Episode summary
This episode focused heavily on college football recruiting, NFL draft prospects, and SEC baseball performance, featuring insights from former Auburn quarterback Charlie Trotman and Vegas insider Bruce Marshall. The show also highlighted Auburn's spring game developments, Alabama's baseball road trip, and the competitive landscape of the SEC.
Highlights
- Roger Hoover discusses the transfer portal, noting 2,541 players entering it and predicting more may transfer to UAB or Jacksonville State for experience before moving to SEC teams.
- Alabama baseball ends a nine-game losing streak against Texas with a 2-1 victory in Austin, while their softball team sweeps Kentucky with scores of 4-0, 42-4, and 15-3.
- Charlie Trotman (former Auburn quarterback) analyzes Auburn's spring game performance, praising Coach Alex Golesh's focus on team unity and accountability.
- Bruce Marshall predicts the Raiders will take Fernando Meadows first in the NFL draft and speculates Arizona may select Jeremiah Love over David Bailey.
- The SEC baseball tournament is set to move to Madison, Alabama, in 2027 at Toyota Field, with improved facilities and convenience for fans.
- Hank South discusses Texas' rebuilding efforts, highlighting Art Manning's transition to starting quarterback and the impact of new additions like Hollywood Smothers and Raleigh Brown.
- Joe Cox speculates on the impact of coaching changes and retention challenges for Alabama, especially in light of Coach Saban's retirement, and notes Tennessee and Vanderbilt's potential influence on SEC standings.
- The transcript mentions 2,541 entries in the men’s basketball portal as of 152 Central Time, emphasizing the ongoing impact of the transfer portal on college sports.
Full show transcript (text version of the audio, for readers who are deaf or hard of hearing)
This transcript was generated automatically from the broadcast audio. Names and some words may be misspelt; the audio is the official record.
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[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. Your exclusive inside track to the Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score. Good afternoon and welcome here to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in where? Move over, Congress. The Braves show you how to get the ball rolling in Washington, D.C.
And the pride of Loretto chalks up the Ks against KC. Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you? Maybe it's Tuesday to you and the listeners. The Braves on the heater. We'll talk about them a little bit later in the show. The transfer portal window officially closes tonight at midnight for men's basketball players. There are currently, believe it or not, 2,541 players in the men's basketball portal. Well, Alabama and Auburn have anyone else enter the portal before midnight. Las Vegas designer Bruce Marshall will preview the infield draft this week in Pittsburgh.
But Roger is here right now to talk about some basketball additions for the Crimson Tide. And preview Alabama baseball against UAB tonight in a visit to Rocky Top this week. And he promises he is not going to enter the portal anytime soon. Roger Hoover on the Crimson Tide Network. Roger, welcome in. How are you? Boomo Bugg. I'm doing really well. How are you guys? We're doing all right. I just listened to Brett there. Brett, how many did you say? 2,541 next basketball players in the portal as we speak.
Yeah, you're too young for this, Roger. But the Loving Spoonful had an old song back in the day. This, however, how many thousand guitar pickers in Nashville? That's what it reminds me of. Roger, what's going on in this thing called college sports these days? Where are these 2,000 folks going to land? That is a very good question. And I think just a lot of kids right now are signing with somebody out of high school kind of with the expectation that they're going to go to a different spot and have multiple colleges by the time their career ends.
I think the old days of, you know, if you're an Alabama kid, you're probably going to end up at Alabama and Auburn. You're an Alabama legacy. You're going to end up at Alabama no matter what. I think those days are over. I really do. And I think we could see a lot more of kind of what maybe Sarah Ashley Barker did coming out of high school. She signed with Georgia, spent two years there with Georgia, and then after a coaching change, was able to come home to Alabama to spend out her career.
Yeah, I think we could see a lot more of that. I think you're just going to see a lot of players maybe go to that UAD or Jacksonville State and get some experience, maybe get some really good numbers, especially when you're starting to see this in baseball. You know, those teams are kind of serving like a minor league for the big leagues of SEC baseball teams down the road. So I don't know. It's a tricky thing. I think the off-seasons have never been more fraught in college sports than what we have.
But the good news is, guys, once we get to these players being on campus and we get to game days for basketball, football, baseball, softball, whatever it is, it still feels the same. It still feels like these kids are getting their all for Alabama or whatever school they're competing for. So I'm not as doom and gloom as so many people are. My best advice for a lot of fans is don't live and die with the transfer portal. Just take a deep breath this time of the year, get outside, and then once we get everything that's situated, Alabama sports are going to be right where they always kind of have been.
So again, don't live and die with every single player you see. Please come in because it is going to change a lot over the next few weeks. Roger, I went to that shop in Mecca called Walmart this morning, and a guy asked me, he says, how's Alabama going to do this season? I said, well, tell me who's going to be playing, and I'll answer that question. And I think that's across the board. But in basketball, one thing that Nate Oates is doing is he says, I listened.
You said we need to get bigger. And it sounds like Nate is going out and shopping for the trees like everybody else. Yeah, it really is. And still, unfortunately, some of these rules are still in place. I can't really talk about these guys individually. Right. They are officially announced by the school, but we know what's out there. We know that Nate's been very active in the portal, making sure that he does address the size. And again, he brought up after lost to Michigan, he wants to get bigger, faster, and stronger.
And he really has done that with some of these additions we've seen now. So yeah, I'm just like everybody else. I'm really thrilled to see some of the additions come in. And I'm also intrigued as well, what happens with Amari Allen. We saw LeBaron Files go through the same process a year ago, declaring for the draft, maintaining his eligibility. We'll see what kind of feedback Amari gets here in the next few weeks, and we'll see what his decision is going to be coming up in May.
[5:05] Alabama in the NFL draft. The NFL draft's been rather successful. Nick Saban used it as a recruiting tool for years. And I'm sure you've seen mocks with Alabama players. I've seen quite a bit this week. Michael Proctor, pick number 28 from one I saw this morning, but I think most people feel he's going in the first round. Well, Ty Simpson go to the Arizona Cardinals at number 30 in the first round, or number 34. Jeremy Bernard, Justin Jefferson, Jim Keenan, LT Overton, Parker Brasford, Deontay Lawson, just some of the Alabama players.
And I still think Josh Quavis is going to get drafted. Roger, your thoughts about Ty Simpson and Cain Proctor maybe going in the first round? How many players do you think from Alabama will eventually be drafted? I think a lot. I wouldn't have a good idea of the number on it, but I think specifically with those two guys you brought up, I think it could work in their favor long term. The fact that maybe they're not going to these rebuilding teams that have the first five picks or so.
We've seen kind of the damage that can do to appear sometimes, even though that comes with a great price tag and you're paid extremely well. You may not have an enjoyable NFL experience like Bryce Young has probably not had the NFL experience you would hope, even with being number one overall pick a few years ago. But for Ty, if he's able to land at a team that already has an established quarterback and he's able to learn from somebody and get his opportunity when he's truly ready, I mean, he could be the quarterback of the future for his team for the next 10 years or so.
It may not start this year, but I think he's going to be somebody that's going to be really set up for success down the road with the right organization. Sounds like Caden Proctor from those mock drafts as well. He'll get to go to a contender right away. And I think you could see his way on the field right away for one of those contending teams. So I think that's exciting. I think if you're an Alabama fan, want to follow these guys in the NFL, I would rather have that scenario a lot of times versus maybe being a first round, first two or three picks overall in the draft because you just never know how that's going to work out.
The best case scenario, it turns out like Will Anderson, you know, he goes to Texans, they become contenders right away. And now he's got a paycheck and all of us would dream of it. So I think the NFL draft can be a cautionary tale sometimes. It can be a great tale sometimes. And it's going to be fun to see over the next two days how it shakes out. Roger, we can confirm that Brett and I do not make what Will could be making some days. I guarantee you that.
And while we're on that, Roger, let us go ahead and confirm, Brett and I were not there the last time Alabama beat Texas in baseball. The year was 1904, which I think we were there a couple years after that, but not 1904. Your thoughts about what this Alabama baseball team did, you're as well qualified to answer that question as anybody. Yeah, it was a really good weekend in some regards in Texas in terms of starting pitching looked really good. Even Tyler Faye wasn't the sharpest on Friday night, but still kept Alabama in that ballgame before the Longhorns piled about late.
And then you got Zane Adams throwing six scoreless innings in his home state with about 300 people from Porter, Texas, making that three-hour drive as a watch and pitch. He did everything Alabama could hope for. Unfortunately, just not enough run support from the offense. Bullpen gives up a handful of runs, three in the seventh, but that was enough to lose that game. And you're kind of sitting nervously all throughout the Sunday game, thinking the same thing was going to happen. Two-nothing lead. Miles Upchurch was brilliant with his time on the mound, getting a lot of strikeouts against maybe the best offense he faced this year.
And then the bullpen was able to hang on. It became a 2-1 ballgame, but Ashton Crowther finished it out in fine fashion to get the win. And yes, that monkey is off the back for the Crimson side, who honestly hadn't played in Texas that much. Alabama only lost nine games in a row, but you're able to post a victory for the first time since, as you mentioned, 1904, first time ever winning in Austin, Texas against that team. That's certainly good. And now we've just got to get used to Alabama and Texas in the SEC together and all these different sports, including baseball.
So it was good to wait a close that. If you're going to win only one out of three on a road trip, you always want to win that last one. So I think there's some good momentum getting ready for the Blazers of UAB tonight in Tuscaloosa before we have another quick trip, as you mentioned, going to Rocky Top for a series starting on Thursday. Talk to us about that, Roger, because the SEC is kind of like somewhere where the major league baseball world is outside the Braves.
