Speaker 1: All Star to Yoda presents Off the Bench with Jacob Hester.
Speaker 2: And Matt Flynn.
Speaker 3: Let's go.
Speaker 1: Let's go from a championship backfield to your morning drive.
Speaker 3: Ham'sday.
Speaker 4: Hester and Hester got it.
Speaker 3: Five out of PA.
Speaker 1: You're locked in to Off the Bench described Control the
live from the Mercedes Benz of Baton Rouge Studio. Here's
Jacob Hester and Matt Flynn.
Speaker 2: Yoo yo, Cassie, don't let us down, Yo, thank you.
I never opened the show like that, but we hadn't
done it all week and I kind of missed it.
So we're doing that. I just decided to do it.
That's my fault. I didn't tell you, guys. Taylor Shropier
with you in the host share. We got along for
Hillary Alan Cassie Spizally. If you can see this black
dot on my shirt, it's been a morning guys. I
carried in about six things, had the energy drink held
up here and evidently it had some connosation audit. So
now we got a giant wet spot on the black Shirtie, Well,
here's something else. I noticed. Only thing that makes me
more pale than wearing a white shirt in these lights.
Wearing a black shirt that forehead pretty shiny here this morning.
Cassie's probably gonna have to wear sunglasses, changing those cameras
all show long. Look, we are here rocking and rolling,
gonna have a good time on this Friday, jacing matter out.
They needed the day off here on this Friday after
being out in Atlanta all week working so hard. But
we are here with you. We got a Landra, We
got Cassie. Guys, how we feel in a Landra. You
were out in New Orleans for UFC fight week, so
it was a mixer last night.
Speaker 5: Went in today, so there's like a press conference. I
had to miss the media day, which I'm upset about
because you get them like one on one at that,
but I mean I just couldn't make it in time.
Speaker 2: Well I mean you're dusting a buds anyway. So yeah,
we're cool.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we're actually like but I feel I was wondering yesterday,
Like I was like, if I asked a question at
the press conference and I'm like, Elandro, wonderful, Well, nobody
was doing that, so I would have been the only
one doing that if I would have done that, because yeah,
like okay, amateur, But I wonder if he would have
been like, oh yeah, we talked, Probably not, but.
Speaker 2: Not a shot at you. He probably did see many
people at super Bowl Week. If it weren't have been
super Bowl week, I would have thought maybe, like if
it was like a one on one and he did
like maybe two that day super Bowl Week. No chance.
Speaker 6: He did say I'll see you at the post Malone show.
Speaker 2: Did you see him at the post Bone shows?
Speaker 5: I actually did not see him there, but I did
see like Shane Gillis there, which we never We didn't
talk about his sp We'll get to it. But anyway,
I'm like getting off track, but yes, uh press conference
yesterday it was awesome. This is my first time going
to like any sort of fight stuff, so it was
super cool, like a great experience. I was kind of
nervous because nobody from here is going. So I was like, Okay,
I'm gonna be at this press conference by myself.
Speaker 6: I'm yeah, he's going to the fight. I'm gonna look
like a loser.
Speaker 5: And then I'm gonna go to this mixer and I'm
just gonna be like standing by myself, like super awkward.
But as soon as I got there, like I sat
down next not next to this guy, but like near
this guy and he was like, hey, I'm Doug, like
super cool and like I kind of attached myself to
I was like, Okay, Doug, we won't be cool. Turns
out he works for Sports Illustrated, So that's a good
That was a good friend to make. But I did
meet up with our guy Devin snow shout out sentt
y'all pick in the group chat last night. Yeah, it
was fun seeing him and hanging out with him. He's
just as funny I r L and he is as
he is like on the internet or whatever. And it
was so funny because people kept coming up to him
and they were like, you look familiar. Are you the
Red Beans guy?
Speaker 6: Poor dove?
Speaker 2: But like the traction he's got from there, Yeah, it's
just it's just so he's wig ins today.
Speaker 5: Weigh in so the way and starts at eight and
but yeah, but you're not going to that, No, But
they have a ceremonial one, like a one where like
they do all the fluff and stuff. So I'm gonna
go to that one because it's at four, and they're
also going to do like a Dustin retirement, like you know,
special thing. So Dale Cormier is gonna be out there,
So I'm excited for that.
Speaker 2: Did you stay the night? That's the guys.
Speaker 6: Cleared for me. On my way there and on the
way back, I was like, oh, thank god, because you know, I.
Speaker 5: Was nervous about it because it was supposed to storm
and it was storming like when I left. When I
left to get there, it started pouring, and I was like,
oh my gosh, please please please.
Speaker 6: But it's like the sky's cleared up.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, knock on wood reading last night about
the storm thing, like it dropped from like thirty percent
development to like ten. Now that could change, but like
it kind of just seems like it's not gonna rain,
maybe quite as much as they thought it did. Yeah,
maybe it will, maybe it won't, but uh yeah, apparently
the worst of it, Like it was going to be Saturday.
It might have been yesterday though. It just depends, all right.
