8-20-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 2: Starting QBs named across CFB; John Talty talks paying "The Price"; Andy Burcham talks Auburn
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McElroy and Kubelik in the morning starts now. All right, welcome back in McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. One quick add on to our hibachi discussion, which went through the entire break, 8 a.m. right here, Tuesday, August 20th on jocks, 94, five, the salad quote fingers. I use, I said, I told you earlier, I love that ginger dressing. It's amazing. And I didn't think about this until we were having the conversation. It's literally a couple of leaves of lettuce, uh,

And the ginger dressing. It's the worst. It's probably the worst lettuce on planet Earth. Oh, I could show you some, quote, lettuce that I had in a, quote, salad at a different establishment about two months ago, which was basically parsley, leaves, trees, branches, whatever that's called. I don't know. That salad is as old as the tofu that's in the soup. Yeah. But, yeah. Throw some ginger dressing on it, and it's, ooh, it's Michelin quality. Literally...

I can see those conversations like tomato. No, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no radishes. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's peel the lettuce, pour the ginger, serve it, but Hey, it works.

I ate all of it. I ate the entire ginger lettuce. I'm not calling it a salad anymore, by the way. I think it's fine. I don't think it's great because it's the only time you have that dressing, but I just don't think the salad itself is great. We're not calling it a salad. It might not even crack the top 10 of things that you eat while sitting at a sake table. A what? Soup is a head. Or a sake table. A hibachi table. Also known as a sake table, depending on the group. Yeah.

But, I mean, fried rice is ahead of it. Chicken's ahead of it. Steak's ahead of it. Soup is ahead of it. Shrimp's ahead of it. Scallop's ahead of it. Scallop's ahead of it. Veggies? Yes. That's close. No, you can have the veggies. I'm with you. I'm not. That's why I have the salad because I'm not wasting room later with the vegetables and the stir fry. No, just give me the rice and the meat, and I get my vegetables early with the salad. Have I told you guys my Auburn hibachi story on the air? I don't think so. No. I don't think it's.

FCC friendly. Okay. Well, I'll tell you in the next break. My teammates and I made a friend who may or may not had been the manager at a hibachi restaurant, and that may or may not have overtaken our late night eating spots for an entire offseason, which you can imagine four or five offensive linemen having a full go at a hibachi. Oh, boy. Andy Burschum joins us each and every week. Thanks to our friends at Crane Works.

Lift it, load it, grade it, grind it, move it, dig it, crane works, yeah, the big dogs got it. The voice of the Auburn Tigers. Andy Burcham 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, Andy Burcham. Andy, always great to have you on a Tuesday. Last time you had hibachi.

Ooh, that's probably been a couple months, but I got to tell you, I like the whole thing. I like the miso soup, and I like the ginger dressing, and I typically get steak and chicken with the fried rice and the vegetables. Bring it all, baby. It's tough to beat. I like it. We were impressed, though, because you don't think about it, how they have made no alterations seemingly in 100 years, whatever it's been happening. The presentation, the tricks, it's pretty much exactly what it's always been, but it's fantastic. Yeah.

I like the show, but I can do without the show too. Yeah, give me double fried rice and we're good. I don't need your specials. Unless you've got the little kids there and they want to see the volcano and the choo-choo train and all that stuff. It has not changed at all, not one bit. One thing that we think is going to change is this Auburn offense this fall. What outside of that wide receiver position do you think can be different on that side of the ball for Hugh Freeze this season?

Well, and, you know, we did our first Tiger Talk last night, and there was news coming out of Tiger Talk. And one of it, or part of it, was the fact that Hank Brown was named the backup quarterback to Peyton Thorne. Hugh Freeze made that announcement last night, apparently told the quarterbacks yesterday before the show, which I think was a smart thing to do. So it's Peyton Thorne, Hank Brown, Holden Gerner, and Walker White in that order, and

And the one thing, you know, we talked so much this preseason about the offensive line, and I guess they're looking a little bit at that left side of the offensive line right now, Cole. They like Connor Lewis at center, Jeremiah Wright at right guard, and Tutal Miller on the right side at tackle. But he talked last night about the possibility of looking at Dylan Wade at left tackle and maybe moving Percy Lewis all at 6'7", 355 inside to guard.

So those were a couple of the notes, the news parts coming out of Tiger Talk last night. So I guess that's something we're going to be paying attention to here in the next less than two weeks before Auburn opens that season against Alabama A&M. Obviously wide receiver is something to get excited about because it's such a dramatic change from a year ago, dramatically better than it was a year ago. And I guess the next thing is,

How much does Peyton Thorne improve with those added weapons around him? And that's something that we'll be paying attention to as Auburn opens the season on the 31st.

How do you anticipate Peyton Thorne's growth? Because by all accounts, his camp has been excellent. Well, it's funny to me that Auburn fans continually say, oh, we don't have a quarterback. But I've heard quite the opposite, that he's taken a significant step this offseason. So how are you assessing his play and growth at the spot?

