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involved with us all throughout the college football season. As we are wrapping up
to college twenty twenty two college football season, we are in the thralls of
bowl season. New Year's Day coming up on Sunday, still gonna have you
got your college football playoff semifinal matchups coming up on Saturday night, New Year's
Eve. You got your National championship game will be Monday, January the ninth.
You get they get about a ten day, nine day break at between
the semifinals. In the finals, got Georgia and Ohio State will be playing
in Atlanta, and then you have Michigan and TCU will be playing out in
Glendale, Arizona. So two semifinal matchups Saturday afternoons start at four pm.
We are gonna give you a preview of those two games. We're gonna talk,
we gotta get. We got some three excellent guests for you this week.
We're gonna also talk recruiting signing days. Just the early signing day in
December is just wrapped up a couple of weeks ago, and we're gonna get
a little update on the recruiting classes at UCF, Florida State as well as
USF. We're gonna talk to Joey Johnston new Covers is a sideline reporter and
a longtime media member here in the Temp Bay. We're gonna talk to Joey
about the new Hire, Alex Galesh, the new head coach at USF and
their signing day. We're gonna talk to Matt Michelle from The Orlando Sentinel.
Matt covers UCF and FSU. We're gonna hit on the signing dates for both
of those schools, the transfer portal, and Florida State's upcoming bowl game on
Thursday versus Oklahoma, which is going to be in Orlando as well. And
then we're obviously we're gonna lead off this podcast talking to coach Jim Levitt coach.
We're gonna talk to coach about recruiting, signing day, bowl preparations.
You know, all the different things that go into preparing for a bowl game,
whether you're playing for a national title, whether you're playing for a bowl
game. You know, the dealing with the transfer portal, recruiting, all
the things that go into this process that these coaches are all going through here
in the month of December and early January. So action packed episode. I
think you'll enjoy it. Again, we're trying to hit all parts of the
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And again, you're gonna enjoy the podcast. Jim Levitt's former head coach
University South Florida, Joey Johnston, media member here in the Tampa area,
and Matt Michelle from the Orlando Sentinel breaking down recruiting into bowl season in the
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welcome back Florida Football Insiders Podcasts. We're happy to be joined again by coach
Jim Levitt. Coach Lett Mary Christmas, Hope you had a good holiday with
your girls. Merry Christmas. Yes, it was busy. You know,
Christmas is a huge holiday. You know, Christ is born, very power
full day and then then the gifts and the gifts seem to take pressing over
everything and that's a big deal, that's for sure. With my girls,
it's a big deal. Talk about talk about during the holidays when you were
a coach, both in the NFL and college, how did you work around,
you know, just the holidays. And I'm sure in the NFL you
had you didn't probably play on Christmas, but you had practice up until Christmas
Eve, things like that. How did you handle just the personal life things
of shopping a little bit, you know, getting some stuff for your girls
and for your family and just those kind of things. Balancing that was still
your coaching responsibilities. No, it's very difficult for all coaches, and it's
one of the things that is kind of sad. Thanksgiving. I never saw
Thanksgiving, you know, really, because you're always playing or you're so involved
with game planning. Usually had that day. You might eat a meal,
ye to your family for a few hours, but that's it. And especially
the last sumber of years when I was gone, you know that that time
was tough. Christmas same way because usually bowl games or you're traveling, like
last year, I was at SMU. We were set to travel the day
after Christmas to go to Boston. Well we found out on the twenty sixth
that Virginia was not going to play in the bowl game because of COVID,
so that completely canceled the Bowl. I was in a car that day.
I packed up everything and Dallas and drove to Tampa. Wow. You know,
really missed Christmas last year. So it's very difficult for coaches, very
difficult for families all that. A lot of times you'd like to incorporate that
into the bowl game, and if you have an understanding family and understanding wife,
then it works. If you don't, it doesn't. It doesn't work
right for the kids. When you guys are at bowl season this time of
the year, do you give the kids a couple of days off before Christmas?
Let's say you have a bowl game in New Year's Obviously, most teams
probably meet a day or two after Christmas to get back prep prepping for the
New Year's bowl game. Do you give them a couple of days off and
is it their responsibility to get to the bowl game? Do they get a
perdem or do you guys all meet back in your central campus to travel together.
I always have everybody traveling together because I was concerned about something happening right
either, you know, you just don't know when you have everybody traveling on
their own, are they gonna get their own time or are they're gonna be
there is something gonna happen? Is you worry about a lot of different things.
So I always went on the side of safety. Now the problem with
that is and recruiting other coaches that will use head against you, because other
coaches in bowl games they'll let their own they'll they'll let everybody travel to the
site and meet there because they can make a lot more money because they can't
get their own flights. It's just, you know, it's just it's a
balancing act. Yeah, it's a balancing act. Yep. Yeah, it
just depends on if you want to get more money to the players and more
autonomy as far as getting there and not. I don't know what most coaches
do now, I would imagine a lot of them. Maybe it's split,
you know, depending on the bowl game where it's at all. Right,
let's talk about recruiting. You mentioned recruiting. Obviously, the signing day was
a couple of a week or so back. Interesting, a couple of weeks
back. Interesting. Now the NC double A is in the last several years
they've created two signing days, an early signing day in December and then the
traditional one in February. How did that? How did you like? Do
you like that concept now having two different days or were you? Would you
prefer to all be done one day. That way you can spend all your
time and then you can move on to the next thing. As being a
coach, well, I'm kind of old school, so you know, I
always like the one signed date and that's it. However, the one nice
thing about the early days you get a lot of things out of the way.
A lot of these players are they know where they're gonna go. You
know, you don't want to waste any more time on the phone traveling go
and see kids if they're if you're not going to get them right. And
sometimes these players can kind of keep you, you know, on the hook
a little bit, and cause you spent a lot of time with those guys
that are number one or two or three people on your board, and you're
losing ground with number four or five or six on your board, you know.
So one thing it does, it cleans up your board. It allows
people to make decisions where they're gonna go, and it has has you.
Now you have the ability to kind of regroup a little bit. You know,
have you met your needs? What has changed? Who did you get?
And you know your staff can kind of come back together and and really
focus in on those fire six guys you have to get. Now, those
guys are getting really hit because all these goals are in the same position,
and so now they're gonna they're gonn to really go after those those some of
those guys and they wait for that second sign period get hammered so hard because
everybody because everything else, all the dust is cleared right, and they're all
going after you hard. So but it cleans it up. Yeah, there
was one, there was a couple of steal Obviously you hear stories on recruiting
every year, but there was one high profile kid this year that had committed
to Notre Dame, then could then he committed to Oregon, and then he
ended up at Oklahoma, all within a twenty four hour period on signing day.
