The "Sun Splashed" Edition

Roy Philpott joins the show to discuss the end of litigation between Clemson, FSU, and the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Finally, Clemson Sports Talk has come back to drive time.
Hell everybody, and Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes the south Land. Clemson
Sports Talk for you each and every afternoon as you
make your way around the great state of South Carolina

(01:03):
and beyond, listening to us on incredible radio stations like
Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred the Midlands and around the
world on the iHeartRadio app. And of course, that show,
The Chase of South lamb brought to you in part
by our friends over at Mets Plumbing seven three to
two Drip, Drip Drip. You know the jingle Mets Plumbing
seventh three to two drip. All right? Coming up an

(01:26):
hour number two, we'll be joined by Roy Philpott to
talk about the seismic new revenue distribution model and brand
initiative put together by the Atlantic Coast Conference that will
impact the league substantially. To the point, as I brought

(01:49):
up yesterday, I think it solidifies the conference. It dangles
a huge carrot in front of all of the top
football brands and any team that wants to be a
top football brand. The possibility of the way this could
work out where you might be able to make more
money in the ACC than you could in the Big

(02:11):
Ten or the Big twelve is huge. Don't know what
that says for the other teams in the league, honestly,
the ones that aren't in that same kind of college
football boat, the power brands, if you will. Pete Thamil
from ESPN talked about in an article that came out

(02:31):
earlier this week about the new revenue distribution model based
on viewership which Georgia Tech led that by the way,
this past year, mentioned that yesterday and also figuring out
the exact numbers that would take to exit the league

(02:52):
based off of the grant of rights. And we've got
all of that, like Clemson knows, like you have the
plan in your hands, Like you know what it would
cost to leave, You know how much you could potentially
make damn well, saying in the article quote. This new
revenue distribution model or brand initiative is based on a
five year rolling average of TV ratings, though some logistics

(03:16):
of this formula remain tricky, including how to properly average
games on the unrated ACC network or other subscription channels.
The brand initiative will be funded through a split in
the league's TV revenue, with forty percent distributed evenly among
the fourteen long standing members and sixty percent going toward

(03:36):
the brand initiative and distributed based off of TV ratings.
The top earners are expected to net an additional fifteen
million or more, while some schools will see a net
reduction in annual payout of up to about seven million annually,

(03:57):
an acceptable loss according to several Minutes. Straders at schools
likely to be impacted in exchange for near term stability.
What does that mean? That means that teams, you know,
at schools like Boston College, at schools like Wake Forest,
instead of having to worry that the conference falls apart

(04:18):
in front of them and have nowhere to go, i'lla
Washington State and Oregon State. They feel like by keeping
Clemson in Florida State and other member institutions that are
trying to keep up with the Joneses in the SEC
and the Big Ten happy with the results because they

(04:39):
can make more money potentially, then yeah, they'll stick around
and take a run at and you won't always get
that money if you're Clemson or Florida State. It might
be one of those teams that was expected to get
a lesser payout. But maybe they have a season where
like like wake Forest had what I don't know in

(05:01):
the early two thousands, mid to late that when was
that when wake Forest made to run to the Orange Bowl.
I can't remember what year, But that's neither it's not
really the The point is they're willing to exchange a
little loss here and there to have stability in the conference.
So Clemson, who got all of their College Football playoff

(05:26):
money four million dollars this past season. That's how much
the field goal that was made by Nolan Hoosier put
in the back pocket of Clemson as it made it
into the College Football Playoff. But they can make up
to twenty million if they were to get to the
National Championship game. And you're not splitting that. You're getting
that in your own back pocket. So for the Tigers,

(05:54):
it makes a ton of sense to say, well, look,
there is no available spot right now in the Big
Ten or the SEC as we are aware, those leagues
have not I can't speak to the SEC as much.
I don't really know what the deals ended up being

(06:15):
for Texas and Oklahoma. I can't remember, but I know
that the Big Ten has traditionally not given up their
spots in their conference to other teams with an equal share.
They've come in at a smaller share by comparison to

(06:36):
the other teams in the league, and they've just had
to ride it out. They've had to ride it out.
And then once you get your full share, that's that's
all well and good, but it's not right out of
the gates. And based off of the numbers, Clemson said
one hundred and twenty million over the next six years.
Potentially that's twenty more million a year, and not to

(07:01):
mention the exit feed de escalating by eighteen million dollars
a year to the point of where it would be
seventy five million by twenty thirty one, and you can
retain your media rights. David Hood from Tigernet took a
look at the numbers, and he said, under the old agreement,
Clemson's media rights were owned by the ACC through twenty

(07:23):
thirty six, the end of the contract with ESPN. That
means that all broadcast moneies from Clemson' supporting events would
go to the ACC, not to the school or the
new conference. Plus the school that left would have to
pay an exit fee that's three times the operating budget
of the conference, which is now about one hundred and
sixty five million, which would mean the withdrawal fee was

(07:46):
around seven hundred million or more. And under the new agreement,
the exit feed de escalates yearly and is down to
around reportedly seventy five million. Remember that eighteen percent reduction
each year. There should be eighteen million dollar reduction each
year by twenty thirty one. And the schools retain their

(08:07):
media rights even when they leave. So David Hood says,
for example, if Clempson were to leave today, it would
pay the exit fee, but take the media rights money
with it. One hundred and sixty five million is a
lot less than seven hundred million, and that applies to
all schools in the ACC. Now, again that's all assuming
that David's numbers and calculations are all correct. But the

(08:30):
broader point is that grant of rights agreement that we
heard so much about, the iron clad, the behind closed doors,
the you know you gotta have a special thumb print
just to go up and see it right, or whatever
it was at the ACC's offices there in Charlotte must
not have been nearly as ironclad as we thought it
to be, or at least in the mind's eye of

(08:53):
the individuals that had to look at it and go, well, guys, look,
I don't think you're gonna win in court because I
don't really know why the acc would kind of give in.
I understand the stability, but it must not have been
as good of a you know, the granted rights must not.
They must have felt like that wasn't going to hold
up if it really continued to be pressed, and so

(09:17):
they came to an agreement that works it out and
mix everybody at this point I think very happy. And
so as we continue to watch how all of this
plays out, you know, I think what's interesting about it
is what we've seen. I think it's pretty clear that

(09:38):
there has been a decided advantage, and I think it
happened faster than I thought it would. That NIL would
impact or the let me see if I can say
it's the right way. The benefits of NIL would impact
the Southeastern Conference and their ability to save on what

(10:03):
you have to spend in facilities and all that, because
you've got so much more money that you can give
towards other sports. By comparison to the ACC, which is
why I think you've seen this, Like, I don't think
it's just a coincidence that the Southeastern Conference is not
just the best basketball league in the country right now,

(10:25):
but it is clearly the best basketball league in the
country now. Whether or not that all bears out once
we get to the NCAA Tournament, you know, that's something
that's yet to be determined, but it certainly feels like
given this season, and more specifically for us those of

(10:49):
you that live in the Southeastern Conference and the ACC's region.
You look at how dominant that they were in that
ACC SEC challenge, and then you look at how good
they've been throughout the year outside of conference. So I

(11:11):
think all of that piggybacks to the point of the
additional dollars that came in, and you knew they would
have an impact, but in this nil era it's done
even more because where Clemson and or Duke and or
North Carolina might have to spend that money to upgrade

(11:32):
a facility or whatever, those universities, their fans, you know,
have more in their pockets because they're not having to
be asked for that dough to do those upgrades or
to fix those facilities, because they've just got x million
more in the coffers and you don't have to ask

(11:54):
your fans for that. Your fans can then give x
million more to nil if they choose to. And so
for Clemson and Florida State and all the teams in
the ACC that really want to win at the highest
level in football, for now, this is a good thing.

(12:17):
It's a positive result. But like I said, if you're
on the bottom end, it's a little different. But you
did get stability. You did get stability in the league
for the foreseeable future, and that timeline is not coincidental.

