Boomo Bugg Show 050126

[0:00] Now, get ready to roll Shoals, Decatur, Athens and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's Exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. New Exclusive Inside Track to the Tide, Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Good afternoon and welcome into the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in to where the topic of the day, Alabama picks up another quarterback on the recruiting trail. Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you?

Happy Friday to you. Hope you're feeling much better. Alabama picks up a 2028 commitment. Charles Scott from Virginia. And Harold, if a quarterback doesn't work out, he can play linebacker at 6'5", 235. Zach Pounders of the Shoals Sports Report recounts last night's second-round baseball playoff games and shows. And Jimmy is here right now to talk about some Alabama football recruiting. And Alabama baseball gets a big 5-4 walk-off win last night over Vanderbilt. And not only that, the Alabama baseball team is scheduled to play tonight, but rain threatened the game, so they're going to be getting rocking and rolling here in about a half hour from now against the Vanderbilt Commodores.

But first, let's go to Tuscaloosa and say hello to Jimmy Stein, co-host of Locked On Bama and part of the Locked On Network. Jimmy, welcome in. How are you? Oh, doing great, guys. Hey, Jimmy. Jimmy, we're going to be talking about a quarterback by the name of Elijah Haven. But moments earlier this morning, they picked up yet another quarterback, and the joke is they're going to have 12 quarterbacks and nobody playing around them. Jimmy, your thoughts about the latest quarterback pickup? Yeah, first of all, about the numbers, you know, if half of quarterbacks transfer, you better have eight and not four, right?

I mean, half of them are going to leave. You kind of know that. I mean, that's the thing to be realistic about when you're adding quarterbacks. I mean, it's unrealistic to believe that every quarterback that you sign is going to be at your school for five years. It's just unrealistic. So the key is to like everyone you take. Therefore, you believe in everyone on your roster, no matter who's leaving. But Charles Scott's a long way from playing college football. This is a young kid. This is the first.

This is the first in the DeBoer era to take a quarterback this age to go ahead and pull the trigger on someone. Just think his signing day is still something like 20 months away from the day he can actually sign with Alabama in December of 2027 would be his signing date. So you've got to hold on to him for a long time, but he loves Alabama. He tried to commit when he was here on an unofficial visit, and they even told him, hey, you're on a visit high.

You need to get home and think of this for a few days, you know, before we make this official. But he's an interesting player, obviously, for Alabama to take this early. He's a gigantic, great, big kid. Listed in some places as big as 6'4", 255, looks not quite that heavy when you watch his 10th grade quarterback tape, which is very, very impressive. But he's still easily 230 or more on his junior, on his sophomore tape. Big, strong kid, big arm. Obviously, he's one of these kids that can throw the ball through the car wash and it doesn't get wet.

I mean, you know, he can really fire it. But what makes him such an impressive prospect is there's a lot more arm talent there than just the fastball. He layers throws. He's accurate in the short and intermediate. He will back shoulder some kids. He has good command of the field for his age. It's just what stands out is just the size. I mean, it's even hard to come up with a comp for him, but think Byron Leftwich, Ben Roethlisberger. I mean, he's sort of that size kid, especially down the road.

He's still growing. Yes, yeah. There's no telling how big he'll ultimately end up. But this is a jumbo-sized kid. But when you watch the tape, you realize, hey, this is not a kid they took because one day they see him as a tight end or a defensive lineman. No, they took him because he's a very gifted quarterback. He's a very gifted passer. Jimmy, Alabama's got two other commitments who are very gifted. And Harold and I talk about the Elite Eight finals for quarterbacks nearly every year.

Alabama's got two of them going to be involved in it. Elijah Haven, of course, who committed Saturday a week ago. And then former four-star Trent Seaborn at Thompson High School. Usually Alabama has one commitment. This year, they've got two. Yeah, it is really impressive that both kids committed to you in one class would be Elite 11 finalists. And that's what Alabama's got with Elijah Haven, who committed just this past weekend. And Trent Seaborn from Birmingham has been committed for quite a while. But Seaborn and Haven both made the cut.

[5:31] I think there's a total of 20 quarterbacks that have been invited to this year's Elite 11 finals in California. I think the competition there, some level of it begins, I think, in just about three weeks or so. But very interesting. But, you know, at the same time, you know, an invitation to Elite 11 does not guarantee a fantastic college career for all of them. As we know, Alabama's had some guys invited to Elite 11, and it didn't pan out great. I mean, one name that comes to mind for me immediately is Blake Barnett, who was a five-star type quarterback, who actually was the Elite 11 champion.

And things didn't really work out for him, not just at Alabama, but at other places he transferred to. So it guarantees you nothing. But at the same time, if you go over the list of Elite 11 guys who have been major achievers, it'll blow you away. I mean, you're talking about most of the really good quarterbacks in college football over the past couple of decades have made their way through the Elite 11 process. So Alabama, the only school that will have two committed quarterbacks at Elite 11, everyone else there is just, you know, a sole member of the quarterback class at their respective school.

Jimmy Stein, Coles of Locked On Balance. Jimmy, let's talk about going forward. Again, back to the prankster in the room. Who else is Alabama going to commit or recruit besides a quarterback? In other words, who's next on the board? We're about to really get busy with the recruiting season in terms of holidays. This is the Christmas part of the schedule, May and June, at least traditionally. So, Jimmy, talk to us about who's next or what are you looking at on the recruiting calendar here going forward?

Yeah, that's right. The recruiting calendar has really changed so much and now so much of the heavy lifting in terms of building your next recruiting class. It's done during the summer months. That's when there's unofficial visits that turn into official visits. Coaches are on the road right now. As soon as they come off the road, the official visit season will start. After the official visits, they kind of come to an agreement with the majority of their class. And that's going to happen really in June and July.

And then by the time fall camp rolls around, your recruiting class is pretty much done and set. That's kind of how I anticipate it. So, there will be a lot of commitments come Alabama's way, probably starting end of May. But there's one in the meantime, Kenneth Simon from Brentwood Academy in Nashville. He has an announcement set for May 11th. Guys over at BOL have done a great job of tracking his recruitment. And I think they've predicted over there that it will be Alabama and they have a really good batting average.

So, I would go with that. Kenneth Simon is very likely to choose Alabama, which is interesting. His dad played for Tennessee, was even a member of Tennessee's sports staff at one time. He played linebacker like his dad did back in the day. He's an incredible athlete for the position, kind of a modern off-ball linebacker prospect in the sense he was a safety in the 9th and 10th grade. So, this is a kid that's used to playing in space, covering a lot of ground. He's more athlete, whereas his dad was an off-ball linebacker back in the day.

So, his dad was a little bit more of a thumper, you know, an inside front seven guy who kind of played in a phone booth and was just super physical. Today's off-ball linebacker is a great athlete. They're practically extra safeties. And that fits Kenneth Simon perfectly. A good comp for him is Xavier Griffin, who just signed with Alabama a year ago. When you watch Kenneth Simon's tape, there's a lot of similarities to Xavier Griffin that they just signed in the last cycle. Jimmy, Alabama's already got two Salbs, where they eventually get three.

Keyon Salb, of course, is at safety right now. Amari Salb's coming in at bay. Younger brother Xavier Salb, a five-star receiver slash defensive back, attending Glassboro High School in New Jersey. We talked to recruiting guru Tom Lemming earlier this week. He is really impressed with him. Obviously, a lot of other schools are looking at him. Jimmy, your thoughts on the youngest Salb. Yeah, Alabama's got a really good shot there. I think where people, you know, could be a little off in their thinking is they think because his two older brothers are in Alabama now that he's some sort of a lock.

That's not the case at all, in part because they are different kids and some kids do want to go a different way than their brothers. That happens. Also, Xavier Salb, the youngest of the three, he is almost by far the most highly recruited of the three. The oldest brother, Keyon Salb, who's been a starter at Alabama now for two years, going into year three as a starting safety. He was a national top 100 player and a pretty big deal when he signed with Michigan out of high school, but not like his youngest brother, Xavier, who's a five-star type athlete who can sign with anyone he wants.

[10:44] And he's going to be getting the big-time NIL deals from coast to coast. So it's not a lock. It's not a certainty. But you have to like Alabama's position. He does like Alabama. He's been here several times to see Keyon play, and he is coming for an official visit this summer. I would say Alabama's the favorite, but I would not say that he's a lock. Like Jerry Maguire said in the movie, show me the money, that probably would be the difference maker. I'm just saying, Jimmy, let's talk about basketball.

