Joining us now to talk a little bit about those teams, a little college
football chatter with our friend Demian Parsons from the Draft Network, and he is
one of the best in the business. We're going to get him to promote
that podcast of his that really kept Trey Falco in my life, Decent Spirits
for a long time the off season. What's up, DP, How you
been man? What's going on? Fellers? I'm doing good. I'm doing
good. It's great, man. You know, I always tell people we're
football junkies. My brother had an old saying we were a little You get
to the j months, you're okay, it's those bleak months where we're underwear
and you know, they're out there at the combine and we're trying to measure
these guys up and it's all a process. But when you get into July
and now you get past the hot dog eating contest season and real football's on
the horizon. Bro, we're here, and I think this college football game
for mea sports dropping today sort of brought it all home. I'm assuming you
enjoy a little bit of video gaming like your boy John ellis here. Are
you excited about this game? Oh? Absolutely, I got the advanced Coffee
so download. I've downloaded mine on Saturday afternoon. Boy it was available.
Yeah, just to go ahead and so I don't have to worry about Once
it hit four, I was done with my reports. I was done with
work. Get chillings. I talked to my guys over here. iHeartRadio,
so I was like, guy, just chilling's. I talked to them and
test the game out. And it's a good game. It's a it's a
fun game, something that you can really get behind, especially if you are
a college football lover. Uh, it's a they did a good job.
Now the headshot to the players, that's uh. Back to the drawing board.
Yeah, I can see that. The beam of Will Muschamp, the
video of him punching the board in the locker room. That's probably one of
the graphics developers when he found some of these tweets, because the Peter Woods
one is hilarious. I'm sorry he is. His reactions like the hell is
this some of the some of these kids are going to have that reaction because
it's like, guys, you had all this time to get it right,
time to get it right. I think got to get them. I get
scan done well. I look, they'll clean that up. But the game
itself, it sounds great. I'll be home in an hour and a half
playing it with my son Andrew. It's been a fun offseason. There's been
a lot of cool storylines. We'll talk some NFL with you in a minute,
but obviously there's two teams that are of high interest to our audience down
here on the college circuit. Let's start with the Game Cocks. One of
my favorite people on the planet for so many reasons. Xavier Legett, who
is just a deep ball threat and he can do anything. In terms of
the return game, as we saw, the low volume is a bit of
a concern there because he didn't have a lot of production until that last year.
Your thoughts on Legett, and let's talk also after that about the game
cox expectations. Is they lose a lot of guys off that roster. Yeah,
I mean he was able to get you know, young man has you
know, look into the story very you know try you know, test it
right and put through the fire. Leave lost both of his parents and you
know, of course having a battle with COVID when COVID was around, So
that kind of to the minute slowed down his progress right Finally year of high
school coach said, hey, you're a great roide receiver, but man,
we need you know, we've seen high school teams let's put the best athlete
that quarterback and just let's run this thing best as possible. And that's what
they did with him as well. So talking about slowing down the development,
he had a lot of hurdles he had to clear. But seeing him clear
those hurdles in twenty twenty three becoming the number one target for Spencer Ratlew was
awesome to see. This young man is strong, personable, explosive a lot
of and he's a hard worker too, you know, really pay attention to
social media. He's working one of the best wide receiver personal wire receiver coaches,
the Lafonte Diamond coach Diamond out there training him, Tangdell, a lot
of these guys, you know, Ceedee Lamb, a lot of these guys
elite neighbors as well, and just putting them through the ring or getting him
more prepared to be able to run routes and cut and break and do the
things that the little nuances, the little details, because when you're that explosive,
straight and out of the break. If you can hold that line,
you hold it and once you create the separation, now maintaining. And I
think that's what Delafonte, Diamond cos Dimons gonna be able to do for Exavier.
