8-12-24 McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning Hour 1: Alabama and Auburn first scrimmage reaction and notes; Paul Finebaum on the expectations for Alabama as the season approaches; Top 3 WR corps in CFB
47:09 Share

This jocks 94.5 podcast is brought to you by Millennium Satellite and Video. Log on to msbnow.com. TV excellence everywhere. That's Millennium. All right, welcome in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Hope you had a great weekend. It's Monday, August 12th right here on jocks94.5.

Lots to get to today from a college football perspective. More camp injuries over the weekend. A couple folks going to stop in, help us talk about it. Paul Feinbaum always comes up on Mondays at 7.15. We will visit with him, talk about the expectations of some of these SEC teams coming into this season. Also, we will get to Roddy Jones.

In the 9 o'clock hour, supposed to join us Friday, had a little bit of a mix-up with the time change, get a little ACC preview from him. Billy Lucci will join us as well to update some injuries in College Station. You can be a part of the show, 800-239-9569, 800-239-WJOX. Text in 205-834-9450, tweet in at Mac and Cube, and we ask the question every Monday, Greg, what was the best part of your weekend?

It was actually like a 10 plus weekend. I don't know about you last weekend before school starts. So we just kind of enjoyed the family. We spent most of Saturday together, most of Sunday together. Yesterday was awesome. I mean, we went to Vince's favorite restaurant for lunch.

We went to church before that. Then we went to Dick's Sporting Goods, which anyone that's ever taken a five-year-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old to Dick's Sporting Goods knows you got your hands full, but it's a lot of fun. They tried to buy every football slash soccer slash basketball in the entire place. And then...

Saturday, we went to that dino exhibit, the Jurassic Quest, or whatever it was in the afternoon after a full day in the morning, getting breakfast and hanging out and installing some Apple TVs so we can watch some games this fall. So a lot of fun. Great week. Great weekend, honestly. Couldn't be a better weekend. Today's dress rehearsal for kindergarten is going swimmingly. So we're off and running and in a normal day, he'd be eating breakfast right now and

Be ready to roll to the school in about 15 to 20 minutes. So we're actually doing pretty good right now. Damian, best part of your weekend? I got a chance to see one of my old teammates. He just welcomed in a baby girl. Got a chance to see the family. Just the growth of...

of one of my old teammates. He's a young father, man. It's, uh, it's beautiful to see. It was awesome to see. And, uh, that was probably the, the highlight of the weekend. Got a chance to relax, but just seeing him and just seeing how fatherhood has really started to take it up on him. And just, just to hear the conversations with so many different things that he's aware of now that heightened sense of, uh,

I'm just like, oh, you know, he's over here looking at his 401k and making sure he's got the savings fund starting to build up already. But it's awesome to see, man. Just shout out to the Villagois family. It was good to see them. So, yeah, it was a pretty relaxing weekend, man. No complaints. It's good. The weather a little bit cooler over the weekend, too, so it felt kind of nice. We went to DeSoto Caverns on Saturday. I guess now it's Majestic Caverns.

We figured out he was mean or something. Yeah, the old name changed. It feels like it's a little late for that in the game. But hey, you win some, you lose some. It ended up being pretty cool. Kids enjoyed it, loved it. A lot of stuff for Littles, a lot of stuff for the big kids. Is that in Sylacauga? Childersburg, yeah. Childersburg, over there though, down 280. Yeah, we had a fun day. I had never been. I can't believe I never went for a field trip.

uh, unfortunately didn't go in the nineties because they said there was like four or five areas that are now closed that in the nineties you could go through there for your field trips, which maybe you wouldn't have wanted to. Cause I guess you close that off for a reason. And, um, did look kind of narrow when, when you got down in some of those areas, but, uh,

They did this total darkness deal. Like when you first get down in the tour and they're like, now we'll prepare you for total darkness. And they turn all the lights off in the cave and they say there's two, three places in the world that it can be like this dark. It literally felt like I was Aaron Rodgers for a minute. Immediately the first thing that came to my brain is like, this is what it's like. You take some alahoska before you...

Went in the caverns? Yeah, I don't know that word. Did you feel enlightened when you came out? We were down there for a while after the lights came back on, so I don't know really if I was able to truly reflect on things, but...

Everybody else was talking about different – that's immediately the first thing I thought of. I was like, it's probably not great that my brain just goes there. Like, okay, could I do this for – what was it, 72 hours? Yeah. Three days, I think? Yeah, it was three days. I don't think I'd enjoy that. But the kid that gave the tour, he did a really good job, and he was saying that after –

I don't know if it was like, if you were down there for a week, you'd become legally blind or something. Like your eyes would dilate so bad that you couldn't get them back or something. It was wild. But yeah, some of the history, I mean, you think in like six days you want to flirt with it? Like, no, I don't. No, I will say that they, they say they have groups that have rented out the cave and you can spend the night. And so of course, seven year old, the rest of the trip, he's like me and my friends come stay here. I was like,

I'm not sure which dad's going to do it with you, but you're more than welcome to go ask. Me, probably not looking forward to spending the night in the cave. No bats, though, which is a little surprising. I don't know how they get the bats out of there. They've got to do something to get the bats out.

