7-31-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 3: What needs to happen in SEC fall camps; Trey Biddy talks Arkansas; what Olympic event you'd want to medal
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McElroy and Kublik in the morning starts now. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kublik in the morning, 9 a.m. Trey Bitty coming up in 15 minutes. He'll talk the Arkansas Razorbacks hitting the practice field today. Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Vandy, Arkansas, Tennessee, Notre Dame all in the practice field today. Wanted to go just a little bit of kind of rapid fire on some of those groups and thinking about just...

What we want to see, what we need to see, what we want to try to learn over the course of fall practice once those teams get going. First, I'll tell you about my friends at Royal Automotive. They want to help you experiencing how car buying should be. Four Royal-owned dealerships in one location. The selection and savings unmatched.

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Let's go down the list here quickly. Texas A&M, G-Mac, what we maybe don't know about this group, things that you feel like you can learn through fall camp. What do you want to try to diagnose about this group through fall practice? It's got to be, I think for a long time, a long time, Texas A&M has had really good weapons. I think their weapons are a bit of a question mark.

So for the first time in a while, I mean, tell me this. When was the last time you looked at Texas A&M and thought, you know what? I don't know about receiver. I mean, because they had Anais. They had Evan. They've had a good run of quality wideouts for the last six or seven years, I feel like. Very good. And now they've got a bunch of solid dudes.

But I don't know who that number one's going to be. I don't know who that guy's going to be that just takes over the game from time to time. Like, they have a bunch of guys that were perennially, you know, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B type of receivers. Who's the one? And is there a guy in that group that can elevate to the point in which defensive coordinators have to double that guy? Because that opens up a whole lot for you offensively when you have that. But I feel like you do have...

that you have confidence in. Right. You have a quarterback that you have confidence in. You have backs that you have confidence in. So for me, it's just on that offensive line. Can they gel? Can they go from... Well, that's been holding them back forever, it feels like, right? And there were years that it looked like it was going to be good, and it just flat out wasn't. So for me, that would sort of be it. And then just, obviously, how Colin Kline's offense morphs to the talent that they do have there in College Station, but...

Time will tell, and we'll try to grab as much information through fall camp as we can to share you on that. With Ole Miss, a team that has a chance to really not just get into the playoff but make a real run in the playoff, is there something that we need to find out about this team, something we need to sort of unravel about Lane Kiffin's group through fall camp? Probably not.

depth, because we know the front line's really good. Be nice to know that, and I don't know if you'll ever find this out in fall camp. I mean, hey, these guys in the, like, everybody's got depth in camp. It's like, oh, we feel really good about how our young guys have progressed, and then, boom, they're in the season, and the S hits the fan, and they got to go play, and they're busting things right and left. So, I think establishing...

Quality depth and trusting the guys that might have to come in in the event in which your starter has to miss a series or two would be of the utmost importance for them. I'm going to go with just who's available and when and for how much time. Juice Wells, can he go right out of the gate? And how productive can he be? How healthy is he? Logan Diggs, are you going to get him at all this year? Are you going to get him later in the year?

I think there are just a couple of health questions, and that goes along with what you're saying about depth, I think, also, kind of along the same lines, somewhat same category, of just who's going to be there and when and for how long. Some of those questions, I don't know if we're going to get until we get maybe deeper into fall practice. With Texas, we talked to Annemar Richardson a little bit earlier. If you missed the podcast, joxfm.com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, you can always go grab it. Please like, rate, review, subscribe to those.

The Texas defense, Anwar said the middle of it. His biggest question, Greg, is it defense in its totality for you? Or is it more specific, maybe somewhere else for Steve Sarkeesian's team heading into fall practice? It is the defense tackle spot for sure. But it's also probably the secondary because I think the weapons will be fine. I'm not super concerned. You've got a veteran quarterback that's going to ease that transition. All those guys were starters other places. The secondary was the big –

you know, bugaboo last year when looking at some of the big plays given up. I mean, they got torched a couple times in the back end, which is a problem. They do have guys that played well for them down the stretch. That will help. And those guys were both freshmen last year, so now they're heading into their sophomore year in Muhammad. And then the safety –

Number four. Anyways, they've played better in the back end down the stretch. Now it's about whether or not they can take that step collectively because if you're given a bunch of big plays downfield, it doesn't matter how good your front seven is in this league. There's too many good throwers and catchers in this league. If you give up big plays, you're in trouble. Makuba, safety? Makuba's a good addition. No, it's the other one. Derek something.