The dust, has it settled on a roster yet? Your thoughts about that? I saw Nate Oates. He's kind of throwing out the verbal bouquets. He likes what he sees. What do you see, Jimmy? Yeah, my understanding is they're going to stand pat and just sort of see what happens with Aiden Holloway and Amari Allen. I think they like what they have, and there is a lot of optimism, not certainty, but optimism that Aiden Holloway will resolve his legal problems and be cleared to return to basketball.

That would probably take the legal process ending with him not convicted of a felony. But if it has some result other than that, the expectation is that he would be back with Alabama, and they would be happy to have him. Amari Allen is invited to the NBA Draft Combine, as expected, and is going through the process. You see a lot of mocks that have Amari late in the first round. He's trying to get more of some, I don't know if it's the right word, certitude. He wants to be certain of where he would go in the first round before he makes a final decision.

My understanding is there's some level of optimism with Alabama staff that Amari Allen would be back. If Aiden and Amari Allen are both back, I don't think Alabama is going to add to what they already have. Now, if they lose one or both, I don't know. I mean, obviously, you can only sign who's in the portal. You know, there could be reclass situations. There could be European players. I mean, there's probably some options out there some way or another. Heck, even the G League. But in terms of them adding, I don't think you're going to see them add unless they lose Amari or Aiden or both.

Jimmy, great stuff. As always, you and Luke Robinson do about six days a week, a podcast, football, basketball, recruiting, maybe even a little baseball as we're going down the stretch before they get to Hoover. Jimmy, where can we get online and get the best Alabama sports podcast on the planet? Locked on Bama. You can find us on YouTube or you can find the audio version wherever you get your podcasts, new shows, six days a week, 30-minute shows, and sometimes we have breaking news like when a quarterback commits to Alabama, like we did earlier this morning.

Which may be another 15 minutes or so when Alabama baseball gets rocking against Bandy. Jimmy, listen, man, thanks so much for your time, Dane. Have a great weekend. All right? Hey, thanks so much, guys. Thank you, Jimmy. Jimmy Stein, co-host of Locked on Bama. Coming up late level all over the SEC. Next on the Big Little Bug Show. Stay with us. This is an important notice to all U.S. taxpayers. The IRS is giving away billions of dollars in tax savings through a federal program called the Fresh Start Initiative to aid delinquent taxpayers.

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Happy Friday to you. How are you? Yeah, doing well, guys. Kentucky as always. You too. Lots to get to, Blade. But before we get into some of the stuff from the NCAA, kind of big news this week. How are your national neighbors reacting to the news of Diego Pavia now going to the beloved Baltimore Ravens? Yeah, it's certainly one that I think, again, he was going to be a very polarizing player in this cycle of the NFL draft and such. And I think it was going to be interesting for a lot of people to see, you know, exactly what it would look like.

And I think, you know, if you kind of put all the connections together, like the Ravens kind of routine, that it seemed like it would make a little bit of sense. Not because he was going to, you know, take over for Lamar Jackson or anything like that. But I think there were some things, again, where you sort of looked at it and it felt like he was going to get an opportunity at the very least. And I think that was always going to be the case.

You know, when you look at a guy that, yes, like you can compare him to other players and, you know, all the metrics that we love to just sort of salivate over at the combine and all this other stuff. He may not have those same attributes, but you know how NFL teams are. They want to win. And if they see a guy like this, who they think is going to bring something to the table that will help them get closer to winning the game, even if he never steps on the field, you know, that's what they're going to do.

[21:19] And so, yeah, I think that's it. The thing is also, let's face it, from a business standpoint, by comparison to the Ravens, they're not investing a whole lot here. In other words, there's more upside than downside. It's not like drafting somebody high in the first round and then they go bust. This is basically the other side of that cycle. Yeah, and I think everyone these days, given just kind of the nature of those contracts and what you can do and how you can structure them, like there is no, like you said, Harold, I mean, there's no downside to this.

Like there's really not a situation where you can't just say, all right, it's not working out. We just move on. Like it's not something that's really going to kind of put you in a position where anything substantial is going to happen if both parties get in there and one realizes, okay, yeah, this probably isn't the best bet. So, yeah, I mean, there's plenty of upside to be had and I think just given the nature of these undrafted free agent type contracts, you know, there's plenty of wiggle room to do what you need to do there.

One of the big topics, Doug Jordan, this week, and Harold alluded to it, is the NCAA has initiated the final steps to expand the men's and women's basketball tournament to 76 teams. And so on social media, this must be 90 to 10 negative reaction to this. Now, the UNA North Alabama is a program close to our heart here. We talk about it all the time. They came within about five minutes, two years ago, of getting to the NCAA tournament. Now, if you told me that this would help the mid-major teams and the lower conference teams and more teams there, instead of putting in the 11th Big Ten team into the play-in games, which would go from, that they would expand to 12 games, play by 24 teams.

Kevin Samson came out and was negative about this, the coach at Houston, of course, and said, we've got to find a way to begin to help the mid-majors. I know you've been asked about this all week. Your thoughts on what seems to be foregone conclusion they're going to expand to 76? Yeah, it's terrible for college basketball. There's no other way to put it. I mean, I think if you're someone who obviously also understands that when they move it from 68 to 76, that doesn't mean they're going to go from 76 to 68 again.

It's always going to get higher. That's right. It's always going to keep growing. And I think any time you make this move, you know that up front. But the facts are, you know, I'm an SEC guy. I don't want to see the 14th best SEC team make the NCAA tournament anymore. Like, I don't think that's how it works. And I think that, again, until we get to the point where when you're deciding to expand this tournament and you reward, in my opinion, the regular season champions in every single conference in the country, until that happens, I don't think you're going to have your best tournament.

And now you're definitely not going to have your best tournament because you are going to be putting in, again, teams that if we compared resumes this past year and we look at the bubble, there was one outlier on the bubble this last year, and that was Belmont. Belmont will be nowhere close to the bubble this upcoming year when we start to implement this with the same resume they had last year because teams like Stanford, Wichita State, teams like that that were just remarkably average at times are going to get in easily over those teams because of the quality of opponents that they played.

And, oh, by the way, how does this impact the regular season? The regular season is going to mean less, but I'll tell you what else is about to happen. If you're an SEC team, there is very, very, very little incentive, maybe more than ever, to play anyone outside of the power conferences at this point because you are trying to build your resume. And strength of schedule matters. There is no reason to play Belmont. There's no reason to play North Alabama. There's no reason to play any of these teams.

So they're about to get cut out even more. And guess what? We know as conferences grow, they want to play more conference games just like we're doing in football now. And so this is just, I'm telling you, look back at this as kind of that defining moment, I think, for college basketball because I think this is going to lead to a bunch of negative impacts. And that's a shame for schools like UNA. They depend. I mean, yes, they have the capability of beating those teams, but it's a business decision.

Let's not kid ourselves. This helps their budget, the bottom line, no matter what the score is. They win before they even tip it off from that standpoint. And to your point, Blake, I'm just sitting here thinking about last year. To me, Auburn is kind of the poster child to back up your argument there, because if they'd go to the NCAA tournament, how far would they have gone? I think most of us would say not very, but they go to the NIT as a consolation, and they got momentum.

It's not the NCAA, but just from a momentum standpoint, this is a program that needed some type of positive news, and they got it by going to the NIT. Yeah, and I think you add that fact in when it comes to these teams that are going to get in towards that range. Yeah, they could win a couple games. Sure they could. But to me, if your goal, and this is why, you know, this is not their goal. Their goal is to make more money, which I thought was absolutely hilarious in the comment the other day.

[26:27] The ESPN story was like, there may be somewhat of a financial impact here. I'm like, yeah, you think so? Maybe somewhat of a financial impact? That'd be surprising, wouldn't it? So I think that the biggest thing to me is like, well, if you're looking at it and you're thinking, okay, how do you, you know, we love the upsets. I'll tell you who doesn't love the upsets. That's the NCAA and the TV networks. They don't love the upsets because they want the biggest teams all the time that you can get because that's going to make you more money.

Eyeballs. I think that's what, yeah, it's just about getting more eyeballs on the product. And unfortunately, like I said, there are differing sort of opinions in play here, different things that each party wants. If you're going to make the best tournament, that's why, again, to me, you get the best tournament by putting the teams in that have done it for the long haul. And that's why I don't know how we've not moved to any kind of scaling system where you can put the regular season champions in every single year.