There's no way they just don't go in there anymore. Did they call Wayne's? You know what? That might be a good start. I mean, I think that you've got the pass control. Go in there and get them out and shut that thing down right away. But anyway, that ended up being the best part of our weekend because I don't know if the expectations were super high.

But it ended up being pretty cool, and we enjoyed it. So we have a lot to get to. You can share with us the best part of your weekend as well, at Mac and Cube. Text it in, 205-834-9450. There was a ton to watch over the weekend. I mean, you saw Skeens versus the Dodgers on Saturday. You had, obviously, both Olympic gold medal games with the United States being a part of those. Closing ceremonies, if you wanted to take part in that. You watching any of the closing ceremonies, Greg?

I had it on for like a half second. We actually went to the batting cage yesterday around closing ceremonies time. So we had not done that in a while. Figured we'd go. Vince got a new bat at Dick's. So did not get to watch much of it, but did kind of have it on in the background. And then no, last night I didn't watch any of it. We were

Cooking dinner and hanging out and doing everything that we do. So, no, didn't get to watch much of it, but it looked like it was pretty cool. The part that I saw was super dark and there were lights all throughout the stadium. It looked like between the third and fourth quarter of the Florida game. Damien, you turn that on? No, I didn't see the closing ceremonies. I didn't see the tape. I actually wasn't going to go.

Just didn't have anything for it. None. Just not for me. Just over it? Not that part of it. Yeah, I don't need it. Just didn't really need it. Especially today, I see Tom Cruise is out there riding his motorcycle. No thank you. I'm good. Oh, is he out there? It's no different than opening ceremonies. Just didn't need it then, don't need it now. Same thing. Y'all got fooled on the opening part. Tried to tell you. Nobody listened.

Those who probably took it in the closing ceremonies probably got fooled there as well. But we did have a lot to get to. Some injury reports around the SEC. Alabama and Auburn scrimmaging over the weekend. How's your opinion changing based on what you're hearing about your team? You can be a part of the show that way. Let us know what you think. Are your expectations for the season a little bit different now based on what you're hearing through fall camp this

sounded like a pretty good overall scrimmage for Alabama GMAC. Quarterback having a little bit to do with that. Kalen DeBoer discussed his quarterback takeaways from scrimmage number one on Saturday.

The plays that, you know, the plays that are there and you need to make that throw, I think they're doing that at a higher level, not just today, but throughout camp, getting better at it. And a lot of that's the trust in your guys around you that they're going to be where you anticipate them being, especially in those moments when you get a little bit of pressure, you get a little bit of

of a rush around you and just managing it. I still think there's a time or two we can throw the ball away. And I'm not just talking about Jan, I'm talking about all of them. It's across the board just to keep us out of those situations where, you know, it turns into a third and extra long or something like that. But, you know, that's just here and there. That's not something that's happening a lot, but it's one of those.

that just kills a drive, you know, and when you get 11 or 12 a game, every one of them is important. So those are great learning moments. And we got a lot of those opportunities again today where we, you know, just get rid of the football, live to see another down. We got a lot of plays that can get us first downs, you know, as long as it's reasonable.

Your HVAC system, one of your largest investments this time of year, constantly being pushed to the extreme. You can trust the Train Home Comfort System to give you reliability and peace of mind day in, day out for years to come. Visit train.com to find a comfort specialist near you. And remember, it's hard to stop a train.

Greg, I imagine when it's a practice and it's a scrimmage, quarterback, non-contact, you have a pretty good idea of what's coming. Does it make it even harder to just throw the ball away in that setting because everything's a little bit more comfortable? Some things are not quite real. Is it more difficult to just say, all right, put the ball in the stands, play for another down when you're at practice and in a scrimmage setting?

Well, I would say the toughest thing is not necessarily because it's black jersey non-contact. It's more because of Jalen's skill set. You always think he can make a play. And that's okay. I don't think there's anything wrong with that because part of what makes him difficult to defend is just how many plays he makes that are off schedule. So I think that's part of it.

But he's just super dynamic too. Like you don't really want to take that away from like, okay, you might have a couple negative plays. Sure. That's, that's part of it. That can certainly happen. But there's also probably a handful of plays that will be made that you don't think are going to be made because he's got some mad magician qualities. So I think that's a tough thing to kind of balance, frankly. And I'm not sure it's something that you can really recreate in the scrimmage setting.

To me, I never did it, but I can imagine where in a scrimmage you feel like you can get away with a little bit more and it makes it more difficult mentally to just say, all right, we're putting that ball in the stands. Your takeaways from quarterbacks over the weekend? What did you hear, what did you see, what did you saw from or heard about Alabama quarterbacks in the first scrimmage?

