Speaker 1: A look at college football news, analysis and insight from
around the Sunshine State. This is Florida Football Insiders, a
part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast Now
and here's your host, Jason Powers.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome in year two of the Florida Football
Insiders podcast, part of the College Football Coast to Coast
podcast Feed. Appreciate your finding us. I'm your host, Jason
down in Tampa. We are going to talk all things
college football in the state of Florida. We're also gonna
sprinkle sprinkle in a little NFL with the State of
Florida teams, the Bucks, Jags, and the Dolphins this year
as well as part of our podcast on a weekly basis. Remember,
we're gonna be here every week during the college football
season recapping the State of Florida teams, games, storylines, and
all the rest. And again, we are part of the
College Football Coast to Coast podcast Feed. You'll see you
can definitely check out the feed. You're gonna hear podcasts
from all over the country about a variety of different
football topics in parts of the country, so definitely check
that out on your favorite podcast platform. You can reach
out to me on Twitter and x at JPO Sports.
You can also find video interviews that we have for
the podcasts the variety of podcasts that I'm involved with
at the Jason Powers Sports channel on YouTube. We are
going to today we are going to do a We're
gonna do a full previews of the Florida Gators, the
Miami Hurricanes, USF bowls UCF Knights. Last week I released
our Florida State preview is part of my Powers on
Sports podcasts. So if you want to check out the
Florida State preview, because remember they played last Saturday in Dublin,
losing effort to Georgia Tech twenty four to twenty one.
But you can find out you can. You can watch
and listen to the preview we did with Jeff Colhayne,
the play by play voice of the Seminoles on the
Powers on Sports podcast. And again you can check out
the YouTube channel for the archive the video interview of
myself and Jeff as well. So we're gonna talk to
Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun today about the Gators.
We're gonna talk to Jozahgaki, who's the play by play voice,
the longtime play by play voice of the Miami Hurricanes.
We're talked to Joey Johnston, the sideline reporter part of
the Bulls Radio Network for the USF Bulls, and Matt
Murchelle beat reporter for the Orlando sent and who covers
the UCF Knights, doing a little team preview of all
those guys as well. So that's the goal here on
this podcast is again we're gonna focus our time on
all the State of Florida teams, a lot of hopes
and expectations a bound throughout the state from Miami, Mario Cristobaul,
Year three, Billy Napier, year three, Year three, obviously Florida
State got off to the od to one start USF
Year two, Alex Golisch, We're actually gonna and Gus Malzon.
We're gonna even hit on FAU and Tom Herman and
f I you and Mike McIntyre as well. So that
is the gist of this podcast again year two of
this appreciate you finding us. We're gonna have hopefully gonna
have some guests that we will have some guests throughout
I'm working on a couple of bi weekly guests that
we're gonna have for that's gonna be part of the
podcast every couple of weeks, and I think you'll enjoy
want of coaching former coach that we're working on. So
we'll make this very interactive and entertaining for you the viewer. Again,
tell your friends and your fellow State of Florida college
football fans about the podcast. Appreciate you spread the word
for us, helping us out. Again. You can find this
in all the major podcast platforms, Apple, Spotify, Google and
all the rest, YouTube music and all the rest. So
all right, let's get to it. Florida State upset in
Dublin twenty four to twenty one by Georgia Tech. This
was to me, this was more of a game about
what Georgia Tech did than what Florida State didn't do.
Great job by Georgia Tech coming in there on the
offensive and defensive lines and really controlling the game with
or especially with their offensive line. You know, long time
consuming drives by Georgia Tech, multiple drives that led to
points against the evap Florida State offense. DJ Ewitt quarterback,
new receivers, a couple of new running backs, new a
veteran offensive line. Most people thought the Florida State offensive
line was gonna be a strength, and they did not
play really well, and especially in the running game on
Saturday in Dublin. Give all the credit to Georgia Tech
and their defense for you know, playing very even if
not against on the other side of the line of scrimmage,
against the Florida State offensive line and that vaunted defensive
line at Florida said that many people around the country
you thought was one of the top two or three
units in the country, really did not play really well.
And got to be honest with you, they got they
got manhandled that Georgia Tech offensive line. Haines king the
quarterback over there some timely third down throws, but again
the ability of Georgia Tech to have long sustaining drives. Remember,
Florida State ties the game up UH one twenty one
of about six and a half minutes left in the game.
Florida State never never sees the ball again. Tech kicks
the game winning field goal in the last play of
the game. Dj U made his debut. Did not play poorly,
but he did not to me. He was not electric
and he was not dynamic. You know, he missed a
couple of deep throws that he probably wanted to have
back a lot of the Most of the throws were
very very short throws seven or eight yards or less.
The receiving core for Florida State would it was not
very distinctive as far as their ability to separate. Malik Benson.
New Alabama Transfer had a couple of big catches, but
again nothing electric out of the Florida State receivers as
of yet. We will see if that develops throughout the year.
But again not a right down the field on the
first drive. Interesting that they go right down the field
on the first drive, scoring about four minutes. You're gonna think,
uh oh, Florida State's gonna roll these guys. But after
the first drive, the productivity and the efficiency on offense
really slowed down. Shout out to Ryan Fitzgerald, the Florida
State kicker. Kicked two fifty plus yard field goals, including
a fifty nine yarder at the end of the first half.
I did not think Mike Norvell handled the end of
the first half drive very well. I thought he, you know,
he wasted a lot of time. He ended up having
to settle for a fifty nine yard field goal. They
really didn't even push the push the tempo at all
until you got to about the last forty seconds of
the half, and then then they had to scramble to
try to get in the field goal range and all that.
But again Fitzgerald with a tremendous effort fifty two yard
field goal. Then he follows it up with a fifty
nine yard field goal, but again not enough for the
Florida State Seminoles as they fall in doublin twenty four
to twenty one. Their season is not over, but again
it just reduces the margin of error significantly for what
they have moving ahead. They play Monday night at home
Labor Day Night against Boston College. Bill O'Brien, former Patriots
assistant coach, Penn State coach Houston Texans coach, is now
the head coach up at Boston College. They come to
Tallahassee for a Monday night er on Labor Day Night.
I would expect Florida State to bounce back there after
the couple of extra days off, have already played a
game new coaching staff at BC, so I would expect
a solid, convincing performance by Florida State to win the
game on Monday night, But you never know, so we
will see how that goes. But again, the margin of
error season not over in Tallahassee. But again more questions
have to be answered more, you know, again, margin of
error is now gone. You still have to play Miami,
you still have to play Clemson, you have to go
to Notre Dame. Again, not a murderers row, but again
it just reduces the margin of area. You can probably
lose one more game, a conference game, and still have
an opportunity to make the conference title game. But if
you lose more than one more conference game, you're gonna
get You're probably gonna get bumped out by tiebreakers, whether
it's Clemson or Miami. Remember no, no more divisions in
the ACC. Strictly the top two teams with the top
two conference records playing the title game, and the winner
of the a SEC title gets an automatic bid into
the College Football Playoff and most likely a top four seed.
So all is not lost in Tallahassee. But again, not
a strong, not a convincing performance coming into the coming
out of Dublin. And again we'll see how how it unfold.
But I do expect Florida State to bounce back against
Boston College Monday night at home. All Right, next Showdown game,
We're gonna gain, We're gonna talk, We're gonna give you
previews on Florida Florida, Miami, Florida, Florida and Miami USF
and u c F this week with with with our
guests and the other Showdown game in the state of
Florida is Miami in Florida on Saturday in the swamp. Again,
you got Mario Christobal, Billy Napier, both guys a little
bit on the hot seat. More Napier, I would think
than christa ball at this point, but again this is
kind of the hot seat bowl, especially for Billy Napier.
Florida's got a brutal schedule. We know what they did,
so these non conference games they play, they're gonna play
UCF later in the year, they're playing Miami. They need
to win. This is the this is the kind of
games you need to win with the kind of SEC
schedule they got in front of them. So it'd be
a very interesting game to to to navigate on Saturday
in the swamp. But against Saturday three thirty Miami and
Florida on Saturday as Saturday as well, you got uc
USF and Bethune Cookman here in Tampa. Year two, Alex Golish,
a lot of a lot of optimism coming out of Tampa.
Here with Alex Golish Byron Brown, and you'll hear Joey
Johnston talk about what the optimism coming out of South Florida. Also.
FAU travels to Michigan State on Saturday, Year two, Tom Herman,
year one, Jonathan Smith up at Michigan State. New coaching
staff up there again. I would anticipate in Michigan State
getting it done. But again, this is a good opportunity
for Tom Herman in the FAU program to play a
Big ten team. You got FIU traveling up to Indiana again,
new coaching staff up in Indiana, the mc McIntyre in
company heading up to Indiana Bloomington. Probably not gonna win
the game, but you never know. Again, these are these games.
You never know what these teams are gonna put out
in week one. So an opportunity for FIU to again
playing the Big Ten. Nice payday and such. There you go,
and on Thursday night in Orlando, New Hampshire comes to
town to kick off the year for you again. UCF's
got a lot of increased hopes there in the Big
Twelve year. Two of them in the Big Twelve. You're
gonna hear again Matt Michelle from The Orlando Sentinel talk
about what he thinks of the UCF team, leading in
what Gus Malzon thinks of the UCF team. As we
head into twenty twenty four as well. So UCF kicks
off Thursday night at home against New Hampshire. They will
play Florida later in the year, so a lot of Florida.
All the teams in the state of Florida kick it
off this week, except for Florida State, who's already kicked
it off. They'll have game two again Monday night at
home in Tallahassee. You will again enjoy the team previews again.
That's what this podcast is all about, giving you a
week to week notes and nuggets from all the teams.
We're gonna recap all the games each week. Again, we'll
just have some good banter with our guests talking about
coaching decisions, quality of play, and all the rest here
in the State of Florida. Before we get to the previews,
want to give you a quick thought again on the
on the NFL teams. Cut Down Day was Tuesday of
this week for the Bucks, Jags, and Dolphins. You know,
he had to get down to fifty three. NFL season
kicks off a week from Sunday, the Sunday after Labor
Day Bucks. Actually, the Jags will go to Miami in
Week one and the Bucks are hosting the Commanders, So
you'll have plenty of in state action in the state
of Florida. Again, a lot of a lot of under
the radar optimism with the Buccaneers. Very little chatter about
the Buccaneers league wide, but I think the Buccaneers got
a chance to have a good team. They got a
tough schedule, but they got a good team. They bring
member Baker Mayfield back, Mike Evans back, and all the rest.
They bring all the guys they want to bring back, Wurfs, Winfield.
