It's time for coffee and company. Fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think when we are
get off our show, idiot, the kids are crying or turn off.
The countries are screwing it up. Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold
Play Inner Murals. They're supposed to be with youure adults, but they're really
not. Who's the kid here? Who's the kid here? Are you kidding
me? Now? Here's Nick Coffee? All right, Good afternoon, ladies
and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome in Happy Tuesday Coffee and company.
That's us. We are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety,
taking you up till six o'clock. My name's Nick Coffee. Nice to meet
you. Kind of. In fact, people who listen I feel like they
know me. I mean to some extent, not personally, but like you
know, it's if you listen, even just a little bit here and there,
there's got to be some level of a connection. That's why you you
know, that's why you tune in, even if it is for maybe a
few minutes every day. But I still, you know, I guess we've
never technically met, but hopefully we do. The other voice you're gonna hear
today is the company man, mister John Alden. And what a rare day
today we've got. As we start to show all three local teams have landed
a transfer today, we'll start with the latest and easily the biggest deal,
and that's Javon Hadley. I mean, I don't just so you know John
Omar Ballei Arizona transfer who committed to the Hoosiers little but didn't even want him.
Oh yeah, I definite, he don it. They probably called him
and told him, don't even worry about it. He's not a fit.
He doesn't style of play just it's not a compatible fit. Therefore, I
just think, you know, they probably said, look, just go ahead
and enjoy your mother Bear's pizza in Bloomington, and you know, maybe we'll
see in. It would be the Bahamas, wouldn't it. Oh yeah,
the Bahamas. Both would be great. But yeah they're going to the Battle
for Atlantis, which is in the Bahamas, not Hawaii. But either way,
uh, Javon Hadley, which I will admit this is one of those
guys yesterday that I briefly mentioned because he just kind of got lost in the
in the mix. And what I mean by that is his recruitment throughout the
portal. I mean, it was covered, but it wasn't necessarily you know,
I mean, it just didn't. Of all the names that Louisville is
in on when it comes to players that are transferring, and trust me,
there are a lot, you know, He's one that was mentioned. But
it seemed to be working pretty quickly, right Like, I think as soon
as Louisville appeared, you know, as soon as it was out that Louisville
was involved, then he was on campus for a visit that visited. That
visit I believe ended either last night or this morning. I think it was
this morning. Pat Kelsey gave out the signal, which when I say the
signal, I feel like every coach maybe not every coach, but a lot
of coaches have a they send out on social media, mostly Twitter, that
is an indication of a commitment coming because they can't obviously announce it because these
get these guys have to actually sign some type of documentation with the school before
Pat Kelsey in the university can publicly comment on them at all. And I
think Pat Kelsey's his signal is really really really well done. So he posted
a wink emoji, which that alone is like a sign right, and then
it is an Apple Music link for a Zach Bryan. I guess is it
his album? No, it's so Zach Bryan, who, of course I'm
not a huge fan of, but he's super popular and he's I mean,
I'm not saying he's not good, but he to me, again we've talked
about him, he's sad. He's a sad guy. Right. Everything he
does is sad john and it all kind of sounds the same. But he's
like super talented, Like his voice is great, he's a good writer.
To me, it's just kind of sad. So he has an album called
Elizabeth that came out in twin and it's uh, I think it's I think
that's the name of his mother. But anyways, one of the songs in
that album is called Revival, which, if you haven't seen Pat Kelsey's you
know hashtag the UFL men's basketball hashtag on social media is revival, but it's
not spelled like the song here for Zach Bryan, it's spelled I think they
do R E V I double V I ll E and then there's kind of
like some customization as far as which words are capitalized. But that if that's
going to be a sign that's pretty cool. Maybe he gets clever, Maybe
he does other things that you know, maybe he does something fresh each and
every time, which he's going to have to really get those creative juices flowing.
Because he's now landed two transfers as far as newcomers, and I guess
the others are newcomers as well, but those are guys that followed him to
Louisville from Charleston. So four players in the mix right now, and we
will have there's thirteen scholarship, so I guess that's nine players left. But
just to tell you a little bit about this man, Javon Hadley played at
Colorado the last couple of years and was productive for them. You know,
they were a good team the last couple of years. I mean, they
didn't have any big deep tournament runs, but again, you know, I
think it's safe to say they were in fact a good team. But this
past year he averaged roughly twelve points a game and shot fifty four percent from
the field. Has an interesting story, so he is from the Minnesota area,
and he was AAU teammates with two guys that happened to get a whole
lot more attention than he did on that AAU team, and that was Chet
Holmgren and Jalen Sucks. So he ended up going to I think Northeastern,
a D one school right out of high school, and didn't play much there.
