Speaker 1: Good morning, batting Rouge. It is seven a m. Sixty
two degrees outside.
Speaker 2: We'll see might be Sonny, might be cloudy or off
number one of ot B. We're gonna talk a little
bit l s u versus Alabama weekend series, No Derek
Carr So Savior Breath, and a little bit of NFL
draft news. Our number one of otb's starts.
Speaker 3: Now I'll start to you to presents. Off the Bench
with Jacob Hester and T Bob Abert. Yeah, Yah yah
yah yeah, Off the Bench with Jacob Hester and T
Bob Abert.
Speaker 1: I gotta come off the bench now.
Speaker 3: Here's Jacob Hester and T Bob aber.
Speaker 4: Welcome in third day edition of Off the Bench. Taylor
Sharp sitting in for Jacob Ester and team by a
Bear one more time. We've been with you since Monday.
We got three hours left in our work week. We
got Jordan Kitchens, Cassuiesmazzali along for the ride as well. Jordan,
me and Cassie are off on Friday. But if I
remember correctly, someone in this room is not off tomorrow.
Speaker 1: I mean I work on Saturday too.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 4: Okay, look I'm working Saturday. Also, Okay, I don't need
that titty party. I'm just wondering, what's it going to
be likeday being the only guy in the building tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Well, typically I'm here on the weekends by myself, so
I actually enjoy it, like I bring food. Uh well,
you know, I'm gonna tell everything I do and I
think about it. But yeah, I mean I enjoy the
weekends are good like nobody be here, so it'd be
a good time.
Speaker 5: Okay, here's a little bit of advice.
Speaker 4: Don't say I'm not gonna tell everything I do, because
then people are gonna wonder what else.
Speaker 6: I I do.
Speaker 1: No, No, I'm not.
Speaker 2: No, I'd just be put my little show on. Wait
till my show comes on, have a good day. Then
I leave immediately. I'm ready to go.
Speaker 4: Like I do appreciate how eloquently you always do the
show intes as you said, it might be cloudy, might
be Sonny, Cassie. One time, Jordan literally said it might
be cloudy, it might be sonny, it might be raining.
There's some sort of weather is going on outside.
Speaker 5: According to our guy, Jordan, Kitchen's Cassie. How we do
in this.
Speaker 1: Morning, I mean pretty much the same as every morning.
Speaker 7: We all know I'm not a morning person.
Speaker 1: I'm struggling.
Speaker 4: She walks in, I don't know, around six thirty, and
I said, I'm friendly. I'm like, Cassie, how are you
doing this morning? She's like, I'm late. It's like, okay,
it's gonna be one of those a.
Speaker 2: Little different because I think we are like the only
morning people though, because we you just be ready to go.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, I told her, like I woke up this morning,
I was like, all right, you know we're off tomorrow,
we got a three day weekend, t bumps back next week,
Like we're we're excited, we're ready to get.
Speaker 5: I was like, let's knock it out.
Speaker 4: And then on the way to work, like that, enthusiasm
quickly faded because I was like, man, I got three
more hours.
Speaker 5: It's right there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I still got three more hours. So look,
we're gonna we're gonna get through it. A little bit
later in the show when it kind of layout everything
we're doing, we're all gonna start with an LSU Alabama preview.
Of course, the three game series taking place tonight, Tomorrow
and Saturday, as both the LSU baseball and softball teams
are off on Easter Sunday, we'll get into some LSUE
transfer portal news, what Brian Kelly's strategy might be there,
what positions of need LSU could potentially go after. We'll
also talk about a position group that I don't think
has talked about, a novel on this LSU football team
that I think could be a major weapon for them.
In twenty twenty five, Hour number two, we are gonna
have Grant Saschery on to give us his thoughts as
the NFL drafts coming up next week. Our number three,
we're gonna have a little bit of fun. We're gonna
have our munchie segment as all the ways with chef
Michael Johnson. We're gonna break down our top five, the
Easter candies, we're all gonna give ours. We're gonna talk
about our weekend plans with the Easter holiday coming up,
and they're gonna close this thing out like we do
every day with asta match. But right now, let's get
this show started.
Speaker 3: It's time to get to work. Courtesy of Tiger Labor
and Staffing, where they can help take care of screening, training,
pay roll and more.
Speaker 4: Now for starters, LSU and Alabama set to due battle
tonight at home inside alex Box Stadium. Of course, she
LSU Tiger's coming off of a weekend where they got
swept in the state of Alabama to the Auburn Tigers.
LSU comes into this series with a ten and five
SEC record and thirty two and six overall here in
the twenty twenty five season. Now there once again they're
playing a ranked opponent. They're taking on Alabama, who sits
inside the top twenty five. Look, this Alabama team started
out really hot. They got a sweep of Texas A
and M. They lose the Tennessee series, but they do
take one of those games, and then they beat Oklahoma
in a weekend series.
Speaker 5: That third weekend.
Speaker 4: So coming out the gate, they look pretty good. It's
right where you want to be. They've lost their last
two SEZ series. They lost Auburn, not unlike what LSU
just did this last weekend, and then last week they
fall to the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The main issue for
Alabama is that they haven't They weren't able to hit
the ball in those games. You go back and look
at the box score of those games. I mean it's
two runs here, it's three runs here, it's four runs here.
They've really struggled to put bat on ball at least
as a late Speaking of struggling, we all remember Brady Neil.
He spent two years here in Jay Johnson's program and
there was a lot of hype around him. Brady Neil
has struggled to stay in this lineup at Alabama. He's
batting about two to.
Speaker 5: Ten right now.
