Boomo Bugg Show 052126

[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 Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Good afternoon and welcome in to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in where. Alabama wants to do tonight what Omar did last night at the SEC baseball tournament. And is there more proof that the folks at LSU are cuckoo? Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you?

Happy Thursday to you and the listeners. Just a quick update. Calvert County beats Glenwood 8-2 in softball and they advance in the winner's bracket and we'll play hands full at 1230 in about 30 minutes. Baseball update, Hartsville and Spain Park 1-1 in the fifth inning and we'll try to give you updates on those games throughout. Auburn beats LSU last night. Auburn beats LSU last night 3-1. You mentioned the Alabama game. It's going to be earlier. It's going to be at 345 today. I believe because of the weather. Nate Oates picks up a top prospect, Anderson Diaz. But Harold, will he be the final piece of the puzzle for the 2026-27 roster? We'll talk about that a little bit later.

But right now, Bill Bender is here to talk about Big Ten Commissioner Tony Patetti is barking up the wrong tree when he wants a 24-team college football playoff. Wow, easy for you to say and spell. Bill Bender is the man. He's got it all spelled out there. He's the national voice with the Sporting News. Bill, welcome in. How are you? I am doing well. Thank you so much for having me on. And you're the only sane one in the party here. What's wrong? You know, Bill, yesterday we had, you may know Ron Higgins. He's a Hall of Fame sports writer from the state of LSU.

I call it that because that's pretty much it. He was talking about how crazy people are down there. And this is a guy who knows, he's from LSU, born and raised there, still works there. He's a Hall of Fame sports writer. And for him to say it, it's saying a lot. And then right after we had that conversation, we all did a double take. Lane hired who? Big O, Ed Orgeron. Bill, what's in the crawfish down there? I got the best sitcom going in college. Yeah. Between, between, you know, our, our, and Mike Corsi wrote about it this morning and put something about Will Wade. He was talking about how Tim Mulkey might be the most normal one.

And that's true. But, uh, um, which is saying something, but, uh, um, he had that in air quotes, obviously, but, uh, yeah, I mean, it's a really interesting thing. It's good to have Coach O back in college football. I think he's enjoyable. He's his personality, obviously, as a national title and, you know, it's going to add even more flavor to Lane staff, but, you know, what Mike wrote about was the Will Wade situation and how he's trying to build his roster and everything that's going on there, which should not come as a surprise to anybody.

Can you imagine staff meetings? They're going to go to and say, man, hello, friend, Will Wade to Ed Orgeron. We've been here and done that before, haven't we? Yeah, they're back. And, uh, you know, obviously makes for interesting content for sure. But, you know, obviously we'll see how it works out. But LSU, not, uh, short on viral storylines going into next season. Big 10 commissioner Tony Patetti's been trying to tell everyone this week, all of the great things that would happen to college football if we expanded to a 24 team, uh, playoff. Bill Bender, do you think Tony Patetti Patetti is crazy?

No, I understand. I understand some of it. I do. You know, they're trying to make more money and money comes from TV, put more product out there. You may make some money. The question is, you know, who's going to watch these games? Are we going to watch these games? How's it going to impact the viewership on the regular season? I mean, he used, uh, Iowa, Minnesota as an example. And I'm not so sure that's the best one. I mean, yeah, that game might mean a little more, but you know, are you going to do that at the expense of the high state Michigan game, which is the biggest game of the year in the big 10?

And I would argue in the country. And are you going to take away from that? So you can have a 2014 class. I'm not sure how many people are watching that first round game between Miami and Utah, Miami and Iowa. I could be wrong. You guys can correct me, but 24 is too many. Well, you hit the nail on the head, Bill. It comes down to money because the bottom line is, uh, the sponsors, you know, are going to be watching this. If they had numbers, the sponsors don't care if it's tiddly and tiddly, wink and tiddly woke, they would sponsor it. If they got eyeballs, but are they going to sit here and something's got to give up on the calendar? Are they going to give up? Like in the SEC's case, the money maker with the SEC championship game.