The Jaguars looking to rebound after a meltdown to the
year end of the year last year, Trevor Lawrence got
his big contract. You know, they brought in some They
draft a number one receiver out of LSU, Brian Thomas,
a lot of revamped defense, and then you got the
Miami Dolphins. All the things going on with Miami. You
saw the story about Tua and Brian Flores in the
last couple of weeks. Again, Tua got his massive contract
extension as well, So again everybody's in the mix down there.
Tyreek Hill got extended. Can the defense for Miami? Can
they hold up against some injury issues on the defense
early on Bradley Chubb and company. We'll see if Jalen
Phillips plays. But again a lot of optimism with all
three teams in the state of Florida. All three are
expected to be playoff contenders, if not in the playoffs
this year. So we'll give you some weekly updates on
those three teams as well with the Bucks, Jacks and
the Dolphins. So all right, before we get to our
Florida Gator preview, we're gonna give you a little word
from tickets Smarter again. Games goal all over the state
of Florida all throughout the this weekend. We've got games
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You can use them for baseball games. You can use
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need tickets to your favorite sporting event or entertainment venue.
So definitely check that out, Kevin Brockway coming up, followed
by Jozahgaki, Joey Johnson covering USF, and Matt Merschelle UCF
Knight's team previews. Enjoy the podcast again, Tell a friend again.
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and we'll see you at the stadiums as our Florida
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to go. All right, Welcome back Florida Football Insiders podcast.
It is time to do our twenty twenty four preview
of the Florida Gators. Gators coming off of a six
and seven year and twenty twenty three, a lot of
heat on Billy Napier, you know, questions to be answered,
brutal schedule which we'll get into here a little bit,
but no better person to talk to give us at
great insight on what the Gators look like coming into there.
They're a clash on Saturday into Swamp against Miami. Kevin Brockway,
beat writer for the Gainesville Sun. You can find Kevin
on Twitter. I have Kevin Brockway g one so we
can find this great work. And Kevin will be in
the building Saturday for the U for for week one
there with the with the Hurricanes coming to town, the
State of Florida foe which this podcast is all about.
Our State of Florida teams. Welcome into the podcast. Kevin.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Hey, it's a pleasure, uh and uh, certainly it's
uh that time of year, right, we're in We're in August,
and it's a it's a time for optimism for everyone.
You know, this is everybody's zero zero. Everybody has championship dreams.
I think certainly the mood at Florida is, you know,
maybe not college football playoff, but you know, they want
to see progress and and they're hopeful that Billy Naper
in year three and with the experience for turning on
this roster, uh, that that will result in a little
better showing in the win loss for a Ledger and
maybe a return to a bowl game.
Speaker 2: Being around Billy for a couple of years, now, what
have you sensed in Billy's development as a head coach?
Maybe that he's gotten better at maybe I know he's
calling plays this year, so that's a little more of
a focus on calling plays on the offensive side. What
have just you're just being around him from from a
head coaching perspective, what have you noticed about him in
the last couple of years?
Speaker 3: You know, I think this year with us, he's been
a little more relaxed this year and he seems to
have a little more confidence in the tronc or maybe
even than what some of the national pundits are expecting here,
but I think too that, uh, I think he's been
willing to adapt. Listen, you know, he he got rid
of uh, you know, Corey Raymond and Sean Spencer in December,
which he thought was going to be a move better
for the defense, and in doing so, he may have
lost a few recruits in that Ballyhoo class, including Xavier Philsome,
who you know went to Texas.
Speaker 4: So I think he sacrificed that for.
Speaker 3: A situation where, you know, he wanted to see a
little more cohesiveness on the field. And certainly, you know,
he's he's he's been willing to address some of the
problems that he's had to for seasons at eleven fourteen.
Hasn't stood by and stood pat in certain areas, certainly
bringing in Joe Houston as a special teams analyst after
the special teams issues last year, bringing in you know,
a couple of guys in uh, you know, Will Harris
and Jerald Chapman secondary coach, and then obviously you know,
he lost Jason Bait and j J. Bateman to Texas
A and M, but he quickly recovered and got Ron Roberts.
So I think was a pretty good hire. You know,
a linebackers coach and a co defensive point aater or
a veteran guy who was an Auburn who I think
is going to help Austin Armstrong along a little bit
in terms of, you know, dealing with some of these
sec offenses.
Speaker 2: Defensively, you mess in Austin Armstrong what you know, that
pretty aggressive style. Do they have the personnel, does he
believe they got the personnel to do what he wants
to do on defense or is it still kind of
a work in progress where you see them on just
philosophically on defense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think what you know they're trying to do
on defense is just be a little more sure, be
a little more sound, be more physical, tackle better, and
create more takeaways and that was a huge issue last
year only seven turnovers force that was last in the
actually or to be more of a ball hawking defense, opportunistic,
and then also to just the fundamentals tackling better, being
more physical at the point of attack, you know, pass
rush too, I think is another area where they'd like
to see improvement as well. And it's it's it's just
going to be an all around I will say this
about the defense. Though first month of the season last year,
they were actually pretty good. I mean they actually you know,
they played well at Utah even though they lost, and
they held Charlotte to seven points. They held mcdee State
to seven points. They held you know, Tennessee, they got
a big turnover in that game. Devin Moore held them
to sixteen points. Help josh Iipels kind of have high
powered offense with the Swamps to sixteen points and really
started to turn in October and what I think was
the big issue and it really crystallized. And remember when
they lost Tamar James is at depth the lack of
depth on that side of the ball, and I think
they feel like they're a little deeper.
Speaker 4: They've made some transfer portal additions.
Speaker 3: You know, three big guys I think are gonna be
you know, Grayson Howard at linebacker, Asa Turner at safety,
and Joey Slackman on the defensive line. I think those
are three transfers that they added that they feel like
are going to be able to, you know, bring a
little something to this defense that that will make them
perform better on Saturdays.
Speaker 2: Are there any freshmen that that you expect to get
some significant snaps that meaningful snaps here offensively or I
know I know them. A Craig kid the defensive end
is a highly talented kid. We know DJ Lagway potentially
could could see some action in some specified packages. And
the other freshman that you think will get some get
some snaps, meaningful snaps.
Speaker 3: You know, Ted Hawkins is a guy who had a
really good camp, true freshman wide receiver.
Speaker 4: It's got some speed. I think you might see him
on some returns.
Speaker 3: The other freshman receiver TJ Abrams, as well Aaron Chiles
and Miles Graham the two lines, I think you'll see
them in there at some point during the season, if
not early, you know, perhaps later. But I think mostly
you're going to see a lot of guys that were
true freshman last year as sophomores really kind of step up.
A guy who's ad a really good campus Eiden myself
a sophomore wide receiver, I think he's someone that is
going to be worth watching.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: He he always had that good straight line kind of
track speed, but he really worked on his hands in
the offseason. He worked on his route running and he's
becoming a more complete wide receiver.
Speaker 4: As a result, mood of the.
Speaker 2: Florida the Gator fan base a little bit. I mean,
obviously they they want to see some offense. They want
to see some big plays, and that's one thing Florida
hasn't had in recent years is the skill players to
do that. Do you feel like they're in a better
position to be able to potentially unleash a little bit?
I know Merch is a good, good, solid quarterback, but
he's not you know, he's not going to throw the
ball fifty five yards down the field. A whole lot
talk about the just talk about the you know, the
mood of the Florida fan base.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I mean they want to see the big play,
and whether they get that or not remains to be seen.
Speaker 4: I think it's going to depend on matchups.
Speaker 3: But you know, I a lot of it is, you know,
Billy Napier's offense. I mean, going back to Louisian, it's
you know, run run runs, set up to play play
action and then hit the deep ball. So you got
to established a run game first. And I think they've
they've got a good stable in running backs. Even though
they lost trevortm you know, another freshman two other freshmen
that you know could make impacts the season, or the
two freshman running backs Katie Daniels and Jade and Ball.
Speaker 4: They both looked really good. It's fall. Ball had a
really good spring game.
Speaker 3: So you know, he's another guy that I think you'll
you'll you'll see a little bit, especially with Montreal.
Speaker 4: Johnson kind of questionable coming into this in Miami game.
You know, I'm hearing he may play, but you know,
maybe you put him on a pitch.
Speaker 3: Count, maybe you give him only five or ten carries
and let that knee get back to fully one hundred
percent for Texas A and M. But I do think that,
you know, they feel good about, you know, the ability
to you know just kind of you know, start off
with the run game and then work from there to
the past game. But I think that, you know, fans
might be upset in certain games if they go quick.
But it's gonna depend a lot on the offensive line
too and their ability to protect. And we know last
year that was a big issue. Obviously, thirty nine sacks.
Speaker 2: Allabed Eugene Wilson. To me, he's their most dynamic player
on offense. You know, he's the guy that you know
can can can can be a game breaker to some degree.
Is it going to be Is it going to be
a situation you believe that Merge when it's third and six,
third and eight, that he's going to really really lean
on Eugene Wilson.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you know, Billy Napier's line is we're
going to get our money's worth from Eugene Wilson. H So, yeah,
I think he's the guy. He proved it last year
and uh, you know five you know, so, I mean,
durability is always a concerner. He got a little stronger,
I think, whichell, but you can't tackle what you can't
catch either, And I think that he's a shifty guy
and he's just a really good route runner, you know.
You know it's other is from the Tampa area Aid
obviously with the New England Patriots.
Speaker 4: You know, I talked to him over the summer.
Speaker 3: So I think that you know, he comes from good
bloodlines and the fact that you know he's a worker,
you know, I think, you know, being being the son
of a former NFL player, there's something to that I
think to understand or it's driven home family wise, you
know what it takes to be successful and he's he
proved that last year as a true freshman, and I
think I think there's more to come for him.
Speaker 4: It should be a very exciting year for him.
Speaker 2: Quarterback situation, obviously, Graham Mertch has been played a lot
of football Wisconsin, now at Florida back to back years
at Florida. Obviously you have the big recruit DJ Lagway
in the wings there. What is the plan for Dj?
Do they think they're gonna maybe get him in maybe
goal one wildcat situation? What are they thinking anticipating with
with Dj Lagway?
Speaker 4: Possible, but they have to trust him handling the ball.
Speaker 3: I heard that there were some turnover issues in the
spring and even in a couple of these false scrimmages.
So I think it's just going to depend on how
he looks and practice week to week. But you know,
certainly he's a big body two hundred and thirty nine
pounds six to two. You know, he's a guy that
certainly has has a big enough frame where you know,
in a power conference game like Miami or an SEC game,
he can still you know, make some play.
