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: We decided earlier this week that despite it being week
Speaker 2: zero and none of the local teams playing college football
Speaker 2: season is here, we're gonna say it, not second guess,
Speaker 2: it's here, folks, and I'm excited about that. I mean,
Speaker 2: you should be too, to be honest with you, but
Speaker 2: college basketball is still a big deal around here, and
Speaker 2: we are in a unique spot to where both programs
Speaker 2: here locally are starting completely over. Obviously, you all know
Speaker 2: who's in place in Lexington and in Louisville, Pat Kelsey
Speaker 2: taking over for the Cards and Mark Pope. I said
Speaker 2: it right. I thought I was gonna say Mark steps
Speaker 2: Mark Pope is the guy here in Lexing, well not
Speaker 2: here in Lexing, but you know what I mean. And
Speaker 2: I just think when it's new, there's excitement, and I
Speaker 2: can sense the excitement on both sides. Who knows how
Speaker 2: either of these coaches are going to end up doing,
Speaker 2: and you know, really different situations in regards to like
Speaker 2: the shoes that have to be filled. Pat Kelcey, I
Speaker 2: mean there's no doubt he's going to be a massive
Speaker 2: upgrade from what we were used to in the last
Speaker 2: couple of years. That's as maybe the most obvious thing
Speaker 2: I've ever said on this show. And with Mark Pope.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't think anybody's worried about him being
Speaker 2: able to knock off Saint Peter's in Oakland in the tournament,
Speaker 2: but you know, can he keep the Kentucky status where
Speaker 2: Cali Perry had it to wear no matter what happened,
Speaker 2: no matter who they lost to. If it was you know,
Speaker 2: what's the guy's name who went off Jack something Goldie, Yeah,
Speaker 2: if Golkie or the guy with the porn stashed it
Speaker 2: played for Saint Peter's. You know, like, even despite all
Speaker 2: that happening, cal would always build a roster that everybody
Speaker 2: collectively within college basketball would tell you it's going to
Speaker 2: be good enough to win a national championship. Now, I
Speaker 2: think it became pretty stale in Lexington because that was
Speaker 2: always going to be the case as far as winning.
Speaker 2: The offseason expectations being high, a new hall of talent,
Speaker 2: guys that are probably gonna be taken in the NFL Draft,
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff, but they just they had
Speaker 2: embarrassing losses. In the postseason and some embarrassing losses in
Speaker 2: recent years in the regular season as well. So again,
Speaker 2: these situations aren't exactly the same. But again, as far
Speaker 2: as it being new and exciting, I think both fan
Speaker 2: bases are in the same position there. So again, despite
Speaker 2: it being August and football season now being here, I
Speaker 2: do want to talk some college hoops because we found
Speaker 2: out earlier today the field, well, we know the field.
Speaker 2: We've known the field. We now know who's playing who
Speaker 2: when it comes to the Battle for Atlantis and Louisville
Speaker 2: will take on Indiana in their first game, and if
Speaker 2: they win, they'll play the winner of Gonzaga in West Virginia.
Speaker 2: If they lose, they'll play the loser of Gonzaga in
Speaker 2: West Virginia. So you're looking at two guaranteed games against
Speaker 2: power for power five. It's gonna be weird now because
Speaker 2: you can say power five in college basketball because the
Speaker 2: Big East. It's power for in football. But I guess
Speaker 2: it's always been inconsistent because before the Pac twelve died,
Speaker 2: it was power five and football power six in basketball.
Speaker 2: But anyway, uh, I love this. You know, from a
Speaker 2: fans perspective, somebody who wants to see where my team
Speaker 2: stands every single time they take the floor. That's unrealistic
Speaker 2: because you're gonna still play teams like butt crack Tech
Speaker 2: or is it but was it butt cracked State?
Speaker 3: But Tech butthole Tech and butt crack State.
Speaker 2: Okay, butthole Tech butt crack State. You cannot do not.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. I would not want to get that wrong
Speaker 2: in front of fans of either side. Right, It's kind
Speaker 2: of like, uh, apparently, and I don't know this firsthand
Speaker 2: because I've not I've not been in the field in
Speaker 2: the industry, but like, have you ever heard about it?
Speaker 2: If you call a plumber a pipefitter or a pipe
Speaker 2: fitter a plumber, I've.
Speaker 3: Not heard that.
Speaker 2: Oh you don't. They don't like that. Okay, Yeah, you
Speaker 2: don't call a pipe fitter a plumber, and you don't
Speaker 2: call a plumber a pipe fitter. A lot of people
Speaker 2: kind of hear what they do loosely and they just assume, well,
Speaker 2: you're a plumber. No, I'm not. I'm a pipe fitter.
Speaker 3: Pipe fitters are the ones that are on those entertainers.
Speaker 3: I'm not cleaning stuff. He said it, not me.
Speaker 2: I'm not getting into describing what these journeymen, these blue
Speaker 2: collar workers do. That was him, John Alden, the company man,
Speaker 2: not me.
Speaker 4: I'm not.
Speaker 2: I'm not. You don't wanna, you don't wanna. You don't
Speaker 2: want to act like you know what a what a
Speaker 2: blue collar journeyman is out there doing. That's fair because
Speaker 2: we look well, you know what they say about us,
Speaker 2: we got soft hands compared to them. They're out there,
Speaker 2: you know, work and deny it doing the hard work.
Speaker 2: We're you know, we're pampered here in radio, which is true.
Speaker 2: But anyways, butt crack Tech, I'm gonna get it, make
Speaker 2: stuff tech. That's the og.
Speaker 3: And then butt crack State was the rival that was
Speaker 3: created this afternoon.
Speaker 2: So again, you're still gonna play teams like that to
Speaker 2: where you you get a chance to just you know,
Speaker 2: work through some things. Maybe play some of your young guys,
Speaker 2: win big and give the team a check on the
Speaker 2: way out to come in and get their brains beat
Speaker 2: in like that'll never go away in college athletics, unless,
Speaker 2: of course, you do see a complete separation from the
Speaker 2: rest of college sports, meaning the highest level in both
Speaker 2: sports basketball football. Just decide, okay, yeah, it's quite clear
Speaker 2: we are different than you know, the butthole texts and
Speaker 2: the butt crack states out there that I get it right,
Speaker 2: we got it. There we go. Yeah. So anyways, you're
Speaker 2: always gonna have games like that, and honestly, when you
Speaker 2: have a brand new team, that's probably needed in Louisville,
Speaker 2: despite the competition not being very stiff down there in
Speaker 2: the Bahamas, they still benefited from playing, you know, those
Speaker 2: types of games against you know, another team different than themselves.
Speaker 2: So from my end, again just talking about myself specifically
Speaker 2: as a fan, I love this, but I'm curious if
Speaker 2: Pat Kelcey is thrilled to see the schedule that he has.
