The "Long Shot" Edition

It's probably fitting that Murray State is a long shot to win the College World Series.

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Finally, Clemson Sports Talk has come back to drive time.
Hello everybody, Lawton Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes the South Layana, Clemson
Sports Talk for you each and every afternoon as you
make your way in the great state of South Carolina
and beyond, listening to us on incredible radio stations like

(01:04):
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the website. Put the dot com on it, doggonet that's
Clemson Sports dot dot com. A three four five oh
zero zero eighty six. That's the text line in the
phone line. And again we appreciate each and every one

(01:26):
of you being a part of the program here on
a Wednesday afternoon, coming up an hour number two. Kind
of talked to about him a little bit on the
program yesterday. But we will be joined by Faxon Childress
on Twitter at Facts on Sports or technically at faxon Sports.

(01:48):
He'll be joining us in just a little bit, So
keep it locked here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred
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Plumbing dot com. That's the website as well. All right,

(02:12):
out of the gates here on a Wednesday afternoon, the
tenor of the College Sports Conversation, continuing down the path
of the future under the College Sports Commission. Actually just
thinking about it over the past twenty four hours, really
over the past forty eight hours till some of that
all came down. My mind's kind of blown about what

(02:35):
this is going to be like and how this is
going to play out. Also, we've got a couple of
All Americans off of the Clemson Tiger baseball team, plus
the state of Georgia looking at some eligibility restrictions for
players who transfer in the state of Georgia, So we
could certainly talk about that a bit. And one little

(02:58):
news item, I guess you might say, out of the
College World Series and potentially much more, as there's a
plan in place. Some people on social media trying to
get a plan in place so that Murray State can
end up winning the Jello Shot Challenge one million dollars.

(03:19):
I don't know that there'll be a million dollars of
jello shots bought, but we could talk about that coming
up here on the program in just a little bit.
But the bracket is all set, as we mentioned things
in Omaha set to get underway at two o'clock on Friday,
Eastern Standard time. I hate when the release has the
Central Standard times on it. Two o'clock Eastern Coastal and Arizona.

(03:44):
Then at seven o'clock Eastern it'll be Oklahoma State in Louisville.
That's Friday. Saturday, you'll get at two pm Eastern on
ESPN Ucla versus Murray State, and you'll get at seven
o'clock Arkansas and LASH. That'll kick it off. As the
College World Series rolls through Sunday, you'll get both the

(04:07):
elimination game from the losers of the first matchups and
the game between the two winners, and then on Monday,
you'll get the elimination game from Saturday's losers and Saturday's
winners to advance as they go through a double elimination
tournament into a final, best of three series, which will

(04:29):
begin on June twenty first, with Game one being at
seven pm on the ESPN and Game two being on Sunday,
June twenty second, at two thirty on ABC. And yes,
I got all of those Eastern Standard time adjustments out
there to you, as Charles, Charles, that's a tough one
to say. Charles schwab Field out of Omaha will host

(04:52):
the College World Series, all right. So that's what you've
got coming up on the docket down the line this
week in terms of college baseball. As for the championship
odds right now, and this is interesting because these two
teams face off and must eliminate one another. Like both

(05:14):
of these teams can't make it to the Championship Series.
But the top two odds to win the whole dog
one thing belong to the Arkansas Razorbacks currently at plus
ninety five and the LSU Tigers at plus two forty.
Your recall, had Clemson won their region, they would have

(05:35):
traveled out to Baton Rouge to take on LSU. The
third best odds, however, belong to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers,
as the Chanticleers are at plus six hundred, just slightly
better than the Oregon State Beavers, who are at plus

(05:57):
six point fifty. UCLA checks in at plus eight fifty,
Arizona comes in at plus fourteen hundred. Louisville out of
the ACC comes in with the second to worst odds
to win the whole thing at plus sixteen hundred. And

(06:20):
then there's Murray State. What are my chances not good?

Speaker 3 (06:32):
You'm not good like one out of one hundred.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
I'd say more like one out of a million.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
So you're telling me there's.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
A chance, Yeah, there is a chance plus four thousand
for the Murray State racers, and all of America has
to be rooting for the big underdog there in Murray State.
But the two SEC schools that are remaining, Arkansas and LSU,

(07:08):
both favored, and they have to play one another, which
means they will eventually eliminate one another, which means if
they were on opposite sides of the bracket, I would
assume And again, I'm no Kenny Rodgers, I'm no gambler,
but I seem to feel like those numbers would be

(07:29):
even better for those two schools if they were on
the opposite side, because you could assure that they were
going to get to the championship. Game both of them well, well,
let me rephrase that doesn't assure that they would get there, right,
but the possibility would have existed that both of them
could have played for the championship, which would mean which

(07:51):
would mean that certainly they could end up with the title.
But having to go through one another earlier, I would
think would impact that. But maybe I'm maybe it doesn't
matter because either way they would have had to eventually
play one another. But Murray State at plus four thousand,

(08:12):
I mean, outside of Murray State being just bonkers on
the outside of this whole thing, you know, pretty tight
mix there in the middle with the Chanticleers at plus
six hundred, the Beavers at plus six fifty, and the
Bruins at plus eight fifty. And again, either Arkansas or
LSU is going to deliver a loss to the other

(08:36):
squad right out of the gates in a double elimination tournament.
That kind of justifies what I'm saying about the numbers
in my opinion, because if they were on opposite sides,
they could both theoretically go undefeated into that three game
championship series, but only one of them can make it
given the structure. Now, the SEC with thirteen teams in

(08:58):
the NCAA tournament did end up with two teams in
the mix, But far be it from me to point
out some of the stuff I've seen on social media
to say, hey, pump the brakes on all this SEC
love for a second, because the artist formerly known as
the PAC twelve has three teams in the mix, with UCLA,

(09:23):
Oregon State in Arizona all still alive, three of the
five teams from the recently defunct PAC twelve. And I
will say it is kind of hard to just say, yeah,
that doesn't matter because they're from other conferences now when

(09:44):
this change just happened. It's not like we're ten to
fifteen years down the line and we're looking back and saying, hey,
those are PAC twelve teams. UCLA, Oregon State, and Arizona
were all just in the PAC twelve a few months ago.
It feels like, and so yeah, that league. And I

(10:05):
don't know what their numbers have been over the years,
but I kind of lean in on what they're saying
a little bit here. Certainly the Southeastern Conference, though legitimately
with the most seeds and the others coming from a
spread of conferences, is UCLA is of course in the

(10:27):
Big Ten now, and Arizona's in the Big twelve, and
Oregon States in the remnants of the PAC twelve and
hoping to grow that league. Murray States in the Missouri
Valley Conference, Coastals in the Sun Belt Conference, and so
that's kind of where things are in terms of the

(10:50):
College World Series from the standpoint of leagues. But yeah, UCLA,
Oregon State, and Arizona wasn't wasn't all that long ago
they were hanging their hats in the Pac twelve. So
I think we should at least acknowledge the West Coast
aspect of college baseball at this point. As the College

(11:14):
World Series gets going on Friday, you know, and with
that start time of Coastal in Arizona, I hate that.
As you know, in the summer months, when we're doing
the show, I try to record it early just to
kind of get it all knocked out and squared away
in advance of the four pm show start time, because

(11:34):
that gives me a chance to get out and take
care of business and maybe even do some ad sales.
Speaking of which, hey, why not, let's just throw it
out right now. I mean, if you're a business owner
in the Midlands and like Mets plumb in seven three
two drip drip, drip drip. And you want to get
on the air and be a part of the program