[5:25] I think the consensus is that yes, they will. It's not if, but when, but how are they going to make up the difference in the money they're making with it, which is almost guaranteed with some of these down the card games. Yeah. I mean, that'll be the thing. I think it's a double-edged sword here because the SEC championship game does draw a lot of viewers and always will and so ingrained in what you guys are doing down there. But in the, in the context of the playoff race, when Georgia and Texas or Georgia and Alabama are pretty much already in, does it matter? And I, yes, it does. You win a conference championship. I understand that piece of it, but you know, both teams are in. And I think all of the focus Nick Saban was right about this years ago. It's going to be all about the playoff.

Yeah. And if we go to 2014, it will be even more true than never before. Mm-hmm. Ross Dillinger of Yahoo! Bill has kind of turned into the college football insider. He's on Feinbaum. It seems like once a week. But he mentioned next week in San Destin with the SEC spring meetings with Greg Sankey, one of the agenda items will be, will the SEC and Big Ten eventually break away from the NCAA? Basketball remains because it's the big moneymaker for the NCAA, baseball and the Olympic sports. But we've had guests, three of them this week, say that will eventually happen. Bill, do you think in five years, the Big Ten and the SEC will be doing their own thing?

Maybe. And I mean, if people are saying it, then it's obviously being discussed. Personally, I hope not. You know, I think for the ACC and the Big 12, it's a regional sport. You want to see those conferences be a part of this, too. I saw Iowa State Pollard's comments about, yeah, let them break off. You know, who are you going to schedule? And there's something to that, too, because, you know, who are you going to schedule? And I think between the SEC and the Big Ten, you have 32 schools. Very good. It would be an awesome, you know, league or whatever. But you'd be missing some pieces. You'd be missing some big 12 schools.

You'd be missing Miami and Florida State out of the ACC. Who knows what Notre Dame would think of all that. You know, you'd be missing some valuable things that are very important to college football, in my opinion. Bill, obviously, we do not go political here on the show. We'll let the folks on the other side of the fence do that. But when politics affects sports, then we can do one or two things. We'll put our head in the sand and deny it's not there. We can at least address it. Over the past few days, I don't know the guy's name, Hakeem Jeffries, if I got that right, basically saying that he is encouraging African-American athletes to boycott going to SEC schools.

At what point, I'm not going to ask you to get into politics here, but at what point are they going to say, look, you do politics, we'll do sports? Yeah, and I think, you know, this country's come a long way in relations with race and has a long way to go. That's always how I put it. There's all, or maybe not a long way, but always a way to go. There's always a few more miles. And I think African-American athletes certainly have been huge in the SEC.

You know, you go back and you want them to have opportunities. I don't know if that's the way to solve a problem. If there's issues that are felt, then you've got to address them. But boycotting is rarely, if ever, works. I don't think it will happen anyway, but certainly I would encourage dialogue over, you know, a strike, essentially. Why not let the kids make up their own mind instead of you doing it for them? Right. And I mean, we talked about race last week with the stigma attached to the Lane Kiffin article.

And, you know, you think about Ole Miss and Alabama and all these SEC schools. I know, but in Big Ten country, it's still up here, too. It's not just a thing in the South. It's all over the country. And certain stigmas are attached to certain schools. And I don't buy it at Ole Miss. I think they've come a long way there, too, from the imagery, from racism. Does it still exist? Probably. But you want to address it and try to continue to fight it in the right way.

This goes back to the article you wrote last year. And look, I get that at some point, college football's got to decide, are they going to stay at 12, go to 16, or even 24? But some of the things that you mentioned last year, when are they going to decide five years to play five? Week zero is week one. The first two rounds of the playoffs are going to be at home. The early signing date. In other words, there are 10 to 15 decisions that college football authorities need to decide, I believe, before the season begins, Bill.

So we can begin putting a lot of this in place. Again, I get the playoffs, and you went through a list of about 10 or 15 things, which I really agreed with 90% of them. There are other major decisions that need to be made, and they need to be made soon. For sure. I think it's, you know, the playoff gets the most attention, and deservedly so, because I think everything else would revolve around the playoffs. I do think we need to fix the calendar, first and foremost. Yep, exactly.

