July 20, 2020 • 53 mins
Mike Blewitt is joined by Joe Lisi for this episode of Football Full Circle! The guys discuss how the college football season may be in jeopardy this year. Mike and Joe discuss what we can expect from CJ Verdell and some SEC running backs in 2020. The guys take a look at the some potential winners of the Davey O'Brien Award and some other awards as well.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment at your
fingertips as our team covers the most important topics in
sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks,
and more. Want the edge than get on the grid
sports grid dot Com. Hey, everybody, welcome to this college
(00:23):
edition of Football Full Circle. Mike flew It along with
Joe Leasy, Joe Gooda, have you on here? Hope things
are well? Not doing well, Mike, I hope you are
as well. Or about a few weeks away from the
start of uh fall camp for much of these colleges,
and we'll see if we can kick off the season
on time Labor Day weekend. In fact, a lot of
schools reported this week. Now we know that there's been
(00:45):
an ongoing discussion. You know, it's unfortunate show because we'd
sit here and talk every week about the different stories
that have come out regarding college football, and it feels like,
more than any other sport, it's the one that's in
the cross hairs the most. Right we have players showing
up on college campuses which don't have students on it,
and we don't know, frankly, if there will be students
(01:06):
on some of these college campuses. USC has been sort
of doubtful as to whether or not students will return.
It may not matter to anybody in the college football
world whether or not n YU near where we live
has students back on their city campus, but it does
matter for USC and Notre Dame in Oklahoma and Miami
and some of the other schools that we're going to
(01:26):
talk about as to whether or not students will be
on campus. So, in fact, Mark Emmett, the president of
the n c A, said that if there is to
be college sports in the fall, we need to get
a much better handle on the pandemic. So I'll throw
that Motson ball out there, uh to kick things off,
(01:48):
But I'll follow it up with some other reactions from
college football coaches. So Vice President Mike Pence visited Baton
Rouge this week, and ed Orgeron said, quote, we need
to play. The state needs it, meaning football, this country
needs it. This coronavirus can be handled. He said that
(02:08):
directly to Mike Pence. He seemed very supportive of it.
Now their reigning national champs football means a lot to
that school in that region, perhaps more than some others.
But it's just one person's opinion in this regard. I
think your college football element, Mike, has as much volatility
as the stock market in terms of changing from day
(02:29):
to day, week to week at this point. And you
can't fault at Old Drawn. I mean, national champs, they
ran the table last year fifteen and old Heisman Trophy winner,
and they are amped up to get the campaign underway
and being in the SEC and playing in the SEC
West with Alabama. I said it last week. They are
gonna be the conference that is going to be the
(02:51):
least or the last to give in to this type
of situation. So it will be intriguing to see how
this situation pans out over the next couple of weeks.
But I have to agree with that Old Drawn. I mean,
everybody talks about baseball as America's pastime. I think it's
the game of football, college and pro in terms of
the play on the field, physicality, the tradition, and let's
(03:14):
keep in mind the gambling aspect as well. People from
a fantasy perspective, sports wagering perspective need to get football
underway Labor Day weekend. Yeah, I think there's a lot
of people that really wanted to happen. I don't think
anybody like myself that is skeptical that it might is
in any way actively rooting against it for any political
(03:35):
reason whatsoever. I am not reading against it. I'm concerned
about what it might mean. I also do have the
I have had the conversation with you on this show
about about college administrators for many decades now talking about
student athletes and putting that first. And the notion that
(03:55):
they've said a few months ago that we won't play
football if there's no students on campus, and some A
d s already starting to reverse course on at least
setting up the reverse the one on that does not
sit well with me. Uh. It's not like I am
under an illusion that college football is in big business,
but it does not sit well with me that they
(04:17):
might turn around on that and frankly just be playing
football for the money. It won't be health first, It
will be money first in this instance. And understand all
the ramifications if we don't play Joe, Well, you mentioned
the money, Mike, right. I think that when those a
d s and those departments in terms of colleges made
those statements, they were blanket statements and and quite Honestly,
(04:39):
I don't think they took into account or thought that
we'd still be in this situation in late July early August.
They thought that we'd be through the storm and that
students who would be back on campus, never thinking that
the elephant was in the room staring them right in
the face saying here we are. We need to make
a decision within the next couple of weeks. So that's
why they're starting to dial it back. And when you
(05:02):
watch local economies now start to open up, but things
are still nowhere near where they were at the start
of March. I mean, we are so far behind. And
now if we go without a college and pro season,
these local economies are gonna get crossed on top of
the schools. Yeah. So, uh, we'll carry a couple of
(05:23):
schools here, one by one here because it's different, there's
varying news based on where they are in the country.
In Oklahoma, sooners are down to zero active COVID nineteen
cases amongst players and staff, and on July one, Oklahoma
football players had kicked off their voluntary on campus workouts.
That development came two weeks after it was permitted by
(05:43):
the Big Twelve. The same day workouts commenced. Oklahoma confirmed
that one hundred eleven players were tested as part of
the return to campus. Of those one eleven, fourteen came
back positive, seven since they got to campus seven prior
to it. A week and a day later, they announced
that eighty nine players and tested no new positive test
results and of the five of the original fourteen has
(06:05):
since recovered, So that left nine active cases. And then
they tested again on July with no new positive cases
and no more active cases. So of the fourteen cases
that showed of the fourteen cases excuse me that showed
up on July one as positive, it took two weeks
they got beyond it. They did some strict quarantining, and
(06:28):
I think that schools and teams can take measures in
order to make sure that this can happen. And it's why, Joe,
that I am more bullish about the season starting on
time than I am it finishing, because I think this
gets far messier in the middle of the season. Right,
a few players contracted the offensive line room. Now it's
(06:49):
got five guys that have to sit out. You don't
have enough replacements, and you can't feeld an offensive line,
and you're in trouble. It's why I think the season
can go off. There will be hitches, it can go
off on time. I don't know if they can finish
because of things like this that they'd have to restrictly
quarantine these guys in the middle of the year, and
it's gonna be tough to replace the outside factors that
(07:11):
they don't have control of controlled environment where all the
kids are in you know, the athletic department or in
the athletic training facilities. They can monitor those students, but
if school is back in session and they make uh
their way into the local town or go where do
they go from day to day, week to week, You
can't monitor that in terms of a controlled type of environment.
(07:33):
And that's gonna be where they learn on the fly
per se in terms of the season, and whichever team
has these procedures in place to deal with them effectively,
to have a backup plan to understand if player A
goes down, player B is going to be the guy
that we turn to to step up. And getting those
type of players prepared for game environments are gonna be
(07:55):
critical not only to Oklahoma but the other Power five
teams into which will have a successful season. And possibly
cracked the college football playoff. Yeah, and on the on
the negative side of this story, unfortunately, University Miami had
to shut down workout Joe amidst a rash of positive
test cases. Obviously, Florida is going through significant spikes in
(08:19):
COVID nineteen cases positive cases, and Miami had to shut
it down. So as good as much as there's good
news for Oklahoma, we see uh bad news unfortunately for Miami,
and that's gonna be critical for many Diaz and the crew.
He has a new quarterback in the Eric King. Offensive
line was a big issue for the Hurricanes last year
(08:40):
and Mike fifty one total sacks allowed. So now without
voluntary workouts, that cohesiveness from an offensive line perspective is
really going to play out until later in fall camp.
So we have to monitor that situation. We saw Ryan
Day in Ohio States suspend in terms of voluntary workouts
as well a week ago. How does Miami deal with
(09:00):
it because he's on the hot seat. So that's gonna
be a team that you're gonna have to keep an
eye out engage as these weeks progress, because there's a
lot of moving parts, especially on the defensive side. Of
the ball as well. They lose Shaq Corterman and and
pick Me their linebackers, their leader in the secondary and
Trajan Bandy. So we'll see how this UH significantly impacts
(09:21):
the Hurricanes in the next couple of weeks. Yeah, three
players tested positive, but there's ongoing testing determine the level
of players that have tested positive. Obviously, I hope those
guys are all right. And another positive story, Brett McMurphy
Stadium reported that Michigan State conducted COVID testing on seventy
four student athletes on July six, and all other results
(09:44):
were negative. So it was like it was one thing
earlier this week that I was like, finally something positive,
and I think that, you know, I go through, like
a lot of people out there watching this roller coaster
of thought processes concerning all of this, whether sports are
involved or not. One day you feel bullish about it,
the next day you're like, I don't know how things
(10:05):
are going to look. And I think even a skeptic
of some of the COVID data out there, which I
am not one, would agree that if players test positive
during the season, they're going to have to sit out. Um,
you don't want infected people around others. So that's why
I think this we're gonna we're gonna have some more
(10:27):
bumps in the road, whether it's Mark Emmert sending word
down which frankly a lot of football a days don't
even want to listen to him anymore, um as along
with a lot of other people. And I think, as
you said, getting a handle on all of this, having
good procedures in place, we'll get through as many games
as possible. We already know that the Big Ten is
(10:49):
not playing out of conference games. The a c C
has followed suit on that. We're seeing impacts to college
basketball now or the discussions regarding college basketball where there's
like unlikely to be out of conference games for many
conferences now, A lot of schools aren't shutting down basketball
season yet. Fall sports are done. Basketball really considered a
(11:12):
winter sports sell. Uh. Potentially getting started with basketball in
November is still a possibility, but that that still remains
to be seen. I think the scenarios that you just
pointed out with Michigan State are possibly going to affect
the wagering market as well, because especially they're Week one
games you might have in terms of an added value
(11:32):
or an under value for some of these teams, Michigan State,
depending upon their schedule, might be a favorite. Is that
an inflated favorite based off of no positive tests and
thinking that Mel Tucker, you know, has this team under wrap.
So that's what we have to monitor. We have to
monitor these teams. We have to see the practice repetitions,
the quarterback play and which teams understand the system and
(11:55):
can really play through that in Week number one and
Week number two plus Joe. We also talked on a
recent Football Full Circle George and I about the manner
in which information is being released. Um, the NHL has
chosen to say such a such and such a player's
unfit to play, like Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford was quote
(12:18):
unfit to play. They didn't say COVID. They're trying to
respect this privacy MLB. It's really just saying there's a
COVID I L list. But they're they're really not releasing names.
They're just saying so and so hasn't reported to camp
or they're not with the team At the moment. The
NFL hasn't decided how they're going to handle its college football.
(12:39):
There's younger kids you're trying to respect their medical privacy,
but at the same time, we will have to know
a couple of days in advance, is your quarterback going
to play or not? He hasn't been at practice all week,
what's the deal? And that's why there is no injury report,
official injury report for college. So you have to monitor
the local papers and we have to went through to
(13:00):
those school websites. And this season plays out. Yeah, So
we'll come back with a little bit more on some
of this related to b y U, Army, Navy. It's relevant.
Joe and I will come back on FFC right here
on the Grid sports grid dot Com Betting insights and
entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
(13:22):
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than get on
the grid sports grid dot Com Back on f FC
right here on the Grid. Follow us on Twitter at
sports grid, on Instagram at sports grid TV. Followed Joe
(13:45):
individually on Twitter and Instagram. I go for the two,
the number two. I'm at Mike Blewett on Twitter and
p Blewet on Instagram. So um story on b y
U and Army and Navy that you and I were
kicking around once you set up to b y situation.