They perform better over a 20-game stretch or whatever versus winning a game or two. I love conference tournaments. But if you had to give me the choice between giving me a better NCAA tournament with regular season champions filling out these extra eight spots and eventually these extra 16 spots and so forth, give me that over the conference tournament. Like, and I just, I know that sounds like, oh, we're taking away the madness before the madness. It's fine. The NCAA tournament is, to me, should be about the teams, again, that deserve to have that opportunity to be there.

And now that we're going to start rewarding these teams that, again, are 13th or 14th in their conference in a power conference, those aren't the teams that deserve to be there, in my opinion. So I'd rather go the other direction. Let me ask you about another trend that we saw this week. It's been going in this direction for a while. Amazon is going to televise three marquee Duke basketball games. This is the, for NIL, quote, NIL opportunities for Duke athletes. This is Amazon's first adventure into broadcasting live college sports.

Now, I know the players' era tournament in Las Vegas does this to a certain degree, but I know they've got contracts with ESPN, the ACC network, the whole nine yards. But your thoughts on Amazon getting into broadcasting college basketball? Yeah, I mean, it's one where, who was it? I heard someone say, I think it was yesterday, they were comparing this to, like, other sports and, like, eventually what this is going to look like, too, right? Where I think they said, if you wanted to watch every New York Yankees game this year, you would basically have to pay, like, $1,000 to be able to watch every game in some way, shape, or form.

Because you'd have to have seven, eight different streaming services, like, all this other stuff. And so now, when you start to see, again, this is just the first step, I think, when you talk about these big brands, like a Duke or something like that, with Amazon. Eventually, it'll be Apple. Eventually, it'll be someone else who will want to get in on certain teams. And then you'll start to have those services where it's like, okay, great, you can catch three of our games on this service. And then you've got to go watch the other four teams here, then you're going to have five on this one.

So it's like, look, it's just getting more and more expensive. And, you know, it doesn't matter to these companies, because it's the same big companies that are all, you know, kind of just hogging all this. And so, yeah, to me, this is the first step. You know, just like, again, we've seen over the years with different sort of situations in other sports. I think this is going to be one where eventually North Carolina, Duke, you know, Kansas, Kentucky, keep going. And, like, these are the ones we're going to start with, but then, you know, eventually you're going to have this tier off to where, you know, again, you've got to have the SEC network to watch the SEC.

And that's just, that feels pretty, pretty basic at this point about what we're about to do with all these others, so. It's been an amazing week, my friend. I knew we'd get you going about that NCAA tournament expansion. And I think a lot of people agree with you. Great stuff. If you've got some of the great football, basketball, baseball going down the stretch now, where can we get online to get the best podcast about all three sports? Yeah, I appreciate it, guys. You can find us over at Southeastern 16 on YouTube.

Yeah, you can find all of our SEC basketball transfer stuff, SEC baseball, of course, in full swing, and our football off-season stuff. So, yeah, find us at Southeastern 16 on YouTube. Frank, as always, good to hook up with you, man. Have a great weekend, okay? Thanks, guys. You too. Thanks, bud. Played level, Southeastern 16. Speaking of baseball, how about them Braves, Mr. Brave himself, Bill Shanks, on deck. Stay with us. Shoals drop everything. This is not a drill. Lost Pizza Company Shoals is running the full court press.

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Grant Holmes starts tonight for Atlanta. He's two and one. Kentucky Derby is set for tomorrow. It's the 152nd renewal of the greatest two minutes in sports. NASCAR Cup Series this weekend in Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday afternoon. 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. Workdays can be unpredictable, but your workwear shouldn't be. With a Cintas Apparel Plus program, you'll have freshly laundered garments for everyone on your team, delivered every week.

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Find us at straighttalk.com and Walmart. Straight Talk Wireless. Straightforward. Always. Taxes and fees apply. Plan purchase required for free phone offers. Copyright 2026 Verizon. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back here. Time to take a little road trip to the Peachtree State. That is Georgia. The king of it is Bill Shanks. Host of the Bill Shanks Show on 93.1 FM in Macon. Online at thesesuperstations.com. And on the tube at 41NBC. Bill, welcome in. How are you? I am doing great.

[36:50] I'm headed to the best college town in America, Athens, Georgia, right now to see a baseball game. You said best college team in town in the country. You're not going to Tuscaloosa, Bill? No, I'm going to Athens. I ain't never been in Tuscaloosa because nobody invited me to come there. Bill, you know, after our last conversation, Brett and I, we have been on a guilt trip. And we agree that we do not talk enough about the Atlanta Hawks. We don't. Bill, here's your chance. Oh, now you're going to talk about it.

What I'm just saying, you told us to talk about the Hawks, so the platform is yours. Yeah, thanks a lot. Now you're going to talk about them. Yeah, humiliated. Now you want a whole segment on the Hawks. It's never too late. What do you mean, humiliated? Bill, talk to us about it. Hey, Harold, Harold, Lou Hudson ain't playing no more, Harold. Well, boy. Bill, here's the deal. I remember when there was St. Louis Hawks, okay? Hello. For the folks who might have missed it, talk to us about what we're talking about here.

And then you are unique in so many ways. Is it safe to say, Bill, that you have personally witnessed the three worst playoff season-ending losses in Atlanta sports history? Well, I tell you, that last night, I mean, I felt like I saw a daggum public execution in the middle of downtown Atlanta. I mean, my God, that thing was, it was, I mean, they just kept on scoring and kept on scoring. And I'm like, well, my God, are the Hawks, did they show up? Are they in the witness protection program?

What are they doing here? It was 47 points at halftime. It got over 50 before that. I departed. I knew I had a long day today between work and going to Athens to do my show at the baseball game here. So I departed at halftime. The funny thing is, I leave, and it's the 47-point deficit, get in my truck, and get down the road about three minutes. And I get a text on my phone, the Knicks have opened up the second half with a 10-0 run. I'm like, oh, my God, 57 points.

And it got open up to 61. And you can't do anything to laugh at it. It was just one of those things where it's like, oh, my God. But, yeah, I've seen – I saw the Braves – a lot of people have compared that game last night to when the Braves allowed 10 runs in the first inning of game five against the Cardinals in 2019. And then the Falcons game I saw in 2010, I think it was 10, where they were – it was an unbelievable atmosphere. NFL playoffs, my gosh, I don't think I've ever been in that Georgia Dome where it was better than that.

And Green Bay just absolutely annihilated them. They scored four touchdowns in the second half – a second quarter to take a 28-7 lead. And it was like 48-21, and it was – but, you know, Atlanta was favored by one point. And, of course, everybody reminded me of the Super Bowl, but I'm talking about in Atlanta. The Super Bowl was then in Houston when they failed and collapsed on the 28-3 lead. But I'm just – I was talking about in Atlanta, but, of course, half the people on social media have reading comprehension problems.

A little bit of a hiccup there with our buddy, Brent, just a little bit of a hiccup there, Bill. Let's talk a little bit about the good side of Atlanta sports, the Braves. You're not going to win them all. That's the difference in baseball and other sports. Let's not kid ourselves. The key to baseball is take the series. As Meat Loaf would say, as long as you take two out of three, you're going to be there in the postseason barring a miracle from somebody else. But let's talk about the Braves.

Here at the end of April starting May, which is more surprising, Bill, the fact that the Braves are where they are in first place or the fact that the Mets and the Phils are so far behind them in the East? That's a great question. I tell you, I don't know. I mean, I think there's got to be the Mets, the Phillies, circling the toilet drain right there. I mean, I just – I don't think anybody's surprised the Braves are doing well. They may be surprised they're doing that well, right?

They're the best team in the game, and they're playing that well. But, my gosh, for the Phillies and the Mets, I've said that the Braves being in first place is like having a big old pound cake. The Phillies and the Mets being in last place is like putting a bunch of chocolate icing on that pound cake. Yeah. Sweetens it up a little bit. But it's incredible. The lead, they have a six-and-a-half game lead going into May, and the Mets are 11-and-a-half out. The Phillies are 9-and-a-half out.

[42:00] So, it's incredible how the first month of the – full month of the season has gone. Give us a national report about the guys coming back healthy in the next two weeks. Spitzer Strider will be back on Sunday, and we'll start the game then. We'll probably get – Sean Murphy will probably join the team in Seattle, they're saying. And Hassan Kim, the shortstop, just started with Columbus a couple of days ago. So, he's probably going to be reevaluated next week after his first couple of days with his rehab appearance.