How frustrating for you as a coach or exciting for you if you're the
recipient of that kid, or if you're the kid that you're the school that
loses a kid like that that has told you for three months or two months,
hey, I'm coming to your school, I'm coming to play for you,
then he changes his mind at the last minute, or you're the beneficiary
of it. A kid you've been working hard and all of a sudden he
flips to you. It's it's really stressful. You know, you've worked on
some of these guys for years, not months. Yeah. Um, I
mean you bring somebody the table that committed to you, you're you're all set,
and then you lose them. That's stuffs, you know, And emotionally
it's tough because you've you gained such a relationship, right I only him,
but his family, his friends, all his teachers at the school, the
principal, everybody. You know, you to get a high profile athlete,
you gotta you gotta, you gotta throw your time. Yea, you know
the uncle that might be two states away, You know who is that who
is that person that's really helping that player with the decision, and you got
to find out who they are and make sure you get close to them.
So it's shortly or hard. Um. Obviously, if you flip somebody to
you, it's great, but you know, in the end, you work
your tail off, you try to stay away from the emotion of it all,
and you you realize that you're not going to know how good these guys
are for year. Anyway, you're us sometimes two years, and really,
if coaches are honest and these services ask you, how do your class look
this year, every coach in the country is going to say, yeah,
right, we got everybody we wanted. We're gonna be great. And obviously
half the schools in the country are not half are or either way, so
you don't really know because there's so many variables with these players. Adversity that
hits these guys in college from different angles that they've never experienced before, and
you don't know who's going to be handled adversity. So it's not all about
the athletic talent. It's about the character of a young man, his heart,
how he's driven, how well he gravitates and grabs, the investment of
time living on his own in a dorm with other people and not his family
around, and all that stuff, especially your freshman year because your motion university
is going to make you live on campus, and sometimes those storms are not
very nice or they're okay, and you're coming from home or you know,
who knows what the home life is like, sometimes good or sometimes bad.
You know, usually given to that freshman year, you got better chance,
but now you got the portal. So now all of a sudden, you
don't play, you're gone. So it's there's so many, so many factors
that enter into a recruiting class of whether it's going to be a successful one
or not. It seems like in the last probably you tell me, you
know it's better than I do that. You know, years ago, when
I was playing, when you were playing, there was kind of an unwritten
rule with coach, with Jim Levitt, the safety committed to somewhere, the
coaches kind of hands off. He's going to that school. Nowadays, Is
there any kind of unwritten rule among you coaches about when a guy formally says
I'm going to South Florida or I'm going to Florida or Texas or Oklahoma,
that other coaches kind of hands off of them, unless unless the kid opens
the door and says, I'm going to reopen my recruitment or is that just
completely out the window, completely out the window, you know, I mean,
it's it's evil, you know, I mean, it's you know what
I usually tell I usually prep a guy that commits to us and say,
now, you're gonna get hit by a lot of coaches. The most important
thing you can do is have your mom or dad, whoever is, you
know, run the show. Make sure that they're the ones that talk to
these other coaches. Tell them they appreciate them, they appreciate the interest.
But Johnny has made his decision. He's going to so and so and appreciate
if you don't call anymore. Okay, Now that's if you can get a
parent to do that, which you should be able to. Then that goes
a long ways. Now, is that going to stop schools? No,
because they're gonna go work the coach or are they're gonna work if the dad's
making that comments. They're gonna work the mom or aunt, They're gonna work
somebody else because what do they care. They're gonna, they're gonna, they're
gonna be relentless and getting this this player. So that family's gotta be on
board together. They gotta be strong and that player's gotta be strong and know
what they want or things happening, and it happens all the time. All
right, it's great. It's a great in the answer because you, like
you said, it goes on. You know, I'm sure it's even worse
now with nil money and all that stuff and the ease of the transfer portal
and things like that. So all right, let's go to some bullprep a
couple bull prep questions. How do you as a coach when you're you know,
there's varying level that you always hear analysts and people on TV talking about
the excitement level of a team going into a bowl game, a team that's
maybe six and six versus a team that's had an unbelievable year they're nine and
three, ten and two, when they're the emotional level and the motivation level,
How did you always handle the motivation level of a team that you were
coaching. Maybe you didn't have as good a year as you thought, but
you're still in a bowl game. Or maybe you overachieved and now you're in
a bowl game. How do you handle that motivation level? To keep the
motivation level up? Now, it's very difficult. Now, very difficult because
most of these bowl games, like I think Baylor played air Force, and
Baylor had a lot of players that didn't even play. Right, you have
all these top players, seniors, juniors that are going out in the draft.
They're gonna play in the bowl game. So it's really not the team
that played that year. You have to try to play the guys that are
probably the most ambitious who really want to play, might be younger guys.
The bowl practices are are really really important for development of players. You try
to have as much energy as you can in that bowl game because if you
don't have the energy, you're not gonna have prior chance to win. I
mean, I just it's um, it's still so different today, you know,
it really is. And everybody seems to focus on the last four teams
that are playing and maybe some of these other bowl games. You know,
I haven't watched a lot of Bowl games this year. Ye playing you don't
know who's playing. It's just it's just very, very difficult. But play
the guys that you feel like we want to play, even if it's a
younger guy. Try to try to find you really have to get your players
excited about playing. Try to drive home the fact that you're playing them for
the seniors that are playing, the seniors that are going them. You know,
you've got to find a way for cause. You've got to develop a
cause for that bowl game one way or another. That's a really really important
thing to do. So the experience for the kids. Some of these kids
and maybe he'd never been to a bowl game, and two they've never never
really traveled much. These bowl games are cool things. You get to go
to different places, whether it's California, Texas, Florida, wherever Fenway Park,
you talked about, Yankee Stadium. How do you balance the we want
to work hard and get ready for this Bowl game, but also understand it's
an experience for the kids to travel to enjoy a new a new environment,
a new All these bowl games have events where they go to a you know,
have an event a couple of nights during the prep. How do you
allow them to enjoy that experience but you keep their mind focused on the on
the task in hand. Well, that's difficult too, you know, it
depends on the motivation of players, certainly. But my point is this,
a lot of bowl games now, because of money or travel or whatever,
they don't do as many things. Okay, I've been to a bunch of
bowls in my career way back. When you go to bowl game, you
win a lot earlier, You spend a lot of time there in your first
two days. You might not even have a curfew for the players. You
go to the beach, like down here, they would take kids to the
beach, clearwater beach, bush gardens, things like that, you know,
but you might let them go to kind of just you know, enjoy that
experience and you tell them if they mess up, you're gonna send them home
on the next bus, you know. So, because you don't want to
embarrass your program, you don't want to embarrass school. And and you've got
to make sure you set a pressing with your players that you know, you
just you better understand you better, you know, and you're always gonna worry
about three or four guys they're gonna keep you up all night, you know,
think about it. That guy gonna do the right thing. Uh,
we're gonna we're gonna be good. Um. And then you and then you
and you tell them ahead of time, you know, the schedule kind of
what's gonna go on, how you're going about this and why each day is
important and what you're gonna try to get done. The stays. You try
to make sure you get all your preparation done before you leave for the bull
site. Your game plans for your defense coordinator offense coordinaors should be done established.