And I'm excited to see him in this Dave Canalis offense because I think
the opportunities are unlimited for him. Some people said, man, he could
be the Mike Evans of this offense. Yeah, a little different body type,
you know, Mike Evans being sixty three sixty four, long armed,
tall body guy. But I think you look at potential that to him playing
the X, playing the Z. He could also fill that Chris Godwin power
slot role with more juice and speed and explosiveness where you can think about getting
that five yard slant out of Brice his hands to his behavior and matter of
fact, it happened against Mississippi States almost twenty three miles per hour on the
GPS, you know, on the shallow cross. So this young man that
that speed is undeniable. The strength. I remember watching them up closing on
the sidelines the Senior Bowl, and even when guys were like they thought they
had him covered. He's one of those receivers when the ball's in the air,
he's aggressive and it's I'm covered until I'm not. And that's the way
I look at exavierler Get where I think that's the one thing with Bryce I
want to see is those trucks. I call it the trust ball, whereas
like that back shoulder fade, that pass where it's like, listen, I
know he's in your hip pocket. The receivers telling them about with Chad,
which those single said, I have just an inch of separation, I'm open,
Carson Palmer throw it. I want Bryce to have that same confidence and
target exabuler Get because I think that's the guy that's going to going to be
able to give him a return on those types of investments. Damian Parson is
our guests from the Draft Network. That is an excellent way that you just
framed all of it. You and I sat in the stands at Wofford and
watched the practice together with Bryce and a team that I think when you get
around people like us, and I'm not saying we're elites, we're not.
I'm just saying we look at the tape and we don't cover fluff. We
cover what we see. I think we kind of understood, whereas maybe some
casuals didn't get the fact that the separation was going to be a major problem
for this receiving corps. It got worse than I thought it could when Hayden
Hurst did not pan out. And when you don't see guys develop as you
would like, it's a symptom of many things that are going on inside an
organization that aren't the quarterback's fault. But I will say this, you're right
about the trust ball. That is such a great phrase because right out of
the gate he had Mingo on a shot play at Atlanta that could have ended
it. And we saw Bryce time and time again in Alabama. Maybe not
the best in the college circuit, but one of them hitting the go ball
with precision, with a decent amount of catchability, and they were flat and
they were long consistently, And that comes down in my mind to just overall
confidence. But it leads back to footwork. And on that note, you
look at what else this team has done to bring in weapons. You bring
in Deontay Johnson, you add Robert Hunt. Talk about those two guys in
twoicular, because to me, if this thing gets turned around a bit,
it's never just one guy, but that is two players in particular that I
feel can thrive here and can be a core group with Bryce moving forward if
it goes well. One hundred percent. You know, one of the big
things of them spending over one hundred million dollars on the anterior offensive line with
Robert Hunt and Damian Lewis was big to me because with Bryce, you want
to give him a a pocket, right, you know, I kind of
that McDonald's arc, like, you want to give them that to where he
could step up into it, not just because he did have an issue drifting
back a little bit in college year hundred percent. So I love doing that
because now when with for that also helps the tackles, right, helps Ikey,
I can run the guy around that arc and Bryce to have a comfortable
pocket with these two massive physical powerhouses on the interior offensive line. To give
him a wall, right, give him between the two guards and the Senate,
which I know Austin Corbett is just supposed to be the senter. So
the center is a little bit of a question mark because he's coming back off
of an injury, but they can get that solidified. You give him a
great wall between those three. He can step up and make make plays.
Then that's when the whole you know, Russell Wilson, Drew Brees comps that
we throw around for the shorter style quarterbacks, that's when it becomes fitting.
When he can start find stepping up and finding throwing lanes and you can help
your tackles out. So I think those two guards are going to be massive
for Bryce right, especially with the run game too. Give them that play
action pass. Dave Cannell's putting him more under center. Yeah, I'm last
year's tape. I looked at every snap. I sound a little bit like
Jaworski from twenty years ago. I looked at I literally did David and I'm
going to tell you so many times at Bama there was a cool, calm
collectiveness about it. His footwork and posture in that pocket. It was pretty
similar many times Surprice last year. But the movement game was not there.
