The following is a presentation of play Fly Sports properties. Welcome to this is
spot On, this special holiday addition here in the Graduate Hotel in East land
Sea. I'm your host Jason S. Ray Horn, along with my co
hosts Otis Wiley. Day is December fifteenth, A big day, commitments happening,
a lot of stuff going on, and but we would be remiss if
we did not mention the loss of Mike leach One head coach Mike leach from
Mississippi State University who was a trailblazer, a very intelligent guy, funny man,
didn't have a pleasure of meeting in myself, Otis, what can you
say about Mike Yeah, coach leach Man. You know, you think about
when Michigan State played in Alamo Bowl against Texas Tech and you know he was
the head coach and you know in that state, you know he had something
that you know transpired where he was under investigation, but you know that doesn't
go you know, remiss what he did and the impact he had on programs
that he was the head coach for. And also you know, just from
a standpoint of a coach who you know played with rugby, yeah or lacrosse,
rugby. It was one of those yeah, and so like you didn't
even play the game of football, but he was a mastermind offensive guy.
Uh. You know you credit the spread and the gun and that the lethal
non huddle, no huddle offense that kind of came from that Texas Tech air
Raider like the Red Raiders, that air raid that he had with Michael Crabtree.
And you know, you think about those those guys he had and then
the Mississippi State's program. Condolence is out to that community, his family,
his friends, staff, coaches and players that really really loved coach leach Man.
And you know from every coach has their their advantages, disadvantages, they're
good, they're bads, whatever, but you know, these guys have been
leaders of men, and so, uh, I do have one good story
where you know, Coach de didn't really go into detail when you know we
played when they were at Washington State, Coach that's what we were. We
were playing them in the bowl game and uh the holiday holiday bow. Yeah,
Holiday bow and coach Coach d comes up to me and we're talking,
and I brought up Mike leach because when I was working at a previous employer.
We went out to New York for the National Football Foundation dinner. All
the coaches go out there the College Football Hall of Fame and Mike Leach is
there in the bar and a bunch of all the other coaches, and you
know, he was holding court and like all the people were just laughing around
him because like the guy is legitimately like a natural of like comedian, more
like quirky smart, like it's you never know what's coming out of his mouth.
And I remember Coach d coming and saying like, hey, have you
have you ever talked to Coach Leach. I was like, yeah, I
had a quick pass and he was like he kind of did this this gesture
like like he did like he was like he we started out like talk about
the matchup and all of a sudden went to the left field and because he's
like, yeah, he went on an another world, another spectrum, another
layer mentally. But you know, kudos to coach Leech and what he did
in his legacy that he did for college football the football in general. And
you know, that's that's one that we lost. One of the greats in
college football without question. I mean, he talked about what Coach D said,
and coach Saban was a guy who talked about him and issued a statement
and he said, you know, it was a man who I never really
knew the direction of our conversations when we had our conversation, but a guy
that will be missed nonetheless, definitely a leader of man, a great man,
a legendary interview. Just had one coming off the field. I believe
it was an ESPN reporter and he was coming off and she asked him about
her wedding, and he goes into depth about what she should do about the
wedding. You should just alope, you know, because you're gonna save mom
and dad a lot of money. And this is what coming off the field
after a game. The weddings. I'm in the middle of planning one right
now. Do you have any advice for me? Or are you marrying?
His name is Trevor. Okay, yeah, well I'll have to set up
a meeting and I'll talk to him. Okay, So where's Trevor from.
He's from Florida. What does Trevor do for a living? He works in
sports as well, covers football. He does what he covers football as well.
Really well, I don't know, we'll keep a close eye on it.
But whatever you and Trevor decide, I would kind of keep it on
the down low. What you failed to do that Trevor was probably planning to
but you didn't. So go ahead and don't say anything else about it.