They're kind of running away there in the East. But you look at some of these divisions and it's like NASCAR. They're bumper to bumper. Your thoughts about the SEC and the pros and cons of having everybody pretty much bunched in the middle there. Yeah, it's really unlike anything we've seen. You know, Tennessee's kind of been the dominant program along with LSU the last few years. Usually those two teams have kind of separate themselves in the standings. One of them, at least, would kind of run away with the SEC regular season championship.
[10:05] Texas did that a year ago. We're not necessarily seeing it this year. The standings are all pretty tight together. You mentioned Tennessee coming up this weekend. They're only one game back of Alabama in the standings. They recently had a sweep in Starkville against Mississippi State. Georgia's been good, but they've shown they're vulnerable as well at times against Arkansas over the weekend. So I think it's as fascinating an SEC regular season races we've had as we get ready for the final four weekends of the regular season.
And I think as well as we point to Hoover, Alabama, and the SEC tournament, I mean, anybody can come away a winner with that one. And even the teams that are at the bottom, maybe, you know, the 14, 15, or 16 seed, they can have a great run and make it all the way to the semifinals or the finals if everything works in their favor, especially on the mound. So I think this is SEC baseball as good as we've seen. And I think it's even better that there's probably not truly a super team that is out there that's head and shoulders above the rest.
I think everybody's pretty much on a level playing field. And that's why we're going to continue seeing about 500 results from most of these teams down the stretch. I was actually running errands Saturday afternoon listening to you with the call. Zane Adams had a great, great six innings against Texas. By the way, a tip of the count to Alabama softball. They're number three in the country. They swept Kentucky 4-0, 42-4, 15-3. By the way, Roger, you probably heard this, a place that you have been to quite often the last five years.
The SEC softball tournament coming to Toyota Field in Madison, Alabama, beginning the 2027 season for four years. That is quite a coup. I know they wanted a neutral site. They got one. Quite a coup for Madison Huntsville in North Alabama. Yeah, I was thrilled to see that news because that is such a good ballpark, number one. And, you know, the benefits of softball and a baseball stadium is just the seating. You've got so much more seating. You know, the softball fields are just smaller by nature. And as a result, most of the stadiums are smaller.
You're not built up much along the baselines. And there's only so many people you can kind of fit in a normal softball stadium. So I love the fact that they're able to do it in a baseball stadium that's hosted softball before. It will be a very good playing surface. We know that. That's the ballpark that's less than, you know, six or seven years old. So everything's going to be first class there. And then just that area is so good with all the restaurants that are around there, all the things to do.
You're close to downtown Huntsville. It's not that far away. There's plenty of hotels, huge parking lots for fans that want to tailgate. And SEC fans love the tailgate. You know, that's another huge thing that I think they're going to enjoy. And also, it's about as centrally located as you can get in today's L.C. I know there's probably some moaning and groaning from the Oklahoma and the Texas fans about it. Of course. Yeah, of course. But you know what? Welcome to the league. You know, all these other fan bases are able to get to Madison in a relatively quick drive.
Even teams like South Carolina and, of course, Georgia, Tennessee. It's not that far away. In addition to, you know, some of your teams from Mississippi schools, Florida, and, of course, our teams here in the state. So, I think it's a tremendous location. I really do. And I applaud the Trash Bandits for being able to work with Major League Baseball to make sure they can host that every year over the next four years. I don't think people realize the scheduling difficulties that come with that. I got to see it in the Southern League when the Barons hosted the SEC tournament at the Hoover Met years ago.
That's how old I am. You know, I understand the kind of toll it can take on a minor league team having to be away from their home park one guaranteed week every year. So, again, applaud the Trash Bandits for making it happen, and I think that's going to be a tremendous atmosphere and one that hopefully goes beyond this four-year partnership. I think it's going to be very, very successful. And it's just kind of time to get softball off campus for this event. So, I've seen it at some different spots throughout the years and how they can kind of achieve the goal of elevating everybody's facilities in the SEC.
And now that every stadium is pretty modern, pretty new for SEC softball, I think this is the right move. And especially getting it more on an equal footing to what the men have with baseball. That's always the goal we have in college athletics in Title IX, and this is a huge step forward in that direction, I believe. Yeah, and I guarantee you another thing, too, being 10 minutes away from Huntsville International Airport probably helped, too, in that benefit package. Crimson Drive, who have you got on today?
Today and Thursday, UAB tonight, Rocky Topp this weekend. Tell us about your week. Yeah, first of all, on Crimson Drive, we get a great breakdown today of Tyler Faye about his no-hitter than Drew against Florida Gators, the kind of a game that turned around the season for Alabama baseball. I really look forward to catching up with Tyler Faye about that ball game. And then on our Thursday show at 2 o'clock as well on the Crimson Side Sports Network. YouTube channel, we'll have Marley Giles talking Alabama softball, Jason Suarez talking baseball, and then Larry McReynolds from Fox.
[15:16] He's going to talk some NASCAR. Give us a great preview of what's coming up at Talladega this weekend. So we're real fortunate that our show is sponsored by NASCAR, and we can't wait to talk NASCAR once again with a great Alabama fan and Larry McReynolds and a proud son of the state of Alabama. So that's all coming up on our social media platforms, again, at UA underscore CTSN. And as you mentioned, baseball coming up tonight against the Blazers in Tuscaloosa and hit the road to Tennessee for kind of an odd Thursday through Saturday series.
The night games on Thursday and Friday and then the day game on Saturday before coming home and getting to hang out with my little guy, Carson Hoover, and my wife coming up on Sunday with no phone, no computer in sight. Looking forward to that. But I do need to give you something, Roger, and that's a verbal bouquet. As someone who's done baseball back in the day, play-by-play, I was listening to your call. You're good, Roger. You're just good. There you have your verbal bouquet for the day, okay?
I appreciate that. Thank you. No one else has said it to me today. So you're my favorite sports talk show. I was wrong. You guys are bad. Aw, shucks. Keep up the good work, Roger, and thanks for your time today, buddy. Thank you, guys. Roll time. Thank you, bud. There's an art to it, and Roger does a great job. You bring up a good point, BB. You got that international airport right there. Literally, I mean, if you don't know the area, you come into the airport in less than five minutes.
You're at the ballpark. So convenience is the name of the game for that upcoming tournament for the SEC women. Coming up, he knows Auburn inside. Now that's because he's won the jersey. Former QBCT, Charlie Trotman on deck. Stay with us. Hi, this is Ike Fowler with Alabama Health Guidance. Whether you are looking for a Medicare health plan or you are under 65 and exploring individual health care options, Alabama Health Guidance can help you find the plan that fits your needs. Our local agents make it simple, so stop by our office at 885 Florence Boulevard or give us a call at 256-648-5710.
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Welcome back in. It is always a privilege for us to open the door and say hello to CT, Charlie Trotman, former Auburn quarterback, radio analyst for Auburn football. Charlie, welcome in. How are you? Thank you, Harold. I'm doing great. Hey, Brett. Hey, buddy. It's good to have you in the huddle, Charlie. Everybody's asking us, what about this Auburn Tigers football team coming out of the spring game? We said, who better to answer the question than the man who's been there and done that? You've won the jersey for Auburn in the spring game.
Charlie, where are you starting the Monday after, in this case, the Tuesday after, talking about Auburn's latest addition in spring action? Well, I like what Alex Golesh was trying to do in the spring. Guys, I think he was trying to teach the team how to practice, number one. The attitude that they have, the way to come together as a team and form a winning tradition at Auburn again. You know, it's been a long time since Auburn's had a winning season, and he understands what it takes.
And I think that, you know, from a strategic standpoint and from a schematic standpoint, they got a lot done in the spring. You know, DJ Durkin and Joel Gordon, the offensive and defense coordinators, you know, they said that, you know, Auburn offensively had to do a whole lot this spring to keep up with DJ Durkin's defense because they were throwing a lot at the offense. And it made them, you know, and Joel Gordon, especially as offense coordinator, have to put in everything that they're going to put in for the fall.
So, I think it was a good, productive spring. You know, everybody got used to each other. We're, you know, in this day and age where we are, you have so many different players that are coming to so many different places that you have to gel together as a team before you can do anything else. I mean, Auburn's quarterbacks, both of them are transfers. You know, you got running back transfers, wide receiver transfers, the tight end, Jake Johnson's a transfer from North Carolina. I mean, the whole offensive line are transfers.
So, you know, it's an incredible time that we have in college football right now because you just don't have that many people that are returning starters that come back. But, you know, Auburn's got probably about five out of the start in 22. Well, I mean, here's the other thing. You bring up a good point. Number one, how bad was it? It seemed like he was more interesting in his back nine than he was spring ball. The other thing, you bring up another point there. These coaches, they have to be part salesmen.
[25:26] So, if they bring in this transfer, they think this guy can help the team win. The only problem is you got to bring in three or four guys, like in this case, quarterbacks. And every one of them's got the same goal. They'll come in, cash out, make more money, and maybe move on to even greener pastures next year. How does a coach handle the situation that Alex inherited here from just a mindset standpoint? And for every coach out there, every player wants the same thing, playing time, because, as Nick always said, they're trying to create value for themselves.
Yeah, and he's a really good salesman. Coach Goldish is a good salesman. He's trying to sell these guys on the family atmosphere at Auburn, on Auburn being a special place to play, on the fact that you ought to have pride in what you're doing, playing at Auburn. And, you know, the guy that is, you know, the vocal point of that is Byron Brown, the quarterback who, you know, was a 3,000-yard passer and a 1,000-yard rusher last year at South Florida. And he did not have a great A-Day game.
