The "Longterm Stability" Edition

David Glenn joins the show from the floor at the ACC Kickoff, plus much more on a loaded episode! 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Each time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lomton Swan Swanny.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Finally, Clemson Sports Talk has come back to drive time.
Hell everybody along the Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that Shakes the South. Ania Climpson
Sportstal for you each and every afternoon as you make
your way around the great state of South Carolina and
on listening to us on incredible radio stations like Fox

(01:02):
Sports Radio fourteen hundred in the Midlands, heard around the
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put the dot com on it, dog gonet that's Clemson
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shakesa South lamb brought to you in part by our
good friends over at METS Plumbing seven three two drip, Drip,
Drip drip, you know the jingle seven three to two drip.

(01:25):
That's METS Plumbing, mets Plumbing dot com. That's the website
as well. On the floor at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown,
so peculiar this city about that, not downtown Uptown, but
we're hanging out the acc kickoff seventeen teams in tow
as we get kicked off for the college football campaign.

(01:46):
It is a Thursday afternoon Dabbos swinging. The Clemson Tigers
making their way through the car wash today along with
Boston College, Virginia Tech, Duke, North Carolina, and NC State.
Yesterday Florida State took to the podium. We'll have some
comments on the show today from Mike Norvelle as I

(02:07):
see coach Norvelle making his way around the arena Louisville, Syracuse,
Pitt Georgia Tech, and Wake Forest. And then of course
day one at the ACC kickoff with Miami SMU Stanford
Cal in Virginia. Of course, former Clemson Tiger football player,
former Clemson Tiger offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, the head coach there.

(02:32):
Heard some of his comments as I made my way
up to the Queen City for today's festivities. As things
continue on at the ACC kickoff, we're gonna be joined
by David Hood. I think at some point today we'll
probably talk with Will Van de Voort. I was looking
for my buddy Josh Graham. Did not see him, but

(02:54):
I got a feeling he is here. We'll try to
get up with Josh. I'm sure an opportunity to talk
to Rob Brown, we'll get an opportunity to catch up
with facts and Childress is gonna be a busy day,
not just in all of those interviews, by the way,
not just taking place on today's program. Will carry some

(03:15):
of those over into Friday's episode of the program, will
carry some of that stuff over into Monday and Tuesday
next week. Obviously we've got the Big ten Media Days.
Last week was the SEC Media Days, the Big twelve. Again.
It's weird because I think I can't remember what commissioner

(03:35):
it was. Maybe it was Greg Sankey that I heard
talking about this, but you know, at some point along
the way, Sankie said something along the lines of Power five.
I think it was. I think that was Sankie that
said it. He kind of caught himself in backtrack and
it's a power four, which I think for so many
of us is still this slip of the tongue that

(03:57):
you have, because I can remember sitting on the floor
at the ACC kickoff back then. It was over the
Western Hotel, which, by the way, western fantastic in terms
of the scent in that building. You can apparently get
it on an Amazon way too expensive for my blood.
But we were at the Western Hotel, We're doing a

(04:18):
just a routine interview. I can't even remember who was
on the horn with me in that moment. I probably
should go back in the archives of the podcast and
pull it up, but someone was sitting at the table
when that news comes across the docket and it was like,
what is happening? Texas and Oklahoma going to the Southeastern Conference?

(04:45):
I mean, these were these were seismic shifts. They've been
seismic shifts that we've dealt with in the world of
college sports for what feels like a decade, And in
half of that decade was an incredibly magical run for
the Clemson Tigers into six consecutive College Football Playoffs, two

(05:10):
national championships, and this season more than any other, to
kind of swing it full circle back to the ACC kickoff.
The buzz about Clemson is higher than I ever remember.
And there were years where it felt like it was

(05:30):
the Tigers by a mile and a half, like no
matter where you went, anybody who talked to it was
going to be Clemson and nobody was close. And ironically,
this year, where there is more buzz from the outside
about the Tigers, I've had to temper the expectations on

(05:54):
my program because of how well thought of Clemson is
in anything you read on ESPN or any publication that
you see, or when any expert goes X has been spurt,
drip under pressure, anybody like that goes on social media
puts out, oh, here's what our playoff is going to
look like. The conversations about Clemson this year have been insane.

(06:23):
But yet this league has teams like SMU who certainly
have a shot to make a run. This team has.
This league has teams like Florida State, who two years
ago was undefeated heading into the final release of the
College Football Playoff rankings. Now they were left out, and
they went to the Orange Bowl and Georgia beat them

(06:46):
like a drum sixty three to three. I mean, there's
no mistaking that fact. And then they put up a
two and ten season a year ago. But if Florida
State comes out in that opener again fifteen and a
half point underdogs against Alabama the last time I checked it,
If Florida State comes out and plays as well as

(07:07):
they expect to play in that game, or if Florida
State goes into that game and comes away with a victory,
what that would do for the seminals in the sense
of and again that's a non league game, so even
if you lose, it doesn't affect your standing in the
Atlantic Coast Conference. But much like Clempson's game with LSU,
much like, hey, Virginia Tech and they're opener with South Carolina.

(07:29):
I mean, look, I don't think the Hokies are gonna
win that game, but far be it from me to
say that they don't pull an upset. And then all
of a sudden, you know, people are talking differently in
that moment and for the rest of the season about
the Virginia Tech Hokies. And with those three teams alone
that I've just mentioned, with Florida State with a huge opener,

(07:52):
Virginia Tech with a big opener, SMU who I think
a lot of people really like. It's not even bringing
into the equation Miami team that was on the cusp
of a college football playoff Berth a year ago. It's
not even bringing into the conversation the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets.
And when I think about this conference, you know, it

(08:15):
is pretty spectacular at this point that I think you
have five, maybe even six teams that can legitimately make
a run to be right back here in Charlotte at
the end of the season in the ACC Championship. Now
we can argue, we can argue whether or not the

(08:39):
college football Playoff could be enhanced by a change in
the way that we finish up the regular season. I've
been a proponent of saying, look, if we're gonna have
the schedules the way they are, leagues are gonna go
to nine games and things like that, Let's just take
the top team in the conference at the end and
put them in the College Football Playoff. Just say, hey,
you won the regular season, Congress, patch you on the back,

(09:02):
and then let the other two teams battle for a
berth in the playoff. And then if that third team
that gets beaten that playing game is still good enough
to be in, they'll be in by the virtue of
the vote. But for crying out loud, you had six
teams or so in the ACC, I think they could
win it. Trying to look at all the banners to
see if I'm leaving anybody else out, I would say

(09:24):
one of the things that I'm certainly not talking about
that people would want to talk about, and we'll see
how long his tenure last but Bill Belichick at North Carolina.
What an intriguing thought that is. Also I was thinking
about this the other day because on Tuesday Stanford spoke

(09:49):
Frank Wright, the former quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, former
head coach in the NFL with what Carolina and maybe
maybe Indian app maybe with the Colts. I can't remember
if Rank was there or not. Either way doesn't matter.
Professional coach coaching in the ACC at Stanford, Bill Belichick,

(10:10):
North Carolina professional coach, Bill O'Bryant coaching at Boston College
professional coach. I mean, you've got these names like Dabo
Sweeney that have certainly done it at the collegiate level,
but you've got some big name coaches that are coaching
in the Atlantic Coast Conference that coach at the professional

(10:30):
level as well. And the irony I think of that
a little bit is how the model has somewhat shifted
towards a similarity to the professional model, with nil and
things of that nature. Now, we certainly don't have the
structures that I think we need in place, as we

(10:51):
talk about quite a bit, most specifically regarding I think
the transfer portal. But all that being said, again, a
lot of buzz around on the Atlantic Coast Conference radio
row jam packed. I mean, you can't squeeze another person
in here, and the coaches making their way around, sitting
down with the media talking about the expectations. And I

(11:12):
heard somebody say this, I think it. It may have
been mart ricked, but he said, you know, this is
optimism season, and he's right. Everybody is so optimistic about
their year. Everybody is so optimistic about what can be done.

(11:33):
It's four games in when you've been punched in the
face three times and you're one in three, and you're going, oh, well,
I hope we can salvage this thing. You know, it's
like the Titanic, you hit the iceberg. It's take it
all water. I hope you can. Hope you can salvage it.
But and we'll see how it all shakes out. But
we are at the Hilton Uptown, Charlotte, North Carolina again

(11:55):
on a Thursday afternoon. This Clemson makes their way around
and Dabo swingy inte with a collection a collection of talent.
Wait till you here, tell you what we'll do. We'll
play our interview that we did with David Glenn, host
of the David Glenn Show, and it's about it's about

(12:16):
a twenty minute interview with David Glenn. So I'll see
what we'll do. We'll try to run that here out
of the gates. And then we caught up with Fran Brown,
head coach at Syracuse. Oh, phenomenal stuff with Fran Brown.
Just a short interview kind of got into a window,
but without further ado, we'll jump into our conversation with
David Glenn, host of the David Glenn Show, right here
on the show that shakes the south Land. David Glenn,

(12:38):
you know him. He's been with us for years, host
of the David Glenn Show. Hanging out with us here
on the program and David. I was at home. It
was my anniversary on Tuesday. Anniversary. Thank you nineteen years man,
eighteen years doesn't fill a day, Pass forty the list
easy a partner. Yeah, Well, Commissioner Phillips told me. He said, well,

(12:58):
I'm glad you missed yesterday. He said, because if you
missed your anniversary, he might not have another one, right,
I said, yeah, but I did get to watch and
I saw you and I thought you asked a really
good question kind of talking about you know the conference,
and you and I have sat down for several years
and discussed like what the future is for this league
and Clemson in Florida state and all of that. But

(13:21):
it does feel more settled. And I thought that the
commissioner's words where he talked about and I think he
meant more than just the ACC Big ten, Big twelve,
but talking about kind of working with everybody, I think
he kind of been also in house here to make
things more stable for everyone.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, it was interesting to hear him say that, whereas
obviously he knows his employer is the Atlantic Coast Conference,
so he has to be an advocate for this league
that he I believe he said, I feel a responsibility
to the greater enterprise or some choice of words like that,
and not only not every commissioner makes noises that fit
that description, and he clearly believes it. As a former

