Boomo Bugg Show 051226

[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. The Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a rewrite around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in. Where the statement of the day is, Lane, please. Good afternoon. Welcome in and how are you?

Happy Tuesday to you and the listeners, yes. Steve Sarkeesian and Greg Sankey not happy about a couple of things. We'll talk about that during the show, along with Joe Cox of Saturday Down South, previewing the final week of the SEC baseball season. Bruce Marshall, Las Vegas Insider, will talk about some of the top headlines in college sports this week. But right now, Roger is here to recap a big weekend for Alabama baseball and softball. The man who needs to have his own energy drink named after him. He is all over the place, like the Beatles, 25 hours a day, eight days a week.

Roger Hoover on the call, no matter the ball, on the Alabama Crimson Tide Network. Roger, welcome in. How are you? Boomo Bugg. Doing really well. Hope you guys are, too. You're good? Well, we are, Roger. Where and where do you start this week? What is Roger Hoover's life like when you're in a unique position, do you not? How many teams out there had a playoff team in football, had a playoff team in basketball, now got one in baseball, got one in softball? Roger, how do you juggle all those balls?

Yeah, we have taken this year to the max, I would say. It seemed like outside of playing the final two rounds of the college football playoff, we played as much as we possibly could, having played the SEC championship game in football. And then it felt like the next morning we were in Oklahoma for that first-round playoff game. So it's been definitely a busy year, but it's been a good one as well. I think fans are starting to see that all the hard work these coaches and players have put in is really paying off.

And, you know, with our baseball team, I think people are realizing, you know what, maybe we do need to stay patient and not over-attack if Alabama loses the game to South Alabama or UAB. They're still possible and great things. I think that's a good lesson for all of us as we go in the next few years, but fans are going to be fans, I know. But I think they are getting something they can really be proud of right now with Alabama. Absolutely. Now, listen, summarize the South Carolina series for us.

In the first game, Tyler Faye pitched really well. Luke Vaughn with a couple of home runs. Miles Upchurch in the last game. Quite impressive in his freshman campaign. Alabama now, Roger, 35-17, 16-11. In the SEC. Roger, your thoughts on the sweep in Columbia. Well, more good starting pitching from the Crimson Tide and then very timely hitting, especially with the long ball in that first game. Luke Vaughn getting a couple of homers. Justin LeBron getting a home run. And then just the next day, to have people step up.

You lose Brady Neal mid-game with injury. We knew that LeBron wasn't going to be good to go as he was dealing with a hard collision at first base and had to miss the final couple of games. It was a series dealing with some neck pain and still being checked out in the concussion protocol. Different people step up. Hartsville High School, I know they may have, I don't know if they've had their graduation yet, but they may have let kids out yesterday to celebrate, to have a town parade for JoJo Williamson, who homered for the Crimson Tide and played a great job at second base for Alabama with everything kind of shuffling after LeBron went out.

It was just a good weekend for the home run ball. We saw that from Eric Hines, Will Platter, who was pressed into action. Got three hits cold off the bench, taking over for Brady Neal on Saturday. Then Sunday, you build up a 7-0 lead, and I honestly was thinking about a run rule and seeing if I could get the Buc-ee's a little earlier that evening. But it turned out that we had a one-run rule, and that was a one-run victory for Alabama in the end after it was 7-0.

It became 7-6. You're nervous as can be in the ninth. It just came down the way to win a game that probably a few weeks ago they would have lost to be going on in the city. So that felt really good, and we were able to get on the road. I was able to get my brisket sandwich and beaver nuggets and feel good after that. Priorities, man. Priorities. Roger, Hoover, Crimson Tide Network. I appreciate you shouting out for Hartzell High. Great high school town. Those folks down there are crazy.

I don't care what season it is. Roger, talk to us about now it comes down to this. It's the end of the road for the regular season. Very important timing here. You've got to try to play and get one of those top-four spots locked down. It's a crowded field. Everybody wants that double-buy, especially to protect your pitching staff as much as possible. Talk to us about the strategy and how things set up for Alabama coming up this weekend from a pitching standpoint. On the mound, there aren't that many questions that have to be answered.

[5:10] This starting rotation, if they can get through this weekend, we'll have gone through the entire year going back to Valentine's Day weekend against Washington State. With Tyler Faye on Fridays, Miles Upshurst on Saturdays, or excuse me, St. Adams on Saturdays, and then Miles Upshurst on Sundays and a regular weekend. If they can do that coming up this weekend, Thursday, Saturday against Ole Miss, that is remarkable. And it's almost unheard of in college baseball to keep your starting rotation impact healthy the entire year and really not have many bad starts for those guys that are getting blown up in the first or second inning.

I mean, that also just does not happen. So, I think the pitching staff is in really good shape for Alabama. The bullpen looks to have emerging heroes that are taking banks. Matthew Heiberg or Ashton Prowler, Sam Mitchell out of Bob Jones High School. You know some guys you can go to and get some key outs and key situations. So, all of that's good. I think the only kind of lingering question for this team getting ready for Ole Miss is the health of Justin LeBron and Brady Neal.

After dealing with those concussion-like symptoms, being cleared in protocol, not even being in the dugout for the hot day on Sunday that we had in Columbia to close it out. How do those guys feel? Are they going to be available moving forward? I think it's going to be really, really important. Taking on a very good, scrappy Ole Miss team that has been at times in the top four conversation in the SEC. They're going to be battling as well to get some buys in the SEC tournament.

And they're still in the outside looking in of hosting, whereas Alabama is projected as a host for the NCAA tournament. And as we know, that is so important. And Mike Bianco is a good winner, especially at this time of the year with Ole Miss. So, it's going to be a great three-game series. I can't wait for it on Thursday night. All right, Roger. I'll tell you one thing. Patrick Murphy was pumped when he learned and the team learned about Alabama going to be the number one seed in the NCAA softball tournament.

Play begins Friday at noon. In fact, you can hear that game on 93-9 to score. They did not beat Texas, did not win the SEC tournament, but my goodness, 49 wins, 49-7 the most since 2021. Roger, they've had a very good year. They're hitting the ball much better this year. Alabama softball, the number one seed in the NCAA tournament. Yeah, I'm really fired up to see what they can do coming up this weekend. It sounds like they have a very talented field that's coming in, especially with a good pitcher from Belmont.

Southeastern Louisiana, I don't care what sport. They always seem to be the team you don't want to face in the NCAA tournament, always very scrappy. So, I can't wait to see what's in store for them coming up this week. And this is about the best you can feel about Alabama softball. Vince Montana, Fouts was on campus. And that great team they had a few years ago in 2021. And then a few years later made it back to Oklahoma City for the World Series as well. So, everybody on this campus is really fired up about what's in store for them because they do it the right way.

And I love the fact, too, they do it with some veteran leadership as well as an outstanding freshman class that you just can't help to root for. So, I think it's going to be a tremendous weekend in softball. So, if they can get their free wins, move on, and be hosting a Super Regional next weekend, it would be very special and tough to lose. Roger, let's talk a little bit about what you alluded to. People in softball and baseball sometimes, they look at the front of a jersey and say, this is going to be a cakewalk not so fast, my friend.

You get a team with an outstanding pitcher, and I don't care what name they got on their jersey, you're in the ballgame. Talk to us about that. I mean, it starts with what, South Carolina Upstate. You look at some of these teams, they're not brand names, but I tell you what, they're like a chihuahua. They can bite you on the ankle if you're not careful, if you overlook them. Yeah, absolutely, and especially with the three schools, you mentioned USB Upstate. Just think of all the talent they're able to get from kind of right around that Greenville, Spartanburg area, Atlanta.

They're able to recruit really easily. Belmont, you know, I think so many of these, with kind of limited pro opportunities in softball compared to other sports, we know some of the top-of-the-line players that your power-for schools can go on to bigger and brighter things. A school like Belmont is able to attract a lot of people that are interested in working in the music industry, living in Nashville has probably never been better in many regards. So they're able to attract a high caliber of athlete looking for a college experience first and then the softball second.

And then, as I mentioned, southeastern Louisiana, I don't care what sport it is. I've done a few baseball games where Alabama probably shouldn't have lost, but knowing how good that scrappy field team can be. I've seen women's basketball have been very good, too. So you never want to line up across the court or the field from them because they're going to be scrappy as can be. Let me ask you to reminisce with us a little bit. I saw this on Twitter. The Braves fans had the worst week probably in the history of the franchise, losing John Sterling, Ted Turner, and then Bobby Cox on Saturday.

You talked about a memory when you were with the Jacksonville Jimbo Shrimp when Jack McKeon and Bobby Cox came into your booth and just sat down and started talking. I bet that was fascinating. Reminisce with us about that. Yeah, that was one of the cool things about being at the AA level of baseball at that time. You had all these great teams coming in, all these great prospects. And, you know, at that era, especially in the 2010s to 2020, so many teams didn't send a lot of top prospects quickly to AAA.