Well, I think it's this. Mac, I think he is more comfortable in this offense. He's been at Auburn now for a little over a year, which includes all of last season's spring ball this year, which I think really helped him because he didn't have the benefit

a spring ball a year ago, and then a summer and better weapon. I think his command of this offense is better. He seems more comfortable in this offense right now than he was a year ago. And he's got some guys that can flat out go get the ball in that wide receiver room right now. And he has some big targets. And one of the things that I've seen in practice is how some of the other guys, in addition to those four freshmen,

are now stepping up as well. And one of those is Camden Brown, a sophomore out of Monroe, Louisiana, is one of the couple of the returners that are back from a year ago, in addition to those four freshmen and the three transfers that are in. There's a lot of veterans on this team, but not a lot of them have played at Auburn before. But Camden Brown, I think, is starting to assert himself in that wide receiver room. So

All of that to say Peyton has better talent around him. Now, he has almost the entire tailback room back. I look for a big year from Jarquez Hunter. I think he is healthy going into this season. That wasn't always the case for Jarquez a year ago. Demaree Alston, Jeremiah Cobb are guys that give Auburn some depth.

at the tailback room. And then a lot of guys, you know, when you talk about Auburn offensively, you don't hear the name Revaldo Fairweather that much. But he was Auburn's leading receiver last year in a tight end room that is back almost intact. I think it's the whole package for Peyton Thorne. I think it sets up for Peyton Thorne to have a big year for Auburn.

Andy Burton, voice of the Auburn Tigers, joining us on the Buyers Right Hotline. He's with us thanks to Crane Works each and every Tuesday. On the other side of the football, it sounds like things are ahead of schedule for DJ Durkin, specifically up front where we thought the linebacker group could be active, could be solid if healthy, but there are a lot of new defensive linemen they're going to play and have to be contributors for this Auburn defense.

How good can that group be? How much disruption do you think they can get from a lot of the new faces up front this fall? Well, in just watching the one scrimmage that I saw a couple weeks ago and practice, I mean, there's an edge to this defense, and I think it starts with the defensive coordinator in D.J. Durkin. I think Charles Kelly, back in the safety spot, helps. Von Trau King-Williams, I think, has stepped right in at defensive line, and that's where I want to start with this defense, Cole.

I've said, and I never thought that this was a weakness. It was just a question mark because so many of these guys are new. They're veterans. They've played a lot of football elsewhere, but they're new. Isaiah Rakes, Gage Keys, Trill Carter, Phillip Bleedy. All of these guys are new, along with Malik Blackton, who's a true freshman out of Pike Road. And then you have a guy like Jason Jones that is back.

from a year ago. So I think that that Von Trell has six, maybe seven, eight deep in those middle two, nose guard and defensive tackle. Keldrick Falk is back for his sophomore year after a freshman All-American season. He needs to continue to step forward. And by all indications, he is certainly going to do that for Auburn. Jalen McLeod, who transferred to Auburn from Appalachian State prior to last season,

is a really important piece over at that buck rush end spot because he was a disruptor at Appalachian State and was injured a good portion of last season. A healthy...

Jalen McLeod. And then you add a guy like Javonta Waller, who's a freshman out of Picayune, Mississippi. Keyron Crawford, a transfer from Arkansas State. They really like what he has done. Zaccheaus Walker on the other side backing up Keldrick Falk. And then a guy that you continue to hear the name of Morris Williams a lot as a true freshman. They really like him up front. I think they need more depth. They need to continue to work on depth.

at the linebacker spot. Eugene Asante, we know what he can do. Demarcus Riddick, true freshman out of Clinton, Alabama, I think is going to play a ton for Auburn. Another guy, I think, that will get a lot of playing time. He was basically a scout teamer a year ago. That's Robert Woodyard Jr. And then Austin Keyes, who's been a little banged up at that other linebacker spot. And then let me add one more name to that linebacker spot right now. That's Dorian Mosey, a transfer from Duke that comes in as a senior out of Detroit.

And they like what he has done for Auburn in the linebacker spot. But Hugh Freeze talked about it last night. His question mark defensively right now is the secondary because there's so many new faces. They like the talent back there, guys. They like Kay and Lee at that one quarterback spot. Keontae Scott is the one real true veteran that's back. But

Caleb Wooden and Caleb Harris and J.C. Hart and Champ Anthony and Jacquez Robinson and Bud Thompson, the transfer from Texas, and Sylvester Smith, Jay Crawford. A lot of these guys have not played a ton of football for Auburn yet, but they're going to get a baptism by fire with this season coming up.