No pocket movement, no deep play action roll shots with Russ. They got
him in some like what I call ultra deep drops to give him a little
extra vision. I just can't make sense of what the hell they were doing
with him, other than to say Frank and Thomas Brown and the entire brain
trust just couldn't figure out one way to do it. It was fifty ways
to do one thing, and you can't do it that way. And we're
gonna see what happens here for the Panthers, who won two games last year,
certainly destined for hopefully better things this year. Trey Falco and he Steelers.
Questions that you might have for our friend David Parsons, I know you've
been chopping at the video a little bit. I do. I do have
a couple of questions. First of all, our raft, our draft expert.
Yeah, let's ride, let's ride. I ask the US is,
how the hell did we end up with Troy Faltanu where he fell where he
fell in the draft? That is a great pickup. And then following that,
yeah, following that, what do you make could this twenty twenty four
draft class for the Steelers and how do you see them adjusting? I guess
to the NFL, oh Man, I love what the Steelers did right,
getting Tory Fautanu, who can play tackle or guard. I'm gonna be interested
to see how they handle this offensive line. Adding Zach Fraser, remember talking
to you know, talking to one of our guys who lives in the Pittsburgh
area, you know, former scout in the NFL. He's telling us over
at locked On, He's like, listen, man. Like the Steelers fans
have been clamoring for a loose for a center, cornerstone center since the Pounty
Oh yes, County brother right. So getting Zack Fraser, I think that
was a great, great grab, be able to get him in the second
round. Getting Mason McCormick, a developmental guard, just becoming more physical whether
and for me, what this signifies is no matter who's that quarterback, whether
it's Russ, whether it's justin fields, We're going to run this football like
you're gonna have to the phrase of Black and Blue days. It's gonna be
a hard hat, lunch paal type of game. This is bringing back AFC
North prime Steeler football. In my opinion, the midfield logo should be towers
faced with spittle coming out. That's how much they're gonna run it. I
totally agree with you for one hundred percent. And I love the addition of
Rome and Wilson. I remember listening to I Think it was George Pickens from
I Think O Ta is a mini camp saying he expects to see more slot
snap, which is very good because now you get to move them away from
the boundary now a lot of no matter if it's a top outside corner or
not, a lot of these guys not like walking down into the nickel because
that's a total different challenge having a two way go. He has to defend
outside of being on the you know, regardless of being on the outside,
we have the sideline, So putting him in the nickel. I'm looking forward
to seeing if Darnell Washington can take a step. I love what they were
doing, what they were done in this draft and Peyton Wilson that that that
pick. I love Peyton Wilson as a prospect athletic. He's physical, can
cut, blitz, he does so many bits. And when you add him
to a front seven with Keanu Benton and cam Cam Hayward, Alex high Smith,
CJ. Watt and this defense, I think that's what you're looking forward
to as well, getting back to playing not the Steeler offensive football, but
Steeler defensive football. Joey Porter Junior taking the next step, having Maker Fitzpatrick
believe they believe you got added Geno Stone from the Ravens. Yes, that's
like nine picks a couple of years ago. That's a big one. So
I'm looking forward to just this team and how they messed together. But what
they they to me? This is one of my face one of my phrases
that when I pay attition to hot teams, moves comes draft times. Draft
for a plan, like, have an idea. Yes you can pivot,
but have an idea. What do you want to do? What's going to
be our identity? How are we going to improve this team? The Pittsburgh
Steelers walked into the twenty twenty four in the thold draft class. What's a
plan and the executed it to a team. I love that draft class.
You know why they typically win nine, ten eleven games and they don't look
like idiots at the podium because they don't chat it up with their wives or
friends in the sixth round and say, you know what, let's take that
long snapper. When Trey Smith is on the board, Trey Falco, go
ahead, all right, now, I want to pivot a little bit to
this Steelers defense. Obviously, people are talking about another hole to kind of
fill for the Steelers, and we've been trying to fill this hole for quite
a while now as cornerback. Obviously we've got Joey Porter Junior, and hopefully
he makes more leaps and strides the second year, because I think he had
a phenomenal first year. But here's a name that you probably probably don't remember
from last year. Maybe you do, Corey Trice Junior. What are your
thoughts on Corey trist Junior. I think we picked him up the seventh round
maybe somewhere around there. He might have been our last pick. Obviously,
he got injured in mini camp last year, so we didn't really get to
see what he could become. And so this is kind of like almost like
Calvin Austin, where this is going to be like his rookie year on his
second year because he was injured before the season even started. What are your
thoughts on Corey trust Junior? Do you think he could make an impact?
