Boomo Bugg Show 082726

[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 Tide, 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 speed ride around the Tennessee Valley and for checking in on the 93.9, the score out wherever you may be.

Brett Beaird, welcome in. And three, two, one. Are you ready to raise the curtain on week zero of college football tonight? Welcome in. How are you? And as Roger was saying, tonight's the night, BB. It all gets rocking. Happy Thursday to you and the listeners. In fact, there are 22 FCS games on tap for tonight. Mike Rodak, Obama247, had a tweet earlier today about Alabama starting the 2029 season on August the 25th with Louisiana Tech, which would be the earliest kickoff ever. And, oh, by the way, their opponent the next week, Notre Dame in South Bend.

Caleb Suggs of the Decatur Daily previews some of the top games for week two in high school football. And BB is here to preview week zero games and talk a little bit about Lane Kiffin, who, by the way, has got a tremendous Dr. Pepper Fansville commercial that was released this morning. How humble of Lane to take time out of his busy schedule. I guess he's traded the social media for seeing the doctor at the Pepper's house. We see Bill Bender on a weekly basis. He is the man at the Sporting News.

Bill Bender, welcome in. How are you? Harold, Brett. Yeah, you all, thanks to Brett. I can't get any work done. I've watched this Lane Kiffin commercial. That's hilarious. It was great. Is Lane now basically a combination of Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban? Is he taking over the role of, I mean, let's go back. I don't know if how, just going back to tennis. Back in the day, you had John McEnroe and the bad guy in NASCAR. You had Dale Earnhardt and the good guy in wrestling.

You got the good guy and the bad guy. Is Lane now the bad guy and everybody gets to take shots at him? That's a good question. And so I would say, you know, every time I say Lane Kiffin has no self-awareness, he does this commercial and it's perfectly self-aware. No, Lane knows Lane, buddy. So, like, I can't say that anymore. I don't know if he resonates with me like Saban did. He certainly doesn't resonate like Spurrier did. And I think some of that is I grew up watching Spurrier.

And, you know, up here, I can judge it for you up here in Big Ten country how we feel about, you know, people up here in Big Ten country didn't like Saban because he won all the time. They didn't like Spurrier because he talked all the time. And I think there's a little bit of a – the reason that people wouldn't like Lane up here would be he hasn't won anything yet and he still talks. So it's like you called it. It's kind of like a combination.

The Big Ten comes out earlier this week and says, nope, we are not taking any of these former college players who got cut and want to come back to college football and be on a team. The SEC followed suit. And, oh, by the way, they ended the caveat, if any school does this, the penalties are a 50% season suspension for the head coach and a fine equal to 50% of the sport's annual operating budget. Now, we know lawsuits will follow, and this is not over yet, but your thoughts on another entertaining week off the field.

Yeah, reading the tweets from Ross Dellinger and Trey Wallace, certainly there's some of that going on right now where it sounds like this might go to the courtroom. No, unfortunately. I think this all could have been avoided had – I may have said this last week, apologize if I did. You know, 5-5 went into effect on June 23rd. And I get the timelines compressed, but I may have said, all right, we'll make exemptions for guys that want to play. But, you know, once you're at preseason camp or workouts with an NFL team or under contract, it gets a little sticky.

So I'm glad the conference or state – the conferences are taking their stands. There's going to be a couple that fight this, no doubt. But, I mean, if you're an NFL team, would you want that guy back if he left for college? Yeah. It's just a really weird one. Yeah. Well, what it does – I mean, obviously, a coach is – I thought Ryan Day, basically, he was a consummate politician. He says, I don't agree with it, but, quote, I've got to look out for Ohio State's best interest.

[5:12] Translate it, if it's there and it's legal, I'm going to do it. But the thing is, when you bring that back into a locker room, it's already questionable with some people making millions and others basically getting the crumbs off the cake. And then you bring that guy back in, where do you – it would be rare to have the chemistry in a room going forward. So, at least they're taking some steps. But, Bill, be that as it may, since the last time we talked, Alabama surprised everybody.

Would you agree that Russell's going to be the starting quarterback at Alabama? I say that, of course, tying in cheek. You had Alabama, what, 11 or 12 in the Sporting News preseason poll. How does that decision affect things one way or the other? And your thoughts about the decision overall? Well, here it is. You know, there are seven schools that have been consensus across all the rankings, right? That top seven. And we've talked about them. So, let's talk about Alabama. To me, they – those seven schools can win the national title, in my opinion.

Alabama with Keelan, and if he is who we think he is, they're kind of my wild card that could be the ace. And some people might put Oklahoma there. Some people might put Ole Miss. And Ole Miss, deservedly so. Trinidad can play. They might put LSU there. But I would say Alabama would be next up if Keelan is who I think he's going to be. You guys like the talent. You're always better when you have a first-round quarterback, and you've had quite a few roll through there.

So, that's what I'll be watching. Yeah, I mean, they still need to run the ball. They still need to do the things to make themselves a national championship contender. But, I mean, you should be optimistic. They're that next school. Yeah, that's a good way to put that. Saturday morning, 11 o'clock, college game day in Dublin, Ireland. Again, North Carolina. TCU and Bill Bender put out his predictions for week zero again. TCU is seven-and-point favorite. By the way, this is a 11 a.m. game on ESPN. Can a Harvard quarterback play in the Big 12?

Jaden Craig is there. Had some very good numbers last year. I think 48 TDs, 10 interceptions. They've got to run the ball better. They were 100th last year. Is the debacle at North Carolina fixed? Billy Edwards coming in from Maryland. Bobby Petrino is an interesting offensive coordinator choice, even though he's very good. Bill Bender's got TCU winning 27-21. Yeah, that's closer than most people might be picking it. You know, one of the things I'm looking at there, and I have a piece coming out tomorrow. I spoke with EJ Manuel earlier this week.

EJ does a fantastic job on ESPN. And, you know, he's looking for what I'm looking for. How do they look? I'm not worried. I don't think they're going to win. But do they get blown out? You know, those Dublin games, traditionally, they're close. Five of the last six, three points or less. Turnovers could matter. You mentioned the new quarterback. But I want to see how they look. Because if they do what they did on Labor Day last year, Brett, we're all going to be setting our watches to see when Bill Belichick gets fired.

In the huddle with a man, hooking up with us, Bill Bender of the Sporting News. Bill, interesting game here for a lot of reasons. People remember Dan Mullen at Florida and Mississippi State. He's now at UNLV. A lot of folks here remember the name Jackson Arnold. His days at Auburn and Oklahoma. The marriage is now on between Mullen and Arnold. His latest stop, UNLV, taking on Memphis. Alabama fans may remember this name, Charlie Huff, back in the day. And then, of course, most recently at Southern Miss before that, Marshall.

To me, it's a very intriguing ballgame coming up. Memphis and UNLV. What are your thoughts? Yeah, you said it on one end, Charles Huff starting Memphis. He's been at a couple jobs. Marshall, Southern Miss, Memphis. They have a lot of transfers. And you are going to have, Harold, moments like that over the weekend where you're like, what? I remember that guy. I remember that name. Well, there's two of them playing quarterback for UNLV. One for you guys, Jackson Arnold, obviously, Auburn and Oklahoma. Two, Alex Orgy, former Michigan quarterback.

You're going to be like, I remember him, too. And I think they'll both play. Dan Mullen's got a good squad there. I think that is the best game of the night, other than maybe NC State, Virginia. Yeah. Because the winner's going to be in a really good position to maybe be that group of six playoff team. Let me ask you about New Mexico State and Florida State and Tallahassee. The Seminoles, a heavy favorite, of course, 31.5. But their deal is the same. You mentioned with North Carolina.

How would they look? Now, they've got some guys in, transfers. Ashton Daniels, who did he play for last year? Auburn. Trey Wisner, who did he play for last year? Texas, they've got a good receiver in Deuce Robinson. New Mexico State allowed 165 yards, and they may just line up a nine to run the ball. Same situation here, and you've got Florida State winning 45-10. How will Florida State look Saturday? Well, I can tell you, Brett, I don't miss picking games with 30-plus point lines. I actually hate doing it, because you just never know.

[10:37] But, again, you stole the words. How do they look? Do they run the ball effectively? Can they stop the run? You know, last year, they allowed about 140 yards rushing, and that was an improvement. So, big year for Mike Norvell. They've been pretty quiet. You haven't heard a ton coming out of Florida State camp. But, you know, I'm sure they have your attention down there with the Alabama team coming up. But I know you guys will tune in. I think they'll win walking off and walking away pretty easily.

I just want to see how they do it. You know, here's an interesting matchup for our neck of the woods. Back in the day, UNA would play Jack State in the Old Gov South Conference in a regular season. And then North Dakota State would come to Florence because the city of Florence hosted the D2 National Championship game. They were one of the original staples. My, oh, my, how both schools have moved on up, as they say in TV land. And your thoughts about Jack State at North Dakota State this weekend.