Then he went Then he went to JUCO route Indian Hills Community College,
which I'm a nerd for JUCO basketball as somebody who briefly, you know,
was on a junior college basketball team. Didn't play much, but you know,
he's one of those guys that I think you could say as a late
bloomer, like he looks like a grown ass man compared to what he looked
like just a couple of years ago when he was coming out of the JUCO
ranks. So productive at Colorado hit the portal had a lot of options,
and it sounds like it came down to Louisville and USC. So Javon Hadley
is in the mix. He's a six to six guard, but if you
watch some of his highlights, he is someone that is I would say,
uh he I wouldn't call him a guard slash forward. Maybe that is the
way I should describe him as far as what I've seen. But you know,
he can He's a guard that'll post up because he's got some size.
He rebounds really well. In fact, you know, if you look at
if you look at his numbers, I mean pull up his rebounding numbers,
because you know, I think he was I want to say he was one
of the more you know, productive rebounders for Colorado. So again, good
news. They've got many more visits scheduled this week. So two down and
we'll have uh, you know, we'll have one more, uh many more
to go, I should say, And excuse me for you know, scrambling
here. I'm just trying to make sure I get the correct statistics here,
because let's be real, like a lot of you probably have never heard of
this guy. And that's okay. Doesn't mean he's not a good player,
doesn't mean that you're not a diehard fan. It's just this is different.
Man. Keeping up with all these new players is gonna be and it'll be
like that every year, but this is different. Louisville is going to have
next year, I imagine at minimum twelve new players on this team. That
none of us had ever heard of before, you know, the portal opened
up and all these guys you know, became available, and now maybe you
end up getting somebody in the portal that you are familiar with because you watched
him play here. Maybe they played against Louisville. But again, it's it's
uh, you know, it's it's hectic, and we've got the football portal
too, which, by the way, we'll get to that coming up here
soon because there's already been some some gossip going on on Twitter, some some
conspiring I believe, to spread information that's false about Jeff Brahm and the bag
that he's dropping to get all these players. And I think I have a
pretty good intel here as to what exactly played out. But it's start with
the report from twenty for seven sports that was just not true. So again
we'll get to that a little bit later on. But again, Javon Hadley
eleven and a half points a game, six rebounds, two and a half
assists, shot fifty three percent from the field, which is pretty that's just
that's a really productive and efficient stat line. So twelve points roughly, and
also he shot it, you know, he shot forty one percent from three,
which you know, to be honest with you, is is really impressive
from a number standpoint. But a lot of people would say, well,
hey, maybe it's misleading because he didn't shoot that many, and maybe you
see it that way, but you know, he did shoot forty eight of
them. I mean, that's not like you're shooting, you know, for
a game. But he was twenty of forty eight from three. So that's
a guy who can knock it down when he gets good shot. So a
good pick up here. I don't know where he ranks in the transfer portal
rankings that are out there, but a good addition, no doubt. And
then again Omar Ballet, I think it's Omar Ballow Ballow, I said,
I'm sorry, and it was. It wasn't like I was forgetting his name
because you know, he didn't come to Louisville and he didn't make the visit.
But you know that was a guy who ESPN had is the number one
player in the portal for Indiana. And I'm only bringing up the Indiana guy
first instead of get before we get to the Kentucky thing, because we had
a caller yesterday call in and ask, you know where Louisville's nile resources compares
to to others, And I'm pretty sure I gave a long winded non answer
to then just say, I don't think we're ever going to really know,
because it's all gonna be private information. It's and honestly, I still believe
that in well, nil is clearly very important. We all know that.
But I still believe some of the numbers you hear are just not real.
I mean, maybe I'm maybe I'm just you know, in the weeds on
that, but I just don't think some of these guys are getting the money
that they that they you know, that people think they are. But either
way, I think the louis is going to be really competitive and being a
really good spot. I wouldn't say that they have more money than anybody in
college basketball for an il, but I think they're gonna be in a really
good spot. I think they'll be in the upper tier where they land.
I don't think we'll ever know, but it sounds like Indiana may in fact
be like the absolute leader in that regard. And I'm not saying that to
act like, well, Bollo wanted to come to Louisville, but Indiana just
paid him too much money, trust me, I don't. I mean,
I think since he scheduled his visits, I think everybody expected Indiana to be
the school where he lands, and that's what happened. But I'm sure you're
hearing the same thing, John, like when it comes to nil, who's
your the hoo's your fan base, the who's your supporters, the donors?
I mean they got, they got, they got the bag, Yeah they
do. I don't have any inside information, but if you look at the
way that Mike Woodson has attacked the Portal, specifically the last two seasons,
He's been able to get some of the top guys. Doesn't get everybody that
he wants, but I think they go for the heavy hitters pretty early on,
at least from what I've noticed in his first two seasons with the Portal,
and he typically gets those guys, especially the Biggs Khalel where being last
year and I got Omar Ball. I mean, let's be real early in
the portal, which I guess we can still call this early. College basketball
season just ended eight days ago, but Mike Woodson has landed the early stages
of these rankings the number one player in the portal for two consecutive years.