Maybe he's a follow up. It seems like our cornerback two is gonna be
probably Dante Jackson, but who knows. What do you think of Corey trust
Junior? I like Corey. I got that believe. I gave him a
fourth round grade when he came out, So if I've never correctly like big
athletic kids. Physical, I know how to play press coverage. You can
play his own spots. That'll bail technique, get to a spots, reading
route coverage, it route concepts, being in the right place at the right
time. Type of guy. Wasn't afraid to tackle either. And I think
you for one being on the being on the sighland as the Senior Bowl,
being able to watch I believe it was last year, being able to watch
Mike Tomlin coach. Yeah, you better be ready to tackle. Coach Tomlin
is not going to have it any other way. So I think this was
and I was excited for him, especially you know adding you know, when
you guys drafted Joey Porter earlier, I said, man, like, I
really like pairing him with Corey. But now now you get yourself two big
athletic corners. And also they picked up Darius Rush, who was a guy
who stood out at the Senior Bowl last year South Carolina. Yes, tall
athletics, super athletic. I just don't think. I didn't think he was
a good fit for that Gus Bradley pure zone scheme to see. To me,
he was more of a man to man corner and that's why I don't
think he really fit into that into that system. And I also got it
wrong. You know, someone went to the Cincinnati you guys have Patrick quin
thought, Yeah, Patrick Quinn, Elliott doc J Jackson. So this this
secondary overall, I like what what what they've done to it and what they've
done with it. And they got a lot of versatile pieces in that secondary,
especially at safety, Guys that can play strong, play free, be
a big nickel if you want to. Look if he needed to pull a
linebacker off, you could, but you probably don't need to. With Patrick
Queen and Peyton Wilson. Well, the life is going to eventually be your
two starters and nickel package is two really ask of the players. So this
defense to me, and I'm gonna tell you right now, I love Keanu
Bitton. I spent time would Sea bowl off the field, you know,
just trying to talk with n one on one and everything. This jo has
a wrestling background. I think he was a runner up state champion if I
remember correctly, physical, great body control, and he's so self aware in
terms of his game. So this young man is going to consistently work to
be better. I love it. So I've got one final question. This
is a standout guy for me. I picked him out kind of in the
preseason of last year and I've just I've loved what he's done. I would
love to see a little bit more playtime. I think he's gonna be back
up to probably TJ. Watt, Alex high Smith, but Nick Herbig.
When we drafted Nick Herbig, did you see him kind of making I guess
the impact that he did, I don't know. The guy has a motor
on him. He is incredible and he's a wonderful backup there, and I
think, yeah, yeah, basically, yeah, I just love watching him
play. Man. He really is. Honestly, though I saw the preseason,
I was like, this guy's got something. Yeah. I've been yeah,
I've been tweaking about him since like twenty twenty two. I'm a big
fan of his. This dude was like he's on. He was underside of
two twenty eight in college and everything. But you know, I remember watching
him and I was like, man, he reminds me so much of TJ.
Watt in terms of understanding how to reduce uh surface hitting area, how
to attack angles. He was quick, he had you know, fluid hits.
He can dip and bend. You have to always talk about being a
two lanes rusher as a defensive player, being able to rush outside, create
and put pressure on the outside edges and the outside shoulder of a tackle,
make them over set because they're expecting that speed rush, and then be able
to kind of basketball move a eurostep your way across face into the inside pass.
And he brought every bit of that. He had such right and I
was going to say, that's been like a Steeler's template of scouting since the
sixties. I mean, it's amazing because the scheme changes a little bit,
but it's you got your two edge rushers in a two point stance. It's
thirty four variations and they get these guys that's comeing off the assembly line every
single year. I think at some point we have to acknowledge the fact that
organizational structure and competency leads to some of that. Yeah, it's not the
fact they're just drafting studs and they just go out and do it. You've
got the right people in the building to develop them too. And it's just
a it's a loaded unit. And I'm hoping for my boy Tray here.