How do you anticipate the coaching staff interacting? And look, I mean, we've all been kind of speculating how much will Coach Freeze be calling the plays? How much, you know, how much pressure will DJ Durkin bring? I mean, we're kind of, we're chasing ghosts a little bit, just wondering how different the schemes on both sides might look. But based on the amount of practice that you've seen and the amount of scrimmage work that you've seen, how structurally do

different does the group look on both sides of the ball? Well, Hugh Freeze has said that he is much more comfortable with this staff. And then he has quick to note that he's not trying to criticize anyone that was on the staff a year ago. He feels much more comfortable with Derek Nix as offensive coordinator

and Kent Austin working with the quarterbacks. Those are the two new guys to that offensive side. I do think that Hugh Freeze is going to be much more involved in play calling this year than he was a year ago in the offense. And part of that is due to the new technology that

with the receivers in the helmets of the quarterbacks, and they can talk to them now until the 15-second mark on the play clock right now. So I think Coach Freeze will be much more involved play calling on game day at Auburn. One thing he mentioned last night on Tiger Talk is he feels that he doesn't have to – how do I put this and give it justice as to what he – he feels he doesn't have to necessarily overlook that defensive coaching staff.

this year for the edge that they need. I think DJ Durkin brings that at this point. Talked about Charles Kelly, a guy that comes back to Auburn. You talk about someone that's happy to be back at his alma mater, ask Charles Kelly about that. Man, that guy lights up when he talks about coaching at Auburn where he played for Coach Dye back in the late 80s. Was part of that 93 staff as a graduate assistant at Auburn. And then

The guys really like Von Trout King-Williams, who was an analyst for Auburn a year ago on the defensive line spot. When that spot became available, that was the – and I know that it doesn't always work out this way, but that's the guy that those players wanted to play for.

He told me this the other day in talking with Montrell. I said, what's your last eight months been like? Well, he says, I have my dream job and I'm engaged to my dream woman. So he's had a pretty good eight months at Auburn. So I look forward to seeing how this staff continues to work together. I do think that offensively, Mac, that Hugh Freeze is much more comfortable with this staff. I think he feels it's more of his staff going into this season.

Andy, I don't think there's any doubts. We have heard Coach Freeze talk about just kind of the continuity, the chemistry, the togetherness of this team, how it's been a little bit better, how much he likes that heading into this season. How would you expand upon that and maybe try to just explain why you think he's feeling that way and why he feels like he needs to share that? I think that for one, why I think it's because it's really important to him. He has a teaching point every week during the season.

that he talks about, I think, with the team either Sunday or Monday going into that next game. But the theme for this team this year is gratitude. And he talked about that the day before the very first fall practice and how important that is. And you see some of the social media clips from Coach Freeze in practice, and I've seen it myself. I mean, it's really an important part. It is something that they are going to be talking about

all this season. It's something he talked about immediately after the bowl game a year ago. So, I mean, culture is really important. And I'm not saying it's not important elsewhere. I'm just saying it's really important to this man as the head football coach at Auburn. And I think you're going to hear that word gratitude a lot from Hugh Freeze as this season starts on the 31st as this season goes along. He talked about it last night on Talker Talk. I don't think that that's just

I just don't think that's something he's throwing out there to try and sound good. I think he is authentic when he talks about team culture. Haven't heard yet who the captains are going to be at this point, but we'll see. He's got that culture council. He's got a lot of veterans on this team, guys that are really important to the locker room, as most teams do. I'll be interested to see when he announces the captains, I would think in the next week or so.

Andy, always great having you. Looking forward to having you each and every Tuesday, and you'll be with us thanks to our friends at Crane Works. And Crane Works is the most trusted name for crane and equipment rental in the southeast for well over 30 years. They have a fleet of cranes ranging from 2.5 tons to 500 tons. Crane Works also offers trained and certified operators and riggers to make sure the job is done right. Visit craneworks.com for more info. Andy, appreciate it, and look forward to catching up next week.

My pleasure, guys. Have a great day. Yes, sir. Andy Burcham joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline with us each and every Tuesday. Thanks to our friends at Crane Works. So follow up on a little bit of what he said, kind of concerning Auburn. John talked to going to be in studio in 15 minutes.

I want to go through some of those quarterbacks that we mentioned. Auburn naming their backup quarterback. A lot of other starters being named around college football. We'll give you some of those and our thoughts on them next right here on McElroy and Kublik in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kublik in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Tap or wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning, Tuesday, August 20th, right here on JOX 94.5. Listen online, joxfm.com. App is in your App Store, iPhone, Android. You can download that for free. Poll question is up now at Mac and Cube. If you want to go there via Twitter, just flat out best menu item at Hibachi.

I think most of us, do we all have fried rice number one? I think so. I feel like this should be a dominant answer, and so far it is. 73% early are going fried rice number one. You brought up steak a little bit, and we didn't get into it, Greg. We're talking hibachi night. It's been a big part of the show today. For what reason, I have no idea. Why not? It just kind of feels like a waste to go steak because there's going to be, I don't even know what they douse it in. Is it teriyaki, something, other things? It's like soy sauce. It's just like it's.