But as soon as the season's over, or even an off week, go
elope. Trust me on that, go a lope because basically every female in
the family is going to terrorize you guys until it's over. Once it's over,
I mean they'll be upset for a few days, but it'll be over
and then you know, you cruise away along. Have a happy marriage,
I have a happy life. I'll pass along the message. Thanks coach,
congrats Trevor, unless he's crazy, is totally on my side. It trusts
me on this. If Trevor doesn't have the sense to do that, tell
him to call me, because I mean he needs to do trust I've told
all my kids, I'll give you ten thousand dollars extra if you'll lope.
So far they haven't done it, but I would too. I'll have him
call you for sure. He will be sorely missed and prayers go out to
the Mississippi State community in the Leech family for the loss of Mike Leach at
sixty one years old. Before we switch over to our next segment to talk
about our recruiting news from Michigan State, This message from our friends over and
I have tows a windy day and at I hop quite soon hot cinnamon apples
would be coached with a spoon on the fluffiest French toast with red currants on
top. We wish you a happy holiday only at I HOP new gingersnut apple
French toast part of our new holiday menu. Try all three flavors. If
you're watching us live right now, thank you for doing that. Make sure
you click the thumbs up like button and also subscribe. If you want to
follow us on social media's please do so. You're gonna get great information there
and listen to this message. Click on the link in the bio anywhere Facebook,
Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, even TikTok. Go to that link tree
and you can find us where we can get tickets in hand. I know
it's hot now for the basketball season. Everybody wants to be inside, stay
out of that cold weather and getting that Breslin. Follow us and we'll get
those tickets to you, all right, now let's get into some recruiting news
from Michigan State, the news that everybody wants to hear about, the inside
information and OTIS just got a big commit from Isaiah Johnson, athlete from Virginia.
Yeah, it's it's gonna be interesting on you know, at h when
you see the athlete, the designation on that, you kind of guess like,
Okay, what do we have as a roster and management like what are
our holes? What do we need to feel? What do we need an
immediate impact? And you know, we have some our seniors in the back
end of the defensive secondary that obviously are graduating and going to the pros.
And and also we have some holes in a wide receiver standpoint leading our main
man, Jayden Reid. So it's gonna be interesting to see how he fits
into what we need and uh and want in the Green and White. But
it's interesting that we finally got you know, a new commit that you know,
we've had some guys bow out of our class coming up, so it's
good that we're released adding one notch to class, starting to build a little
depth there in the recruiting class. And it seems to be a heavy focus
on getting speed on this roster. Speed kills, Yeah, it does kill.
You can't teach it. I can't teach it. But you also you
can teach technique and get you know, get that buttoned up. But speed
is like that's a natural thing, man. And uh and the only thing
that gets better is when you get to campus or you get to our program.
Doctor Gas is going to get us right and get them faster and stronger,
which is going to be a great thing to look for forward to Michigon
State is going after the number one Juco transfer that's in the portal right now,
key Sean Blackstock, six eighty pounder that's in the portal that is coming
out of the junior college out of Covington, Georgia. Yeah, uh,
you know straight, it's an opportunity to uh get some big ms in there,
right. You know. You you're the guy who uh you know,
played the office of line in Maine interiors enter center position and so inside you
gave him, you gave him some pounds on there and two eighty five he's
actually sixty five three fifteen. Oh yeah, yeah, they got a little
bit more more girth to him, man, But let's hope he can run
and can't take that that that weight with speed. But we definitely need another
guy. And they are very high on Keishan Blackstock and sounds like a good
prize name to be yelled out in Sparts Stadium. Blackstock when you think about
it, Yeah, he's an interior I don't know, it's a two eighty.
I'm thinking about another player defensive linement three fifteen is more like it.
