7-17-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 1: SEC Media Days - Day 3: Kalen DeBoer, Dusty Dvoracek, Chris Plank, Greg knew Nick Saban's tricks
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Welcome to the show.

Honestly, I was looking at some pictures of our show yesterday morning and I didn't know what day it was from. I was like, was Jordan today or yesterday? Yeah, I actually know what you mean there. It all begins to run together, but today is a big day. Yesterday was a pretty big day, a pretty good day as well. I thought yesterday was going to feel bigger.

Do you have a similar vibe? I thought yesterday was going to be nutso with Oklahoma, Georgia. I agree with that, yeah, to an extent. And you had four teams that were legitimate playoff contenders. Now, if you could say Oklahoma's not, well, fine. They're not, but if you don't think Oklahoma is, that's fine. But they're also in the league for the very first time. I was just surprised. I thought yesterday was going to be bonkers. Yeah, and I think just overall the noise has been a little bit limited from this SEC meeting. I was talking to Paul about it yesterday when I did his show, and

He just said, man, I don't feel like we're getting anything. I don't feel like anybody. Everybody's so guarded, so protected. And I think maybe he felt a little bit bigger. We had Venables on set yesterday, and he was fantastic, by the way. Have you ever really been around him? I had the bowl game this year. Oh, that's right. This was – and I thought he did a great job at the podium yesterday because he can be long-winded, and he was great. He kind of got in, kind of got out, didn't go into all the extras that I don't think a lot of people even really care about with your program.

But he's just a ball coach, man. Like you can tell. He's just a ball guy. No doubt. And Roman asked him something about his defense, and I think he went through three deep at every position, like all the way down, and told us something about every guy. But it was great kind of visiting with him, getting to know him, seeing a little bit more about him and his team. And the thing that I kept saying yesterday, Greg, that I kept trying to reiterate to people is Oklahoma might not be as good a spot at their position groups on either side of the ball as certain teams.

But they have the potential to have legitimate star power. And Bowman, Stutson, safety linebacker, obviously Jackson Arnold, who was here yesterday, wide receiver. I don't know how far that can carry them because there are aspects of that team that need to grow and be a little bit better. And they're one of those teams you've talked about. Like, you go back to that USC team a couple years ago. Yeah. They made a lot happen with turnovers last year. They benefited greatly from turnovers. I don't know if they can make that happen again, but...

If you're talking about the potential for just star power, there's not many teams who have potentially as many high-end guys as the Oklahoma team is going to have. Well, I think they do have probably as many takeover the game guys as, gosh, Georgia probably. I mean, if you really think about it, I think Deion Burch is a takeover the game guy. Yes. No doubt about it. I think if you look at Jadul Farouk with his top-end speed,

possible takeover of the game guy? Probably not, but maybe once or twice a year. You know, it's kind of like John Meche was a takeover of the game guy a couple years ago, but he was the number three wide receiver. Remember? It was against A&M. He completely took over the game. I think Jarrell Farouk has that capability, and I think Jackson Arnold, time will tell. Maybe he's like, hey, I'm going to be the best player on the field type of guy. I don't know. It certainly has a presence to him, and then defensively,

Not just Danny Stutzman. I think Danny Stutzman's legit. I think Woody Washington's really, really good. I think Billy Bowman's really good at the safety spot. Of course, really good ball hawk, great eyes.

And then I'm pretty bullish on the Dom Williams guy, the transfer from TCU. I think that guy's got a chance to be pretty disruptive. Now, I don't think he's going to be one of those guys that we're like, oh, my goodness, this guy's Quinto Williams 2.0 or Nick Fairley or someone like that. But he's going to pop a couple times, and if you take a bad step up front, he can make you look a little silly from time to time. He's got some quickness. So I really like their team.

I just think their schedule is extremely difficult, and I don't like that many of their road trips. They have a couple tough road trips, I feel like, too. So they get off to a good start. They got a really nice chance to make some noise. I took the over yesterday on their win total, by the way. Seven and a half, I took the over. I saw you and Jordan on Calls to Call Live. I'm surprised Jordan went under. Jordan went under, I think, on all but Georgia. But if you really look at these win totals, like if I had to bet, like you told me, Greg, your life depends on picking these 16 win totals correctly.

I'm going to take the under on almost all of them because I do think the 12-team playoff is going to lead to more losses. Just human nature. But at the same time, man, I mean, yeah, I'm taking the over with Oklahoma. I think they're going to be pretty dang salty and

I think they can get Texas. I think they definitely can get some of the teams that come to them, too. Here's Brent Venables yesterday discussing whether or not Oklahoma will be intimidated year one in the SEC. We're excited for the challenge. As competitors, as a football program, Oklahoma isn't intimidated as a football team.

We're running towards the SEC. I think that goes without saying. We've looked forward for the last several years for this partnership to be a part of an amazing conference, the best conference in college football. As a coach, I think going through it gives you the best litmus test. There's nothing that you can read about or even watch on tape, to be honest with you. You're not going to sneak up anywhere.

any week in any venue and show up and luck up and win. So it's a conference. It's about earning what you get. And I think going through it, you know, a season, you'll figure that out. You'll figure out what was good, what wasn't good, the areas of your program, your roster that need improvement so that you can match up and have an opportunity to compete for championships.