So I'm excited about the way in like I wish
I was going because I like how every time it's
it's only the male fighters. They get on the way
in stage right, they're super serious and they always go,
oh yeah, they do every every dame right here. This happen, Like,
what do we do like that? Yeah, I just said
he was number one. We can't get up there number one, right, Yeah,
come on, somebody's gonna lose. But uh, I always think
that's really funny. All right, Look, we got a lot
on the dock today and what I what I kind
of do is our one's gonna be kind of a recap.
We're gonna recap sec media days, react to some things.
Our number two, we're gonna go a little bit all
over the player. We're gonna have Nick Underhill one actually
today since we didn't get to him on Tuesday. And
then hour three we're gonna preview the weekend. We're gonna
preview LSU football season. We're gonna get a Laundra's prediction
on the UFC fight, probably last full segment of the show,
since it's the big fight of the weekend. So we
got the whole show laid out for you, and right now,
let's get this thing started.
Speaker 1: It's time to gig Glowing courtesy of Go Flow Ivy spa,
where hydration vitamins and a summer ready glow are always
on tap.
Speaker 2: Now for starters, getting in for starters for a segment
show look at US. Okay, So SEC Media Days obviously
was all week long. It wrapped up yesterday, and you
hear a lot of like, oh, here's my projected order
of finish. We're going one through sixteen. I am not
going to go one through sixteen because that would take
about thirty minutes. We're not going to do that. What
I want to do is kind of maybe give you
my top three teams in the league, maybe the teams
I feel the best about, and then the teams at
the bottom of the league. I'm gonna have these two
of it here. Check me see if I'm right or wrong,
or whether they agree or disagree. Landro love that so
projected order of finish at the at least at the top,
there's three teams at the top. For me, it's LSU,
It's Georgia, it's Texas. I know everybody wants to go Alabama.
We'll talk about them a little bit later in the show.
I can't get there with them yet. I think there's
some question marks on that team. LSU is obvious. They
hit the portal hard. They got better at every skill position,
both sides of the ball, like outside of offensive line.
You went from having multiple question marks to very few. Now,
are the transfers on the d line going to workout
or the transfers in the secondary gonna work out? I
don't know. But talent and depth wise, you're better right
now than you were any point last season. That's why
I feel so confident in LSU, and they have the
most stable quarterback situation in the entire conference coming into
the season. The next team is Georgia. Look, Georgia lacks
weapons on offense. Gunnar Stockton is a new starter. I
understand that, but in my opinion, Kirby Smart has earned
the benefit of the doubt. Like you'd be hard pressed
to find me two coaches, I would tell you we're
a better college football coach right now than Kirby Smart.
He has earned the benefit of the doubt in my hies. Now,
I just mentioned Stockton as a new quarterback. He didn't
play a ton last season, but he showed some promise.
I mean, they didn't ask him to do a ton
in that SEC Championship game against Texas, but he was efficient. Nonetheless,
he got the job done in a really tough situation
like he played against the Texas and then Notre Dame
in the playoff game. Both of those teams had top
five defenses last year, like those are elite college defenses,
and he held his own. It was not disastrous. He
looked like he belonged out there an offseason where he
knows he's the starter, where he's getting all the one reps.
There's a chance that Gunner Stockton takes a step forward.
Now maybe he doesn't, But what else I like about
Georgia Kirby freaking smarts your coach. You know that defense
is going to be elite. So if Gunner Stockton can
just go in there, take care of the football, not
turn it over, not put his defense in a bad spot,
that defense is going to keep you in every game
you play in twenty twenty five. That's what Carson Beck
did first year start. And I remember last year Beck
had the turnover issues before his injury kind of put
Georgia in some binds at times. If Gunner Stockton can
eliminate all that, I think he'll be fine. I really do.
I mean, he's been in this program, what four years now?
He said behind Stetsan Bennett. Carson Beck waited his turn
like Gunner Stockton's been there, done that, and then the
last team I want to highlight is the Texas Long
Wars because they're very similar to Georgia. I think they
have a really good college football coach at Steve starkejan Now.
I've said it multiple times this show, other shows I
filled in. I'm taking a wait and see approach with
Arch Manning, and I think that's the right thing to do.
I think Arch is very talented. And look, if you
had to put me on the spot, is Art's going
to be good or bad next year? I'd say Arch
is probably going to be very good, but we still
need to wait and see. My biggest issue with Texas
is they lose a lot of weapons on offense. You
lose Matthew Golden, Isaya, Bond, Gunnerhilm those are your top
three receivers from a year ago, and you lose multiple
offensive linemen, one of which was drafted in the top ten.
Is gonna start at left tackle for the New Orleans Saints.
But a lot like Georgia, their defense should be one
of the best in college football. Again this year. You've
got Michael taff back. That was huge. Jacob matt were
raving about his performance at SEC media Days. Just a
couple of days ago. All of these teams have flaws,
right Georgia and Texas are breaking into quarterbacks, and I
think they lacked some explosive weapons on offense. LSU has
an experienced quarterback, has a ton of weapons on offense.
The offensive line is not where you want it to be.
