Speaker 1: It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick coffee.
Speaker 2: That's right, Coffee and Company hour number three, five o'clock
Speaker 2: on a Friday, getting you set for the weekend. If
Speaker 2: your weekend has already started, congratulations to you. Our weekend
Speaker 2: will start here in about an hour and I'm looking
Speaker 2: forward to it. Football's here. I talked about it earlier
Speaker 2: in the show we embraced Week zero. We started the
Speaker 2: week by saying, Hey, anybody claiming that football season hasn't
Speaker 2: started yet because it's only week zero, they're wrong, because
Speaker 2: we've got games this weekend, which we do, and we're
Speaker 2: now just a day away from those games. But I
Speaker 2: just haven't really it hadn't felt like it's really here.
Speaker 2: I thought maybe believing in the power of positivity would
Speaker 2: help to where, you know, just talk week zero, gas
Speaker 2: up week zero in these games enough and then the
Speaker 2: excitement will be there, and it just isn't there now.
Speaker 2: Maybe just maybe the uh, you know, the vibes will
Speaker 2: will really take off tomorrow when there is real football
Speaker 2: to watch and you'll know that it's not like a
Speaker 2: preseason game or anything like that. And for Louisville's sake,
Speaker 2: if you're a Louisville fan, I should say, you know,
Speaker 2: you've got three teams that play tomorrow that you're gonna play.
Speaker 2: This year, you only play twelve teams, so you know,
Speaker 2: maybe you know, get a look at both Georgia Tech
Speaker 2: and Florida State who Louisville will play. Actually, level won't
Speaker 2: play Florida State. They play Gorgia Tech, they play SMU,
Speaker 2: and they played Nevada tomorrow late at night. So I
Speaker 2: guess there's only two teams they play, not three. I
Speaker 2: just keep thinking Florida State's on the schedule because they
Speaker 2: have been every year. In fact, Louisville has played Florida
Speaker 2: State every year they've been in the ACC. Because last year,
Speaker 2: in the first year with no divisions, obviously they didn't
Speaker 2: play them in the regular season, but they played them
Speaker 2: in the ACC championship. So I'm still embracing it that
Speaker 2: football is in fact here. But I did feel as
Speaker 2: we got closer to actual games that I would have
Speaker 2: a little more, little more juice to it, and it
Speaker 2: just it hadn't been there. So but John he's told
Speaker 2: me that he's feeling good about Week zero he's excited,
Speaker 2: so you know, maybe by the end of the show,
Speaker 2: my excitement level will be right there where his is.
Speaker 2: I just remember, I mean I mentioned it earlier in
Speaker 2: the show. Whenever Notre Dame.
Speaker 3: And Navy kicked off, I didn't know how I was
Speaker 3: gonna feel about watching that game, and it ended up
Speaker 3: not really being that close of a game, obviously, but.
Speaker 2: I remember instill your heart.
Speaker 3: I remember sitting on the couch and just realizing it
Speaker 3: was actually a college football Saturday, and really enjoying myself.
Speaker 3: Especially for some reason something about the game being in Ireland.
Speaker 3: It does add to it, even though we're not anywhere
Speaker 3: close to that country. I think it's just a unique
Speaker 3: little thing to have. It's kind of like it reminds
Speaker 3: me of the carrier games for college basketball. I don't
Speaker 3: know if they do those anymore. Will they do them out?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they That was cool. They stopped doing that
Speaker 2: because they oftentimes would end up not being able to
Speaker 2: play or having to delay because of the like the
Speaker 2: moisture on the floor. Yeah, like they kept you talk
Speaker 2: about the game where they pla them on like a jet. Yes, yes, yeah,
Speaker 2: that was a really cool idea. And man, the visual
Speaker 2: of that looked cool, but I think they kind of
Speaker 2: realized that it logistically was a nightmare. And I don't
Speaker 2: know what led to it. I'm sure it's something to
Speaker 2: do with the weather and where they were doing it,
Speaker 2: But they'd had to stop the game for ten minutes
Speaker 2: and you know, drive the floor because it just kept
Speaker 2: me because it was a condensation, a little little moisture
Speaker 2: that would obviously, you know, cause some injuries. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean it's tomorrow's game. Is an event game, right,
Speaker 2: like you know, it's an ESPN thing. They've got their
Speaker 2: whole crew there doing shows and it's not a big
Speaker 2: time matchup. Although Florida State this year, I don't find
Speaker 2: them to be that intriguing. But last year, their whole
Speaker 2: season itself and them being left out of the playoff
Speaker 2: like that was that When you recap a college football
Speaker 2: season from start to finish and you look back on
Speaker 2: all the big storylines, certainly all the controversy that's up there,
Speaker 2: is it not like that's an unprecedented thing, a Power
Speaker 2: five team going undefeated, winning their league and being left.
Speaker 3: Out, especially when you think of the playoff this year
Speaker 3: having twelve teams, you know they would have been in
Speaker 3: that playoff, even if they were dropped down a few seeds.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just talking about it. You're helping John. You're
Speaker 2: getting me more excited. You get me more excited because
Speaker 2: actually I know that there's really no win for the
Speaker 2: ACC tomorrow as far as perception of the league, because
Speaker 2: if Georgia Tech ends up pulling off the upset, everybody
Speaker 2: will just claim, well, that means the ACC sucks. Florida
Speaker 2: State thinks they're elite. They just lost to Georgia Tech.
Speaker 2: Like that'll be the reaction from a lot of people.