So, they're getting back. You know, they said that Hurston Waldrop was starting to throw a little bit, which is good, and hopefully he'll be a possible, you know, help and benefit for them in the second part of the season. You know, A.J. Smith-Schalver still coming back from Tommy John. He's just starting to really throw down in Florida. Schwellabach is not throwing. Schwellabach is going to be a little bit of a – it's a bigger question mark. I mean, I can tell that in spring training when I talk to Spencer.

He's just – there's just – you know, it's just going to be a problem. So, I wouldn't count on him until we see him out there on that mail. The one and the only, Bill Shanks, the Superstations.com. Let's talk about this weekend, very interesting matchup. They are now on the road, which is not a bad thing for the Braves. Unlike a lot of teams, they're basically doing as well, if not better, on the road than they are at home. 10-4 on the road, 12-6 at home. They're playing at Colorado.

And that's just not just another road game because you mentioned Strider coming back Sunday. He probably wishes he'd go somewhere else and do that for his first game back because Colorado's not known for being pitcher-friendly for guys. Well, it's not, but, you know, it doesn't matter. I mean, the pitcher just needs to come out and fish well and get the Braves a chance to win and get in the routine and make sure that oblique is fine. I mean, this is his second straight year. You know, people forget.

I mean, he came back from his elbow issue last year, first game, and then he hurt his oblique and he had to miss a month in, you know. So this is the second year in a row he's had an oblique issue where he's missed a month. They've got to have him stay healthy here. I mean, if he's going to be a vital member at this rotation, especially because he's starting to make some more money now. He's starting to have a dumb contract that Alex gave him, which was stupid.

They're going to be paying him more money here moving forward. So they're going to need a lot from him. And the compliment is Chris Sale. Chris Sale is one of the best pitchers to gain. He'll pitch tomorrow for Atlanta. But, you know, Mr. Strider is important for this equation. If they're going to do great regular season, that's fine. But if they're going to be special in the postseason, they've got to have Mr. Strider come through for them. You can never have enough pitching any time, especially in the offseason.

Those two out of three series and best of seven, you've got to have it. But talk to us. You know more than just numbers here. Just from afar, Greg Olsen seems like the guy next door that you wouldn't mind going to the fence and having a conversation with. He seems to be that kind of guy. The walk-off home of the other night, you can just see the body language from his teammates. Bill, talk to us about Greg, the person. Well, he's a very quiet young man, and he's very nice, and he is very well-liked on the team.

I think he's a little bit less reserved in the clubhouse than he is publicly, which is good. You know, he's comfortable in that clubhouse now. He's been there for a couple of years. I know, and he knows, that the Freddie conversation will always be there to a certain extent. But I think he's made his own mark now to where people know he's a really good player, too. This is his fifth year with the team. So he's just – and he wants to play. You know, he's got this consecutive game streak going.

It's getting pretty serious here. And that's great because he wants to play. And in today's world where nobody wants to work, much less play a full nine innings of a game, heck, I respect the heck out of that. Yes. I'm guessing you approved of the move for Lopez to go back to the bullpen. Yeah, I loved it. I mean, I never thought he was going to survive 30 starts in the regular season anyway, to be honest with you. So my boy J.R. Richie pitched well again the other day on Wednesday.

And so, you know, I think it was – I think it was his time for that move to happen. I mean, they said it was to work on the mechanics and whatever. I mean, I just don't think they believed either that he could finish a full season as a starting pitcher. And they'll see – you know, his loss, he's down. So they got to work on that, see if he's hurt or whatever. But they need to see how he does as a reliever. And the first example of that was yesterday, and it was very good.

[47:00] It was two solid innings. Did he like what you saw? Well, Shane, it's the superstations.com. All right, you mentioned you're going to Athens, Georgia. Are you going up there to hang out with Kirby? Maybe teach him a thing or two about some golf lessons. Did you see the situation down in Birmingham? Poor old Kirby. All these other coaches are out there playing. He needs to team up with Hugh Freeze. And basically, he played like us. And he had a friend that says, Kirby, let me show you how to do this.

Are you going up to give him some golf tips? Or maybe will it have something to do with Georgia baseball, Bill? No, I'm going to the Georgia baseball game. But I want to tell you something about that picture of all them d*** coaches. Half of them used to coach at Auburn. So they're still casting checks on Auburn, right? It was like I'm counting the coaches that were at Auburn as the head coach. So I'm like, holy cow, this is ridiculous. But, no, they seem to have fun with those events.

And I'm going up here to do, since the phrase come on later, and Georgia comes on at 6, I'll be able to kind of hand off the show to the baseball game and the baseball broadcasters. So I want to come up here and have a little fun with that. I'm looking forward to it. So it should be fun. It's not very hot. It's May 1st. It's only 63 degrees in that. It's kind of chilly. But it's kind of nice. So it'll be fun to watch a little baseball.

They're very good. They've had a very good season. And they're hoping to be a College World Series team. So we'll see how they do against Missouri. Listen, they're more than a little good. They're 35-11, 15-6. They've hit 124 home runs this year. That is pretty good. Yeah. They've got a big power team. They've got Daniel Jackson. The catcher's been outstanding for them. They've got some really, really solid players. Their pitching has been better this year. You know, Wes Johnson, the head coach, he's a pitching guy. They got him from LSU.

And he's been really stressing pitching here for this team. So the SEC, once again, is unbelievable. And I'll be shocked if one of these teams is not a national champion, to be honest with you. I agree with you. And it's amazing how LSU, Mississippi State, and some of the other teams have fallen off after winning national championships. Listen, I always enjoyed the conversation. I did not bring up the Alabama-Georgia blackout game when you walked outside at halftime and threw up the year fourth. But that, technically, of course, was not in Atlanta.

Right. How can we get online to listen to Georgia Baseball and the Bill Shane Show? Thesuperstations.com. I'll be on at 3 o'clock Eastern time, 2 o'clock for you. Uncle Barry's in the central time zone. And we'll be, we'll dissect the Hawks' autopsy. And we'll talk praise and a little Georgia baseball. Sounds great. Say it travels to you, Bill. And Brett and I will do our best to start talking more about the Hawks this season, okay? I'll be looking forward to it. Okay, guys, thank you. See you, buddy.

The one and the only, Mr. Friday himself, Mr. Brave, Mr. Georgia, Bill Shane. Phoebe again, Alabama, picking up another quarterback, but it's for the 2028 season. And he is a big one, as they say. Charles Scott from Virginia, Harold Buggs, 6'5", 235. Byron Leff, which I thought was a very good analogy, he is a big kid. And he's still growing. He's still got two years away before he basically can even sign with Alabama. So, he's still got some beans and taters to deal with up in Virginia. But first, let's go down to the plains, talk on with Justin Ferguson.

Zach Pander's got us covered here in the shows. And a fellow by the name of Brent Beard. What could that be? Stay tuned. Second hour of Boomo Bugg Show. 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.

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The tax holiday applies to groceries typically eligible under federal SNAP guidelines, but it does not remove city or county sales taxes. State leaders say the move is designed to provide relief as families deal with rising food and fuel costs and estimate the average family could save around $40 over the two-month period. More Alabama news coming up. Did you know that 70% of people experience a potentially traumatic event in their lifetime and that 6 out of every 100 adults face PTSD every day? Help us bring hope to these survivors by signing up for your Alabama distinctive PTSD awareness license plate today.

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Alabama's unemployment rate held steady in March, while average weekly wages climbed to a new record high. That's according to the Alabama Department of Workforce. Workforce Secretary Greg Reed said Alabama's preliminary seasonally adjusted March unemployment rate was 2.7 percent, unchanged from February. The rate was below 2025's March rate of 3 percent. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. Free trial of seven days. If customer does not cancel prior to the end of a trial period, fees will apply.

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[57:17] Wherever the game is played or watched, PayPal moves with fans. You can send money through text, email, or directly to your friends with eligible accounts on Venmo. Just download the PayPal app, share all the moments that matter. Account with PayPal is required, not available in all regions where PayPal operates. In today's fast-moving job market, staying ahead means keeping your skills sharp. At University of Maryland Global Campus, we help keep your capabilities cutting edge with our skills-based education programs designed to move your career forward. Explore more than 135 degrees and certificates in business, cybersecurity, and more.