(11:55):
with us and support what we do here, you can
message me directly. It's not as not against the rules.
Lawton L. A. W. T O n at Clemson sports
Talk dot com. That's my email address. Hit me up.
I'd love to have you. I mean listen in my
time on the air, never had a realtor, never had
a real estate company, never have a mortgage lander.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Never.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
I did have a lawyer briefly, a couple of lawyers,
not many, but would love to have a lawyer back
in the mix. Concrete companies, I mean, I can go
on and on about the people that you know, insulation companies, roofers.
I could definitely grow the support based here on the
program and during the summer. That's what I tried to do,

(12:37):
so I knocked the show out early so that I can,
you know, talk to people, give people phone calls and
try to get out and you know, bring in some
new supporters to the program. People that want to stand
behind locally programmed radio, and it's there's few and far
between that it's few and far between the number of locally,
you know, distributed radio shows that aren't just the national

(12:59):
show that's programmed at seventy five stations around the country.
So we're blessed to have the opportunity to talk more
about the Clemson Tigers, to talk about the coastal Carolina
Chanta clears, to focus on the College World Series while
the rest of the sports world is focusing on who
knows what at this point. We try to keep it,
certainly here on Clemson Sports Talk as local as possible,

(13:21):
and we can't do that without local support. So we
hope you will consider jumping in and again email me
if you are a listener and you enjoy the show
and you own a business and you want to support us,
or maybe you're just in control of marketing and you
feel like it's a great place. Lawton LAWTN at Clemson
sports Talk dot com. That's the email. All right, So

(13:41):
the College World Series again coming up, and I hate
it because well, I mean, I love it, but I
hate it because these games are going to be played
and it's going to be in the middle or maybe
even after I've already recorded the show. I can guarantee
you this on Friday. Here on this show, you won't
get an update on Coastal in Arizona, because I will

(14:02):
have that show done by the time it goes live.
Now Monday, i'll have befull recap of the weekend. I
won't have anything. Well, let me see, where are the
start times on Monday, I won't have anything on the
two teams that have there could be during the show
on Monday, the sub prime example, during the show on Monday,

(14:25):
there will be likely a team from bracket to UCLA,
Murray State, Arkansas and LSU that's eliminated by the time
I go on the air, I'm not gonna know about it.
That game's gonna take place after I'm done. So that's why,
that's why you might notice I'll say where I am
or when I am. This is what's happening in a ballgame.

(14:47):
That's the only that's the only tough part about not
doing the show at four pm, exactly because some live
stuff like that, I don't keep up. I can't keep
up with it's it's in the future or the past.
I feel like I feel like I'm in an episode

(15:08):
in an episode of what not an episode. I guess
it's a movie. I feel like I'm in Back to
the future. Any time I gotta talk about time travel,
that's where it goes. So the College World Series looming,
the heavy favorites, the Arkansas Razorbacks. They were the favorites

(15:31):
if I remember though, even before all of the chaos
ensued with the top two teams Vanderbilt in Texas being
taken out, uh and the shocking results. And again yesterday
I discussed here on the program the conversations that people
are bringing up that, oh, this bracket needs to be
receded because, uh, you see, excuse me, because Arkansas and

(15:56):
LSU are facing off and those are the top two teams.
Get out of town. With that, this bracket is set
up so that if the top teams, if the eight
original national seeds, do what they are supposed to do,

(16:19):
the bracket will be set up perfectly with one versus eight,
and two versus seven, and three versus six and five
verses four. As I said yesterday, it is ludicrous to
think that it would be a good idea to punish

(16:39):
Murray State and other teams Louisville who have fought their
way in, to punish those teams simply because they aren't
the preferred teams to be there. They You're right, they

(17:00):
earned their opportunity to be there, and that's why you
shouldn't shift it around. In my opinion, it should not
be reseated. Let the chips fall, as they say where
they may text line eight O three four five zero
zero eighty six. That is a phone line as well. Now,

(17:27):
ESPN apparently with the coverage of the College World Series,
and this is certainly an interesting aspect of it and
and sort of speaks to my thoughts over the years
about how ESPN handles college baseball. Okay, ESPN is sending

(17:56):
their top talent to go and cover the College World Series,
meaning a lot of these individuals are the people that
cover professional baseball and don't watch college baseball. So Carl

(18:16):
Ravich will be on the call of the majority of
these games outside of I think, or at least it'll
be a part of a lot of these games outside
of LSU and Arkansas on Sunday, because that crew is
going to be shipped off to do Sunday Night baseball,
which just speaks to the disconnect because those voices, to
me are synonymous with professional baseball, and if you want

(18:40):
to do a crossover at some point during the season
for a game, maybe even you put your some of
your college guys up in the majors and you put
some of your major league guys down at the collegiate level.
From ESPN standpoint, you know your team that calls games
that that's fine. But when you get to the biggest opportunity,

(19:00):
this is not the draft. This is not giving Kirk
herb Street an opportunity to talk about college players going
to the pro. That's just not what this is. What
this is is on Saturday morning, instead of Fox doing
their big newon kickoff show, they just run out there
Terry Bradshaw and the crew from their Sunday coverage. Like

(19:24):
it doesn't make sense. It feels disconnected, and you've got
so many voices that are connected to college baseball that
won't be on the call for the College World Series.
And I think that's honestly disappointing. I think that it
comes across as disconnected for fans, and I think it's

(19:46):
always there's always been a huge disconnect between ESPN and
college baseball. I've said it for years. Quick Break when
we come back, a couple of Clemson Tigers named All
American will tell you who when we return Clemson Sports
Salt lout and swan with you on a Wednesday afternoon
coming up an hour. Number two will be joined by

(20:08):
Fax and Childress. A couple of Clemson Tigers recognized as
All Americans by Perfect Game. Lucas Malstead, Clemson pitcher, and
cam Canarella both were named part of the All American

(20:29):
team that was released yesterday. Malstead is Clemson's seventieth All
American in program history, and cam Canarella is the first
Tiger since Seth Beer to be an All American in
multiple years. So book cam Canerella as a two time

(20:53):
All American at Clemson. The senior right hander Lucas Maulstead
out of armand Beach, Florida, had fifteen saves this season,
tying a school record. He was four and one with
a three point zero ERA and sixty one strikeouts against
eight walks in forty eight innings. Pitched more on all

(21:13):
that in a minute. In two years as a Tiger,
most went eight and two with a three point nine
one ERA in one hundred and one in a third
innings over fifty five relief outings. He had sixteen saves,
tied for sixth in Clemson history and one hundred strikeouts
with just twenty three walks, good for a four point

(21:35):
three five strikeout to walk ratio. Obviously, his final couple
of games at Clemson, or his final couple of innings
at Clemson left a lot to be desired for Tiger fans,
and we kind of talked about that after the fact,

(21:57):
after giving up couple of big hits in two of
the final three games of Clemson season and really setting
the stage for the Tigers to have a tough row
to hoe to get back in the mix in the
Clemson Regional after his performance laid against the Kentucky Wildcats.

(22:19):
But you know, all that being said, all that being said,
you know, the end result of the season doesn't just
fall on one guy's shoulders, and I think most of
us recognize that fact. But Malstead did not look like himself.