Speaker 4: So it'll be fascinating to see, you know it.
Speaker 3: Certainly worked with Chris Leek and Tim Tebow back in
two thousand and six, and whether you do that again,
because you know, Mertz is not the most mobile guy.
But but I think Mertz is the guy. And I
really think Mertz is gonna have a big year. I predicted,
you know, I did a Bowld prediction today. I predicted
thirty touchdown passes from this year. Really that you know,
if you look at the history around you know, college football,
a lot of these transfers make jumps in their second year.
You know, you look at shamed In and look at
Joe Burrow, you look at Bonnicks, you look at you know,
Michael Pennix, all guys that were more productive in their
second year as transfers. And I think Graham is the
work ethic and the football like you were, where he
can have that that kind.
Speaker 4: Of a big year.
Speaker 3: And I think he's gonna need to too, because I
do think this defense is still developing and there's gonna
be a lot of shootout type games this season that
that that they're gonna need him to be, uh be productive.
Speaker 2: Speaking of speaking of games and shootouts, let's get let's
get to the schedule quickly. Obviously you got A. You
got a brutal schedule by all accounts, top top two
or three worst schedules in the country as far as
you know opponents that they're gonna play at Tennessee, at Texas,
at Florida State. You got a great home schedule if
you're a Gator fan, tremendous home schedule. You got Miami,
you got A and M in a couple of weeks,
you got ol Miss, you got l s U. So,
I mean you have some tremendous home games. I mean,
obviously if you're if you're how do you navigate that?
And is it Obviously it's a one week at a
time league and I get it, but boy, that's that
is a gauntlet to have to go through to get
ball eligible.
Speaker 3: Yeah, espn uh, you know Football Power and Next Rate
is the most difficult schedule in the country, don't forget
you c F two, well, you know the the mighty
nights from down to Orlando, Casparla Bowl champions. You know,
Flora's try going to try to have to avenge that
lots as well. So it's going to be a fascinating
schedule and a fun schedule, particularly for you know, a
lot of good in State games with Miami, with UCF
at the end of the year with FSU along with
you know, certainly, you know, even Kentucky come to town.
You know they've been in a row against that's gonna
be the homecoming games. So you've got a lot of
games on the schedule where you know, there's opportunity for
Florida to really, you know, if they can somehow get
through this schedule with nine or ten wins with the
strength of schedule, then you know, maybe you're talking about sneaking.
Speaker 4: In the college Football Playoff.
Speaker 3: But I think really it's going to come down to,
you know, that week to week approach, being able to
handle what's in front of you and being able to
stay stay away from injuries. To the depth is going
to be a big place, you know, and this roster
is a little deeper and I think can sustain a
little more from that front. But I think there are
certain guys that you don't want to see get hurt,
beginning with number fifteen and Graham Mertz. I think that's
one one of the main ones for sure. And uh
and you know, Eugene Wilson two, number three is another
guy that you're gonna want to keep healthy for the
full season.
Speaker 2: And obviously Billy every you know, Billy's on the hot seat.
Everybody knows that he knows it. You know, that's not
it's it's an it's not a it's not a uh,
it's not a secret. Everybody knows what the situation is.
I don't think in my view, I don't think it's
how many games he wins. It's it's how he looks
when they when they don't win. It's you know, are
you buttoned up or do you have special teams issues?
Do you have operational issues? You're wasting time out? What
do you what do you what sense do you get about? Again,
I don't want to put a number on it, but
I mean, just how they look if they're if they
don't win.
Speaker 3: I agree, you know, And and with Steve spur called
it the football looking a little more tidy, and I
think that's a good word, you know what I mean, like,
you know, less of the embarrassing mistakes. And as you know,
they brought in Joke Houston as a special teams analyst. Uh,
he's got the launch pad you a little twister thing
on the sidelines that they're gonna make sure everyone's lined
up right, So hopefully that will result in a smoother
operations on special teams and having.
Speaker 4: The right number of guys on the field.
Speaker 3: So I think all of that will result, you know,
in maybe a crisper looking football, and that's gonna be important,
you know. I think six to seven wins gets them
a fourth year. You know, anything below that it gets
a little more dicey, right, I predicted seven and five.
I think there's a path to it, you know, I think,
you know, especially if they beat Miami, I think they can.
Speaker 4: Go six and one on the front end.
Speaker 3: Question is the back end and once the injuries mount,
you know, it's it's it's a bad time to face
the top twelve teams in the country in the last
five games, which is what you're gonna be facing when
you're still trying to develop depth within your roster. And
I think that's where, you know, that's gonna be the
month that's gonna be really dicey for Florida, and that's
when you're gonna see I think a little bit of
you know, games where they're a little bit of match
but but I do think they could possibly bea at
LC with the swamp and now you know, listen, you
know what happened in Ireland.
Speaker 4: Now Florida State game as well.
Speaker 2: And I'm with you. I think I think the central
Florida I mean, you can't lose the central forward. I
think that's a pivotal game. Just from an optics perspective.
You got to you gotta be to Kentucky at home.
And again, I think Florida can be a pain in
the neck to some people down the stretch. I mean,
I think they've got there an improved football team, and
it may not show up in the record, but I
think they can be a pain in the neck to
a you know, whether it's Florida State down the road,
LSU down the road, I think built And again, fans
don't want to hear this, but sometimes it just takes
three or four years to develop a roster and a
culture and all that. And I know Florida, the Florida
fan base is not the most patient in the war
in the country. But sometimes you have to almost bite
the bullet just say we believe in Billy, we believe
in the philosophy. Uh is that you get the sense
that that's what the administration thinks.
Speaker 3: I think the administration, Yeah, I think a lot of
the hot seat talk is more external than internal. I
think if you talk to the people inside the building, UH,
they will tell you that Billy Napier is on a
lot more secure ground than than people outside, I think,
and that you know they're you're in this cycle now,
you know in Florida's and Serbert Meyer left where you
know you're you're going to coaches every three or four years.
I think they would like some stability at this position.
I think they they love what Billy does off the field.
Certainly they like him as you know, a guy that
UH is a leader, and I think they believe that
he represents the football program the right way. I think
just to you know, in terms of creating, you know,
changing the culture.
Speaker 4: I think they had the highest.
Speaker 3: GPA last year UH in in you know, program history.
So he's doing the right things off the field. It's
just that the on field results need to show.
Speaker 4: Now that's the key.
Speaker 2: Well, Kevin Brockway, enjoy the year, man, appreciate the time.
Gainesville Suns where you can find Kevin's great work. You
can find uh, you know again every every Sunday and Saturday.
You'll be putting stuff all over X in Twitter, can
Brockway g One's where you can find them there. Appreciate
the time, Kevin, enjoy the year. We'll be in touch.
Speaker 4: Okay, all right, thank you very much.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back to the podcast. Appreciate you finding us.
Now it is time to go down to South Florida
and visit with the voice of the Miami Hurricanes going
into year twenty three. Is the play by play voice.
Been on the broadcast many many years, but he's been
the voice of the Canes for going on year number
twenty three. Here, mister Joe Zagaki. Appreciate you joining us here.
Speaker 5: Joe Yep, thank you, appreciate you having me looking forward
to it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just a mirror couple of weeks away here from
the season opener for the Hurricanes, Miami coming off a
seven and six year last year, three and five in
the ACC. You know, most people remember the Miami got
off to a great start four and oh, and then
they had the disastrous finish in the Georgia Tech Game.
We're able to recover after that after a couple of
losses and then wrapped up the year at seven and six.
Year three of Mario Cristo Baal continued his adventures into
the transfer portal on such which we're gonna get into.
First question for you, Joe, how much of an impact
did that Georgia Tech finish have on the rest of
the year for that team and that coaching staff.
Speaker 5: Well, you know, that's probably hard to measure, but I
would say certainly affected them. The next week they went
to North Carolina and lost that game. They didn't come
back and recover. Briefly, they'd beat Clemson in overtime, beat
Virginia in overtime, So I do think they got past it.
You know, down the stretch, they lost what six of
their last nine games average twenty six points a game.
They fumbled the ball in the red zone, they turned
the ball over in the red zone, they had penalties
in the red zone. I don't think that was associated
with the decision that was made against Georgia Tech, but
certainly the week after going into the Carolina game, it
certainly did have an effect and probably did knock the
season sideways. And there's no doubt. Listen, it's the first
question you asked me. I did an interview last week.
It was the third question asked to me. So it's
something that Mario Cristobal in the program have to get passed,
and the only way to get past it is to win.
That's it.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like, do you get a good sense
from the guys that are there now? Obviously you have
a lot of new guys coming in, but a lot
of the guys that are returning it they're over that
moment and that they haven't lost confidence in the in
the coaching staff and all that. You think the confidence
is still there in that staff.
Speaker 5: Well, listen, if they're still dwelling on something that happened
last October, they had no chance. So I just don't
think you dwell on something in sports that happened a
year ago. You can't dwell on stuff like that in life.
You got to go forward. It happened, it's over. They
lost the game, It did affect the season. It has
stained his resume. The only way to get away from
it is move forward. If they're gonna sit back and
dwell on it the whole time, then the program is
never going to go forward. In addition, many of the
players on this team this year weren't here last year,
starting with the quarterback cam Ward. He wasn't part of that.
Damian Martinez he wasn't part of that. The centaer Zach Carpenter,
not part of that. Sam Brown wide receiver, not part
of that. The defensive line, almost the entire defensive line
weren't here, not part of it. So I do think
guys that weren't here it doesn't affect them at all.
They came to the transfer portal. To me, the bigger
challenge is how do you bring all those guys in
here and create a team, especially when you do have
adversity like they did against Georgia Tech. How do you
get those guys bond together well together become a team
at the moment of truth, these are not only in Miami,
but all across college athletics. We've almost created a system
of mercenaries. So now you've got to figure out how
to make them a team. To me, that's the bigger challenge.
Speaker 2: And if you look at the Miami you know twenty
twenty four Miami Hurgan as you mentioned, a lot of
new faces, a lot of expectation. A lot of people
nationally think Miami is a sleeper team. They avoid Clemson,
they avoid Carolina, they avoid NC State on the schedule.
They've got some they've got they've got a very manageable schedule,
and you're now in a situation where you don't have
to go twelve and zero. You can lose a game,
maybe two, and if you win the conference, you're still
you're still You're still gonna be in the college football play.
Hard to believe that Miami has never been in the
AEC title game in twenty years or so of the
a SEC heart That is just just a stat that's
that when I.