Speaker 4: He's not an everyday player for the Crimson Tide. Sometimes
he's a catcher, sometimes he's in the infield, sometimes he's
in right field. He's kind of moved around all over
the place. He's not your every day starter, at least
not yet. Now he may start for the Crimson Tide
against we don't have the official lineup yet. Look, I
get it, LSU Baseball and all the baseball teams crossing.
As he say, they always like to play koy with
their lineup. They're not gonna release until the last possible minute.
I mean, if you're Alabama, though, you pretty much know
what you're going to see with LSU, at least in
the field. I mean, you could switch up the batting
order a little bit. We saw Daniel Dickinson lead off
in the midweek. He had been in that three holes.
I mean that that lineup might be changing a little bit,
but for the most part, you know the nine or
ten guys you're going to see when you're facing the
LSU Tigers. Look, I mentioned the struggles of Brady Neil again,
a two ten hitter this year, but the top three
hitters in this lineup for Alabama are pretty dangerous. I
mean Cad Snell, Justin Lebron, and Richie Bonomolo. So Cad
Snell leads the team in batty and average. He's betting
three sixty five, five home runs, eight doubles. I mean,
he's been really good. Justin Lebron. We know of how
good of a shortstop this guy is. This is a
guy that everybody wanted to this latest recruitment process.
Speaker 5: Jay Johnson went after him a little bit.
Speaker 4: I mean, essentially every top baseball team in the country
wanted a Justin Lebron, and it makes a lot of sense.
He's a three thirty three hitter at the shortstop position.
Fifteen home runs. That's what you have to look at
right now. If there is power in this lineup, it
is Justin Lebron. Actually the only hitter in this Alabama
lineup that does have double digit home runs, fifteen home runs,
twelve doubles, a triple in there as well. He has
scored forty two runs and he has fifty eight RBIs
on the season.
Speaker 5: That's your best player if you're Alabama.
Speaker 4: That is the guy that can hurt you more than
anyone in this Crimson Tide lineup at Everybody pretty much
knew that coming into this weekend because all the hype
has been around Justin Lebron really since the offseason, and
he has done nothing this year to have that hype
die down at all. I mean I just mentioned at
fifteen home runs, fifty eight RBIs, twelve doubles, he has
a triple, and I mean he's batting three thirty three,
so it's power, it's average, he's knocketting in base runners.
He's been a complete hitter. And then Richie Bonomolo, who
I just mentioned, three thirty one hitter. He's got four
home runs, thirteen doubles, thirty RBIs.
Speaker 5: So while top to.
Speaker 4: Bottom their lineup's not great, I mean, those are the
only three guys I mentioned as far as everyday players
that are hitting over a three hundred. I mean Will
Hodos at two ninety six, Jason Torrez is at two
ninety three, but everything else is like two fifty and below.
So your top three batters, Kid Snell, Justin Lebron, Richie Bonomolo,
all batting three thirty or better, all have thirty RBIs
or more.
Speaker 5: That is going to be the heart of this order.
Speaker 4: Fellows, you can handle Snell, Lebron at Bonomolo, which is
easier said than done. I think they'll have an okay
time this weekend. I like LSU in this series. The
reason why is the Tigers are six and zero at
home in SEC play and the Crimson Tider are trending
in the wrong direction. I just mentioned they've lost back
to back series, So I do like the Tigers. Do
I like them to sweep? I don't know, because again
they're six and now an SEC play at home, They've rolled,
They've looked dominant at home. However, I got to think
that they're due a loss, and I know that Alabama
has struggled lately. But Justin Lebron scares me. Kate Snell
is a good hitter. I just kind of went through
their lineup. I think Yelosu takes two of three, so
I'm gonna be a little bit modest. I'm feeling sweep,
but I'm going to be modest and predict a two
out of three. LSU takes that. So overall, again, I
like LSU in this series. I think the bats will
be fine. I think they've turned it on in the midweek.
I think that was just a perfect storm of negative
for the Tigers on the road at Auburn last weekend.
But what we did see was that the bullpen was
really good last weekend. You threw eight bullpen pitchers against Auburn,
you gave up a total of two runs. The bullpen
was really good in the midweek against a really good
mcnee's team that batted over three hundred as a team.
Speaker 5: So, yeloshu.
Speaker 4: In this series, I'll say I'll say two to one LSU.
LSU takes the series.
Speaker 1: Not a sweep though.
Speaker 4: Now as far as the pitching matchups, again, we don't
have that release yet. I'm assuming until further notice it's
going to be Kate Anderson, Anthony Ions, and Chase Shores
unless Jay Johnson says otherwise. So we're gonna kind of
go thinking that's what they're going to do. Speaking of
LSU pitchers. On Tuesday night, after the midweek game, Jay
Johnson said that Gavin Guidry will not be available for
the entire twenty twenty five season. I know a lot
of people had like big reactions to that. I gotta
be honest, is anybody surprised by this? I mean, it's
unfortunate because you hoped he would help you at least
somewhere down the road. But I'm not surprised by this
because it was one of those injuries where you didn't
really know what was going on. Oh, we're gonna push
him back a week. We're gonna push him back a week.
We're gonna push him back a week. He's turning into
the right direction, but he still has a long way
to go. I mean, so much coach speak was going
on in relation to this Gavin Gidrey, and I kind
of expected him to be out for the year. I
mean when the season first started, every single week, I'm like, Okay,
let me go look for a Gavin Guidry update.
Speaker 5: Guys. I stopped looking three weeks ago.
Speaker 4: I kind of decided then that Okay, I'm just going
to assume he's out until told otherwise.
Speaker 5: He will be out for the season.