(22:41):
Whether it was as I mentioned here on the show
the other day, whether it was a confidence deal, whether
it was something physical that we just don't know about yet,
whether it was just teams finally kind of catching up
with his side arm sort of style. But he threw

(23:02):
some beach balls up there to the plate in his
final couple of opportunities and certainly did not further Clemson's
cause in their own home regional. As for Cam Canerella, look,
he played injured. He you know, just I think compensated

(23:23):
attempted to compensate for his shoulder injury by not taking
too many chances, and rightfully so, rightfully so in terms
of trying to throw guys out. I mean, he did
plenty when it came to covering ground in the outfield
and making incredible catches, and the job he did at
the plate just clutch, and as I mentioned, the first

(23:45):
Tiger since Seth Beer, who played at Clemson from twenty
sixteen through twenty eighteen, to be an All American in
multiple years, and he was a third team All American
back in twenty twenty four. Canerella this season hit three
point fifty three with five homers, two triples, twenty two doubles,
fifty two RBIs, sixty two run scored, with a four

(24:09):
to seventy nine on base percentage with six steals in
sixty one games. He ended the season on a forty
four game on base streak that's phenomenal and a twenty
two game hit streak as he hit four to twenty
one with four homers, a triple, eleven doubles in, a

(24:33):
six to eighty four slugging percentage and a four to
ninety one on base percentage during that twenty two game
hit streak. In his career, cam Canerella is batting career
not concluded yet. He could stick around if he wants to.

(24:54):
I don't think he will. But Cam Canderella batting three
to sixty with two hundred and sixty two hits, fifty
four doubles, eight trimples, twenty three homers, one hundred and
fifty nine RBIs, one hundred and ninety two runs scored,
thirty steals in a partridge in a pear tree in
one hundred and seventy eight games. He also has a
five to fifty one slugging percentage and a four to

(25:16):
fifty three on base percentage during his time in Tiger Town.
So congratulations to Lucas Malstead and certainly Cam Canerella. I
think a lot of Tiger fans out there are hopeful
that they'll get some good news on Cam, but I
am doubtful that that will ultimately be the case. Speaking

(25:41):
of some of the roster moves for or in the
world of college baseball, Clemson left handed pitcher bj Bailey
has entered the transfer portal. Bailey totaled a five point
four to sixty RA and sixty one innings pitched this season. Now,
Bailey's an interesting case because he started his career at

(26:02):
Spartanbirg Methodist and has been in college for five seasons,
of which the final three years were at Clemson. But
there's a possibility, because of an injury he suffered back
in twenty twenty four and being out that year, that
there's a chance that he's got an opportunity to perhaps

(26:25):
continue his collegiate career elsewhere, just not in Tigertown. And
I'm wondering if that's sort of a hey, you know,
we're gonna we're gonna move on type deal. And it happens.
And look, Clemson's gone out and they've added some players
from the transfer portal, most notably yesterday another edition Ty Dally,

(26:52):
who was an All Southern Conference first team player at Mercer.
He's gonna arrive at Clemson with nineteen homers and sixty
one RBIs so another addition for Eric Backitch through the
portal coming as reported yesterday, all Right, I talked about
the College World Series earlier and the Rockos jell O

(27:16):
shot deal and LSU set the all time mark a
couple of seasons ago, and they're back in Omaha. Can
the Bayu Bengals top their record or will Murray State
Race passed everyone. I'll tell you why the Racers might
do it when we return Lawton Swan with your clipses
of sports tal Don't forget if you're up in Tiger
Town Alumni Hall right there on the corner of campus

(27:38):
on College Avenue in downtown Clemson. It's Alumni Hall. Get
all of your officially licensed Clempson merchandise from hats, t shirts,
tailgate gear and more. At Alumni Hall, located just to
stones throw away from historic riggs Field Clymps. The students
faculty in all military get ten percent off on shopping
in store. Don't forget to ask them about their Alumni

(27:59):
Hall reward its past program. It's Alumni Hall where Tiger
fans shop, all right. So I was talking about the
College World Series and the possibility that the Murray State
Racers could end up setting a new mark for the

(28:24):
most Jello shots ever purchased. Now, the current record at
Rocko's Pizza and Cantina was set by LSU fans. LSU again,
as I mentioned before, the rate back in the mix
this year al Omaha. When LSU fans purchased sixty eight thousand,

(28:45):
eight hundred and eighty eight Jello shots back in twenty
twenty three, it surpassed the previous mark set by Old
Miss of eighteen thousand, seven hundred and seventy seven, which
means means and I don't like doing math on air.

(29:06):
But LSU topped that mark by fifty thousand Jello shots
fifty one hundred and eleven to be exact. Now, what
do we know about Murray State? Eight hundred fans seating? Yeah,
that's if the place is if Reagan Field is packed,

(29:27):
there's eight hundred fans. We know their coach mows the grass.
But there is some movement and I don't know if
it'll stick, but there is some movement, a collective if
you will, people crowdfunding. Talking about crowdfunding, Murray State to

(29:57):
the mark. Now, if you think about sixty eight, eight
hundred and eighty eight Jello shots and you focus on
the math there, it would take three hundred and forty

(30:17):
four thousand four hundred and forty dollars to top that
previous mark, and that also assumes that LSU can't up
the ante and do better. Now, the biggest indicator of

(30:41):
success in this Rockos Jello challenge, and it's not necessarily
a one to one ratio, but the length of time
you are at the College World Series, which is where
Murray State who. As we mentioned earlier, the odds are
slim at plus four thousand, where Murray State likely doesn't

(31:05):
last through the end of the month, but maybe a
crowdfunded movement can continue to keep the racers alive. Now,
I saw some people talking on social media about this
and one of the things that was brought up one
response from a lady named Laura. She said, Murray State

(31:25):
was in a dry county when I was going to college. Now,
there's a group of individuals, perhaps younger, that don't really
know what that means a dry county, but a dry
county back in the day meant you could not buy alcohol.
And I can remember some of my friends went to
school at Georgia Southern and you would have to leave

(31:49):
whatever county Georgia Southern's in. I don't know if Statesboro
is the county. But whatever county it is, you would
have to leave that county to go buy alcohol. You
couldn't buy it in the county. And many of you
will remember in the state of South Carolina when you
could not buy alcohol on Sundays. You'd go into the

(32:09):
grocery store. And because of the Blue Laws, you go
into the grocery store and that aisle where the beer
and stuff is. And I'm not talking about like hard liquor.
I'm talking about beer. You'd go into a grocery store,
the beer aisle would be the lights were off in
some areas to prevent people from going in and buying beer.

(32:31):
It would be chained off or roped off. I seem
to recall like in my brain. Now that's been a while.
I don't know what year the Blue laws went away
on alcohol sales, and I remember for a while in Lexington,
I do remember this. In Lexington you couldn't buy beer
on Saturday, but you could buy excuse me, on Sunday,
but you could buy it in Richland County. But I

(32:55):
feel like in my brain people used broomsticks to keep
people from going into the to the beer aisles. Now
you couldn't have bought it anyway. And I think the
biggest probably shocker was when people came from elsewhere down
to the South and they go into a grocery store.

(33:18):
Maybe maybe you were in a small town or whatever.
You go into a grocery store or a gas station
and you think you're going to buy a beer and
it was not available. But can Murray State? Can a
crowd funded effort? Will a crowdfunded effort help Murray State
win instead a new mark? Not to mention, maybe there's

(33:41):
a possibility that the other schools who are at the
College Rold series decide instead while LSU was there. Instead,
maybe everybody else goes in on Murray State recognizing perhaps

(34:05):
that Okay, we can't set the mark, we can't top
LSU with the Rocos Jello Shot Challenge. But what if
we collectively organize and just say take this LSU, We're
gonna help Murray State set the mark across the board.