Well, I'm catching you guys a day early. Tomorrow, I have a big, long piece about North Dakota State, this program that's won 10 national championships at the LCS level. It has an identity that we all know, but we don't really know. You know, the Fargo Dome. I'm excited to see them. Hey, their uniforms look like the Packers, so I'm in. There he is. You know, and I, but they're running into a Jack State team that's pretty good. So, you know, one of the things we've noticed is these FCS schools making the move up, all of those teams, Jack State, James Madison, some others, South Alabama, they've had some success when they move up.

I think South Alabama. They may have been a little, they're a little more established as an FBS team, but, you know, it goes back to like App State and even Boise State. This is how you move up. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to watching that game. And then Sacramento State, which, believe it or not, that's a school in California that's in my neck of the woods now in the Mid-American Conference. That one, it's hard to wrap your brain around if you're an Ohio University grad like me.

Let me finish with, as Harold mentioned earlier, North Carolina State of Virginia, maybe the best game of the day. Virginia, five-and-a-half point favorite. This is a 2-30 game central on, no, I'm sorry, 3-30 on ESPN. Battle of the quarterbacks. Here we go again, Bill. Fifth-year senior, Bo Pribula. Where did he play last year? Missouri. Virginia returns the majority of their offensive line. C.J. Bailey getting a lot of NFL buzz. You have got North Carolina State in an upset, 30-27. I don't think it's an upset.

I mean, I know Virginia's got a nice offensive line around, but Pribula, who was another, hey, man, look at that guy. Where was he last year? In the SEC. But Bailey is tough. And Dave Dorn, 4-0 against the Cavaliers. So, that's going to be, that's another, really, a reason to watch. I know we're going to be focused on Belichick, but that's a key ACC game. Remember, they played last year, but it was because it's college football. They played a game, but it didn't count toward the ACC standings.

Great stuff. Looking forward to week zero finally here, and then everything gets kicked off next week. Talk about the article you mentioned a little bit earlier, and where can we get online to get all the great stuff. Yeah, we have our 1-to-138 rankings up now. We'll have stories on Belichick and North Dakota State tomorrow. And then next time you guys talk to me, I mean, we'll be on that Thursday and week one. So, I'm looking forward to it, and always appreciate it from you guys. In the meantime, enjoy your neighbors tonight.

Youngstown State and Mercyhurst. Get ready, Bill, for the game tonight. Hey, we're excited to have football on the TV. Keep up the good work, the one, the only, Double B, Bill Bender, the Sporting News. Coming up, things are now off and rocking and rolling here in North Alabama when it comes to high school football. We'll let you know what's next with Caleb Suggs. Stay with us. Hello, Suggs. It's Elmer Pierce from Garner Pierce Autos. Are you tired of being told that it will take two weeks to service your vehicle or even to look at it to tell you what's wrong with it?

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And I think that's one thing is I want people to see how gritty and hardworking we are while also having fun. We're a light, loose team. Like we are really competitive and almost too competitive sometimes in the gym. But in the end, like we all love each other so much. So I think that's a really cool thing. I'll have more in a moment. Hey, Bama fans, it's Ron Coleman-Williams. It's Tuesday and Thursday at 2 p.m. Central. Join Roger Hoover live for Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR.

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What's happening this week in college football? The Lindy's Football Report has the answers. 30 minutes of college football discussion on the biggest matchups of the week. Concise, engaging, accurate. With opinions thrown in from some of the most knowledgeable reporters in the business. The Lindy's Football Report. Check it out. The Score. We're now back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in and boom, just like that, week two. I guess some folks would say week one of high school football action and getting ready to tee it up in a lot of places tonight.

[20:58] Caleb Suggs all over that and everything else when it comes to high school sports. They're at the Decatur Daily. Caleb, welcome in. How are you? I'm doing good, guys. How are y'all? Hey, bud. Man, we talked about it. It's already off, rocking, and rolling. Before we set the table and the menu for what's coming up this week on the respective high school grid irons, Caleb, what stood out to you in whichever way you want to refer to it, week zero, week one of high school football in our neck of the woods?

Yeah, it definitely, first of all, it definitely should be changed to week one. Thank you. Because I think everybody plays at this point. But, yeah, I think, you know, in our neck of the woods, we had two big surprises on, you know, one that was a good surprise and one that was a bad surprise. And the good surprise, I think, was seeing Hartzell kind of manhandle Bob Jones the way they did. I thought that was, you know, I thought they would win. But with so many new players, a new offensive play caller, for them to come out and, you know, dominate like they did, I thought, I didn't see that coming.

So, you know, that was a pleasant surprise. And then on the other side, you know, I really didn't expect to see Austin struggle as much as they did. I mean, I know James Clemens is really good, especially in year two under Coach Johnson, who obviously did great things at Baker. But, you know, just seeing him, and they kind of jumped on Austin real quick. And I think that was part of the problem. I think Austin got shell-shocked a little early and just, you know, kind of got away from him.

But still, I think it was surprising to see. Let me ask you about another surprise. Now, you predicted this, and I'll give you credit for that. Athens, 28, West Morgan, 6. The end of a 34-game regular season winning streak. Athens was very impressive against West Morgan in the game. They were dominant, 7-6 halftime lead, pulled away running back Caden Bledsoe, rushed 19 times for 134 yards. Seth Parker got off to a rough start in losing their game. Hartzell, three turnovers, the safety, and the punt block. You're going to lose the game if you're doing that.

Athens at Bob Jones. Yeah, I think, you know, I didn't find it too much of a surprise that, you know, they beat West Morgan, and in the score, it was a lot closer than the score. I think Athens went up 21-6 with like three minutes left, and then West Morgan threw a pick-six, trying to just kind of, you know, desperately throw the ball around. But, you know, I mean, I know they're 5A and 4A now, but, you know, in the last classification, Athens was almost 7A, and West Morgan was still in 4A.

So, I mean, that's a huge difference between sides. Yes, it is. But not to take away from the fact that Athens did play very well. You know, it was a good first half, and the second half, they just kind of dominated on the ground and kind of imposed their will. And, you know, we'll see how it goes against the Bob Jones team. I think, you know, I still feel like Bob Jones, obviously some growing pains with the new head coach, but I still feel like they'll be solid this year.

I don't expect them to play like they did last week. Like you said, they had a lot of mistakes, so I feel like Coach Parker will get that cleaned up. This should be a pretty good game. I'm interested to see. Like you said, two teams that had very different opposite ends of the spectrum results last week, but two teams I still feel like are pretty even. So, I give Athens the edge, but I think this could be a lot closer game than last week's results would suggest.

Which means West Morgan now is on the rebound tour, and you're talking about a tough task to bounce back. West Morgan at Madison Academy, both teams coming in with a nasty mood. Both teams losing their opener. Your thoughts about the Rebels and Mustangs? Yeah, I think a much more manageable opponent for West Morgan. You know, I really thought they competed well against Athens last week, and then, you know, depth just became an issue in the second half. West Morgan has a lot of guys that play both ways, and Athens didn't have any guys that were playing both ways.

So, I think going against a Madison Academy team, it's more their, you know, their size school is going to be, so it's going to make for a good matchup. You know, I'm interested to see if West Morgan, they didn't throw it very much last week. They pretty much were all run heavy, so I'm interested to see if they'll throw it a little bit more. They have a young quarterback coming up, you know. So, we'll see there. Obviously, you know, I know Coach got too well at Madison Academy.

He's going to have them very well prepared. You know, I think a lot of people are discrediting how good Marce Hill can be this year because Coach Higgins went off to Russellville. I still expect them to be really good. So, I think, you know, losing by three to them is not something to scoff at. So, I think this will be a really good game. I think what's more going to bounce back, though. Good point about Marce Hill. Partsall want to know what come in 0-1. You touched on it a little bit earlier.

Partsall with a big win over Bob Jones as Asa Friola, 133 yards. What impressed me, they ran for 236. Maddox Southern, 124 yards. Burt Newton in his defense forced three turnovers, a safety, and a blocked punt. That's how you win football games. Yeah, I mean, everything that is the recipe for success at Hartzell, the way it's always been, is what they did last week. They forced turnovers, they played defense, they took their shots on offense, and they ran the ball very effectively. I think that was the biggest thing.

[26:10] I mean, not that I thought that Hartzell would struggle to run the ball, but the fact, you know, with three new offensive linemen, new running backs, a new quarterback, the fact that they were physically just pushed Bob Jones around, I thought was very impressive. I think that's going to be a much bigger challenge coming in this week. I know Coleman lost to Boaz on the road last week. I think Boaz is a really good team, and I don't think that's a result to scoff at. But you go to that stadium, it's just, I know from experience, it's a tough place to play, especially in a Hartzell-Coleman game.