Speaker 2: If Florida State kills them. There really isn't much of
Speaker 2: a reaction other than you know, that's what you're supposed
Speaker 2: to do. You're Florida State and Georgia Tech stinks. So
Speaker 2: I guess that's the better scenario if you're somebody that
Speaker 2: does care about the perception of the league. I do
Speaker 2: care about the perception of the league. However, like I
Speaker 2: if Florida State loses, I mean I think that would
Speaker 2: make the league look a little bit look a little
Speaker 2: bit more open at the top to potentially win it.
Speaker 2: And if you're Louisville, which I'm a Louisville fan, that's
Speaker 2: what I want to see. Doesn't mean Louisville would be
Speaker 2: the one that would Actually, you know, Florida State ends
Speaker 2: up taking a big step back this year because Dju,
Speaker 2: their quarterback who stunk at Clemson and was a little
Speaker 2: bit better at Oregon State, is now at Florida State.
Speaker 2: Like maybe they realize, yeah, this guy like that again,
Speaker 2: that's actually what I'm more interested to see tomorrow than anything.
Speaker 2: And they're gonna run the hell out of the ball
Speaker 2: as they should Florida State, and they'll probably run the
Speaker 2: hell out of the ball a lot this year and
Speaker 2: not really have him be a guy that really just
Speaker 2: tries to beat teams with his arm. But he was
Speaker 2: not good at Clemson and at Oregon State. Like I mean,
Speaker 2: I can look at you know, I can look at
Speaker 2: his numbers and they tell me he was I but
Speaker 2: like why is Florida's I mean again, I don't, I don't.
Speaker 2: He was never good at Clemson. In fact, you can
Speaker 2: kind of point to him is when like things like
Speaker 2: when when they started taking a big step back as
Speaker 2: a program at Clemson and last year when he was
Speaker 2: at at Oregon State, I mean, he completed fifty seven
Speaker 2: percent of his passes, which is the third. I mean,
Speaker 2: he's played four years of football and at Clemson he
Speaker 2: was we all saw it. He wasn't very good. And
Speaker 2: then at Oregon State, you know his numbers. He threw
Speaker 2: for more yards lift year than he did anytime at Clemson,
Speaker 2: but his percentage was lower than it was in his
Speaker 2: last two years at Clemson. You know, he had twenty
Speaker 2: one touchdowns last year. That was low. I mean again,
Speaker 2: he was he was kind of the same guy at
Speaker 2: Oregon State as he was at Clemson. And now he's
Speaker 2: at Florida State. And yes, they've got a lot of
Speaker 2: pieces and a lot of talent around him, but so
Speaker 2: did Clemson. So it's not that I'm rooting for the
Speaker 2: kid to fail, but like, I don't know why he
Speaker 2: was such a highly It's what it does is it
Speaker 2: reminds you that, man, if you've got the five star
Speaker 2: billing coming out of high school as a quarterback and
Speaker 2: you look the part, you're physically built the way he is.
Speaker 2: This dude is six five, two fifty. You can milk
Speaker 2: that and live off that alone for a long long time.
Speaker 2: I'm making sense, John, like a guy can go and
Speaker 2: prove he's not that good in college or certainly just
Speaker 2: overrated based on what was expected. But yet they'll still
Speaker 2: there's guys who get drafted based off that. Still, like
Speaker 2: it's wild to me.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to think of an example of someone who
Speaker 3: may have gotten drafted, but somebody was.
Speaker 2: Sam Darnold was not that good at usc Do you
Speaker 2: remember the name Gunner Keel?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: Hell yeah, he picked somebody. He was from Columbus, right,
Speaker 3: very highly touted Indiana. I think he was committed to
Speaker 3: the Hooters at one point before he committed and went
Speaker 3: to LSU, I think or something like that.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you about Gunner Keel that was flamed out.
Speaker 2: That was the kind of guy who when he committed
Speaker 2: to Indiana that was that was not national news across
Speaker 2: the planet, but like that was a big deal because
Speaker 2: he was a phenom recruit at that time and was
Speaker 2: from Columbus not far all from Bloomington, and uh yeah,
Speaker 2: was there for one year, went to Cincinnati and at Cincinnati,
Speaker 2: you know he was only there. Well, I guess he
Speaker 2: was their starter for two seasons, but you know, he
Speaker 2: wasn't very good, but yeah, he was. I mean, and again,
Speaker 2: you were probably really young whenever he was coming out
Speaker 2: of high school. Yeah that was in two thousand, but
Speaker 2: I remember, like again I wouldn't have remembered his name,
Speaker 2: but I remember there being a kid from Columbus that
Speaker 2: committed Indiana and it was at the time the highest
Speaker 2: I mean, he was the I think he was the
Speaker 2: number one quarterback in America when he committed in twenty
Speaker 2: elevens long time ago. So you know, maybe dju is
Speaker 2: the perfect fit because they're only going to ask him
Speaker 2: to do what he does well, which is, you know,
Speaker 2: not make tough throws and you know, kind of be
Speaker 2: a game manager and do just enough and maybe that works, right,
Speaker 2: but I just you know, he's not And again I
Speaker 2: keep saying he's stunk. He wasn't like a guy that
Speaker 2: you felt like he shouldn't be on the field. But
Speaker 2: like when you're at Clemson and again now he's at
Speaker 2: Florida State, a better program as we speak today, you
Speaker 2: can't just be out there not being like there's a standard.