Speaker 2: I get the sense that he will want to always
Speaker 2: embrace a challenging non conference schedule because he knows at
Speaker 2: Louisville that's what you should do. You should play in
Speaker 2: big games against good teams where there's value there and
Speaker 2: it's a big time atmosphere, right, I mean, I think,
Speaker 2: I mean Louisville playing a very weak non conference schedule
Speaker 2: like every year just doesn't make any sense. And they
Speaker 2: don't by the way, And honestly, I mean this is
Speaker 2: a little bit of a stretch, but I'm gonna say
Speaker 2: it anyway, You're not far from the point where you've
Speaker 2: got to make sure you have a very challenging non
Speaker 2: conference schedule and you know, and you win a couple
Speaker 2: of games throughout that because you just don't have the
Speaker 2: ability in the ACC like you used to to just
Speaker 2: you know, you could have two games above five hundred
Speaker 2: as your record in the ACC in a previous world,
Speaker 2: and it wouldn't be a shock if you're safely in
Speaker 2: the tournament with a decent seed, because you know, seventy
Speaker 2: percent of the games you play are against good teams
Speaker 2: that are probably gonna be in the tournament. That's not
Speaker 2: what the ACC is anymore. So anyways, Love is always
Speaker 2: gonna have a tough and challenging non conference schedule, But
Speaker 2: this is the I mean again, we'll never know until
Speaker 2: you get towards the end of the year and you
Speaker 2: look back and see just how good these teams were.
Speaker 2: But right now, as the schedule has officially been released
Speaker 2: and you look at you know, you look at everybody
Speaker 2: as far as what they're supposed to be this year,
Speaker 2: I don't think it's a stretch to say non conference specifically,
Speaker 2: this is one of the more challenging schedules that I've
Speaker 2: seen for Louisville. I mean again, we'll start with your
Speaker 2: second game of the season November ninth against Tennessee, who,
Speaker 2: By the way, I checked every preseason ranking I could find.
Speaker 2: I looked at five of them. They all have Tennessee
Speaker 2: in the top fifteen. You got Bellerman and then Winthrop.
Speaker 2: Those are games you know you should win. You know
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna throw those out there as oh wow,
Speaker 2: those help support my case that this is a very
Speaker 2: challenging non conference schedule. No offense to those teams, but
Speaker 2: they don't. And then you look at Indiana Indiana. I mean,
Speaker 2: I actually feel like Indiana in some of these rankings
Speaker 2: that I've seen, not to say they're getting disrespected because
Speaker 2: they weren't very good last year, they missed the tournament,
Speaker 2: and they are, you know, banking on their transfers being
Speaker 2: really really productive, just like a lot of other teams are.
Speaker 2: But I think if you look at the roster on paper,
Speaker 2: I love what they brought in and the guys they
Speaker 2: brought back I think were guys that you would want
Speaker 2: to come back to Indiana if you if you're a
Speaker 2: Hoosier and they have one freshman who what's his name?
Speaker 2: The best President Tucker. He's believed to be one of
Speaker 2: the best freshmen in the Big tens. So like this
Speaker 2: is Indiana is top fifty team, top twenty depending on
Speaker 2: where you look, but there are a consensus, I believe,
Speaker 2: top twenty caliber team, Gonzaga consensus top five team. Now
Speaker 2: West Virginia. They were really bad last year and they're
Speaker 2: a team that like they could beat you, trust me,
Speaker 2: but they're not one that, like on November twenty eighth,
Speaker 2: if that's who they play in that second day in
Speaker 2: the Bahamas, that's one that if Louisville wins, you probably
Speaker 2: have to just wait and see if there's really any
Speaker 2: value there. And I would bank more so on it
Speaker 2: not being looked at as like a resume win. Now again,
Speaker 2: because they play in the Big Twelve. This is where
Speaker 2: I just nerd out on college basketball folks. Because they
Speaker 2: play in the Big Twelve. They could be a non
Speaker 2: tournament team five hundred overall, not a threat. But because
Speaker 2: they play night in and night out in the Big Twelve,
Speaker 2: which is a really deep league, I'd be willing to
Speaker 2: bet that there is going to be some metrics out there,
Speaker 2: like the Ken Palm, like the net that think West
Speaker 2: Virginia is a lot better than they actually are because
Speaker 2: of their conference, So you actually can end up getting
Speaker 2: value there just from the numbers perspective. So you know
Speaker 2: that alone gives you I mean, those are those are
Speaker 2: challenging games. And then you don't have a clue who
Speaker 2: you're gonna end up playing. I guess just looking at
Speaker 2: the bracket here, you'll end you know, you're either gonna
Speaker 2: end up well, I guess, could it be a variety
Speaker 2: of teams. Let me just pull up the bracketers. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so you know, let's say you, Let's say you. I
Speaker 2: guess there could be any of these teams in the
Speaker 2: lower side, right, like, it depends on what happens. But
Speaker 2: the rest of the field is Arizona, who is another
Speaker 2: team that by all accounts preseason top ten, some say
Speaker 2: top five, and then Davidson Providence in Oklahoma. So I
Speaker 2: think with Indiana and Gonzaga sort of being in your pod,
Speaker 2: your pool, if you will, you've got a chance to
Speaker 2: play the two best teams in this event. Now, again,
Speaker 2: Arizona is probably gonna be ranked a little higher than Indiana,
Speaker 2: but I would trust Indiana's team a little more than
Speaker 2: I would Arizona. Tommy Lloyd's a great coach. But you know,
Speaker 2: I just again, I'm not what I think of Indiana,
Speaker 2: to be honest with you really didn't have anyth dude,
Speaker 2: Mike Woodson. It's just I think their personnel is really good.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think they've got.
Speaker 3: Really good I think that checks out because I think
Speaker 3: a lot of the doubts for Indiana it's it's about
Speaker 3: what Woodson.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I guess I can't say that that's not warranted,
Speaker 2: but like I do feel as if he was a
Speaker 2: guy that had a little more on his resume. And
Speaker 2: that's not to say his resume is terrible. The guy
Speaker 2: has only been a college coach for what three years
Speaker 2: now four, It's not like it's a long, you know,
Speaker 2: twenty year run. To kind of get a sense for him,
Speaker 2: he like, this is a year where you're gonna you're
Speaker 2: gonna decide as a college basketball fan what you think
Speaker 2: of him as a coach, right, Like you probably have
Speaker 2: an opinion now, but like year four will kind of
Speaker 2: solidify if he's either going to be a guy that
Speaker 2: has a long future in Indiana or a guy that
Speaker 2: like maybe fighting for his job at the end. Of
Speaker 2: the year. But I think you take personnel alone and
Speaker 2: you put that roster next to let's say Mark Few,
Speaker 2: they would be viewed as a much more feared team
Speaker 2: in college basketball as of right now. And I guess
Speaker 2: that's just how it works, because again, Mark Vee has
Speaker 2: proven to be pretty good. Coach Woodson still is in
Speaker 2: the process of kind of, you know, showing what he
Speaker 2: can do with this in the college game.