It's going to be wild, a crazy atmosphere. I'm interested to see how Hartzell takes that. You know, obviously, you know, they won last week, so they're going to come in with confidence. But, you know, you come in overconfident, especially against a team that, you know, you've dominated recently and coming off a loss. I'm really interested to see how this game goes. I think Coleman is much improved this year, even though they did lose last week. And like I said, it's a tough place to play. So, you know, I think this is going to be a four-quarter game.

It's going to go down the end. I still favor Hartzell. But definitely, I definitely don't foresee a 35-6 like it was last week. Caleb Suggs in the huddle with us, the Decatur Daily. We talked earlier about Austin getting off to a disappointing start. Sparkman's also going to be in a bad mood. Both teams looking for their first win. The Senators on the road, not as big of a blowout there, losing to Spain Park, 17-13. Your thoughts about Austin and Sparkman? Yeah, you know, I was a little surprised at that Spain Park score, which I don't really know much about Spain Park this year.

They may have lost a lot. But I thought that was a real close game. So, now you're going in. Austin just needs to get off to a better start. They got off to a terrible start last week. I think James Clemmons' first two or three drives started in Austin territory. So, I mean, that's just not a recipe for success. You know, they brought a lot of bad experience back, but I think the two positions they didn't bring experience back was quarterback and middle linebacker, which is so important for Austin.

And I think that was kind of the weaknesses for them in last week. So, we'll see if they can improve there. You know, but I think this is, you know, Coach Perkins, I mean, he's such a good coach. And I think he's one of the best coaches at improving from week one to the first game to the second game. One of the best I've seen. I mean, when he gets, like, some actual game film to see, you know, what they need to work on, he gets that fixed really quickly.

So, I expect Austin to be much improved this week. It's still going to be a tough game. Spartan's always been a tough place to play for Austin. Even when Spartan wasn't very good, and Austin was, it's always been a tough place. So, it really could go either way, you know, honestly. But I do expect Austin to be much improved this week from what we saw last week. Let me ask you about what may be the fun game on Friday night. Lawrence County, the Red Devils, 1-0 after beating East Lawrence.

You know the coach at East Lawrence pretty well. Hatton beat Brooks 27-2-20. That was quite a game itself. Nikita Stover, second year. Brett Voss in his second year. Lawrence County's got a running back, Tavion Jones. He ran for 252 yards and four touchdowns. Wow. With their big offensive line. Eli Mitchell, 93 yards. Hatton, who beat Brooks, as I mentioned. Cade Parham threw for nearly 200. Nassie Gamble ran for 128. Bowling caught 100 yards worth of passes. This should be one of the more entertaining games in North Alabama Friday night.

Yeah, I agree. I'm actually a little jealous of my colleague, Zane Turner, who works at the Moulton Advertiser. I told him, I said, you know, he's the one that replaced me. I used to work at the Moulton Advertiser. And I told him, well, I didn't have teams and players like this when I worked there. So, I think that just goes to show you, you know, kind of Lawrence County kind of coming back to their history of being, you know, having some great athletes. And they do.

I mean, Hatton, obviously, is littered with great players. You know, they're really good. We saw that last year in Stover's first year. They're going to be even better this year. But I was really impressed with Lawrence County. I thought their offensive line is so massive. And their running back, Tavion Jones, as you said, that kid's a beast. And he's only a sophomore. I mean, he's only going to get better and better. I think he's already one of the best running backs in our area. And so, they were just so hard to stop the running attack.

I don't even know if they threw it. I think they threw it maybe three times the whole game. I think that's just how good they are. So, I think this is going to be very entertaining. You're talking about a rivalry. They played every year for I don't know how long. But it's been a jamboree. So, now it's a regular season matchup. That place is going to be electric. I can tell you from experience, those rivalry games are always a great atmosphere, even when the teams weren't good.

Now, you have two really good teams. So, yeah, if you want an underrated game that's going to be really excited to go to around here, that's the one I would pick. By the way, congratulations to two teams. Harold and I talked about Columbia all week. They're going to be hosting East Limestone. Of course, they ended that 101-game losing streak. Lindsey Lane won their first-ever varsity football game last week. They had a great baseball team, and I think they're going to have an incredible athletic program. Robbie Parker is the administrator, the principal there.

[31:16] Listen, great stuff. I know you've got your previews. You've got your predictions online today. You'll have the recamps. You can follow it on Twitter and certainly get the recamps. Where can we get online to get all the great stuff? Yeah, you can get online at DecaturDaily.com. We have our blitz section that came out today that has all that stuff you just mentioned with the previews and the features and the stats and all that, and then you can find all our game coverage tomorrow night. Sounds great.

Listen, man, Caleb, stay safe out there, and thanks so much for your time today, buddy. Thanks, guys. Thank you, bud. Caleb Suggs is going to win this major there at the Decatur Daily. Watch Shaking Up in K-Town, Knoxville. We'll take you there and talk UT with RC, Ryan Callahan on deck. Stay with us. Bush Light is cold and smooth and waiting for you to get out there. Everyone knows that the classic taste of Bush Light is brewed for the outdoors. So before cracking open your next adventure, grab a case of Bush Light.

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The Braves with the winner 78-55. The Braves and Dodgers will play again tonight. Chris Sale starts for Atlanta. He's 12-9. The Atlanta Falcons are back in action tomorrow night. They'll wrap up preseason play in Miami against the Dolphins. Falcons are 1-1. The PGA Tour is set for the Tour Championship. Round one is underway today at Eastlake in Atlanta. The NASCAR Cup Series is back in action on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero Sugar 400. It's the final race before the chase. Tune in tonight for Braves baseball as the dig on the Dodgers first pitch at 6-15.

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The show starts at 6 p.m. and you don't want to miss it. Roll Tide. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. It is an absolute pleasure for us to say hello to R.C. Ryan Callahan. He's busy following the Tennessee Vols there at Gold Vols 24-7. Ryan, welcome in. How are you? Hey, guys. Doing well. How are you? Hey, Boone. Hey, we're doing all right. The question that we want to start with, if you don't mind, Ryan, is Tennessee going to win the national championship, win the Congress, both House of Representatives, and the Senate of the White House with a Mr. Brandon show?

Well, they feel optimistic, I would say. As optimistic as you can be with the true freshman quarterback, but that's clearly where Tennessee has decided to go, and I think it was pretty much a no-brainer at the point that Tennessee made that decision. There really wasn't much of a decision to make. George McIntyre, the other main contender for the job, had tried to make a run at it early in camp, had had a really good start to camp, and then his first scrimmage did not go as well, and Faison Brandon clearly had the upper hand in that one.

The second scrimmage wasn't a lot different in that regard, and it seemed like even after the first scrimmage, it was going to be tough for McIntyre to beat out Brandon, given all the momentum he'd had throughout the offseason. So I think it's one of those situations where Tennessee saw all along that Brandon offered probably the higher ceiling between the two quarterbacks, and then he proved to be pretty consistently the most reliable, the most consistent, playing it pretty carefully with the ball, not risking too many turnovers and things like that, in addition to just running the offense smoothly.

And you can't even see in these scrimmages what his running ability might be able to do for things with him, whistling everything dead when a defender comes even close to him. So you'll find out even more in the games, but that's something that probably plays into his advantage as well. So all that just kind of pointed to Faison Brandon. It wasn't by a massive margin, but it just seemed like every category leaned in Faison Brandon's direction one way or the other, and that obviously made it a pretty easy call for Tennessee in the end.

And all of that, that's the fans, man, too, from our understanding, Ryan. I mean, is it one of those deals where I see a lot of parallels here in some ways to the situation in Alabama? You had to make a decision. McIntyre, a lot of times you see these kids coming out of high school because at one time it looked like the marriage between he and Alabama was pretty good there, but it just seemed like that once he got out of that high school competition that things changed for McIntyre, and it looked like Brandon said, okay, I did it in high school, and now I can adjust here.

The difference seems to be, though, between what we haven't seen in the games yet. Maybe we'll see once the live bullets start flying, but it looks like at Alabama you've got a case where Russell is the young guy, Mac is the seasoned guy, but if Alabama had to go to plan B, it looks like that Mac may be a little better comfortable to handle that position as opposed to if Tennessee has to go to B plan. Right now I think that would be consternation in the Big Orange Nation.

Is that safe to say? Yeah, here's the bottom line. George McIntyre had the advantage in terms of experience from being in the system for one year, but it wasn't a very significant one, and it kind of showed up that way on the practice field. He wasted an opportunity, at least one last year, to get McIntyre in the game, and fans were frustrated about that at the time, where Jake Merklinger was the backup, and he got a lot of work in a non-conference game, and McIntyre sat on the bench and, as the third quarterback, didn't get a chance to go in the game in a pretty comfortable victory, so he only ended up with nine pass attempts last year, so appeared in two games.