(12:41):
I don't think when you talk about the Big twelves
or should be the Big Tens contract, the College Football
Playoff contract, all of those things opening up, and it's
probably and I'll be interested to hear what Roy Philpot
has to say about it, but I mean, what would
probably lining up to is an era where we are

(13:05):
looking at the top teams that play college football playing
sort of interdependently of the other teams. And that's not
something that I haven't talked about and proposed in the past.
Maybe that's sixty four teams, Maybe you have a situation
where some of the teams can play their way in
based off of how they do at the lower level,

(13:26):
and maybe some of the teams play their way out
sort of like we have in European soccer with relegation,
or perhaps it's just hey, we're the big sixty four
schools that play football, But I think the relegation piece
probably probably would make it more interesting over the long haul.

(13:50):
It would be painful if you ever got relegated, though,
and could not get your could not fight your way
back up in. That would be a bitter pure, a
bitter pill to swallow. And I certainly think that you
know when you look at the schools, And I think
I said this yesterday either with you or when I
was talking to somebody about it, because my buddy Francis

(14:11):
and I we set up in the press box during
River Buffs matchup last night with lukeoff in soccer. We
sat up in the press box talking about this situation,
and I may have said this to him, but you know,
when you are the teams that aren't your traditional football powers,

(14:36):
if you end up being left out, you don't really
have anybody to blame but yourself, because for years and years.
Based off of the viewership, it was obvious what sport
is the cash cow and drives all the interest in

(15:00):
college athletics. And I love college basketball, I love college baseball,
I love all the sports softball across soccer, I love
them all. But the driving force behind the financial side

(15:23):
of college sports is football. And now you've reached the
point where the money in football is and the money
in football has always carried really the worth for everybody.
But if you're a school that's basically robing Peter to

(15:47):
pay Paul on the basketball side of things, that is
a losing setup in this era, that's a losing setup
because football is the only place that you can generate

(16:07):
the type of money to fund everything. Like you can't
fund football with a great basketball program. You can't fund
basketball with a great baseball program. That's just not how
it works football funds at all. And if you're also

(16:28):
a team that hasn't focused on football, and you're getting
a big slice of the pie. And this is why
what the ACC is doing. It's hard for the schools
that haven't focused on football to argue if you're not
winning and have not been successful at the sport that
brings in the most money. At some point, just because

(16:51):
you're a part of the conference probably shouldn't mean that
you get an equal share of the money and the
revenue that's coming in, because at some point, with the
way this is set up, if you don't allow your
top teams the ability to have enough to keep up

(17:13):
with the best teams in the country or even the
teams that aren't great in the country from other leagues,
then your conference is just consistently falling further and further behind.
And I think that's sort of where we crossed over
yesterday with this news. We crossed over into the realm
of college football powers. In the ACC college Football Playoff

(17:42):
participants in the Atlantic Coast Conference, those teams are going
to get the largest share of the dough because the
ACC more than anything needs those teams to stay in stride,
to stay at least in range of the SEC schools,

(18:08):
at least in range of the teams from the Southeastern
Conference and the Big Ten. And based off of the
decision that the Atlantic Coast Conference came up with yesterday,
in the agreement that they came that they agreed to,
it sure feels like they're saying, hey, Clemson, hey Florida State.

(18:31):
We know how valuable your brand is to what we
are doing overall, and so we're going to reward you
for it. And the real reward for you comes if
you're successful in college football. But like I mentioned earlier,
the best part of that for every team in the

(18:52):
league is that the biggest advantage truly comes from being
good in college football, which if you were placing the
emphasis on the wrong saliable before, you will quickly be
placing the emphasis on the correct syllable now, because football

(19:15):
has to be the backbone of the operation. Whether you're Duke,
whether you're Syracuse, whoever you are in the Atlantic Coast Conference,
football is the deal, and fans better believe it because
that's how you're gonna have the biggest impact on your
bottom line. And if you thought, well it didn't matter

(19:39):
before we weren't going to be a football power, you
better try to be. The ACC has incentivized, as we say,
it's been gamified to a degree. Go out, be successful
and make some money quick break when we come back.
Number one in college hoops goes down last night. We'll
tell you about that when we return rolling along on

(20:00):
a Wednesday to show the shakes of south Land. So
you know, we've talked about with Tim Beray last Thursday,
talking them about teams kind of going into the postseason
riding a big run and maybe taking an l if
you will, to reset a little bit. And I'm not

(20:22):
saying that's what happened last night for the Auburn Tigers
out in College Station as they took on number twenty
two Texas A and M because we know the depth
of the SEC, and then wins eighty three seventy two
over the number one ranked Auburn Tigers, and really I
think led the entire game.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
But.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
More than anything, couple of takeaways that I have on
this and Auburn wasn't riding this huge winning streak. I
think they only had a six game streak since losing
at Florida. But you know they've had several of these

(21:08):
long winning streaks this year because they've got just three losses,
losing at Duke after starting the year seven to zero,
and then they went on a tremendous run before falling
at Florida and now before the final game of the
regular season against all against Alabama. Excuse me, WHOA that's

(21:29):
near blasphemy. Swane, My bad got the two names mixed
up talking about one team eighty three seventy two, though
the final score as Zurich Phillips scored nineteen points off
the bench for the Aggies in the win over the
number one ranked team in the country. And so a
little bit of a reset, if you will. And I

(21:51):
have no idea given the strength to the SEC if
Auburn will make a run through it. And I'm not
here to tell you that I think that going in
that game, that Auburn was like, yeah, let's dump one
right here in College Station, that maybe more than anything,
the Aggies needed a big, quality win and picked one

(22:13):
up and played like they needed it, especially defensively. But
more than anything, one of the things that is becoming
a little bit of a trend, and it's a weird one,
is when coaches know that they're gonna win the game,

(22:38):
like this game was fully in control, in the waning moments,
the coaches are doing what they can to preserve a
little coin in the pocket of the athletic department by
basically calling off court storms. So Buzz Williams after the

(22:58):
game last night, as kids were wanting to rush onto
the court in College Station, you know you didn't call
time out and make an announcement. We've seen that done already.
But he usially turns to the crowd says, no, no, no,
don't run on the court now. I think we can

(23:19):
be proactive and prevent some court stormings if that's the
issue that we want to focus on in sports. Even
with the fines and everything, I still think we can
prevent them. But one of the ways in which I
feel most certain that you cannot prevent them is when

(23:46):
your team's down to or down one and you hit
the walk off game winner, like I think when you're
up eleven, when you win convincingly, when you have a
moment with a minute or so left that you could say, hey, guys,
are not gonna rush the court tonight. That's gonna cost us,

(24:09):
I don't know, two hundred and fifty thousand, that's gonna
cost us five hundred grand whatever. We're not run. We're
not rushing the court. Guys. We love you. Celebrate all
you want in the upper concourse. But if that game
ends with Auburn at seventy two and a and M
with a three pointer at the buzzer to win at

(24:29):
seventy three, seventy two. No amount of hand waving, in
my opinion, no amount of you don't even have you
don't even have the time to grab the microphone, you
know what I mean. Like, it's just gonna be you're
you're so in the moment. If you're the coach coaching it,
you're you're not gonna call your final time out to

(24:51):
draw up a play and go to the go to
the guy at the monitoring and go, uh yeah, hey fans, listen,
if we have been to hit this shot and win
this game, uh less, don't rush the court. I don't
think that's where the coach's heads are up eleven. Sure,

(25:14):
the way it took place, what was at Missouri, I
can't remember who Missouri was playing when their head coach
I think it was Missouri's head coach did it. But
either way, like you have to have the right scenarios
in place, Like it's one thing to look at those

(25:35):
moments and go, oh yeah, man, good on those coaches
and they're right, because it is. It is saving you
money over the long haul, right, Because some of these
court storming rules I believe have escalators in them where
you know, the first time it's X, the second time

