact that you've got a
guy like Matt Luke coaching that room. And look, I
don't want to dismiss Thomas Austen the job that he
did there, but I think you can maybe argue, and

(47:04):
you you crate me if you think I'm wrong on this,
that the belief in this offensive line in the coaching
staff is possibly at this point greater than it was
when Robbie Cobwell was doing a tremendous job run in
that group several years ago.

Speaker 4 (47:19):
I think I would agree with that. You know, I
think some of those years, even when Clemson was so good,
I think he would go into those seasons having some
questions about the offensive line. You know, I don't think
some of those years, those guys got enough credit for
how good they were. They were doubted sometimes or actually
they were doubted a lot of the times. And here
we are now, Matt Luke in his second season, and

(47:41):
to be quite honest, you know, Clemton's offensive line was
not very good in a few years leading up to
his hiring. You know, for whatever reason. You know, I
thought they took a tremendous jump last year. I would
expect them to take another big jump in year number two.
You know, a lot of times players tend to take
their biggest jumps between year one and year two and

(48:02):
their development. I kind of I kind of feel like
we see a lot of that with position groups when
when they're in their second year under a new coach.
You know, I would expect that with this offensive line,
particularly like you said, you got four starters returning and
even that that one hole that you got to feel
you got a lot of options. I mean, you've got
some options there to choose from guys that have played

(48:23):
a lot of football. Harris Sewell has played a lot
of football for this team. He started games already. You
know that Colin Sadler is another guy that's got some experience.
I think there's some younger guys, you know. You you
look at a guy like Braden Jacobs, who I'm not
saying he's gonna compete for that starting spot, but I
mean there's some younger guys in that room. You know

(48:46):
that that makes you think that the future is bright
for that offensive line under Matt Loup, even when they
start losing some of these veterans that they have on the.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
Team right now, Jason Priest again with us here on
the program and Jason obviously, the eyes of college football
in the Atlantic Coast Conference will be on that matchup
between Clemson and LSU to open the season, But they're
not the only team in the ACC with a big
opening weekend matchup, Virginia Tech and South Carolina face off
over in Atlanta. You've got Florida State and Alabama facing golf.

(49:17):
And I want to turn my attention to the Seminoles
because a year ago at the ACC kickoff, Florida State
wouldn't sit down with any members of the Clemson media
and then proceeded. Maybe it was because DJ was there,
maybe it was because Mike Norvell doesn't want to talk
to us or whatever, but then they proceeded to go
out and throw up a two to ten record. So
I'll ask you this. You know, you look at the

(49:39):
Florida State team. It's a huge opener against Alabama. I
think the Crimson tight are like fifteen and a half
point favorite, somewhere in that range right now out of
the gates. So I don't expect Florida State to win
that game, But just how significant would it be for
the Seminoles if they could, you know, play that game close,
have a tight ball game, because it really does feel

(50:00):
like if they come out and just get blown off
the map by Alabama in Week one, that the expectations
for this year are probably gonna be tempered.

Speaker 4 (50:09):
I agree. I think that's a game they need to
at least be competitive. If you go out and get steamrolled,
you know, it's that snowball is gonna start running down
the hill pretty quickly, and once that thing gets going downhill,
it's hard to stop. Particularly coming off the season they
had last year, and unfortunately for Florida State, their quarterback

(50:32):
has not made this job of beating Alabama any easier.
He's kind of put a bulls eye on their back
with some of the trash talk, right, you know, talking
about Nick Saban not being there to save them. That's
pretty brash, that's pretty bold. You know that that's a game.
I'm sure that if they didn't already have his circle

(50:54):
for it being the opener, you know, Alabama's got a
circle now with some of the some of the talk
that's come out of that camp. You know what they
say about not poking the bear, I'm afraid Florida State
has done that. But yeah, I would agree. Man, if
they go and get blown out in that game, the
narrative is gonna be, you know, more of what we
heard saw last year, and it's gonna it's just gonna

(51:16):
you know, kind of beat like piling on. You gotta
get that thing turned around quick as you can.

Speaker 6 (51:21):
Well.

Speaker 3 (51:21):
And I was talking with Jeff Cameron from war Chant
the other day about it, and he said, you know,
the thing is, this is a team in Florida State
that could go eight and four and not beat any
of the teams that your fan base would like you
to beat, not beat Clemson, not beat Alabama, not beat Miami,
and not beat Florida.