[10:53] You know, signing day, maybe before the season, not in the middle of the playoff rush. Paying players, contracts. Is that something we want to do? Collective bargaining, trying to reduce the transfer portal. All of that, those discussions are happening, and once we get those, we get a better playoff, and we get a better product. College football, I want to be clear, the college football product is very good. It's very entertaining on the field. It's the off-the-field stuff that can get a little tiresome until those problems are fixed.

Bill, next week, it's hard to believe that they're going to be working down in San Destin. If you've ever been there, you know it's not exactly the worst place in the world to go. NTC meetings, what's Greg Sink, you're going to tell Lane Kiffin, Pete Golding, and others? Well, we talked about the playoffs, talked about the breaking away. I think, you know, some of that sniping that was going on a couple weeks ago. So, I would say, I'm not as worried about that. That's kind of entertaining in some ways.

You want to learn something. Yeah, we are. I mean, I grew up in an era where, you know, you had Barry Slitzer wearing beat Texas hats on the sideline and that kind of thing. So, a little bit of confrontation doesn't hurt in a sport where you're hitting each other. But, and it certainly makes it more fun. So, I don't know. He may let that go. I don't know if there's anything pressing on the field that they will address. I know the Big Ten, the big thing was there was a rule change about pump formations.

Oh, yeah. It's got a lot of run up here, and it should because it's a tactical part of the game. Yeah. Kirk Ferentz and Iowa went nuts over that. He's Mr. Special Teams. And it really is, that really is interesting. I'll see if they change that before the season begins. Great stuff, as always. We always enjoy a little bit of discussion and debate about the future of college football. What else, Bill Bender, have you got on the agenda this week, and where can we get it?

Yeah. I mean, we'll have quarterback rankings we can talk about next week. I'll obviously be plugged into what's going on in Destin, even if I'm not in the sunny beach of Destin. And we'll keep an eye on all that and have some more stuff about this playoff debate. And I'm with Greg. Thank you. Let's go to 16. And to the beach. If you don't mind, in spare time. Bill, stay safe up there. And thanks so much for your time. Have a great week. And if we don't get another chance, a great, happy, and safe Memorial Day weekend for you and your family.

I appreciate it. Same to you guys. Thank you, Bill. Have a great weekend. Double B, Bill Bender, The Voice, with eSporting News. Coming up, he is locked on Vemma, Michael Southern. Next, stay with us. Hi, this is Ike Fowler with Alabama Health Guidance. Whether you're looking for a Medicare health plan, or you are under 65 and exploring individual health care options, Alabama Health Guidance can help you find the plan that fits your needs. Our local agents make it simple. So stop by our office at 885 Florence Boulevard or give us a call at 256-648-5710.

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He's the co-host of the Blue Collar Podcast, basketball contributor for Locked on Bama. Also, the man with a pencil and all the racers there is the editor of Tide Hoops History, co-host of the Tide Machine Podcast, and also time at the Tuscaloosa News and Ganston Times. Michael, welcome in. How are you? Hey, I'm doing great today, guys. How are you doing? Hey, we're doing all right, Michael. Appreciate you asking. Obviously, a lot going on. Baseball, softball. It's always football season. But talk to us about the latest cookup from the kitchen for Nate Oates and his basketball team.

Anderson Diaz. Very interesting to pick up. Excuse me. Your thoughts about the pick up. What he brings at Sable. And what does it say, reading the tea leaves, as far as some of the folks who are still waiting to see if they're going to get the green light to come back? Yeah. So, not unsurprised with Anderson Diaz. This is someone that I kind of heard chatter on for a while, but obviously the staff have been recruiting him hard. The biggest question on this one right now, while he announced his commitment to Alabama today, technically he's a class of 27, meaning he'll be a senior in high school this upcoming season.

So, the million-dollar question is this. Is the staff going to see or ask about him possibly reclassifying? And obviously the biggest topic there is, I believe they think he's physically able to come in a year early. The question is, where is he academically? I think that's the biggest thing you have to check into. Obviously, I'm going to guess summer school would be involved and things like that if they want him to reclassify. And if he's willing to reclassify, I would definitely think it has to be on the table given the time frame of when he made his announcement.