(25:55):
it's hy So if you can prevent the first time
and maybe save it for that magic moment when you
do have that walk off winner, then you have saved
yourself some money, some money that you didn't need to
give away frivolously. Because when you're up eleven at the

(26:19):
final buzzer, fans all the sort of at that point,
especially in the game that you've led from the outset,
leading the entire night, and let me see what was
the let me see what the largest lead the game was,
because that also presents like this level of comfort, like
we're in command of this ballgame. It looks like it

(26:40):
was about six minutes left. Eleven points might have been
the largest gap. They were up twelve at one point,
but yeah, about eleven or twelve, it looks like here
we go, that's thirteen. So yeah, you know, they've been
up by eleven, twelve, thirteen most of the night. That
number held pretty steady in the second half. I mean

(27:03):
the game was twenty eight to twenty seven A and
M with three twenty eight left in the first quarter
or the first half, and Auburn never got closer. So
as a fan, you had time, you were used to
the water temperature, you didn't need to rush the court,
and Buzz Williams was able to fend off the fans
with just a hand gesture at the end of that

(27:24):
ball game. A big win for the Aggies over Number
one Auburn. Last night quick Break, we'll come back with
more The show The shakesa south Land Well Fox Sports
Radio fourteen hundred, Clemson's sports taught to show The shakesare
south Land on a Wednesday afternoon, talked about Auburn falling
last night, the number one team in the country, losing

(27:46):
to Texas A and M.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
Well.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
The Tigers are back on the hardwood tonight at seven
o'clock a game on espn U between Clemson and Boston College.
The Tigers twenty four and five this season, Boston College
twelve and seventeen. Clemson currently ranked number eleven in the

(28:10):
country and looking at the rankings real quick, just to
give you the rundown heading into the week before Auburn's loss,
which means Duke by the time the ACC Tournament gets here,
might assume the number one spot in both polls depending
on how their week plays out, and obviously Auburn has
been perceived as the clear cut number one. Most of

(28:33):
the season. The Tigers had all sixty one votes in
the AP poll first place votes, and they had thirty
of thirty one first place votes in the coaches poll.
Auburn won Duke two, Houston three, Tennessee four, Florida five,
Saint John's six. Those rankings hold both across the AP

(28:57):
and the coaches poll. Obama is seven and Michigan State
is eight in the AP. Flip flop those in the
coaches number nine in both polls ten in BOW polls,
eleven in Boa polls, twelve in BOU polls are number nine,

(29:17):
Texas tech ten, Iowa State number eleven, Clemson number twelve, Wisconsin.
In the AP, Maryland is thirteen, Louisville is fourteen. Flip
flop those in the coaches poll, and then from there
it gets a little bit, a little bit squarely. We'll

(29:38):
just ride out the AP with Memphis at fifteen, excuse me,
Missouri at fifteen, Memphis sixteen, Michigan seventeen, Perdue eighteen, Kentucky nineteen,
Marquette twenty, Saint Mary's twenty one A and m twenty two,
BYU twenty three, Arizona twenty four, Mississippi State is number
twenty five, and then over in the coaches poll it's fifteen,
Michigan sixteen, Memphis seventeen, Saint Mary's eighteen, Purdue nineteen Missouri,

(30:04):
so Missouri. The big difference there is they are fifteen
to one, Pole nineteen in the other Marquette twenty a
and m twenty one, BYU twenty two, Arizona twenty three,
Kentucky twenty four, and VCU is number twenty five. But
how about the March Madness bracketology? Most specifically, how does

(30:29):
it look for Clemson? So coming into today, all the
number ones were the same Auburn, Duke, Houston, and Tennessee.
But the big question over the final couple of weeks
of the season is can the Tigers climb into a
top sixteen seed again. They're number eleven in the polls,

(30:52):
but right now CLEMPS is still on the outside of
that list, projected as a five seed. But I feel
like gaining a little bit of a benefit. I know
the five to twelve matchup is not typically been the
ideal matchup to be in, but this five to twelve

(31:14):
matchup would be against the winner of one of the
playing games for the last four teams in between Nebraska
and Boise State. Now Clemson digget beat by Boise State
earlier this season, and you wonder if the committee, if
they're if they were lining up something like this, would

(31:34):
that be a consideration to keep those two teams away
from each other having already played. I don't know. I
know there's there's some kind of rules and things they follow,
maybe even unwritten rules to try to avoid teams from
the same conference battling real early or any of that stuff.

(31:55):
You know, they like to try to They try to
minimize that as best they can. Now it gets a
little more diff dificult when you talk about the SEC
and the Big Ten potentially having twelve eleven twelve teams
in But either way, Clemson right now projected to play
one of the teams that would be playing in a

(32:16):
playing game in a twelve the twelve matchup of Nebraska
and Boise State, Clemson is the five seed that would
be in the South Region, which would be nice. I
think down the line for Clemson right now, they've ESPN's
gotten projected to be playing in Providence, which is up
in Rhode Island. I don't really know who that would

(32:37):
give a geographical advantage to Purdue is the four seed
according to this in that region. I'm not sure how
great of an advantage that is for Purdue, but Clemson
is trying to, you know, work their way into one
of those top sixteen seeds in the country now for

(32:58):
the ACC. Right now, just three teams projected in Clemson, Duke,
and Louisville. So all of the work that's been done
over the final few weeks of the season by North Carolina,
who's now twenty and eleven and thirteen and six SMU,

(33:21):
who's also thirteen and six in the ACC, Wake Forest
dropped another game, so they are back to twelve and
seven in the Atlantic Coast Conference, losing at Duke ninety
three sixty on Monday night, remember how good Duke's been
playing since they lost to Clemson. But then, looking a

(33:45):
little bit further down the line, North Carolina off of
the heels of a victory at Virginia Tech last night
ninety one fifty nine, a convincing win six straight victories,
but on the outside looking in much like SMU SMU
last night with a two point win against Syracuse. They

(34:09):
closed the regular season this weekend at Florida State and
of course North Carolina closes the year at Duke. At
North Carolina, you don't see them winning. I mean, they
could win against the Blue Devils, but you don't really
project that at this point, right And in doing so,
what you are opening your self up to, obviously, is

(34:37):
the recognition that the ACC is just going to get
Duke Clemson in Louisville if bracketology is right in the
NCAA tournament. Talk a little bit about bracketology coming up
an hour number two at least we're talking about Clemson basketball.
Nowur number two with Roy Philpott. Roy will be joining
the program to give his thoughts on the deal that

(34:59):
the Lantico's Conference made with Clemson in Florida State. The
concessions that came together. I think we're a huge win
for the Tigers. We'll talk a little bit about that
when we get back stay with us. Final segment of
our number one coming up will be joined by Roy Philpott.
We'll talk about the ACC Clemson Florida State, the agreement

(35:22):
that came to place between the schools and the conference
that will be a rather significant change for Clemson in
Florida State. As I mentioned yesterday, I mean assuming again

(35:45):
all the dollars and cents of it all end up
lining up, not in the not in the sense of
the buyout, which will be reduced every year by eighteen
million until it reaches the point of what seventy five
million I think in twenty thirty. And again, if you
are like I said yesterday, if you're putting away fifteen

(36:07):
million a year over the next few years, you could
pay that buyout and go wherever. But you got to
have a landing spot. You gotta have a destination. And
if that destination includes a conference like the Big Ten
or the SEC, and you've got to take a substantially
or you know, some proportion of the overall gate just

(36:35):
to get in the door, do you do it? I mean,
SMU took nothing to come to the ACC for seven
years they said, we'll put our own bill. So far
it's been worth it. What does it look like in
seven years? And honestly, with this new settlement between the

(36:59):
ACC and and Florida State and Clemson, if your SMU,
you might be wondering will the ACC exist in seven years?
But in between now and then, what I think, what
we have is that I think from the standpoint of

(37:25):
the Atlantic Coast Conference is you have pacified Clemson and
Florida State, regardless of how both institutions handled it, Clemson
obviously being more in line with, Hey, we just want

(37:47):
to know what would it take to get out of
the league, and do we control and own our grant
of rights? And obviously, like I said yesterday, the grant
of rights must not have been as iron clad as
it was projected to be if the ACC sort of
leaned in and bent the knee. Now, the conference might

(38:10):
also have feared that maybe Clemson and or Florida State
or some other school at some point it might have said, well,
forget this, We're just gonna get out anyway. We'll pay
the money, and the ACC may have feared that that
could have led to maybe the complete dissolution. Is that

(38:31):
the right word of the entire conference? So I really
don't know what the mindset was for the Atlantic Coast
Conference other than it could not have been good in
their lawyer's minds for what the granted rights would do,

(38:54):
and then secondly or how ironclad the granted right was.
And then secondly, I think they felt like if they
could create a new revenue distribution, model that would potentially
exceed the Big Ten and the SEC in terms of revenue.
For the best football teams in the conference, then it

(39:17):
made sense to do that because it would keep your
football teams in your league. And football teams in your
league in this era is the cash cow for the conference,
because if the football teams are gone, you don't have anything.