Speaker 4 (51:36):
Yeah. I mean they don't have the toughest of schedules.
They get. You know, they could lose all their toughest
games and still turn in an average season. But but
you know that's not the expectations at Florida State. That's
not They didn't high Mike Novel to go eight and four.
You know, that's a program that needs to bounce back
with a double digit win season. I don't think eight

(51:58):
and four is good enough. I think they want to
see more better than that.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
He's on Twitter at JP Underscore priest Jason Priester from
The Clemson Insider hanging out with us here on the
show that Shakes the south Land, Clemson Sports Talk. So, Jason,
if I remove Clemson with the ACC kickoff underway, if
I remove Clemson from the voting at the end of
the week, what do you think the expected results would

(52:22):
be in the conference? If I said you can't put
Clemson the a SEC Championship game, what two teams would
JP put in there?

Speaker 4 (52:29):
I might would have Louisville in SMU. I'm real high
on Louisville this year.

Speaker 6 (52:34):
Man.

Speaker 4 (52:35):
I love I love the higher they made and Jeff
Brom I think he is a very bright offensive mind,
got a good quarterback in place. I think that team's
gonna be really good. You know that that's a you know,
with Clemson having to go there on a Friday night,
that that's that's the game you need to keep an
eye on there. Fridays haven't always been kind to Clemson,

(52:56):
and Louisville kind of smacked him around a little bit
last year. And I think some U's gonna be good
again this year too. I think they've got some pieces
to make it back to Charland if if things fall
right for them. So, if you take Clemson out of
the equation, I think my next two teams will be
Louisville at SMU, you.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
Know, and I'll take it one step further, not just
with who's going to get to the championship. But you know,
I think when you look at the Southeastern Conference in
the pecking order of the media put in there, they
had LSU fourth, they had South Carolina fifth. We know
Clemson will play those two teams to bookend the year.
But then you mentioned Louisville. The fact that I think
Georgia Tech, who Clempson plays in Week three, is going

(53:35):
to be a team a lot of people are high
on this year. You know it, Florida State, as we mentioned,
may or may not be as good as they were
a couple of years ago. But you can kind of
make an argument looking at Clemson's schedule that in the
Atlantic Coast Conference they might play some of, if not
the top teams. Like they don't have Wake Forest on

(53:58):
their schedule this year, They've got s m u H.
Even Duke I think is going to be fairly favorably
thought of when the media votes on that as well.

Speaker 4 (54:08):
Agree and and especially on the Georgia Tech team. Man
Brent Key has got that program on an upward trajectory.
That's that that that that game with Clipson, that one
in that one's in it in Atlanta this year. That's
another one to keep an eye on. It's early in
the season two. You know, you had the big one
against l s U. Then right then you get the

(54:29):
game against Troy and it's right on to Atlanta against
Georgia Tech. I am very high on the Yellow Jackets
this year, but yeah, I don't think this this schedule
is a cake walk for Clipson And I'm with you.
I think, you know, Duke will be kind of similar
to what they were last year at worst, you know, respectable.
I think I think Manny Diez is doing a lot
of good things there, well, you know, considering what Duke's

(54:51):
been in the past. But this is probably you know,
one of the more difficult schedules at least no paper
you know, then Clemson's face and the past two or
three years.

Speaker 3 (55:02):
No, I don't disagree at all, And given sort of
the profile of some of these teams, it could get
even more difficult as things play out.

Speaker 9 (55:09):
Again.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
He's on Twitter at JP Underscore Priester Jason Priester with
us here on the program. So Garrett Riley was asked
about Ian Shefflin, which I think is certainly a unique
move against Shefflin's a guy that dealt with back injuries
while he was playing football, so far be it from
me to think that he's going to be, you know,
at one hundred percent throughout the football season, joining with

(55:31):
him from the basketball side of themes. But he did
use the phrase he can be an asset, And I
think what people don't appreciate about a guy like Ian Shefflin.
You know, when he's on the basketball court, Jason, Now,
I know you're there covering Clemson. He's a big guy,
but he's not normally the biggest guy when you play
him out there on the gridiron. He is not just

(55:52):
going to be the biggest guy on Clemson's team. He's
gonna be one of the biggest guys you're gonna see
playing college football this season. And if he's as athletic
as he looks on the basketball court, I don't know
how big of an impact he'll have. But I don't
think this is nearly the reach that maybe some people
are making it out to be. I think it's going
to get at legit opportunity to show what he can do.