Speaker 3: And this will be the event that really kind of
Speaker 3: shows if Indiana's for real this year, if they can
Speaker 3: win at least two of three or even win the
Speaker 3: whole thing, I mean, they'll be a contender for college basketball.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And you know what I love about these early
Speaker 2: events is that it's college basketball overload and you usually
Speaker 2: get really good matchups in the Battle for Atlantis, which
Speaker 2: is this event MAUI.
Speaker 3: You know, the East have the two K Classic, I
Speaker 3: think it's been renamed. You have the the not the
Speaker 3: Phil Knight thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, You've got the Jimmy V. Classic, You've got the
Speaker 2: n i T. The they call it the preseason n
Speaker 2: i T when it's actually you know, an end season event.
Speaker 2: But like the in Heck, there's events that take place.
Speaker 2: I mean there's all kinds of these MTS multi team
Speaker 2: events that take place around Thanksgiving, and I love it,
Speaker 2: but I hate it in real time because nobody really
Speaker 2: reacts strongly about one way, Like because it's so early,
Speaker 2: people either downplay a loss as who cares or downplay
Speaker 2: a win like, yeah, you know, we'll see what it
Speaker 2: looks like at the end of the season. Because like,
Speaker 2: for example, Louisville could lose to Tennessee but beat you know,
Speaker 2: but beat morehead Bellerman Winthrop that lose to Tennessee, lose
Speaker 2: to Indiana, and then let's say they beat West Virginia
Speaker 2: and then they end up losing to let's say they
Speaker 2: lose to I don't know, Arizona. If somehow the bracket
Speaker 2: played out that way, they'd come home looking like a
Speaker 2: team with no win to speak of, probably and you know,
Speaker 2: losses to good teams, but you know, right, My point
Speaker 2: is that Indiana and whoever Arizona would not look as
Speaker 2: if they're getting any value because louisvill would be what
Speaker 2: one game above five hundred. Yet when you've revisited at
Speaker 2: the end of December or whatever, or I'm sorry, not
Speaker 2: the end of December, the end of February, it may
Speaker 2: look like, Okay, Louisville is in the driver's seat to
Speaker 2: be a top three finisher in the ACC to where hey,
Speaker 2: Indiana's feeling pretty good. That's a win that has value.
Speaker 2: So I get it. It's just, man, in a time
Speaker 2: when nobody really is watching college basketball all that much
Speaker 2: at the national level because football's going on, it just
Speaker 2: I don't know, I feel like, are anybody seeing this
Speaker 2: we got I mean, these are games going on in
Speaker 2: the Bahamas. You've got Indiana, Louisville, Gonzaga, Arizona. This is
Speaker 2: crazy and yet, like, unless you're just a dialhard fan
Speaker 2: of college hoops or a dialwheard fan of one of
Speaker 2: these teams, it just doesn't feel like people care that much.
Speaker 2: And I get it. NFL's king at that point in Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, this game will be played in the
Speaker 2: Battle for Atlantis.
Speaker 3: It's the day before Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, like there's so much else going on, so
Speaker 2: I understand it. It's just as a college basketball super fan,
Speaker 2: you know, I just wish that people put a little
Speaker 2: more incentive on it in real time because there's a
Speaker 2: little bit of a watered down field to these Thanksgiving events.
Speaker 2: Just because it almost has a fiel to where it's
Speaker 2: like preseason and nobody really cares because you know, in
Speaker 2: two months these teams are gonna be way different, which
Speaker 2: again that's valid, but I mean, these are big time programs, man,
Speaker 2: and when you do get to selection Sunday, regardless of
Speaker 2: what you just said about these games, when they took place,
Speaker 2: they do matter, they have value. So again with Louisville,
Speaker 2: I love the fact that they're in this They're in
Speaker 2: this event, and I'm gonna want to see where they
Speaker 2: stand against Mike Woodson. I'm gonna want to see where
Speaker 2: they stand against whoever they play the next game, if
Speaker 2: it's West Virginia, if it's Gonzaga, and whoever that third
Speaker 2: game is. But I gotta wonder if Pat Kelsey is
Speaker 2: either enthusiastic, and I knowing what I know about him
Speaker 2: as far as just how he's wired as a competitor,
Speaker 2: I would imagine he's not crying himself to sleep thinking
Speaker 2: he's a victim of this tough schedule, because what are
Speaker 2: you gonna do. You can't change it, but it is
Speaker 2: a very challenging schedule. Even if the circumstances weren't what
Speaker 2: they are with a brand new team, all new players
Speaker 2: that have never really played together other than in practice
Speaker 2: and in that trip to the Bahamas. So as soon
Speaker 2: as they get back from the Bahamas very short break,
Speaker 2: they'll play their last game on Friday, and on Tuesday
Speaker 2: they're gonna host Ole Miss, another team that is consensus
Speaker 2: preseason top twenty five. Some have them in the top
Speaker 2: twenty nine. Everybody had them there, but they're gonna be
Speaker 2: top twenty five. And then you play UTEP know nothing
Speaker 2: about them. Then you play Kentucky in Lexington. I don't
Speaker 2: care about Mark Pope in their new team. I can't
Speaker 2: imagine Kentucky won't be ranked then. But either way, you
Speaker 2: were playing kent in rupp Arena in a rivalry game.
Speaker 2: That is a tough game, regardless of where they're ranked
Speaker 2: at that time or whatever happens before then. That is
Speaker 2: a game that anybody with a brain would say, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's you know, that's another good data point to throw
Speaker 2: out there when you're trying to emphasize that Pat Kelsey
Speaker 2: has himself a very tough schedule. So again, we're just
Speaker 2: talking non conference here, and I can't think of a
Speaker 2: year where it'd be a little dip, Like if Kentucky
Speaker 2: had cal and they're coming off another a big run
Speaker 2: in the tournament, which I say, another that hasn't happened,
Speaker 2: that didn't happen for a while, which is why he's gone.