I mean he did. That's why now Hunter Dickinson, I believe he was
the number one last year. I was not. Well, yeah, he
ended up being that, But that's why I said early stages. That's true,
like when you you know, let's be real, even if it's considered
to be early as far as how you're putting together your roster, I mean
people, you still need to be active, right. So this is a
guy that a lot a lot of schools wanted was in the portal. And
the reason I just think it's fascinating is because I could be wrong, but
I think a lot of the NIO money that Indiana has is not from a
collective. I think it's just people who got money and they're like, hey,
let's show me. Let me know what I need to do here to
make this work, and we'll get it. We'll get it situated. So
uh yeah. And the other addition is a guy that I don't think anybody
knows anything about, and that is Colin Chandler. And I guess you could
say the same about the other players. I'm not trying to disrespect this kid
who's transferring to Kentucky, But when I say nobody knows anything about him.
There's no stats to pull up, because this is a young man who was
a recruit in the twenty twenty two class and he committed to b YU number
thirty three overall in the country at that time top forty is depending on where
you look, and he committed to be WYU, but he never played because
he's been away on a two year mission and will make his college debut as
a freshman in this upcoming season. So you know this is a I mean,
I don't know, I'm trying not to, but you know, the
rivalry's kind of back on right, Like I'm I'm gonna probably at times be
a little more petty than I've been in a while because this being labeled as
like a big get, all big time edition, huge massive git for Mark
Pope. He already had him, like he didn't, I mean, he
already had this guy, like he was already committed to Mark Pope and he
followed Mark Pope to BYU, Like this isn't like whow I mean? And
look, what are you gonna do? Act like you're not happy that your
new coach got a player, Like I'm not saying anybody should like dump on
it. But man, it's just weird with Kentucky fans. What I mean
by that, I'm not saying you are weird as a Kentucky fan. I'm
just saying the dynamics here, like, if you're somebody that's really into recruiting,
and trust me, I know a lot of people aren't. In fact,
i'd say a good chunk of people who do tune into too shows like
this one on their way home from work, they probably don't really follow it
much at all. But this is the kind of guy that if you landed
him under your previous coach, he would have been probably one of your worst
recruits and you would have said, yeah, I'll probably transfer in a year,
or if Louisville was to land the exact same guy a year ago,
two years ago in the Caliperi era, that's a cute little player. Was
he four star? Like That's what they would have said, and we all
know that's true. And now that's like, oh massive, git kids really
good and I don't know anything about it. Maybe is great, but you
know, he's a top forty ish recruit. And I'm sure we'll get some
specifics on this because you know there are a lot of great, hardworking media
members that cover Kentucky, some of them I'm friends with. They'll get information
on this kid because that's what they do. But when you're on a mission
trip, like I don't think you're supposed to play, I don't think.
I don't think this guy's played basketball in two years? Has he? I
mean, that's a good question. So this guy's gonna be a like a
twenty year old freshman, right, Yeah, it's very weird to think about.
So, you know, I don't know anything about him. He's apparently
a I think he's like I think he's like a wing slash guard and who
knows, maybe he's a star. But I just today was like the first
day where it hit me like, wow, this is gonna be different,
because you know, that's exactly what they would have done as a fan base
in the previous regime, right, Like, uh, oh, man,
that's cute recruit. He's a nice little player. Like just just the the
I mean, I wouldn't even call it like a backhanded compliment, like it's
just clearly being a you know, being snarky, and you know, I
think anybody that would typically get a player that's in the top forty should feel
good about it. But Kentucky was on a different level. And now they're
going to be doing things so much differently because Mark Pope has really made it
clear that he's gonna push and push and push for guys who you know only
you know he's given you the typical coach speaks stuff as far as like,
you know, he wants players that want to play here for Kentucky, that
understand what it means to wear that uniform and all that. And I'm not
being critical of him saying that stuff because I actually think he's saying it and
believes it because that's what he did. But it's so different than the way
they've operated for fourteen years, so much different, And it's also reminded it.
Look, if your coach goes about it one way, he's your coach.
You're gonna ride with him as your guy. If a different coach goes
about it a different way, same situation, but it's just a drastic difference
in you know, how they're going to go about it. Like, for
example, I think we pull up this quote because last night he had his
Coaches Show, which I believe you guys heard on on has and one of
the things that stood out as far as his you know, as far as
his quotes, was that, you know, he doesn't want to let me
pull it up here because I don't want to misquote mister Mark Pope, but
here's what he said. Quote, we don't want to trick kids into coming
here. We want the right kids who will live and die to wear the
Kentucky uniform. There's no issue with that quote at all. But that can't
be your sales pitch when you're going after five star players. I mean it
can, but you've got to have other things. And I'm sure they're going
to have more involved, more more you know, things to sell than just
that. Like it's not like, hey, uh, here's your audition.