(14:02):
Northwestern Athletic director and now a pretty long tenured ACC commissioner,
I do wonder about the long he used the fray
rays long term stability of the ACC. And I happened
to be the one that asked him that question at
that hour long press conference.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
And I'll put it this way.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
I do believe that the details of the legal settlement
essentially guarantee that something called the Atlantic Coast Conference will
still exist at the end of the current TV deals
in twenty thirty six. However, the details of the legal
settlement make it really easy for Clemson or Florida State

(14:40):
to leave if they choose to, especially starting in twenty thirty.
What had previously been a five hundred million dollar plus
cost of leaving between the exit fee and the granted rights,
is going to be down to seventy five million dollars
in twenty thirty, and the ACC has that below market

(15:02):
TV deal, and the ACC is falling farther behind the
SEC and the Big Ten financially. So I don't think
we're going to see a membership change in the next
handful of years. But in twenty thirty, if Clempson or
Florida State either gets an invitation to some college football
super league that doesn't even exist yet, yeah, or gets
an invitation to the Big Ten, let's say, seventy five

(15:24):
million dollar exit fee is not going to prevent them
from leaving if they want to, And there's no more
granted rights, so you get to take your media rights
with you. And just pay seventy five million out the
door on your way out the door, knowing you're going
to a league that's going to make you tens of
millions of dollars more in guaranteed money than you would
make per year if you stayed in the ACC. That's

(15:46):
why I'm not sure when he said long term stability
to the ACC. I wouldn't personally bet that this league
has the same membership of eighteen schools come twenty thirty six.
And I think Clempson and Florida State got the overwhelming
majority of what they wanted in that legal settlement, and
I'm fascinated to hear more of why the ACC was

(16:08):
the one that caved. This was a game of chicken.
Clempson and Florida State were running at the ACC. The
ACC was running at clumpson in Florida State, and I
thought the ACC had some really good legal arguments behind
the grant of rights in the exit fee, but they
the ACC was the one that jumped off the road
in that game of chicken. And it's up to those
presidents to give the fuller explanation of why.

Speaker 2 (16:29):
They chose to do that. You know something else, By
the way, David Glenn with us here on the program,
when you were talking about like the ACC existing, it
triggered my thought on the PAC twelve, and like, even
though Washington State and Oregon State sort of held on
to the name, they've added, they've got more teams coming in.

(16:51):
They're trying to get some point. I would imagine that
that conference, those entities, whoever they are, are gonna say, hey,
we never we never went away.

Speaker 3 (17:02):
We never stopped being a power gas right. But everybody's
going to laugh at them when they say that, because
the makeup of that league, when you just look at
their track record and competing for national championships and winning
intersectional games and sending lots of players to the NFL. Nobody,
even though it's still called the PAC twelve, nobody views
them as a power conference. And if the ACC a

(17:26):
decade from now still exists as the ACC, but there's
no Seminoles, there's no Clemson Tigers.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Who knows.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
I mean, there are people who believe the North Carolina
tar Heels at some point would be open to jumping
to the SEC or the Big Ten. There's a massive,
massive division of opinion in that fan base and among
some boarded directors about which place they would go. But
you know, we are more than ever in a money
driven chapter of college sports. We've had name image like

(17:56):
this money for the last four years. This year right
now is the first time we have this twenty point
five million dollars salary cap for this revenue sharing. The
NCAA is more than one hundred years old. This is
this month, July twenty twenty five. It's the first time
in more than one hundred years that a school is
allowed to give out of athletic department money money to

(18:17):
their own players.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
That's never happened before.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
You can give room board, tuition, cost of attendance adjustment,
I mean.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
Forms of support.

Speaker 3 (18:25):
But this is flat out cash man spreading twenty point
five million among whichever players and whatever sports you want.
This is a whole new world. And the more money
driven it gets, the more these acc schools are going
to have to look at the big ten in the
SEC if they're invited. Big ten in the SEC aren't

(18:45):
interested in Wake Forest and Boston College and others, But
everybody's somewhere in that pecking order, and because of their
powerful football clumps into Florida State are high in that
pecking order because of their all sports reputation and the
university reputation and their geographical position, UNC is very desirable
new that's new geography for either the Big Ten or

(19:08):
the SEC. That matters a lot for TV purposes. Right,
what do you hear in your backyard? Well, SEC doesn't
want Clemson because South Carolina is already in their football
TV footprint. Well Carolina would be new geography for either
the Big Ten or the SEC. And that's the most
that's the most powerful flagship sports program in that state.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
So who knows?

Speaker 3 (19:27):
Man Like Again, the ACC is going to exist at
the end of this tval in twenty thirty six. If
everybody stays together and the football product gets better, well
then maybe whoever's the commissioner near the end of that
TV deal, maybe they finally get something that is closer
to the stratosphere of the Big Ten and the SEC
TV deals. If it's mediocre football, you're still going to

(19:48):
be a you know, third rate TV deal.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
With a quick great we'll come back with more with
David Glynn hosted The David Glenn Show right here at
the ACC kickoff it uptown Charlotte, rolling along clips of
sports talk at the ACC kickoff uptown Charlotte at the
Hilton Day three. David Glenn joined us yesterday and we
were talking about We were talking about Commissioner Jim Phillips
in his time with the media, and I asked David

(20:14):
about some comments that Jim Phillips made. How about Phillips
saying yesterday basically to the coaches, hey, let's don't go
two and eleven in our bold day. That was bold.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
That was bolder than commissioners usually speak. I mean a
lot of people say Jim Phillips needs to be more bold.
That was bold, and fans say that all the time.
We in the media say stuff that all the time,
but those guys aren't used to hearing it from the commissioner.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Of the league.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
And I was glad he said that because the reality
is as you and I said here. I mean, you
know the clemps in depth jar better than I do.
But I'm smart enough to know the Tigers are a
national title contender, period. The Tigers are the best team
in this league period in football. How many other teams
are going to be really, really good. I follow this
stuff as closely as anybody. I'm not sure the an

(21:00):
to that question. Maybe Louisville, maybe Miami, maybe SMU, maybe
Florida State has a bounce back year, maybe others. I mean,
Bill Belichick is a six time Super Bowl champion and
new head coach at Carolina, Right, who knows where that
program's going. But this league needs to be better and
deeper if it's going to be wealthier in the long run,

(21:20):
and if it's not wealthier in the long run, I
just I just don't see this union of eighteen schools
staying together all the way through twenty thirty six.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Let me ask you about Florida State real quick. Obviously
they're on the other side of that legal ease against
the ACC like Clemson. But I mean, they had a
year last season that was mind blowing wow, And I
know they're here in your mind. What was that about talent, culture, coaching.

(21:51):
It's a lot that all the above, right. I do
think most important position on the field is quarterback. I
mean sometimes we put too much blame there, too much
credit there, but you gotta start there. Dj Uyangalaway, with
all due respect, wasn't good enough to take Clemson where
they wanted to go. Did well out West, but has
never been viewed as an elite quarterback.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
Can you imagine Mike Norvel had cam Ward the guy
who ends up winning the Manning Award.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
As the best quarterback in college football.

Speaker 3 (22:20):
Cam Ward and Djuey Angle visited Tallahassee like at somewhat
similar times. Now, I don't know if cam Ward would
have just been a magic wand behind. What was the
other part of the equation was bad offensive line, not
mediocre bad. So you go from remember it was Jordan
travisont quarterback, good offensive line, and they're thirteen to zero

(22:42):
before they had that bowl game blowout.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
That's two years ago, not ancient history. Year before last.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
You change. You go from dynamic dual threat quarterback. DJ's
not much of a runner and frankly, he's not the
greatest passer, so you need to support him with all
sorts of talent in all sorts of ways. Bad line,
badline plus mediacre quarterback at best, you're finishing six and six, right,
So it is culture, it is coaching. Now they have

(23:10):
offensive guru Gus Malzon. I mean, Mike Norvel himself came
up to coaching ranks as an offensive guru.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
That's what he's known for.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
And so now it's another guy who's been a head
coach in the SEC, Gus Malzon. That's the Seminole's new
offensive coordinator. So, yes, it was coaching, Yes it was culture.
Yes it was talent. You know, like, is there an
all the above check mark I can give you. But
coach Norvelle said here in Charlotte he used the phrase
hard conversations. At the end of that two and ten season,

(23:39):
there were man demand eyeball to eyeball conversations.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
Are you here for you? Are you here for.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
The name on the back of the jersey more than
the name on the front. Are you a mercenary? Are
you just gonna Are you gonna just do your thing
and go? Or do you want to invest yourself? Get
to know each other better, be a part of the
fabric here, get an education and play for you know
this beer instead of your NFL dreams. You know you
know how that goes many You can have a complicated

(24:07):
locker room.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Win your first four games, and even guy.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Even though guys don't like each other, you're four and out,
the guys who don't like each other start getting along, right,
You have a complicated locker room, and then you lose
that shocker and overseas, and then you're struggling out of
the gate. All of a sudden, the guys who don't
get along really freaking hate each other.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
Yes, and now you got chaos and.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
They're arguing about who gets more nil money and who
gets less and I mean whose girlfriend is prettier? I
mean everything starts going sideways. Losing brings problems, and winning
allows the snowball to build momentum such that whatever obstacles
you have tend to kind of just almost drift away
because winning is a momentum thing. And man, all of that.

(24:52):
Can you imagine thirteen and not start to a two
and ten season that had? If they write a book
about Top of the Mount to the Bottom of the Valley,
Mike Norvel's got to be one of the interviewe The.

Speaker 4 (25:03):
Braves at one point went from worse to first, but
to go from first to worst.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
They were seventeenth in the seventeen teen league.

Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah, after being picked at this event to win, to
finish first.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
We've never been more wrong. We're wrong all the time.
That's the that is the worst being wrong. We're off
by sixteen spots.

Speaker 3 (25:22):
You can't be off by more than sixteen there's only
seventeen teams.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
David Glynn, host of the David Lynch, All right, before
we talk about Clemson, you already brought them up, but
I do want to get the tenor because I know
North Carolina is the state where you live. Obviously, with
North Carolina hiring Bill Belichick, that's a big deal. In
z State's a school that I think can always surprise
some people. I don't know, you know, I actually Duke
this thar because it is pretty highly worked all of

(25:49):
in second year under Manny ds And then I don't
know what Wake's gonna do. But I mean, what's kind
of the vibe that you hear talking with people about
those four schools and nothing too deep, but just yeah,
kind of this on the surf, the short version. The
first two are easy to get out of the way.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
Wake Forest, with all due respect to Jake Dickert and
what he did at Washington State, is not going to
be good this year. They may be competitive, but they're
not going to be a special team. They just don't
have the horses yet and he needs time to build there.
Manny Diaz at Duke, coming off that nine win season
last year, is going to be good.

Speaker 5 (26:19):
Again.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
They got the Tulane quarterback Darian Mensa. They've built a
defense first culture, which is Manny's background.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
I think they're going to be really good.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
I don't mean compete for an ACC title, but a
bowl team.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
The harder to predict to are.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
State and Carolina, and you know, the wolf Pack is
usually good at the line of scrimmage under Dave Dorin.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
They do have a returning quarterback in CJ. Bailey.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
Remember that was a nightmare for them last year with
Grayson McCall, nightmare the year before with the Virginia transfer Armstrong.
So they believe they'll be better at quarterback and they
hope that lets the other pieces fall into place. But
they lost their best offensive player, Casey Concepci owned to
Texas A and m like, he can't let SEC and
ten schools just you sign and develop a great player.

(27:03):
He's the star of your roster, and then somebody swoops
in with ni own money and takes them away. That's
it's hard to be great when that happens. All right, David,
let me stop you right there. We got a hard
time break coming up, all right, keep it a lot.
We're to come back with war from.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
The floor at the Hilton in Charlotte, North Carolina, with
David Glynn, host of The David Glenn Show. Right here
on a Thursday afternoon, Keep it a lot for more
with the Show that Shakes the south Land. Clemson Sports
Thought The Show that Shakes the south Land. David Glenn
sitting down with us at the ACC kickoff and David,
we were talking about teams in the state of North
Carolina and you were getting to the tar heels. Give

(27:36):
us your thoughts on that program as Bill Belichick takes over.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
Holy Cow, your guess is as good as mine. I
will say this Carolina is investing more in football than
they ever have in the history of that school.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
And I know that school.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
Inside, outside, upside, downside. I have been arounded for thirty
five years. There has never been a time where whether
it's Mac Brown remember the Butch Davis years, They've had
times where they invested in football. They've had times that
they're pretty good in football. They paid Bill Belichick ten
million dollars a year. There has never been a time

(28:11):
that Carolina paid.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
Its football coach.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
You know, let's say a top ten salary up there
near Kirby Smart of Georgia and Dabosweeney of Klepson and
guys who have won national titles. Yeah, and they've given
him money beyond that to build his staff and the
infrastructure and all that. Do they have the players to
be great? I don't think so. But they also have
a soft schedule other than the clubs and Tigers are

(28:36):
a lot better than Carolina. TCU in Carolina's nationally televised
opener is probably talent wise better than Carolina. The other
ten games on their schedule, there's kind of nobody to
be afraid of, like you might win.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
You might lose. Do they split those? I mean, who knows.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
We'll learn a lot about them in their opener against
TCU as the ACC enjoys that five days of televised
spotlight type games. But they're starting quarterback a guy named
Geo Lopez wasn't even there for spring practice.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
Like he was. He was one of those late portal
yeah guys, not.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
December the way coaches like to bring him in so
they get to spend six months doing everything. I mean,
when you arrive in May or June or whatever it is,
and you're supposed to be the starter at the end August,
that makes a lot of coaches nervous, even if you're
a talented guy, which he is, so man would I
would run away from the betting window, run in the

(29:34):
opposite direction if somebody tries to predict how many games
the Tar Heels are gonna win?

Speaker 2 (29:38):
All right? Final thing, David Glenn again with this year
at the ACC kickoff, Clemson in twenty eighteen beat Alabama
forty four to sixteen. I've talked about this a lot,
and there wasn't this much buzz about the twenty nineteen
team that was returning Trevor Lawrence. It was returning Travis
DN and wide receivers. I'm as a guy that covers him,
I'm almost mind blowing.

Speaker 5 (29:59):
David.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
I don't love it because I know that the players
are reading social media and I know that. So what
do you think I mean? Is the hype for this
Clemson team legit in your mind? I defer to.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
People like you who know more than I about this team,
but I will give my two cents, and that includes this.
There are schools that when you bring four players to
this event, some of those guys were backups last year. Okay,
so you're hoping that they're a key player, But you
don't really know if you're bringing a guy who hasn't
been a full time starter for you. Clemson rides in

(30:34):
like the four horsemen of Biblical times, right like You've
got Kate Klubnick, who might be a first round NFL
draft pick.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Some people believe he could be number one overall.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
Peter Woods is one of the best defensive tackles in
this country. First round NFL pick, TJ. Parker, first round
NFL pick, one of the best edge rushers, and Antonio
Williams wide receiver might be a first round pick. I mean,
you know, cue the heavy metal music in the background
as Dabo struts in with those four flanking him on
both sides. Now you would know that the nature of

(31:08):
the depth chart in a way of more detail than
I would now off the top of my head. But man,
that's a starting point. Now, that'll make you feel bulletproof
when you strut out there on the sidelines again. You
know the deal, no matter how good you are, you
gotta build momentum. You gotta win your close games against

(31:29):
your better opponents. But other than some of those Bobby
Bowden teams at Florida State, where I'd come to an
event like this, I would just like write in ink,
Florida state next to first place prediction.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
Other than years like that, this.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
Is as easy as it gets for me when I
forget when our ballots are due. But it's gonna be
Clemson Tigers in ink for first place. We could debate second, third, fourth,
fifth all day, but there's no doubt in my mind
that the Clemson Tigers are the best team in this
league this year. And I was not saying that about Flora.
I'm not saying I was right about floridastity year ago.

(32:06):
I was not, but I did not feel anything like
I didn't even pickfef FISHU to be first last year,
but I did think they'd be really good. It's just
a totally different vibe, and I think it's a well
placed vibe because you have a proven head coach, proven
assisted coaches, and these guys so many coaches are guessing
and hoping what this guy and that guy can do?

(32:27):
Will he fit my system? Has he gotten that much
better since last year? Debo knows not every not all
twenty two players starters, but he knows with many of
those guys, and that's just a starting point of power
and confidence, and man, I've asked him questions about his
attitude towards the transfer portal. The guy has fewer outgoing

(32:50):
transfers than just about anybody and fewer incoming transfers. I
know he took some key ones this year than just
about anybody, and a lot of people thought he was
crazy for taking that approach. When you and I look
at the All ACC team at the end of the year,
that percentage, the percentage of All ACC guys that are
major college transfers years ago was like five percent, ten percent.

(33:13):
Now it's like fifty percent. Half the best dudes in
the league started their college career somewhere else. So you
would ask any coach, Dude, that's a pretty big talent fawcet.
All these other coaches are tapping that faucet. Why aren't
Why are you mostly letting it just drip a little bit,
you know, signing a key guy here or there.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
Well, guess what it's worked for Debo.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
He don't have to apologize to anybody for any of that,
because his way is working, and he is open minded
enough that if he sees a special player at his
position of need open he's open minded about the concept.
He just wants his culture to be sign and develop
and build fiber with one another in a way that

(33:53):
you just can't do when you're trying to microwave a
new football team every year. Food doesn't taste as good
out of the microwave, right, Football teams are not as
good out of the microwave most of the time either,
And I think that's just part of the magic dust
that Dabo has been sprinkling around Death Valley for what
counting his assistant coach times, what is twenty plus years

(34:14):
at this point.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
Oh yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 4 (34:15):
David Glenn, host of The David Glenn Show, David is
always great to catch up with you.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
Great to catch up with you too, my friend. It's
good to be with you lot, and keep up the
good work.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
With a quick break, we'll come back with more from
the floor as Clemson makes their rounds at the ACC
Kickoff in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. To keep it a
lot right here, because when we come back, we're gonna
jump into a fantastic conversation that we had yesterday here
on the floor of the ACC Kickoff with Fran Brown,

(34:44):
head coach of the Syracuse Orange.

Speaker 5 (34:47):
Look.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
I don't know if they can repeat ten and three
this year. I have no idea what kind of record
they'll have, but when you hear this five six minute
interview with Fran Brown, you're gonna know why that guy
is a winner. Stay with us, Clempson, the Sports, Saw,
The Show, the Shakesta, south Land. Hey, Tiger fans, don't
forget if you're up in Clemson on the corner of
campus on College Avenue, downtown Clemson, are friends in Alumni

(35:11):
Hall for all your officially licensed Clemson merchandise, hats, t shirts, Tailgate,
Gared Moore, go check them out today. It's Alumni Hall
where Tiger fans shop or online at Alumni Hall dot com.
So let me just say this. I'm here old Radio Row.
My sister's with me helping us out with some stuff.
And Frand Brown. I see Syracuse on Wednesday yesterday show.