Speaker 2: There's an expectation at Clemson and at Florida State that
Speaker 2: is not at Oregon State to where if you are
Speaker 2: if the team's not struggling and you're not if the
Speaker 2: team is struggling and you're not making plays Like that's
Speaker 2: not something that they really live with. They're gonna move
Speaker 2: on to somebody else. So again, I'm actually really anxious
Speaker 2: to see what he looks like tomorrow. My guess is,
Speaker 2: again they run the hell out of the ball and
Speaker 2: he doesn't have to do a whole lot, which is
Speaker 2: probably gonna be their mo all year. But you know,
Speaker 2: Florida State, whenever I hear people mention them as a
Speaker 2: team that could get to the playoff this year and
Speaker 2: is of course the favor to win the ACC this year,
Speaker 2: I hear them bring his name up, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: if they do get there and they are really good again,
Speaker 2: it won't be because of him. Not to say he
Speaker 2: won't deserve any credit if he's a starting quarterback, he's
Speaker 2: a part of it, but like, they've got elite talent
Speaker 2: all over the field outside of quarterback that makes them great.
Speaker 2: And there was actually a really good ride up on
Speaker 2: twenty four seven Sports. I didn't get a chance to
Speaker 2: read it in its entirety, but it was a breakdown
Speaker 2: of how the recruiting analysts out there, for the most part,
Speaker 2: do a pretty good job right kids that come out
Speaker 2: of high school more often than not that they tout
Speaker 2: as the guys who are going to be NFL draft picks.
Speaker 2: More often than not, they're right. Now, they get some wrong,
Speaker 2: There's no doubt about that. There's no perfect science to it. However,
Speaker 2: the twenty four to seven Sports we find the article
Speaker 2: here because I do know. I found it to be
Speaker 2: interesting and I think you guys would as well, as
Speaker 2: far as guys like Okay, it's just over the last
Speaker 2: ten years, the recruiting industry has become much better at
Speaker 2: a value scouting and predicting a prospects future, but nailing
Speaker 2: five star quarterbacks remains a coin flip proposition, Malakai Nelson
Speaker 2: being the latest example. So, Malaki Nelson was a five
Speaker 2: star quarterback, and there's not many of those, right, there's
Speaker 2: high four stars. There's actually not that many four star quarterbacks,
Speaker 2: to be honest with you, but here a five star quarterback.
Speaker 2: You're you are in an elite tier. And this kid
Speaker 2: was one of those. He went to USC was expected
Speaker 2: to be the guy that steps in and takes over
Speaker 2: for Caleb Williams and couldn't win the job, transfers to
Speaker 2: Boise State and didn't win the job there. So again
Speaker 2: we're talking about a guy who coming out of high
Speaker 2: school was a five star quarterback, the number eleven player
Speaker 2: in the country at USC, didn't win the job there,
Speaker 2: transfers to Boise State, didn't win the job there. Like
Speaker 2: that there are guys who I mean, I'm not hearing
Speaker 2: anything about what's going on at Boise State practice, So
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know this for certain, but I
Speaker 2: feel like if you're at Boise State, if you are
Speaker 2: Boise State, I should say, and you have this guy
Speaker 2: that has all this height because of you know, his
Speaker 2: high school recruiting and you know, maybe he didn't win
Speaker 2: in at USC just because of you know, somebody else
Speaker 2: that really emerged. But for them to not at least
Speaker 2: give him a shot to be the starter and see
Speaker 2: what happens tells me he must really suck. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's harsh, But like, what's Boise State got to lose?
Speaker 2: Letting this guy go out there and at least, you know,
Speaker 2: play for a half and see what he can do,
Speaker 2: but not even starting him in to start the year,
Speaker 2: and he clearly proves that the backup Maddox Madson won
Speaker 2: the job. But still like that's that's a pretty crazy
Speaker 2: outcome for a kid that two three years ago, you know,
Speaker 2: people thought he was going to be an NFL quarterback,
Speaker 2: and maybe he still will be. But man, I mean,
Speaker 2: that's that's that's sad, honestly. So there are yes says
Speaker 2: here that, well, it's too long of a of a
Speaker 2: of an article to just kind of skim through it
Speaker 2: and make it make any sense to you guys on
Speaker 2: the radio, But there are a handful of examples of
Speaker 2: guys out there that just you know, were as good
Speaker 2: as advertised. But it really is a coin flip, like
Speaker 2: because again, they'll give out let's say they give out
Speaker 2: eight five star rankings to QBS annually on an average basis,
Speaker 2: four or five of them might end up being dudes
Speaker 2: that still start and play, but they're not great and
Speaker 2: they don't look anything like an NFL quarterback. And then
Speaker 2: there's three or four, maybe depending on the year, where
Speaker 2: you're like, okay, yeah, I can see it. This guy
Speaker 2: he's led Georgia or Alabama or you know, Clemson like
Speaker 2: Trevor Lawrence, like those schools to national championship contenders, So
Speaker 2: therefore he's proven he's really good. Now, well, he do
Speaker 2: it in the NFL, we'll see. But then there's some
Speaker 2: guys that, man, you just ask yourself, how the hell
Speaker 2: they get that so wrong? And I mean, I would
Speaker 2: never claim it's easy to do that. Meaning watch high
Speaker 2: school kids and know for sure in football specifically that
Speaker 2: it's going like they're going to be. I think, honestly,
Speaker 2: I think football will be in a harder sport to
Speaker 2: evaluate as far as potential in anything. I mean basketball,
Speaker 2: I'm sure you know, first of all, in basketball there's
Speaker 2: far less players. But even taking away the fact that
Speaker 2: there's so many more football players, I just feel like it,
Speaker 2: you know, you just don't know what's going to translate. Anyways,
Speaker 2: We'll move on, all right. We're gonna talk to Ken
Speaker 2: Spencer coming up here in about ten minutes. Looking forward
Speaker 2: to to doing that. But if you are just now
Speaker 2: joining us, we did talk more about the Amari Huggins
Speaker 2: Bruce situation. It is playing out kind of like it
Speaker 2: sounded the last few days, which is that he did
Speaker 2: leave South Carolina, dropped out of school, has caught a
Speaker 2: flight back to Louisville, did that yesterday, is enrolled in school.
