The "Unstillwater" Edition

The ACC releases what players will be in Charlotte, plus Mike Gundy hits the stage for Oklahoma State at the Big XII Media Days.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
It's time for Clipson Sports Talk with Loton Swan Swanny.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Finally, Clempson Sports Talk has come back. Two drive time, Hell, everybody,
Low and Swan back in the saddle once again. It
is the show that shakes the South Lane. Clipson 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 Fox Sports Radio

(01:04):
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iHeartRadio application. Download it today. It's free. The website, but
the dot com on it's all gone itt that's Clemson
Sports Doll dot Com. Ato three four five O zero
zero eighty six. And of course, the show The Shakes
of South lambrought to you in part by our good
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(01:30):
drip drip. You know the jingle seven three two drip.
That's Mets Plumbing, mets Plumbing dot com. That's the website
as well. Okay, so the acc kickoff looming. We talked
about the Big Twelve yesterday. We can get to some
audio from the Big twelve, coaches, et cetera here for you.
Sec Media Days getting cranked up next week. I'll be

(01:53):
off all next week, little programming note there, we'll be
on vacation, but we'll come back hard and heavy the
following week before we travel up to Charlotte with plenty
of content out of the SEC media Days. So we've
got all of that coming up here over the next
couple of weeks for you as we get closer and
closer to the kickoff of the college football season. In

(02:17):
conjunction with the ACC kickoff, the Big Tens Media Days
will also be taking place, and I can give you
a rundown of all of that as well and what
days teams are going specifically in the SEC, along with
teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But today the ACC
put out their list of athletes that will be attending

(02:40):
the ACC kickoff up in Charlotte next week or excuse me,
in two weeks. It feels like next week for me,
because it's really the next time I'm going to be
on the air. We've got today's show and tomorrow show
and then we're off. But the official attendees were announced
and the Clemson Tigers are bringing a big stick to

(03:05):
the Queen City. Let's just say they're bringing all the
heavy hitters. They are bringing the krim Della crem of
this Clemson Tiger football team. And so Susan Lloyd, who
does an incredible job taking photos for the website clemsonsports
saw dot com and does a fantastic job by the way,

(03:26):
with graduation photos and promotional images. Reach out to her
on social media and she could definitely get you connected
with some fantastic opportunities. I mean, she's done some stuff
in the past for Clemson student athletes like Sharon and
Jones and the work as Spectacular, does a lot of
fantastic photography, not only in the low Country. But she'll
meet you, So reach out to her. But she texted

(03:49):
me the other day and she said, Hey, who do
you think Dabo's gonna bring to Charlotte. She said, Cade Antonio, Williams,
Wade wood As, and TJ. Parker. Well, she was three
out of four on that one. Davosweeny and the Clemson
Tigers will be represented at the ACC kickoff by k Club,

(04:12):
Nick Antonio, Williams, TJ. Parker, and the big hitter Peter Woods.
So bringing all of the elite talent. Three of those
guys projected according we talked about this a week or
so ago. Three of those guys projected by ESPN to

(04:34):
be in the top six picks of the two thousand
and twenty six NFL draft. Salesman, Well, that's what they're saying. Now,
here's who the attendees for the entire event will be,
and the course it's it's probably redundant to mention the

(04:56):
head coaches, but I will simply because they're on release
and this will go in order of the event days.
And you know I'm a I'm a stickler for pronunciation, okay,
But what I have not had since this press release
came out and this episode of the show is to

(05:21):
go in and evaluate how to say some of these
names now before I sit down with these individuals, even
if I've looked it up and asked them, I still
always double check with the player beforehand. That's how for
certain I know that dj Ouyungala pronounces his name that

(05:42):
way because that's precisely how he pronounced it in front
of me at the ACC kickoff. The only problem I
have with dj on that front is every once in
a while I'll hear him pronounce it slightly differently. Can
speak a little louder, but I have to him, like,
what are we doing?

Speaker 3 (06:02):
DJ?

Speaker 2 (06:03):
This is I went back and listened to the audio
of how you told me to pronounce your name, and
now you've got people out there pronouncing your name differently.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
Everybody say it with me.

Speaker 4 (06:15):
Shanta clears, Shanta clears, not schant clear, Shanta clears.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
I mean it would be like like Coastal's head baseball
coach coming out tomorrow and saying chanticleers. I don't know,
but anyway, we'll go through the list and I will
do my best to deliver to you the names of
the individuals who are going to be there as best
I can, because it's not easy. I will tell you

(06:44):
that it is not easy at all. All right, On Tuesday,
July twenty second, the following teams and players and coaches
will be there cal checking in with their head coach,
Justin Wilcox. He will be a companied by Devin Brown,
who is a junior quarterback at Gilbert Arizona. They will

(07:08):
also be bringing senior defensive lineman Aiden Keana Aina. They've
also got freshman quarterback and this is the one I
don't have the pronunciation for Jeron Kiawi Sagapola Telly. That's

(07:29):
a mouthful, and then a junior linebacker Cade Lava is
going to be there for the cal Bears. That's Tuesday.
Miami also will make their way to the Queen City.
Head coach Mario Christobal will be accompanied by transfer quarterback
senior Carson Beck. They'll also have senior linebacker Wesley Basanta.

(07:55):
They'll bring junior offensive lion offensive lineman Francis mcgoa and
also senior defensive lineman Akeem Messador. Also on Tuesday, SMU.
If somebody calls the Southern Methodists, that's who they're talking about.
I heard somebody say, who is Southern Methodist? That SAYSMU.

(08:19):
Head coach Rhett Lashley will be there along with quarterback
junior Richard, junior quarterback Kevin Jennings, junior linebacker out of Katie, Texas,
Alexander Kilgore. They'll also bring rich shirt senior safety Isaiah
Wacobia and senior red shirt senior offensive lineman Logan Parr.

(08:40):
Stanford will also go on Tuesday with their new head
coach Frank Wright, along with Simon Peale, an offensive lineman
now at ELK Grove California. They'll bring senior tight end
Sam Roush. They'll also bring senior outside linebacker Tavarua Tafatiti,

(09:02):
who is also from Hawaii. Again senior outside linebacker, thenk
Colin Wright, a senior cornerback from Missouri City, Texas with
the Stanford Cardinal. Virginia and Tony Elliott will also go
on Tuesday. That's the final team. They will bring Jamier Carter,
a grad student and defensive tackle out of Baltimore, Maryland.
They'll also bring another grad student. As a matter of fact,

(09:24):
looking at Virginia's lineup, all four players are grad students.
Noah Josie an offensive lineman for Murphysboro, Tennessee, Mitchell Melton
defensive end from Silver Spring, Maryland. And Chandler Morris quarterback
from Highland Park, Texas. And if that name is familiar
to you, that's because Chandler Morris is the son of

(09:45):
former Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris. He started his career
back in twenty twenty with the Oklahoma Sooners, then transferred
to TCU, spent several years there, went to North Texas
for a season, and now a rid back in the
Power for as a quarterback for the Virginia Cavaliers, and

(10:07):
he'll be their representative there at the ACC kickoff on Tuesday.
Wednesday's festivities feature the Florida State Seminoles and Mike Norvelle,
along with Tommy Castellano's senior quarterback who transferred in from
Boston College. They'll also bring red shirt senior defensive lineman
Darryl Jackson and red shirt senior offensive lineman Richie Leonard

(10:30):
the Fourth along with a Richerd junior defensive back Earl
Little Junior. Also on Wednesday, Georgia Tech head coach Brent
Key and the Yellow Jackets will be there, along with
Richert junior linebacker kyle E Ford, Richard, senior quarterback Haines King,
richer senior wide receiver Malik Rutherford, and senior offensive lineman

(10:56):
Keelan Rutledge. Louisville will also be attendance On Wednesday. Jeff
Brown will bring senior wide receiver Chris Bell, red shirt
senior quarterback Miller Moss, Recherd, senior linebacker TJ. Quinn, and
red shirt junior linebacker Antonio Watts. Pitt makes their way
to the stage as well on Wednesday with Pat Nardoozy Redchert,