For us, it's in terms of the FBS independence. We've
spoken last week about Notre Dame joining the a c C.
(14:07):
They have six a c C games scheduled UH this year,
so that will make their season in terms of playing
conference games. But a team like b y U that's
an independent might be in a crux in terms of
this type of situation where only conference only games. And
the one conference that has stepped up to possibly schedule
b YU this season is the Big Twelve, So that's
(14:30):
gonna be something that we need to monitor because the
Cougars are no joke. There are always a physical team.
They are older type of kids. They have a solid
quarterback in Zach Wilson, and they have a coach in
Calambi six hockey that's on the hot seat per se
from taking over from Bronco Mennon Hall. So this is
could possibly be Mike a dangerous team to schedule this
(14:50):
year what mature two twenty three year olds that go
on mission. So we have to monitor that because usually
b y U matches up in the in your your
offense and defensive lines and against undersized more for the
nest type of teams within the Big Twelve, those are
gonna be some matchups that we have to watch as
the season progresses, especially in weeks one and two. Yeah,
(15:13):
so they only have seven games on their schedule right
now because they were impacted by Big Tent cancelations and
other non conference cancelations, UH impacting their schedules specifically, So
they only have seven games on their slate right now.
Um Utah is when they're going to kick it off
(15:33):
right now. All these things can move around, right you.
They're playing Utah State on October two. They had Missouri
on Houston, Northern Illinois, Boise State, San Diego State, North Alabama.
They had Stanford on their schedule that got canceled. So
there's a bunch of stuff out there for them. As
you said, the Big Twelve potentially filling in for them
(15:56):
like the A s C may do for Notre Dame.
And that's the thing. Some conferences are not playing out
of conference games. So there really two conferences that will
step up are the SEC that had already indicated they're
gonna play ten conference games and possibly two non conference
games excuse me, eight and two to make it to
a total of ten. If the Big twelve does that
(16:18):
and does the same type of format where they do
eight conference games and then to non conference, they're gonna
separate themselves, not just B y U, but those two
specific Power five conferences from the Big Ten, from the
A C C in the Pac twelve. So when you
look at this in terms of strength of schedule for
a college football playoff appearance, that's where the SEC and
(16:41):
possibly Big twelve separate themselves from the other three conferences. Yeah,
so it's interesting. And I was also reading from step
from chich Glad Chuck. He's the athletic director at the
Naval Academy. And when there are other cancelations in the
Patriot League, the Army and Navy were exempted from that
(17:03):
ah A because they are military service academies and they
don't really have to Oddly, they don't really have to
listen to commissioners for for the most part, they conduct
business as is. But they're also in the unique situation
where they're preparing soldiers right and they have been together
(17:25):
unlike other campuses. They have had their cadets together for
a long period of time. So they are handling the
virus in the manner manner that a military would handle
strictly isolate and make sure that everybody is healthy, obviously,
quarantine those that are not or that have tested positive,
and they're moving about their business as a service academy
(17:46):
with athletics is sort of a secondary thought, but clearly
on the mind of everybody involved. So the Army Navy game,
if you're asking me right now, would be the most
likely game to be played this year wherever the heck
it happens at West Point in Annapolis at some uh
(18:08):
neutral site. I think that's the most likely to be
game to be played whenever the heck it gets played,
I would hope so, because that's what screens college football tradition, pageantry,
that standalone game that takes place anywhere from December tenth
to theft that's what we want to see as college
football fans. Now, the city of Philadelphia has come out
(18:30):
and said that all large events are canceled until one
that's typically where the Army Navy game has taken place
over the last few years. Now the Eagles can play
in a controlled environment. Does that mean that they allow
the Army Navy game. So I don't care where we
watch the game, Mike, I'm with you. Do it. Yeah,
(18:50):
why not? Let's watch the game that As college football fans,
we need to see that game. And if anybody has
a protocol in place, it is both of those school Well,
so I'm fairly confident that we'll see this game in Yeah,
there's a couple of other things on this regard the MEAK, unfortunately,
is another conference that has decided to cancel fall sports.
(19:15):
So it was the Ivy League, the Patriot League, and
now MEAC, which is another SCS league. However, it did
impact a couple of FBS schedules. They did have MEAC
schools will impact eight games versus FBS schools. But Thune
Cookman was supposed to play South Florida. Florida A M
was supposed to play UCF. Howard was lined up against
(19:36):
Arkansas State. Morgan State was supposed to play app State.
Norfolk State had both Charlotte and East Carolina on the schedule,
and North Carolina A and T had Liberty. North Carolina
Central had Ohio University on it. So you can see
this ripple effect Joe as much as people and casual
college football fans and even legit college football fans are like,
(19:57):
who cares about the MEAC? Well, that's why. Because there's games,
more and more games dropping off schedules to where our
best case scenario is going to be playing ten games.
It might be soon that our best case scenario is
playing less games than that. I'm just stating that each
time a conference takes a step to eliminate sports, it
(20:18):
is impacting many things down the line, not to mention
their athletic departments, financial wherewithal great point, Mike, and keep
in mind this in terms of if we're gonna have
a bowl season for bowl eligibility, what does that look like?
Because for some of these schools, they need to win
those games against FCS or MEAC type of opponents to
(20:39):
really pad their schedule because they can't get it done
within conference. So that's another situation that we have to
monitor as the season progresses in that regard which teams
are really gonna be above five hundred and are these
forty plus bowl games gonna happen as well, because those
are things that nobody you're talking about. I know, the
Rose Bowl parade has been anceled for one on on
(21:02):
New Year's Day. Nobody's even talked about that. They're talking
about the start of the season, but we really need
to have the end of the season in place as
well to know what we're playing for. Yeah, agreed. So
another component of this, Joe, is that the n c A.
I don't understand this ruling, but it says if there's
(21:22):
a college football season, it is always a bad harbinger
and way to start the story. It's recording from John
Taylor College Football Talk. The n c A will make
postseason eligibility a little easier for schedule challenge schools. Previously,
at PS programs could only count one win against FCS
opponents as part of the six needed to become bowl eligible. However,
the n c announced that two wins against FCS teams
(21:44):
can count toward the required six needed to play in
a bowl game. Now, the odd thing about that is
that I just got through telling you that the MEIAK
said that they're canceling uh Fall Sports, eliminating eight games.
Those are eight wins potentially to go around. Not suggest
the MEAC was going to lose all of those games,
but they would have been underdog and almost all of them.
(22:04):
But I'm just stating that I don't know where these
two FCS games are even coming from. Like maybe the
SEC will try to force it and play local FCS schools,
but I don't even know where these games are coming from.
To count too, I I don't understand the ruling. I
don't understand the logic either, Mike, because three of the
(22:26):
Power five conferences are are playing conference only schedules. Now
is it from the other Is it from the other conferences?
The Mountain West Conference, the Sun Belt Conference? Is it
for those schools because they are thinking about the bull perspective?
From that aspect, that's what we're gonna play all the
bull games. I have no idea, but I'll tell you this.
(22:47):
The television rights just alone are are where people watch
the bulls for right. I mean, you know TV shows
now exactly all that, all the stuff that like the
local Chamber of commerce, it's good to get involved, the
inshrived Port and El Paso and even some smaller towns
where this stuff goes down. But the reality is those
(23:09):
games exist because it's a TV show. It doesn't matter
if ten people show up to the game or like
the Rose Bowl a hundred thousand two. In that sense,
it doesn't matter great if they're full, it looks better
on TV, and it's better for those local economies. But
the Bahamas Bowl, come on, people don't go to it. No,
(23:31):
and but but that's where people are good for the
teams and the family go. But I ain't go into
the Bahamas Bowl. If BC how to play there, I'm
just not going. No. But you're betting on it, right,
that's the you know, from that perspective, and it's typically
an over a type of environment at least for the
most part. But there's been some great Bowl games, no doubt.
The television aspect is one that you know, if you're
(23:52):
one of these big major media conglomerates, you want to
see these these bowl games happen. What are you gonna do.
You're gonna be in there in late December, around Christmas,
around New Year's nothing to actually televise in terms of
live content. If college basketball is not gonna play until
what are we going to be standing at and looking at?
(24:13):
And then, more importantly, the sports books, all right, the
NFL season will be going through. But that's where the
books make their money, the bowl games. The average fan
that maybe never watches college football from August through December,
all of a sudden's tuned in. They're taking two weeks
off of work towards the end of the year, and
they want something to gamble on. That's where they're losing money. Yeah,
(24:36):
there's college football bowl pools and all that kind of
stuff that people participate in. So uh, from that, from
that standpoint, you're right, Uh, you want to see those
bowls go on. I think you're probably going to see
this year some bowls won't happen. I'll just say some.
I'm not gonna put a number on it. I don't
know what the likelihood is, but I think you'll see
some games are gonna have to drop out and say,
(24:57):
you know, what to do COVID related circumstances and teams
being unable to play full schedules. We've decided this this
time that the Bahama's Bowl will postpone operations for the calendar,
you know, the rest of the calendar year. I would
suspect that we can't play the thirty nine or forty
games that we did last year, but they're trying to
(25:19):
get close if things are under control. Yeah, and just
look at how we experienced it with the XFL, where
they had financial issues. We're gonna start to see that
if these bowl games fall out or or canceled, these
games for because they might not have the residual income
coming in from from fans, from you know, the players,
(25:40):
the schools. We have to see that type of situation
as well guarantees that that are put in place. How
about this? How about um? Do you think that there's
a sweet spot number of bowls? You and I both
like college football Bowl Week and all the bowls, but
even the most ardent college football fan would say that
it's gotten a little silly when we're trying to jam
(26:01):
five and six, five and seven teams into bowl games.
Do you think that there's a sweet spot for the
number of bowl games that we should have? Or say,
screw it. I like gambling on them all. Keep them modell,
don't cancel the one. Oh the more the better for me.
I would I would say to throw it out the window.
Let's have here. Yeah, I know my audience, I knew
(26:22):
I was going to I'm in the echo chamber here
as many games as possible. We'll come back. We're gonna
talk a little bit about Alabama recruiting after this. On
the grid Sports, grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment
at your fingertips as our team covers the most important
topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than Get on
(26:43):
the Grid sports grid dot Com. M you're watching sports Crade,
Get on the Grade. Welcome back to football full circle.
(27:07):
Here at Joe Leasy, host of College Football Today, right
here on the Grid talking about the Dope Walker Award
finalists to come out with a massive list each and
every season, Joe, just to try to whittle it down
from there. We'll get to the semifinalists at some point
and then it starts to creep towards the end of
the season where they give these awards out at the
beginning of December. But uh, some of the big names
(27:29):
on this list are as to be expected. And the
two guys that everybody's gonna be talking about in terms
of draft stock next season and performance on the field
this year are Travis Etien from Clemson and Chuba Hubbard
from Oklahoma State. Yeah, both backs that can catch the
football out of the backfield, Mike, and Travis Etienne is
a very physical runner at the point of attack, very
(27:51):
physical in terms of the blocking game as well, and
and again the leader of that offense with Trevor Lawrence.
