8-5-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 3: SEC Fall Camp updates; Damon West motivates you; Alabama's O-Line
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All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Get to Damon West, keynote speaker, one of the most sought-after motivational speakers in America right now, in Birmingham for the next few days, and going to join us in just a few moments. First, I want to tell you about game day men's health. You guys have heard me talking about maybe lacking some energy. If you're on edge just a little bit, if you're not getting good sleep, don't worry.

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And also, at Game Day Men's Health, keep in mind, minimal upfront costs for the programs that they offer. That's going to differentiate them between a lot of other clinics around town. If you lack energy, if you're getting poor sleep, if you feel on edge, it could be the effects of low testosterone. Get in at Game Day Men's Health today. See if they can help you. If you're struggling with weight loss, get in at GameDayMen'sHealth.com.

provide different medications to be able to help you out there. Also, listen, this is a laid-back, no-stress environment, locker room field. Just head in there today and see what they can do for you. Or better yet, go to gamedaymenshealth.com, schedule that consultation that is free, and see how Game Day Men's Health can help you feel better. Let's go to the Buyer's Right hotline now. Welcome in Damon West, motivational speaker, author of Be a Coffee Bean. Damon, I want to start with just – let's start with that. Be a Coffee Bean, your background –

Uh, uh, how we got to that point, how did you get to where you would even be in a position to become a motivational speaker? Man, Cole, first of all, thanks for having me on brother. So exciting to be here with you this morning. And, um, yeah, so let me just jump right in. It's a, it's a, it's kind of a crazy story because I grew up in this little town called Port Arthur, Texas, down right where Louisiana and Texas meet on the Gulf coast, blue collar town, good family.

Two-parent home, had everything going for me, star quarterback in high school, and Friday Night Lights in Texas. It's a big deal. It's a real thing. Scholarship to play football at the University of North Texas. By the time I'm 20, I'm the starting quarterback for a Division I team in America.

But I came up to a fork in the road, Cole, and that was when we were playing Texas A&M in 96. I separated my shoulder and my career was over. And at this fork in the road in life, I took a wrong turn. It was around drugs. I got into, you know, the hardcore stuff, the cocaine, the ecstasy, the pills, because I couldn't deal with the disappointments of life.

But I went on to graduate college. I was a functional addict. Go off to work in the United States Congress. I worked for a guy running for president of the United States. And then in 2004, I was back in Dallas as a stockbroker for UBS, United Bank of Switzerland.

It was at that job as a broker that another broker introduced me to meth one day when he saw me sleeping at work. And then the wheels came off, Cole. Meth was a monster. I became instantly addicted. And, you know, within 18 months of that first hit, I was living on the streets of Dallas. I was homeless.

And then I became the quarterback all over again, Cole. This time it was a very bad team. This time I became the ringleader of a bunch of other meth addicts who were breaking into houses and committing crimes all over Dallas to feed their insatiable meth habits. But these are property crimes, Cole. I mean, so no one was ever physically hurt, thank God. You know, we never saw any of our victims. But I realized that I didn't just steal my victims' property. I stole their sense of security. And I'll tell you why I realized this.

July 30, 2008, Dallas SWAT takes me down in this dramatic SWAT team raid. I mean, there's guns everywhere and flashbang grenades going off. And a year after that arrest, it was 2009, May 18, 2009. I can tell you the date, Cole. A jury in Dallas, Texas, set to a six-day criminal trial, and the trial was for engaging organized criminal activity. It's a RICO case, and I'm the ringleader. I'm the boss, the quarterback.

And the jury sentenced me to life in prison that day on May 18, 2009. So there I was, Cole, in the holding facility in Dallas County Jail, getting ready to be shipped off to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas State Penitentiary System, to serve a life sentence in prison. And I run into this guy named Muhammad, this older black man, had been in and out of prison all of his life. But he shares with me one day the story of the coffee bean. He said, this is how you're going to survive prison and come back in some way your parents recognized you.

He told me, imagine life, prison, as a pot of boiling water. He said, you're going to have three choices how to respond to this pot of boiling water. He said, you can be like a carrot that becomes soft in the boiling water, an egg that becomes hardened by the boiling water, or you can choose to be like a coffee bean, which changes the pot of boiling water into a pot of coffee.

And he told me the coffee bean had the power to change the water because the power was inside the coffee bean, just like the power is inside of you. And Cole, I remember how I felt when I heard the story of the coffee bean because it crystallized my three choices, right? You can let life beat you down like the carrot. You can let it make you mad and angry like the egg. Or you can choose to change the environment around you with the power inside you. It was the ultimate message that our world is created from the inside out, not the outside in.

So I took that message with me to prison, Cole, and I did. I transformed myself. And it would be a familiar place in prison that ended up earning my respect and eventually fitting in. It was in the rec yard playing sports, right? So much in life comes back to sports, especially in my life it did. And after I'd earned my respect and started establishing myself inside that prison, I started becoming that coffee bean.