(11:19):
senior offensive lineman, Lyndon Cooper Richard, junior linebacker, Kyle Lewis Redchert,
senior defensive back Jayvon McIntyre, and senior running back Desmond Reid.
Syracuse will be there as well, with fran Brown, who
will certainly have a lot of attention around him, Deuce Chestnut,
red shirt senior defensive back, along with Ricky Collins, a

(11:40):
red shirt sophomore quarterback, plus two additional red shirt seniors,
Derrick McDonald, a linebacker from Atlanta and Dion Wilson, junior
defensive lineman from Paris, California. And the final group attending
on Wednesday, July the twenty third, Wake Forest and their
new head coach, Jake Dickert, along with senior defensive back

(12:04):
Nick Anderson, senior running back DeMont Claiborne, red shirt senior
offensive lineman Kevin ky Laney, and red shirt sophomore Devon
Patterson out of Jacksonville, Florida defensive back. Then on Thursday,
that's when your Clemson Tigers will be in attendance along
with Boston College and head coach Bill O'Brien. The Eagles

(12:26):
will bring Lewis Bond, a redcherd senior wide receiver. They'll
bring Davion Crouch, a senior linebacker from Tampa, Florida, KP Price,
junior defensive back from Baltimore, Maryland, and Logan Taylor, a
red shirt senior offensive lineman out of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia
I mentioned earlier, Clemson and Dablosweeney. They'll bring Kay Club,

(12:47):
Nick t j Parker, Antonio Williams, and Peter Woods to
the table. The Duke Blue Devils will bring head coach
Manny Diaz along with red shirt sophomore quarterback Darien Mensa
out of San Luis Obispo, California. That'll bring richert junior
offensive lineman Brian Parker, the second senior cornerback Chandler Rivers,

(13:10):
and red shirt junior defensive end Wesley Williams. Also on Thursday.
North Carolina and head coach Bill Belichick will be there
along with Thaddeus Dixon, a red shirt senior defensive back,
Will Hardy, a senior defensive back, Go Lopez, a richart
sophomore quarterback out of Madison, Alabama, and Jordan Ship, a

(13:34):
sophomore wide receiver out of Charlotte, North Carolina. The tar
Hills will be joined by their counterparts and rivals North
Carolina State. The wolf Packs head coach Dave Dorian, along
with sophomore quarterback CJ. Bailey, senior defensive tackle Brandon Cleveland,
graduate linebacker Caden Fordham, and senior tight end Justin Jolly

(13:58):
will be there. The final team rounding it all out
the Virginia Tech Cavaliers head coach Brent Prye along with
red shirt senior quarterback Kyron Drones, graduate wide receiver Donovan Green,
red shirt senior defensive lineman Kelvin Gilliam junior and red
shirt linebacker Caden Keller out of Bristol, Virginia. So that

(14:25):
is a quick look at all of the individuals that
will be making their way to the ACC kickoff up
in Charlotte. Now, what is different about it this year
for me specifically? Well, first and foremost, i will not
be there on Tuesday. That's my anniversary, so I'm not
going to make the trek up. I have missed my

(14:46):
anniversary before for this event, but this year I'm gonna
sit back and stay home for the year. Not to
mention again, it's cal Miami SMU stand to Virginia. Certainly
some intrigue there, but not over the top. I hate
I'm missing Tony Elliott. I hate I'm missing SMU, but

(15:07):
I think it's more important to be here for the
anniversary now. Additionally, the other thing that's changed, and I'm
almost glad that I'm not going to be there on Tuesday,
is that they've made it so that the individuals like
me on radio Row have to coordinate our interviews with

(15:30):
the sids at each institution individually. Now you might say, well,
what did that look like in the past, Wannie, Like,
how did that work in the past. Well, typically you
put down that you're going to be on a radio row,
you would indicate what days you were going to be there,

(15:53):
and then the ACC would give you a set of
head coaches and players that you were gonna meet with,
and the times and so a lot of so a
lot of times like if I was sitting beside William
Qualkin Bush at one oh five to five the row,

(16:14):
if Tony Elliott sat down with me for eight to
ten minutes, like they give them. So let's say tonyell
was with me from eleven twenty to eleven twenty eight AM.
He would be with William qualkin Bush from eleven thirty
to eleven thirty eight, and Qualk would be right beside me.

(16:35):
So Tony Ellie would get up from my table, walk
over to Quawk, sit down. It gave me a little
leeway if we ran over. It gave Qualk a little
leeway to start sooner. The difference now is that and
you knew where people were. That was the other thing.
So I could look at the rotation because you could

(16:55):
see where everybody was gonna be. You didn't just see
your schedule, and you could go, okay, well, I can
see that Tony Elliott, let's say he's not on my list.
I can see that Tony Elliott is going to be
with Wim qwalkin Bush at eleven thirty and while he's

(17:15):
standing there, I can coordinate with his sid and say, hey,
I've known Tony a long time covered Clemson, went to
school with him. Could you ask him if he could
work me in. I know you guys are going to
your breakouts. You know that's another type of session that
they have. I know you guys are going to your
breakout sessions at whatever time. Could you see if Tony,

(17:41):
would you see if Tony would mind coming to the
breakout just a few minutes early and maybe doing five
minutes with me?

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Or would he.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Mind staying afterwards and doing an interview with me for
seven minutes? And so it was, you know, you were
still in some degree, but you kind of knew the
schedule you're working around. I don't think we're going to
really know the schedule and for me to try to
keep up with who's come and win and where and

(18:14):
hope that they don't step on each other. I like
what I put in the requests I sent out earlier today.
I just said to the people, I said, hey, look,
I'd love to have at least one player and your
head coach, Like I try to make it simple. Some
some media members let me tell you, well, you've probably
listened to some of these ya who's some of these

(18:35):
guys are so over the top. They'll be like, I
want every player and coach on every team, or you know,
they'll try to get everybody. The only team that arrives
at the ACC kickoff that I have ever requested every
single member, it's Clemson. And the reason that I request
that is obviously because that's what this show is all about.

(18:56):
And not to mention one on one interviews with Dabo
Sweeney and players on this staff or player, excuse me,
players on this roster. One on one interviews just don't happen.
So when you've got the opportunity, you got to take
advantage of it, and so that's what we try to do.

(19:19):
But that's what it looks like at the ACC kickoff
this year as that event gets underway, not this coming
week we're all remember it's our vacation, but the following week,
July twenty second, that Tuesday being the first day, I
will not be there. I'll be here with you resetting conversations,
I'm sure from the SEC kickoff. With that said, the

(19:44):
Big twelve kickoff is in the books, and one of
the big names in that league who we've talked about
quite a bit recently is Mike Gundy. Will jump into
some of his conversations about the pressure he's facing heading
into this year at Oklahoma State. Right after this rocking
and rolling along with you on a Thursday afternoon, Tim
Ray can't join us at day. Brett Friedlander gonna be
on the show. In our number two. Tim is working

(20:08):
an event, but recently going through these over unders and
all that. One of the things I've run into is,
you know, some of the teams out there that not
only struggled a year ago, but may very well struggle
this coming season. And for Mike Gundy, remember they finished

(20:28):
oh to nine in the Big Twelve. It was their
first I think three win season since two thousand. Mike
Gundy has been there for twenty one years now. This
is his twenty first season. And Oklahoma State also has

(20:50):
difficulty this year with a couple of players Garrett Wrangle
and another young man I can't remember his name, who
both went into the transfer a portal, leaving them with
very little experience. I've argued that Mike Gundy probably, you know,

(21:11):
certainly build up credibility in twenty one years, but when
you have a nine game losing streak and go three
and nine, kind of like Mike Norvelle at Florida State,
albeit off of two different outcomes a year ago. I
think six and six is where Oklahoma State finishes this year.

(21:31):
They have a surprising eight and a half over under.
I think they're clearly under. And here's a part of it.
Mike Gundy was asked about his quarterback situation. Listen to
this response, Well, obviously it's different.

Speaker 5 (21:44):
We don't have a quarterback that's ever played a snap
for us at Oklahoma State. We've got a little bit
of familiar to do with a couple guys coming through spring.

Speaker 6 (21:53):
But to one of the things in the future.