(35:36):
I see Syracuse And you know, I think I told
you guys this. We had to schedule our own media stuff,
which was a little more difficult, quite frankly. But sometimes
you can find somebody wearing the right gear and say, hey,
you know, is coach Brown available? We call some coaches
fair or foul. Don't get booked up as much as

(35:59):
say Dabbos, and the Syracuse guys said, yep, I'll go
talk to our guys. I'll see if we can get
you in. And there was a station right across from me,
probably twenty feet that was supposed to have Ran Brown,
but nobody was sitting at the table, so they said, hey,
we'll bring him over to you. I had a chance

(36:19):
to sit down with Fran Brown and it was a
spectacular five minute interviewer. So here it is. We'll jump
into it right now from the floor at the ACC kickoff.
Joining us now at the ACC kickoff head coach of
the Syracuse Orange Fran Brown coach, welcome in.

Speaker 5 (36:34):
How you doing. I'm blessed? How about yourself? Good?

Speaker 2 (36:36):
So I was looking now, my dad's a Walford grad. Okay,
don't hold that against me. Western Carolina. Yeah, what brought
you from Camden, New Jersey down to Western Carolina to
play football?

Speaker 6 (36:47):
It's getting the opportunity to play for Camp Briggs who
was at NC State, who had an opportunity of recruiting
some guys from Camden, New Jersey, George Heckerman, Reggie Lawrence,
Damon Covets and all those guys went down there to
play for them, and him being the head coach there,
Matt Rule and Jeff Collins came recruited me and I
got a chance to go play there and it was great.

(37:09):
That was the best one of the some of the
a few of the better three years of my life.
I can't say the best, but it was a good
time there well.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
And so that's kind of been your forte all these years, right,
one of the top recruiters in the country. Obviously, you
end up at Syracuse. You guys win ten games a
year ago, did a fantastic job when you were at
Georgia in that capacity as well. When did you kind
of find your niche in that role? I mean, I
think everybody knows about the ex's and o's of this job, right,
but it's really convincing those guys that, hey, my program

(37:38):
is a place where you can be successful.

Speaker 6 (37:40):
I just always been able to sell myself, right. I
believe in the program, I believe in the head coach's
vision all of that time. But if I was recruiting you,
it's what I was going to do for you, right,
that me and you will get to work together, that
I would be able to give you a detailed playing
an individualized plan for.

Speaker 5 (37:58):
Yourself, and let's follow this.

Speaker 6 (38:00):
Does this look like what's you want over the next
three to five years? Okay, So if we follow this
to a t, then you'll be successful. And you might
not even follow all the way, but if we could
follow this ninety percent of away guaranteeing you to go
be successful and your dreams, goals and aspirations will be
able to be met right that way, And it kind
of works that way. So it was more so me

(38:22):
selling who I am and the approach that I'm gonna
take for recruiting you getting to coach you. So it's
a lot of guys that I've recruited and coached. It
doesn't matter. I might not be you might not be
in a room with me every day, but we'll keep
that relationship the entire time.

Speaker 4 (38:37):
So you made a lot of fans in Tigertown last
year with clips that when you made your statement after
your win over Miami. I think he said, hey, Debo, congrats,
I got you in baby. I think people see the
genuineness of you in that moment. Did you think that
that would be as well received? I guess it. You know,
in clips it as it was.

Speaker 6 (38:58):
I mean, for me, I wanted to win that game
really bad. I think Coach Sweeney is a good man,
and you know when you're looking and trying to see
how can we get in the championship, like Syracuse, right,
how do we get in? And when he went through
all of it, it was like, damn, we can't. But
if we win, which was gonna be great for our
program that Clemson was in. No matter what happened, Syracuse win,

(39:25):
Clemson's in. Yeah, And for me, I just prayed that
we get in. I know Dabbo was a faith driven man,
and I'm like, damn, he deserves it. I'm gonna do
everything I can to help that man get into that.
So that was like on my mind the whole time.
It was about us, but like yeah, and then a
couple of players and y'all because they was like Coach,
we went what was happening? I said, we win Clemson in.

(39:46):
So for our team, it was like, bet, let's get
him in the championship then wows So it wasn't more
so it was like and let's give them that opportunity
because he's good person. We want to see them do
it well. Anyway. But it was it was about us
getting a way because like people had expectations on us, yea,
of who we were and what we were supposed to
do and what's supposed to happen. And you know, when
people put expectations on you, you.

Speaker 5 (40:09):
Got to make them look like what they say. A
donkey is.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
Right, Fran Brown with this year for just a couple
more minutes. Coach will only got you for about five
so I'll get you out here on this one. Ricky Collins,
your quarterback, he's here making his way around. But man,
you got a pretty crowded quarterback room as well. What's
it like to kind of have some of that a
couple of those guys obviously Collins out of the portal,
but I mean, what's it kind of like to have

(40:34):
that at your just you know, at your discretion if necessary.

Speaker 5 (40:38):
I think it's a blessing.

Speaker 6 (40:39):
There's some teams who don't have a quarterback, but for
us to be able to have two guys competing for
that spot, it's truly a blessing.

Speaker 5 (40:48):
Right, We're just blessed, man. You know.

Speaker 6 (40:51):
We get an opportunity, like Lord, you get to do this, right,
I get to do what I'm doing so I'm thankful
and I'm blessed for the opportunity and I'm just happy
about the chance and the opportunity that I got to
be able to pick a quarterback right for me to
be the coach that has the opportunity to pick that,
I'm thankful that we get to do that, and whoever
ones it deserves it. But we got two really good

(41:12):
guys to plan. Ricky's leading right now and we'll just
see how that goes. We've got a couple scrimmages that
will come up and we'll figure that out after the Scrimmags.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
Fran Brown, head coach of the Syracuse Orange coach best
to let you guys.

Speaker 5 (41:24):
This year appreciate that be safe.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
He was incredible. He reminded me of someone and the
more I thought about it over the past twenty four hours,
I think it's Tony Elliott. Tony Elliott is very measured,
never too high, never too low. And it really felt

(41:51):
like talk away fran Brown that there were some what
I would call kind of early similar characteristics in the
sense of who they were or who they are as coaches.
And I also felt like for the goals of their
program all right hour number two on the flipside here

(42:11):
from Charlotte, North Carolina. Right after this, it's.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
Time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lumton Swan Swanny.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Finally, Clypson Sports Talk has come back to drive time.
Hello everybody, Long Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that Shakes the south Land. Clemson
Sports Talk for you each and every afternoon as you
make your way around the great state of South Carolina
and beyond, listening to us on incredible radio stations like

(43:17):
Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred the Midlands, heard around the
world on the iHeart radio application. Download it today, It's free.
The website, put the dot com on it, talk on it.
That's Clemson Sports Talk dot Com AO three four five
zero zero eighty six text line phone line available to
you twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
And of course, the show The Shakes of south Land

(43:39):
brought you in part by our good friends over at
METS Plumbing seven three two drip, Drip, Drip drip. You
know the jingle seventh three to two drip. That's Mets Plumbing.
Mets Plumbing dot com. That's their website. Go check them
out today again on the floor at the Hilton Uptown Charlotte,
North Carolina, Clemson making their way around. Will hear some

(44:03):
from some of the players, Kate Klubnick. We've also got
Antonio Williams, T J. Parker on the schedule, Peter Woods,
and Dabo Sweeney. Will hopefully get all of that for
you today on the show. Maybe not, we might have
some of it on Friday show. But we've had a
chance to sit down with a lot of media members

(44:23):
and you know, one of the one of the things
that has kind of come across the docket is the
fact that on Wednesday, yesterday, Florida State head coach Mike
Norvel was preaching a little fire and Brimstone will jump

(44:44):
into our conversation that we have with Will Van Dervoor
when he brought that to light. Then in the next segment,
we'll hear a little bit from what Mike Norvel had
to say yesterday and whether or not you I'll let
you be the judge. Is Mike Norvel trying to convince himself,
his players, or the media that Florida State is going
to bounce back after a two to ten campaign. Here's

(45:06):
our interview that we did with Will van Derwart from
The Clemson Insider on the show The Shakespeare South lamd
Will Van der Voort from The Clemson Insider, Bamberg Earhart,
Red Raider in the house.

Speaker 7 (45:18):
We're still alive. What's going on with you?

Speaker 2 (45:21):
Barbell County Bulls? The bulls we get to play, I know,
we get to play a couple of more years as
the war Horses, I guess.

Speaker 8 (45:28):
But it's like taking like taking the South Carolina game
Cocks out of the Clemson Carolina rival That's what it's like,
taking the war horses out of the Bamberg.

Speaker 7 (45:37):
It's a rough formal rivalry.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
You know, it is rough.

Speaker 8 (45:41):
Even though I hate y'alls, I understand too, and you know,
never have a hated one area as much. But you know,
and I won't say anything else because I don't want
to incriminate myself for things, especially with the lawyers sitting
here beside us. But she would probably tell me, watch
what you say because you don't want to be heavy.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
Right, what's the statute of limitations?

Speaker 8 (46:01):
So anyway, but my point being is it's just like,
even though I have that much disdained for the war horses, you.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
Didn't want to see him.

Speaker 7 (46:07):
I don't want to see him go because Bamber Barme
was supposed to happen.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
So that's what I so when my show went on
the air in Columbia, right, like I've been doing the
podcast for twenty years, within the radio show for twelve
almost thirteen in Colombia, and people like Clemson people could
not understand how I could do it. And that was
what I would always say. I'm like a big part
of who you are as a Clemson person, whether you're
a fan or a media member.

Speaker 4 (46:29):
Is because of the other side. Right, Like, if there's
no Lex Luthor, is there a need for Superman.

Speaker 7 (46:36):
There's no Joker? Is there a need for Batman?

Speaker 5 (46:38):
Right?

Speaker 2 (46:38):
So what would you like?

Speaker 7 (46:39):
Batman created a Joker?

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Right? So what would you be without them?

Speaker 1 (46:42):
Right?

Speaker 2 (46:42):
What would you be without them? That's the thing, right,
you wouldn't be anything. Yeah, you go, God, who's our rival?

Speaker 5 (46:47):
Right?

Speaker 7 (46:47):
And that I mean that's what it's like.

Speaker 8 (46:49):
So, I mean, you know what did you say the
Barmel what Barbo County bulls Barber County.