You're talking about a player that has average for seven
and a half yards per carrying back to back seasons,
came back for his senior season because not only does
he want to win a national championship, possibly a Heisman Trophy.
On the flip side, you have Chew Behabbard, two thousand
(28:12):
yard rusher, more of a finesse type of slashing running back,
not very big, about two hundred pounds, but when he
gets the football, he is lethal in space and could
catch it in terms of a short intermedia passing game.
And he's gonna be a key component for Mike Gundey
and their their quarterback Spencer Sanders uh this coming season.
So I think those are the top two running backs
(28:34):
in terms of the Dope Campbell Award, Dope Walker Award
this year UH for college football. So a couple other
names are going to look at the favorites every year
aren't necessarily the guys that win the awards. So we
you know, we're always going to have guys that come
out of nowhere and have big seasons last year, we
obviously had Jonathan Taylor of the huge season along with
(28:56):
A t N and Hubbard Uh. This year, other guys
that we expect to have good seasons. One of them
we got more a CEC. Got another a SEC guy
in here in Jabn Hawkins from Louisville. Yeah, came out
on the scene as a freshman phenomen a thousand yard grosher.
He's big, he's physical, but he can run the football
between the tackles and when he catches the edge, he
(29:18):
is gone. And when when Lee cutting him. In that
offense and two big play wide receivers in terms of
two two act Well and Des Fitzpatrick, Javian Hawkins is
gonna put up huge numbers this year. They have possibly
the second best offense behind the Clemson Tigers entering and
and that's a good problem to have for Scott's outterfield.
So he'll look to build on his performance last year
(29:41):
average over five yards per carry, expecting to get more
involved in the in the passing game as well for
the Cardinals this season. Or a pause on Louisville for
a sect before we get to our next players on
the list, Why do you think it was that they
were able to make such a easy or quick transition
from sort of cratering with uh, you know, Lamar Jackson
(30:04):
goes to the NFL, Bobby Petrino, everything falls apart at Louisville.
You have the Patino scandal, you have the a d
get fired, you have Petrino just kind of craters and
he's sort of done with it right like he he was.
He was done with the job before they told him
he was done with the job. And then transitioning to
sadderfield and already sort of back and getting top notch
(30:26):
players and have a chance to be successful again. Doesn't
mean they're as good as Clemson yet, but they're already
leap frog pass BC and NC stayed and some of
the other ones in their division that they had fallen
behind it even briefly. I think when you look at
that performance in two thousand and eighteen for Louisville under Petrino,
they quit. I mean they lost to Alabama week number
(30:46):
one and then just got blown out in the second
half of the year. Look at the Russian statistics for
offenses that that played Louisville in the second half of
the season. I mean they were gaudy. Clemson put up
over five rushing yards on that defense, they allow over
thirty eight Russian touchdowns in the last six games of
the year. They basically quit on the defensive side of
(31:07):
the ball. Now, Malee Cunningham was a raw quarterback following
in the footsteps of Lamar Jackson. He needed to be
coached up and that's what Scott Saderfield did. But the
key pieces were in place. They had a veteran wide
receiver corps a couple of years ago. They had a
raw quarterback in Juwan past that didn't get coached up
by Petrino, and once the defense quit, there were pieces
(31:29):
there that Scott Saderfield could work with. And we're in
terms of his tenure. He coaches up the offense and
defensive lines and preaches discipline and fundamentals and that's what
you saw out of Louisville last year. They were always
in the right place from a scheme type of perspective,
and they lived up to expectations with an eight win season. Yeah,
(31:49):
good stuff. So back on track, talking about some of
the Dope Walker Award winners will go to Naja Harris
out of Alabama. They obviously are consistently pumping out skill
yors into the NFL. Now, J Harris will be a one,
will be another one of them. Do you think he
is the type of back that will could be considered
the top back in college football? Or is he going
to lose carries to other talented players on that depth chart?
(32:13):
Well without down n J Harris. When he burst on
the scene a couple of years ago in the National
Championship game against Georgia, seventy seven rushing yards in the
fourth quarter alone in overtime, people thought that he was
gonna be the next Heisman Trophy winner. Like mark Ingram
just didn't live up to expectations. But the offensive philosophy
for Alabama changed over the last couple of years from
(32:34):
their offensive coordinators Brian Dable uh and you even look
at Lane Kiffin. From two thousand and sixteen to two
thousand and eighteen, Alabama was a very run oriented type
of offense. They pounded the rock eighteen times for over
two hundred yards during that stand. Last year with Steve Sarkiesian,
they were a pass heavy offense with two at the helm.
(32:56):
They only pounded the rock for over two hundred and
two games land next year, one against Western Carolina the
other against New Mexico State, not even Power five teams.
So does that change this year with Matt Jones at
the helm I expected to if Alabama expects to get
back to the college football Playoff, A good one there.
(33:17):
And how about c J. Verdell at Oregon. We're hearing
a lot about the line play at Oregon frankly on
both sides of the ball. The offensive lineman though, uh
really highlight with with Sewell leading the way and Piney Sewell.
But c J. Verdell obviously can benefit from that, yes,
without a doubt. And he runs bigger than his size.
(33:39):
Uh just looking at him, he doesn't look like a
very physical runner, but he is not afraid to pound
the rock between the A and B gaps. He really
engages in terms of yards after contact. And again another
player that catches the football on the short intermedia passing game.
And when you look for a guy, you always want
to see him his body lean, his ability to lean
(34:01):
forward and gain positive yards. And that's what c J.
Verdell has in terms of his athletic ability. Has great vision,
the ability to get from point A to point B,
change direction I mean, and does not put the football
down in terms of fumbles. That's a key perspective as
well for Oregon. So I like C. J. Verdell this year,
(34:23):
but keep an eye out for Tray Sermon for Ohio State.
The former Oklahoma transfer comes back. He'll split time early
on with Mastertigue, but playing with Justin Fields playing with
Ryan Day in that offense. J K. Dobbins was a
two thousand yard rushier last year. Trey Sermon was hurt
for much of the year for Oklahoma. I expect big
(34:45):
things not just in the Russian game, but in the
passing game for Tray Sermon for the Buckeyes. Yeah, we
got some. You know, there's some other names on this list.
You have David Bailey from Boston College. His name doesn't
isn't really known to a lot of college football, but
it's behind the top five potential offensive line and A J.
Dillon isn't there anymore. So somebody soaking up carries like
(35:07):
that could have a real opportunity to put up big numbers.
I'm not saying he's gonna win the dope, but an
opportunity to put up bigger numbers, and people might anticipate
by the end of the year you might be looking
at the statute and be like, Wow, David Bailey had
fifteen hundred yards. It could be that type of season.
Uh almost like Andre Williams, right, Yeah, that's right, that
that that happened with Andrea Williams. Very specifically, there was
(35:29):
a three game stretch where he picked up nearly nine
hundred yards running over FCS competition and inferior a CC teams.
But that couldn't happen out of nowhere. We talked a
little bit off air about Penn State, and you have
Journey Brown and Noah Caine sharing the ball, So it's
not like either guy is likely to be a star
versus the other. They might both be really effective, but
(35:52):
unlikely for them to perhaps be at the top of
this list. How about anybody else you see on this
entire list, Like it's seventy six players long. Some of
the names are on there as an as sort of
a preseason honor and not likely to go much further
about any other names as you expand a little bit
out on the college landscape. We talked a little bit
before we came on here about Zamir White from Georgia,
(36:14):
him or anybody else that you like, Yeah, I mean
Zamir White and d J. Williams are two running backs
in the SEC. D J. Williams reminds me of just
a blue collar Rusty Williams from auburne back in the day.
I mean he is just a physical runner. I mean
go back to that game against the top ranked L.
S U Tigers on the road, broke off a big
seventy yard run, gave the Tigers an opportunity to pull
(36:36):
out that ballgame. And again another player, He's big, he's
short to the ground, very hard to get down with
one tackle. So d J. Williams is a player that
you have to keep an eye out on. In terms
of the year, White, I mean came on against Baylor
in the bowl game in the Sugar Bowl last year,
ninety three yard rushing performance. Again, where is that offensive
(36:56):
line As Jamie Newman progresses in the system, I expect
Kirby Smart and the offensive staff to pound the rock
to get Jamie Newman acclimated with his type of offensive weapon.
So the year White definitely could put up some big
numbers within the Bulldogs scheme this year. Yeah, I know
you've been doing some work on the pack twelve. As
(37:16):
far as pack twelve backs on here. You've got um
Gary Brightwell from Arizona. You've got Steven Carr from USC
to Metric Felton from u c l A. Uh, any
of those names, uh jump out for you. They don't
necessarily have to win the dog and just curious your
thoughts on some of these backs. Yeah, Well bright Well
is a player that you have to keep an eye
(37:37):
out on now. Following in the footsteps of J. J. Taylor.
He's not as physical as J. J. Taylor. He's He's
more of a finesse type of running back. He's built
in the mold of Chuba Hubbard, but he's definitely not
in terms of productivity as the same type of running back.
He needs the passing game for Arizona to get consistent.
That's something that they struggle with last year. Did show
(37:59):
big play capability and as can catch the football as
well when they implement him in terms of space. Stephen
Carr has been a player that I've been high on
even from a couple of years ago, but that neck
injury sort of limited his performance. He came on last year.
I would love to see him get more involved because
if he has a big half of the year, in
(38:19):
terms of the first half, Keaton Slova's come put up
huge numbers and build off of last year. Stephen Carr
physical runner after the next surgery, I expect better things
and a duplicate in terms of his freshman year performance. Yeah,
last two uh SEC backs Eric Gray out of Tennessee,
Kylan Hill out of Mississippi State. Well, Kylan Hill playing
(38:41):
in Mike Leach his scheme, he utilizes the running backs
in terms of the screen game. He'll definitely build on that,
but he does like to use multiple running backs in
terms of his schames, so he might cut back in
terms of production to keep him fresh as SEC play
wears on. Yeah, so a lot of names on there.
(39:02):
Obviously we can keep going. We can we can spend
backing an entire show going through all of these backs,
but those are some names to watch. I think it's
really important that, like I don't, I don't think the
Dope Walker Award winner every year is necessarily that top
prospect in the draft. But it's somebody that's had a
really good season. It is always going to be somebody
that's going to get drafted. So you start looking at
(39:25):
these names for you fantasy players out there, are looking
for an edge or looking for some odds down the
line as whether or not these guys could be first
round draft picks. Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and
entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more want the edge than get on
(39:46):
the grid. Sports grid dot Com Welcome back everybody. Closing
out this hour of Football Full Circle with the co
host of College Football to Day, Joe Lesie. Is the
Daniel Bryan Award watch list that came out earlier this week,
(40:10):
and again we don't have odds on this stuff yet.
I think it's a disappointing thing for college fans that
a lot of times when these award lists comes out
and come out, you start to get some prop bets.
I just hold your breath for a couple of weeks.