Speaker 5 (21:55):
Of college football that's a little bit scary is you
don't have as many in that room as you'd want to.
But I think that coach Meachim and our staff understand
the importance in finding out who gives us the best
chance to win and building our offense around that system.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
So that's Mike Gundy talking about the situation at quarterback,
which with no experience, I find it incredibly difficult to
put this team winning a whole lot of football games.
Especially I don't have him winning nine, which would be
on their over under number at eight and a half.
But you know, I think if he's under five hundred,

(22:33):
like if he's worse than six and six, and they
might part ways with him. He's still though, you know,
so quotable when you go back to his I'm a man,
I'm forty grant years ago, that was spectacular. But he
was also asked about this EA Sports College football game,
and you know the criticisms that we've talked about with

(22:54):
the way Dabo Sweeney looks in the game, well, Mike
Gundy apparently pretty excited about how he looks.

Speaker 5 (23:00):
I have not played the game, but I think it's
pretty cool that somebody put me in a video game.
I don't know if somebody showed me the picture just
recently of it and they gave me a great hair
due like I have really good hair, but I mean
that's like permanent hair for like forever. But I'm good

(23:20):
with it. I wish my royalties off it were as
much as the players, but should be fun.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Mike Gundy there talked about being in EA Sports college
football that the hair is forever. Gundhy was also asked
about how last season's results again three and nine to
nine in the league nine game losing streak, how those
results from a year ago sort of reshaped his thoughts
on the program and the things that they have to

(23:49):
do to get better.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
I guess.

Speaker 6 (23:51):
So the off season for us has been crazy.

Speaker 5 (23:55):
Obviously, we know about all the changes in college football,
and for the most part we all lived day to
day players coming in, players going out recruiting. For me,
it was extremely busy, new staff, new coordinators, those guys
bring in their own staff. We have sixty five new players,

(24:15):
thirty five of them we've never seen practice before and
they just showed up in June. Eighteen of those ish
are transferred to the other high school players, so it's.

Speaker 6 (24:28):
A very unusual experience.

Speaker 5 (24:32):
They've done really well over the last four or five
weeks in off season, but August practice will be more
important now than it ever has been based on the
new faces.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
Gundhi was also asked about having thirty five new faces
and what it's like to try to put the team together,
you know, build continuity and camaraderie.

Speaker 5 (24:53):
So whenever I used to go on vacation in July,
I had a really good idea of who are too
deep was going to be in most cases, who the
quarterback was going to be. I'm going to try to
go on vacation in a week or so and I'm
not sure that I know who will be the starters
in eight of the twenty two spots.

Speaker 6 (25:14):
That's not counting special teams. So it's very unusual.

Speaker 5 (25:18):
The coaches understand that it's going to have to happen
faster in August this year than it ever has before,
so we can get established, so we can create some identity,
hopefully develop some team chemistry and get ready to play
in the first game final.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
A couple of things from Mike Gunn He was also
asked about the restructuring of his contract after the season
they had a year ago, and the fact that part
of that contract kind of gives him more input into
his successor. And the question I think kind of concluded
with where do you kind of see yourself in three years?

Speaker 5 (25:52):
So I didn't did you ask me where I see
the program at the next few years?

Speaker 6 (25:57):
Which you ask me?

Speaker 5 (25:58):
So one thing that I think is important to remember
is that I've been fortunate enough to be the head
coach for now going on twenty one years, and we've
had nineteen winning seasons in a row and had a
played a really high level of college football, and for
the majority of those years, we could have beat any

(26:19):
team in the country in any given day at any time.
So we have to go through a little bit of
a rebuilding phase this year. One because we needed to
upgrade in certain areas, but the other because we lost
a large number of veteran players last year. We were

(26:40):
going to have to so called rebuild anyway. We were
prepared for that, but I will say that the changes
with the way we go about rebuilding, whether it's financially
or roster management, have been challenging but also intriguing because

(27:01):
it's something new. It's different than it's ever been before
in my twenty one years.

Speaker 6 (27:05):
As a head coach.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Mike Gundy also talked about the fact that he understands,
he gets it, and he's unfazed by the pressure. He's
been there so long. You said quote, I felt pressure
probably like years two, three or four because I was
a young coach without a second contract, and certainly this
season could be a big one for Mike Gundhy in
terms of his future there in Stillwater, quick breat We'll
come back. We'll hear from Deon Sanders Primetime right after

(27:29):
this the show The Chase of south Land, Clemson's sports
tal law swan with you on a Thursday after noon.
Brett Friedlander, who covered the ACC for years, joins us.
Coming up around the bend, but we are talking about
the big twelve media days. We'll have some comments from
Brett your mark again from his Q and A session.
We had those opening comments yesterday talking season technically officially here,

(27:53):
and we're gonna try to get you audio from some
of these individuals, et cetera during the next couple of weeks.
Obviously we're off next week, but we'll have a lot
from the SEC media days and we'll work our way
towards kickoff of Clemson's fall camp. But Dion Sanders is
a huge name in the world of college football, certainly

(28:15):
high expectations for him at Colorado once he arrived, bringing
his son Shador and Travis Hunter. We documented that both
of those guys now gone. Travis Hunter the number two
pick in the draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Heisman
Trophy winner, So he did bring some notoriety and attention
to the Big Twelve once Colorado joined that league from

(28:36):
the Pac Twelve. But with Dion, you look at kind
of what I think Colorado wants to be with him,
which is a resurgence back to where they were in
the late eighties. Haven't gotten there yet, and minus the
players that they just lost, hard for me to imagine
that they do get back there. Plus I don't know

(28:56):
how much longer Dion wants to coach. He's been dealing
with some health issues et cetera. Doesn't really like to
go on the road recruiting. That's documented. They only had
a couple of recruits committed in the twenty six class
up until a couple of days ago, like they were
at like two. I think now they're at five or six.
But still, how do you build sustainability? The portal, I

(29:17):
don't think is the key regardless. And I think Dion's
always going to land some pretty good, pretty good defensive
back prospects because of because of you know, his stature
as the greatest cornerback in the history of the NFL.
But here's Dion's opening statement at the Big Twelve media
days yesterday out in Dallas.

Speaker 4 (29:37):
Brett you or Mark, I love you, man, I appreciate you.
I think we have the best commissioner. I don't think.
I know we have the best commissioner in college football, man.
And it's called me daily, checked on me. Make sure
I'm straight, make sure I'm getting better and better. And
I love you to life, my brother. I know you
somewhere clean as the border health right now, and I

(29:58):
love you to life.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
And you are absolutely the best.

Speaker 4 (30:01):
What you have in store for the Big twelve, Rick,
my ad love you the life you've always believed. You've
always been a man of a standard, and I thank
you for giving me a tremendous opportunity. The coaches of
the Big Twelve are incredible.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
I love them. They've been calling, checking on me, making
sure I'm straight.

Speaker 4 (30:25):
But you talk about knowing football, teaching football, communicating with
their kids, none of this stupid animosity of jealousy. I
love the coaches of the Big twelve. I want to
beat them all, but I love them.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
I truly do.

Speaker 4 (30:42):
We sold out season tickets for the third straight seasons
and eleventh time, and see you history. Prior to twenty
three had been twenty six years since we sold out,
which is incredible. I'm truly thankful of that. Class rankings
class number twenty four of all, third straight top twenty
five class, first time on the record, top three straight

(31:05):
top twenty five classes.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
I love it.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
Our coaching staff. This is without Bun Leftwich, which I'm
praying that he does the right thing. At mac Zimmer
we have one hundred and sixty years of NFL experience
with those two added as two hundred and four years
of NFL experience, and I want those years. Last season,
the first season and see U history our only team

(31:28):
in the country to appear on network television or flagship
station of ESPN every single during game and I love it.

Speaker 3 (31:35):
And as for right now, we have.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
Four games slated for network television as well as ESPN
as Georgia Tech, Delaware, Houston and VYU opening.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
Out the gates.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
So we will be seen and we will be heard,
and we will be known. You youngster is out there.
They're still trying to decide where you want.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
To lad So that's the opening statement for Dion Sanders,
and he listened. He's a different bird, but he is
a class act. Like when we talk about cleaning the
locker rooms and things of that nature, like he is
second fiddle to nobody in terms of that type of stuff.
And it is part of the reason I think he's
probably probably became the great professional that he did. But

(32:17):
he was at first off at the podium, he said,
the first question we're gonna take is gonna come from
one of these young ladies, you know, one of the
females that are working in the crowd. And I think
a lot of times in sports journalism, certainly females can
get overshadowed by some of the louder male voices maybe
in the room. So he takes a question from a

(32:38):
young female. She asked him about how he takes the
issues that he's dealt with health related and he didn't
get into his health related stuff. He just say he
was excited to rejoin Colorado, but ask how he merges that,
you know, his personality into the team that he's trying
to shape in Colorado.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
Great question.