[41:50] You could have made a case for playing him in the bowl game, even. These days, bowl games are kind of auditions for next season, in a lot of cases. Tennessee played Joey Aguilar the whole time, so he didn't really get to benefit fully from that extra year in the system, and at the same time, he didn't take full advantage of it in some ways. Struggled to put on the weight that he was tasked with adding, and had some dietary restrictions that made that difficult, but still didn't get quite where he needed to there, and I think during the offseason, Faison Brandon showed he just wanted the job a little bit more, but the bottom line is the gap in experience there, not quite the same as it is at Alabama, and I think that's one of the factors there, so I think there would be more concern if Tennessee had to go with plan B.

Not that George McIntyre is not a talented guy. He is. I just think he would be learning on the job to a large degree, much like Faison Brandon would, and when you saw how level-headed and calm Faison Brandon is on the field, how he answered to, how he responded to his mistakes he was making in scrimmages, there's just more reasons to believe he's the guy that can take this Tennessee offense where they want it to go. You dropped an article about an hour ago about the team talent composite.

Now in its 12th season, every fan wants to know where their team stacks up roster-wise with all of the other ones, and as you mentioned, this is not perfect science here, but Tennessee, I believe, is number 11 in the rankings. Explain to us what the team talent composite is, and where is Tennessee? Yeah, so really it's a fairly basic way of just looking at how much talent is on a team's roster, and it's used by just compiling high school ratings. So each player's numerical rating, whether they're a five-star, four-star, or three-star coming out of high school, which obviously doesn't give you the updated ratings that we have for players coming out of the transfer portal.

Sometimes those three stars you find out of high school end up being four stars in the transfer portal, and then those guys are very coveted, so this doesn't reflect that new information, but still gives you at least a general idea of how much talent a team might be working with. So not a perfect system by any means. There's one major tweak, actually a couple major tweaks, I should say, to this year's that sort of impact the blue-chip ratio, which goes by a similar thing. This year we switched from using the 24-7 sports composite, which takes into account all ratings throughout the industry, to just using 24-7 sports ratings.

So the number of four and five stars went down for a lot of teams in Tennessee included. So now they have 32 four-stars, four or five-stars on their roster based on what they were rated coming out of high school. But because those numbers dropped across the board, Tennessee moved up five spots this year from number 16 to number 11. They had three five-stars in their 2026 signing class, including Faison Brandon, T.K. Keyes at wide receiver. So they've got a good bit of talent, obviously. It stacks up favorably against a lot of SEC programs.

But as we know, the SEC is so deep, 11th nationally, only sixth best in the SEC. So you've still got to keep up with everybody. And here's the downside for Tennessee. They don't play Georgia this year, but four of those five teams ahead of them are on Tennessee's schedule this year. So you've got to be ready for a difficult schedule. It includes Texas A&M, LSU, Alabama. It's going to be a grind. How about that? Keeping up your neighbor buys a Mercedes. You've got to buy two, right?

That's the way the games play, right? Ryan Callahan, looking at with us, visit their goal balls 24-7. About just over a week to go to the opening show, Ryan. To this point, based on what you've been able to see and what you've been able to hear, where are you as far as where the stock is up for this team and where the stock may be down for this team at this point? Yeah, it's a little bit of a mixed bag, as you say that. That's a good way of looking at it, because I think there are some areas where you'd say, maybe a little confused about that.

And that tends to happen this time of year. And also, it makes it tough to read, because you are just basing it on preseason scrimmages. So if one side of the ball looks good, is that because the other side's not as good as you thought? Or what would you take from that? Yeah, I think bottom line, defensively, Tennessee has, I think, some things going for it that make people think that there could, at least should be, significant growth from last year where they were ranked in the 90s nationally in total defense and scoring defense under former defense coordinator Tim Banks.

It sounds like things have gone pretty well for Jim Knowles and that staff that come in and had a pretty smooth transition to their way of doing things in their system. But at the same time, the biggest question about them is a tough one to have, pass rush. Where is it going to come from? How consistent is it going to be? How many different looks are they going to throw at opposing teams? Because I think one of the real possibilities out there, Tennessee having some real linebacker depth, maybe throwing some three-linebacker looks out there, or at least packages that have a third linebacker on the field, and maybe blitzing some of those linebackers to offset the lack of a proven edge rusher on the defensive front.

[47:00] And then, you know, I think the offense has had a pretty good camp in a lot of ways. It's not shown up in the scrimmages in terms of a lot of big plays, but some of that might be because of the different looks that Jim Knowles' defense is throwing at them. But, yeah, they seem to be running the ball pretty well up front, so there's a lot of belief in that group of running backs and their offensive line right now. Offensive line has not been perfect, but I think they have shown the experience they have up front.

And then at receiver, you've got a couple of really reliable receivers in Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley that established themselves last year at 800-yard season last year. A lot to build on there and some talented young guys behind them, including T.K. Keyes and Radarius Jackson. So I think they feel pretty good about what they've got. And a lot of those positions on offense is going to come down to the quarterback play, obviously, and that may be the biggest wild card about this team. But the biggest question marks I still have about this team, defensive line, they don't have as much depth there, at least not as much proven depth as they've had in past years.

How can they get by there in scrimmages? A lot of the big plays they gave up in the run game were when the twos were out there, so the depth might be concerning. And depth getting a little thin in the secondary. Safety, Idrees Farouk, after the season, without him, a place where they had a lot of depth suddenly doesn't have quite so much. They've got three guys they feel pretty good about. Beyond that, a little shaky. Cornerback depth a little thin now, so they can't afford too many injuries in the secondary, and they've had problems with that the last couple of years.

So, some questions, and obviously none bigger than quarterback, but some areas where they feel pretty good about what they've gotten accomplished so far in camp. You kind of alluded to this. And outside of quarterback, which position? I really thought the secondary, Farouk, is a big loss. But I know Redmond, Ken Lee from Auburn, Metcalf. I've heard a lot about Trey Poteet, Dajon Lane. In fact, Patrick Brown had a nice column about most improved players or biggest surprise, and several of the secondary were listed there. In your opinion, what position came out of camp as the most improved over last year?

Well, that's a good question. You know, I might be tempted to go with the secondary just because that group struggled so much. It's hard to say that when you think back on the fact they had Jermod McCoy, well, technically on the roster last year, Ricky Gibson, who's now transferred to Texas A&M, and Colton Hood, who was the second-round draft pick, all in the same secondary. But they weren't very good in the secondary for most of last year, really struggled to defend the pass, especially in safety.

It feels like safety in particular is where you might see the biggest jump. Now, again, the injury to Farouk is a big deal, but even with Dajon Lane in there, it seems like they're playing at a pretty high level, and they've made something happen. And pretty much every scrimmage they've had, it seems like we've heard a lot about safeties getting their hands on some passes. So we've heard a lot about Jim Knowles being kind of a master of disguise, too, with his defenses. You know, that obviously plays into the hands of those safeties where they can show one look, end up in something else, and make things difficult for a quarterback to read, and the next thing you know, a pass could end up kind of falling in your lap.

So that's one area I think that kind of stands out the most. But there's some others where they've got the chance to be better. I just don't know that we're going to see a bigger jump anywhere than what we've seen in the secondary, but especially at safety with that group having struggled so much last year. Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's nearly here. At least we got week zero starting. A lot of FCS games being played tonight. Where can we get online? John, I know you've got the absolute latest.

Recamping, summer camp, getting ready for the first game of the year. Still got some recruiting going on. Where can we get online? And do you have any specials still going on this week? Yeah, we actually do. Final days of our preseason sale. You can get 60% off right now on annual subscriptions. So a great time to join the site here going into football season, of course. And we'll have to go on the record here tomorrow with our season predictions. We'll be doing game-by-game predictions and more to look ahead to the season.

Got to do the best we can with what we've seen so far. At least take a shot at it. So we'll have all that and much, much more as we get ready for Tennessee season opener next week against Furman. And get ready for SEC play after that. And as you said, recruiting, basketball, baseball. Plenty, plenty more to go along with that at GoBalls247.com. No pressure with those picks, I'm sure. Ryan, listen, man, good luck with that. Thanks so much for your time today, buddy. Sounds good.

Thanks a lot, guys. Thank you, bud. Ryan Kellyanne. I got one of those picks there at GoBalls247. BB, pull up the chair. Coming up the next hour, the very latest Tide Talk about those injuries and where things are right now. Just a week, some change away from opening day. Ryan Feller is going to be on board with that. Jason Caldwell talking to the Auburn Tigers. And Randy Kennedy, one of the best talking Hall of Fame speech in the next hour. Stay with us. Hello, Shoals. It's Elmer Pierce from Garner Pierce Autos.

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Call 256-760-1581 for more information or to register. That's the Women Life and Feeding America Fight Hunger charity golf tournament from Blackberry Trail Golf Course, Monday, October 12th. 1819 News. U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville says that the neighboring country of Canada has been a big problem when it comes to cheating the American forestry industry. Tuberville is a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and he says that U.S. foresters have told him of the undercutting going on by the Canadian government by way of subsidizing their lumber businesses.