Number two, maybe. Derek Williams Jr. Number two. Yeah, Derek Williams, number two. Number two. Yeah, Derek Williams. So Derek Williams and McCuba, hopefully we'll show up safe spots because that was a real issue last year. I do think like most people are just kind of overlooking that. Just, oh, they got guys back in the secondary and they added Andrew McCuba. Oh, okay, but they weren't good last year. No, not only were they not good, they were bad. Like it's one thing if you're like, oh, they're, you know, they're not great on that. They were actually bad and got torched.

And it's not like when you watch the Washington game, of course, that game is going to jump out. But watch the Houston game. Like, that's a problem. Houston wasn't good, and they got torched. And there's a few others, too, along the way where it's like, what the heck? So I think that there's reason for concern in this league in particular. This league, with all due respect, like, you're not playing Iowa State at wideout.

No disrespect to Iowa State, and I love Rocco Beck. I think he's a really good player that was thrust into a tough situation last year and played admirably. But you're not facing that in this league. Like, guess what? The worst team on your schedule is Vandy, so removing them. The second worst team on your schedule on paper is probably Mississippi State. And guess what? They're going to be able to light you up downfield.

All right. So I quickly run through a couple of those Oklahoma. It's gotta be offensive line, right? I mean, that's, that's, I don't think there's anything else. Do we want to pretend like there's something else? I don't think so. Uh, Vanderbilt, I do think it's, it's quarterback and, and Diego Pavia, how he fits in. If he's there, if he gets into the offense, if they get it installed, I think he can make a difference, which is how it's run the familiarity with it. Uh, and sort of the mobility aspect that he brings, that would be it for me. Um,

Arkansas, who we're going to talk to Trey Bitty about in just a few moments, that's one of the teams that we feel like we know least about. I want to know just how well they're going to be able to run the ball. Is it going that well? Sam Pittman, we're going to embrace the hog. I-formation, fullbacks, two, three tight ends. Is that personnel really made up that way, Greg, to be able to do it? Probably my biggest question for the hogs. Yeah, I think so.

Arkansas, more than anything else, is probably front seven defensively. I know Landon Jackson. I get that. Everyone keeps talking about, oh, they got Landon. You need more than one guy to be good up front defensively. And I think that's a legitimate question. They've been torching the secondary for years. So really, if you want to just go all three levels defensively, I can live with that. And they've been among the worst secondaries in the sport for how long?

It's been a minute. It's been five years, probably. It's been a while. We've got some lower-level guys on defense that I think are going to be really interesting to watch. Because we've had this conversation about a couple different teams, just sort of, can you take those guys that were productive somewhere else and just all of a sudden say, yeah, they're going to be able to do similar things at this level? I don't really know.

But I know there's some guys they have some confidence in maybe being able to do that. Larry Wirth is a linebacker from Jacksonville State that's rangy. He's long. Played a lot of times kind of the middle of that 3-3-5 defense where he was just a roamer. They think he can really help. Steven Dix has been at Florida State and Marshall. They have confidence that he can help. Zavian Sori from Georgia hadn't played a ton, but you can imagine. If you're a linebacker and Georgia took you, you've got some ability. But he's

But he's got to be able to process it. He's got to know the defense. He's got to be able to call it and communicate it. All those things still have to take place. So there's some guys that could fit in nice and do some different things, just don't know exactly how it's going to look. You've got a young man named Anton Junkaj that was the nation's leader in sacks and in the FCS, played at Albany.

Can he come in there and make some things happen? I don't know how that's going to translate. Finally, with the Florida Gators, Billy Napier had this to say yesterday when he met the media for the first time, is they were going to open up fall practice on his quarterback, Graham Mertz. Graham Mertz has had a phenomenal offseason, mentally, physically, emotionally. The leadership element, I think he started in a different place in January. There's a different level of confidence there.

And then his place on the team, you know, it's his team. And he proved it on the field last year with how not only he produced, but also the way he competed, the toughness, the grit. So I think that that's going to produce the next step. You know, I don't necessarily think the next step is how he plays in the fall. I think he's been working on that next step, and that'll prove to be what'll get him here is the work that he's done up until this point.