He only threw for 85 yards and was 50 percent, seven out of 14, and had no touchdowns and two interceptions. So people would worry about that. But, you know, I remember when Cam Newton came to Auburn and they didn't – he only threw about eight or nine passes in the A-Day game and only completed three. And, you know, people were wondering when – is this guy – because they kept him from running the football and they were wondering, is this guy really going to be a good quarterback? And he ends up winning the Heisman Trophy in the national championship.
So I'm not saying that Byron Brown is, of course, going to do that. But he has certainly proven himself in pressure situations. He played against Florida last year. He played against Miami. Those defenses and did very well. They actually beat Florida. And so, you know, I think I'm excited about Byron Brown. And I think our running back room is going to be tremendously strong with Jeremiah Cobb coming back. And we got this Bryson Washington kid from – he had over 1,800 yards from Taylor. And then Omar Mabson's back.
Davenport came in from South Florida. So the running back room looks good. The question mark is going to be really the offensive line because, you know, it's a makeshift offensive line with new guys. And, you know, they're going to have to play well. The word is that they improved during the spring and they played much better at the end of spring than they did when they first started. But they had a hard time at the first of the spring campaign. Charlie, I agree with you. I think that's one thing, Ali's goal is just trying to teach these guys.
You mentioned how to practice and some of them don't know how to do that. I think he's also trying to teach them how to win. And we've talked with a lot of the Auburn beat writers and just some of the attributes he's got. Accountability, sense of urgency, attention to detail, organization, something, Charlie, he's mentioned two or three times. And in this day and time, he's brought in, I believe, 19 players from Central Florida in some of the staff. He knows his identity. I don't know if Auburn knew that for three years under Hugh Freeze.
He said, look, we're going to run the dadgum ball. And they do play action passing. Byron Brown does that well. But, Noah, I'm like you, Charlie. Alex Golich brings a lot to the table. Well, I think he does. You know, a lot of people were questioning the choice of Alex Golich. You know, we lost one of the coaches that we thought we were going to get from Tulane who ended up going to Florida. And then, you know, there were other people being considered. And, of course, you know, DJ Durkin was even considered.
And then Alex Golich comes in and people are kind of like, well, wait a minute, who's that? And he had a great career at Tennessee, had a great career at South Florida as the head coach. He knows what he wants to do, just like you said, Brett. He is a guy that he just, you know, really, really focuses on accountability. He wants these kids to be where they're supposed to be, when they're supposed to be there. You know, he even held one of the kids out for half of the A-Day for, you know, not being at one of the practices on time.
And so, you know, the kids understand what Alex Golich wants of them. The question mark is going to be, just like he said to the team at A-Day at the end of practice, he said, look, if we stick together and we gel as a team, he said, we can be a good football team. We've got the power. We can be a good football team. But if we splinter and if anybody, you know, becomes a problem on the team, it could create, you know, areas where, you know, you're not going to be effective.
[30:47] And that's not what you want. So, but I think Alex Golich knows, he knows, and he, listen, again, he knows what we're up against with his schedule. And it's going to be a tough schedule and, you know, but I believe in Alex Golich, you know, I hate to say it, but I believe that you freeze when he first came to Auburn, too. So, you know, maybe it's not in the best stead that I say that, but I see differences between Alex Golich and you freeze, very stark differences that I like.
Charlie, we had Brian Matthews of Auburn Sports on yesterday, and he said, in his opinion, the best position group on the team is the linebackers. Xavier Atkins, Elijah Melendez, and he said the most improved group may be in the defensive line. Cody Sigler from U-Hope, Dallas Walker, Deshaun Womack, Jared Smith. Charlie, would you agree? Well, I love the linebackers. I think Elijah Melendez is exceptionally talented. I think Xavier Atkins was our player of the year on defense last year. And I like DeMarcus Riddick. He was hurt a lot.
He has a shoulder injury. But I think he's a very talented player, too. So, between the three of those guys, our inside linebacker and core should be really, really good. They're very capable. And, you know, I think that Dees, there's another guy, Bryce Dees, that's really good. Shadarius Toodle is the guy that you may keep an eye on. But, you know, the linebackers, they don't, you know, they're going to play a big rotation on the defensive line. They got about nine guys that they can go nine deep.
And I think that they'll rotate a lot. And, you know, along with Jared Smith, who's the defensive end that's going to start. You got, as you said, Cody Siegler and Dallas Wofford. But you got, remember, Malik Autry, he's back. And you also got Jordan Crawford, who's back. And then, you know, so they, I like that. But I tell you another position I really like, I like our safeties. Because you got Sylvester Smith-Reed. Anquan Fagans is a tremendously gifted safety, as is Caleb Harris. I like those guys.
And then there are people that can come in and play really well, like Champ Anthony, who didn't even play because of injury in the spring. He's a very talented kid. And he's coming back from an ACL injury and should be ready for the fall. So, yeah, I think Auburn's got some talent at, you know, different positions. We hadn't talked about wide receiver. But they had a kid that had nine catches, Deshaun Spencer, for 93 yards in the spring game. And then, you know, the starters, Chas Nimrod and Kashawn Singleton and Jeremiah Coger, those are guys that have proven themselves before.
They're very dangerous. And then that does, you know, the guys that have the highest ceiling are probably Brian Williams, Jr. and Bryce Kane. So, we're talented at wide receiver. The question mark is going to be, can our offensive line give the quarterbacks enough time to get the ball around to these different guys? Absolutely. Charlie, this is another day I wish we had 30 more minutes with you. I always say that when you're on. Listen, wonderful to catch up with you and get your perspective on what I think is a much improved Auburn team.
Tell Whitney hello. I saw she had a birthday lately in Charlie, Jr. Listen, great to talk with you. We don't need an excuse to talk to you. We'll give you a call just as soon as possible. Well, thank you, guys, and I appreciate it, War Eagle, and anytime y'all need me, I'll be happy to come on. I'm writing it down even as we speak, Charlie. In the meantime, thanks again so much for your time today. You bet. You bet, guys. Thank you so much. Thank you, Charlie.
Charlie Trotman, former Auburn quarterback, coming up from Auburn to Vegas. And Bruce Marshall on deck. Stay with us. When getting the job done right is job one. You need construction equipment that's built right. From compact track loaders to the world's number one selling compact excavator, the Kubota construction lineup features durable Kubota engines, more comfort, and the versatility to do it all and do it right. Visit your local Kubota dealer today. Go to KubotaUSA.com for full disclaimer. Stop by Brown Equipment, located at 826 North Military Street in Loretto, or visit them online at brownequipmentcompany.com.
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against the Nationals. In college baseball action tonight, Alabama's at home. They'll take on UAB. The Auburn Tigers play in Hoover as they meet Samford. And Troy's at home tonight against Jacksonville State. Bundle auto and home, renters or condo, and save with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash presented by Progressive on 93.9. The score. Work days can be unpredictable. But your work wear shouldn't be. With the Cintas Apparel Plus program, you'll have freshly laundered garments for everyone on your team delivered every week. Cintas has work wear for just about any job imaginable.
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These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Use us directed. The score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The score. Welcome back in. So, how do your picks in the upcoming NFL draft pick compare to the folks out in Vegas? Who better to ask that question? The king of Vegas. Vegas, he's Bruce Marshall. He's in there. Las Vegas Insider. Inside the gold sheet wager talk. BounceSports.net. Winners and whiners. He's got it all covered, including Vegas Insider.
[41:09] Bruce, welcome in. How are you? Yeah, pretty good. Pretty busy time of year. We thought this would be a time to take it easy, but I guess it's not. So, Bruce, where do you start? How much drama is around the number one pick this week in the upcoming NFL draft? And where do you go after that? Yeah, I think that's the question, Harold. It's where you go after that. It doesn't seem to be too much drama about the top pick. The Raiders are going to take Fernando Meadows, I'm sure.
I think it is kind of interesting, though. And maybe a good move on the Raiders' part. They've got the new coach, Clint Kubiak. They've brought in Kirk Cousins to be an effective bridge for Mendoza. And I actually think that's probably a good thing. You don't have to rush Mendoza into the lineup right at the start. And if they, you know, end up doing Oakley with Cousins, you know, Mendoza may not see much action at all this season. I, for one, I know I'm very impressed with Mendoza, and I said from the start, his freshman year at Cal, I thought he reminded me of Bernie Kosar with a little more mobility.
And that's sort of proven true. But Cal was not a big winner with Mendoza. It happened last year for him at Indiana. And a lot's being made about that scramble and that touchdown in the game against Miami in the title game. Well, he's not that fast. And when you've got, in the NFL, when you've got guys like Nick Benito chasing you, you're not going to outrun them. So, I'm still not sure how great he's going to be. But I'm pretty sure he's going to be the number one pick.
And then we get down to more of the, you know, more of the questions in the draft come after that. And I think that's where it starts to get kind of fun. Well, I asked you your top five last week. Tennessee has the scuttlebutt. There's Jeremiah Love, again, to compliment Cam Ward. But I've been hearing the last couple of days, and this may just be draft smoke, that Arizona may take Jeremiah Love. Orville Reese from Ohio State. David Bailey from Texas Tech. Those dudes aren't going very far down the list.
Again, who, what are you hearing about the Titans? Will Arizona go for Love instead of David Bailey? What are you hearing about the next four? It could be on all those. Arizona, and oh, by the way, with Arizona, I cannot believe they would actually go into the season with Jacoby Brissett and Garrett and Gardner Minshew as their two quarterbacks. For where, I mean, listen, Brissett's a good backup. His record as a starter, I think, is like eight and 33, his last four. No good. They are absolutely kidding themselves.