He's the number one interior offensive linement. But he projects more as a right
tackle with Coach Kap that's what he thinks that he can play on that outside
and that's a guy who can protect Peyton Thorn on the on his front side,
not necessarily the blind side, but a guy who's athletic and big enough
to be able to get it done. A four star product out of Georgia,
which has a ton of talent down there. Yeah. I mean,
if you know anything about playing with anybody that comes from the juke ranks,
mainly these guys are one start out in probably a Power five program. Something
may have happened or transpired that was like, you know what, I'm gonna
go back to the junior college. I'm gonna get some more experience or get
more opportunity to get bigger schools to come look at me. And then you
think about these guys come ready built, tough, can endure a season,
but also come with experience where it's not necessarily like a freshman coming out of
high school, where you have an opportunity to truly say, hey, he
has a great skill set, gets on the field, will add what we
have to do with our DNA and offensively mindset, and we'll see how he
does. Yeah, I mean, that's that's something that you know, the
old Juco way was the old transfer portal of the past. Now with the
portal, you get Juco kids and guys coming from other Power five conferences and
even Division twos and beyond that are going to elevate to the Power five.
And this could say it's doing a very good job of looking for those diamonds
in the rough for talent in different positions of need, and obviously we know
offensive line is a huge position of need and also transitioned over to the tight
end position where Michigan State has landed a transfer from the University of Wisconsin,
Jalen Franklin, a guy who's a native of Michigan down in Brownstown and is
now back home at Michigan State. Yeah, Jason it I think the writings
on the wall. Our strength is our tight ends. If you see amount
of movement that we've had in the past, we've had a movement in the
tight end position, and if you can tell that is a focal point on
if we have strong tight ends who are versatile, they're not just one dimensional,
multi dimensional. That opens up the passing game. But also we need
guys to be able to block on the edge. And these defensive ends now,
you know, back in the day, you know, you have some
guys coming off the edge that were you know, still like great, but
these dns coming off the edge now, I mean they're as fast as linebackers
are even faster. Oh yeah, some of them can even play probably outside
linebacker dB. How quick these guys are coming off the edge, And so
you need a tight end to be able to chip but also get out into
their route and break off you know, defensive backs who are trying to cover
them. So, uh, one thing about tight end. You know in
Jalen Franklin, he's a guy who the coaching staff is familiar with, you
know, with Ted Gilmore and then Sayeve coming from Wisconsin. They know this
guy, they've recruited him, they know that what he is capable of,
his skill set can fit well with what we're trying to do in a Jay
Johnson offense. Right, that's incredible. I think the familiarity with this player
having recruited him before. It didn't have a lot of production at Wisconsin,
but they feel like he is a great fit for the state program. Jay
Johnson being able to call plays to get him involved in the in the in
the scheme offensively, and that's gonna be a huge get. So that is
something in a positive life in Michigan State when you look at the transfer portal
on the transfer side of things. Also when you look at Michigan State losing
a player linebacker Carson Castile goes into the portal. He's a freshman, did
not see much playing time at all in Michigan State, but now has entered
the transfer portal. Yeah, and it's an opportunity. Like we talked about,
there's gonna be a lot of movement. So like one, I say,
we're not surprised that we're getting, you know, the news and the
opportunities for you know, young kids that you know, it just didn't pan
out. You thought it was probably was something different hitting the field. So
now is looking for opportunities in the future and just hopefully praying that he lands
somewhere that he's able to be utilized to his capabilities. Yeah, that's the
name of the game. Now in the portal, there are some players that
are gonna be leaving for green or pastures or other They're gonna be looking for
playing time because they're just not gonna be seeing much playing time at the position
or the current school that they're at. I think that's a situation that carsonican
Steel is dealing with from Michigan State. So good luck, best of luck
to him as he continues to find a place to get playing time in his
career. Going on to other major targets from Michigan State. You look at
from the high school ranks, two best friends from the West Coast in Jalen
Barbarian and also Sean Brown. Sean Brown is a guy who's actually committed right
now to the University of Arizona, and then you have his friend who's in
high school. Both guys out what I said in California. Now, Jalen
is a guy who's a ten to three to one hundred meter guy, extremely
fast. So that's when you talk about his ability to stretch the field and
be that receiver in that deep threat. Yeah, straight down line speed north
south, that's what we need. Sticky move straight down north south. You
got some speed to go sideways, but it's straight downhill. And you know,
we saw some of that lack of this season from our running back committee
is that they were trying to go sideways. First, let's go north south
and then it hit the move to the outside zone and try to make a
move and get to the to an end zone. But we didn't have the
big home run touchdowns like we did with our guy K nine. And so
this is a guy that has that kind of body type. Now everyone's looking
for the next K nine and so he's similar built from a standpoint at and
when he gets here, you know we're gonna put some weight on him,
but not more so put weight on him from a you know, weight weight,
but we're talking about muscle the clean weight that we need. And so
ten three is fast in high school as super fast, and so you know
Cali got that heat all the time. So it's not like running at in
the cold Michigan North here. But you got two friends that are trying to
like not lobby, but come with a package. And they're both some athletes.
