Boomo Bugg Show 012826

[0:00] Now, get ready to roll Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. New exclusive inside track to the Tide, Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Good afternoon and welcome in to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Barker alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us the free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in where Alabama basketball says here comes the judge and a big day at UNA. Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you?

Happy Wednesday to you and the listeners. Alabama basketball plays this best defensive game of the season and beats Missouri 92-64. New Russellville coach, Daryl Higgins, will join us a little bit later and start and talk about starting a new era with the Golden Tigers. And as you alluded to, we're delighted to bring in UNA football coach Brent Dierman, who will be introducing a new defensive coordinator a little bit later today. And maybe January, but it's never an off season for UNA head football coach Brent Dierman. Coach, welcome in. Would you agree with that? How are you?

I'm doing fantastic, fellas. Every Wednesday, I get to speak with you guys. It's a great Wednesday. I know that. Right back at you. We're playing tennis here. It's a verbal tennis game, coach. We appreciate you taking time out because your time is going to be spent today, just a short time from now, bringing in a brand new chapter as far as your staff. This goes on in college football. Coach, I won't steal your thunder. What can you tell us about the new additions to your staff?

Oh, so in total, we got five new guys on staff, but the big one here that's getting announced today is our defensive coordinator. It's a guy that I've worked with in the past at Kansas. Clint Bowen. Clint has been the defensive coordinator at Kansas on two different stints. Was the interim head coach at one time as well at Kansas, so he's been a Big 12 defensive coordinator this past season. He was the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, where he helped improve that defense to one of the worst in football, to be in a very solid unit this past year.

He's also been at North Texas and Western Kentucky as a defensive coordinator, so we are very excited for the experience that he brings to our staff. Coach, I was going to add to that, the last three games that he was at Oklahoma State, the final three opponents scored 20 points or less. Kansas State, 14, Central Florida, 17. Iowa State, when Matt Campbell, who went to Penn State, 20. That's pretty impressive to hold your three final opponents to 20 points or less. Yeah, so a crazy story behind Clint's run there is he went there as an offensive analyst, and when all the deal happened with Gundy and different guys getting moved around on staff, he got the defensive coordinator job mid-season.

So, for a guy to take over a defense that struggled early in the year and be able to put those type numbers together just shows you, number one, that players play for him. The scheme that he runs is very effective. What I love about him is he runs the scheme that the players run the best. He was a high school football coach a little bit in his time, and he understands how to match the scheme around the players you have. Coach, that's what I was going to say.

Obviously, sometimes people will put a square peg in a round hole. Talk to us about the process. As a coach, this is part of the game. Every season, you have to sit here and say, this worked, that didn't. Other coaches take opportunities elsewhere. It is a business in many ways at the end of the day. Talk to us as a head coach about this part of the schedule. It's January, but I've always said this is probably as important a window for a season as cons, because you've got strength and conditioning, you've got assembling a new staff, losing and gaining.

Talk to us as a head coach about just that part of the job. Oh, yeah. You've got to win now. I told our players the other day that there's a great quote that I've read that I share with our team that there's going to be a time that comes where a winner asks what you did all spring and summer. And there's going to be two disappointments in life. You're either going to face the disappointment of losing, the disappointment of a bad season, or you're going to face the pain and discomfort of the struggle that you're going to go through to get to winning, to get to success.

So the wins that you take in January and February lead to winning in August and September for sure. Coach, we'll jump off on that topic there. Obviously, you've got a big announcement coming up here. You mentioned a total of five for the folks who follow UNA and might have missed some of those details. Talk to us about some of those positions. I was able to hire a new offensive coordinator with the ever-changing world of college athletics and especially college football, rev share, NIL, transfer portal. When I came here, all that stuff was not as big and such a fluid situation as it's become now.

[5:35] So I am stepping away from the offensive play-calling duties. And for the first time since being at UNA, I've turned over the play-calling duties to another coach on staff. So I was able to bring in Travis Partridge, who was actually on staff with me and Clint Bowen at Kansas, has been the quarterback coach at Kansas for a little bit, has been the offense coordinator at UT Martin at Tennessee State, and most recently at Bowling Green. So another group of five experienced play-caller coming in. I was able to bring Colby Ellis as our new receivers coach, was actually here for a stint before, bringing him back here, was a great player at Oklahoma State, and was actually on staff with Coach Bowen at Oklahoma State this past year, working with receivers.

Josh Long is our new defensive line coach, came to us from Memphis where he was the assistant D-line coach. And through bringing Josh, Josh was able to help us land seven transfers from Memphis, which Memphis is probably one of the top three group of five programs in the country. So landing players from there has been big. And then Max Halpin is the latest addition of an O-line coach that we actually will probably announce later in this week for the public and all to know. But Max joins us from Missouri State, where he's been the O-line coach for the last five years.

So a lot of big additions to our staff. This one I was going to ask you, the Times Daily I know had a list of the players coming and going as far as the transfer portal. You mentioned seven from Memphis. If you can now, I don't want you to if you're not ready, but highlight some of the transfers who you've got coming in. Yeah, we took a transfer at every position. You know, for us, we thought we needed to grow our depth. We needed to get better in the trenches.

I'll start at the position everybody always asks about. Well, at the quarterback spot, we return our starting quarterback in Destin Wade and our backup that played well at the end of the year, John Austin Wood, a true freshman, but brought in Banks Bowen. Banks Bowen is the son of our defensive coordinator. He's a transfer from Oklahoma State at quarterback. We brought in two transfer running backs, Chris McMillan from Bowling Green, Jalen Calhoun from Appalachian State. We got three transfer receivers, one from Tennessee State named Snap Reed, one from Memphis, Xavier Johnson, and one, a great buddy of mine in the arena football world.

His son was a D3 All-American, Ethan Aberger. He's coming in, been a two-time all-conference player. So really excited about the receiver room. We've got three transfer O-linemen. Levy Johnson is the son of great – our linebacker coach, Mike Johnson, was a transfer from South Alabama offensive tackle. Isaac Rue is a transfer O-lineman that went to high school at Muscle Shoals, went to Middle Tennessee, and was able to transfer back home. And Will French is a transfer center from the University of Memphis. So at tight end, we brought two transfers, one from Tennessee State, another from Liberty.

And then the biggest probably room that's been improved is our D-line room. In all total, we brought seven transfers of junior college defensive linemen in, which we gave up too many yards in rushing. We had a couple seniors on that side of the ball. So we needed to get bigger. So we've got a junior college transfer in Jaheim Johnson is 6'6", 250-pound defensive end. We've got two 320-plus-pound interior defensive tackles from Memphis in Josh White and Mon Cole. Two more defensive ends from Memphis, Donovan Nevels and Kavion both come to us from Memphis.

So a huge, huge focal point was in the trenches and especially D-line this offseason. You and I head football coach, Brent Jeremy. Coach, obviously, it's a give-and-take world out there now. And just to give you an illustration, when would we have ever seen this back in the day? Our neighbors over in Huntsville, normal Alabama A&M, Alabama A&M, picked up former Penn State quarterback Beckham Kritza. You would have never seen that back in the day. And as you mentioned, a lot of folks don't realize, nobody knows this better than you, how good Alabama's new punter is in Adam Wofford.

What are they getting? Yeah, they're getting a kid that's a seasoned vet now. I mean, he's been a three-year starter. Got to see growth in him every year. I think he averaged over 40 yards a punt as a true freshman. And then that number just increased every single year. He had multiple punts this past season of 60-plus, even got up to 70-plus yards in his punting game. Great in putting the ball where he wants to put it. Flips the field. Has fantastic hang time. So they're going to get a weapon in Tuscaloosa.

[10:51] You hope, as an Alabama fan, I bet, you hope you don't have to see him that much this year. You don't like when your punter's on the field. But it's a good – it's nice to have a weapon that can flip the field for sure. I don't know if your 2026 football schedule has been confirmed yet, but I saw a little bit of that on the Times Daily, too. I know a lot of people are excited about playing Sanford at Joe Davis Stadium. I know so many people watched – Harold and I watched so many Pencil Stars games there, but they have refurbished it now.

It's a beautiful stadium. But that's exciting. I know you and I played them before. But August 29th, Joe Davis Stadium, the Sanford Bulldogs. Yeah, we are very excited. Anytime you can take an in-state matchup, it's great for both fan bases. It's great in recruiting. It's just great for this whole state, for an opportunity for high school coaches and players to be able to come out and hit – kill two birds with one stone by going to our game and getting to see two of the better FCS programs in the country, in my opinion, battle it out at the neutral site in Huntsville.

Huntsville's a special place to me. It's where I met my wife, where I played around football for a little bit. So, to be able to go back to a place that meant so much to me and my family and play and take on a great opponent with a new staff coming in, it's going to do a fantastic job. Coach, you're not going to believe this. Watch out if you're going to play in Huntsville. A guy by the name of Tom Luganville, now famous at ESPN, he was a coach of the Tennessee Valley Vipers.