They should be able to play the game before you even get on a
plane to go to the bowl. And then you know, try to wrap
things up as you go, because you know the distractions are gonna be there.
So I always you always watch bowl games too, where unless it's for
the national title or you know, humongous bowl on the humongous bowl game,
coaches are are always very loosey goosey in there coaching trick blaye new things.
You know, they they empty out the playbook and so to speak. Did
you always have that mentality of hey, we're gonna be loosey goosey in these
bowl games? I'm gonna go fourth on fourth down more often things like that
as opposed to a little more close to the vest during the regular season.
You know, I don't know. You know, as a head coach,
I went to five bowl games, and you know, we always had the
trick plays. I remember when we played against Holt said. Our first bowl
went at East Carolina Papa John's Bowl. Yeah, we had all kinds of
trick stuff we're doing with our funt team, and we were beating the pretty
good h and uh. And I went ahead and did some of the stuff
at the end of the game just to kind of because I'm curious how they
were going to respond, so I kind of did it. It was kind
of probably probably, you know, I don't know how ethical necessarily is.
I don't know. I guess it's okay. But I did all kinds of
things with that punt team just up to it, because we had so many
fake punts that we had put in, you know, two or three things,
and uh about it. You used them all that day. You use
them all. Yeah, But you know, you always want to have some
things that you want to do some things different because you know the team you're
gonna play is gonna have all that time and the gas. Everybody else is
gonna be looking at every piece of film. Yeah, you know, you
have your base core what you're gonna do, but you always want to do
some things different. Now let's get to the to the two bowl games that
do matter ultimately, the two semi final games, and how the difference in
prep might be different than if you're in the Outback Bowl or the Relia West
Bowl or the Military Bowl. That it's really just an X I'll take exhibition
game, but there's no national championship implications these two bowl games, and that
Jason that I think is so sad. And I'm coaching. Of course,
I've been in a forty years. Yep. They never had the playoffs.
Every game was so significant, right. I know people will beat me up
for this, but I enjoyed that. And then you had to name a
natural champion off just whatever, right, And there's always the debate or the
controversy whatever, but I didn't mind it. You know, I never was
in that. Well, we're in that position in Kansas State. One time
we were we were fished eight so we're close. Um, but you know
now it's yeah, all these other bowl games are bowl games there, you
know, how you know how much people pay attention to them, how much
people really watch them because everything is on the last four teams. So I
think I've playing it. And I would say this as you know, New
Year's Day is kind of the traditional bigger ball. You know, you got
the Rose Bowl, you got the Citrus Bowl, in the Cotton Bowl.
Those are the games that I think more fans, even though they don't have
national championship implications, are still paying attention to. And you know, the
pageantry of the Rose Bowl, the pasThe try of of of the or the
Rose Bowl out in California, those are just historical things where even though you're
not playing for a title, you still want to show out well as a
program, correct, right, you know you really do? And uh yeah,
I mean yeah, people are gonna watch those games. But you know
things have just changed a little bit. How does your preparation, like you
said, now, it's the seriousness of the of the semifinal games. George
Ohio State, Michigan TCU Coaching wise, you've had a month off one one.
Are you worried about your your players physical conditioning having that much time off
of not playing and then you had the holidays mixed in with Christmas. How
do you handle the just the physical part of getting them back physically ready.
Well, it's um you know, I haven't been in that situation. Now
I have coaching a bowl game on January seventh or January ninth. Okay,
but that's the only thing I can kind of go by. Okay, Yeah,
you know, you do have you give them. You have to know
when that bowl game is and how many days that you think you'll need to
prepare them. And you're right they you do want to have to make sure
you get them in back in shape. And you know, the weight room
is really big. You know the conditioning is really big. All those things
are important. And yet you when you have a when you have these games
so so far push back. You have to give them some time the finals
and time and with their family and all that kind of stuff. So I
haven't prepared for a national championship. I haven't been in that scenario. But
the one thing I can go buy is when we played in Toronto play against
someone Illinois Jerry Hills team. We won the game. We want it pretty
big. Yeah, And that's my last game I coached in South Florida,
and uh, you know, we played well, played really well. And
let me let me give you something that it may be comparable on the pro
level, pro level, you have a bye week in the playoffs or two
weeks between the championship and the Super Bowl, would that be a time where
you would potentially put in a new scheme defensively, or a new scheme on
special teams that you haven't shown all year, or you just or the mentality
of let's be really good at what we're really good at. Well, you
know the difference with the NFL, as you're playing all the way through it,
you know you're not gonna have five weeks off till you play a game,
right, I mean I was involved three years in a row, three
NFC Championship games and Super Bowl. We were playing twenty four games, twenty
three games, you know, and you just play right through it. Yes,
we did do some things defensively, I know, we had some things
in there that were different, different pressure package, different things like that you
know that we were that we had. But you know, you you've got
your personality that got you there after twenty seven games, right kind of who
you are. You don't want to screw your cell phone. You know,
your own players, even those those men at the pro level. I mean,
you know we we I coached the Super Bowl against the Ravens and um
came down last play the game. Yeah pretty much. Still still no flag,
coach, still know what theirference called the Z and all that passing reference
but on the Michael krap But there were two games before that came down last
play just to go to the Super um and you know, no, we
we you know, you keep your base stuff and but you're always gonna have
some different things, both offensively defensively. Of course we had we had Kaepernick
our quarterback, so we ran a little bit more of the option I know,
offensively than we had shown before going through the playoffs, especially year we
played in Super Bowl, and he was so good, you know, at
the option game because he could run. Uh so that I know helped our
offense and and made made challenging for defense. Of course, Ravens handed fairly
well, although they should have lost game. If we would have got that
call, coach, I'd love to see you with that big Super Bowl ring
on your finger right now, I really would. Yeah, that'd been nice.