You got to show ish that you'll die to wear the uniform. Like I'm
not saying that's the approach that Mark Pope is going to have, but I
don't really think that's what five star players who know they command humongous amounts of
money through NIL are gonna want to hear. And I think that's why you've
had players that have met with Mark Pope and decided to leave. I mean,
Boogie Flanned gone, He'll probably Indiana involved there at all anymore, because
I don't I haven't heard anything. It probably means not right, I would
assume, I would assume you're correct. I hope. I wish they would
get involved because I wanted him to need Indiana the first time he picked Kentucky
over Indiana, didn't Yes, and Alabama. Those was the top three.
So you know the other guy, Billy Richmond from up there in New Jersey,
the Purvis guy, which means that this man will probably uh, Billy
Richmond will probably follow Cal to Arkansas, I would think. So. I
don't know. It just it was I mean, I mean, I suspected
that this is sort of this is the kind of brand that you'd have with
Mark Pope. It was gonna be a lot different than Cal. But just
to kind of see the Kentucky fans. And again, I'm not even making
fun of him. This isn't like I'm not even really rivalring. It's just
that's a drastic difference to it than what it used to be. All Right,
So here's what we're gonna do. I do want to get some football
stuff coming up here on the other side, because we've got sp the Louisville
spring game coming up in a few days, and today's the day where players
can officially be in the portal. I think the process for that started yesterday
the day before, but now it's officially open. And in the last couple
of days, even before this morning, there was another report from I think
on three sports. We've had on three sports and twenty four to seven sports
put out information. I guess reports I should say about players transferring. They
just ended up being wrong, and it's got some Louisville fans suspecting that maybe
there's some kind of a you know, they're worried about Louisville, right because
Jeff Brohm did, in fact do really well on the portal last year,
did really well, you know, so far this year. Obviously, things
are changing now because it's back open and Louisville's now losing guys that have already.
I mean, Penny Boone, the transfer from Toledo Mac offensive player of
the year. He's in the portal, and I don't know if he started
it, if he started telling people this, but there's some misinformation out there
that the reason he is transferring is because he did not get the money that
he thought he was going to get through NIL, which I feel confident in
saying that that is not true at all, has nothing to do with it.
I mean, honestly, the reason he's leaving is because he's not near
the top of the depth chart. And if I was him and I only
had what one year to play, maybe I would want to do the same
thing. And would you want to let would you want the narrative to be
went to Louisville from Toledo, and he couldn't. He couldn't emerge as the
top guy with a back with a running back room that really doesn't have a
I mean, he's the most proven guy of the of the guys that were
here this spring, and I think he was third at best on the depth
chart. So, you know, little fans man, we're crazy, and
sometimes it's an issue for us where we just look like absolute psychopaths. But
as soon as it became clear that Brandon Marcella, who's a really respected reporter
for twenty four to seven Sports, as soon as it was quite clear that
what he put out there was just completely wrong, the Louisville fan base went
after him all over Twitter, x whatever you want to call it. And
now it's just you know, and it's just turned into where we're we're on
high alert to see if anybody else is going to, you know, put
out information that's just not true, because here here is something that is in
all seriousness potentially an issue. If the if the the perception is that you
are talking big money in IL but you don't have the funds to back it
up, that's not a good look. Even if it's like not true and
it's been disputed and everybody knows like that, noise being out there for a
certain amount of time can just make people believe that when you're selling an IL,
it's not real, like it's not real money. So but then again,
if we're gonna be we're going to take a step back and look at
this entire thing for what it is, the portal and INNIL. It's an
absolute disaster. There's no there's no regulation, there's no way to know if
anything's real and what's not. I mean, it's it's crazy and I kind
of love it. I kind of love it. All right, let let's
get to our first break. We'll come back on the other side. Keep
this thing rolling along and get it his coffee and company and we are feel
about Thornton's right here on sports talk seven ninety. I gotta be honest with
you, this is actually one of his more upbeat, faster songs that I'm
aware of now I know he has I look, I won't claim to know
all of Zach Bryan's catalog, but now get to see. Now it's getting
a little slower and sad. I can't imagine what this show is gonna be
like at Bourbon and Beyond. Is everybody's gonna be crying out in the field.
So no, I mean I it's I think honestly this if you are
on Spotify and you like my wife listens to Zach Bryan, Morgan Wallin,
Josh molloy, and I like, you know, I don't dislike any of
these any of those musicians really, although I'm not huge Morgan Wallin fan and
I dislike him. It's just there's not many songs of his that I would
say that like I'm a fan of. Has nothing to do with him as
a person. But that's kind of It's not a new genre necessarily, but
like slower, very low and I don't mean low production, I just mean
not a whole lot into it other than like a good very folky yeah folky,
yes, exactly like slow folky like that's that's that's the new wave,
I think, and he's I mean, he's the leader of it. My
wife likes this guy named Noah Kahn. I'm sure you've heard of him.