(39:38):
You're the Big East, You're the PAC two or whatever.
The PAC twelve is now and I know they're adding
some teams in, but it's not the same. And the
Atlantic Coast Conference could not have been dumb enough, right,

(40:02):
Jim Phillips commission in the league could not have been
dumb enough to look at the ACC in this landscape
and think, oh, well, there's no way we would ever
go away the Conference of Champions. The PAC twelve fell
apart like a sand castle at the beach at high tide,

(40:28):
like it was over before you knew it. And what
this seemed to do, in my opinion, is make you know.
It stabilized the ACC. It made the conference stronger, and
I think for Clemson in Florida State, it makes them

(40:50):
look at it and go, we want to stay in
this league because if we are successful in football, the
sport that we claim that we are going to be
successful in our competitive balance not only has a chance
to be right on par with the SEC members, but

(41:11):
maybe with the new revenue distribution model, we might have
some years where we do better fiscally than every team
in the SEC. Now, that leaves a fairly dry bone
for everybody else in the conference, you know, for a

(41:32):
lot of the other teams in the league. But all
of those teams, as I think I called it a
dangling carrot, have it out in front of them. You
can go get it, you can go and get the money,
go win. But I think for Florida State and Clemson,

(41:54):
they were the biggest winners in my opinion, Florida StatET
and Clemson were the biggest winners. And all this in
any other school that maybe we'll flirt with the college
football playoffs. But the Atlantic Coast Conference I think was third.
I think the conference as a whole was third because
to get Clemson in Florida State back in the fold

(42:14):
had to be a huge win up in Charlotte for
the league. All Right, I'll tell you what, Roy Philpot
joins us around the band. We'll talk with Roy about it.
Stay with us.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
It's time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Schwan.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
It is our number two. That's drivetime right here on
the show The Shakespare south lande Clemson Sports Talk Log
swinding out with you in of course, the show That
Shakesare south Land brought to you in part by our
friends over at METS plumb in seven three to two drip,
drip drip. You know the jingle seven three to two drip,

(43:27):
that's Mets plumbing all right. On the Wednesday, Roy Philpott
joins the program. Roy, welcome in man. How are you.

Speaker 3 (43:34):
I'm doing well? Well, how about you?

Speaker 2 (43:36):
I'm good? I tell you. Yesterday was a big day.
I think maybe even a historic day for the Atlantic
Coast Conference in this sense. Uh, Roy, We've got a
situation where around the country, these leagues, in some respects
outside of the SEC and the Big Ten, have kind
of felt like they were on wobbly stilts, and the
ACC seemed to be that next in line to you know,

(43:58):
be on those that wobbly issue. But after what happened yesterday, Roy,
I feel a lot better about things were. What were
your thoughts on the end result of Clemson and Florida
state's litigation with the ACC.

Speaker 3 (44:13):
What does stabilize things, I have to believe at least
through the end of this decade. I think most people
in the industry think that, you know, there's probably another
shift coming in the early twenty thirties, which you know,
if you growing up, that seems like that would be
hundreds of years away, and yet yet here we are
five years away from twenty thirty, So it's going to

(44:36):
be here before you know it. But I think the
prevailing opinion is if there's going to be another shift
at this level, that it will probably be you know,
shortly after twenty thirty, maybe twenty thirty one, when some
of the media rights come up again, I believe, for
the Big ten of the Big twelve around then, and
then you know, later in the decade you have other
leagues that also have their media rights come up for grabs,

(44:57):
and at that point there may be another shift of
some what that is it would be impossible to predict
right now because so many things could change between now
and then, just in terms of NIL, the NCAA, everything,
I mean, it would all in theory be up for grabs.
But I do think it does provide stability between now

(45:17):
and then that is a word that I don't think
anybody would use before this settlement was reached between the
schools and the ACC. So in the short term, I
do think it's helpful, and I think it gives everybody
kind of a unifying direction, and it satisfies the biggest

(45:37):
you know, money winners if you will, in the league
for lack of a better expression, and it does so again,
I think at least for the next five years, and
then after that we'll see. But yeah, I suppose it's
a win for all parties because now you just look
ahead towards the fall, look ahead towards the field, and okay,
let's see what happens from here moving forward.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
Roy Philpot whetherson Roy this growing up following the Atlantic
Coast Conference, being a guy that went to Clemson about
the same time that I did, when the league was
really perceived as, hey, this is a basketball conference, and
it was okay in that era, you know, before the
College Football Playoff and really even before the BCS, it

(46:19):
was okay that it was kind of perceived as such.
But now with the way things have shifted, where it's
so much you know, of college football is driven by
college football I think what this says to every team
in the conference as well, not just Clemson in Florida
State and Miami or SMU or whoever, but it says,

(46:39):
if you want to be a part of whatever that
next phase is down the road, you better get your
ducks in a row in football, because clearly that's the
driving force of what has put this you know, what
do they call them success initiatives? I think was the
terminology that was used yesterday kind of in place for
the top football teams in this conference.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
It is football. It's branding. I mean, however you can
get there. You know, I don't think anybody would argue
that Duke basketball is a brand that is extremely valuable.
North Carolina basketball is a brand that is extremely valuable,
but still the bulk of the dollars, to your point,
come on the gridiron. And that is crystal clear for
anybody that lives in America. You know, despite the fact

(47:21):
we're here in March and March madness is upon us
and it's great, right, the big revenue generator is football
and that's that's what it comes down to. So yeah,
I think for all teams in the league. You know,
there's some teams that are close, like I would argue
Georgia Tech. You know, Boston College has a bit of
a tradition, Sarahcuse has that. You know, Pittsburgh's had it
at times. I think it's a really good staff there.

(47:44):
You could argue that at a lot of these schools
they have good staffs and that they're close. It's pretty
important right now for those teams to cross the t's
and dot the eyes and take that next step. I
look at Georgia Tech in particular, I think they're close,
like I don't think they're that far away. And we've seen,
you know, recently, they won a national championship in nineteen ninety,

(48:04):
they brought in Calvin Johnson, one of the best players
we've ever seen play wide receiver, in two thousand whatever.
I mean, they've had guys, they've had teams, and they
had a brand, and they've been close and they've done
some things. Can they take that next step under Brinkey?
So yeah, I mean this reminds us of how important
football is. I don't think anybody's ever forgotten that, but
now we know it. Now there's a number attached to it,

(48:26):
and now really for long term survival, you kind of
got to be there and everybody has to be on board.
Look at what North Carolina did this offseason. They brought
in Bill Belichick, the goat the Grays of all time
in the NFL, who won all those Super Bowls with
the Patriots s freaking to coaching in Chapel Hill. I mean,
that's wild. We really sit down and think about it.
They understand what it is needed there to keep North

(48:51):
Carolina kind of where that brand is used to being
in basketball, it needs to get there in football, and
they brought in one of the best all time to
do it. So, yeah, to your point, we know where
the bread is butter. It's not going to be questioned
in twenty twenty five. It's not going to be questions
in the rest of this decade for sure.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
On Twitter at Roy phil Pott, you can follow him there, Roy.
Can we also glean from yesterday's results that maybe the
Grant of Rights agreement, which was sort of kept under
lock and key more so than maybe the Declaration of
independence in the Constitution, that maybe it wasn't quite as
tight as everybody thought it was, and that the acc

(49:29):
recognized that and said, okay, okay, we can pacify our
members we can improve, you know, possibly our status in
that regard, or do you think this just came down
it made more sense to just go ahead and kind
of lay it all out there what it would look like.
Does that make sense?