Like the filet does feel like a little bit of a wasted upgrade. Big up, big waste. If you had the choice of an upgrade filet or, or double rice. Well, I don't, if double rice is an upgrade, you're going to a very stingy restaurant. I got no time for it. That's like charging me extra for salt on my fries. Like that ain't happening, but they listen. There's a certain amount of rice and not everybody gets to a spatula's full.

Lay off me. I'm starving. Like Chris Farley style. Like, sorry, Meredith, you don't get rice tonight. I'm taking double. Well, so you're just taking other people's rice. Okay, got it. I'll eat it right off their plate. No, my saving grace is if you take the kids to hibachi, oh, they see one carrot in there. Can't eat it. Perfect. Here, buddy. I'll take that. It's got peas.

Cool. Pass it. We're good. We got it. More for me. Let's see if dad can knock that out for you. No problem. Your CBD store wants to help you with your problems. If it's better focused throughout the course of the day, better sleep at night, wake it up, feeling better arthritis, anxiety for you or your pet, your CBD store can help. Also gut health for you or your pet. They have treats for your pets for all of those. They've helped a couple

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And now downtown in five points, your CBD store where good health hits home. All right, John Talti in studio in about 10 minutes. But first, yesterday kind of felt like name your starting quarterback day. We're referencing national days as today is National Radio Day. Also National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day, which I didn't know was a real thing. Miller Moss going to be the starter at USC. Greg, no real surprise.

Jaden, my Ava did transfer in from you and LV has a lot of talent, but what we saw from Moss in the bowl game, you kind of figured he was going to be the guy. I think he was going to be very difficult to beat out, but by all accounts, may Ava made it very interesting down the stretch. He got more and more comfortable as the season, as the off season went along a little bit more mobile option than Miller Moss. Uh,

So I would not be surprised to see him get maybe some, maybe just a little bit of work, perhaps maybe red zone situations. I could see them like they don't have your traditional running back. Like they lost both their backs off last year. Woody marks from Mississippi state is their guy, but he's not like one of those guys. It's like, man, we really need to hand it to this guy between the tackle. So it wouldn't be that surprised if may have a, has a place in the offense, but yeah,

I think it's most likely going to be Miller Moss' show, and I think he'll perform very well. My Alpha, by the way, if you were curious, 3,085 passing yards, 17 touchdowns, 10 interceptions for UNLV last season. He also added 277 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Like Greg said, a little bit more of a mobile option. Has talent, has ability, but not going to be the starter at USC. Duke names Malik Murphy the starting quarterback.

Not even sure why this had to happen. I guess it is a bit of a formality, but we knew this was going to be the guy. Not necessarily. No. Not necessarily. I know the previous staff really liked what Grayson Loftus had.

You really thought that there was a chance Malik Murphy wasn't going to be the starting quarterback? I thought there was a possibility. I just thought Grayson Loftus was really well liked by the previous staff. Yes. New staff coming in, Manny Diaz coming in, them going in a little bit more of a Rhett Lashley SMU style offense, which would lead more into Malik Murphy's skill set. So I'm not surprised to see him be the guy, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Grayson Loftus wearing an A&M uniform at some point in the near future.

That's all I'm saying. Alabama, Texas, Florida A&M. I'm not sure. I need to clarify. Okay. Got it. Cincinnati names. Appalachian A&M. Brendan Sorsby, their starting quarterback, formerly of Indiana. Seven starts, 19 touchdowns, five interceptions a year ago. Sam Levitt has been named Arizona State starting quarterback. He's a Michigan State transfer.

four-star recruit in the 2023 class this another formality greg baylor transferred daquan finn uh he's a toledo transfer he's been named their starter 7074 passing yards in his career 1840 88 total touchdowns a superb talent just hasn't played at the highest level of college football yet but a guy that's going to give baylor some real options offensively yeah and they need

They need quite a bit of help. I mean, Baylor last year was a disaster. But the good news is they have brought in, I think, a really, really good offensive coordinator that understands the Big 12, that has been around the Big 12,

And Jake knows... I mean, Jake Spavitol is really good. I mean, he's really, really good. And then defensively, Dave Aranda is really going hands-on with what they are going to be defensively. He's going to be calling the plays. So that is his expertise. It's now or never for Dave Aranda and company. So...

fully expect that things will work out just fine for Baylor, but man, they got to have it this year. So I'm hoping that they hoping they can figure it out. Another surprise. However, Boise state names, red shirt, sophomore Maddox Madsen, their starting quarterback. How about this? They opened up against Georgia Southern. Remember Malakai Nelson from USC transferred in Malakai Nelson, the former number one overall player in the conference.

country coming out of high school, not number one quarterback, not number one pro style or dual threat quarterback, the number one player in the nation. Look how many stars and Maddox Madsen beats him out at Boise. Obviously, I think we're all a little bit surprised here that this one went down this way. Yeah, I think it's surprising, but it just people get so hung up on the stars like, OK, so Maddox Madsen doesn't look the party 510 200.