Speaker 4: This makes Zach Cowen and Case and Evans that much
more valuable out of the bullpen. I know there's still
a lot of people being like, Oh, let's put Zach
Cowen in that Sunday roll or Saturday or whatever the
number three weekend starter spot in place of Chase Schortz. Look,
I don't think Chase Schwortz is lockdown that spot. I
think that spot's up for grabs. I don't know if
you can go Zach Cowen. He's been so valuable out
of the bullpen. Case and Evans, He's kind of been
that closer for you at times this year. Without a
Gavin Guidry, I think you kind of have to leave
both of those guys where they're at. But there are
some positives to the Gavin Guidry News One, you didn't
really think you were gonna have him anyways, so it's
not like it's a big surprise. You also get to
see what the younger guys have on this roster.
Speaker 5: Again.
Speaker 4: The bullpen stepped up in a big way this past weekend.
It's weird to say that the LSU bullpen was probably
the only bright spot in a weekend series, but that's
exactly what we saw against AUBURNE and Guidry will be
back next season, which is a season where you're going
to lose a lot of pictures. Kate Anderson is a
draft eligible sophomore, Anthony Ianson is going to be gone,
Jacob Myers is going to be gone, Zach Cowen's going
to be gone. I mean, I could keep going there.
There's more guys on this roster that will likely not
be here next season. So you get Gavin Guidry back.
He still retains this year of eligibility. You could potentially
have Gavin Guidry for two more years, so you get
him back next year. Valuable experience on a team that's
going to lose a lot of pitchers. You weren't counting
on him already this season. You would kind of manage
it as best you could without him. Again, the bullpen's
stepping up, so it's like it's not a loss, it's
just not a gain, if that makes sense. Because again
I stopped. I kind of gave up hope on this
three weeks ago. I kind of expected this was going
to be the case. It just seemed like one of
those injuries where he pushing it back, pushing it back,
pushing it back, till finally you just decide to ultimately
shut the guy down. I get it. It's unfortunate for
Gavin Gidrey. I think he could have helped you in
the postseason, but you just went to have to move forward.
But again a little bit of a recap. LSU taken
on Alabama Thursday, Friday, Saturday. The game will begin tonight
at seven pm in alex Box Stadium. I imagine we
are going to see Kate Anderson on the mound. I
like LSU to take two out of three of these games.
Get back going in the right direction in SEC play.
All right, look, we're going to take a quick time
out when we get back Brian Kelly. He has a
plan for what LSU plans on doing in the transfer portal.
We'll break it all down next here on Off the bench.
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Speaker 3: Welcome back to more sports talk. What's some other stuff
mixed in Off the I'm with Hester and t bomb.
Speaker 4: All right, welcome back in Thursday edition of Off the Bench.
Taylor Sharp's sitting in here for Jacob Ester and t
Bob Abar. I like this chair better than the one
that's normally here. The one that's normally here is that
little short one over there, and I put it here
in the mornings because t Bob is a giant, So
I give Jake the tall chair, T Bob the short one.
This one's better. I mean, look, I can move, I
can swivel. I like this, I can be, I can
be in my thoughts, I can I can move around.
This one's a lot better. It sits up a little
bit higher too. Makes me feel like I'm superior.
Speaker 5: All right. Look, Brian Kelly the.
Speaker 4: Other day after LSU's practice on Tuesday, broke down what
the Tigers were going to do in the transfer portal,
how aggressive they were going to be. If you remember,
the Tigers were incredibly aggressive in that first transfer portal window.
They wound up with the number one transfer portal class
coming into spring practice.
Speaker 5: They did a really good job.
Speaker 4: Josh Thompson, Braylon Moore, Barryon Brown, Nick Anderson, you know
the names Mansword Delanne, Jakiem Jackson. You know the edge rushers,
Patrick Payton, Jack Piber and Jamari Butler. I mean, you
could go on and on and on to Marcus Cooley.
Everywhere you look, any position on the field, there is
a transfer player making an impact. Basically, outside of running
back and quarterback, you gotta transfer coming in making plays
Here's what Brian Kelly said on Tuesday. He said, I
like our roster right now. It wouldn't surprise me if
we didn't have anybody in the portal on either side,
meaning either leaving the program or we are adding to
the Tiger program. If you ask me right now, I
would be happy to take this roster into May on
both sides of the ball.
Speaker 5: He said.
Speaker 4: Maybe that's fool's gold, maybe that's wishing more than anything else.
But I like what we've done with this roster. I
like the development of it.
Speaker 5: He said.
Speaker 4: Not all of this is in my control, obviously, but
I can tell you we're not actively saying we gotta
have this, we gotta have that. We feel good about
our roster. He did mention that look, if a player
of top flight potential comes in the transfer portal, or
you know, a can't miss opportunity presents itself, like the
team would look into it. But as things currently sit,
he doesn't seem like they're super interested in adding a transfer,
which I appreciate because guys, I was thinking yesterday, okay,
what's maybe at least on paper, right I mean, there
could be somebody that there's great in the summer workout,
its blows up in fall camp and you're really excited
about going into the season. But I just wanted to
look at, Okay, right now, based on what we know,
how much depth, how much experience is at these positions,
where can you look to add players. I don't know
if they add to the offensive line. They added Braylan Moore,
you added Josh Thompson, both in that first transfer portal window.
As much as everybody has question marks about the offensive line,
it's not a depth problem. You have a lot of
bodies there. You just don't have a ton of sec experience. Now,
if somebody entered the portal with a ton of college
football starting experience in a power forward league, maybe you
would look at But as of right now, I don't
think you're going to dip into the transfer portal and
add something that you don't already have on this rost.