You're waiting for the defense to finally show up and
be more consistent. All these teams have flaws, but it's
just a combination of coaching staff, players on the team. Like,
these are the teams I feel are the safest picks
right now. That may change, who knows what's going to
happen here in the offseason lead up to the season,
But right now there's maybe the three safest teams that
I don't think any of these teams are going to
be an absolute disaster. Guys, top three teams, LSU, Georgia, Texas.
Did I miss anybody?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: Is there a team you think could win the SEC
or will win the SEC that I did not mention?
Speaker 6: Okay, sorry, Georgia librariies. Okay, So LSU, Georgia and Texas those.
Speaker 2: Are your options about three in the conference right now?
Is there somebody that you would take out and move in.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 5: I can't either, And there's nobody else that's like really
sticking out to me in terms of like having.
Speaker 2: All the pieces right, you know what I mean?
Speaker 6: So I agree with you.
Speaker 5: But did you say I was kind of I'm trying
to get the libraries, but I was kind of listening
that you said Texas lost a lot of pieces.
Speaker 2: On offense the receivers.
Speaker 5: Yes, yes, okay, So I agree with that as well,
So I'm kind of like I kind of want to
leave them out of it.
Speaker 2: Steve Star on office is a lot like Kirby on defense. Yeah,
and you bring in Jamie French and Khalik Lockett to
five star freshmen. They're freshmen and if anybody can make
them look good at Steve Sarksian.
Speaker 5: No, I like his play calling and I like him
as a coach, so I see that too. But I
don't know, like I can't, like you can't I do it, Bama.
I can't really get that.
Speaker 2: I get there's question marks all over the place. Like
everyone wants to say, oh, there's so many quarterbacks in
the SEC. Not really, We'll get to that a little
bit next segment. Like there's there's really not a ton
as far as experience outside of Garrett Osmack all Right,
I got a bottom three here before we go to break.
This is pretty easy to me, Like Arkansas is going
to be in my bottom three. I know there's a
lot of people that are excited about them. I'm not.
I really thought Sam Pittman would have been out of
there by now. Like even though it's hard to say,
I like Sam Pittman, but I mean, look when you
look at his year by year, this is year. This
is year six for Sam Pittman at Arkansas. The first
year he took over in twenty twenty obviously an awful situation.
He goes three and seven twenty twenty one, nine and four,
and that was the year of But who's like, Okay,
can Pittman turn this thing around? Since then? Seven and six,
four and eight last year a little bit of a
bounce back seven and six as well. But everyone's going
to say Taylor Green's going to take that next step.
I just don't think he is. And that's not to
say Taylor Green's a bad quarterback, like I don't think
he is. But he's been a starter for three years
in college football to a Boise State won last season.
Here's what Taylor Green's done. Fourteen touchdowns, six picks, eleven touchdowns,
nine picks, fifteen touchdowns, nine picks. We kind of know
who Taylor Green is. Last year there were question mark saying, hey,
can he make the jump from Boise State to Arkansas.
He can't, but he was the exact same player. And
I mean completion percentage and everything, sixty one, fifty seven, sixty.
He's been really consistent across the board. But that's who
Taylor Green is. They lacks him explosive weapons, Like I
think they'll have a decent run game, but I don't know.
I can't get there with Arkansas the other team. I
want to look at his Mississippi State. I like Blake Shapin.
I think Blake Chapan's a really good player. Like I
don't know if you guys realized this. Blake Shapin last
year before getting injured, played in four games. He had
eleven total touchdowns and one turnover for Mississippi State. Blake
Shapin was balling. Problem was he didn't have any support
on the outside. I still don't think he's gonna have
a ton of support on the outside like Blake Chapin
could do that once again. I don't think it's going
to make a huge difference. I'm not sure about Jeff
Lebby as a coach. I know he's all about the swag.
I don't see the swag with Jeff Leby. I think
Mississippi State's really going to struggle. And then the team
I got probably at the bottom of this conference. I
know a lot of people want to pick Mississippi State.
I'm going with the Kentucky Wildcats. Like that's good.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of question marks with the wild.
Speaker 2: That might be the team I will pick. Do finish last.
I know a lot of people are gonna pick Mississippi State,
but they're gonna struggle at quarterback once again, they cannot
get it right. They went from Will Levis, who actually
was pretty good as last year. You bring in Devin Leary,
had a lot of hype around him, did nothing. Bringing
Brock Vandergrif last year, had a lot of hype around
in former five star from or Cham did nothing. Now
you bring in Zach Kelzotta, who has played college football
for about a decade, but he hasn't exactly wowed anywhere
he's been. I mean Zack Kelzotta's claim to fameus he
beat Alabama in college station like two and a half
years ago. Since then, like he got benched to Texas
A and m didn't he drop down to incarnate word.
Now he's coming back up into the SEC. I just
don't see it. And as bad as that offense was
a year ago, they at least had weapons. I mean
they lost their major weapons, like Barry and Brown obviously
playing right here in bat rugs this year. He was
a huge weapon for him a year ago. Now they
couldn't get the ball too because they had a bad quarterback.
But Dane Keith, he actually had a really good year
last year as well. He's gonna play in Nebraska next year.