(34:30):
Murray State becomes the Rocko Jello Shot Challenge leaders, victors,
whatever you want to call them, down the road for
eternity because of a collective effort to subplant LSU with
a school few people would care to surpass down the

(34:50):
road and while LSU is there, it would be fun
for other fans to top their sixty eight, eight hundred
and eighty eight Jello shots. Final segment of our one
around the Bin keep it a lot right here on
Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred. Final segment of Our one
Coming up will be joined by Faxon Childress, host of

(35:10):
Facts on Sports on WCCP one h five to five,
a row in the Upstate, also on Twitter at Facts
on Sports. Facts and Childress will be here in just
a few minutes to talk college sports with us here
on the program. Today. All right, we talked a little
bit about college baseball and again. The College World Series

(35:31):
gets underway on Friday, two o'clock game time of the
opening contest out in Omaha, and then seven o'clock the
start time for Game two. Game one featuring Coastal Carolina
and Arizona, Game two Oregon State and Louisville. As I
mentioned now, the gates the heavy favorite at the College

(35:54):
Road Series, the Arkansas Razorbacks. But the final team that
booked their ticket, the big underdog Murray State at plus
four thousand, beat Duke on their way to the College
World Series. Well, what you might remember is a couple
of days ago, just after Virginia season came to a close,

(36:19):
their head coach, Brian O'Connor shockingly left the program to
go be the head coach at Mississippi State. Well, that
opened up the job at Virginia, and that job now
belongs to the former Duke head coach, Chris Pollard. So

(36:42):
Pollard leaves Duke to stay in the Atlantic Coast Conference
and will be the new head coach at Virginia. Now,
one of the stats that I saw on this blew
my mind. So the years that Duke had a winning
record in the Atlantic Coast Conference under Chris Pollard twenty fourteen,

(37:06):
twenty eighteen, twenty twenty three, twenty four and twenty five.
The fifty years before Pollard was hired, Duke had exactly
one winning record in the Atlantic Coast Conference play nineteen
ninety four. So look, he was there a long time,

(37:27):
I mean relatively speaking, a long time. But when you
compare it to the history of Duke baseball and being
a game away from going to the College Road Series

(37:48):
and having Duke in Super regionals, like you think about
Clemson and how you feel about the Tigers coming up
short of Super Regional play. Duke was in a super
regional in twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, twenty twenty three, and
this year twenty twenty five. The Blue Devils had amazing

(38:09):
success under Chris Pollard. Pollard was at app State from
five to twenty twelve, you know, kind of build app
State up, got them to the point of being in
a NCAA regional in twenty twelve before going to Duke
in twenty thirteen. He also spent time as a assistant

(38:32):
at Davidson, where he played college baseball, and at Feifer College.
But now he will take over at Virginia after spending
thirteen seasons with the Blue Devils, and I think I
saw him. Not one hundred percent sure on this, but
I believe I saw that he's taking the majority of

(38:53):
his staff. Now. That doesn't mean guys won't come back.
You might recall a year ago when the coaching staff
at Texas A and m ended up at Texas the
top assistant at Texas A And m ended up returning
to College Station even after if I remember correctly, being

(39:14):
on some graphics for the Longhorns, which is just wild
given how much those two programs dislike each other. But
that's the big news there out of Durham, and I
guess technically out of Charlottesville, as Pollard will be the
new head coach for the Cavaliers, guided after guiding the

(39:35):
Blue Devils to four NCAA Super Regional appearances and making
Duke a postseason mainstay in the world of college baseball,
and quite frankly for Virginia, what a great pickup after
losing Brian O'Connor. I mean, now, it's not as if

(39:59):
either of these guys are old dudes. Brian O'Connor, and again,
I guess as I get older, so too does the
framework at which I look at the age of somebody.
But Brian O'Connor, after all those years and all that
success at Virginia for twenty one seasons, I mean, this

(40:22):
guy's fifty four. When he took over that program, he
was a child. He was a Danny Ford right when
he took over. Chris Pollard taken over. Now at Virginia,
I believe he's like fifty, So I mean he's still
pretty young in that sense as well. As these guys

(40:44):
move on to different programs, I don't know if Brian
O'Connor moved on to a better program. He moved on
to a program where I think sometimes in the world
of sports, you need a little bit of a change
of pace, You need a little bit of a change
of of kind of venue, if you will. And I
think this will be a good fit for him down

(41:05):
at Mississippi State because of the high level of expectations
that they have there. But make the mistake about it,
and I think to the investment that they have made
the mistake about it. I mean, Virginia had some years
where I remember when Vandy and Virginia were the cream
of the crop in college baseball, and no matter how

(41:29):
you wanted to slice it, those schools had some of
the best pitching that you were going to find in
college baseball. And so that's certainly the hope I would
imagine for Mississippi State that they get that type of
results from Brian O'Connor coming in, and then I think
for Virginia, I think the hope would be to continue

(41:53):
the same level of consistency that they had with o'conn
honor as their head coach as they went to the
College World Series in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four.
They also made an appearance there in twenty twenty one,
and of course they won the College World Series in
twenty fifteen after being the runner up in twenty fourteen.

(42:14):
Quick Break Facts and Childress on the flip side keep
it locked.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
Each time for clips and sports talk with Lawton Swan.
He just call me Swanny.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
It is our number two. That's drivetime right here on
the show The Shakes, the south Land, Clemson Sports Salt
and Swan hanging out with your Facts and Childress set
to join the program momentarily, and don't forget they show
The shakesa south Land brought to you in part by
our good friends over at METS Plumbing seven three two drip, drip,

(43:21):
drip drip. You know the jingle seven three to two drip.
That's Mets Plumbing, mets Plumbing dot com. That's the website.
All right, our man Facts and Childrens joins us Facts.
What's up, buddy? How are you? My man?

Speaker 4 (43:37):
I'm doing great, Swanne. Appreciate the opportunity to hop on
as always and excited to be on the program today.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Yeah. Look the expectations this offseason, you know, in your
short tenure on the air talking about Clemson football, they're
as high as they've been since. I don't know, man,
I've tried to think of it. Maybe coming off of
beating Alabama forty four to sixteen. Maybe that twenty nineteen
season after Clemson has a twenty nine game winning streak

(44:04):
snapped and you end up with with Trevor Lawrence coming back.
I mean, the Tigers in the minds, I have a
lot of people right now are as high as they
have been in a while. What are your thoughts as
you kind of look at this football team heading into
the summer.

Speaker 4 (44:21):
Yeah, I think that the hype is well deserved, and
I think that it was earned last year with great
performances down the stretch of the season. I mean, you
want to talk about the storyline of last season in Swanee,
It really feels like yesterday that we were just talking,
you know, on Radio Row up in Charlotte, and we
were talking Florida State and we were talking Club Mick
and DJ and all these storylines and Clubnick was one

(44:42):
of the biggest unknowns for most coming into the college
football world. Last year, well, he lights it up forty
three total touchdowns, seven turnovers his second ACC Championship game
Conference at VP and then goes to the playoff and plays,
in my opinion, the best game of his career on
tape against an elite Texas defense. So when you come
bind kid clubnicks development and the steps he took forward,

(45:03):
you add into the fray that Clemson has three unbelievable
wide receivers and really four and five that are deep
with Tyler Brown and Tristan Smith as your depth guys,
and then you return four offensive line starters. You look
at the defense, you have two top ten projected picks
on the D line. You have another first round projected
pick on the outside of avieon Terrell Ashton Hampton is

(45:24):
a budding star. This team is loaded, and they also
eliminated their biggest weakness, which in my opinion was Wes Goodwin,
and replaced it with a really dark, good defensive coordinator
and Tom Allen. So obviously we both work for Clemson
Outlets swanee and we both do a lot of clumpson content, right,
so there is going to be you know, we try
our best to eliminate that Orange ten. If this was

(45:46):
any other team in the country with the same statistics
in different names, I would be saying the same thing
about the Clemson Tigers. They are very much so a
national title contender headed end of this season in my
eyes because of the returning production, the elite quarterback play
that they got last year, and then to win national championship.
Swany is. You know, you have to have dogs and
you have to have NFL dudes. I think Clemson's got
three four NFL guys on defense and the same to

(46:08):
be set on offense.