Speaker 4 (56:13):
I do too. I think this is more one of
the more you know, intriguing storyline of fall camp. You know,
how fast Ken he and Schefflin soak it up and
how much does he take advantage of the opportunities he has.
He was a hot topic last week, not but just
Garrett Riley, Kyle Richardson talked a good bit about him.

(56:34):
I got to talk to assistant tight ends coach Andrew
Shipman about him a little bit. You know, they are
all anxious to see what he is going to be
able to do because he's kind of an unknown commodity
at this point. They've not been able to be on
the field and coaching yet. He did do a little
bit of work, you know, at tight end back there
in Davos Sweeney's High School camp first part of June,

(56:55):
he was kind of doing a little bit of both
helping coach and doing some workout out in some workouts
with some of the drills with the tight ends there.
So he did get a little bit of work there.
Did ask Kyle Richson if his room was going to
be one hundred percent healthy come to start a fall
cap and he said yes, everybody in there was full go.
So I'm taking that to mean Shefflin is too. We'll

(57:18):
see how that works out. But you know, again, I
think it's intriguing you know, because you talked about his
size and his athleticism. You know, if he can kind
of soak this stuff up and they can design a
couple of maybe a couple of packages for him, man,
he can be a matchup nightmare on some of these
opposing linebackers. Talking about a six foot eight guy. You know,

(57:40):
I forget how much he weighs, two hundred and thirty pounds,
forty pounds, whatever it is, but a guy at six
foot seven, six foot eight, that can really move man
thinking about it, thinking about him in the red zone
going up and high pointing that ball, I'm like you,
I think you're gonna get some opportunities and we'll have
to see if if it takes advantage of them.

Speaker 3 (58:00):
Yeah, big hands, a lot of athleticism. We'll see how
it all translates and if it gets a chance to
let it translate. Dabo Swingy again in the Clypson Tigers,
getting ready to get on the practice field in about
ten days nine days or so from now, and then
obviously with the ACC kickoff underway up in Charlotte, talk
with Jason Prescher here on the program, and so from

(58:22):
that standpoint, Jason, with the college football playoff in the
format that we currently have. It doesn't really matter at
this point about how good maybe the teams around you are.
If you go out win your league, you're going to
be in. But there's a lot of debate about the
different models of the college football playoffs, certainly the conversations
all around Charlotte about that as well, and what the

(58:44):
future looks like. Where are you, like, where do you
stand on it? Are you a five plus eleven guy?
If they go to sixteen with the five conference champions?
I mean, where do you stand on sort of the
future of the college football playoffs?

Speaker 4 (58:56):
Well, I would have preferred it stayed at four, But
that's just me, you know, as far as the future goes,
if we're going to sixteen, I'd much rather see the
fireplus eleven, you know, I just prefer it being earned
on the field. I'm not a big fan of certain
conferences getting four automatic bids before, you know, you know,

(59:19):
under the model where the SEC gets four and the
Big ten gets four and the ACC gets two and
the Big twelve gets two. I'm not a big fan
of a Warden playoff spots to a conference before the
season even starts. Sounds like most of the coaches aren't
on board with that either, at least in the SEC.
So I wouldn't much rather see the fireplus eleven where

(59:41):
the conference champions get a spot. You know, at least
make being a conference champion worth something. You know, you
win your conference, you deserve an opportunity to play for
a national title. But the rest of the slots, I
think they should be at large bids. That's what I
would prefer to see. I would prefer to see a
little less bias in some of the rankings. But we

(01:00:03):
don't live in a perfect world. But at least we
have the illusion of those fotsk being earned instead of
just you know, giving it out before the season even starts.

Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
Final thing with Jason Priester here from the Clemson Insider,
j P. Let's turn our attention. I know it's early
to the twenty twenty seven recruiting class. Clempson's got a
couple of players in there. Max Brown, the brother of
linebacker Sammy Brown, is a linebacker in the twenty twenty
seven classes committed to Clemson. You know, maybe no surprise,
but then they also picked up Kareem Huglelye out of Gainesville, Georgia,

(01:00:35):
where obviously Deshaun Watson played this high school ball at quarterbacks,
so on both sides of the ball, really a couple
of what you might call signature pieces that you can
really build around. Give us your thoughts. We got about
a minute of change about those two guys.