I think I've heard the name. And look, I'm not saying he's not
good meaning Zach Bryan, but either way, he's insanely famous right now,
is he not? Like he's Oh, he's on top. So anyways,
the reason where we're playing that is because Pat Kelsey gave us a signal this
morning on Twitter with a iTunes, Apple Music link to that song Revival,
and I'm curious if that's just, you know, if that's gonna be the
new norm. All right, So real quick, some breaking news that I
know at least one of these names we have we've discussed, but four more
additions to the staff. But are these are not necessarily assistant coaches, but
director of Ops Mitch Johnson. He's following Kelsey from Charleston. Same thing with
Braden Connor, video coordinator, and then Jermaine Ukeagbu. I believe this how
you say that he's going to be the director of player Personnel and an assistant
coach and then Peyton Siva, director of player Development in Basketball Alomni Relations.
I'm so happy for Peyton, really really awesome to see him get this opportunity.
Nobody better to represent Louisville basketball than Peyton Seva. Nobody, in my
opinion, could better at this stage of their life and career sell what the
Louisville basketball experience is to future players, current players. And I'm happy for
him, and Louisville basketball is better with Peyton severa around. I mean,
that's corny and whatnot, but I believe it. So congrats to him,
and I guess congrats to the others. I don't know them, but happy
to have him aboard. All right. So it's a good question that comes
in, and I'm glad somebody asked this question because it's not something I would
have thought I would I wouldn't have thought to bring this up, but it's
it's probably something a lot of folks are wondering, and that is, if
a guy commits to a school in football, signs early and like enrolls early
and then leaves, like, do they get in il, Yes, they
do. If a transfer. If you know, for example, Penny Boone,
the running back from Toledo. He transferred to Louisville in the winter,
and he's been here since and he's transferring now he's back in the portal.
So what was he roughly, you know, four months or something. You
know, he received some type of nil money. Now, I don't know
how it works anywhere else, and I'm not really sure how it works at
all, to be honest with you, but I do know the Louisville Collective,
the five or two circle, they're not giving out like a big lump
sum of money up front. I mean, I think it's like installment payment,
and it's yeah, So let's be honest. This guy who came here
and is now leaving, just like Trent Flowers did in basketball, Like they
took money and they didn't you know, they didn't provide a service. Right.
But that's where it's so stupid, because technically, because of how this
has to be done, there's no contract. They're not paid to play basketball.
They're paid to just be who they are exist and that's it. So
it is wild how the power in college athletics, for every bit of its
existence. Until two years ago, the players had zero power at all.
Now they have it all. They have every bit of power, because yeah,
that seems just like shit. Even though even though there's like specific rules
and whatnot, as far as you know what you can and can't do,
I mean, what are you gonna like if you're a fan, it's like
well, or if let's just say you're you're a coach or you're I mean
again, this is where it gets even more stupid. Technically, coach and
play. You know, coaches and people that work for the actual school,
they they aren't allowed to have any involvement in NIL. It's got to be
like a sidebarred kind of thing to where they have no control over what money
these guys get. And I'm not saying that they should, but if you
were to have a coach that would step in and say, hey, somebody
tell that NIL collective, nobody's getting a dime unless they you know, they're
here for a full semester and they go through practice. Well okay, I
mean you can do that, but you'll then not get players because that matters.
Now. It's just it's crazy how much different it is. And like
it or not, you have to be healthy in that in that component of
NIL, or you will not get good players and you will probably not win
at a high level, and let'st I check. That's what everybody wants to
do. And there's a longer conversation not for today about how and I'm i'm
I'm not criticizing anybody because I'm I'm part of this, but college sports fans
who love their program, you can make a case for, like a financial
standpoint that like we're the biggest suckers of all time because you know, we
pay money, We pay a donation and I'm not let me back up,
not we. I mean, I'm saying we because I'm a fan, but
I'm I'm I'm I'm I don't have the money to pay for season tickets or
anything. And I'm very fortunate to be able to get credentialed and go to
the games and stuff that I that I don't want to cover in that kind
of thing. But you pay a donation just to get a season ticket.
That doesn't get you the season ticket. To donation just gives you the ability
to buy season tickets, and then that's a big expense. Well, you
know, now you've got players that you know clearly, you know you can
still watch and support, but like all the push from the people who know
what they're doing and know how important it is. It's encouraging fans to donate.
And it's not you know, you don't have to donate a ton of
money. It's not like you're putting up thousands of dollars every month. I
mean, you can do that if you want, but people care so much
about the college basketball the college football program that they love, they'll do it.