Speaker 2: He he is in the online active directory for the
Speaker 2: U offl student database or whatever they call it, and
Speaker 2: now it's just a matter of figuring out how he
Speaker 2: could be eligible. So UL has not and will not
Speaker 2: comment on it because again they're not allowed to. So
Speaker 2: he's done everything needed to do on his end, and
Speaker 2: he did it in a very quick amount of time.
Speaker 2: Drop out of school, quit the team at South Carolina,
Speaker 2: come back to Louisville, en rolling school. He's here and
Speaker 2: now just you wait to see what the NCAA tells
Speaker 2: you can do. And I shouldn't speak about this is
Speaker 2: if that's such a matter of fact thing, because I
Speaker 2: don't know. But if you are U of L like
Speaker 2: I don't know, I'm just I'm thinking out loud here. Clearly,
Speaker 2: he's good enough player to play here, and you know,
Speaker 2: if you could make it work, clearly, I think they
Speaker 2: would want him. And who knows, maybe they're the ones that,
Speaker 2: you know, without breaking rules, without tampering behind the scenes,
Speaker 2: they put a bug in the ear of somebody who
Speaker 2: knows him to tell him, hey, why don't you come
Speaker 2: back home. I don't believe that they would do that
Speaker 2: because I think they would just assume that it's just
Speaker 2: too late in the process for that to happen, which
Speaker 2: it is, and that's why I think it's gonna be
Speaker 2: tough to see him eligible this year. But like, what
Speaker 2: if he gets here, he moved back. Nobody's been able
Speaker 2: to talk to him from U of L. But then
Speaker 2: somebody that's like a spokesman for the school that's not
Speaker 2: with the athletic department, maybe somebody from compliance, was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: we're glad you loved it here, man, but like we're
Speaker 2: not doing this, Like again, I'm sure that's not the case.
Speaker 2: I have a hard time thinking he would be here
Speaker 2: and have left South Carolina in a matter of forty
Speaker 2: eight hours to come back to Louisville if he didn't
Speaker 2: think that they wanted him here. But it all comes
Speaker 2: down to how is he going to be eligible? And
Speaker 2: that's what I don't know. I've yet to hear anybody
Speaker 2: give me any legitimate reason as to why he would
Speaker 2: be granted eligibility. Because if you're U of L, here's
Speaker 2: what you're doing. You know he's here, and you're probably
Speaker 2: aware that you're going to have a tough time explaining
Speaker 2: to them that there was no contact made with this
Speaker 2: young man, because any contact with him would in fact
Speaker 2: be tampering. I mean, you could get away with it
Speaker 2: and say I don't know, no, you know, maybe it
Speaker 2: was all but maybe it was the legal way of
Speaker 2: doing it, which is, hey, tell a high school coach
Speaker 2: when you're talking to when you're talking to him about
Speaker 2: a current player on the high school team that also,
Speaker 2: you know, coach Tamari Huggins Bruce, that you be and
Speaker 2: I don't know. There's ways to do. We all know that, right,
Speaker 2: So if you're u of L, you already know they're
Speaker 2: going to ask like, how did this come about without tampering?
Speaker 2: But also because he did not go through the process
Speaker 2: of being cleared to be contacted by a school, because
Speaker 2: you have to do that by going through the portal,
Speaker 2: the portal is closed. Therefore, I would imagine UFEL is
Speaker 2: going to say, Hey, here's the situation. This kid's back here,
Speaker 2: he's walked on to this too, or he's on campus
Speaker 2: paying his own way, he's a student. Now what can
Speaker 2: we do here? He didn't enter the portal because it's closed.
Speaker 2: Can we speak to him? Can he join the team?
Speaker 2: Can he be with us but have to sit out
Speaker 2: a year? Like I'm sure that's what UFL would be doing.
Speaker 2: From a compliance standpoint, and you never know what the
Speaker 2: NCAA is gonna do when it comes to anything. They're
Speaker 2: extremely unpredictable. However, I just have a hard time seeing
Speaker 2: them giving you the thumbs up and saying, Okay, you're
Speaker 2: good to go. He can play. But maybe I'm wrong again,
Speaker 2: I guess crazier things have happened. So it's been a
Speaker 2: wild week. It's been really the Amori Huggins Bruce week,
Speaker 2: to be honest with you, and you know, he would
Speaker 2: be a nice addition considering you lost a guy to
Speaker 2: receiver an injury, and during our conversation with doctor Ben's earlier,
Speaker 2: I mean, I wouldn't be shocked if he doesn't play
Speaker 2: this year. I'm not saying that for certain. You never
Speaker 2: know with an injury, but it's gonna take a while
Speaker 2: for Colin Lacy to recover, so you know he's needed.
Speaker 2: If they could get him, I would say, hell yeah.
Speaker 2: But he's also not somebody that is going to change
Speaker 2: the way people look at Louisville if he's in the mix.
Speaker 2: And I think just because of this wild story being
Speaker 2: such a talking point this week as we anxiously wait
Speaker 2: for Louisville football, to start. I think people have kind
Speaker 2: of maybe overvalued a little bit of what he brings
Speaker 2: to the table, if in fact he's even able to
Speaker 2: play this year. All right, don't go anywhere. Kent Spencer
Speaker 2: from WHS eleven is going to join us, coming up
Speaker 2: here on the other side, it's coffee and company. Feel
Speaker 2: about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right,
Speaker 2: it's coffee and company. Field By. Thornton's here on Sports
Speaker 2: Talk seven ninety a Friday afternoon, getting you set for
Speaker 2: the weekend, and we now bring him in. He is
Speaker 2: mister Kent Spencer, who joins us each and every week
Speaker 2: to talk about a variety of things. Ken, how are
Speaker 2: we doing on this Friday afternoon?