Speaker 4 (01:00:48):
Love both those guys. You know, I think Max Brown
has got the makings to be an acce up linebacker
at the next level. You kind of get the quarterback
of your defense licked up, and then you also get
your quarterback locked up fairly early. You know your quarterback
is going to be the face of your class. Get
him on board and he can kind of help recruit

(01:01:09):
and put the rest of the class together, or help
the staff put the rest of the class together. And
Knorie even you get kind of jumped on board, just
kind of out of the blue. Nobody was expecting it.
You know, he wanted to get that spot locked up.
I think he's probably you know, not getting the credit
he deserves. You watch his film, Man, he's got there's

(01:01:32):
a lot to like about him. Man, his eyes always
stay down field, he's got a live arm, He's accurate
with the football only through two interceptions last year. If
I'm remembering right there. There's a lot to like, particularly
when you envision him running a Garett Riley offense. He
just seems to fit right in. I think once Clemson
fans get to know this kid a little bit better,

(01:01:54):
the more they're gonna really like him.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
There you go, Jason Priester on Twitter at jp Underscore Priest.
Enjoy the rest of the AEC kickoff. My man, thanks
for your time.

Speaker 4 (01:02:02):
Always a pleasure. Locke appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
They have it. Jason Priester from the Clemson Insider quick Break.
We'll come out with more here on a Wednesday afternoon
a Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred, Clemson's Sports Talk on
a Wednesday. That was Jason Priester before the break. Talg
a lot recruiting with him on the back end. But
you know a team in the Atlantic Coast Conference that
does not have a regular season conference loss in their history.

(01:02:28):
There is but one SMU. They went eight to o
a year ago in the league. Rhett Lashley, their head coach,
was named the ACC Coach of the Year in their
first year in the conference. They are a team. When
we were at the ACC kickoff a year ago, I
kept saying I was like, man, these guys kind of fit.
These guys kind of feel they feel.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
Good, They feel good in the league.

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
And for SMU, it worked out. A year ago, got
to the College Football Playoff, got to the ACC Championship game,
fifty six yard Nolan, who's your field?

Speaker 6 (01:02:57):
Goal?

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
Advances Clemson to the automatic But by virtue of what
they did the rest of the year, SMU still made
it into the College Football Playoff. Well, lastly, hit the
stage yesterday up in Charlotte, and here's what SMU's head
coach had to say about his twenty twenty five ball club.

Speaker 10 (01:03:18):
You know, first just talking about SMU and our program.
You know, there's never been a better time to come
to SMU. Back to back eleven win seasons, making the
College Football Playoff. You know, season tickets last year was
a school record, and we had a bunch of sellouts,
the most in school history, and a record of attendance.

Speaker 6 (01:03:38):
And here we are, middle.

Speaker 10 (01:03:40):
Of July and we've already surpassed by several thousand last
year's season ticket sales.

Speaker 6 (01:03:45):
So just the excitement is great.

Speaker 10 (01:03:48):
The city of Dallas is embracing our program at an
all time high, and we're embracing them back, the alignment
and the leadership from our president, our board, our alumni,
all the way on down is just as good as
it's ever been. And that's what's exciting about where we
can go in the future.

Speaker 11 (01:04:07):
Recruitings at an all time high, and then.

Speaker 10 (01:04:11):
You know, this past spring we had a two point
nine to five team GPA, which was a team in
school record for football. Keana Smith and her team that
work with our student athletes deserve a ton of credit
for that. But really the most exciting part about SMU
and where we are is our players and our staff.
We have an incredible staff. We have a lot of continuity,

(01:04:31):
a lot of low ego, high output guys and girls
on our staff that just deserve all the credit for
the success we've had. We got some incredible student athletes
here with us today. We got Kevin Jennings, we got
Logan par Isaiah Well, Kobea and even Alex Kilgore representing
our team. Man, they're a fun group to coach, the
character they have, They're always giving back to our community,

(01:04:54):
they're always thinking of others, and they make it a
lot of fun to coach. So it's a great time
to be at SMU and we're excited about that. When
it comes to the ACC you know, I think there's
no question that our league has separated itself, is one
of the top three leagues in America. I mean, the
data speaks for itself, whether it's the revenue generation that