Speaker 4 (32:58):
First of all, I trust God all my mind, all
my soul and everything I have.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
I never waiver.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
I never say why me, regardless of what's ahead of me,
of what I see, Like, Lord, just use me. If
you could use anything, you could use me. So I'm
truly thankful. I'm truly a go get her. I want
to win at all costs. I want to win the
right way. I want to set the right standards, and
I want to prepare these young men for life, not

(33:28):
just football.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
I want them to be professional. All right.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
Final for Deon Sanders, and this is what kind of
the exchanges are like with him and the media, and
I think he's being very sincere.

Speaker 7 (33:39):
Hey coach Ryan Coensberg from d NVR, First of all,
how are you feeling what's.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
Going on man. How you doing, sir, I'm doing great.
How are you doing? I'm doing wonderful. No, I look good.
You look great? Well, thank you look good. I'm feeling good.

Speaker 7 (33:52):
Your quarterback room also looks great. You have two really
talented players.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
We brought both of them because I don't know which
one is gonna start.

Speaker 7 (33:59):
My question to you is woud you be comfortable with
a situation where both guys play.

Speaker 4 (34:03):
Yeah, as long as we they're doing their jobs, we win.
And we definitely want to continue to develop Juju.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
But Katan is unbelievable. Kaiten's off the chain.

Speaker 4 (34:13):
He's been there, done that, and he could get the
job done. I wouldn't have brought him here about.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
In trust him.

Speaker 4 (34:17):
But Juju is coming on around the mountain when he comes,
and I love him.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
I love what he brings to the table. I don't
know how it's going to play out.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
Love as it plays out, we can't lose either way
with either of those two.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
There you go. Dehon Sanders. I mean he is genuine
and a lot of fun, one of my favorite athletes,
my favorite athlete growing up in the NFL. Deon Sanders,
All right, quick break, We'll come back Clipson picks up
a commitment from a twenty twenty seven quarterback earlier today,
will break that down for you when we return right
here on the show The Shakes to south Land Keep

(34:52):
it lot No. Fox Sports Tradio fourteen hundred and of
course around the world on the iHeartRadio app. Final segment
of our wide comes up. Bread Lander joins the program
in our number two, But we want to talk about
Clemson's latest commitment, the twenty twenty seven quarterback Kareem Hugly

(35:14):
out of Gainesville, Georgia. If Gainesville, Georgia rings a bell
and you haven't read the articles on our website, Huglely
played at or plays at the same high school as
Deshaun Watson played. Now he's a twenty twenty seven commit
for Clemson, which, again, if you're keeping score at home,

(35:37):
is not this coming class but the following class, but
a chance for Hugly to be a signature piece for
Clemson in the twenty twenty seven puzzle, along with Max Brown,
as the two commits currently in that twenty twenty seven

(35:58):
recruiting class now hugely ordered or ordered uh earned, They're
easy for me to say hugely earned. An offer from
Clemson during his time at Dabosweeney's camp this summer to
catch their attention, and one of the cool things about
him is that he's talked about kind of carving out

(36:20):
his own identity. He's ranked as the number four quarterback
in the twenty twenty seven recruiting class according to ESPN.
ON three has him as the thirteenth best quarterback in
the country, but he gets a four star billing across
the board outside of two four seven, who currently has

(36:43):
him just on the precipice of a four star rating
at an eighty eight. Their four star rating begins at ninety,
but he does have a four star billing from everybody
else and it carries a ninety point twenty five rating
from ON three. Now, as far as his commitment to Clemson,

(37:06):
his size about five eleven maybe six foot at best
one ninety but certainly fits the frame that I think
Clemson's current offensive coordinator Garrett Riley certainly appreciates. And for Clemson,

(37:26):
you know, on the heels of a pretty pretty hot
what I would call twenty twenty six recruiting class. In
my opinion, being around this business long enough anytime that
you can land a signature piece for the future that

(37:47):
tends to help you grow and build your class. And
we've been in contact with Kareem Hugley several times. Go
check out the articles on the website, tyree ingram to
a spectacular job with it. But one of the things
I think everyone can appreciate about this young man is

(38:09):
that even though he is from Gainesville and whether or
not his following of Clemson during his younger years, you know,
when he's six seven years old, Deshaun Watson had been
a star at Clemson. I'm sure, I'm sure that they
were locked in watching his family sort of grew up
following Auburn. His family's originally from Alabama. But he is

(38:32):
now in the fold for Clemson in that twenty twenty
seven class and gives the Tigers a signature piece to
begin putting it all together over the long haul. So
kind of crazy the timeline on that. I think he
got his offer five days ago, but obviously from the

(38:53):
school in Clemson that he really wanted to be a
part of. So he gets his commitment or the Tigers
get their commitment, and they add a big piece to
the twenty twenty seven recruiting class. Again, head over to
the website Clymsonsports talt dot com right now to take
a look at that information and much more as we've

(39:16):
got you covered on all fronts there free. Certainly you
can get in for three months for a dollar. You
can get in for a year for sixty three dollars
and seventeen cents. We'd love to have you join us
at sixty three seventeen. So the Tigers recruiting in the
twenty twenty seven class getting a big check mark long

(39:38):
way out, but signature pieces like Deshaun Watson committing early
when he did, I mean, this is how you build
a class. And now you have a vocal potential spokesperson
for the offensive side of the ball and on the
twenty twenty seven class, and conversely with Max Brown, you

(40:03):
have a vocal piece on the defensive side of the ball.
Both of those guys right there in the heart of
the state of Georgia, which I think is another big
positive for Clemson over the long haul because it you know,
when you look at recruiting and the job that the

(40:24):
Tigers have done in picking peaches, so to speak, out
of the state of Georgia to start this twenty twenty
seven class off with a bang, with a couple of
signature four star pieces on both sides of the ball.
What seemed to be a big deal, And obviously there
is still a lot of time for these guys to develop.
You know, some people might look at his six foot

(40:45):
frame five ft eleven and a half whatever and say, man,
he's undersized. Again, I want to note it's kind of
the style size that Garrett Riley's looking at. But you're
still talking about a young man that can grow another
inch or two if that pacifies you from the standpoint

(41:07):
of his height, right, But it's really about arm talent,
and he impressed at Sweeney's camp and earned the offer,
and he now steps into the fold for Clemson as
the signature piece at this point on the offensive side
of the ball. Now, whether or not there are bigger

(41:29):
quarterback names out there in the twenty twenty seven class
that Clemson and maybe even Clemson fans desired, you know,
that's a different story. But what you have to do
is find the players that you feel like best fit
your program and get those individuals in the boat, so

(41:53):
to speak. And the Tigers had offers out to like
Peyton Houston and a couple other prospects, but when Cream
hugually got the they offer, he said, I'm all in.
And now the Tigers have their twenty twenty seven quarterback.
When we come back. Britt Friedlander joins us right after this.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
Each time for Clempson Sports Talk with Lawton Swan Swanny.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
It is our number two. That's drivetime right here on
the show The Shakes of Southland, Clemson Sports Talons with you.
Brett Friedlander set to join the program around the bend.
You can follow Brett on Twitter at b fried Acc
And we get to Brett momentarily. Of course, our number
two of the show, The Chase of south Land, brought

(43:14):
you in part by our good friends over at METS
Plumbing seven three two drip, drip, drip drip. You know
the jingle seven three two drip. That's METS Plumbing, mets
Plumbing dot com. All right out of the gates hour too,
Brett Friedlander. Brett, welcome in Hope. You had a great
fourth of July.