Speaker 7 (46:54):
Yeah, see that See it doesn't do it. It's not
the same.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
We're still gonna be hook him Horne. Well, no, what
we always did this anyway for the war Horses, So
that is that why.

Speaker 7 (47:02):
They did it, so that could at least stay.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
It's probably under the radar, you know anyway.

Speaker 8 (47:07):
I mean it's just depressing. It makes me depressed when
you told me that a couple of weeks ago. Yeah,
it ruined my day. Well I did, well.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
This all a live in your day. The a SEC
kickoff college football is right around the ben. Clemson will
be on the practice field in what nine to ten
days whatever something like that.

Speaker 8 (47:23):
Yeah, August thirty, I mean August July thirty thirty first. Yeah,
so get out there, get ready to go. I think
we're gonna get like six practices that we'll get to watch.
So that'll be fun. Yeah, it's gonna be uh, it's
gonna be hot. It's gonna be exciting.

Speaker 5 (47:38):
You know.

Speaker 7 (47:38):
I'm looking forward to its football season.

Speaker 8 (47:40):
This is like there's three or four things in a
year I look forward to and I kind of like
mark those dates. It's just going right. Football season is
one of those dates. I just really enjoy it, look
forward to it. It brings me back to my youth
and how excited I always was for football season. It's
just like that time of year for me, and it
really gets me going and gets me excited for life,
if you will. I hate that football brings that much

(48:01):
joy to me, but it does, as a lot of
people will watch listening to your show, do and all
the people out there that love college football in the South,
college football is what we do, is how we're raised,
is how we live, and so yeah, we're excited about it.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
So let's talk a little bit about the commissioners forum
on Tuesday? Do we have to? And I'm just kidding,
just a couple of just a couple of things. Number One, obviously,
I'm sure you guys over at the Clemson Insider wrote
an article we did as well about the new policy
of fans going onto the field and the impact that
could have on the gathering at the PAW. And I've
already suggested some ideas that I had about it to

(48:35):
maybe make it a part of the postgame scenario. And
I know Clemson put out a statement on it. But
what was your initial sort of thought when that was
being read? Because the first thing, as Commissioner Phillips is
going through it, that's the first thing going through my mind, right, like,
what's happening to the gathering at the pall.

Speaker 7 (48:51):
Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 8 (48:53):
I thought, yeah, what was Clemson's officially going to say
or do. I thought Clemson would just come out and
end it and say this is their excuse to finally
end it and to you know, because Clemson worries about
it a lot, right, you know, because it's always you
worry what happened in the South Carolina game could always happen,
and so there's always concern about that. So, you know,
and I hope the fans listen to what Clemson puts

(49:16):
out because Clemson's gonna keep it, but they're gonna try
to revive it a little bit, you know, And so
I hope the fans listen to what they're doing, especially
the students, because you hate the first game of the year.
You get a fifty thousand dollars fine if you beat LSU,
you know, yeah, you hate that happens. I mean you
literally Clemson can have the two hundred thousand dollars fine

(49:36):
before the third game of the season, you know what
I'm saying. So, like, you know, I hope the fans
pay attention, yeah, and just honor the rule. Let the
visiting team get off the field, and then they can
come on and talk to their favorite because see, that's
what it was always about. It was always about getting
on the field and seeing your favorite player. Getting that
sweat band or that headband from your player. Right, if

(49:57):
you're lucky, you might get a jersey. You never knew, right,
you never knew what the players were gonna give you
because it was back in our days. You know, they
had the Terra Away jerseys, and so they would rip,
and so you get that Terraway jersey from that player,
you know. So you know, I still got my Stacey
Driver jersey. You know you remember Stacy Driver. Yeah, I still
got number twenty one. I still got it from when
I was thirteen years old, you know. And you know,
and I love that thing and it's still in my closet,

(50:18):
and you know, I probably need to get it, uh,
you know, put one of those little frame frame things
on it and get it done. I've been thinking about it.
But you know, I love Stacey Driver growing up, and
like I got to meet Stacey Driver, right and get
get to get he gave me his old jersey.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
Loved it. That's I mean that that's a big part
of it. The suggestion I made was this and I
don't know how you could pull it off. But do
the alma mater first? Do everybody stay where you are seeing?

Speaker 5 (50:44):
Now?

Speaker 2 (50:44):
Like, yeah, I know it's special to be out there
with the players, but on road games, you know, the
players go down to the end. So maybe the players
go towards the hill seeing the alma mater. All right,
now you guys come out or so, I mean, I
I don't know. I just I think CLYMPS is gonna
have to do something to engage the crowd in those moments. Yeah,
I agree, so that they can legitimately look at whoever

(51:06):
these third party people are. They're gonna evaluate your plan
and go, we're doing everything we can. We can't help that.
You know, Syracuse hadn't left the field fast enough, right.

Speaker 7 (51:15):
Yeah, that's another thing. How fast are we giving the
visiting team for leaving?

Speaker 5 (51:18):
Right?

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Because some of these guys played with other people, you
know what I mean, they want to go you know,
or they were rival high.

Speaker 8 (51:22):
Schools, so they were recruited against they like Dabbo recruited them, right,
and the player wants to go say hey to Dabo
or something like that. You know, there's lots of things, right,
So yeah, you're right, like, so how long are we
giving the visiting team to get off the field exactly?
And does that count getting the managers don't get all
the equipment off.

Speaker 5 (51:38):
I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker 7 (51:40):
That was seem to take too long.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
Now the other thing that came out, and I think
it's good for guys like us as well. And I'll
get your thoughts on it, will Van Derbort, by the way,
the Clemson Insider with us here at the ACC kickoff.
Injury reports are back. Yes, they used to exist to
a degree.

Speaker 8 (51:55):
Well, I want to know is what Dabo's gonna do though,
because all they said is they guess has got to
provide the names. I don't think it's really like you
got to say what the injury is. So I think
it's still going to be like day to day, day
to day. So you know, I think Davos still say, yeah,
you know, we got Joe Smith on there, he's day
to day. We got Johnny Johnson on there and he's
day to day. I hope not, you know, so I
can see that happening. But at least I don't have

(52:17):
to ask. So normally there's only two or three of
us Okay, I'll tell you.

Speaker 7 (52:22):
Who the three are.

Speaker 8 (52:23):
Okay, on the clubs of Pete dev do it. It's
a Chapel, Fowler, Larry Williams and me that always have
to ask the dreaded injury questions because nobody else will
do it.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
David Hood won't do it.

Speaker 8 (52:32):
No, No, it's always with me. So it's me Chapel
Larry always have to be the bad guys. It's like
we're always having you already know though, yeah, and we know,
but we have to ask because you got to get
that name out there, like, Okay, I heard such such
maybe injured.

Speaker 7 (52:46):
What can you comment on that?

Speaker 8 (52:47):
And you know Dad's gonna say, oh, yeah, he's day day,
you know. And so that's probably so at least I
don't have.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
To like be the bad guy. You should lead with
that this year.

Speaker 7 (52:54):
I don't have to be the bad guy.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
No, no, no, like is Tyler Brown day to day?
Like just lead with the day that. Yeah, put that
out there for good gracious all right, Will And by
the way, me.

Speaker 8 (53:05):
Larry Chapov talked about this that we're always having to
be the bad That's why that's why I bring that up.

Speaker 7 (53:09):
But go ahead, all right.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Will, BANDI board with us here on the program. Final
thing from the commissioners for him that jumped out to
me was when he was asked a question about the
league and the perception and he just flat out set it.
We can't go to and eleven in bowl game.

Speaker 7 (53:26):
He did. Yeah, yeah, he did.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
How surprised were you when that moment took that?

Speaker 5 (53:29):
I was.

Speaker 7 (53:30):
I was pretty surprised.

Speaker 8 (53:31):
But also, and I'm gonna give Jim Phillips credit here,
since he came in to the ACC he has said
football has to be better. He said that from the
beginning when he came five years ago. If you look
at his first, you know, first press conferences, he brought
up how football needed to be We need to be
better at football, more competitive in football. It just didn't

(53:51):
need to be Clemson and nobody else. We needed more people,
We needed more teams to compete. So he's kind of
relaying that message again, like you need to invest. He
talked about that five years ago, about programs investing in
football because eighty percent of your revenue for television revenue
is football, not basketball. I hope the Duke and North

(54:12):
Caroline fans are listening out there. It's not basketball. Right,
it's football. Eighty percent of that television revenue. Football, And
if you're going to do now and of course we're
he's starting to hear rumbles in Chapel Hill that they're
not there may be realignment coming for them. They may
be considering re alignment. Why well, because now Clemson in
Florida State or Miami's gonna make more money because why

(54:34):
they invest more in football. And so there, you know,
as nol Kollon does, is what are they scared like,
you know that they're not going to get the money
because football? You know, Clemson football is gonna get it
more because Clemson football is going to be because Clemson
plays LSU, Clemson plays Georgia, you know, you know, Clemson
plays in the consertball playoff games.

Speaker 7 (54:53):
People pay attention to what Clemson football is doing.

Speaker 8 (54:55):
Are they scared that they're not going to be able
to get the money that Clemson and Florida State are
gonna because they've played the more marquee games and they
have more eyes on them. You know, So that's an
interesting it's an interesting to watch who wants to invest
in football? If you're Wake Forest in Boston College and
you know, even Syracuse right now, but Syracuse still I

(55:16):
think in a better position.

Speaker 7 (55:16):
Those two teams are. Oh yeah, but if.

Speaker 8 (55:18):
You're a Boston College and Wake Forest, you're right now thinking, man,
what are we gonna do. We're gonna have to really
really put some investment into football, and I don't know
if they really have the alumni to do that.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
Gary Stoken I sat down with him, and you know
from the Chick fil A Peach Bawl. He said that
since the ACC instituted the kind of payments driven by viewership,
that more schools from the ACEC have reached out to
him about playing in that athletic kickoff game because of

(55:53):
the value in the eyeballs, especially at the beginning of
the season because as well viewed as the athlete kickoff
games and things where I think, and I could be
wrong on this, but one of the most viewed games
all of last season was that opener between Georgia Tech
and Florida State over in Ireland, because that was like.