Speaker 4: My friend man high school football is back. I don't
Speaker 4: know why every time this happens, I've been doing it
Speaker 4: a long time, but each of that first Friday night,
Speaker 4: I get a little juiced, I get a little act.
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it. You're a ballplayer yourself,
Speaker 2: so I'm sure you know there's some nostalgia that'll never
Speaker 2: go away when it comes to playing under the lights
Speaker 2: on a Friday night in your community where you're from.
Speaker 2: I mean It sounds corny to some, but man, I
Speaker 2: get it. Trust me, I totally get it. I'm actually
Speaker 2: going to a high school game tonight as well, and
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to it. Before we get into some
Speaker 2: of the action, though, I asked your buddy Kendrick Haskins
Speaker 2: this the other day, I'm gonna ask you the same thing.
Speaker 2: How often? And I'm sure they're not directly calling your
Speaker 2: extension at the office or emailing you. But you all
Speaker 2: put so much work into covering high school football, and
Speaker 2: I know the Friday night production again, there's so many
Speaker 2: people that put again a lot of work into making
Speaker 2: it happen. And I still think it's awesome that kids
Speaker 2: get to go home on a Friday after they've played
Speaker 2: a football game and they know they scored a touchdown
Speaker 2: and they have a feeling that maybe somebody was there
Speaker 2: with a camera and they might get to see themselves
Speaker 2: on TV. Again, it's corny to some, but I think
Speaker 2: it's also really special. It's something that you'll remember forever
Speaker 2: if you get that moment. But I bet no matter
Speaker 2: what you guys do, there's always people complaining about you
Speaker 2: didn't give our school enough, Why didn't you Why didn't
Speaker 2: you include us?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 2: And I just you know, that's got to be annoying.
Speaker 4: You know it probably honestly, like it probably doesn't happen
Speaker 4: as often as you may think. That makes me feel
Speaker 4: good then yeah, and and and you know, a lot
Speaker 4: of times, to be quite honest with you, like if
Speaker 4: if if teams are having, you know, good seasons, those
Speaker 4: were those would be the people that that may complain like, hey,
Speaker 4: we're having a good season and you're not. Your guys
Speaker 4: are never nowhere near us. Well generally speaking, if if
Speaker 4: you're having a good season, we're gonna be there. And
Speaker 4: so you know, we're trying to get the best games,
Speaker 4: we're trying to get the best teams on and all
Speaker 4: and all that. Obviously you want to spread the love.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think I think we do a pretty
Speaker 4: good job of it. I think everybody does to be,
Speaker 4: to be quite honest with you, And so it doesn't
Speaker 4: happen as often as as you may think. Happens every
Speaker 4: now and again generally honestly doesn't really happen.
Speaker 2: A bunch of football what other than just you know,
Speaker 2: following a team tame's success if they're having a special season,
Speaker 2: meeting it's not the type of season they typically have. Like,
Speaker 2: what are what are some really good I guess what
Speaker 2: would be a really compelling story to you to feature
Speaker 2: a team that maybe is middle of the pack, Like
Speaker 2: they're not a team that's going to compete for the state,
Speaker 2: They're not really a threat. But like I feel like
Speaker 2: there are there are, There are so many good stories
Speaker 2: within high school sports that you guys get a chance
Speaker 2: to share. How do you come up? How do you
Speaker 2: find out about find out about some of these stories?
Speaker 2: Obviously there's not sports information departments at high schools, but
Speaker 2: is there? Do athletic directors communicate with you guys as
Speaker 2: best they can to try to, you know, keep you guys,
Speaker 2: you know, in the loop as far as what could
Speaker 2: be a compelling and interesting story to your viewers?
Speaker 4: You know what? Honestly, Nick, you know we have like tonight,
Speaker 4: we're going to have five people out with cameras and
Speaker 4: including myself. And so when you step foot on these
Speaker 4: high school campuses and you go to these games, you
Speaker 4: know you're gonna you're gonna talk to people. You're going
Speaker 4: to keep your eyes and ears open. Generally speaking, that's
Speaker 4: where we find most of our stories. And then that
Speaker 4: makes sense. You'll go out and visit a practice this seah.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, it's a lot of it can
Speaker 4: be word of mouth and hey, you're here, Hey how
Speaker 4: about this? Have you heard about this? So for the
Speaker 4: most part, I think that's where we get our high
Speaker 4: school stories. You know, we don't get a ton of
Speaker 4: calls every now and then. I think you will get
Speaker 4: an email of somebody suggesting something or hey, I don't
Speaker 4: know if you do this, but I just want to
Speaker 4: draw this to your attention. But most of the ideas
Speaker 4: that i'll I'll come up with, or because I've got
Speaker 4: boots on the ground and you know, I'm at a game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that makes total sense. And if you're
Speaker 2: somebody that's really into the high school football scene because
Speaker 2: you've coached for a while, or if you have a
Speaker 2: kid that's on the team, like they know who you
Speaker 2: guys are and they know if you're there covering the game,
Speaker 2: they're hopeful to see uh, some some action later on
Speaker 2: in your in your in your broadcast. But also they
Speaker 2: may hey, hey, I got you got you got to
Speaker 2: hear about this story. You gotta hear about that story.