So that was Brent Venables yesterday just kind of discussing this Oklahoma team. I'm with you on the star power and the strengths. The offensive line is a real concern. I think tight end position could be a concern. This Bauer Sharp kid, Greg, I don't know how to – I mean, he's an FCS tight end that they say can fly, that has some physicality. He's the ultimate flex tight end. I need to see it. I don't really know. No.

But that's a position, whether it's sort of H-back, extra fullback, tight end, has been really important in some of these Oklahoma offenses. They just don't have a lot of depth there. They really don't. And then you mentioned...

Dom Williams at defensive tackle, that depth scares me just a little bit. I mean, there's two freshmen, David Stone and Jaden Jackson, that I continue to hear people saying they might have to lean on. I do think the edge position is pretty deep. I think Ethan Downs is a guy that can get to the quarterback. Trace Ford, older players, but they're a little bit lighter in general. And they have great depth as a linebacker. They've got a really deep linebacker room, a lot of guys that can play, not just Stutzman. So there's a lot to like about Oklahoma. We'll see how it plays out. What about O-line?

I don't know. You've got three transfers coming in and five new starters. But one of the transfers we know from Florida, Tarquin. Yes, and USC. I heard that the spring was not great for him. Branson Hickman, the center from SMU, I really like. And I talked to Lashley about him. Lashley loves him. I love his film. The reason why I like him is because they played SMU last year and they saw it. When you go get a guy that you played and you kind of know and you talk to your own players about how good a particular guy was...

I don't feel like you're going to take a guy that you played against and that guy's going to disappoint you. I just don't anticipate that. So that makes sense, for sure. And then Fabechi Nwaiwu from North Texas. Super athletic. I think he's a little bit more of a guard. They may need him at tackle for a little while. But Seth recruited him. Seth Luttrell, the offensive coordinator. So that gives me...

A little more peace of mind knowing, hey, this guy kind of knows this guy's makeup. So those two I feel okay about. Tarquin, though, we've seen in the SEC, and I don't remember anything special. No. Spencer Brown comes in from Michigan State. Good chance he'll start at right tackle. So we'll see. It's a wait and see. I do have confidence in Bedeboe, even though he liked to point in front of me a lot of times for that one. But he's good. He's kind of the go-to O-line, though. Yeah, he's good. He's the go-to O-line puncher.

punchline, if you will, for coaches. But if you have a little bit of mobility at quarterback, and they will, they've got a solid running back room, multiple weapons, as you mentioned, on the perimeter, you can offset it for a little while. Now, there are going to come games in which they're not going to be able to get around it. Even though I don't think the defensive lines collectively are as good as they have been going into this year, with their schedule, there's going to come a point in time where that team's going to have to be real to go out and win you that game. Let's pull up the schedule real quick.

I mean, hell, Texas might be one of them. They're not the same as they were. Oh, no, no, but I'm just saying the offensive line having troubles with D-lines. Tennessee, right out of the gate, that's going to be a tough one. I think they get that one, though. I'm just talking right now the offensive line having problems, specifically. That one's a little like, to me, though, when Texas A&M has Texas come to them at the end of the year. Like, I put the percentage chance of Texas winning that game at, like,

25%. You know what I mean? I just think that there's going to be so much built up for the fan base in that environment, it's going to be flat out insane. Is it not? We've had people say on this show, and maybe, I'm not going to say it definitely is because that's a lot of history, but maybe the biggest home game in Oklahoma history. Maybe the biggest regular season game, period. I just cannot imagine...

They're not laying – I mean, if Tennessee wins that game, they are going to earn it. I mean, they are going to really earn it. That game is going to mean a lot to Oklahoma. So I didn't get that one, but I think that at Auburn the following week is when they drop.

I just think the likelihood of them beating Tennessee is higher than that of going on the road to Auburn because of how much they're probably going to put into that game. So much. By the way, you're going to get tried in weeks two and three. Houston and Tulane, you're a better team, you're a more talented team, but those are going to be well-coached football teams. They're going to be tough to deal with. Well, Houston's got kind of the trick-up-their-sleeve mentality. Like, I don't know enough about Willie.

uh, Fritz's offense and what he's implementing because it is a fairly significant one 80 from what Dana ran for the last seven years. Um, but Dana and I have a pretty good relationship and I actually went to their practice when we were doing an XFL game last year and spent some time with Dana. And, uh, he's like, buddy, our roster is so far away from being competitive. Um,

It's not that Houston can't win. They can. I just think that they... Willie's really had... I think he's completely pressed the reset button. So it might be a little early, but I think Tulane is dangerous. Super dangerous. Look ahead spot. And they've played Oklahoma tough a couple years ago. Venables referenced it on the set yesterday. I mean, I think the Houston one, I think they'll be able to handle that okay. But...

It's a night game, big opportunity on SEC Network for the first time. There's just a lot of reasons why they're going to be up for that one. And Houston got them, I believe, the last time they played. I called the game. It was like 2016. Was that in Houston? Yeah, and it was Baker Mayfield. And Greg Ward in Houston was like a legit team. He's my guy coaching the team, right?