Speaker 7 (56:14):
This was the most watched game in ACC last year.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
Yeah, it was the and it was the first kind
of two not I was too pronged to that why
that was the case.

Speaker 7 (56:25):
First, it was the first football game really of the
college football season. Everybody's right.

Speaker 8 (56:28):
The second was Georgia Tech upset them. Nobody thought that
was gonna happen, and so I think it had that
effect to it. That's why, because it's one of those
things like, oh, Georgia Tech Florida stated are playing okay,
and then like so the college football fans got ready
and they're like, oh yeah, they're excited, they watched it.
But then the you know, halfway through the second quarters, hey, man,

(56:48):
Georgia Tech's got a ten point leon on Florda State.
What So then the casual fan is turning it on
a good point, you know, to watch it. And so
I think that's what brought more viewership to it. But
that's what the ACC needs to do. A like he says,
go find a game and that you can win. So
if you're like Clemson against LSU, you want Clemson to
win this game bad if you're the Atlantic Coast Conference
because you need that for your perception. And then secondly,

(57:11):
you know, by winning those games, you're not automatically gonna
draw more eyeballs to not only yourself but to the
conference as well. Now to what Gary Stokem was talking
about though, and I gray, I love it that Boston
College is like, and what do we gotta do to
get on that game?

Speaker 7 (57:25):
Nobody cares? Dude, Nobody wants to watch Boston College.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 8 (57:29):
People in Boston don't want to watch Boston College. They're
page eight, you know, on the sport section the Boston Globe.
They're page eight. Nobody wants to watch them, so nobody.
You know, it is what it is. You know, those
they're not gonna draw eyes, you know, because nobody cares.

Speaker 7 (57:45):
You know, you could. That's why I always laugh. And
I hear somebody say, oh yeah, ACC's are out. They
got the big market. They're in the Boston market.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
You think the Boston market turns on ACC football. I hate,
I hate to say this, but I think it's a
perfect segue. I just saw somebody over there in the
I was walking over towards the area where the food
is and I heard a lady ask somebody, one of
the media members, what's ACC.

Speaker 7 (58:07):
Yeah, And you know, but hey, they may not be
a sports fan.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
It may not be.

Speaker 8 (58:12):
They may not be, but I mean that I know
you're supposed to be an ACC country.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
I mean, do you think you go what's NFL like,
You know what I mean, It's kind of it's one
of those things.

Speaker 5 (58:24):
All right.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
Well, so you've been up in the main ballroom a
good bit, correct.

Speaker 7 (58:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:29):
I do not get to spend hardly any time in
there at all. I do get to listen to those
interviews after the kickoff normally I'll go back I push
record on the old DBR if you will. Is there
anything any coach up to this point that you've heard
from Obviously we haven't had a chance to hear from
Clemson yet when you and I are talking, But is
there anything that a coach has said or anything that

(58:51):
stood out to you so far?

Speaker 8 (58:53):
Yeah, Mike Norvel was really yelling at us, and so
it's like, uh, well it was like preaching a sermon almost,
which was very interesting. I thought to what I took
it like, he's trying Is he trying to convince me
that they're gonna be good? Or is he trying to
convince himself they're gonna be good? You know how that
sometimes you listen to that preacher and he's talking and
you're wondering, is he worried about his own salvation or

(59:17):
is he really worried about mine. Okay, that's what I
kind of took from that, like, you know, like it
was fire and Brimstone almost really yeah, and so.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
I can't wait to go back to watch it now.

Speaker 5 (59:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (59:26):
So I'm interested to see, like, Okay, what's Florida State
gonna be? Because that really kind of stood out to me.

Speaker 5 (59:34):
Is it?

Speaker 8 (59:35):
I took it as almost desperation, and so like, is
this really it does Mike verde is hitting Norvelle getting
told behind the scenes like you better not have a
losing record this year or you're gone, buddy, Like we'll
go ahead and figure out that buyout. You know, I'm
wondering and I'm listening that there's no pressure for a coach.

Speaker 7 (59:53):
People can say it's Dabbo and Brian Kelly.

Speaker 8 (59:55):
Maybe Brian Kelly, I guess got a lot of pressure
on him. I don't think no coach there's more pressure
on him for a first game than Mike norvel against
Alabama because if his seminals go out there and they
lay an egg and Alabama runs them out of the
stadium at home a national television with twenty two transfer
pootlal guys, so you have no culture, you had nobody

(01:00:17):
to say, oh, who's my leader?

Speaker 7 (01:00:18):
Who were gonna lean on kind of guys?

Speaker 5 (01:00:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Right, how are you gonna survive that? He didn't survive
it last year? Yeah, that's been the big thing when
I've taught with people who cover Florida State, that's been
the most shocking part of the conversation from their standpoint
is they could have justified like six and six. You know,
maybe you just had a but two intent. Like I

(01:00:43):
was in school at Clemson for the three and eight.
My name's Tommy, Tommy Way.

Speaker 4 (01:00:49):
I'm a smart football coach those years, right, and so
three and eight he's like a box a shop, right.

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
I was there for that. Yeah, And Florida State had
a two ten off of the heels of going undefeated
through the regular season and into the final tallly of
the college football playoffs.

Speaker 5 (01:01:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:01:08):
You know what's crazy if you think about it. So
FLORISA had that great running of Bobby Bowden, which was historic. Yes,
yet still now because of what's happened in the last
ten years, they've had more losy seasons since nineteen seventy
seven than Clemson's have. Clympson's only had four, they've had
five now. So that's crazy to think about that, because

(01:01:29):
you would think Florida State has had more overall success
in Clinton.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
Sure, but they really haven't.

Speaker 8 (01:01:34):
You know, they just had that run in the Bowden
and that's really been it. Jimbo had some good years,
but do.

Speaker 2 (01:01:40):
You do kind of wonder and it's ironic Jimbo Fisher's
now with the ACC network.

Speaker 8 (01:01:44):
I'm actually was not gonna work out by the way
you talk about things to watch, well, you know, I
don't know what you know, what deb was gonna do
on this one. You know, he's gonna be good, and
I think they're gonna do a lot of good things
up there, and this is gonna be you know, I
don't know Kake Libnik and he's pretty good and you
can throw the football around pretty.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
Good, no doubt. Look, we're gonna put Will Van der
bort On whole come back with him here at the
ACC kickoff. Then we'll jump into some conversations with a
couple of Duke Blue Devils or at least one quarterback
Darien Mensa right here on the show that Shakes the
South lay and it's Clemson Sports Talk back at it
on the Thursday from the floor at the ACC kickoff,
Lawton Swine hanging out with you, Will Van der Voort

(01:02:18):
joining the program. Will we were talking about Jimbo Fisher
joining uh the ACC Network.

Speaker 8 (01:02:24):
That's the hardest man to try to try quotes from
that I've ever had to do.

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
I'm going to get him on the show already, tell
you don't you understand him? I am getting him on
the show I talked to.

Speaker 8 (01:02:36):
That was a good idea for DSPN. Go ahead, Well,
I'm getting him on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
But yesterday I did say he reminds me of like
Boom Houer from Kem in the Hill.

Speaker 8 (01:02:46):
You know what, man, It's like so fast, We're all
over there, man, you know, hey, come over here, man,
we got this wet beer.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
Pop it over here. I'm going dang, But what if
what if he had stayed? Though? Like you think, like
I can't imagine that they have the dip that they
had under Taggart.

Speaker 7 (01:03:04):
You know they don't.

Speaker 8 (01:03:05):
Here's what happened at Florida State. Just talking with some
of the beat writers there. They Jimbo saw Clemson rowing,
and Jimbo says, listen, there's a giant the upstated Suthline growing.
If we don't act now they're gonna pass us, and
it's going to and we recruit with Clemson, recruit against them.

Speaker 7 (01:03:26):
We got to act now or they're gonna pass us.

Speaker 8 (01:03:28):
They laughed at Jimbo and Jimbers like, we need a
facility like they're building.

Speaker 7 (01:03:33):
They laughed at him, you know.

Speaker 8 (01:03:36):
So finally, when it all started coming down and he
saw the ship sinking, Jimber's like, I'm off, I'm not
going to sink with this ship. So he jumped off
the way he did. And so I blame the Florida
State administration that they just didn't listen to what he
told them years in advance, way in advance.

Speaker 7 (01:03:52):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 8 (01:03:53):
And so yeah, you wonder if they just would have
listened to Jimbo a little bit and took Clemson a
little more serious, they probably would have been in better
shape than they are right now. But right now they're
I mean, dude, they're losing money. Like they're not in
the position Clemson. I can tell you one comp team.

Speaker 7 (01:04:09):
I can't leave this.

Speaker 8 (01:04:10):
Conference right now for one hundred and sixty five million,
and that's Florida State, So I can tell you that.
So you know, so, yeah, they're there right now they're
trying to find ways to make money and all that
they're behind and it's their own fault.

Speaker 7 (01:04:25):
Jimbo told them ten years ago.

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
So he told them, Well, final thing Thursday, Clemson arrives
and they are bringing boatloads of talent. Club Nick Williams, Yeah,
Parker Woods and you and I have talked about this
a little bit, but I'm gonna ask it anyway because
I want to get your thoughts on it. Are you
surprised at just how well thought of this team is?

(01:04:46):
Because after Clemson beat Alabama forty four to sixteen in
twenty eighteen, undefeated national champs, Trevor, Lawrence, Traves, E ten,
all the weapons you had, I don't feel like that
team going into twenty nineteen was as talked about and
as seen in as favorable a light as this one.
And I find that ironic. I think some of it

(01:05:08):
has to do with the defensive line because you lost Wilkins, Lawrence, Ferrell,
and Bryant right that year. Yeah, but are you surprised
at how well thought of this Clemson team is right now?