All right, let's let's get to the games. A couple a couple
of matchups in the games. I want to eat your thoughts on. Let's
go to Georgia and Ohio State first. To me, one of the one
of the factors in this game is one Kirby smarts pressure on defense. You're
a defensive guy. Kirby's a defensive guy. It'll be interesting how they play
this Ohio State high flying offense. Will they blitz them, will they play
coverage? How do you think? You know, what do you think Georgia's
kind of philosophy is gonna be going up against Ryan Day and that high flying
offense. You know, it's interesting because these are the two teams that were
the hottest teams throughout most of all the year. Ohio State kind of stumbled
at the end the last number of games. But these are the two teams
that everybody thought was gonna be in the national championship game. A lot of
people thought that the way it was going to the first six, seven,
eight weeks this season, it's gonna be really interesting. I don't believe it's
gonna be whoever can run the ball, you're a big deal. I know
they both can throw it to these teams all can run in throw, but
I think the physicality of the line of scrimmage and be able to run the
ball, it's gonna be a big deal Ohio State. I think when maybe
you'll throw it a little bit better and they might, uh, you know,
it's gonna be a heck of a game. I'm telling you, I
don't know. I think Ohio State's got to get back to what they were
at the beginning year when they were really humming along, yeah whatever that is,
and they've got to kind of analyze what happened to them towards the last
three weeks or so and then get that back. You know that this could
be one heck of a game because if they can play that they were early
in the season, this game will be a heck of a game. But
if not, George is gonna gonna get them. You know. To me,
the matchup to look for, I think for George's offense and Ohio States
defense is how does Ohio State match up with George's tight ends. They've got
a tremendous set of tight ends that can run, that can catch, that
are gonna be effective in the run game for them. For George and the
run game. How is ohiosteak going to deal with that physicality and the talent
at tight end, because you don't see a lot of college teams that have
good tight ends. You know, it's it's coming around a lot more the
last three or four years. So I see it a lot more. I
was used a bunch um. I know a number of a number of teams
start using those tight ends quite a bit more because it's hard. It's hard
for defense, you know, just because the ability to run or throw and
you just you have. There's a lot of things you can do with those
athletic big tight ends, yep, flexing them out but him into the core
or the wings and the three tight ends, two tight ends. There's a
lot of things you can do with it. And I and I know defensively
when I go against team that use those tight ends a lot like University of
Washington did Champion when I was at Colorado, really tough to defend, really
tough, you know, And so I agree with you, that's gonna be
a challenge throw house. See let's get to let's get to Michigan and TCU.
I know you know the Michigan program well with your your your ties to
coach har Ball. You think this is gonna be a game for Michigan where
they just really trying to pound the ball down TCUs throat and see can you
stop us? Yeah? I do. I think if Michigan can't run the
ball, tc will probably win. TCU is so explosive with their receivers and
the deep ball, but they'll run it too. They'll spread you out,
and you know when you when you they're gonna they're gonna throw their shots.
Now you're gonna get six to eight shots by TCU, and Michigan's gonna have
to hold up with that with the explosive plays. But I think it's gonna
come down again to Michigan be able to run the ball. If they can
run the ball and have success for that, and they'll do some play action.
They're a little bit at a quarterback and uh, but they can run
the ball, I think they'll win. But boy somehow, And and the
thing is TCU runs at three three defense, which can be very tough on
an offense that spreads it out. And you know, because you don't know
where that safety is gonna fit in the run game. But West Virginia you
used to run that three to three defense. We beat West Virginia three out
of four. We should have been four out of four. And the way
we did it offensively, if we got into the eye formation, we really
ran right at it because by the time that safety came down, we felt
like we could get four or five yards right and moving the chains. And
uh. I think the way you go against the defense for TCU is you
gotta be all run the ball, you know, you know, And that's
what it'll be interesting to watch the I think the defense for TCU gets run
game, Michigan's gonna be gonna be it right there. It's gonna be interesting
to watch that. I agree. I agree, well, coach, great
analysis. Glad you had a great Christmas with the girls. And I know
you'll you'll be watching as the NFL at the NFL teams get get to get
to the to the finish line here for the playoffs Bowl games, you get
the National Championship games on or the playoff semifinal games on Saturday. Any big
New Year's Eve plans? Are you? Are you a stay at home fireworks
watch the fireworks kind of guy on New Year's when he had a chance to
do that, No, I can I can. I can do it all.
I can go out and I can celebrate with the best of them,
or I can sit home. So um, you know we'll see well,
I know you got You'll have a great view from where you're at to see
some fireworks in downtown. They do a good job down by where you're at
and all that, So coach, appreciate the time. We'll definitely we may
try to get you on next week preview in the championship game and all that
stuff, if you'll do that, and if not, we will We'll talk
soon, okay, coach, all right, thanks Jason, have a great
week. We'll be right back with Matt or with Joey Johnston talking about USF
recruiting. Hey, guys and girls. With the college football season getting to
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you get paid all right, Welcome back, Florida Football Insiders. Up next
is Joey Johnston. Joey covers USF Football is a sideline reporter for the Bulls.
He's also a longtime media member here in the Tampa Bay area. Joey
Johnson Communications dot Com is where you can find Joey if you're looking for some
help in the sports media world. Marry Christmas, Joey, and thanks for
joining us. Marry Christmas, Jason. Happy holidays. Everybody looking forward to
little football around the New Year's time. Always the fun time of the year.
All right, So we've got a new coach at us Jeff Scott let
go Alex Goleesh, the offensive coordinator Tennessee comes in. There's a lot of
speculations other names, potentially Dion Sanders and some other people. The USFUH gets
their guy and Alex Golesh. I know you were You've you've covered his uh
introductory press conference, and I'm sure you've talked to him a little bit,
giving you just your initial thoughts of coach, and how do you think the
fit's gonna be here in a USF. I think the fit's gonna be pretty
good. I mean again, it's it's it's early on and we're talking about
you know, a press conference, and and and and just you know,
five or ten minutes here or they're shaking hands and saying how you're doing.
But um, he certainly appears to be a guy that's very sincere, that
heart, works very hard and values that over anything, over any flash and
dash, over any kind of you know, uh, anything like that.
He's gonna he's gonna get in his bunker and work and try to find players.
That's you know, he makes no mistake about that. That's his his
His first mission is to increase the talent here. And I couldn't agree more
because it all starts with players. And to me, he appears to be
a guy that, you know, if you look back at what what made
usf really good back in the day, it was it was hard work.
It wasn't anything beyond that at all. I mean, this is a program
built from the ground up that built itself into a into a great program.
And I think he's going to take that example and run with it. Um,
he's not a real he's a he's a personable guy, but he's not
a real flashy guy. But he comes across as somebody you can have a
genuine conversation with. And I think that's what the kids are going to get
from him too, is a guy that they can look at look in the
eye and feel like he's not giving him a line, and feel like he
sincerely cares about him and is speaking from the heart. And I know he
um. He believes as do I, as do most people, that this
program at USF should be much better than it is. It should be a
certainly an annual Bowl contender, certainly a program that wins conference championships, and
maybe, uh, at the right stars aligned, could could go even bigger
than that one day. And I couldn't agree more. And I think he
sees that he understands that there's a lot of work to get there, and
he will tell he will tell anybody that I think that wants to pat him
on the back and say, hey, great, great job coach. Really
looking forward next year, he's gonna say, hey, we got a lot
of work to do. And that is absolutely true. So he is,
uh, you know, wasting no time. He's starting to dig in,
dig in right now, and and uh he sees no other route than a
straight line with hard work to get to the goal, do you um.