Tommy. Touchdown Tommy Herman. Texas Tommy. Texas Tommy. Anyways, long story short, I think the Tulane one, though, is one to be real careful of. They're going to be up for Houston, but Tulane, don't sleep on that one. Auburn's annual kickoff, Birmingham, presented by the Greater Birmingham Auburn Club, is going to be Thursday, July 25th at the Finley Center in Hoover.

Giant pep rally. Bring the family. Bring the kids in the play area for face painting. Albie's going to be there. Andy Burcham's going to be there. Silent auction. You can bid on unique items and experiences. It's a great way to sort of kick off the season, be around some great Auburn folks, kind of get the vibes going for the regular season of college football if you're a big Auburn fan. VIP ticket upgrades available. Food, drinks, swag, corporate sponsorships can be available as well. Proceeds go to fund scholarships for Birmingham area Auburn students.

Thursday, July 25th at the Finley Center. Tickets and more information at kickoffbirmingham.org. Coach Saban making the rounds, making a little bit of noise yesterday as well. First and foremost, Kalen DeBoer should be joining us in about 10, 12, 15 minutes here live on the set. I'm told he's going to head to us when he gets in, and we'll speak to him live. He'll be at the podium at 9. We'll let you listen in to that as well. Alabama is here today. Texas is here today.

So if you thought yesterday was big, today is also big. Billy Napier in Florida is going to be here. Jeff Levy should stop by the show a little bit later. Join us live on set. Mississippi State is going to be in the house as well. So an exciting day for us. And we'll have Kalen DeBoer live on the show today. Just want to make sure everybody knows. So keep it locked right here on JOX 94.5. Paul Feinbaum had a chance to sort of ask Saban a couple questions that are interesting. Greg and I have a little more knowledge about kind of some of the things happening behind the scenes. None negative. None negative.

Just funny, impressive, and like prototypical Nick Saban.

But Paul asked him how he prepped for this media day yesterday afternoon. It was a little more difficult because everybody's roster has changed pretty dramatically in terms of the additions that they've made, whether it's recruiting or transfer portal. But I watched everybody's spring game. I talked to everybody's – I talked to all the head coaches and tried to marry up what their thoughts were about their team and then what I actually saw –

in a pretty general sense in watching the spring game. So I try to prepare for it just like I do if I was playing a game. So that's Coach Saban just kind of on how he prepped for this media days, and that wasn't the only thing that he said and had to say, G-Mac, that was kind of interesting. He also asked what details that he looks for in coaches' meetings.

Mostly their feeling about their team. Where is their team from a chemistry standpoint? What kind of discipline they have on the team? What kind of leadership do they have? What kind of buy-in do they have from the players on their team?

Those are the types of things that I think go a long way in having a team that has the kind of accountability that you need to be able to be consistent in your execution to be successful. Those are more the things that I look for. I know all the plays. I know the defenses and all that, but it's what you're feeling about your team's intangibles relative to their approach to the season.

Which is interesting, Greg, because he asked that question, then he was also asked how he used the media as a head coach. Yeah, I use the media a lot to message my team. You know, I'm figuring that you all are putting out a lot of rat poison, so I was going to put out my own sort of remedy to...

squelch the rat poison as well as try to send a message to the team in terms of the way I wanted them to be thinking about the season. How great is that? It's just so funny and we were on the set in one of the breaks on Monday and

And he actually said that exact same thing to us. He goes, I always used this to talk to you guys and looking in my direction. I'm like, Coach, we knew that. He goes, really? I'm like, Coach, we could see through that like 17 years ago, bud. All your tricks that we've used for so many years, we know. But I also think it's really beneficial because, one, it's a State of the Union. Two, whether or not you like it,

heavy is the head that wears the crown. Nick Saban was picked to win the SEC 11 of the last 13 years. And the two years that he wasn't picked, they won it. Um, so it's, it's pretty crazy to think about it's, and it's also very easy to kind of drink the Kool-Aid right now. Right. You know, it really is like, I, I kind of feel good about all these teams. Like I just got a text a second ago about four teams that are coming through today over under wind totals on all four, Texas, Mississippi state, Florida, and Alabama. I took the over on all of them. Um,

But at the same time, it's not in the best interest of the coach to have the team feel real good about themselves right now. Cool to hear that because we've all thought that about Saban for a while. 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 Jocks, and they've been recognized as America's most trusted brand 10 consecutive years. Find a comfort specialist near you at train.com. Dusty Dvorak is going to sit down with us for a few moments before Kalen DeBoer joins us. We'll do that next right here on McElroy and Kubelik 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. McElroy and Kublik in the morning live from SEC Media Days Day 3. Dusty Dvorak joining us on Radio Row. Is this the point in time also for you? You begin to forget what day it is and when you did certain interviews? No, it's Thursday, man. I'm ready to go. Absolutely. I was telling Greg in the first segment, is it Day 3? I don't know who we talked to yesterday. No, it's not Thursday because Thursday is payday.

And I'm running low on funds. Keep checking my bank account. Don't need any checks bouncing. Some of the golf wagering hits you a little too hard? I think that's what it was. It is a bit of a marathon, though, right? It is. Like, I mean, I have to say, like, it's.

I've been to many a media day, never a four-day event. That's a lot. But you know what? I do like the fact that you get plenty of time, allow each team to kind of properly make their rounds, do what they need to do. It's not rushed. And the fact that you're 16 now, it kind of makes sense. 4-4-4-4. But you really get...