You lose your top two receivers, you're breaking in another
quarterback who, in my opinion, is a below average college
quarterback anyways. And I'm not saying Mark Stoops is a
bad coach, Like I know Matt and T Bob always
pick on Jake because Jake's a big Mark Stops. I'm
somewhere in the middle. I think Mark Stoops is a
good coach. I think he's done a lot more at
Kentucky than a lot of people. Can I just think
the program's kind of stay all right now, Like where
is Mark Stoobs going to this point? Every now and
then you're like, Okay, he's won nine games, he's won
eight games, Like that's good for Kentucky. He's not doing
that right now, and like I don't see a path
forward for him to be able to do that, especially
in the NIL era, Like Kentucky's all about basketball. Football
is gonna come second for them, So what are they
really going to be? I struggle with that. So look
kind of a little bit of a recap my top
three teams and I'm most confident in going into the
season LSU, Georgia, Texas. My bottom three that I am
least confident in, Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Kentucky. All Right,
we're going to take a quick time out speaking of
the laws. Shoot, Tigers, are we more confident or less
confident than them? After media days? We're breaking that down
next here on off the bench. Off the bench.
Speaker 7: Well, speaking of diving in, we'd like to dive into
a Russell pool because when you see what they can
do for you, you'll be blown away. I mean they're
going to make the pool of your dreams. In fact,
that's their tagline because they know it is factual. Let's
build your dream pool. And what better time to get
that process started than right now because you are going
to enjoy it year long. Look, this is Louisiana. It
is always pull season here in Louisiana. But this is
truly a one stop shop. We're talking about construction, maintenance, retail,
all of that you handle with one company. That company
is Russell pool Company. And you can trust them. We
trust them. Everybody they build pools for trust them. Lshue.
The Tigers trust them as well. Yeah, let them build
your dream pool.
Speaker 8: They can do everything from design to landscape, architect to
finance and options.
Speaker 2: They can do it all.
Speaker 8: When you think of quality pools, you think of Russell Pools,
Russell Pools dot Com.
Speaker 9: This time this place misused mistakes too long to who.
Speaker 1: That make you?
Speaker 8: Just lom Chance, just lom Man, just in case.
Speaker 1: This just one from players to legends, Hester and Flynn
breakdown l s U football like only champions can.
Speaker 2: Cause you ever heard the story about that time Jake
was out. It was like the day before fourth of
July and he like forced the laundry to play the
entire free Bird, like all eight minutes of it. Well,
this is my free Bird, Like I just want this
song to play the whole day.
Speaker 6: This is such a great song. Oh, it's incredible.
Speaker 2: It's almost like it's almost like Nickelback's a good band
and they get hate for the reason. Cassie. No, he
played air guitar though for like that four minutes.
Speaker 6: Yet he made me play the entire solo of free Bird.
That's great.
Speaker 5: Like we we set here for eight minutes uncomfortable. I
wanted to like crawl into my skin.
Speaker 2: Like Alon just like trying to wave to it and
be like, hey, can we turn this down?
Speaker 5: I turned it down and Tea Bop goes don't get
scared now, like made me turn it back up.
Speaker 2: That crazy fact that was a whole segment you just
played free Bird.
Speaker 5: People were like, oh, I thought I switched the channel
to you in ninety eight point one, like it.
Speaker 2: Was I mean this was last fourth of July. Yeah,
I think it was like the day before because we
were all on the fourth. But yeah, feeling himself that day.
This is the type of music this is. This is
my Tea Bob free Bird solo. This is it this
is it, this is this is the vibes we needed
on a Friday. Excellent choice there, all right, look SEC
med days obviously this entire week, which is why Jake
and Matter not here today. They did fly back home yesterday.
That everybody's always going to ask, Okay, well, you know
who won SEC media Day, so who wanted who lost?
I don't think you can win or lose SEC media Days. However,
Eli Drinkwinz did win it yesterday. We'll get to that
a little bit later. As far as like being more
confident or less confident in LSU after media Days, I
hate to give you the boring answer, but like I'm
kind of the same. And the reason is I'm high
on them for a number of reasons, a little bit
of what we talked about last segment, Like they're one
of my top teams in the SEC. Garrett Nosemeyer is
the top reason on this list. When you look at LSU,
they by far have the most stability in the conference
at the quarterback position. It's weird to look at because
a lot of the top teams in the SEC this
year have questions a quarterback. A lot of the teams
you think are gonna struggle. They actually have a little
bit of stability. Vanderbilt of Mississippi State, like those teams
know at Arkansas, like those teams know who their quarterback is.
They're just going to struggle everywhere else. And when you
look at some of the quote unquote elite teams, Gunner
Stockton first year's starter, arch Man into Texas first year starter.
Alabama's likely going to roll with Ty Simpson, He's going
to be a first year starter. Like oh Miss Austin
Simmons first year starter. All of those teams have a
ton of talent around the quarterback position. It's just the
most important position on the field is their biggest question
mark going into the season. It's more than Nu Smier though,
like I mentioned, you have the most stability at the
quarterback position. You were awesome in the transfer portal. There
was a ton of talent a wide receiver and defensive back,
which is a big question market. Look, Karin Lacy made
big plays for you a year ago. Mason Taylor left
this program as the best tight end in school history.