Well, I've heard that things are in a pretty good spot. I think they're about where they expect to be at this point of the scrimmage based on the folks that I've talked to. First takeaway is there's still some room to grow along the offensive line. There are a couple negative plays. Part of that, though, is going to be put on Jalen trying to do maybe a little too much. Part of it is the offensive line not holding up quite as long as they needed to. Secondly, there were a couple big plays created.

There were a couple of real big plays that were created. So I think that's something that should be, you know, really exciting. I continue to hear that Ryan Williams is way ahead of schedule and that Caleb Odom is going to be as much of a factor as we've been telling you. He's been the last few days, the last few months, excuse me, because he's really the one guy in the receiver core that has a lot of length. And of course, too, we've,

This, I hope, would be obvious. But if the receivers are excelling, then that means the defensive backs might be a bit of a liability. I haven't really heard that, though. Nobody's willing to go on that type of tangent. But there were a couple big plays given up, which is something that needs to be cleaned up defensively. But they did seem pretty happy about their pass rush, it sounds like, as well. So I think for a first scrimmage, based on what I was able to pick up yesterday morning,

It sounds like kind of right where they expect them to be. Yeah, it's also, too, one of those things, like you said, with the skill set, when receivers may be getting big plays over DBs, you never know how many of those are quarterback moving. They don't know if...

He was touched and he's down. It can cause a little bit more commotion and confusion in the setting that you see in fall camp with a guy that can move like that. So we'll continue getting through all the Alabama scrimmage, some of the positions that we heard about. You'll hear more from Kalen DeBoer. We'll talk Auburn scrimmage as well. It feels like a lot of the same. Auburn receiving core continues to exceed expectations.

My understanding is one part of the offensive line looking pretty good. Another part has a little bit of room to clean up. But the run game, even though it didn't necessarily look great Saturday in the scrimmage, I do feel like that coaching staff confident that they're going to be able to run the football this year. And Peyton Thorne continues to take steps, which is how he is handling things, managing things.

And then some of what he's been able to accomplish as well. So that's all going to come throughout the course of the show today. We'll get to Paul Feinbaum on the other side of the break. Before we do that, I want to say about your CBD store, you need products to give you a better night's sleep, products to lift you up over the course of the day, help you focus better throughout the course of your day. They have them at the largest brick and mortar CBD retailer in the world.

Your CBD store focuses their attention on being the best plant sciences company out there. First company to have USDA certified organic oil supplements. Their products have the stamp seal on them. So go in there and check them out. Gut health, skin care, they can help you out with that. Your pet as well. Or arthritis or anxiety for you or your pet. They have products that can assist you with those. Visit one of the four locations. Highway 280 by Bailey Brothers, 150 by the Cajun Cleaver. Trustful just off 459. And now downtown at Five Points. Your CBD store where good health hits home.

Paul Feinbaum will ask Kim if his expectations for Alabama have changed based on what he's heard through one week of fall camp next on McIlroy and Kubrick in the morning. It's time for Bob's Dare to Compare. You get style. You get features. You get quality and thousands of dollars in savings.

Everyone's winner when you dare to compare. In store at MyBobs.com. Named one of the best personal finance podcasts, The Stacking Benjamin Show with Joe and his friends makes financial literacy fun. We see money inefficiency OG around us all the time. We've got a few skeletons sitting out in the open and maybe we need to broom them into the closet, if you know what I mean. Nope, take that out. What is...

Whatever you were going for didn't land right. Who's got a shovel and some lime? Maybe you need to do that with your financial picture. I don't know. Find out more by searching the Stacking Benjamins podcast wherever you listen. All right, welcome back in. Michael Roy and Q Blake in the morning. Appreciate you tuning in. 718 Monday, August 12th right here on JOX 94.5.

You can hear him 2 to 6 p.m. weekdays right here on WJOX. Also see him on the SEC Network, across all the ESPN platforms. Joins us every Monday. Thanks to Crane Works. It's Paul Feinbaum. Lift it, load it, grade it, grind it, mull it, rig it, dig it. Crane Works, Crane Works, yeah. The big dogs got it. Paul Feinbaum on Mac and Cube in the morning is brought to you by Crane Works. Lift it, buy it, rent it. The big dogs got it. Now, Paul Feinbaum.

Paul, always great to have you in on a Monday. We've heard from some of the coaching staff at Alabama. Obviously, you have folks that you speak to about how things are going, how things have went, certain things that different guys have done. Based on what you've heard, read, seen, how have your expectations changed for this Alabama football team after one week of practice? They're still very high. I have felt, based on all the information,

Called it, this is a playoff team. One thing you never know with a new coaching staff is what gets lost in the translation. And that's the unknown of this season. But nearly eight months in on Kalen DeBoer and knowing as much as we could possibly gather, I feel very good.

What have you heard about where they are offensively? Because there seems to be a lot of positive buzz about where they're at offensively. Sometimes when you're offensively ahead of the defense after scrimmage one, though, it can be a bit of an eyebrow raiser. So I'm just curious if you've heard anything in regards to just how much their offense seems to have progressed.