Although they have what multiple championships and Panthers have not done that yet. I'm
wishing for good things for them. I will say this that the Cowboys,
look, I think you'll first take has warned that one out. But I
am interested about this team. This feels like the kind of year and look,
I could be completely wrong. Usually I am, but here's just take
a stab at it. They have a lot of good pieces on that team.
But the check comes due, it has already and it looks like he
just fall off a cliff, especially at quarterback. What is the plan post
Dak? Just prayed the draft works out, Trey Lance, because it looks
like Dak is gone barring some type of deal that would be done in a
time frame time span that is way out of whack. What do you think
about the Dak situation. I think that they overplayed their hands Dallas understanding that
I think one of the biggest things that mean Keith talk about this a lot,
the Dallas Cowboys. They have championship or aspirations, whatever whatever way you
want to describe it. But then for a while, for the past couple
of years, they've lacked the championship roster. And so when you get to
the playoffs, like you win ten eleven games. When you get to the
playoffs, that's when the energy, the game plans, the schemes, they're
racketed up, they go up another level. Wait a minute, gp DP,
I was under the impression that it was all on Dak Prescott. It
wasn't like a collective team thing. That's amazing. There's nuance to this business.
I'm glad you're here. Trust me. People are just idiots. When
you trade you're at the time, You're best receiver Amari Cooper for a fifth
round pickoff of because of emotions, you know what I mean. And Jerry
Jones's emotion that's a bad that's a recipe for disaster. So yeah, ceedee
Lamb took a step and became an elite wide receiver last year, but you're
still hoping that. Okay, second year with Brandon Cooks in the system,
you're hoping Jalen Tolbert out of South Alabama can take a step going into year
three. Year two, year three, I think it's year three for him,
Like you, Cavansee Turfin, who's been more of a special teams guy,
like you don't have enough talented wide receiver to help Dak. I love
with the tight end situation with Jake Ferguson taking that step. Love loose schoonmaker
from Michigan that they drafted last year. I think they should run a lot
of twelve. Love the fact that they addressed the offensive line the way that
they did, getting Cooper BB, getting Tyler Dydon right adding to this offensive
line. Absolutely love it. But at the same time, you don't have
you still lacking some pieces, so I think they overplayed their hands. Yes,
you go ahead. You should have went ahead and paid Dak when you
had the opportunity. Yes, they're letting him take the blame or playoff losses
and everything else. That's bad management in my opinion. So yes, you're
gonna in my opinion, you're gonna want to I'm not you look at the
roster. You got what Cooper Rush. Cooper Rush is playing the fourth the
fourth quarter of every preseason game, because I need to see what I got
in Trey Lance. You're starting and finishing every play every preseason game. Trade
I need to see you develop game the game, quarter to quarter within this
offense because if we lose Dak, you might be our quarterback next year,
which right now we don't know what Trey Lance is and he hasn't had the
chance to play enough. So the Dallas Cowboys put themselves in a very tough
spot. They did in terms of how to navigate this thing because you also
got to pay Michael Park. Yes, yeah, get young guys on that
team everywhere that are second third year guys that are key to what they do.
They've lost to be hottish, but they've rebuilt a tackle and I think
Dan Quinn for Mike Zimmer is going to be a culture shock for this defense
DP. I'm just telling you right now. Mike I like him, but
Dan is a player's guy and he relates and he had them fre flowing.
Now they play a speed type of defensive front and the middle can be exposed.