Obviously, one of the concerns, obviously with this hire is you're hiring a
guy who's never been a head coach before you know, he's he's he was
kind of in the shadows of Josh Hypel. You know, who knows how
much truly he does or he was involved in the in the offense and Tennessee
or not. I'm sure he was, but you know, he didn't call
plays at Tennessee. Josh Hypel called plays for the most part. From all
indications, do you worry about lack of head coaching experience? And then two
where he's kind of been the primary play caller on one side of the ball
or the other. Yeah, I mean, that's a legitimate question and a
question we nobody's gonna be able to answer until September, October, November,
at which, you know, actually, I'm good with I'm good with the
philosophy of Hey, great, welcome coach. Happy to have you here.
We'll see on September two. I mean, I'm I'm I'm really happy with
bypassing all the interim you know, stages of signing day and spring football,
it summer, working out all that stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
it is what it is. Those are all necessary things. But but the
bottom line of all bottom lines here is can they win games? Can they
progress on the field? So yes, um, obviously, and we won't
know the answer until he coaches games. But yeah, he has no head
coaching experience. That was that was a legitimate gripe on Jeff Scott. Now,
everybody has to become a head coach for the first time at some point,
So the hope is that he is one of those guys like a Bob
Stoops, like you know any number of other examples that steps in and from
the get go is a great head coach. So you know, that's what
athletic directors are here for, is to judge hirings and potential potential and to
identify these people. That's why that's why they're in these jobs. So I
do know that Alex Golish, had he not landed at USF, he would
have landed somewhere. So he It's not like they're they're taking a flyer on
some guy that nobody else knows about. He would have been somebody's head coach.
So um. You know, he certainly appears to have the right stuff,
and no knock on Jeff Scott, but I will say there is a
difference in terms of Alex Golish. Jeff Scott came up through Clemson State at
Clemson the whole time and was part of the Clemson and way. Alex Golish
has come up from the bottom, had a lot of bad jobs and tough
places that he's grinded through, and he's worked his way up, had a
lot of different varying experiences. So you got to give him that that he
has a very varied resume and he has worked himself from the bottom to where
he is now. So I think there is something to be said for that.
And you know, again the proofs in the pudding we'll see in September.
But you know, he appears to have the right read on what this
program is and how it can get back and I and I would agree with
that wholeheartedly. Is a return to the humble days of hard work identifying players,
developing players. You know, I will take a developed player versus some
alleged four star that may or may not work out. Let's let's see it
with our own eyes. Let's judge whether this guy can play or not,
and let's develop him. That I think is what USF's program was based upon.
Is he gonna call plays? Uh? He says, I think yes.
Right now, He's he's holding out proviso that if once they go through
spring ball and fall workouts, if if the staff is such he you know,
I'm guessing yes, but he's he's leaving it all out in case,
um, somebody else on the staff shows that ability. It doesn't appear he'll
have an offensive coordinator in name that will be him. So I'm guessing that
that leads to the logical conclusion that he'll be the playmaker. He'll be the
play caller, I should say, on the field, So he'll be the
I guess the spur your esque, you know, headset, play caller,
head coach guy, what do you get? What do you feel like a
public sentiment is of the higher here the Bay Area? Do you think there's
there's optimism or like you said, let's get to September seventh and let's see,
let's see what he is. Yeah, I think that's that's mostly what
it's going to be from a lot of people. I think there was UM
obviously, with a lot of talk and chatter out there about Dion Sanders and
some others, the hopes were very high for that. We'll see how that
works out of Colorado. I don't know ultimately if that would have been the
right move for USF or not. It certainly would have put USF on a
huge national exposure drive, but again, is that what we need here to
get the program winning on the field. It would have given him great attention.
Their offseason would have been unmatched. This is not going to be that
kind of offseason here. But I think you know, again, as long
as as long as the Bulls win and they make progress, that's what any
fan would want. I think any fan that comes in contacts in contact with
Alex Goulish, I think we'll come away pleased and feeling like he's a sincere,
hard working guy. So I think I think when he goes out and
meets and greets, he's gonna make a favorable impression. But again, and
unjustifiably so, everyone should have a skeptical eye until the results are divided on
the field. From a recruiting perspective, do you think, obviously they had
the first wave of early signing Day a couple of weeks ago, there'll be
another wave here in February like the traditional signing day, just we won't talk
names and specifics. Do you think his mentality is going to be a little
bit of the transferport on a little bit of high school. Is he more
going to be more high school or do you think he's looking for a quick
and not saying quick fix, but the more transfer as you bring in,
the more chance you can win quicker is what do you think what his vision
on the recruiting front goes. I think philosophically, the bottom line is he
sees the need to build it up and develop players from the high school ranks,
and that will be the foundation, and the transfer portal will be used
to fill needs and to fill gaps, and maybe they can take a flyer
on somebody here and there. But for the most part, I think he
understands that it's about building relationships in the Tampa Bay community in the state of
Florida first and foremost, and getting guys that will stay, hopefully for a
few years, and plugging in with transfer report. USF went pretty heavy on
the transfer report last year. I think it was twenty one, and they
were ranked high and whatever rankings that was for transfers, but honestly, there
weren't many of them that were great impact players, maybe two or three,
so I don't think that worked out very well at all. So again there's
a reason why guys are transferring a lot of times, and sometimes there's there's
problems or a warts on the player, So you have to have to really
dig in deep and make sure that you're taking the right kind of guy.
Again, when we look at USF when at its best, historically you're talking
about guys like George Selvey, Augie Sanchez, Matt Growthie. These were not
five star players. These were for the most part, overlooked players that the
coaches saw something in and they developed them into first team All Conference type of
players. And you know, these are the USF legends, and I think
they need to get back to that sort of thing. And there's plenty of
those guys in this area. Yes, you know, I think you would
probably agree, as would I, that that we all want USF to you
know, they're not gonna get all the great players from this area, but
that they can certainly give some of them. And if you build uh,
you know, most of your team with players who who thrive in Hillsboro,
Pinella's, Pope Pascal Counties, I think you're going to develop a following.
And that's I think the kind of thing the program needs to build upon.
UM two more things I'll get you out here again. To me, one
of the things that I didn't see a whole lot of Jeff Scott doing.
You didn't see him on the radio, you didn't see my TV. You
didn't see him do a lot of media stuff outside of the just the absolute
within USF Athletics kind of stuff. I think, and you know, you
you've been in this media forever. I just think that's a that's a the
more that you do, especially early on in your tenure, to get some
sent them into the community. I think you got to do that stuff as
the head coach. I know it's not fun stuff to do as the coach.