So I started thinking, okay, we'll safeties. Safeties is an
obvious spot. It's a place that everybody's looked. You only
added to Marcus Cooley and the transfer portal. I really
thought LSU was going to add two guys. But as
I'm looking at the portal and the guys that have entered. Honestly,
it's nothing to write home about. I mean, Terrence Love
from Auburn entered. But and you could say, okay, well,
he's a guy that played in twenty one games in
an SEC program. He was there for two years. That's
a guy you could bring in maybe. But look in
Love's two year career at Auburn, he has seven total tackles,
one pass deflection. That's what he's done. He struggled to
get on the field at Auburn. I'm not saying he can't.
I'm just saying, based on what we know about Terrence
lov right now, I have a hard time believing that
guy's going to get on the field and make a
significant impact this year for LA.
Speaker 1: Shoot.
Speaker 4: And if you're going to the transfer portal, you want
an immediate impact guy. This guy here is certainly a
big name. Again, he hasn't done much. Kennedy Erlacker, the
Notre Dame safety, entered the transfer portal. Yes, that is
the sign of Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacker.
Speaker 5: He was a Notre Dame. Last season for Sheer he played.
Speaker 4: He appeared in fourteen games, twelve total tackles, one tackle
for a loss, one pass deflection, one funnel recovery, so
a little bit better than Terrence Love, but again a
backup safety for Notre Dame. Now that's not necessarily a
bad thing because Notre Dame had really good safeties at
defense top to bottom. Was a top five to ten
defense in college football depending on where you looked. However,
he has a do not contact tag on him in
the transfer portal, meaning teams are not allowed to contact him.
If he is interested, he will contact you. That typically
means he already knows where he's going. One team that
has been immediately connected to Brian Urlacher, Kennedy or Lacker
is usc The former Notre Dame general manager Chad Bowden
is there. He left to take that same position with
the Trojans this offseason. He has close ties to Kennedy, Arlac,
Terrence Love. Of Kennedy Orlaker. I mean, those are kind
of the big names as far as power for players
that are in there entering this portal, and I don't
think either of those guys are going to give you
something that you don't already have on your current rost.
What about defensive top That's a position we've talked about. Look,
you lose bo Davis now Jacobe and Gillery is back
in the fold. He did return to practice this week.
That's going to help you. That's your most veteran guy.
He's been on this team for a number of years.
And again it's just like safety. At least right now,
there's not a ton to write home about at the
defensive tackle spot. His horse the transfer portal, Gavin Ranshall
from Coastal Carolina is kind of the only guy I
was able to find that has the size and the
play and experience that you might be looking for. He
had an ok season last year for Coastal Carolina, played
a little bit. He's six threes, two ninety five. He'll
be a junior. But I just don't think that somebody
that LSU is running to snack up because you heard
what Brian Kelly said, I read you the quotes. Right now,
we are comfortable with our roster. If something dramatically changes,
we may look at it. Meaning if somebody leaves this
LSU program that they don't expect, or an unexpected name
enters of the transfer portal, they'll look into it and
maybe change their strategy. As we sit here today, none
of those things have happened. Yet I don't expect Brian
Kelly to do this. So as far as the LSU
safety room, who do you have in there? You have
to Marcus Cooley, you have Javan Toviana, you have the
Shawn Spears. In my opinion, those are clearly your top
three right now. As far as guys you've heard about
in the spring practice, as far as guys that have
college play and experience, I think Tomarcus Cooley is going
to take one of those spots. I don't think you
brought in that guy who is a multi year starter
in power for football if you did not expect him
to start. I think Tomarcus Cooley is going to take
one of those spots.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 4: We had Zach Naggy on recently. He was talking about
being out there at practice. If you go look at
the numbers from the spring scrimmage, Javan Toviano's kind of
getting the most run at safety right now, which I'm
good with. I mean, this was a guy that was
a four star, five star, depending on which recruiting service
you look at. He was a safety in high school,
played a little bit of corner. When he came in here,
he had to play corner out of necessity. I have
said for a year and a half now I think
that safeties is more natural position. Ultimately, the Kochi staff
felt that as well. He has now moved back to
safety full time. DeShawn Spears though, Like, if I'm picking
somebody that I want to take that starting job, it
is DeShawn Spears. Every time Jacob Ester is in this room,
he says, Taylor, you were practically DeShawn Spears' agent last
year in fall camp. You talked about him that much.
That's because he flashed that much. Look, I haven't been
able to go to spring practice because it starts at
eight thirty in the morning, war on till ten. I'm
going to all the fall practices. I was there last year,
I was there the year before. I will be there
this year. They started about eleven am. That gives me
plenty of time to go down the road and get there.
DeShawn Spears flashed. I'm not the only one that was
saying that. Don't take my word for it, take the
word of every single person that was out there. He's
six foot three, he's two hundred and ten pounds. We
saw him play a little bit last year. He showed
flashes at times he looked like a freshman. I mean,
that's going to happen. He stepped in there, he was
thrown in the fire as a true freshman. He made
some plays, he got beat on some plays. That's going
to happen. Toviano's getting the most run right now. However,
I think DeShawn Spears has the most potential in that
entire room. Don't forget Joe Rodgers is a part of
this team.
Speaker 5: CJ.
Speaker 4: Jump Coyley, who you signed in this last recruiting cycle
out of high school, was a highly touted guy. He's
coming in in the fall. Jacob Bradford right here from
Catholic High He's coming in in the fall. So you
can say, okay, we have four safeties right now. You
got two more on the way. Both of them were
four star players, so you do get a little bit
of help.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: Do I think Jim Coyley and Jacob Bradford are going
to crack the starting lineup as freshmen who were not
here to the spring, No, I do not.