You really... Every school kind of gets their three hours. Yeah, that's right. I think that that's... I like that. I think you kind of have two at the same time, but not really because one's in one part, one's in the other part. So everybody kind of gets their moment. Not...

I think it's kind of the best way to do it. Like, it just feels good. It's long, though. It is long. You'll see people get... The dress will get a little more casual. Oh, yeah. The people will start showing up a little bit later. The stench gets a little worse. It'll be about 2 p.m. Thursday, and it'll be a ghost town. Everybody's sprinting for the door. Except for...

McElroy and I, because we have TV 2 to 3. 3 o'clock, it'll be a sprint. It'll be a race between Mac and I. I think I'm 12 to 3 on Thursday. I got the old dreaded request. Hey, can you do Fine Bomb Thursday? I'm like, ah.

As a matter of fact, I can't. I've got to fly. Unless you want me to FaceTime from DFW, I'm out. Greg and I are back in our old stomping grounds. Greg from Southlake. I'm from Lake Dallas, about 25, 30 minutes from here. But are you in the Lake Dallas Hall of Fame? I don't even know if Lake Dallas has a Hall of Fame. I thought you went to Lake Highlands. Lake Dallas. Lake Dallas. We're not a big deal. Now, they did retire my jersey, so does that count as a Hall of Fame? That's the same category. Do you have a key to the city?

Shoot. No, I should. I should. How about this? Greg McElroy has multiple keys to multiple cities. Well, you win a national championship as a quarterback. In Alabama, they kind of hand them out. Come speak to our quarterback. Key to the city. It's nice to know that I can go to Gadsden whenever I want, and I can

I can go... Just unlock the whole thing. Whatever. Does that key work for anything? I'm not sure. Have you ever tried to unlock anything? I've tried to take my South Lake key to this Omni and just try to go into the concierge room and it didn't work. Not happening. No. I want the free soda. Did you know that...

Our boy here, Cubes, went WWE like full-blown match yesterday on set with me and the SEC. I heard about it. I've been trying to look. Now that I don't have social media, it's very hard to catch those viral moments. That is one area that I'm really missing. Bless you, child, for not having social. We're getting it clipped, though. I cannot wait to see it. I don't know if you guys have discussed it yet, but of course they bring up rivalries. I just want to say this first and foremost.

It is so dumb, I think, for a lot of us to speak on these when we haven't been to all of them. Totally fair. I haven't been to the Iron Bowl, self-admittedly. I haven't been to the Egg Bowl. I've watched them on television, but I haven't been their boots on the ground. I obviously have been to many of OU Texas. I haven't been to Michigan-Ohio State. Ohio State-Michigan is one we didn't even discuss. But from an SEC perspective, one of the awesome things about this conference is the rivalry.

And one of the great things is that now you get Texas, Texas A&M. Now you get Oklahoma, Texas coming to join this collection of great rivalries. But yesterday we had this. Don't forget about Mizzou and Oklahoma. It's a big one, dude. You need to acknowledge it. Stop it.

Your team dominated that series. You should be proud of that. I'm excited about that. Never has anybody mentioned, until this year, with all the back and forth that's going on. It's like, I grew up in the Big 12. They play for a trinket, right, Dusty? Don't they? No. I played in that game. I don't have a trinket. Where's my trinket? In my childhood, there are many rivals that I acknowledged for Oklahoma. Oklahoma State and Bedlam. Nebraska? Nebraska was probably one of my favorites.

favorite. Absolutely. That was like the battle for the Big 12 North. Oklahoma-Missouri was never one for me. The Tiger Sooner Peace Pipe is the trophy awarded to the winner of the game. Where's my damn Peace Pipe? That's what I want to know. That's my question of the day. You guys need one after yesterday's rivalry segment. So, but yesterday, so of course, you know, they tee us up and Cole, like, he just comes, he was like a cage match and

And he climbed out of the cage on top of the top of the ladder and comes crashing down, like, out of nowhere. Like, I was expecting him to rip his tie off. I think he slammed his... I don't even know. It all went red. He just starts yelling about the fair. I don't care about the fair! I don't care about some overgrown cowboy! And he just starts going insane. Why are you down on Big Tech? Berserk! He was... I mean, I was just like...

Like, I let him have his minute. I let him go. So what is your top rivalry? He also said, this is what got me. He said that how good the teams are doesn't matter as it relates. And I just thought that was a little bit crazy. Didn't exactly say it like that. Even the biggest iron bull. Even the biggest iron bull. He's making a case for the Egg Bowl. He's making a case for the Egg Bowl over OU Tech. Yeah. There was a time, frankly, like in the midst of like,

the Mississippi State Leo Lewis testifying again. I did two of those games, and I'm talking like dirty shots, like trying to take guys' knees out. Like, it was rough.

Great rivalry. The hate's real. But when we talk about the big landscape of college football and rivalries that you say, you've got to go to that. I just think where it's at, given at the State Fair, in that historic stadium, the split right there on the 50, you come out the same end zone, walk down that same tunnel, and

I think you have to be there experienced to understand that it's unlike anything else in college football. And what I love about college football is the pageantry. And Tess brought it home with this eloquence, a little rivalry. But I think it's unique to anything else that's out there. And so, naturally, having not. Tess did a 30 for 30 on me.