And the transformation, Cole, was so complete that in 2015, the Texas Parole Board comes to visit me. This guy that's living on one of the toughest prisons there is. I lived in a level five super max prison. I lived with the lifers, Cole, the hardest part of prison there is, one of the most dangerous prisons there is. And after seven years and three months, the parole board wanted to know if I could change the world from the outside the way I changed it on the inside. And they let me go on parole immediately.

Now, I wasn't free, and I'm not a free man to this day. I mean, I'm on parole until the year 2073. So I got a little more time left on parole in Texas.

But I'm a coffee bean, right? So it's like I'm making my way out in the world when I get out of prison in 2015. I'm trying to find places to go speak and share my story of the coffee bean because I know it's a powerful, transformative story, but there's not a lot of places for me to speak, Cole. I mean, let's be honest. If you go knock on the door of a high school and say, I just got out of prison, I want to talk to your kids, right? I mean, they'll chase you down the street. They chase me down the street.

In my parents' spare bedroom, which is where I lived the first two years I was out of prison, there was a mirror in there. For two years, Cole, I practiced my presentation in front of that mirror. I got in my reps. Another lesson I learned from sports, anything you want to be good at, you got to work hard at. You got to get in your reps. And so I got in my reps. Every day in front of that mirror, I practiced my presentation.

Getting myself ready for what I felt like was going to be the right opportunity. And, Cole, I really felt like the right opportunity for me to share my story was going to come in the world of college football because I played Division I college football, right? And I know I can get through to these athletes, but the problem is it's been 20 years since I took a snap. This is 2017, Cole. These coaches don't know me. I don't know them.

There is one football operations coach in college football that has brought me in at this point in 2017, a guy named Randy Ross. And I think Randy Ross plays a role in your story too, doesn't he? He does. Recruited me to Alabama, actually. He's my main recruiter at Alabama. I've known Randy a long time.

Randy is a great guy, man. Randy was the first ops guy in America that believed in me, and he would call around and see if he could get coaches to bring me in. But I couldn't find a head coach that really just bought into me from one of these big schools. But all that changed. A buddy of mine on January 12, 2017,

I've been out of prison for 14 months at this point. I live in Beaumont, Texas. My buddy is in Houston when he calls me. He works for KHOU. He's a photographer there. He calls me. He says, get down to Houston right now. He said, it's the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award. They're going to name the best college football coach in America. He said, the eight best coaches in America are in this room right now, the Toyota Center, Damon. I've got an extra press pass. I'll sneak you in.

So, man, I drive the 90 miles from Beaumont to Houston, Cole. I'm like practicing my elevator pitch of what I'm going to tell these coaches when I see them that night. And he sneaks me in the back door to the Otis Center, hands me a press pass. There I am, Cole. And these coaches are there, man. USC, Wisconsin, Penn State, P.J. Flex, they're all in the room. And I'm going up to every one of these coaches, and I'm shaking their hand, and I'm giving them a pitch of why they should bring me to talk to their team.

And every single coach I meet that night, Cole, slams the door in my face. They all told me no. It was a bloodbath, man. In one hour, I've been told no seven times by the eight coaches in the room. Cole, that's a no every eight minutes. Now I'm in the corner of Toyota Center. I'm licking my wounds. I'm feeling sorry for myself. And the voice in my head is screaming at me, go home. What are you doing here, Damon? You know, the voice in my head is calling me an imposter, Cole.

But I'm going to tell you something. A long time ago, I quit listening to myself.

Because I realized at one point that the voice in my head was fear talking to me sometimes. And, Cole, you don't want to listen to fear because fear is a liar. Fear tells you something that's not true. So instead of listening to myself, I talk to myself. And that's what I'm doing that night in Houston, Texas. I'm pumping myself back up. I'm like, Damon, no, man. You survived prison. This isn't prison. And that last coach, he's going to have to tell you no to your face before you go home. But, Cole, the last coach, the heartbreaker.

the hardest guy to get to in the room. Everybody wants a piece of this guy's time because this guy's team just beat Alabama, just knocked off Alabama two nights before for the national championship. Everybody's in line to talk to this guy, but I'm relentless, and I'm the only one who's going to go after my dream the way I want to. So I stalked Dabo Swinney around this room. And, Cole, let me really paint the scene for your listeners here, man. I look like a crazy person, man. I'm hiding behind fake plants trying to jump out in Dabo. I'm pushing people out of the way. I'm weaving in other people, and

And Dabo, I'm sure Dabo has seen me and security has seen me too. But I finally get in front of Dabo. I give him my best stuff for about 60 seconds and I come up for air. And like, Cole, I'm talking like 90 miles an hour to Dabo. And he's just, he's a little like, wow. He's like, man, hey, look, he's like, dude, you got a card on you, man.