His team, Greg, how much of a difference can it make for a quarterback that actually does go out and win their team? Really optimistic about that part of the equation. They have a guy that's a veteran that's been through the ringer. He's not going to flinch in the event in which they get off to a bad start. This guy's whole college career has been a series of ups and downs. We want to give Bo Nix the Heisman with a late career resurgence. We want to fire Graham Mertz's coach.

even though he's in the midst of a late career resurgence. It's unbelievable to me how perception can impact

who you are. There were a lot of positives last year for Graham Mertz. Now, let's be honest. He does need to take, I think, a few more chances. Wouldn't hate it if with that run game they complimented it with more of a deep ball passing attack. I think it would be beneficial. I know they're a very efficient offense. They want to stay on schedule. That's all great. But against top-tier defenses, you're going to have to create chunk yardage. So I think that would be an area of growth. But I'm super optimistic about

where they are at quarterback. And I also, to be honest with you, super optimistic with what they have at receiver and running back. So I think the offense is fine. The defense for Florida is the big question mark for sure. Okay, then we had this from Billy Napier yesterday when asked about sort of the culture and personality of his football team. I'm a firm believer that better people are better football players. I think we will prove that this fall.

Do you believe that this is directed at another coach in the same league? Help me understand the interpretation. Well, there's been a team that was formerly in their division that they play on an annual basis that may or may not have had a few run-ins here recently. Gotcha. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't think so. I don't think so either. There are a lot of folks that are saying that this was directed at Kirby Smart. I don't believe that. I think Billy worries about Billy. Right. He ain't worried about what's going on in Georgia. I think it has everything to do with the fact that they've had their own bad actors on the team. And getting people to buy in is not an easy task. And I think that they have probably focused more on culture.

The last couple years, they went young, and in spite of maybe being slightly less talented, they had guys that they could trust. And as a result now, those guys have gotten a lot of burn and have seen a lot of things and are hopefully prepared for a big leap forward this year. Going to be interesting to see. Also, I just don't know why you would want to invite that from them. That just doesn't seem intelligent. And Billy's a pretty intelligent guy. He's not worried about Georgia.

Like, is Dog Nation the one, like, promoting that? Like, what's the deal there? That would actually make a lot of sense. I haven't seen the print on that website recently. When was the last time you saw print? Well, I mean, I see print on –

The rundown? No, online. I'm not talking like an actual piece of paper. I'm talking about people who write articles. I still count that as print. Okay, okay. I'm not sure I've seen a print from Dog Nation maybe ever. I have heard the tape on when they have accused people who they're not even sure if they played in the SEC or have a show or are on television of saying certain things. But, yeah, other than that, no. Don't know. Don't have an idea. I don't know. I think you're –

I think you're grasping at straws for some offseason fodder if that's a narrative that you're trying to create based on those comments. By the way, I know plenty of guys that were bad dudes that were great football players, real bad dudes that were incredible when you walk between the white lines. You got to have a couple of those guys, frankly, on your roster. So I don't entirely agree with Billy's sentiment there.

But I understand what he's trying to say. You know what I mean? Like, I understand what he's trying to say, meaning, like, he's got a bunch of guys that are all in, that are buying into what they're selling by trying to create a culture at Florida that is going to be in line with what they want it to be. And I think that there's...

I don't think he's trying to cause a stir. He wants to focus internally. That's where he lives. We know him well enough. There's no way he's going to go give bulletin board material. Has he ever done that, ever, dating back to his time in Louisiana, ever given bulletin board material? Not that I can recall. No. It's not something that he does very often. It's not part of his makeup.

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Ox Foundation Solutions, guaranteed to keep your foundation healthy and strong. How strong? Ox Strong. Oxstrong.com, 205-236-9500. When we come back, focus in a little bit more on those Razorbacks. Trey Bitty joins us to try and inject some confidence of what Arkansas might be this fall next on Mac and Cube in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

A player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Tap or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in. McElroy and Kubrick in the morning, Wednesday, July 31st, 920 a.m. right here on Jocks 94.5. Listen online, jocksfm.com. App is in your app store. iPhone, Android, you can download that for free.

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We were discussing something during the break, and I was thinking about it before we get to Trey Bitty, talk some more Arkansas, take a look at that football team. Speaking of the Olympics, which if you missed our Olympic coverage in the first segment of the show, it was fun. If you were guaranteed to win one event in these Olympics, which would you compete in and which would be the event that you would want to win? Mm-hmm.

I love it when we threw it out the other day. Damien said track. Yes. It's like, I'll do track. Yeah, marathon. Which one? Pentathlon, marathon, decathlon, all the thons. Every thon. That's what you want. Okay. Thon, thon, thon, thon. You could have left that one in the trash. Why are you laughing? Why are you laughing then? It works. I mean, you don't have silver hair, but it still hits. Why are you laughing?

I wasn't expecting it. Right up his alley. I really wasn't. Damien tries to act all cool as the resident young person on the show.