He met his wife. His wife is from right here in the greater Shoals area. So, there's just something about that matchup that seems to be magical. But, Coach, talk to us about this phase of it as far as your spring schedule and any thoughts about a spring game. You know, the portal changes every year. Last year, we had a spring portal window, which scared teams from having a spring game. And now there's no spring portal window anymore. So, I'd say in the last four or five years in college football, you've seen more rule changes than we've seen in the last 50 years of college football.

So, you'll probably go back to seeing some spring games. You'll probably go back to a televised game for us. We are not long away from getting into our brand-new stadium. So, our practice facility we have right now doesn't have any bleachers. So, it's kind of a bring-a-lawn-chair kind of deal. So, we won't make a big, huge deal out of a game this year as much as we'll just say it's a scrimmage. So, we're going to get after it and get better and get to see what our transfers can do alongside the returning guys that we have.

So, we'll still be in that kind of old-school model where we'll have a good scrimmage in the spring. I'll tell you another one is, I don't know if you guys remember him as well, but Jacksonville Jaguars head football coach, Liam Cohen, was a quarterback for the Tennessee Valley Vipers. There you go. Heck of a team. And Florida's new head coaches from Huntsville, too. So, there's a lot of connections there, Coach. Absolutely is. Coach, good luck with the press conference this afternoon. Listen, when you get the spring calendar laid out, certainly let us know.

We'll get you back on again. But it's always a blessing to have you on. Listen, hopefully winter conditioning continues to go well. I'm glad you got your staff together. And we certainly look forward to doing this again real soon. Absolutely. Love talking to you guys on Wednesdays. Thank you so much. Right back at you, UNA head football coach, Brent Nervin. This has a different twist to it. Coach Daryl Higgins at Russellville next. Stay with us. You like saving money, right? We all do. That's why Allstate just lowered the price of car insurance.

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A true southern flavor since 1947. And Conecuh is the official smoked sausage of the Crimson Tide. Order online at ConecuhSausage.com. Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hoover. On Monday's edition of Hey Coach and the Nate Oates Show presented by Alfin Insurance, we were joined at Baumhauer's Victory Grill by softball head coach Patrick Murphy. We might be the opening game of college softball because we start at 3 Eastern on Thursday. Right. So we play one Thursday, two Friday, two Saturday. And you remember John Gilbert? Oh, yeah, real well.

East Carolina's AD. Yep, he's the AD at East Carolina. So we'll play them. And Georgia Tech and us have had this pretty good rivalry for the last couple of years. They're coming to us next year, which is a good thing. So we can keep that, you know, if they're a really good softball program, won games in regionals last year. We really like their staff. And it's an easy drive. It's three hours to Atlanta. So we're going to keep that rivalry going. For those that aren't able to get to Atlanta, you are going to be at home here really soon.

You got the Easton-Bama Bash coming up that following week. It's mid-February the 13th through the 15th. I'll have more in a moment. Hello, Tide fans. This is Chris Stewart for Conecuh Sausage. Conecuh is an Alabama fan favorite we all know and love. It's made from the finest cuts of pork, their patented blend of seasonings, and smoked over a pure hickory fire for that true hickory smoked southern flavor. Conecuh Sausage is always great on the grill and perfect for tailgating. Pick up a pack and enjoy your family's favorite recipes at any meal of the day.

Conecuh Sausage, a game day tradition and the official smoked sausage of the Crimson Tide. Join us tomorrow for Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR, streaming live at 2 p.m. Central on all CTSN social media platforms at UA underscore CTSN. Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by Conecuh Sausage. Crimson Tide Today is a production of the Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. Really appreciate giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley where we often get the question, is it live or is it Memorex?

Well, the test, BB, if you've got breaking news, there is a good chance it is live. What do you got? Nadeau's got one win last night. Alabama played their best defensive game of the really maybe the season, beating Missouri 90-64. He got another win this morning, picking up a commitment from the number 18 player in the country, Quaden Samuels, from McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland. He is the number 18 player ranked, number two player in the state of Maryland. I'd gotten wind of this earlier this week.

So, Alabama picking up a five-star in basketball, the number 18 player in the nation. He's a tall drink of water, 6'6", and he's a lefty. So, look out from the south. They don't see that very often, 6'6", and a lefty. Fellow who knows talent by as well as anybody anywhere. Knows how to win, about as well as anybody anywhere, and knows how to shake things up with the news of the last few days when it comes to coaching. Coach Daryl Higgins, I'm going to sit here and pause, is the head coach at Russellville High School.

[21:16] Coach, that sounds like something we haven't said before, but welcome in. Congratulations. How are you? Hopefully, we have Coach here in a second. I would imagine, B.B., a lot of folks saying they went quiet when they saw the news. The reason we say that, here's one of the most successful high school football coaches, not only around here, but the entire state and the region. Anytime you bring back four state championships, you're doing something right, B.B. Yeah, 2018, 2020, 24, 25. And the Herald, the other thing, we've talked about this for years, he did it in three different classes, which makes it even more impressive.

Coach Daryl Higgins, again, we're going to be hopefully delving more into that, B.B. But while we're doing that, we teased at the top of the show, here comes the judge. A lot of folks back and forth with the Mediaco issue. And the judge in Tuscaloosa, more breaking news this morning regarding Alabama basketball, has, for all you lawyers, you know the term, all of us laymen sitting here, and we can't even spend it, recusing himself. I guess translated, he's taking himself out of the picture because of ties to the university.

Well, the NCAA questioned that because he's a donor to the University of Alabama and the athletic department. They thought that was too much of a conflict of interest, so they more or less asked him to step down from the case, and he did so. He agreed to do that. This is nothing, quite frankly, unusual that happens in legal matters all over the country for various and sundry reasons, but the NCAA wants to continue to fight this, and they will appoint another judge probably in the next week.

I'll be curious if they stay with the date next week as far as the next hearing, but according to the NCAA, he has too much conflict of interest, and the judge was smart enough with everything going on on social media to go ahead and step down. So, yeah, B.B., your thoughts about this, because at the end of the day, anything in life is going to have pluses and minuses. Obviously, you know, Nate Oates is not going to say no if it's under the legal framework of him being able to get a green light on it.

You're not going to say no to that kind of depth, especially at that position. It gives Cheryl much needed rest. It gives him depth, and in this league, Alabama has shown that that's been one of their weaknesses. They can light it up from the outside. The problem has been on the inside. He brings not only that, but he brings a lot of age. He brings a lot of experience, not to mention some talent, but at the same time, the other side of that is these kids are kids.

All of a sudden, here comes, quote, the old man in, and from one game to the next, you never know what's going to happen. Your thoughts just about the mindset, and to that point, in case you're just joining this story, he's under a window where I don't know what the day count is now, but for the foreseeable future of the next week anyway, he's got the green light to play in that temporary injunction, including a huge game Saturday, actually Sunday, down at Florida, where Golden, the coach down there, has already said, bring him.

We're going to beat you anyway. Well, the hearing was supposed to be with the judge who stepped down Tuesday, yesterday, but with the weather issues that we've had, one of the NCAA tourneys quite simply could not even get to Birmingham. I'm guessing he was flying into Birmingham, and whether the airport delays, weather delays, whatever, prevented him from doing that, and it's kind of messed up the schedule a little bit, but again, we'll see where all this stuff goes. Right now, he's got a temporary restraining order for the junction, and he can play legally until this hearing, which will be, yes, you can continue to play, or no, you can't.

So, we should know a little bit more about this, Harold, in the next few days. Is it just me, or where did common sense get off the train? I mean, this is, to me, it's either he can or he can't. What in the world would be the fine print that says he cannot? Because at this point in time, in this modern era, with all the money that everybody's making, does somebody somewhere or not have just either a legal sense or common sense to say, here's the ruling, let's move forward, let's put this baby to rest one way or the other?

And your thoughts, in the meantime, about this Alabama team, baby, they had a two-game losing streak at home. They blew out Missouri last night, and are you reading the same tea leaves that I am about Nate Oates, especially after the losses, basically, in effect, questioning just the desire to win, and do you get the same sense that maybe he's seeing too many individual guys and not enough teamwork, in other words, too much me and not enough we? Is that a fair assessment, or your thoughts about this team?

[26:22] They've got talent, but the loose back-to-back games at Tuscaloosa, you know Nate Oates does not like that, but your thoughts just about some of the intangibles with this team this season. Well, they lost back-to-back games at Tuscaloosa to two very good teams. I knew Tennessee was going to begin to play much better, and again, Rick Barnes seems to have Nate Oates' number. I think he's gotten their attention in the last week, and listen, this schedule's only going to get rougher. They've got Florida at noon on ABC Sunday, and then they've got Texas A&M, I believe, the following Tuesday in Tuscaloosa, and then they go to Auburn the following Saturday for a 3-30 game.