Speaker 2: But like if Kentucky had the same type of preseason
Speaker 2: love now that they typically would get for col I
Speaker 2: don't I'd have a hard time finding a schedule that
Speaker 2: again as of you know, August, it's it's easily. It's
Speaker 2: easy to forget if you get to the end of
Speaker 2: the year in a schedule you thought was really tough
Speaker 2: ended up being not tough at all. But you know,
Speaker 2: all we can do is evaluate where we are today
Speaker 2: when I look at what is on the slate here
Speaker 2: for Pat Kelsey in non conference games, this is a tough,
Speaker 2: tough schedule, and I think they've got the piece to
Speaker 2: where they could be competitive and win some of these games,
Speaker 2: maybe win a bunch of them. I don't know. But
Speaker 2: today when I saw that, it was Indiana first, and
Speaker 2: then if you get past them easier said than done,
Speaker 2: of course, then you'd probably play Gonzaga, a top five
Speaker 2: team like this is. And again I love it because
Speaker 2: from my perspective alone, and I know we've already had
Speaker 2: a couple of people said on the text line, you
Speaker 2: love this schedule, but are you gonna love it whenever
Speaker 2: they get curb stumped. Well, I don't think they're going
Speaker 2: to get curb stump, but if they do, yeah, I'll
Speaker 2: be sad. But I you know, as a fan, there's
Speaker 2: never been a scenario where Louisville has played a really
Speaker 2: tough team and they've been humbled and lost, and maybe
Speaker 2: it's in embarrassing fashion. There's never been a time where
Speaker 2: that's happened. I mean, that has happened, but there's never
Speaker 2: been a time where that's happened. And I thought to myself, Wow,
Speaker 2: I wish we would have had butt Crack stayed in
Speaker 2: here instead of you know, a top five team, Like
Speaker 2: you should want to play really good teams regardless, just
Speaker 2: because there's value there. And I don't mean just value
Speaker 2: as far as as a fan learning. Okay, did my
Speaker 2: team pass the test or not? But your resume and
Speaker 2: I just feel like it's always such a you know,
Speaker 2: from a fans perspective, I'm speaking as a consumer of
Speaker 2: the product. Someone say I'm speaking from it, you know selfishly,
Speaker 2: but hey, I mean, I'm talking only for me here.
Speaker 2: When you play those nobodies, it's a waste of time
Speaker 2: in my opinion for me as a consumer. Now as
Speaker 2: a coach, you're like, hell, yeah, give me all these
Speaker 2: games against Winthrop and exhibitions because I need these guys
Speaker 2: to work on stuff against other teams. I need to
Speaker 2: get these guys more reps together. It's a brand new team,
Speaker 2: so I'm looking at it from a totally different lens
Speaker 2: than what someone like Pat Kelsey would look at it
Speaker 2: as I mean, I mean, it's not that I'm like
Speaker 2: dreading a game when they play one of these teams,
Speaker 2: because that's not at all how I approach it. Anytime
Speaker 2: you get a chance to watch your team play, you
Speaker 2: should be you know, you should be excited and you
Speaker 2: know hopeful that they win. But it's just, you know,
Speaker 2: it's it all two things. It always feels like a
Speaker 2: waste of time. And I hate when you do beat
Speaker 2: a team by twenty five and then you look down
Speaker 2: two days later at your net ranking or your Ken
Speaker 2: palm and you fell because the team you played is
Speaker 2: so bad. He'd have to beat them by like fifty
Speaker 2: four to really boost up your metrics. That to me
Speaker 2: is just so stupid. But it's where we are in
Speaker 2: college basketball with how they you know, how they value
Speaker 2: who's good and who's not. And also, I guess, honestly,
Speaker 2: I have a little bit of PTSD because recently, like
Speaker 2: Winthrop teams like that, they beat Kenny Payne, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. So like just seeing a guinea Payne
Speaker 2: would lose to you know, a real team, it didn't
Speaker 2: stay as bad because you know, we knew we stunk,
Speaker 2: but you know it was going to be going, you know,
Speaker 2: viral in the college basketball world if Louisville lost to
Speaker 2: you know, UNBC like they nearly did in their opener
Speaker 2: last year, or to Chattanooga who got him last year
Speaker 2: went and Chattanooga came in and beat him.
Speaker 3: I think it was there was a couple and then
Speaker 3: they didn't. They barely beat a team with four players
Speaker 3: on the floor on the yead New Mexico State.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and by the way, I probably missed this when
Speaker 2: I was on vacation, but I'm just now seeing the
Speaker 2: non conference schedule that shows the exhibition opponents. So Louisville's
Speaker 2: exhibitions are going to be against young Harris College. Have
Speaker 2: you ever heard of Young Harris College.
Speaker 3: I feel like they're in Pennsylvania. But I don't know
Speaker 3: why you schedule an exhibition with somebody that far away,
Speaker 3: so that could be way off.
Speaker 2: Well, usually these exhibitions, I mean sometimes they're just truly random. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and sometimes these schools don't want to play these games.
Speaker 2: But Young Harris is in Georgia, Yeah, what do I
Speaker 2: Usually there's usually there's a there's there's like a there's
Speaker 2: like a a connection, if you will, Like there's like
Speaker 2: like a coach or something like that.
Speaker 3: Like, yeah, I mean, like I'm trying to think Indiana
Speaker 3: plays Marion. That's where Pat Knight's coaching right now, Bob.
Speaker 2: Her go Son, That's that makes total sense. And here's
Speaker 2: a great connection. And I don't know why this one
Speaker 2: didn't come to me right away, maybe again because it's
Speaker 2: PTSD something I'm trying not to think about. But the
Speaker 2: reason that Louisville played Lenoa Ryan LeAnn Rimes is because
Speaker 2: Everick Sullivan was their coach who played at Louisville. And
Speaker 2: I don't know if he played with Kenny Payne, but
Speaker 2: he is a former Louisville player who I believe played
Speaker 2: on a h played on a National chamampionship team. So
Speaker 2: you know, that's why that's why this random Division two
Speaker 2: team was on the schedule because their head coach at
Speaker 2: the time was a Louisville alum. So usually there's connections there.
Speaker 2: I don't know of a connection with young Harris, but
Speaker 2: maybe there is one. And by the way, isn't it
Speaker 2: wild to know that Everck Sullivan outlasted Kenny Payne. Yeah
Speaker 2: he was. I'm sorry, sorry, Kenny, I said that wrong.
Speaker 2: Kenny Payne outlasted him. Everck Sullivan was fired or forced out,
Speaker 2: I guess before Kenny Payne was, which it was kind of.