Iron Bowl. He acknowledged that. He happened to mention that 47 times. That was his way of letting them know, I respect this. It was brilliant work by Dusty because Tess just let us both go.

And he had a list in front of him. And Dusty had peeked over at it. The segment is almost over, and he's right. Tess did a beautiful job. It was almost like he was scripted. Picasso. How he narrated the end of the segment, bringing it all back together. And Dusty said, Tess, who's number one on your list over there?

And he didn't want to say it. Of course not. And he said, oh, that's not it. He goes, no, I can see your list. Tell us who's number one on your list. So he had to say that. That's a little soft. In all seriousness, though, boys, I jacked up, man. The fact that we had a part of it. That's what's great about them all is the fact that we had that conversation the way we did. But I've got to read this to you. Christopher Self tweeted me yesterday. Okay. He said, you are expletive me. Call me.

Cole talked the bully game, talked over everybody, slammed his computer lid down like a petulant child. Then Dusty spoke the truth, and Cole crumbled and whimpered for the rest of the segment.

There were multiple people. There were multiple people, Dusty. Multiple people tweeted me about my attempts to bully you yesterday. Come on, man. They know they were boys. All I could think of was, you folks do not know Dusty Dvorak. If you think that he was bullied by anyone first and foremost. If we need to do Oklahoma drill between y'all two, that's fine. You want to see two 40-year-olds get hurt and injured?

Can you imagine how quickly that would go down? Think about how fun it would be for the first three seconds. That's a good point. Until somebody gets hurt. In all seriousness, dude, as someone that has been to almost all the rivalry games now, whether we've played in them, I have not called a lot of them. The one that was elusive, I've not been in the stadium, but I've had boots on the ground in Jacksonville for the pregame show. Gosh, it had to have been like 2015. It was a long time ago. Long story short, dude,

To me, the best rivalry is still the Iron Bowl because of the level of intensity and the level of hatred. It's just unbelievable. OU Texas is at worst second. At worst. And depending on the year, I can get on board with it being number one. I really can. Because I've been a nine of them. Eight as a fan, one as a broadcaster.

It's just nothing feels more like a throwback in time to the good old days of college football, like before stadiums had lights. It just feels like you're in 1957 outside of the outfits that some of the people are wearing. It's just really a unique setting. So I really badly want Cole to go and see it. How many times have you been as a fan? Man, I went as a recruit one year. Are you allowed to do that?

Recruiting violation? No, no, no. It was because when you're the home team, you get to get a lot of the tickets. So I went once as a recruit, was there as a player four times, and was there what? I was on the radio broadcast for three or four years before I started working at ESPN. Oh, so you've been involved in that. Over ten. And I've gone back. When I was on the Friday night crew, did a Friday night game four times.

Flew back, met my wife the next morning, and got a chance to go stay on the sideline and watch the game. So I've probably been about 10. It's so awesome. Magical. I've always said this. For me, when I was in school, the biggest game for me as a player was Bama-LSU. And it wasn't because the Iron Bowl was any less. It's just the level of hostility at that point between LSU and Nick Saban.

Elevated that rivalry to a whole new level. And it was before the Iron Bowl, so it was kind of like that was the big one. And then, to be honest with you, it was kind of Florida. They were the big dog in the sport. Like, we wanted to beat Florida. So I think these things ebb and flow. Um...

It's like the toughest stadium to play in. Yeah, come on. When Tennessee's 5-7, it's not the toughest place to play. But if they're pushing for an undefeated season, there's not a place louder. Same thing with the Swamps. Same thing with Tiger Stadium. No one's raking South Carolina as one of the toughest places to play, but I can assure you back in 2012. You put a big opponent when they've got a dangerous team, it's an insane place to play. I'll tell you this. With Oklahoma coming and they're going to get a full indoctrination and taste of what the SEC's all about, that road schedule, boys,

And I feel like, because we focused a lot yesterday on that Tennessee game. First SEC game, Hypo coming back. And you brought up a good point. That Auburn game is a sneaky game for Oklahoma. Sneaky? I'm just saying, there's going to be so much emotion. That first SEC game, Hypo comes back. And then, bam, you've got to go to Jordan-Hare the next week. That's your welcome to the SEC moment. Correct. 100%. And then, as you guys know, I'm sure you got it, October 26th in, Cole,

October 26th, what, I think you've got to go to Oxford? At Ole Miss, Maine at home, at Missouri, Bama at home, at LSU. Yeah, to close it out. How about that, guys? You've got a rivalry game at Missouri. You've got national championship. Yeah, you've got a top-seven team in the country on the road early. Does the losing team have to load the peace pipe at the end of the game? I sure hope so. I mean, I just want to know where my peace pipe is. I really, I think that that...

that's going to really test and challenge the depth that Brent Venables has been able to build up. And that's the one thing that I think all these teams, and even for the SEC teams that have been here, the grind's going to even get worse. Because now you've added Oklahoma, Texas. It's an absolute beast.

And I think that's my... Yeah, that's something I hate to do. We love you, bud. I get it. I'm just filler. It's fine. I'm just filler. Great talking to you, boys. Thank you, Dusty. I appreciate it. Always the best. Coach, how you doing, man? Great to see you. Go ahead and hop down. Dusty Dvorak, Kalen DeBoer. There you go. We'll introduce those two real quick. Get that going.