Hopefully we'll see. In fact, don't hold your breath, but
I'm hoping that in a couple of weeks we'll start
to see some odds on some of these awards, and
beyond just a Heisman Trophy in the National Championship odds.
(40:33):
I think We'll see more as they roll out. Will
absolutely cover them on this show every Saturday morning or
where whenever you happen to be watching, because this show
airs all throughout the week. But it's a fun These
are fun lists to go through the familiarize college football
fans with who's being thought of as potential favorites on
this list. And this is a prestigious award. Joe the
(40:57):
top names in college football at core, her back and frankly,
all of these awards win these awards going back through history.
Joe Burrow one last year, Kyler Murray the year before that,
Baker the year before that, many many times it is
concurrent with the Heisman Trophy winner Deshaun Watson won twice,
Marcus Mariotta, Jameis Winston, Johnny Manzell r G three, Cam Newton,
(41:21):
Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, Troy Smith. That's going
back to last fourteen recipients, thirteen players, fourteen recipients, So
a lot of Heisman Trophy winners in there, to be honest.
And this year's list was announced earlier this week. As
I put my spectacles on here so I can read
justin fields is Amongst this list, You've got a bunch
(41:43):
of semifinalists from last year, Charlie Brewer, Shane Mischelle, Ellen
jer Trevor Lawrence, Tanner, Morgan brock Purdy, and Brady White.
You have fourteen seniors, eight juniors, eight sophomores, So some
youngsters on this list. Uh. The SEC and Big Twelve
lead the way with five selections to the fourth straight
(42:04):
year the SEC has been atop of the list. So
let's go through some of these names. I think we
have covered Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields quite a bit
on this show, so I'm going to put them to
the side so that we can discuss some of the
other guys. I think one guy that has very often
looked You've looked upon favorably is Ian Book. So Ian
(42:25):
Book makes this list. He does not have a lot
of size, but in Brian Kelly's offense, uh, his type
of size doesn't really matter. He is a versatile, mobile
quarterback and it has helped this offense. And he came
on down the stretch and and had a dynamic performance
Mike against Iowa State in the bowl game, and that
was the biggest thing. Working with Tommy Reese in terms
(42:47):
of the new offensive coordinator for Notre Dame this year,
another quarterback. What can ian Book do in I set
up before at the start of the year, I believe
ian Book is a legitimate dark horse Heisman trow feed
type of Canada and that was prior to to own
conference only games. This was early in the season in
February and March. I really think he has the tools
(43:09):
to build off of his thirty four touchdown passes from
last year. So now what is around ian Book? They
need the running game to be effective, and again I
expect Notre Dame to be a damn good football team
this year, So do they take him out in the
fourth quarter of ballgames if they're dominating this year, That's
gonna be another thing that we have to monitor whether
(43:31):
he even wins the Heisman. But in terms of being
on this list, well deserved for ian Book. He progressed
in the system, a true leader in that offense, and
I think he's a possible NFL caliber type of player
depending upon how he plays this season. That was my
next question for you lost two big targets in Cold
Committ and Chase clay Pool. But as far as ian
(43:51):
Books proch prospects. I mean, is he trace McSorley two
point oh or can he be Kyler Murray two point o?
Obviously not that explosive. I'm talking about his relative lack
of size. Six two oh six. It's not tiny, it's
a little bigger than Kyler Murray, to be honest. He's
probably more of the Baker Mayfield build than anything else.
And he has good pocket presence. He's not the type
(44:12):
of quarterback like you mentioned Kyler Murray that's just gonna
break contain and take it to the house, but he
can extend plays with his pocket, pocket presence and his
ability to keep his eyes down the field. And go
back to that Georgia game in a tough environment against
one of the best secondaries in the SEC in college
football last year, he led his team into a position
(44:33):
to pull that victory out. Those are the intangibles that
Ian book Uh possesses. Now. Is he going to be
a top five talent in the next year's draft. No,
but he's a possible fifth or a sixth round selection
and could be a backup that can turn into a
starter in a couple of years. That's a good one.
A guy that you mentioned right before we started talking
(44:54):
about this that you liked. He was at Texas, now
he finds himself at Simme. Shane Michelle, Yeah, Shane Michelle
was a quarterback that obviously lost out to Sam Melinger
a couple of years ago and transferred to Smue and
led them back to a Bowl game last year, and
and he's gonna put up dynamic numbers again a leader
of that offense. Now he loses his big play target,
(45:16):
uh Prochet to the NFL, but again he's still got
a strong arm. He's a mobile quarterback, can extend plays
and a leader and a gutty player, plays through injury
and dozen fource balls into coverage. And again when his
in terms of NFL stock at the end of the season,
I think he's another player that can be a late
(45:38):
round selection because he has progressed from his days at
Texas where he did struggle with some interceptions, but now
he in terms of playing on a less group of
five type of team, has really molded his game too.
An NFL type of caliber type of quarterback. A couple
of names we saw that we've talked about a lot
are Keithen Slovis from USC We talked about Bo Nicks,
(46:02):
he's coming into his sophomore season. Jamie Newman at Georgia.
That transfer obviously is going to be a big part
of the storylines. But you know, two names when you're
reading and you're going through last year's semi finalists, Brock
Purty at Iowa State and Brady White at Memphis are
probably not the first names that jump out when people
(46:22):
are talking about who your top five quarterbacks. Those guys
don't jump out, But they were semifinalists last year, one
of only set two of only seven guys on this
list that are returning, and they're in the mix to
potentially be there again. So what do you think of
those two guys. Well, if you haven't heard of brock Purty,
you better get a hold of his name and understand it,
because he had the fifth best passer rating in terms
(46:45):
of college football last year. Iowa State was ranked fifth
in FBS in terms of three twenty eight passing yards
per game and it was because of Brock Purty. He
can make any throw. He's an NFL. I think he's
a first or second round selection. He's a big kid.
Came on as a freshman a couple of years ago
for Matt Campbell took over that team and really has progressed.
(47:08):
He's a leader of that offense, does have a running
game behind him in terms of briefs Hall. That defense
does have a lot of juco talent that they took
over this year. They have the potential. I said, they're
a sleeping giant this year in the Big Twelve. This
is a team that you have to keep an eye
out on. Brock Party is a leader, one of the
best quarterbacks in the Big Twelve, and this is a
(47:29):
team that could possibly get to ten wins this season
if the defense follows suits. So keep an eye out
for Brock Party this year. Brady White, what can you say?
I mean former Arizona State quarterback following the footsteps are
Riley Ferguson. They put up numbers in that type of offense.
What Mike Norvel, now the head coach at Florida State,
does the productivity slipped? That's gonna be the only concern
(47:52):
for Brady White with a new coaching staff. You know,
everybody has their rhythm. We have to see how this
season plays out for ment this especially with no spring
ball and now the COVID situation affecting that team, a
bunch of really interesting names on here. You like, you
think Sam Howe is a guy that can make a
lot of noise This year, a guy that I like
(48:13):
is Kyle Trask. How about those two and their opportunity.
I mean Kyle Trask, it's sort of in front of him.
It ain't all gonna be on him because they have
a lot of stiff competition in their division in the conference.
But Kyle Trask could be the guy like holding up
a trophy that people are like, you know what, that
guy pulled all of it off. They beat Georgia and
(48:33):
they got to the conference title game. Whatever. I'm just saying.
I could see a story in which Kyle Trast people
are like, wow, look at this guy. First round pick. Yeah,
I mean Sam Howell, first of all thirty eight touchdown
passes as a freshman. Mac Brown he has, I mean
unbelievable weapons around him, so I expect him to be
right in the area of thirty touchdown passes this year.
(48:55):
Does he take a minor step back? But when you
look at Kyle Trask, I mean, those were my two
dark course type of candidates this year. It was Kyle
Trast for Florida and Ian Book for Notre Damon and
they both are. We're at forty and forty five to
one respectively. At the start of the year. Kyle Trash
duplicated the numbers from Philippe A. Franks a couple of
(49:16):
years ago with twenty five touchdown passes, arguably has the
best tight end in the SEC with Kyle Pitts. He's
a hybrid Travis Kelsey type of wide receiver that can
utilize one on one matchups if the running game could
come through for Florida. That was the achilles hell and
both of those losses Mike to l s U and Georgia,
they couldn't run the football consistently. Kyle Trash could build
(49:39):
off of those numbers from last year and not only
leave the SEC Florida to the SEC East title, but
a college football Playoff appearance this year. Yeah, it's really interesting.
I think there are a team to keep an eye
on because they always have a lot of talented players.
I have to mention a guy only because he's from
(49:59):
right around my way. I live on Long Island and
he is from Long Island. That is Jack Cone out
of Wisconsin. UM. I think he's surprised some people last year. Uh,
And I think he has an opportunity with Wisconsin to
win a lot of games this year. If nothing else,
even if he's not flashy like some of the guys
we've already spoken about, he could be a winner. He's
(50:22):
maybe uh perceived as a little bit more game manager,
but if he can step it up a little bit further,
maybe and people see his and see him as a
more dynamic quarterback that they haven't previously. The biggest progression
for Jack Cone last year was his completion percentage six.
He came on, showed pocket presents and showed the ability
(50:42):
to pull ball games out in the fourth quarter. Did
it a couple of years ago against Purdue? Now? Can
the running game be as productive as it was with
Jonathan Taylor back to back two thousand yard Russia. But
Jack Cone is a quarterback that is a game manager.
You mentioned. That's what Wisconsin what the backs are. Is
his arm as strong as some of the other quarterbacks
(51:03):
that we just mentioned. No, but he makes solid decisions,
always leads his team, and does not make critical mistakes,
especially in the fourth quarter. That's what Jack Holan brings
in terms of his leadership and his big playability. But
I'll give two other quarterbacks that I have an eye
out on for this year. One is Hendon Hooker for
Virginia Tech. He's a mobile quarterback playing again. Came out
(51:27):
in the scene under Justin Flente, really became the leader
of that offense. Didn't throw an interception until like the
last two games the last year. Now with Justin Flente
in the scheme, he has weapons around them. Hendon Hooker
could be a quarterback that you'll hear a lot of
in terms of especially if Virginia Tech runs the table.
(51:48):
I think they're the best team in my opinion in
the A C C Coastal. So keep an eye out
for Hendon Hooker. The other quarterback for me is Spencer
Sanders for Oklahoma State. Was her at the end of
last year. Right now he has Chuba Hubbard, has Tylan
Wallace doing Stoner. He had big game game experience on
(52:09):
the road last year. He is one of the most
underrated quarterbacks within the Big Twelve this season, and that's
why I'm picking Oklahoma State to possibly be the dark
horse that cracks the college football playoffs this year. Stop
so I can see has some picture the debut O'Brien
Award watch list is something that you can pick up
online anywhere. Go to Debut O'Brien Award dot org. Guess
(52:32):
what I found to find the full list of all
those players, so good stuff out of Julie's. He is
the co host of College Football Today. He'll join us
every other week to be on here for an hour
give us an update on the latest things going on
in college football. Also on behalf of Him our producer
Brian rat Cowsby on Mike Blewett. Get on the Grid,
See you next time on Football Full Circle. Sports grid
(52:53):
dot Com Betting insights and entertainment at your fingertips seven
as our team covers the most important topics in sports, majoring,
real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks, and more.