What they did last night was they played defense. Again, when this team plays defense, they rebound. They had a lot of assists last night. Aiden Holloway didn't score a lot, but he had nine assists. Bidiaco blocked a couple of shots, played well, but Reitzel scored 21 points, scored a career high. I've been saying all along, he's been hurt the majority of his career, and if he could ever stay healthy, he could become an all-SEC player. Nate Oates mentioned that last night after the game. He said, look, we have worked primarily on making stops, on playing defense, and if you can't do that in the SEC, you're not going to win.

Now, it helped that Missouri missed 15 free throws, which is quite frankly astounding, but I thought they played maybe the best game they played the entire year. The problem with the NCAA is they have said for years that if you sign an NBA contract, your eligibility in college is over, but there are so many changes that have happened in the last three years, and people have been trying to make this point for weeks now. You've got so many players who are playing in Europe. They're being paid.

That league is better than the G League, which Bidiaco played in. Now, Bidiaco signed three NBA contracts, but he never played in the NBA. In fact, he got cut by three teams, and he's played in the G League, and Harold, I thought somebody would test the waters on this sooner or later, and this is just not about the short term is can he continue to play in Alabama. The long term about this is if he is able to get away with this, is this going to open the barn door, and you're going to have quite a few other people who have played and not, or that didn't play much in the NBA, or are they going to come back and try to go to school?

Because the bottom line is, Harold, they make more money with NIL than they can in their first year contract in the NBA. And to your point, this is not the first time this has happened out at Baylor and a school in California, so this is not unique just to Alabama, but what's the legal term, guys? It's going to be interesting to see what happens once that precedent is set. Speaking of Tuscaloosa, time to go down and talk about basketball, football, and everything else with the man, Rodney Orr, on deck.

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800-499-6744. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93-9, the score. Mets basketball action last night, 23rd-ranked Alabama, crushed Missouri 90-64, the final score. Latrell Wright-Shell had 21 points in the victory. Alabama is now 14-6 on the year, 4-3 in the SEC. Tonight in men's basketball, the Auburn Tigers are at home. They'll take on Texas. Auburn is 13-7 on the year, 4-3 in the SEC. Texas is 3-4 in the conference and 12-8 on the season. Tomorrow night, Troy is at home as they play host to James Madison.

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Basically, drivers who love a clear view of the road all choose Rain-X wipers. The number one wiper blades in America. The score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. I think the roads are clear enough for us to head on down to Tuscaloosa and say hello to Rod Dior. He's the founder and dentist of tighterinsider.com. And his book is called Bigger Than Bama. Rod Dior, welcome in. How are you? Doing well, Harold and Brett. How are you guys today? Good. And we're doing all right.

I'll tell you what, you've got a plate full of the United, all kinds of stuff going on with basketball and baseball, softball. But football is always king of the hill. Rodney, busy week. Looks like Alabama is going to be picking up a new offensive line coach in Adrian Clem. And according to the news, we're getting losing an assistant defensive line coach in Jamie Mosley to, of all places, Stanford. The carousel is busy in your backyard, is it not, Rodney? Yeah, it has been, obviously, a little bit.

You know, right now, certainly, since we talked last, I mean, obviously, on Friday evening, Coach Kapp, Chris Kapilovic, the offensive line coach, the last two seasons, of course, parted ways with Alabama. And fairly promptly, Adrian Clem was announced as being hired, the new offensive line coach. Of course, he's got a track record in the NFL and, you know, in college, it's a pretty good track record, actually. I mean, he's had a lot of success. He was a really good player, played for June Jones at Hawaii for four years as a starter, you know, coach for June Jones at SMU.

[36:50] He's been at UCLA. He's been at Oregon. He's been with the Patriots. He's been with the Steelers. So he's got a varied background, and it appears to be a really good hire. We've talked to, you know, several coaches who either coach with him, a couple that hired him. So they have a pretty good idea about, you know, the kind of coach he is and his strengths and so forth. And I think it just sounds like he's a really good recruiter and a guy that's been a good teacher.

Ronnie, I'm sure none of your subscribers on the board have mentioned when he was at Oregon, they only had five sacks allowed in 13 games, and they averaged rushing for 216 yards a game. I would imagine some of the subscribers noted that. Yeah, I mean, that offensive line was really good. I mean, obviously, I think he had a couple of All-Americans on that line. Yeah, he did. I think he had three guys that played in the NFL on that offensive line. So, you know, he's done a really good job in terms of the record that he has for developing players.

And that's something that's obviously, I think, something that's extremely important and something that I think, you know, there's been some question if that's been lacking, you know, under Coach Kapp. But, so, yes, he did have a lot of success there. I know that he's been a run game coordinator as well. He really believes in a physical lineup and knock you off the ball type brand of football. And, you know, he's talked about, guys, about the way things have changed over the last several years in terms of up front and the offensive line.

But he's still old school. You know, I think that's the way he wants to do it. So, I know Alabama fans have certainly been clamoring for a physical style of play up front. And that's kind of been his forte. Rodney, you're hooking up with us. Rodney, it's just a coincidence that the news comes the week that big Alabama Junior Day. It's interesting at the quarterback spot. I just saw the news yesterday. Tamala out of Nebraska got his fifth star. He joins Russell as a fifth star.

How many schools this day and time have two five stars in right now, or at least in the huddle. And yet another guy may be the starting quarterback at this point in time. But then, to add to that, Elijah Haven from a place called Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is the number one quarterback in the country. Looks like he's coming in. And if you go by the tea leaves, looks like Alabama's got the inside track right now. Yeah, I mean, again, it's early. And, you know, he's obviously going to be heavily recruited.

There's, you know, people I've talked to think that with Lane Kiffin getting there at LSU, that it might have put them in a position. But they've already taken a big commitment for this class. So, you know, it certainly could put Alabama in a great position here. We'll see. I mean, there's other schools that are obviously involved. I know that even Auburn has been mentioned to some degree. So, you know, we'll see. But, yeah, he's going to be here. He's been here before. I mean, they've got a really good-looking list.

I mean, obviously, Alabama already has Trent Seaburn committed. He's been a guy that's been a local star at Thompson, you know, in the state, and is a really good player. And they've got some other top players, Munch on sales, a wide receiver out of Indianapolis is a kid that, you know, goes by the nickname of Bama because he's originally from the state. And he's got one of the top wide receivers in the country, 6'5", to give Alabama a lot of height. But so it'll be interesting to see what he does.

And they have several other five-star type players coming in for visits. And we'll have all that information here in the next, hopefully, by this evening as we continue to put the list together. Yeah, Ronnie, I had a couple of people ask me about, well, are they ready to commit to Alabama? I said, look, we've got a long way to go here in this process. But I would imagine a few of your other subscribers saw where Ismail Kamara, considered to be the number three inside offensive lineman, is coming in, Caden Moss from Jackson, Mississippi, the number three offensive tackle, and the number six interior offensive lineman, Jatori Williams, a former Alabama commit.

Offensive linemen seem to be getting attention to a lot of Alabama fans now. Yeah, those guys are coming in. You know, we'll see how they do. Certainly, it'll give Adrian Clem something to work on very quickly. You know, it's an early project for him to kind of start building his relationship with those guys who, as you mentioned, are very highly rated. I know that, you know, they have Kenny Simon, Kenneth Simon coming in. He's a Navy All-American going to play in that game. He's already scheduled to do that.

[41:51] He's a linebacker out of Tennessee. Jaden Upshaw is one of the top wide receivers in the country out of Georgia is coming in. A defensive lineman from down in Mobile at McGill-Tulin. Avery and Pauley is coming in. So, you get the drift. I mean, it's a really good-looking group that they have coming in. And, you know, here's the thing, Harold and Brett, let's say this, though. You know, the weather here is supposed to be really – it's going to be pretty cold. So, we'll see. That could certainly change some plans.

Oh, yeah. It's changed a lot of plans up in this neighborhood, I guarantee you. Rodney, you're going to be with us, Tiger Insider.com. Rodney, you know, the things move so fast. It's always, well, who's coming, blah, blah, blah. And sometimes the latest additions to the class sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. To me, it's a very interesting mix. Alabama goes down Highway 82 and picks up state offensive lineman, and Javon James brings experience at the highest level of SEC. And then they go the other way down to Moody and pick up Aubrey Walker.

A parent of the kid can fly. Your thoughts, I know there are others, but as far as James and Walker, to me, too intriguing. They're almost bookends. You've got one guy that's been there and done that, Walker coming out of high school from Moody. Yeah, Aubrey Walker, he's a guy that probably didn't get a lot of recognition. But if you just kind of watch him on tape, he's legitimately fast. I mean, he is, I think they say he's been timed at 4-3-4, but he does look legitimately fast.