Speaker 2: But you know, as somebody who you know, I peaked
Speaker 2: in high school as an athlete, you know, the only
Speaker 2: uh you know, I didn't have much of a college
Speaker 2: career at all, and high school sports was so important
Speaker 2: to me, so uh. I know, back in the day,
Speaker 2: it was a big deal to pop open the newspaper
Speaker 2: and see, you know, the box score that had your
Speaker 2: last name. But now that's not even a thing anymore.
Speaker 2: So to see all the work that is done by
Speaker 2: you and your team to to still cover high school
Speaker 2: sports is awesome. But again, I don't think people realize
Speaker 2: how much work actually goes into it. It's it's a lot.
Speaker 2: So again, shout out to you guys. As far as
Speaker 2: tonight's matchups as it gets started, what are some of
Speaker 2: the bigger games that folks are buzzing around, buzzing about
Speaker 2: around town.
Speaker 4: Well, actually, I think we got we got a couple
Speaker 4: of really good ones. I'm man, you at at Central
Speaker 4: is our a game of the week, and this is
Speaker 4: the ways they play in that opening week every single week.
Speaker 4: You know, the last time Central beat Manual was twenty eighteen,
Speaker 4: so it's it's been a minute for them. But they
Speaker 4: love to play up early, you know, in the season
Speaker 4: the competition and it's a it's kind of a good
Speaker 4: test to see. Manuel's got a new coach this year,
Speaker 4: Keith that Clough has come over from Seneca and so
Speaker 4: I'm kind of interested to see new coach for the Crimsons. Hey,
Speaker 4: how are they going to be? I think that's a
Speaker 4: that's a really good matchup tonight. Trinity's on the road
Speaker 4: at Bryan's station. You know, two six A powers right there.
Speaker 4: Trinity's the defending six A state champs. Kind of a low,
Speaker 4: low key but awesome matchup. And it was last year.
Speaker 4: I mean, it could be a real barn burner is
Speaker 4: Atherton and KCD. Atherton, led by Anthony White.
Speaker 2: Had shout out to coach White.
Speaker 4: Last year they made a run. They were undefeated for
Speaker 4: a long time. You know, like they just did some
Speaker 4: things that Atherton has it done ever ever or in
Speaker 4: a really long time.
Speaker 2: Anthony White has has such a cool story because he
Speaker 2: he's the way I mean, he's kind of given them
Speaker 2: a brand when it comes to sort of you know,
Speaker 2: not only the way they play, but you know his
Speaker 2: personality and I think he's well aware what Atherton as
Speaker 2: a football program was forever before he got around and
Speaker 2: now like they've got you know, they they've kind of
Speaker 2: got the cool factor. They've got some pretty good players,
Speaker 2: they've got kids that are that are getting recruited. I'm
Speaker 2: sure he had options to go elsewhere after putting together
Speaker 2: a special season last year. So I love to see
Speaker 2: that they've they've got some momentum. And whenever I went
Speaker 2: to Northwold High School and our football team was was
Speaker 2: pretty good when I finished playing when I finished school
Speaker 2: my last two years, but we were really bad my
Speaker 2: first two and Atherton at that time was in our district,
Speaker 2: cant and it was the only game we knew we
Speaker 2: were gonna win. Like I think we went one in
Speaker 2: eight or one in nine my freshman year maybe, and
Speaker 2: then the next year we were really bad, but we
Speaker 2: we knew we could get a win against Atherton. Not
Speaker 2: not anymore, didn't they aren't they the Ravens Not? And
Speaker 2: they changed their their mascot.
Speaker 4: Yeah they're sitting you know, they're the Ravens.
Speaker 2: Now good for that man. Yeah, I pull for schools
Speaker 2: like that, Schools that you know, don't always get a chance,
Speaker 2: often don't often have you know, trophies to hang up
Speaker 2: after every season. But when they they've got some momentum
Speaker 2: they build and uh it sounds like they're gonna be
Speaker 2: really good again this year.
Speaker 4: So no, that yeah, that's gonna be fun. And KCD
Speaker 4: always makes a run of it, you know, for them
Speaker 4: for themselves. Matthew Jones does a really good job there.
Speaker 4: And then you know it's kind of it's such a
Speaker 4: cool thing. It's Collins at Shelby.
Speaker 2: County and rivalry. Baby, yeah, I love those.
Speaker 4: Kind of like you know, Inner County rivalry games. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, the place is gonna be you know packed,
Speaker 4: they're gonna you know, like there's gonna be a line
Speaker 4: to get in the gate for that one tonight. Always
Speaker 4: is it. It always seems to light up the scoreboard.
Speaker 4: So I'm I'm always like those are kind of some
Speaker 4: of those games that kind of really stand out to
Speaker 4: me about man, these these can be really good. And
Speaker 4: then over in southern End Indiana you got Silver Creek
Speaker 4: and Charles.
Speaker 2: Town another rivaly. That's good stuff right there. Ken Spencer
Speaker 2: is our guest joining us here on Sports Talk seven nine.
Speaker 2: You guys can follow Kent on Twitter at WHS eleven. Kent.
Speaker 2: All right, so I wanted to get your thoughts on
Speaker 2: on the the the list of the top five quarterback
Speaker 2: rankings for Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. I feel like
Speaker 2: this would have gotten more attention. But these two guys,
Speaker 2: of course, two the best quarterbacks of all time. Certainly
Speaker 2: they put out who they believe right now are the
Speaker 2: top five quarterbacks in the NFL? Have you seen this list?
Speaker 2: Because I want to. If not, I'll run through it
Speaker 2: real quick.
Speaker 4: I've not seen the list.
Speaker 2: Okay, So Peyton Manning here are his top five quarterbacks
Speaker 2: right now, Patrick Mahomes number one, Joe Burrow number two,
Speaker 2: Justin Herbert number three, Lamar Jackson number four, Josh Allen
Speaker 2: number five. And I got it wrong. Brady only did four.