The buzz is good, Greg, but one thing I'm always careful about is Alabama. There's a difference between Alabama preseason buzz and maybe anyone else's. I've heard conversations from Alabama on four and eight seasons under Mike DuBose that would have made you believe that they were going to win a national championship. So I take it all with a grain of salt. But this has been consistent. We heard it in spring.

spring when it's really not that easy to discern. But I would say compared to last year, I feel a lot better. I mean, last year there...

Defensively, I think it may have been a little bit further ahead than we thought it was going to be last year. We thought it was going to be pretty good on that side of the football, outside of some of the secondary play early, maybe against Texas. I'm trying to go back and compare where we thought this team was a year ago compared to where we think this team is heading into the season now.

And it's kind of, for me, I think it's a little up in the air because I'm looking at it and I'm assuming that the secondary is still going to be super talented, just going to be a little inexperienced. And that's okay. I mean, I would much rather have talent than inexperience. That to me is a huge, huge deal. The problem is with a...

With an inexperienced secondary, there's going to be a couple moments, whether it's a game or a month or a year, where you're like, oh boy. We're in a dogfight because our secondary has given up a couple big plays that are not normal. That's okay. That's all part of the maturation process. With all young players, there's some really high highs and there's some really low lows.

you just need to elevate that floor to get to the point where you're a super dependable player. And maybe they'll be able to do that with Zabian Brown or Jalen Mbakwe or whoever ends up taking that, you know, those, those significant steps because Day-Day Jones, I think is solid and he can, he can help you. But right now I know based on what I've heard, he's running with the twos. So we'll see how it all kind of unfolds. All right, Paul, sorry, I lost you there. A little bit of a phone connection issue on the other side of the state.

How much does Hugh Freeze want the expectations to rise heading into this actual season? Because the buzz around the receiving core continues to grow. There's some positive information coming out about Peyton Thorne and some of the steps he's taking. Is it beneficial for Auburn to continue to have, I guess, the expectation raised before kickoff?

Oh, the old school thought would be no, but this is a different era now where your program really lives and die on momentum and buzz because that translates to money. And that also translates to ability to turn players, not only in recruiting, but maybe in a couple of months on the portal. So I don't, you know, Hugh Freeze always comes off as sounding the same, but I don't think that's the factor. I think the buzz is good. And,

And right now, Auburn has tremendous buzz. I mean, this is not the old days when you could bottle that buzz and pour them out yourself for two or three years. You don't have that much time anymore. And I think especially after a season like last that went the wrong way at the end, and that's what people remember,

Hugh Freeze needs to get things rolling. He needs heavy buy-in. He needs maybe a better-than-expected season on the field, which wouldn't be that difficult. And I think that's what he's getting right now. And whether he wants to pour them out there or embrace it, the most important thing is that people are talking about Auburn.

But how much progress would be considered significant? Because I get the sense that if he doesn't win eight, people are going to lose hope. And I'm like, hang on. I think he can get there for sure. But is there a minimum number that he has to hit to feel good about what's been going on before alignment starts to become a question?

Greg, I think you've raised a good point. And I think eight is probably the minimum number because you turn in a seven and five record, which, you know, that then can go sideways with a bowl loss or even a wind doesn't really help you. Eight and five doesn't sound great. I think he needs it. I think he really needs to get to hit that number because that's a number that years ago would have gotten Gus Malzahn fired, but today means progress. And, and I think that's where Hugh Freeze's program is. You know, he, I,

I've always argued, contrary to what many believe, that Auburn really was in a better spot these last seven or eight years with Nick Saban than maybe people thought because it was just the factor-in effect was there where you weren't expected to really compete with Saban. That's not the case anymore. You've got an opportunity now to grab some

not that recruiting is all about in-state anymore because it's not, but maybe even turn players in-state, which you have, and to show possible weakness at the other end. And I think it's incumbent upon Hugh Freeze. I mean, he's got a much bigger reputation around the SEC than Kalen DeBoer has. I mean, Kalen DeBoer has flown in here with a national championship game in his back pocket and a lot of gaudy numbers, but Hugh Freeze has done it in this league and he needs to do it again.

Paul Feinbaum joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline. He's with us each and every Monday, thanks to Crane Works. That being said, a couple big injuries around the league thus far. C.J. Baxter out of Texas. We're going to talk a little bit about Reuben Owens, Texas A&M running back, who's most likely going to miss the season a little bit later. Any of those significantly shift maybe your expectations for those teams?

I think they're both significant. In Baxter's case, that's something you don't want. That guy was a workhorse last year, even in a less than heralded role. I think especially when you think about that second game of the season for Texas, which will still be against a shorthanded Michigan team from a year ago, but still a very

tough team defensively. So, I mean, I look at that. I'm not mitigating the situation at A&M. The first game is critical for them because they don't want that error to start off on a bad note. But still, I don't expect as much from A&M as I do the Longhorns. If, for whatever reason, Mike Elko...

doesn't have the season we all expect. I mean, I don't think it's likely, but let's say they get beat convincingly in week one, national audience, massive stage. I know there's patience and other support that's to be expected, but how much is he really operating under the microscope right now? Because so many people have assumed he's just going to come right in, just clean everything up and they're going to be super competitive.