Speaker 8 (43:31):
It was okay. I unfortunately didn't get to get out
and about too much because my wife was sick and
had to help take care of her. But we are
We're doing well. We just got back from Antigua, and
uh so I'm still kind of recovery from that.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
Well.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
Look, man, I know you were telling me and for
the listeners that don't know, you've kind of retired from
your coverage of the ACC. But with the Atlantic Coast
Conference kickoff coming up, I said, Man, I gotta talk
to Britt get a little historical perspective on it and
all that. But congratulations on an incredible run covering the
conference and of course covering many other sports as well.

Speaker 8 (44:08):
Sure, and I'm only semi retired. I've retired from the
Daily Grind. Writing seven columns a week was just kind
of taxing, especially for someone my age. But I'm going
to continue to write about a SEC basketball, in particular
for Seth Davis's Hoops Headquarters site. I'm currently writing some

(44:29):
previews for Blue Ribbon College Basketball yearbook, and you never
know where I'll pop up during the football season because
anybody who needs something, I'll be there righted for them.
So it's I'm I'm still in the game, but just
not full time.

Speaker 3 (44:45):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
Britt Friedlanders on Twitter at b froud ACC so Brett.
Last year, obviously, the league expanded and you and I
talked about how much it had changed over the years.
But you know, thinking back more and focusing maybe a
little bit more centric on your career, when was the
first time you covered the ACC kickoff when you know
there was anything like that put together? And what are

(45:07):
some of your fondest and earliest memories.

Speaker 8 (45:10):
Well, let me just say that it was a totally
different world back then. The ACC had eight and then
nine teams and it was really more of a family
kind of situation. I was working for the newspaper Annapolis,
Maryland covering the Terps, who you know, obviously, that tells
you how much it's changed. Maryland's not in the conference anymore.
But every year around this time, they have a little

(45:31):
get together in Foxfire Village, North Carolina, is just outside Pinehurst,
and the coaches and the media would all get together,
We play a little golf and we'd sit down at
some tables, have some dinner, and then talk about the
upcoming season. So it's kind of evolved from that, and
then it just kind of grew and it's nothing like

(45:52):
the monstrosity that we see now, which is basically made
for television, and you know, we're you know, the big
ballroom and and an MC doing a question and answer
session with each coach, and you know the breakout sessions
which you know you really can't get intimate, you know,
in a setting with his fifty sixty people and crowded around,

(46:15):
you know, a table with a coach is sitting up
on a podium, you know, rather than just kind of
a bunch of is sitting around around table just you know,
shooting the bull.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
Now, if you think back to those days, obviously the
Clympson Tiger faithful would love to hear a story or
two perhaps about Danny Ford. Is there any Danny Ford
moment that maybe sticks out for you from those early
times covering the Clympson Tigers for you.

Speaker 8 (46:41):
Not really other than the fact that he was he
was a lot more quotable in those situations than he
was after games. I can tell you that, Yeah, Danny
was just No, seriously, Danny was just I mean he
is as a genuine a guy as you will ever see.
You know, a tobacco chewing, you know, old time, you know,
good old bull who just kind of loved football and

(47:03):
just kind of loved spinning yarns and talking about I
tell you what the one thing I remember was with
his descriptions of the fridge. William Perry. Now, I came
along after the Fridge had had left. I started covering
the league in nineteen eighty four, so it was a

(47:23):
couple of years after that championship team. Although I was
working at the paper in Beaufort, South Carolina the year
that they won the championship in the Orange Bolga's Nebraska
and I actually covered that game for that paper. But
he his descriptions of how big the fridge was, and
at that time, now he was starting to play for

(47:43):
the Bears, and he says, I couldn't imagine I couldn't
imagine handing the ball off.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
To that guy.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
Friedlander with his herald the program again on Twitter at
b Froud ACC. Now, while you and I were at
the ACC kickoff several years ago, the news kind of
that Texas and Oklahoma were going to be leaving the
Big Twelve for the SEC. But during your tenure covering
the Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the preeminent teams in
the sport was Florida State and head coach Bobby Bowden.

(48:12):
What memories do you have of them joining the ACC?
And obviously we were in a different era in terms
of the media and the coverage. But if that type
of move, you know, if the if you put the
coverage level at what it is today and have that
type of move take place given sort of what the
run that they were on at that time, I mean,

(48:32):
I can't imagine the seismic shift that that would have
felt like, because I think looking back on it, I
don't feel like it was nearly as big of a
deal as some of these other things that we've seen recently.

Speaker 8 (48:44):
No, first of all, the thing about Bobby Dodden I
remember best is that I don't know if he couldn't
remember his player's names or just it. It was one
of those ticks that he had, but he would always
refer to them by number, right, number seventeen. He's going
to be our quarterback, and he's he's a good little boy.
But but the thing was at Florida State coming in.
I thought that one was a really pivotal moment for

(49:06):
the ACC because I thought it was it was the
moment in which the ACC started caring about football. Up
until that point, it was primarily a basketball conference. That
you know, there was Flemsen and you know, Maryland was
pretty good at times. You're tech with Paul Johnson was decent,
but football was kind of an afterthought until Florida State
came in. And when that happened, the national spotlight kind of,

(49:29):
uh finally started to focus on the ACC and you
could see the interest and the the the attendance in
the football media circus that preceded the season started to
pick up. And that's when I think the conference started
down the road that it is now, and obviously not
to the same extent, but it became more football centric conference,

(49:54):
and it forced everybody else, and it forced everybody else
to start putting more interest and more emphasis on fotball
because Florida State came in won the league what nine
straight years when they first when they first came in,
I think only lost like one game again in conference
play up, and you know, during that early stretch, and
so everybody else had to get better.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
Too well, and they win a couple of national titles
along the way, and so that's kind of where my
next thing would go. I was playing some audio from
Brett Yormark, who I might argue, just in the sense
of trying to create an aura around his league might
be as good as anybody right now in the power
for out in the Big Twelve. And I think the
real question becomes not just for that conference, but for

(50:35):
the Atlantic Coast Conference maybe even this season. You know,
the depth of the leagues by comparison to the Big
ten in the SEC, I don't think hold as much
water nearly, But you can have three, maybe four strong teams.
How important and significant is it for not just the
Big Twelve, but maybe the ACC this year to present

(50:56):
more options for the college football playoffs.

Speaker 8 (50:58):
Yeah, you know, with all due respect to the Wake
Forrests and Cows and Stanford's other world, I think parody
and I think balance from top to bottom is not
necessarily the thing that the ACC really needs right now.
I think the ACC needs to have three or four
really strong teams that stand out, that are in the
rankings the whole season, and really, like you said, gives

(51:20):
a committee more options and kind of take away that
that you know, that narrative that who did they play,
they played a crappy schedule. I think there's a potential
for a couple of teams to break out like that.
I think Louisville is poised to be really good. I
think Jeff Brahm is an outstanding coach. I'm I'm not

(51:42):
convinced that SMU is going anywhere, and I would be
absolutely shocked if Florida State is as bad as they
were last year. You know, that's the thing about the
transfer portal. If you swing and miss, that can happen.
But now he's basically rebuilt his team. Thomas Cascianos is
now playing quarterback, somebody who has had success in this league.

(52:05):
And you know, I think Florida State could bounce back
very quickly. And then of course it's Miami. You know,
the brand name teams that ESPN loves. It would really
really help the league for those teams to be not
just competitive, but you know, nationally relevant well.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
And thinking of Miami right even a year ago, when
they have a chance to get back into the ACC
championship game and maybe win it, they fumble it at
the end of the season. That's another incredible like we
flip it back. You go to Florida State and when
they came in, they managed to win a couple of
national titles and improve the profile of the league where
Miami has been in the conference for twenty years and

(52:46):
has yet to kick in a conference championship, a victory
in the conference championship game. I mean, that is just
beyond bizarre, because I think everybody probably had higher expectations
for the Hurricanes in the Atlantic Coast Conference than they've delivered.