(01:05:14):
we did this past year. I know the commissioner spoke
to you know, three leagues have a network. Our network
five years in is thriving and does a great job
covering us. You know, three leagues had multiple CFP participants
this year. We were one of them. And I think
sometimes you know, I was fortunate to win a national
championship in twenty ten when I was at Auburn, and

(01:05:38):
since then, over the last fourteen seasons, one league's won
eight championships and two other leagues us in the Big
ten of one three national championships so and another league
hasn't won any. So I think that just shows you
where our league has been on the national stage and
where we think we'll continue to be and where we belong.
And on top of it, I know it's been talked
about here, we have the toughest non conference strength of

(01:05:59):
schedule in all of college football, and we're going to
partake in that this year as we played two really
good teams from the Big twelve, and Baylor and TCU
that are both nine win teams a year ago. When
we start talking about the state of college football, I
know there's a lot of questions will probably come on that,
a lot of change, a lot of transition, you know.
I do think the CSC and the revenue sharing situation

(01:06:20):
has a chance to be a step in the right direction.

Speaker 6 (01:06:23):
It's obviously very new.

Speaker 10 (01:06:25):
I think the key to that will be is there
accountability and is it enforced. If it's strictly adhered to,
I think it creates good consistency for college football, for coaches,
for players, for administrations and everyone.

Speaker 6 (01:06:37):
But that's the key.

Speaker 11 (01:06:38):
It's going to have to It's going to have to
be held accountable.

Speaker 10 (01:06:40):
We still need massive congressional help and a lot of
areas from codifying that a little bit, but also most
importantly in protecting our players from bad actors in the
agency world. There's good agents out there, but all the.

Speaker 6 (01:06:53):
Agents need to be registered.

Speaker 10 (01:06:54):
We need to put a cap I know it's being
proposed on the Agency Commission so families and players aren't
taking advantage of We need standardized contracts and a lot
of things that we need congressional help on so it's
equal across all states. And then, you know, I think
we need to I think we need to reimagine the
college football playoffs. You know, it's at a time where
I know it's being discussed. The players and the fans

(01:07:17):
come first, that's what we're supposed to be about.

Speaker 11 (01:07:20):
I think more is always better. I know it's out there.

Speaker 10 (01:07:22):
I think sixteen teams would be great, more access for
more teams, more players, more conferences.

Speaker 11 (01:07:28):
You know, the committee has a really hard decision.

Speaker 10 (01:07:30):
We were up close and personal with that a year ago,
and I respect what they have to do, but honestly,
it's it's a situation that's set up for failure because
there's human bias and there's always going to be So
I think if we could remove a committee from the situation,
it would help. Because there's no other major professional sport
or major sport in America or the world that uses
a committee to select their tournament participants. And you look

(01:07:53):
in America, it's the NFL and it's college football. So
I think we need to relook at that. And I
just imagine I know our missioner has been outspoken about
this before as options of what we could do not
only in a championship game, but maybe in a you know,
a two verse three, a three verse six, four verse
five kind of scenario. Imagine if Championship Saturday every year

(01:08:14):
right after Thanksgiving was your four Power four conference championship
games and you had a three verse six and a
four verse five in every conference plane to try to
get in a sixteen team playoff. I mean, it would
be like March Madness Thursday and Friday. It would be
the best Saturday the college football could ever manufacture. So
I think that needs to We need to reimagine and
think outside the box a little bit instead of just

(01:08:35):
going down the same path we've gone down before. And
we got a great opportunity to do that, so I
hope leadership will do that.

Speaker 3 (01:08:41):
I love where Rhet Lashley's at on that thought, because
that's kind of where I was. Remember I talked about
having play in games. I mean, that sounds an awful
lot like it. I got to go through and dissect
it a little bit. But that's what I've always kind
of said, is, Hey, you have your conference champion and
then from the regular season and then have a couple

(01:09:03):
of teams playing in to the playoff at your conference
championship venues, and they would be instead of championship games
for the conference, it'd be conference playing games. But man,
it would be a huge weekend. I kind of felt like,
listening to Rhet Lashley that that's what you know, kind
of where he was or sort of in the same
lane as to be like, let's think a little bit
outside the box. All right, when we come back, we'll
hear from his starting quarterback, Kevin Jennings, one of the

(01:09:25):
more electric playmakers in the country, especially in the Atlantic
Coast Conference at quarterback. We'll see if he can have
another really good year as the starting quarterback out in
Dallas for SMU. All right, quick break, We'll come back
with more here on a Wednesday afternoon on the Show
that Shakes the South lam back out it on a Wednesday.