He's very smooth. Seems to catch the ball pretty well based on the tape I've seen of him. You know, an impressive-looking kid. Look, I think when you have kind of now with the 105, not that you're going to have 105 on scholarship, but you can take guys that maybe in the past you would not have taken that you really liked, but they just didn't seem like, you know, hey, we don't have the numbers. So this opens an opportunity for him, and, you know, we'll see. Like I said, at that position right now, they needed some depth as well.

So to bring him in, to bring in a guy like M.J. Mathis, another player that was formally committed to Samford, you know, it certainly helps in terms of your depth and what you can do in practices. Absolutely. Rodney, I know you've been asked, well, which one of these guys can come in and be an impact player? Well, that remains to be seen because this is a combination of production and potential, and we know what potential can get for you sometimes with that. I think they were able to take care of their needs in the Keekin game.

We'll see. The UNA punter is very good. Quinn is very interesting from Ireland. We'll see how that goes. He's also got a long snapper. I've heard more good stuff about Noah Rogers. I'm like you. Josh Ford and a lot of people nearly forgot about him because he committed was one of the first ones, and these numbers are not going to jump off the page. But when you're 6'6", 250, and you've played against power four teams in the Big 12, you're going to be able to do something. I'll be curious about Bingley Jones.

I think he still is waiting to see about that seventh year. But Terrence Green, Desmond Yu, as I call him, and Tompkins. Ronnie, again, give it a, you know, whether it's a C-plus or B-minus or B, it's an interesting combination of production and potential. It is. I think if you look at the offensive line, I mean, I really felt they needed at least two guys with starting experience. I mean, and I think when you look at Dogatti, the interior player, Rayson Dogatti from Cal Poly, a guy that probably plays center for you right away.

You know, step in for Parker Brelstrand, has a ton of reps as a starter. And then I think also you mentioned, Harold mentioned earlier, Javin James from Mississippi State. He started a ton on the offensive line, started nine games last year, left tackle for Mississippi State. But you've got some young players, you know, on the offensive line. Ty Haywood, Caden Strayhorn, an interior player. Haywood, of course, being a former five-star offensive tackle. So you've got some guys, you've got some other guys like Ethan Fields that's going to provide some depth for you.

You needed some numbers there. And then on the defensive line, you mentioned Terrence Green is a big interior player, transferring in from Oregon. Bingley Jones from Mississippi State. They've got some outside guys. Devin Tompkins from USC. Yumi Lozulu from over in South Carolina on the outside, on the edge. That's a great combination, I think, that they got up front. And then I think Caleb Woodson is an interior inside linebacker, I should say, who is from the Virginia Tech. Guy's been very productive, has a lot of experience.

[47:00] I really think you could use another experienced inside backer, but that's obviously not likely to happen. But yeah, I think overall, when you look at the line of scrimmage, they got some guys that I think, as you mentioned, some bring some production already, and some bring some really good potential. Rodney, what is to make of this Alabama basketball team? You used this morning, the judge, your neighbor down there, is going to recuse himself, basically saying, here, you take it. Your thoughts about that? Where do you think it's going to wind up?

And your thoughts about this team? I mean, one time, they're sitting here and losing, losing, losing, and then they come back and they blow a team out. It's been up and down, a rollercoaster ride so far, particularly on the SEC side of the schedule. But your thoughts about the team and all the legal battles going on in your backyard? Yeah, I mean, you know, again, I think this Betty Occo thing just has to play out. You know, we'll see what happens. It's hard to make a prediction.

I would say this. I don't know how you can have pro players playing at other places, whether it's NBA or whatever. It seems like, to me, a professional is a professional. I know they're trying to draw the line in the sand and say, well, it's not an NBA player. And that's what, you know, right now, that's where they're saying if you sign an NBA contract, then, you know, you're not eligible. That's the NCAA stance. But I don't really understand it. I'm sure that'll all get worked out, and we'll see.

I would feel a little favorable towards what, you know, this decision coming for Betty Occo eventually. But right now, he's playing, and obviously, he's, you know, making a big difference. And with him, I think this team can be really, really good. And, you know, here's the thing, too, Harold. I know Alabama was on a little bit of a skid. But we've seen in the past that NATO's teams have kind of done this before, and they respond really, really well to adversity, you know, as you start to move towards the stretch run of the season.

So, and last night, it looked like they did. You know, it was a really big win for them. And so we'll see. I mean, this team obviously has a lot of potential. We have to get some guys healthy. We have to stay healthy. And, you know, if they can keep Betty Occo, I think this team can make a real run. Ronnie, I wonder how many people mentioned to you this week, and you believe it's been 43 years since Coach Bryant passed away, and then a day later, much beloved official, Eddie Condon, where I pulled the age of 97, who I heard could do stand-up comedy.

I don't know how much you interfaced with him during practice on the field occasionally, but obviously, Bud, remembering two legends in Alabama Lord this week. Yeah. Who was the first one you mentioned? I'm sorry. Coach Bryant. Oh, yeah. That's all right, Bud. I know you've had an interesting day, too. He is the legend of all, right? Yep. Yeah, no, I mean, it's really hard to believe that it's been 43 years ago, honestly. I mean, you know, time has really flown by, and I certainly remember that day extremely well, you know, and you just about remember every detail of that day.

And it was kind of a, you know, just one of those days that you never seem to forget. And, you know, his mark is still, I think, you know, the thing about it is, Harold and Brett, I still talk to players. I talked to Tommy Wilcox today. In fact, we were talking. And I talked to Walter Lewis a few days ago about, you know, Coach Bryant, can you believe it's already been 43 years ago? And, you know, those guys, when I talk to them on the phone, when we have conversations and we talk about Coach Bryant, they always go back to Coach Bryant when we're talking about, you know, different things in their playing careers and after their playing careers and the influence that Coach Bryant had.

So, you know, he certainly impacted all of those, you know, former greats. But, and then Eddie Conyers, listen, Eddie told me a lot of Coach Bryant stories, too. He told me one, I'll tell you, I won't use the exact words that he's used, but Coach Bryant, Eddie decided back in the 70s he was going to go out on a speaking tour, and he was a very talented speaker. I mean, hilarious. This guy was a comedian. And shared a lot of stories with me, but he told me this one story.

This is a couple of years ago when he told me, he said, back in the early 70s when Alabama switched to the wishbone, he went out on the speaking tour and, you know, was speaking to all these different Alabama groups, and he said that he was, you know, explaining that Alabama was talking about the wishbone and had a lot of questions about the wishbone, and Coach Bryant called him into his office and said, Eddie, I hear you decided you wanted to go out on a speaking tour.

[52:13] He goes, so tell me, what are you talking to all these Alabama fans about? Tell me what you're telling them. He said, oh, Coach, I was just explaining, they wanted to know about the wishbone. And Coach Bryant said, Eddie, you don't know blank about the wishbone. B-L-A-N-K. The best thing for you is to say nothing. He said, yes, sir, Coach. Yes, sir. Would you like fries with that? But, you know, yeah, Eddie was one of a kind, man. I mean, you know, he really was. Like I said, you'd see him at practice.

After practice, he'd call you to the side. Now, the last couple of years, you know, that he was here, you know, Eddie would sit on the side a little bit. He'd call you over and, you know, chat more than he actually did, I think, refereeing. But, you know, he's certainly a guy that was a legend. Yeah. No question. He always enjoyed saying, yeah, my wife and I enjoy going out to eat. She goes on Tuesday and I go on Friday. Sick of a long marriage. His one-liners, Rodney, were just absolutely priceless.

Yeah. How has your marriage been so successful? We go out twice a week. She goes out on Tuesday. That's right. That's what it was. That's what it was. Classic. Listen up on that, guys. Rodney, where can we get online, buddy, and get the best coverage of Alabama sports 24-7 message board, interviews, transfer, recruiting, junior day list for a very nominal price? Right. It's tighterinsider.com. It's only $48 a year. You can get instant access with your credit card if you prefer. There is an address there to send a check.

Again, there's a lot of talk going on right now on our forum. There's a lot of basketball, football, the new hire, of course. Like you said, junior day coming up. And, Brett, we hope to have that out here later this afternoon. All that right there on tighterinsider.com. Well, it's on your plate, football, basketball, and who knows, later on, maybe even some pickleball. You've got a lot on your plate. Keep up the good work, Rodney, and thanks so much for your time today. Thank you, guys.

Take care. Thank you, bud. Rodney, you're at tighterinsider.com, and his book is called Bigger Than Bama. Coming up in the next hour, more Tide and Tiger Talk with Drew DeArmond. How's all this shuffling of the neck affecting your high school football neighbors? Our side boss, Kennedy Morrison, is going to be on board with that. And speaking of the Shoals, Tony Pujo from UNA on the way next. Stay with us. At Bob's Tire and Alignment, we've been keeping the Shoals rolling for 49 years. From tires to alignment for cars and trucks up to 550s, we'll keep your ride game day ready.