I gave him my card, and he took it from me, and he said, I'll check you out. He was gone. And Cole, to be honest with you, man, it was a no. I mean, it looked like a no, felt like a no, but I felt good about that no because I left it all on the field that night. And that was one of the lessons I learned from sports. Leave it on the field. Give it your best effort. Cole, I went home that night and slept like a baby, forgot about that night. Four months later, the director of football operations at Clemson

He emails me. A guy named Mike Dooley. Mike Dooley's email said this. He said, hey, Damon, Coach Sweeney met you at an awards show in Houston. He'd love to have you come talk to the team. He said, do you have August 1st open?

Cool. I got every first open, man. I got nothing going on in 2017, brother. So August 1st, 2017, I get to go speak to the Clemson Tigers, the defending national champs of college football. And when I get done with my presentation that night, Dabo is in my face now. And I know y'all seen Dabo on TV, man. He's a very high energy guy, but he is as advertised and he is the same way in person.

And he's in my face that night. He's like, Damon, that's the most amazing story I've ever heard. I've never seen my players respond like that to a speaker story. He said, have you been to Alabama to talk to their football team? And I'm like, no, Davo. I've been to Clemson, but I haven't been anywhere like that, man. He said, well, I just texted Nick Saban from the back of the room. We'll see what happens tomorrow when this thing. The next day,

I land in Houston for my trip to Clemson. I turn my cell phone on. There's a voicemail and a text message from the director of football operations at the University of Alabama, a guy named Ellis Ponder, man. And I think you know Ellis as well, too. I do. Great guy. Great guy. Unbelievable guy. I love Ellis, man. But Ellis' message was like, hey, man, Dabo called Coach Saban. Coach Saban can't wait to hear your story. How does August 21st, 7.30 p.m. work for your calendar? Yeah.

I'm like, pretty good, man. I'll walk to Tuscaloosa if I have to to get there for that one. So just like that, Cole, Dabo Sweeney kicks open the biggest door to college football, and Dabo doesn't stop there, man. Kirby Smart calls, Lincoln Riley, Chip Kelly, Lane Kiffin, Ryan Day. I mean, every coach in America is bringing me in at this point, but the real big event happens one year after that presentation at Clemson. It was August of 2018.

I got a call out of the blue, and it was from a guy named John Gordon. Now, Cole, John Gordon is one of the biggest motivational speakers and authors in America. This is the energy bus guy, man. This guy has spoken to more college and pro teams than anybody on the planet, and I follow John on Twitter for every day for my inspiration, and I'm like, John, I know who you are. How do you know who I am? He said, Dabo Swinney. He said, I just got done speaking to Clemson's football team, Damon, and Dabo brought me office for 30 minutes to tell me your whole story, and

And John said, Damon, the world needs the coffee bean message, Damon. Let's deliver this message to the world. He said, will you write a book with me? We'll call it The Coffee Bean. And Cole, in the summer of 2019, exactly 10 years after our first show, The Story of the Coffee Bean, in a jail cell in Dallas County, the book, The Coffee Bean, comes out.

Took the entire world by storm. It started in America. Best seller here for like six weeks. Gets a global publishing deal. Gets reprinted in every language in the world. And in 2020, a global pandemic hits. The whole world becomes a pot of boiling water. And so many people came to the coffee bean for their message, getting them through to it. And I can't even explain to you the trajectory of my life, but...

Everything in my life goes back to that one night in Houston, Texas, January 12, 2017, when I got those seven no's that night in the corner of the Toyota Center at the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award. But I stuck around. I fought through the negativity in my mind, the voice in my head of doubt, when I

when i stuck around to get that last no which ended up being the biggest yes in my life with dabble swinging man dabble's winning changed my entire life and you know without dabbo and college football i wouldn't be where i am today that's why i'm so excited every august call i get to go back to all these college football programs i've got you know i've got a bunch of them coming up penn state oregon pittsburgh north carolina south carolina

Houston, North Texas. I've got a bunch of them coming up this August. But I really love going back in the world of college football, Colby. That's where I got my start. That's awesome. Damon West joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline, one of the most sought-after motivational speakers in America right now. Take us back to prison, though, when that coffee bean philosophy was introduced to you. Did you have a lot of experience with that?

You didn't immediately buy in. Surely this was something you kind of had to go back, think about. It had to take a few moments to hit you. What did it take for you to actually say, yes, this is the route that I'm going to go? I believe that I can sort of act as that. Yeah, I'll tell you when it happened. I finally had to surrender to this idea of control. And I think sometimes in life, a lot of times in life, people feel like they have a lot of control of a lot of things. When I figured out there were only four things I could control in life,

what I think, what I say, what I feel, and what I do. That's when I started working on the things I could control and let God take care of the things that He controls. It's like knowing what's on your line and what's on God's line. Basically, it took me to surrender to this idea of control. And

And once I did that, the world started to open up for me because I found out that I could invest my time. Time is the most precious resource you have, too, Cole. Once it's gone, it's gone for good, and it's a great equalizer. Everybody has the same amount every day. But once I started working, investing my time in the areas I could control, I got to work on myself, and that's when the big changes started happening. But I wasn't an immediate buy-in to the coffee beans.