Speaker 5: Saw not quite they've been in the championship game they
lost for whims. Correct, They actually won the championship games correct,
and they did call people do forget this. It gets
under my skin a little bit. They did qualify for
the ACC Championship game under Al Golden, they forfeited their
opportunity to play in the ACC Championship game because they
thought that would help them with the NCAA and punishment
because of the Nevin Shapiro situation.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 5: To your point, they haven't won the ACC championship since
they joined the league, and everybody thought Miami would play
Florida State quite a bit in the championship game. It
has not happened. They have a team this year that
is built to get to the ACC Championship game, whether
it happens or not. To me, it will happen if
they cut down on their turnovers, they cut down on
their penalties, and they improve their red zone offense. And
often those three things are in conflict. So if they
figure out those three things, I think they'll they'll have
a chance to appear in that ACC Championship game. You
also mentioned the schedule, and I would agree with that.
And you know, Miami is not held up their end
of the bargain inside the ACC, There's no question about that.
But the ACC and these are little things. I don't
know that they've done Miami any favors anywhere along the line.
Same with Florida State. That's why Florida State wants out.
When people will go, well, what is it that they
could have done? Well, how about I'm going to whine
a little bit probably, how about, for example, when you
played Florida State, don't follow that game up with Clemson, right,
or don't follow that game up with North Carolina. Because
for Miami and Florida State so much ride on that.
Why do you put them in a position the very
next week to get beat? And how about you invited
Miami in this conference to be Miami, and that means
everything that comes with it, whether you agree with their
style of play or not. Let them be Miami. But no, no,
they've they've kind of neutered Miami and tried to force
them to be Duke. So I'll probably get in trouble,
but that's my feeling on it.
Speaker 2: Let's get to the Let's get to week number one.
Such a pivotal game in Gainesville against the Gators. You
got two coaches that are feeling a little bit of heat. Obviously,
I think more more heat up in Gainesville than in Miami.
But still a massively critical non conference game in Gainesville.
What is the You know, Florida and Miamis. Give Miami credit.
They're playing in Gainesville. A couple of weeks later, they're
playing here in Tampa against USF. They're gonna see obviously
in Florida State later in the year, So a true
state championships on the line, and if Miami can navigate
at least two out of those three they're in, they're
gonna be in a great spot to have a big year.
Just talk about the importance of that first game on
the road in Gainesville.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I just I put the Florida game on a
separate island, and that is it's the University of Florida
in Miami. If you're a Miami person, you hate Florida,
and so you got to win that game. You can't
cannot lose that game. Now the series is twenty nine
to twenty seven in favor of Miami. That's how close
it is. But first of all, they should play every year.
One of the greatest Miami Florida games I ever saw
was in the eighties six season in Gainesville. One of
the hardest hitting college football games I've ever seen. Kind
of epitomized when Miami and Florida was supposed to be.
If we have that kind a game this year, have
both both sides will be you know, have their guys
tossed out because in eighty six that game was so physical. Uh, nowadays,
you can't play that way. That being said, you gotta
win that game. You're the University of Miami. Yes, if
you lose, can you recover, Yeah, sure, Miami recovered in
eighty three, they recovered in eighty five. Yes, you can
recover from that game if you lose. But from a
bragging standpoint, from a stick your chest out from a
our program is better than your program. You gotta win
that game. It's Miami in Florida. If you're Miami, you
gotta win that game. Florida doesn't want to play it,
do come down here next year. If Florida doesn't want
to play Miami, you're Miami.
Speaker 2: You gotta win that game, no doubt, no win that game.
Speaker 5: And and by the way, the way the way to
win that game is in the swamp at three point
thirty is not gonna be a picnic. That crowd is
gonna be repped up, ready to go. They are going
to try to affect cam Ward the best way they can.
The Gators had three interceptions all of last year, seven
takeaways all season. If you're Miami, you cannot let them
get into a feeding frenzy. You cannot turn the ball over.
You played bully ball with Damian Martinez and take the
crowd right out of it. You've got to be able
to Miami ran for two hundred and eleven yards against Clemson,
put two hundred on the Gators on they win.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about you mentioned cam Ward Damian Martinez. Those
are the two big portal guys that come in offensively.
Cam Ward at quarterback the Washington State transfer. I looked
up the stats. He's guy's thrown for fourteen thousand yards
in his career, one hundred and nineteen touchdowns. I know
he's played in some smaller, you know, not massive Power
five programs, but he's still produced when he's at an opportunity.
Damian Martinez, a bell cow kind of back, kind of
reminds me of a Steven Maguire back in the Miami Day.
Speaker 5: Yeah, good one.
Speaker 2: A guy you can just hand it to twenty five
thirty times if you need to. You know, big production
in Oregon State, big offensive line is back. A lot
of expectations, Mario. We obviously know his background with the
offensive line. So do you do you do you anticipate
this being a wide open offense or a little more
of a between the tackles bully ball kind of offense
that you mentioned.
Speaker 5: You know, Jason, that's a good question because in my
in my opinion, cam Ward and you mentioned his numbers
and uh, two years in two years at Washington State
he threw for six thousand nine or yours and just
two years there. In my opinion, he came here, came
here to throw the football right, show his arm off,
show the NFL. I can throw the football. I want
to be a quarterback. I'm gonna direct traffic. I'm gonna
be the guy. When he signed here, he didn't have
Dave Hitt Martinez. So, uh, the question is you throw
it for show and right win?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Yeah, some battance there, you know, throw for show, run
to win. And you cannot not give the ball to
Damian Martinez. He you can't tackle this guy. There's gonna
be a lot of swings and missus trying to tackle
Damian Martinez. He's as impressive physical wise as I have
seen last year, one of the top runners with yards
after contact. So originally I thought cam Ward comes here
to throw the football. But I think the blueprint to
win is give the ball to Damian Martinez and work
a play action game off of that.
Speaker 2: You got Xavier Rostreppo back at wide receiver eighty five
catches last year, clear than the number one option. There
any any significant upgrades there at the other wide receiver spot,
tight end, Give me, give me a player or two
that to keep an eye on there other than a Strepo.
Speaker 5: Well, Jacoby George is coming off the great season he
had fifty seven catches, was a big play guy for
ninety eight touchdowns. I think a lot of people he
could play at the next level. His problem has been behavior.
You know, in games, he gets a lot of silly
for a wide receiver that's barely six feet tall. He
picks a lot of fights, so you just can't have that.
And he's been costing Miami with personal foul penalties. But
he's an explosive player, so if he can take the
one selfish part out of his game, I think he's
got a chance to be a really good player. Sam
brown Is came into the transfer portal. He's bigger than
I thought, he's tall, long legged. I think he's got
a chance to be a really special player. Jojo Trader
is a five star player wide receiver from Shamana in
high school. Elijah Arroyo is a really good tight end
who's been injured the last few years. And then freshman
Elijah Lafton. He's a tight end, HVAC running back. Can
do a lot of different things. So they don't have
a shortage of weapons. There is a shortage of footballs,
but they don't have a shortage of weapons.
Speaker 2: And again they're gonna lean on that offensive line and
experienced offensive line a pretty good unit there again, Mario's
again that's his wheelhouse, so I expect that offensive line
to be very very productive as well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, look, the offensive line all comes back
from a year ago. For the most part, they lost
their left guard, lost their center. But Matt McCoy, who
I think will be the starting left guard, has played
a lot of left guard, played a lot on the
offensive line last year. Zach Carpenter comes in from Indiana,
He should be okay for them at center, and then
Jalen Rivers and as Cooper, Francis Marino. All three guys
are massive. They all played last year, so I think
the offensive line is gonna be very good. They only
gave up sixteen sacks last year, so I suspect they'll
be very tough in the trenches again.
Speaker 2: And before we get to the defensive go to the
kicking game. He got Andre Borgallas, all acc player could
be a major weapon for you, especially in these tough
road environments at lake field, goal field position, things like that.
Talk about the importance of bor Gallas.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Bora Gallas. You look at his numbers, He's made
fifty six field goals in his career. Yeah, that's pretty good.
Fifty six for sixty seven, hit on twenty two at
twenty six last year, so he's accurate. He's confident, he
can hit with distance, pretty consistent. Long last year is
fifty one career long fifty five. He still has one
his freshman year for the win against Virginia where he
knocked it off the upright. But I think he's overcome that.
The punter Dylan Joyce good job last year had had
twenty punts or fifteen punts inside the twenty yard line,
so I always think that's a pretty good number. I
didn't have any had one block to think at the
beginning of the year, so I think they're solid there.
There's still shorting out the return game. Chris Johnson's got
great speed, so I suspect we might see him on kickoffs.
It just seems like a natural fit to me. It's
not etched and stone punt return. I think there's been
a problematic area for Miamis for some reason, them not
being able to find a guy that can catch it
and give you a great return. They've had a hard
enough time finding somebody to catch the damn ball so
we'll see what happens there.
Speaker 2: And let's give a shout out to Devin Hester just
inducted in the Yeah yeah, what what a weapon he
wasn't Miami. And again, just what that shows is what
you the hidden yardage in the in the special teams area,
whether it's punting, pinning them deep, good return game, those
are all hidden yards that can really help uh this
Miam team. Let's go to the defensive side to me
looking at the kind of the depth chart, kind of
the area that shoring up is defensive line and secondary.
That would that be your your assessment as well?
Speaker 6: Well.
Speaker 5: They needed to fix the secondary because they lost Cam
Kitchens and James Williams and then they lost Jane Davis
their starting corners, so they've got some holes there. They
brought in Mish Powell, who's a safety from Washington, played
a lot of football for Washington last year on their
team that went to the championship game, had forty three
tackles for them, kind of a glue guy in the secondary.
Zakwan Patterson's a five star player, came in from shamanad
I suspect. As the season goes on, we'll see more
of him. Mark Heath Williams and Jadeen Harris are kind
of battling for that other safety spot. Harris has really
good speed. Mark Heith Williams he didn't play a lot
last year, fifteen tackles in eleven games, but he does
have the experience. But that's your last layer of defense.
So they lost two great players there on the corner.
I feel pretty good about Yerol Porter and Damari Brown
have a freshman has had a really good camp and
Oj Fedrick. The question is is that going to carry
over into the regular season. Sometimes guys flashing training camp.
You don't know if he carries over. But so far
three weeks in the training camp he's been pretty good.
Where they think they made some significant improvement through the
transfer portal. He's on their defensive line. The whole key
to the defensive line. Though, to me, you've got Bin.