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You're sweet. You're unique. You're the best thing I ever poured over ice. She swears it makes it taste better. It's not a science thing. But it's a pepper thing. Why do they all do it? All for that sweet, delicious, truly one-of-a-kind taste of Dr. Pepper. It's a pepper thing. Save more on the brand's pros trust at Lowe's. Right now, get up to 35% off select major appliances and choose from our wide lineup of top brands. Plus, save $100 on a little giant 22-foot multi-position ladder. Now just $189 built for strength, flexibility, and job site versatility.

[57:36] Pros, these savings will only be here for a limited time. Lowe's, we help, you save. Valid through 1.30. While supplies last. Selection varies by location. See Lowe's.com for more details. 1819 News. The Alabama House has passed a bill that would implement the death penalty against those convicted of child rape. The Child Predator Death Penalty Act was sponsored by state lawmaker Matt Simpson. The bill passed with a 73-6 vote. There were 17 abstentions. Democrat lawmaker Chris England was opposed to the passage of the bill, calling it cruel punishment, and said that the language of the bill is fundamentally unconstitutional.

England also said that he feared that victims in cases of rape may not come forward with the information if they know that the death penalty is on the table. House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter made a statement after the bill was passed, saying that anyone who violates the innocence of a child represents the very worst of humanity and has no place in this world. Ledbetter said that by passing this legislation, the state lawmakers are standing for victims and sending a clear message that children will be protected here in Alabama.

State Senator April Weaver is sponsoring the bill over in the state Senate. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Did you know that 70% of people experience a potentially traumatic event in their lifetime and that 6 out of every 100 adults face PTSD every day? Help us bring hope to these survivors by signing up for your Alabama distinctive PTSD awareness license plate today. The great thing is you can sign up no matter when your current plate renews and the first year is complimentary. All you need is your FIN number on hand, drive awareness, drive hope, and customize your plate today at at ease.org.

U.S. Marshals were in Hoover this week to find and arrest a person wanted by the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force. The operation involved multiple law enforcement agencies along with the U.S. Marshals Service. The arrest occurred at an extended stay hotel. The name of the person taken into custody has not been released. The Gumbo and Alabama Slammer Festival in Foley has been rescheduled for February 7th and 8th. The event was going to happen this coming weekend, January 31st, at Heritage Park. I'm Andrea Tyson.

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Low near 25. And Friday, partly sunny skies. High around 40. Your weather from 93.9, The Score. Now, get ready to roll. Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of northwest Alabama and southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score. Welcome back in our tour of the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley.

And are you ready to put on your game face, Brett Beaird? Yes, I am. You know, back in the day, it was TWA. These days, it's UNA that's spending a lot of time at airports. Just asked UNA head basketball coach, Tony Pujo. Coach, welcome in. How are you? Where are you? You're spending more time in the air than Superman these days. How are you doing? Doing great, Harold. Good to be with you guys. We're sitting here in the Birmingham Airport right now getting ready to go to Florida.

Man, I'll tell you what. How do you guys do this? I mean, it's like you look around sometimes. I had a brother who traveled the country. And he said, I had to look around and see if my rear end was catching up with me. As a coach and as a player, do you guys ever go, especially this time of the year when you're traveling all over the place, how do you find time to even practice and get ready for some of these games? Yeah, it could be a challenge, right?

[1:02:44] You know, but we figure out ways. Obviously, we'll get in today. We'll fly into Florida and then head over to the gym. We'll practice tonight, in fact, around 7 o'clock our time here. Central time is only 8 o'clock there. And then we'll get about a good hour, hour and a half of practice. And then tomorrow there'll be obviously a shoot around in the morning before we play Thursday evening. So it is a challenge at times, but it is obviously something that's doable thanks to the opposing team. And then accommodating us with our arrival times and all that stuff.

Tony, let me ask you about the loss to Queens. Queens is a very good team. In fact, I believe they lead the conference with a 7-1 record. They beat Eastern Kentucky, Bellarmine, Jacksonville, North Florida, et cetera. And you've had a close game with them last week, certainly for 30 minutes. But as you well know, they're at 40 in the game. Talk about the game last week. Yeah, I thought our guys came out. The physicality of the game, I thought we did a good job. We took away the three-point line, which is something that they're really, really good at.

The preseason player of the year, the Ashby kid, we held him to zero points in the game to get one three off. I thought our guys did a tremendous job defensively of locking in on him. But credit them, man. They did things that is not what they normally do, right? It's a high-assist team. They only finished with 11 assists. It's a team that doesn't turn the ball over, had 11 turnovers. So we knew that the defensive game plan was on point. Offensively, we just were not in sync.

And again, you've got to credit them. They did a good job of preparing for us. But again, I just think that this league right now is so wide open. And that game is proof of it, right? Because their following game is at West Georgia, and they lose on the road, which is the first loss in the year. So it just goes to show you that this league is wide open. And it's who is going to be hot in March, those four days in March, to have a team go to the NCAA tournament.

Talk to us about this part of the schedule, Coach. Obviously, it's a very interesting part. You've got the first part out of the way, lessons learned, and you're trying to sit here and stay focused on the postseason. But you're in the middle of a five-game road trip, unless I'm looking at things wrong here. Like Brent mentioned, you've been at Queens now, at Florida Gulf Coast. After that, all these are at games, Stetson, Central Arkansas, and Austin Peay. But I'm just going to guess, as a head coach, you're not going to look ahead of those games.

The next game is the most important one. Let's talk about Florida Gulf Coast. Yeah. And I can tell you this, it is an interesting part of our schedule. We're going to play five games straight on the road and then four games straight at home. Right. And then we'll finish up with two road games, a road game, a home game, and then another road game. So it is a unique time. You know, obviously, one of those games was postponed because of the snow that we had in the area.

It wasn't because of us. It was because Central Arkansas, you know, they were not going to be able to travel. So we had to move that game. So now that kind of tilted this a little bit. But as far as Florida Gulf Coast is concerned, you know, again, one of the top teams in the league since I've been in the league this year, they were picked in the top three. But like anybody else, right? Teams are still trying to figure out some things that I think they're sitting at two and six in the league.

And I'm telling you, they're hungry for a win. So, you know, right now our focus is we're trying to figure out our team as well. I think our guys are trying to do some things, and I've got to give them credit. They stay positive throughout this whole thing. And, again, that goes to guys like Dallas Howell, Dante Bacchus, and, you know, guys like Cannon Jefferson who kind of keep pushing, right? They keep telling the guys that we just got to stay connected. We got to keep, you know, just heading in the right direction.

So, right now we're going into this game playing a very good opponent at home, which they're really good at, is playing at home. So, it's going to be a challenge for us for sure, but we're looking forward to it. Tony, I say this frankly to you. Again, when you look at the record of a team, look behind it. They're 8-13, but they're 2-6. As you mentioned at conference play, they've got losses to Illinois. Yeah, that Illinois, Alabama beat, Georgia Southern, FIU, Kennesaw State in overtime, New Mexico.

I noticed I think they had two one-point losses. Tony, once again, they play a tough schedule, and they've had some close games against national opponents. That's our league. That's our league. I mean, I'll just be honest with you. You know, even their FAU game at home, it was a game that they had won. And, unfortunately, you know, FAU made some plays down the stretch. To get that game, and you're talking about a team at FAU that's one of the top teams in their league, right, in the American.

[1:07:53] So, you know, you can go up and down every team in our league. Everybody's been prepared for what we're embarking in, and it's such a well-coached league. Coach Chambers does a really good job at Florida, as well as all the coaches in our league, right? Like, this league has a lot of good coaches and a lot of good talent. So, again, we're looking forward to the challenge. We got our own challenges that we're trying to make sure that we're figuring out. And I couldn't ask for a better opponent to go up against than Florida Gulf Coast for us to try to figure those things out.

Coach, I'm looking at the schedule here, and this is crazy. My, oh, my, what's the old saying, time gets by so fast. One month from this date, one month from this date, the regular season is over. You take it on West Georgia. You've obviously got the lion's share of the schedule behind you. Based on what you've seen so far, what lessons would you like to take over this, again, I'll say it as hard as it is to say, the last month of the regular season? Well, what I can tell you is, you know, what seasons always teach me is the amount of gratitude that I have for the people that I work for, the people that I work with, the students that I, you know, student-athletes that I get to coach, right?

So, you know, we tell our guys all the time, we're going to blink, and the conference tournament's going to be here. It is. So, my thing is, I'm always focusing on what can we do today, right? I want to always be present. I want to be in the place that I'm at, because I want to savor that. I want to savor the moments of understanding that we're building something here that's unique and special, right? Like, that's the one thing that I'm very proud of is just every coach that has been here, every player that has played here has put their mark on what this program's about.

And I can tell you this, I'm looking forward to this Thursday. But more importantly, I'm looking forward to practice tonight. I can't wait to get on that court and be with these guys. And just, again, another day to make them better as a team. And obviously, ourselves as coaches, continuing to grow the game, you know, grow our skill as we continue to coach. Well, and the other thing, coach, I mean, you're never going to say this. I'll say it for you, is, yes, coaches have always had obstacles from the modern era.