But I saw that with my body language, having a positive body language, becoming a servant leader inside that prison, working on myself every day in three different areas, spiritually, mentally, physically, and letting go of my past. Because here's the thing. There's a reason why your windshield is bigger than your rearview mirror, Cole.

You need a lot more room to look forward in life than you do look backwards. I let go of that past, and I started working on the present version of Damon. And then that's when this version of Damon became inside that prison, and I became a coffee bean, brother. I mean, for people out there listening that are struggling to take that step and make the next thing happen, whatever that is, becoming a coffee bean, just becoming better at whatever it is they choose to do in life, what's your advice to how you actually make that next step happen?

So here's a good practice tip that I use. I try to remember what the bad days look like, right? You have perspective in life. Everybody has this thing called perspective. Well, sometimes we forget how to use it or where to use it.

So identify what a bad day looks like, right? Let's go with some days that are universal for people. A job is lost. A bankruptcy happens. Someone dies. Something happens to one of your kids. Something happens to one of your pets. Maybe it's a bankruptcy. Maybe a marriage fails, you know? Those are bad days.

Most of your bad days aren't one of those bad days. It's like traffic, Cole. Sometimes you sit in traffic and the traffic bothers you, right? Other times you sit in traffic and the traffic doesn't bother you at all. Is it the traffic or is it you?

And the answer is that it's always you. It's always the way you see the world around you. And if it's you, if you can identify where it's you, that's the one thing you can control. That's the one thing you can fix. That's the one thing you can change. So I always tell people, try to figure out what's within you, what's holding you back, because that's what you can control.

Man, it's a really cool message. It's great stuff. Damon West joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline. If folks are interested to have you be a speaker or just want more information on your book, how to be a part of what you're doing each and every day, how can they find you?

Man, look, my website, damonwest.org, D-A-M-O-N-W-S-T.org, that's the best place to find me for speaking. And I do a lot of corporate speaking now. I speak to school. Like, I'm here in Shelby County, Alabama, speaking to their entire school district, coming back in for the school year. Do a lot of sports teams. Damonwest.org, it's

Social media, at DamonWest7 is Twitter and Instagram. And, you know, my books are anywhere books are sold on Amazon. Usually Amazon is the best place to go to get those. Absolutely. Damon, thanks for hopping on, man. We appreciate the time. Look forward to catching up with you again soon. Cole, thanks, brother. I appreciate the opportunity. And look, man, I want to come back into Birmingham, come in studio with you, tell the whole story. We would love that. We'd love to have you in. Best of luck. Enjoy your time in Birmingham. We'll catch up soon.

Thanks, brother. All right, there you go. Damon West, motivational speaker, joining us on the Pirate's Right Hotline, giving you a little motivational talk here on a Monday, heading into back to school. A lot more to get to, including hearing from Alvin Moffitt's coordinator, Nick Sheridan, next, right here on Jocks 94.5. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

A player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Cup or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning, 922 a.m., Monday, August 5th, right here on Jock's 94.5. G-Mac out the rest of the show, playing in, what was it, Sean McDonough's golf tournament today? Correct, yes. He said, so he'll be out handling that, taking care of that.

And we'll continue rolling along. So if you want to be a part of the show, 800-239-9569, 800-239-WJOX if you want to get in. You can also tweet in at Mac and Cube. Always be a part of the show there. And if you want to text in, you can do that, 205-834-9450. Alabama Offensive Coordinator Nick Sheridan on the progress that he has seen from quarterback Jalen Milrow so far through fall camp.

Well, I certainly see progression, there's no doubt. And so, you know, I appreciate the question. You know, we're just trying to be a little bit better today than we were yesterday. And so as far as the, you know, the amount of growth, you see it in practice and you see it in the execution. And yet you're coaching and correcting and critiquing each and every day at all positions. And they've been super receptive to that and encouraging.

And so, yeah, we're pleased with that room. But we also know there's a lot more for us to improve on and get better at. All right, so that's Nick Sheridan discussing Jalen Milrow. And it seems positive. We heard from Kalen DeVore earlier. Seems positive. Are we anticipating a big leap from Jalen Milrow this season? I think so. I think for especially after everything that we saw with Michael Penich Jr. And I'm not going to sit here and say that Jalen Milrow is, you know,

Pennix 2.0. But when you look at the backstretch of the season that he had last year and just it felt like the game was slowing down and he was playing exceptional football, I think that's what Kalen DeBoer wants to hone into. And I think if you can get that from the jump, he's only going to improve from what, like for the back half of what he did last season and also what Kalen DeBoer presents as an offensive guy is what's going to take him over the top in 2024.