But he's a gamer. He's got some Baker Mayfield qualities. He's tough as nails. And just because a guy was five stars coming out of high school, that's great. He probably looked great during the evaluation period with their shorts and shoulders. Doesn't mean it translates. So we get so hell-bent on how many stars guys have. How good a guy is supposed to be the second he walks on campus. And maybe there's a little bit of a learning curve there for him as well. So...

This is not the end of Malachi Nelson's story by any stretch, but it should serve as a reminder that stars are not everything. They're everything.

Strictly the beginning, not the end of the evaluation process. Madsen last year, 81 of 132, 1,191 yards, passing nine touchdowns, three picks, almost 62% completed. He'll get the go for Boise as they open up against Georgia Southern. Finally, San Diego State names true freshman quarterback Danny O'Neal their starter. Maybe I missed this one. They open up against Texas A&M Commerce.

That may have been the one that you were referencing as a, and M a little bit earlier, a former three-star committed to Colorado. No big surprise there as the former Colorado offensive coordinator is now the San Diego state head coach.

but San Diego state going to go with a true freshman in the opener, which is a little bit rare. You don't see that a whole lot. A guy that age is going to get to start at the beginning of the season. So a lot of starting quarterbacks being named. We can spend a little more time on that throughout the course of the show today, but want to get to a break because John Tauti is going to be in to discuss his new book on the other side. I will tell you about my friends from Royal Automotive though. If you're not trying to just get a new book, but you want to get a new car,

Well, Royal can help you do that. They want to help you get the best deal on a new vehicle. And they've got them. And I know because I have a parent that's been in, purchased a new vehicle from Royal here recently. They have a lot of different deals that are happening today. Up to $14,000 off select 2024 GMC Sierra models, 0.99% financing with approved credit on 2024 Volkswagen Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport. That Atlas Cross Sport, by the way, if you haven't seen that thing, you need to go check it out. It is nice.

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We'll be back with John Salty in studio next on Mac and Cube in the morning. The capital of the sports talk nation. This is Jux 94.5 and Jux FM.com. Hurry hand. All right. Welcome back in McElroy and Cuba Lake in the morning.

Welcome again, John Talti, to the studio. You've seen him cover Auburn, Alabama, college football in general. I think this is the second book that we've had you in now to discuss as he is in studio here Tuesday, August 20th, 834 a.m. on JOX 94.5. The price, what it takes to win in college football's era of chaos.

You and Armin Katayan writing this book. It's interesting for a lot of reasons, John, because I don't think often we talk about maybe this tidal wave of change. We talk about bits and pieces of it, but we don't often focus that so much happened in such a short period of time.

How much was that the driving force of trying to kind of put this together? And not the only focal point of the book, but basically the genesis of everything that happened around that. Yeah. And that's the it's a huge reason why we decided to do this book. And it was fascinating talking to people who have been in the game for 40, 50 years, you know, had a.

great conversation with Bob Bowlesby, the former Big 12 commissioner, and they all reiterated the same thing, that this is the most change that they've experienced in one short time frame in their entire careers. And that's had a major impact on a lot of different people. And so the price is, it's

it's kind of a play on two things. One, it's about NIL and obviously there's a lot of money involved in the sport, but it's also the price that people within the sport are paying to try to survive and have paid over the last few years. So whether that was COVID, whether it was kind of the combination of NIL and transfer portal hitting around the same time, it's conference realignment. There's just a lot of things that have

have impacted people within the sport that we all love so much. And it's had a real impact. And you've seen people leave. You're seeing people, you know, trying to find different opportunities. And I think that's a concern of some of the people within the sport about, you know, the impact that this has had on them and burnout and all those different things. It certainly is impactful for sure. And the burnout and the donor fatigue and all the other aspects of it are,

Looking at just how you kind of... Did you stumble into this? Did you go into it with the intent of, hey, I want to write a book about all the significant changes? Or was it maybe going down one path and then all of a sudden you take a 90-degree turn? Yeah, it's funny. The book actually, the initial idea was going to be pairing up me and Paul Feinbaum to do a book. And the initial idea was after Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban had their famous...

war of words. And the idea behind it was what could possibly be happening in college football that would make these two guys go at each other publicly the way they just did. And so that was kind of the initial genesis to try to understand what the heck is happening within college football that is putting these guys under that much pressure. And they're willing to, you know, in Jimbo's case, say that Nick Saban should have been slapped more as a kid. I mean, what would prompt somebody to do that? So that was kind of where it started. And, you know, we kind of