I age when I get around y'all, man. There's no reason why that should be as funny as it is. Well, probably because it landed. It hit. I don't know. That triathlon was going today. That water looked dark. Yeah. It did not look fun. That's why it's thon, not flan. Two for two. Me is the decathlon by a mile. Really? Seriously. It's not even close, dude. You have to be... Oh, it's more than close. Dude, you have to be excellent...

In ten different events. Ten! Which makes you well-rounded athletically, albeit weird events. Like pole vault, is that athletic? Yeah, but it's also kind of like a learned skill. And it's more technique and upper body strength than just about anything. And flexibility than just about anything else. But between high jump, triple jump, long jump, mile, sprint, hurdles, you've got to do it all.

That, to me, is by far the coolest gold medal that you could have because you are basically, yes, accumulating points, but you're doing so in 10 different Olympic events. It's pretty sweet. I like where your mind's at. That's very unique. Mine would be the 100-meter dash, being known as the fastest man in the world at that time. Who won it in 2021 or 2020? Who's ever won a decathlon?

I can think of one person. In the history of all the Olympics. I can think of one person. I can't. Pretty popular on Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Bruce Jenner. Who? Who? Bruce Jenner, now known as Caitlyn. Oh, okay. Got it. Well, when he won, he was Bruce Jenner. Mama named him Bruce a little now. She is Caitlyn Jenner. I mean... Still go middles. Now... To give you... One of the most famous athletes of all time. To take what...

Okay. To take one thing from what Greg said, though, but the 100-meter is a part of the decathlon. Correct. Long jump, shot put, high jump, 400, 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, 1,500-meter. That's insane. Yeah. Well, you're not doing them all back-to-back-to-back-to-back. You get a day between them. Soft. All of those, nah.

So you're lazy is what you're telling me. You are telling the world that you're lazy. I will do the 100-meter dash. And you want to specialize. That's it. That's it. Straight line speed. That's what they do. They specialize. Straight line speed. That's the difference. You ain't going to knock me off this horse. I promise you. I will take that. All the other stuff. No, we're good. You got it. So who won it in 2020? It was the guy. Do you remember the guy? The guy. Last name. He's from Italy. The fast guy. The dude. The fast one. Oh, the Olympian. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes.

The guy from that country. Stop. I'm trying to remember. Because Curly came in second. Who? Larry Curling. No, he's singing Winter Olympics. Curling. Oh, oh. His last name is Curly. I'm trying to think who won. It was an upset. Last name Jacobs. Josh. No, no, no. Brandon. Mark? Jacobs, and he's from Italy? I'm almost positive. I'm almost positive. Last name Jacobs. All right, well, as you continue to dig that hole, I'll give my answer. Yes, it was.

If it's a, how did you not know that? I guess I would either, if it's an individual one, I would want the 400-meter individual medley in swimming. That's a good one. Is that all because of Major League? No, that's a good one. I don't disagree with that. Is that why his girlfriend swam? I think so. But once again, kind of proving my point in you want to be really good at four different strokes,

The other one, I would want to anchor a four by something. It doesn't matter, like a relay or whatever. That would be the last one. But I don't know if we're going to go with a group. But I want a four by four. Like, I don't want to anchor the four by one. I want to have...

42 good seconds where I'm the center of attention as the leader of the team. Not the 4x15. 9.6 seconds is not enough time in the spotlight. You've got to be 4x4 if you're an Olympian. You only get one shot at this thing. I'm going to give you mine in a moment, but I feel like we may have a little bit of a problem here. Uh-oh.

And again, I'm no Olympic expert by no stretch of the imagination. No one's claiming that you are. The accuracy's here. Feel free to tell me that I'm wrong and I don't know what I'm talking about. But I'm currently visiting Olympics.com. Okay. That's official. I think that's the most. That feels right. How do you spell Olympics? Is there an X? Under the tab sports. Sports? Okay. Correct. Correct.

Maybe I need to go to Olympic Games, somewhere different. Listed by letter. Both winter and summer included. Under the letter D, diving. And that's it. That's all that we got. You can go to track. We'll go for those in T. Table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, trampoline, and triathlon. Okay.

Now, maybe were you referencing the modern pentathlon? Oh, so they don't have a decathlon anymore. Soft. Just saying. Probably took it out of Bruce's list. Just saying. What's softer than society? Now, if you wanted to go with the modern pentathlon, I think that would be one that you could possibly compete in. So five events, what are they? It looks like some sort of shooting, some sort of swimming, some sort of running.