Speaker 5: What it does.
Speaker 4: It gives you more depth, It gives you a little
bit more options as far as defensive tackle goes. I
mentioned Jacoby and Gillery was back in practice on Tuesday.
You also continue to hear nice things about a mod
Bro and Dominic McKinley. Right now, those are kind of
your two starters at those two defensive tackle spots. I
love that because a mod Bro started a lot of
games for you early on. And even though Dominic McKinley
was a little bit raw last year, he still made plays.
And he's six foot six, he's three hundred and ten pounds.
Guys like that don't just show up every single day.
That guy has a chance to be a matchup nightmare.
And you can say, okay, well, yes, last year was
their first year in college football. They're an extra year older,
they have a new position coach, Kyle Williams coach to
mod Brough in high.
Speaker 5: School of Rust.
Speaker 4: They have a lot of familiarity with each other. And
don't forget it's not just those three guys. Sideer Mitchell's
on campus. The Texas transfer Shoan Washington is still part
of this team. Let's not forget the freshman you're bringing in,
because I think you did a really good job there,
Zion Williams.
Speaker 5: He's sixty three, three hundred and thirty pounds. Dylan battles
coming in.
Speaker 4: Walter Mathis is a guy that while he was only
a three star, a lot of big time schools were
after him. And then Brandon Brown is coming in as well.
That gives you that's nine bodies right there. Now again
a lot like the offensive line group, not a ton
of experience outside of a mod Bro and Jacobe and Gillery,
but the talent's there. The recruiting you did a good job,
and you have bodies at least you at least have
bodies to fill that last year you barely even had bodies.
Guillory goes down. You had to play a mod Bro
who remember came in as a defensive end. You made
him gain forty pounds just to play inside. You had
JVR Sugs, you had g O Payees and again McKinley
a little bit, but he was still a little raw.
It was kind of it. You kind of ran a
three man rotation with Dominic McKinley sprinkled in. So even
if you don't think these guys are all SEZ caliber players,
you got nine bodies here, and that's if you don't
do anything else in the portal. I'm excited about this group.
I know there's been a lot of hype about the
edge rushers. If I get it Jack Piber and Patrick
Payden Jamari Butler. Pair that with a Gabriel Ralliford who
showed flashes last year. There's a lot to be excited
about on the edge. But the interior of these defensive
line is going to be important. I know Kyle Williams
hasn't coached this level of football, but he has played
this position for a number of years. He's a Buffalo
Bill's legend. I think he's going to be fine there. Again,
he's already got familiarity with a mod bro if Bro
McKinley Saidier Mitchell, one of these guys can take that
next step, and Jacoby and Gillory is fully recovered from
his injury. I think you're gonna be fine in the spot.
So while you can look at safety and defensive tackle
and say, hey, maybe those are causes for concern, I
don't think it's quite as bad as everyone's making it
out to be. And at least right now, you don't
have a ton of options in the transfer portal. All right,
we're going to take a quick time out. When we
get back, we're going to continue our discussion on LSU football.
There is a position that not a lot of people
are talking about, and I think you should because I
think it's a good group that's coming up.
Speaker 5: On the other side, you're on. Off the bench after bench, go.
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Speaker 3: How quickly will this segment leave the rails? It's off
the bench with Hester and T Bob.
Speaker 4: I don't know how quickly this segment is going to
leave the rails because T Bob is not here. I
will tell you our three very little sports talk. I
mean very very little. It's it's a ventially a Friday
for at least me and Cassie. Jordan's being punished for
confusing O tb mailbag and asked the bench the other day,
so we're actually making him work tomorrow. But me and
Cassie we are off tomorrow. So this is essentially our Friday.
It's essentially our number three on a Friday. So I
remember three going to be very little sports talk. I
know there are quite a few people in the YouTube
chat not exactly upset about that. Jordan, this is not
exactly R and B Thursday, and I gotta I gotta
tell you, I'm okay with it. We do R and
B Thursday every Thursday. I'm fine with switching it up.
What vibe we go in with?
Speaker 1: Though? Funky?
Speaker 4: Okay, full disclosure, that's the first bump music I've listened
to today. I could not tell you what you played
before that, but I'm down with the fun What was
the last uh?
Speaker 5: Okay, you don't remember? Remember clearly it wasn't that memory.
Speaker 2: No, not Parliament Flashlight. Guardians of the Galaxy, Okay, I
don't know what that is. Guardians of the Galaxies.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna make a confession. Okay, this is a safe space. No,
this is a safe space. T Bob is not here.
Speaker 1: You're not a Marble guy.
Speaker 5: I've never seen Guardians of the Galaxy.
Speaker 1: Like, do you like superhero movies? Or you're not? Okay?
So that I mean, if you don't like superhero movies,
you wouldn't have.
Speaker 4: Done the Guardians of the Galaxy ride in Epcot. Never
seen Guardians. I've seen pieces like I know who's in it,
Like Chris Pratt's in it, Batista's in it.
Speaker 5: But there's a guy who plays a tree.
Speaker 4: I think I think Bradley Cooper plays a raccoon. Yes, okay,
rocket raccoon. Yeah, okay, see, I know I know who's
in it. I've seen pieces.
Speaker 1: I'm just you would actually like Guardians of the Galaxy.
Speaker 5: I hear it is really funny. I hear it's great.
Speaker 4: There's three of them, right, yeah, yes, yeah, I've never
done it, never seen Wow. Okay, Well, I appreciate you
not like berading me and screaming that I'm an idiot.
Speaker 5: I appreciate that. I thought this was a safe space
to that.