Speaker 5 (01:05:18):
No?

Speaker 7 (01:05:19):
I'm not.

Speaker 8 (01:05:19):
You know, when you look at who they are bringing back,
and you look at the way they and I think
some of it has to do with what Steve Sarskigen
said after the Clemson game against Texas, where he talked
about how Cake they were scared of Kake Clemnick and
they said, if we don't put pressure on him, he's
gonna pick us apart. And that's exactly what happened in
the second half. He picked him apart, made him look foolish.

(01:05:42):
They had their worst game all year. That's including after Clemson,
you know, from a defensive secondary standpoint. So yeah, it
was a lot of It was a lot of stuff
going on, and I think that right there, coupled with
who's coming back, what Clemson did in the offseason to
get better, who Clemson in as a defensive coordinator, that
kind of put Clemson up there because when you look

(01:06:04):
at Clemson's personnel and all that's coming back, Yeah, that's
why they're up there. I mean, they're one of the top,
what two of three teams in the country bringing starters back,
and they.

Speaker 2 (01:06:13):
Went and returned the most production I think offensively anybody exactly.

Speaker 7 (01:06:17):
You got a returning four year starter at quarterback. You
know that's a big deal.

Speaker 8 (01:06:21):
You know, third straight year now with with Garrett Riley,
his offensive coordinator. All those things kind of add up
to you know, they're in a position to where I
think I understand the hype. I know Clemson fans are
worried about it because there's this two thousands Clemson fans
creeping up on them and they're like, but you know,
I go back to saying, hey, Daba, sweeneys just won
two national championships. He played for it four times in

(01:06:43):
five years. They went to six straight college football playoff games.
I think the guy knows what he's doing. I think
you were you trust the guy that's leading the way,
and he's been in this position, He's had these kind
of teams before.

Speaker 7 (01:06:53):
He knows how to handle the expectations. They're gonna be fine.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Will Van dervoordt the Clemson Insider on Twitter at Steeler
Will Will always good to go jump with you.

Speaker 7 (01:07:00):
Thanks, Budy, appreciate you.

Speaker 5 (01:07:01):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
That's Will Van Dervoord from the Clemson Insider hanging out
with us here today on the floor at the ACC
kickoff up in Charlotte. All right, coming up, I mentioned
Darien Mensa, quarterback of the Duke Blue Devils. We'll hear
from him. We'll also follow that up with cade Klubnick
here on a Thursday afternoon. We'll have audio from Dabo Sweeney, TJ. Parker,

(01:07:24):
Peter Woods, Antonio Williams, and Moore coming up for you
over the next couple of days as we get you
closer to kickoff of the college football season. Again, Clemson
Sportsalt brought you in part by our good friends over
at Mets Plumbing seven three two drip, Drip, drip drip.
You know the jingle, seventh three to two drip. That's

(01:07:45):
Mets Plumbing, mets Plumbing dot com. That's the website as well.
All right, final couple of things here from the floor today.
The final day hard to believe. Like last year it
was a four day grind. They trimmed it back to
three and I've actually had media members tell me that

(01:08:06):
they would be okay if they trimmed it back to
two again and just like drink through a fire hose.
But I think the three day after air was perfect.
I was only here for two of them, but it's
been pretty smooth saling if I'm being honest with you,
and you know, plenty of opportunity to talk with people.

Speaker 5 (01:08:24):
Great deal.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
You know a good many media members. I do wonder
like I heard, and I can't remember if I brought
this up or not, but I heard with the Big
Ten going out to Las Vegas that James Franklin, head
coach of the penn State Nitney Lyons, said that a
lot of the Pennsylvania media people didn't make that trek

(01:08:47):
all the way across the country. And it does make
me wonder how many media people from cal And and
Stanford are even here or even from the state of
Texas with SMU Like, I don't specifically see anybody that

(01:09:09):
I would just jump out and go yep. I mean
like there's a cowboy, you know, nothing like that. But
I do wonder how many people from those markets are here.
And I certainly think it would hurt the ACC if
they moved it out of Charlotte ever, to try to
get a little more close to some of those schools,
because I think when you're driving, force is very central

(01:09:29):
where we are here in Charlotte. To the league, it
probably makes the most sense. But yeah, it's a busy,
busy day and a busy week here in Charlotte. Again,
whin a quick break when we come back, we're gonna
put the Darian Mintz interview on the shelf. We're gonna
hear from Cade Club Nick right here on the show
that shakes the South, Lay and keep it locked. We're
at the ACC kickoff Clemson quarterback Kie Club Nick back

(01:09:50):
again in Charlotte.

Speaker 4 (01:09:53):
More veteran experience this time around. I think, what your
third run in here? Yea, not many Tigers have had
had three runs through the car wash?

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
Man. How's that experience?

Speaker 5 (01:10:02):
Man?

Speaker 4 (01:10:03):
It's been good. It's been good. It's it's been great.
Feel like I know what I'm doing now, you know,
third time around, you like giving Peter Woods and TJ
kind of the I'm like, yeah, y'all better bring some snacks.

Speaker 2 (01:10:15):
You ain't get hungry. So talking a lot. So yeah,
all right, So we were talking before you came over,
and Susan pointed out that really, if you think back,
we'll give Cole Stout, who's on staff there, some credit
because he did start his final game in that Russell
Ath Late Bowl when Deshaun Watson was injured. But you're
really the first quarterback since Taj Boyd. That's been a

(01:10:37):
four year you know, a senior going into this final year.
What does that mean to you in an era where heck,
when Tash and those guys were playing, if you transferred
you had to sit out a year. What does it
mean to you to kind of have that in your
moniker when people look back at k cleb next time
at Clemson?

Speaker 4 (01:10:53):
Yeah, special man, I mean, Clemson's home. You know, it's
it's just such a blessing to be here and just
so thankful for the opportunity that coach Swenny gave me
to come play. You know, it's just I'm so happy
that I picked Clumpson. Man, It's just it's been such
a blessing, just such an amazing last four years, and
you know, sad it's coming to an end, but not

(01:11:14):
looking to that point yet, you know, just excited for
these last few months that I got and trying to
enjoy every single day.

Speaker 2 (01:11:20):
But you know, I think that you know, I'm a.

Speaker 4 (01:11:21):
Loyal guy, and there was never a conversation about me
wanting to leave this place or even a question of it.
You know, I knew that I wanted to stay here
and so thankful what I did. Kate clubbed it with
us here. So in addition to what you guys accomplished
last year. I would make the argument I've been covering
this program really since two thousand and five, and it

(01:11:44):
feels like, even in the midst of the run that
Sweeney had in twenty sixteen and twenty eighteen, from the outside,
the off season buzz about this team is as high
as I can ever remember. And that includes coming off
of when Trevor was quarterback and Clemson went fifteen to
zero and won the national championship. How have you guys
kind of taken all that in? I know you're seeing

(01:12:04):
the headlines and reading the press clippings. How have you
guys kind of processed all of that as young men?

Speaker 5 (01:12:10):
Man?

Speaker 2 (01:12:11):
A year ago, I was here and everybody told me
I sucked. I don't think I did, but okay, no,
not you.

Speaker 4 (01:12:18):
But you know, I heard it a lot and a
lot of people say, you know, how are you gonna,
you know, come off the year you had and for
our team, not just me, just that, you know, And man,
we heard that and we didn't you know, we didn't
dive into that, and we didn't let that affect us,
but we heard it and we felt the heaviness of that.

(01:12:38):
And I don't think that you know, you know, Clemson.
We're not a team that's gonna bring in thirty new.

Speaker 2 (01:12:42):
Guys every year.

Speaker 4 (01:12:44):
We lost a few guys last year and we brought
a few in, but for the majority, it's the exact
same team. And we remembered what that's like. We remember
what it's like to sit in at four and four
in Clemson, South Carolina. It's not a fun place to be.
It's it's not the expectation there. So you know, when
we hear the new buzz of whatever it is that,

(01:13:04):
you know, we don't we don't forget what we've been through.
So we're still a hunger team and a team that's
been through the fire and and been through you know,
the ups and down. So I just we're we're just
put our head down and go to work.

Speaker 2 (01:13:18):
What's your parents' message to you as you've been through
this process, because I know how much they mean to you.
What what's that like when you talk to him after
a game or throughout the season. I mean, I've got
a son, this a little bit younger than you, and
constantly talk with him about your hard work effort. What's
your parents' message to you?

Speaker 4 (01:13:35):
Honestly, we don't really talk a lot of football man.
They're just excited for the journey and they love it.
You know, I think they love this just as much
as I do. My mom talked to my mom a
few days ago. She's like, I just can't wait.

Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
You know, it's so excited.

Speaker 4 (01:13:49):
But you know, postgame, I mean, we'll talk about the
game a little bit, but we just you know, we
don't really like talk about it. We like to talk
about other stuff, and I don't get to see them
that much. So football is, you know, something that I do,
but it's not who I am. And that's one reason
I'm just so thankful for them, is you know, they
love me for who I am and not because I
play football. So we're excited. They love it. They love

(01:14:10):
Clemson football and everything that it is. And they're going
to have their tailgate with you know, sixty eighty people
there and have everybody there, but they're soaking up every
bit of it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:20):
So k clubnit with us here for a few more
minutes at the ACC kickoff. So two years ago, you know,
they're coming into last season. You you knew that whole
offseason there was some growth that you had to have,
and you you mentioned that a lot of people were
critical of your game this past year. Those conversations are
about how good you were, how have you driven yourself
when there's been a lot of praise to continue to

(01:14:41):
take that step forward, And where do you feel like
you needed to still continue to improve? Is it processing?
Is it something with you know, just you know, how
you play the game. I mean, what was your your
kind of thought on that? You know, when it comes
to like my mindset, you know, I'm just trying to
be the best self I can be. I'm trying to
be the best kid CLUBNCK I can be. And like
I said, I think I took a step from my

(01:15:01):
sophomore year to my junior year. I sacrificed a lot
last off season, and when I got to this year,
I'm like, you know, okay. My first mindset was like, Okay,
I need to go do what I did last offseason.
But then I'm like, well I didn't. I wasn't the
player I.