And I don't know the actual... Maybe you get to choose. You pick two with Panera. So it's basically a triathlon, but with a rifle section? It's not even a rifle section. Is that what you're saying? It's more like a pistol. Now, I can get on board with a triathlon when I've got to shoot clays, like in between my swim and my bike. I could be down with that. Well, that's like the... Give me like a high house, low house situation right between the swim and the bike section.

That'd be fire. What's the ski one? Cross-country ski where they stop and shoot? Biathlon? Oh, yeah. Is that what it is? Biathlon. Which always felt weird. It's so dumb. Well, I do think that your heart rate's up, and then you've got to... Like, I get it, but it's dumb. Oh, even better. Fencing...

freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross-country running. I'm going to go out on a limb and say most difficult medal to get at the Olympics. That does feel a little all over the board. You have to equestri, then you have to shoot, then you must fence before a swim and a run across a country. Tell me a medal more difficult to get than that one. There isn't one.

Equestria. Here's the easy answer to all of this. It's basketball. Because if you're on the United States basketball team, guess what you're getting? Probably a max NBA deal. And that, to me, is about all that I need. You're probably going to win a gold. Nobody cares. Yes, they do. So you're telling me right now. 30-something a year. We're good. And we're going to win. What about Derek White? How much are you getting?

He just signed a vet minimum. No. 12 mil. He got paid. It's eight figures. He got paid. More than Mahomes, I think. Four-year, 125.9.

I mean, you know, but hey, but you're Derek White, you know. Yeah. Hey, got to pay for those hair plugs. Who wants that? I'm trying to think of like another event. I'll take my gold and my checks. There's another event that would be pretty fire. I'm trying to think of like another one that would be great. Well, I mean, you were good in power clean, so you could translate that to power lifting. No, because you've got knee problems, back problems. I don't want that. I got you. I think...

Yeah, like the winter, I'm trying to think of a winter sport, it doesn't do a whole lot. Like I did not want to be a part of a team in that event. Oh, so you're a receiver, okay. 100%. In the Olympics, I'm a me guy. It's the Olympics without I. If I were a woman, the women's all-around...

gymnastics, like the Sunni Lee one a couple years ago, would be pretty sweet. I mean, they have that for men. Individual. I don't like the events as much. Oh, okay. I don't like the rings and the pommel horse. I like the women's all around much more. The events are, to me, much more exciting. They're high-flying. In the men's event, the pommel horse...

It just looks lame. It's breakdancing on a different thing? I don't have time for it. Yeah. Skateboarding would be pretty sweet. Like the park skateboard. That you have time for. The other day. Not Palm Horse? No. Okay. No.

Got no time for it. Right. I was not expecting a skateboard. We'll go back to the Hawks. Trey Bitty set to join us next right here on Mac and Cube in the morning. The capital of the sports talk nation. This is Jocks 94.5 and Jocks FM.com. Hurry hand. All right. Welcome back in. Mackelroy and Kubrick in the morning, 934 a.m. Wednesday, July 31st right here on Jocks 94.5.

Moving on to talk some more college football. Trey Bitty covers the Hogs, and he'll join us now on the Buyer's Right Hotline to discuss it. Before we get to Arkansas, Trey, we asked a question in our previous segment. If you were guaranteed to win and you could compete at any event in these Summer Olympics, which event would that be?

I was guaranteed to win. I could compete in any event. Maybe I would be on the basketball team. There you go. That was my choice. Yeah, that's where the spotlight is, right? Well, and then also I added to it, you probably have a max or at least close to a max NBA contract if you're on that team and good enough to be on it. So that wouldn't be bad either. You work all the way around. Yeah, that works for me. We are all very curious as to how physical –

how capable Arkansas will be running the football, especially with what we heard from Sam Pittman at SEC Media Days. What's your expectation of how that run game might look for the Hogs this fall? I think it'll be better. I mean, Bobby Petrino is going to

I mean, they're going to run the ball until they get it done. You know, he employs a lot of play-action passing. So if you can't run the ball, that doesn't work. None of the offense works. So I think they got some good pieces in place. They went to the transfer portal, got three key offensive linemen who are all starting, and Fernando Carmona out of San Jose State, who's really highly coveted.

Keyshawn Blackstock out of Michigan State and Addison Nichols at center out of Tennessee. And those guys have, I mean, really just jumped right in to the starting role. You also got Talon Green back there. Talon Green can break off 70 yard touchdown runs. I mean, he's,

He's a long strider. He's got really good speed. He's upwards of 21 miles per hour on the catapult at 6'6". So people take terrible angles on him because he's such a long strider. So you've got that aspect of it also. But the guy I think who will really make things churn is Jaquinden Jackson. Jaquinden Jackson is a former top 50 recruit. He originally signed with Texas at a high school as a quarterback, transferred to Utah, ran for 1,300 yards the last two years.

he's got that chip-on-your-shoulder type of attitude, like he's got something to prove in this conference. And so, you know, 6'2", 230 pounds, he's a guy that can obviously move a pile and just really seems to have the attitude that they're looking for back there. And they've got some other good backs, too. So should be better on offense. I don't think there's any doubt that Arkansas's offense is going to be better with Bobby Petrino, and it starts on the ground.