(01:09:45):
The ACC kickoff in full gear now day two. But
yesterday SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings took to the podium and
as I mentioned earlier, were listening to Rhet Lashley, loved
some more Lashley had to say. But Kevin Jennings was
asked about his meteoric rising year ago. Remember when they
came into the preseason a year ago, SMU brought two quarterbacks,

(01:10:06):
Kevin Jennings and Preston Stone. They didn't even know who
the starter was going to be, and Stone, I believe
that since transferred, but Jennings took over that role. And
he was asked about kind of handling the limelight if
you will.

Speaker 12 (01:10:21):
You know, just remember where I'm coming, where I came from.
At one point, I was known as a nobody just
out there playing, and then now I'm working my way up,
and you know, that's honestly a blessing. And you know,
I just kind of stay levelheaded at just you know,
have my teammates check me, I have to get to
cocky or whatever. Have my family checked me and all
that stuff. So I just try to stay levelhead at
all times.

Speaker 3 (01:10:42):
SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings was also asked about the struggles
that he had on the road at Penn State and
what he sort of learned and what he was been
able to carry over heading into this season after that
experience a year ago during SMU's run to the College
Football Playoff.

Speaker 12 (01:10:59):
Yeah, you know, I took a lot from that game.
You know, I think, like I tell myself all the time.
Honestly needed that game. I needed, you know, a bad
game like that to bounce back and you know, come
back and remind myself that, you know, I can play
at this level and I can do all things I'm
capable of doing. So just taking that game and going
to Clemson game, you know, it's going to be kind
of the same environment, and I'm just looking forward to

(01:11:20):
heading to Clemson.

Speaker 3 (01:11:22):
Kevin Jennings was also asked about the fact that this
SMU coaching staff is pretty much the exact same as
it was a year ago and kind of what that
continuity has done for him as he continues to prepare
for another season, and of course this year, there's no
doubt SMU is not going to catch anybody off guard.

Speaker 9 (01:11:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (01:11:40):
I definitely helped me out a lot, you know, just
coming in the building knowing I got the same coach,
it's same offense, just things like that, not me having
to think too much of you know, well, I gotta
remember this, I got to learn this and all that.

Speaker 9 (01:11:49):
Type of stuff.

Speaker 12 (01:11:50):
So it's really a big help just having the great
coaching stuff around me. You know, they push me each
and every day to get better, and you know, just
trying to uplift.

Speaker 9 (01:11:57):
That to us.

Speaker 3 (01:11:59):
Kevin Jennings, quarterback at SMU. He was also asked about
some comments that were made by Nick Saban a year ago.
I think he called him one of the most underrated
quarterbacks in college football. And obviously the expectations this year,
as we mentioned, have been through the roof for a
gully Kevin Jennings, who completed sixty five percent of his
passes a year ago for three two hundred and forty

(01:12:21):
five yards, twenty three touchdowns and eleven interceptions, and he
was asked about what a good season would be for
him this year.

Speaker 12 (01:12:28):
You know, big shoutouts to next Saven mentioning that, but
you know, I think we had a really good season
last year, I mean and how he won in But
I think this will coming year.

Speaker 9 (01:12:37):
I think are in the.

Speaker 12 (01:12:38):
Goldst you know, winninnat, he win it all, win a
conference championship, and that would be a good season for me.

Speaker 3 (01:12:44):
I think I mentioned some of jennings passing stats before
his comments there. He also rushed a year ago for
three hundred and forty excuse me, three hundred and fifty
four yards and five touchdowns and made some heavy plays,
just keeping play, you know, plays alive when maybe the
offensive broke down a little bit. But he was asked about,
with all of that hey did a year ago, what's

(01:13:04):
been the thing that he's really most tried to amplify
or improve in his game?