In turn, the lumber products exported by Canada to the U.S. are undercutting the lumber businesses here. Tuberville says that the recent issuing of tariffs by President Trump will help relieve the economic tensions that Canada has created with American industries. Tuberville accused Canada of stealing from the U.S. for years by dumping their products into the U.S. that consumers here should be buying from American farmers and manufacturers. Tuberville says that Prime Minister Mark Carney will not be allowed to take advantage of the U.S. anymore.

I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Are you enjoying 1819 News? If so, consider joining 1819 News as a member. As a nonprofit news organization, we depend on the support of Alabamians like you. Memberships start out as little as $5 a month, and you'll get access to exclusive content only offered to our members. You'll be supporting independent journalism done by people who cherish Alabama values. Become a member today by visiting 1819news.com and clicking Become a member. That's 1819news.com and click Become a member today. A murder suspect was in court this past Wednesday in Montgomery for a hearing on Anaya's law and whether or not he should be released on bond.

[57:17] Jaleel Bivins was arrested for the strangulation death of an Alabama State University student, Aval Walters. Bivins had driven from Florida to visit with Walters this past weekend. The two were dating. Authorities say the two got into an argument in one of the temporary dormitories on campus. That's where Walters' body was found. The judge will issue a ruling on bond for Bivins in the next few days. I'm Andrea Tyson. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter.

Georgia fans, thank God, are something like Patrick Mahomes or something. Don't you think they're a bit to lose for when it comes to this game? The SEC Network. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shores. Sports Radio 93.9, The Score. Previously on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network. 1-2 to Olsen. He slams it deep down the right field line. And it's off the foul pole. Just heated it up right on down the right field line. And able to nail the foul pole. And it's 1-0 Braves. A ringing double his last time up.

Came in to score a run. Sends a charge into one. Deep left center field. Back goes Thomas. He's at the wall. And that is… Gone. Home run, Sean Murphy. There it goes. Line drive. Base hit into left. Here comes Thomas. He comes to the plate. The Braves win. Hassan Kim mobbed out there on the backs. The man without a base hit since June. Steps into the batter's box as himself. Steps out as Superman. And it's a 6-5 winner for the Braves. Unbelievable. Join us tonight for Atlanta Braves baseball.

First pitch is 6-15 here on 93.9, The Score. 93.9, The Score weather. Today, a 20% chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms with a high around 95. And a heat index value is as high as 100. Tonight, mostly cloudy with a 30% chance of showers overnight. Possibly a thunderstorm, low near 70. Tomorrow, mostly sunny with a high around 90. Tomorrow night, mostly clear with a low near 65. And for your Saturday, sunny with a high around 95. 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 in our show to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg, alongside Brett Beaird. Thanks so much for giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley and for checking in on the 93.9, The Score. Now, I also want to say thank you very much to Jason Caldwell for taking time out of his busy schedule there as columnist with Auburn 24-7 Sports.

JC, welcome in. How are you? I'm good, guys. Just getting ready to get this thing rolling. So, doing good and seeing what 2026 is going to hold. We want to talk about that, Jason. But, in a way, it's kind of a nice way, I guess, the way college football does it. And, obviously, if you go to a concert, you're always going to have the front act for the Rolling Stones, et cetera. It all starts tonight with week zero. And, then, this weekend, it moves into an 11 o'clock affair there in Dublin.

One thing, if I am an AD, I don't want to go to Dublin and play a football game to you, given the history there. But, your thoughts about some of the games on week zero? No, it has not worked out very well for people across the pond. And, so, yeah, you know, there's really only a couple games you look at. Honestly, Jacksonville State, North Dakota State, maybe it's interesting. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Looking forward to seeing, you know, Charles Kelly and that group go. And, then, facing off in, I guess, the first D1 game for North Dakota State.

And, so, really interested to watch that one. You know, Florida State, just because I really like Ashton Daniels. I think he's a guy that's going to be successful. So, I'm looking forward to seeing him play. And, then, you start talking about, you know, what it looks like with that, with North Carolina. I mean, you're talking about two programs that are glad they're in Ireland. It's got to be North Carolina and TCU. One of them has a GM that has been put on leave. The other one are kicking beat writers out of the locker room.

Yes. So, they're both probably glad they're out of the country to start this season, I would guess. You know, another interesting game, especially if you're an Auburn fan, would be the UNLV Memphis game for the reason that, here's the name to remember, Jackson Arnold, apparently the quarterback under a former SEC coach, Dan Mullen, at UNLV. Your thoughts about the Jackson Arnold show at UNLV? Yeah, could get to see Ashton Daniels and Jackson Arnold. Yeah, that's right. So, yeah, you know, listen, I think, look, fit is important.

[1:02:45] Like, I honestly think what Dan Mullen does is probably a really good fit for Jackson Arnold, but, you know, you just got to go out and forget about what you've been for two years and figure out if you can be something different. And that's the challenge. It's really hard to, you know, when you get on the field, go, well, I'm going to forget all those things that have happened bad. And, you know, I hope you can, because I really like Jackson Arnold, too. Both those guys were great to us.

They worked really hard. It just didn't work out. But, yeah, you know, that's an interesting one, because, look, UNLV, the team that, look, had some success last year, now you're playing Memphis, a.k.a. Southern Miss, with all the players that came from Hattieburg. So, yeah, that's the thing. You know, that's the thing about these early season games. We'll talk about it next week, Auburn Baylor. No matter who it is, there's just so much unknown. You have no idea what to expect. You just have no clue.

JC, let me ask you your impressions of this staff. You've had a chance to observe the spring, summer camp. Everything I hear about this staff has been positive, detail-oriented, planning, accountability. This is the mock game week. Again, the proof's in the pudding, and we'll see if this equals to more wins. But there's a lot of positive vibe coming out about this coaching staff. You've looked at them. You've talked to them. You see how they structure practice. JC, your thoughts on this staff. Yeah, that's it. You're right.

It's like everything I've seen to this point makes me think it's a lot of positives. In the end, can you go make a few plays here or there? That's going to be the ultimate deciding factor. Can you do it? I think it starts with quarterback. Look, it feels like for the first time, even Bo Nix was a guy that people had questions about. He had to win the job and do those things. It probably feels like since Jared said him in 2018 that Auburn doesn't have any questions at quarterback of who the guy is.

So I think that's a good place to start when you start talking about, you know, what can a team be. And so I think that's where you are right now with this team and having a guy like Byron Brown. You hit on something earlier, Jason, that just kind of spurred a follow-up. You talked a little bit about, you said, Memphis, and it is. It's basically Southern Miss North. We saw what happened with Signetti when he went to Indiana, and we're seeing now what's happened with Goldish now that he's now at Auburn.

Or is this one of those things that maybe in the coaching fraternity that's saying, hmm, maybe this is the key. You take a guy hot at this level, and especially in the modern era, he just brings that team with the familiarity and at least give us the foundation to get off to a good start. You look at a pattern here, and in some ways it's hard to argue that pattern, is it not? Yeah, it is. I mean, look, there's a couple ways to do it because that's not what Jon Sumrall has done.

He didn't really do that at Florida. But maybe you feel like there's certain pieces in place. Like for Auburn, you went, look, the defense is in pretty good shape, need help on offense, and you're going to basically start over. We've got all these pieces on offense we feel like can be beneficial, so it makes sense to move them over. Maybe for Jon Sumrall, he thought, listen, he's more of a defensive guy. Those pieces at Tulane might not be as good of a fit for them because they have some guys backed up.

Yeah, I don't think there's any right or wrong way, but listen, we've seen it at Indiana. Two years ago at this time, there's nobody that would have said, man, Indiana's fixing to be the best program in the country for two years. Like, there's no chance anybody would ever have thought that. And look, even last year, you look and go, man, quarterback ends up being the number one overall pick. I saw him two years in a row and went, he's a good player. I like him. He did some good things.

Is that guy the best quarterback in the country? No chance. No, no. Offensive line made up of a bunch of guys and one big-name guy in Pat Coogan, but the other guys were small school guys, overlooked guys. Yep. Man, are they going to be the best O-line in the country? Nope, not happening. Something to be said for chemistry and seniority experience and it just fitting together. Can you find that magic formula? I think that's what everybody's searching for. Talk to us about that because the locker room is so important.

Anyone who's ever played sports, you can have one or two things. You can have a locker room full of stars playing as individuals that play as me, or you can have a locker room full of me that play as one team. And any time you bring in all those guys from down there up to here, the old guys can say, hmm, you ain't been there and done it in this environment. What are you hearing as far as the chemistry and the old guys here accepting these new guys coming in at Auburn?

I think the thing you have is, in the end, everybody wants to win. That's the ultimate goal. And, like, why are you here? And if you start building it first around that, I think they did a good job of going, listen, it has to be about more than money. And, listen, I understand there's money involved. But that can't be your deciding factor. And so I think they went into a lot of these discussions going, okay, what's the first thing you want to talk about? If it was money, I think they were like, okay, well, we might have to look in another direction.