Apply now and save with no application fee. Classes start May 13th. Learn more at umgc.edu. Certified to operate in Virginia by shaft. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, the Shores. Sports Radio 93.9, the score. 27 tournament trips. Five journeys to Omaha. 72 major leaguers. It's good to be a Bama baseball fanatic. Swing and a fly ball lifted high in the air. Deep left field. A go-ahead do-run homer over the high left field wall at Auburn. Alabama's favorite pass time plays right here on your home for Alabama baseball.

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I'm Harold Bugg, alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a ride around the Tennessee Valley. BB, obviously, it's that time of the cycle when I need to say, ain't no way I can introduce our next guest any better than you. Please do the honors. Yeah, I've known this young man for about 68 years. This is Harold Brent Beard, college football analyst for First Coast News. Husband Trophy voter, co-host of Second Helping Podcast on the SEC with Travis Reier. Brent Beard, welcome into the show today, buddy.

How are you doing? Well, I'm doing okay. How we got to May 1st is beyond me, but we did, and I'm quite grateful about that. Got a little bit of news here, guys, that we got a little bit yesterday. Your buddy, Bill Bender, who we love and appreciate, this is kind of news, and it's appropriate since it's May, and that's college football preseason magazines. I didn't know this until yesterday, but Bill said on another program that the sporting news is coming back. Have y'all heard this?

No, no. It's a preseason magazine, so we've got now Lindy's, Athlon, Phil Steele. By the way, Phil Steele, guys, this year is over 350 pages, which is basically an encyclopedia, if it amounts to, but I thought y'all would want to know, and particularly your listeners, that there will be an additional preseason magazine on the shelves in the sporting news, which in the past, guys, was really pretty good, so we won't do that together. Appreciate you sharing that. By the way, Phil, you said over 300 pages. Every one but one is going to tell you how accurate Phil is, too.

Yes. No, absolutely no question about that. And by the way, I've been hearing y'all talk, Matt, the Alabama quarterbacks. It's really amazing how well they've done in attracting quarterbacks. Now, I will go back to the day of Billy Ray. Yes. If you remember that name in the 80s. Maybe one of the most ballyhooed quarterbacks ever in Alabama history. Unfortunately, that did not work out, but boy, oh, boy, we have not seen this many ballyhooed heralded Alabama quarterbacks guys in easy, what, 10 to 20 years? Yeah, but talk to us about the strategy of that, Britt, because, you know, you sit here and say, what are they thinking?

[1:03:04] Well, probably, we're not a fly on the wall. We don't know, but common sense would say it's because in the modern era, take whatever number you want, take two, divide it into that, and at least half of them are going to be leaving because of NIL and mamas and daddies and handlers saying you can get a better deal elsewhere, so you better go ahead and take a flyer on some depth there. Your thoughts about it and just your thoughts. You mentioned the Sporting News coming out with their preseason magazine.

Your gut on this Alabama team coming in. Well, that's going to be really interesting where they are. Now, what I've seen so far in other predictions is Bama is kind of in the middle of the pack, which maybe takes some pressure off of them instead of everybody predicting they're going to win the thing. But again, the reality is they've got one more year of the 12 teams in the playoffs, and this time next year, I think we're at least going to have 16 if we don't have 24. And at that point, it takes more pressure off or maybe it applies some pressure to certain teams.

But look, I understand certainly what you're saying. At some point, when you've got all these heralded quarterbacks, do they look around and realize, hey, we're not going to be able to play, so we're going somewhere else. But the reality of it is it tells you something about Alabama's recruiting that they're able to attract guys. And look, I don't mean that these guys are okay. I mean, the reality about it is these guys are as heralded quarterbacks as you might in the nation right now. That's right.

No question. Greg Sankey, SEC Commissioner, was at the Regents Pro-Am Wednesday. What are you hearing again? Going to 16, or are we flying to 24? Will the championship game stay for another couple of years? What are you hearing? Well, I think, first of all, you've got pretty much every conference with the SEC that wants to go to 24. I'm sure they're seeing the money involved in that, and obviously they're seeing the access. That is a real plus to be able to do that. Now, my concern about it, guys, and I've wanted a playoff for years and thought we were cheated of it years ago during the 70s and the 80s and the 90s.

So I'm glad to see it. But my concern with this is when you get to 24, and we've had some conversations with other sports writers about it. Guys, are we going to see a game between an 8-4 team and a 9-3 team? And when you're dealing with that, I get the money, I get the TV, I get the access. But at some point, wouldn't we be better off by going to 16 for, what, guys, two or three or four years, and then to be waiting this thing after that?

Yeah, and the other thing would be nice if they could settle on some type of TV format. Because, let's face it, we were talking earlier, Brent, about what's going on now with college basketball. We'll get more into that in a second as far as the NCAA news. But basically, remember in the old days, Braves fans would sit here and say at 7 o'clock it's going to be Skip and Ernie and Dunn and those guys. You just knew it. Now, you have no idea, no idea where they're going to be playing, what time they're going to be playing.

And I think that's where, as far as the postseason, they're still trying to figure out how they're going to involve Peacock, Amazon, Apple. To me, once they settle on that, we'll probably have a better handle on things. Well, look, and to dovetail with something that you mentioned, Duke basketball, I know this basketball, people will get the comparison. Duke basketball is going to Amazon for about three games. Now, the problem is, how many people are going to be sitting down looking for that game? They can't find it anywhere, and they just end up turning it off and going to bed.

I mean, to me, that's as big of a risk as it is anything else, is when you have games and people can't find them. I mean, y'all's point's a good one, is we knew where the Braves were years ago. We knew who the announcer was going to be. I'm not trying to be the old man shouting at the cloud here, but the reality of this is, my concern is, guys, is when do fans turn on this in some kind of a hostile way? When they sit down and they can't find their team, and look, you guys know good well what's going to happen is, you're going to have two or three games in a row where the fans can't find their favorite team, and that's going to be a real issue.

[1:08:25] Yeah, no question. The five years to play, five starting at age 19, no more red shirts, no more 6, 7, 8, 9-year stuff that we've been seeing. Will this be implemented for the 2027 season? Yeah, I think it will. I really do, and the problem with this is, guys, is the – here's the real thing that they're not saying a whole lot about, and they don't want an 18-year-old freshman playing against a guy who's 25 years old because of the injury situation and the guy is just overmatched. So, yeah, I think that's something we're going to see very quickly.

And, guys, I can tell you this, if they get this college football playoff worked out to where they're all on the same page, and I do believe eventually they will, what we may – I'm not going to say it will be unrecognizable, but this is going to be very important, guys, in the next couple of years because we're nearing the end of all the contracts with this decade that's ending. And, look, they're not waiting, as you guys know, until 2030 and 31 to get this done. This is going to be done, what, in 27, 28, certainly by 29.

So, I think we'll know – I think this time next year we'll know a whole lot more of where this sport's going. And, I know, with Brent Beard. Brent, what if I said that they wanted to go from 68 to 76 teams in the NCAA basketball tournament? What would you say to that? Well, the thing that I've heard is – and they've talked about this a little bit – is they could actually go to 80, heaven forbid – they could actually go to 80 without really ruining the format. But if they go to 76, they think they will be okay with the play-in games, if you want to call them that.

But they're on the precipice, shall we say, of having way too many teams in and getting a situation where you've got teams that are going to be either – I wouldn't say the more deserving, going to be left out. But it's going to get to the place to where even the fans are going to be turned off. And they may not be watching until the second round, until these first games are over. Going to be interesting. Now, for 2027, will it be week one – week zero is going to be week one?

Yeah. And there are going to be two by-weeks. Do you see that happening? Yes. Yeah, I think that's happening – I think that's a lot more of a slam dunk right now than anything else. Now, you've got this talk about trying to end the season on January 1st. I don't think that's doable, and I don't particularly like that. But at the same time, guys, I just don't think we can go to the last Monday of January with the season. What we can't have happen is – you can't have a gap like we did last year where Georgia played in the SEC championship game, and they didn't play until a month later.

Look, if you don't play for a month, you've almost got a totally different team in terms of their psyche. I know they'll be healthier, but that's a real problem. So, no, I think they'll start a week earlier, and they'll probably end like mid-January instead of end of January, which is doable. And the thing is, they're business people. They know the power of the NFL. It may not be so here, but across the country, they don't want to compete in terms of TV dollars with the NFL.

