Joining us now to talk about a lot of things football related and a little
bit of basketball, because something happened last night Clemson related. Our good buddy
Will Van de Voort from All Clemson. He's here. How are you doing
abouty what's going on? How is you? God? God, couldn't hear
your voice? Hud Huh. It's good to hear your voice. I thought
he had the applause. I said, well, did me explained? I
thought you said, I can't hear your voice. Voice, Thank you.
It's good to hear your voice too. Man. Always we uh, of
course do a lot of work during the football it's basketball season for the ingle
side of things. And look, it's kind of like I said, it's
that good thing for you and for me in a way, the dead zone
and football where you can kind of breathe a little bit. But some news
last night, of course, the NBA Draft and you know, Hunter Tyson,
what a career you had at Clemson. I know he worked really hard.
Brad Brunel's talked about it. You've been covering this story. Uh.
He was known as the guy that was eating oat meal in the morning through
the old man in the building and really one of the veterans of that team,
and there he goes. It was some confusion early on as to where
he was. I thought it was Denver, that Oklahoma city, and he
will be joining the fat Boys. He calls himself, Yo, kis out
in Denver. How about that man? Your thoughts on it? Yeah,
that's great to Tyson. He is a Hunter is a great young man.
M and he was always fun to talk to the last couple of years,
very open um, you know, just a you know, he's one of
those kids that you just loved the interview and talked to and just kind of
get to know him. And you know, you mentioned the story of the
oatmeal and Coach Brownell telling that story and Hunter telling the story. That was
like one of the funniest days this past season, Coach Brownhell going into and
sharing us the oatmeal story. And for the people that don't know, they
can go on our website. Didn't read the story about it. He was
looking up knew I knew it, and I knew you had the oatmeal on
you. I knew you had the oatmeal scoop. That's why I brought it
up, my friend. Yeah, so you know, that's a that's a
that's a. That's one of my favorite stories. Uh how he was just
in the building all the times, so he would bring his own Oakville and
then start eating you know, before the coaches all stuff. Yeah, he's
an old man at heart, and so he led that way. He was
a big leader on that team. And um and just the way he played
this year and how I mean, you look at Clemson's record the last two
years when hundred tyson was playing, it was I mean they won over you
know, probably over thirty games, thirty five games in the last two years
that he started, and very few losses in there, right, because you
remember got Hurts junior or and he missed, he missed a lot of time,
and when he came back, they were almost unbeatable when he was in
the lineup. And it's not that he's just you know, like a Larry
Bird kind of guy or anything like that. And people to get the wrong
idea, but his leadership on the court, his style of play, what
he brings to the table, his ability to play defense and the rebound or
a lot of reasons why Clempson associates Festival the last couple of years with him
on the floor. And you know, so him getting drafted is a bit.
It's great story because remember he went into the draft last year, right,
and he went and did all the NBA stuff and all that, and
then he came back to school, took that what he learned, made himself
a better player, put himself in position to go back to the Combine and
get that invite this year. And then when he went to the invite this
year, coming off a first team All acc selection and everything he did at
Clemson, he used that and then made his case even stronger up there during
the Combine. And that's why coming out of that combine, everybody's like other
Dyson's gonna get drafted. He heard all the scouts talking about him and everything.
You just knew he was going to get drafted. And sure enough,
you know, the people, the NBA's weird. Some people understand it.
He got drafted by Oklahoma cit but the NBA does not start it's regular his
new year until calendar year until July first, right, right, So as
the trade was can't be approved until it did. Well, I'm just gonna
tell you I didn't know that, and I'd forgotten that, and so I'm
last night trying to write a little tribute tweet because I know Hunter a little
bit and I'm trying to figure out whether the hell is he playing because half
of Twitter's congratulating for Denver and you got Oklahoma City's like, oh, we
drafted him. It's like a Colby Bright situation. So yeah, yeah,
So what happened was, so he's Oklahoma. They did the trade yesterday before
the draft, and so Denver Oklahoma City made the draft, and Denver is
what they they They gave them their selection right and that this is who we
want you to draft, like ordering on door. Dash is like here,
do this for me, right and so, and then it won't be approved
until July first. So that's why he gets drafted by Oklahoma City even though
technically he's going to right. It's so weird because the NBA cannot do it
easy there. I know, I know your boy Richmond up there when he's
there, which he loves to talk the NBA stuff. Well, the NBA,
look, could you do with the NFL does and not do your draft
until you start the news. I'm gonna say, how hard is that?