Where do you make, I guess, where do you assess the offensive line, though? You referenced it in a couple of the additions for sure. I'm optimistic they'll be better. But in the event in which they can't run it downhill, is there enough on the perimeter to be able to create issues for the opposing defensive secondaries that they'll face on the schedule?

That's a good point. I think we're overall looking at a pretty average-ish roster as far as that goes. Andrew Armstrong is the best guy that they've got at wide receiver coming back after having over 50 catches, nearly 800 yards. Last year, is he an NFL guy? Maybe on the back end, maybe a seventh round type of guy or something. I don't know that there's an NFL wide receiver. There are

teams in this conference that have a couple of NFL wide receivers. So that's a good question. Do they have some steady guys? Sure. Do they have some game breakers? I just don't know yet. Maybe Isaiah Satania?

Has a lot of speed, has success as a return man last year. Maybe he's a guy that can help there. And, you know, for the offensive line, yes, I think it's going to be much improved over last year. You know, you could be much improved over last year's offensive line and still be really bad because they were – I mean, they gave up 49 sacks, or they played a part in giving up 49 sacks last season. And also think about how many sacks K.J. Jefferson –

And Shuck, I mean, he got away from a lot of guys last year, too. So is it Oklahoma or Georgia's offensive line? Absolutely not. Is it better? Yes, I think it is. And the question is, can they get it to, you know, can they help them get to six, seven wins? And so that just kind of remains to be seen. And it's going to be interesting to see kind of how that falls together. On the other side of the ball,

It feels like there are a couple of individuals that garner a lot of confidence back on this Arkansas defense, but going to need some new faces to really step up and make it go. Which which of the new faces is most important to see Arkansas improve maybe drastically on defense this fall for you?

Well, you've got Landon Jackson, obviously, who returns as an NFL guy, former, you know, he was the first team all-SEC pick last year, 6'7", 280 pounds on one side. Then there are some other intriguing guys on the defensive line. I think they've got quality depth.

but what kind of role does Andrew Farrar play, who's 6'5", 382? Anton Junkaj, who came in from the FCS level, had 15 sacks, was an FCS All-American. What kind of role can he play with the team? How is that going to translate over to the SEC? Even if he could get half as many sacks, that would be pretty solid. So I think there's some guys to look at on the defensive line. Linebacker is just such a question mark.

You're hoping a lot at linebacker because they lost their top three tacklers at linebacker last year. So you're hoping a lot, but...

I think they're going to be good. You just don't know that they're going to be good. Zayn Ansari is a former five-star recruit who transferred in from Georgia. Brad Spence is a guy with a lot of potential. And they've got a couple other guys, Larry Wirth and Steven Dix, who had 60 tackles each at their respective schools last year to bring some experience. But to me, that's an area where you're like –

They might be good. They might not. Right. What about the secondary, though, too? I mean, like, we've kind of been all over the place. I mean, front seven, all three levels defensively are of concern for me. Yeah. I know you have a difference maker up front, which helps. But is there reason to believe that this group collectively will be significantly better than a year ago? Because they might need to be if they're going to be able to be the spoiler team that they've been in the past.

Yeah. Well, what I mean, I think you're hoping for is them to be similar to what they were last year. They were pretty average last year on defense. They let go of the rope the last couple of games. But for three quarters of the season, the defense was actually pretty solid. In fact, the pass defense went from dead last 131 nationally in yards allowed to 32nd.

a pretty dramatic improvement in pass defense. Obviously, there's more to it than just the secondary with that. There's the defensive line also. But that's a pretty significant amount of improvement. My thoughts are if they can play like they did the first three quarters of the season on defense, which wasn't bad. It might not have been superb, but it wasn't bad. And the offense can take a big step forward under Bobby Petrino.

then maybe they will have something. I mean, if you think about it, if you had last year's defense and maybe the 2021 offense or 2022 offense, you'd probably have a pretty solid team. It's just they couldn't seem to get those groups on the same page. But 2021, Arkansas led Power Five conferences in rushing.