They think he's a better option than Tyler Murray, though. Maybe it was time for Murray to move on. So Arizona's got a big quarterback thing to check out there. But they are in need of some playmakers. And I could actually see them jumping in there and taking Love at three ahead of Tennessee. I could also see a scenario where the Titans, who also have a new coach there, decide to go, you know, impact defense at that point. And that puts, if David Bailey from Texas Tech is still on the board, I don't think Garfield Reese will be at that point.
I think he's going to. But Bailey or Sonny Stiles could be possible for Tennessee in that spot. So I keep an eye on them. That's going to be sort of the first pivot point, I think, of the first rungs. I think the first few picks, first two at least, will be pretty cemented. I don't think Jeremiah Love would go and drop further than seven. And that's, you get to the Commanders at seven. So in any event, I don't see him dropping below that. But that'll be sort of the intrigue.
And that's picks four through seven. So I think the intrigue starts at pick three. What Arizona does. And they could go for Love there. And I think that's where you're going to start seeing a lot of dominoes falling. Because I do think it's Mendoza and Reese one, too. Get the latest from the King of Vegas. Bruce Marshall, again, amongst other places, they're at the goal sheet. Bruce, you know the indulgent question for our zip code. What about Bama? What about Auburn? Back in the day with Nick, are they going to have two, three, four, five in the first round?
The question now, how many do you see Alabama having? And where do you put Proctor and Simpson and Bernard? Well, Proctor is the only, for sure, first-round pick. I've seen him mid to late first round. I don't think he drops below 25 or so. I've seen him up as high as, like, 15. He's the only surefire one I see in the first round. Maybe someone takes a shot at Ty Simpson later in the first round. In any event, I don't see him lasting beyond right near the top of the second round when the Jets get their second pick.
[46:14] And they certainly could use some help there. I think he might be gone by them. Simpson is the only other one, I think. That's the only other one who would project him in the first round from Alabama. I mean, Jimmy Bernard will project probably as a second-round pick. But I think that's about it for Bama in the first couple rounds. You know, Auburn, Keldrick Falk, mid-late first round probably with him. But I think that's the only Auburn guy we're talking about in the first few rounds, I think.
But I do think he will go there late first round. Something tells me Simpson might go earlier than the top of the second round. And I say that because my gut feel is that the pundits are underrating this quarterback class. And there's so much group thing. It's like, okay, Mendoza and then not so many others. I don't know about that. I mean, I think Simpson could be an interesting prospect here for a lot of teams. There are some others on the board there, too, who I am very interested about.
One, I think, you know, Taylor Greene did not look bad in some of these all-star appearances and workouts from Arkansas. He is a prototype modern quarterback with the ability to move. He's got some Lamar Jackson in him. I would watch him. I think Diego Pavia is kind of interesting. He's such a gamer. A few people seem to watch. You just need one team to take a chance on him. I also think there's two others I would watch here. One is Haynes King, who apparently is really impressed in workouts.
I think he's just a winner. He can run. He can throw. He's going to make somebody very happy. My real sleeper is Cade Klubnick because I see a lot of Brock Purdy in him. I know Clemson didn't quite win as big as they had been with Trevor and Deshaun Watson with Klubnick, but I think the whole roster had sort of downgraded some. He does a lot of the same things Purdy does, and I think somebody's going to be happy with him. And I just remember back last year, some of the backup quarterbacks in the NFL, man, I mean, they really was bad last year.
Some of these teams, Jets and Miami and so on. I mean, some of these guys I think have a chance to stick, and I'll be interested to see who takes a shot with them. Jamon McCoy, Tennessee I've seen certainly one, maybe two. Jamon McCoy I've seen number 12 to the Cowboys. Didn't play it down or played very little for Tennessee after getting hurt early in the season. Colton Hood, who was at Auburn. Then Tennessee I've seen in the late first round, early second round. And Garrett Nussmeyer, who literally got benched in the Alabama game in Tuscaloosa, the NFL checkup, medical checkup, found a cyst on his spine that was causing a lot of pressure, and they couldn't figure out the oblique deal, and that may be an issue.
I've seen him third. So will Tennessee get one or two in the first round, and could Nussmeyer go third or fourth round? I think yes on both of those. I think Tennessee will get one in the first round. Nussmeyer is interesting, and because of that, at the end of the year, you're going to have to have some teams project on him. I mean, into last season, he was probably thought to be like a second-round pick, maybe even a borderline first-round pick. But it was sort of a disappointing year for him, but I think because of what you said, the medical condition, if they've corrected that, he could definitely be worth a look.
So we'll see where that goes. One other quarterback, speaking about medical stuff in the past, Carson Beck, he did get to the national title game before he hurt his elbow. You know, he was regarded as a first-round pick, and he did have a decent year last year. So he's another one of those, probably a mid-third to fifth-round pick, maybe even later. It's hard to say how the draft guys end up evaluating the quarterbacks, because it just seems there's, like we said, so much groupthink there. But I would think as soon as one or two of these guys go in the third ground or so, they'd just see a few more go.
So there's sort of a pack mentality, and somebody's going to take a chance on all those guys, I think, before they get done on Saturday. The draft, of course, is front and center this week, but I thought it was interesting. Billy Donovan stepped down from the Chicago Bulls. You wonder if North Carolina would have waited a little later. Hint, hint. And then Golden State, reportedly interested. If Steve Kerr steps down, Todd Golden, who coached at San Francisco for three years, there's a lot of internet scuttlebutt about, you know, can you connect the dots here?
[51:17] You know, we'll certainly see. We'll talk about that next week with you. But I know you've got the NFL draft, Major League Baseball. The Braves are hot, Bruce Marshall. The Kentucky Derby, a week from Saturday. Nobody bets on that, I know. Where can we get online to get all the great stuff? Yeah, the Braves are hot, and the Phillies and Mets are not. So we've got the NL East is already looking like a one-team race. But anyway, all that stuff is going on, and check it out for me.
Everything nowadays is under that one umbrella, the wagertalk.com umbrella. So gold sheet stuff is up there. We'll have one gold sheet, of course, in football season, but also now picksandparlays.com, winnersandwiners.com. That's part of wagertalk.com. You get all my picks there. We're having a pretty good run in Stanley Cup, NBA playoffs, and MLB right now. It's better to talk about the draft now than back when young men were in the 70s and the Vietnam War. A whole different thing. Bruce, it's always good to hook it with you, man.
Thank you so much. You keep up the good work. Happy draft to you, okay? Happy draft to you, boys, too. Thank you. Thank you, buddy. Marshall against other places, Vegas Insider. Quick note, BB. The name Allen Osmond came up this morning, passed away. The oldest Osmond brother at the age of 76. The reason we bring that up, do you remember a song called One Bad Apple? Oh, yeah. You know where that was recorded? Don't tell me it was in most of the shows. Right next door at the famed, famed studios in 1970.
Allen Osmond, again, passing away at the age of 76. Coming up the next hour, we're going to be taking you all over the place. Matt Merchel is going to be on board. Joe Cox talking to SEC. And Hank South used to be talking Alabama, now talking Texas. Got that more straight ahead. Stay with us. Thank you. Thank you. Dell PCs with Intel inside are built for the moments you plan. And the ones you don't. For the time you forgot your charger at the gate. Passengers, we are now on our initial ascent.
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Paid spokesperson. Time spent on application may vary. Online health questions required. Hey, it's Rich Eisen for Pella Windows and Doors. Sometimes teams take a timeout to regroup and call the right play. When it comes to your home, Pella Windows and Doors always has the winning game plan. They're not just window and door experts. They're experts at taking care of you and your home. At Pella, they find the products that meet your needs, and their experts install them. They do it every day, and that's why your neighbors trust them.
[56:32] Discover why Pella is a trusted choice for homeowners everywhere. Visit Pella.com slash Eisen today. That's Pella.com slash Eisen. 18-19 News. A circuit court judge has ruled in favor of the Central Alabama Water Board and against the city of Birmingham and its lawsuit. Judge Frederick Bowling dismissed the case that was brought to his courtroom against the CAW over their decision to end their fluoridation program. The judge determined that the CAW complied with the law in the decision that they made after the utility was restructured last year under state law.
The judge also criticized the actions of the previous board members under the former Birmingham Water Works Board for their leadership of the utility that was based on them ensuring financial contracts that helped them with financial gain rather than ensuring the infrastructure was maintained and improved. The city of Birmingham claimed that the CAW did not adequately provide notice of their decision to stop fluoridation, but the judge says there is proof that the state health department was notified of the plan several times and any failure to do so publicly was a technicality.
I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Where I was living was not a great place to live anymore. I began to pray for a place to go, praying for all of these things that a nine-year-old would want. I wanted horses, big house with a bunch of people my age. I wanted parents, I wanted a mom and a dad. Before I even prayed it, the Lord had already answered my prayer with the Big Oak Ranch. Who would that nine-year-old be if she never came to the Big Oak Ranch?
I would be trying to fight for survival instead of fighting to break a cycle. Big Oak Ranch, a Christian home for children needing a chance. Authorities in Calhoun County say that the cause of death for a 10-year-old girl in Piedmont was by way of stabbing. Catherine Bigby was found at a home Friday night after she'd been reported missing from her own home. Another juvenile is now facing murder charges and has been taken into police custody. A tech company that creates unmanned aerial systems or drones is moving to the Wiregrass region.
