Jim Nagy, executive director of the Senior Bowl, tells McElroy & Cubelic what to expect from their upcoming Watch List & who has the best roster
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This jocks 94.5 podcast is brought to you by Millennium Satellite and Video. Log on to msbnow.com. TV excellence everywhere. That's Millennium. McElroy and Kublik in the morning starts now. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kublik in the morning. 918, Wednesday, August 21st. Jocks 94.5. Pete Carroll nearing a deal to return to Southern California in a new role. SoCal's got that bread.

This good for USC. If he's out there fundraising. Yes. And that's important. We mentioned it with the GM role in today's college football, what coaches have to do taking some of that pressure off. Uh,

Could be something that would be great both for him and for USC. And with a lot of the new created roles around college football, a name like that, the success that he's had, could be massive for that program. All right, let's go to Jim Nagy of the Senior Bowl, joining us now on the Buyer's Write Hotline. Senior Bowl watch list coming out today. I want to start just in the Southeastern Conference quarterbacks. What guys towards the top of your list, Jim, that intrigue you the most that you're excited to watch this season?

Yeah, hey, Cole, Greg, good to be on, guys. Yeah, SEC quarterbacks, I mean, Carson Beck is the first guy that comes to mind, but most intriguing, that word. Jalen Milrow, really, really excited to see what Jalen's going to

Going to turn out to be this year. You know, in year two as a starter, he should be a big jump. And then Garrett Nussmeyer. We've got a really small sample size on Garrett right now. Basically just that. I mean, the only game I've watched is that bowl game against Wisconsin. I didn't watch any of the mop-up duty in some of the other games. But Garrett's got a lot of talent. Just watching that kid throw with some practices and the man in camp, things like that. I'm excited to see what he looks like as a full-time starter. How would you assess where the –

evaluation process has changed. I know that it used to be like, if you didn't start 27 games, like don't even think about going to the draft. Now it's like, if you start three, we'll draft you in the first round, like Trey Lance. Uh, so it's changed a lot. So I know that those are the guys you're eyeing coming in, but maybe the evaluation will tilt and change. Maybe a Nico, Ia Maleava, uh, at Tennessee will adjust your, your thought process. I know he's not eligible for your game, but, um,

How quickly do you usually change your opinions on quarterbacks nowadays? I think you've got to stay open-minded at all positions, Greg. I know what you're saying, though. Back to that old Bill Parcells model that all the different criteria that Coach Parcells used to have and how many starts a guy...

He wanted to have and all that. Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing with evaluating the position that's changed over the years is just the athletic element, the mobility element to it. You know, when I started off in, well, really my second job in scouting was with the Patriots, and we wouldn't even look at guys under 6'4". You know, I mean, that was kind of the benchmark. I remember I went to the Kansas City Chiefs with our GM, and as good as Russell Wilson was, like,

We didn't want Russell Wilson because he wasn't even close to, I mean, 5'10 and 5'8 wasn't close to that 6'4 threshold. So, you know, to me, that's the biggest thing they've changed. We're looking at better athletes at the position now. But you're right. I mean, ideally, they still do have a lot of starts. We've seen, look at the guy, you mentioned Trey Lance. I mean, look at what happened there. I mean, the 49ers, you know,

traded a bunch of picks to move up and get him. Now he's not even there anymore, and they're playing with a seventh-round quarterback, Brock Purdy. So I still think people want quarterbacks with a lot of starts. I mean, just going through last year's cycle, talking to teams about Bo Nix and Michael Penix,

who were in the senior bowl last year. I mean, that was a huge thing for most teams. They love the fact that those guys had a lot of starts because the other thing that's changed in just how we handle the quarterback position is that we're forcing them on the field. These teams are forcing these kids on the field way too early. I saw Tom Brady kind of go off on a rant on social media the last couple days about that.

that these guys aren't being, you know, they're not given the opportunity to sit and learn. And the guys that have recently, you know, Patrick Mahomes and Jordan Love, it's worked out really well. But for a lot of reasons, you know, these guys are just being forced out there. So if they're not getting the reps in college, you know,

the developmental reps in college, they're not getting them in the pros. You know, we're just kind of throwing them out there and sink or swim. I think, I think Zach Wilson is probably the best illustration of that. And now Zach's, you know, fighting for his NFL life in Denver is, you know, it looks like he's going to be the third string quarterback behind, behind Bo and Jarrett Stidham. So yeah, it's, it's, it's definitely changed a lot.