Speaker 4 (01:15:15):
Want to be last last season. You know, I want
to be better, so I'm just trying to this this year.
I was just trying to outwork last year's version of me,
and that that was kind of my mindset. Is you know,
whether it's February twentieth. You know, when nobody cares about
college football, you know, I'm trying to outwork last year's
version of myself. So that's been my mentality all year long.
And that's really what I've been trying to do. And yeah, it.

Speaker 2 (01:15:39):
Reminds me of I think I said this on the
show a few weeks ago, and I don't think I
was talking about you specifically, but if you ever played
Mario Kart, when you set a track record, it put
your ghost on there instead of the guy. You have
to race that ghost. I mean, do you feel like
you're kind of chasing that guy?

Speaker 4 (01:15:56):
I think so. I don't feel like I'm trying to
chase him. I'm trying to beat them, you know. So
that's kind of my mentality though.

Speaker 2 (01:16:03):
Well, final final thing for you. You know, obviously you
guys have a huge home opener, but you've been in
Garrett system now for three years. I mean, how's your
grass versus the first game you know into that system,
what was at Duke I believe it was, and then
versus now this opener against an LSU team.

Speaker 4 (01:16:21):
Yeah, I feel great, you know, I feel good about
you know, I love coach Riley and and what we do.
The system that we have, I feel really comfortable in it,
and you know, feel explosive in it. And the guys
we got around me. It makes the game really fun.
It makes it fun to go to work every single week.
And yeah, man, it's just excited, excited, ready to get
back out there.

Speaker 2 (01:16:41):
That's right. Won't be long, that's right to bet you
got all those practices coming up.

Speaker 5 (01:16:46):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (01:16:46):
Ka club Nick k Man. Always appreciate you, buddy, appreciate you.
Good to see you.

Speaker 2 (01:16:50):
So there you go, Kay Club Nick from the floor
at the ACC kickoff and Charlotte, all right, we'll hit
a quick break. We'll come back. We did have a
chance to taught with Dabbo, T. J. Parker, Peter Woods
and Antonio Williams. We'll have that all to you for
you tomorrow. But when we come back, we'll hear from
Brian Parker, offensive lineman at Duke as we put a

(01:17:12):
bow on the Thursday edition of the Show that Shakes
the south Land.

Speaker 5 (01:17:18):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.

Speaker 1 (01:17:24):
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture, don't forget history.

Speaker 5 (01:17:32):
Lucky for us at Clemson. The answer to the questions
what have you done for me lately? And what have
you done? Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 2 (01:18:30):
Final segment on the Thursday, our last day at the
ACC kickoff. Earlier today did have a chance to sit
down with offensive linemen and offensive tackle for the Duke
Blue Devils, Brian Parker. We also had a chance to
catch up with their new quarterback who transferred from Tulane,
Darien Mensa. Here's our interview though with Parker from the
floor at the ACC kickoff in Charlotte. Brian, Welcome, hen Man,

(01:18:52):
appreciate you spending.

Speaker 5 (01:18:53):
Some time with us today. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (01:18:55):
It's interesting, right because there are so many seasons where
from the outside the perspective of the Duke Blue Dover
program hasn't been what it is this year. What's the
vibe around the program and the excitement that exists right now?

Speaker 9 (01:19:06):
You know, the last three years we've had three winning
seasons in a row, so the Blue Devil's been on
upward climb going one and four, and the program's really
really excited. We have a lot of returning talent and
so we kind of feel that this year is more
our year to come an attack.

Speaker 5 (01:19:21):
It's no longer.

Speaker 9 (01:19:21):
Hey, Duke's climbing out of the hole, you know, trying
to be a winning team in the ACC Again, It's like, Okay,
we've established ourselves three winning seasons. We know we can
do it. We've been just shy of some big games recently.
But now we have an older crew, more experienced crew
that feels confident going into the season that they can
compete with anybody on the field.

Speaker 2 (01:19:39):
And I think it's interesting because it's a time in
the sport where players can pretty much freely move, and
you go from having a coach like Mike Elko to
now Manny Diaz taken over in the job he did
last year. But yet you're still able to maintain that
continuity and that growth in the program. And I know
you're just a player, but in your mind, how difficult
do you think that is for coaches in this era

(01:20:00):
when you have that type of transition to keep a
team together so to speak.

Speaker 9 (01:20:04):
Yeah, it's extremely difficult. I remember coach Diaz was at
our bowl game when he got hired, when he wasn't
even the coach yet technically calling up players, making sure everybody,
trying to keep what we had to get right. But
I also think Duke itself is a huge pool. You know,
the great education, the locker room we have. We really
stressed that to the outside world. We do have a
really tight knit locker room of close guys. And Duke
gets you a lot plus football, so you get the education,

(01:20:27):
the opportunity to play power for football, and all the
networking that comes with it. So it makes it a
lot easier to pull guys back.

Speaker 2 (01:20:33):
So you're an econ major, is that right?

Speaker 5 (01:20:36):
Yep, with concentration in finance.

Speaker 4 (01:20:38):
Okay, so the law diminishing returns and all that good stuff.
Oh man, that's rough, especially I can imagine trying to
do that at Duke.

Speaker 2 (01:20:46):
But what brought you to Duke? You're from where Ohio? Originally?

Speaker 5 (01:20:49):
Yeah, born in South Jersey.

Speaker 9 (01:20:51):
Went my dad for a job, We moved to Cincinnati, Ohio,
went to high school there, middle school there, and then Duke.
I was really in my process looking for a university
that offered everything I wanted, high academics along with high
talented football, and I thought Duke gave me that best chance,
and so I came. I visited the guys I met,
I just fell in love with. They were great guys,

(01:21:13):
like the most genuine visit i'd been on, and so
really I went on my visit and then like three
days later I committed Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:21:19):
Brian Parker with us from the Duke Blue Devil's offensive lineman.
Now I mentioned the transfer portal earlier, it's also a
benefit and in your case, your quarterback, who I'm going
to be speaking to in just a few minutes, Dariu
Mensa comes in from Tulane. What's the relationship like when
you have new guys in and you kind of talked
about just then when you got to Duke on that visit,
how everybody made you feel so comfortable. I mean the

(01:21:41):
responsibility that you have being a guy that's been there,
and maybe there's a I'm not going to say handful
out know the exact number, but guys who have been
with you all those years. What's that like when you've
got to kind of embrace a new guy at quarterback.
You've had to do that a couple of times now
in your career.

Speaker 9 (01:21:54):
We've had to do it twice now. But I just
remember him coming in on his visit. We went to
the basketball game against Incarnate World, and automatically like we
hit it off. There was about five of us the
ones of the game with him. We went out to
dinner after it was awesome, like a really really awesome guy,
a really down to earth guy. I know he hit
the portal and some people don't like that, but he

(01:22:14):
really is a good kid and we love having him here.
And he's been yelling great and the guy's really believing
him and think he's a huge, a huge weapon for
us next year and he'll play against his Yeah, he'll
play a game, Okay, yeah, season.

Speaker 2 (01:22:29):
I can't wait. I can't wait to ask him about it.
But you guys have a big game early on as well.
I think against the fighting a lion and I out
of the Big ten. You know, Clemson opens with the
SEC opponent. I think Virginia Tech opens with the SEC
opponent at Florida State with the SEC opponent. And this
league commissioner. I don't know if you heard the commissioner's
comments earlier in the week, but he was asked about,

(01:22:49):
you know, the profile of the ACC and kicking it
up a notch, and he fled out and told to
the coaches, said to the coaches, basically, hey, we can't
go two and eleven in bowl games. But how important.
Are those in season games out of the conference against
the program like Illinois in your mind? And what are
you looking most forward?

Speaker 5 (01:23:03):
To me?

Speaker 9 (01:23:03):
That's a huge game, not only with college playoff implications
two teams looking to make it, but also it really
does solidify the ACC saying, you know, we can go
play a top Big Ten team this year. They can
come down to Durham North Carolina and we can win.
And that just helps everybody in the league. If everybody
goes out there and handles their business and we all
take down the evil forces outside.

Speaker 5 (01:23:25):
I thanks, everybody looked better.

Speaker 2 (01:23:27):
Yeah, I hear you, man, no doubt about it.

Speaker 5 (01:23:28):
Again.

Speaker 2 (01:23:29):
Brian Parker from the Duke Blue Devils offensive lineman hanging
out with us Now, obviously I cover Clemson, you guys
would be playing the Tigers as well. The last time
you connected with Clemson kind of punched them right in
the mouth twenty eight to seven in the opener two
years ago. I mean that was a shocking result for Clemson,
but you certainly didn't go I mean, nobody I played
sports my whole life. Nobody goes into a game going, well,
we're gonna lose this one. You guys took it to

(01:23:50):
the Tigers. That was a special night for you, no doubt.

Speaker 9 (01:23:52):
Definitely, definitely. We had a really talented crew of upperclassmen
that year, a bunch of guys that are in the
league these days, and they kind of propel the program
from what it was and up. And that was a
huge emphasis in the offseason, like if we're gonna take
that next step, this is the game to take the
next step. And that propelled us into a great start
of that season and has helped us on the recruiting
trail and ever since, that game kind of established us

(01:24:14):
as Duke is okay, maybe they're back.

Speaker 2 (01:24:16):
I love it.

Speaker 5 (01:24:16):
I love it. Man.

Speaker 2 (01:24:17):
Well, good luck to you this year, Brian. Always appreciate
your time and look forward to seeing you play this season.

Speaker 5 (01:24:21):
Sounds great, Go Devils.

Speaker 2 (01:24:23):
There you go. We'll be back tomorrow with more from
the floor at the Hilton Charlotte. Until then, as always,
you'll take care now, Hey go Tigers.