Flightworks will be creating a hub that will be located near Fort Rucker. I'm Andrea Tice. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shore. Sports Radio 93.9, The Score. Boomo Bugg on 93.9, The Score. What do you say we go to literally the home of the champions? Wife wins national championships in football. Husband wins national championships in basketball. Andrea Adelson from ESPN. What's in the water at the Adelson House in Orlando, Florida?
How are you? Well, I'm doing great, fellas. You know we're home to the two best universities in the whole entire world. I've heard that. I've heard that. It's natural that those schools win championships. By the way, you may not have heard this, but Arch Manning is the starting quarterback at Texas. You can confirm that. What? You can confirm that. The summer of March. You heard it first here. The summer of March. Hey, Reese Davis, take that. Oh, baby. Yeah. The Boomo Bugg show. Weekdays, noon to two on 93.9, The Score.
93.9, The Score weather. Today, increasingly cloudy with a high around 80. Tonight, mostly cloudy with a low near 55. Tomorrow, mostly sunny with a high around 80. Tomorrow night, mostly clear with a low near 55. And for Thursday, sunny with a high around 85. 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 tide. Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score.
Welcome back again. Our truly Boomo Bugg show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley. And for Hank South, taking time out of his busy schedule now as managing entrance. Called on texasfootball.com. You'll never guess what Hank talks about. Hank, welcome in. Congratulations on the move. Long time. How are you? Hey, yeah, thanks for having me, guys. I'm good. How are you all? Well, the question is how to think, Seth. Talk to us about your brand-new gig at ontexasfootball.com.
Yeah, made the move over on March 1st. Was obviously covering Texas for 24-7 sports for a few years. But had the opportunity to work with Bobby Burton, who's a pioneer of this industry. And several other guys that have been around in my career, like Jerry Hamilton, Jeff Howe, Rob Baber, C.J. Vogel. So it was a really good team. I got the chance to join them and didn't want to pass it up. So I've been having a lot of fun. And we're building out our website and obviously have a big YouTube page that we do a lot of our work on.
[1:01:51] But, yeah, it's been really fun. I'm enjoying it. Appreciate you coming on with us, Hank, because it gives us a chance to totally confirm. I don't know if you heard a little fun piece there with Andrew Adelson from ESPN. Brett was coming up with some breaking news that Art Manning apparently is going to be the starting quarterback at Texas. Hank, can you confirm or deny that? I can confirm that. Yep. Absolutely. Talk to us about the weight on this young man's shoulders. I mean, how in the world, the beginning of last season, obviously the year before that, could anybody outside of Superman live up to those expectations?
But it was almost, in some ways, would you agree that it was a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde? Once he got comfortable, then all that natural talent started coming to the forefront. We see it in Major League Baseball. A rookie comes up. No way they can live up to the expectations. And then once they settle in and they say, hey, I can do this, then you start seeing all that natural talent come through. Hank, your thought, let's face it, he's the hub of the wheel for this Texas football team.
I would assume you would agree with that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you know, in some way, I think, you know, last year was the expectations put on him and the team were unfair. I mean, a guy that hadn't been a full-time starter, being the number one Heisman pick, you know, preseason and all that, preseason number one team, Texas was, you know, for the first time since I don't know how long, maybe ever, in both polls. So, in a way, it was unfair, just because there wasn't enough, you know, sample size.
He had started games in the past, you know, in place of Quinn Ewers when he was dealing with an injury in 2024 and performed well. But, you know, to throw that on him and expect, you know, Heisman in national championship, first year as a full-time starter, probably a little unfair. But, like you said, you know, halfway through the season on that back half, kind of, you know, after they beat Oklahoma, after losing to Florida on the road, and, you know, they had the games against Kentucky and Mississippi State that were a little close for comfort.
He started getting comfortable. We actually, you know, we talked to him last week for the first time this spring. Obviously, you know, he had the off-season foot surgery, so he hasn't been going full speed in spring practice. You know, he's been throwing, he's been participating, but, you know, it's not live contact or anything, or, you know, KJ Lace has been the guy handling most of the first-team reps in spring. But, talking to Arch, you know, he said he just wasn't having fun last season. So, you know, Ohio State, obviously, he didn't play that well.
You know, he struggled throughout the month of September when, really, he should have been seemingly patting his stats against, you know, inferior competition. And then, you know, I think he said, starting around, like, after that Mississippi State game, they had kind of a little players' meeting and said, like, let's just have fun, just, like, turn it loose. And then, obviously, you know, we saw how they performed in the back half of the season after that Georgia game. But, yeah, no, he's, he feels, he seems much more comfortable.
I think he's handling, you know, speaking with him last week, a lot looser. Arch is always very soft-spoken. He's not going to say too much to the media. He does not, very clearly, he's not like doing media. But when we talked to him last week, he was cracking some jokes. He was showing, you know, talking, giving a little bit longer of answers, you know, having more conversation with it. Seemed like he was a lot more comfortable. So, I think, you know, last year was probably good in terms of facing that adversity.
And I think, you know, with the pieces they've added around him, I think you can expect him to continue that upward trajectory. I think we want to talk to you about some of the offensive weapons that have come in that will help Arch. Kim Coleman from Auburn, Hollywood Smothers. It was a 12-hour commitment to Alabama, North Carolina State. Relique Brown, I think, is going to really help the running game. The offensive line is going to be a key. But the guy that nobody gets talked about, which amazes me, is one of the best defensive coordinators in the history of college football, Will Muschamp.
And I don't know if he's put his fence through a whiteboard yet or not. But he may be the difference in this team getting to the final four. Talk about the return of Will Muschamp to Texas. Yeah, it was a really big deal. And I think, you know, you look at last year's Texas team, and I think immediately after the season, you would say, oh, well, you know, defense wasn't really their problem. You know, they had, you know, some lapses here and there. But, you know, Pete Kwiatkowski, the former defensive coordinator, was very well or is very well respected and, you know, considered one of, you know, the defense was almost considered one of the strengths of the team.
And, you know, when that move happened, you know, you started to hear a little bit more about kind of, you know, inside the building, I guess. You know, Sark, when he spoke to the media after Will Muschamp was announced, he talked about how he can fully give the defense to Will Muschamp and he can put his focus on the offense where, you know, Will Muschamp can be the head coach of the defense. So, you know, was it Sark having to spend too much time on the defensive game plan to, you know, be able to fully, you know, unleash his playbook?
Who knows? But, no, I mean, it's a huge addition. It changes kind of the mentality of this bunch in that, you know, Texas is going to be a much more aggressive attacking style defense, which is obviously what Will Muschamp wants. Whereas, you know, last year, Texas would build leads against teams, you know, Vanderbilt's a great example, where, you know, that game was over at halftime, and then they would kind of just, you know, do, you know, they wouldn't go zone coverage, back off, and just, you know, kind of just play to make it to the finish line and not, you know, continue to attack.
[1:07:19] And so I think what Will Muschamp brings is obviously he's going to play a more aggressive man style coverage in the secondary, you know, and again, they're going to force, you know, he wants to force the quarterback to make, sorry, I keep getting phone calls, he wants to force the quarterback to make tough throws, you know, small windows, you know, you know, capitalize on turnovers, whatnot. And that was evident in the spring game or spring practice, however you want to call it, from last Saturday, you know, the defense, I mean, that was, they certainly won the scrimmage, you know, they didn't have a full spring game, but they were the winners of that outing.
You know, the linebackers were in the backfield, it felt like almost every play, the edge rushers were very active, even the, you know, the safeties were getting in on the action in that aspect. But, you know, it was very clear Will Muschamp was back, there was an off-sides call on Saturday's scrimmage, you heard a very loud expletive from Will Muschamp on the sidelines, and the whole crowd erupted in tears. So, you know, he's back. It wasn't his whiteboard moment, but it was like, hey, he's here.
Hank, by the way, if that phone call is from Mark, I just want to give you a scoop, we can understand if you need to take it. But in the meantime, check out the rest of the story when it comes to Texas with Hank, it's called OnTexasFootball.com. Hank, who better to ask, if you'll indulge us for a second, you know Alabama, you've covered them back in the day, you're now in Texas, how do you compare and contrast just the whole vibe and the whole different programs between Tuscaloosa and Austin?
Yeah, you know, obviously football is paramount in both programs. You know, I think when I made, you know, I've been a Texas guy my whole life. I've always lived in Texas. I went to Texas, and so I've seen Texas for a long time. But, you know, when I covered Alabama for eight years, it was very clear just Alabama was on a different level of talent. You know, it's obvious to say that. But when I got to Texas, you know, they were on the come up. They were, you know, they were trying to get to that level.
They hired Steve Sarkeesian from Alabama to make them more like Alabama. And as I, you know, as the denial era has gone on and we've seen them able to, you know, accumulate more talent, it feels more like covering Alabama than it ever has, just in terms of, you know, you look at the depth chart. And, I mean, from top to bottom, I mean, there's just not a lot of weaknesses from, you know, and I remember those, you know, a 2016 Alabama team, that defense, you know, that 2017 class where they're just like waves and waves of people.
It feels like Texas is now to the point where they can come at you in waves, and that's kind of the best way I could describe Bama and their, you know, Bama has a program now. So, too, they can come at you in waves, and, you know, they just wear you down into the fourth quarter. And so, you know, back to Will Muschamp, that's another thing, you know, I think that the idea is like, you know, Stark doesn't want them to sit back and just win games by hanging on until the end.