Speaker 2 (46:09):
Facts and Childress with this year on the program talking
about Ka Club Nick Fax, and I mean, he's kind
of been fascinating because if you look back at his
performance when he stepped in for dj Uyungalle in that
ACC Championship game against North Carolina, it kind of felt like,
you know, like this guy was going to hit a
new stratusphere for that Clemson offense. And then he kind

(46:30):
of goes out and shows some of those young mistakes
against Tennessee and the Orange Bowl. A lot of people
kind of compared him a little bit early in his
career to a puppy, right, just so excited to be
out there and running around. How have you seen him
mature over the past couple of seasons and what do
you really think you'll get from him this year.

Speaker 4 (46:50):
Yeah, I think Kid's development is one of the best
stories in all of college football. But to be completely
candid with you, Lawton, I don't know how much it
has to do with Kid club Nick the player. Now.
It goes without saying that he's taken strides in his
development right. His pocket feel has increased exponentially. He does
a much better job of layering the ball down the
field and making reads with second and third levels. It

(47:11):
was his second season last year under offensive coordinator Garrett Riley,
so he was able to get into a little bit
of a rhythm with gr and to kind of find
a way to fine tune the system to accentuate Kate's strengths.
But I will continue to maintain as I've maintained for
the last four years that I've been working with the
Roar part time and now into full time. The primary
issue with Clemson football was never dj u Ungalalay and

(47:33):
it was never Kate Clubnik. It wasn't either of them.
It was the fact that the offensive line regressed drastically
and severely from the National Championship years, and the same
can be said about the wide receivers. So, yes, are
there things that Kate has gotten better at for sure.
The decision making is better, the pocket feel is better,
the arm talent appears a little bit better than it was.
He's gotten bigger, faster, stronger. All of those things are true.

(47:56):
But when you look at the primary changes between this
past season and headed into this year and then three
four years ago with Clemson football, you are exponentially better
up front on the offensive line thanks to Matt Luke,
and you are exponentially better at wide receiver thanks to TJ. Moore,
Bryant westco junior, Antonio Williams, and Moore. So for me,
it's more about the guys around Kid creating an actual

(48:19):
situation to succeed when two years ago was nothing short
of a suicide mission. And the same can be said
for the first year that Dj Luijungole was a starter
because the quality on the offensive line was not good enough.
The same can be said at wide receiver, and simultaneously,
both of those rooms were ravaged due to injuries for
the better part of three four seasons. So I think

(48:40):
that this is really the first time where the full
picture is starting to come together and Kid is being
put in a situation to succeed and I think a
lot of his development and growth as a player can
be attributed to that. This player was always in there.
This was a top five recruit, the number one quarterback
in the country, offered by all the p fours for
a reason. It just takes the right pieces around him
to bring out that talent.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
He's facts and Childress. You can hear him every day
on one OHO five to five, the Roar Facts on
Sports from nine until noon and again on Twitter at
well as well at Facts on Sports Now. I put
out an article the other day about Clemson's running back
room maybe being under the microscope, and you brought up
Matt Luke, and I think the parallels are interesting because

(49:21):
Dabo Sweeney when he had a change with Robbie Calbwell retiring,
he went to a guy that was a part of
the team and had been a part of the program
with Thomas Austen, and it didn't pan out, and so
he shifted gears and brought in what may very will
be the best, if not one of the best, for sure,
offensive line coaches in the country of Matt Luke. Well. CJ.

(49:42):
Spiller's facing a lot of criticism in the past because
of or has faced a lot of criticism because of
a lack of productivity since he took over that running
back room. A lot of people pointing towards Gideon Davidson
this year is maybe being the guy. I haven't heard
you say a whole lot about the running back room
here today, So I'll ask thank you. How big of
a microscope is sort of on CJ. Spiller in that

(50:04):
running back room in a year where the expectations are
really high for this team. Offensively, Yeah, I think.

Speaker 4 (50:11):
There is definitely a microscope to an extent, law and
I think that you know, when you coach at a
level at a school like Clemson, that's going to come
with an inherent amount of scrutiny. Right, You're under the
microscope twenty four to seven in a market like that,
playing for a program like that, coaching for a coach
like Dabo Sweeney, who is one of the most accomplished
in the entire business, and you could make an argument

(50:31):
that he's the most accomplished of active head coaches between
him and Kirby Smart. So I understand some of the
scrutiny in the backlash that CJ is faced. I would
emphasize with the people that have you know, maybe have
some culmination of frustration with that room, look at some
of the injury issues that he's dealt with, specifically last
year to fil MafA and look at what the replacement

(50:53):
options and the depth look like behind that. So part
the other side of that to argue against CJ would be, well,
isn't it his responsibility to recruit depth. Well, they had
will Shipley and film Offa for two entire seasons. So like,
if we're going to criticize CJ when things go wrong,
we also have to praise CJ for playing a hand
in their development and their prowess at running back for
Clemson as far as this year goes, and this year specifically,

(51:16):
I think Gideon Davidson's a special talent. I think he's
the best running back on the team right now pound
for pound. I think he's your starter by the end
of the season. But as we've seen with Dabo Sweeney
and his staffs in the past, being the starter at
the end of the season doesn't always directly coincide with
being the starter at the beginning of the season. I
think your game one down one running back is Adam Randall.
Is where I'm at right now. Wow, he showcased that

(51:37):
unbelievable burst against Texas. The best thing Adam Randall does
with the football is run with it. That's a direct
quote fromdabos Sweeney and the postgame presser after the Texas game.
I was sitting two feet from him, and he's right.
So when you would count for everything that we've learned
about Dabo Sweeney over the last i don't know, two
decades plus of coaching at this point, when you take

(51:57):
into account for the assistant roles as well, seniority matters
to Dabo. Whether he's going to come out and say
that to the media, that's a different conversation. But Cole
Stout started over to Shaun Watson when we all clearly
knew Deshan Watson was a better player because he stuck
it out for three years and he earned that spot. Well,
what Adam Randall did was the most selfless thing I

(52:17):
have ever seen a Clemson football player do in the
NIL era. He stayed, turned down more money, and transitioned
positions mid year before a playoff game into the off
season at a position he's never played in his life,
after being a receiver his whole life, for the betterment
of the Clemson Tigers, and everything we know about Dabosweeney
would indicate that that guy's going to get rewarded with

(52:38):
a chance, and for what it's worth, I don't think
the gap between Randall and Davidson is anywhere near as
big as it's been in some of these other seniority cases.
I think Adam Randal's going to be a pretty darn
good running back for the Tigers and a very viable
option out of the backfield this year for Clemson.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
Wow, that would be I mean, it's quite a story,
especially given the era that we're currently in and that
era is shifting. We'll talk about that a little bit
in just a minute, but I do want to go
back to one final thing, looking at that Clemson defensive
side of the ball. You mentioned your thoughts on Tom
Allen and the impact that he could have, especially maybe
based off of what you got from Wes Goodwin, and

(53:14):
I know we really haven't had a lot of time
to really see what Tom Allen's defense is going to
look like in Tiger Town, But what are your expectations
for him as a head coach? But he sounds if
I close my eyes, he sounds a lot like Brent Vinables,
and I certainly can hope that the defense will perform
in a large part similarly to how Brent Vinables defenses

(53:36):
tended to perform.