They'll pay because they care that much. In a way, that's awesome,
but it's also like, damn like it what point like? I mean,
it's just like the schools should have to pay the players, in my
opinion, But I know why they can't do that. I know why because
that would make them employees, and that would muddy this thing up to war.
College athletics, to be honest with you, would not exist anymore.
And I know some people say, well, hey, it's already pro sports
now, and you're right, but I'm just telling you, if we ever
got to the point where these college athletes were deemed to be employees of these
universities, it would make it so much different than I mean, it already
is different now, but I think it would be like this is actually much
better than if they ever became employees in my opinion. All right, it
is coffee and company. We are feel about Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven
ninety. Appreciate you hanging out with us. You can give us a call
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text, and you can do that too, five O two six three zero
seven ninety. That is the L and N Federal Credit Union text line for
those who's joining us. All three of the local schools here, that's Louisville,
Kentucky, and we'll throw Indiana in there too, because you know they're
not far away. We've got some Hoosi representation on the show, all three
of landed transfers today. Louisville got Jevon Hadley, the Colorado guard. I
think he's gonna be a fifth year guy. He is coming off of a
season where he averaged roughly twelve points six board, shot fifty four percent from
the floor. Just a good addition overall. And then one thing I forgot
to mention. I think it was in his first year at Colorado, not
this past season, but the season before he was the guy who wore that
really cool looking black mask. Have you seen that? John? I haven't
googled Javon Hadley's name because he had I think a broken nose or a broken
bone in his face maybe. So he wore this mask, and I swear
it looks like it looked like a batman mask. I don't think he wore
it this past season, but like if I was him, I just wear
it for like intimidation reasons. I would too. It looks bad ass,
doesn't it. I like it. So Hadley's in the mix for Louisville.
He visited yesterday, and you know, he's one that I mean, I
remember seeing Louisville was involved here, but it's just there's it's tough to keep
up with. But either way, I'm glad that they landed this guy because
I think he can help and they need. You know, when I say
they need all the help they can get, it's not like, hey,
we'll take anybody off the street, but they are completely rebuilding an entire roster,
and you know, I think the two additions they've landed outside of those
that have come from Charleston, and I think those guys are going to help
as well. But so far, so good for Pat Kelsey and then Kentucky
they landed. I mean it's a little different because I let me ask you
this, John, and I do you think others see it the same way
I do as far as like when you have guys that follow you from your
school, like it's not to say that you know, it was a foregone
conclusion that was going to happen, But to me, that's not really like
landing a guy like big Z transferred from Kentucky to Arkansas yesterday. To me,
that's I mean, that's that's an addition. It's a newcomer, but
like the coach is not really doing this same thing as far as I mean,
it's just not the same. Yeah, it's a weird balance because if
you lose the guy because it's BYU that he's coming from, it's not seen
as a big deal. But because you bring him to Kentucky, you almost
had to gass him up a little more. Yeah. So Colin Chandler's following
Mark Pope to BYU. He never played at b YU because he was on
a two year Mormon mission. So he's a former top forty recruit from the
twenty twenty two classes not played college basketball, and you know, they got
to start somewhere because right now, I mean, who I think the only
two guys on their roster right now that are like, you know, and
one of them like, let's be like Rereed Shepherd is still considered to be
on the roster because he hasn't declared for the draft yet. But I'd be
highly shocked if he doesn't go to the NBA. But then again, there's
a weird connection here. Mark Pope played with his father Jeff, and you
know, I guess crazier things have happened, but he is believed to be
a top five pick. And I just don't know how you could not go
to the NBA if you're a top five pick. But one thing I'll say
about I'll say this for later about Read Shepard because I don't want him to
come back. He's too good. And I'll be honest with you, I
think Reed Shepherd is potentially one of the most likable players that has ever played
for the University of Kentucky. And there's been other guys that have played for
them that I don't think are bad people. I like their game, but
like, I don't cheer for him I can't help but want to like read
Shepherd because he just seems awesome and he's a really good player. But there's
one thing that not enough people are talking about as far as like what could
potentially get him to come back, And I'll get to that later. But
then Omar Ballo is Abalo. I was looking up a pronunciation guy earlier because
I was curious. It looks like it's pronounced you Mar Bollo. We did
play this sound yesterday and they called him Babo, and they, you know,
would call him the action, so we'll just call him Bablo. But
he was at one point, yeah, big ball or ballow big in every
way, seven foot, two hundred and sixty pounds. But he transferred Indiana.