[1:08:15] So I think they did a pretty good job of going, listen, well, guys can play football first, and then we'll discuss that part of it. And in the end, that's still the most important thing is you have a bunch of guys who are willing to play for each other and try to win football games. And, you know, look, Kirk Cignetti has done it very similar-sounding ways to the way Nick Saban did it before. Now, you have to adjust the way you build a team, but it sounds very similar.

And, listen, Alex Golis has some of the same buzzwords and the same things when you start talking about the attention to detail and the process-oriented, all those things that you hear some of those similarities. Now, like I said, the proof will be in the pudding, and you've got to go win football games. But I do think that it feels like it's a step of, okay, let's build this thing for the long haul. And that takes, nowadays, that takes more than just loading up on talent. And I think that, you know, 10 years ago, it was, tell me who the most talented teams are, and I'm going to tell you who the best teams are.

I don't necessarily think that's the case solely anymore. Do you agree with that? I think you've got a good point, because Nick's formula was very simple. Just stack the talent. If team A goes down, you go to team B. If team B goes down, you go to team C. Nowadays, you can't afford that luxury. No, and look, even, like, Georgia's the team, for sure, in this league, that is the most set up in terms of, hey, these guys are coming back. You know who these players are.

But it's not like it was where you went, well, if this five-star goes down, we're going to put the next five-star in. Well, you might have another guy, but he's going to be a freshman, or he's going to be a guy that hasn't produced. It is not like it was, because now these guys are going, well, I'm going to go somewhere else and play. And they go somewhere else and play. And so, it's funny, because I said, listen, there's never been larger rosters than there are right now, 105 scholarships.

You've got four players, but it's never felt smaller in this league in terms of the actual guys. But there's nobody that you went, well, if we go to our seventh offensive lineman, well, it's going to be a test, because we don't know if that guy can play or not. And nobody's, everybody's in the same boat. And a few years ago, you went, oh, well, we've got a few guys that can hold out. Not anymore, even your third or fourth defensive lineman. You're like, that guy hasn't played yet.

J.C., we're not going to know until they get started in Atlanta next Saturday. And there is a lot of potential in the position groups. I think Auburn's linebacking core is probably the best in the SEC. But which position group has improved the most since spring? Yeah, man, it's interesting. You know, it's hard to tell, because you start going, okay, what does it look like? I would say probably Auburn's pass rush group. When you look at Deshaun Womack, we were just talking about it. That's a former five-star that just hasn't taken that step yet.

And you go, okay, is it now time to take it? But Jared Smith, the young guy, Nate Johnson's an experienced guy. You've got Chris Murray back for a fifth year, you know, who was probably Auburn's third guy last year in terms of pass rush. And so I think that group, I would say, would probably be the group that's probably taken the most strides. And, you know, for a guy like Jared Smith, is it consistency? Can you be that guy every day on close? There's no question about the talent.

Mm-hmm. And then you look at Darion Smith, even a guy like Cody Sigler, that guy defensive end. I think they've done a good job of cross-training guys where you look and go, well, if you've got six guys, that's three deep on each side. I think they'll tell you, no, it really means we're six deep on each side because we've got guys that can play both positions and step in. And so that gives you added depth, I think. So I think they would probably be the one I would say that has probably taken the biggest step in terms of being ready to go in week one.

Absolutely. Cody Sigler from New Hope High School. That's it. What a story he has been, you know, recruiting very well. And I knew the guy was good. I didn't think, but he's going to take a leap. I think he's going to be one of the best in the SEC this week, all along with Auburn 247. Now, tell everybody that you have been renamed. There's nothing. All of the coverage is the same. You and Nathan and teams do all the great stuff. Tell us about the website. Have you got a special?

And where can we get online and get everything? Absolutely. Nothing's changed other than the name. And I love the name Auburn 247. I think it brings into, hey, we're part of a bigger thing, a network where you can go read and learn more about everything around the country, really. And so I think it just hits home that, hey, we're part of that. But we're still CBS, still Paramount Plus. So if you subscribe to us, there's still that Paramount Plus subscription that you get. And if you've never been a subscriber, it's 60% off right now.

[1:13:26] So basically $5 a month to come join us and check us out. But, you know, go see our stuff on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube page there and watch all our videos and podcasts, all those things. But, yeah, just looking forward to it. You know, I was kind of thinking about it, you know, storyline idea. I saw our Missouri folks, and they're like, somebody said it's the 24th year, so he went through 23 storylines in his 23 years. And I started thinking about what would my 26 storylines be heading into year 27.

And I'm like, a lot of good, a lot of bad, a lot of in-between. Absolutely. So looking forward to another trip for sure. Jason, this man is always a great job. Kick back, enjoy week zero, week one coming up on the road to Atlanta. Get your bodyguards ready to go into Atlanta, okay? Yep. Hey, we're afternoon, so we'll be able to get to. You might be safe. We'll zoom in in the morning and zoom out that night. That's the key, baby. That's the key to surviving downtown Atlanta.

JC, Jason Caldwell is there at Auburn 24-7 Sports. Coming up, Randy Kennedy from one end of the state to the other. The tale's next. Stay with us. Hello, my name is Keith Medley, and I'm an attorney with the law firm of Johnson, Passour, Medley & Burchill. Why call an out-of-town lawyer when you can call our law firm, which has over 100 years of combined experience in all areas of the law? Check us out first by calling our office at 256-766-3131. No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

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Live from Baumhauer's Victory Grill in Vestavia Hills and on this great station. Tune in and roll tide. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. It is a pleasure for us to welcome the man named one of the 50 legends of sports writers in Alabama. He's also busy there in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. You can check out his work now as the Mel Allen Award winner at AL.com. Randy Kennedy, welcome in. How are you? I am doing great, man.

It's football season. Couldn't be better. Can you believe that? And it's 2026. Man, we've seen a lot of football. But have you seen a more inspiring story, Randy, in all these years and what happened just over the past few days at Columbia High in Huntsville? You know, it was so interesting because even though the losing streak had reached triple digits, it wasn't completely unforeseen that it was going to end on opening night here in 2026. But, you know, there was all the media that was there. There was a lot of expectations that Sammy Coase was going to get that thing turned around.

And then it started out the game. They're down two touchdowns. You're like, well, here we go again. Hollywood. Hollywood. Exactly. That's how they were scripted for the screenplay, right? So they fall behind, but then they make the big comeback and win the game. And now it's going to be interesting to see if that's going to be a one-time thing or they can put together a good season. But, man, you've got to just love what Sammy Coase is doing there with that program. And let's see. 1-0.

That's a winning record, guys. We'll see where they're going. That's right. Stop the season now. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. Randy, the best of Bama. An update. Randy, first of all, of course, we certainly know it. But refresh our listeners' memory. Tell us again the criteria you use for the best of Bama. We've got a lot of guys we want to ask you about. But the latest update, I think, is going to be published on AL.com today. What is it, and who are some of the latest as far as updates to add to the list?

Yeah, I've spent a lot of my life on best in Bama on AL.com. And you're right. The first in-season update is actually published at the top of the hour, 2 o'clock. So you are breaking news here. There you go. It's so interesting because we do this thing pretty much year-round, and there's always going to be movement. One new player in the list this week is a running back. I'll let you check it out on AL.com that we've got coming up at the top of the hour.

But there's always going to be new guys making the list, but also movement within best in Bama. So this is our rankings of the best prospects in the state, regardless of what graduating class they are, which kind of separates it from other recruiting rankings. So we're looking at guys all the way from seniors down to even sometimes eighth-graders make the list, which is just crazy to think about, but they do sometimes. So we've got one new player on the list this week, but some movement there, including a guy up in Huntsville, Samuel Bay, the offensive lineman from A. Jemison.

He's a big jumper this week in terms of where he's at in the list. It's a good year in Huntsville for prospects, at least with some of the younger guys. Bailey's a junior. So a lot of movement there already, and we'll do this every single week. We'll update that top 50 list. Huntsville needs it because they have had a long drought. Randy Kennedy hooking up with us. Talk to us, a lot of Florence High fans rocking and rolling at that big road win last night, last week at Pinson Valley.

This week, taking on a team called Jasper, formerly known as Walker County, a pretty good running back. Would you agree that Florence defense is going to be facing a pretty good running back there? Yeah, he's Zion Coger is the running back there, Jasper, and he is, you know, when you get offers from Ohio State, he's still a junior. Yeah, that's right. It's not just Auburn and Alabama, but when it's Ohio State and it's Indiana and it's USC, he is definitely a guy that's gotten a lot of attention.

[1:24:02] Plays defense, too, which we'll see a lot, of course, with some of these top high school players, but plays a little bit of a linebacker and is a running back that's really getting a lot of attention. You know, last year, you guys know E.J. Crowell was the number one prospect in Alabama, went to Alabama out of Jackson High School. He was number one and best in Bama for all but one week last year when he didn't get to play one week. And Zion Coger is one of those guys, the running back at Jasper, who's going to continue to move up this list.