It'll be interesting to see if just that the intermediate accuracy is something that can realistically improve for Jalen Milrow. If it does, how fast does that happen? How quickly does that take place? And then obviously the decision making. We know holding on to the ball a little bit long was somewhat of an issue at times last year. Does that change? Is that something that's actually different for Jalen?

Jay LaMuro this upcoming season. His offensive line is going to have a lot to do with it either way. Nick shared and started out with just the offensive line of improvement, how that has appeared to be so far through fall practice. We have the first day of pass today, you know, and so...

We're getting better every day. I thought we took a step forward today. I think we've improved each and every day. And certainly that room has a lot of pride. Coach Kapp has done a great job of just building the chemistry in that room and the brotherhood. And we've got a long way to go. We're three days in, and there's a lot of work to be done still. But I'm excited about the group.

So Alabama offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan feels good about that Bama offensive line, where it is, how it looks. And there were some changes with it in practice over the weekend. Nick Sheridan talking about that offensive tackle competition and how that's shaping up. I'm going. I mean, today was the first day that we put pads on. And so, you know, we'll go back and watch the film. But those guys are doing a good job. Coach Capps did a great job of developing them.

You know, since spring until now. And so just like all positions, we've got a long way to go. But I've seen a lot of good play out of that room in particular, you know, the first few days. But like I said, we just put pads on today for the first time. And so we'll go back and take a look at the film and see what it looked like.

Now, Caden Proctor did run some first-team left tackle over the weekend. He had not been there for the majority of fall camps, but has kind of moved up there now and is getting some more reps there. So somebody that you would anticipate is not just going to make a push for that job, but probably should be the starting left tackle. But I kind of appreciate the fact that it wasn't just handed to him. He's got to go earn it.

And apparently a couple other guys look pretty good there. So we'll see if he does actually get it. Does he get it week one? Does he have it that quickly? Does he have it that early? You know, time will tell. We'll see. I actually have a trench question for you, Cole. And when you hear about some coaches go like the best five offensive linemen or some have like specifically you're a tackle, you're a guard, you're a center, do you think it's more beneficial to have guys that can play multiple positions among the offensive line or is it more –

Is it more of a size thing where, no, your best fit is at tackle, so you're going to play tackle? Or if you can go down to guard, can you –

I guess like the fluidity of it as far as offense line. Because a receiver, you know, if you're an X guy, you can play Z if you know it enough. If you're size-wise, you could probably slide into the slot. But how different is it in the trenches as far as just where you position? I mean, I think size is a pretty big portion of it. The main thing with size is that you need more length at tackle because you're going to be on your own. You're going to have to protect that edge. You're going to have to keep guys off of you. You're not going to have his help as often. So the length becomes a little bit more important. Yeah.

Versatility, I think, is key just because of where we are from a numbers perspective. In college football today, guys are hitting the portal. They're out. Guys are coming in out of the portal. You don't know exactly what you're going to get until you get them in camp. You get a chance to practice with them. So there's going to be misses there. Similar to guys coming out of high school, but you usually know high school players are going to take a little bit of extra development. That's going to take some time. We're not just going to plug and go with those guys right away.

We talked about position versatility a couple of weeks ago and that like Sark told me at media days, we're playing different guys, different places all over. Like we just know that's going to be a part of what we have to do this upcoming season. So whether it's safeties playing nickel, nickels playing corner, corners playing star, whatever that is, free playing strong, like they're going to move guys around. Linebackers walking down to play edge, you know, safeties coming down to play linebacker a little bit.

It's no different with the offensive line. The mentality with the best five used to be just take your best five athletes and whether that's a strong suit for them or not, get them on the field because they're more capable of doing more. Well, now you look at it from the standpoint of we probably have to play those guys because the next in line is not going to be even close to what we have. So...

Used to be you had a second team left tackle, second team left guard, second team center, second team right guard, second team right tackle. You don't really have that much anymore. I mean, there are guys listed as that.

But how often do you see a guy come out of the game at left guard and all of a sudden the center goes to left guard and a new center comes in and it's like all of a sudden we have a three-for-one there. Or a tackle gets hurt and your right tackle goes to left tackle and the second team right tackle comes in or the first team right guard bumps the right tackle and the next guard comes in. Now all of a sudden you might have four positions that are different because one guy got dinged up. It's a way to maximize your ability and talent on the field, right?

But that has gotten even more thin and may not even be the main reason anymore because it's just, okay, how many capable bodies do we have? It used to be eight or nine. Now we might have five, six. If we have seven, we're probably feeling pretty good. So who's our next best player? And he might be our next center, left guard, and left tackle. Vice versa on the right side. That's why we talk about having a swing tackle all the time. Just give me a decent number two tackle that can fill in at both.