Speaker 4 (53:39):
Yeah, you know, I love the hire. I think when
you look on tape at the strengths of Tom Allen's
defense over the last couple of seasons, something that jumps
off the pages, the attention to detail with tackling, and
I think we can all agree that the primary three
issues with Clemson defensively in the Goodwin era were tackling, gap, integrity,
and run fits. Those are the three that was the

(54:00):
big three that I identified on my show all of the
last year and in a part time capacity with the
station in the previous two seasons. Those are Tom Allen's
strengths as a defensive coordinator. He wants you to fly
to the football. He wants to be the best tackling
team in the country. We've had limited availability thus far
with what we're able to see from practice. You can

(54:20):
hear over the megaphone and the microphones of practice. Swanee,
I know you've been out there before to the practice facility,
Tom Allen repeating best tackling team in the country, that
is a goal for this team this year, and the
emphasis is being placed on where the weaknesses were in
the year prior. I think Tom Allen is the best
higher possible for the Clemson Tires. I think that he
is a perfect culture fit. He brings head coaching experience

(54:44):
to the defensive side of the ball, and if you
want to go experience for experience, with Tom Allen and
Wes Goodwin coaching football at this level, it could not
be further into the spectrum. You're going from a promoted analyst,
and once again, I think Goodwin gets a little bit
too much flack and totality. There was some good, there
was some bad. It didn't end well. It's the way

(55:04):
life works sometimes. But you promoted an analyst from within
that had no coordinator experience, and you're replacing him with
a guy that doesn't just have ten plus years of
coordinator experience at a high level. He is a five
plus year P four head coach that matters, and when
you look across Dabo's staff, there is a lot of
head coaching experience on this staff, Lowton, so I'm really

(55:26):
enthused about this Tom Allen higher. I think that he's
going to bring the best out of TJ Parker after
what he did last year for Abdul Carter and his development,
to go super high in the NFL drafts. My projection
as of right now TJ Parker top ten pick here
was top ten pick Adonterrell first round pick, and I
think Tom Allen has three first round picks in the
upcoming NFL draft from this Clumpson defense, and I am

(55:48):
anticipating Clumpson to have a top ten to fifteen unit
in the country on the back of those three Allen
and some of the complimentary.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
Pieces Facts and Childress with us year for a few
more minutes on Twitter at Facts on Sports. I want
to go back to Goodwin for a second and ask
you this. You know I've said here on the program
that I found it peculiar that when the players were
talking about Wes Goodwin at the beginning of his tenure,
you know, they were calling him coach Wes. And I
know that's a small thing, but nobody would have called

(56:17):
him coach Brent when they talk about Venables. Nobody would
call coach Allen coach Tom. And I'm not saying that
that perpetuates issues, but I do wonder if the promotion
from an analyst, and the relationship that he had with
the players did end up having in some respects a
bit of an issue for Goodwin. Not something where it

(56:38):
was like a lack of you know, institutional control of
the guys, But I do wonder if they respected him
the way you're supposed to respect your position coach or
your defensive coordinator, if that makes sense, just because of
that little part of their relationship from the past.

Speaker 4 (56:57):
Yeah, you know that's intriguing, law, and you know that's
obviously we're never going to be able to have the
full information and big picture, right. We're not behind the scenes,
we're not in the locker room day to day. We
don't have that type of relationship or access. But I mean, Swanne,
you played sports growing up, correct, I did? Okay, I
played sports growing up too. We all competed in you know,

(57:19):
jv whatever, varsity, t we all the way up. The
way that I've articulated this on my show before and
my overall view on Wes Goodwin and his tenure at Clemson,
and this is a firm belief that I have in
the world of sports, a unit embodies the demeanor of
their leader. And what I mean by that is when
you have Wes Goodwin on the sidelines and he's not

(57:40):
super fiery and passionate like Brent was, and he's kind
of more chill and laid back. Inherently, that's going to
create more of a chilled and laid back environment with
the players. And when you look at a lot of
these players who were recruited under Brent Venables that came
to play for Brent, I think that the contrast and
styles between Venables and good Wine on a personality standpoint,

(58:02):
was a very bad thing for Clemson on the defensive
side of the football. And that's not me saying that
Brent is right and Wes is wrong. Right, there are
places in the country where Wes could go with that
chill demeanor, and I'm sure that he was going to
have a large part of success, right. I think he's
a great defensive mind. There were some things Clemson did
really well, and I think coach Goodwin deserves a lot
of respect for what he accomplished at his posts for

(58:22):
the Clemson defensive coordinator job. But a unit embodies the
demeanor and the attitude of their leader and the way
that they approached the game, and Goodwin was not a
vocal leader in the media availability sessions, he didn't seem
super comfortable. We know, the guy knows the x's and
o's up and down, but there's more to holding a
coordinator position than just the x's and o's. You have

(58:43):
to motivate, you have to lead, you have to recruit
at a high level, and you have to be able
to get the most out of your players. And unfortunately,
the reality in the way I view the last three
years for Clemson football on the defensive side is there
were a lot of really darn good players who didn't
necessarily get to fully showcase their skills. That's because of
kind of that lack of urgency or passion or fire

(59:04):
on the defensive side of the ball that we saw
from the players under Brent and Swannee. To take it
a step further, I think the primary example and the
player that was hindered the most by Wes Goodwin was
Barrett Carter. Do you remember the version of Barrett Carter
that we saw freshman year under Brett Venables, jumping over
guys to get sacks, fine to the football, nationally acclaimed

(59:25):
freshman All American that was slated to be a first
round pick, in this upcoming NFL draft, and all his
stop did the past three years was Wayne. And you
look at the tape and you see our linebackers and
would as Brown Barrett from this past year. They're constantly
out of position, and they're constantly out of alignment, and
they're not in the right gaps, and they're not in
the right run fits. And that leads me to believe

(59:48):
I've known Barrett Porter my whole life. I grew up
with the kid. I watched him play high school football,
played on his rec basketball team. I know Barrett has
a great mind for the game. I know he knows
what the right run fits are and what gap integrity is.
But then when you look on tape, the linebackers are
in complete disarray and almost never where they're supposed to be.
So I think that the communication from the defensive coordinators

(01:00:09):
to the defense in the past three years might have
been a little bit shaky at times because I just
don't necessarily understand what the tape is showing me of
how guys like Barrett and a couple others that played
on that freshman year team under Venables just regress so
drastically throughout the course of the remainder of their career
under Goodwin. It's a little bit puzzling to me, to
be candid, and I think that a lot of players

(01:00:31):
saw their stocks suffer because of the coordinator change. Again,
not trying to rip West. We have a lot of
respect for him. I think he did a good job
and a lot of good things. But for a couple
certain players, such as a Barrett Carter, it went pretty
disastrously over the course of the last three seasons.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
Facts and my Man keep up the great work again, everybody.
You can listen to him from nine till noon on
one O five to five of the Roar in the Upstate.
He is Facts and Childress to show Facts on Sports.
You can follow him on Twitter there as well at
Facts on Sports, Facts in my Man. Be good buddy.