Speaker 8 (53:01):
What's beyond bizarre is the fact that it doesn't matter
who the coach is, who the players are. It seems
like they follow the same script every year. They get
built up. Everybody says this is gonna be the year
they're gonna get the swag back, and they tease you
a little bit and then do something to shoot themselves
on the foot and and it's it's uncanny. And last

(53:22):
year was I mean, they had a twenty one zing
lead against against Syracuse in the in the second quarter
and all they needed to do is win the game.
They're going to the a SEC championship game, they're gonna
be in the playoff winner, lose there, and uh and
they just they just fell apart. And and again it
Randy Shannon or Mark Richt or Al Golden, it doesn't

(53:45):
matter and Mario Christobal, it's it just seems to be
a pattern and I can't explain it. And uh yeah,
I mean and and that's it. I'm sure that Miami
is gonna be ranked very highly again when when the
ACC goes to Charlotte and they take the poll again
here in a couple of weeks or next week, and

(54:07):
I would not be shocked if the same scenario plays out.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
Brett Friedlander again on Twitter at b fraud. ACC has
been covering the Atlantic Coast Conference is nineteen eighty one,
and Brett, you mentioned the transfer portal. I think about
you know, when I was growing up and going and
getting like Phil Steele's magazine you could take and listen.
I'm not gonna discredit Phil Steel by any means in

(54:33):
terms of the paperwork that he puts out, but I
will say that job has changed so immensely with the
transfer portal. I don't know how you can really quantify it.
And quite frankly, I think as media members and we
saw in the Big Twelve they didn't even take a poll,
I think it's very difficult even for US wise guys
to figure out who's going to be on top of

(54:54):
the league.

Speaker 8 (54:55):
Yeah, you know, I have written for publications like that
on the Blue Ribbon used to put out a football guide,
and I've written for Athalons and you know, we used
to the deadlines were incredibly early. They were like basically
right after spring football. You'd have to, you know, do
the previous for the following season. You can't do that
anymore because you just don't know who's going to be

(55:17):
playing on the team, let alone who's going to be
the starters. And it really is frustrating. It's really kind
of strange because it's kind of like free agency happens
every year. It's a totally new world and it's continuing
to change, and with revenue sharing now here, I think
it's gonna get crazier rather than.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
More stable now, Britt, when you look at the conference
this season, the team that everybody continues to talk about
is the one I cover the most Clemson. And there's
really no surprise there. But I think the thing that
jumps out for me is I don't remember, even during
the run that Clemson had from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty,

(55:56):
the confidence that people seem to have in the Tiger.
And they were really good, you know, after walloping Alabama
forty four to sixteen and then running out fourteen more
games into the championship against LSU. I mean, that was
a really good Clympson team. But man, they're talking about
I've seen some projections with Kade Club being the number
one pick. I've seen TJ. Parker being the third pick.

(56:17):
I've seen you know, Peter Woods being the sixth pick,
like three of the top six picks in the NFL draft.
What are we talking about? How can this be realistic?
I've tried to temper expectations all off season because it's
as ali control about Clemson as I can remember it.

Speaker 8 (56:32):
Yeah, you know, they're basically the football equivalent of Duke basketball.
I mean they no, seriously, they just had three guys
picked in the top ten of the NBA Draft and
it's just you know, a collection of talent that you know,
one thing that makes me laugh is the narrative that
oh Dabbo has entered the twenty first century. You know,

(56:56):
he's he's discovered the transfer portal and and now all
of a sudden they're back nationally elite. Well, I mean
he's brought in what three guys, and really it's basically
they're basically depth moves. I mean, the guys that you're
talking about are all home grown and and I just
kind of think that, you know it sometimes that confluence

(57:18):
of talent comes together and they develop and you know,
you get that special that special group. And right now
this appears to have that potential. And the other thing too,
is if you look at the great Clemson teams, the
national championship teams, the teams that got to the title game,
I mean all the way back to Home or Jordan,
what is the key element they alway, they always play defense,
that clumps is always going to defend. The thing that

(57:41):
makes that that you know, that that separates the good
Clemson teams from the truly great teams is a quarterback,
a a elite quarterback, and Kate Clubnick has developed into
that taking them a little while. You know, he was
he had all the hype coming out of high school.
He was the number one prospect in the country and uh,
you know he you know, he was a lot was

(58:01):
expected of him. But now over the last three years
he has grown and developed and he's ready to break
out now. And I think that is to me, the
key to this why this team has a chance to
be that special.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
The other thing too, not necessarily from the Clemson standpoint,
but nationally, that seems to be a consistent theme that
we're seeing is the belief that if you have an
upper class minute quarterback, if you have somebody with some experience,
that that really favors you. Given this transfer portal era
for one reason or another, do you tend to buy
into that as well? That just the quarterbacks that have

(58:35):
been in the systems that have not transferred tends to
be the best case scenario. Like I say, a Drew
Aller at Penn.

Speaker 8 (58:42):
State at Penn State, you know, and you know, there
are outliers, there are exceptions to the rule, and I'm
going to say cam Ward is definitely, you know, the
primary example of that. But you're right, I think, you know,
you look at the TCU team a couple of years ago,
why did they get to the championship game? Well, whcause
they had a quarterback who was in the system and

(59:04):
and and and and developed and and you know, grew
with the guys around him, and you know, so yeah,
it's it's I think it's it's a huge it's a
huge advantage. Like I said, it's not a prerequisite, but
it's definitely you know, a it puts you in a
much better position, I think.

Speaker 3 (59:23):
Again.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
Follow Brett on Twitter at b fraud A C.

Speaker 3 (59:26):
C again.

Speaker 2 (59:27):
The Atlantic Coast Conference getting there kick off underway in
a couple of weeks, Brett, Uh, will not be there.
You're not gonna be there, right, That's the way it
sounded when we spoke.

Speaker 8 (59:36):
No and I And I tell you what, I picked
a really good one to break my streak of being
there because it's gonna be an absolute circus between the
the Bill Belichick uh, you know, stravaganza and and the
whole settlement with Florida State and Clemson and and how
Jim Phillips is going to be asked about that and

(59:59):
if he's going to react to that. It's it's gonna be.
It'll be eventful. I can tell you that it'll be.
It'll be entertaining the boil boy. It's gonna be a circus,
isn't it? Well?

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
I think so. And the other thing that's gonna be
on the docket for sure is the the five eleven
five plus eleven model for the playoff in the future. Yep,
what are your thoughts on that? We have about two minutes.

Speaker 8 (01:00:18):
Well, let me just say I think the five eleven
is definitely the best way to do it, because if
you're gonna get into the tournament. You should be able
to earn your way in rather than the you know,
the fourth place team in the SEC guaranteed to get
and you earn it. Okay, so if you're that good
and it's the five eleven, you could get more than
four teams in. But I think there's that. The other thing, too,

(01:00:38):
is I'm not sure how much longer the current system
is going to be in place, regardless of what they decide,
because I think that within the next few years, and
I think the settlement, the you know, the fine print
in the settlement between Florida state clumps and the ACC
kind of pretends this. I think we're gonna see a
super a football super league here sooner than later. I

(01:01:02):
don't think you're gonna have you know, ACC SEC big
ten uh to talk about in football, because I think
it's gonna be an NFL style conference where you'll have
different divisions and uh, they're gonna be much different than
they look now. And I think that's gonna be the
best thing that could happen to college sports into the
NCAA because now the NCAA doesn't have to worry about football,

(01:01:24):
can govern themselves, do what they want to do, and Uh,
it was with title nine. Now you take all those
scholarships out of the out of the equation, and now
schools can start, you know, having you know, men's track
again and men's tennis again, and maybe women's will cross
and all that kind of stuff. And uh, don't have
to worry about paying for football, because football will pay
for itself.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
Brett Man always appreciates. You can't wait to catch up
again real soon anytime. Man, they got us. Brett Friedlander
on Twitter at b froud acc man. I hate to
see the great ones not retire, but you know, step
away just a little bit. He is always fun to
be around. Very colorful individual for sure. Brett fried Later,
all right, quick breat We'll come at with more here

(01:02:06):
on a Thursday afternoon back out of the show the
Shakespeare Southland Clemson Sports Talk on a Thursday, So we
played the opening comments for Brett or mart yesterday at
the Big Twelve Media Days, but he also had a
Q and A session with the media, and he was
asked about in his three years at the Big Twelve,

(01:02:27):
how he's sort of seen the conference develop.