I said it this morning. Will Vandervoort Clemson SI joins us here he covers
it all for Clemson. He's a big Steelers fan, NFL fan. We're
going to get to that here shortly. Um. I talked about this in
my son this morning. I texted Trey soliloquy on just with a few cuss
words I would assume in my tech saying the draft was unwatchable, And it
wasn't because of the players. I'm proud of all of the man great job.
Victor's gonna be an animal, you know, hopefully you know, Brandon
Miller will be you know what we think he can be. And then you
know, Scoot Henderson, the Twins get drafted. Uh, and then you
know, you get into the middle, like the first round and then the
second round. Some interesting storylines do develop. Of course locally, you know
Jalen Slawson gets drafted. Do we know about Hunter Tyson? And then Gigi
Jackson. But you can't keep up with some of the nuances, like you
said, who's going where? When does the league years start? Why is
one of the colleges for the player tweeting out in Oklahoma City logo behind him
when he's going to Denver? And then will vander were educates us a little
bit. That's why it's the businesses they do need to simplify. Is the
NFL. Look, they own everything. The draft is so superior in so
many ways because they keep people on the hook in the seventh round for guys
that aren't really going to play will and I think I was falling asleep in
the middle of the first round. I really was, you and me both.
And that's that's why the NFL does it so much better, and how
they keep themselves in the news three hundred and sixty five days a year,
and nobody does it better a professional sports wise. And if you're in the
NBA, it's nothing wrong with copy and what the NBA NFL does. No,
there's nothing wrong with the copy it. Make it your own, but
make it work, yeah, you know, but try to do something.
Don't do stupid stuff like that last night where people don't know, I mean
people who don't understand the draft. They're sitting there watching it. They're like
excited, They're like, oh, yeah, what do you mean we did?
Why people on there, I maybe it's trying to figure it out.
I was like, Okay, that's so stupid. Why are you All you're
doing is you're causing your viewers to leave because they're like, I don't want
to watch this. Who's getting my favorite team's city? It is as I'm
gonna tell you, I'm a sports talk host, but I don't claim to
be like I'm gonna pretend I know it all even when I don't. I
was lost. I told Claire Trey Hurley, I was like the meme of
the bear on Facebook that doesn't know how to do algebra with his son,
he's got his hand as well, like boo, I had no idea what's
going on with Hunter Tyson? And I would actually I searched Hunter Tyson's name
on Twitter and there was no clarity from anybody. It's like, if you
know the NBA click, Obviously you don't know what the deal is. Let's
move on here. Okay, So congrats to Hunter Man, great career,
and I look, I just a side note. Maybe you agree, maybe
disagree. I think Brad Brinell deserves some monicam of credit. He's been at
her heat. Hunter comes back and Brad, they got snob. Let's be
honest. From the tournament. But what a great job, a great job
of coaching and leadership, and now you'll be j Hall's back in the building,
So we'll catch up on basketball later a football. Here we go,
Clemson, Let's do it, man, We're like we're getting up on it.
I mean, you know, training camp in the NFL is like thirty
days away almost, and your Steelers will be up there a latrobe and my
Panthers will be right there and Wafers. That's right, you know, Terrey
Falco Steelers fan too. They put y'all to the test a little bit.
Nowtle Steelers trivia. Let's talk Clemson. Let's talk Clemson. Let go well,
you know there's some common threads between Clemson and the Steelers, with your
buddy Levon Kirkland and the many others, Brentson Buckner. Let's talk first about
Clemson. You know, it's been a recruiting like hotbed the past few weeks.
Every time I turn on the Twitter, I see, oh boy,
either you know, James Haynes or Grisham's tweeting out something. They've had a
nice few weeks, there have they not? They have, They've had a
really good few weeks. And it's not surprising because Dabo, you know,
he builds, He builds through recruiting, through high school recruiting. I know
some people, And I guess you might ask me about Florida staun A.