Speaker 2: No, no, you know, I get how T Bob and
them get. But also at the same time, you know,
there's a lot of movies I haven't seen, you know,
okay to America's.
Speaker 4: That's the problem with T Bob right there. T Bob
has seen no movie. And when I mean no movie,
I mean he watches all this crap. But as far
as like the classics go, no clue.
Speaker 2: Now he has, like you seem nothing, But if it's
like some obscure movie that is like a niche yep,
he knows it, yep.
Speaker 1: And then he's gonna be like, well, why why don't
you know about it?
Speaker 4: Like I'll be He'll be like, Taylor, have you ever
seen the Naked Gun? I'm like, no, what you could
never seen the naked T Bob? Have you ever seen
the Godfather?
Speaker 5: I don't even know what.
Speaker 1: That is, but that is Bob. That's definitely T Bob
coded like that.
Speaker 5: That's where we're at, all right.
Speaker 4: Getting back in LSU football, there has been a lot
of hype about the wide receiver group, and I get
it rightfully, so I think it is by far your
most talented, your most deep group on the entire team.
Speaker 5: Just look at it.
Speaker 4: Look at your returners, your returners from a year ago,
Aaron Anderson, Chris Hilton, Junior Xavion Thomas, Kyle Parker, Jolannie Watkins, Kylon,
Billy Out. I mean, there's so many guys out there,
your transfers, Nick Anderson, Barryon Brown, Dustin Hill. To me,
Nick Anderson has the ability to be the wide receiver
one on this team. Not everybody walking through that building
is six foot five, two hundred and fifteen pounds.
Speaker 5: Nick Anderson has that.
Speaker 4: Now he didn't play last year, but two years ago
he was a borderline thousand yard receiver. He had double
digit touchdowns in an Oklahoma offense. That what Dylan Gabriel
at the helm is not too dissimilar to what Lashoe
did last year. If Barrion Brown coming in one of
the fastest guys in the SEC, there was a list
came out that said Barrian Brown is actually the fastest
guy in college football at least two A couple people.
I kind of think it's his teammate Johnnie Watkins, but
doesn't matter. You have an embarrassment of riches that Dastin
Hill's coming in Louisiana. Native from Florida State. He's been
super injured his entire career of Florida State. It still
has an injury right now. Didn't practice in that spring scrimmage.
But by all accounts, Brian Kelly other members of the
coaching staff, they rave about Dustin Hill. They talk about
how he could be a potentially big piece to this offense.
I think you did a pretty good job in high
school recruiting as well. So Ron Francis is a guy
I love. If he had an excellent senior season right
here in Louisiana. He's a big bodied guy. I think
he's ready to go. You have Philip Wright coming in
in the fall.
Speaker 5: I get it.
Speaker 4: I get the hype, But the position I want to
look at that I don't think we're talking about enough
is tight end and I somewhat understand it. I mean,
you lose, like literally statistically, the best tight end in
your school's history in Mason Taylor, then Kemorian Pimpton. And
who's the transfer portal? You basically return Tredez Green.
Speaker 5: That was it.
Speaker 4: The staff did an excellent job in replacing Mason Taylor. Again,
Green's the only guy you had returning. You had Bower
Sharp and Donovan Green from the transfer portal, and you
assigned j. D. Lafloor out of high school. It's kind
of look at those four guys. We'll start with j. D. Lafleur,
a big body tight end to say the least. Right
now on the LSU spring roster, jad Or is listed
at six foot seven, two hundred and.
Speaker 5: Sixty three pounds. JD.
Speaker 4: Laflor has the body to play right away. He was
one of the nation's top high school tight ends. Three
star prospect out of Sulfur High school. He was ranked
as the number twelve overall player in Louisiana by rivals.
In the ON three composite, he was ranked eighteen in Louisiana.
That guy can put a top twenty five tight end nationally.
We know all about jad E Lafloor if you follow
football here in the state of Louisiana. Now, I don't
know how much JD is going to play this year
because he's a freshman.
Speaker 5: Because laugh, she did such a good job.
Speaker 4: In the transfer portal grabbing a pierot tight ends to
pair with Donovan Green with trade has Green speaking off
trade is Green. Donovan Green one of the guys you
brought in from the transfer portal, another big body, blocking
tight end from Texas A and M. Now, in twenty
twenty two under Jimbo Fisher, he was involved in this offense.
In the passing game, he had twenty two catches, two
three three yards, two touchdowns. Last year under Mike Yelko,
they kind of changed the scheme a little bit. He
falls out of favor. He played in eight games, did
not have a catch.
Speaker 5: Again.
Speaker 4: I don't think that's his fault as much as I
just think it's a change in coaching staff.
Speaker 5: It's a change in scheme.
Speaker 4: Jimbo brought in this guy because he fit what Jimbo
Fisher wanted to do offensively, not what Mike Kelko wanted
to do offensively. I get why Donovan Green entered the portal.
I get why he didn't play a time. I understand that.
I'm not holding that against Donovan Green. What I do
know is he's a multi year player in the SEC
and he's been producted as far as trede as Green goes,
probably one of, if not the most physically gifted player
on your entire team. Six with't seven, two hundred and
forty five pounds, and he runs like a receiver. In
thirteen games last year, he had thirteen receptions, one hundred
and one yards and four touchdowns. And you're probably thinking
to yourself, man, I thought he's more productive than that.
I thought the numbers would have been a little bit
more eye popping. That's kind of pedestrian. He was playing
behind Mason Taylor. I mean, think about it, Mason Taylor
rarely came off the field in the bowl game against Baylor.