What does Zimmer do in terms of scheme? But more so, we
saw what happened last year with one of the old heads out there, the
good ones down in Miami, and they hated him, Fangio, and they
ran them out of town even though they were inked top ten. So a
lot of moving parts and it just seems like they could win ten games and
then kind of fall off a cliff for a year or two because it's not
galaxy brain stuff that Jerry Jones is doing here. He prides himself on building
an empire. It's great, You've got a great quarterback who just needs to
find a way to punch through in the playoffs. People, I don't understand
why they don't remember for years and years and years, only one or two
quarterbacks was winning this damn thing every year. It's just ridiculous. Well see
what happens. There's my Dallas rant. Did you watch the Receiver Show on
Netflix? Shit, if you had a chance to see it, Yes,
I have two more episodes to finish. I think this right here is a
goal mine. Starting with last year with the quarterback, I'm lobbying that we
get either corner like dB E line with edge and some edge guys, some
of the top edge guys, Miles Garrett, TJ. Watt, Michah Parsons,
Chris Jones on the interior, something like that. I need a defensive
this. Don't get me wrong, guys. I love the quarterbacks and dig
get all the money and everything, but some of the most intelligent football players
in the game are defenders. I love listening to defensive players break down the
game, the coverage, just the way that they beat one on one,
whether it's a defensive line, and how they study different things of that nature.
I love listening to that Noga Merong. I love hearing, you know,
Tom Brady or Peyton break down this what they're seeing from quarterbacks. But
I love to hear a corner sitting out there on the island. Okay,
I have to study what this receiver does. Then I transition to studying what
does the quarterback do when he wants to go to that side of the field,
and different things of that nature. So I'm hoping we get a deepen
the side of the ball with different positions with this series. But this series
is outstanding, great production, just the inside detail to what makes these players
tick, what motivates them, Like justin Jefferson talking about how he's such a
calm, cool, collected person off the field, but when he puts the
helmet on, he becomes jets and it's like, yes, you have a
flip twitch. And then you see how dominant of a player. Oh my
god, how the lungs coughing up blood and he can't see any cuts in
his mouth. How frightening. And he's back in a couple of weeks catching
one hundred yards worth of passes, and these guys are in every penny based
on market value. That people don't understand. You do, I do.
We've been around it, how hard it is to be an NFL player.
The next show, obviously, is gonna be just called bastards, and it's
the bastard coaches like Dan Campbell. We're gonna have four, just Brian Dabole,
just salty. I'll take it out. I love give me some Dan.
Get an inside look at his meetings and just as his speech is consistently
you know, wins, losses, doesn't matter. I love that man.
We have the full sound banking. Remember his press conference. This is what
people need to learn. Everybody laughed at him, bite knee catch all that
whoa? This guy is crazy. Man. I don't know what's going on
here, but he would get me and my entire family if he wants to.
Now, Yeah, Daddy, Dan, come pick me up and take
me home. David Parson's our guest man. And you've made a real effort
here to spend more time than we even asked you to today. Can you
help us understand in our whole listening audience where to find your work I know
where to find it, but helped understand exactly what's going on this time of
year. For It's a great podcast as well. Let's promote that of course.
Of course, you know, five days a week locked on NFL Draft.
Right now, we're going through we were finishing up going through summer scouting,
so we're still talking about prospects for the twenty twenty five NFL Draft class,
but also now we're transitioning into talking about some of the rookies from twenty
twenty four. As rookies are reporting to camp, we'll get into discussions about
quarterbacks getting off to fast starts in training camp and what type of impacts that
momentum will do for them. So they're five days a week locked the NFL
Draft Podcast on Apples, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts, go download
it, hit automatic downloads, check and tap in with us. Of course
always at the Draft Network Scouting Reports, Draft Network YouTube channel we have I'll
be doing film breakdowns collegiate film breakdowns on prospects there in the next couple of
weeks, and then I have my own YouTube channel called the Scouting Room.
Well, I'll be doing more NFL based breakdowns of NFL players, some schemes,
run games, stuff like that. I really really enjoyed doing so.
Just happened with you. Go up boy, and of course on Twitter,
dpn s great NFL, come holler at me the quote Bark Scott can't wait.
Can't wait, my friend. You're one of the best, dude,
and it's been way too long. Let's make this a regular thing, bro,
and we'll we'll be talking real live football here in a matter of weeks.
Damon Partsons, thanks for coming by, but thanks Fellers.