You sit here, and all of a sudden, one of your prized pupils is going to be picked off the tree. As a coach, you have to sit here and say, okay, we lost a star guy to Texas A&M. You can't say the system says go, and you can't say no to that. But as a coach, you just don't walk in and say, here's a pair of shoes, fill them. It's not that easy. So, your thought is just about the modern era of coaching. One day, you got him just over on the football side.

Let's face it, Coach Dierma, who was on with us earlier, loses a prized punter. That's just the nature of the beast now. That's definitely the way it is, right? Like, it is the way, this is exactly the way it is. And, you know, we, you know, unfortunately, one of the things that I say all the time, don't look towards the kids. The kids aren't the ones making the rules, okay? I wonder sometimes, you know, how can we as adults, you know, you hear it all the time, and even in politics today, man, common sense.

Like, what is that, Coach? Yeah, that's my point. My point is sometimes I don't even get it. Like, how is, you know, how is, how are these guys coming together and saying, this is really good for the game of basketball? This decision that we're about to make is really good for the game. And, you know, my thing is this. I'm just hoping that the right minds, the people that make decisions, come together, gain common sense, right? And then let's put together, and I'm all for it.

Listen, I'm all for making sure that our kids are taken care of while they're in college, okay? So I don't want you to think that I'm not. But what I do believe is it has to be a structure that's going to prepare them for what's next. Right. It can't be a structure that just doesn't blend in with what's coming next for them. May it be the workforce. May it be continuing to play the game of basketball. Players shouldn't be getting paid more in college than they are in the pros.

Like, that should never be happening. Yep. No. Like, that should never be happening because if you're climbing the ladder of success, you shouldn't be getting a pay cut, right? So my thing is, and that's happening right now. So the right minds need to just come together, set the rules the way they're supposed to be set, and then just, like I said, let's just make common sense decisions so that we're not hurting these young people, okay, as they continue to kind of grow in this game and grow as men.

Tony, you had a little bit of a lineup change against Queens, sophomore Darkon King, and true freshman Braylon Patton got their first career starts, and Braylon Patton finished with 10 points, four rebounds, three assists. That's a pretty good night for him. 100%, and I got to tell you something because I never cheat my guys, but he had five rebounds. He had four defensive rebounds. He had one offensive rebound, and he finished with three assists, finished with 10 points, and I'm just telling you, Braylon's got a real promising future.

[1:13:22] We felt comfortable with going with him, and again, it's nothing other than a little shakeup to make sure that guys understand that they can't take things for granted. They've got to make sure that the culture of the program will always be protected, so we need guys to understand what those standards are, and we can't ever let those standards slip, and I'm not saying that that's happening. What I'm saying is we've just got to make sure that guys understand that every day you come to practice, you have to earn everything you get.

You get evaluated after every practice. You get evaluated after every game. That's the real world. When you go to work, you get evaluated every day, okay? And my thing is if you produce, trust me, that's how you keep your job. When you don't produce, that's how you can potentially lose your job. So one thing that we stress with our guys is we need everyday guys. We need guys that are going to show up every day and get their job done. Tony, in closing, congratulations to you.

We've been talking about the transfer portal and players coming and going. Six-year senior Dallas Howell passed Jamari Blackman for the second-most career Division I games in a UNA uniform. In fact, he is one of just seven known players in Division I this season to play for six seasons and the only one to play for the same school. That's right. I'm at that. You talk about loyalty and perseverance. Boy, he's in the dictionary when it comes to that, Tony. Listen, Dallas Howell is a program guy. Dallas Howell is somebody that we're big fans of.

We're very thankful that he's part of this program. And you're right. He's been here for six years. The only Division I player that has had six years and has been in the same school. Wow. You know, last year. And just think about what happened to him last year, right? I mean, season-ending, season-ending, torn ACL. And, man, he's come back. And, you know, obviously, probably up to this day, he's going to probably be harder on himself than anybody else. Probably not playing the way he wants to play.

But, man, you know, we believe in him. We know that it's a matter of time. So we're going to stand with him, just like he stood with us for six years. So I'm a big fan of his. And I just want you to know that he affects winning, even if he scores or not. Yeah. Mr. Anomaly, I guarantee you. Coach, always good to hook up with you and enjoy that airport food. And hopefully you'll get some of that Florida Chamber of Commerce weather down in Fort Myers.

And stay safe and safe travels to and from, okay? Yeah, appreciate you guys. Thank you. Thank you, Tom. Thank you so much. You and I had Ben's basketball coach, Tony Pujol. Coming up, he is the top Falcon at his foreign time when it comes to football. Coach Kenny Morrison on deck. Stay with us. No matter the size of your team or your fan crew, Lost Pizza's got you covered. We're talking wings, salads, and the one and only Monster Pizza. Perfect for team dinners, watch parties, or post-game celebrations.

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The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back in. I would assume the term very interesting is what's going on with a lot of high school coaches throughout the entire state of Alabama, including out of the Falcons' nest and football coach out at Florence High. Coach Kenny Morrison in the huddle with us. Coach, welcome in. How are you? I'm great. Thanks for having me on. Hey, Coach. Hey, we appreciate you taking time out. It's January and we're talking high school football.

Coach, has anything changed with the Volkswagen Montgomery since the last time we got together here? Boy, I'll tell you what, there's been a shakeup in the state for sure. Here's your thoughts. Obviously, Coach, fans. I need fans right now still trying to sit here and figure. Remember, if you had an older brother, one of the first games older brothers teach younger brothers is 52 cards, and round up, which meant they take the cards, throw them on the floor, and you had to round them up. Thank you, big brother.

Is it kind of that way now? It's trying to sit here and just kind of put all these pieces together as a high school coach. What's your initial reaction to all these changes as a head coach at Florence High? You know, obviously, we're still processing it. It really didn't play a big factor into the top, the large classifications. It really was a major move for the small classifications with the private schools being pulled out into their own area. You know, we were sitting at the largest 6A all alone.

We were finally going to drop down a classification. We went to 33. We've seen those numbers throughout the whole year. We knew kind of where we were going to land. We just didn't know they were going to pull the privates out and kind of move everybody down to a 6A, 5A thing. But, you know, it kind of is what it is, and it's the cards we've been dealt. And, again, we felt like we were going to be here in this spot. We just didn't know how the rest was going to shake out.

Coach, were you in favor? I know our friend BenThomas at L.com literally surveyed about 58 coaches across the state anonymously. And, still, the majority of them were not in favor of pulling out the private schools. Now, again, public and private can play during the regular season, but in the postseason, they will have, again, separate postseason for their championships. Were you in favor of splitting the public and private schools? I've got a lot of mixed emotions about it. You know, again, it didn't really affect us. The only thing it could affect, there was a bracket that came out somewhere towards the end here that had 32-7A and 32-6A.

[1:24:16] Now, that would have been a big difference because that would have created a travel with us. That would have put us down in a region with Clay Chalkwell and Pinson and those guys. I was not in favor of that. But, you know, kind of shook out and went back to the old way that it's been. And, you know, 22 years I was at Decatur High School. This is the region that I had always grew up in. And, you know, it's a fun group of folks to play.

And we used to call it the SEC North. And looking at that schedule right now, it is the SEC North. It's going to be brutal every Friday night. But there's going to be folks in the stands, and it's going to be a great high school atmosphere. So, definitely in favor of that. I spent three years in Tennessee, and this is kind of what happened while I was up there. They pulled them. They went to their own different divisions, and it worked up there. But, you know, it's become a free-for-all up there with NIL and private schools.

And, you know, up there they're a little different. They've got housing at different places, dorms and everything that they can offer. So, it's a free-for-all up there. I don't know how it's going to shake out here. And the last thing I'll say, I've got friends that are in private school that were in public. And, you know, really close friends of mine, Bob Godsey, Jerry Adcox at Whiteford, Christian that I grew up, you know, 22 years coaching with. You know, I feel for those guys because they want to be in this league.

And they know what this league is about. And, you know, they're afraid that their kids are going to recognize that it's a different league and maybe want to go back to the bigger public schools. And they may lose kids. So, you know, it may work to our advantage getting some of the private schools back, kids back. But who knows? We'll see. Coach, I knew these guys in Tennessee were doing okay. I had to go and get one of those. I think it was a junior. He loaned me the money to buy my latest Mercedes.

So, I knew he was rich. Boy, it's got it. It's up there. It's something else, man. Your thoughts about the schedule. Hey, we get NIL money down here. I'm getting out. Yeah. Somebody else can deal with that. Yep. Yeah. We don't get NIL. We get N-O-N-E. So, it starts with an N. That's about as close as it gets. But, Coach, your thoughts about some of these guys and parents. Did the folks in Montgomery ever say, you know what? If we're smart, we'll talk to you guys, the coaches.