Speaker 4 (01:01:04):
Yeah, I appreciate your swanny A pleasure.

Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
As always they go Facs and Childress with us year
on a Wednesday afternoon. We're going to try to connect
with him a couple of times this summer simply because
he's great. And you know, at this time of the year,
as much as I like to joke with you guys
on Wednesdays that more of me less of them. It

(01:01:26):
is nice. It is nice to be able to kind
of get a different perspective, a younger perspective too. I
think Facts is probably twenty three twenty four at most
and doing a great job for the folks up in
the Upstate at one five to five Throughule. Of course,
they're not solely on that channel. There's a couple of

(01:01:47):
other stations. Let me see if I can see if
I can find the channels ninety seven point five in Spartanburg.
But when I was in cl it was actually I
think back then it was one oh four point nine,
but I don't think it was the Roar. I don't
remember what the name was. But now they're on one

(01:02:08):
oh five point five quick break. We'll come back with
more here now our number two on a Wednesday afternoon,
keep it locked, rolling along on a Wednesday the show
The Shakes of south Land again. That was Facts and
Childress before the break eight zero three four five oh
zero zero eighty six text line phone line again, be

(01:02:32):
a part of the program anytime, any place, anywhere now
talking about the Clemson Tiger football team with Facts in
just a few minutes ago. You know, one of the
things that I really continue to believe has driven the

(01:02:53):
thought process about how good people think this team could
be is having a veteran at quarterback in Cake Clubnick,
and I think, in some respects a lot of the
hubbub and focus and fuss about Kay Clubnick and how

(01:03:16):
good people think he's gonna be. I think it's always
good now. I mean I kind of talked about this
on an episode not long ago about tempering the expectations
a little bit. Well, I know you like your I
know you like your guy to be at the top.
I know it makes people feel better. But College Football

(01:03:44):
Network put out their QB Plus rating and they have
Kate Clubnick at number seven. Now, they don't have him
at number seventy five, right, they got him at number seven.
But for the top returning quarterbacks in college football, a
lot of people, I think Phil Steele even has Clemson's

(01:04:05):
quarterback room as the number one quarterback room in the country.
Now that's room, not quarterback, but a large influence of
that would be who the starting quarterback is. They actually
College Football Network rate John Mattier, the transferred quarterback now

(01:04:25):
at Oklahoma dual threat gunslinger, as being the top the
top guy in college football based off of their QB
plus metric. Garrett Nussmeyer, quarterback at LSU that Clemson will
open the season against, is rated as the number two player.

(01:04:49):
Nussemeyer led the SEC with five hundred and thirty five
completions a year ago for four thou fifty two passing
yards with twenty nine touchdow and again this is their metric.
On it all, they say that his greatest success goes
beyond their traditional box score and statistics. Number three on

(01:05:16):
the College Football Network's list Drew Aller with a and
I should give you the rating, huh. John Matteir with
a QB plus of eighty four point nine, Nussmeyer with
a QB plus of eighty four point five, and Drew
Aller with a QB plus of eighty three point five.

(01:05:37):
Now aler big pocket passer, not a guy that's gonna,
you know, be terribly dangerous with his legs. But he's
a kid who decided to stick around for another year
and has great awareness in the pocket, which does allow
him at times to make that big conversion, you know,

(01:05:58):
a third and seven where he might move around the pocket,
see an opportunity and take it. Number four on the list,
Josh Hoover at TCU, checking in with a QB plus
of eighty three point one. Now, I don't know a
lot about Josh Hoover, or I should say I did
not know a lot about Josh Hoover until I looked

(01:06:21):
into him. But he's another dual threat guy, and he
will likely lead the Big Twelve. Most people believe that
he's gonna end up leading the Big Twelve this year
in terms of passing yards possibly touchdowns as well. With
TCU at number five, they've got Sawyer Robertson at Baylor

(01:06:43):
with an eighty two point nine rating. They go as
far as to call Sawyer Robertson as a potential dart
Horse Heisman Trophy contender. At number six on the list,
Sam Levitt from Arizona State with an eighty two point
four rating. Now, a lot of people saw Levitt last

(01:07:06):
year because of the exposure and the profile that Arizona
State had given their run to the College Football Playoff.
You know, I think the big question becomes for him
with the loss of Cam Scataboo star running back. How
does that impact things? Because obviously a legitimate run game

(01:07:30):
and a legitimate running back or a big key in
opening up opportunities for Sam Levitt, and then that leaves
us at Ki club Nick number seven on the list.
By the way, before we get to cade, for all
of our fine feathered friends peeking over the fence and

(01:07:50):
hanging out with us today, and you guys are always welcome,
but you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:54):
Could continue to peek over the fence at the best
radio showing the nation.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
This list of quarterbacks from College Football Network went twenty
five deep into the fold and there was no mention
of Leonora's sellers. So I don't know how you read that.

(01:08:20):
I'm just presenting the facts to you as I know them.
But here's what College Football Network had to say about
kay Klubnick, who had a eighty two point two QB
plus rating. They said Kay Clubney helped the Clempson Tigers
resurgents last fall got in the program to an ACC
title after years. I ate us from the championship game
whilerening MVP on ors in the win over the SMU Mustangs.

(01:08:41):
He booked Dabos Whene's team a spot in the College
Football Playoff. A calm presence under center, he enters two
thousand and five, excuse me, twenty twenty five as a
high profile draft prospect and one of college football's best.
Only two other returning college football quarterbacks had better pressured
ep per drop back to zero point one. The k

(01:09:03):
Clubnic last year a significant component of his QB plus rating.
He didn't produce any earth shattering performances per our metric,
but still had four games within eighty plus grade. If
it weren't for the season opening lost to Georgia, where
he rated a sixty six point eight, which is a D,
his overall grade would have been much higher. So that's

(01:09:26):
a part of what they had to say about Ka
Clubnic there over at College Football Network. But again, I
was shocking a little north Sellers. As as popular as
Sellers has been in the minds, I have a lot
of people. To not see him on that list, to
me was quite a surprise. All right, quick break, we'll

(01:09:47):
come back with more here on a Wednesday afternoon. Loved
the wand back with you. Don't forget about our friends
at Alumni Hall on the corner at Campus all College
Avenue of downtown Clemson. Alumni Hall for all your officially
license Clempson merchandise, get your Clemson hats, T shirts, tailgate gear,
fancy stickers for your vehicles and not stickers magnets. I mean,

(01:10:08):
you can get stickers, but magnets. That was the thing
when I was a kid. Right the bumper sticker, I
don't know, that's not the thing anymore. We don't really
have bumpers the way we did back in the day,
those aluminum, shiny bumpers. They don't sell those at Alumni Hall.
They might sell bumper stickers, but they don't sell bumpers
in Alumni Hall. Again, don't forget Clempson students, faculty in

(01:10:30):
all military get ten percent off of shopping in store
at Alumni Hall right there on the corner of campus
on College Avenue, or online in Alumni Hall dot com.
Go check them out today. Let them know we sent you.
It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. All right, Clempson
Tiger baseball season in the books, but baseball season not

(01:10:51):
in the books. And we'll continue to follow the situation
with the transfer portal and the Clempson Tiger baseball team.
We'll see what Eric Backett gets done in order to
set this group up for success next season. I did
see some speculation from people about the roster. They got

(01:11:12):
eleven incoming freshmen, I believe right now, and the top
rated MLB prospect is Das Kilby. Kilby's a Georgia native.
He's ranked number seventy nine in MLB's list of top
two hundred draft prospects. So to see where you know,
what happens with that young man and what decisions are made.