Want the edge than Get on the Grid sports grid
dot Com m
Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment at your
fingertips as our team covers the most important topics in
sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks,
and more. Want the edge than get on the grid
sports grid dot Com. Hey, everybody, welcome to this college
(00:23):
edition of Football Full Circle. Mike flew It along with
Joe Leasy, Joe Gooda, have you on here? Hope things
are well? Not doing well, Mike, I hope you are
as well. Or about a few weeks away from the
start of uh fall camp for much of these colleges,
and we'll see if we can kick off the season
on time Labor Day weekend. In fact, a lot of
schools reported this week. Now we know that there's been
(00:45):
an ongoing discussion. You know, it's unfortunate show because we'd
sit here and talk every week about the different stories
that have come out regarding college football, and it feels like,
more than any other sport, it's the one that's in
the cross hairs the most. Right we have players showing
up on college campuses which don't have students on it,
and we don't know, frankly, if there will be students
(01:06):
on some of these college campuses. USC has been sort
of doubtful as to whether or not students will return.
It may not matter to anybody in the college football
world whether or not n YU near where we live
has students back on their city campus, but it does
matter for USC and Notre Dame in Oklahoma and Miami
and some of the other schools that we're going to
(01:26):
talk about as to whether or not students will be
on campus. So, in fact, Mark Emmett, the president of
the n c A, said that if there is to
be college sports in the fall, we need to get
a much better handle on the pandemic. So I'll throw
that Motson ball out there, uh to kick things off,
(01:48):
But I'll follow it up with some other reactions from
college football coaches. So Vice President Mike Pence visited Baton
Rouge this week, and ed Orgeron said, quote, we need
to play. The state needs it, meaning football, this country
needs it. This coronavirus can be handled. He said that
(02:08):
directly to Mike Pence. He seemed very supportive of it.
Now their reigning national champs football means a lot to
that school in that region, perhaps more than some others.
But it's just one person's opinion in this regard. I
think your college football element, Mike, has as much volatility
as the stock market in terms of changing from day
(02:29):
to day, week to week at this point. And you
can't fault at Old Drawn. I mean, national champs, they
ran the table last year fifteen and old Heisman Trophy winner,
and they are amped up to get the campaign underway
and being in the SEC and playing in the SEC
West with Alabama. I said it last week. They are
gonna be the conference that is going to be the
(02:51):
least or the last to give in to this type
of situation. So it will be intriguing to see how
this situation pans out over the next couple of weeks.
But I have to agree with that Old Drawn. I mean,
everybody talks about baseball as America's pastime. I think it's
the game of football, college and pro in terms of
the play on the field, physicality, the tradition, and let's
(03:14):
keep in mind the gambling aspect as well. People from
a fantasy perspective, sports wagering perspective need to get football
underway Labor Day weekend. Yeah, I think there's a lot
of people that really wanted to happen. I don't think
anybody like myself that is skeptical that it might is
in any way actively rooting against it for any political
(03:35):
reason whatsoever. I am not reading against it. I'm concerned
about what it might mean. I also do have the
I have had the conversation with you on this show
about about college administrators for many decades now talking about
student athletes and putting that first. And the notion that
(03:55):
they've said a few months ago that we won't play
football if there's no students on campus, and some A
d s already starting to reverse course on at least
setting up the reverse the one on that does not
sit well with me. Uh. It's not like I am
under an illusion that college football is in big business,
but it does not sit well with me that they
(04:17):
might turn around on that and frankly just be playing
football for the money. It won't be health first, It
will be money first in this instance. And understand all
the ramifications if we don't play Joe, Well, you mentioned
the money, Mike, right. I think that when those a
d s and those departments in terms of colleges made
those statements, they were blanket statements and and quite Honestly,
(04:39):
I don't think they took into account or thought that
we'd still be in this situation in late July early August.
They thought that we'd be through the storm and that
students who would be back on campus, never thinking that
the elephant was in the room staring them right in
the face saying here we are. We need to make
a decision within the next couple of weeks. So that's
why they're starting to dial it back. And when you
(05:02):
watch local economies now start to open up, but things
are still nowhere near where they were at the start
of March. I mean, we are so far behind. And
now if we go without a college and pro season,
these local economies are gonna get crossed on top of
the schools. Yeah. So, uh, we'll carry a couple of
(05:23):
schools here, one by one here because it's different, there's
varying news based on where they are in the country.
In Oklahoma, sooners are down to zero active COVID nineteen
cases amongst players and staff, and on July one, Oklahoma
football players had kicked off their voluntary on campus workouts.
That development came two weeks after it was permitted by
(05:43):
the Big Twelve. The same day workouts commenced. Oklahoma confirmed
that one hundred eleven players were tested as part of
the return to campus. Of those one eleven, fourteen came
back positive, seven since they got to campus seven prior
to it. A week and a day later, they announced
that eighty nine players and tested no new positive test
results and of the five of the original fourteen has
(06:05):
since recovered, So that left nine active cases. And then
they tested again on July with no new positive cases
and no more active cases. So of the fourteen cases
that showed of the fourteen cases excuse me that showed
up on July one as positive, it took two weeks
they got beyond it. They did some strict quarantining, and
(06:28):
I think that schools and teams can take measures in
order to make sure that this can happen. And it's why, Joe,
that I am more bullish about the season starting on
time than I am it finishing, because I think this
gets far messier in the middle of the season. Right,
a few players contracted the offensive line room. Now it's
(06:49):
got five guys that have to sit out. You don't
have enough replacements, and you can't feeld an offensive line,
and you're in trouble. It's why I think the season
can go off. There will be hitches, it can go
off on time. I don't know if they can finish
because of things like this that they'd have to restrictly
quarantine these guys in the middle of the year, and
it's gonna be tough to replace the outside factors that
(07:11):
they don't have control of controlled environment where all the
kids are in you know, the athletic department or in
the athletic training facilities. They can monitor those students, but
if school is back in session and they make uh
their way into the local town or go where do
they go from day to day, week to week, You
can't monitor that in terms of a controlled type of environment.
(07:33):
And that's gonna be where they learn on the fly
per se in terms of the season, and whichever team
has these procedures in place to deal with them effectively,
to have a backup plan to understand if player A
goes down, player B is going to be the guy
that we turn to to step up. And getting those
type of players prepared for game environments are gonna be
(07:55):
critical not only to Oklahoma but the other Power five
teams into which will have a successful season. And possibly
cracked the college football playoff. Yeah, and on the on
the negative side of this story, unfortunately, University Miami had
to shut down workout Joe amidst a rash of positive
test cases. Obviously, Florida is going through significant spikes in
(08:19):
COVID nineteen cases positive cases, and Miami had to shut
it down. So as good as much as there's good
news for Oklahoma, we see uh bad news unfortunately for Miami,
and that's gonna be critical for many Diaz and the crew.
He has a new quarterback in the Eric King. Offensive
line was a big issue for the Hurricanes last year
(08:40):
and Mike fifty one total sacks allowed. So now without
voluntary workouts, that cohesiveness from an offensive line perspective is
really going to play out until later in fall camp.
So we have to monitor that situation. We saw Ryan
Day in Ohio States suspend in terms of voluntary workouts
as well a week ago. How does Miami deal with
(09:00):
it because he's on the hot seat. So that's gonna
be a team that you're gonna have to keep an
eye out engage as these weeks progress, because there's a
lot of moving parts, especially on the defensive side. Of
the ball as well. They lose Shaq Corterman and and
pick Me their linebackers, their leader in the secondary and
Trajan Bandy. So we'll see how this UH significantly impacts
(09:21):
the Hurricanes in the next couple of weeks. Yeah, three
players tested positive, but there's ongoing testing determine the level
of players that have tested positive. Obviously, I hope those
guys are all right. And another positive story, Brett McMurphy
Stadium reported that Michigan State conducted COVID testing on seventy
four student athletes on July six, and all other results
(09:44):
were negative. So it was like it was one thing
earlier this week that I was like, finally something positive,
and I think that, you know, I go through, like
a lot of people out there watching this roller coaster
of thought processes concerning all of this, whether sports are
involved or not. One day you feel bullish about it,
the next day you're like, I don't know how things
(10:05):
are going to look. And I think even a skeptic
of some of the COVID data out there, which I
am not one, would agree that if players test positive
during the season, they're going to have to sit out. Um,
you don't want infected people around others. So that's why
I think this we're gonna we're gonna have some more
(10:27):
bumps in the road, whether it's Mark Emmert sending word
down which frankly a lot of football a days don't
even want to listen to him anymore, um as along
with a lot of other people. And I think, as
you said, getting a handle on all of this, having
good procedures in place, we'll get through as many games
as possible. We already know that the Big Ten is
(10:49):
not playing out of conference games. The a c C
has followed suit on that. We're seeing impacts to college
basketball now or the discussions regarding college basketball where there's
like unlikely to be out of conference games for many
conferences now, A lot of schools aren't shutting down basketball
season yet. Fall sports are done. Basketball really considered a
(11:12):
winter sports sell. Uh. Potentially getting started with basketball in
November is still a possibility, but that that still remains
to be seen. I think the scenarios that you just
pointed out with Michigan State are possibly going to affect
the wagering market as well, because especially they're Week one
games you might have in terms of an added value
(11:32):
or an under value for some of these teams, Michigan State,
depending upon their schedule, might be a favorite. Is that
an inflated favorite based off of no positive tests and
thinking that Mel Tucker, you know, has this team under wrap.
So that's what we have to monitor. We have to
monitor these teams. We have to see the practice repetitions,
the quarterback play and which teams understand the system and
(11:55):
can really play through that in Week number one and
Week number two plus Joe. We also talked on a
recent Football Full Circle George and I about the manner
in which information is being released. Um, the NHL has
chosen to say such a such and such a player's
unfit to play, like Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford was quote
(12:18):
unfit to play. They didn't say COVID. They're trying to
respect this privacy MLB. It's really just saying there's a
COVID I L list. But they're they're really not releasing names.
They're just saying so and so hasn't reported to camp
or they're not with the team At the moment. The
NFL hasn't decided how they're going to handle its college football.
(12:39):
There's younger kids you're trying to respect their medical privacy,
but at the same time, we will have to know
a couple of days in advance, is your quarterback going
to play or not? He hasn't been at practice all week,
what's the deal? And that's why there is no injury report,
official injury report for college. So you have to monitor
the local papers and we have to went through to
(13:00):
those school websites. And this season plays out. Yeah, So
we'll come back with a little bit more on some
of this related to b y U, Army, Navy. It's relevant.
Joe and I will come back on FFC right here
on the Grid sports grid dot Com Betting insights and
entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
(13:22):
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than get on
the grid sports grid dot Com Back on f FC
right here on the Grid. Follow us on Twitter at
sports grid, on Instagram at sports grid TV. Followed Joe
(13:45):
individually on Twitter and Instagram. I go for the two,
the number two. I'm at Mike Blewett on Twitter and
p Blewet on Instagram. So um story on b y
U and Army and Navy that you and I were
kicking around once you set up to b y situation.