The game that Mason Taylor did not play, it trades
Green six receptions, fifty three yards, two touchdowns.
Speaker 5: That's what trade Is Green can do for you as
in every down tight end. Now, I have said this
all offseason long.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna continue to say it until I improve in otherwise,
I think trade As Green lines up more out wide
as a bigger slot receiver than with his hand in
the dirt on the edge of the line as that
traditional tight end. And that's fine because you got a
traditional tight end, and I think you went and got
a dang good one Bower Sharp out of Oklahoma, which,
first off, let's compliment Bower Sharp.
Speaker 5: Excellent last name.
Speaker 4: I mean, I would say there's not a last name
on the team better than Bower Shark.
Speaker 1: I can't put my finger onto why man some some
about him.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, I was just telling you to him break.
I'm not saying this is a coincidence. I'm not saying
it's not your tight end. Last year's last name was Taylor,
You're tight end. This year's last name is Sharp. Yeah,
maybe there's some sort of connection, but I'm not saying
there's not. You cannot prove that there is not.
Speaker 2: I want to know this though, how soon are you
about to get this Bower Sharp Jersey. We've been talking
about it for a while now. Oh, game one, game one,
game one.
Speaker 1: Game one.
Speaker 2: Okay, wait, chat, y'all hold him to this, because I'm
not gonna be here. Y'all hold him to that. He
better nobody hold me to that. Nobody hold me to that.
Don't do that.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 4: Anyways, Bower Sharp, I think he's been one of the
biggest winners in spring practice. Everyone continues to rave about
this guy. His versatility is incredible. I mentioned I think
he can be that traditional tight end. He doesn't have
to be. He has the athletic ability to do pretty
much anything you want. You go out there to spring practices.
He's taking some direct snaps, lined up in the shotgun.
He's done some end rounds. He's lined up in the
slot in ran slant routes. He has been everywhere as
versatile as Trade, as Green as Howard.
Speaker 5: Sharp's pretty versatile as well.
Speaker 4: If you remember, this is a guy that came into
college as a quarterback, the trig player that everyone likes
to laugh at with the tight end throwing the pass
for Oklahoma that was picked off. That was Bower Sharp. Sure,
he's not gonna throwty passes for you. Let's hope not,
but that's the kind of athlete he is. He came
into high school as a quarterback. You transitioned him into
tight end. He can run, he can catch, He's got
the body to be a blocker. I think he's a
matchup problem because, again, similar to trade As Green, you
can kind of line him up anyway. He was Oklahoma's
leading receiver last year forty two catches, three hundred and
twenty four yards, two touchdowns. Donovan Green, He's going to
have a role on this team. Jj ol Flora I
think can be built into a really solid tight end
one day in his LSU career. But as far as
twenty twenty five goes, the combination of Bower Sharp and
treds Green, I think that could be one of the
best tight end duos, not just in the SEC, but
in the entire country. I think this tight end room
the most underrated group on the entire team.
Speaker 5: I'm very excited to see how they use it.
Speaker 4: I think you're going to see a lot of times
where Bower Sharp and Tradeds Green are on the field
at the same time. I think they should be because
I think they're both versatile and I think they are
both matchup nightmares. We talk about how you're better at
wide receiver than you wear a year ago. As hard
as that is to believe, you can't replace Mason Taylor,
but depth wise, top to bottom, his tight end room
is probably better than it was a year ago.
Speaker 5: Mason Taylor is great.
Speaker 4: Behind him, you had a freshman in trade As Green
who was still kind of learning the position, and he
had Kemorium Pimpton who struggled to block, who ultimately entered
the transfer port. You have Bower, Sharp, Trades Green, Donovan Green, JD. Lafloor,
all guys that can do a lot of things for you.
They can catch the ball, they can block. Can you
turn trade As into that more traditional tight end. I
don't know about IM Gonna be honest, I don't think
you need to. I think with Green, with Donovan Green, Bower, Sharp, JD. Lafloor,
you got enough big body tight ends that can block.
Let Trads Green go stand out there in the slot
on the edge. Be a matchup nightmare. Throw him the ball,
let him do his thing. Either way, whichever tight end
does ultimately emerge in this room, I still think it's
going to be a mixture I think this might be
the most underrated room on the entire team. All right,
we're going to take a quick time out and we
get back closing out hour number one.
Speaker 5: Next here on, off the bench.
Speaker 3: Off the bench.
Speaker 7: Get Gordon dot com.
Speaker 9: Get Gordon dot Com is the website, and we tell
you every single day as soon as you go to
the homepage, it's going to pull up. You can have
a chat with them right there on the main page
of the website. So any question concerned that you might have,
remember you can get a consultation set up right there
on the homepage of that website. You can find cases
they can handle for you in the courtroom past client results,
all right there on the homepage of the website. What
are they doing in the community, Well, always something throughout
the state of Louisiana at get Gordon is always going
to be the handle on all major social media. So
you can check that out as well, because like we said,
I mean, they're always doing something throughout the state. Speaking
of throughout the state, if you want to pick up
the phone and give them a call, it is your
area code from Shreveport to Rusting, from rust Than to
laugh Yette, Lafayette to Baton Rouge.
Speaker 7: New like wherever you're at, put your area.
Speaker 9: Cod follow about eighty eight eighty eight eighty eight, get.
Speaker 7: Gordon and get it done.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to more sports talk. What's some other stuff
mixed in off the bench with Hester Anti Bob.
Speaker 4: Okay, I'm liking the bomb music, Jordan, I'm liking it.
It's not RB Thursday. What are we gonna call it?
We gotta talk Friday. We can't say funky Friday.
Speaker 5: Oh not.