Speaker 12 (01:13:09):
Yeah, the things I've been working on, just you know,
the little working on the little things, taking that very seriously,
man a better leader, being more vocal leader at that,
and also just you know, decision making. You know, it
kind of cost me a little bit last year, but
I think heading to this year, i think I'm getting
a way better decision making and making the right reason
all of that. And I'm just looking forward to seeing

(01:13:30):
my team play this year. Honestly, that's what I'm more
excited about.

Speaker 3 (01:13:34):
That's a SMU quarterback, Kevin Jennings, if you're just joining us.
He was also asking about peeling back the orange a
little bit, or the onion or the layers of the cake,
whatever he's peeling back to give you some insight into
where maybe his relationship a moment where maybe his relationship
with his coaching staff etcent improved during his time there
in Dallas, because that's not something we all get to

(01:13:56):
see or even hear about all that often.

Speaker 12 (01:14:00):
Yeah, I think it's everyday thing, honestly, just sharing locker
room with those guys, living together, running together and all that.

Speaker 9 (01:14:06):
I think it just built like courage for our team.

Speaker 12 (01:14:08):
Everybody's going through the same shouggle on the field, like
we're condition to days. We're out there, you know, dying
killing us and all of that, and we're just able
to land on each other for help and all of that.

Speaker 9 (01:14:17):
And I think that's able to make our brotherhood so tight.

Speaker 3 (01:14:20):
That's that SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings. Final question for Jennings
was about their matchup. They go on the road to
face off with Boston College. Obviously, the weather in that
situation is unique by comparison really to anywhere else in
the Atlantic Coast Conference, and Kevin Jennings I was asked

(01:14:42):
about playing against the Boston College Eagles up in Chestnut
Hill and how he kind of looks or thinks about
that game moving forward.

Speaker 12 (01:14:53):
Yeah, I got asked that question earlier about the rivalry
of Boston College SMU. I think it's a really good
robbery that's coming along and acc so you know, I'm
looking forward to head up at the Boston and play
Boston College.

Speaker 9 (01:15:04):
It's a really good football team.

Speaker 12 (01:15:05):
With the first initial thought going up to the Boston
I mean, you know, whether it was kind of crazy,
it was pretty cold at and all of that, but yeah,
it was They're really really good team. So I'm excited
to head back up there and get that forget starting.

Speaker 9 (01:15:19):
So there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:15:20):
Kevin Jennings, quarterback at SMU, talking a little bit at
the ACC kickoff yesterday. I know, also on yesterday's program,
we talked a good bit about the new policy in
the Atlantic Coast Conference and where Clemson or how Clemson
maybe would handle things well. The Tigers did, indeed put

(01:15:42):
out a statement on that. Clemson responding saying the ACC's
revised Sportsmanship Policy provides an important framework for all institutions
to evaluate and enhance the safety procedures for fans, teams,
and game officials, in line with other major conferences and venues.

(01:16:06):
Clemson is in the process of finalizing our updated protocol
in accordance with this policy, our approach acknowledges the significance
of gathering at the pall on Frank Howard Field at
Memorial Stadium, and we intend to allow for its continuation
once visiting teams and personnel have safely exited the field.

(01:16:27):
We ask our fans for their cooperation in this matter
beginning this fall. So it does sound like Clemson is
going to have something in place, and I would imagine
I think the easiest thing would be just to crank
up the album mater a little bit earlier.

Speaker 6 (01:16:44):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:16:45):
I though it would be odd because the players are
out there trying to shake hands with people on the
other sideline that maybe they played high school football with
or whatever. But I think you can mitigate the patience
of the fans by having that moment take place while
the fans are in the stands. Now, from c is perspective,
they might want the fans on the field for the
album otter, which means they might have to come up
with another way to delay the celebrations on the field.

(01:17:08):
I don't know what that would be. I'll leave that
up to the experts. All right, quick break, we'll come
back up at a bow on the Wednesday edition right
after this.

Speaker 6 (01:17:16):
Stay with us.

Speaker 13 (01:17:19):
What have you done for me lately?

Speaker 9 (01:17:22):
It's a fair question.

Speaker 13 (01:17:24):
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture, don't forget history.
Lucky for us, at Clemson, the answers to the questions
what have you done for me lately? And what have
you done?

Speaker 9 (01:17:38):
Always are the same.

Speaker 6 (01:17:45):
We win.