You're right. Evaluating the QBs has changed quite a bit. Jim Nagy, Executive Director of the Reese's Senior Bowl, joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline. Only 19 Alabama players on your watch list. Some that I don't think we need to have a lot of conversations about. Tyler Booker, I think we all agree and know how great he is. I'm interested in your thoughts on Parker Brailsford because we've

We sort of picked his game apart a little bit. I obviously watched him a lot last year as he was a part of the Joe Moore Award winning offensive line at Washington. Missed some of the spring ball there at Alabama and Tuscaloosa. How do you project him into this specific offensive line and into this season?

Well, you know, Cole, that's a good question. We talked about him in the, in the office here recently. Um, and we've got a former Alabama offensive lineman here on our staff as a scouting assistant, Jackson Roby, who was there for five years as a walk-on. How, how awesome is that? You walk on for five years and get your brains beat in by Quinn and Williams every day. And, and, uh,

Income answer and the bell. So we were talking about this. We were talking about Parker. And, you know, the latest weight we have on him is 282 pounds. And if that's the case, that's a huge outlier in the NFL. There's not any guys in the NFL playing at 282. So you love the athlete. You love the mobility. You love what he can do up at the second level and getting out on the perimeter.

But at the end of the day, he's got to block 360-pound really athletic nose tackles at the next level. So, again, the league wants to stay away from outliers in all positions for all reasons, whatever that might be, you know, too short, too slow, whatever it might be. I mean, 282 pounds, I mean, he's got to get that weight up. And I haven't talked to anyone up there in Tuscaloosa since fall camp started. But, you know, I think that's where the NFL is really going to scrutinize that kid is can he hold up, can he anchor, can he move people?

because at 282, he's going to struggle to do that as a pro. What do you make of how that position might be changing, though? Like you said, 282, not ideal, but athleticism is very valuable. And in pin and pull schemes, and you have to be smart with them. He's not going to be a first-round pick,

But just looking at it from Alabama's perspective, how can you coach around an undersized offensive lineman? Are there things that you can do with scheme or protection adjustments or things like that to help him out as he transitions to what's likely to be a more physical league?

Yeah, Greg. I mean, he's going to be scheme specific for sure. I mean, he's only going to fit for zone scheme teams at the next level. So, you know, right there, it's going to cut down. Like in Seattle, when I ended up with the Seahawks, this guy would have been in the mix for us. You know, like we would have really dug into the functional strength of the guy. And again, sometimes weight isn't everything. I mean, you watch guys and they play bigger than what it looks like on paper. But I will say in terms of like playing around this, the Alabama team is built the right way because they've got

two really big guards. You know, I mean, you got, you got, you mentioned Booker and Roberts and those two guys are good bumpers on both sides, but there are going to be times where he gets, where he gets matched in that conference against, you know, much bigger, stronger people than he was used to playing in the Pac-12. I mean, there's, there's no doubt about it. This is going to be a big, a big prove it year for him. But having those two, those two big guards next to him can have, will certainly help.

My first thought when Greg was saying that Jim was, yeah, have Tyler Booker and Jaden Roberts next to you. That'd be the number one way I'd try to scheme around it, but not every team's going to be able to pull that off. You have four guys from North Dakota state. No surprise. Gray's able at offensive lineman, actually Camilla, their quarterback on your list as well. I'm interested to hear just about North Dakota state still, because you've had some players come through there. Greg just mentioned one be very successful at the senior bowl, but how,

How, just in general, how much more difficult or maybe less difficult has the FCS gotten to scout because of the transfer portal and so many different guys on the move?

Yeah, we've got 81 sub-FBS players on the list. And again, this list is 859 players. That's a bigger list than we want to put out. We want to be more selective than that. But it's bigger for a couple reasons. One, we added the juniors this year. There's 81 juniors on the list. The NFL didn't allow us to bring juniors. They announced that thing at the beginning of last November. So last year's watch list didn't reflect the juniors. This year it does.

We added specialists this year. But getting back to your question about the small school guys, that number is actually going down, and you hit the nail on the head. It's because of the transfer portal. One of the great things about the Senior Bowl going way back in time to back when –

when Walter Payton was coming out of Jackson state and John Stolworth was coming out of Alabama A&M. I mean, there was the small school element of the senior bowl has always been awesome. You know, I mean, a few years ago we had Quinn minors from a division three school, Wisconsin Whitewater. And a few weeks ago he signed the biggest offensive guard contract in NFL history. So, so there's some cool stories, but those, unfortunately, those are going to diminish a little bit with the transfer portal. I mean, these guys,

If they have two or three good years at a small school level, they're going to look to make the jump to prove themselves as seniors. Rather than proving themselves in a week here in Mobile, they're going to look to do it in a full season. So we love the small school guys. It really adds something about our week. I think it's really for the entertainment value of the week. I mean, people love seeing the underdogs.