Speaker 3 (49:47):
Yeah, it does look I think the last year or so,
whenever we found out about these lawsuits, I think it's
been cruelly. I think it's been expensive. I think it's
been a pr nightmare for the Atlantic Coast comp And conversely,
I think for schools like Porter State and Clemson. It
took two very different approaches with this. You know, I

(50:07):
think that they wanted to get in the league, to
the table for a settlement of some kind. Now, how
badly they wanted to exit the conference, and where they
could have landed if they did, and if they were
able financially to pull it off, you know, how legitimate
were all those components to it. I'm not really sure.
I don't think there was any other league in the

(50:27):
country that was willing to take on those two teams
given the uncertainty of who actually holds your media rights. Now,
if they actually had the exit fee and they were leaving,
I think it becomes a bit of a different conversation,
but we never got there. So I think ultimately this
was a pretty good landing spot and it saves space
for the ACC. And look all the speculation about what
happens in twenty thirty one. Yeah, when these new deals

(50:50):
come up for grabs, you know, and what happens between
now and then, we just don't know. The league does
have a chance, Okay, it does have a chance for
long term viability if it becomes a better version of
itself in football and looking and now it's gonna have
to happen in basketball too. You know what's happened in
basketball this year. You've had Douke Clemson and Louis will

(51:11):
carry the torch and everybody else stinks. And that's just
the fact of the matter. So that that's that's got
to resurrect itself somewhat too, but more importantly football, the
teams that I just mentioned, you know, Georgia Tech, Syracuse,
Boston College, Loorida State. I mean, good grief, you're suing
your conference. You go two and ten last year and
didn't have a pulse like does that quickly turn around?

(51:32):
Most things need to happen, And if it all happened
unilaterally and you had a couple of good years, and
maybe Clemson won a national championship between here and the
end of the decade or two or you know, and
it increases the brand. Okay, let's see what it looks
like at the start of the next decade. It's not
impossible that the thing could could figure itself out and
be that third conference that's right there, you know, at

(51:55):
least in the same stratosphere as the Big ten of
the SEC. I don't know if it's likely. I don't
know if it's probable, but I don't think it's totally
and completely impossible. That's what makes the next couple of
years so important.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
You know.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
One thing I said last year in the fall, it's
a huge year for everybody. It was a huge year
for Clemson. It was a huge year for Florida State.
Two teams that were souping the ACC and trying to
figure out what their long term objectives and possibilities would be. Well,
you better go out there and improve it on the field.
And I think Florida State helped itself out by going
to and ten and laying the kind of heck that
it did. After a thirteen to ero regular season in

(52:29):
the previous campaign. It was an important year for the
group of five teams to represent well in the playoff
and for the big twelve in the a SEC to
represent well in the playoff. Did those things happen? I
think you could probably argue probably not, not in the
way that in which they needed to to help all
of those individual entities. So now we're talking about change
in the College FOOTBA playoffs. So you see what I'm saying.
All it takes is that restructuring, rebuilding of the brand

(52:54):
to start to change the national narrative. And if you
did that two or three years in a row, who's
to say in twenty twenty nine. Wait a second, man,
this thing is gonna work out. Okay, let's not have
this massive realignment and let's go to the table and
see what we could do. Is that probable? Again, I
don't know. Is it impossible? I don't think it is.
We'll just have to wait and see.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
Final couple of things on the end of the litigation
between the ACC and Clemson and Florida State, where Roy
Philpott will talk with him about basketball as well coming up.
But the way at least it reads, and it seems
from what Graham Neff said during Clemson's Board of Trustees meeting,
Roy is that if you were to make it to

(53:33):
the National Championship Game, theoretically you could make more than
the memory institutions in the SEC. Now that's not every
team in the ACC. I want to make that abundantly
clear to the listener. And maybe some of the numbers
aren't quite you know, sometimes it's a pipe dream of
what it might actually look like. But if that is
the case, I mean, all of a sudden, if you're Clemson,

(53:58):
if you're Florida State or whoever, Miami, it doesn't matter.
I mean, that is a huge carrot that's dangled out
in front of every team in the conference.

Speaker 3 (54:06):
Potentially it is. And as you were talking about that,
it just brings to mind an important point. The ACC
is the first league that has this unbalanced structure where
we are going to reward in a big way the
teams that have and produced the highest viewership consistently, For

(54:26):
the teams that advance to the College Football Playoff and
win games consistently, we are going to incentivize that you
are going to make more than your counterparts in your conference.
And I say that because let's think about what the
other leagues are thinking about right now when they see this.
If you are Alabama, if you are Georgia, if you

(54:49):
are Texas, Texas A and M, and you look across
the way in the SEC and you say, well, wait
a second. Now, Vanderbilt is making the same amount of
dollars as we are, and Mississippi State is making the
same amount of money that we are. But do they
attract the ten million viewers on a fall Saturday the

(55:10):
way that we do? Well, I'm not sure about this.
So like this opens up a really big can of worms,
and it doesn't take much to arrange the tea leaves
and think about, well, okay, they're doing that. This team
is making more than what we're making right now, Oh
well that's not okay. So these decisions and the way
that this has been settled under the surface is a

(55:34):
really potential big game changer for everybody. All right, So
fast forward five or ten years from now. What does
that mean? I mean to me? It means we are
sitting in a system that probably looks and feels more
like European soccer than what we're all talking about now,
where if the teams that win, they're going to make
the premium dollar. The teams that don't, they get relegated

(55:55):
down a level that is to me where all of
this ends, what conferences and which teams are where. That's
where I think we're going with this.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
You just got me thinking about like whole fan base
to saying, we're not watching the South Carolina get this weekend.
No way we're tuning in. We're not lending our eyeballs
to that one.

Speaker 3 (56:13):
Well, you know, I don't know if that's how it
takes out, but.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
Looking cut throw.

Speaker 3 (56:21):
Look, this is cutthrow, and it's not gonna take too
long of a time in my opinion, for other teams
brands to turn on their own. Okay, so just you know,
be careful what you wish for, and let's let's see
again what this thing feels like in a couple of years.
It may it may look vastly different by the time
we get to the next decade. Again.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
He is on Twitter at Roy phil Pott. You can
hear him on Serious XM, you can watch them on ESPN.
And Roy as a guy that was in and around
Clemson basketball for so many years, how fun has look? Look?
I think we kind of piggyback last year into it
because of the Elite eight run. But this is by
and large the best season I've ever seen from a

(57:02):
Clemson basketball team. And I'll be honest, I know Virginia's
not having the type of year that they've kind of had,
you know, in recent memory, certainly with the change at
the top with Tony Bennett decided to hang up the whistle.
But I mean, to go into that environment, be down
ten in the second half and then piece together at
twenty to two run, That's the kind of stuff Roy,

(57:23):
that happened to Clemson when we were in school there.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
Yeah, I mean, you know when I was there, it
was Rick Barnes. I was just talking with I was
just talking with Rick about it the other day, and
how much is Tennessee teams now remind me of the
Clemson teams that he had back in the late nineties
when they made that run of the Sweet sixteen and
nineteen ninety seven and probably should have beaten Minnesota in
double overtime in Bobby Jackson and Sam Jacobson. I remember
that game in San Antonio like it was yesterday. But