I know Bain's gonna be a great player. I know
Bain's gonna play with intensity, He's gonna do all the
right things. Acc Freshman of the Year, Preseason All American,
great leadership in his family. He is not going to
let Miami down. With Miami needs is for a key
messidor to play and Messador only played three games last year.
The year before that was kind of banged up as well,
so he's got to play. He wants to be in
the NFL, and he was a foot injury, so give
him a little bit of space on that. But if
Miami's defensive line is going to be elite, it's going
to be Mesador. And then they brought in Simeon Barrow,
Tyler Baron, CJ. Clark through the transfer portal, Elijah Austin.
All guys, they are older players, good strength, good edged players,
good inside players. So they were tough to run on.
Last year. They were twelve in the country. They should
be just as good this season, if not better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, last couple of questions to get you out of
give me the sense of the mood in South Florida.
I mean, we've we've gone through some head coaches the
last ten twelve years. We've had some moments where we've
thought they're back. How hungry is that South Florida community
for Miami to put together an eleven and one, twelve
and oh kind of year.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's always the same every year. At
this time, they've got eye black underneath their eyes, you know,
they're ready to go. Get the helmets on and chin straps.
Fan base is ready to go. They can't wait. They
have high expectations.
Speaker 4: And why not.
Speaker 5: You know, they've heard they've hurt everything, so they've got
high expectations. They've seen them recruit at a high level.
They've seen them bring in transfer portal players at a
high level. They've got a quarterback with a great resume.
They've got to go out and win. And you know
I always hear on campus stadium. Listen, the University of
Miami could play on Mars and if they won, people
would find a way to get there. They just got
to win. If they win, people will go to hard
Rock Stadium and it'll be a great environment. If they
had a stadium on campus and they give them what
they've given them the last twenty years, they're not going.
Speaker 2: They're not going.
Speaker 5: This is a community that has spread out, So win
and they will show up and they are excited. They
should be excited. And if Miami gives them the right product,
that'll be the twelfth man for him. They will empty
their lungs. They will do whatever they can to help
Miami win. But you've got to give him something out
to cheer for and.
Speaker 2: Give me a quick thought of it. I'll and I'll
get you out of here. Give me a quick thought
on the Dolphins. So much excitement down there. Year three
when McDaniel Tua gets his extension, same kind of with her. Yeah,
just dying for a monster year, maybe a home home
playoff game and such. Talk to me about Miami Dolphins
real quick.
Speaker 5: You know everybody was excited last year and deservedly so.
They're playing great football, very exciting, great offense, scoring at will,
and the off season. Of course, the whole conversation was
about Tua, which I didn't even understand because he did
what he was supposed to do a year ago. The
reason they played doubt wasn't Tua. It was the injuries.
And that's the NFL. You're asking the NFL to play
seven games. The key in the NFL is great quarterback
play number one, and right there is one a battle
of attrition. Who has the healthy bodies at the end
of the year, and the Dolphins lost almost their entire
defense and their offensive line, so there was nothing left.
They were down to bare bones by the time they
got to Christmas. And so everybody's excited if they make
it through healthy. I think they'll get that home playoff
game and a home win.
Speaker 2: All right, Joe, last thing I'll get you out of
talk to me about the broadcast. Everybody back with the
broadcast crew and tell the fans that aren't in South
Florida where they can find the hurricane broadcast in your
in your your great crew.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well we're back, and Don Bailey's my analyst, Josh
Jarrow on the sidelines. So we worked for Odyssey, so
Odyssey dot com as an app. Odyssey has an app.
You can tune it in on the free Odyssey app nationwide,
and of course I think every game is on Serious
XM as well. Then of course if you're here locally
in South Florida, WQEM. But with the apps now you
can listen wherever you are, wherever you want to listen.
Speaker 2: Absolute, no doubt about it.
Speaker 5: And again replaced transistor radios. I remember my dad would
go we'd go to a Dolphin game and my father
would be like this the whole time, and it was
a transistor radio, right, So now the phone is the
transistor radio.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Joe is a legend in the South Florida media market.
Been down there a long time, done, a lot of
great work and lots of different venues, and again twenty
three years calling Miami Hurricane football and basketball went to
the Final four last year, which was great. So Joe,
keep up the great work. We'll look forward to your
opening day showdown in Gainesville on QAM down South Florida
and obviously odyssey around the world. So enjoy the year
and have a great year. Joe, appreciate your time.
Speaker 5: Okay, Jason, thank you.
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All right, welcome back to the podcast. Now it is
on to the University of South Florida. Burns Up. Bulls
come into year two under coach Alex Golis. After a
successful year one, seven and six, a Bowl game win,
an emphatic forty five nothing Bowl game win over Syracuse,
and now expectations are rising, lots of optimism down at
the universe to South Florida here in Tampa, and no
better person to talk all things USF Bulls than a
part of their broadcast coverage since twenty seventeen, longtime local
media member, great writer here in the tamp Buria mister
Joey Johnston.
Speaker 7: Welcome in, Joey, Thank you, Jason, thanks for having me.
Looking forward to another college football season coming fast and furious.
Speaker 6: All our lives will change very soon.
Speaker 2: It is. It is almost here here, We're about about
eight nine days away from it starting in over in
Dublin with Florida State and then you guys will kick
it off with with Bethune Cookman to start your season.
Let's just give a quick overview of last year. Again,
not a lot of expectations going into last year and
not a lot of people knew who coach Goldish was.
Just give me an overall thought of being around him
for a year or so. Now he did a great
job kind of rebuilding the confidence of the program. To
talk about coach Golish through year one.
Speaker 7: Well you're one, as he says, all the times you
know there no there were no expectations. USF was picked
thirteenth in their league of a fourteen team league and
to coming off a one win season and had to
replace a lot of people, so they basically started from
ground zero, and they did some things that they hadn't
done in a good while. They won on the road,
they won conference games, they got to a bowl game,
and they won it. So the sum total was a
seven and six season. Now you can look closely at that,
and it came very close to not happening that way.
They had to win a game at Yukon where they
faced a third down situation. If they didn't get it,
they probably don't win the game. But they did get it,
they did win the game, and they did get to
a bowl game. So they had the right things happen
late in the season. And you might say, well, the
right things happened because the coach had the good process
and they saw it through. So they were able to
do things in games that they hadn't done before in
terms of coming through in the clutch.
Speaker 6: So the sum.
Speaker 7: Total was they had a lot to sell after last
year seven and six, A great bowl win forty five
to nothing over a depleted Syracuse team, but a Syracuse team.
Speaker 6: Nonetheless from the SEC.
Speaker 7: So they have taken that moment and gone into the offseason,
signed a lot of new, promising young players and gotten
some good transfer portal acquisitions. They return a lot of
key players, such as quarterback Byron Brown. So instead of
being picked thirteenth, now they are picked fourth. And while
people don't necessarily say they're gonna win the championship, they
are contender and they have a chance to win a championship.
And that's where they are in year two under Alex Golish.
And that's a long way in one year, A long way, indeed.
And the biggest thing would be, just if you want
to summon up a one sentence, last year, there were
no expectations. This year there are a great expectations. So
that's what's happened under Alex Golish.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great point you make there. I mean, again, again,
a program like US up that they should be pretty
competitive in this conference most years. I mean, they've got
a fertile recruiting ground here in the state of Florida.
You got you got new facilities, you've got a new
stadium coming give give the audience in the fan base
and just a quick update on the stadium process.
Speaker 7: Well, the stadium, the on campus stadium, thirty three hundred
and fifty million dollars, thirty five thousand seats. It's it's
due to open for the twenty twenty seven season. This year,
at the homecoming game against UAB, there will be a groundbreaking,
which is essentially a bunch of people with shovels and
people taking photos, so you know, it is what it is,
but it's a ceremonial moment and it's it's a big moment.
So from that point on there will be actual construction
going on on a stadium, and we've we've seen the renderings.
For the most part, I believe it's going to be
a beautiful place. It's going to be state of the art,
and it's gonna be something that's going to really change
life at USF. To have a football game on your campus,
which has never happened before. It's going to change not
only football, but all sports and the whole perception of
the university. And it's something that's been sorely needed for
a long time. So it's really in a way hard
to believe, but really cool to know that it's going
to happen now it's coming. So that is a big
piece of what they're going to build for the future
and really a very attractive part of what USF looks
like to other leagues down the line if they have
a chance to, you know, up their status. The fact
that they have a brand new stadium opening on campus
is going to be a heck of a thing to
offer to other places. And so yeah, where everyone's really
excited about it.
Speaker 2: Let's look at the schedule. We'll start with the schedule,
then we'll get to the to the offense and the
defense part. Again, give give Alex and a d Mark
Kelly credit. They've they've gone out and scheduled some big,
big opponents. The return game with Alabama we saw last
year LM but came to USF last year in Tampa.
The USF played them very well for three and a
half quarters. And then now they're going back to Tuscaloosa
in week two. Up in Tuscaloosa in September seventh, you
bring Miami to town. Miami comes two weeks after Alabama,
which a lot of people think Miami is gonna be
really good. So again a great interstate intrastate rival regained
there with Miami coming to town, and then you got
then you got Memphis most people probably think is the
best team in the league. Memphis comes to town later
in the year. Just talk about first of all, the
out of conference games and the quality schedule that that
Coach Kelly and I mean that Mark Kelly and Coach
Golis continue to to put for the for the USF
fan base.
Speaker 7: Well, you're right, it is a really attractive non conference schedule.
Speaker 6: It's very rugged.
Speaker 7: There's also Southern Miss in there on the road, which
I don't believe this is a vintage Southern Miss team,
But at Southern Miss it can be a trap kind
of game. But I think on paper US should be
able to handle it this year. So at Alabama, I mean,
he a heck of a challenge going to before ninety
thousand plus fans. It's also the that they will rename
the field in honor of Nick Saban. There'll be a
lot of ceremony going on. Last year, the score was
seventeen to three here in favor of Alabama, which was
a score no one really anticipated playing that competitive a game.
It was ten to three late in the game. Alabama
attacked it on the defense of USF played great, the
offense really had trouble getting anything going. If the offense
had been a smidge better, Bulls could have won that game.
The one x factor that people may remember Jalen Milroe
did not play. He was pinched. He will play this year.
I think we're going to see a little bit of
a different Alabama team. You know, it's going to be
a huge challenge for USF's defense, a huge challenge to
protect Byron Brown and deal with that environment. I don't
know what the points spread might be in a game
like that, but realistically, I don't think anybody would pick
us have to win it. But it is a great
opportunity to go on the road in the sec atmosphere
at night and see how you fare. USF hopefully will
be competitive and and have a chance to win the game,
but on paper, difficult to see it happening realistically. Two
weeks later, they play Miami at home, get the Hurricanes
at home, and as we all know, the Hurricanes will
begin the season at Florida, So we don't. We know
Miami's talented. Miami is a tough one to gauge.