Speaker 2: I just say this Friday anyway, funky, funky Friday, funky Friday,
even though it's not Friday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okaynky and staying alive I was gonna do. I
can't staying alive now? Why already? Kind of like preview
that Jordan's.
Speaker 4: Don't blame Cassie for ruining in the morning. Okay, play
stay in Alive if you want to play stay in line.
Speaker 1: I'm good, You're right. I see.
Speaker 2: I was thinking about the Guardians of the Galaxy songs,
like no, I definite played the Guardians of the Galaxy song.
Speaker 4: But no, Okay, do we switch it up and go
different theme every hour?
Speaker 1: Or do we?
Speaker 4: Or do we?
Speaker 5: Or do we keep the funky?
Speaker 1: But this dude, I got some good funky songs.
Speaker 9: Man.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm just wondering. I'm like, look, they're not here.
Speaker 1: Keep it.
Speaker 5: They're not here. We can do whatever you want. Can
we keep this? We can go different theme every hour.
I don't care what we do.
Speaker 4: That's the juices fawns starting to wake me up. I
don't trust Jordan, but I trust Cassie. If Cassie likes it,
we'll keep it. Hey, we trust chat We like you.
I want to mention something here real quick before we uh,
before we get out of here, and uh go to
break before we kick off Hour number two. Betty nods
were put out, and we're going to dive into this
a little bit further in the nine eight segment.
Speaker 5: But bed online dot ag has.
Speaker 4: Set odds for the top five picks, and each one
of these has a significant favorite.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 4: Will Campbell is minus one fifty now to be the
fourth overall draft pick, which is held, of course by
the New England Patriots. The next closest is armand Mimbo,
the other offensive tackle. He is plus four point fifty,
So according to bet online, Will Campbell might be the
runaway favorite to be taken fourth overall by the New
England Patriots. I love this because, you know, I said
here on Hunt Show not too long ago and complained about,
you know, people talking about, oh, we Will Campbell's arm
size might be like a quarter of an inch too short.
Never mind the fact that he's been an All American
for multiple years, he's been a three year starter at LSU,
and he has really good tape out there.
Speaker 5: We're not gonna worry about that.
Speaker 4: We're gonna worry about the fact that his arm size
is a quarter of an inch too short. I appreciate
the fact that people have gotten over that one.
Speaker 5: I don't choose.
Speaker 4: Prode may have helped out Will Kimbell a little bit
in his arm. You know, I'm not a I'm not
in tune to the human body. I don't know how
old it works. But all I know is like, I
don't think my arm has grown half an inch in
like the past month.
Speaker 5: It happened to Will.
Speaker 2: Hey man, you know, sometimes you gotta you gotta grease
the books a little bit. You know how when you
go look at the NBA player's height, they're like, oh,
there's six nine.
Speaker 4: I'm good with it, though, because like this only helps
in avelt teams, because those those guys in the front
office that are like, I'm gonna be the smartest guy
in the room. You have to you have to have
this arm link. You have to be this, you have
to be this weight. How about this. If I have
forty two inch arms, I got two left feet, I'm
the clumsiest player you've ever seen, and I use nothing
of my forty two inch arms.
Speaker 5: Would you rather me?
Speaker 4: Or would you rather a guy with thirty three inch
arms who uses every single bit of it, who's strong
as an ox, who's got great feet, he's got great size,
and he knows what he's doing. I can give a
crap about arm link. You can be three feet away
from me if I don't know what to do. Once
you get there, it doesn't really matter because you're gonna
get around me anyways. So all these people that are like, oh, well,
you know his armley, like you gotta have this, you
gotta have that. Look at some of the Hall of
Fame left tech. They all had this armley. Maybe they
were just good at football. Man, Like, I don't I
don't care we talk about hand size with quarterbacks anyways,
I don't care.
Speaker 5: I mean, go look up a list right now.
Speaker 4: You don't take them out word for go look up
a list right now of the hand sizes for quarterbacks
in the NFL, and go look up their touchdown interception ratio.
Speaker 5: There is absolutely no correlation.
Speaker 4: Between big hand size and being able to take care
of the football.
Speaker 5: There's not.
Speaker 4: You can go look, I look every single year before
the season starts, just to get a good laugh about it.
All right, Look, that's going to do it for our
number one. We're coming back on the other side, and
nour number two, we're gonna get away from LSU. We
were very LSU heavy. I want to mention one more
thing of the transfer portal. Guys, yesterday I promised that
I was done with Nico Iamalaiyaba. I'm not because Nico
has actually found a home. We're gonna talk about that
a little bit. Also, Texas and Oklahoma unfortunately they got
a lot stronger in the transfer portal. We're gonna talk
about that. CBO Sports put out an article suggesting that
this quarterback class will likely be a bust compared to
those in recent history.
Speaker 5: Yeah, no kidding, that's kind of what we've talked about
for months.
Speaker 9: Now.
Speaker 4: We'll break that down kind of give you what I
think of each quarterback that might go in the first round.
And there is a quarterback that continues to rise up
draft boards. Every year we see a guy rise up
draft boards. This year it could be that guy. We're
gonna have Grant Sacharay from Crescent City Sports top on
as well, and then in the nine o'clock hour, we're
gonna talk a little women's basketball. Kim Molkey had a
big time pickup out of the transfer portal I LSU
Gymnastics in action tonight the semi final round of the
NCAA Championship going on, will break that down what Jay
Clark and the Tigers can do. We'll have our Munchie
segment with LSU executive chef Michael Johnson, and we'll close
it out with Ask the Bench.
Speaker 5: That's all coming up here on No TB.
Speaker 3: Off the Bench