He wants to wear teams down. And so, I'm seeing that more and more with the guys they're signing with, and, you know, obviously the 105 scholarships helps, too, you know, now that they can bring in more and more people for depth. But it feels like, I was just doing a video with guys on Texas football, where just, I think they go seven deep on the interior defensive line, in terms of guys that can give them solid play. And that's going to help you in SEC play. You know, you win in the trenches, and, you know, they certainly have amassed some talent to do that.
Speaking of talent, I mentioned the names earlier. They're Cam Coleman, Hollywood Smothers, and Malik Brown. What kind of a spring did that trio have? Yeah, so, Texas completely, and people probably don't realize this as much, Texas completely rebuilt their running back room. They had, most of their guys transfer out. You know, we saw C.J. Baxter, a former five-star, go to Kentucky. Christian Clark, who was the star of the Citrus Bowl, go to South Carolina. Trey Wisner, who was the RB1 for two years, go to Florida State.
So, they hired a new coach, Jabar Jalouk, from Florida. And, yeah, they went out and got Raleigh Brown, who's kind of that scat-back, kind of, you know, versatile guy from Arizona State. And then Bama fans obviously know the story with Hollywood Smothers. Similar, a little bit bigger, but both guys, I think, that can make offensive lines look better than maybe they are, in terms of just their shiftiness and their ability to kind of create on the fly. And, you know, that fits what Texas wants to do.
They're a zone team. That's their scheme. And I think both of those guys fit that. And, you know, I was talking to Jabar Jalouk the other day when he was doing his media, and someone asked him to describe Raleigh in Hollywood. And he said he would, I think he described Raleigh as a Tasmanian devil with, like, a Tasmanian devil. He's called him a bowling ball with, like, razor blades on him. And then he said he compared, like, Hollywood to a hurricane. So, you know, some wordage there, descriptive terms.
But they've had great springs. Texas has been a little bit careful with their running backs after their couple of fall camps ago. They had some pretty terrible injury luck and lost a couple of starting running backs for the season. So they haven't been going live action as much, or at least to the ground. So they've kept those guys on ice. Raleigh in Hollywood didn't really play in the spring showcase. Cam Coleman, same thing. I think everybody knows what Cam Coleman brings so that, you know, they weren't going to go out there and risk, you know, him getting injured in the spring showcase.
[1:12:48] But all the returns on Cam Coleman have been exactly what you would expect. I mean, just, he's wide receiver one. He comes into a unit with Ryan Wingo, who was wide receiver one. I think Ryan Wingo is excited to have him opposite, just so they can both kind of, you know, open up opportunities for themselves in the defense, or play against the defense. And then I'm trying to remember, who was the other transfer you asked me about? No, no, that was the three. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, they're real excited about Cam Coleman, as they should be.
I mean, that's obviously their marquee addition. I think this is a contract year for him. He's going to, and the one thing, and you don't expect this with, like, big-name guys as much, is they've all talked about how humble he is. Like, he came in from Auburn, which is a different offense than Texas. So he's trying to learn all, like, the intricacies of everything you're asked to do as a wide receiver at Texas. And the coach, the wide receivers coach, Chris Jackson, was telling us the other day, like, he's out there with the freshmen after practice just trying to learn the verbiage and everything with Arch and the quarterbacks, just trying to make sure he has everything down, you know, whereas, you know, he could probably big-time most people and say, oh, I know how to do this.
But he's bought into, you know, that aspect of it as well. So all the returns on Cam Coleman have been very positive, and I think he'll have a big year. Well, I know you're going to have a big year. Listen, Harold and I thoroughly enjoyed working with you when you were covering Alabama. Good things happen to good people. I'm glad to see. Managing editor of onTexasFootball.com. Listen, we wish you all the luck in the world. We don't really need an excuse to talk to you, but we'll give you a call from time to time to see.
Congratulations again. Listen, much success. Good luck with the family and everything else. Tell us again where we can get online and get the new site and all the good information. Yeah. I appreciate you guys reaching out. Yeah, I'd love to catch up here and there. But it's onTexasFootball.com. We're a website right now. I think it's like five bucks to join. If Alabama listeners want to go subscribe to a Texas football site or catch our content on YouTube, too. That's probably where you might enjoy it most is on Texas football on YouTube.
Sounds great, Hank. You might want to work on that beep button for Will Muschamp. So, let's do it again down the road. And thank you so much for your time today. Sounds good. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Hank South, managing editor, is called brand new on TexasFootball.com. He is all over the SEC. He's Joe Cox. And he's next on the Boomo Bugg Show. Stay with us. Baseball season is back, and there's no better place to catch every inning than Sam's Sports Grill in Florence. For 26 years, we've been bringing you quality food, consistent favorites, and service that feels like home.
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Crack open a Confetti Craze 5-Hour Energy shot today. From the University of Alabama, this is Crimson Tide Today. It's a daily update on Bama Sports, and it's brought to you by Vector Security Champions Lane, the best pregame fan fest in college football. For more information, visit championslane.com. Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hoover. On Tuesday's edition of Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR, we'll be joined by Alabama baseball right-handed pitcher Tyler Faye. I was really tired after that one, too. I think that probably gassed me out more than anything.
But, yeah, it was all the emotion just kind of flooded in at once. That's really cool. And then your family was there as well. You mentioned in your interview with us before that, about a week before, that Florida was your favorite team growing up. I mean, that makes it even more special. But especially having your family, the picture on the field of the scoreboard, how cool was that? That was awesome. Yeah, being able to share that moment with all of them was really, really special. Like, after my on-field interview and everything, I turned around, and Chloe, my wife, was there.
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Crimson Tide Today is a production of the Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back in from A to Z. He's got the SEC covered there at Saturday Down South. Joe Cox, welcome in. How are you? Oh, I can't complain. Doing all right. Hope you guys are doing well today. You're good? Well, we could be doing, hopefully, as well as some of these guys coming up in the NFL draft later on this week. Let's focus on some of our neighbors, Joe.
Over the years, the SEC has dominated. How do you see first-rounders from the SEC going in this year's draft? Well, I mean, the big difference is this year, I think we're pretty well set that the top dog here is going to be Mr. Mendoza from Indiana. Yeah. Granted, the way the CFP went down, it's hard to argue that. I mean, I'm sure the league is still going to be very well represented, and I'm sure that the teams that are always there are always going to be there.
But at the same time, you know, yeah, it reflects a little bit more parity than it did probably a year or three ago. You know, the thing is, Joe, obviously the ego and the pocketbook loves to be drafted first. The tradeoff on that is you're going to a bad team. In fact, you're going to the worst team barring a trade in the NFL from last season. Ask Bryce Young and a host of other folks who've had to go through that ordeal. The check's good, but the bruises are big, along with the Bucs.
Your thoughts, situation like Ty Simpson. Now, obviously, who knows where it's going to go? We don't. Speculation is late first round, maybe even early in the second round. The flip side of that is maybe you'll have some big old uglies up there. Maybe the check may be smaller, but the offensive linemen sometimes are bigger to protect you. Oh, absolutely. You know, you would look through the list of the great NFL quarterbacks, and for every Peyton Manning who goes number one, there's a Tom Brady who's going in the late rounds.
Joe Montana, I think, was the third round guy. You know, you can go down the list. Really, the thing about the draft is to get your foot in the door, to get that opportunity. And from there, you know, team fit becomes key, style of play becomes the key, so many things that even the best players have little to no control over. So, you know, this is a fancy way to say it's a crapshoot. They know more than we do, but they don't know that much more than we do.
Joe, Cain, speaking of Alabama, Cain Proctor, I've seen his high as number six, and I'd be surprised if he went that high. But Proctor, a lot of people feel is more of a first-round pick than Ty Simpson, even though Simpson has done a marvelous job. Some of his clips with that former Oakland Raider coach were quite hilarious. Jamon McCoy, who didn't play or played very little, I hear, may be in the first round. And Auburn may have their first picks since 2019. Kendrick Falk, who right now looks like he may be going to the Bears at number 25.
[1:24:01] Falk is certainly a good prospect. Proctor is one of those guys that's hard to project, and he, in a lot of ways, illustrates what the NFL Draft is all about, which is potential more than really production. And he's got a frame I think they say you can dream on. You know, when you're talking about a big, big horse of a man, yeah, he's not a finished product, but maybe you can finish him. On the other hand, you know, somebody like Ty Simpson, he's much closer now than I think where he's going to end up.
So, you know, again, it becomes all about fit. It becomes all about philosophy, all of these things that are decided at the high pay levels. But, you know, you see every year guys slip lower than they should. Guys get picked higher than they should. You know, there'll be some of that on both sides this year. Joe Cox Saturday down south. It's an interesting decision to speculate about what could have been for Alabama. A couple of other guys projected to go high. Everybody thought Peter Woods was a lock to come to Bama.
He winds up at Clemson. He's projected some folks number 22 to San Diego. Caleb Downs did come to Alabama. Alabama had a cup of coffee for a season transferred out from greener pastures and paydays with Ohio State. It kind of illustrates those two, what could have been. Back in the day, it would have been a whole different ball game. But when you start looking at what Alabama didn't have, I mean, Peter Woods and Caleb Downs, you can only sit here and speculate what might have been if Alabama had been able to land those two and keep those two.
Well, I mean, you said it, keep those two. Retention is such a different thing than it used to be. I mean, retention used to mean keeping the guy's second string happy long enough to see him matriculate up the depth chart. Now it means keeping your stars. I mean, you know, you're re-recruiting your own team every week. And so that's been the dilemma. And certainly when you have a coaching change and a particularly massive coaching change like Coach Saban's retirement, it would be silly not to see.