(01:11:34):
And I do wonder now, with players being able to
make some money collegiately, how much of an impact that
has on their decision. Again, they're not going to be
able to make what you can make if you're one
of the top draft picks. But if you're a little
ways down the list or a little ways down the

(01:11:58):
draft charts, then maybe you might decide that, hey, you
want to stick around and you know, go to college
and enjoy that experience. So we'll see how that all
ends up shaking out again as the College World Series
gets going on Friday. Now. Over the weekend, I saw

(01:12:22):
Phil Mickelson pull off a golf shot during the live
Golf Tour in Virginia that I've seemed done like on
social media and it seemed fake. But Michelson, he didn't

(01:12:43):
exactly have his back to the hole. Okay, that wouldn't
be fair to say, but he was certainly swinging parallel
to the whole, which is not normal. And Michelson somehow
managed to flop this ball up over his shoulder and

(01:13:08):
not just onto the green, but Michelson, conjuring up some magic,
flopped the ball into the hole. Now, at the same tournament,
I saw something that I've seen before, but I don't

(01:13:29):
really understand what I'm looking at. So there was a spot.
They had a lot of rain in Virginia over the weekend,
and somehow there was like a pocket of water that

(01:13:49):
ended up under the grass. Now this is not turf,
right like, this is not a fake field, but somehow
this water managed to create almost like a pimple. Not

(01:14:11):
a small pimple either, a huge one. Matter of fact,
the Live Golf Tour tagged the lady from Doctor Pimple
Popper set to ask if they were doing it right.
As they were trying to deflate this area, they cut
like a It almost looked like a seam. And that's
what made it feel so fake when you looked at it,

(01:14:32):
made you feel like you were looking at I don't
know how many of you grew up with a back
porch back in the day, but a lot of people
would put like this green sort of plastically very low pile,
low cut green astro turf. I don't know another way

(01:14:54):
to call it. I mean, that's what I would call it, AstroTurf.
It's nothing like the the turf that we have today.
And you would line like your your porch with that stuff. Well,
that's what this looks like. And I don't understand the
physics behind. First off, how the water gets under there.

(01:15:21):
And secondly, I don't understand how you slice the ground
like that some people call and get a drainage bubble.
And it looks so strange honestly that some people are saying,

(01:15:42):
man AAI is getting out of control, And I would
think I would think it was AI except for the
fact that the Live Golf Tour actually tweeted it. And
so I don't really know how you I don't know
how that forms. I mean, I see how you drain it,

(01:16:04):
and I feel like only one other time in my
life have I seen anything like it. I don't recall
if when I saw it before it was being drained,
But I truly don't understand how that works and why
that water could or how that water could be held
underneath the ground with people walking on top of the surface.

(01:16:28):
I don't it doesn't. It seems like it would be
a puddle, but it wasn't. It was like a bubble.
They were bursting. That was odd, But it was not
as cool. I will say this, It was not as
cool as the shot that Phil Mickelson had, that's for sure.
Micholson's shot kind of a flop shot, just a butte,

(01:16:53):
just brilliant. It's incredible what some of these guys can do.
I saw a guy putt I think the US opened.
I think it was in a practice round. Putted from
one hundred and twenty yards out. Look like he ended
up about twelve feet from the pen. Not bad at all,
Not bad at all all right, Final segment coming up

(01:17:16):
here around the bin. Keep it locked on Fox Sports
Radio fourteen hundred for more Clemson sports talk.

Speaker 3 (01:17:23):
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 answers to the questions
what have you done for me lately? And what have
you done? Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 2 (01:18:36):
Final segment on a Wednesday afternoon Clemson Sports Talt and
Swan with You. I mentioned Phil Steele earlier. I saw
a post and I don't have my grubby little hands
on Phil Steele's national ranking or his uh his college
football guide. I don't even know how he does it

(01:18:58):
any more, quite frankly, with all the transfers and everything
that you deal with in the world of college sports.
But Bill Steele apparently ranking Clemson's position groups, and I
really need to get that. Magazine hasn't even hit news

(01:19:22):
stands yet. Let's see, it feels like it's about Tom.
When's the twenty twenty five release? Oh, you could get
a digital version now, Now that's bold for Phil, for
Phil twenty twenty five college Football. It's like Gues's twenty
dollars for the online version and the magazine will be

(01:19:47):
out July the first, excuse me, July the fourth. Digital
versions became available earlier this week, June the eighth. That's
gotta be a rough job, as I said, like with
the transfer a Portland trying to keep up with everything,
and oh man, that'd be a nightmare. That would be

(01:20:07):
a nightmare. There was a time where it was probably
a lot of a lot of fun. And I'm sure
Phil makes pretty good money off of it, or else
he wouldn't do it at this point. But his rankings,
this is where this is what I was going with.

(01:20:28):
I saw somebody put out his unit rankings for Clempson.
He's got the Tigers number one at quarterback, number thirty
one at running back, number two at wide receiver, number
two on the offensive line. I mean, there's your there's
your rub on why people think Clempson is going to

(01:20:48):
be really good. Number one quarterback, room number two, wide receiver,
room number two offensive line. They also have Clemson listed
at number two on the d line, number eight at linebacker,
and number three at defensive back, and that I think
is the real key, like the defensive back rooms. And

(01:21:12):
you heard facts and Childress talking about what he thinks
about Clemson's draft potential off that defensive side of the
ball under Tom Allen. But if those ratings hold, you know,
if that at fifty five. By the way, the special teams,
ugh people are like, can we get a can we

(01:21:36):
get a punter or via the transfer portal. But the
offensive line being rated that high along with a quarterback
with the expectations of what people have for k Klubnick.
I mean you start to put the puzzle pieces together.
I mean you start to look at it and go,
no wonder, people are buying into this team. No wonder.

(01:21:58):
Final thing. Year old former Beach Boy Brian Wilson passed
away today. I saw that news as I was on
the air. Brian Wilson tweeted that out, or he didn't,
but his Twitter account tweeted that information out. The Beach

(01:22:22):
Boys a brilliant group. He was a co founder. And
they didn't just have hits. I mean they put out
songs that generations I think of fans can sing along with.

(01:22:43):
Some of them have been used in commercials. The Good Vibrations.
I can't remember what was sold with that, but that's
one surfing USA, California Girls, Kokomo. I mean they put

(01:23:03):
out some hits. Now. I don't tend to listen to
the Beach Boys at the beach. They're not East Coast
Beach music. They're West Coast Beach music. But it would
and it would be nice little Deuce Coop. They even
did a little Christmas version of that. I think God,

(01:23:27):
I can't remember what it was called, the one where
it's like run Run, Raindeer. Yeah, I mean, man, I
know there'll be a lot of Beach Boys fans sad
today at that news that Brian Wilson passed away at
the age of eighty two. Again, thank you The Facts
and Childress for being a part of the program here

(01:23:51):
on a Wednesday afternoon. Looking forward to having imback on
maybe next week to catch up and see how things
are going. But we're definitely gonna try to lock in
with faxon on the show The shakesa south Land from
time to time on a Wednesday. All Right, we gotta
get out here again. Thank you for being a part
of the program. We will be back here tomorrow. Of course.

(01:24:11):
Don't forget tonight Game three of the NBA Finals, as
the Indiana Pacers in the Oklahoma City Thunder face off
at eight thirty on ABC. That series tied a one
game apiece. We'll talk more about that with you tomorrow
right here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred on the
show The shakesa south Land. Until then, as always, you'll
take care now and goat Tigers.