Yeah, I don't know why people are thinking that, but, Greg, Aggie fans are never short on confidence. And they're also never short on losing patience either, as we have seen really for the last 11 or 12 years in the SEC. So, I mean, I think Elko just needs to survive the season.

You know, the bookend games are brutal. But he has such a great home schedule. I think he needs to win one of these home games. I think he needs to show the Aggies that he is for real. Because he is really being graded on a very stilted curve. He gets credit for the good things that happen

to Jimbo Fisher early on. And Jimbo Fisher gets blamed for everything that happened after Mike Elko. And that's going to even out here very quickly. There will be a correction if he loses that first game and if things don't progress. And A&M is a really interesting team, especially should they lose that first game. Then they go to Florida in week three. And suddenly that, I mean, everything's a must win for Billy Napier. But it's also a must win for

For Elko in the sense that you just don't want to start the season too down with everything left to be played. So I think he needs to show the home, especially with that Texas game at the end. I think so much of the season is going to be measured in how that game plays out. Paul, always appreciate the time. Always enjoy having you on. Look forward to catching up again next week.

Thank you, Cole. There you go. Paul Feinbaum, he joins us each and every Monday. Thanks to our friends at Crane Works. And he joins us on the Buyer's Right Hotline. For all your insurance, financial, and HR needs, it's Buyer's Right Insurance, a Higginbotham partner.

Okay, when we come back, we'll continue our conversation just kind of around Auburn and Alabama scrimmages from over the weekend. We asked the question earlier in the show, how has your opinion changed on your team after one week of fall camp? You got one scrimmage out of the way. You've had multiple press conferences. You've heard from players, coaches. You've heard the people who cover the teams. You've heard us talking about some of the things that have happened. Your opinion a little bit better?

You're a little bit more skeptical, 800-239-9569. You want to get in, you can tweet in at Mac and Q. We'll finish that discussion right after this on Jocks 94.5. All right, welcome back in. Michael Roy and Kubelik in the morning. Appreciate you tuning in. Jocksfm.com where you can listen online, tell your smart speaker to enable the jock skill or just listen to jocks. Also, apps in your app store, iPhone, Android, download that for free.

7 33 a.m monday august 12th right here on jocks 94.5 uh top three coming up next and we'll get back into kind of alabama some of the things taking place on scrimmage over the weekend running back situation one that hasn't generated a ton of buzz doesn't mean that there's a concern i think a lot of folks believe alabama's in pretty good hands uh jam miller justice haynes how things have been going according to the alabama head coach we hit a couple explosives uh

GM had a nice play down in the red zone there. A lot of it was the offensive line, as it always is. I think there's some schemes we're really good at. And our defense, obviously, on the opposite end can continue to work on defending. And then I think there's some things that we know we are going to need to do that we got to continue to just work on. That's part of the process of the line being all in sync.

But, you know, one thing I'll just say about our running backs, they're very versatile. And if they maybe don't get those seams as much as they want in the run game, shoot, they're a threat in the pass game. I don't care if it's checking out and, you know, we're slinging it out to them in the flat or if they're really one of the primary, you know, route runners that's getting out of the backfield. They're doing just a good job all around. And, you know,

both Jam and Justice taking pretty much all the reps with the ones there. You know, they did a great job. So running the football, physical, really not many times where you're just like, oh, come on, you know, or anything like that. So I just really feel really that we got a great and solid backfield with both of those guys. Sounds like a lot of confidence with that running back room there from Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer, Greg. It's got to be one of the better rooms in the entire team.

Probably on the entire team. I don't want to go too far because I think you can go three deep there where you feel pretty good about it. Now, Richard Young's involvement is going to be more downhill. But I think Richard Young's got some Eddie Lacy qualities early in his career. Like everyone talked about Trenton Mark, but Eddie Lacy, I hate this number three guy is pretty sporty too. And Eddie, of course, went on to become a great player in his own right. It was just a little different style.

than Trenton Mark was a little bit taller, ran a little more upright. Of course had the spin move, but could run you over at least early in his career. He wasn't looking for, it wasn't looking to make you miss. He was looking to, to dominate you and to run you over and embarrass you. So I think that there's a lot to like about the running back room a lot. And like he said, I think they got some wiggle. The only thing that I would say is,

maybe a little bit. You'd like to have two backs that are complementary, that have different skill sets. But Justice and Jam, I think, are somewhat comparable. So I think that's probably something that will be interesting to see just how they kind of divvy up the carries. And it's not like one situation would say, oh, this is one where Justice needs to be in there. This situation, oh, get Jam in there for this one. The only one that we could say is those two are kind of interchangeable and then Richard Young's in there for short yards and goal line.