Speaker 2: I mean, they both got fired and moved on from
Speaker 2: however you want to look at it at the end
Speaker 2: of both seasons, but you know, their season ended a
Speaker 2: little bit soon. I remember seeing like that is wow,
Speaker 2: this guy actually came in and beat Louisville in an
Speaker 2: exhibition game as a D two coach, and they still
Speaker 2: were so bad that like they didn't keep him. I mean,
Speaker 2: that'll be the best win they ever had against anybody
Speaker 2: at Lenola. Ryan. And by the way, when that team
Speaker 2: beat Louisville, I think people know this. I think it
Speaker 2: was like a known thing. Their two best players didn't
Speaker 2: play in that game when they beat Louisville, and they
Speaker 2: didn't just beat them like they one pretty comfortably. Now
Speaker 2: the other exhibition game, and I feel like this has
Speaker 2: got to be the first time that Louisville has played
Speaker 2: this team in an exhibition game. Spaulding. Shout out to Spaulding,
Speaker 2: Spaulding will be your exhibition opponent. And it's rare that
Speaker 2: you see, you know, Division one, you know, power programs
Speaker 2: like Louisville play Division three teams in an exhibition. Now
Speaker 2: the connection here is obviously there's just they're just down
Speaker 2: the street. But Spaulding, as a Division three team, used
Speaker 2: to be nai whenever I was in school, and I
Speaker 2: believe they're still led by coach Gray, Yeah, who's been
Speaker 2: coaching there a long long time. In fact, his son,
Speaker 2: Tim Gray, associate head coach, was a staffer for the
Speaker 2: Louisville twenty thirteen national championship team. So yeah, those are
Speaker 2: your exhibition opponents. Those, of course don't factor into what
Speaker 2: I've been discussing in regards to a loaded non conference schedule,
Speaker 2: because these aren't real games. But hey, let's not act
Speaker 2: like we don't look at these a little bit differently
Speaker 2: now than we did prior to the Kinny Payne era,
Speaker 2: because you know, he lost to these teams. Kenny Payne
Speaker 2: does not have a winning record against exhibition opponents. It's
Speaker 2: crazy to say, but it's true. All right, quick break,
Speaker 2: we'll come back on the other side. Keep this thing
Speaker 2: rolling along. We'll revisit the Amari Huggins Bruce situation. I'm
Speaker 2: now ready to move on from calling it a rumor
Speaker 2: because there's clearly something here as far as it actually
Speaker 2: being able to happen him transferring back to Louisville to
Speaker 2: join the team for the upcoming season. I guess it's possible,
Speaker 2: but I still feel like it's I'm leaning towards doubtful,
Speaker 2: but we'll revisit that. For those who missed it at
Speaker 2: the beginning of the show, it's Coffee and Company. We
Speaker 2: are feel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven
Speaker 2: to ninety sticking with college basketball here, we did talk
Speaker 2: a little bit earlier in regards to In fact, we've
Speaker 2: just spent a lot of time out at the beginning
Speaker 2: of this hour about Louisville basketball's non conference schedule, as
Speaker 2: we now know who they're going to be facing in
Speaker 2: their first game in the Battle for Atlantis, which is Indiana,
Speaker 2: and real quick before we move on to what I
Speaker 2: was going to get to in regards to something John
Speaker 2: Caliperry is doing, there's no doubt like it's gonna take
Speaker 2: a long time for like, I think it's as long
Speaker 2: as Mike Woodson is in Indiana at Bloomington as their
Speaker 2: head coach. Anytime his name comes up for any reason
Speaker 2: or if there's ever any other potential matchup between Louisville
Speaker 2: and Indiana, all Louisville fans are going to bring up
Speaker 2: the fact that he tricked Kenny Payne. Did you see
Speaker 2: how whenever like that that thing? Really it was. I
Speaker 2: mean I've not seen anybody sharing like the clip of it,
Speaker 2: but like as soon as the matchup was announced, it
Speaker 2: was Cards versus Hoosiers, a bunch of Louisville fans hoping,
Speaker 2: you know, saying they hope that he doesn't trick us again,
Speaker 2: or that I te Kelsey. Yeah, Pat Kelsey will be
Speaker 2: prepared for, you know, for any tricks that he might have.
Speaker 2: I mean, that was not I've never felt bad for
Speaker 2: Kenny Payne. I would have. I would have felt very
Speaker 2: sorry for Kenny if he was that big of a
Speaker 2: failure as a coach and he had any any humility
Speaker 2: and he had any awareness. I mean, he literally still
Speaker 2: to this day believes that he was wronged here and
Speaker 2: that he was a good coach. And it's just insane
Speaker 2: that somebody can have a mind that operates that way,
Speaker 2: but not the less. Like that's the like if you
Speaker 2: just say, yeah, he went zone. We weren't expecting it.
Speaker 2: He went zone, you know, and we we didn't we
Speaker 2: didn't execute. But he he's he laughed and said he
Speaker 2: tricked me, and like that's just like the one thing
Speaker 2: you can't do unless you're seeking to look as if
Speaker 2: you do not have any business being a head coach anywhere.
Speaker 2: And that's that's what he did. But anyways, uh, John
Speaker 2: Caliperry again, we talked about it yesterday because we now
Speaker 2: know Arkansas is going to make their make the trip
Speaker 2: to Lexington on February first, which is a Saturday, and
Speaker 2: that's gonna be a tough tough ticket to get. We
Speaker 2: all know that. But Cali Perry, you know, he loves
Speaker 2: these big time games right where he gets a chance
Speaker 2: to maybe have a standalone game on a national network
Speaker 2: and you know, just use that airtime, use that exposure
Speaker 2: that you get on CBS or ESPN or ABC to
Speaker 2: really just you know, pump up his program and build
Speaker 2: that brand that he's that he's you know, and we
Speaker 2: got his brand, by the way, is him not UK
Speaker 2: not Arkansas him? So now he's just taking it to Arkansas.
Speaker 2: And yesterday we just us the Illinois matchup. They're gonna
Speaker 2: play Illinois on Thanksgiving following an NFL game, which I
Speaker 2: happen to think is brilliant in regards to just viewership
Speaker 2: that's going to be there. And it's just another thing
Speaker 2: that Caliperi can add, you know, because here's the thing.
Speaker 2: Because it's Thanksgiving and it's following an NFL game, the
Speaker 2: people who watch the beginning like that game will be
Speaker 2: very highly rated, and it may be really highly rated
Speaker 2: because it might be a great game that people are
Speaker 2: interested in. But even if it's not you following an
Speaker 2: NFL game on Thanksgiving on CBS, you're going you're walking
Speaker 2: and you're waking up to a big rating. And at
Speaker 2: the end of the year he can still clout or
Speaker 2: shout about you know, I guess clouding is he can
Speaker 2: still have the cloud is what I meant to say.
Speaker 2: My mine's not working today too much, butthole text and
Speaker 2: butt stuff and we dove into the weeds way too early. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I fried my brain early on in the earlier in
Speaker 2: the show that I typically do it. Anyways, you know,
Speaker 2: he can still say that he had one of the
Speaker 2: most watched games in the regular season and it wasn't
Speaker 2: a Kentucky and this proves that it's me and not UK.
Speaker 2: Like he would never say that word for word, but
Speaker 2: you know that's that's what he wants to be able
Speaker 2: to say and wants to be able to show. Well, now,
Speaker 2: I don't know how did they just now announce this.