Brent, we asked your gut feeling about Alabama, your gut feeling about Auburn in particular. You're obviously coming at us from the state of Florida there in Jacksonville. You're more familiar probably with Alex Gullish than a lot of folks up here. Your thoughts about Auburn this season? Well, I think it will help them to have South Florida players who will be there, particularly if you've got a competent quarterback. I think they will be better off. But the reality of this is, guys, Auburn's not going to be a do-over and be ready to be in the playoffs next year or maybe even two years.

[1:13:30] I know you're hearing a different story from that, probably from different people and the optimism. But at the same time, I'm telling you guys, now South Florida's a good program. They are near us. We follow them. But there's a big difference in coaching in that conference and coaching in the SEC. And it's going to take that coaching staff a while to be able to deal with that and understand where that's going to go. Again, having the players from South Florida and those guys having played with each other is going to be able to help.

But, frankly, Auburn's got a lot of things to do defensively. They've got to get on the same page with their offense, too. That will be one of the more interesting experiments that we will see in a crazy new year for the SEC with probably more newer coaches, guys, than we've seen in quite a while. Yeah. You got that right. Listen, always enjoy the conversation. Tell us where we can get online and particularly listen to you and Travis Ryer talk, SEC. Yeah. We do a podcast together that we certainly enjoy.

We've had a little bit of a break, but we will be back to be able to start there soon. Folks can Google us and find that pretty easily. We also work with First Coast News. Here we've got the ABC and NBC affiliates, which is something that is certainly nice, too. I do a lot of radio, including you guys, and glad to be able to do it. I talked with another guy in the business the other day, and we said, you know, it used to be years ago.

This time of year, there was nothing to talk about, but at this point, we don't have enough time to talk about what we've got to deal with now. Thank you, Brian. What is this day to say in Hollywood? All season, what's sneaking all season? Brent, it's always good to hook up with you, man. Thank you so much for your time, Dan. Enjoy the J-Ville, okay? You guys, too. Take care. Thank you, bud. Brent Beard checking in from Jacksonville, Florida. What do you say we just sit on down the street and see what's shaking in the shows?

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The Good Feet Store, helping people get back to the life they love without their feet getting in the way. Start your journey today at goodfeet.com. Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hoover. On yesterday's edition of Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR, we were joined by Alabama softball shortstop Salen Hawkins. Get our seniors a little gift, maybe for their last home game. Well, of the regular season, but we're ready for regionals and supers. What do you love about home games here? The fans. It is so loud. I love it, and I love to hear my walk-up song.

But it's just the opportunity to be home. I don't like going to the hotels, and you know everything around here. But it is tough for the other team to play behind us. And our fans are just so loyal. It's so loud. It's just a great atmosphere. I'll have more in a moment. This is Christian Miller for the Good Feet Store. I know from playing football at Alabama and in the NFL that if you have foot, knee, hip, or back pain, it can be a huge challenge.

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Episodes will return to your radio affiliates across the state in August as we prepare for Alabama football in the 2026-2027 season of University of Alabama Athletics. For more information throughout the summer, head to RollTide.com or follow us on all of our social media platforms at UA underscore CTSN. Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by the Good Feet Store. 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. Welcome back again.

Speaking of Alabama, quick update from Tuscaloosa. Yep, they're playing even as we speak down there after a walk-off home run last night against a very good Vanderbilt team. Alabama trying to make it back-to-back wins against the Doors. Up 3-0. They jumped out 3-0 early on. The Doors loaded the bases. Alabama able to work out of that. It's now 3-0 as they play at least at last report in the bottom of the second. You say, what? They're playing right now? Yeah, the schedule may have said tonight, but there's that threat of rain.

So, they're going ahead and trying to get in the game right now. We'll keep you up to date as things progress. In the meantime, what's shaking in the Shoals? Who knows better how to answer that question? And Zach Panners, he's the founder and editor of Shoals Sports Report. Zach, welcome in. Happy Friday to you. How are you? Doing good. How are y'all? Good, man. We're doing all right. Zach, it's a great time of the year. Speaking of baseball and softball, put it another way, keeps you guys busy.

Talk to us about who's still in the headlines right now. We're getting deep into the postseason for high school teams. Zach, who is stealing your attention right now? Well, today, as far as baseball goes, game three, Marshall at 3.30 at Vincent. Third straight year, they're playing in the playoffs. All three students have been at Vincent. They have split-lap two series, and they're at game three today. And Marshall set up pitcher-wise, Bo Willis threw 50-something pitches yesterday and no hitter in the first game, and then threw 20-something pitches in game two.

But they are set up better than Vincent for pitching, possibly. And it should have a good chance to win. If they win, they'll come back home for Martell and Lindsey Lane next weekend at Martell. Yeah, Lindsey Lane beat us well. Coast Springs 4-0 in 13-3. Dessler, once again, Kemden Fuller, Garrett Breed, lead Dessler to a third straight quarterfinals was your headline in the show's sports report. They beat the Cadova Blue Devils, which I am quite familiar with. Once again, pitching incredible. Garrett Reed flirted with a no-hitter.

[1:23:57] Dylan Olive pitched a complete game. Dessler does what Dessler does. Yes, Dessler is more Dessler baseball than last weekend was against Good Hope. Dylan Olive had to labor through a couple of hit-by-fishes. He had to hit four batters in yesterday's game. But labor through it, got through it. Cordova was not great defensively. And it was evident in the first inning. Dessler jumped on, put the ball in play. Specifically, there was a fly ball to right field. The guy jumped for it to catch it. Over his head.

And it turned into two extra bases for Dessler. And it had three nothing in the first inning in game one. Game two, it was four nothing in the second. And it turned into a boring game to watch. If you want to dramatically, because Garrett Reed threw a lot out. One hit, one walk, 22 batters, 13 Ks. I think that was a way to make a game boring to watch in the most fun way. Zach Patterson is hooking up with us, Joe Sports Report. If it's May, it means Red Bay is always punching the clock.

Talk to us about Red Bay, fresh from Sweeping Summons and Christian. Yeah, I was looking this morning at the bracket and all that. And it's supposed to be the biggest series in Red Bay history since 87, if not biggest series in field history for baseball. Wow. I'm not sure how they did the playoffs in 87, but Red Bay will be at home next weekend against Pleasant Valley or North Sand Mountain, who wins that game three, will come to Red Bay next weekend. And then if Red Bay wins, regardless of the Marshall Vincent-Lindsay Lane series, Red Bay will be at home semifinals if they win next weekend.

And that will be the biggest series in Red Bay, possibly the biggest game in Red Bay school history at Red Bay since 07, semis against five in football. Let me give a tip of the count to two of our local teams. Russellville, I know we talked about them. They've won 16 out of their last 18 games, got off to a slow start. But American Christian swept them. Russellville ended up 21-17. Trip Cleveland and Jackson Smith had a good game for Russellville. And listen, I nearly joke about this, but at some point in the postseason, Lauderdale County is going to play Piedmont in some sport, football or basketball or baseball.

But Piedmont swept Lauderdale County, Piedmont now 29-7. They won 11-1 and 4-2. But tip of the count both to Russellville and Lauderdale County, Zach, for having a good season. Yeah, Lauderdale County had a chance to force game three last night. They were up 2-0 in the bottom of the sticks. And in game two in the playoffs, the four-board play-up. So the traveling team is the home team in game two of each series. So Piedmont's going four in the bottom of the sticks. We're up 4-2. Lauderdale had two on in the top of the seventh.

Had a chance to tie it. But just getting finished, getting through that game. Piedmont, though, was top three or top four in the PBR rankings, so Piedmont was not a slouch team or whatever. And Deschler, their next series is possibly the series of the playoffs for 4A. Deschler, Westbrook Christian, they've played once a season already. Deschler won 3-1. Drew Price starting to get rid of that Deschler. And then Westbrook Christian played Madison County yesterday at Madison County. One by 4-0 in the score. And that's going to be a series I would be shocked if it does go three games.

I see the way where both teams split on day one of the series and go to game three on day two. See, that one team nobody wants to play any year is Hartzell. Just ask Coleman. Most folks said Coleman's one of the best teams in the state. What does Hartzell do? They just sweep them. It's amazing how consistent this program is. I don't think anybody wants to face those boys in Morgan County again this year, do they? You're right. It's like a same Alabama team. And now kind of the boys out there, but it's a same thing at Hartzell.