We've got this thing called the Internet. You don't even have to come down here. You can participate. Find out what is best long-term from a coach's perspective. And we've been talking with some of the folks across the state. And some of these parents and kids are going to have to travel two and three hours for a game. And then that's one thing for football because it's Friday and you've got Saturday to catch up and watch cartoons. But if you're playing some of these other sports like basketball, how in the world are they going to do that kind of traveling and get back and go to class?

Yeah, you think about a Tuesday night basketball game that's got to travel two hours. That's tough business on these kids. And I know the private schools, I don't know exactly when it is, tomorrow or Friday, I'm not sure. But I know the private schools have called for a meeting with the Athletic Association. I don't know how that's going to shake out. But, yeah, that's a tough gig for them. And financially, it's going to be rough on them. And it's going to be hard on those kids from a school day, the next day standpoint.

You've got baseball. I was a head baseball coach at Decatur for four years. And we played almost every night but Wednesday night. You can imagine that travel. It's tough. The kids are the ones, again, that are going to suffer. I'm the District 7 board representative for our Alabama Football Coaches Association. And, you know, we're representing all the coaches, private or public. And there's guys on our board that are private school. There's guys that are public school. There's some that's been in public that are private now and some in private back in public.

So, you know, we represent them all. And we've sat in those meetings and had some of the – you just – we were all shocked across the board that it just happened. We really thought it might be a two-year study and then, you know, get a better deal with it and figure it out. But, oh, it got thrown out there quick. Coach, I've had several friends of mine who've seen this and they call Class 5A Region 7 the Region of Doom. Or, as you said, the ACC North. It is absolutely amazing.

It is a playoff game practically every Friday night. Have you been able to finalize the 2026 schedule yet? I finalized it today. And, I mean, the thing that I just hung up the phone with Daryl Higgins. Daryl and I went to – we played high school football together. And, you know, proud for him getting an opportunity down at Russell. I know he needed a few years to get back into the public school side of it. And this was great timing for him. And we just talked. Again, I grew up in this, but we didn't have Russell in the mix.

[1:29:18] Now we're adding him in. And he's got some guys – John Mothershed is helping him coach. And I know he's had Chris Ballantyne helping him, though. You're talking about a well coach. You're talking about some of the top coaches in this state down in Russell now. They add that into the mix. Wow. So, it is tough every Friday night. It – you know, we obviously wanted in 6A. And somebody told me, well, you got what you wish for. I said, no, I got what I wish for from a gate standpoint.

And folks in the stand. But I didn't wish for this as far as who we're playing. Coach, who are you going to open up with, if you don't mind us asking, Aaron? Yeah, we're going to do a jamboree with Huntsville over in Huntsville. Okay. And we're going to do a jamboree instead of a spring game. And then we're going to open up on the road at Pinson Valley. And then we'll be back home for the first home opener. It'll be Jasper City coming here. And then region play starts.

And the rivalry week is that first one. And that's us and Muscle Shoals. The first region opener will be us two. And it'll be at Muscle Shoals. And then from there, we'll have Russell right after that at Russell. So, I've got to go two Muscle Shoals and two Russell back-to-back. So, other than that, nothing is a piece of cake, right? Oh, absolutely not. Then Decatur's coming here for homecoming. And we're going to need an open week. Week five will be open. And then it starts right back up.

We've got Athens, East Limestone, Austin, and Hartsell. And we're going to finish the year at Fort Payne. So, it's brutal. Yeah. Absolutely. Listen, we'll let you – let me ask you before we do let you go. Your spring plans, will you have spring practice in a spring game or take the extra week in July? We're going to take the extra week. Again, we're going to play Huntsville in the Jamboree in the fall. Okay. We feel like a big need for us is to stay in this weight room and get stronger.

And a lot of times when you go into spring training, sometimes you back off of them a little bit so you can have a solid spring. But we're going to stay heavy on the weights all the way through. And we're going to do stuff with them in the afternoons as far as we get two hours a week. All schools do across the state. So, we'll utilize our two hours a week in the afternoon and work on some stuff with our guys, skill development. But we're – weight room's our number one focus.

Nutrition plan started. We've got to be ready for the big dogs when the fall rolls around. Coach, it's always good to hook up with you. I know it's a lot going at you 90 miles an hour right now. I'm probably trying to drink out of a fire hose. And if you leave now, you might make that season finale at Fort Payne by the time it rolls around, okay? That's a road trip. If we blink, it'll be here. That's for sure. That's right. Sweet Home Alabama with Randy and the guys over there.

Coach, listen, man, thanks so much for your time today. Let's do it again soon, okay? I appreciate you having me on. Go Fire. Thank you, Coach. Thank you so much. Warren Firehead football coach, Kenny Morrison. Time to go to Double D, Drew DeArmond. He's on deck with the Boomo Bugg Show. Stay with us. Imagine a bank where you feel at home. Real people living right here in your community are the heart of bank independent and everything we do. You have our commitment to bring the people, ideas, and resources together that create a stronger community full of endless potential.

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Welcome back to Winter Hack Radio, the place for clever hacks to survive the season. Icy driveway? Well, try spreading sand or bird seed to help with traction. Snowy puppy paws? Well, grab a whisk, brush it off. Done. Catch COVID-19? Actually, there's no hack for COVID-19. But if you test positive, prescription medications for COVID exist. Ask your doctor if they're right for you. Visit PfizerForAll.com to learn more. Sponsored by Pfizer. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9 The Score. Tomorrow night, Troy is at home as they play host to James Madison.

And South Alabama is back at home to take on Coastal Carolina. Also tomorrow, North Alabama is on the road to play at Florida Gulf Coast. Men's basketball action last night, 23rd ranked Alabama, crushed Missouri 90-64. The final score, Latrell Wright-Shell had 21 points in the victory. Alabama is now 14-6 on the year, 4-3 in the SEC. Tonight in men's basketball, the Auburn Tigers are at home. They'll take on Texas. Auburn is 13-7 on the year, 4-3 in the SEC. Texas is 3-4 in the conference and 12-8 on the season.

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The score. Welcome back in. Gonna be joining Drew Jarman momentarily. But, BB, obviously, a huge day. Busy times in Tuscaloosa. My goodness gracious. Here it is, the end of January. Almost said February. And it's rocking and rolling, including some big recruiting news this weekend for the basketball team. Yeah. Five-star wing. Quaden Samuels out of Maryland committed to Alabama earlier today. Actually, Harold, he'd signed the papers about two months ago, his mother said, on Twitter, which was interesting. But he is considered to be the number 18 player nationally in the country.

He joins four-star for Terrace Bowie in the recruiting class for Alabama. And, of course, I get asked about once a week about Caleb Holt. And Caleb Holt is from March-April time frame. And from what I hear from D2, who's about to join us, that may be between Alabama and Arizona. But, once again, Alabama picking up five-star number 18 in the country wing, Quaden Samuels, a little bit earlier today. So, which A team will it be, Alabama or Arizona? The man who knows is the gentleman who has two Ds.

[1:39:40] His name is Drew Jarman, host of Talking Ball Nuts with 97.7 FM, The Zone. Drew, welcome in. How are you? I'm doing well, guys. How are you? Hey, Bernie. Man, we're just sitting here talking. Is it not crazy, the things that are going to go? It's supposed to be the off-season. NASCAR always has a pit stop, but not in the modern era. Let's start with basketball. We were talking about that as we were getting together with you there. Your thoughts about the pickup this morning and, of course, people out in Newmarket and, for that matter, anybody who follows high school sports knows the name Caleb Holt.

Your thoughts about the pickup this morning from Maryland and, basically, one of the best players to ever come through this state before being shopped elsewhere in the modern era? Yeah. Yeah. You know, Caleb Holt is arguably, may go down as the greatest player in the state's history. When you think about his impact, you know, he was basically the reason there was a rule change in Madison County, which, you know, when he came up through the middle schools over there, you know, in Madison County, got feeding into Buckhorn.

He was a seventh grader, and they did not allow eighth graders and middle school players to play on the varsity. You had to play eighth grade basketball, middle school basketball, in other words, or you had to play, you know, you could, they would allow you to play JV basketball, but you weren't allowed to play on the varsity. And it was a weird rule, because at least you weren't able to do that at Hazel Green and Buckhorn. If you went to New Hope or Madison County, you could actually play.

If you were considered in a large school situation, you could not play for like a Hazel Green or a Buckhorn. It was a very weird, obscure rule, and the reason I, the first time I ever found out about it, is because my good friend Todd Jeffers, who is now the associate head coach on the staff at Huntsville High, was the coach at Hazel Green, and he had an eighth grader named Kyron Lewis, who, as you all know, would, uh, it was a great player and could have played for him as an eighth grader, but did not because of that obscure rule.