Speaker 2: Maybe they've known that these teams were going to be
Speaker 2: in the event, But Arkansas and Michigan are going to
Speaker 2: play each other in the Jimmy V Classic, and I'm
Speaker 2: reading here that they just unveiled, like who's participating. So
Speaker 2: December tenth at Madison Square Garden, nine o'clock, it's going
Speaker 2: to be a Michigan taking on Arkansas, which should be
Speaker 2: a good non conference game. Two coaches at two new stops.
Speaker 2: Obviously much different stories there for John Caliperry and Dusty
Speaker 2: May but again no surprise, John Calla Perry. In order
Speaker 2: for him to continue to maintain the brand that he
Speaker 2: has with himself regardless of what program he's at. We
Speaker 2: bring in future NBA players, We give you the path
Speaker 2: to the NBA. We move the needle. We have the
Speaker 2: most watched games. And again, Kentucky basketball will always be
Speaker 2: a bigger a bigger draw than anything Arkansas is doing
Speaker 2: that just you know, unless Kentucky's irrelevant. But like if
Speaker 2: Kentucky's really good and Arkansas is really good and Col's
Speaker 2: at Arkansas, Kentucky will still have a big or reach
Speaker 2: because it's Kentucky. But Arkansas. Again, this is cal doing
Speaker 2: some doing some things differently in regards to scheduling that
Speaker 2: you saw from you know, from Eric Musselman. So anyways, uh,
Speaker 2: let's go to the text line five OOT two six
Speaker 2: five three zero seven ninety is the Ellen n Federal
Speaker 2: Credit Union text line. Members get more at Ellen and
Speaker 2: Federal Credit Union. You can learn more and open your
Speaker 2: account today at LNFCU dot com. All right, this text says, Nick,
Speaker 2: I believe you're the only Louisville guy I listened to
Speaker 2: that I've yet to hear talk about Isaac Brown, the
Speaker 2: true freshman at Louisville. You hear in anything like the others, Well,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what the others are hearing. And I
Speaker 2: will say this, Uh, I can't speak for it what
Speaker 2: anybody else is saying, but you are right. I don't
Speaker 2: know if I've mentioned Isaac Brown really at all, other
Speaker 2: than just knowing he is one of the more highly
Speaker 2: regarded true freshmen on this Louisville roster. Obviously, he was
Speaker 2: a big name on signing day because you know, he's
Speaker 2: a big he's a big time recruit from Miami. But
Speaker 2: two things. He was named a preseason Freshman All American
Speaker 2: by ESPN, which is pretty pretty rare for a guy
Speaker 2: from Louisll. I mean, Louislle has had some good recruits
Speaker 2: over the years, but ESPN preseason first Team All American
Speaker 2: for you know, for freshmen, like it's you know again,
Speaker 2: Just to be clear if I didn't say that clear
Speaker 2: enough right away, this is the freshman All American team,
Speaker 2: So not in All American in regards to everybody in
Speaker 2: college football. But yes, that that speaks to sort of
Speaker 2: the hype that he has. I think it also speaks
Speaker 2: to the fact that people are now not you know,
Speaker 2: when it comes to newcomers, the guys people are talking
Speaker 2: about the most that you want to see out there
Speaker 2: is it's mostly going to be big, big name transfers,
Speaker 2: or it's going to be freshmen that have this type
Speaker 2: of a resume. And yeah, I mean I won't I
Speaker 2: won't misleeg you as if I'm hearing anything like special
Speaker 2: or crazy. But I did talk to somebody on Monday
Speaker 2: that mentioned, you know, he could potentially step in and
Speaker 2: be a guy that you see play some slot receiver
Speaker 2: with Colin Lacy out Now. I don't know, so if
Speaker 2: you want it, I don't think they're committed to like
Speaker 2: having him learn a new position because he's a true freshman.
Speaker 2: I mean, how much do you really want to put
Speaker 2: on a true freshman as far as learning and getting acclimated.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's tough enough it's a true freshman to
Speaker 2: learn the one position you're going to play. But he's
Speaker 2: a guy that it sounds like it's going to be really,
Speaker 2: really hard to not have on the field. And I
Speaker 2: mean what I was told is that it may come
Speaker 2: down to the fact that they've got some good running
Speaker 2: backs with Murray's Turner. You kind of know what you
Speaker 2: have with Cheney for Miami the transfer. He's not a
Speaker 2: guy that's going to turn on the Jets and just
Speaker 2: beat everybody downfield for a touchdown. But he's a good
Speaker 2: running back, a solid guy to have. But it sounds
Speaker 2: like by the end of November, this coaching staff won't
Speaker 2: be shocked if the guy that they want to give
Speaker 2: the ball to more often than anybody else when it
Speaker 2: comes to handing it off it is this freshman Isaac Brown,
Speaker 2: because he's that good. I also was told that Jeff's
Speaker 2: comments about being underwhelmed about the offense and how the
Speaker 2: defense was kicking their butt all legit, meaning like the
Speaker 2: defense has looked really good and Jeff was being, you know,
Speaker 2: truthful when he talks about the offense needing to be better,
Speaker 2: but he likes his offense even without Colin Lacy. I
Speaker 2: you know, you never know, right because you just never know.
Speaker 2: But I'm now to the point where I'm not as
Speaker 2: and I wasn't really that worried anyway. I mean I
Speaker 2: kind of talked about it on Monday, like him telling
Speaker 2: you back to back weeks that the defense is getting
Speaker 2: the best of the offense not something you want to hear.
Speaker 2: But I don't put a lot into that, but it
Speaker 2: was reiterated to me on Monday afternoon when I talked
Speaker 2: to somebody who again would know that he has really
Speaker 2: high expectations for this offense. So you know, they could
Speaker 2: probably be playing better than you would expect in him
Speaker 2: still be very you know, not upset, but just you know,
Speaker 2: wanting more. And he's not somebody that's going to make
Speaker 2: any kind of any kind of comment or gesture or
Speaker 2: you know, not even with body language or facial expression.
Speaker 2: Jeff's not going to tease anything in regards to like
Speaker 2: something special he's got up his sleeve or a player
Speaker 2: that you don't know about that's going to be great.
Speaker 2: But I do feel comfortable in saying that he feels
Speaker 2: like he's got personnel on both sides of the ball
Speaker 2: for this team to be pretty damn good. Now again,
Speaker 2: you never know, that's not me saying, hey, everybody, go
Speaker 2: ahead and book your rooms for Charlotte. We're going back
Speaker 2: to the ACC title game. But you know they ty
Speaker 2: Tyler shuck again. You got to see it when it's
Speaker 2: when the lights are on. He's been turnover prone when
Speaker 2: healthy at his other schools, but he's also been pretty good.
Speaker 2: But I get the sense that he he just has
Speaker 2: an arm and he has you know, he's got the
Speaker 2: ability to read a defense that Jeff Brohm, you know,
Speaker 2: dare I say, salivates a little bit knowing that he
Speaker 2: can be vertical with this guy, Like they can take
Speaker 2: some shots down field. This guy's got the arm to
Speaker 2: do it. And they're gonna have some balance, not only
Speaker 2: with hopefully a good, you know, productive running running game
Speaker 2: that won't be as good as what they had last
Speaker 2: year because that's a tough task to tackle. I mean,
Speaker 2: those two running backs last year were really really good.