Coach, how are you? Great to see you again. Yeah, good to see you guys too. You'll love this moment. You spent a couple minutes with my seven-year-old trying to talk to him about football and whatnot, and we walked away, and I said, son, you realize who that was, right? And he said, yeah, that's Alabama's coach. And I said, son, that's Alabama's head football coach. And he said, cool. And he turned around and walked away. He wanted to go to the pool. And I was like, come on, man.

They're living a good life in the family there. Absolutely. That's good. How are you feeling about this event? You haven't gotten really started yet. We're your first visit, but how do you feel about coming here and being a part of this? Well, I've done a couple of interviews, and I think it's cool to just get back into football talking mode about your team. I mean, I love doing that, so this is fun. Absolutely. Yeah.

I know you get grilled and people try to come after you and stuff. It's actually not that bad. It's gotten nicer in the last couple years. Everyone's so nice now. It's like, goodness gracious, some of the softballs that you'll get up there are off the charts. Is there anyone that you kind of talk to outside of, like, Coach Saban to prepare for –

for what you want to say today and the message you want to send? No, not really. I mean, I've done it a few times, and you kind of follow, you know, you kind of want to follow the lead of what Greg Sankey has when it comes to the conference and echo some of the things that we talk about within, you know, the conference there. But, yeah, it's just me just selling our team. And there's been so much media around our program already, just especially it would be that way, I think, no matter what. But with the transition, you know, there's –

there's been you know so much coverage a lot of the questions that you probably can get thrown at you have already been asked and and answered and just kind of you know two weeks closer to the seat or two weeks away from fall camp you know there's just a little more detail to it probably at this point I want to get detailed with your team we saw Jeremy Bernard in the spring game and obviously you know him well you've coached him you know what he's about looks like he's going to be a great add can

Can you just kind of take us through where you think you are with the rest of that position? Because Alabama fans are looking back at recent memory, and it has been the elite of the elite at that position. And I think just some folks are a little uncertain of exactly what that position is going to look like this year. Yeah, I think that position group has worked extremely hard trying to make sure they live up to the expectations that have been in place in this program. And, yeah.

You know, I don't know if the experience and that superstar that's been there in the past exists at this moment, but I think as the season goes along, there's going to be times where those guys rise to the occasion and can do those type of superstar things. And so Jerm, he's been working his tail off, and he's had a great offseason. He continues to just get stronger, faster. He's the fastest he's ever been. He's the leanest he's ever been.

I think he's really, you know, great in the respect of not just that position group, but the guys across the whole entire team. And, you know, he's got a humility about him. He's got a competitiveness about him. And then obviously he's super talented. So it's been fun seeing him grow along with, you know, a guy like Kendrick Law. You know, shoot the guy, can run like no other. I feel like he's just really grown in his consistency, catching the football here from the spring into the summer.

and uh you know he can i mean he hit 23.6 miles an hour uh in workouts um and so he can absolutely fly and so uh you know on top of being a 450 pound bench guy um he's he's kind of got it all and so um he uh just goes about his business works hard uh continue to lead that position group um there's there's more guys too i think e-man uh henderson uh you know kobe prentice those guys have done a really good job and then um you know there's

a few more upperclassmen that are consistent, but a guy like Ryan Williams, you know, we'll see what he can do here. He's had a couple really good months learning the offense and diving into it. You know, I think everyone's been...

impressed with his commitment level and his just maturity I think maybe is something that just kind of really catches you considering he's supposed to be a senior in high school yeah how do you accelerate I mean I know Caleb Odom was there in the spring I know you want to have a role for him but Ryan just got there and that's a little unique now I mean

Back in our day, you arrive in June and we were early. Now it's like you arrive in June and everybody's there and you barely have a chance. How do you accelerate a guy's development when they arrive that late from high school? Yeah, well, you know, he just...

He just dives in, all in. And, you know, he got here just a couple weeks early in May just to try to get himself settled in, you know, mentally. And he had access to the weight room where there was no workouts that were really formally going on, but with where he was at and his –

enrollment and stuff he could he could come in and be around and uh you know try to just get caught up and uh it was a very apparent quickly that he had put a lot of time in um getting caught up and then june hits and he's already out there um you know not being perfect but uh you know going out there and uh really competing and uh impressing everyone that's awesome good to hear and i know you get

Sometimes the guys are running open all the time and there's some are seven on sevens. That's not necessarily, it's good for the wideouts, not so good for the defense backs. You kind of get to evaluate those position groups a lot. And I know that was a group that you were keeping a pretty close eye on in the spring. Went out, made a couple additions in the portal, in the second portal window. But you've had some young guys that are probably going to be playing pivotal roles there, at least playing pivotal depth. So how do we feel about the

the secondary right now collectively as a whole heading in now to fall camp in a couple weeks? Yeah, our time here in the summer months, really when we can be with them, we can do some skill instruction. They, of course, have the workouts, and then they do the seven-on-sevens and the team sessions on their own. But, you know, I think...

It certainly is the position that is going to have more youth to it. I think we have some good upperclassmen bringing in a Keyon Saab along with Malachi makes you really feel good about the safety position. Damani Jackson really had a great spring season.