Speaker 2: He went with Mahomes number one, Josh Allen number two,
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson number three, Joe Burrow number four. Any surprises
Speaker 2: to you on the as far as how that came out?
Speaker 2: And you know, how would you rank the top four
Speaker 2: top five quarterbacks? As the NFL season is getting ready
Speaker 2: to start here before too long, so.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have Herbert.
Speaker 2: In there, thank you. Maybe they share an agent or something.
Speaker 4: He just doesn't do it for me and I'm sure
Speaker 4: he's great, right, Like, I'm sure he's just fine or whatever,
Speaker 4: but he's just kind of missing something for me. Honestly,
Speaker 4: if I was, if I was ranking the quarterbacks, I
Speaker 4: would put Mahomes one. I would put Lamar to Burrow three,
Speaker 4: give me Josh Allen at four, and then I know
Speaker 4: he went down with a with an achilles last year.
Speaker 4: But but I'd have to put Aaron Rodgers at five
Speaker 4: and maybe and maybe he's done, but I'll have to
Speaker 4: see it to believe it, so I'll put I'll put
Speaker 4: Aaron Rodgers at five. That would be my list of five.
Speaker 4: What do you think.
Speaker 2: I have the top? We have an idea I have
Speaker 2: unless I got it wrong. So Mahomes, Lamar, Burrow, Allen,
Speaker 2: those were your first four, right, yep? Those are mine.
Speaker 2: That's exactly how I have it as well. And then
Speaker 2: my fifth. You know, I didn't think of Rogers, but
Speaker 2: it's because I guess just out of sight, out of mind.
Speaker 2: He didn't play a year ago. I feel like after
Speaker 2: that you're probably looking at a big gap or against
Speaker 2: somebody that you just assume eventually Father time is gonna
Speaker 2: is gonna get him. I think the top four are
Speaker 2: are pretty clear, and all have have really proven that.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think, you know, Josh Allen has proven
Speaker 2: to be really really good. They haven't really broke through
Speaker 2: to actually make it to a super Bowl just yet,
Speaker 2: and neither has the Ravens and Lamar. But Lamar has
Speaker 2: two MVPs. Uh, and you know, to get to get
Speaker 2: to the Bowl, they got to get past the Jugger
Speaker 2: not that is the Kansas City Chiefs. So yeah, what
Speaker 2: do you think there's still so much love for Herbert.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna say he's terrible and that he's like
Speaker 2: a he's a bum. His numbers are fine, but like,
Speaker 2: I just don't know what has led people to throw
Speaker 2: him in that elite tier.
Speaker 4: No, I don't either. I mean to be honest, Like
Speaker 4: if I was gonna take Rogers out and I was
Speaker 4: thinking about like putting somebody in, I wouldn't even have
Speaker 4: considered Herbert. And and everybody says he's a he's a
Speaker 4: system quarterback. Maybe he is, and I'm not I'm not
Speaker 4: necessarily saying that that brock Perty would be my number
Speaker 4: five because he wouldn't, but I would I still have
Speaker 4: him ahead of Herbert, a guy that I would like
Speaker 4: seriously consider throwing in and he was just a rookie
Speaker 4: last year. Is c J.
Speaker 3: Stroud?
Speaker 2: Hell yeah, I'm scared. I'm a Colts fan. I'm scared
Speaker 2: of death of c. J. Stroud. Yes, yes, he's gonna
Speaker 2: run our division.
Speaker 4: And you're a Colts fan at no offense. You've got Anthony.
Speaker 2: Richardson who sucks out loud. He's so bad. Did you
Speaker 2: see him last night? Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: I saw the you know, I saw the pick six
Speaker 4: to Jordan battle. He was laid over the battle man.
Speaker 4: That's gonna get you beat.
Speaker 2: Yeah. They so apparently they they practiced together before the
Speaker 2: scrimmage like they're I guess leading up to that game.
Speaker 2: I guess that's pretty common now. And our buddy Chris
Speaker 2: mack he and I talked earlier this week. He had
Speaker 2: somebody that was there and he was like, and he's
Speaker 2: probably just just given me a hard time because he
Speaker 2: knows I'm a Colts fan. But he was like, no,
Speaker 2: I'm telling you. Apparently the Bengals beat the Colts like
Speaker 2: like you know, they were they were a JV team
Speaker 2: And Richardson looked terrible, and I'm like, all right, you're
Speaker 2: probably just giving me a hard time, and then sure
Speaker 2: enough they played last night, and I'm like, Okay, I
Speaker 2: think what you heard in practice is exactly what happened.
Speaker 2: The Bengals are gonna be good this year. And I'm
Speaker 2: not a Bengles fan, I always kind of lightly root
Speaker 2: for him because I know so many Bengles fans that
Speaker 2: like never thought that they would have a quarterback that
Speaker 2: gave them the cool factor that took them to the
Speaker 2: freaking super Bowl. Which it's still crazy to say that
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow did that, but I mean I was I
Speaker 2: was happy to see that the legends that are Brady
Speaker 2: and Manning ended up including them in their top five.
Speaker 2: But I was blown away by the NFLPA of votes
Speaker 2: the players themselves, who didn't even have Burrow was like
Speaker 2: one of the better quarterbacks in the league. Like, I
Speaker 2: was really surprised by that.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, you know, sometimes like you know, last
Speaker 4: year for him, it wasn't that great of a year
Speaker 4: because he didn't have a training camp. They started off
Speaker 4: slow and then a season, So I think in some
Speaker 4: of this it can be out of sight, out of mind.
Speaker 2: He rushed back, there's no way around it.