So all three local teams here adding players for the upcoming season, and
easily, you know, Indiana's got less spots to fill, whereas Kentucky and
Louisville. I mean you get outside of for Kentucky on the other and outside
of outside of Reed Shepherd, it's Jordan Brooks or Bake Jordan. It's something
Brooks, is it. There's a guy who trans who joined their team last
year from the ON three who I forget his name but he didn't play much
at all last year, and I'm surprised he hasn't hit the portal. But
anyways, on the football side, we'll save this for for when we get
back from the break, because again, I just wanted to make sure I
had the correct information here, because again we've had two different reporters from and
these are people who cover recruiting for on three sports in twenty for seven sports
that have put out information that is just not true. And I don't know
if well if we will ever get the full the full story as to how
this happened, but there's clearly some information being shared or I guess the source
that is talking to various different outlets, various different reporters that either is making
stuff up or just hasn't, you know, incorrect information. And you know,
it's not a big deal because you know, Michael Gonzalez, one of
the best offensive linemen for Louisville, a guy who is maybe one of their
best players overall, one of the most valuable guys they have. He was
in this report earlier today from Marcelo that you know, put put me in
a little bit of a panic because I'm thinking, you know, I think
they could live without him obviously, but I mean that would be losing like
one of your best players. And sure enough, like it was just completely
not true. So we'll get into the specifics of it on the other side.
But I do want to tell you guys about my friends over at the
Louisville Men's clinic because right now I know there's people listening that have probably thought
to themselves, you know what, my lack of energy, my you know,
being lethargic, just not really you know, losing my edge overall.
Like you probably just think, yeah, some getting older, right, you
know, this is this is being forty, this is being forty five,
whatever it may be, and you're right to an extent, but it could
be something that you could quickly fix. And that is about going to see
litule of a men's clinic and getting your testosterone levels checked, because low testosterone
can impact you in ways you'd never imagine. Not only can it make you
lethargic, it can I mean, if you ever had out of nowhere,
without really any change to your diet or your exercise, you start to develop
man boobs or something like that, it could be low testosterone and you know,
you think I'm joking, I'm not. Uh, it can impact your
mental you know, you're you're your mental not only like mental fatigue, but
I mean it could it could lead to you being depressed. So testosterone levels
need to be at a certain level depending upon your age, and if they're
not there, it's not going You're not going to be in a great risk
of you know, something bad happening to you. Right your doctors probably won't
even really notice it because it's not something that's going to impact you. Uh
and and you know, lead you to leads you to be in the hospital
or kill you. But you know, I just don't think there's enough people
that realize that just by having your levels where they should be for someone your
age, it can it can just add so much to your life. And
that's what happened with me. So I can't recommend them enough. It's the
Louis Men's Clinic. Louisvill Men's Clinic dot com is the website. FABO two
four four four four thousand is the phone number. Quick break, We'll come
back on the other side. Keep this thing rolling along again. Coffee and
Company Field by Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right,
Coffee and company rolling along here on Sports Talk seven ninety we are fueled by
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you get gas. You can take advantage of all the perks that you get,
and there are many perks, no doubt about that. So I guess
to give you the latest on the Louisville football transfer portal situation. I don't
want to act as if there are some players that leave and like it's no
biggie, no big deal, but that's really I mean, that's how a
lot of this works, right. I mean, there are in fact players
that are going to transfer that just are leaving because they're not where they want
to be on the depth chart. Maybe they want more money, but you
know, and look, here's the thing. When it comes to players that
that you know, decide to to ask for more money or ask for a
certain level of money. You know, maybe let's say maybe you were a
starter last year and you were productive, and you're you're in position to be
a starter and you're in ale money is you know, five bucks and you
want ten. I mean, that's not a real number. I'm just I
don't even know what the going rate would be, to be honest with you,
you know, whoever's in charge of that. And that's this where it
just gets so stupid, because coaches aren't technically supposed to know and be involved
at all in the anile. Right. Well, I'm pretty sure they're the
ones who ultimately have to say so in how those resources are being used,
because if not, I mean, you think they're going to be out there
coaching guys and saying, hey, you know what did you know? It's
you know, it's just it's so it's a nonsense. It's so stupid how
this has to operate. But this is the way it is. So a
player may want more money, but it's just not in the budget, right.
It's it's not that they can't afford it. It's like, look,
we're going to use our money elsewhere because we just this, that's what we're
gonna choose to do. We think you're great, but if you choose to
leave, then so be it will have to go out and get somebody else.
And and and we're willing to do that because here's Here's where you know
it gets tricky, is that there's gonna be guys that enter the portal that
maybe don't want to leave, but they've been told that this is the best
that can be done for them from an nil perspective. And then they hit
the portal and they go check the market and see what's there. So again,
I don't want to just run through everybody that's in the portal. That
is that is, you know, big loss. He talked about Jermaine Lolay
yesterday. He's somebody that obviously, you know, never was really that productive
because he didn't play a whole lot. Here. Talented guy, but he
could never stay healthy. So he's on his way out. And then news
last night came down about Penny Boone, who is the former Toledo running back
who had a great couple of years at at Toledo. I believe he was
the MAC offensive Player of the year and I don't know where he ranked as
far as the newcomers that transferred in in December, but he was probably one
of the top ranked guys. And Louisville clearly, you know, felt like
they went out and got a good running back after losing two really good ones.