And we'll be okay there, which is usually why you have maybe a second team left tackle that's strong. And when the left tackle goes down, he's able to come right in. It's no big deal. But if you only have one tackle that's strong and the guy who backs him up, he's not the one that gets hurt. Well, now your right tackle goes to left tackle and the next guy comes in at right tackle because you just need –

to have versatility up front. It's important. It's big. The size, I think, was really more for guys moving out to tackle. A lot of tackles can move down. It's not as easy to play guard. Flexibility needs to be a little bit different.

But the technique and fundamentals also change, and it's just different ways for different guys to have success. So I'm interested to see how it plays out for Alabama because Caden Proctor should be the guy. He's played. He has experience. He knows what it's like. But you also have guys that have been in that system for a while that know what it's like. So continue talking that.

And a couple other things that happened around the SEC. Maybe even follow up on our Ohio State question about will they be in the college football playoff. We'll do that next right here on McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. The capital of the sports talk nation. This is Jux 94.5 and Jux FM.com. Hurry and... Home run season. It's the fourth most all time in a Yankee uniform.

and the Dodgers take two out of three from the A's over the weekend. Otani 0-4, two strikeouts yesterday, batting 120 in his last six. First road series win for the Dodgers.

In their last six away series, it had been early July since they won a series on the road. They're 65-47 on the season. A's go to 46-67. Talked some about the Olympics, what was happening. Major League Baseball tonight, by the way. Reds at Marlins 540. The Chicago White Sox are at the A's at 840. You may hear about them in our last segment of the show today. And the Phillies are at the Dodgers tonight at 910.

Your gold medal count, China and the United States tied with 19. France and Australia tied with 12. Great Britain with 10. Your medal count, United States with 71, China 45, France 44, Great Britain 37. Big medal jump for the United States over the weekend. Tennessee, we mentioned defensive back Jordan Thomas has a knee injury. He's going to be out for the year. Big loss in that Tennessee secondary, one that had been rebuilt a little bit.

that still some of the confidence is not quite there where some folks feel like it needs to be. But a big loss there for the Vols. Also over the weekend, five-star quarterback Faison Branding commits, 6'4", 202 from Greensboro, North Carolina, listed by some as the number one quarterback in the 2026 class. So that's a big get for Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Volunteers. Auburn gets a commitment from 2025 edge Jared Smith out of Alabaster, 6'6", 250.

Florida has a little bit of an injury concern now with running back Montrell Johnson suffering a knee injury on camp. He had it scoped, listed as day-to-day, but expected a couple of weeks to recover. It does put in question his availability for the Miami game, which I think changes my opinion a little bit because I think you need to be at full strength to get that win. And having a Montrell Johnson to lean on, depend on, even though he might lack some home run hitting capability, that's who I want in the backfield for the majority of my carries.

Ole Miss gets a commitment from wide receiver Micah Davis out of Utah State, 5'10", 190, bit of a slot guy, catch-and-run guy, 36 catches, 628 yards, six touchdowns. He's been at Air Force. He's been at Iowa Western Community College, been around a little bit. But that's a nice late add for Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss in that wide receiver core to be able to now look at and say, this is just one more weapon that we can move around, mix in, and be able to do some different things with.

Kentucky gets put on two years probation for having players illegally paid by jobs that allegedly they weren't working at. They're going to have to vacate games from a couple of years ago. Don't think it's going to go too much further than that. And Stoops pointing out to Jamin Dumas Johnson, Pop Johnson from over the weekend, saying that his presence already being felt on that defense. We know what he did at Georgia. He's a freshman All-American.

Guy was super productive there. Bit of a shoulder issue, but looks like he may be something that can make that Kentucky defense be just a little bit different this upcoming season. We mentioned some of what Alabama is going through in camp. Jayla Milrow taking steps. Cornerback Zabian Brown off to a good start. Also, former wide receiver Christian Jones is going to be the new head coach at Paul W. Bryant High School. Random question for you guys. How many new high school football coaches do you think we have in the state of Alabama this year? Oh, man.

I'm going to say 47. I'm going to say 40. John says 27. Damien says 40. According to Sports Illustrated, I'm going to be honest with you, I don't believe this. 91 new head coaches at Alabama high schools this upcoming season. That feels a bit high. It's quoted in the Sports Illustrated article here as 91.