So, Caleb Holt is, you know, Patrick Harding put it to me when he, when, uh, they were trying to get him eligible, he actually wasn't eligible for the first, I want to say, half dozen games or so of his eighth grade year. And he told me, he goes, Drew, here's the deal. Caleb Holt would play eighth grade basketball and average 50 points a game. Yeah. Or he could come to, uh, Buckhorn High School when he would leave my JV in scoring at 25 points per game. But here's, here's what needs to happen.

He needs to be eligible and, and leading my varsity in scoring at 16 points per game is the way he equated it. And that's basically what happened once he became eligible. Uh, and then, as you know, it was the kind of stuff of legend, his freshman and sophomore years. And just think about that, uh, in, in context, freshman and sophomore years, he led the Buckhorn Bucks to state championship. And I'll never forget when he was a freshman and they beat Mountain Brook in the finals. They actually beat Mountain Brook both years in the championship game.

But when he was a freshman, the way it's still kind of interesting in the state, a lot of them don't see you and they hear about you. It's like a legend. They don't see you until maybe you get to the biggest stage, which is in Birmingham. And I'll never forget everybody talking about how he was the best ninth grader they'd ever seen. And, uh, you know, and, uh, and coach, uh, Davis at, uh, at Mountain Brook said basically, uh, you know, that he's, he's the best, uh, uh, you know, he's, he's an NBA player.

We couldn't guard him. And, you know, they, they just, it, it, it was just an amazing thing to watch him. Uh, it's amazing to see how good he's gotten. I mean, I heard about it in middle school myself, but I don't see a lot of middle school basketball. So you always wondered, okay, is he really that good? Uh, and, and, uh, and so he actually is, he's that absolutely that good. And he's become a top five player in the country and certainly Nate Oates has been in a very spirited recruiting battle.

I heard what Brett said. I would say that's accurate. I would say Alabama and Arizona are probably the two favorites. There's been some back and forth there. I know Kentucky has been high up there at times. Robin has had a very lucrative offer on his desk as well. He's just been extremely heavily pursued by most of the, uh, most of the college basketball pantheon. I know this, I can say it now because, uh, he told me at the time not to mention it, but there was also a cloak and dagger visit by Duke when he was still at Buckhorn.

So he's been recruited by everyone, but it's going to be a very interesting saga to see how the whole thing plays out, uh, in his recruitment. And, uh, you know, I know, uh, you know, Alabama is going to fight till the very end and he would be a huge impact player. They're going to lose, uh, you know, their, you know, their best prospect, uh, you know, which of course is LeBaron Phylon. And he's one of the best players to ever come through the state. But the thing that separates Caleb Holt is I think he's every bit as good on both ends of the court.

[1:45:02] He is a tenacious defender, a tremendous three-level score, just a great player. And it's going to be interesting. And Nate now has two really good players to help, you know, recruit him. Uh, I heard you talk about Terrace Bowie and Bowie plays at Spire Academy in Ohio, plays, uh, for, you know, uh, you know, for coach Kevin Boyle, who is one of the top high school coaches ever. Who was at Mont Bird and Bowie's had a tremendous senior year. And then Quayden Samuels is a guy that's left-handed.

He's six foot six. He's got a 6'11 wingspan. He's a volume scorer. Uh, you know, he's been a considered a top 20 player pretty much throughout. And it was a really big recruiting win for Preston Murphy and Nate Oates because you go into Georgetown's backyard, you know, and they wanted him badly and they were able to get Quayden Samuels. So that's a huge get for Alabama going forward. Absolutely. Good win for Nate Oates. I know you were busy with the Huntsville Crimson Panthers, but Alabama whips to Missouri 92-64, maybe certainly the best defensive performance in the SEC.

It did not hurt for Latrell Reitzel to score 21 points. He's not going to hit 7 of 10 from the floor every night, but what a luxury it would be for this program if he could stay healthy and score in double digits. But D2, one of the best performances of the season, and they certainly needed it. They've got the Gators Sunday at noon and then Buckyball coming in and then Auburn the following Saturday. But, um, I wouldn't say stopped the bleeding, but Alabama needed to win and they certainly got it last night.

Yeah, I was actually in attendance. It was my first game since Kentucky, and I was able to do that because, as y'all know, most of this area has been racked. It was the weather, and it delays. Huntsville High did not play the Spartan Senators last night. We actually, the Crimson Panthers will retake the floor as the newly minted number one team in 7A basketball. And now I have to reprogram myself. This will be the last year I say 7A basketball after learning to do that for 10 years.

But they, uh, they will play back-to-back nights. They will play, uh, they will end area play, which they've already clinched. But they will play at Spartan on Thursday night. They will play the Buckhorn Bucks, the alma mater of one Caleb Holt, uh, and Lee Garcia. They're now best player who's headed to UAH. They will play them on Friday night at home. So, they will be back-to-back nights for the Huntsville Crimson Panthers. And, uh, yeah, it was a big win for Nate Oates. I thought the Twin Tower look was good, uh, with Charles Bediaco.

Needless to say, there's been a ton of conversation about that. Uh, and I've been, you know, very passionate about the hypocrisy that I've, uh, heard throughout college coaching and especially the national media, uh, with, uh, what Nate Oates is doing with Charles Bediaco, despite the fact 24-year-old Serbians and everybody else are playing everywhere. But, you know, if you, if you circumvent a rule or whatever they want to call it, they call it cheating. Well, I just call it, you know, I, do I like it? No, but everybody's doing this.

There's pros everywhere. Bediaco happened to never play in an NBA game. They brought him back. It kind of allows him to end his career at Alabama. Hopefully, they can get this injunction and end it like he should have. Uh, he's had a really nice impact of two games. He's, you can tell he's worked on his game and he's more polished than he was the first time at Alabama. And certainly with him and Aiden Sherell, it can make a big difference. I think their inside game has been readily apparent.

I know they lost the Tennessee guys, but you can see all the points of the paint they got. They were able to wear Missouri down last night. Uh, and I thought, got some really solid guard play from LeBaron Phylon. And it was good to see Latrell Reitzel look like his old self. Yeah. They certainly are going to need that down the stretch. And if they can get there all around, I know this is going to sound funny, but their best player has been out the last two games.

And I mean that in Amari Allen, I think they're all around a player. They're going to need him. If they're going to go on the road and play against Todd, I've guaranteed a win. Golden. Right. For Florida, who forgot to coach his team against Auburn. Absolutely. Uh, D2, tell us where we can get online and listen to the new expanded talking ball. And as you mentioned, the Panthers got two big games coming up later this week. Uh, and I don't know if the Iranians have let go of your Twitter account yet, but where can we get online and get all the good stuff?

Yeah. Still working on the Twitter account. Hopefully one day I'll get it back guys. Uh, please follow me though on nine, seven, seven, ESPN. Uh, we, we post a lot of stuff of our content over there. Uh, you can listen to do, as Brett said, the newly expanded three hour extravaganza of talking ball. Uh, I think please have to start third week of doing that. Scott Tyson and I are on seven to 9 a.m. If you, or excuse me, seven to 10 a.m. If you missed any of that, you can certainly get it on our sound cloud page, 9, 10.7, the zone or 9, 7, 7, ESPN.com.

[1:50:29] So we've been excited about that, about bringing you, uh, three hours now of content. It's certainly allowed a lot more phone calls and conversation. And, uh, and a lot of it has been very, very spirited this week when you debate what's going on, not just with NATO, but also as you guys have talked about. The changing landscape in our state and high school athletics, uh, with, you know, the private school and public school separation, but from a playoff perspective, we talked to Seth Parker today. I know you guys know Robbie Parker very well.

Seth, the new football coach at Bob Jones High School, which is a congrats to him and his wife and family coming back home after he did a really nice job at Priceville, uh, to coach at his alma mater. So we talked about that. And certainly we've been talking about Adrian Clem, who's joined the coaching staff the new offensive line coach for the university of Alabama and spring football. We'll be right around the corner because again, amazingly, uh, we're almost on top of high school basketball playoffs just, you know, in the next month we'll have Mark Madness.

So there's tons going on and, uh, we always enjoy being on the boom, oh, bug show. Uh, in the meantime, stay as warm as you can out there. Thanks for your time today, Drew. Thank you guys. Absolutely, man. It's freezing around here. Certainly it's, uh, with our friends in national, we're playing, we're praying for all of them. I think there's still over 150,000 people without. Wow. Wow. Ouch. Drew, listen, let's start on this side of the state line. Drew DeArma, they're going to, with us, host, talking about us with 97.7 FM results.

Speaking of the temperatures, we talked with coach Tony Pujo earlier. Wouldn't luck have it. He's going to Florida. Here's the punchline. The temperature in the panhandle of Florida is colder than it is in Juneau, Alaska this week. My timing right here. Absolutely. Just got to take care of business on the behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire crew here. Harold Mike, thank you so much for your time today. Let's spend it again tomorrow at noon to two with the good more bug show. Back here on sports radio from 93.9 to score.

Back here on sports radio from 93.9 to score.