I would say there are starts and stops along the way. I mean, there's so much happening within college football that there were a million different things we could have done. And, you know, there are a few and I won't necessarily mention them, but like there are a couple of guys we followed around for a while and then ultimately just didn't really make the cut because it just didn't feel as compelling or it didn't fit the narrative as much as possible. And then other guys became more and more interesting as we went along. I mean, we,

two of the main people that we focused on were Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh. And you can say those are pretty easy bets of people that are interesting, two of the biggest names in the sport. But when we started the process, we didn't know that by the end, both of them would be out of college football. And so some of that, you just have to kind of adjust on the go. And again, certain characters we ended up kind of really liking and wanting to do more and more. Jed Fish at Arizona was a great example at the time when we started with him. It's like,

How does this fit the book? What's even interesting about Arizona? And I think they were one of the most compelling stories of last college football season. And he raises up Arizona and then leaves. And you kind of have to deal with, you know, that ramification and what that impact has on a program that was finally feeling some hope and then seeing their guy, you know, leave out the door. When you focus in on some of those programs and how they handled, managed all the change, I think.

Nick Saban obviously is going to be interesting just because what he's done in college football and how successful he's been. Harbaugh, interesting because he had some struggles and then it went so far forward so fast. Just kind of take us in the contrast of – because I want to hear about Coach Fish too because I feel like with him it was a lot more off the field and a lot more relationship-based. Yeah.

what were some of the differences that you saw as just how some of those coaches, including Mike Loxley, handled all that change in such a short period of time? Yeah, it's interesting. I think all of them were very successful last year and all kind of did it in different ways. I think for Harbaugh, what was crucial

crucial for him over the last couple years was you know getting a younger staff getting guys who you know could buy into what he wants I think you know his initial staff maybe didn't fully fit that brings in guys like Ben Herbert who were a huge impact and I think built a staff that you know was able to sell his message you know Harbaugh is a unique character you need the right kind of people around him to make it work and I think that was was important for him and then of course

Getting so many of those guys to come back this past year, I think, was huge and kind of building it around, you know, one final ride, last dance type style. I think with Saban, you know, it was interesting. I think a lot of it people are going to focus in on, you know, is kind of why he left and what he had to deal with over the last year. I think, you know, one of the things that I found fascinating with Saban, and I wrote about this in my last book, is that I don't think anybody has over the last, you know, 20, 30 years adapted or evolved more in college football. Right.

But I do think the NIL transfer portal thing was the one thing that was like the hardest for him to fully get his arms around and maybe the hardest to fully embrace. I think he tried a lot. I think he did evolve in different areas, but I don't think he was ever going to 100% get there. Whereas I think other coaches have embraced it much more. And I think he saw, you know, that, that writing on the wall, you know, with Loxley and Maryland, I think both Maryland and Arizona are interesting. And part why we wanted to feature them is like,

What it's like to be in the middle. That's that tough spot right now in college football where...

especially with the transfer portal, you're losing some of your best players to the Alabamas and Georgias of the world. You're also losing all your depth to the Charlottes of the world. And so how do you kind of maintain that? Loxley has a great analogy, and I can't fully quote him. You can read it in the book. I think I'd get fined if I said it. But he essentially compares Maryland to Macy's. And he's like, you don't want to be Macy's. Like, you either want to be a Saks Fifth Avenue or you want to be a Target. You don't really want to be stuck in the middle because you're just getting eaten from both sides. And so I think that's...

I think it's important to show not just the top Michigan, Alabama's, which I think especially your listeners are going to find fascinating, the stuff we kind of uncovered about both. But kind of those guys are stuck in the middle of what it's like for them, knowing that you're aspiring to be better, but you have all these hurdles you've got to try to overcome. It's really – I've never really thought about that analogy, but it makes perfect sense. And we've heard Kirby Smart. I mean, he said depth. The word depth 10 times –

in his press conference on Saturday. And everyone's like, cry me a river. Like, you're Georgia. Like, no one feels sorry. You're depth. We'd love to have it. And yet, everybody seemingly is going after that depth. So when guys are, say, buried on the depth chart at the Ohio States, the Bamas, the Georgias of the world, guys are buried on the depth chart, but they're talented. And they go to Syracuse. Or they go to, you know, Maryland. Another good example. They end up at...

You know, at SMU, how much how lucrative is it for those guys who are unproven commodities but come from the big school and got the original payday maybe up front as a freshman recruit?

to now go to smaller schools but be a bigger fish in a small pond, and how lucrative would it be for those guys? Yeah, I mean, the top area, I think, is definitely quarterback. I mean, that's going to be the most lucrative, and we saw multiple guys. Kyle McCord's an example of that who left Ohio State, went to Syracuse, and was looking for a mid- to high-six-figure payday when he hit the market in the first half.