Yeah, it's one that you look at. Could be a real strength for this Alabama football team. And like Coach DeBoer said, even maybe minus what the offensive line's doing, they can help out of the backfield catching the football. They can give you a bounce outside, find their own seams. And when you have backs that can do that, obviously makes a big difference. Something caught me off guard a little bit. I was listening to Morning Jocks getting set for our show, and

And I think somebody texted in Damian or called in and was, was asking Conrad about what he had heard about the Auburn scrimmages. And they were talking about the Auburn wide receivers and the buzz continues to be, um, not just Cam Coleman, but Malcolm Simmons, Bryce Kane having a good weekend. Uh, so that group looks like it's going to take a pretty big step, but this person said something along the lines, Greg of, uh, the Auburn receivers are, are out of Peyton Thorne's league. Uh,

they are beauty queens, he's full of agony. Something along those lines. And it got me thinking right then, would you rather have an elite quarterback and average receivers or elite receivers and an average quarterback? If you knew going into a season, you're like, hey, your quarterback's just going to be kind of meh. But your receivers are big time. More than one, by the way. Or your quarterback could be big time

and your receivers are just kind of, eh, don't, meh. And I know there's different ways we could go with mobility and the offense and that kind of thing, but if that's all you knew and that's all you could answer, which direction would you go with that heading into a season? Well, I think for most people, it'd be, I'd rather have the rock solid quarterback and a really excellent and elite supporting cast. Look at the route Ohio State's taking this year. You have what should be an elite supporting cast and,

Probably a rock-solid Will Howard. Look at... I mean, do you think Jackson Dart is like freakishly talented? No, I think he's got a really good supporting cast, though. Do you think Brady Cook is freakishly talented? No, but he's got a rock-solid supporting cast. I think Auburn fans, their head's a little backwards because they saw Cam...

who was super elite with an average supporting cast, go and win a national championship. So from their perspective, I can understand why they'd want it to be a certain way, but I think he's all you need to win. I think he's perfectly fine. I think the supporting cast has a chance to be really, really good and don't have a whole lot of concerns there. But I am a little bit surprised as to why people can't reflect back to a time in which he was pretty good for Michigan State.

It's like, here's the thing that I just can't understand about Peyton Thorne. Okay, he doesn't make the highlight reel play. He's not Lamar Jackson. He's not, you know, he's not a freak show. Fine, who cares? But he's won a New Year's Six Bowl game. He has been better. He has been the quarterback of a team that is better than any team Auburn's had in the last 10 years. That was the team that he led to the Peach Bowl victory.

in 2021. That's what I can't figure out. Like he has had a good career and they don't want to just don't acknowledge the fact that that's real, real thing. Why is that Cole? You got to help me understand that. I can't help you understand that. What's the most significant, what's the best team Auburn's had in a decade?

Name it. A decade immediately come to my mind. 2017 when they lost convincingly to Georgia in the SEC championship game. Yeah, 13 is out. And you start with...

We start with 14. I would say probably 17. 17. And guess what? Not only did they get drummed by Georgia in the SEC title game. I know they beat them in the regular season. That's fine. They got drummed in the SEC title game. And they got embarrassed by UCF. And they embarrassed the whole conference by UCF in the bowl game.

So if that's the best year that we're talking about, and this is not like some knock on Auburn thing, I'm just being realistic here. This is me defending Peyton Thorne, who I shouldn't have to defend your quarterback to you. You got drummed in the bowl game by UCF and basically embarrassed the league. It was a black eye for the SEC in its entirety and led to UCF claiming a piece of the national championship. And then...

we're gonna sit here and say that Peyton Thorne can't play when he led Michigan State alongside a really talented cast really really solid supporting cast to a Peachville victory and 11 wins I guess I just don't understand here I shouldn't have to defend your quarterback to you I just don't get it yeah who would you rather have in there that's what I need to know like who would you do you want the freshman because that that remind me how did that go for Bo Nix

Not too good. Who is all world, you know, as a recruit that everybody wanted to see in there. Like, do you want the freshman in there? Who do you want to be your starting quarterback? That's what I just don't understand.

Bo Nix, 15-21, 125, a touchdown, no interceptions, three carries for 17 yards, and a Broncos 34-30 win in preseason action over the weekend. Not necessary to go into his NFL stats. He was drafted 12th overall and ended up having a great college career. I was just throwing that in for folks that didn't know that he actually saw some time in the preseason this weekend.

He was beyond average, though, as a true freshman. His best game might have been his first game. And I just don't understand. In order in this, we've had this conversation a lot. In order to fire a guy, you better have another option that is improved, that is a clear and bona fide improvement. Who is the clear and bona fide improvement at quarterback for Auburn on the roster? And you can say, well, they should have gone to the portal. Okay, well, you go to the portal, and guess what? Then you become thin on defense in the front seven.

you probably don't have the money to bring in Cam Coleman in the NIL. Like you probably are, I'm not saying you're like poor world, but you probably don't have the resources to improve the roster as much as you did in other places. So Cole, help me out. Like who do the fans, like you've talked to the fans, who do the fans want at quarterback? I think if you ask most average Auburn fans on the street who have the mentality that you're describing, I don't think there is an exact name.