[10:39] That was always kind of known as like kind of a holding spell or like, you know, just a step below, kind of keep maintenance almost for the major league team. So if they wanted to have a player just go through kind of a normal season play every day, they would send them to AA. And the Braves at the time were with the Mississippi Braves out of Jackson, Mississippi. And they had a young man named Ronald Acuna. That's it. He wasn't known as Ronald Acuna Jr. just yet.

I think they could only afford to put that in the back of the jersey once he got to Atlanta. But they had Ronald Acuna playing in center field for Mississippi. And so Bobby Cox, it wasn't far from him. I think he had a home in Florida, maybe even St. Augustine. So it wasn't far for him to come over and watch games. He was at the ballpark. We were able to talk to him and set up an interview in the radio booth. And he had on the headset.

We started our interview. And Jack McKeon was in town, the former Florida Marlins manager working in an advisory role for the Marlins. He was in town. And he and I had known each other for years at that point, with Jacksonville being a longtime Marlins affiliate. So already we had done a few interviews. Even that day, he had done like an hour-long podcast interview all about the 2003 World Series and beating the Cubs and the NLCS, all that stuff. Well, Jack would sit up in the press box a few boxes away in the writer's booth, which had our radio broadcast on during the game.

So Bobby and I are getting into the interview, and I mentioned, you know, Jack McKeon's at the ballpark. And Bobby goes, really? I haven't seen him in years. All of a sudden, a few seconds later, the door swings open. Here comes Jack McKeon with an unlit cigar in hand. He had stopped smoking by that point, but he always carried around cigars, just out of habit. And he just booms in and just gives Bobby kind of a bear hug as Bobby's sitting with the headset on. And just immediately, I looked at my radio equipment, found a wireless microphone we used for post-game interviews, handed it to Jack McKeon, and just let them talk and just kind of hold court, catch up on the air.

You know, I asked Bobby what it was like managing against Jack. I asked Jack what it was like managing against Bobby. We stayed on. The top of the fourth ended. We didn't go to break. We stayed on the air during what normally would be the commercial break and just let them talk. And it was just a ton of laughs. You know, some stories, I will say, the only time when I was in Jacksonville that the F word ever got us on our airwaves was by Mr. McKeon.

So that was a little unexpected. I think he knew he was on live radio, but he said it anyway. But, again, it was just a fun, amazing memory. And then the coolest thing of all was, you know, we'd normally got pictures with anybody who came in the booth. And that was pretty standard after an interview was over. But I had the idea of, like, I want a picture with both of these guys. And I got one that my broadcast partner did, our intern did. And as soon as we learned the news, we all started texting each other on Saturday with those pictures being like, can you believe we got to sit there and listen in the minor league ballgames to Jack McKeon and Bobby Cox.

And even to have Bobby Cox stay on the air, he thinks that Cunha might be better than Andrew Jones. I mean, that was in 2017 before Ronald had made it to the big leagues and done anything at that point. So, a great baseball man that somebody we're definitely going to miss. And now I just hope Jack McKeon stays in really good health. Trader Jack is, again, one of my absolute favorite people I've ever gotten to meet in sports. And his personality, I think even brought Bobby's personality out a little more than I could as a guy in my 20s trying to do the interview.

So, it was a tremendous opportunity. Yeah, you can't say that 400F word on the radio. It's called fish. You mentioned the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. Quick, they talked to the folks in Florence. The reason I'm bringing it up, the pride of Florence High, Braxton Garrett, is with the Jumbos right now. He's trying to work his way back to the Marlins. He's been banged up. Your thoughts just about the experience of Jacksonville for the folks who may not remember this, but Braxton has been injured and he's trying to work his way back.

Your message to Florence High fans who's trying to keep up with where Braxton is now as far as the product there in Jacksonville. Yeah, it's a great ballpark. It's changed a lot since I was there. I left just before the 2020 season when I got my full-time job at Alabama. And as it turned out with the pandemic, they didn't play baseball that year. And then minor league baseball really reshuffled to where now Jacksonville is a AAA team for the Marlins. So, they've added on to that ballpark a lot.

It's a great downtown ballpark. Not too close, not too far at all from the Jaguars. They didn't really share a parking lot. You can always see that. And it's just a tremendous place to go visit. I would say very underrated beaches they have in Jacksonville because so much of the attention goes to Daytona or further south towards Miami. Jacksonville to me, not in front of tourists, always great. Of course, Fred knows his brother. It's just the best place. It's a place I miss very dearly and haven't even traveled back there in recent years.

So, we're going to have to change that coming up in the next few years. I wish the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament went there one year. I wish that had become the permanent home as opposed to Greenville, which is another good town. My wife used to live there. But it's a place I miss a lot and I look forward to getting back to. So, if anyone's going to go and see Braxton, I would highly recommend that you're going to have a great time. Yeah, I mention this quite often.

[15:50] Alabama is very fortunate to have Roger Hoover. We appreciate you reminiscing with us. Who have you got on Crimson Drive this week? I know you can be entertaining the Ole Miss Rebel Black Bears beginning on Thursday. Tell us about your week, where we can get everything online. Yeah, with our show Crimson Drive driven by NASCAR, we will have interviews today focusing on baseball with Brendan Holt and Logan Devenport from the Crimson Tide. And then a little more softball focus on Thursday to get our fans ready for the Super Regional.

Lauren Johnson from Nashville. She'll be on to talk about getting to play with her sister a few years ago, Jenna Johnson, and everything she's doing this season for the Crimson Tide, as well as our softball broadcasters, Tom and Gray, will give a report to get you fully prepared for the Regional. I mean, the amount of knowledge those two have on softball, I know you mentioned the games will be carried on your air. I mean, it's staggering how they knew. They had bullet points ready to go on each team on Twitter once the bracket was released.

It was remarkable. So, we're definitely focused on baseball and softball this week, while keeping one eye on all the football news that's going on. But, yeah, look forward to having Alabama against Ole Miss. And then the next time we talk next week, we'll get to stay home for me here in Hoover for the SEC tournament. Looking forward to hopefully a shorter week near the end of the week if Alabama can take care of business this week against Ole Miss. Sounds great. Sounds like you're busy. Again, you have our vote to make the Jumbo Shrimps Hall of Fame.

Stay safe out there, Roger, and keep up the good work, okay? All right. Thank you, guys. Roll talk. Bye, buddy. Roger Hoover hooking up with us. Crimson Tide Sports Network. All over the SEC with J.C. Joe Cox on deck on the Boomo Bugg Show. Stay with us. Hello, I'm Eddie Buckley, president of Certified Alarm. No matter where travels take you, Certified Alarm will help you be worry-free. Our security systems have all the latest technological features. Certified Alarm has North Alabama's only UL-listed central station. Our HALO alarm transmitters give the fastest and most secure monitoring available.

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Joe Cox all over the place there. It's Saturday down south. His boat's called a fine team man. Joe Cox, welcome in. How are you? Man, I didn't realize I had the whole world in my hands. It's a big job right there. I'm afraid I'm under the corner of the task, my friend. I hope you're doing all right. Man, we're doing all right. Look at that. That was a famous song back in the day. Joe, can you do us a favor? Can you give Lane Kiffin enough attention?

It must be May, and it's a slow season. Can you just go and take the cradle and rock Lane a little bit and give him some attention? Yeah, gee, I'd hate for anybody to not notice him for any given five minutes of time, but I don't think we're going to have a problem there. You know, the thing that's going to be interesting is the whole Ole Miss run for Lane has really been a step up. I was very skeptical when they hired him, and he's really worked out well with that part of it, you know, really elevated that program.

But now he's at a place where nothing except the best is going to satisfy, and you can say anything you want to say at LSU if you win enough games. And if you don't win enough games, there's nothing you can say that's going to save you. So it's going to get real interesting starting this fall. You know, it's either going to be a train wreck or a wonderful happy marriage, and we'll just have to see. Well, the thing is, it's an ugly divorce that turned out at Ole Miss.

It seems like everywhere Lane goes, he breaks out a mega match and burns a bridge, did Tennessee, USC, the Raiders. And now you thought there for a while, okay, folks are reasonable. He had this money offer to go from Ole Miss to LSU, $91 million. But to come out after all those years and alleged that racism played a part in recruiting at Ole Miss, I mean, where do you start in responding to that? I mean, let's just say it's true. Lane, why didn't you say it at the time?

If you really are going to be sincere about this, then as Barney told Andy, nip in the bud, walk away if it's that bad. Why wait until you squeeze all the juice that you can out of Ole Miss to get a better deal and now come back and, oh, maybe use that on the recruiting trail against an old arch rival. I mean, I just think people say they try to tolerate Lane. He tries to be the little boy in his class that flips somebody on the ear, hits him and runs in the playground.