They're both athletes, and so usually may have a package deal where you
know, my friend is he's he's good, but he's not great. And
I'm the one that, hey, I want to help my brother and my
friend out. But these two guys are are are high on our board.
And you know a defensive back who's six I mean, like you're a tweener,
Like you know, I came in and it was six three, and
you know I can if I put weight on, it can be outside linebacker
or I'm a safety, right, and so he's speedy guy to three star
dB. But like I said, the stars are just a weird type of
thing. Like I believe it when it's five and you see the film and
you see them go against top talent. But uh, three stars like that
tweener, Like I think three stars could be liar actually better, much better,
ay better man way better. So uh we'll be seeing those hopefully recent
news that these guys are able to fully come this way to the Green and
White. Yeah, you talk about Jalen barbar and the guy who has had
those thick thighs. If you look for in running backs low to the ground
five nine and ninety pounds, but extremely fast and low to the ground,
a guy who could take hits, have the low center of gravity and be
able to get through the tackles, run through smokers they call it, and
then be able to, as you said, get north and south in a
hurry because you cannot teach ten three one hundred meters speak. I don't care
who you are. So you got it, you got it, You're blessed
with it. And let's here's hoping to those two who were just here last
weekend on an official visit and they loved what they saw in east Lands.
And so I know the coaches right now are on the recruiting trail trying to
close up some of these deals because in less than a week, guys signing
day happens. So stay tuned looking at more news. When you talk about
the transfer portal, Terry Roberts out of the University of Iowa, a cornerback
from Cathedral Prep School, that Damien Terry, the guy who was a Michigan
State quarterback went to. Yeah, and then you look at you know,
Cathedral Purpose put out some some guys all the time, and so when you
look at the opportunity for a kid who has played in the Big ten,
he knows what to expect when you're playing it against Big ten opponents. And
so coming over here, it's just a guy who's gritty. Man. You
got the Pennsylvania swag from Cothterra Prep. But you know it's good for him
to come in and let least give us a shot and take a look at
what we need when we're losing one of our guys mere speed to graduation.
You know, we're young now in the secondary. So coming from a guy
who I was all about hardcore, tough, nitty gritty defense, he will
be able to come in if he makes that decision to be an immediate impact
guy. Because the guy can can cover, he can hit, and that's
what we need. And so interesting to see what he comes about in the
in the in the recent week. Yeah, definitely high on defensive back coach
Harlan Barnett's radar guy that can he can bring in plug and play right away.
As we know, as you said, the Iowa defense is known around
the country is very tough part nose defense and they pump out cornerbacks. If
you think about it, they do put a lot of defensive backs into the
NFL. So he would be another guy that could come into Michigan State and
do the same thing in the Green and white. Now, staying with the
defensive side of the ball, you want to look at a defensive lineman.
I'm the University of Liberty. Liberty, you say what, yeah, d
line. Now at this guy, Dre Butler. He's six y five and
he's two hundred and eighty pounds. This is a guy that was on my
mind early six pounds defensive tackle. A former four star athlete is at Liberty,
started off at the JUCO route, I believe, and at the Independence
Community College at the Last Chance Hugh, if you can recall that particular university
is at Liberty and now on the radar of Michigan State. A guy that
would be huge for the Sparks. Absolutely, Like if you've ever seen Last
Chance, you, I'm sure because it's taking the world by storm, and
especially around that COVID time and pre COVID. You see what they're dealing with
when they go to a JUCO and the resources that are there that are in
comparison to when they come to back to the power of flower divisional level.