You know, to expect to see some fallout from that. But, you know, it's never a dull moment these days. Don't blink. Don't blink with your team. Don't blink with trying to improve your team. SEC baseball, which Joe Conks knows very well, Texas A&M may be the hottest team in the league and only won two out of two instead of two out of three. The weather got the other one. They've won their last four SEC series. Ole Miss is playing better. They got swept by Mississippi State and Oxford in March.
This month, I believe they're seven and two in SEC play. Georgia keeps hitting one home run after another. They leave the nation with 113 home runs. Got their first road win against Arkansas in 18 years. And, Joe, I never thought I'd say this, but LSU is having a lousy season. Yeah, they really are. And, boy, I mean, you kind of run through it there. It has been such a tough league. I think the one real concern here for the SEC is that you don't kind of repeat what you had in basketball, where you had a bunch of really good teams and nobody really, you know, swam to the front of the pack and held up against other guys.
That hasn't been a problem in baseball, and I wouldn't anticipate it being now. I think the SEC will be well represented in Omaha come time for all that. But the lack of one big dog leading the hunt is a little bit of a concern. Joe, your thoughts about Tennessee, everybody thought they were dead, and like everybody else, they come out of the ashes at Starkville, the home of great, historically, anyway, SEC baseball. Your thoughts about the Vols, and I believe Alabama maybe wants you to answer that question for them since they kind of got them on the schedule coming up here soon.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we're getting down to the point where, you know, every series is going to become pivotal. Tennessee had a terrible, terrible start, but, you know, it doesn't shake up awful now to play that series with Alabama and Knoxville is a big deal because, you know, if you're Tennessee and you win that series, you've got Kentucky next, the Wildcats are struggling. You could well come out of those two series at 500 in the league, and if you do that, you know, you're kind of to house money.
You've still got Texas and Oklahoma coming up, and neither of those are easy, but nobody's easy these days. It's just a matter of putting together enough wins to put that resume on ice, so to speak. Vandy, or I was looking at Alabama's schedule here, Vandy coming up for them, and that's a team that could go either way. They've still got South Carolina, so Alabama's in good shape, in better shape than Tennessee, but that series as we get in Knoxville could flip that. Joe, what about Alabama?
[1:29:01] They lost two out of three to Texas. Zane Adams was throwing a shutout through six in the Saturday game, and then Texas won three to one, and then Alabama comes back to win two to one. Zane Adams, Tyler Faye, who threw the no-hitter against the Gators, they've got good pitching. They just haven't had the clutch pitching. They've got swept by Arkansas. I think they've got a more manageable schedule. Joe, your thoughts on the time? They really do. The schedule gets a little lighter. Yeah, to lose five in a row in the league, that last win over Texas is a big one.
And, boy, the Longhorns, you talk about a team with some strengths. Man, they can pitch. I think they are on the mound where Georgia has been at the plate, and Alabama certainly struggled to put runs together in that series. You know, big one in Knoxville, then in a Vanderbilt team in Tuscaloosa that could really, you know, put its season in jeopardy if they don't come out and play well. And then, you know, having South Carolina there in the back end gives Alabama a little bit of extra cushion.
Feel good about the Tide. And the question is going to be, can you stack up, you know, 16, 17 league wins and get to the point where you're talking about hosting? I think they certainly can, but they need to take care of some business here over the next couple weekends. Yeah, Texas had 19 strikeouts of Alabama on Saturday. Wow. That's amazing pitching. And Joe Cox has got amazing stories. Janky Robinson Day was last week, I believe last Wednesday, but we failed to mention that. I know you've got a book on him.
Joe, where can we get online and get the power rankings, watchability, all the good SEC baseball stuff on this SDS? Saturday down south and then the book, you know, anywhere you get those books a million, Amazon, wherever. You know, it's funny to talk about it. Right about the time I finished that book on Robinson, I stopped to pick up something in a Walmart in a little town in Tennessee. And I'm walking in the front door and I see a little boy who's wearing a homemade number 42 Jackie Robinson t-shirt.
And I thought, boy, that is when it's eternal, when, you know, 70, 80 years on, people are still, you know, kind of making their own relic to touch a little piece of the history. And I enjoyed doing that. And I think if anybody wants to study how Robinson changed the people around him, I'd certainly encourage you to check out my book and send those nickels and dimes my way via royalty. I guarantee you. Hey, Joe, listen, it's always good to hook up with you. Thank you so much and keep up the good work, okay?
Always enjoy talking to you guys. You guys take care of yourself. Speaking of baseball players and from the city of New York, how about Ryan Weathers against Kansas City, seven and a third, eight strikeouts, big night for the pride of Loretto. It's ERA now at 3-1-8. And in modern baseball, that is very, very, very good. So congratulations to Ryan Weathers and the New York Yankees. Coming up, it's time to head down to the big goal, Orlando and Matt Merchell on deck. Stay with us. Hello, my name is Adam Birchall, and I'm an attorney with a law firm of Johnson, Passeur, Medley, and Birchall.
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They'll take on UAB. The Auburn Tigers play in Hoover as they meet Samford. And Troy's at home tonight against Jacksonville State. Atlanta Braves yesterday. Winners in D.C. as the Braves beat the Washington Nationals 9-4. The Braves now 16-7. Bryce Elder earned the win. He's 3-1. Braves will send out Reynaldo Lopez tonight in D.C. against the Nationals. Bundle auto and home, renters or condo, and save with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash, presented by Progressive on 93.9, The Score. Find what you love, love what you find.
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Unlimited readings from anywhere at a surprisingly affordable price. Order now at Cardia, K-A-R-D-I-A dot com or Amazon. Because when it comes to your heart, seconds count. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9, The Score. The Score. Welcome back again. Time to say hello to Matt Merchia. He's got the college world covered. There's College Insider with the Orlando Center on his podcast. It's called 365, Gridiron 365 to be exact. Matt, welcome in. Happy Tuesday to you. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you guys doing today?
Hey, man. Gearing up for a little draft talk. Are you ready for the NFL draft, Matt? Yeah. You better be, right? It starts on Thursday. And I think it's going to be another interesting draft for sure. It'll be one of those. I'm sure it'll be one that'll be steeped in finding out who's going to be the number one quarterback and who's going to be, you know, who's going to be some of the winners and losers of the draft. You know, the thing is, it also shows you the power of the transfer portal.
A couple of names. It's several, but one, obviously, Mendoza, which he should catch the biggest check of all. He bounced all over the place before hitting a gold mine there in Indiana. Caleb Downs from Alabama. He made a lot of money anyway. He goes to Ohio State, makes money, moves on. But here's what I think is interesting about this, Matt, that a lot of folks may or may not be talking about it. That is, some of these kids, they're basically going to take a pay cut with it or not.
[1:39:25] I mean, talk about the kids who came in and sold their wares early to these colleges, and now they may have to wind up going way down the draft board. Did we ever think we'd have a conversation where someone may have been taking a pay cut to go from college to the NFL? Yeah, it's incredible right now. You know, you're talking about the players, you know, you've got quarterbacks that have been, you know, making five, six million dollars a year, you know, and you can see why so many players are suing NCA to try to get some more eligibility so they can go back to school.
I mean, this isn't about getting a degree or getting a master's degree. This is about making more money, and if you feel like, you know, you don't have an opportunity or you feel like, you know, you don't want to be maybe, you know, an undrafted free agent that has to sign with the practice squad, you might want to stay in school and have an opportunity to make some money and be successful there. You never know. I mean, depending on what happens, you could always move your way up the draft board.
You could find a little bit more success. But, yeah, the number of, you know, especially if you guys look at the numbers of, you know, underclassmen who decided to leave early, those numbers have really kind of gone down with everything going on, you know, with NIL and, you know, I think that's you're seeing those players deciding maybe to stay an extra year or two because it's more profitable. And I don't blame them. I mean, listen, get some money while you can because, you know, why would you go somewhere and make sick less pay?
If you've got an opportunity to go back to school for one more year, have free room and board, make money, and also have a nutritionist available at all times. And a date, home standby. I mean, it'd be interesting to see how Carson Bix's future paycheck compares to where he's been. And also, to me, the more intriguing one would be Diego Pavia out of Vanderbilt. I wonder what's going to happen there as far as the cha-ching. Yeah, you know, and you never know. I think what's going to be interesting is this is a draft, and I'm not sure it's going to be very high on quarterbacks.
You know, I don't think, especially in the early rounds, I don't think you're going to see a lot of quarterbacks get selected in the early rounds. I think it's going to be a few. I think this early is going to be a lot of defensive ends, defensive ends, edge rushers, guys that feel like, you know, NFL teams feel like they can just insert, plug in right away and get going out there. I think outside of Mendoza and maybe, you know, Simpson, I'm not sure if there's, you know, I know Diego's a good talent, but I don't know if that translates well into what the NFL wants.
You know, the NFL has not really embraced the idea of a mobile quarterback over the years, especially one who's kind of built a reputation for kind of being his own person. I mean, I think it's going to be a difficult transition for him, and I don't think it's going to be something we'll hear his name over the first couple rounds. I think it's something probably would be more in the third, fourth, or fifth round type situation. Matt, just to reiterate your point, I've seen quite a few mocks this week.
Projected to be number two, Arvel Reese, linebacker from Ohio State. Edge, David Bailey from Texas Tech, number three or four. And then number five, Sonny Stiles, linebacker from Ohio State. Again, that linebacker edge position you mentioned. Yeah, I think that's going to be a really position of a lot of necessary and a lot of needs right now. You know, I mean, I think obviously Mendoza goes one. I think he's a guy that's going to be there. But it's going to be interesting to see the two, three, four, five, six role.