But it's certainly getting harder to find those guys for our game. I think last year we were only down to like seven sub-FBS players, which isn't a big number at all. Finally, as you evaluate some of the big storylines moving into this season, I know it's early, but who has the best roster? I think it's Ohio State. I know other people might feel differently. But as you've kind of surveyed the entire landscape,

Who is the program that kind of has the best players, the deepest roster here heading into the season? Well, Greg, I mean, I agree with you on Ohio State. They're loaded. But, you know, you look at our list right now, we've got 11 schools on the watch list with 15 or more players.

Seven of those 11 come from the SEC as no surprise, right? Ole Miss for the second year in a row has the most. They have 21. Georgia's got 20. Like Ohio State's in there. They did a really nice job in the transfer portal. They didn't go heavy on it, but the guys they got are big-time players. Caleb Downs and Quinshot Junkins and, you know, even Will Howard, the quarterback. I mean, he's a mid-round draftable player, you know, to get – I mean, that's an upgrade for them at quarterback. So, yeah.

But I would start with Georgia. You know, I mean, they're just, they've got that thing to the point where Alabama has been, you know, for the last, throughout Nick Saban's tenure. I mean, Kirby's got that thing to that point right now. I mean, they're just kind of, they're kind of reloading. So I would probably start with Georgia and, you know, Ohio State is probably right there behind them.

Jim, we appreciate the time. Always fun. Just overall, before you go, where are we from an offensive line perspective heading into this season? Up, down, good, bad, tackle heavy, guard heavy? Your opinion, kind of where are we? Because I know this is what Greg really wants to talk about.

Yeah, I knew you were going to go there. It was probably down a little bit, Cole, from last year. Last year was a really good class. I think we had five first-round offensive linemen here in the game and a bunch of top 100 guys, a bunch of guys that are going to start year one.

We're just watching these guys in the preseason right now. A lot of these guys are playing great. So it's going to be a little bit of a down year. The center class is really thin. We're talking about the Alabama center. You know, he's up there on the board right now because it's a thin class. So, yeah, it's down a little bit. This isn't a great year to need offensive line help. I think most teams understood that, and that's why you saw a lot of teams go O-line heavy in this past year's draft. Jim, thanks for the time. Always appreciate it. Great stuff. Look forward to catching up soon.

Yeah, guys, thanks for having me on. Appreciate it. Absolutely. Jim Nagy, executive director of the Senior Bowl. You can go to SeniorBowl.com right now, at SeniorRoll on Twitter, and check out the watch list for this upcoming season. A lot of guys from a lot of different places, and some you'll know, some you won't know, but always cool to kind of get an idea of who the Senior Bowl is watching, keeping their eyes on as we head into this college football season. And you're probably going to need gear for this college football season. Greg, you can get it at the Pan Store. Pan?

Pants Store has you covered. So many different places to help you out. It's really amazing. All the different things that they have. And the Pants Store, they have the best brands. And you go in, you'll understand what I'm talking about. When you see things like Cutter & Buck, Horn Legend, Antigua, Gentile. Nobody does game day apparel quite like the Pants Store. Ladies, they also have you covered.

Get your game ready. Head to toe. Hoka, New Balance, Western Boots. You need a romper, a perfect dress. Pant Store has you covered. They also have those clear purses so you can just go right through security. Makes it easy, painless going through security when you have one of those clear purses. So go and make sure you check out your game day headquarters at one of their amazing locations at the Pant Store. I just saw this come across social media. Puma and LaMelo Ball are dropping new slides later this year.

So we were wondering about LaMelo and how things are going, where things are. There you go, Greg. We're back. And he drives a Cybertruck in the picture. So you know he's doing well. That explains so much. You know he's doing big things. No one has ever been more back than Mello and Jell-O Ball. Why did it hit that harder this time than last time? I don't know. Hey.

Like when you know the joke is coming and still it makes it better. I think I forgot about it. And then I didn't. That's not even the reason I went there, but I'm glad now I did so we could get that again. There you go. It's all for you. Thank you. Anything for you, Pards. I appreciate that. All right. Some college football notes, injuries, coaching news around camp. We'll get to those in just a moment. 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.

Watch the quarterbacks and his ADP. I think he has massive high-end upside.

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