They want to have to do that stuff, but you gotta do that
at a place like USF. Yeah, you know, you have to sell
yourself. You have to sell your program. And I will say I think
there's been you know, for the most part his time, Alex Coolish's time
has been spent on recruiting because he hit the floor running, so he hasn't
had a lot of free time. But I have noticed on two or three
occasions he's gone on a little media blitz and he's been on all the morning
TV shows, He's been on the radio shows. He has a really interesting
guy. He's very personable. He's a football coach for sure, and if
you leave him to his own devices, he's going to coach the ball and
do that stuff. But you know, he's an interesting guy. He's a
funny guy. We had a press conference with him the other day to talk
about the signing class and I asked him, I think a question about,
hey, since the time you took the program too, now he took the
job, since you had your feet on the ground, anything you've learned since
being here about the program that maybe he didn't realize. And he said,
yeah, I tell you something I didn't realize. We got a Portillo's on
Follower Avenue. That's awesome. And he went on this Portillo's jag. And
I tell you, I have to think I'd be shocked at this point if
he doesn't end up on a Portillo's commercial or something. But you know,
he's you know, it's gonna be fun getting to know him because he looks
like he's a kind of guy that, hey, let's go out and go
out and get go a hot dog and chat that kind of thing. So
he's a little bit, you know, kind of a dry sense of humor.
But he you know, he's got a little playful sense of humor in
there. But but again, make no mistake, he knows his job.
It's it's and it's primarily to to coach this team and to recruit players.
And but I you know, you get a feel for somebody when you're around
him a little bit. And he certainly appears to be a guy that I
could see where people who would respond to him and and and he would come
across in a really favorable way. So looking forward to getting to know that
a little bit more. Um. Jeff Scott was it was a great guy
to be around as well. But this is a little bit of a different
sort of personality, a little bit more understated. But um again, and
whether it's Jeff Scott, whether it's talent's goalish, let's get to September.
Let's make some progress. They're at Western Kentucky on September second, and that'll
be the first time I think we can really see if we've moved they moved
this thing forward at all. Last thing gives give the USF faithful in the
audience, a a update, a progress report on the stadium. I know
a lot to talk about the stadium where we at the If you don't know,
they just open a brand new indoor facility on campus, a beautiful indoor
facility that's going to really help them and you know the things they need to
be doing recruiting wise, and just from operationally being able to practice and things
like that with the weather. Give us an update on the stadium progress.
Well, there, it's in the design phase and we haven't seen those mock
ups yet, but but they're being done. It's it's a process. That's
the next step in the process, and when those are unveiled, presumably they'll
present a funding plan and a construction plan. Their state ed goal is to
open this open the twenty twenty sixth season there. That would mean my math
would be three more seasons and then the fourth season would be the stadium season.
So you know, some of the guys they're recruiting now conceivably could be
in that stadium. So this is a real thing, a real selling point
for recruiting. If they're getting these players, they say, hey, you
can finish your career in this stadium. You can help open it. So
that's a pretty big selling point. I've you know, I haven't heard haven't
seen it concretely, but I hear all kinds of whispers about some really innovative
things they want to do with it, some things that that are cutting edge
that maybe haven't been seen before. So that that's exciting to think about.
That they could have not just you know, slap up a stadium, but
this could be really something special and something something unique and one of the better
stadiums in the country. And I can just imagine what it's going to be
like to have an on campus facility and have an on campus football weekend at
USF. It'll make huge difference. Love Raymond James. What an awesome place
Raymond James is. But the problem with Raymond James is it's not on the
campus, so we miss that college atmosphere. So it's gonna be a huge,
huge difference maker. And I think, you know, you can make
the argument, boy, this should have happened before, and it probably should
have, but at least it's happening now. It's finally happening, and um,
you know, so it's got to be a major positive for the program
moving forward. All Right, I know you're a huge obviously you've covered a
lot, tons of tons of big sporting events over your career. What do
you Who are you like in the playoff games on Saturday, Georgia, Ohio
State, TCU, Michigan. I'm gonna go with Georgia and Michigan in the
in the championship game. That's not really going out on a limb at all.
I would I would think those would be the favorites. Uh, Georgia,
I think is just I'm gonna pick Georgia till until I see otherwise.
They they are the I guess, the new Alabama so to speak. They're
they're the top dog and they have everything going on. Carbi Smart it's at
the top of his game and um, they're they're absolutely the team to beat.
Um. I'll be really curious how Ohio State shows up in this game
because last time out, as we saw, they didn't didn't show up very
well at all against Michigan. So we'll see what kind of how they have
left. I'm happy that TCU made it. I was thinking all along they
were going to get jobbed in the end, but they made it. And
uh but uh, but I don't I don't see them having quite enough firepower
to overtake Michigan. So Georgia Michigan. That's that's those are two brand name
products right there to top of the line football programs. That will be a
really a really great final. One thing I would hope for is um sometimes
these games in recent years in the final four, I've had a Tennessee to
kind of fall flat. I don't know that we've had these classic games and
any of them. So I hope, I hope the quality of the games
are are very very good. Uh. Sometimes we get just this relentless build
up for for not much, not much to remember. So I'm hoping that
the final four in the championship game or are great games. And I'm certainly
looking forward to the day in a few years when we go to twelve and
that'll be that'll be a ton of fun. And uh, you know,
for a program like usflutely there is hope to get into portnity opportunity. If
you can win your conference and that conference is the best one, well then
you've got a road to it. So um, and uh you know,
you could even argue that USF in some ways may have a better road than
some other teams and bigger conferences. So UM, looking forward to that,
looking forward to all the things that that are ahead, not only for USF
but for college football, and hope we get it straightened out because there's craziness
going on right now with the portal and with with an IL, and I
have to think that we've got to figure out some kind of way to keep
this in order somehow. I don't know how that's going to work, but
uh, the NFL has a commissioner, has a set of rules. College
football has neither, and I think it needs one, if not both of
those things. Speaking of now, I'll give you one more question, ni
L. What is Alex's philosophy on that? In USFS philosophy, do they
have a I know, the biggest a collective in place and all that stuff.
What is USF stance on all of nil stuff and making that a asset
to them? They want to be as as big a players they possibly can
be within the rules. They have the Fouler Avenue collective which Matt growthy Is
is associated with. Certainly it's not maybe as large as says some of the
other ones, of course, but they are. They are trying their best
to make it as attractive as they possibly can. And that is that is
the way of life, not only for football but for other sports at USF
and other schools. Is that is that is part of the process now,
part of the evaluation, part of the recruiting is uh, maybe in some
ways the most important part of the of the of the equation is what what
sort of n I L do you have in place? And you know,
other than these five star NFL bound guys that get you know, who knows
what, it's not life changing money or life changing stuff for these other athletes.