(57:48):
this team this year, again, it has taken full advantage
of where the rest of the league is, but it
really hasn't had any slip ups outside of that overtime
loss against Georgia Tech, which is gonna happen over the
course of thirty plus games in a regular season. You're
not going to have your a game every single night.
Tech got the best of Clemson, you know, that particular evening,
But outside of that, they've they've beaten everybody else's brains
in road win at SMU. You mentioned the comeback against

(58:10):
Virginia this past weekend. They dumped it down insiety and Shefflin,
underrated athlete, got it done for the umpteenth time. It
is fun to watch and what people don't understand when
it gets into the postseason and the NCAA tournament, so
much of it comes down to the bracket and the
matchups in that bracket, and the matchups last year, while

(58:32):
it went against the Grain early against you know, New
Mexico and some of the other teams, they they were
pretty favorable for a veteran team, Chase Hunter especially to
get it done, and that's what they did. So like,
that's the one thing I'm watching out for selection Sunday.
You know, can Clemson get to the four line? Could
Clemson get to the three line, if it faces Duke

(58:53):
and found a way to win that game again, you know,
up at the ACC tournament. I'm curious because those would
those opportunities would create more favorable matchups to make another
deep run. And look, with Victor Lockin the way he
spreads the four because he can shoot the three, Cheflin's
even better. Dylan Hunter's come on obviously with Chase we

(59:14):
saw the run that he went on last year. Chauncey
Wiggins gives you anything. You know, you feel like that
you've got another run in you, at least to the
Elite eight. It just comes down to who else is
in your bracket? Can you get a bouncer two along
the way? Can you stay healthy? Brad'll coach them up
like Brad'll have them in position, they scout and they
they you know, use their tactical expertise as well as

(59:36):
any staff in the country. You just just need a
little break or two. And look, it could be a
team that cuts down the nets in Charlotte. It could
be a team that makes it to the final four.
And man, I would just like to see that bracket
just to kind of get a feel for what that
thing is. Going to be and then to that point
in time, we'll have a better idea. But look, that's
what it comes down to. People don't talk about it enough.

(59:56):
A bouncer two along the way and then that bracket,
do you have a path to be able to get
there and uh and get to the final four and.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Roy final thing. And I think this is what really
separates this team from a lot of the teams that
you and I have watched over the years at Clemson
is that they have the innate ability. When one guy,
say it is a Chase Hunter who's kind of dealing
with an ankle thing right now, isn't on his a game,
They've got the pieces around him to pick them up.
And there have been years where Clemson has been good,
but you knew, Okay, if we eliminate Casey Rivers, they're

(01:00:25):
going to really struggle this group. Uh it's really tough,
you know, it really is tough to slow them down
because they've got so many good pieces.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
Well, they can pound you inside and Cheflin in particular,
it's just a guy that's that's tough to handle. And
then with lock and and and all the guys, all
all the everybody kind of has their role, And I
like what you said there. It's a team I think
that can beat you in a number of different ways.
But I love Lock and I love what he brings

(01:00:55):
to the table. You know, he's dramatic, but I think
it's a nice piece to add to this team that
made that run you know, a year ago. And look,
he can shoot the three. It's weird, like you you
lose PJ Hall, one of the top players in the
history of the program. You're bringing Victor Locke and he's
not PJ Hall. And he's not PJ Hall. He can
make the three and do all these different things. Like

(01:01:16):
it's not a bad thing. So it's a different team,
but it's a fun team, and it's a team that
has fully taken advantage of its experience and depth over
the rest of the conference. Hey, and look, man, let's
see if they can they can win an a SEC
Turnam championships. Never happened before, almost did you know? Maybe

(01:01:36):
this is the year where where that finally you know,
that skeleton, the clause that is finally is finally kicked
out and and they find a way to get that done.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
We'll see, well, Roy, where can all the listeners see
you this week. What games are you on?

Speaker 3 (01:01:51):
I have OU Texas Saturday night in Austin and then
uh and then a bunch of champ games next week
on the women's side, the Sun Belt, the Horizon, the
America East, and the NEC. So yeah, it's March. The
tournaments are a ton of fun and we'll be out
there flipping all. Chances are you'll find me at some point.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
Keep up with him on Twitter at Roy phil Potty
tweets out occasionally his destination, Roy, take care of my man.
Always great to catch up with you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
Yeah you to thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
There you go, that's Roy phil Pott quick break, stay
with us, rocking and rolling along with you on a
Wednesday afternoon. Of course, spring practice going on up in
Tigertown and Clemson offensive lineman Blake Miller met with the
media earlier this week. He was asked about the reason
for his return to the team, deciding to come back

(01:02:42):
and play another year in Tigertown. And look, this offensive
line is going to be a strong suit for Clemson,
you believe this year given all the returning talent. But
here's Blake Miller, given the given his thoughts on returning
to Clemson.

Speaker 4 (01:03:01):
You know, that was a decision I had to make,
you know, with my team and my family, and this
is the best decision for me. So you know, sat there,
deliberated with everyone around me, coaches, and then also just
prayed on it and kind of asked God, what was
the best choice for me? And this was you know,
this was what I decided on. And I'm thrilled to
be back, so full speed ahead focus trying to win
the national championship this year. I felt like there was

(01:03:23):
more to give here, like I want to win it
all with everyone. I want to give the team the
best version of me, and she put my best foot forward.
So I you know, I missed these guys too, like
the guys around here. That the relationships I built Cade,
Tristan Walker, Colin Harris, Ryan, everyone like the relationships too,
Like I want to I want to put the best
version of me forward with the guys around me, and

(01:03:44):
you know, going at all with them.

Speaker 2 (01:03:46):
That's Blake Miller talking about his return to Clemson. He
also did it in a unique way. You might remember,
alongside Tristan Lee the two offensive tackles. Here he is
explaining what went into that decision.

Speaker 3 (01:03:59):
Yeah, because I know he.

Speaker 4 (01:04:01):
Was doing a little bit of deliberation as well, and
you know, just he said, He's like, we're a team.
You know, we're the two tackles. We're out on the
edge together and we're kind of going into the season too.
We encourage one another, bring one another up when you
know either one's feeling down, and kind of approach it
as a you know, a little, tiny, little team of
guys on the edge. So, you know, I think it

(01:04:21):
was a good move to announce it together because, like
I said, we were, you know, the guys on the
edge were a team.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
So pretty neat how that all came together, you know,
with Tristan Lee kind of leading the charge on it
to say, hey man, let's let's do this. He was
also asked, that's Blake Miller. He was also asked about
the motivation that stems from the loss at Texas in
the College Football Playoff.

Speaker 4 (01:04:45):
Yeah, thinking back to that, I mean, that one obviously hurts,
but coach Tweney talked about it. I mean, you can
view anything positively or negatively. So last year we got
to kind of we got to smell what the top
looks like, and you know, we got to get kind
of a vision for that, and I think that, you know,
drive us this year to be even better so that
you know, we come out of games like that victorious.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
Blake Miller was also asked about what some of his
goals were for this season as he enters his final
year in Tigertown.

Speaker 4 (01:05:13):
Sure. Yeah, well I've made it clear to coach Slup
what my goals are and I told him, you know,
I want him to keep me ultra accountable to it.
And then you know, just going out and I think
being a better leader as well. I know Tristan's very vocal,
and you know, trying to be side by side with
him and being vocal and picking guys up, bringing young
guys along, you know, because we need everyone. We saw

(01:05:34):
it last year that you know, guys who we didn't
know if they would play start of the year were
key guys for us. You know, Elijah Thurman came in
there against Virginia Tech and he went out there and
balled out. So you know, he was a guy at
the start of the year that we didn't know, you know,
where he stood, and then he ended up being a
key guy for us. So bringing those young guys up
and you know, trying to be the best version of me,

(01:05:54):
but also bringing them up as well. I think if
you can teach something effectively to someone, then you know
it really well. So just trying to be a better
teacher as well.