To the draft, but they also feel pretty good about where they are.
You know, like, I think both things can be true. Maybe
Penny Boon wanted more money and that wasn't gonna happen, and it may not
happen because, to be honest with you, I mean, it wouldn't make
sense to give this guy more money given the fact that right now he was
not he wasn't really your lead running back. I mean, Donald Cheney,
the transfer from Miami is believed to be you know, he was, he
wasn't the main guy for Miami, but he was productive. He played.
But apparently he's really looked good in the spring, and I wouldn't be shocked
if he if they don't make another addition, which I know they're trying to,
but I wouldn't be shocked if he's one of your top ball carriers next
year, along with Murray's turner. And then you've got Kewan Brown, who
I know they really like. He played a little bit last year, was
really good in the Murray State game, which I'm not saying you can make
much of that. And then Isaac Brown's a freshman that they really like.
So they're gonna they're gonna go get more running backs. In fact, there's
guys that we've you know, we're already you know, it's already out there
that they're already talking to other backs that are in the portal. But here's
what I believe happened with Penny Boone. For those who don't remember, he
was at Maryland initially and he was not very good there, wasn't very productive,
didn't do a whole lot well. Then he went to Toledo, was
really good in the MAC, transferred to Louisville. And I'm not saying he
was bad and wasn't performing well. This is a guy they did not want
to lose. Trust me, this is not a guy they're like, hey,
see you later, we'll go get somebody else. So I don't want
to make it sound as if, you know, they didn't want to keep
the guy. But you know, he didn't do much here in the Spring
that would make it look as if he was going to be the lead guy.
At least it doesn't sound like. So that's not really that surprising,
given that he'd already been at the higher level before and was you know,
just another guy essentially. So we'll see where he ends up. You know,
maybe he goes elsewhere and he's a star and we'll be wishing that he
was here. But you know, I don't think this is somebody that you
just lost that like for example, Donald Cheney and Maurice Turner in my opinion,
and Kewan Brown maybe could probably go to Toledo and not be the MAC
Offensive Player of the Year, but could probably rush for a thousand yards because
it's a lower level. So we'll see. Because what it comes down to
now is when you lose somebody, And this is so weird how it all
played out, because we're talking about losing a guy that never played for you.
But when you lose it out of the portal, now you've got to
go fill that spot, right, And that's where brom is always at least
I say always like it's been a ten year thing, but I mean so
far in his early time at Louisville. Regardless of where you want to look
at the portal as far as rankings, but if you just go look at
the caliber player they lose in the portal and the caliber player they bring in,
they bring in a lot better than what they lose. And I wouldn't
be shocked if they do the exact same thing right here. But have you
seen the Twitter accounts CFB headlines, John, I've heard you mentioned them before,
So I get them confused because there's all kinds of like college Football News
CFB, you know CFB Home, I think, yeah, I mean like
you know, Big Game Boomer. I mean, there's there's all kinds of
anonymous Twitter accounts that are I mean fifth down college football. Yeah, like
just their nonsense, because it's not that you have to have you know,
your social Security number and a picture of your ID publicly on social media for
people to think you have credibility, but you have no credibility to an extent
whenever there's clearly no acknowledge, you no like you could be anybody and you
can say whatever you want and you could absolutely put any There's no hit for
accounts like this when they're wrong and they make stuff up because again like the
who's the heat falling on a non existent person? A person we don't know
who it is. So this this Twitter account, it's got like three thousand
followers and they've started to share information that is just from an I understand I
can't prove anything, but it's just not true. And that Louisville is losing
players in the portal because their quote unquote checks aren't cashing. And I don't
know. I mean, I don't know who knows who this person is,
right, I mean, I don't think it's it doesn't matter, but I
just wish Twitter wasn't like this, because it's truly the people will believe anything.
And that's not to say Louisville won't potentially lose players or anything like that,
because maybe nil money isn't as good as you know, Alabama or something.
But I think we now have very credible writers and reporters like Brandon Marcelo
of twenty four seven Sports, which I don't know who he got his source
from, but he since had to delete and really edit his article because he
had information that was just completely wrong. And I wouldn't be shocked if he
got it from a random Twitter DM. Like I don't know the guys some
of you. I shouldn't say that, but like, I just think it's
not take him as take him out of it. I think that's just where
we are right now with how people share news, you know, especially on
this platform. Our quick break will come back on the other side. Keep
it rolling along. Two more hours to go right here On Sports Talk seven ninety