For us, it's in terms of the FBS independence. We've
spoken last week about Notre Dame joining the a c C.
(14:07):
They have six a c C games scheduled UH this year,
so that will make their season in terms of playing
conference games. But a team like b y U that's
an independent might be in a crux in terms of
this type of situation where only conference only games. And
the one conference that has stepped up to possibly schedule
b YU this season is the Big Twelve, So that's
(14:30):
gonna be something that we need to monitor because the
Cougars are no joke. There are always a physical team.
They are older type of kids. They have a solid
quarterback in Zach Wilson, and they have a coach in
Calambi six hockey that's on the hot seat per se
from taking over from Bronco Mennon Hall. So this is
could possibly be Mike a dangerous team to schedule this
(14:50):
year what mature two twenty three year olds that go
on mission. So we have to monitor that because usually
b y U matches up in the in your your
offense and defensive lines and against undersized more for the
nest type of teams within the Big Twelve, those are
gonna be some matchups that we have to watch as
the season progresses, especially in weeks one and two. Yeah,
(15:13):
so they only have seven games on their schedule right
now because they were impacted by Big Tent cancelations and
other non conference cancelations, UH impacting their schedules specifically, So
they only have seven games on their slate right now.
Um Utah is when they're going to kick it off
(15:33):
right now. All these things can move around, right you.
They're playing Utah State on October two. They had Missouri
on Houston, Northern Illinois, Boise State, San Diego State, North Alabama.
They had Stanford on their schedule that got canceled. So
there's a bunch of stuff out there for them. As
you said, the Big Twelve potentially filling in for them
(15:56):
like the A s C may do for Notre Dame.
And that's the thing. Some conferences are not playing out
of conference games. So there really two conferences that will
step up are the SEC that had already indicated they're
gonna play ten conference games and possibly two non conference
games excuse me, eight and two to make it to
a total of ten. If the Big twelve does that
(16:18):
and does the same type of format where they do
eight conference games and then to non conference, they're gonna
separate themselves, not just B y U, but those two
specific Power five conferences from the Big Ten, from the
A C C in the Pac twelve. So when you
look at this in terms of strength of schedule for
a college football playoff appearance, that's where the SEC and
(16:41):
possibly Big twelve separate themselves from the other three conferences. Yeah,
so it's interesting. And I was also reading from step
from chich Glad Chuck. He's the athletic director at the
Naval Academy. And when there are other cancelations in the
Patriot League, the Army and Navy were exempted from that
(17:03):
ah A because they are military service academies and they
don't really have to Oddly, they don't really have to
listen to commissioners for for the most part, they conduct
business as is. But they're also in the unique situation
where they're preparing soldiers right and they have been together
(17:25):
unlike other campuses. They have had their cadets together for
a long period of time. So they are handling the
virus in the manner manner that a military would handle
strictly isolate and make sure that everybody is healthy, obviously,
quarantine those that are not or that have tested positive,
and they're moving about their business as a service academy
(17:46):
with athletics is sort of a secondary thought, but clearly
on the mind of everybody involved. So the Army Navy game,
if you're asking me right now, would be the most
likely game to be played this year wherever the heck
it happens at West Point in Annapolis at some uh
(18:08):
neutral site. I think that's the most likely to be
game to be played whenever the heck it gets played,
I would hope so, because that's what screens college football tradition, pageantry,
that standalone game that takes place anywhere from December tenth
to theft that's what we want to see as college
football fans. Now, the city of Philadelphia has come out
(18:30):
and said that all large events are canceled until one
that's typically where the Army Navy game has taken place
over the last few years. Now the Eagles can play
in a controlled environment. Does that mean that they allow
the Army Navy game. So I don't care where we
watch the game, Mike, I'm with you. Do it. Yeah,
(18:50):
why not? Let's watch the game that As college football fans,
we need to see that game. And if anybody has
a protocol in place, it is both of those school Well,
so I'm fairly confident that we'll see this game in Yeah,
there's a couple of other things on this regard the MEAK, unfortunately,
is another conference that has decided to cancel fall sports.
(19:15):
So it was the Ivy League, the Patriot League, and
now MEAC, which is another SCS league. However, it did
impact a couple of FBS schedules. They did have MEAC
schools will impact eight games versus FBS schools. But Thune
Cookman was supposed to play South Florida. Florida A M
was supposed to play UCF. Howard was lined up against
(19:36):
Arkansas State. Morgan State was supposed to play app State.
Norfolk State had both Charlotte and East Carolina on the schedule,
and North Carolina A and T had Liberty. North Carolina
Central had Ohio University on it. So you can see
this ripple effect Joe as much as people and casual
college football fans and even legit college football fans are like,
(19:57):
who cares about the MEAC? Well, that's why. Because there's games,
more and more games dropping off schedules to where our
best case scenario is going to be playing ten games.
It might be soon that our best case scenario is
playing less games than that. I'm just stating that each
time a conference takes a step to eliminate sports, it
(20:18):
is impacting many things down the line, not to mention
their athletic departments, financial wherewithal great point, Mike, and keep
in mind this in terms of if we're gonna have
a bowl season for bowl eligibility, what does that look like?
Because for some of these schools, they need to win
those games against FCS or MEAC type of opponents to
(20:39):
really pad their schedule because they can't get it done
within conference. So that's another situation that we have to
monitor as the season progresses in that regard which teams
are really gonna be above five hundred and are these
forty plus bowl games gonna happen as well, because those
are things that nobody you're talking about. I know, the
Rose Bowl parade has been anceled for one on on
(21:02):
New Year's Day. Nobody's even talked about that. They're talking
about the start of the season, but we really need
to have the end of the season in place as
well to know what we're playing for. Yeah, agreed. So
another component of this, Joe, is that the n c A.
I don't understand this ruling, but it says if there's
(21:22):
a college football season, it is always a bad harbinger
and way to start the story. It's recording from John
Taylor College Football Talk. The n c A will make
postseason eligibility a little easier for schedule challenge schools. Previously,
at PS programs could only count one win against FCS
opponents as part of the six needed to become bowl eligible. However,
the n c announced that two wins against FCS teams
(21:44):
can count toward the required six needed to play in
a bowl game. Now, the odd thing about that is
that I just got through telling you that the MEIAK
said that they're canceling uh Fall Sports, eliminating eight games.
Those are eight wins potentially to go around. Not suggest
the MEAC was going to lose all of those games,
but they would have been underdog and almost all of them.
(22:04):
But I'm just stating that I don't know where these
two FCS games are even coming from. Like maybe the
SEC will try to force it and play local FCS schools,
but I don't even know where these games are coming from.
To count too, I I don't understand the ruling. I
don't understand the logic either, Mike, because three of the
(22:26):
Power five conferences are are playing conference only schedules. Now
is it from the other Is it from the other conferences?
The Mountain West Conference, the Sun Belt Conference? Is it
for those schools because they are thinking about the bull perspective?
From that aspect, that's what we're gonna play all the
bull games. I have no idea, but I'll tell you this.
(22:47):
The television rights just alone are are where people watch
the bulls for right. I mean, you know TV shows
now exactly all that, all the stuff that like the
local Chamber of commerce, it's good to get involved, the
inshrived Port and El Paso and even some smaller towns
where this stuff goes down. But the reality is those
(23:09):
games exist because it's a TV show. It doesn't matter
if ten people show up to the game or like
the Rose Bowl a hundred thousand two. In that sense,
it doesn't matter great if they're full, it looks better
on TV, and it's better for those local economies. But
the Bahamas Bowl, come on, people don't go to it. No,
(23:31):
and but but that's where people are good for the
teams and the family go. But I ain't go into
the Bahamas Bowl. If BC how to play there, I'm
just not going. No. But you're betting on it, right,
that's the you know, from that perspective, and it's typically
an over a type of environment at least for the
most part. But there's been some great Bowl games, no doubt.
The television aspect is one that you know, if you're
(23:52):
one of these big major media conglomerates, you want to
see these these bowl games happen. What are you gonna do.
You're gonna be in there in late December, around Christmas,
around New Year's nothing to actually televise in terms of
live content. If college basketball is not gonna play until
what are we going to be standing at and looking at?
(24:13):
And then, more importantly, the sports books, all right, the
NFL season will be going through. But that's where the
books make their money, the bowl games. The average fan
that maybe never watches college football from August through December,
all of a sudden's tuned in. They're taking two weeks
off of work towards the end of the year, and
they want something to gamble on. That's where they're losing money. Yeah,
(24:36):
there's college football bowl pools and all that kind of
stuff that people participate in. So uh, from that, from
that standpoint, you're right, Uh, you want to see those
bowls go on. I think you're probably going to see
this year some bowls won't happen. I'll just say some.
I'm not gonna put a number on it. I don't
know what the likelihood is, but I think you'll see
some games are gonna have to drop out and say,
(24:57):
you know, what to do COVID related circumstances and teams
being unable to play full schedules. We've decided this this
time that the Bahama's Bowl will postpone operations for the calendar,
you know, the rest of the calendar year. I would
suspect that we can't play the thirty nine or forty
games that we did last year, but they're trying to
(25:19):
get close if things are under control. Yeah, and just
look at how we experienced it with the XFL, where
they had financial issues. We're gonna start to see that
if these bowl games fall out or or canceled, these
games for because they might not have the residual income
coming in from from fans, from you know, the players,
(25:40):
the schools. We have to see that type of situation
as well guarantees that that are put in place. How
about this? How about um? Do you think that there's
a sweet spot number of bowls? You and I both
like college football Bowl Week and all the bowls, but
even the most ardent college football fan would say that
it's gotten a little silly when we're trying to jam
(26:01):
five and six, five and seven teams into bowl games.
Do you think that there's a sweet spot for the
number of bowl games that we should have? Or say,
screw it. I like gambling on them all. Keep them modell,
don't cancel the one. Oh the more the better for me.
I would I would say to throw it out the window.
Let's have here. Yeah, I know my audience, I knew
(26:22):
I was going to I'm in the echo chamber here
as many games as possible. We'll come back. We're gonna
talk a little bit about Alabama recruiting after this. On
the grid Sports, grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment
at your fingertips as our team covers the most important
topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than Get on
(26:43):
the Grid sports grid dot Com. M you're watching sports Crade,
Get on the Grade. Welcome back to football full circle.
(27:07):
Here at Joe Leasy, host of College Football Today, right
here on the Grid talking about the Dope Walker Award
finalists to come out with a massive list each and
every season, Joe, just to try to whittle it down
from there. We'll get to the semifinalists at some point
and then it starts to creep towards the end of
the season where they give these awards out at the
beginning of December. But uh, some of the big names
(27:29):
on this list are as to be expected. And the
two guys that everybody's gonna be talking about in terms
of draft stock next season and performance on the field
this year are Travis Etien from Clemson and Chuba Hubbard
from Oklahoma State. Yeah, both backs that can catch the
football out of the backfield, Mike, and Travis Etienne is
a very physical runner at the point of attack, very
(27:51):
physical in terms of the blocking game as well, and
and again the leader of that offense with Trevor Lawrence.