Coach Boos was there for 30, 40, whatever year he was. Right. And now it's in new hands. And it's traditionally going to go in. And some places they never have to win. They never have to miss the program. And it pays off at this time of year. Let me ask you about the other games today. Central Florence, 22-12 at Plainview. And then Phil Campbell at another Walker County team at Oakman. Oakman has had a good season. You mentioned again, Mars Hill-Vincent game three, I believe, at 3.30. Central Florence at Plainview.

Phil Campbell at Oakman. As far as Central and Phil Campbell, how do you think that will come out today? Central has a good chance. I think the matchup is better than it looks on – better than it looks. It was two upset series last weekend for Central and Plainview. I think outside of traveling two and a half hours on a bus or whatever this morning, I think Central may be fine. Could get one game today at least and four tomorrow. However, if you can win today and get it in the day and come back tomorrow, that'd be great.

[1:29:01] Phil Campbell. Don't know how long on Oakman, but Phil Campbell's one of those programs that last 10 years. Kind of like Red Bay. It's kind of rebuilt their program and sustained it in the last 10, 15 years. So we're a respectable program around the state now. So it's not, oh, we get to play Phil Campbell. Wahoo. It's not, we're going to play Phil Campbell. Oh, man. We jump off, Zach. Let's talk a little soccer because Florence, the Falcons, talking about flying high. Some birds out there. 20-0-1 at Hewitt Trustwell.

14-4-6. If I'm looking at it right, this matchup's set for tomorrow. Tonight at 6 o'clock. Florence trying to stay unbeaten on the soccer field. Yeah. It's kind of odd now to see Florence at the top and winning in 7-8 at the end of the 7-8 run. With some of these Birmingham schools who are below Florence now in the ranking of the standings. But if they keep rolling and win tomorrow, they get to go to Huntsville for state next to you. And Martial's going to be there.

And it's in Huntsville. So it's not going to be far, far away. Like Birmingham or Mobile or Montgomery. It's an hour, hour and a half at Huntsville. Hopefully Florence turns out and travels like they did for basketball last year. If they win. I think they're making a fan, but it's also for you. It's more awesome. Absolutely. Listen, I certainly recommend anyone getting on Facebook. You have got the stars of the game, the scores of the series. You're at a game practically every night. I know you have some podcasts.

Just incredible coverage for high school sports. Tell us again where we can get online and get last night's scores, today's previews. And I know you have a lot more this weekend. Yes, we also have solid area tournaments all over this weekend. We have those brackets on our Facebook page, Twitter page. ShoalsportsReport on Facebook and at Twitter, at lowercase, S-H-O-A-L-S-T-O-R-T-S. And our website has the scheduled list of each area tournament. Also, ShoalsSportsReport.com at ShoalsSportsReport, with two S's in the middle, dot com. Zach, stay safe and probably a little warm out there.

I know it's May 1st. It probably feels more like March 1st or April 1st, but stay warm out there and stay safe, okay? Exactly. Thank you, buddy. Zach Founders looking up with us. He is busy there at the Shoals Sports Report. Lots shaking on the planes. Justin Ferguson, very late. It's next. Stay with us. This is an important notice to all U.S. taxpayers. The IRS is giving away billions of dollars in tax savings through a federal program called the Fresh Start Initiative to aid delinquent taxpayers.

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[1:34:21] Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free at Quo.com slash sports. That's Quo.com slash sports to try Quo free. Quo.com slash S-P-O-R-T-S. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93-9, The Score. In college baseball action yesterday, the 24th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide winners over Vanderbilt 5-4. Seven hits in the victory. Alabama now 11-11. In the SEC, they take a 1-0 series advantage. Game 2 between the two teams is set for tonight. Auburn's on the road this weekend for a top-10 showdown at Texas A&M.

The 8th-ranked Tigers are 30-13 on the year. 12-9, the SEC, 7th-ranked Texas A&M is 14-6 in conference play. 34-8 overall. North Alabama home this weekend. They'll host Bellarmine. South Alabama's on the road at Texas State. And Troy is at home this weekend as they host Appalachian 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. Hi, I'm Zoe, a personal stylist at Macy's Herald Square, and I live for our friends and family sale.

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Justin, welcome in. How are you? I'm doing well. How are y'all? Good, man. We're doing okay. Of course, the region's pro-am golf outing this week. A lot of folks, anybody who's anybody in the SEC world on the course, including Alex Gulish. Justin, is he ready to give up coaching football to go to the PGA Tour, or is he just going to stick with football for now? He is on the record as saying he does not like playing golf that much, so I don't think we're going to have the same thing that we saw with Auburn's last head coach when it comes to his golf habits.

I think it was safe to say this is Hugh's favorite week of the year last year, was it not? But your thoughts, obviously kidding aside, Justin, had a lot of comments. It's a chance to sit here and put a mind in front of some of these guys that maybe this cycle of the sports year you don't always get. A lot to get to, but one of the things is ask about his thoughts on the five years to play five, and I agree with Gulish. It's time that they have some kind of uniformity so the coaches, the players, and the fans can all basically say, now I know what's going on.

He's in favor if I understood him right. Yeah, absolutely, and we talked to Stephen Pearl earlier this week as well, and he kind of said the same thing when it came to the basketball side. It makes a lot of sense. Five years to play five makes, it's just easy. Like you said, players and coaches and fans can all kind of understand it, okay? In five years, whatever you can do in the five years, clock starts, clock ends. You need a red shirt, you don't need a red shirt, it doesn't really matter.

And I think it just kind of, you know, I think it just better reflects kind of what college athletes go through and kind of what a career normally looks like. So, yeah, I think it's a great call. I think it's exactly what needs to be done. You don't have to worry about waivers and red shirts and who's in and who's out and all that. You can just get straightforward there. And it takes the lawyer out of it because, let's face it, what lawyers are good at is finding loopholes.

Up to this point, a player who wants to come back, hello, Diego, why would he not? Because he made more and so did some of the other guys. Carson Beck made more at the college level. So they were always calling a lawyer to threaten finding that loopholes. So now, hopefully, that loopholes will be closed. Yeah, 100%. And I think it's very straightforward. Very straightforward. Everybody knows what's going on when you go in. Everybody knows what goes on as you're going through it. And I think that's – it just makes a lot of sense.

I think we've had way too much of this kind of suing and injunctions and stuff like that in college. Right. So I think something a little bit more uniform and straightforward is definitely the way to go. I get reminded every day that I'm getting older. But I must be because May 16th is the 16th edition of Big Cat Weekend. They didn't have it, of course, of course, in 2020. But, again, as we've talked about this over the years, there's no pressure here. It's pool parties, watermelon eating contests.

[1:39:53] And, boy, don't you know some of these guys could put some food away. Isn't it amazing, the 16th year of Big Cat? Yeah, I think it's really cool that, like, you know, we're now several coaches into this for Auburn. And, you know, it still kind of sticks around. It's kind of what you know Auburn for. And when Auburn did that, you know, a while back, 16 years ago, they were really the first to do it. Like, to do something like that, to kind of, you know, kind of put it on the map.

And so I think it's really cool. It's become synonymous with Auburn and recruiting. And, you know, I think Alex Goldson and the staff have done a really good job of just getting out and getting going. Like, they don't have to catch up to do. You know, like, these guys came into December, you know, and they got to learn this lesson. These guys that are, you know, the big names that they're going after right now in recruiting, these guys have been recruited by the same staffs two, three years now.

So, you know, I think something like Big Cat, embracing that, embracing kind of the stuff that makes Auburn, Auburn. I think Golesh has done a really good job of that. And I think, you know, this is an easy way to do that in recruiting. For the folks who don't follow it as closely as you do, but are big Auburn fans, and for that matter, fans across the ACC who's going to be playing Auburn, they want to know who's coming. If you want to talk about specific names, of course, jump in.

Yeah, but as far as positions, Justin, where would you, in a dream world, who would you like to see Auburn get busy with this recruiting class? Yeah, I mean, I think one of the big things, you know, they really need to do, I think, in this class is continue to build up their line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. I think that's just obviously the way they want to go about, you know, their business. They did pick up offensive line commitment earlier this week.

They got a really good running back as well, which I think is, you know, kind of very indicative of the way Golesh wants to do it. But, you know, I look at Auburn, I see, I thought they did a really good job this offseason of getting some transfers that made sense at the top of the market on the offensive line, then getting some young guys, then getting some high school guys. But you've got to cycle that. I think there were too often, too many years for Auburn, it was like, you know, you'd have a year where you didn't have a whole lot on the offensive line of recruiting.