I think you're better at wide receiver and tight then
you wear a year ago. Depth wise, Aaron Anderson's back
because Avion Thomas is back. Chris Hilton was just at
SEC media days. Coaching staff expects him to have a
big year. You add Barran Brown, Nick Anderson, who's six
foot five coming over from Oklahoma. I think he's gonna
be a matchup nightmare. Like that's six guys I just
listed right there, and that's not counting some of the
freshmen and some of the guys that are that are
under the radar a little bit. Kyle Parker coming back
from injury. I mean there's weapons galore on offense. I'm
sure you lose Mason Taylor, but tradeds Green he's back.
He's gonna have a bigger role. Bower Sharp is a
lot more versatile than a lot of people are giving
him credit for at the tight end position. And then
on the defensive side of things, you need a corner
help and safety help in a big way. He and
aj Hawsey and Tamarcus Cooley at safety. I think both
of those guys are going to start Week one. You
go get man Sword Delaying at the corner. You go
get jakeem Jackson a corner like you have completely rebuilt
that defensive back. Ash and Stamps is still there as well.
Entering pretty much his third year as a starter. He
started a good bit as a freshman, was your starter
all year last season opposite Zaia Alexander. Like Ashton Stamps,
He's been there, done that, he knows this defense. He's
played in big time football games. He's gonna be fun.
You also have five star freshmen DJ Pickett, who's been
on campus for a while.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: You have a lot more depth on the d line.
You lose both. You lose Bo Davis, who, as far
as like on field, in my opinion, may have been
the best coach on your staff. Him and Brad Davis
I think are the two just best fundamental teaching coaches
on your staff. But Kyle Williams knows what he's doing.
He's played the defensive tackle position at a high level
for a number of years. You added a lot of
depth and you have a mod bro back. You have
Dominic McKinley back who both showed flashes as a freshman.
They're gonna be bigger, stronger, faster, more ready to go
here in year two. In this program, you're also cleaned
up at ed rusher save you On Jones and Brayden Swinson.
Like Britain Swinson was a weapon for you a year ago.
He was a game changing player. Both of those guys
are gone. Then you lose to Sean Womack to the
transfer port. Gabriel Rliford played a little bit as a
freshman last year. Did you bring in Jack Pyburn, Jamari Butler,
who a lot of people aren't talking about, and then
Patrick Payton, the really good pass rusher from Florida State
A lot of the question marks you had a year ago,
you did an excellent job of filling that void. The
biggest concern, obviously, can that O line hold up A yeah.
I was actually having this conversation with a buddy of
mine yesterday. He was like, Hey, how do you think
the O line's gonna hold up against Clemson's D line.
My response was, I think they're gonna struggle in Game one.
But the fact that Brad Davis coaches this group, I
trust Brad Davis. I think Brad Davis is a great coach.
You lack experience there. You got bodies. You just don't
really know what you're going to get out of those bodies.
But if anybody can coach those guys up, it's Brad Davis.
You know, it's funny. I actually saw this if I
can pull up this tweet. Yeah. Danna Orlovsky yesterday was
talking about SEC media Days and he said, right now,
Garrett Nosmeyer is the best quarterback in college football. Two
things I love about him, He said, he's outstanding pocket management.
Nine percent pressure to sack rate, that was the lowest
in the SEC. I'll tell you right now, if Garrett
Olsmeyer has the lowest sack rate in the SEC, once again, LSU,
you might win the national championship because that means the
offensive line held up. You saw how good they were
pass blocking. A year ago. Where the O line struggled
was in the running game. This old line did a
pretty good job in the bowl game. And I get it,
it's a bowl game. It was against Baylor. You're not
playing them this year in a likelihood, but they were
thrown into the fire. I mean, you pretty much had
five new starters on the offensive line and you did
not allow a sack against a David Randon defense. That's
pretty impressive to me. Like I get, the bowl games
don't mean a ton, but you want to give confidence
to your fan base moving into the next season. That
did that a little bit for me, again small sample size,
not an SEC opponent, but a good defense with a
good defensive coach. They held up well. If they can
be an average offensive line this year, I think your
offense is going to be just fine. Nelsmar has the
weapons to get the ball out quick. And even if
you're not great at run blocking like you were a
year ago, I think you're better at the running back position.
Cayden Durham's a year older, Caleb Jackson's been in this
program for three years now. You bring in two stud
running backs, Harlem Berry, the number one running back in
all the high school football last season, then j T. Lindsay,
the big time recruit from ash Up at Alexandria. You're
going to be better at the running back spot. Last
year you basically had Caden Durham, Josh Williams. That was it.
Johnny Murray goes down after the first game of the season,
Caleb Jackson never found his footing throughout the year. That
was all you had. You had two running backs. I
think you got four. If Caleb Jackson is still up,
that can make an impact on this team. There's a
lot of ways you can help the O line.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 2: I was getting the ball off quicker to lose playmakers
and the running backers being overall better. That's the biggest
question mark though heading into the season. Outside of that, though,
even the dB rou I trust Corey Raymond. Even on
the d line. Kyle Williams doesn't have the coaching experience,
but he's played at a high level for a number
of years. And you're pretty talented, Dare You're better at receiver,
You're better at running back. I think you're really good
at linebacker. It's a room. We don't talk about a
ton that offensive line can hold up unless you could
have a really good season. All right, we're going to
take a quick time out. Put a button on SEC media.