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
Blake Miller, they are talking about what it's gonna take
or some of the guys that he feels like, you know,
they got to bring up and bring along the way. Again,
they're very veteran group, but you got to be able
to kind of spread that talent and wealth and knowledge
amongst those young guys as well. He was also asked
about what it's been like for him kind of knowing

(01:06:23):
that this is his last spring in Tigertown.

Speaker 1 (01:06:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:06:29):
I was talking to my dad about it because when
I was a little kid, he'd tell me, like, enjoy
enjoy time while you can, because it just gets faster
and faster. It truly has. It felt like this has
gone by in the blink of an eye, Like it
felt like just yesterday I was unpacking my stuff over
at Lightzy Bridge, you know, meeting Colin for the first time,
meeting the guys in the room for the first time,
and you know, for this to be the last time
going through spring ball, it's it's surreal, but you know,

(01:06:50):
I want to make the most of it and you know,
put everything I got into it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:53):
Blake Miller, of course, now with a new offensive line
coach for a couple of seasons with Matt Luke take
and over, and he was asked about just what the
goals were for the entire group.

Speaker 4 (01:07:06):
Yeah, I mean, obviously, we want to be the best
old line in college football. That's you know, a pretty
clear cut goal. And I think to get specific, like
more physicality. We want teams when they play us to be,
you know, be on top of it. We want the
message to them and their rooms to be you know,
these guys are gonna come after you and every play.
They're not gonna turn it down no matter what first quarter,

(01:07:27):
second quarter, third quarter, or fourth quarter overtime. Like, these
guys are gonna be the same guy through and through
and they're coming after you every play.

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
Miller was also asked to kind of give his thoughts
on four of those offensive linemen all returning this coming season.

Speaker 4 (01:07:42):
Yeah, it's definitely good to have returned everyone or almost everyone.

Speaker 1 (01:07:45):
I know.

Speaker 4 (01:07:46):
Marcus had to go on to the draft, and I'm
excited to see what the future holds for him, but
bringing back those four guys is good. And then, like
I said, you know, it's important too that we don't
just focus on that we're a veteran group, but bring
the young guys up so you know, if the worst
happens and young guys have to you know, step in
and you know there's injuries, whatever, they're ready to go.
I think, like I said, last year opened her eyes

(01:08:07):
to the importance of the younger guys and making sure
that they're ready to go. So, you know, I'm excited
to have a veteran group, but want to make sure
that the younger guys are ready to go as well.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
That's Blake Miller talking about that Clemson offensive line, and
one of the things that he was also asked about
was kind of looking at some of those younger guys
and deciding, Hey, is there a player amongst the group
that maybe reminds him a little bit of himself when
he was a younger player.

Speaker 4 (01:08:36):
It's kind of hard to self evaluate like that. I mean,
I guess the thing I look for most in the
freshman is mentality, because that's what's ultimately gonna, you know,
get you out there, is are you willing to learn?
Can you pick the plays up fast, and then you know,
are you about going out there and being physical? And
I really think all the guys that have came in
have the right head on their shoulders, and you know,
they have what it takes. So it's all just about

(01:08:58):
progressing as fast as they can, get stronger, getting faster,
knowing the game better, and just seeing things quicker. So
I'm really encouraged by all the guys that we brought
in and I'm excited to see what the future holds.

Speaker 2 (01:09:08):
When we come back, we'll hear a little bit more
from Blake Miller. He'll talk about some of his you know,
what he does to keep his body ready, some of
the foods that he eats, etc. And obviously, with that
Clemson offensive line, with all of those guys coming back,
Tristan Lee, Blake Miller, Walker, Parks, Ryan Lnthacom four starters

(01:09:29):
up front, really just replacing and figuring out how that
things are going to shape up at left guard. I
think you feel really positive about the opportunity for this
group in twenty twenty five under Matt Luke. All right,
quick break, we'll come back. We'll hear more from Blake
Miller right here, on the show that shakes the south Land.
It's Clemson Sports Talk on Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred

(01:09:51):
the Midlins in the Course. You can listen anywhere in
the world on the iHeart Radio app. Stay with us
the show that shakes the south Land, Clemson Sports, Tall
Law and Swam with you again. Thank you to Roy
phil Pott for joining the program and hanging out with
us and talking a little college football, talking a little

(01:10:13):
college basketball with you as well. And don't forget if
you're up in Tigertown to watch either sport, or perhaps
you're there for lacrosse or baseball, one of the sport's
going on right now. Shop at Alumni Hall right downtown
on the corner at campus on College Avenue in Clemson.

(01:10:34):
Get game ready in Alumni Hall your ultimate Clemson Tiger
shopping experience. You can upgrade your tailgate gear, shop officially
licensed Clemson clothing for the family, or a load up
on hats, gifts and accessories. And don't forget when you
spend one hundred and fifty dollars, you'll get ten dollars
in Alumni Hall rewards. You could use them right there.
You can save them up. Also, Climpson students, faculty, and

(01:10:56):
military receive ten percent off when shopping in store, Go
shopping a lovenight hall on the corner at Campus on
College Avenue of downtown Clemson, or online at a lomnight
haul dot com. It's alumnight Haul where Tiger fans shop.
All right, Blake Miller, big time Clemson offensive tackle, guarantee

(01:11:17):
you that dude is a double XL when he's up
in a love night hall doing his shopping. But taking
a look at keeping that body trim, making sure that
he's got a you know, a healthy build on him
is something that's certainly important. And Miller was asked during
this time with the media earlier this week what he

(01:11:39):
does to kind of keep his body fresh.

Speaker 4 (01:11:42):
Yeah, I mean I try and be about the right
things when it comes to you know, being in the
castle with the being on, all the knights in the
castle and just you know, getting in the red light,
getting a stretch, getting the theragun uh whatever it might be.
Trying to make sure too that you know, I'm eating
the right things, putting the right stuff in my body.
That definitely helps you recover, you know, making sure that
you're not putting junk in your body. You know, your

(01:12:04):
body's like a car, so if you put bad fuel
in it, it's not gonna run very well. So you
want to make sure you're putting the ninety three octane
in it, you know, whole nine yards. And then yeah,
just making sure that on top of really everything because
everything counts, food, hydration, stretching, all the recovery stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:12:25):
So an interesting analogy there by Blake Miller comparing the
body to a car, the food to the fuel, and
he's running with ninety three octane. He was asked what
his favorite foods are. I know this, I'm probably running
on like eighty seven octane, but he was asking about
the favorite foods that he likes to eat.

Speaker 4 (01:12:47):
I'm big on the steak. Likes steak a lot. You know,
just making sure to get in enough protein. That's the
biggest thing for me is making sure I got protein
and carbs in my diet because you know, the carbs
are the fuel that keep you going. Some good rice,
those those are the two staples. Steak, chicken, pork, all that.
Just making sure that it's not you know, not hitting

(01:13:07):
a McDonald's at ten o'clock at night, but you know
you're you're sending good food for yourself. You know, my
favorite is probably Chipotle, Like get a get a burrito,
get everything in their fruits, vegetables. I guess if you
consider tomato of fruit, but yeah, fruit vegetable, Get your carbs,
get your beans, get your protein. You know that's my

(01:13:27):
go to is the Chipotle.

Speaker 2 (01:13:29):
Burrito, Blake Miller. They're breaking down his go to to
keep him fueled up and ready for the college football season.
Miller was also asked about coach Matt Luke and his
approach to his second spring in Tigertown.

Speaker 4 (01:13:45):
I think he does a great job of you know,
he's the same guy no matter win, loss, coming off
a good year, coming off a bad year, no matter
what it is, he's the same person and we all
really respect him for that. I know it's very easy
to be up and down depending on you know what
last year, game last week looked like. But I think
he does a great job of being the same guy
through and through.

Speaker 2 (01:14:06):
That's Clemson senior offensive lineman Blake Miller. Miller was also
asked about his impressions on transferred defensive end will help
Yeah today.