I think it would just would have been an upgrade in the portal is what they would have said. So some of them would have probably, if you'd asked them if they wanted Jaden DeLaura instead of Peyton Thorne, they would have said yes. And then you could have presented his interceptions in his career and they would have been like, whoops, my bad. I don't think there is an exact name. You know, maybe some people would have said Walker Howard. Some people would have said Cam Ward. I don't, but then you also come to which one of those were realistic at any point in time. So yeah,

I don't think there's an exact name for a lot of those folks, but it was interesting the path that you then began to go down, which was what he did at Michigan State when he had an elite running back and he had an elite wide receiver. And so...

If it's closer to that, maybe it can be okay. Damian and I were talking about it during the break. I think I would take the average – we're talking talent and ability and playmaking ability. I would take the average quarterback with the elite receivers right now in today's college football. All day. All day.

I mean, just get them the ball in the air. Get it near them, and those guys are going to be able to make things happen. And yeah, this system has proven that it can work. We've seen it time and time again. And as you pointed out a long time ago... Chad Kelly averages the day as long, and he won a lot of games in this system. I don't get it.

It's going to be interesting to see, interesting to watch, and we'll keep you posted. We'll talk a little bit more about the Auburn scrimmage, some of the things that came out of that. When we come back from break, we'll go top three, 8 o'clock hour. We've got to get to Oregon. That's our team of the day as far as will they make the college football playoff. We'll discuss that. But first, tell our listeners about ABS Systems.

Well, ABS Systems is always going to make sure that they are in a great spot to serve you, the customer, because the customer is their number one and exclusive priority. ABS has been serving...

customers and companies across the great state here for 30 years. And they've just added ABS Pure Water, which is a division of ABS Business Systems. ABS has the best in class products from Waterlogic. The product line covers the spectrum from filtered water units to hot, cold, and ambient

to chewable ice, to industrial-sized units which deliver hundreds of pounds of ice per day. Call ABS Business Systems today at 205-588-5077, or you can start the conversation at absimage.com. All right, when we come back, our top three of the day next, right here on McElroy and Kubrick in the morning. It's time for Bob's Dare to Compare. You get style. You get features.

You get quality and thousands of dollars in savings. Everyone's winner when you dare to compare. In store at MyBobs.com.

We're all juggling life, a career, and trying to build a little bit of wealth. The Brown Ambition podcast with host Mandy and Tiffany, the budget nista can help. Let's talk about the financials behind locks. It can be quite pricey, but as your hair locks, it needs way less product. When I had my fro, it was way more costly as it relates to products because my fro was thirsty. I know it's very expensive. Yeah. Yes. I need the whole bottle. A dime sized portion of what? Girl, the laughter. Brown Ambition. Wherever you listen.

All right, welcome back in. Michael Roy and Kubelik in the morning. 7.48 a.m. Monday, August 12th. Jocks 94.5. We bring you our top three each and every day. Sometimes sports, most times not. A lot of times useful, usually not. What's on your mind for our top three today, Damian? Well, guys, since...

Since the wide receivers got a lot of burn over the weekend and you just heard so many glowing things about the receiving core, who are your top three receiving cores in college football heading into 2024? All of college football. We're ranking them out. I know Oregon's going to be there. I think Georgia still might be there. Really? Just going top to bottom? Yeah. Yeah? Okay. I mean, I think you still just have to consider the depth.

The guys that they have on that roster. Now, Rara Thomas was a little bit of a difference maker. He was. But he brought in a couple other guys that I think could at least make a push to be in the mix there. Ole Miss probably going to be there. So let's go top to bottom. I'm trying to think who I'm missing out on here. I don't want to miss a team blatantly. There's another one in the SEC. I would lean. Missouri? They'd be in there. Some people might go Texas.

I'm going to go with Ole Miss one, Georgia two, Oregon three. Gregory? I'm going to go Ole Miss one, Mizzou, and Texas are kind of two, three interchangeable with Oregon close there probably in the four spot. We're getting a lot. We're under the assumption that Evan Stewart is going to be just a complete takeover of the game monster. I think he's got a chance to be that for sure, but I'm a little bit see it to believe it mode there. It gets cold.

Sleeves will help. Oh, so you're saying he can wear those in Oregon? I think Dan will let him. I haven't watched the tape on did Oregon receivers wear sleeves before?

late in games last year but I don't think he'd have a big problem with it there's a bunch of teams that are pretty good though like there's a bunch that have really high ceilings that are I'm still just kind of see it to believe mode you know what I mean yeah Ohio State definitely I seem like they could be top three Ohio State could very easily be top three I think Auburn could be up there you know by season's end depending on how things kind of unfolding Bama could be there

by season's end is, is one of the upper tier top 10 units. Uh, Miami has got some, he's got a good group back, but you'd like to have a third piece there to kind of help you out. Uh, SC is always going to have weapons at, at, at that position. Um,

um people don't like to say Colorado could be there yeah they're gonna have some weapons so there's gonna be a there's gonna be a decent amount of of players that can go uh at wide receiver and I think this is a this is a position group that they could change drastically at the end of the year like you said living under assumptions too like Ole Miss one for me that's that's a juice wells that's going right like if he's if he's going you're watch out for that group um

But, yeah, now, I mean, Missouri's really close. I could easily interchange Missouri, I think, with any of the three, really, because they have the depth also. All right, your top three, Damian? Yeah, I have Missouri at number one right now. I think it's because of – In the nation. Yeah. Okay. Because of Luther Burden, too. I do think Luther Burden is that dude. Theo Weiss, when asked to – it's very similar to LSU last season where if Theo Weiss was anywhere else, he would be the number one guy.