It's just something that allows them to maybe have some comfort in their life,
to be able to afford some things and give them some merch and some
swag and some stuff. You know, like all of us would have liked
us kids, you know, grab a bag full of cool stuff will just
make us pretty happy and just enough spending money. So again if and I
you know, and I'll work this into I love what I see from some
of these kids who are using their NIL to help charities and help causes.
That's really cool. Not everybody's going to do that, but I love it.
I love the ones that I've seen that are doing it, that are
taking this found money and using some of it to turn it around for a
good cause. That's a pretty that's a pretty cool thing in my eyes.
I agree with you know that you're right. There's some great stories around the
country or guys are doing stuff or other people with the money that they're getting
for that so well. Joey Johnson, appreciate the time, a great great
analysis on usf Alex Golish the stadium and such and hope you have a great
New Year's and stay safe. Thanks Jason, appreciate it. May Happy New
Year to everybody and certainly to you. Appreciate. We'll be right back with
Matt Michelle from The Orlando Sentinel. Are you in the market for a new
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four nine eight two eight eight seven. All right, welcome back Florida Football
Insiders podcast where you just heard from Joey Johnston talking USF. Now we're gonna
talk to Matt Michelle. Matt covers UCF in Florida State for The Orlando Sentinel.
You've heard Matt on the podcast several times throughout the football year, and
as we get through signing day in the bowl game from Florida State coming up
here, no better person to talk to than Matt. So welcome back,
Matt. Happy holidays, Happy holidays too. How are you doing today?
Things are going well, Things are going well. All right, let's talk
signing day for Florida State and UCF. Just get we don't need to talk
specific names and all that a whole lot. Do you think that, I
know, you know one of the things you heard out of Florida State was
the they were pretty active in the transfer reporter. They got some guys,
some some knee positions. The other part you heard was not all their guys
are playing in the bowl games. None of their guys are not playing.
And that's really something that you've heard a lot out of. Coach Norvelle and
company. Just talk about signing day for both Florida State and you SEEFF a
little bit and what are your thoughts. Well, I think for Florida State,
you know, this wasn't like an extraordinary class. I mean, if
you look at the numbers and you look at rankings, which fans love to
do, this wasn't a class. I think everyone's gonna go, oh wow,
you know what I mean. But it was a solid class from Mike
Norville. I think what it did is it addressed some needs from the high
school level. And as you mentioned, he jumped into portal and he got
once again. Mike Norvella has become the transfer portal master, you know,
of being able to get guys. I mean, he added up some big
pieces on the offensive line. You know. I think Jeremiah Buyers, the
transfer from UTEP, is probably one of the most elite almost step in playing
ready guys. He could probably step on that right backle spot right away and
be a contributor, probably one of the better ones they've picked up. Got
a couple of other guys. They landed a guy actually yesterday and Brad Fisk,
who is a one of the top defensive ends that they've been you know
that's out there in the transfer portal. He's going to be huge for them.
Again, he gives them strength to that position. Seems to be a
trend from Mike Norvell where he's he's gone out of the portal and grabbed you
know, every year it seems to grab an edge rusher, you know,
because he wants to kind of fill that spot. Um. So they were
able to handle that as well. They got a couple of good tight ends
as well. Um yaham Bell is supposed to be a guy who's really ready
to go. Um, a guy who would step in gives Mike Novell a
different option, a different look at the tight end position. So as a
whole, as a class, I think the class was strong. I think
Kim Williams is going to be really good. Who was the high school that
their top high school recruit that they signed a five star player who I think
will be a guy who could step in him and play almost immediately, and
they also filled some other needs there. I think same can be said for
UCF. UCFS class isn't something that you would go out was it was,
you know, it was amazing. They got some good solid position players.
You know, they added the two or three four stars, something that this
program hasn't had and I think ever you know is that many four stars in
a class. But this is a this is you know, a program that's
moving on from the Group of five to the Power five, the Big twelve.
So they're going to have to continue to add some of these pieces and
continue to get stronger on the recruiting trails. So again, I think Gus
Maall's line has a lot more work to do than Mike Norvell does in his
class. I mean, I think he's probably gonna hit the portal a little
hard as well. I think they've added some pieces from other SEC schools,
a talented wide receiver, talented offensive lineman. I think that's what Gus is
going to continue to do it just keep adding these pieces. Let's not forget.
The portal window will close and then I'll open up again after spring,
and I think that's where you're gonna see maybe some more movement. But I
think the biggest telling sign for both, mainly for Florida State in this is
as you mentioned, there weren't a lot of opt outs. I mean,
when you go to this Florida State goes to this bowl game this week,
they have all their players and it's something I'm gonna write about tomorrow about this
is an amazing fact that that Mike Novelle has been able to keep a team
together when every other team in the country it seems like as players are opting
out or going into the transfer portal and leaving the program, this is gonna
be probably the best lineup you're gonna see bowl wise, when you talk about
from roster from top to bottom, because those guys are all coming back.
Yeah. One in the one big loss. I know, you know Mikey
Key, the quarterback at UCM, did he not believe he he transferred?
He's he he left and he's going to Fresno State to play him. I
think Mikey's decision was based kind of on you know, he was the starter
last year, filled in for Dylan gabriel Um. A lot of people felt
like he was going to be the starter of this year. But then Jordan,
you know, the John Rice Palmy comes in for the transfer portal from
and from Old Miss and Gus really kind of embraced that, you know,
I think he really kind of wanted that John Rice fit kind of what they
were trying to do offensively. So Mikey decided to leave. So I think
there's gonna be some interest at that quarterback spot. They've got some Timmy McClain
as a transfer they brought in past season who had to sit out from USF.
He's a very talented player. I think you can help them out.
And Tommy Castellanos, who is the backup right now for Plumb League. He's
an up and coming, you know, player who's been on the roster.
They have a lot of enthusiasm for him. And so I think, you
know, Gus is kind of looking around, think, okay, fine,
we just got to add pieces to kind of get some depth at some positions.
Yeah, and give and give, you know. Obviously, the culmination
of the year, the USUCF loses in the championship game to Tulane. You
know that. I think it was a you know, good game both both.
They beat Tulane a month or so back prior to the championship game and
then they lose to him the second time around. I think, I think
success. I think, from all indications, very successful season, Orlando.
But he's pretty happy some what I mean, I think people felt like this
was a team that could win the AAC this year. It felt like they
I know, they got to the championship game and loss. But there are
a lot of people who felt like this was a team that could that could
get to ten eleven wins. You know, they felt like they had enough
talent there as well, so to have some of the losses they had were
difficult. Um, I think you know, obviously the Louisville game, they
were up at halftime, they gave that game a win the second half.
Um. You know, you mentioned the loss in the championship game. Obviously
there was a lot there, um, and they faced some challenges with injuries.