DA's when we come back. There was a lot of
talk for a lot of media members that were out
there at SEC Media Days. Biggest surprise and biggest disappointing teams.
Who you think that could be in the SEC in
twenty twenty five. We'll talk about it next. You're run
off the bench.
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Speaker 1: You remind me Tigers turn talkers, this is off the Bench.
Speaker 3: Really, this is out.
Speaker 1: You remind like.
Speaker 7: You sorry not to f storry this time mistaking.
Speaker 2: Every All right, welcome back. In Friday edition of Off
the Bench, Taylor Sharp sitting in for Jacob Estro and
t By Baby. We got a lot of Villa Reale.
We got Cassie's bizzelling No way I was stepping on
that song like that may not be your favorite Nickelback song.
A lot of people probably have a lot of different favorites,
but that just is Nickelback. When you when you think
of the band Nickelback, you think of that song, that
is the one. All right, Look, want to put a
button on SEC media days. We talked a lot of
SEC media days here and I on number one, and
I tease it a little bit there. Going into break,
I saw a lot of media members talk about who's
gonna be their biggest surprise team and their most disappointing
SEC team in twenty twenty five. I'll start with disappointing
because this one was easy for me. It's the Tennessee
Volunteers Tennessee made that run to the College Football Playoff
last year. I'm still shocked by that they're gonna have
a solid defense again this year. I just don't think
that offense will be good at all. You're breaking in
a new quarterback and Joey Maguire. You don't have a
ton of weapons on offense. Now, the pushback people are
going to say is or their quarterback last year wasn't great.
You didn't have a ton of weapons last year. I
understand that Nico wasn't good. Like I think his numbers
off the top of my head, I think his numbers
were like nineteen touchdown six picks something like that, and
like over half of his touchdown passes were outside the SEC.
I get all that. I don't know how you replaced
Dylan Samson if you're the Tennessee volunteers, that is my
biggest concern. Dylan Sampson last year SEC Offensive Player of
the Year. He was a monster. I mean he ran
for over fourteen hundred yards fourteen ninety one twenty two
rushing touchdowns. It was Dylan Sampson that kept you in
games a year ago, not Nico Iamalia. Nico wasn't good
That's why when everybody's like, why is Nico demanding three
and a half million dollars a year to go in
there and have a nineteen to six touchdown interception ratio
and you patted your stats out of conference. I'm not
worried about them at the quarterback position because I don't
think they were good their year ago. Replacing Dylan Samson
is going to be so hard. They're still gonna have
a good defense, but how good you replace the James
Pears He was a really good player for you. You
have another guy on the defensive line you have to replace.
While I think it's gonna be good, I think there's
a chance that defense takes a slight step back. I
think it's kind of a wash at the quarterback position,
and it's tough to replace the SEC offensive player of
the year. A lot of people still expect big things
out of Tennessee. I thought they overachieved last year, so
there's obviously a chance that they can do that again
this year. I don't see it, though, And honestly, I
considered Alabama here, but I don't think Alabama's gonna be
a disaster. That's why I didn't put them here. The
expectations is just so high. Like, Okay, the over underwind
totals came out yesterday and Alabama is it nine and
a half? I just can't get there. Whether it's Ti Sumpson,
Austin Mack, or Keeland. You're gonna have a brand new
starting quarterback. Jalen Milroe was your best running threat a
year ago. He's obviously gone. You lose Justice Haynes in
the transfer portal. You have jam Miller running back. He's
a fine running back, but jam Miller doesn't scare you
if you're an opposing defensive coordinator. Ryan Williams one of
the best receivers in college football. He's out there, but
what do you have outside of him right now? Jeremy Bernard.
Maybe you'll have one of those highly doubted freshmen step up,
But I mean outside of Ryan Williams, there's not a
ton of weapons on that offense, so you don't have
a ton of help around that first year quarterback. The
defense will probably still be good a lot like Tennessee.
But I just can't get there at nine and a
half right now. Ty Simpson, maybe Austin Mack, like one
of those guys is gonna have to show me before
I can hump on the Obama hype train. Year after
year after year, everyone ranked Obama so high, and rightfully so,
because you had an X factor that nobody else had
named Nick Saban. Nick Saban's not in that building anymore.
Kaylen de boor is a good football coach. He really is.
You go look at his record against Dan Lanning. A
lot of people think Dan Lanning is one of the
best coaches in college football. Hand up, I do as well.
Kaylin de Borr has a really good winning record against
Dan Lanning, So I mean, he knows how to win games.
But you're just not Nick Saban. And that's okay, But
let's stop hyping up Alabama like Debor is Nick Saban.
That's the only issue I have with the Crimson Tide
going into this year. As far as my surprising team,
like a team that may be able to overperform, this
one was hard like I considered Missouri. The only problem
is I don't know how big of a surprise that's
gonna be. Like at this point, Eli drink Wentz has
proven he can win games like they quietly won ten
games a year ago. If a really easy schedule, like
you're in the SEC, but you have six consecutive home
games then your bye week. I don't know how that happens.