Speaker 9 (01:02:31):
I'm thrilled with where the Big Twelve is right now,
you know, three years ago, I didn't walk on the stage.
I sat on the stage, which was a little uncomfortable
for me, and I said, I wanted to modernize this conference.
I wanted to be more contemporary. I wanted to get
on the consciousness of future student athletes. I wanted to
create a foundation that would enable us to succeed. I

(01:02:53):
wanted to be a national conference. I wanted to double
down with ESPNN FOX. We've done all of that more.
I love the trajectory of this conference. I love where
we're going. Our schools are making incredible investments and infrastructure
performance and student athletes. It's everything I could have wished
for when I took this job three years ago. But

(01:03:14):
I will tell you we're just getting started. This conference
is today not the best version of itself, but we
will be sooner than later. And as I said earlier,
we have a unified board, an incredible group of ads.
We share in the vision for this conference, and I'm
excited about our future.

Speaker 6 (01:03:32):
But thank you for the question.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
Your Mark was also asking about his stance on the
five eleven model, and the question was kind of phrase
to him, Well, the committee didn't love the Big twelve
a year ago, would the league maybe be better off
having two guaranteed spots, and that is kind of a
flip side of the you know, kind of where college

(01:03:57):
football is, so to speak. And here's what your Mark
said in regards to that thought process around the college
Football Playoff and the future with the Big Twelve.

Speaker 9 (01:04:09):
I have a lot of faith in the selection process.
I was recently North Carolina. We had a CFP meeting
that was hosted by the executive director Richard Clark, who's
here today.

Speaker 3 (01:04:19):
Welcome Richard.

Speaker 6 (01:04:21):
They are doing a.

Speaker 9 (01:04:22):
Full audit of the selection process to figure out how
they can modernize and contemporize, and how they use data
and how certain metrics can be more heavily weighted. Most importantly,
they have a great leader, mac Rose, a bailor, and
I have a lot of faith in mac Rhodes and
the work he's doing with the selection committee. So I

(01:04:43):
have a lot of faith in what they're doing. And
five to eleven is is fair. We want to earn
it on the field. It might not be the best
solution today for the Big Twelve, given your comments about AQS,
but long term, knowing the progress from making the investments
we're making, it's the right format for us, and I'm

(01:05:04):
doubling down today on five to eleven, and I know
Jim Phillips will and I'm sure some of the other
conference commissioners will as well.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
There you go, and again that five to eleven model,
like we said yesterday here on the program, that model,
to me, allows teams to go out and earn it
on the field, and certainly playing a more difficult schedule
can make it more difficult for you to climb into
that that level. But I don't think diminishing the value

(01:05:38):
of a league by saying, hey, these two leagues deserve
twice as many spots helps with the situation. Now, if
you want to go to like a three three three
three model where every league is guaranteed three spots and
then you have one spot for the group of five

(01:05:59):
and three wild cards, I'm not necessarily against that because
you're evenly dispersing the opportunity to all of the four
Power four conferences and allowing, if say the fourth and
fifth best team in the SEC deserved to be in
your mind, for them to be in as well as wildcards.

(01:06:22):
But to wait it where one league gets forward just
because without knowing any idea of what the future is
going to look like for that league and other leagues.
Having just two I think is not a good scenario
over the long haul for college sports. And your Mark
was asked more specifically about the undertaking of looking into

(01:06:47):
the committee maybe adding strength to schedule and not adding it,
but you know, kind of shifting the metric up to
maybe balance it out to pacify. I guess you'd say
some of those SEC schools and Big ten schools with it,
but I don't want to necessarily. Maybe I didn't quite
phrase that the right way, but he was asked about
maybe some of the changing metrics, if that makes sense.

(01:07:09):
Here here's what your Mark has to say about it,
and I'm going.

Speaker 9 (01:07:12):
To defer to Richard Clark, he's here today. But I
think as you as you look at how things are
way to a different metrics, strength of schedule matters, and
there's some new metrics that are going to be brought
into the into the puzzle, I think as well to
compliment what's already there. So again, I'm confident we'll get

(01:07:32):
to the right place and ultimately I'm confident we'll go
to five eleven.

Speaker 2 (01:07:37):
Final thing from brett yor Mark, and I'm gonna play
the whole Q and A because this is one of
the best moments I've ever seen at a media day.
This is spectacular. Here we go, We'll go to Melissa
while we wait for the mic.

Speaker 6 (01:07:49):
Everyone should know Melissa, who's about to ask this question?
Was my seventh grade basketball coach? Where where's Melissa? Make
sure you show her the one? And I also as
team MVP, not that anyone asked, but I don't.

Speaker 10 (01:07:58):
Know if we need to verify the team MVP thing, Clark,
but I'm going to let you have it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
Well, let's still send my box score, Melissa.

Speaker 6 (01:08:05):
Was he any good? Listen?

Speaker 10 (01:08:06):
Clark was the best player on a very mid middle
school basketball team that's not a men.

Speaker 9 (01:08:14):
So I'm saying he was an outlier on a team
that wasn't that good.

Speaker 3 (01:08:19):
You know what.

Speaker 6 (01:08:20):
I like the way that you phrase that.

Speaker 10 (01:08:21):
That's why you're up there and I'm down here right Clark.

Speaker 6 (01:08:24):
Congratulations.

Speaker 10 (01:08:26):
I feel like we've derailed this whole thing, but it
actually seguays nicely into my question, So thank you, Clark.
Melissa Treebasser with Frogs Insider, you mentioned doubling down on
women's basketball and the Olympic sports in an era of
revshare where I would say every fan base wants every
dollar thrown to football. What is that practically going to
look like in this conference.

Speaker 9 (01:08:44):
I can't speak for our schools because obviously it's they
determine how they want to slice the pie, if you will,
but I can tell you in conversations women's basketball matters
and it matters to our conference. We want more linear
exposure for our games, which will working on and you
know from our conference perspective, we're looking to elevate and

(01:09:04):
amplify women's basketball.

Speaker 3 (01:09:06):
In all the right ways.

Speaker 9 (01:09:08):
Kendidley, last year I went to more women's basketball than
he did men's basketball.

Speaker 3 (01:09:11):
I'd become a big fan.

Speaker 9 (01:09:13):
So we're going to work to double down, as I
mentioned in my comments, and I'm excited about where we're going.

Speaker 3 (01:09:20):
So there you go.

Speaker 2 (01:09:21):
How about that exchange. The guy just happened the lady
in the crowd just happened to be his middle school
basketball coach. That's outstanding, and he was sort of the
individual that was you know, kind of the EMC or
whatever passing between the commissioner and the media. All right,
keep it a lot for more of the show. The

(01:09:41):
shakestas Ath Lantic back at it on a Thursday again.
Don't forget if you're downtown Clemson to go check out
our friends at Alumni Hall on the corner of campus
right there, stones throw away from historic Riggs Field. I
love that hall for all your officially licensed Clemson merchandise, hats,
T shirts, tailgate gear more. Don't forget Clympson students, faculty,
and military get ten percent all when shopping in store
at Alumni Hall. It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop.

(01:10:06):
So back to the Big Twelve media days with brett
Or mart the commissioner of that league, because he was
asked about his statement that we played for you yesterday
where he talked about felt like this was the deepest league,
and the media member, I'll give him credit address the
exact thing that we talked about on this show. How
important is it, though that you get to two multiple

(01:10:26):
if you will playoff contenders every single season. Here's what
your Mark had to say on that.

Speaker 9 (01:10:32):
Critical I like how you stated that, you know, I
think parody matters, and I think, ultimately, over time and
that's hopefully sooner than later, there'll be a couple of
our schools that will merge, you know, as elite schools
that are always part of the conversations at the highest levels,
and that's what we're working towards. But it starts with

(01:10:52):
parody and being competitive top to bottom. And I think
we're there, and I think we're the best in the
conference or in the country when you think about how
deep we are top to bottom. But I do believe
that long term, you need certain schools to emerge to
the top, and I think we're getting there.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
And the final thing from britt Or Mark, he was
asked a question that's interesting, The Big Twelve is not
doing a preseason media poll, and he was asked if
a part of that was because he felt like a
media pole might present some sort of metric that made

(01:11:29):
a team from the bottom who played well not seem
as desirable so to speak for the college football playoff, well.

Speaker 9 (01:11:36):
I mean, I guess collectively, you know, that could be
some rationale, But for me and for the conference, it's
we don't want to disadvantage any of our schools because again,
with roster management and the transfer portal, no one knows
really what they have until they take the field. And
I think it was the right decision for us, and
I'm happy we made it.