In 2022, they were second in the SEC in rushing. It was just 2023. They could not get anything going whatsoever on offense. So you've got to think that Bobby Petrino is going to bring a nice boost to the offense. And that's kind of how I look at it. Like if they can just be comparable to what they were last year. Now, being comparable to what you were last year may not be good enough because I think everybody in the middle lower tier of the SEC is going to be better than they were last year.

So you might have to be better on defense just to be as good as you were last year. That's a great thought. Trey, great stuff. We appreciate the time. Before I let you run, we talked about it. We saw where KJ was announced as a captain of Central Florida. I haven't heard your thoughts on it, but just sort of the departure of KJ Jefferson, how that went down, what was the real thought process behind it from his perspective, from the team's perspective? How did that separation ultimately end up taking place?

Yeah, well, I think for KJ, it was a pretty good opportunity. I mean, in my opinion, he'll probably have made more money this year than, you know, he'll –

you know, make in a long time or ever has made. So I understand the move getting on the open market as a quarterback like that. You know, I think there was just a lot of division last year with the team. And, you know, there's all kinds of rumors, so I don't want to state anything as fact, just about, you know, players not getting along and maybe jealousy over NIL deals and stuff like that, which that's just going to happen when you're talking about quarterbacks. But that's a lot of that's just conjecture. But it did feel like,

The time was right to...

you know, make a split. And, you know, I think a lot of people really appreciate what KJ Jefferson did, especially 2021 at Arkansas and just, just didn't go very well last year. And you kind of needed a fresh start. If you're saying Pittman, you can't just go down the same way you went down, you know, the previous year, you know, you've got to make some changes and that was just part of it. Absolutely. Trey, great stuff. We appreciate the time. I look forward to catching up with you again soon. Thanks for making some time for us today.

Yep. Bye, guys. There you go. Trey Bitty joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline. For all your insurance needs, look to Buyer's Right Insurance, a member of the WRM Group, where relationships matter. At Trey Bitty, where you can find him there. Also find his work at hogsports.com.

All right, we'll come back and finish up today's show, give you a bad box score of the day next on Mac and Cube in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Cup or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubrick in the morning, Wednesday, July 31st, 948 a.m.,

Jocks.fm.com, where you can tune in online, tell your home smart speaker to enable the jock skill. Quick clarification, which a couple of folks have tweeted into the show. I welcomed it. I said, listen, if I'm wrong, tell me. I don't know what I'm talking about. Jody tweets in. Michael Kirby tweets in. Look under athletics for decathlon. If you go under athletics, it is all the basically it's what Damien wants to medal in. Track. All of it. Track life. So that is...

To me, I feel like 200, 400, 800, 5,000, 1,500, 3,000-meter steeplechase, pole vault, long jump, javelin, 800, shot put, marathon, decathlon is there, heptathlon, 4x400 relay mixed, marathon race walk relay mixed, hammer throw, long jump, women's 10,000-meter, all that. Discus, 2,000-kilometer race walk relay.

Racewalk? Yeah. I think that if I were a participant in another sport, I am deeply offended because are you suggesting that my sport, archery, is not considered athletics? No, I think what they're saying is these are events, not necessarily sports. Well, why are they under athletics instead of track and field?

You probably have to ask the Greek god of sport for that. Is that Apollo? Maybe. I haven't seen the tape. Don't know. He's the god of war. Close enough. So either way, just a quick update there and a correction. We still do have, for those that were so curious, the decathlon in the Olympics, Greg. Well, I'm glad to know that a champion will still be crowned.

in the decathlon. I'm also glad to know that a champion has been crowned seven times right up there in Coleman. It's Bill Smith, Buick, G.

And you can go check them out at BillSmithBuickGMC.com. They're the national champion of GMC dealerships. So you're going to be very appreciative of the deals that you can find on the lot. You take the short drive up to Coleman to see what I'm talking about. So many discounts that can't be matched by anybody else. That's why 75% of their business is Rebicustomers. That's because they sell more GMCs than anyone in the entire Southeast. Like a GMC Sierra 1500 SLT.

It's a really nice, beautiful vehicle. $68,000 is the list price. You're going to get it under $55,000. That's more than $13,000 off.

Off the sticker price, you walk out the door at $54,860. That's a pretty amazing deal when you take into account the quality of the vehicle that you're purchasing there from Andy Cole and Jonathan Yeager, the best service department around as well. So go see them for yourself right up there in Coleman off I-65, exit 310 Highway 31, or you can go online. Have it delivered right to your driveway at billswithbuickjg.com. All right, let's get to our bad box scores of the day.