You're talking about a player that has average for seven
and a half yards per carrying back to back seasons,
came back for his senior season because not only does
he want to win a national championship, possibly a Heisman Trophy.
On the flip side, you have Chew Behabbard, two thousand
(28:12):
yard rusher, more of a finesse type of slashing running back,
not very big, about two hundred pounds, but when he
gets the football, he is lethal in space and could
catch it in terms of a short intermedia passing game.
And he's gonna be a key component for Mike Gundey
and their their quarterback Spencer Sanders uh this coming season.
So I think those are the top two running backs
(28:34):
in terms of the Dope Campbell Award, Dope Walker Award
this year UH for college football. So a couple other
names are going to look at the favorites every year
aren't necessarily the guys that win the awards. So we
you know, we're always going to have guys that come
out of nowhere and have big seasons last year, we
obviously had Jonathan Taylor of the huge season along with
(28:56):
A t N and Hubbard Uh. This year, other guys
that we expect to have good seasons. One of them
we got more a CEC. Got another a SEC guy
in here in Jabn Hawkins from Louisville. Yeah, came out
on the scene as a freshman phenomen a thousand yard grosher.
He's big, he's physical, but he can run the football
between the tackles and when he catches the edge, he
(29:18):
is gone. And when when Lee cutting him. In that
offense and two big play wide receivers in terms of
two two act Well and Des Fitzpatrick, Javian Hawkins is
gonna put up huge numbers this year. They have possibly
the second best offense behind the Clemson Tigers entering and
and that's a good problem to have for Scott's outterfield.
So he'll look to build on his performance last year
(29:41):
average over five yards per carry, expecting to get more
involved in the in the passing game as well for
the Cardinals this season. Or a pause on Louisville for
a sect before we get to our next players on
the list, Why do you think it was that they
were able to make such a easy or quick transition
from sort of cratering with uh, you know, Lamar Jackson
(30:04):
goes to the NFL, Bobby Petrino, everything falls apart at Louisville.
You have the Patino scandal, you have the a d
get fired, you have Petrino just kind of craters and
he's sort of done with it right like he he was.
He was done with the job before they told him
he was done with the job. And then transitioning to
sadderfield and already sort of back and getting top notch
(30:26):
players and have a chance to be successful again. Doesn't
mean they're as good as Clemson yet, but they're already
leap frog pass BC and NC stayed and some of
the other ones in their division that they had fallen
behind it even briefly. I think when you look at
that performance in two thousand and eighteen for Louisville under Petrino,
they quit. I mean they lost to Alabama week number
(30:46):
one and then just got blown out in the second
half of the year. Look at the Russian statistics for
offenses that that played Louisville in the second half of
the season. I mean they were gaudy. Clemson put up
over five rushing yards on that defense, they allow over
thirty eight Russian touchdowns in the last six games of
the year. They basically quit on the defensive side of
(31:07):
the ball. Now, Malee Cunningham was a raw quarterback following
in the footsteps of Lamar Jackson. He needed to be
coached up and that's what Scott Saderfield did. But the
key pieces were in place. They had a veteran wide
receiver corps a couple of years ago. They had a
raw quarterback in Juwan past that didn't get coached up
by Petrino, and once the defense quit, there were pieces
(31:29):
there that Scott Saderfield could work with. And we're in
terms of his tenure. He coaches up the offense and
defensive lines and preaches discipline and fundamentals and that's what
you saw out of Louisville last year. They were always
in the right place from a scheme type of perspective,
and they lived up to expectations with an eight win season. Yeah,
(31:49):
good stuff. So back on track, talking about some of
the Dope Walker Award winners will go to Naja Harris
out of Alabama. They obviously are consistently pumping out skill
yors into the NFL. Now, J Harris will be a one,
will be another one of them. Do you think he
is the type of back that will could be considered
the top back in college football? Or is he going
to lose carries to other talented players on that depth chart?
(32:13):
Well without down n J Harris. When he burst on
the scene a couple of years ago in the National
Championship game against Georgia, seventy seven rushing yards in the
fourth quarter alone in overtime, people thought that he was
gonna be the next Heisman Trophy winner. Like mark Ingram
just didn't live up to expectations. But the offensive philosophy
for Alabama changed over the last couple of years from
(32:34):
their offensive coordinators Brian Dable uh and you even look
at Lane Kiffin. From two thousand and sixteen to two
thousand and eighteen, Alabama was a very run oriented type
of offense. They pounded the rock eighteen times for over
two hundred yards during that stand. Last year with Steve Sarkiesian,
they were a pass heavy offense with two at the helm.
(32:56):
They only pounded the rock for over two hundred and
two games land next year, one against Western Carolina the
other against New Mexico State, not even Power five teams.
So does that change this year with Matt Jones at
the helm I expected to if Alabama expects to get
back to the college football Playoff, A good one there.
(33:17):
And how about c J. Verdell at Oregon. We're hearing
a lot about the line play at Oregon frankly on
both sides of the ball. The offensive lineman though, uh
really highlight with with Sewell leading the way and Piney Sewell.
But c J. Verdell obviously can benefit from that, yes,
without a doubt. And he runs bigger than his size.
(33:39):
Uh just looking at him, he doesn't look like a
very physical runner, but he is not afraid to pound
the rock between the A and B gaps. He really
engages in terms of yards after contact. And again another
player that catches the football on the short intermedia passing game.
And when you look for a guy, you always want
to see him his body lean, his ability to lean
(34:01):
forward and gain positive yards. And that's what c J.
Verdell has in terms of his athletic ability. Has great vision,
the ability to get from point A to point B,
change direction I mean, and does not put the football
down in terms of fumbles. That's a key perspective as
well for Oregon. So I like C. J. Verdell this year,
(34:23):
but keep an eye out for Tray Sermon for Ohio State.
The former Oklahoma transfer comes back. He'll split time early
on with Mastertigue, but playing with Justin Fields playing with
Ryan Day in that offense. J K. Dobbins was a
two thousand yard rushier last year. Trey Sermon was hurt
for much of the year for Oklahoma. I expect big
(34:45):
things not just in the Russian game, but in the
passing game for Tray Sermon for the Buckeyes. Yeah, we
got some. You know, there's some other names on this list.
You have David Bailey from Boston College. His name doesn't
isn't really known to a lot of college football, but
it's behind the top five potential offensive line and A J.
Dillon isn't there anymore. So somebody soaking up carries like
(35:07):
that could have a real opportunity to put up big numbers.
I'm not saying he's gonna win the dope, but an
opportunity to put up bigger numbers, and people might anticipate
by the end of the year you might be looking
at the statute and be like, Wow, David Bailey had
fifteen hundred yards. It could be that type of season.
Uh almost like Andre Williams, right, Yeah, that's right, that
that that happened with Andrea Williams. Very specifically, there was
(35:29):
a three game stretch where he picked up nearly nine
hundred yards running over FCS competition and inferior a CC teams.
But that couldn't happen out of nowhere. We talked a
little bit off air about Penn State, and you have
Journey Brown and Noah Caine sharing the ball, So it's
not like either guy is likely to be a star
versus the other. They might both be really effective, but
(35:52):
unlikely for them to perhaps be at the top of
this list. How about anybody else you see on this
entire list, Like it's seventy six players long. Some of
the names are on there as an as sort of
a preseason honor and not likely to go much further
about any other names as you expand a little bit
out on the college landscape. We talked a little bit
before we came on here about Zamir White from Georgia,
(36:14):
him or anybody else that you like, Yeah, I mean
Zamir White and d J. Williams are two running backs
in the SEC. D J. Williams reminds me of just
a blue collar Rusty Williams from auburne back in the day.
I mean he is just a physical runner. I mean
go back to that game against the top ranked L.
S U Tigers on the road, broke off a big
seventy yard run, gave the Tigers an opportunity to pull
(36:36):
out that ballgame. And again another player, He's big, he's
short to the ground, very hard to get down with
one tackle. So d J. Williams is a player that
you have to keep an eye out on. In terms
of the year, White, I mean came on against Baylor
in the bowl game in the Sugar Bowl last year,
ninety three yard rushing performance. Again, where is that offensive
(36:56):
line As Jamie Newman progresses in the system, I expect
Kirby Smart and the offensive staff to pound the rock
to get Jamie Newman acclimated with his type of offensive weapon.
So the year White definitely could put up some big
numbers within the Bulldogs scheme this year. Yeah, I know
you've been doing some work on the pack twelve. As
(37:16):
far as pack twelve backs on here. You've got um
Gary Brightwell from Arizona. You've got Steven Carr from USC
to Metric Felton from u c l A. Uh, any
of those names, uh jump out for you. They don't
necessarily have to win the dog and just curious your
thoughts on some of these backs. Yeah, Well bright Well
is a player that you have to keep an eye
(37:37):
out on now. Following in the footsteps of J. J. Taylor.
He's not as physical as J. J. Taylor. He's He's
more of a finesse type of running back. He's built
in the mold of Chuba Hubbard, but he's definitely not
in terms of productivity as the same type of running back.
He needs the passing game for Arizona to get consistent.
That's something that they struggle with last year. Did show
(37:59):
big play capability and as can catch the football as
well when they implement him in terms of space. Stephen
Carr has been a player that I've been high on
even from a couple of years ago, but that neck
injury sort of limited his performance. He came on last year.
I would love to see him get more involved because
if he has a big half of the year, in
(38:19):
terms of the first half, Keaton Slova's come put up
huge numbers and build off of last year. Stephen Carr
physical runner after the next surgery, I expect better things
and a duplicate in terms of his freshman year performance. Yeah,
last two uh SEC backs Eric Gray out of Tennessee,
Kylan Hill out of Mississippi State. Well, Kylan Hill playing
(38:41):
in Mike Leach his scheme, he utilizes the running backs
in terms of the screen game. He'll definitely build on that,
but he does like to use multiple running backs in
terms of his schames, so he might cut back in
terms of production to keep him fresh as SEC play
wears on. Yeah, so a lot of names on there.
(39:02):
Obviously we can keep going. We can we can spend
backing an entire show going through all of these backs,
but those are some names to watch. I think it's
really important that, like I don't, I don't think the
Dope Walker Award winner every year is necessarily that top
prospect in the draft. But it's somebody that's had a
really good season. It is always going to be somebody
that's going to get drafted. So you start looking at
(39:25):
these names for you fantasy players out there, are looking
for an edge or looking for some odds down the
line as whether or not these guys could be first
round draft picks. Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and
entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more want the edge than get on
(39:46):
the grid. Sports grid dot Com Welcome back everybody. Closing
out this hour of Football Full Circle with the co
host of College Football to Day, Joe Lesie. Is the
Daniel Bryan Award watch list that came out earlier this week,
(40:10):
and again we don't have odds on this stuff yet.
I think it's a disappointing thing for college fans that
a lot of times when these award lists comes out
and come out, you start to get some prop bets.
I just hold your breath for a couple of weeks.
Hopefully we'll see. In fact, don't hold your breath, but
I'm hoping that in a couple of weeks we'll start
to see some odds on some of these awards, and
beyond just a Heisman Trophy in the National Championship odds.