Speaker 2: But they're gonna have better tight ends and that's going
Speaker 2: to be a bigger fixture within the offense to where
Speaker 2: they can you know, Jeff can pick and choose when
Speaker 2: he wants to take a shit or pull a trick
Speaker 2: out of the bag and you know, put one on
Speaker 2: the board. And you got to keep in mind, like
Speaker 2: last year, it was a fun ride for everybody, right,
Speaker 2: a ten win season first year. I mean, you get
Speaker 2: a top ten win against Notre Dame when you know
Speaker 2: it's the fifth game for Jeff as your head coach,
Speaker 2: like everything aligns so perfectly to start the year that
Speaker 2: you really weren't, at least for me, Like I knew
Speaker 2: it was different than what I would would have expected.
Speaker 2: But like you got to keep in mind, think about
Speaker 2: Jeff last year. He's winning, but it's not how he
Speaker 2: typically wins, right, He's winning because his defense has really
Speaker 2: been the anchor for the team. And on offense, you know,
Speaker 2: they were good enough, they were efficient enough, but they weren't.
Speaker 2: You know, Plumber wouldn't good on third down. We all
Speaker 2: know that. And when it comes down to it, if
Speaker 2: you had to envision Louisville, you know, needing a late
Speaker 2: drive to put one in the end zone to either
Speaker 2: give themselves a chance to win or put them over
Speaker 2: the edge and actually win. When you were trying to
Speaker 2: visualize that as you're sweating it out as a fan
Speaker 2: watching this team last year, you probably were visualizing Gerard's
Speaker 2: Ordered breaking free, or Isaac Garrindo breaking free and taking
Speaker 2: one of the house, or one of those guys making
Speaker 2: some big plays to where Jack Plumber didn't really have
Speaker 2: to do a whole lot. He was already you know,
Speaker 2: first and goal from the seven because of an explosive
Speaker 2: play from one of those guys. I think now they
Speaker 2: feel comfortable. Hey, we got we got some, we got some.
Speaker 2: We got some pieces here offensively to where we're gonna
Speaker 2: be able to drive here late and tie it up.
Speaker 2: Give us, give a chance, give us a chance to win,
Speaker 2: or maybe you know, drive down field and win the game.
Speaker 2: So I don't want to, you know, I don't want
Speaker 2: to put that out there as if like, hey, Louisville's
Speaker 2: gonna be elite this year, They're gonna win every game.
Speaker 2: Everybody calmed down. But whenever, and that's one thing I do.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm not. I'm an introvert, So I'm not
Speaker 2: somebody that that's texting around asking for any information. And honestly,
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't. I don't know it's up people
Speaker 2: that would give me legit information. That's just I'm not.
Speaker 2: I'm not as well sourced as some others. But when
Speaker 2: you do start to, you know, to to get closer
Speaker 2: to the season, you get to yap and there are
Speaker 2: some people that I still value my relationship with. It'll
Speaker 2: reach out and say, hey, you should know this, So
Speaker 2: you know, I to answer your question, You're right, I
Speaker 2: haven't talked about Isaac Brown, and I probably should have
Speaker 2: because they love him over there on Floyd Street, and
Speaker 2: he's gonna be on the field this year. Maybe he
Speaker 2: has some growing pains along the way, maybe it's a tough,
Speaker 2: tough transition. But I can tell you this, I think
Speaker 2: if he ends up being one of the more known
Speaker 2: guys within this offense when it's all said and done
Speaker 2: this season, I don't think this staf is gonna be
Speaker 2: surprised at all. All right, let's take a quick break.
Speaker 2: We'll come back on the other side. Wrap up the
Speaker 2: four o'clock hour. I did not revisit the Amari Huggy
Speaker 2: Amurray Huggy Amari Huggins Bruce situation. So we'll do that
Speaker 2: here on the other side. And we got a lot
Speaker 2: more to get into before we wrap it up. We're
Speaker 2: taking up till six o'clock. It is coffee and Company.
Speaker 2: We are fuel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk
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Speaker 2: We are proudly fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk
Speaker 2: seven to ninety. So a lot to reset. We'll get
Speaker 2: that started in the five o'clock hour, but not a
Speaker 2: whole lot of time left here, so we'll go to
Speaker 2: you guys. We'll get to the text line and the
Speaker 2: phone lines here. Let's go to the phone lines. First.
Speaker 2: Five O two five' seven one seventy nine hundred is
Speaker 2: the number. If you'd like to give us a call.
Speaker 2: Let's go to David. David, welcome in. How are you.
Speaker 4: I'm doing fantastic, Nick, Thanks for taking my call. Just
Speaker 4: wanted to click update. I figured i'd go to the
Speaker 4: guru tell me about Fierce Clarks and you know, he's
Speaker 4: sort of the forgotten man, and he's become the arch
Speaker 4: manning of Texas at Louisville, and you know, he just
Speaker 4: I don't want. I hope that.
Speaker 5: This is probably the wrong way to look at it,
Speaker 5: but you know, coach cal would always over recruit his
Speaker 5: He would have a team of five star players and
Speaker 5: then if they didn't perform, he would just bring another
Speaker 5: team of five stars in. And you know, I just
Speaker 5: would love to see the kid see the field, unless
Speaker 5: he just doesn't ready. But I guess Coach Brown doesn't
Speaker 5: think so. And just wanted to see what your thoughts were.
Speaker 2: Thank you, David. I appreciate you. I will say this,
Speaker 2: I think the expectation and not saying that you have
Speaker 2: expectations for m me playing right now, but I think
Speaker 2: given the fact that he was such a highly regarded
Speaker 2: recruit in a previous world, you know, before you could
Speaker 2: go to the portal and go get a veteran, and
Speaker 2: before they let some of these guys play for six
Speaker 2: and some even seven years. It would have been a
Speaker 2: natural progression here to hand the reins off to peers
Speaker 2: as a red shirt freshman. But you don't have to
Speaker 2: do that anymore. You can go get a guy that's
Speaker 2: played a lot. So I will give Pierce in his
Speaker 2: family his camp if you will, a lot of props
Speaker 2: for understanding and having some patience and maturity to understand that, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, the the clock for a quarterback at the
Speaker 2: high level is not what it once was, meaning you
Speaker 2: know you're not going to be needed to hit the
Speaker 2: field right away. You're gonna need to be patient. And
Speaker 2: some kids don't want to be patient. And I don't
Speaker 2: blame him. They transfer, like Piers transferring would not have
Speaker 2: meant that anybody did anything wrong. It would have just
Speaker 2: been a reminder that this is different now because again, coaches,
Speaker 2: who coaches. Again, it's basketball, football, any sport. Honestly, if
Speaker 2: you're a head coach and you know you need to
Speaker 2: win in order to keep your job, right, that's part
Speaker 2: of it. That's what you got to do. If you
Speaker 2: don't have to be young, you're not gonna want to
Speaker 2: be young, You're gonna go to the portal and want
Speaker 2: to go get guys who you feel like can help
Speaker 2: you right away. So coaches are going to continue to
Speaker 2: do that. So I've heard nothing but good things about Pierce,
Speaker 2: not to say that he's been lighting it on fire,
Speaker 2: but post spring, if they had to go to a
Speaker 2: different quarterback, if Shuck got hurt or whatever it may be,
Speaker 2: maybe he's you know, something happens, they would they would
Speaker 2: go to Pierce Clarkson. I still think that they probably would.