Personal file, 69. Offense, he was giving them the business. Intentional rounding, offense number seven. It's a 10-yard penalty. I'm talking to America here. That's the game. I will start just with overall, not necessarily blowout fashion, but things that don't feel like they should take place. Three on three basketball did not go great for the United States yesterday. The men go down 22-14 to Serbia.

So that was one that was not great. Do you think? The ladies of Germany took down the United States 17-13. Where's Caitlin Clark? Angel Reese. To be fair, it felt like all the ladies in that were like seven foot in the Germans, and we have Haley Van Lift, who's like Damien Zeit. On a good day. Still lost. Correct, right. Why didn't Caitlin Clark play? She's in the league right now. Who are the three-on-three coaches?

Do they have coaches? Technically, yes, but they're not allowed to coach them during the game. Makes sense. Perfect sense. What is this, tennis? You can actually coach in tennis now. I don't know why. Yeah, somebody's got to explain that one to me. I don't know. I watched it yesterday, and I couldn't tell you. I like that it was fast. I'll give them that. Oh, yeah. Let's go to Major League Baseball. The Arizona Diamondbacks just snuck past the Washington Nationals. Oh, them. Sorry.

17-0 yesterday. Oh, shut up. 22 hits for Arizona yesterday. Here are what makes that a bad box score of the day outside of 17-0. Largest shutout victory in franchise history. It was 13-0 against the Atlanta Braves in 2006 and against the Dodgers in 17. Matches a season high in runs for Arizona.

It's a Major League Baseball high third game of the season that a team has won by 15 or more runs. Second biggest loss in franchise history for the Nationals. They lost 18-0 to the Giants in 2000. That was technically the Expos, however. Okay. Most runs allowed since July 1st, 2023. Also, the Diamondbacks. Stop the music for a second. Oh, boy. Here we go. Get them ready.

Got a hit in seven consecutive plate appearances in a seven-run second inning. It ties the longest streak in franchise history. It's been done four times previously. What if they would have hit seven straight solo home runs? I don't care. Tell me the last time you've seen a baseball team

Even get close to getting seven consecutive hits. I feel like it's at the ballpark, maybe, like Hoover Rec or Homewood or something. I don't know how that's not amazing. That's only because you're not allowed to record outs. That's unreal. Seven straight at-bats led to hits. How mad are you when you break that streak? You don't want to be that guy, no doubt.

So Diamondbacks yesterday in absolute blowout fashion. Now for Patrick Corbin of the Nats, yeah, didn't go great. He pitched three innings, gave up 13 hits. Okay. Now he gave up 11 runs. Ten of those were earned. But he won the one that gave up the seven, wasn't he? Unfortunately for Patrick, he gave up career highs in runs, earned runs loud.

And one hit away from a career high in hits allowed that was set in 2020. Okay, well, hey, that didn't beat that. I guess that's a positive if you want to try to put some sort of a spin on it. But, yeah, 22 hits allowed, seven straight at-bats leading to a hit. Ties season high in runs for the Diamondbacks. Also largest shutout victory in franchise history for the Diamondbacks. That was your bad box score of the day. Easily.

Last night for Arizona. All right, when we come back tomorrow...

Kyle Whittingham going to join the show. Utah head football coach Wim Sanderson with us. Nick De La Torre is going to be with us to talk Florida Gators as they were on the practice field today. Tomorrow, Mississippi State, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State all take the field. So we'll try to hear from some of those coaches as well as the coaches that took the field today. Tennessee, Arkansas, A&M, Ole Miss, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, etc. So it is here. College football practice is now in full swing today.

And we'll be back to talk about it 7 to 10 a.m. tomorrow. Three-man front going to be at UAB practice today. So you're going to want to stick around for the next four hours, see who pops on with them, what they have to talk about. Should be a fun show. And we'll be back tomorrow, 7 to 10 a.m. right here on JOX 94.5. Get all the podcasts from what you missed at joxfm.com. This is McElroy and Kulik in the morning. It's time for Bob's Dare to Compare. You get stylish.

You get features. You get quality and thousands of dollars in savings. Everyone's winner when you dare to compare. Insta-war at MyBobs.com. When you have sports mixed with your pop culture, along with humor and celebrity interviews, your earbuds are enjoying the Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you, Bruce Feldman. The Big 12 landscape. I just know how Dion is, where he's coming from. His wins are measured differently.

The question is, as you said, it's got to go from four to eight. I think they can do that. It would be hard not to get better considering how bad they were on the offensive line last year. Now, their schedule actually feels harder this year than it was last year. Search for The Rich Eisen Show on YouTube or wherever you listen.

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