That's just who Lane is. But at some point, he's over 50. It's time to grow up. It is. And, you know, the other thing I want to add to what you said there, if you're sincere about it, who is in better position to do something about it than the head football coach at Ole Miss? If you think that's how it was and you're bothered by that, use your platform, you know, instead of holding it out as an excuse or holding it out, as you know it is, recruiting ammunition at your next job, use that megaphone, which he certainly has no problem doing.

[26:02] Use it for social good. Use it to change the world. Yeah, yeah. So it's hard to take it too seriously because it didn't seem to bother him enough to do anything about it just to use it as a talking point. Joe, isn't it amazing? We literally, on the last regular season weekend, actually they're Thursday through Saturday this week, of SEC baseball, the marquee matchup, which you well know, Georgia and Auburn. We've talked about the Dawgs throughout the year, 140 RBIs, Daniel Jackson leading the SEC in average, home runs, RBIs trying to get the triple crown.

Ever since Auburn lost to Alabama, they got swell on March 29th. They've won six consecutive series. Both teams are playing really well. That should be quite a matchup in Auburn. It really is. It'll be a good situation for both of them to kind of test out their postseason bona fides. And it's a pretty obvious head-to-head here. Auburn's pitching has been a big part of what carries them. I mean, they're a little over half a run better in ERA than any team in the league. And meanwhile, Georgia's down there at 11th.

And then, you know, yeah, you go to the long ball and that's Georgia's game. And Auburn doesn't even have half as many home runs as Georgia. But, you know, it's really a good chance to kind of feel out the neglected side of things. Let's see how Auburn's bats do in this series. Let's see how Georgia's pitching does in this series because I think that will probably ultimately tell the tale of how far both of those teams go. We know Auburn can pitch and Georgia can hit, but can they handle the other side?

That's the story. Joe Kotz got it all covered there Saturday down south. Joe, baseball, like any sports, the big mo game, getting hot at the right time. Postseason's coming up. Curtain coming down. The regular season coming up here soon. Right now, in your opinion, who has the most big mo going into the postseason? Well, I mean, it's hard to go against Georgia just as good as they've been all year. And, I mean, they've got it locked up heading into this final weekend, which is a good thing.

Alabama's playing really well. Let's give them some credit. I think the good news for folks down in your area is probably that both the Tide and the Tigers likely have those top eight spots locked up. It's a little bit dicier for Alabama, but I think probably a win this weekend will take care of them and probably lock down the top eight spot. And that's where you want to be because you can have all the big games at home all the way to Omaha. And, you know, you're looking at a couple of teams there locally that could be making that Nebraska run.

Joe, let me ask you about who's not hot. Vanderbilt, Tim Corbin, it's hard to believe this. It's 11-16 Alabama swept them two weekends ago, unless they do something in Hoover. A lot of people saying, well, he may not make it this year. We know LSU won't make it. 9-18, isn't it hard to believe, Joe, Vandy and LSU looking at the outside in for the postseason? Yeah, I don't think anybody would have forecast that. And I do want to dive in on that Vandy point and just say completely agree, they're in a weird situation.

And they could sweep this weekend and be 14-16 and still get left out because their RPI is just horrible. I was looking at that earlier. I think they're somewhere in the 70s. And the SEC, you can look at the RPI, and it's a very clear line there. Kentucky and Tennessee are like 30-31, and they're both probably in. And then the big gap, and then LSU's next is like 58. So there's a very clear line of demarcation of the teams that should be in good shape versus the teams that, yeah, barring showing up in Hoover and just going great guns on everybody are probably headed home.

Joe, talk about Tennessee before we let you go. We had a good friend of ours, Vince Ferrara, who covers, he actually does some of the color for Tennessee baseball. He said, just about the time you get ready to put the dirt on the grave, Tennessee comes up and has a good weekend. Boy, they have had up and down years. Joe, your thoughts on Tennessee? Yeah, it's really been a challenging season, and I think we all recognize that the transition post-Tony Vitello was going to be a difficult one, but I think it's gone kind of above and beyond that.

But the good news, again, that RPI, they're at 31 coming into this weekend, already got 13 league wins. I would like to see them pick up one more win this weekend in Oklahoma because you'd feel just double extra special safe, but probably even if they got swept, they're probably in the field. And, of course, as you and I like to talk about, Ole Miss showed us a couple years ago, you can be the last team to get your day cold, and you can be the last team standing at the end of the day.

So just getting in is the game. It is amazing, Joe. Hey, you can go from the penthouse to that house in the SEC. Real, real quick, listen, I always enjoy the conversation. Nobody knows baseball in the SEC better than Joe Cox. Where can we get online to get all the great stuff? Check us out Saturday down south, and I'll probably be varying it up a little bit. I've always done the power rankings, but I hope to do kind of an overview of what I see when we get to add NCAA bracket in a couple weeks.

[31:32] Might try the same thing in Hoover, but then again, we've got to get to our talking point next week about do you even want to win in Hoover? I'm going to leave that out there as a teaser because I want to revisit that one. Great point, Joe. We'll delve deeper into that next time, but in the meantime, thank you so much, and stay safe out there, okay? All right, I'll do it. You guys take care. Thank you, bud. JC, Joe Cox, Saturday down south. Let's go out west to Las Vegas, and Bruce Marshall on deck.

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[37:31] That's ZipRecruiter.com slash free. ZipRecruiter. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. Just call in the gold standard with a gold sheet in Las Vegas. Bruce Marshall is there with a Las Vegas Insider. Belms, sports.net, CBS, sports lines, winners and whiners, picks and parlays, Vegas Insider, you name it. Bruce Marshall has game. Bruce, welcome in. How are you? Hey, how you doing there, Harold? And we're doing all right. Bruce, how's Vegas responding to this? Is it bigger and better?

I mean, I'm looking at basketball. They say, let's do 76. Looking at football, they say, let's do 24. How's Vegas responding to the expanded versions of football and basketball when it comes to college game? Well, you know, these guys out here, the more the merrier. The more games to bet, you know, they love it. So, you know, they're fine. I mean, they'd love the NFL to have a 25-week season if they could. And who knows? Maybe someday we'll get that. I mean, it's a big deal. I think what, you know, guys like me, and I think you guys, too, remember this tournament long ago.

And I mean, I thought it was too big. You know, 60. I mean, they went to 64. You think about it. It hasn't expanded as much over the last, what, 41 years. In 85, they finally went to 64. They had been at 48, and I think they went to 52, 53, 64. And then they only added four more in the next 41 years. So maybe it's time for that. Though I remember, you guys do, too. I mean, before 75, I mean, these tournaments, it's like a 23- to 25-team tournament. So, I mean, it's really gross. The football one, I think, has them more excited here because, frankly, they would rather have playoff games.

And I think the TV networks, too. They'd rather have playoff games than conference championships, especially since in a lot of these, you know, the both teams and the big conferences are already going to be there. Or like in the ACC last year, I guess there was some drama if Virginia ended up winning. I guess they would have gotten in, I think. Maybe not. But, I mean, Duke wins it. They didn't even get in. The networks would much rather have a playoff there. And so are the Vegas people.

But, you know, that's the way they are. They just want more games. Speaking of networks, your thoughts about the reaction or the news this week that the NFL says, we really don't care about you, the blue-collar guy who does everything they can just to keep the lights on at home and feed two or three kids. We're going to make you pay for your cable or your whatever service, whatever how you get your pay-per-view. And now we're going to charge an extra fee, go behind Peacock, Apple TV, you name it, YouTube, whatever.

Your thoughts, at what point does Roger Goodell get the message that, look, man, you're squeezing this orange. It's already pretty dry. You're squeezing it even more. What's your reaction to even more paywalls to see the NFL? The only thing that will stop that, or slow it down at least, because I think it's just they'll keep going and going and going. They never have enough. But they are running the risk here of running afoul of their antitrust exemption, because that was all, when they did that right, and this one that's still applicable was done right when the merger happened in 1970, I think.

But at that point, I mean, most of the games were on over-the-ear TV, free TV, and they were not part of that thing. But, you know, the paywalls and things like that, and even the cable was around then, certainly not like it is now. It's just for, like, the hinterlands. The whole pay concept in TV wasn't part of it. So if they think they're running into some risk with that, I think that's the only way, and they think they see that as a real threat that would take some do-gooders in Congress to do that.

And I'm not sure I hold out much hope, but it's possible, because we've heard that. That's the only way I see this stopping, because they will keep squeezing, and squeezing this thing, and squeezing it, and squeezing it. And as long as people keep paying, they'll do it. And, look, it's just like with these ticket prices, Super Bowl, you know, whatever. I mean, as long as there's people with a lot of money who just don't care and they'll spend anything, you know, the NFL will price his product accordingly.