While they live off the other side, they lift off portal recruiting, right
and that's what they do. But Clenson's all about you know, you know,
that was all about building relationship with kids and building the foundation of this
program through high school recruiting and um, you know, developing players and getting
them to where they want to be. And they've just had the last couple
of weeks. Man, they're killing it right now. They've got the number
what number four recruiting class according to two four seven composite in the country right
now. They signed one five star already and they got like, I think
four or five four stars in there. Um, I think they're up getting
close to commitments. I'm not one hundred sure what that number is, but
I know it's getting pretty high and it's going to continue to rise from everything
we've been told here over the next few weeks. So they're still blazing,
man, They're still they're still going after getting some of the best players in
the country. They are will Vandervoort all Clemson Tigers dot Com. Has your
job become harder? In that regard? I found mine has with all the
dynamics with an il portal and of course the traditional recruiting. There's so many
moving parts and maybe it's a challenge that you welcome. But like your perspective
is a guy who has been a beat writer for this program for a long
time. It's a different element covering these stories now because you have to look
at the Dabo Sweeney you know, prism in which he looks through it.
It's like more recruiting, a little less of the portal. I'll ask you
this too. Do you think Dabo is sort of doing a slow ramp up
into that to where he'll meet the standard of others out there that are in
the portal, not adon Sanders level. But is he going to wrap up
into it or is he very comfortable with their approach right now? And that's
kind of the way it's going to be. They're very comfortable with the approach
right now, and I think that helps them a lot on the recruiting trail
because the coaches they're building relationships with at the high school level, they're they're
they're getting they're even gaining more trust than they already have because it's a big
deal right now. The high school ranks, because what's happening is a lot
of the schools, such as Florida's State and all that they're building their programs
from the transfer portal, and so they're kind of taking away a lot of
those relationships on the high school side, if you will. And so you're
seeing a lot of high school kids that maybe would have signed and gotten a
chance with Florida's State a few years ago are now having to go to maybe
a Group of five school or a FCS school to try to develop and then
transfer. So what's happening is is causing the coaches at the high school level
to stay. Look, you know people aren't coming to us, but you
know the Clemsons, maybe in Alabama, high State in Georgia are still doing
their high school recruiting like they normally do, and those are the schools they're
building better relationships with. And I think that beneficial with Clemson when you look
at it from the high school side of things. And I know fans want
Clemson to get that quick fixed, and they want that you know, transfer
portal wide receiver that they've been wanting for so long and all. What they
don't understand there's a risk reward there because you're getting a kid that there's a
reason why he's leaving that school. Ye, and you got to think about
that and there and so what's going to happen when times come tough in the
crunch moment of a game and you got to have a guy you can count
and make a play and say it's one of them. Now, you know,
for every Joe Burrow, there's five or six guys that didn't make it.
Now, Joe Burrow is an exception to the rule because he didn't leave
because he hated Ohio State or anything like that. He left because he wanted
to play and he saw that that's probably wasn't gonna happen with just fills there
at Ohio State. It's a totally different situation than what most of these kids
go into the portals do. Yes, it's playing time, but there's also
other reasons and other factors too that gotta be that you got to understand.
And also, each kid is different than trans reportal. Each have their own
story and there's a reason why they went in there, and sometimes it maybe
doesn't fit the school they're going to go to, and sometimes there may be
certain circumstances. So there's something too getting a kid. In my opinion,
I'm with Dabo on this, getting a kid out of high school and building
him and making him into not only a better player, but a better young
man as well, and building that confidence. And they're developing them into where
they're getting the best they can out of them. I think there's something to
that. To me, it's steel how a foundation of a program should be
built well well as you know, And I'm not, you know, caping
for any coach here. I just I know all these guys, we all
Shane and Dabbo and how they operate. And you know the other guys out
there too is good, Kirby Smart and Nick Saban. They each have their
own philosophy. I can tell you this and you'll probably back me up.
You know Dabbo a little better than I do. He's not gonna settle if
it comes to it, he will exercise what's available out there. But my
perspective on this, and maybe I'm miscategorizing Dabo's perspective, and I certainly don't
want to do that. But stay with what got you here, Stay true
to your core principles if it keeps working, and then tap into it as
you go, so you're not just diving in and gorging at the gates.