I mean John reres Plumby was hurt at a hamstring injury. UM,
really kind of limited in that in that championship game. So there were just
opportunities that fans think they could have done a little bit better. But again,
you know, now you're making them to the Big twelve. Everyone's just
happy to kind of to put the season behind them and see what's gonna happen
next year. So let's let's wrap up with Florida State in the bowl game.
I know, Florida State, it's gonna be super excited. They think
they've kind of turned the corner here, you know, nine and three,
nine and three finish you know, a lot of excitement coming out of Tall
Lassie. I think this will be one of the few Bowl teams in the
country. They'll have no lack of motivation. They will be very excited to
play. You're getting some of these Bowl games, you're not sure what the
motivation level is for some of these teams. I think by the indication of
everybody's staying and not opting out, I think that's a great sign. I
think you're gonna have no problem having a very motivated Florida State team to play
Oklahoma. Yeah. I mean it's interesting. We spoke to the They had
media day yesterday for the Cheese At Bowl and a lot of Florida State players
were there and they talked a lot about you know, they want to get
that tenth win. The tenth win to them is important. They've seen the
Florida State brand returning to where it needs to be in the national landscape,
and people are talking about Florida State again. It's in the national it's talking
about in the national rankings. And all these players said, listen, we
understand how important this is and we and I think the thing that kind of
helps them along on this process too, is that Jordan Travis is committed to
coming back next year. You said that Tatumthune's coming back, you know,
Mica Bittman, Trey Benson, all these solid players. Normally at this time
here, these guys are maybe on the fence. I don't know what I'm
gonna do. I'm gonna they all came back. They all came back announced
this early, and they're trying to convince Jared Verse and Jamie Robinson to come
back because they say, hey, man, you come back, imagine what
we could be like. And so there's so much positivity surrounding this program right
now. They feel like this going in this game. Man, we've got
so much to go for it, and they're gonna play. I'm gonna guarantee
you probably gonna sell out. They're really close to it. I think they
got less than fifteen hundred tickets left. It's gonna be a sought and it's
gonna be a very very pro Florida State crowd at this in the stadium.
So it's gonna be a great atmosphere. They understand exactly what's going on.
They want to kind of continue to push, you know what. They're trying
to do it and next year they realize there's gonna be a lot of people
who are gonna look at Florida State and maybe actually put them in some preseason
rankings where we get down to it. Oh yeah. And the other interesting
nugget here as you got Dylan Gabriel, the former UCF quarterback coming back to
town and he's now the quarterback for Oklahoma. Yeah, it was interesting.
We spoke to Dylan yesterday for a while. Um, it was kind of
a surreal moment for me because I covered Dylan and Mackenzie Milton, the former
Florida the former UCF quarterback, was there as well. He was actually friends
with Dylan, and they were both there and they kind of were talking for
a bit. And it's kind of little eerie to look back at see like
he's two UCF guys who were still there, but Dylan's you know, Dylan
talked about his kind of his journey from where we left UCF. You know,
he went in the transfer portal. So it was a very difficult decision,
um, you know, but he felt like it was best to move
on. You know, he got to Oklahoma. It wasn't a great year.
I mean they're six and six, you know, they've had some struggles
obviously. UM, they're going into this game trying to maybe you know,
come off with some positivity getting a win, maybe against a top fifteen ranked
team. Um, you know, they won't have some of the key players.
Whose guys who hindered the portals we talked about on the flip side.
For Florida State, they've got some guys who entered the portal and the left
and guys who opted out. So it's gonna be kind of an Hodgepodge roster
I think for Oklahoma. So you know, Dylan wants to kind of showcase
and and you know, hey, I'm back back in Orlando. I want
to show case what we're able to do. And he's got a decision on
his own. I mean, listen, afterwards, he's got to decide whether
or not he wants to try to go for the NFL, if he wants
to come back for another season in Oklahoma. And I talked to Jeff Levy,
their offensive coordinate, who was a former UCF quarterbacks coach, and he
said, you know, Nielsen, Dylan wants to focus on this game and
doesn't want to worry about that decision. Though they have had conversations about it,
so it's gonna be interesting. So Oklahoma wants to finish strong. They
would love to do it against a great team. Yeh, I saw some
social media pictures, you'd like the hot dogs over there they were. They
had a good media day spread, Yes they did. They actually had some
really good so some good media day spread. What's really interesting was side note
is that most of the Oklahoma Beat writers weren't there at the event because of
the weather the travel delays that have kind of bampered the country. They weren't
even there. So it was literally maybe about a handful of us from local
media, Florida State media as well. They're kind of doing the interview.
So it was interesting, but it was a good opportunity to kind of catch
up with everybody. And like I said, we talked to Jared Verse,
we talked to Jamie Robinson about their decisions maybe the Boss to come back,
Jared said. Both of them said their moms have been very crucial in this
decision. They've really kind of stepped forward and almost acted like managers for them
and have taken on the responsibility of letting them focus on football and worried about
kind of creating their you know, getting everything set up. In fact,
Jared Verset said his mom has created a war room in their house where she's
got a wall pinned up with stuff and pros and cons and things like that.
So she's really handling it. And Jared said, honestly, it's been
it's been a blessing for me because I can focus on football and enjoying this
week of bowl preparation. Who do you like in the Who do you like
in the semi final playoff games? Oh, I'm gonna say it's gonna be
Georgia that it's probably gonna be Georgia Michigan getting into getting into the national Championship.
I think George's got a stronger defense. I think OHI State's got a
chip on the shoulder, would love to come into this game and kind of
pull the upset. But George's played really well most of the season. TCU's
had a great run, and you know, but I think Michigan's will get
a team that's been there before. I don't think people understand when you haven't
been in these kind of situations how difficult it can be in challenging for a
coach and a team to kind of put all that aside while you're focusing on
what you're gonna do. And so I like this idea of Georgia Michigan going
to the national town again. All right, Matt Telby, where they can
find out your great Bowl coverage and all the great works you do with the
Orlando Sentinel. Yeah, they can go to Orlando Sentinel dot com or you
can follow me on Twitter at os Matt Michelle and got all sorts of coverage
for this week and bowls and transfer portals and all sorts of nil deals.
So it never seems to end, doesn't It does not. And I said
you'll get a little break here, a little bit, but but not for
another couple of weeks for sure. Well, Matt, appreciate the time,
Matt, great, keep up the great work covering all things Orlando sports and
Florida State Athletics. Really appreciate the time. That's the end of our podcast
for the week. Appreciate you find us on a Florida Football Insiders podcast.
I'm your host Jason again. We talked to coach Jim Levitt, we talked
to Joey Johnston, and now Matt Michelle trying to give you a good recruiting
update as well as Bowl updates here as we get to the semifinals and find
us on Twitter at JPO Sports. Appreciate you find us, and we'll see
you next week on the Florida foot Insiders Podcast. Thanks for listening to the
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