And I am worried about them pricing out a lot of fans. But, you know, it's just the almighty dollar that's all that seems to matter. But the only thing I think they could stop it is if there's some threat to the antitrust exemption. And then that may slow it down a bit. We'll see. Bama, Ohio State, now official, your favorite coach in college football, Ryan Day, hosting Alabama in 2027. Bama, Oklahoma State, gone. Georgia, Florida State, gone. USC, Notre Dame, trying to renew. And I know you know that rivalry very well.

[42:52] Speaking of going to 24, how will that impact future non-conference big games such as Bama, Ohio State, in the future? That's a good question. And I've been worried lately that, you know, we're – but we have had a few examples of some good games. And I give – actually, Ohio State, rare credit there. And that's one area I don't think Ryan Day is too off. They played Texas. They're going to play Texas again this year. They played Texas last year. I guess they've got this Bama thing coming up.

So, you know, we still get a few of those. But the conference schedules now have squeezed this so much. You've only got a few non-conference games. And, like, we mentioned this on – I think I did this with Ryan Fowler, Tuscaloosa, last month. I was kind of going over the schedules for SEC schools, you know, back in the – you know, back in the 70s. And how you never saw – rarely would you see a game against what would have been, you know, a 1AA or a lower division school back then.

Now, those are the days before the conference expansion. And a lot of schools are independents before Conference USA or the American or any of those with the Big East. But if there's only room for one – this is what bothers me. Now the big conferences seem to think, okay, we need to schedule one game against Power 4 or Power 5. And then the other couple games you don't have to. But that's what bothers me is that playing the Furmans in the Western Carolinas, the fan bases really don't want to see that.

There's enough, you know, FBS schools that you can face. But I don't know how that's going to impact it if the playoff expands, if that's going to shrink the number of these intersectionals more. I'm kind of actually heartened that a couple of these want to play. And maybe that's actually good news. We'll see. Bruce Marshall looking out with us. He is busy there amongst other places, Vegas Insider. Bruce, what's your perception of Greg Sankey? At one time he was carrying a big stick and walks off and all that.

And now a lot of folks down in this neck of the woods says basically he is bowing and kissing the ring of the power brokers in college football. Well, what's your objective take on the job, Greg? I think he's doing in terms of having the back of the SEC. I actually think he's probably doing an okay job. I think he's the bureaucrat's bureaucrat. And anybody, and he kind of came up through academia. And I generally distrust these sorts of guys running a big enterprise like that, though I don't think he's done that badly with it.

I tend to like guys more like your mark out of the Big 12 who comes from outside of academia. And I believe Tony Petiti is the same thing out of the Big 10. But guys who just kind of grew up all through academia like that, I just don't think they have a concept of where business in the world goes. Now, I think a lot of the SEC's popularity here, and it was happening, it was starting before Sankey took over, though he was in the office I know for a while, but during the Mike Slive years.

But it's not because of him. Sometimes I get the idea that he and some of these other commissioners think it's because of them that these TV contracts keep expanding. It's in spite of them. And he's just sort of got to steward this thing. And I don't think he's done a bad job with that. So I don't want to be too critical. I think there's guys that can probably do a better job. And I think your mark is brilliant in the Big 12 because he's got to be a little bit more creative, a little bit more aggressive with it.

But so those guys I put it high above. But I don't think Sankey's done that bad a job, though, really. Have you noticed, speaking of the Big 12, they think out of the box, they wanted to go with this private equity. I think it's a Redbird. And they've made some deals with them. And they've got a $30 million line of credit for these schools. None of the schools in the Big 12 have taken them up on the offer. Because, Bruce, sooner or later, you've got to pay it back.

Your thoughts, will private equity, they talked about it, again, trying to get money to meet Brad's share and everything else. Where are we going with private equity in college sports? That is really a good question, Brad. I think you sort of hit it on the head. Because when you raise money through private equity, that term equity is in there. They get a share of the private. I mean, it becomes theirs. So you're, you know, you're sort of, I don't want to say you're making a deal with the devil.

But I, this is sort of why, you know, the Big 10 was really close to doing something like this. And I think in, you would see in Michigan, they needed a unanimous vote if I have this correct in my mind. And USC and Michigan rejected it, or at least stalled it. So we're not ready to sign off on this yet. Because this looks like just like a short-term loan, sort of. And you've got to pay it back. And I don't think we should be giving up equity in our, in our, in our thing.

[48:09] Now, we see this, you know, mentioning Redbird. I mean, they're overseas now, European soccer. They're involved over there. And you do have some teams and leagues over there that have made these sorts of deals with the private equity. But they are losing percentage of ownership in the thing. So it's kind of a, you know, the, the answer is if you run your ship properly, and there's so much money coming in, you shouldn't have to do this. But it's just like, you know, a family, you know, budgeting at home.

You know, and don't give your wife a credit card. You know, let her, you know, you got to pay it back, you know. So that, that's sort of where they're at. I, but I think that's kind of where it's going because, again, I mean, if they keep, so many of these schools are running at a deficit. And, you know, there's interest they have to pay on, on that. The only way to wipe that out might be to give up some of the ownership, but you, you clear up the decks.

It's a tough deal. And I think the tough, the Big Ten example is tough because even though it's an entity, a big entity like that, there are still a lot of individual parts to it. And if you have to get all the parts to agree, it might not be easy. So I'm not totally shocked that some of the Big 12 schools are hitting, tapping the brakes just a little bit on this thing. I think it's still coming, but I understand the reluctance on the part of some schools to get involved.

Yes, it may change, but right now I can sort of see why they'd be tapping the brakes a bit. Bruce, the message I'm getting here is do not give your wife the credit card, a filth of Jack Daniels, and a trip with the girls in a ticky bar in the Caribbean. So they just want to add to your point there, for your point. But right now it's the crazy season. What is hot in Vegas? You've got NBA, you've got the hot ice NHL. What's going on for the folks who want to play the game?

Well, tonight we've got a game here in Vegas. We've got game five of the Gold Knights and the Ducks, so the NHL is really heating up in the NBA. Now we've got Oklahoma City into the West Final, and San Antonio is going to take a little longer, or maybe Minnesota can upset them. I don't think so. But there's interest all the way here. And, you know, there's one other night happening this week. It's Thursday, I believe, where the NFL's schedule, and they're making such a big deal of this now.

Listen, I can remember when they did that years ago, and my friends and I, it would be in the paper the next morning, and we would predict the scores for the rest of the year. But people are betting. There are going to be people betting Thursday night on NFL games not taking place five, six months from now. Wow. But that's coming up, too. But there's so much going on still in Vegas. And my picks, like I said, wagertalk.com. That's the big umbrella now. All my stuff underneath that.

Picks there. Also, winners and winers, picksandparlies.com, and goldsheet.com. We'll start populating that closer to football season. Never, never, ever does it dry up for you, Bruce. Man, thank you so much. Keep up the good work out in the desert, okay? Okay, gentlemen. Have a good week. Thank you, buddy. You, too. Bruce Marshall, the one and the only there amongst other places to goldsheet. Just after we jumped ship yesterday, Alabama picked up, as they say, a big one from Tennessee on the recruiting trail. Yeah, Harold, he is a big one.

Again, his dad is a Tennessee legacy, a four-star linebacker. A lot of people thought he might be going to Tennessee, but his dad was smart enough to leave him alone. And he chose. We were wondering which way he was going. I predicted Alabama, and that's who he ended up choosing yesterday. He said, the people asked him how he did it. He said, basically, he listened to the Lord instead of his dad. He prayed about it, and he's on his way to Tuscaloosa. That's a good decision.

Good advice. Kenneth Simon II on his way from Brentwood Academy to Tuscaloosa. In the meantime, it's time for us to head on down to the plains. Check in with Logan Fowler. Randy Kennedy is going to be setting the stage across the entire state at AL.com. And Matt Merchel, coast to coast. And it's all straight ahead here on the Boomo Bugg Show. Stay with us. Hello, my name is Keith Medley, and I'm an attorney with the law firm of Johnson, Passeur, Medley & Burchell. 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.

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Three, two, two, three. He swings and hits a missile to deep right field, to the chop house, and out of here! Tonight, the Braves welcome the Chicago Cubs to Truist Park for a big National League showdown as Atlanta opens up a three-game set at home. Braves Radio goes on the air at 6 p.m. Central on the Braves Radio Network. Brought to you locally by the law firm of Johnson, Pasher, Medley, and Virtual, J.C. Hammonson, First Metro Bank, Nationwide Insurance Agents Michael Doe and Bill Cochran, Medford Jewelers, Valley Credit Union, Certified Alarm, Lost Pizza, and Alabama Health Guidance.