You don't need to. You've built up somewhat equity overall with the program.
It's a well known brand. Keep working that end of it, and then
you build those relationships, and then when the portal presents an opportunity as it
has, go get it. And I think that's what you're gonna see.
It's gonna be fascinating. You wrote a piece the other day will as we
continue to talk about the very fascinating off season for this Clemson team, kind
of turning the clock back, and I talked about it. Actually, you
helped me out on a day where I had nothing to talk about it.
So I gave you credit for it. And I went through your entire all
Dabbo Sweeney team and I will take I don't take issue with any of it.
It's a great list, and you remember some of these names, like
let me give you a few names for those who didn't see it. You
go to all Clemson Tigers dot com. You remember, like you know,
DeAndre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins were a part of that same group there together.
I watched some highlights of Sammy. He's been kind of in the dark lately.
That guy was amazing. It was that Orange Bowl game with Taj Boyd
where he was just ripping a hole in the defense. Um, yeah,
you forget that. DeAndre was great. T Higgins, you got BT Potterson
love and of course all purpose CJ. Spiller, and then you go to
the defensive side. We all know who the quarterbacks are and all that good
stuff. Although maybe some controversy a quarterback with the Shan Watson. We'll talk
about that in a minute, but just some great names from the past.
Go to all Clemson Tigers dot com and if I will Vandervoort's list here,
what went into that? What inspired you to write that? Because that's it
did a great idea. I run one panther place I've never come up with,
like an old John Fox team. Now I'm inspired, man, well
good, I was just seeing there one day. I was thinking of something
from right that's different. And I call this lift season. Is that a
lot of people bring out the old list and everything, and so you get
lift season, then you got talking season, you get expansion season. We
have to talk our list out on the radio season, right yep. So
we're in lift season. Right now, and so I'm just think it's something
different that nobody's really done. And I think he had. Davo has been
there fourteen years now, um, you know, going on the fifteen season,
you know, and he's had a lot of great players, probably some
of the greatest players in the history of the school, to be honest with
you, and um, you know, it's like, hey, let's do
a list of davos greatest players, not just Clemson's, but Davos greatest players
at Clemson. And so that's kind of what expired inspired it. And you
know, then I just kind of went through each roster um and the good
news, guys, is I can write this on how I saw it because
I covered every single one of these players. You did, I've been covering.
I've been covering Clemson's in two thousand and four. I was there was
a transition from Tommy Bowden the Davo went and so I feel like I got
a pretty good stranglehold on her. You were in the Hatfield there. You're
down there, Ken, You're down there with Ken Hatfield. I believe at
one point, weren't you. I'm not that old now, I mean I'm
not old, but I was in college, so that's a different But some
of the names you mentioned, just real quick. I mean, these were
guys you mentioned that dated back into the last the decade before the last one,
way back when the spiller really was tremendous. And I think the talking
point about Travis Etn, I don't know if there is a more forgotten player
in ACC history than Etn, and I mean that sincerely. Nobody on the
national scale talks about him as probably I would say, you couldn't really make
an argument the greatest running back in that conference's history. I don't have any
doubt about it. He was electric. The numbers say it, yeah he
was. He was Acencies all time leagues rusher, the Agencies all time touchdown
leader. He was a consensus All American his final year at Clempson, three
times first team All American. And then, guys, what people always forget
because you talk about Shaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence and all those guys, he
was a two thousand and eighteen and two thousand nineteen ACC Player of the Year.
Only one of the Clemson players ever done that back to back years,
and that guy's name is Steve four. To get it back in ninteen seventy
seventy eight, So that that is what's the amazing about. I think he's
one of only four in the history of the league to win back to back
Play of the Year or so, You're right. I think he's very underrated.