It kind of resets you and real value. It kind of humbles you because
you got to do you got to go back to the daily grind of getting
film and being productive so that you can get out of there and come and
get a full four year degree. So this guy, Dre Butler six looks
like he is. We talked about muscle and muscle with Kan Covid, you
know, shout out to jay U out there right now at home doing some
work right now, but on assignment. Yes he's on assignment. But this
is a guy that will be able to come in and truly give us some
more speed and more physicality on that edge. And we you know, lost
some guys in the in the transfer from grad transfers, you know, so
we'll see, we'll see. Yeah, I know they're I know they got
all their eggs in that basket too. Yeah, they got to get those
big boys in the hand in the dirt off the ball, and I know
that they all want. That's what I'm saying. They got the biggest draw
in the country. And Coach Jordan, you know, we talked about recruit
from Texas A and M last week. You know, there's there's a lot
of talent that is swirling around east Lands and looking to make the decision,
and we're going to bring that news to you as soon as that happens.
Weaking a jau Culchrid who's on assignment right now. We wanted to bring up
something for him who he always just talking really negatively about the Kickers, right
and you know, we're going to bring up this statement right here from one
Tyreek Hill, who says very similar statement that jay U says. He said
the reason the kickers are no damn goodness because they only practiced for like five
minutes and then go play thing bomb jay You's point. You know, he
might be onto something, maybe be on something he witnessed personally, like what
they do on a day to day basis. But I mean when you have
to go kick man, like I just think about that Bowl eligible game.
Oh you like, ah, we could be bowling right now. But you
know, I'm not putting that pressure on just one guy because clearly the game
should have been one in different other aspects of the game. But to sell
the deal, you got to have a trust and the confidence and the kicker
in that leg and so uh yeah, all the way through all the wackernap
holder, Yeah, all of them. You know, you're losing Bearinger who
was the holder from Michigan State and then obviously had some issues with injuries on
with a long snapper. And I'm hearing rumblings I think they've offered a long
snapper from from Rutgers. So there's there's there's activity going on right now,
and what's going off with Michigan State and Mail Tucker right now being on the
road. If you look at his travel his flight plan, it's ridiculous.
He's all over the country, literally zig zagging all over the nation. Making
those last home visits in home business are very important as a sales job,
if you will, and showing that you do care, that you do love
these recruits and means a lot. Do you remember your home visit from Coach
Antonio? Oh no, it was John L. Jell. Yeah, I
remember Johnelle came incognito, but you can you can tell when he's in in
the building because he got cowboy boots in Flint, Michigan. You know,
it's very rare, very rare, especially cowboys rolling around the States of Flint,
Okay, especially you know, this is a basketball season, so you
know we're playing one of our rivals in Grand Blanc and on the court and
uh, I don't to recall. I think we think we won that game,
but he was up in the stands and and it was crazy because it
was the same type of timing where Ron Zuck had got let go from Florida
and we I talked about this, and Ron Sook's back in my house,
sitting on the couch and my mom's cooking some dinner, and you know,
he's like, hey, you know I'm gonna turn this program around and go
to a Rosebow. He's like, I need you to I need you to
join us. So are you gonna come visit? And I was, I
was very conflicted, but I got a call immediately, like there was like
I don't know if there was a speaker, a camera hidding somewhere in my
house, but I got an immediate call from coach John Hill, like why
do you want to do that? Why do you want to do that?
A little birdie told me. So we started getting aggressive this. So,
I mean, I remember being at Windy's like getting ready for a basketball game,
and then like you know one of our local guys. It's like,
hey, Ohio States high on your USC is about to go call. It
was like the last something similar to this timeframe of you know, we need
to figure out some of our guys flipped. They didn't They said they were
here for the entire eighty percent of the recruiting process, but then flipped them
between the twenty percent mark or the midnight hour. And so like I,
once you get those last requests, you're like, well, I'm back up.