[58:51] Atlanta Braves baseball tonight versus the Chicago Cubs on 93.9, The Score. 93.9, The Score weather. Today's sunny with a high around 80. Tonight, mostly clear with a low near 55. Tomorrow, sunny and breezy with a high around 85. Tomorrow night, clear with a low near 55. And for your Thursday, sunny with a high around 80. 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 tour of the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg, alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley. And for Logan Fowler to take time out of his busy schedule and talk Auburn Tigers. Logan got it all covered there at 1819 News. Logan, welcome in. Happy Tuesday to you. How are you? Doing very well, guys. How are you all? Hey, man. Man, a little known facts here, Logan.

A little fun with it. Most folks around here think football at Jordan here didn't kick off until, what, August, September. But correct us if we're wrong. Auburn says they've already sold 75,000 tickets for a football match next month. Now, less than a month, June 9th, between Argentina and Iceland. Football and what they call football, soccer. That's an interesting tidbit, is it not, Logan? Yeah, that's a really cool event. You know, I would certainly hate to have to navigate my way through downtown Auburn that weekend. But, no, I mean, super cool event.

You know, obviously you're talking about the world champion in Argentina and Iceland. I can't sit here and say that I'm a big soccer guy myself. But, I mean, just really cool for Auburn and that community to get to, you know, see something of that nature in Jordan-Hare Stadium. I can't wait to see the, how many T-shirts say, go Reykjavik on the planes? You don't get that very often. Logan, let's come back to American football and talk recruiting. Anytime you pick up a quarterback, inquiring minds want to know about quarterback Gary Chapman Jr.

Yeah. Yeah, you know, 2027 quarterback, Auburn, completed the flip of him last week after he backed off his pledge to Wake Forest early in May. And, you know, I mean, obviously nothing is ever set until they sign. But, you know, it looks like Auburn has his quarterback for the 2027 class. They lost out and, you know, moved on from a couple of other targets. But, you know, I think that, I think they found a great fit and I think it's found the right fit. You know, Gary Chapman, 6'1", 190 out of Brookwood, Georgia.

He wasn't a super highly rated guy. I think he's the 55th ranked quarterback in the class per 247 sports. You know, I don't have his, you know, his high school numbers in front of me, but I have seen some clips of him. And I think he's a great prospect for Joel Gordon and Alex Golesh to work on throughout the years. And obviously if he'll come in and stick with it and develop, I think that's a great pickup for Auburn. You know, obviously now they can move their attention to the 2028 class with, you know, at that position.

You know, you talk about overall rankings with this Auburn, you know, this 2027 class. They were sitting in the 50s last month. And then at the time of Chapman's commitment last weekend, which is commitment number five for Auburn, Auburn jumped up to 31. Now it's at 39. And, you know, again, we talked about it last time, but Big Cat weekend's coming up this Saturday. And, you know, I don't have a list of all the visitors that Auburn's going to have on campus. And, you know, I'm certainly no recruiting guru, I guess, but I do think that Auburn's going to make some waves this weekend.

And, you know, obviously it's the contact period now where coaches are out on the road visiting recruits and trying to make some more relationships. So I think you're going to see Auburn make some noise this weekend. Obviously, I think, you know, everyone's hopeful that they'll leave with a commit or two after Big Cat weekend Saturday. Let's talk a little bit about the strategy. Every school has got a different one, of course. You've got some schools that have alumni that's got more money than they've got cents, like Indiana.

I mean, Mark Cuban says, what do you need? Here it is, a blank check, go buy it. But they also like to bring in a lot of non-household words as opposed to LSU. Lane can't get enough of Lane. He wants to go and do the bling-bling, make the big splash, all that stuff, write a check, come on down. Your thoughts about Auburn, where are they as far as the personnel, just indiscriminately writing checks so they can win the press conference and trying to sit here and squeeze the dollar and get more value for it?

[1:04:03] Your thoughts about their strategy, let's face it, it's like the NFL. You've got to figure out your budget and divide the pie accordingly. Yeah, you know, I think that that's something that Auburn had to work on with this new staff. You know, coming in and they kind of changed up how they're going to allot their resources, especially, you know, in recruiting and retaining players. You know, you talk about we can't give you, you know, we're not going to promise you X amount of money up front right here.

What we're going to do instead is, hey, let's keep you here. Let's give you this right here and maybe add some more incentive-based deals that take place throughout your career. So I really do like that strategy from Alex Golesh. I think that, you know, while I think it's great, I think that obviously, you know, if you have, you know, Byron Brown who exceeds expectations and you're able to pay him more money throughout his career, that's great. You know, could you see Auburn miss out on some top-end talent, you know, throughout the recruiting process because of that?

Probably so. You know, it seemed like the previous regime gave out more money up front than it did, like you're going to see with this regime right here. So I do think that it could bite Auburn in the butt a little bit trying to get top-end talent. To the planes. But all in all, I think that it's something that's going to work out great for Alex Golesh and this staff. I think that you're going to get more buy-in from the players. You're going to get people who, and Alex Golesh has talked about this a ton, you know, you're going to get people who want to be at Auburn.

You know, you're not just going to be bringing in, you know, guys for the heck of it just because they're getting paid. So, you know, I do like that strategy from Auburn. I think it's going to pay dividends down the road. And then obviously I think here in a few years, we're going to have to see some, you know, something's got to change. You know, the going number right now is close to $50 million a year out for a college football roster. And it's just, I mean, everybody talks, it's simply not sustainable.

You know, you talk about high-end boosters with a lot of money. At some point, they're going to get tired of it. You know, is Mark even going to throw out, you know, $50 million every year for Indiana to win a championship? Who knows? I mean, Indiana's probably not going to win a championship every year, right? So, I don't know. Something's definitely got to give on that front. And I don't know what it is, but there's got to be some guardrails. You know, wouldn't it be nice? It's not going to happen.

Just a fun topic. See what you think. As far as equity across the board, and how about this? You come up, and this is the money. Everybody's going to be paying the same money, okay? Pick a number, whatever it is. But then, back to your point about incentive. If you hit this mark, this mark, this mark, then you get the bonus, bonus, bonus. Would that not be a better world as opposed to paying some of these guys all this money, and then they go out, and in game two, they get hurt, and they keep on collecting checks.

Just like the kid last year at Tennessee. He didn't play anything. He still made money. Yeah, absolutely. You know, what was the running back? I think it was Jeremiah Love from Notre Dame was asked in a press conference. It's a little bit off topic here. But, you know, within the last week or so, like, hey, what are you going to do with this signing bonus that you just got? And he's like, man, I'm not even going to touch it. Like, I'm just going to put it away from my grandkids and my kids.

Thank you. I've made enough money at Notre Dame and in college to where I'm pretty much set. You know, I don't need to touch my NFL money. And I just, I mean, wow, that's awesome, and it gives, you know, there's pros and cons to it. I think that it gives kids who maybe come from a tough situation, you know, a way out of, you know, the norm, I guess, and allows them to essentially change their lives and change their family's lives. But it's like you said, I mean, Auburn pays, you know, Joe Schmoe $2 million to come play for them this year, and he gets hurt in game one, and he's out for the rest of the season.

Now you're out, you know, $2 million who you could have paid for another guy to come in. So, you know, I don't know. I think that if you could incentivize all around college football and make it fair to where, hey, you get X amount of money to spend on your roster, do it however you want, give it to them up front, or incentivize them, that's up to you. I do think, you know, obviously there's been more parity in college football over the years, but I think you'd see even more with that.

Logan, I saw speaking of recruiting Big Cat Weekend, another, I think this is going to be a trend in the next five to ten years. Now there are a lot of players, certainly in the United States, but I saw a list yesterday of the top ten offensive prospects that Auburn's looking at. There was a guy on there by the name of Nico Compass. He's an offensive tackle. Now, who in the world is that? This guy is attending the NFL Academy in England. He's originally from Germany.

[1:09:07] He's 6'7", 280. Steven Pearl is going to be bringing in probably the last player on the roster, I think, in the next month. Basketball has gotten into so many European players. I'm going to be curious to see, but it was interesting. I thought that Auburn was looking at this guy, the NFL Academy in England is these players, you know, former soccer players or athletes who are attending an NFL Academy in England to prepare themselves to play a college ball or eventually the NFL. I thought that was interesting now that Auburn is looking at this guy originally from Germany going to England.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, you make a great point. It's obviously becoming a lot more common in basketball. You know, that's something that we've obviously grown to see a bunch of. But, yeah, Nico Kompas is, you know, there was a big tackle who Auburn got a commitment from in last year's class to the one before. And I can't even remember his name, but he was a big kid, came from the NFL Academy, hadn't played a whole lot of football. But, you know, it seems like a lot of the kids that come out of that NFL Academy are a lot of big offensive linemen, just mammoth offensive linemen.

I mean, this kid is 6'7", 280 pounds. So, yeah, I mean, that's certainly a wrap that you can see starting to ramp up, especially across college football and in the SEC, which it seems like there's a ton of national, international players in basketball across the league. But, I don't know, maybe it could be a thing where, you know, we talk about offensive linemen. Obviously, teams love to go to Australia for punters and for kickers. So, could that be kind of a pathway for these offensive linemen to, you know, to make it to America and start playing college football and eventually get into the NFL?