And so you're seeing guys like that pop up. Others, you can get some discounts on some of these guys. But yeah, I think it's an opportunity for them to get a payday. And then depending on how much eligibility they have, they can bounce back, right? I mean, you can go from a Georgia where you're buried in the depth chart, go to Maryland for a year, do really well, and then go to Penn State the following year and get an even bigger payday. And you're seeing some of that start to kind of ricochet around. But

It's interesting, Greg, that you make that point about Kirby. One of the people that I talked to for the book was Todd Grantham. And he told me one of the things that he noticed as soon as he got to Alabama after dealing with them while at Mississippi State and Georgia and Florida, when he got there, he said the number one thing he noticed was the depth was gone. He's like, Bama always seemed to have so many talented dudes that they could just rotate in. Anytime a guy got hurt, some guy was probably a five-star ready to step in. And he noticed when he got there, it was missing. And I think that is...

again like you said your georgia ohio state crimey river you got you've got a lot of good things but i do think that is one of the challenges when you had the nick saban model which kirby you know has adhered to pretty closely a lot of it is built on guys waiting their time working hard in practice waiting for that opportunity to as you know to step up and now i just think that there's it's

harder to maintain those guys because they are getting offers to go elsewhere where there's money and you can start or you can wait two more years at Georgia what do you want to do yeah that's going to be hard for Kirby and other guys like him to hold on to as part of the culture they're trying to build the price what it takes to win in college football's era of chaos John Salty in studio with us he and Armin Katayan authors of the book you mind staying around another segment

Let's do it. I'm going to hang out and talk a little bit more. All right, we'll spend more time on this book that is coming out shortly and on the other side. First, I want to tell you about Gusty Goose and the Gusty Goose Group. If you're looking for real estate here in Central Alabama, 205542-1996.com.

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Go to gustygoolsgroup.com today and start packing or call 205-542-1996. More with John Talti in studio next right here on McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubelik in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a

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. All right, welcome back in. Michael Roy and Kubelik in the morning, 847 a.m. Tuesday, August 20th, right here on Jocks 94.5. John Talti joining us in studio.

Book out now? Comes out in a week. Comes out in a week. The Price, What It Takes to Win in College Football's Era of Chaos. He and Armand Katane co-authored the book. You'll be able to get it wherever you get your books. And just going into all the different changes, the landscape of college football, how quickly it changed, how it affected so many different people. And one thing, John, you had to rush into the book was this house settlement after your deadline, actually, but it had to be included.

Had to be, yeah. And I think it's a momentous thing. But I think what's interesting, and we're still seeing it play out, is that it fixes one problem, but it opens up other questions and other problems. And I think we're still learning that there's still a lot to be figured out. And where some of these pieces, like collectives, fit into it, I think is still very up in the air, how Title IX impacts it. It's just a lot of stuff that is kind of in the weeds.

but is going to have a major impact on college sports. And I think that's one of the things that's interesting. As someone who's covered this in my day job at AL.com and now CBS Sports at 24-7 Sports, is that a lot of the stuff when it initially happens is not particularly well-read. It's kind of nerdy and in the weeds, and I think fans don't necessarily like it. But then it has a huge impact on their team. And then all of a sudden they're like, wait a second, this just happened? I think NIL is a great example. All the Ed O'Bannon stuff, like,

Those were not necessarily the most well-read stories. And now look at the massive impact it had. So I think the house settlement stuff is super interesting for all of us who are in the industry and know the impact it has. I don't know that fans fully have their arms around all the impact. But again, even ADs don't fully know the impact of it. And so I think it's going to be fascinating to see in just the next three to five years how that kind of takes place and all the kind of like ripples that come from it.

I just don't really know where we go. I mean, don't get me wrong. It'd be great to say, I have a compass. This is the direction we're heading. But based on your conversations, are we in a holding pattern or is more change imminent? I think more change is definitely coming. And I think there's a couple of things that come with that. I think certainly what's happening with the ACC and how that plays out.

It's going to have a big impact on the sport if we saw the Pac-12 essentially implode in days. Now, it was a long buildup, but it happened fast. You could see it coming from – it was like watching a high-speed train wreck. 100%. But what's interesting is that if you had asked me a couple years ago what conference I thought out of the big ones was most likely to implode, we all probably would have picked the Big 12. I mean, it felt like it was on its last legs. After 2021, for sure.

Yeah, and even when they lost A&M, it just always felt like they were the one that was ripe. And now, you could say Big 12 is probably number three in terms of security. They kind of have people that are happy to be there, and it's all the other ones that have been fighting each other. So I think that's part of it. Again, I think

you know, where does, you know, the house settlement kind of impacts of it in terms of exactly what it means for everybody, how people fund it, do sports get, you know, canceled, um, because of it. I think all those things are still up in the air, but you know, when I talked to ADs, they think again, three to five years, things will hopefully settle down, but I don't know. That's optimistic. Well, yeah. And I think at certain points, like, well, and I,

And personally, I can say I do this in my own life sometimes. If I can just get through this thing, then it'll be good, right? And I feel like we've heard that a bunch of times in college football. Well, if we can just figure out this thing, then it'll make this better. Something always pops up. Always. And there are going to be more things that pop up. There's always going to be people looking for loopholes to try to find a way to get an advantage that will make other people mad. Open questions about what's the NCAA role in all this. So there's still a lot of things that need to be figured out.