New head coach is coming in 2024. I saw it and was just like, I'm sorry, do what? 7A, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, which Roy Upshur is going to be one of those as well. So it's a couple of former Alabama players that are now going to be head coaches. 6A, Bodwin County, Brookwood, Clear, Chilton County, Clay, Chalkville, Decatur, Hartsville, Hazel Green, Jackson, Olin, Mortimer Jordan, Park Crossing, Paul Bryant, Pell City,

Percy Julian, Pinson Valley, Southside Gadsden. I'm not going to go through all of these. I'm just giving you guys an idea. I mean, we go to 5, 8, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. And big schools. Russellville, Scottsboro, Viger, new head coaches this upcoming season. I mean, I saw that number 91 and I was just like, wait a minute. There's no way. 91 head coaches? Yeah.

4A, just for example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 new head coaches in 4A high school football in the state of Alabama this year. That's big. How many in 1A? I don't think there were quite as many. Yeah, yeah. One of those people just guessed. Let's see. There's 2A, 1A, Taga Academy.

Barry Fayette, Brilliant, Donahoe, Floralla, Fruitdale, Leroy, Pickens Academy, Pleasant Home, Summerton Christian, Victory Christian, Waterloo, Woodland. All new head football coaches this year. That's, would you say 91? That's in essence one out of every five. Why this many this year? I don't know. Is there a high school coach portal that we've missed? I haven't seen a graphic for it, but...

Doesn't say it doesn't exist. I mean, maybe we are just uneducated on this and there's a ton of turnover every year. There's more than we would think. The number is bigger than we would imagine every year. How many high school programs do we have? I think 420. That would have been higher than I thought also. I know it's over 400, but I am. Not sure even what I would have guessed, but it wouldn't have been close to 500. Yeah.

But, yeah, almost 100 new head coaches in Alabama high school football this upcoming season. That's a lot of turnover. You think? That's a lot. Again, I would have never guessed there would have been that many.

One, how many schools that we have here. Yeah, I may have said 300. Right. Like, I was going to start at 300. Okay. 300. Okay. I mean, just kind of wild to think about. That many new head coaches that are, you know, different people are going to be taking over for. Seven, eight. Baker, Carver, Davidson, Hoover, Huntsville, Opelika, Robertsdale, Tuscaloosa County. I mean, wow.

Like I said, not just in every division. It feels like there's big jobs, too. Right. So. Let's say we're in a recession. We've got 91 new jobs. We'll see. All right. When we come back, an unfortunate bad box score of the day that just feels like it's not going to go away.

We'll discuss it next right here on McElroy and Kubrick in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the jock set or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubrick in the morning. Appreciate you tuning in. Listen online, jocksfm.com. If you missed Paul Feinbaum, Austin Price, Damon West, you can find all those at jocksfm.com.

or Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts each and every week. Before we get to our bad box score of the day, we'll tell you about our friend, Gusty Goulas and the Gusty Goulas Group. If you're looking for a new home here in the Birmingham area, call 205-542-1996 or just Google Gusty Goulas Group. You're going to find over 835 star reviews. Most agents are going to start marketing after you list with them, not Gusty. He's way ahead of that.

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Personal file. 69. Offense. He was giving them the business. Intentional rounding. Offense number 7. It's a 10-yard penalty. I'm talking to America here. That's the game. We'll start with Elf Football. It's the European League of Football, by the way, if you had not been keeping up and have not heard that yet on the show. The Hamburg...

Allers. No. They're the Hawks. They're not. They're the Sea Devils. They went down to the Madrid. Conquistadors. No. Centurions. Bravos. Oh, yeah. 52-9. There we go. Kickers getting work. Five-tuple up.

Your total yard differential, 452 to 254. I like that. It wasn't much on the ground. Or anywhere. As Hamburg did have the advantage, 178 to 111. It was through the air where it became problematic for Hamburg. Sea Devils threw for 76 yards. Okay. A little limited. Well, the Sea Devils, you're not going by land or air. They were out past 341 to 76. Air raid. Damon Fulford.

was 7-15 for 70 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions. I think they run the triple option. Do they? I think. I hadn't seen the tape. Probably not in the Elf League. Should have gone to the other two options in the first one. On the flip side of that, Sam Duncan, 18-22, 3-0-8, four touchdowns, one pick for Madrid. That seems about it. He had it locked.

Locked and loaded. That wasn't the only blowout there over the weekend. The Vienna... Vikings. Don't say it, John. No, I'm not, Greg. No, I will say the Vienna Eagles. They're the Vikings. They are the Vikings. Oh, yeah. We've had this one. They just snuck past the Hervétic. It's the best mascot in maybe all sports. They have a sincerian. Oh, the Joe Moores. Mercenaries. Vienna...

Total yardage just snuck past. Well, the game is 49-3. Your total yardage was 549-222. This one a little bit reverse of the last one. Your passing yardage differential, the Vikings 314 for the Mercenaries, just 137. It happens.

What usually doesn't happen is getting outrushed 235 to 85. That's your style of ball. It is, but I just don't expect one team to be that bad at it. But they were. Only get three points. That's kind of indicative of what's to come. 67% on third down for Vienna, just 17% for the Mercenaries. That's the telltale sign. It's not what you're looking for there. That's the telltale sign. Third down percentage. It is not the way that you usually want that to go.