But he has to, quote-unquote, be the number two guy because Luther Burden is there. But I think they're deep in that position. I have Missouri number one, Ole Miss number two, and it kind of leans towards the same sentiment as if Juice Wells –

is juice wells that we know they could easily be at that number one spot and the system is going to be beneficial for them both. And I have to work in number three too. And a lot of it is because Evan Stewart is up there with Taz Johnson now. And I think that, you know, you two have quote unquote lost Troy Franklin last season to have Evan Stewart come into that room and

I think they're going to be fine. And also, I mean, you know, they do have who I think is going to be the Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback. I know Greg hates him, but I do think that that receiving core is definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with as far as the units are concerned. I don't think there's any doubt.

You think, too, like we brought it up, Colorado, if you're putting Travis Hunter over there to be able to go catch some passes. LaJonte Webster comes in. Will Shepard from Vanderbilt comes in. I mean, you've got some guys that, you know, Jimmy Horn Jr. is still there. You've got some guys that can go in that Colorado receiving core. Probably deserve to be at least mentioned. And I think, I don't know if it's, I didn't think the Georgia group was getting enough credit when Ryra Thomas was on the team.

But now I'm not on the team. I mean, we've seen Dom Lovett be really good. Dylan Bell had to play a little running back last year, but he's as solid as they come at receiver. London Humphries was really good at Vanderbilt. He's in. Colby Young was really good at Miami. He's in. Keep in mind, Michael Jackson from USC is coming in also. He's made some plays. You know, a lot of people think Anthony Evans is going to be the Arian Smith speed, but give you a little bit better hands down the field. So I just don't think from a depth perspective, Georgia –

Is at least in the same neighborhood as all the teams that we were mentioned. I don't know if you feel different, Greg. I think Georgia has a lot of pieces that you want. Now, part of my issue and the holdup that I would have with their wideouts is that Dominic Lovett, while he was elite at Missouri, uh,

Just didn't see that version of him that last year. And it sounds like if you talk to the staff this off season, that was a real point of emphasis. So I'm super optimistic about him because I've seen Dom Lovick at his best and

And Dom Lovett at his best has all sec potential and fringe all American potential. He just was a little overshadowed and wasn't really featured in the offense last year. That of course went to Brock Bowers. And then on third down, it went to a lot of McConkie. And then in other scenarios, you had the big body Rosamie Jack Saint and other guys like that. So cautiously optimistic that if we get Dom Lovett's best, you got a true bonafide alpha number one. And that's,

a tremendous starting point for this offense and I do have a question and Cole we kind of touched on it a lot during the offseason what if this Kentucky receiving core can minimize those drops how far away do you truly think they are from being in this conversation I don't think talent wise they're very far off honestly and it was one of the things I was going to get to when we kind of went around camps a little bit later in the show but my understanding is

is that, you know, you got a couple of guys that have come in. Jamore McClain came in from North Texas. Fred Ferry came in from UAB. Those older guys are, have sort of pushed the younger guys a little bit. And the, the,

I guess the consistency with Dane Key, Barryon Brown has taken a step up. So now you've got a couple of vets that have proven themselves. And the Hadley Gilmore kid, apparently as a freshman, they think could come in and make some plays too. So I don't think they're that far off. It's just these others that we've mentioned, they're super talented and they're proven to a certain extent. But if that Kentucky group does come around, which my understanding is that in camp,

The receivers have begun to show a lot of progress as far as negating the mistakes they made a year ago. And some of the older guys have helped with that.

that Vandergrift's look pretty good so far. Just kind of managing things. I've heard really good handling there, by the way. Yeah. And I mean, what's the deal? You got to help me out there because I heard the exact same thing unsolicited. I might add also defensively for Kentucky. And we kind of knew that they had some vets at linebacker, but Derek Jackson, Jamin Dumas Johnson, apparently defensively,

The defense handling itself like a group of veterans to a further extent, even though they have a lot of older guys on that side of the ball, really managing things well and looking pretty good so far through fall camp. We'll talk a little bit of Oregon next on Mac and Cube in the morning.

We're all juggling life, a career, and trying to build a little bit of wealth. The Brown Ambition podcast with host Mandy and Tiffany, the budget nista can help. Let's talk about the financials behind locks. It can be quite pricey, but as your hair locks, it needs way less product. When I had my fro, it was way more costly as it relates to products because my fro was thirsty. I know it's very expensive. Yeah. Yes. I need the whole bottle. A dime sized portion of what? Girl, the laughter. Brown Ambition. Wherever you listen.