I don't know who Eli's paying off to get that
easy schedule, because they probably had the easiest schedule in
the SEC a year ago and they have it again
this year. So with an easy schedule, approving coach who
has done it in the past, Like, I don't know
how big of a surprise that's going to be. I
considered Florida. However, I'm pausing on DJ Lagway a little
bit more than most people are. It's all Jake and Matt.
We were listening to him when we were back in
studio the other day. They were talking about Jackson Arnold
and they were like, hey, you know Jackson Arnold. His
numbers were up and down at Oklahoma a year ago,
and they were Jackson Arnold last season sixty two percent completion,
just fourteen hundred yards, twelve touchdowns, three interceptions, and Jackson
Arnold was benched, ran out of Oklahoma. Now he's at Auburn.
So why is everyone so high on DJ Lagway. Lagway's
numbers last year fifty nine percent completion, twelve touchdowns and
nine interceptions. Jackson Dart was actually better across the board
than DJ Lagway. I get it. You look at Lagway.
He's a big guy, he's a former five star. The
ball just looks different coming out of his hand. I
understand that, but you're gonna have to prove it to me.
DJ Lagway did not do that a year ago. He
just didn't. There were times he looked like the best
quarterback in the conference. There were times he looked like
he's a freshman thrown into the fire before he was ready.
I gotta see the consistence. Maybe Auburn, maybe just because
everybody's expectations are so low for the Auburn Tigers. Well,
this is Hugh's third year. He struggled really bad his
first two years in Auburn. I get that. I do
think this is probably the best offense he's had. Like
Hugh Freeze's biggest problem is he hitched his wagon to
Peyton Thorn two years in a row, and that was
the wrong decision. Peyton Thorn was not a good quarterback.
He was not an SEC caliber quarterback. That's the guy
that Hugh Freeze fell in love with. And with it,
you have Jackson Arnold coming over and again a lot
of people have mixed opinions about him, like I was
just talking about, but he's still a step up for
Peyton Thorn in my eyes. And if Jackson Dart doesn't work,
Jackson Arnold doesn't work out as the starter, you have
Ashton Daniels, who is the starter at Stanford a year ago,
and you have five star freshman Deuce Night. So if
Jackson Arnold stumbles out of the gate, you can pull
him like that. You got talent behind it. Cam Coleman,
for Auburn is an absolute study at six hundred yards
eight touchdowns as a true freshman, a big bodied wide receiver.
And then you bring in Eric Singleton from Georgia Tech,
who a little bit more of an underrated signing. As
far as like transfer portal, I thought he was one
of the top receivers in the transfer portal out of
Virginia Tech. He's a solid option. You pair him on
the other side of the field, him and cam Coleman.
That's a really good duo for Jackson Arnold to get
the ball to. It's probably better than any weapons he
had a year ago. Like yes, he had Bower, sharp
and tight end, but he lost Nick Anderson after one
game we had talked about that there was not a
ton of weapons over there at Oklahoma. I think Jackson
Arnold may have better weapons this year. You do have
to replace Jarques Hunter, but Freeze can figure that out.
They got talented running backs over there at Auburn they
always do. Can the defense improve is another big thing.
Their defense last year not up to the Auburn standard.
Say what you want about Auburn, their offenses have struggled
in recent years. They've always had a good defense. They
did not a year ago. If you could shore up
the defensive side of the ball and Jackson Arnold can
do just enough to upset some teams, maybe there's a
chance the Auburn Tigers surprise people. I don't feel great
about that, just because it's like I mean, I mentioned
it earlier. I gave you like my top three teams,
my bottom three teams. There's kind of a log jam
there in the middle where it's like, hey, whichever coach
pushes the right buttons at the right time, this team's
gonna emerge. I don't have faith that Hupreeze can do that,
but I do think this is the best team he's
had by since he's been over there with the Auburn Tigers.
All right, we're going to take a time out when
we get back. Well, obviously LSU plays Clemson in the opener,
and everybody seems to have, you know, different opinions of
Dabo Sweeney. I like Dabo Sweeney, Me and t bub
used to get into that a lot. We're gonna make
a little fun of our guy coming back here on
Off the bench.
Speaker 7: Off the bench, all right, go to rouss dot com.
And when you go to rawss dot com, the thing
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right you were going to have those deals in all
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Speaker 8: They were unbelievable. Wife made a little cobbler kidding me. Yeah, Well,
usually likes a grocery store. We wouldn't usually send you
to the website route to go there because you can
see the deals. You have the coupons right there. You
can see their specials, what they're doing sixty five years.
Rouse's local market, you know what it is. Don't go
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to a local one.
Speaker 2: And you know why, because it's better.
Speaker 3: They sell my high too.
Speaker 2: And they sell that my hike.
Speaker 8: Go drink it. But go to Ralse's market. Go to
your nearest one. Get your groceries today.
Speaker 1: Rouses two thousand and seven, Shamps Purple and Gold to
the core. This is off the bench with Hester and Flynn.