He's a junior, and we'll just see how high he can get in the list. But Florence fans will get a good look at him to see maybe he's the next big superstar in college football after two more seasons now in high school. Randy, we've enjoyed talking with you over the years, and one of the things that we have noticed that a lot of people have, the talent base in the state of Alabama continues to grow. Ask Dan Lanning how many times he's come down here in the last three years and cherry-picked the top players in the state of Alabama.

One game I noticed, and I know you pick the games each week. In fact, you're leading. We kid Ben Thomas on Monday or Tuesday. Thanks for mentioning that. Yeah, on Monday or Tuesday about his lousy picks. Well, Randy Kennedy's leading everybody. But, Randy, one of the games you picked, James Clemens at Parker. James Clemens beat Austin last week 45-24. They've got a running back, MJ Gideon, who had five touchdowns. I believe he had 150 yards rushing and 100 receiving. But Parker, Randy, this is amazing. Parker, on their defense, defensive back, CJ Craig James, a four-star defensive back.

Their defensive front is as follows. Arkansas State commit Robert Taylor, Western Kentucky commit Jermaine Lewis, and Tulane commit Demetrius Terrell. Randy, that's amazing. You've got a defensive front and everyone to have their D1 commitments. They are really good. And, you know, they're coming off a loss to Vestavia Hills, which is a really, really good 6A program. That's one of the marquee games of the week, guys. It is. I mean, I went back and forth about picking that game. That's going to be a really, really interesting one.

Randy, talk to us. This is one thing you hate to see. I'm looking at your list here, and ironically, number one on the list, and you look at this kid and you say, physically, is he in high school or is he in the NFL based on just the physical prowess? Gunner Rivers, obviously, a premier game last week in the Nashville area there. St. Michael Catholic, on his way to North Carolina State. Shock, shock. His dad was a legend there. But the bad news is he went down with an injury.

Have you heard any updates on his injury? And you know his daddy's going to take every precaution in the world to make sure he's ready to go when he is ready. Yeah, it's such a sad situation because Gunner Rivers, 6'4", 230, guys. Yeah, in high school. Just physically, I mean, he doesn't need to get any bigger to play college or even in the NFL. He looks like physically that he's on that level already. And ironically, you know, we talked in the preseason to Phillip Rivers, and he was saying, look, we're going to run Gunner more this year.

I mean, he's that big a kid. He's a good athlete. He's going to have to run the ball some for this year. Well, his first carry of the year results in this right knee injury where he scrambles out of the pocket. He makes a nice little run. He gets hit. Just a solid lick on his right knee. He is out. That's not season-ending, but I do think he's going to miss some time. He's number one and best in Bama, and we'll see if he's out for, you know, a prolonged amount of time, maybe if he keeps that spot or not.

But he was looking like the number one prospect in the state early in the game against Battleground Academy. Then he takes that hit on the second possession. He'd already scored one touchdown. They were on their way to what looked like another when he went out of the game. So we'll see how much time he missed. It's not season-ending, so we think he's okay in terms of long-term for his career. But we'll see how much time he misses. But he is a super, super quarterback. Huge. And a year where, by the way, you guys know, it's a very good year for quarterbacks in Alabama.

Randy, before we let's go, let me ask you about two guys in your top ten. Joey Fleming. We talked about Bailey at Mae Jemison. But Joey Fleming at Huntsville, who actually plays tight end more than he does on the offensive line. The 2028 prospect still got a long way to go, but visiting Notre Dame, a lot of people say it's between Alabama and Auburn. But he is one of the best prospects to come out of Huntsville in a long, long time. Your thoughts on him? And then number two on your best Obama list, Nehemiah McCray from Mapleville.

I've heard about him for years, uncommitted junior. Randy, your thoughts on both of them. You know, the interesting thing with Joey Fleming is that he is a tight end. He projects as an interior offensive lineman, but he wears number 87 and plays tight end. And it looks like that's where he's going to play, you know, for Huntsville High School. But he's projected as an interior offensive lineman. He just this week announced all the visits he's going to make this year a couple of times to Alabama, including to the Iron Bowl.

[1:29:27] Interestingly, that's his only Auburn in-person view this year. He doesn't have a visit planned for on-campus at Auburn this year, but he's got Notre Dame and Oklahoma. And clearly a national recruit, even though he's playing tight end at the high school level. In terms of McCary, the outside linebacker at Maplesville High School, is just a phenomenal athlete on offense and defense. You know, he's the perfect example of when you go to a game, you don't need a program where nobody ever says, now which one's he?

I mean, when they jog out there for warmers, you're like, oh, that's the guy, the top prospect. He's one of those kind of people that's just like, oh, yeah, you don't have to be an expert to pick him out as the best player on the field. He is going to be a, I think, top 10 national prospect next year. We'll see how it plays out between now and then. But just a super athlete who probably projects as a linebacker, but could play just about anywhere. Randy, tell us again, where can we get online in about 28 minutes and get the latest update for the best of Bama?

Best of Bama. It's on AL.com. You can easily find it there. We'll also have it on social media, but you can easily find it on AL.com. And as we said, we update this every single week and try to highlight different players every week. And as their recruitment goes, you know, ebbs and flows, the list gets updated every week. I've got a list of about 100 extra guys, guys, that I'd like to include him in there. You know, looking for an excuse to put so many of these guys in the best in Bama, top 50.

So it will fluctuate during the year. But obviously, a lot of those guys will be there from start to finish. Got our eyes on you, Randy. Listen, man, thanks so much. And keep up the good work, okay? Always happy to do it, guys. Thank you, Randy. Randy Kennedy, again, just moments away from checking out that list. It's at AL.com. Let's just go to AL Country, Alabama, and talk time with Ryan Feller on deck on the Boomo Bugg Show. Stay with us. A lot goes into taking care of your property.

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Let it brag with Wyman. Hey, it's Michelle Smallman. And coming up Friday, we'll react to week three of the NFL preseason. Plus, look ahead to the first weekend of college football action. It's on Sports Finlite, 6 a.m. Eastern, right here on ESPN Radio, ESPN2, and ESPNU. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. We'll come back in. He says it's almost so close you can reach out and touch it. It's a thing called the beginning of the season in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Well, we take you with a man who drives you home every afternoon there, Ryan Feller, host of the game on Tide 109-FM.

Ryan, welcome in. How are you? Single days, baby. Single days. There you go. We're down to nine days. It has been the longest offseason of my career. And it has – I have talked more about Indiana offensive line, running backs, rushing attack than I care to talk about. Yeah, you're sick of that, Ryan. Yeah. Are you in the Keelan Russell fan club yet, Ryan? Well, I mean, I've got to be fair. And I don't know who this guy is, but there's some idiot that does afternoons in Tuscaloosa.

The first time he ever went to practice and watched Keelan throw, this idiot came back on the radio that afternoon and said, that guy will win a Heisman trophy before he leaves the University of Alabama. Who was that guy, Ryan? Who was that mess man? Let me do some more investigating before we get a name with you guys. Okay, okay. Listen, I will agree with that particular guy. He does have a spin on his ball that is just – I mean, it will make you fall in love with that quick release.

I mean, he's – it's fun to watch him throw the football. I mean, he's a guy that – you know, he just – as, what is it, Brian Ellis said, he just makes c*** happen. Yes. Yes, he does. Yeah. I cleaned it up for you guys, just for the radio. Thank you. But, yeah. Yeah. But, you know, he did, when you look at it, earn the job. And I think that, you know, this was kind of the prediction that I think I shared with you guys a few weeks ago.

[1:39:54] Ryan Grubbs said it was even, and if it was truly even, that at some point he was going to take back over the job. If he had pulled up side by side, I've said logic tells me that he's going to – he's going to overtake the job. And he did. And I think that's the – you know, the story when you think about what he's been able to accomplish and highest-rated recruit in Alabama history. And, listen, he's going to make mistakes. He is going to make mistakes. It's just going to be part of it.

But I also think that he's going to give you something that this offense needs. And the mobility may not be a part of the game plan, but it's there if they need it. Mm-hmm. Well, it's like someone said the other day, he's going to make mistakes, so he throws the pick six. If he scores you 35 points on the other side, then you win 35-7, so you take the good, the bad, and the ugly. But here's, to me, another factor, too. A quarterback has to have a command of the huddle.

You have to have the guys love you, respect you, and will go to war for you and have your back. And from everything we're able to gather, and no disrespect to Austin Mack, the guy, from our understanding, after he got the news, he was the first guy at the practice facility the following day. So that says a lot about his character. But it's a business decision, and you get paid the big bucks to make the tough decision. But at the end of the day, all things being equal, you have to go with a guy who's going to give you more years down the road, let him go ahead and go to school and make his mistakes now, and also that can command that huddle that has the respect of the guys around him.