Speaker 2: But I do know Harrison Bailey, a transfer who is
Speaker 2: probably four years older than Pierce at minimum. He started.
Speaker 2: He's a victim recruit and he played at Tennessee coming
Speaker 2: out of high school. Five star kid by the way,
Speaker 2: picked Tennessee over like Alabama and some other schools. Didn't
Speaker 2: work out there for him. He transferred to UNLV, started
Speaker 2: some games there, put up some decent numbers. He walked
Speaker 2: on at Louisville last year, and you know, I believe
Speaker 2: I've heard that he wants to be a coach and
Speaker 2: he wants to learn from Jeff Brown. But he also again,
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't think that five star billing that
Speaker 2: he had coming out of high school. I mean, it
Speaker 2: clearly wasn't justified at this point, but you know, he
Speaker 2: clearly has some skill and some talent to where they
Speaker 2: do like him a lot. So I think those guys
Speaker 2: are probably neck and neck, but I do think because
Speaker 2: they know Pierce has a chance to be the future here.
Speaker 2: If these guys are neck in practice, they're gonna go
Speaker 2: with Piers and they should. I mean I would again,
Speaker 2: let's see what you got with this young man. So
Speaker 2: I think best case scenario for Pierce Clarkson this year,
Speaker 2: and really best case scenario for Louisville and Jeff Brohm
Speaker 2: is that you're blowing out and I mean blowing out
Speaker 2: Austin p and you're blowing out in Jacksonville State, and
Speaker 2: you know you've got a quarterback that's injury prone. Right,
Speaker 2: that's the story on Tyler Shuck. He's a guy who
Speaker 2: has never finished a season healthy. So if you've got
Speaker 2: the game put away and there's a maybe a half
Speaker 2: left of football, you're gonna you should put him on
Speaker 2: the sideline, keep him healthy. Hell, maybe send him to
Speaker 2: the locker room. Just do whatever you can to keep
Speaker 2: this guy healthy. So at that point you should you
Speaker 2: should get pierced some real reps. Now, again, it's gonna
Speaker 2: be in mop up duty when the game's you know,
Speaker 2: completely finished, and it's against inferior opponents than which he's
Speaker 2: gonna typically see if you're starting quarterback for a full year.
Speaker 2: But that's where you get him a chance to really
Speaker 2: cut his teeth in a real game, kind of show
Speaker 2: some things, show what he can do. And let's be honest,
Speaker 2: you know, Louisville also should be able to I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't want to disrespect some of these opponents, but
Speaker 2: like Virginia may really suck this year, who's to say
Speaker 2: that when they're playing Virginia they may have a three,
Speaker 2: four touchdown lead in the fourth quarter, get pierce some reps.
Speaker 2: So it's been a while since Louisville's had a season
Speaker 2: where they had a you know, games where they were
Speaker 2: blowing them out and they had a chance to go
Speaker 2: to a backup like last year they they at times
Speaker 2: would would you know against Boston College, that's a game
Speaker 2: that stands out. Obviously, when they played Murray State, they
Speaker 2: played ten quarterbacks. So David, I think, really this year,
Speaker 2: if Louisville is taking care of business against the inferior opponents.
Speaker 2: Pierce is gonna get a chance to get in there
Speaker 2: and show what he can do. And I feel like
Speaker 2: in those reps that'll really give this staff a chance
Speaker 2: to decide, Okay, here we go. Do we want to
Speaker 2: go to the portal once again? Or are we ready
Speaker 2: to hand the reins off to this guy now that
Speaker 2: he's sit back for two years, learn the offense really
Speaker 2: kind of cut his teeth. And really only time will
Speaker 2: tell as far as as far as that's if that
Speaker 2: happens or not. But man, the quarterback situation in the
Speaker 2: portal era is so interesting because you know, you may
Speaker 2: feel really good about Pierce Clarkson, really good, but if
Speaker 2: you are if you are a program that knows you
Speaker 2: have nil and if Jeff has another good season, there
Speaker 2: gonna be quarterbacks in the portal that want to come
Speaker 2: play for him because who wouldn't want to play quarterback
Speaker 2: for Jeff brom right. So you know it's tricky because
Speaker 2: if you feel like Pierce can be your guy, but
Speaker 2: you're also going to welcome in this guy with a
Speaker 2: bunch of nil money because you know what he can do,
Speaker 2: and you're gonna let these guys compete for it. If
Speaker 2: this is a guy who's proven himself to be a
Speaker 2: really good college quarterback, Piers Clarkson would understandably probably leave,
Speaker 2: and I wouldn't blame him. So, you know, I really
Speaker 2: want to give him a lot of credit because I
Speaker 2: think a lot of guys in his position, given the hype,
Speaker 2: given the expectation, and all the offers that he had,
Speaker 2: especially from the West Coast programs back where he's from,
Speaker 2: he's been patient and he's understanding that it's not his
Speaker 2: time yet because things have changed in college football. And
Speaker 2: I think a lot of these five star quarterbacks coming
Speaker 2: out of a four star high four star, five star,
Speaker 2: depending on where you looked with him, they wouldn't stick
Speaker 2: around and wait because they would know, Hey, there's a
Speaker 2: lot of schools out there that don't love their quarterback situation.
Speaker 2: And I haven't proven what I can do yet, but
Speaker 2: you know what, I can still get that phone ringing
Speaker 2: off the hook because of where I was coming out
Speaker 2: of high school. I'ven't put enough on film to show
Speaker 2: anybody that I'm not able to be a really good
Speaker 2: quarterback at the college level. So I'm hopeful that we
Speaker 2: see a lot of Pierce Clarkson in the second half
Speaker 2: against Austin p and against Jacksonville State. But we'll see,
Speaker 2: all right, we got another hour to go, in a
Speaker 2: lot to get to, so stick with us. Five o'clock
Speaker 2: hour coming up right here. It's coffee and company. Feel
Speaker 2: about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety