7-16-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 1: SEC Media Days - Day 2: Jordan Rodgers, Jim Nagy, Nick Saban is funny
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Day 2, SEC Media Days. We are live on Radio Row. Day 1 in the books. Let's start with that, G-Mac. Any big takeaways outside of Coach Saban apparently having Alabama ranked 4th or 5th in the league? Well, spent quite a bit of time with him on the set yesterday. So that was fun. I mean, he is his usual self.

I don't think he stopped giving me a hard time the whole time. Like, I mean, I'm talking in breaks. I mean, we were together for about three hours and top to bottom the entire time. And I also was like, Coach, I'm going to be honest with you. Your Jedi mind tricks worked on me when I was 20. Now I'm 36 and I've been doing this a minute. Like, we're good. Like, you can rip me to shreds. Let's have fun. Like, if that makes us comfortable, we're good. But, no, it was good to work with him. And I think he did a really good job. I mean, it's hard in that setting to –

be prepared for all the different teams and stuff, but he's buttoned up, man. He's taking this job really, really seriously, which shouldn't surprise anybody.

No, and he was great yesterday, I thought, with some of the different things, directions that he went. And obviously you guys talked about teams you think might end up being in the SEC championship game. Commissioner Sankey, though, yesterday announcing a couple of different things will be in Atlanta for SEC Media Days next year. iPads on the sideline for SEC teams this season, GMAC. That's big. You and I have had it in the XFL, UFL. We know what kind of difference it can make.

for players to be able to come over and actually see it, see how things went and see what it was. That's huge for players this season, being able to just kind of help them understand the game and make adjustments in-game. Yeah, I think it's great. I personally would not have liked it. We've talked about this before. Like, I probably...

was on the verge of overanalyzing things on game day. Hey, the safeties are a yard off the hash. Like, are they in two or are they in quarters? Because if they're in two, he was two and a half yards off the hash. It's like, dude, just relax. Like, you don't need to panic about, you know, where the safeties are and what their tilt is and how they're going to cover the field. But I think it's cool, and I think the modern player is –

Far more accustomed to operating off of iPads. Like, iPad was a completely foreign concept when we were coming up. The only tape we had was tape that was cut on a DVD for us that we'd take home and you'd watch it on your PS3 or whatever the heck it was.

and you can watch it at the facility. But I think the kids nowadays are so used to operating with the iPads and stuff like that, it's going to be really helpful for them. Absolutely. Also heard from, you spent some time with Lane Kiffin yesterday. I did, yeah. You guys were hanging out for a little while together. Any big takeaways from Lane or Ole Miss? I mean, you know Lane. What you expect, his Twitter personality is very different from that of,

the personality that you get on camera, and the personality that you get when you're off camera is totally different as well. So I think he likes his team a lot. He feels like this team...

I don't think there's any doubt. I had a chance to catch up with Jackson Dart yesterday. He's a great guy.

I never saw him. I've never seen him in person. Really? Yeah, not one time. He kind of didn't look like he was at media days yesterday. Didn't have the tie on. It was kind of a floral print shirt that he had with kind of an off-green colored suit. He looked a little more casual. Is he a big guy? He is. Yeah, he's a bigger dude. He's...

You can see why he carries the ball on short yardage situations sometimes. Not a big deal. But you'll hear that from me Friday. We'll have that on the show. A couple of interviews that we get throughout the course of the week. We'll air them later in the week for you. But he's confident, man. You mentioned Lane being confident. He was, too. He feels good about the group. They did some things together in the offseason. He feels like the continuity is probably a little bit ahead of what a lot of folks believe. He understands the whole transfer situation. But...

I mean, I talked to him about him being that short yardage guy a couple years ago, different things that he's got to do, different options that he has offensively, and he brought up Juice Wells, he brought up Trey Harris and Priest Corn and all the different backs that they have, his ability to carry the football, and it's just

The more I think about it and the more I kind of look at this Ole Miss team, G-Mac, how are you going to stop them? What do you do defensively to be able to negate all the different things they can throw at you? Well, I think that part of it, you're going to have to play man because there are POs, right? I mean, you're going to have to. But they have quarterback run, which makes it hard to play man. So I think they're a really difficult team to defend. I mean, I think the only way is to win one-on-ones up front against their offensive line, which used to be –

Something that was, I'm not saying easily done, but more easily done than it's probably going to be this year. So I think that's probably part of the challenge now is that with the improved group that they have now up front offensively, they're going to be a lot more difficult to try to defend.

They were hard already. So I think it's going to be really interesting. I'm excited about it. So today we'll have Georgia Kirby Smart will be at the podium around 9 a.m. We'll go to that live. Tennessee going to be here today. Missouri going to be here. Oklahoma going to be here today. I think these are all teams that are very interesting, and there are a lot of interesting conversations around them as far as what they're going to be, what they can be, the different aspects of what we're going to want to talk about. And with Georgia, Greg, they're obviously going to go into the season, probably number one team in the nation.

They should, as you said yesterday, probably should be unanimous pick to win the league here, but there are going to be some people that have some fun with that and probably don't go that direction. But as we've talked about Georgia, and you've had other conversations with other people about Georgia, have any more concerns arised for you here in the last, I guess, 24, 35 hours? No, my concerns are still the same. I don't think they're as good up front as they used to be.

Defensively. I think offensively, they're great. Along the offensive line, they're outstanding. I think their weapons are better. I think about Georgia over the last 10 years, and the thing that separated Alabama from Georgia, the thing that separated LSU when they won the national championship in 2019 from Georgia, for a long time, Georgia didn't have weapons.

They had great running backs. They had a one-two punch at running back that were outstanding, but they didn't have weapons that were game changers. I mean, with all due respect to Matt Landers and, you know, some of the guys they had, they just didn't have dudes out there. I don't know why they didn't, but now...

Kirby has obviously made that a huge point of emphasis on the recruiting trail because if you look at their weapons, they're outstanding, but where they don't have as many guys is along the defensive line. And I remember, gosh, for 15 years they had dominant defensive lines.

Even dating back to the Rick era, they had good defensive lines. For whatever reason, that group is not quite as deep as they've been in the past, and I don't think in the middle of that defense they're quite as good either. I think on the edges, they're a little bit dicey from time to time, too. Michael Williams, I think, is great, but I think in other spots...

They're just not as solid up front defensively as they've been in the past. And I'm telling you, man, if there's one area where I do not want to have a liability, it's along the defensive line. I'm not saying they're a liability. I just don't know if they're a strength anymore. And that's what we're going to find out early in the season. One thing that I kind of thought of yesterday, talking about a lot of different aspects of this league, these teams, kind of how it's going to all shake out. You and I have hit this just a little bit, but who are the scary defensive linemen in this league?

There's not as many as there used to be. Not as many? It's not even close. I mean, we used to talk about collectively how many scary defensive lines there were. How many interior defensive linemen in this league are you really scared of? Could change the game when they play against you. I don't think there's a ton of them. Mike L. Williams could be that guy this year. I mean, that's a possibility. He's got the juice. I think he's got the upside. He could be this year's Dallas Turner, for sure. I mean, James Pierce...

He's big time. More inside, though. Nick Scorton? He's kind of where I was going, yeah. Inside, I know what you're saying. Shamar's going to play inside a lot, but I don't think he's going to live inside at the next level. Solid. I mean, I don't know if Walter Nolan's like... If Walter Nolan wasn't the number one ranked player in the class a couple years ago, we're not having the same conversations about him. He's a really good player. Yeah, he's a really good player. He's just not...

I mean, he's not Glenn Dorsey. There used to be two or three at Auburn. There used to be two or three at State. There used to be two or three everywhere. Arkansas has had some great interior defensive linemen the last couple of years. Obviously, A&M has been loaded. Texas last year, they don't have that. LSU always had numerous guys. They just roll them in, different waves of guys you were scared of. Now, Deion Walker at Kentucky could potentially be one of those guys. I still think that

I still think there's – I mean, Dominic Williams at Oklahoma might end up sort of being one of those guys this year. I think that's possible. There's just not as many D tackles in sport that, like, freak you out. So much of the talent and the disruption has moved to the edge. I mean, last year that's what made Texas so difficult. I mean, they had two guys that were just a handful. One guy that was great against the run and one guy that was twitchy and you couldn't block him. So, I mean, think about not just even in the SEC. Everywhere, yeah. Michigan's got two –

But Ohio State, I think Ohio State's got one. I think Tyler Williams is pretty dang good. But other than that, I'm out. Yeah, but where I was going to go in this league is if the offensive line play is going to be better, Georgia's group we talked about is going to be really good. Tennessee's group's got a chance to be really good. Missouri's I don't think takes much of a fall back. The Ole Miss group will be a little bit better. Yeah.

LSU is going to probably be the standard of the league going into the season. Alabama's middle is at least going to be solid. We know that. They have a chance to have a good offensive line. If all these old lines are a little bit better and the D lines aren't near as good, does it go back to that philosophy you and I talked about of some things coming a little bit more full circle? And the teams who can go ground and pound specifically when they want to are going to have a massive advantage specifically in this league this year. I think so. I mean, I think there have been a...

concerted move to become... I think the league, frankly, kind of lost itself in a bit, in a way. Like, it became very...

orchestrated on the perimeter. Quarterback play became the premium. So I think the league went from ground and pound, three yards in the cloud of dust collectively about 15 years ago, to kind of spreading the world out a little bit and becoming a little more dynamic offensively. And I think now we're probably seeing the back end of that trend where, yes, you can still spread guys out and still score a lot of points and still play

move the ball with great tempo and things like that, but you've got to be able to control the line of scrimmage. You've got to be able to shrink the game. Depth is of the utmost importance now in a potential 17-game season. You're not going to want to run 90 snaps a game. It's not good for anybody. And I think a lot of teams are looking down the road like, okay, we want to ultimately be competitive, not just in our conference, but in the national landscape. And I can't recruit a team that is deep enough

to play 90 snaps a game for a 17-game season. Like, I have to find a way to play four-minute offense when I have to. I have to take my foot off the gas when I need to. I just, it's not going to be good for my guys. I'm going to lose guys.

And I'm going to lose games if I do that over and over and over and over again over the course of a season. All right, we've got some audio from SEC Media Days yesterday. We'll get to a little bit of that on the other side. Some funny cuts from Nick Saban. Some interesting things that you'll hear from some of the Ole Miss players. Lane Kiffin as well. Shane Beamer. We'll get to all of that. Catch you up a little bit more on yesterday as we continue day two of SEC Media Days.

right here on Jocks 94.5. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubelik in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Tap or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Day two, SEC Media Days. We are live on Radio Row.

At Mac and Cube. You can find us on Twitter there, Instagram as well. And listen to the show online at joxfm.com. Before we get to a couple clips from yesterday.

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Or go to gustyagulisgroup.com. Yesterday, Nick Saban, GMAC said he was with him for a lot of the day. Fun to kind of hear him talking about a couple of different things around this upcoming season. Asked about how Texas is going to handle being in the Southeastern Conference.

I think the big thing for them is they're going to have to play with more consistency and performance because they're going to play a more difficult schedule. There's going to be a premium on can they play good teams week in and week out because that's always the challenge in the SEC. You know, what kind of tickles me is all these people asking these questions about how Texas always ran the conference they were in. They're not going to run the SEC. There's a whole lot of arrogant people in the locker room.

I'm a little bit scared

a much better program, frankly, as far as wins, consistency, conference titles, national titles. Oklahoma's been a far more consistent outfit. So to think whether it's behind closed doors, Texan to come in and just run the SEC and start dictating terms, that's inaccurate. But even on the field, too, if you want to look at their resources, sure, yeah, they're amazing, but

from a program standpoint, they have not been as good as the Sooners that are also joining at the same time. Coach Saban also asked about what's the biggest question facing Alabama this upcoming season?

I think Bama has really got a lot of good players. I think they've got question marks in the secondary, especially at corner. And getting Proctor back probably was important because they were a little bit weak at tackle. So that's going to help them. But I think depth of the team would be the biggest question. If Alabama can stay healthy, I think they have enough good first-line players to compete against anybody.

All right. So that's Alabama's former head coach, Nick Saban, discussing this year's Alabama football team. Jim Nagy, executive director of the Senior Bowl, joining us now here live on Radio Row. How do you view this Alabama team now with Nick Saban out? Is it a lot different than you did before? Well, I think it's a lot different.

It's the depth. I didn't hear that whole clip from Coach, but yeah, I think the depth's been affected. I mean, they lost players. And people have asked me the last couple days about Jalen Milrone, if he can take the next step. My question has been, does he have enough players around him to take that next step? You know, the law, like there's going to have to be certain players step up. Losing Isaiah Bond, guys like that, like guys that can make plays...

I don't know if they have those. Looking at what they've had in the last few years, do they still have those type of players that can do that? So that's the biggest question. We've been spoiled. Looking at that wide receiver room over the years and the running back room. I think the running back room is fine. I think some of these young running backs are going to be really good. But are there enough playmakers in the tight end room right now, in the wide receiver room, that allow Jalen to take that next step? What about the defensive line? That's one area where they look the most...

unlike themselves. I still think they're going to be in the back end. They're going to be young. I think they're going to be fine. They have good personnel, good talent, highly regarded blue chip prospects that are going to be in corner and safety and other spots. But the defensive line has been a group that we've been waiting for them to come on forever.

And it just hasn't really materialized, especially on the interior. So why does that not look the same as it once did? Yeah, look at the guys, Greg, the guys you played with and the guys that I scouted when I was in the NFL. I mean, that run of the Jaron Reeds all the way through the hands. I mean, there's just been so many great players. And yes, the...

You probably follow the high school recruiting stuff closer than I do, so you probably have a better handle on the young guys in that DB room. But look at the DB room. I mean, you lose a first-round pick in Terry Arnold, a second-round pick in Kool-Aid. Amos transfers to Ole Miss. He's a good player. Yeah.

So to me, the front end and the back end of the defense, I mean, those are two positions where they've cranked out first-round picks year after year after year. And then, you know, you talk about up front. I mean, it's not just the inside guys. It's not just the big guys stopping the run that have been so good. Where's the pass rush going to come from? I mean, now in two years, you've lost...

Last year they had Braswell and Dallas Turner. The year before that, obviously, our guy that's Will Anderson is killing it in the Houston Texans. So where's the pass rush going to come from? And I'm sure there's talented guys, but it's just unproven. We don't know where it's going to come from. We were talking a little bit earlier, Jim Nagy, executive director of the Senior Bowl, with us here live on Radio Row, SEC Media Days Day 2.

But specifically in Tier D linemen, in this league, it just feels totally different. It used to be Mississippi State's got two guys. Auburn's got two guys. LSU's got four guys. Georgia's got five guys. Bama's got three guys. That you were scared of. And when you watch them, you're like, holy hell, how are we going to manage that guy over the course of a game?

It feels like there's one or two in the league right now that you literally should be scared of when you go play them. Like you said with Bama, there's some talented guys that will emerge. But when you watch it big picture, how different does it look to you across this league just at that position? Yeah, there's some guys on Bama's team that are going to play significant snaps that back in the day wouldn't have seen the field. And that just is what it is. I mean, right now I'm just thinking about the league.

I'm thinking Florida with like Brantley and Cam Jackson. Banks is solid also. Cam Jackson can be that guy. Banks. Consistently, Banks. Yes. Cam Jackson's the guy we offered a senior bowl invite to last year. Really good player. And then I posted something on Twitter yesterday. They've got a transfer from Penn.

who was the Ivy League's best player of the year, Slackman. He's a good player. So right now, Florida, off the top of my head, Florida might have the best. I'm trying to visualize the senior bowl board right now. I mean, Florida, South Carolina's got a couple guys up there like Tonka Hemingway. I'm glad you brought up South Carolina. We talked about them yesterday. Tonka Hemingway has been playing football since 2013.

There's a lot of those guys, Greg. Greg, there's a lot of those guys. Luke Doty was a guy like that yesterday. I was like, oh my gosh, he's still playing college ball. It's unbelievable. There's no doubt. Jim, how do you manage the Joey Slackman? Because I went and found some of his film, and I'm like, man, this guy looks great. But then I'm watching the offensive line he's playing against, and I'm thinking, I mean, this dude looks like he plays at Thompson High School. Yeah, well, home was not quite your day, right?

We're getting back to it. We're going to get back to it soon. You know, Cole, that's the challenge is when you're watching smaller school players. And, again, I'm not sitting here trying to pump up the Senior Bowl, but that's the value of the Senior Bowl is that you get to see smaller school guys against legit competition. And that's the great thing about the transfer portal. I know some fans don't like it.

In a lot of ways, I don't like it. But it gives some of these guys in their last year a chance to transfer up and prove themselves. And one of the great things about the senior bowl over the years has been the small school element. A couple years ago, just in the offensive line room alone, if you come to practice, there's a North Dakota helmet. There's a North Dakota State helmet. There's a Fordham helmet. Tennessee Chat. Tennessee Chat. That year was unbelievable. In this past year, all Power 5 helmets. That's all it was.

So it's changed, and I hate that because that was always the great thing. I mean, a couple years ago, the kid from Wisconsin-Whitewater, Quinn Miners, emerges. Now he's one of the best guards in the NFL. We're losing that.

But, yes, yeah, watching Slackman's tape the other night in the room when I got here to Dallas, yes, he's trying to block guys that look like me, but the tape is really good. He's blocking them well. He's certainly getting off block. He's certainly a dominant player at that level. When you think about the position group nationally outside of defensive tackle that is –

I don't want to say most underwhelming because that can have a negative connotation. Right. But it's like, man, these guys used to be just on trees. You could find them anywhere, and now you just can't find them. What is that position? Because I feel like everyone is playing quarterback and receiver now. I mean, every other position is somewhat underdeveloped, and I'm not sure why. I mean, I know why that is. I mean, receivers make $30 million, quarterbacks make $55 million, and...

seven on seven leagues, but is there another position that you're like, man, I just wish there were more of these year in and year out, Greg. Um, the hardest position for us to find is probably off the ball linebackers, um, just for the next level guys that can cover. Um,

You know, there's a lot of guys that are good college linebackers, but when they get to the pros, and Greg, you probably played with a couple of these guys, that they just can't play on third down. They can't match up in space. Yeah. You know, when Coach Saban evolved the defense, but when he first got there, there was a lot of downhill thumpers, like 255-pound inside backers.

That was after practice. They were 265 on practice start. That's right. That's right. So, to me, every year we get to December and January, and I'm like, gosh, guys, like, what are we doing at linebacker right now? And safety is another one. Safety is a hard spot because those guys, again, they have to cover in the NFL, and they don't really have to cover in college. So those would probably be the two spots. Well, I'll tell you this. I have a buddy who's coaching the NFL, and he's like, last year's off-the-ball linebacker class was the worst I've ever seen, and next year's worse.

Like, it's crazy. I feel like that every year. I say it's worse every year. But think about why would you want to play linebacker in the era of you're never right? I know that sounds bad. Like, you play you want to play. Like, play linebacker to me. Like, if you're a bad dude at linebacker, that's probably one of the coolest, most alpha things you can be. Yeah. But in the era of RPO, like, you're never right.

And it's just a terrible position. You look at the guys, they're all like 230 now. None of them are 240, 245. I think it's probably the hardest position to play outside of quarterback. Or thereabouts. Hey, just think of the guy that was walking radio row yesterday, Errol Perkins from LSU. I mean, he's taken a lot of flack for what the tape looked like last year, him playing off the ball. That's a hard, that's a really hard position. And again, we had this debate at dinner last night. I was out with some

some some media guys and yes he's the dynamic college rusher but you guys saw him yesterday he's probably going to end up measuring for nfl scouts six one six one and a half maybe he's he's probably gonna have 32 inch arms when i was at the lsu pro day he was 212 pounds when i talked to him i i asked him point blank you know what are you weighing he said 212 now yesterday he said he was 220 225 whatever he said so he's put on weight but like

There's not a single pass rusher in the NFL with those dimensions. He was smaller than I expected yesterday. There's not a single guy in the league rushing the pass as it looks like that. So he's going to have to play off the ball. So my point being is just be patient with the off-the-ball stuff. Hopefully it clicks this year. But to ask him to go out last year and play off the ball for the first time in his life...

I don't know what people expected, but that's a really tall order. Jim Nagy, Executive Director of the Senior Bowl with us. I want to get your thoughts on some of the quarterbacks in this league, just kind of how you evaluate them right now, because there are a couple of guys that took a big step last year. I don't know how much more of a step they could take this year, kind of like a Milrow and a Cook.

I don't know if you feel like Dart is kind of capped out. Carson Beck, we think, kind of in his own league. We don't really need to discuss him. Beck and Ewers. Yeah. Those two guys. Do you like Ewers that much? I love how he throws it. Now, it doesn't look pretty, but it comes out pretty. I think his anticipation, like if you were to ask me two years ago off the tape, good player, a lot of talent. I would like for him to kind of...

get the raw ability out a little bit more. I thought last year the way he anticipated throws was much, much better. He looked so much more comfortable. He wasted so many snaps two years ago, and now I think he's playing a much more mature quarterback position. But I still think talent-wise, there's just something about the sidearm delivery that is a little bit off-putting for me.

It's funky. There's no doubt. I love the kid. He went to my high school. I was standing behind him at the Manning camp watching him throw, and it's funky. I just was thinking of Phillip Rivers a little bit when watching Phil come out. It's not that ugly. I mean, I love Phil. No one loves him more than me, but...

His Philip's son is actually playing high school football down for him at St. Michael's down in Fairhope right now. And someone asked me that, does he throw like his dad? I'm like, his dad would never teach him to throw that. No, so I do. I agree. I think Carson Beckham said this over and over. I thought he was the most improved quarterback in the country last year. We were to the point where we were going to invite him to last year's game. And then Kirby called in December, and he's like, can you hold off on the invite? We're really trying to keep this guy.

And I'm glad he stayed in because he would have been in that. I mean, think about that last year's draft. You had six quarterbacks go in the top 12. Like, where would have Carson Beck, you know, shaken out in that cup? We don't know. Like, he didn't go through the process. But I think going into the year, for the NFL guys, it's going to be Beck and Ewers. And then it's really up for grabs. Like, this is really going to be an interesting year to see who emerges. I mean, we saw Mac Jones emerge. We saw, you know, Joe Burrow emerge. Like, we've seen Kenny Pickett a few years ago. He was going to be a third or fourth-round pick.

and emerged as a senior. So someone's going to break out. Yeah. Cool. Because someone's going to break out. But like in this league of the guys that I've done, like I think Graham Mertz is a little underrated. I like some of the things Graham Mertz has done. That's why I think Florida, you know, we talked about their D-line. That's a position group that if you're going to be a good team, you need to be good. Quarterback's a position. You need to be good. Yeah.

But I think outside of Beck and yours, it's just kind of everybody else. Yeah.

Again, one game sample. I watched him in the room the other night when we got here. Watched all 49 dropbacks of the bowl game against Wisconsin. And there's some really good stuff in there. I don't know if you guys have watched it. I think he's got some game. I mean, I was at their first practice last year in August to see Jaden Daniels and all those guys. And I hadn't seen Nussmeyer throw. I knew he had the arm. He could throw it. I knew he could throw it. But then I didn't know what it would look like with 21 other guys running around on the field. And that Wisconsin game, like...

There was some anticipation. There was some pocket field stuff. There was him sliding, going through progressions, being accurate through progressions, which is hard. So if I were LSU fans, I would feel really good. I think they have their guy. Where are you on...

A&M. Blanking. Connor Wigman. Connor Wigman. I'm sorry. It's like one day at a time. A&M's not here today. I can only think about the 14 that are here, and I just forget sometimes. So I apologize. Connor Wigman. Similar to what I just said about Nesmar. I saw him throw at the Manning camp. He has a big enough arm. Yeah, I do. He's got a nice release. I think it's big enough.

I don't think he's got a huge arm, but I think it's enough. We always talk like that in scouting. Does he have enough of this or enough of that? Yeah, I think he's got enough of an arm. And I need to watch the tape. Some of my friends in the league really like the guy and are high on him and think he could be in that mix after the Carson Beck and Quinn Ewers, that next level. I think he could be there and maybe challenge that, but I have not watched any game stuff yet.

All right, I've got to get you to just tell us real quick. You guys do Senior Bowl Hall of Fame banquet down at the Grand Hotel in Fairhope. It's where my wife and I got married. It's incredible. The entire event is awesome. You've had me down the last few years, but...

People can be a part of this also if they want to, and it's just an amazing event every year. Yeah, we sell tickets to it. Yeah, it's a great event, and this year was really cool because we had some natural in-state connections. So having D'Amico Ryans was incredible. Obviously a Bessemer guy, an Alabama guy, and reigning NFL Coach of the Year, and Roddy White, best player in UAB history, and then going way back in time.

You know, we had Marty Lyons from the New York Jets, another great Alabama player. So it's cool. You know, like we have our game, and I mean, now it's in February. We moved back a couple years ago to stay in the NFL calendar when they added that 17th game. So now we're in February, which sounds weird. We were always in January. But this kind of anchors the calendar for us. You know, we've got this whole... You're going to be right in line with Mardi Gras here soon when they add that 18th.

game. That would be a sweet weekend. Now we're talking. Greg, we were in Mardi Gras last year, but early in Mardi Gras. In 2027, the game is going to be Saturday and Fat Tuesday is going to be Tuesday. Okay.

Yeah. We've got to work with that. I'll see you in 2027. Mobile. When you're trying to schedule meeting room space for players and all this stuff at the convention center and all these Mardi Gras societies and balls going on. You have a room block at the battle house. We are in trouble. Okay. We are already. We know this. We've been talking to the hotels. We're in trouble. It's a good problem, though. Yeah.

Thanks for hopping on. Where can folks find information for that event if they want to be a part of it? Yeah, SeniorBowl.com. Everything's on there. Follow us on Twitter, at SeniorBowl. So, yeah, guys, I appreciate all your support talking about the game in Birmingham. We're coming off our best year. We had 10 first-round draft picks. We had 45 in the top 100. Amazing.

We had 43% of the draft. We had 110 players drafted. It's crazy. But it's a great event for the state. It's great for Mobile and the area, but it's great for the state. It's our most visible event outside of an Alabama-Auburn football game. It's the most visible event we have. So I appreciate you guys promoting the game and talking about the game. Absolutely. Thanks for hanging out with us for a few minutes as well. Do you have to be a good player to be eligible for the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame? Or if you sacrifice your first metatarsal or whatever, does that give you a short list for honorable mention? Absolutely.

We have our own wing, guys injured. Injured Hall of Fame? I think that's what cost me the NFL career. Oh, that was it? That was it. Just the hand never recovered, and I just couldn't throw it. That was the whole thing. We don't talk about guys getting hurt, Greg. It doesn't happen unless your first-round left tackle gets bullrushed by a guy that ends up getting picked ninth and will ultimately be in the Hall of Fame named J.J. Watt. There are worse things. There you go. He'll be in there one day.

Jim, thanks for hanging out with us. Good to see you. Thank you, guys. Thanks for having me be a part of it, and we'll talk to you again soon. Awesome. Thank you. I want to tell you quickly, Alabama heat and humidity can be brutal. Don't let it affect your home and family. Keep them comfortable with an affordable train cooling system. Train is our official partner here at JOX. They've been recognized as America's most trusted brand in 10 consecutive years. Find a comfort specialist near you at train.com. Speaking of quarterbacks, evaluations of SEC quarterbacks.

Jordan Rodgers has his list of top ten quarterbacks in the SEC. We'll discuss that with him right after this live on Radio Row on JOX 94.5. The capital of the sports talk nation. This is JOX 94.5 and joxfm.com. Hurry and... Back in SEC media days day two. Radio Row, McElroy and Kubrick in the morning, JOX 94.5. Jordan Rodgers joining us now live on Radio Row.

There's a graphic out, so it's real. It's official. It really happened. His top eight quarterbacks in the SEC. Believe it or not, Carson Beck, number one off the board. Can I tell you why I did top eight? So most of these kids were born right around the time that MySpace actually came out. And this generation is too soft to realize that us back in the day, we ranked our friends. Was it top eight? Yes. Or you could do top four. But top eight was normally what people did. I think it started at four and they expanded it. The cutthroat thing was that you remember you changed it.

Things would happen and you would put someone in your top eight, drop people out of your top eight. Can you imagine this generation? You broke up with your girlfriend. Oh, yeah. The big thing, too, is if you've got a new girlfriend. If you've got two girls in, you've got problems. Big problems. And or if you've got a girlfriend, what guy friends do you put her ahead of? That was always a relationship break. Maybe more important. Your girlfriend had to be one. No, uh-uh. Mine was three. Sorry.

My buddy Todd and my buddy Brandon, two of my best friends still today, they were always ahead of my girlfriend. You could always have that fallback. Was one of those on the golf trip to Whistler? I remember that, dude. He was tight. Yeah, I would have him one, too. You could always lean back, though, and say, no, those two stay one and two always. Yeah, they're day one. It doesn't matter. We're bros. The most important aspect, though, would be what song you picked. Oh, I was so emo. It was probably some yellow card, Ocean Avenue. Oh, yeah, Dashboard was probably on there. Hands down.

Yeah, I can definitely see that. I can definitely see that. All right, so Carson Beck won. Jackson, the guard. Mine was Sweet Home Alabama. After you committed her before. Shocker. No, but not the good. Was it All My Exes Live in Texas when you were committed to Texas Tech? Not the good version. It was the other one. Gotcha. What was the Kid Rock version? That was mine. Oh, yeah.

That checks out. That checks out. Because that song is just overplayed. It's not as good as what people make it out to be. Jackson Dark, too. Summer long or whatever. Yeah, I think Jackson is my favorite to win the Heisman. Whoa. I honestly don't even think it's that close. This entire offense is going to be centered around him. And I know...

When you think of Ole Miss, you think of big plays downfield, but really this Ole Miss offense is designed to go through the run game. And in talking to Charlie Weiss at their spring event, not a game, their spring event in April, he just talked about, look, we're playing around with a ton of five wide different personnel groupings. We're going to spread it out. I think it's going to look much more like LSU 2019, where they're going to throw the ball all over the yard with the talent they have. So I think he's going to put up...

unreal numbers i just love how he's developed his accuracy downfield really his ball placement downfield especially to the perimeter i think i think got a ton better last year he protected the football and i think he's just in a in a mind space and has a comfortability with this league and understanding this offense i think he's gonna he's gonna put up some monster numbers staying with the my space theme their mind space i like that yeah so just kind of going queen yours three

Greg loves his talent, but there are some things about his delivery that he's a little bit down on. The mechanics are a little odd. That's it. I mean, look, a lot of guys have odd mechanics, so I can look past it. Totally. I think what I live in, and I talk about this all the time, that meeting we had with Quinn in Texas at the Alamo Bowl at the end of the 2022 season. We left that meeting, and I remember saying, I don't know if I've ever sat with a quarterback that had less confidence. And I just feel like he...

At that time, that was when Arch had just committed. Texas had kind of underperformed. It was supposed to be the year they were going to take that big step, so the Alamo Bowl was a little bit of a womp-womp to them. And I just felt like the noise was getting to him. And we left that meeting going, man, I don't know. I don't know if he has the DNA, the makeup to be a dude.

and he absolutely flipped a 180 in that. I think last year you saw a dude that was supremely confident in himself and his talent. He had command of the offense. He distributed the ball to the playmakers that he's got. So that'll be a question this year, some of the holes they fill at the receiver position, but I think he's one of the most talented, physically gifted guys in the country. So, uh,

I'm very high on that as well. It's funny you mention that meeting. I've referenced it so many times. It was just shocking. I don't think I've ever walked into a meeting with a player and had the perception of that player and it been that different when I left. Totally. Because that was when he had the Agassi hair and he had the Kambuka deal or whatever and he was driving the monster truck and he got the parking ticket and everybody's like, this dude's just loose cannon, literally doesn't care about anything. And you come in there and he's like everything to his teammates, took no credit for anything.

We almost had to pry words out of him. Like he didn't really want to talk to us. I mean, you and I walked out of the meeting like, what was that? Yeah. So I just see a guy that's just completely different, and I think he's playing like it. So I think he's going to have a heck of a season as well. All right, so Milrow at four. This one I struggle with because obviously I think he's a matchup nightmare, right? I mean, no defensive coordinator, if you had to say, what's the one guy you don't want to scheme against, it's probably him. Yeah.

When I watch it, I love a couple things about his game. His athleticism, obviously. But his ability to deliver under pressure, I think, is elite. The thing I worry about in this system is that I think he held on to the ball the third longest in the NCAA last year. When you flip on the tape, Michael Penix Jr., obviously...

was an incredible deep ball thrower, would buy time when he needed to. But for the most part, he threw on time and in rhythm. The ball came out of his hands to the digs, the bang eights, the in breakers. And that's part of the game where you go, can Jalen play on time consistently? Yeah.

And I think he'll get there. But early in the season, I think it's going to be a little bit of a bumpy road of figuring out how this system fits to him and vice versa. So he's still incredibly physically gifted, incredibly talented. We'll take them very far. But I think it's going to be an interesting, different look. And it's going to take a few games to adapt. Greg, you talked about that with Penix being a rhythm passer. He's unbelievable. Penix is ridiculous. Can Milrow grow into that? Is that going to be comfortable for him? No, I don't think that's who he is. Penix early in his career, too, was not a guy that –

that played like that. I mean, he was a runaround guy. And the injuries forced him into the pocket. But if you just look, I mean, Penix had, like, alien hands and, like, wingspan that was absurd. And, like, he can make throws that just aren't normal. Like, he's an absolute freak. It never looks hard when he throws the ball. He's not real. Like, he can turn the ball. His fingers are so long, he can turn the ball over. And, like, people can't do that. That's not normal. Yeah.

But I think Milrose, like you said, is the most dangerous and the most, hey, like, I really don't want to play against this guy, but I also think he misses layups. And that's okay because he was young. But now is the time. Like, all right, it's time to now. I just think back, and there's just some games that I just can't quite get out of my head. Like, it's like you can make the throws against A&M down the field, like, oh, my gosh, what a throw.

And then you one-hop into a guy behind the line of scrimmage because you don't get... Or you leave it eight yards inside on a slot out to the field. 100%. Or you miss... Yeah, or you don't see a quarter safety curl that comes and picks it up against Texas. And look, you can nitpick small things. I mean, we can on all of our careers. We all have throws that we wish we had back. But the highs are so high and the lows are so low, it's almost hard to...

That's always what Coach Sable would say to us. Like, hey, man, you can't be too high with the highs and too low with the lows. Like, I need to know what I'm getting from you, which is fine. Like, if I know what I'm getting from you, then we can coach around you. And with him, the highs are so crazy good and the lows are so mind-blowingly bad that it's just hard to kind of wrap your head around. So I think four is appropriate. But like I said, I mean, he's the guy that you at least want to play.

All right, Jordan, can you hang for another segment? Yeah. All right, we'll get to a quick break. Come back. Jordan Rogers with us. Finish up his. He has to go get more sour balls out of the restaurant. Those are fire. I had some for breakfast this morning. Did you really? Yeah, I put a bunch in my pocket. What is a sour ball? I don't know, dude. Like cherry sours. Bob's Steakhouse has this big bowl of just loose sour candies. You went to Bob's last night? No, we had an event, which thanks for the support. You didn't come. The movie? Yeah, the movie.

Yeah, I had the 5 a.m. wake-up call. Sorry, I didn't want to come see your roundtable of the SEC movie that's going to air 78 times in the next month. So you missed incredible material that we won't talk about on the air, but it was really all time. I'm excited to learn about how games started being played at night. But anyways, long story short, we went and had a drink afterwards. And they had a bowl of cherry sours that he went to three different times. Oh, yeah. Three hands. This is like candy? It was actually four. You didn't see one time. It was disgusting.

We'll talk more cherry sours next on McElroy and Kubrick in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Tap or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. SEC Media Days, Day 2.

McElroy Cubic in the morning, JOX 94.5, Jordan Rogers sitting down with us. Quickly, Tavot Ox Foundation Solutions, most reputable foundation repair and waterproofing company in Alabama. Over 25 years experience, A-plus BBB rating. Basement and crawl space waterproofing, crawl space encapsulation, basement wall repair and stabilization, concrete lifting. They've got financing, multiple payment options available. They put the needs of the customer first, serving over 350 customers.

of Alabama cities, including Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery, guaranteed to keep your foundation healthy and strong. How strong? OxStrong. 205-236-9500 or OxStrong.com. All right, Jordan Rodgers with us. We're kind of running through your top eight SEC quarterbacks in the league. The SEC Network put a graphic out, so it actually happened. It's a real thing. Connor Wigman at five. Now, we had Trevor Sycamore. Works for BFF. Oh, yeah. He made some headlines. He's got him as the number one player in the draft.

I'm not saying you're going to go there, but five. There are some attributes that you obviously appreciate from Conor Wigman. First one is he's going to have to be available. Right. But after that, what do you like about Conor Wigman? This is one that, honestly, I could have put him higher. I'm actually very bullish on Conor Wigman. I think if you go back and watch that Miami tape from last year, and I get it. They lost that game, 48-33 or whatever it was. He threw some dimes. I'm not sure you find a better...

tape of just throws of any quarterback last year. Carson may have a few things to say. Michael may have a few things to say. But I'm not sure there will be a better tape out there than that game. The amount of times that he was just under fire. Free runner. Free runners. And he would not blink

and stick his back foot in the ground and rip a deep dig or a glance route. I mean, he was dealing that game. By the way, through the A gaps, too. Yes. Not off the edge. It was unbelievable. Right down his nose, coming right at it. But, I mean, there were 13 or 14 big-time throws in that game. And that was kind of the first time, and I've been very critical. One of them was picked, by the way.

Well, that was slipped. The receiver completely fell down. It hit him right in the face mask. It was like a perfect throw. Like between two. Well, not that one. Oh. But the one where he threaded it right in the middle, it got picked. It was a big-time throw. I'm like, that's a hell of a throw, and it got picked. Yeah. So depressing. And the other interception that game was the last play of the game, a jump ball to the inside. So, like, I mean, yeah, it's not like he went out there and threw two picks. It was, you know, he was dealing. But what I was going to say is that was the first time I was like, hey, this offense is

it feels like they're actually trying to build around his strengths a little bit. The ball was getting out of his hands quicker. It was all gun stuff. They moved a little bit more. And so when I think of what Colin Kline is going to be able to do. You saw how many times they slid the protection in that game, and you're like, oh, never mind, we're not progressing. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's going to be the thing, right? That offensive line has got to come together for him to fulfill kind of what I think he can be. But I think he's super talented, and I think he's a little bit overlooked. Rightfully so, because he hasn't been available. Of course, yeah.

So you have Brady Cook at six. So here's one question that I've asked really the entire offseason. And I think we kind of forget, Jordan, we go back this time last year, he wasn't the starter. And then they kind of did him a public disservice because they didn't name him the starter. And Eli was going to play three.

He gets booed after the first game, and then all of a sudden he turns and has the year that he has. But he took a pretty big step from when we saw him the previous year. How much more of a step do you think he can take? How close is he to his ceiling? I mean, I don't think there's a huge upside, right? Because he's not the most physically gifted, but he is freaking good, man. And what I think is underappreciated about him, and really just –

To your point of not getting named the starter, the noise outside the building, the fact that two years ago, no one told us that he had a torn ligament in his shoulder. His throwing shoulder was torn, and everyone's like, man, this guy's not very good. Yeah, he's playing with a torn right shoulder. Like, no wonder. So this is the first year that we really saw a healthy Brady Cook. And what Kirby Moore and Eli Drinkwitz are able to do with moving Luther Burden around and finding creative ways to get him the ball, I do think Brady can take another step. Is it going to be a top?

two or three quarterback in the SEC step? I don't think so, just because I think there's a little bit of a talent ceiling there. But, man, he is a gamer. When the lights turn on, that dude shows up. It doesn't always look the most pretty. We were talking about Michael Penix. Every throw looks pretty. No doubt. Not the same with Brady, but it gets the job done, right? Totally. I mean, he's accurate. The ball is where it should be when it's supposed to be there. So I love watching the kid play. We're coming up on like a minute left. I'd love to kind of hit the rest of these on the other side. Do you need to go? Are you busy? I'm chilling.

You got Graham Mertz at seven, and I've just – the only way I know how to put it is, if you put his numbers on 80 teams in college football right now, we're having the discussion of are they going to get to ten wins. But for some reason, Florida's not going to be able to win five. I have a diatribe about Graham Mertz. Schedule's just way too hard. Yeah. I love Graham. All those teams that were below 500 and a game above 500 that we don't know how Florida's going to find a way to win. I love Graham. I could do a deep dive into completion percentage causation correlation to wins after the break.

Wow. We are going full chemistry and biology. I don't even know what subject that falls under in school, but we're going to talk about it on the other side. All right, Jordan's going to stick around with us through the break. We'll talk a little bit more about his quarterback list. Florida will come up. We'll talk Georgia today. Obviously, a team that a lot of people believe

We'll be right back.

And now downtown in Five Points, your CBD store where good health hits home. Chris Budden next hour. Ralph Russo next hour. Kirby at the podium at 9.

And Jordan Rodgers is going to finish his quarterback conversation and talk about teams that he thinks can or will win the Southeastern Conference. All of that next right here on Day 2 from Radio Row live in Dallas on McElroy and Kublik in the morning, jocks 94.5. This is McElroy and Kublik in the morning. At your job, do you ever have to deal with a nose roller? How about a snub pulley?

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