I like his mindset, his mentality. He's ready to go out there and just get after it. And then I think, you know, it's kind of a lot of other youth at the corner position. And, you know, there's talent there. It's just a matter of really trying to, you know,

Zabian Brown impresses every day in spring ball as well as what we have a chance to do with him here in the summer. Jalen Mbakwe, you can go on down the list. But again, those are guys that a lot of maybe fans, unless you follow the recruiting, haven't heard of.

but they're super talented, and it's just a matter of how quickly we've got to bring them along and develop them. And Coach Moe Lindquist is crazy good when it comes to teaching defensive backs, and he's motivated to try to make sure that we continue to grow and develop that depth there. We've got to let you run. What's the most enjoyable thing you've done so far as Alabama's head coach? Like an underrated, low-key, fun thing that you've done that we might not know about. Uh-huh.

Man, I mean, yeah. He's had so much free time. There really hasn't been a lot that's gone right. I look at the recruiting and I'm like, he probably hasn't done anything. It's been really fun recruiting. June was a blur. Four weekends and nine camps, and so...

This week and next week are really the two weeks where I try to step away a little bit. But two weeks from today, we're on the football field practicing. That's wild to think about, man. Coach, thanks for the time. Have a fun time today. Have a great time today. We'll catch up with you a little bit more later. But we always enjoy visiting with you. Appreciate you guys. Real time. Absolutely. Kaelin DeBoer, Alabama head football coach, joining us here live at SEC Media Days. Need to get to a break. We'll be back in just a moment on Macaroni Kubelik in the morning.

The capital of the sports talk nation. This is Jocks 94.5 and jocksfm.com. Hurry and... Welcome back. McElroy Cubic in the morning. 7.43 a.m. here in Dallas, Texas. If you miss any of the show, you can always check it out on the podcast. Kalen DeBoer joining the show about a couple minutes ago. I mean, we had him for about 10 minutes. Got a quick wind-up. He's got a lot of places to be. But it's good to visit with him. Very optimistic about...

How his team has progressed throughout the summer so far and how some of the young guys are coming along. I know what I'm impressed by is Bill Smith Buick GMC. GMC Deal of the Year. It's really amazing to see some of the deals that they can offer. I mean, you don't find them anywhere else. I mean, that's why they sell more GMCs than anyone else.

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75% of their business is repeat customers because you have a better experience when you shop with Bill Smith. You can always shop online as well at BillSmithBuickGMC.com. When we come back, Chris Plank will help us kind of break down the Sooners and the Texas Longhorns in just a moment right here on Jocks 94.5.

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 Cup or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. McElroy and Kubrick in the morning. Jock's 94.5, 748 a.m. here. Birmingham, Alabama.

We're in Dallas. A lot of fun to be back in the hometown, even though I'm a long way away from the real hometown. It is nice to be down here, especially avoiding the heat. A ton of it outside.

But I do know that things will be cooling off here at some point. Looks like, at least in the forecast. I checked it out this week and got some rain in the forecast. Had some weather running through last night. Hopefully everybody's alright. Down near Alex City and Auburn. Looked like it got hit pretty hard with the storm. So, Cole, we just visited with Kalen DeBoer a moment ago. And look, he's not, he's never going to be a guy that feels uptight. I do sense an increased level of focus here.

from him. Does he not feel just the tiniest bit more dialed in? I mean, when we were with him earlier in the summer, it was like,

I guess it was May now at the Regents. He was so laid back. And now it's like... And if that's his version of locked in, the guy's just the most cool dude ever. I was trying to explain to a couple of people yesterday, and they were asking me the difference. And some folks with the SEC Network, some other folks just around media, one of the things they want to focus on is how does Alabama move on, or how does Alabama keep this going? And I'm just...

It's completely different. Right. And I don't know if that's really good, and I don't know if that's not really good. I don't know if there's a right answer, but I do think there are some real positives with what he brings that is different. The vibe in the facility, how he manages things, handles himself. It's just not anywhere near the same as it used to be, but...

I think if you're going to have a transition from the greatest college football coach of all time, having Kalen's demeanor is critical to at least being close to continuing that success. And Alabama's got that. And you saw some of that today. Like you said, if that's Kalen DeBoer tight, then they're going to be good. They're going to be fine. One thing I've also noticed, too, is it's amazing to me.

People are very hesitant in the media. I don't think necessarily in our neck of the woods, but people are very hesitant in the media to give Kalen DeBoer his flowers because they feel like if they talk glowingly about Alabama in the future, it's almost like they're...

taking away from what Nick Saban accomplished. That's not accurate. You can think that Nick Saban is the greatest coach of all time and think that maybe in the next two or three years, Alabama's every bit as good, if not in some ways, maybe better. I don't know. I think there's a unique...

circumstance going on right now where they feel like if you give Kalen too much love, you're almost discrediting what Nick Saban built, and that's just not real. And a little over an hour from now, we'll go to the podium and let you hear Kalen DeBoer live as well. But Chris Plank, a sideline for Oklahoma football, joining us now. Plank, we talked a little bit about Venables yesterday. He can get lengthy, by the way. He can go. But, man, he's just a ball coach. I think that's what you have to love about him. We had a contingent where we –

I guess for all the coaches, they'll have a little local media time where they talk to him, get a little huddle with him. And we were, I don't know, I guess we crashed the party. We somehow got to go into that. And I was cracking up because he went through this whole explanation about some injuries and things of that nature. Then all of a sudden he goes, what do I know? I'm just a linebacker.

coach. That's who he is. He's a ball coach. And I thought, you know, it's funny, you talk about how you can get lengthy. I thought yesterday was as, you know. At the podium, yes, but we asked him on set. Did you get two questions? Roman asked him, no, the three of us, Dusty, me, Roman got one each. Tess didn't even get one. And Roman asked him about his personnel and defense. And Plank, he went through the three deep. Yeah.