Speaker 4: I mean, I would I would imagine that that he is.
Speaker 4: He's going to be pretty good this year. I mean
Speaker 4: he's had a full training camp and apparently he's looked
Speaker 4: good at these you know, enter team practices that they've
Speaker 4: had with with other teams. So yeah, well we'll just
Speaker 4: kind of see how it all shakes. You know what,
Speaker 4: I'll say this. I know you say that you're not
Speaker 4: a Bengals fan, but I get the sense here in
Speaker 4: the last year or two, I think you're maybe trending
Speaker 4: a little bit.
Speaker 2: You may be, well, mean, yes, oh, there's it's there,
Speaker 2: it's there, and let me let me explain it to you, Ken,
Speaker 2: because I I think I am, but I also know
Speaker 2: that my my team is the Colts, and I think
Speaker 2: them just having no, no real hope for the future.
Speaker 2: I just find myself kind of latching onto the Bengals.
Speaker 2: But when the Bengals made a Super Bowl and I
Speaker 2: was so excited for him, I felt like a fraud.
Speaker 2: I felt like a poser because I wasn't going through
Speaker 2: the hard times like you guys, did you know what
Speaker 2: I mean? So like I want I want to, I
Speaker 2: do like him, but I feel like when I say
Speaker 2: it in front of those that have you know, have
Speaker 2: been who day and since birth. I just feel like
Speaker 2: I don't belong.
Speaker 4: Well, look there's always room.
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you. That's that's all I needed to hear. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well,
Speaker 2: I mean if I want to watch a better team
Speaker 2: than mine, the team that I do find myself rooting for,
Speaker 2: it'll it'll. Uh, it'll be the Bengals this year.
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 2: One one quick, one thing I want to ask you,
Speaker 2: uh before we let you go, if if you were
Speaker 2: debating on these two guys as you're starting quarterback, who
Speaker 2: you going with Jalen Hurts or to a tug of
Speaker 2: aaloa O.
Speaker 4: That's that's that's tough. I'm gonna go with Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, I think two is two is gonna be
Speaker 2: good this year. But I'd still go Hurts too.
Speaker 4: And and the reason why I would go with Hurts
Speaker 4: is because I believe to it has so many weapons
Speaker 4: und Hill, but man on the big stage when I
Speaker 4: watched him, I just didn't see it. And yeah, so
Speaker 4: Hurts could be a clutch player. Uh he the guy's
Speaker 4: tough as nails.
Speaker 2: I don't know what that dude. Yep, I'm with you,
Speaker 2: I'm with you. Totally agree. Can't you are the man.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you making time. Keep up the great work.
Speaker 2: Stay safe tonight and we'll talk to you soon. Brother.
Speaker 4: Hey, good to talk to you, buddy.
Speaker 2: All right, take care. That is Kent Spencer, always appreciating
Speaker 2: making time for us again. WHS eleven. They'll have all
Speaker 2: the coverage of the high school action tonight and we
Speaker 2: got to take our last break. We'll come back here
Speaker 2: and wrap it up, get out here for the weekend.
Speaker 2: There's no doubt this song is extremely corny, but it's
Speaker 2: also extremely awesome. When this come out, does it show you?
Speaker 2: I don't know if it shows you on the on
Speaker 2: your twenty ten Boys of Fall? Is that it's that old?
Speaker 4: It is?
Speaker 2: My goodness, I feel like I.
Speaker 3: Love this album in general by Kenny Chesney. It's got
Speaker 3: Somewhere with You on it probably my favorite all time
Speaker 3: Kenny Chesney song.
Speaker 2: I've When I think of the Kenny Chesney music that
Speaker 2: I love, you know, it's it's way back in the day,
Speaker 2: like whenever I was there young. Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 2: mean early two thousand's, late nineties, I guess, and but
Speaker 2: he I don't know. I mean whenever he went from
Speaker 2: being this good old boy from from East Tennessee to
Speaker 2: being a guy who wanted to be the beach cowboy.
Speaker 2: That's always like you know, in Ken Kun tried to like,
Speaker 2: you know, take some of Jimmy Buffett's image and you
Speaker 2: know carry some of that as well. So you know,
Speaker 2: he he kind of became a little uncool in the
Speaker 2: world of country, but like he's a legend and he's great.
Speaker 2: Like I I've seen him, I've seen him live a
Speaker 2: couple of times. I'd go see him again.
Speaker 3: He's he's one of the few country artists that can
Speaker 3: regularly do stadium tours.
Speaker 2: I feel like, oh yeah, no, he and he's It's
Speaker 2: a really good point because that's you know, I think
Speaker 2: I could throw other artists out there that people would
Speaker 2: say as relatively as big or maybe a little bit
Speaker 2: less noteworthy or like, you know, notable. But one thing
Speaker 2: they can't do, because many can't do it, is to
Speaker 2: have the stadium tours for this long, right, like doing
Speaker 2: it as long as he has and people are still
Speaker 2: gonna go. So yeah, Kitty Chesney, Boys of Fall, I
Speaker 2: need to go see him again. It's been a long
Speaker 2: time since I saw him, but I saw him a
Speaker 2: few times when I was much younger, and then I
Speaker 2: I mean when he yeah, I mean, I guess the
Speaker 2: last time I saw him when he was in Louisville.
Speaker 2: He did a show many years ago at at Cardinal Stadium.
Speaker 2: At ellen N Stadium, wasn't that then it was Papa John's.
Speaker 2: But anyways, we're out of time. Everybody had a good weekend.
Speaker 2: We got football Week zero. Let's get fired up. We're
Speaker 2: back at it on Monday, right here on Sports Talk
Speaker 2: seven ninety