I think that that's certainly something that you could see more of. We talked about this a little bit earlier today, but Auburn baseball hosting Georgia. They're just knocking the cover off the ball with 140 home runs, big series beginning Thursday. Both these teams may end up in the Elite Eight. Auburn now with six consecutive series since they lost to Alabama, got swept late March. They're on the roll, but I'll tell you one thing. Somebody else who's on the roll, Georgia coming in on Thursday. Yeah. Yeah, you've got Georgia coming in on Thursday.

Obviously, they are the SEC regular season champions. They just come off a sweep of LSE in a home and 21-6 mark in the conference. So, that's obviously going to be, you know, a big series like you talked about. They're just absolutely dangerous at the play, 140 home runs. Daniel Jackson, their catcher, is, you know, a national player of the year candidate, 25 homers and nearly a 400 batting average. But, you know, that's not going to start until this weekend, and Auburn plays a big one tonight against Jacksonville State.

You know, the first meeting between those two teams was Auburn's largest margin of defeat this year, which was they get beat by 11 runs. Jacksonville State and Georgia, which are obviously Auburn's two opponents this week, are two of the 17s in the country with 40 or more wins. So, you know, you've got a doozy of a week to wrap things up. I think Auburn's done enough with its resume and where it sits in the RPI to not necessarily have to worry about hosting. But, you know, if you could obviously find a way to win at Jacksonville State tonight and maybe still one or two for Georgia and get some momentum rolling into the postseason, that would be great.

But, yeah, I mean, yeah, it's certainly what Auburn has done over the last six weeks is just really remarkable. I mean, you just talked about it the first time since 1995 that Auburn's won six consecutive SEC series in the same season. 2017 was the last time they picked up a win, a series win in Starkville. They did that this weekend after losing game one on Thursday night. So this team's just finding ways to win. They're starting to hit the ball really well. The pitching staff is continuing to really thrive.

You know, Ethan Bingaman for Auburn is swinging the bat really well right now and has won his third SEC honor of the year this year. So lots to like about what Auburn's doing on the diamond. And I think that they're sitting in a really good place come postseason time. Absolutely. And just to close, Auburn, Wisconsin going to be playing basketball in Nashville December the 19th. That's a nice preseason game that Auburn can tell. Logan, great stuff as always, bud. Where can we get online and get all the good stuff?

[1:14:08] Absolutely. You can check me out over at 1819news.com and give me a follow on X at Logan Fowler. Sounds great. Listen, man, thanks so much. Have a great week. Okay, Logan? You all as well. Thank you, bud. Logan Fowler got it all covered there at 1819news. Randy Kennedy has the states of Alabama covered from the north to the south and all points in between at AL.com. And he's next. Stay with us. Hi, this is Ike Fowler with Alabama Health Guidance. Whether you are looking for a Medicare health plan or you are under 65 and exploring individual health care options, Alabama Health Guidance can help you find the plan that fits your needs.

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Just download the PayPal app and share all the moments that matter. Account with PayPal is required. Not available in all regions where PayPal operates. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. It is always a privilege for us to say hello to Randy Kennedy. He is busy there at AL.com, winner of the Mel Allen Award for the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, named one of the 50 legends of sports writers in Bama, and a fellow who has forgotten more about sports talk radio in the state than most people can remember.

Randy will come in. How are you? How you doing, man? Good to talk to you. We are doing okay, Randy. We appreciate you taking time out. It's that time of the year. You look at these respective classes talking about the Tide and Tigers, and there's plenty of wiggle room. I don't know how much of that's by design, given the modern era with NIL, but one thing about it, Randy, you come out with a list of people heading to the beach, school's about to get out. Yeah, that shot you heard is not from the kids, it's from the teachers heading down to the beach.

You're always interested, if you're a recruiting fanatic, who are the best in Bama? Just about soon to release that. Any word, Randy, as far as the early word on the best in Bama as far as high school kids, maybe top edge rushers, or where do you start? Yeah, we're going through that right now where we're going position by position. The last one we have done is edge rushers, which is amazing because in the past we would have just done defensive line, but this year, man, there's so many of these guys who are that really coveted position of whatever you call outside linebacker, defensive end, basically guys who can rush the passer.

And so we decided to break them up. So in a couple of weeks, we'll do the interior defensive lineman. But man, it is a really, really good year for edge rushers, just like we talked about a few weeks ago. It's such a great year for quarterbacks in the state, expected to be this coming year as well. Randy, if you are in charge of this, in the old days, it was a silly question I had to ask because you just went out and got you to meet five stars, hopefully from your neck of the woods you could, but we know where we're going with this.

In the modern NIL era, do you put all this money down on a high school kid and lock him down, or do you take that same money and go shopping the NIL where somebody somewhere else may not have been all that highly regarded in high school, but they've proven that they're kind of precocious, they've grown up in the last year or two. Why do you see that from that standpoint, Randy? Because it's not as simple as it once was. You just went and automatically tried to lasso that five-star because you didn't have to pay them.

Now you've got to be careful with that budget. Plus, in high school, it's all relative. You may be playing in a division where you're just a man amongst boys, but once you get in the SEC, then everybody's as good as you are. How do you see the modern era of locking down some of these, if you will, creme de la creme kids in the state? You know, it's so interesting because I don't think anybody's figured it out yet. I mean, because you look at different schools like SEC schools or Big Ten or whatever, there are very different philosophies of how people are going about this.

You know, you look at, like at Alabama, the perfect example is you look at the quarterbacks at Alabama. Everybody who plays quarterback at Alabama going all the way back to Jake Coker, they've been guys at Alabama, big-time recruits at Alabama, signed out of high school. They went to Alabama, they played their whole career at Alabama, and then they went to the NFL. Darren Hurst did have to leave because he was there at the same time as Tua Tonga-Vailoa, but that's the formula at Alabama. It's the same as it was 50 years ago.

Very few people going that route at other schools. You look at Auburn. You know, the last person who signed with Auburn out of high school, became a starter, and then graduated, stayed at Auburn through the end of his career, all the way back to Barrett Trotter. That's how far we've got to go. He's the last guy coming out of Briarwood that signed with Auburn, earned the starting spot, and then finished his career at Auburn. I mean, that's a long time, you know? That's a long time ago, so they've gone completely the opposite way.

You've seen like at Miami, where they're just basically, we're going to be the highest bidder for whoever the best transfer quarterback is going to be. So there really are different philosophies here of how teams are going about this. I don't know if there is a right way, but it's certainly changed the recruiting game. Randy, let me ask you about two of the top prospects in the state of Alabama. A lot of our listeners know about Chicken, and we'll talk about one of Chicken's teammates in a few minutes.

But Clay Chalkville and Muscle Shoals have played some great games the last two or three years. They've got a guy who is nicknamed the Terminator. Keith Richmond out of Clay Chalkville, 72 tackles, 12 sacks, 20 quarterback hurries, and you go on and on and on. Believe me, Randy, the power for confidence to know where Clay Chalkville is. Randy, tell us about the Terminator. You know, it's so interesting that, yeah, he's the Terminator. So anybody can, you know, now with social media, you just basically are almost obligated to give yourself a nickname.

[1:24:59] Yes. Like the kid from Sierra Land that's on this edge rush list, a kid named Snipes, his nickname is Peekaboo. That's where he goes by. I'm like, you know, I'm a grown man. I'm a journalist. I'm not sure I'm going to call that kid Peekaboo. But Chicken, on the other hand… But Chicken, that's really his name. I mean, like, that's not his given name on his birth certificate, but that's all anybody's ever called him. So I've kind of come around to, well, if that's what, you know, the old thing, that's what his mama calls him, that's what I'm going to call him, you know?

So, yeah, but you were mentioning about Clay Chalkville. Look, the thing is that the recruits will find you anywhere, but it's a lot easier to get noticed when you're playing in state championship games and you're playing at the very highest level against the best competition. And so, yeah, Clay Chalkville is always going to have a bunch of guys, and the Terminator certainly is somebody who's going to be one of these national recruits coming out of the state this year. Checking in from the other side of the stage, Randy Kennedy, let's talk about a guy down the road who's been in a lot of big games, and that is one of the pride of Morris Hill.

It's almost like year in and year out, there's two things you can mention, Clay Chalkville, Thompson, but Morris Hill is also going to have some elite guys there. Talk to us, a fellow right now looks like anyway. Last report, uncommitted, at a coveted position, offensive line, Cored Pig at a Mars Hill Bible. Yeah, it's a great program. You guys know as much or more about me than I do, but, you know, baseball, they're great. Whatever sport, whatever we're talking about, that's just a great, great athletic program.