DeAndre Clayton was 17 of 39 for his 154 yards. No touchdowns and a pick. Yeah. Not great for Helvetica as far as passing. That's a good font. It's a bad day. Bad day at the office, which is why we give you bad box scores of the day, and we will take you to Major League Baseball. Okay. The 50-50 chance here. Chicago. They're the White Sox. Oh, yeah.

They're in there. I'm not sure they want to be anymore, but they went down to the Minnesota. Twins? Yeah. We got twins. Over the weekend. You probably know where we're headed with this. 13-7 was your final. The actual score. Not that bad. Not as bad as a lot. We're almost doubled up, but you put seven on the board in baseball, it usually shouldn't be a bad box score. It would be good. It was the 20th straight loss for the Chicago White Sox. 20 in a row, baby. 2-0.

Tied for the second longest losing streak by an American League team. Tied for the third longest streak by any team in the expansion era. That began in 1961. The Chicago White Sox are the 12th team in Major League Baseball history and 7th since 1900 to lose 20 straight games in a single season. All-time record, anyone? I'm going to say 28. A couple of different directions we went there. It is 26 straight by the...

1889 Louisville Colonels of the American Association. I mean, that's right there. They're in Kentucky. Y'all knew that. Louisville Colonels. They're in Kentucky. It makes sense. The Twins now have a 12-game home win streak versus the White Sox. Understandable. I guess all you have to do is just get them on the schedule this year, and you could rack that up. The longest in franchise history. 14th game scoring 10 or more runs this season for the Twins, which is pretty good.

The Chicago White Sox are a living, breathing bad box score of the day. Yeah. Anti-Saldana. I mean, I don't really know. There is good news on the horizon for the White Sox. Which is? You're getting the Oakland A's. Okay. And you're getting them at home. Okay. So which home? Their home or Oakland's home? Well, I'm not sure it matters. Because...

Either way. But you're getting them. Well, you're going to Oakland. Okay. So it'll be a home game for them. But it won't be too many people there to see you. I don't know if it's going to be a home game for anybody there. If they can get over 1,000, I think it'll be a win. Scalpers night off. Okay. After that, you get crosstown rival Chicago Cubs. Then the bad news is you get the Yankees, and then you're at the Astros and at the Giants. Better get one now than these next three. Maybe more than one.

Hopefully. Oh, it feels like it's asking too much. Yeah, that's very optimistic. Do we get to 28? Do we tie the record? I'm going to say not playing at Oakland the next three. No. I think they'll get one. They'll get one of these three. So maybe 20. I say 22. They'll probably get the last game of the series.

feel good about themselves. I don't know if they're going to get the day game there before they get out of town and head back home. I don't feel great about that one. No, no. They'll go out and party because they got the one before. 840 tonight on MLB Network. You can watch the losers of 20 straight Chicago White Sox against the Oakland A's.

That's tough. I mean, I didn't, but I'm glad for those that paid extra innings just for this. Honestly, I mean, this is potentially watching history. Who wouldn't want to watch that? Well, I got the Olympics and static to watch. But again, they're in Oakland, though, so that's a positive. And they're getting David Fest on the mound for the Twins tonight. He's 1-2 in the 6-9-8 ERA. Fourth career start.

This is it. You got to get it tonight. Tonight's your night. They have not announced the starter, so I don't know what or where. No idea. If you can breathe, just throw on your jersey, big dog. You got you. During the losing streak, they have been outscored 131 to 48. That's disgusting. Their seven runs and 12 hits yesterday were both their most in the game during the losing streak. And you still almost doubled up.

You say that, but it's still a loss. It's still a loss. Nothing they can do. Their losing streak is tied with four other clubs for the third longest since 1900. The 1969 Expos, the 1916 Philadelphia A's, and the 1906 Boston Americans. Wow. They're technically in a league of their own now. None of those other teams really even exist anymore. I hope they're not crying because there's no crying in baseball. None. I feel like a lot of White Sox fans have been and are. She got pizza.

Sure. The last time a team dropped 20 games in a row? Vanderbilt. I actually don't think that's happened. No, they're trending that way. 1988 Baltimore Orioles. They lost 21 in a row. I think that was to begin the season, by the way. That feels familiar. So, good luck, White Sox? Sure. I might put it on for a little while tonight. Just to see how disgusting it can be.

All right, tomorrow Andy Burcham stops by to talk Auburn Tigers. Georgia, our team of the day tomorrow, making the college football playoff. I have a feeling that that sentiment will also be unanimous, just like Ohio State was today. All the podcasts available at jocksfm.com. Keep it locked. Three-man front coming to you next. This is McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. It's time for Bob's Dare to Compare. You get styled.

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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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