Speaker 4 (01:14:17):
He definitely, like before I even went a goats him
just kind of physically stature wise, looking at him like
he looks the part. Then he goes out there and
his play is very very physical. He's not afraid to
stick his head in there and you know, take on
a run block. And then also too, he's a very
very natural and graceful pass rusher. He moves really well.
Seeing him out on the edge, you know he's he's
definitely he commands respect.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
I know a lot of people also are interested to
hear about Gideon Davidson freshman running back. Here's Blake Miller
kind of giving his insight into what he's seen from
the talented star.

Speaker 4 (01:14:50):
We were in w drill today, very physical drill, and
he's back there. You know, he's encouraging me, he's encouraging
the older guys like he's he's not afraid to speak
up as a front. And I know a lot of
guys come in and you know, it can be intimidating
seeing all these guys that have played a lot of
snaps and been here for a while. You know, it
can kind of hush you a little bit. But he's
done a great job of, you know, getting his voice

(01:15:11):
out there and being encouraging and also too, you know,
being curious asking us questions in terms of you know, protections,
picking up Blitz is that sort of thing. So I
think he's done a great job so far.

Speaker 2 (01:15:21):
That's Blake Miller talking about Clemson freshman running back Gideon Davidson.
He kind of answered this question earlier, but was asked
about how the loss against Texas fueled this offseason for
the Tigers.

Speaker 4 (01:15:35):
Yeah, I kind of alluded to it a little bit earlier,
but we got to kind of we got to get
a glimpse of what the top looks like, you know,
what games like that look like. And I think going
into this, you know, coming year, having that experience I
think will be beneficial. And you know, we got to
go about it the right way in this offseason to
make sure that we can finish games.

Speaker 2 (01:15:54):
Like the final thing from Blake Miller. He was also
asked about the offenses goals coming into this season, and
certainly they should be pretty high given the talent that
they return, not only on the offensive line, as we mentioned,
four starters coming back, but kay Klebnicke at quarterback, the wealth,
the wide outs they've got right now. Here's Blake Miller,
though kind of giving his insight into what he expects

(01:16:16):
to see from the offense in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (01:16:19):
Yeah, I guess a big goal for us is to
have no wasted plays. You know, plays that a guy
misses an assignment or or something simple. You know, there's
gonna be times where guys make plays, and that's inevitable
in football. If you play the game long enough, guys
on defense are going to make plays or you know,
we'll just be in a difficult spot. But we want
to eliminate those wasted plays, and like coach Luke says,

(01:16:40):
he says, make our layups the plays that are there.
We want to execute at a high level. We want
to be able to play fast, and we want to
be able to communicate quickly and you know, get snaps
fast and execute. It always comes down to execution.

Speaker 2 (01:16:53):
It always comes down to execution. That's Clemson offensive tackle
Blake Miller talking about this twenty five Clemson Tiger teams
that continue to push forward through spring practice, giving you
some insights into what he expects they're In a couple
of segments, all right, quick break, We'll come back. One

(01:17:14):
of the long running sports shows in ESPN history, comes
to a conclusion in May. We'll tell you about it
when we get back right here on the show that
Shakespare South Lank Clemson Sports Talk well Fox Sports Radio
fourteen hundred and of course ort around the world on
the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 4 (01:17:35):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.

Speaker 1 (01:17:40):
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture, don't forget history.

Speaker 2 (01:17:48):
Look you for us at Clemson.

Speaker 4 (01:17:50):
The answer to the questions what have.

Speaker 2 (01:17:52):
You done for me lately? And what have you done?

Speaker 3 (01:17:54):
Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 2 (01:18:48):
Final segment on a Wednesday, the show The Shakespeare South
Lank Clemson Sports Talk. So speaking of final segments, the
show Around the Horn, which had a twenty three year
run on ESPN hosted by Tony Reality, will air its
final episode on May twenty third, twenty twenty five. It

(01:19:15):
debuted November fourth, two thousand and two, and was in
in large respects, so you had that five o'clock window.
And look, obviously with my show airing when it airs
for the past eleven years, I haven't watched that show

(01:19:37):
in a long time. I mean, I see it. It's
occasionally been on in studio while I've been doing the
show or whatever. But I do have to say that
pardon the interruption with Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbond and
then around the horn almost there was a point in

(01:19:58):
the sports face I think where those shows were almost
can't miss TV. I think in large part a big
reason was this was pre social media, and so everybody's
opinion wasn't out and available. And I don't mean everybody
is in every sports writer, I mean just every human.

(01:20:22):
You just couldn't find out what everybody was thinking about anything,
you know. I remember when Twitter came around and people
were like, I don't really understand what's Twitter? Swani and
I would explain it like this. So Facebook was like
talking to your friends, you know, things that you would
post your friends would see. Twitter was like shouting from

(01:20:44):
your front porch for all the world to hear whatever
you want to say. And those shows, I think before
social media gave us a glimpse to a degree of
what Twitter would become, because you got to hear from

(01:21:06):
you know, whether it was what he page, Tim Kallishyall,
Kevin blackistone, whoever was on the show. I think Bob
Ryan used to be on at some back in the day,
and maybe even more than anything. If you think about
Twitter and social media, you got the thumbs up and
the you know, retweets and all that. That was kind

(01:21:27):
of Tony Reality's job, right, Like he gave points three
points for a good take, could mute you if you
said said something he disagreed with or whatever thought wasn't
a good take. I can't remember what all the I
don't recall what all the rules were. Haven't watched in
a while, and I'm sure they've They've probably changed them

(01:21:47):
a little bit over the years. But I think that
show was kind of a glimpse into what social media
would become.

Speaker 3 (01:21:54):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:21:54):
I have no idea what Espn'll do to fill that
time slot. As a matter of fact, I have no
idea what ESPN's pro really looks like any longer. I mean,
there was a there was a time in my life
where I feel like twenty some had years ago, ESPN
shifted to their mornings. At one point was just reracking
es up, excuse me, reracking sports Center from like six

(01:22:16):
am to noon, Like you got the same Sports Center
show over and over and over. That changed, and I
think a part of that change came from maybe the
success that Cornheiser and and those guys with PTI and
then around the Horn had to having these morning shows.

(01:22:36):
The problem with these morning shows now is that guys
like Stephen A. Smith and everybody like it's it's eight
in the morning. And you probably see this when you
go to a doctor's office or when you go to
a dentist appointment or something. There's a TV. Maybe you're
getting your oil changed and those channels are on. Like,

(01:22:57):
I don't know about you, but I don't care to.
I hear people yelling at each other all day, every
day in the morning. I just don't I don't want
that in my in my aura, as the kids would say,
my aura can't handle that. So I prefer to just

(01:23:19):
not watch it. And like I told you, I don't
listen to a whole lot of sports salt radio because
I like to have my own take on things. But
there was certainly a time where those shows in the
afternoon on ESPN, whether you were at a bar, whether
you were at a hotel, wherever you were, it was
the way to kind of consume whatever had gone on

(01:23:42):
in the day in sports, or whatever had gone on
in the weekend at sports and hear the reaction of
multiple people from different areas of our country, and it
was unique and it was interesting. And I don't know
what that show was like now, but Tony Reality has

(01:24:02):
always seemed to be a really good guy. As a
matter of fact, years and years ago, I tweeted something
at Tony rally and he wrote me back. I mean,
you know, and I respect that because there's a lot
of people that do this business, especially if they're as
high up as a guy like Tony Reality, that don't
respond and engage. But that's what he wants to do.
So best of luck to Tony. I don't know what

(01:24:23):
he'll do after that. Best of luck to that, you know,
the members of that team. What a great show, What
a great run for Around the Horn? All right, speaking
of Around the Horn, we'll be back tomorrow around the
Horn with you right here on the show The Shakespeare
south Land, Clemson's Sports Talk Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred
and on the iHeartRadio app at four pm until the end.

(01:24:44):
As always, you'll take care now and goat Tigers.