And I think it's still in many ways, you know, tumultuous terrain right now in college sports. So you spent time with coach Saban, coach Harbaugh, Mike Locksley, Jed Fisk. I'm interested the guys that you've been around and what you just discussed of where we were, where we are, how quickly we got here. And then what Greg asked you about where you think we're headed, John and John Salty joining us in studio, the price, what it takes to win in college football's era of chaos out next week.

What characteristics do you believe that you've seen are going to be most needed moving forward for coaches to continue to be successful? Because there's going to be even more change coming next. I mean, it's not over. Yeah, I mean, I'll go back to what I said, I think, in the last segment when this show was talking about Nick Saban. I think it's the ability to adapt and evolve. I think that's crucial for everybody. I think that you have to understand that it's not going backwards. It's only going to get more and more professionalized. And I think you have to.

in some ways embrace that. You know, Mike Lox, I remember first sitting down with him probably a year and a half ago and he was like, let's just do salary caps. And at the time I was like, wow, that's like kind of a bold idea. And now here we are a year and a half later and like everybody's like, yeah, of course we're doing salary caps. But I thought that he kind of understood, hey, this is where it's headed. I might not like it, but I have to embrace it and find a way. And I think you're seeing, you know, a great example of this, you know, came out last night from my colleague, Matt Zenitz, you know, Courtney Morgan, the Alabama GM getting paid

$825,000 a year. I mean, that to me is showing that's a program that understands where things are headed. And like, we need to invest more in this area, whether it's GM player personnel, NIL related things. Uh, Maryland has a guy who's essentially like a sour cap guru for them. And I think it was actually really interesting. He showed me his whole formula for how they kind of come up with what they want to spend at each position. And the guy has a background in the NFL, but you're going to need like a guy like that on staff, I think to succeed. Um, so yeah,

You can complain about what NIL is and every coach does, but I think at a certain point you have to just understand this is where it is and we're either going to find a way to win or, as we've seen some coaches do, I can get out and do something else with my life. Finally, when you think about some of the coaches that are at those middling programs and you think about guys that are, I don't know, up against it and they're still making a ridiculous amount of money,

I personally think that coaches are going to run their course. Like they're going to say, why am I doing like Kirby smart is not going to be coaching into a seventies. There's just no way. I don't know how you could. I'm not sure a lot of these guys will live to see 70 with they keep with the hours that they're keeping right now.

So what's the burnout rate you think for coaches coming up here pretty soon? Are we going to see more turnover and transition? Absolutely. And I think, you know, one of the people I talked to, Josh Gaddis, who's now the Maryland OC and was previously Bama, Michigan, other places. And he's like, you would be stunned at the amount of guys who are working this business who couldn't tell you the last time they had

went to the dentist. There's a lot of health problems, I think, building that people don't know about. And unfortunately, we saw, tragically, with Mike Leach, a guy who just had some issues and didn't necessarily take care of himself in maybe the way he should have. And tragically, I'm not saying it was because of football.

But I think that there's the hours you just kind of put off. I'll get it. I'll go to the doctor after the season or whatever it might be. And I think that's a challenge for a lot of these guys is that it demands an insane amount of hours. There's no real breaks anymore. You know, you have a couple of weeks maybe in June, but you're recruiting is constant. You're flying around. You're dealing with all these different things. And I do think,

for some of these guys, it's almost like a golden handcuff situation where the money's so good and it's so transcendent for them and their families. They feel a need to continue down this path, but I think there is real concern. And, you know, Loxley told me straight up. He's like, you know, this, after this past off season, when he had kids coming into his, uh,

office every day asking for 100 grand he said I thought about just going doing TV you know like it's just like I can make good money doing that and I don't have to deal with this anymore and you're gonna now not every coach can do that but for some guys who have a certain you know name recognition or ability to do what we all do then I think they'll consider that and

That's interesting. All right, John, tell everybody when and where they can get the book that's out next week. It comes out August 27th. You can order it all the places you buy books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million. And if you're local and want a signed copy, you can get it at Little Professor in Homewood. I know, Cole, you're a fan. Absolutely. Yep. Little Professor does a great job. We were in Friday.

checking out a couple of things. Daughter's got to keep up to date on the books that she's got and she's reading for school. So go in there. What day will you be at, little professor in Homewood? I'm going to sign them on Friday, but you can order them online right now, and then you'll get a signed copy. There you go. John, thanks for hopping in the studio, man. Can't wait to read it, man. Really good. Yeah, it's going to be cool. I appreciate the copy as well. All right, a lot more to get to. Mark Vendare is going to give us a preview of Hawaii's opener this coming weekend next hour. We'll get back to you with some college football news, some around the SEC that we have not hit yet.

One in particular for an SEC opponent in air opener. That could be some good news. We'll do all that and more in the final hour of the show next on jocks. 94 five. This is McElroy in public 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 my Bob's.com.

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