Speaker 6: We don't.
Speaker 7: You never quite know what you're gonna get with Miami.
They certainly have a great quarterback coming in and Cam
Word who was the ACC preseason Player of the Year.
And they could be great, they could be less than great.
Speaker 6: We don't know.
Speaker 7: So on paper, at least you'd think USF has a
fighter's chance, a puncher's chance in this game to get
the Hurricanes at home. So there there at least appears
to be an opportunity to get a great non conference result.
If that could happen, then the world opens up for
USF going in conference play. But you know the fact is,
it's exciting to think about it. At Alabama Miami, those
are those are juice games that are going to give
the Bulls an opportunity to make a name for themselves.
So we'll see where it goes from there. But the
non conference schedule, certainly you cannot complain about it. It
is very good this.
Speaker 2: Year outside of Memphis at home, and looking at the
schedule looks pretty workable. If they can somehow get out
of those, the Alabama and the Miami game fairly healthy
and you and you can beat if you can beat
Memphis at home, I think they got an opportunity here
to win this league. Because it's a pretty doable schedule
when you look at it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, the league now the before the Memphis game, they
actually open it at Tulane is one of the top
teams in the league, even though they have a new
head coach and so a lot of new players. So
it's possible that Tulane could take a step back, but
you have to respect Tulane what they've done the last
few years and and feel like they're going to be one.
Speaker 6: Of the top teams.
Speaker 7: So they're at tu Lane followed by a bye week,
followed by Memphis at home on a Friday night. So basically,
as you look at the schedule, you could argue that
their most difficult two games in the league are the
first two games. So, as you said, if they can
get out of those two games with victories, they could
really be sitting pretty in terms of winning the league.
And the interesting thing about Memphis is that's a Friday
night on ESPN.
Speaker 6: What that means is.
Speaker 7: Everyone in the college football world will be watching because
that's what happens on a Friday night because all the
players and coaches around the country are at hotels, you know,
their home or a way getting ready for the game.
And after your meal and your meetings, what are you doing.
You're watching the game on ESPN. So if USF has
a great result against Memphis with the nation watching, that
is going to give them a boost of perception like
never before. Similar to the West Virginia game in two
thousand and seven, which was a standalone Friday night game.
That beating in West Virginia was great, but the fact
that everybody in the country saw it was even greater.
So that's what they have a chance to do against Memphis.
So if we could visualize USF coming away to to
zero in the American Conference, then we got a realistic
chance at running this thing out to a conference title.
So that could be very exciting as we come to
middle of October with that possibility. But as they say,
got gotta play the games, gotta win the games. But
opportunity is there for USF and the and.
Speaker 2: The added value of that is if you win that league,
then you have an opportunity to be in the playoff
as the Power five representative. So there's there's greater opportunity
to not just winning the league, now you've got a
chance to be in that twelve team playoff because you're
guaranteed the spot of the best power non Power five school,
So that's added incentive there as well.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and backtracking back to the non conference would be
And we don't know exactly what the college football playoff
and the decision making is going to look like this year.
We haven't experienced the twelve team. But if if USF
is a is in a debate against another group of
five team, they can bring their non conference to the
table and say we played Alabama and Miami, and you'd
have to think that will be a nice chip to
have at the table in terms of slicing and dicing
where the USF should get in over say Boise State
or somebody else.
Speaker 6: That would be a wonderful.
Speaker 2: Time, you would think, no doubt, no doubt about all right,
let's go to the offense. Byron Brown back. They found
their quarterback eight hundred yards rushing, almost thirty three hundred
yards passing twenty six touchdowns. Really really dynamic athlete. Needs
to be a little more consistent in the passing game,
a little more hitting the gimmes in the layups talk
about Byron Brown in which the more things that now
I think in year two they probably can do with Byron,
if they can just get him to play a little
more in a little bit more structure and to be
able to just hit the automatic stuff.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 7: The thing about Byron first of all this year is
you see him and in my goodness, the guy's body
is pressive. He's two hundred and twenty seven pounds sculpted.
He looks like a pro quarterback. And I believe he
is going to put himself in the position one day
to be a pro quarterback. He could very well be
the best quarterback USF's had. You know, if he has
another great season. Is he is a really really great kid,
an outstanding person, a great worker, a great leader, very talented,
can run, can pass. I think he's He's the kind
of guy that will look at his shortcomings and work
on them and will he will be there first at
the facility. He will be the person that leaves last.
He's everything you'd want in a quarterback and a leader
and a great young person to boot And he's on
the radar people now. Certainly people know he's a potential
All Conference quarterback. He could be the dark horse Heisman
guy if he has a great season and potential All American.
So he is he is in a position to get
He's got people's attention now. If he can do something
with it, he could really have an outstanding season. He
probably needs to do a better job of staying in
the pocket at times, which he did better of late
last season, instead of just taking off and running at
the first sign of trouble. Now, the line obviously has
to protect him, that's part of it, but he has
the ability to turn nothing into something. He did that
a lot last year. But you're right, the consistent sea level,
the staying in the pocket, the making the consistent easy plays.
He has to do a better job of that. But
I would say, given the way the kid works and
how much it means to him, I think he's ready
to make a step like that for sure.
Speaker 2: And he's only and he's still a young player. It's
not like he's a Jewe's only nineteen years old. Yeah,
I mean, he's a very young player still. So those
kind of things. The more football you play, you'll get
better at those things. Offensive line pass protection was an
issue last year. They ran the ball okay, but they
seem to struggle and pass partis action on the overall.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and I think you know they it was a
patchwork group last year. They had some transfer portal guys
and some young people, and they had some injuries where
they to move people around. It looks like, you know
again that the one thing you love from an offensive
line is stability and consistency and continuity, and it looks
like they have most of the group back from last year,
so they have a chance to build on it and
become even better. They have what looks like a potential
All Conference center and Mike Lofton he's the leader. Zane
Herring is being looked at by the Outland Trophy on
their watch list. He is a transfer from Florida State.
They also have some really promising young players that maybe
could figure into the rotation. So again, I think the
talent level has been upgraded a lot in two years,
and I think the continuity appears to be there from
last year where they have a chance to work together
more consistent consistently as a group, which, as you know,
is really important for an offensive line to have the
same people together week after week after week, and you
can build on that.
Speaker 2: Quick thought on the wide receivers, does US have a
legitimate number one receiver? I know they got a lot
of guys that do a lot of different things, But
do they have a clear number one guy that when
it's third and seven, the ball's going to him.
Speaker 7: Yeah, absolutely they do. Sewn Atkins former walk on. He's
a smallish guy. He's a smurf, but he is a
tough kid and a hard worker. You know, not a
physical guy in stature by any means, but he will
get open. He will get open past the chains. He's
a smart receiver. He's not a burner or a game breaker,
but he is a tremendous possession receiver. And he has
broken all the single season receiving records and I think
has another great year, he'll break all the career records.
And this is a guy that nobody wanted. It was
a walk on. So there's that. There's also Naim Simmons,
who's coming back from Lawlast year, he had a two
hundred and seventy two yard game against Rice to set
the State of Florida record. He didn't do anything resembling
that the rest of the season, but he certainly showed
that afternoon that he had great potential. There's also the
receiving room that is very different from last year. Great
depth and a lot of guys we haven't heard of
yet that could be very good, young guys who do
have the physical skills, who do have the speed.
Speaker 6: You know, it's hard to.
Speaker 7: Know until they get into the games, but I can
tell you there's at least four or five to six
guys that have the potential to be special. You know, again,
got to play the games, got to see it. But
receiving could be surprisingly deep if these guys come through
all right.
Speaker 2: On the defensive side of things a lot, you know,
last year was it kind of an up and down year.
Defensive that've played great against Alabama and then they had
some other games that didn't play as well. Talk about
the run defense, and that seemed to be the one
area of concern for the most part throughout the year
was the ability to stop the run. Give me a
thought or two.
Speaker 7: There, Yeah, I mean, I would say up and down
might be charitable. It was mostly a down season. There
were some highlights, but some real difficult moments as well.
But that is clearly the area where USF has to
get a lot better is stopping the other team, and
it starts up front where they are not going to
be as big as others. So they have to be
as athletic and as smart as you could possibly imagine.
They do ever shot Cheney coming back in the middle.
They have a player named Bernard Gooden who did not
play last year, who they have high hopes for, and
they have a rotation of others upfront that they are
confident in.
Speaker 6: But again, it has to be shown on the field.
Speaker 7: You can talk about improvement, you can talk about the
potential players, but the fact is they give up fifty
or more points four times last year and that is unacceptable.
So they have to get much better there.
Speaker 2: Does coach have any has has coach made any comments
to publicly about maybe changing their style of play a
little bit to help protect the defense, maybe slow down
the offense just a little bit. And you know, I
know he wants to run plays every X number of seconds,
but more plays you run on offense, the more you
expose your defense if you're not making first downs and
all that. Has there been any thought of just tweaking
the philosophy a little bit on that?
Speaker 7: Yeah, there's been zero thought of that. And I would say,
you make a good point, and you probably are touching
on a very sensitive area for the coach perhaps, Yeah,
that your thought process is not wrong, but I don't
see it happening at this point. I think that they're
looking for a way to get the defense better under
the current system, and that they you know, I think
a lot of it is just getting better quality players
at certain positions, more depth, more depth.
Speaker 6: The depth was a big problem.
Speaker 7: They put people on the field late season that they
did not imagine doing, so they've addressed that to the
degree that they can.
Speaker 6: I think always you're going to have a problem with
up front.
Speaker 7: The size, the the There's only so many of those
guys to go around, and most of them go to
the SEC and the big ten, and you're just not
going to have the three hundred and twenty pound athletes
in the middle of your defensive line. You're gonna have
to get by with something different. So I will say that,
you know, again, you look at the defense as a whole.
Last year, there were these incredible efforts like Alabama and Syracuse,
and then you had these other ones where there was just,
you know, you couldn't stop anybody.
Speaker 6: So it was like, well, which is real.
Speaker 7: I do believe on the occasions that the USF was
very effective. They did have a great scheme. Alabama complimented
it after the game. You know they were they were
confusing the opposing offense. So Toddar Orlando, US can can
coach him up and can draw up some stuff when
when it when it has to happen. It's just it
just needs to happen more consistently.
Speaker 6: And uh.