Speaker 2 (01:11:56):
So that's your marks thoughts on it. And it is
interesting calls. It's incredibly difficult, like much more different, like
I talk about Phil Steele and how difficult that job
must be. And so to not have a media poll
for the first time in the thirty years of the

(01:12:17):
Big Twelve is striking. But conference administrators and coaches decided
to discontinue the preseason poll, and it was a unanimous approval. Unanimous,
And look, nothing screams, nothing's less important than what the

(01:12:39):
media thinks. But when the roster turnover and attrition wasn't
as significant as it is today, you did have a
better idea, perhaps of what a team was going to
look like, a better picture, a better accurate picture of programs.
So no media poll, no guess as to who's going

(01:13:04):
to be where. And one of the other things I
think Chris Kleiman, head coach at Kansas State, said we
are adam and as coaches to our late racers, that
we have to get rid of this because the narrative
is so poor. Last season, Arizona State was picked by
the media to finish last sixteenth. They won the conference title,

(01:13:31):
clinched a berth in the College Football Playoff finished with
eleven wins, but did not appear in national rankings until
Week twelve. That was the third week of the College
Football Playoffs rankings. And a similar thing happened back in

(01:13:52):
twenty twenty one when Baylor was picked to finish third
to last in the conference went on to win the
Big Twelve finished seventh in the pole after winning the
Sugar Bowl. And so, because they felt like it's hurt
a couple of teams the preseason polls put together by
media members, they've chosen just not to do that. And

(01:14:19):
I think the Arizona State example from a year ago
is a prime example of not necessarily how it hurts
the team, but it could not have helped. Like if
you think about, like if Arizona State had been perceived
to be the number one team out of the gates

(01:14:40):
in the Big Twelve a season ago, and they pieced
together the year that they had, how well thought of
are they earlier in the season, and how much of
an impact could that have had on their potential ranking?
Could they have been the number two overall team in
the rankings? Who's to say, in your perception is diminished

(01:15:03):
by individuals in the media makes it pretty difficult to
climb that ladder throughout the season. Now. I also want
to focus on this too, about britt your Mark. We
talked about with when we were talking with Facts and
Children yesterday about your market. I think Facts and I
can't remember the exact quote, but I believe he called

(01:15:23):
him the best commissioner in college in college football. He's
a salesman, and I don't want to be I don't
want to put words in Facts's mouth, but I think
that's what he said. But but he is he he
every you know, when the people asked the question, he
would say, Hey, is this your first is this your
first time at Big twelve media days? What do you

(01:15:45):
think about it? What do you think about the venue?
And they they're trying to scope it up right like I.
I you know, the Atlantic Coast Conference. I kind of
talked about that earlier with scheduling with teams and things
of that nature. Well, I got an email back during
the show show from NC State's athletic department and I
was told, Hey, we're going to prioritize the outlets that

(01:16:08):
are that cover us, right, I get that. I hope
Clemson prioritizes me, but that they are going to prioritize
the teams in the markets that are on NC State's schedule.
And even though Clemson and NC State feel like rivals,
they're not on the schedule, and so I may not

(01:16:29):
talk to anybody from NC State. Now. In the old days,
the ACC would have coordinated that, and again, increasing the
profile in the reach of your your league to me
should be the onus on the league and not in

(01:16:49):
the hands of the athletic departments of schools. They were
able to say, no, we're not going to do that,
although I will say last year Florida State refused to
do interviews with Clemson media, So who knows. I probably
won't get anybody from FSU either. All Right, with a
quick break, we'll come back. We'll put a bow on
the show that shakes the south Land right here on
a Thursday afternoon. After this, keep it locked.

Speaker 11 (01:17:13):
What have you done for me lately?

Speaker 3 (01:17:17):
It's a fair question.

Speaker 11 (01:17:19):
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture, don't forget history.
Lucky for us at Clemson, the answer to the questions
what have you done for me lately?

Speaker 3 (01:17:32):
And what have you done? Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 2 (01:18:26):
Final segment on a Thursday afternoon, the Show that Shakes
to South Lanta, Clemson Sports tal Log and Swam with
You again. Big pickup for the Clemson Tiger football team
their second commitment in the twenty twenty five class, as Gainesville,
Georgia quarterback Kareem Hugley committed to the Tigers earlier today,

(01:18:48):
just five days after receiving an offer from Clemson. And
you know one thing that is unique about Clemson and
recruiting right now, I would say more than recent years.
I think because of the nature of college sports and

(01:19:14):
players moving around, etc. Etc. You can't be well, at
least I don't think that you can be quite as
selective as Clemson has been in the past. And the
Tigers this year had already offered four quarterbacks. Trent Seaborn,

(01:19:36):
now the alabastera Alabama. He's a former teammate of Peter Woods,
and of course Kareem Hugley, who committed to Clemson. Teddy
Girard out of North Cobb County High School over in Georgia,
and then Peyton Houston out of Cotton Valley, Louisiana's Evangelical

(01:19:57):
Christian Academy, all of those guys have been offered by
the Tigers now. Last year two offers two commits Tate
Reynolds and brought Bradley in the twenty twenty six class.
We'll see if both of those continue to stick. I

(01:20:18):
believe they will. In the twenty twenty five class, Clemson
only offered four guys. But really there was sort of
like this progression with George McIntyre and then Blake Hebert
and then ultimately Chris Denson at the end once Hebert
flipped to Notre Dame. So clips has been pretty consistent

(01:20:42):
in keeping it rather snug and then as necessary maybe
expanding their palette, so to speaking, going out and pursuing
more guys now, but they've always had a pretty tight

(01:21:03):
what's the word of it, just a pretty tight list.
I mean, you go back to twenty twenty three, when
Christopher Vezena commits to Clemson. The only other offer that
I think they had out that year was to Arch Manning.
Manning of course ends up at Texas. Let's see anybody
else Kate club next year. Trying to remember how that

(01:21:27):
all played out, I think the Tigers had offered Ty Simpson.
Ty Simpson is now going to be I believe the
starting quarterback projected starting quarterback at Alabama this year. Simpson
committed Alabama and then the Tigers ultimately landed Kyklubnick. So
to see a list kind of this wide at this

(01:21:49):
point is not eye raising or anything like that, but
kind of gives you an idea that, hey, Clemson's trying
to advance the process just a little bit by making
sure that they don't just put all their eggs in
one basket and then have a situation where they are
scrambling at the back end, especially at the spot like quarterback.

(01:22:13):
Fascinating too, by the way, to kind of go through
as I had a chance to sit here and look
at some of this, some of the names and the
guys that Clemson has offered over the years at the
quarterback spot. I was looking at all the way back
to when Trevor Lawrence committed to Clemson. The Tigers had
three other offers out that year. One of them was

(01:22:35):
Filled Drakovic. Drakovic who was eventually going to be the
quarterback at Boston College, and I believe he may have
moved around a couple of times. I think Drakovic started
maybe at Notre Dame and ended up at Boston College

(01:22:55):
and then finished his career at Pittsburgh. I don't know
if he's playing in the NFL or not. Let's see
last year he got an invite, but yes, sort of
a fascinating look at some of the names and positions,
maybe or the names at a key position like quarterback,

(01:23:15):
where maybe Clemson didn't land on some other guys who
went out and made a name for themselves elsewhere, maybe
not at the same level as a Trevor Lawrence or
Deshaun Watson. Looking here back to twenty sixteen, good gracious,
it looks like Clempson offered a lot of people that year.
They ended up landing Zerk Cooper, but the number of

(01:23:42):
offers that went out that year at quarterback from the
Tigers pretty immense, I will say that. So they have
narrowed the recruiting quite a bit, but trying to be
a little bit more efficient in who they land. I mean,
let's see ten quarterbacks offering two fifteen. The Tigers landed
Kelly Bryant and Tucker Israel. They had also offered Lamar

(01:24:04):
Jackson and Kyler Murray, just to name a couple in
that twenty sixteen group. It looks like Clemson offered fifteen
players and landed Zack Cooper. That's incredible. All right, we'll
be back tomorrow to talk more about your Clemson Tigers again.
As always, you'll take care now and CoA Tigers