People won't talk about him enough about what he did not only acc but
what he didn't actionally well as well. You know, I mean back to
back sixteen hundred yards seasons. People forget about that, all right. So
Clemson opens up with Duke on Labor Day. Duke is feeling good. You
know. You hear a lot of buzz up there about the fact that they
are on the rise, and you know, Mike Elko has done a nice
job. If you had a chance to sort of size up where Duke is
in their development and what challenges do they present for this Clemson team going into
a game that's obviously not against Georgia, thank goodness for Clemson fans, but
a tough test on the road, no doubt. Yeah. The good news
for Clemson is that they have a veteran defense coming back, and I think
that's going to vode well for Clemson where they do have some inexperience on the
offensive side of the ball, at wide receiver, at quarterback mainly I knew
less tackle, right, So there's gonna be some inexperience on offense, and
so it's good that they lean on the defense because they're gonna play a Dukee
team that has a very experienced quarterback who I think is one of the top
quarterbacks in the ACC. And they're gonna have to against an offense that m
there's got some big tight ends and the way they play power football and how
they use their quarterback in the in the run game. He's a big kid
that likes to run the ball. This is not gonna be an easy game,
as people thinking, is this Clemson had the better roster, Yes,
but this Duke has a more veteran team. Yes, And I think Clemson
having a veteran off defense, especially as you know, as gonna bode well
considering. Yes, Clemson's got a lot of players coming back an offense too,
But they knew this is only gonna be the second start ever for you
know, for Kate club Nick, and then we don't know what they got
a wide receiver, right, We just don't know. And so it's gonna
be interesting to see what's gonna happen. I mean, Clemson's got the playmakers
and wide receivers, don't get me wrong, but we just haven't seen it.
And so I've got and they're gonna be in for like, oh my
gosh, it's gonna be a battle. I think Clemson should still win by
a couple of touchdowns, but it ain't gonna be easy. People. But
two minutes rules, well, you asked the question. Falco. You're the
Steeler guy. Jesus, I thought you were gonna set it up for me
to ask. I thought you were gonna sec We're transparent. If nothing else,
we we open up our flub outlet to yet say here we are.
Yea. So here's the backstory. Trey Falco and our guest Will Vandervoort,
who covers the Clemson Tigers for all Clemson Tigers, are both rabid Steeler fans.
I told Trey, I said, you know Gena on the mic,
and let's talk a little bit, Like all right, ask him a Stealers
transition. You just stood there with stage fright, so the floorsers in three
minutes or less, ask him a Steelers question. You're like, maw,
they got me all right, So what do you think about Porter Junior?
Because we've seen we've got Broderick, he's been he's obviously been signed today.
Do you think and count Bitton's been signed today, do you think we'll see
Porter as well. I know there's a speculation because it's like he was a
thirty second round or thirty second pick overall, so typically that's a first round
and there's some speculation. Maybe there's some more negotiation going on in that,
I guess in that wheelhouse, Yeah, they want that, they want that
thirty second the first round money, get it. Yeah, you're hitting it
the nail on the head. It's more and he's more of that. He's
more sploted as that number thirty two guy. Te Higgins was the same way
a few years ago, if you remember with the Bengals. And so it's
really he's a he's a first round guy. Yeah, he's gonna get slotted
first round money. It's a way how they're going to negotiate that, and
and it's going to go to how his rookie contract is structure. And that's
why I think it's taken a little bit longer than the other guys. I
think you're definitely going to see him get signed before training camp. That's not
going to be an issue. Should be probably here, I would imagine in
the next week or two before. Don't get that done. And but because
they love him and you know it then obviously because of the daddy and what
a great story man. When he passed in the draft and they passed them
there at number I believe seventeen, yes, team on the draft, I
um, I was just like, we're not gonna get Porter now, you
know. I don't get me wrong. I love I love the pick,
the offensive line pick, because that they need that last year real bad.
That was something they needed. Yeah, so I love that, But I
really wanted them to get Porter. And the Porter get flipped in and slipping
and slipping, and I knew Pittsburgh had that number thirty two picks to start
the next draft, and everybody's like, oh, the Steelers are gonna trade
it. I'm like, Steelers ain't trading that. Yeah, we wanted now
we want a Porter too bad go disciplined by Omar count Look, we got
some uh some fuss here on the phone line. There might be on r
N head it's will Van dervourg Clemson, SI Will. We're not cutting you
off here, just want to wish you all the best. We're gonna talk
to you here in a couple of weeks getting ready football season. He's a
big Steeler fan. He's the best in the business covering the Clemson Tigers.
Thanks well, we'll see you next time.