Baton Rougees go to for all things Louisiana sports.
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Speaker 2: Welcome back. In final segment, I were number one here
on a Friday edition of Off the Bench Taylor Sharp's
sitting in Poor Jacobster and tabab Aber. We got a
landra Villarriale and Cassie spizzeally along for the ride as well. Okay,
Dabo Sweeney is corny in his own way. We all
know that, whether it's genuine, whether it's a disingenuine. Anytime
I've defended Dabo Sweeney, I've always said, look, he's uniquely himself,
Like you can't you can't fault the guy for being himself.
At least he's honest about things. However, this one, this
one's a little bit too fard. Do we have the
video ready? Okay, Dabo Sweeney? Was it some speaking engagement
media availability that not sure where it was, doesn't matter.
He was telling a story about how he went into
a bar owned by L Shue head coach Brian Kelly.
All right, give us one second, we'll get that video
to you. But anyways, he talks about how he has
a he went into a bar owned by l Shue
head coach Brian Kelly, and Kelly's wife had a bootique
right next to it. Look, look we only got like
three minutes. Still you got it? Okay, here it is
there on.
Speaker 4: Great least little spot. So my brother or my sister
in law, she's saying, hey, Brian Kelly has a place.
His wife has a gift shop right on the corner
there in Greaton Beach. I'm like, oh, really, that's pretty cool.
You know, I had no idea. So anyway, we go
there and I walk off, I go into the store,
me and Calf walking in the store. Caf buys something
because she's trying to port missus Kelly or whatever we're doing.
So if she buys something and we go in the
store and I'm walking around, I go out and they're
like yeah, and he's he's got a concert. He's gonna
have a concert in the back. So I'm like, okay,
I'll walk out in the back. There's a little stage
in the back and there's like some I think it's
like fake grass or whatever, just a small little area,
and it says Brian Kelly, you know, performing live on
this day whatever. And I'm going, freaking nam Brian Kelly
sing play.
Speaker 2: I didn't know that.
Speaker 4: So I'm like taking pictures and I'm sending that to
Brian Kelly. I'm sitting, I'm sitting, I'm sending all these
pictures of Brian Kelly.
Speaker 2: And then I'm then I'm like, I'm.
Speaker 4: Going, you know, I'll get on the stage, you know,
Brian Kelly.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm just kind of having some fun.
Speaker 4: I'm like, you know, hey, I got and I send
all this to Brian Kelly.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 4: Well, then the guy that was with my brother, he's
walking over because Cass said something about I don't know
what said I I just can't believe that Brian Kelly,
this is really cool. And and she's and you know,
like we we know we play them or something in
the opener or whatever.
Speaker 2: To the gun He's like, he's good.
Speaker 4: What And as it turns out, there's another Brian Kelly,
and he's.
Speaker 2: Like he's the he's any what's the band?
Speaker 4: Anybody know? It's uh something Florida Georgia Line or something.
I think it's called Florida Georgia Line or Georgia Florida
Line Band, Florida Georgia Line Band. And he's like the
lead singer or something. And I've even heard their songs,
but I.
Speaker 2: Don't, Okay, So he sends these pictures to Brian Kelly.
I don't know if this is true. Guys, I'm gonna
I'm gonna kind of call out our guy dad, but
it Sweeny here. First off, why the hell would you
think that Brian Kelly was performing a concert? Look back
may have the pipes of an angel. I don't know,
I never heard it, but like that's where your thought went. Also,
if you have Brian Kelly's name in your phone and
you're good enough friends to text him back and forth,
Brian Kelly of Florida george line does not spell Kelly
the same way as our Brian Kelly. Brian Kelly Florida,
Georgia line is k E l l E y. Like look,
I like Dabo. This just seems a little disingenuous to me,
Like it was try hard in my opinion. And again
I'm I'm a dabbo defender at a lot more than
most people. I think he's a good coach, But I
just that one I was just kind of like, all right, like,
let's let's slow down a little bit, Dabo, Like you
don't you don't always have to be that guy, all right?
Coming up here in hour number two, we're in not
a big dealer, no big deal at the top of
the show. We'll do that here on this Friday. Then
Nick Underhill of New Orleans Dot Football coming up at
eight fifteen. Stay tuned. You're on the other side, on
off the bench, off the bench.
Speaker 3: Well this feels weird because you know, I was watching the.
Speaker 7: USA Mexico game and start thinking about do Sekis and
going for dose, and I guess it won out. I
guess it won out there. But look, we say it,
and it can't be just lip service. There's not a
bad time for do Seki's lake beer, pool beer, beach beer,
and sand do sequis in hand, tailgate beer. It is
never a bad time, So enjoy responsibly, put your feed up,
kick them all up, Enjoy an ice cold dose s.
Speaker 2: Exis Logger especial, Ember especial. They got it.
Speaker 8: We're in South Louisiana, all right. Everyone likes the beverage.
Everyone likes to have a little beer, cocktail, whatever it is.
Make it a dose Sekis, go for dose, the delicious
Mexican lagger. Anytime is a good time for a beer,
and especially do skes.
Speaker 2: Drink responsibly, but delete some beers with the second