Speaker 3 (01:18:31):
Final segment on a Wednesday afternoon. Again, Clemson will take
to the stage tomorrow up in Charlotte. The Tigers certainly
going to be the darlings of the a C, the
a CC media, I would expect I'll be shocked if
k Clubnick's now voted as the preseason Player of the year,

(01:18:52):
first team Quarterback, Offensive Player of the Year. I would
think there's a good chance t J. Parker is going
to be voted defensive Player of the Year in advance
of the season preseason polls. Obviously, I'll be shocked if
Clymses not the number one team in the ACC. Whose

(01:19:17):
number two will be interesting? I think it's probably a
three horse race between literally maybe a horse like the
Mustangs of SMU. I think Miami will certainly be in
that conversation, and I think it's hard not to imagine
major flirtations with Florida State just believing that they are

(01:19:37):
going to bounce back and perhaps even bounce into the
ACC Championship. Now, I'm not sure how much I would
buy into that quite frankly the Seminole conversation. But it
wouldn't surprise me.

Speaker 6 (01:19:56):
You know, when you're a.

Speaker 3 (01:20:00):
Traditional football program, power whatever, you had a you know,
maybe a one off, you might call it two and
ten season a year ago. Some people might say that's
more indicative of where their program is. But if you
believe it was a one off and you think they're
gonna bounce back, well then just perhaps they are. They

(01:20:23):
are gonna be right there back in Charlotte and maybe
even battling Clemson this season in the ACC Championship, which
we've never seen that matchup. We've never seen Clemson and
Florida State in an ACC championship because for many years
they were in the same division. But now we can
see it, and we'll see looking forward to talk with

(01:20:44):
Dabo Sweeney, talking with him and the coaching staff and
everybody else. And again we'll have more audio from the
floor in Charlotte from Thursdays, ACC Media Days and and
all of that for you. So it's gonna be a
busy week. We will carry plenty of this over into

(01:21:05):
next week as well. So don't worry if you feel like, ah, man,
why am I not? You know why am I not
hearing that audio today? It's because there is so much
like this is this is like trying to get a
simple water from a fire hose. Like that's how much

(01:21:25):
stuff is being thrown at us during days like this
and weeks like this. And the good news is for you.
The good news is for you that you are almost
to the finish line of the postseason, and we'll have
college football in just over a month, which is absolutely

(01:21:49):
outstanding for you and me and everybody else because you
could start instead of speculating and going out over unders,
you start putting numbers up, you start putting scores on
the board. And obviously a lot of attention going to
be on Clemson all season especially, and this is something
we haven't really talked about. I did mention the other

(01:22:12):
day that you know, obviously Clemson, I think they play
their toughest opponent Week one against LSU. But if they
win that game, or even more so, if they are
just convinsingly better than LSU, a team that's probably going

(01:22:34):
to be ranking inside the top ten, if not the
top five themselves. Like, what all of a sudden do
the conversation what do those conversations start to look like?
And I think over the past five years, one thing
you have learned is it feels a little bit like
when Tiger Woods was so dominant in golf, and then
people started to catch up with him a little bit

(01:22:55):
and it became more difficult for Tiger Woods. Like it
feels that way about Clemson right now and so respects
like it feels like they've been so much better than everybody,
but now all of a sudden, some teams have tripped
them up in games where you didn't expect them to lose,
maybe most notably a year ago when Jeff Brohm and
Louisville came into Death Valley and really took control of

(01:23:18):
that game and Clemson losing. My son even brought this
up to me the other day, losing two out of
three now to South Carolina, Like you don't have that
air of invincibility that maybe you once did. But if
you go out and play well against LSU, it's gonna
be hard to You think the full court press has

(01:23:40):
been on about how good this Clemson Tiger team can
be in twenty twenty five, Just imagine, just imagine if
they go out there and put together just a dominant
performance at home against LSU, how much more amplified the

(01:24:00):
belief about how good they can be and what they
you know, what they can do this season will become.
And then you have to avoid pitfalls along the way
because of how how dominant people are gonna think you're.
Your performances are going to be moving forward, and you
got a tough matchup Week three. ACC Network will be
there covering it with the ACC Huddle against Georgia Tech.

(01:24:24):
All right, we'll be back tomorrow from the floor at
the ACC kickoff in Charlotte. Until then, as always, you'll
take care now and got tigers