That's something you need to kind of roll through multiple guys every single year. So, I really look at an emphasis on the offensive line and the defensive line. That's obviously been a great strength of Auburn's recruiting here these last few years, especially with Vontrell King-Williams as your defensive line coach. And, you know, I think you look at some of these bigger names that they're going after in this, you know, kind of cycle. You know, line of scrimmage is kind of the area where if you're a rebuilding program like Auburn and you want to kind of be a force in the SCC for years to come, you've got to do it at the line of scrimmage.

And so, that's going to be the kind of thing that I think is really going to find this first-class under Gullish. You mentioned the running back. He's a good one. Myson at Johnson-Cook, East St. Louis, Illinois, 2,200 yards, 10 yards a carry. That was a good pickup. Yeah, a really good pickup. And he's a special kind of kid because when you watch him on film, you first go, oh, wow, this guy's really, really fast. Like, he's got great, like, kind of track star type of times. And then you look and say, oh, well, also he's, you know, 230 pounds and 6'2".

So, he's big and fast. And it's just rare to have a kid that has both of those attributes this early in his career. You know, I've talked to several people this week that say, hey, he could end up being a five-star when it's all said and done. Just because of the numbers he puts up. You know, it was a big-time commitment. Miami was pushing really, really hard for him. And, look, I mean, this day and age, it's hard to keep a kid away from Miami that really wants him.

And so, for Auburn to go out there and get that pickup from Myson Johnson-Cook, I thought was huge. And I think, you know, we'll see kind of what the flavor of recruiting looks like for Alice Gullich moving forward. But you also got to remember, kid coming in from Illinois, kind of Midwest, Auburn usually doesn't recruit out there. But, you know, Gullich is a Midwest guy going back to his days at Iowa State, you know, and growing up in Ohio. So, it makes sense that Auburn might be reaching out a little bit more.

And they went out and got an elite player in Myson Johnson-Cook. Justin, every coach has their athletes. Some like them big and bold and all that stuff. Others like them to be a little slimmer and quicker with more speed. Is there one adjective that may describe what Gullich is looking for here? Again, not back to names, but as far as a prototype. Yeah, I mean, I think athleticism is going to be kind of the big thing. Because I think when you talk about Auburn, offensively or defensively, and I wouldn't even say special teams, they're going to want to be aggressive.

They're going to want to play fast on both sides of the ball. And I think that's going to be a big thing moving forward to them is that they want dudes who are going to be able to hold up. Like, if you're a lineman playing on the offensive line, you've got to be able to move in this system. Not only because of the pace they play between snaps, but also just getting up into the second level. You know, doing zone block and stuff like that, pulling.

[1:44:57] Like, being able to move is going to be key. And then defensively, you just feel like this is a group that just really wants to get after it defensively and blitz and kind of come from all over. So speed, I think, is a really big thing. Like, I'll look at this team on, you know, all three phases, and I just see a whole lot of speed. And so that's kind of what you want to build your program around, really, if you're Auburn. You've got to have the athletes to be able to do that.

So, you know, I think when you look at the transfers they brought in this year, a lot of really quick guys in that group, a lot of really high-level athletes there. And that's just – that's what just stands out to me is that this team is just going to want to play fast. And you need the guys to do it. I always mention when we close the interview about your Friday mailbag. Well, can Auburn football get back to winning with its favorite? Recruiting territories to watch. The North End Zone Project.

The five-on-five rule we just talked about. Auburn's basketball. NIL. On and on and on. There's a lot of stuff in the mailbag today. There is, and I think there was – you know, I had a question this week, that first one. It was like, can they win games as a favorite? One of the shocking things that I kind of discovered this week is that Auburn only won 60% of its games as a home favorite under Hugh Freeze. And that was one of the worst, you know, marks in the country.

And so, you know, when you look at Alex Goalich's track record of kind of taking care of business, winning when you're expected to win, winning at home. He's talked a lot about how much he values, like, defending Jertan Air Stadium. So it's just some really interesting kind of numbers there, kind of digging. But, yeah, tons of stuff in the mailbag. Plenty of basketball this week. Got a lot of football as well. So, yeah, we've got – it's the off-season now. But, you know, we've got plenty of stuff going on at the Observer these days.

Boy, I was going to say, what off-season with that? 6 a.m. emails. You've got a podcast. Auburn baseball. Auburn baseball is playing well, and we're going down 30-13, 12-9. And I know you've got a guy who handles that for you. But a lot of stuff going on. Again, where can we get online to get all the great stuff? Yep. Auburneserver.com. Check it out there. Plenty of basketball and football, like I said. You know, on the newsletter and the podcast side, we'll have baseball coverage this weekend.

My guy, Henry Patton, is going to help us out. You mentioned Auburn baseball doing four straight SEC series wins for the Tigers, and they've got a really tough one this weekend at A&M. So, good time to hop on board and check out everything we've got going on. Sounded like a winner. Justin, listen, man, thanks for your time, Dave, and keep up the good work, okay? I appreciate you. Thank you. See you, bud. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer. Speaking of stuff going on even as we speak, the update from Tuscaloosa.

You're right. From Tuscaloosa, day game, taking on Vanderbilt, concerns about bad weather coming in at night. So, they said, let's just go ahead and get this thing out of the way this afternoon. So far, it's working out for Bama. They're rolling over Vanderbilt 3-0. That game down to third, Bama with runners on at first and third with nobody else, so a chance to add to the lead there, B.B. And not only that, it looks like the women on the softball side said, that sounds like a good idea.

Let's go ahead and get to playing this afternoon. Yeah, they're playing South Carolina 0-0 in the fourth inning. And, Harold, they want to avoid the rain tonight. The other reason the softball and baseball teams are playing, and I know they're in different venues, Alabama's got three days of commencement activities this weekend in the Coliseum. And, quite frankly, there's no place to park. They wanted to get the games out of the way. Wait a minute. That's exactly right. Wait a minute. Maybe this is a college. Harold told us this last year.

They literally have got so many graduates that they take three days for all the ceremonies. Who came up with this idea, B.B.? Did they not know this was coming? What a mercy. And they get paid how much? Your thoughts quickly, B.B., as far as the postseason. Coming up, we talked about Alabama. We talked about Auburn. Your thoughts as we get ready to head into the postseason for both teams? It would be huge for Alabama to win the series against Vandy. And, as Justin said, Auburn's playing well.

They've won the last four series. And, Alabama's got South Carolina next weekend, one of the worst teams in the SEC. Now, we'll see where the seeding is going to be. Boy, that's going to be here. They're going to be in Hoover in the next couple of weeks. But, Auburn's playing well. Alabama looked better last night. They came back from a four-to-one deficit. Hines hit another home run. As you mentioned, the three-to-nothing lead, which is really helping them. But both of these baseball teams, Alabama had not been playing well.

They'd lost three consecutive series. And, again, you can hear that, the finale tomorrow on 93-9, the score. But Auburn's playing well, and Alabama seems to be improved. Quickly, another baseball note. The Braves not doing too badly. They're going to be back at it tonight on the road to Colorado. And I've always said, BB, this is one of the more interesting venues in the entire major league baseball world because they don't call it the mile-high city for nothing. If you are a pitcher like Grant Holmson tonight, that's always an interesting setting.

[1:50:19] And in case you missed the interview earlier with Mr. Braves and Seth Bill Shanks, people have been asking about Strider. I won't steal your thunder, but I will just drop a hint. You might want to watch or listen to the game Sunday here on 93-9, the score as well. That's exactly right. Supposed to be back on Sunday, and you're right. Pitching at mile-high, well, they used to be at mile-high. They're in another stadium now. But, you know, the atmosphere. And, by the way, before we go, good luck to the teams playing today.

Morris Hill-Vincent, game three at 3.30. Central Florence at Plainview, that doubleheader begins at 4.30. Phil Campbell at Oakman in Walker County, that is at 4.30. Good luck to our Aerie teams. We also mentioned the Florence Falcons soccer playing tomorrow. If they win, they're going to the state in Huntsville, Alabama. And keep in mind, the Falcons record a perfect, well, almost perfect 20-0, but they have one tie. So, I think they'll take that. But 20-0 taking on you at Trustville coming up tomorrow night. That's going to take care of biz for now.

On behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, and the entire crew here. Peril Buck, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again Monday, noon to two, for the Boomer Buck Show. Back here on Sports Radio, 93.9 The Score.