(40:33):
I think We'll see more as they roll out. Will
absolutely cover them on this show every Saturday morning or
where whenever you happen to be watching, because this show
airs all throughout the week. But it's a fun These
are fun lists to go through the familiarize college football
fans with who's being thought of as potential favorites on
this list. And this is a prestigious award. Joe the
(40:57):
top names in college football at core, her back and frankly,
all of these awards win these awards going back through history.
Joe Burrow one last year, Kyler Murray the year before that,
Baker the year before that, many many times it is
concurrent with the Heisman Trophy winner Deshaun Watson won twice,
Marcus Mariotta, Jameis Winston, Johnny Manzell r G three, Cam Newton,
(41:21):
Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, Troy Smith. That's going
back to last fourteen recipients, thirteen players, fourteen recipients, So
a lot of Heisman Trophy winners in there, to be honest.
And this year's list was announced earlier this week. As
I put my spectacles on here so I can read
justin fields is Amongst this list, You've got a bunch
(41:43):
of semifinalists from last year, Charlie Brewer, Shane Mischelle, Ellen
jer Trevor Lawrence, Tanner, Morgan brock Purdy, and Brady White.
You have fourteen seniors, eight juniors, eight sophomores, So some
youngsters on this list. Uh. The SEC and Big Twelve
lead the way with five selections to the fourth straight
(42:04):
year the SEC has been atop of the list. So
let's go through some of these names. I think we
have covered Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields quite a bit
on this show, so I'm going to put them to
the side so that we can discuss some of the
other guys. I think one guy that has very often
looked You've looked upon favorably is Ian Book. So Ian
(42:25):
Book makes this list. He does not have a lot
of size, but in Brian Kelly's offense, uh, his type
of size doesn't really matter. He is a versatile, mobile
quarterback and it has helped this offense. And he came
on down the stretch and and had a dynamic performance
Mike against Iowa State in the bowl game, and that
was the biggest thing. Working with Tommy Reese in terms
(42:47):
of the new offensive coordinator for Notre Dame this year,
another quarterback. What can ian Book do in I set
up before at the start of the year, I believe
ian Book is a legitimate dark horse Heisman trow feed
type of Canada and that was prior to to own
conference only games. This was early in the season in
February and March. I really think he has the tools
(43:09):
to build off of his thirty four touchdown passes from
last year. So now what is around ian Book? They
need the running game to be effective, and again I
expect Notre Dame to be a damn good football team
this year, So do they take him out in the
fourth quarter of ballgames if they're dominating this year, That's
gonna be another thing that we have to monitor whether
(43:31):
he even wins the Heisman. But in terms of being
on this list, well deserved for ian Book. He progressed
in the system, a true leader in that offense, and
I think he's a possible NFL caliber type of player
depending upon how he plays this season. That was my
next question for you lost two big targets in Cold
Committ and Chase clay Pool. But as far as ian
(43:51):
Books proch prospects. I mean, is he trace McSorley two
point oh or can he be Kyler Murray two point o?
Obviously not that explosive. I'm talking about his relative lack
of size. Six two oh six. It's not tiny, it's
a little bigger than Kyler Murray, to be honest. He's
probably more of the Baker Mayfield build than anything else.
And he has good pocket presence. He's not the type
(44:12):
of quarterback like you mentioned Kyler Murray that's just gonna
break contain and take it to the house, but he
can extend plays with his pocket, pocket presence and his
ability to keep his eyes down the field. And go
back to that Georgia game in a tough environment against
one of the best secondaries in the SEC in college
football last year, he led his team into a position
(44:33):
to pull that victory out. Those are the intangibles that
Ian book Uh possesses. Now. Is he going to be
a top five talent in the next year's draft. No,
but he's a possible fifth or a sixth round selection
and could be a backup that can turn into a
starter in a couple of years. That's a good one.
A guy that you mentioned right before we started talking
(44:54):
about this that you liked. He was at Texas, now
he finds himself at Simme. Shane Michelle, Yeah, Shane Michelle
was a quarterback that obviously lost out to Sam Melinger
a couple of years ago and transferred to Smue and
led them back to a Bowl game last year, and
and he's gonna put up dynamic numbers again a leader
of that offense. Now he loses his big play target,
(45:16):
uh Prochet to the NFL, but again he's still got
a strong arm. He's a mobile quarterback, can extend plays
and a leader and a gutty player, plays through injury
and dozen fource balls into coverage. And again when his
in terms of NFL stock at the end of the season,
I think he's another player that can be a late
(45:38):
round selection because he has progressed from his days at
Texas where he did struggle with some interceptions, but now
he in terms of playing on a less group of
five type of team, has really molded his game too.
An NFL type of caliber type of quarterback. A couple
of names we saw that we've talked about a lot
are Keithen Slovis from USC We talked about Bo Nicks,
(46:02):
he's coming into his sophomore season. Jamie Newman at Georgia.
That transfer obviously is going to be a big part
of the storylines. But you know, two names when you're
reading and you're going through last year's semi finalists, Brock
Purty at Iowa State and Brady White at Memphis are
probably not the first names that jump out when people
(46:22):
are talking about who your top five quarterbacks. Those guys
don't jump out, But they were semifinalists last year, one
of only set two of only seven guys on this
list that are returning, and they're in the mix to
potentially be there again. So what do you think of
those two guys. Well, if you haven't heard of brock Purty,
you better get a hold of his name and understand it,
because he had the fifth best passer rating in terms
(46:45):
of college football last year. Iowa State was ranked fifth
in FBS in terms of three twenty eight passing yards
per game and it was because of Brock Purty. He
can make any throw. He's an NFL. I think he's
a first or second round selection. He's a big kid.
Came on as a freshman a couple of years ago
for Matt Campbell took over that team and really has progressed.
(47:08):
He's a leader of that offense, does have a running
game behind him in terms of briefs Hall. That defense
does have a lot of juco talent that they took
over this year. They have the potential. I said, they're
a sleeping giant this year in the Big Twelve. This
is a team that you have to keep an eye
out on. Brock Party is a leader, one of the
best quarterbacks in the Big Twelve, and this is a
(47:29):
team that could possibly get to ten wins this season
if the defense follows suits. So keep an eye out
for Brock Party this year. Brady White, what can you say?
I mean former Arizona State quarterback following the footsteps are
Riley Ferguson. They put up numbers in that type of offense.
What Mike Norvel, now the head coach at Florida State,
does the productivity slipped? That's gonna be the only concern
(47:52):
for Brady White with a new coaching staff. You know,
everybody has their rhythm. We have to see how this
season plays out for ment this especially with no spring
ball and now the COVID situation affecting that team, a
bunch of really interesting names on here. You like, you
think Sam Howe is a guy that can make a
lot of noise This year, a guy that I like
(48:13):
is Kyle Trask. How about those two and their opportunity.
I mean Kyle Trask, it's sort of in front of him.
It ain't all gonna be on him because they have
a lot of stiff competition in their division in the conference.
But Kyle Trask could be the guy like holding up
a trophy that people are like, you know what, that
guy pulled all of it off. They beat Georgia and
(48:33):
they got to the conference title game. Whatever. I'm just saying.
I could see a story in which Kyle Trast people
are like, wow, look at this guy. First round pick. Yeah,
I mean Sam Howell, first of all thirty eight touchdown
passes as a freshman. Mac Brown he has, I mean
unbelievable weapons around him, so I expect him to be
right in the area of thirty touchdown passes this year.
(48:55):
Does he take a minor step back? But when you
look at Kyle Trask, I mean, those were my two
dark course type of candidates this year. It was Kyle
Trast for Florida and Ian Book for Notre Damon and
they both are. We're at forty and forty five to
one respectively. At the start of the year. Kyle Trash
duplicated the numbers from Philippe A. Franks a couple of
(49:16):
years ago with twenty five touchdown passes, arguably has the
best tight end in the SEC with Kyle Pitts. He's
a hybrid Travis Kelsey type of wide receiver that can
utilize one on one matchups if the running game could
come through for Florida. That was the achilles hell and
both of those losses Mike to l s U and Georgia,
they couldn't run the football consistently. Kyle Trash could build
(49:39):
off of those numbers from last year and not only
leave the SEC Florida to the SEC East title, but
a college football Playoff appearance this year. Yeah, it's really interesting.
I think there are a team to keep an eye
on because they always have a lot of talented players.
I have to mention a guy only because he's from
(49:59):
right around my way. I live on Long Island and
he is from Long Island. That is Jack Cone out
of Wisconsin. UM. I think he's surprised some people last year. Uh,
And I think he has an opportunity with Wisconsin to
win a lot of games this year. If nothing else,
even if he's not flashy like some of the guys
we've already spoken about, he could be a winner. He's
(50:22):
maybe uh perceived as a little bit more game manager,
but if he can step it up a little bit further,
maybe and people see his and see him as a
more dynamic quarterback that they haven't previously. The biggest progression
for Jack Cone last year was his completion percentage six.
He came on, showed pocket presents and showed the ability
(50:42):
to pull ball games out in the fourth quarter. Did
it a couple of years ago against Purdue? Now? Can
the running game be as productive as it was with
Jonathan Taylor back to back two thousand yard Russia. But
Jack Cone is a quarterback that is a game manager.
You mentioned. That's what Wisconsin what the backs are. Is
his arm as strong as some of the other quarterbacks
(51:03):
that we just mentioned. No, but he makes solid decisions,
always leads his team, and does not make critical mistakes,
especially in the fourth quarter. That's what Jack Holan brings
in terms of his leadership and his big playability. But
I'll give two other quarterbacks that I have an eye
out on for this year. One is Hendon Hooker for
Virginia Tech. He's a mobile quarterback playing again. Came out
(51:27):
in the scene under Justin Flente, really became the leader
of that offense. Didn't throw an interception until like the
last two games the last year. Now with Justin Flente
in the scheme, he has weapons around them. Hendon Hooker
could be a quarterback that you'll hear a lot of
in terms of especially if Virginia Tech runs the table.
(51:48):
I think they're the best team in my opinion in
the A C C Coastal. So keep an eye out
for Hendon Hooker. The other quarterback for me is Spencer
Sanders for Oklahoma State. Was her at the end of
last year. Right now he has Chuba Hubbard, has Tylan
Wallace doing Stoner. He had big game game experience on
(52:09):
the road last year. He is one of the most
underrated quarterbacks within the Big Twelve this season, and that's
why I'm picking Oklahoma State to possibly be the dark
horse that cracks the college football playoffs this year. Stop
so I can see has some picture the debut O'Brien
Award watch list is something that you can pick up
online anywhere. Go to Debut O'Brien Award dot org. Guess
(52:32):
what I found to find the full list of all
those players, so good stuff out of Julie's. He is
the co host of College Football Today. He'll join us
every other week to be on here for an hour
give us an update on the latest things going on
in college football. Also on behalf of Him our producer
Brian rat Cowsby on Mike Blewett. Get on the Grid,
See you next time on Football Full Circle. Sports grid
(52:53):
dot Com Betting insights and entertainment at your fingertips seven
as our team covers the most important topics in sports, majoring,
real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks, and more.
Want the edge than Get on the Grid sports grid
dot Com m
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.