Every individual, every position told us, I mean, most of the kids, where they were from, their high schools, what they did well. And, I mean, it had to have been a 15-minute answer. It was incredible. He was good. And, Greg, I don't know. Did you get to spend some time around Jackson Arnold at all yesterday? I did not see. It was the strangest thing. I don't know if they were hiding or what. I did not see a single Oklahoma player. Okay, because I'd love to get your perspective on him. I just thought...

Yesterday was the first time he was on the stage, right? And as a redshirt freshman, bringing him to media day, maybe a bit of a surprise, but he's the guy. He's that dude. Yeah, lean in. So I thought, and I'm a homer, so it's just as long as I accept it, I think that you guys will know where it's coming from. But I thought the Oklahoma guys did really well yesterday. I was impressed with them there. You know, sometimes you can get bogged down in...

Hearing guys stumble, stammer, a lot of likes, uhs, you know. I was really impressed with them yesterday. They were really sweet. If you have good kids, it is honestly a pretty good reflection of the team. I don't know why. The other thing I'd say, too, looking at him, he's got all the game in the world. But my questions are really more about the maturity and understanding when to do what you need to do to win the game. And that, I think, is something that we won't know until...

Let's be real. It might be the Tennessee game. You're right. And I think knowing, hey, this is when I got to try one, and this is when I need to maybe just check it down just to live to play the next play, like say Uncle, the defense won. That's what I'm most interested in with him. He's got all the game in the world. It's about he's never experienced adversity in his career as a high school prep player.

A little like Cade Klubnick. When he got hit, it didn't end well. Great comparison. And that's the thing. Similar high school pedigree, high school power in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I just think he's going to do really well. I just hope that he's able to weather the storm because there will be a storm at some point this year. Absolutely. Absolutely. I agree. And, you know, it's wild to think that

When I say it out loud, it seems crazy. Oklahoma allowed the Heisman Trophy favorite to leave and turns to a quarterback who turned it over four times in the bowl game. You say it out loud, and you're like, what? Because there's been a lot. Why did Dylan Gabriel leave? Well, this has kind of been the plan. Dylan Gabriel didn't get a draft grade that he wanted. So you let a guy walk that's now the Heisman favorite and going to a potential national championship contender. And, oh, by the way, you're replacing him with a redshirt freshman that has started one game?

And you're going into the toughest conference in all of college football. It's going to be one heck of a case study this year. All right, Chris Plank does sideline for Oklahoma football radio broadcast, joining us on Radio Row Live. Where do you make up the depth of this Oklahoma football team, just top to bottom heading into this season? It's as much depth as they've had. And I think you got the whole depth chart on the ESPN set yesterday you were talking about. It's as much depth as they've ever had. But, you know, it's...

it's competitive depth is a term that coach uses a lot. And, you know, they got a break whenever Billy Bowman and Danny Stutzman decided to come back. Now, two dudes do, doff not make a defense, but when one of them is your, is your back linebacker and, and understands what your coach wants and Stutzman. And the other one is kind of the quarterback of the defense and Bowman. I think, I think it makes a big difference for him. And Ethan Downs came back, but,

I don't really know if you'll truly see the rewards of what the defensive mindset is doing for Oklahoma, maybe until next year. I think you'll start seeing it this year. Like, whoa, they're coming for the Big 12 where...

The idea is they don't play a lot of defense. They can ball, they can play some defense. But I think as you get into year four and year five and they continue to recruit in the trenches like they're supposed to, there's two freshmen this year that can play defensive tackle. That seems crazy going into the SEC and having two true freshmen that are going to be near the top of the depth chart. It was imperative for them to get Dominic Williams to be able to do what they need to be doing in the trenches this year. So I'm a firm believer that...

It's just a matter of time for Brent Middlesbrough. They're going to be better on defense than I think people expect. I think they're going to be good this year. I do, too. I think they're going to have a good football team. Marty Smith coming up with us next hour. Kalen DeBoer, we'll let you hear him at the podium at 9 a.m. this morning. We've got a lot to get to, a lot to talk about. Blake Chapin is going to join the show, Mississippi State quarterback at some point during the show today. Jeff Lebby is scheduled to stop by the show today. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Keep it locked right here on JOX 94.5. This is McElroy and Kubelik in the morning.

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I'm not self-aware. I refuse to be self-aware. I don't even look in mirrors at all.

which you can probably tell from my appearance. I don't have a crazy high IQ or I really don't have that many skills. I would say my main skill is I believe my instincts. I don't hesitate to follow my instincts ever. The extent that I have, I've gotten in trouble. The Sean Ryan Show on YouTube or wherever you listen.