I mean, I've looked at a lot of these mocks, and it doesn't get down to maybe seven or eight when you see Carnell Tate, you know, the Ohio State wide receiver maybe mentioned being going there. And then maybe Jordan Tyson, the Arizona State wide receiver being out there as well. But most of the right now I'm seeing is defensive ends, linebackers, occasional offensive linemen, you know, cornerbacks. I think defense is going to rule the roost really in the early rounds because I think there's so many talented defenders.
I think teams realize now they can get a guy and maybe he's advanced, he's a senior, or maybe he was a fifth-year guy or a sixth-year guy, and they can plug him in. And you don't have to sit there and really develop talent. He's going to be able to kind of help you right away. Quarterback's a little different. You need a special type of talent. You need someone who steps up and, if you feel like, can lead your team right away. Even Mendoza. I mean, think about it.
Kirk Cousins signs with the Raiders. My guess is the Raiders are probably going to have Cousins be the main guy for this next year. And Mendoza's probably going to spend a lot of time learning the trade under a veteran quarterback. That's a good way to do it rather than forcing him to go out there and try to salvage a franchise. Bryce Young will testify to that. Matt Michelle with the Orlando Senate. Matt, your thoughts about college football moving towards an earlier start to the season? I think a lot of folks would like that, but one year I went down to Florida to cover Steve Spurrier, and it was in August.
Do I need to tell you more? You had to change like nine shirts in two hours. That was in August. Throughout the South, Baton Rouge known for humidity, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, we go on and on. Your thoughts, there's an advantage to it, obviously, as far as the tail in the season, but where are you with college football maybe moving toward an earlier start in the season? Oh, I think it's coming. I mean, listen, I think it's coming because if you look at the idea that college administrators want to pull the schedule back, you know, if you're going to go to a 16- or 2014 playoff, you know, right now in the next year, it's a 12-team playoff.
[1:44:58] We're already looking at the national championship game being late January, and I know talking to coaches and some athletic directors, they don't want to see games get into February, so they're trying to pull things back, and so I think this is the first step to that. I think it also presents the idea of eliminating conference championship games. If you eliminate a conference championship game, that frees up another week, that opens the door where you can slide in some of those early playoff games and get those done.
The biggest challenge right now is you don't want to go head-to-head with the NFL, especially in the playoffs, and I just think right now we're heading that way if we don't do something to try to fix that, and this is the first step. You say, okay, let's start on week zero. You know, I'm sure there'll be some schools that want to take advantage of that. Yes, in Florida, it's going to be hot, and we're all going to be sweating through our shirts. But I think you go ahead and take advantage of that opportunity, and then, you know, maybe it buys you an additional week down the road for a bye week and, you know, for being able to move some things up.
So I think it's going to happen, and I think it's because of the fact that they want to find a way to anticipate the challenge of playing 15, 16, 17, maybe 18 games in the future, and you don't want to have to worry about trying to cram those in before February 1st. About 20 minutes ago on social media, Florida State, Mike Norville, named his starting quarterback for 2026, Ashton Daniels, former Auburn quarterback. By the way, he'll be in the center in Tuscaloosa the third Saturday in September. Man, it's your thoughts. Well, you know, this is a make-or-break decision for Mike Norville.
I'm not – listen, the last two quarterbacks they brought in, you know, were Tommy Castle – or DJ Ugelele and Tommy Castle-Oise. And both of them struggled. And so if Austin Daniels is a guy that comes out there and struggles, this offense isn't going to have very much success. And Mike Norville needs to have a good year. So I get it. It makes the decision of you name a guy who's got some experience. You know, Kevin Sperry, who he was competing with, I think is going to be a good quarterback, but was a young quarterback.
And I think you want a guy to kind of maybe learn a little bit under the system. But this is a – like I said, this is a huge decision for Mike Norville. And I'm a little surprised he made this decision now. You know what I mean? This is a decision that normally, last couple years, you wouldn't make because – or at least announce – because with the transfer portal, with the spring window, you know, you'd see a lot of guys in the portal. But I think now he understands, okay, we can make this move.
But still, the idea is that gets him going into ball camp, the definitive starter, and you've got to build off of that. Matt Mercial, the Orlando Sentinel. Not a lot of NBA talk here, but something that's germane to your neck of the woods. Former Florida coach Billy Donovan announcing he's stepping down in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls. And the other scuttlebutt is an NBA team out west, the Golden State Warriors, a.k.a. the San Francisco area, talking maybe about bringing Todd Golden back. He spent some college years out there in the Bay Area.
Your thoughts about Donovan stepping down and all this scuttlebutt, how serious is his talk of Golden maybe taking his game to the NBA from Gainesville? Well, I think this is going to be interesting. Listen, Billy Donovan has had a successful college career, not so much as a professional. You know, he's been around for a long time in the NBA now. But I think Donovan is a name that will pop up, you know, for several jobs. I mean, listen, in my town, the Orlando Magic, there's a possibility they could be making a coaching change if they don't advance very far in the playoffs.
Billy's name, remember, Billy came here for a cup of coffee one time and barely didn't even coach a game and left, went back to Florida. And I think that could, who knows what could happen if Todd Golden leaves to go to Golden State. I think Golden State, an NBA job, is really the only thing that would get Todd Golden out of Florida. I think it would have to be a premier job, something that would really entice him to want to come back. I think going back home to the Bay Area would be very interesting for him.
I think having an opportunity to coach in the NBA is a very attractive option. If he were to leave, I was talking about this earlier with some people, if he were to leave, that opens up. I mean, it's all of a sudden your coaching carousel goes into overdrive because who gets that Florida job? And that's a very premier job. And that's why I go back to Billy Donovan. It's somebody in Florida to say, let's invite Billy back, you know what I mean, and try to rekindle that success.
I mean, it's happened to everyone elsewhere, you know what I mean? Why not try to do that? Or do they go somewhere else and try to bring another established coach at a college program somewhere and try to bring them in and try to have them go? So this is something I think is going to be interesting to watch over the next couple weeks. I know that a lot of the Florida players have come back. It's not a given that Todd would leave. They've got a pretty good core coming in next year.
I think Florida's got a chance to be another strong year in the SEC and make another strong run. So it's going to probably take a lot. It's going to take a job that would be something that would be enticing, whether it's financial or just something to benefit a family. Matt, I mentioned this a little bit earlier. As of 152 Central, 252 Eastern Time, there are 2,541 entries in the men's basketball portal. Yeah, that's something amazing. I don't even know what to say to that. I mean, it's an incredible number.
[1:50:32] And I think what's interesting is, you know, there are a lot of schools, a lot of programs that still haven't filled out their roster. You know, there are programs right now who are waiting to see what was going to happen. So I think, you know, you can, what this deadline means is that, you know, you can't get in the portal anymore. But what it also means is, okay, you can still sign players. And I think you're going to see a lot of signings come on over the next, you know, the next few days as coaches try to figure out how they're building their rosters and keep things going.
It just means an amazing amount of players are sitting there waiting. And it's like football. We went through this with football. You know, we go through it every year where you've got players who make the choice to leave and go on the portal and then find themselves stuck. You know, and they find themselves kind of, you know, thinking, okay, I shouldn't have done this move. And then you end up having to take either go to a division, you know, maybe drop down a division at a level to play.
Or you go to a school, you know, that's not where you wanted to be at, not a power four school. And you have to play there. And it's going to be tough. There are going to be a lot of players who are going to be left out in the cold. And they're going to have to figure out what they're going to want to do. Because either, A, they thought they could get more money, you know, or, B, they got bad advice from, you know, a family member or an agent or someone who said, oh, you should go and you should jump.
Or the program they're at told them they should leave and there was nothing really available. So it's something that I think a lot of players I've spoken with over the years, both football and basketball, have said, you know, they don't want to be left out in the cold. And that's the scary, that's why a lot of players try to find as quickly as possible because they don't want to find themselves on this day waiting to find out if they're going to land somewhere. Yeah, transferred portal deadline tonight at 11.59 if you would like to enter the portal.
We're glad Matt Mercelle has not entered the portal. Listen, have a great week. Still a lot of stuff going on. Where can we get online, get you podcasts, get you stories and all the good stuff? Yeah, you can go to OrlandoSettle.com to check out the latest or you can follow me on social media at OS Matt Mercelle and check out all the latest as we move towards another NFL draft. And let's hope we, let's hope it's a good one. Have a happy draft night, Matt.
Thank you so much for your time today. All right. Thanks a lot, guys. Take care. Thank you, bud. I believe I'm Matt Mercelle going up with us from the Orlando Center. Baby, are you ready for some Braves of baseball again tonight here on 93.9? I'm ready and that Bryce Elder guy, I told you with the last Friday, I take back 50% of every negative comment I've ever said about Bryce. Got the win again last night, the Braves 9-4. I believe Lopez is on the mound tonight against the Nationals.
Ronaldo Lopez on the mound, he'll start tonight 6-5 up on the second place. Marlins said the Cardinals could do their job with the Braves' win. The Marlins could go to 6, that's where the Nationals are now. Couldn't go to 7. Here's what's important. The fields, 7.5 back to Mighty Mets, 8.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves here at this point in the season. Stay tuned to see what happens tonight here on 93.9, the score. It's going to take care of us for now. On behalf of BB, Greg James Blair and the entire crew here.
Harold Buck, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again tomorrow noon to 2 for the Bumbo Buck Show. Back here on Sports Radio from 93.9, the score.