Another guy was, you talk about they're going to find you. Well, they're playing all the way to the 15th week every year, just about, you know, and that's a big deal. Plus, you know, if you've got an offensive lineman named Pig, I mean, come on, that's destiny, right? I mean, that's the guy who's supposed to be great at playing offensive lines. So, yeah, that's just one of the, again, like we're talking about with Clay Chalkville, one of the premier programs in the state. Obviously, they're going to have great players, and he's going to be a guy who is a SEC-level offensive lineman.

Randy, let me ask you about another potential SEC offensive lineman. Stafford Willis from A-Round. 6'5", 290, UCLA, South Carolina, very good size. Alabama is certainly looking at him. Your thoughts on him, and we talked about Chicken. Randy, also talk about Isaac McNeil, Chicken's teammate, 6'2", linebacker, who's got half the SEC looking at him. Yep. He's a really fast riser here late, and that Biger defense. I mean, if you guys saw him play late into the season, all the way into the state championship game last year, they had just athletes all over the place.

In fact, you know, it's one of those things where Chicken Grower is a really good national prospect, but you would almost have to ask somebody, which one is he? Because when you watch Biger play defense, there were like five or six guys that looked like, all right, he looks like a future SEC guy. You know, that whole defense looked like that. So he's one of those. The kid at A-Round, I'll tell you what, you better be checking today if you're looking at who's looking at him because it seems like every day it's like, oh, wait, Ohio State offered or Michigan offered or, as you said, UCLA offered or, you know, whoever it is, he is really hot on the recruiting trail, and he is a very, very good prospect at A-Round High School.

Randy, let me ask you about one more name before we let you go. I knew about Junior James at Thompson. Mark Freeman just puts these guys, Randy, in an incubator, and they just come out every year. Well, we were talking about nicknames. He's got a new last name, Tupo. Randy, talk about Junior James, now Tupo at a Thompson. Although he could be James Tupo Jr., but no, he's not that. He just, yeah, he added another name that's, you know, that's, you know, to honor a family member or whatever, he's big time.

Big time guy who is, again, going to be, just name a power for school, and he could go there if he wanted to. Great size for a defensive back, could probably even step down and be kind of an outside backer if he wanted to be, but great size. Every major school in the country is after him. And, again, we're talking about these great programs, these winning programs for a reason. When you talk about, you know, Clay Chalkville and Mars Hill and Thompson and whatever, there's a reason why those teams are playing 15 games a year, because it's these great prospects, one leads to the other.

Absolutely. Best of Bama coming out later this summer. Tell us again, your next is Forrest Prospects. Randy, where can we get online and get it? Yeah, al.com is where you will find that. You can also just follow me on Twitter, Kennedy underscore Randy. What we're doing now is we're going through all the position groups of who the candidates are to make the list. I got to tell you, we're going to get it down to 50 total, which is every classification. You know, that's seniors all the way through.

[1:30:09] As you guys know, we've talked about last year, we had a couple of eighth graders make the list. And those guys who were eighth graders made it, almost certainly are going to make it. As ninth graders this year, they have progressed to that point. So we'll do defensive line coming up in a week and a half. That'll be the next installment. But right now out there, we've got the edge record. I'm just thinking back to a young man from A-Rab. Can you imagine the folks in Ohio State and Yankee country?

I can't imagine when they have their staff meeting. Who's this Arab guy? I know. And then there's the Knights as well. They're like the Arabian Knights, right? That's right. Randy's always out of the park. Thank you so much. And keep up the good work, okay? Great talking to you guys. Thank you, bud. You too. Randy Kennedy hooking with us, AL.com. Coming up down to the big goal, Orlando and Double L, Matt Merchelle on deck on the Boomhole Bug Show. Stay with us. At First Metro Bank, we're more than just a place to keep your money.

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Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9, The Score. Softball regionals this weekend. Alabama set to host USC Upstate on Friday. South Alabama will play against Virginia Tech. Atlanta Braves are back at home tonight with a take on the Chicago Cubs. True as Mark Grant Holmes will start for the Braves. He's 2-1 with a 4.34 ERA. Colin Ray will start for the Cubs. He's 4-1 with an ERA right around 4. Fifth-ranked Auburn baseball team is up to play at Jacksonville State tonight. Tigers are 33-15. Jacksonville State is 40-11. North Alabama on the road tonight to play at Murray State.

[1:35:10] Lions are 25-25. And Troy's in Birmingham to meet UAB. The Trojans, 26-26. UAB is 29-22. 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. Business moves fast. Borders roll in, deadlines close in. When you ship with USPS Ground Advantage, you can keep up with confidence. Every package stays in our secure network from dock to door. And with nationwide reach, dependable tracking, and upfront affordable pricing, you get built-in peace of mind. You run the business.

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How are you guys doing today? We're doing all right, Matt. Thanks for asking. We talk a lot about college, but indulge us just for a second to talk about a fellow who spent a lot of springs in your backyard there in Florida, Bobby Cox. What a week it's been for the Atlanta Braves, has it not? Bobby Cox, Ted Turner, two guys who put the Braves on the map. Your thoughts about the loss of not one, but two legend in Braves' Lord. Yeah, I mean, you talk about Atlanta Braves as a franchise.

I think you couldn't really have the history of that franchise without those two gentlemen. You couldn't have it without Ted Turner, and you couldn't have it without Bobby Cox. And I think that, you know, to lose them both within a matter of a little over a week, I mean, that's a huge impact on the franchise. And, you know, you're right. You know, we had them here in our backyard for many years, you know, with spring baseball being in some sort of area. And both those guys have been a big part of that.

So to have them both, you know, what they were able to do with the franchise, to have the success that they were able to have, you know, turn things around for a program like that, I mean, it was, it's incredible. And I'm sure both those two are going to be missed. And it's a huge blow to have as the season goes on right now. You know, man, just obviously what they did in a positive way was fun, but they actually put spice in the game. For young guys who said, who's Ted Turner?

Well, he was the owner. Remember, he came down and managed. He got in the dugout until the commissioners threw him out. And then Bobby Cox was ejected over 160 times by the umpires over his career. You don't see that anymore. It's so antiseptic. It's so corporate. But these guys, back in the day, they helped put spice into the game. Yeah, very much so. I mean, and that's, and that's true. You know, you talk about old school, you know, how the game has changed, you know what I mean?

Bobby Cox, there isn't much more. I mean, he goes down as probably one of the last great, you know, old school managers. You know, a guy who was, you know, wouldn't be afraid to cut out and argue a ball strike, wouldn't be afraid to get into it, you know, with, you know, an umpire, you know, but also was a good tactician, you know, someone who understood the game and understood what needs to, what needs to happen and understood, you know, coaching a variety of different personalities.

I mean, you think about over the years where he was at, you know, and some of the personalities he had on those teams, you know, somewhat, probably perhaps one of the best, if not, you know, the best pitching staff in all of Major League Baseball, you know, Glavin and Greg Maddox and John Smoltz and, you know, you had Tripper Jones. You think about those teams in the 80s, you know, and 90s that were, you know, really strong, strong teams. And then you mentioned Ted Turner. I mean, Ted Turner revolutionized, you know, not just, you know, television and how we view television and the idea of, you know, 24-hour-a-day television.

With a satellite. Yeah, with a satellite, but also what he did with baseball, you know what I mean? Just kind of pushing to have it. I mean, I think if you're a kid growing up in certain areas of the country, you know, Atlanta Braves baseball was always on. Much like if I was growing up in Chicago, you know, Chicago Cubs games were always on, you know what I mean? But you could always find a Braves game on. And then I think that was something that was just crucial for the growth of that franchise and the growth of Major League Baseball as a whole.

[1:40:16] Yeah, WGN in Chicago, you're right. As much as we follow sports and athletics, it intertwines with life. Missouri running back Ahmaud Hardy shot at a concert in Mississippi early Sunday morning. Matt, I haven't seen an update today, but last I saw, he was in stable condition. I know some people wondering, you know, can he get back to last year well? He's got to get well first. But, Matt, when you consider the number of athletes we've got in this country, it's a wonder this doesn't happen every weekend.

Yeah, it is. I mean, you know, I think, you know, we've talked about this many times before that I think when you get to the offseason, you know, it's a part of the, I think every coach will tell you, you know, that they get, they get just a little nervous about players going in the offseason because you don't know what's going to happen. You know, you, you, you want to make sure your players are safe. You want to make sure they're doing the right thing. And, you know, it's something like this happens and you think, okay, well, you know, we're talking about, you know, Hardy getting back on the, on the football field and being like he played last year.

Well, to this point, you know, you, you just want to be able to live your life normal, you know, I mean, at that point and hope that that happens. So, um, I know that there's a lot of, there's still more information that needs to come out about it and things like that. But I mean, I think for any, for any parent or coach, it's, it's something that you, you don't want to get that phone call early in the morning, you know, basically something's happened because you spend a lot of time trying to figure out what's going on.