So like, you know, you kind of think about it's like,
well, I'm gonna go. Where've they've been after me? They've been wanting
me. They are pushing me to be, you know, one of the
up the guys to help change things around. And so, uh, it
was a no brainer. I could have went back down to be down with
the hook them Horns in Texas and I was born in Austin Hook them Horns,
man, and that would have been a dream. But also you got
the flint connection right, and so I remember Matt Tranning, Greg Cooper,
uh, Clifton Ryan from Saginaw. Those guys took care of me man.
When I came in and during my recruiting process. But I do remember Matt
Training saying, listen, man, if you do anything else, if you
ball out here, you'll be a king in state of Michigan. And I
kind of ring screw man, where like you just ball out and you played
the game the right way. Uh, people know you, they'll know your
name for for for for your legacy, so that I don't regret any of
the decision. I would have loved to play in the Rose Bowl, but
like I mean, I'll be a lot align Like I mean, I you
know, I mean no not to it, but I just I look better
in Green, no question about that. You know, you think about your
recruiting process and ye other schools, like you said, like the University of
Texas and Austin like being having the same career there. What would it be
now for your if you're at Ohio State and like you get washed out with
all the names. There's so many I know, guys that were third and
fourth round draft picks that don't even be People don't know who they are at
Ohio State. You do that here? You know, yeah, people know
who you are. And I didn't even have like luxurious or you know,
pro career, right, and so like I enjoyed the college aspecting that that
that age there for me. So you know, I was just a decent
defensive bag, Like I don't even outstanding, you know, like did you
have social media issues when you were coming out high school or was that kind
of like where were you at? I think it was uh, I think
it was black playet Rivals. Rivals was just kind of like it was there,
but like it was it was, I mean new, But I don't
I feel like my era like even yours, Like yes, you got the
notoriety through like word of mouth and like, hey, I got to go
see this kid, like I need to go versus like the social media hype
films and like I feel like we're in that age like yes, social media
and you can put your highlight out there. It shows you are a great
player. But you know, I feel like we wasn't really about the stars
piece of it. It was like I want to be able to dominate my
lane, dominate where I'm at, And when you're a great player, that
comes they come to you right like they come to you. So people kind
of failed to realize that, like you put in the work. I mean
what Oberrow says, like all these highlight, just do the work. Do
the work. You ain't got to capture you working out. And I think
that was the mentality of like, man, I was a three sport athlete,
Like I'm trying to ball out and I'm trying to be successful on every
competitive space that I was on track, and so I wasn't really worried about
it. I had a lot of guys come out of Flint that were as
better, way better than me, and so we were just, like I
said, just trying to get to the next level, get a degree,
a full rise, so my parents have to pay for nothing, right.
That was like that was the basic priority goes of, like I just want
my parents have to pay for it, right Exactly. When you look about
those times versus now, it seems like now if it's not on Instagram,
then it didn't happen. So so people are it's a whole yeah. Yeah,
And I think that there are coaches and recruiters who are doing the same
thing. They're guilty of that now, like you're seeing the recruiting coordinators or
assistants that are recruiting through what's going on and who's hot, what the stars
are, what the the highlight video show versus like doing the actual work,
which is something that I'm happy that Michigan State is doing now. Like with
Coach Ducker and his staff, they're they're doing the work and finding these diamonds
in the row. That's not easy to do. It's easy to look at
the five stars and say, let's go after those guys, because they've done
all the marketing themselves, their own branding, so to speak. But to
go after these guys who are the six three one and ninety five pounds transfer
out of Arizona and you're looking at himself and seeing where he could fit and
his friend happens to be a ten three hundred meters, that's difficult. That's
a harder route to go than your status quote. And yeah, social media
has completely changed the game. You got nil? Why would you like to
be a coach right now? I would not want to be a coach?
Oh, I means are ruined? R How Yeah, ain't no regular?
Like hey, you know a little gift here, you know, like I
feel like recruits don't care about those riding cards no more. Man I used
to love like, oh I got a written, handwritten card. Let me
go ahead and store all this in shoe box and all the letters and like
oh, that's like throw out the window. Now it's like, hey,
where's the check. Let's talk money. Let's talk money first, which this
is the business now, So like you have to now be very business acumen.