Speaker 7: And part of that will be getting better players and
and and and better depth on the field to back
up the scheme.
Speaker 2: That's probably want to get to special teams. Again. US
have had a little bit of an issue making field goals.
Last year. They brought in a name. They brought brought
in a freshman name that you and I both know
with a with a with a last name that the
city of Tampa knows very well. Gramatica, the son of
Martine Gramatica, is now uh in the building. I don't
know if he's won the job yet, but I would
fully at some point, you know, if he's not won
the job, then that's a good thing for the other guy.
But but again, has some pedigrees talk about talk about
the kicking game a little bit and in in the
and and bringing in Santiago Grammatica.
Speaker 6: Yeah, actually, yeah, I'm sorry.
Speaker 7: Santiago was a former US uncle, so two of two
of his uncles were kickers here USF the other one
his father, was the pro bowler for the Bucks. But
to answer your question, no, he has not won the job,
and actually it's being portrayed now as John Cannon's job
to lose. He's the incumbent, so we will see how
it develops. I mean, it's you know, it's kind of
the same thing here every every place at training camp.
You know, the kicking competition. Both guys are looking good.
You know, you're always wondering how does this get decided?
It appears based on what you know, you hear what
you saw from Nico in high school. You know, he's
certainly has the ability to make these long a field goals,
and his pedigree is unquestioned. I guess it's just a
matter of, you know, over the course of the camp,
who's more consistent. And it may be a situation where
maybe we don't see Nico Gramatica immediately, but we we
could very well see him eventually. But anyway, the kicking
has not been publicly decided, and John Cannon, the incumbent,
appear to be the guy who's who's leading the charge
at the moment.
Speaker 2: But again back to my point on special teams, this
is where you gotta you gotta make hey here, you
gotta make the kicks you're supposed to make. Field position wise,
you got to pump the ball better, more consistently, and
you got to have return.
Speaker 7: I would say to I would say too that I
think Alex Golish's philosophy would be, we don't want to
kick field goals.
Speaker 6: We want to score touchdowns.
Speaker 7: And probably they were put in position, uh maybe too
often last year where they had to settle for field
goals and that's not that's not what they want. They
want to they want to get in the end zone.
So but you're right when in these games, when you
when you are lining up, you.
Speaker 6: Got to make them.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 7: And that was that got cost him a couple of
times last year in some games that could have swung
their way. So you're right, Uh, not that they want
to be a field goal team, but when they kick them,
they got to make them.
Speaker 2: That's it. That's it. That's what separates the good teams
from the great teams from the championship teams.
Speaker 7: Those those moments, Yeah, you can't have a great drive
that stalls and miss your field goal. That just takes
the wind out of the whole thing. So you're right,
you got to make them.
Speaker 2: Coaching staff wise, Any massive changes on the staff, any
significant changes of.
Speaker 7: Note, No, just just a few tweaks here and there.
DeMarcus van Dyck is in the secondary now. He's former
Miami player, former NFL player, so he's he's brought a
lot of credibility. Jack Taylor was elevated to the tight
ends coach. But you know, the coordinators are intact pretty much.
It's a stable staff, which is good plus because at
a at a school like USF, at times guys can
get opportunities and get plucked. So the fact that they
were able to maintain that continuity is another plus in
terms of of having, you know, the same message for
for year two in NIL.
Speaker 2: And the NIL program is continuing to grow, the Fouler.
Speaker 6: Collective, Yeah, the fell Tlor collective.
Speaker 7: And also they're putting in place a department where Andrew
wars Saw, who had been the chief of staff actually
still is, is in charge of it and he's hiring
some people on his staff that that's what they're going
to do is raise money and explore nil opportunities. And
I guess that's what we're going to see at every
athletic department now, is people that that that is their
job is to raise money to for compensation of players.
And the you know, the backdrop of it for not
only us up but for everywhere is we don't we
still don't exactly know what this is going to look like,
and we still don't know exactly if this lawsuit is
going to lead to more lawsuits, and well it already
has actually, so the twenty two million dollar figure has
been put out there, but I don't know if that's
actually going to be the end game of it. So
it is as clear as mud right now, Jason, We're
going to keep battling through it. I think the bottom
line is they know there's going to be a very
big line item on the budget soon. They don't know
how big it's gonna be, but it's gonna be there,
and they got to figure out a way to get
to that number. So that and that's true of everyone
around the country.
Speaker 2: The only thing we know, Joey, is attorney fees keep
getting racked up. That's the one constant in life.
Speaker 6: Global hours, right.
Speaker 2: All right, tell tell the fans. First of all, is
the broadcast crew all back together, everybody back at tell
everybody where they can find all the great broadcasts if
they're not in the stadium or here locally well.
Speaker 7: Bulls Unlimited is the twenty four to seven network and
you can access that via go go USF Bulls dot
com or all the the tune in apps things like
that on your computer, on your phone. You know, clear
signal from everywhere from Tampa to timbuck to and you
know we'll continue to do that. We'll have a two
hour pregame show before each game. Yes, believe it or not,
we can talk for two hours about.
Speaker 6: A football game. We do it every week. I don't
know how, but we do it.
Speaker 7: And so yeah, Jim Luck will be back because the
announcer play by play, Sam Barrington will be in the booth.
I'll be on the sidelines, Jim Lighthall and Derek Sharp
will be on hand. Cast of thousands as it were,
and we have a great time. It's a good crew,
and we enjoyed last season and going to a bowl
game and looking forward to more fun this year.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Joey does a great job again. You'll see some
written articles by Joey about the program as well as
part of the part of USF Athletics. And again, Joey's
been around the Tampa Bay market for many, many years.
Award winning rider does a great job and again he
knows all things USF. And you guys will you got
a good schedule again, you'll be in Tuscaloosa on that
night with Savings Honor. So that'll be prettyctive.
Speaker 6: That'll be fun cool.
Speaker 2: Yep, you got Miami coming to town. And again it's
a big opportunity here. This could be six eight weeks
from now. This could be the team the country's talking about,
is that non Power five playoff contender if they can
get through that two lane Memphis stretch in early October.
So Joey appreciate the time. All great luck, good luck
with the season, good good, safe travels and all that
good stuff. And we'll talk real soon.
Speaker 6: Okay, thank you, Jason, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back to the podcast. We are going
to talk a little University of Central Florida the Nights.
UCF coming off of a six and seven year and
twenty twenty three three and six in their inaugural campaign
in the Big Twelve. Now the Big Twelve is without
Texas and Oklahoma, a lot more of an opportunity I
think for Central Florida to be a major player in
this conference. No better to person to talk all things
Central Florida than their beat writer for The Orlando Sentinel,
mister Matt Merchelle. Welcome back to the podcast.
Speaker 8: Sir, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Appreciate it. Hope you summer went well. I know you
were at media days out in Las Vegas. Give me
a sense of you know, obviously you cover this program
year round. Give me a sense of the I want
to say disappointment, But what was the consensus of post
year one in the Big Twelve? Are they where they
kind of I thought they would be kind of you know,
obviously record wise, they wanted to be a better record
But are they feeling like they got some things accomplished
in year one of the Big Twelve?
Speaker 8: Well, you know, yeah, I think Gus mauls On, if
you ask him, the ucfad coach, will tell you it
was disappointing. That's the word he's used many many times.
Is that, you know, they felt like they had an
opportunity to maybe have a better season that first year
in the Big Twelve, and it just didn't happen. You know,
they struggled to finish games, they struggled with depth. You know,
there were opportunities to win some games, laden games that
they just weren't able to get to. I think there
were four or five of their losses which really came
down to the last quarter where they could have had
an opportunity maybe to get the win, but they weren't
able to do that. That just shows the level of
you know, the difference between going from a group of
five conference like the American Athletic Conference to a power
five conference like in the Big Twelve. You know, you
have to have depth, you have to be able to last,
you have to finish these type of games. If Gus
knew that from the SEC, but getting to that point
took a little bit. So in the offseason they spent
a lot of time revamping this program. He brought in
a whole new strength and conditioning program. You know, he
went out and got some new coaches, brought in a
new offensive, a defensive coordinator. They tweaked some things, and
Gus said he wanted this team he felt like it
was soft.
Speaker 2: He wanted this team to get tougher.
Speaker 8: They needed to be more physical, and he also wanted
this team to take on his personality. He felt like
last year this wasn't really his team. They act like
his team, So he wants to take on that be
up more of his team. And he's gone back to
taking over play calling duties. So all this together he
feels like will help them have success in the year
two of the Big Twelve.
Speaker 2: And when if you followed Gus Malzon's career, Gus has
always had a when they've had a dominant running attack.
I mean they you know, bigger quarterback. I know the
year with Nick Marshall, they obviously had the year with
Cam Newton. When they've been able to run, run, run,
that's when they've been the most effective under Gus Malson.
And to you know, they've got an opportunity this year.
I think looking at what they brought in with kJ Jefferson,
they still have r J. Harvey, came off a fourteen
hundred yard rushing year. Bring in Perry Bone from Toledo.
I mean, to top two of the top ten running
backs in the country last year. Now in the same backfield,
talk about that philosophy that he's kind of probably gonna
want to get back to of a grinded out, you know,
run run, run to set up the pass kind of deal,
and really lean on that running game. Oh yeah, for sure.
Gus's offense has always have been predicated on the ground game.
He wants to run the football. They were able to
do that last year obviously. I mean they were the
number fourth best rushing team in the country. You know, r. J.
Speaker 8: Harvey had a career year with fourteen hundred yards. But
John Rice Plumber, who was a dual threat quarterback, got hurt,
was limited. His knee really wasn't able to him to
do some of the things they wanted to do. They
bring in kJ Jefferson, a huge back. That's a huge quarterback,
you know, six ' three, he's about two hundred and
fifty pounds I think the last we heard, you know,
big guy who could throw the ball down the field,
but also could take off running. They added a few
more running backs to the running back group. They added
in a guy, a transfer in Miles Montgomery from Cincinnati.
He was basically the bearcats second leading rusher. They brought
him into help out. They brought in Penny Boon, as
you mentioned, you know from Toledo, a guy who had
over fourteen hundred yards. It's I had to look this up.
I don't think except from North Carolina a few years ago,
I don't think there's been a team that's had two
over thousand yard rushers on the same team. So they've
really kind of built up that running backscroup. It's probably
one of the best in the country. And Gus feels
like this is a group that they can run the
ball and then they can open up the play action
game and maybe get the ball down deep and do
some other things with the passing attack. So this running
attack is going to be the reason why UF is
gonna have success.
Speaker 2: Sure, do they have the offensive line production to be
able to open up those running holes, Yeah, they think so.