Yeah, I think he does. I think he gives you that. I mean, it's a no doubt. He does, but it's, you know, they're going to pick the best guy. You know, the team, they always say the team picks the quarterback. The team picks the quarterback. The team picks the quarterback. Well, they're simply just picking the guy that gives them the best chance to win. It's kind of like you picking in the backyard when you're taking your neighbors or your schoolmates. You're trying to develop the best 11 that you think gives you the best chance to win.

And so when you step back and look at him, he's going to give you something. And he is a natural-born leader. If you've never been around him, he just has that attitude that, you know, it's easy. And I think even, you know, Kalen DeBoer said on Monday that you could already see that taking shape. But now since he's the starter, because you get a lot of respect, but then obviously you earn it. But then when you're declared the starter and the coaching staff kind of gives you that vote of confidence, I think the other guys grab and get on board.

And so I think that's what you're seeing. But, you know, at this point, I'm excited to see this team. I'm tired of talking about it. And, you know, we'll see if this team can live up to some of the expectations. Now, there's some folks that have very little expectations around this team. I mean, if you really, you know, spend a little bit of time, they don't really have a lot of expectations. You know, we've got a guest this afternoon, Adari Noka. He's got Alabama behind Auburn in his power rankings.

Yeah, yeah. So, I don't know. I don't know. So, I mean, there's a lot of people that don't believe it, and there's a lot of people that do believe. Ryan, the biggest question, and it's been talked about ad nauseum, the effectiveness of the offensive line. We'll see. But right now, starting left to right, is it Jackson Lloyd, left tackle, Mal Waltrip, who may be the biggest surprise of summer camp, Rayson Delgotti at center, Michael Carroll at right guard, and Jem and James at right tackle? Yeah, that's it.

I mean, that's the five. And really, that's been the five, you know, for quite a while, too. I mean, it's, you know, that's the one thing that this team may have the advantage, is that they've been able to settle with a five, and they've been able to work that for a few weeks. Now, that is something, and a lot of us, you know, like, we like to throw darts, but we need to give some context, too. The reason, I mean, they were not able to settle last year on the five, for one, they didn't ever find the five that they thought were the best five.

Right. But they also had to battle with injuries, too. I mean, keep that in mind. They were trying to shuffle guys around, you know, trying to figure out who was the best five. And so, you know, when you do spend some time thinking about this offensive line, Adrian Clem, you know, that's another big topic. And, you know, those who know a little bit more, I know Aaron Taylor was here a couple of weeks ago, and he's had some strong opinions to say, you know, about this offensive line and how he thinks Adrian Clem is going to make it, you know, a dynamic offensive line.

I don't know enough about offensive line to, you know, I know what, you know, what a bad offensive line looks like, and that was a bad offensive line last year. So, but to kind of find a way to make this work, I think settling with five is going to give you a leg up, because that's something that they didn't do last year. Ryan Fowler in the huddle with us. Obviously, you got some folks plugging in the most recent to get one of those pieces, Luke Metz.

[1:45:08] Your thoughts about Metz being able to be penciled in, and we talked about Russell. Now, he's got a position. As far as any remaining positions, where would that be in your opinion, Ryan? Well, we'll go to kicker, but let's go back to Luke Metz here for just a minute. You guys remember when he committed getting some complaints from the Alabama fans about that three-star? He's a three-star. Oh, yes. He's only a three-star. Three-star. I mean, we heard nonstop. Well, I don't want to, but there's going to be about four three-stars that are going to make a big impact on this football team.

Luke Metz is going to be one of the, yeah, Treshawn Brown, Mal Walker, I think Mal Walker was a three-star, if I'm not mistaken. So, this staff knows how to evaluate. I mean, that's one thing that you can give these guys credit. I mean, they can find guys that, you know, and that's the trick now, is to be able to do that. But Luke Metz is going to give you, I think, Kane Womack yesterday said that as far as from a field general is the way that he describes it, a field general.

And so, I think when you, you know, when you look at what these guys are, you know, he's going to give you something at that middle linebacker that can be very productive, you know, in this defense's side of the things. But the biggest competition, I guess, right now that still hasn't been said of his kicker. I mean, that's a, that is, and you know what, a credit, you know, because we automatically assume that Conor Talty was going to fold it in and go home. Right, right.

I mean, I thought, okay, well, appreciate Conor Talty, he can be sitting in the press box with me. He got booed and all that stuff, yeah. Yeah, yeah, well, he's fought, he's fought back, and now he's made it a, you know, pretty in-depth competition with Lorcan Quinn. And, you know, I was told on Sunday, and I put a little nugget out on my Facebook account that they hit from 50-plus out. And I thought it was 57, Caleb Boer said it was 58 during his media availability on Tuesday.

Then they followed back up the next day, the next day, they went from 60, and both of them hit it from there. I don't know if they're just going to have a kickoff to win the job. Yeah, there you go. You know, like, okay, hey, we're 61 today, tomorrow 62. One misses, loses the job. I don't know, like, I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do. Yeah, yeah, no pressure. Hey, I know you've worked your entire butt off, but, you know, it gives you some confidence that this, that this kicking unit has a chance to be better.

And that's going to be good because you've got this young offense. Now, the job that I don't have a clue about, zero. And that's punter. I don't, I have no, I have absolutely zero knowledge on the punter. Just don't know. Yeah, I mean, I couldn't guess if you gave me a hundred bucks. Right. I have no clue. Not even a prediction. Ryan, do you feel a little more optimistic? And first of all, let me say, Jeremiah Beeman must have the Hee Haw theme song playing in the background.

If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Unfortunately, he's out again. I believe it's even the same knee. But as far as the other injuries, do you feel a little bit more optimistic? Obviously, Noah Rogers seems to be very positive. Crowell, I wouldn't surprise me at all if he plays a little bit against East Carolina. The other injuries, what are you hearing? Let's see. And Noah Rogers, I think we're still a few weeks away from that. The last time I got a little bit of scoop on that was prior to fall camp, they thought it might be Georgia was a fair target for him.

And obviously, he's ahead of schedule, so you might be able to get that maybe the end of September, but if he's already out there doing things, that's a little bit of a different projection. So it's just, I mean, until you have a medical report, but all he told us was that he was ahead of schedule. But that's obviously a big something that you want to keep an eye on. Kyra Edwards, I want to know what part of the upper extremity that is. Because, you know, generically, we love to describe injuries as upper extremity and lower extremity, which is very generically.

But think about it, you know, and I don't know if it's an arm or if it's a hand, if it's, because if it is, I mean, would it qualify to put a club out there and let it go? You see so many defenders that are able to do that, offense is a different story. But as far as that, that's something to kind of keep an eye on, that if it is, then could you see him play pretty early? And then EJ Crowell, you know, just continue to get people tell me that this guy will be ready to go.

[1:50:25] But I'm concerned because of the lack of reps. Yeah. It's just, it's hard to step in. You know, we were talking to Sean Alexander yesterday on the show and asking him about making an impact from the running back. And he talked about, well, everything that you could do running the football. But he said, he'll probably not be there on obvious passing downs. Thank you. That he's probably going to be a guy that will have to do it early, but probably not going to be able to do it late.

Makes sense. Yeah. Who else? Some of those third down plays that he's probably not going to be, you know, have a lot of responsibility. Absolutely. Dari Noqua, if the SEC Network's on the show, who else have you got and where can we get online to listen? Well, Todd109.com. We got Mr. Rodney Orr coming up 2-15, 2-15, and then 3-15, Dari Noqua is going to be on. And then at 4 o'clock, we've got Brad Powers. He'll break down week zero and kind of look at some projections.

You know, he actually bet on Keelan Russell being a Heisman, I think, finest. And he's going to share some of the reasons why. So we'll talk with him coming up at 4 o'clock. So that's the way the show will line up. Hey, I always appreciate going to be on with you guys, man. I can't believe it. Next week when we talk, it'll be game week. I appreciate you guys so much. Thank you. Thank you, bud. Back at you, Ryan. Ryan Fowler, host of the game, untied 109 FM.

BB, obviously the Braves trying to add their four-and-a-half game lead tonight. So far, so good against the Dodgers. And a pretty good pitch on the mound tonight for the Braavos. Chris Sale is on the mound tonight. In fact, he is facing Yamamoto. Oh, yeah. I don't think that's Tojo. I remember Tojo. I bet Blair could remember Tojo pretty good, too. You could have knocked me over with the feather when Kim was able to knock in the winning run last night. But the Braves have won the series.

Can they get the sweep? And you can hear it tonight on 93.9. Let's go. Football kicking off week zero. Monkson, Papa Simpson, UT Martin taking on Central Arkansas. One of a ton of games opening night week zero. It's now on and rocking. We'll get the latest coming up tomorrow. But in the meantime, I'm FBB, Greg James Blair, the entire crew here. Harold Bugg, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again tomorrow, noon to two. The Good Morning Bug Show back here on Sports Radio 93.9.

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