Your acumen has to be at the very least subpart and even more,
like you got to have people that are in your camp that you trust and
aren't trying to not nickel and dime or like put you in situations where you're
the one have to go out there and do the work, like you know,
I know, not to any parents, but like you still got to
go and do the work. And so the expectations coming in is more pressure.
It's more pressure to perform and be a success versus like you gotta understand
this is going to be a grind. I get it your five star,
it's still gonna be a grind. And so so I think that's the point
of like as coaches, you're competing with other coaches who may have bigger and
more resources, and so how do you get how do you get strategic?
How do you be become attractive? It's like it's all about the development,
it's all aball figuring out. Okay, what we offer from a school compared
to the school Dollar Road or another school like the Miami's and Alabama's just like
one. They're winning championships. They're putting in the league, so like we
got to, we're putting guys in the league. But they're consistently time and
time every year. They're not taking drops down. That's right. I mean,
that's interesting. Brought up Alabama in Miami, right. I think those
are two. That's that's the dichotomy of the culture. Right now. You
have Alabama, who is a brand. Everybody knows Alabama that's twelve years old
to one hundred. They understand what Alabama is seven hundred, yeah, and
that right. But for like Miami football, if you're under thirty thirty five
is you really don't know Miami to be that good? You know that the
places back in the day, Yeah, yeah, they don't remember. They
don't remember the you, They don't remember Ray Lewis and you know, Anny
Testa, Verdie, Michael Irvan, they don't remember Jimmy Johnson, and they
definitely don't remember Howard Snellenberger. For those out does anybody know who Howard Snellingberger
is? Right, that's what we get. Asked a thousand recruits. I
guarantee you not one it's gonna come back with, Oh yeah, the guy
I supposed to pipe. You know, that's not gonna happen. So Dawayne,
Rock Johnson. You know, so look at how they're each of those
schools of recruiting. You know, Alabama is not throwing bags at people.
They're throwing the brand at people. They're saying, you come here and you
step on the field and play, the money's gonna follow. And that was
coach D's philosophy, like and I'm sure that he probably when you got to
bring them on obviously, but I'm sure he can attest to like, what
are you have to deal with where Coach D, you're coming? Yep,
yep, you're coming. Coach D before nil, it was like all right,
those facilities. It was let's let's shop this dream of all right,
here's what we're going to get. So come here and you're gonna get it
in two or three years and be the first to you know, we're talking
about competitive landscape in college sports is you know what it's Scott not say timper
tap, but keeping up with the Joneses arms racings, like Okay, what
do you have on your campus that can get me to the next level?
And so, like coach he talked about that. He said that he thought
that one of his biggest regrets was after winning the Rose Ball was not going
all in on facilities like Clemson did. Clemson at that same time they went
in and has this massive facility at Clemson now and that brought in the recruits.
It really didn't, and people didn't think of that. I can remember
those days that era you talk about mid twenty ten, so they get twelve
through twenty fifteen. It wasn't known Neil this arm raised idea. It was
pretty new, definitely, But I mean Mel Tucker, Coach Tucker talks about
it when he talks publicly on what coach d before he you know, left
in the transition meetings, was like, if you're going to be successful here
and win here, you got to get facilities. And you talked about that
was as big as regret. And as you see now we're putting up right
now is the tome Iso Football Performance Center. And you know, I opened
up the scandalarious building in two thousand and eight. I was like, this
is nice, but the opportunity to to truly get into this knowing that it'll
be ready, and we're putting all the resources in there to make sure our
student athletes have the best It's something that should be attractive to student athletes that
are coming here. So yeah, and once that building's up, we're going
to take everybody on a tour, a brand new, fresh tour that building.
Once it's ready for public consumption. It's going to be coming pretty soon.
But that's going to wrap up our holiday edition of This is Sparta for
Oldest Wileland. Jason Strayhorn, have a good knight, God bless and go green.