Speaker 8: They've got three guys who are returning starters from last year.
They've got a lot of depth. They brought in a
few transfers as well. They feel like they have some
guys that can they can move around. Versatility is the
word on.
Speaker 2: The offensive line. They had to listen.
Speaker 8: They had four different guys take snaps at center last
year because of injuries. They're trying to limit that. They
want to make sure they have a consistency on that
offensive line, and part of that is training other guys
to be able to handle those situations because a lot
of teams don't do that. They've got four or five
guys that they've trained at center so they could step
into that center spot in case something were to happen
in other spots as well. So I think they've got
they believe they've got enough offensive linement to help out
and keep that running game going.
Speaker 2: Let's look at the defensive side of the ball. Obviously
that was that was the weak are. They were not
very good against the run last year. Stat I saw
they were zero to six when they gave up more
than twenty six points in a game. They didn't win
a game all year when they give and they were
like you mentioned earlier, they were in a lot of
close games, a lot of fourth quarter games that you know,
six and seven record could easily have been eight and
five or nine and four if the fourth quarters go differently.
Talk about the defensive improvements or the lack or the
personnel improvements that they're trying to see in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you're being kind when you say they were very
good running the football. They were futrid running defensively stopping
the run. They had ten guys run for over one
hundred yards against them last year and at one point
they gave up sixteen rushing touchdowns in that five game losing.
So they just were not good. And so they brought
in ted Roof, who was a longtime assistant coach. He's
worked with Gus before. He's going to be the new
defensive coordinator. His forte has been run defenses. That's one
of the things he's really good at. They brought in
some guys that really kind of overhauled the whole middle
linebacker spot. All those guys are all transfers. They brought
an Ethan Barr from Vanderbilt. He was a captain there
at Vanderbilt. Deshaun Pace is a versatile guy that plays
not only linebacker but also corner and safety. They like
him in that spot. Ziree, like Xander, came in from Idaho.
I mean, they brought in a lot of fresh faces.
They've got a defensive lie that's also another year older.
They feel like they've got guys that can make some
plays as well. And one of the things that ted
Roof has been pushing is they want to be more aggressive.
They want to be able to go in, create pressure
in the backfield, force teams to maybe kind of get
out of what they're trying to do, get to the
running back earlier, you know, force him to maybe make
a cut or do something more than they weren't doing. Listen,
a lot of times last year the running back would
get into that linebacker spot middle of the defense and
then get to the secondary or he would even get hit,
and that can't have that. They need to get those
guys to be hit early on and maybe false that
as well. So that's one of the things Ted Ruff
has been working on. They brought a lot more depth
in the secondary and and on the defensive line. They
feel like that's all all gonna help this defense be
a lot better.
Speaker 2: Schematically, Are they a three four more of a four
to three? What is the kind of the defensive alignment?
It looks like it's gonna be. It's gonna be a
four to three for what everything we've seen.
Speaker 8: But Ted's also said that they're not afraid to move
to do some different things to give some different looks
as well, because they want to They want to change
things up. They want to make people kind of be
you know, kind of be confused by what's going on there.
And that's one of the things the players have told
us is that this defense is very fast. They do
a lot of things, they move around. They think that's
gonna help them maybe kind of confuse with people.
Speaker 2: This is gonna be an opportunity this year for you. See,
you have to really get into that upper three or
four of that of the of the Big Twelve. If
they play well, they've got a they've got a not
a brutal schedule, they've got obviously a balance schedule. There's
gonna be a lot of teams in the middle, the
middle of the pack there that you're you're gonna have
to be able to figure out a way for one
of those two teams to rise up. And when you
look at the schedule, you got four and on October fifth,
you go to Iowa State on the nineteenth of October,
and then you got Utah coming to town late in
the year. That Utah game could in theory, be for
all the Marbles to get to the to the Big
Twelve title game. If your UC just talk about their
schedule a little bit, and where do you see the Landmines. Well,
I think for them, it's going to be road games.
I mean, listen, they struggled last year on the road.
They do very well, but again, they had one of
the longest road trips in history. I think it was
seventeen thousand miles last year among the games they had
to play. So they have to do a better job
winning on the road. They go to TCU in Week three,
that's a challenge for them. They have to win that game,
I think. I think Florida game is obviously going to
be a game that a lot of people have a
lot of eyes on.
Speaker 8: Even though it's not conference game, there's gonna be a
lot of attension because let's not forget they play Colorado
and Deon Sanders the week before that, so there'll be
a lot of buzz on that as well. You mentioned
the Iowa State game. I think that's going to be
a challenge for them. I think West Virginia going to
Morgantown's all. It's been a tough challenge for a lot
of teams. That's gonna be something they have to look at.
They got to go to Phoenix across the country to
take on Arizona State. I think that could be even
though in Arizona State is not a good team. I
think that's just traveling for them is gonna be that.
And you mentioned Utah, So those are the games I
think that they've really got to kind of lock themselves
in and make sure they win. They could if they
start out strong early on, maybe get to that four
or five wins before the halfway part of the season.
I think then they've got a good shot going in.
But the second half of the season it's gonna be
a lot tougher, and they're gonna have to have a
lot more road games and they're gonna have to They're
gonna have to win some of those games to kind
of get them a chance to have a spot maybe
going in. Now you mentioned that Utah game and both
teams maybe are are maybe competing for a championship. That
could be able to have a lot on the line
for that game.
Speaker 2: And interesting about this conference is here you could have
the number you could have the number two team in
that league, have three or four losses, you could have
it could be an eight and four, and you could
be in that championship game. In theory, because you know
there's so much of a middle you know, there's so
much parody in this conference now with no more Oklahoma
and Texas that you could have. You could be eight
and four playing for a college football playoff.
Speaker 8: Berth, Yeah, very much so. And I've talked to a
lot of coaches about that. You know, there's not the
feeling of if we lose a game early on, we're done,
you know, the season's over. They feel like, okay, we
could lose a game early on and still have an
opportunity maybe to finish strong and be right there, like
you mentioned right there for that twelve team playoff, I think,
but you have to make sure you can't let some
of the little things kind of can't get you to
spend That's what kind of caught up with UCF last
year in their five game losy streak, they lost a
Baylor and that was a game that was really difficult.
They had that game, they were up big, they gave
up an eighteen point ly in the second half, and
they were never really kind of right after that, they
kind of they spun out of control for a few
weeks and had a bunch of losses. They can't let
that happen or something like that again. Two loss season
maybe three loss. Maybe you're in it Nicks at the
very end, so they can't let themselves get thrown off
by something. Maybe they get their derails them early on.
Speaker 2: How excited is Gus about kJ Jefferson. We know, obviously
he's played a ton of football at Arkansas. He's had
great moments where he's thrown the ball really well. He's
a bruising, rugged, kind of a Dante Culpeper body type.
Not the thrower maybe that Dante was, but that kind
of body type, six three six four two point fifty.
I mean, he's a bowling ball kind of guy. How
excited are they to be able to utilize the different
skills that kJ Jefferson has. Oh, very exciting.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 8: I think the thing that really helps Gus too is
Kj's not he's he's a fifth year guy. He's got
so much leadership and maturity on him that, you know,
they said, when he comes in here, you know, it's
not like we have to hold his hand to get
him to do stuff with his teammates. He understands exactly
what this is my last chance. I want to make
sure everything is on the same page. They like his
skill set. kJ has told us by the fact, by
the way, that he doesn't want to be doing just
as a running quarterback. You know, he wants to be
able to go out there and be better. He wants
to be able to throw the ball deep down the field.
He wants to identify defenses and blitzes. He wants to
be able to make plays with his arm, because he
knows if he's going to have success at the next
level in the NFL, he's going to have to be
able to do those kind of things. You can't just
run the football alone. So he hopes this year those
kind of things will be able to come to come
to fruition because he doesn't have to do it.
Speaker 2: Let's think about it.
Speaker 8: He's got two fourteen undred yard rushers, he's got, you know,
talented wide receivers, he's got a talented tight end. He
doesn't have to carry the load of the offense on
his shoulder. Now, he just has to make sure he
doesn't turn the ball over and get the ball out
to his playmakers and let them do what they need
to do.
Speaker 2: Are there any high school freshmen that the true freshmen
that are coming in that that maybe males On has
been impressed with in camp that potentially could could could
get some serious playing time.
Speaker 8: Yeah, there are a few. I mean, he hasn't Gus
doesn't like try to pump them up too much because
I think he realizes are true freshmen. We've heard a
lot of names. Bridell Richardson as a wide receiver that's
come in that they really like. They feel like he's
a guy that they can you can see some action
here or there. Chason Johnson is a guy who's on
the defensive back and Christian Peterson is a guy that
they've talked about on the defensive secondary that they like
a lot of the players have said they've had really
good camps. They feel like they have an opportunity to play.
Walt Claire Flynn is a is a offensive lineman who
came in. He's been working out at center during the spring.
He worked out like the first and second team at center.
I don't think he'll get starts, but I think he'll
probably find a way to be maybe getting that road
tation as well. So they have a few guys they
feel like they can usually insert and maybe have some
playing time and do some things, which is important to
their recruiting because they need to get showcase that listen,
you can come here and play almost immediately if.
Speaker 2: You have the talent. And obviously Orlando being such a
fertile recruiting ground with high school kids and then high
schools and within a probably one hundred mile radis for Orlando,
there's there's tremendous talent in that area. So well, Matt Rachelle,
give me, give me a sense of where do you
think Ucf'll end up? I mean, is this an eight
and fourteen, is this a seven and five team? What
sense do you get where they're gonna end up?
Speaker 8: I'm having them between the seven and eight mark win mark.
You know, I think they're probably right there. I mean,
they could get to nine, you know, if some things
go well and they're able to maybe catch some teams
of surprise. A lot of it I think stems from
the early on schedule. If they I said, if they
can go, if they could start out strong, if they
beat TCU, if they beat Colorado, and then you go
in that Florida game and you're four and oh you know,
or you know, all of a sudden, then maybe you
know you have an opportunity to get to nine wins.
How events, But I think again they have to win
on the that's going to be the secret to how
they're going to find success.
Speaker 2: Well, Matt Michelle, keep up the great work and you
find all match great work at The Orlando Sentinel, at OS,
Matt murschell on X and Twitter. Matt'll be uck said
he'll be at all the games covering on the road
at home. Does a great job covering UCF and the
Big twelve in general. So appreciate the time, Matt, and
we will catch up as we get through get moving
through the season. Sounds good. Thanks a lot, appreciate your time.
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