And, you know, you can't babysit every, every, every player, every athlete, um, to make sure nothing gets, nothing bad happens. So you just have to hope everyone does what they need to do to kind of stay, stay out of trouble and, and, uh, you know, and, and try to stay out of, of harm's way. And let's face it, especially in the modern era, because these kids, let's face it. In some cases, they're already multimillionaires. They got money, but they don't have experience in life, which means you're going to draw quote friends and parentheses around you.

Matt, speaking of that, your, your thoughts about some of the money games in the sunshine state is, uh, Norvell, is he merited being one of the top 10 highest paid coaches in college football and the other side of the coin on your other side, down at Miami, your thoughts about how Miami is putting together their roster, just basically saying, Hey man, here's a blank check. Go put us together a team. Well, yeah, I think that's just, that's what's what college football has become right now. You know, they're the haves and have nots, you know, you've got schools like Miami who can, who could go through and decide we're going to spend 30 to $40 million on our roster and you will find a way to get around all the, you know, all the hoops and hoopla that you have to go through when it comes to revenue sharing, but you know, you just walk around and you say, we need this guy.

We need this guy. Um, and, and you're able to get that for the most part now, Florida state, you know, they have their, they have their issues, you know, they have their financial restraints, you know, they have to figure out what can they do? What are they able to do? Um, plus, you know, you look at this, I mean, when we asked about this earlier today, you know, Mike Norvell's got to be under the, under the gun, this, this, you know, uh, this off the season, because you look at the fact that he has had a bad year last year, has a massive contract with a massive buyout.

You know, they, the Florida state fans want them to have success. Well, if he doesn't have success this year, what happened? You know, he, I think he's got like a, um, that massive buyout's going to be something that's going to maybe prevent Florida state from trying to make a move or maybe not, maybe someone will come up with some money. It's very different dynamics of money. And I think this is why college, why fans, the average fan are getting tired of college athletics in a lot of ways now, because all we're talking about in the off season is money.

All we're talking about is how is this money being made? How's the money being spent? And, you know, you, you kind of lose the grasp of, okay, now you're, you know, we're not even talking about how, which one of these teams is going to play better, or who's got a better quarterback, who's got better running backs, or who's a, who's, who's leading the recruiting rankings. We're more worried about what, what these teams are making. And it's, it's, it's been very difficult. I'm sure the higher ups in the sport are really trying to figure out a way how to get past that, because this is what I talk with fans all the time.

We talk about the X's and O's, but a lot of times it's the dollars and cents. Uh, man, the other thing we've been hearing this week is coaches and conference commissioners going off. Greg Sankey is not very happy with the coaches, the college football coach association and their criteria for the playoffs. I got amused also at Steve Sarkeesian, the coach at Texas did an interview with Matt Hayes of USA Today about academic standards are different at Texas. Texas, and I quote, at Texas, we will only take 50% of a player's academic credit hours, but at Ole Miss, all you have to do is take basket weaving and you can get a degree.

Uh, interesting shot from Steve Sarkeesian, Matt. Yeah, you know, listen, I, I, I think it's great. And I, and I, and I'm going to, I'm going to try to be generous about it or nice about this, I think it's great to talk about academics because you want to believe that academics are still important in college athletics. They just aren't anymore, you know, I mean, you talk about players coming to schools now and you ask a transfer, what is important to your, you're coming here. And the majority of them are going to tell you, uh, maybe not talk specifics, but they'll talk about money.

[1:45:43] They'll talk about what, you know, what the coach is offering, you know, things like that. I very rarely get a player say to me, well, I really liked their oceanography program. Well, I really like, you know, I really look at their business program. You know what I mean? It's like, I like, I'm like, oh, okay. When that happens, I'm almost, I'm almost floored. I want to get up and say, okay, well, that's great. Talk about that. Because most of these players, you know, right now they're making decisions based on finances.

They're making, where can they make their money? Where can they be, you know, where can they be beneficial, you know, and, and, and find success. And, and I get what Greg's talking about too. I mean, I, I understand. I just think it's funny. We're in that, you could tell we're a definite prime offseason because we're pointing at stuff that's like, you know, where everyone's pointing fingers and everyone's trying to figure out who's got doing what. And it's like, you know, this is why the sport, I know it's possible.

And I go back to what I just said earlier, I know it's popular, but they've got to be careful because they're starting to turn people off on this idea of, of college athletics being something that people enjoy watching. It's, it's, it's almost feels like you're, you're watching the NBA or, or a professional league fight about, you know, like what, you know, about things that it shouldn't be fighting about, but, um, but people love it. People love that. I'm sure it's all, but taking their shots. Ole Miss, Ole Miss has already had a rough week.

I'm sure this is going to be just more to pile on, on Ole Miss this week. I had some classes of football players back in the day. They couldn't even spell, spell, they could spell cheerleader. And that was about it. But I mean, if they just be transparent about it, I think more people would accept it. Matt, uh, your thoughts, where is it going? I mean, as you, as you mentioned, as long as we buy it, all we're going to do is complain, but nothing's going to change.

And yeah, let's face it. The poster child for this is Carson Beck. What was he said in his interview this past season? I haven't been in a class basically in two years. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's, there's a lot of that. There's a lot of, there are a lot of guys or they don't go to an actual physical classroom. They go to a virtual classroom, you know, where you're, um, you know, where you, you just, you just go through and you're zoom into a professor or whatever.

And, and that's it. You know what I mean? I, um, it's, it's tough. It's, it's gotta be tough because there are a lot of, especially for a lot of old school coaches who, you know, they were, they did care about academics that do care about academics and they're, and they're not saying that there are athletes out there who do care. I'm, I've run into a bunch of them that are, that are really smart and, and, and, you know, really do care about, you know, what their degree is in.

But when you think about where the sport is right now, the majority of the players are coming in, they're not picking a school because of, of, you know, it's academic prowess. They're not, they're not picking a school about, they're picking a school for the most part because of money or opportunity or being closer to home or whatever, but it's, it's nowhere near what it should be. You know, and it's difficult. I, I tell the story when I started in this business, I remember sitting at a press conference with a, with a, at a, at a D1 basketball, after a D1 basketball game and, and the player came in and I went to, I was in college at this point and the player came in and sat down and recognized me and said, Hey Matt, I've missed class for this whole month.

What did I miss? You know, and I remember just putting my head down in my lap, like, what are you doing? You know, I don't know. I missed it too. Yeah, exactly. You know, so I mean, it was like, first of all, you're asking the wrong guy. I mean, but I mean, second of all, um, but I'm just saying that sometimes, you know, at schools, because there's so much money being invested right now, schools find ways. I mean, they bring in tutors, they bring in, you know, multiple tutors, you know, multiple academic advisors.

I mean, you know, used to be 10 years ago, you maybe had one academic advisor and maybe a few tutors now, you know, a football team has a fleet of people helping them, you know, making sure that those remember guys, we used to get really nervous about this time because grades would come out, which player is not going to make the cut and he was not going to be able to get, and all of a sudden you don't ever worry about that anymore. You never get a story about a kid not passing a class and not being able to play.

Absolutely. Listen, before we let you go, I just wanted to give, Harold and I wanted to give you our deepest condolence. I know you lost your beloved mother very recently, and I know Mother's Day was a tough day for you, but it's tough any time you do that. I know one thing, she raised a good son, and we enjoy talking with you on a weekly basis, but wanted to give you our deepest condolence about that, but where can we get online now and get all your great stuff?

Well, I appreciate that, guys. That means a lot to me. Like I said, she was a good one, and we had to move her into hospice a couple weeks ago, and she went pretty quickly, but I do appreciate the sentiment, and if you guys want to check out more of my stuff, you go to orlandosentinel.com, or you can go on social media and follow me at OS Matt Merchell. I echo Brad's sentiment. Thanks so much for your time today, Matt. Hang in there, buddy. Okay?

[1:50:46] All right. Take care, guys. Thank you, bud. Matt Merchell, the Orlando Sentinel. Maybe a little braze news here. They got Sean Murphy back on the IL. Oh, no. He injured his finger, fractured his finger, matter of fact, in the game over the weekend, so he is back on it. They have signed 37-year-old catcher Sandy Leon to provide depth at the backstop position, also selecting outfitter Jose Azokar a day after optioning infielder Jim Jarvis to AAA Gwinnett, so some news to the Braves. They get back in action, not against the Cubs, BB.

Two of the best teams in the major leagues. You can hear that game on 93-9. The score, Murphy's had a tough two or three years. By the way, Kim, the shortstop, I think he's going to be coming back later this week, too. That's some good news. So check out the Braves and the boys from Chicago tonight. Mr. Holmes on the mound for the Atlanta Braves. That's going to take care of biz for now on behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire crew here. Harold Buck, thank you so much for your time today.

Let's do it again tomorrow, noon to two for the Boomwell Buck Show, back here on Sports Radio 93-9, the score.