And again, I've heard chatter in the background that this is one of the players that they were looking at as a possible reclassification to help on the ball-handling side. But the kid is 6'1". He's from the Bronx, so I don't think you have to worry about his toughness. I've seen some film on him. He's got some really good handles. Is he big? No, he's about 6'1". But he's very athletic, left-handed. He likes to penetrate and attack the rim. He's got good passing. Like I said, he's very athletic.

[21:28] So definitely something the team's going to need next year. Even if Amari Allen and Aiden Holloway both come back, you're still going to need another ball-handler. So he would fit this perfectly. So we're just going to have to wait and see what ultimately happens, whether or not he reclassifies the class of 26, or does he stay and not come until the following season? Let's follow up on that as far as Allen. Two things on that. What are you hearing? And what is the updated timeline that we may finally get the verdict here?

Well, that's a good question. I'm not quite sure. I would have hoped that the decision would be made, you know, I would have thought by the end of this week. Yeah. Next week, the 27th. You know, just a few minutes ago, Reuben Chenilu announced his decision to withdraw from the draft and return to Florida. So I would hope that Amari Allen would go ahead and make his decision at least by tomorrow, which is a Friday, before the holiday weekend. Yeah. Now, I would say this, if he's going to come back, then you need to look for the announcements via Yay Alabama.

So you probably need to be following Yay Alabama. I would imagine that if there's any announcement about him returning to school, it will be broken by Aaron Suttles and that team as far as that's concerned. That's a great point. And, Michael, I have seen throughout the week that his, quote, rating or ranking had dropped to between 28 and 34, depending upon the source, the media source you were looking at. Obviously, he wanted to get in the first round. And again, as Chenilu did and a lot of the other ones, they realized they can come back and get just as good of an NIL deal, sharpen their skills, and then go out next week.

As far as his performance in the combine, what did you hear? Again, I think the thing about Amari Allen, it's a case of where he does a lot of things pretty good, but I don't think anyone considered him a lead at any one particular skill set. So he is a jack of all trades. I'm not going to say the height discrepancy hurt him. I'm going to really think he probably got a lot of feedback on certain things that scouts would want him to work on from that standpoint.

And like you said, a lot of the projections had him now falling to the much lower first round. And yes, from an NIL perspective, while I don't know if Alabama is going to pay exactly what a lower first round draft pick would make, the bigger thing for Amari Allen is to do the LeBaron-Pylon path, which is come back, improve whatever feedback you were given, and raise your draft stock, raise your status. Look, Phylon is projected right now to be a potential lottery pick, and that's huge.

I'm not saying Allen's going to be a lottery pick, but I definitely think he could increase his chances to where if he's not within the first 14, he definitely could now all of a sudden be like anywhere from 15 to 20, which is a big improvement from where he's at right now, which is no guarantee of being in the first round. So let me get this straight. Equal money. If I go to the NBA, chances are it's going to be hard to get that second contract. I want to be probably sitting on the bench.

I can go to Alabama. I get another year of free schooling and chance of upping my stock. So to me, it's kind of a no-brainer all things being equal from that standpoint. Michael, obviously, we teased the top of the show that Alabama wants to do tonight what Auburn did last night at the SEC baseball tournament, that is to win. They've already proven they can win against Florida. In fact, throwing a no-no, but now it's on a different field and a different feel. Your thoughts about Alabama and Florida tonight?

Well, you know, the only bad thing I would say is, you know, Florida, unfortunately, has a history of taking Alabama out in the SEC tournament. I think they did in 21, 22, and 23. I think it's been, like, since 2016, since Alabama's beaten them in the tournament. Now, that being said, this Alabama team, the stabilizing force for baseball this year, has been their starting pitching. It hasn't been the fielding, and it hasn't been the hitting. It's been the starting pitching. The way everything sets up for Alabama, because they got, you know, a top-four seed in the double-by, I mean, realistically, if Alabama keeps winning, it's just like a SEC weekend series for them.

They get to go with Tyler Faye. They get to go with Zane Adams. They get to go with Miles Upchurch. So, you know, like, Alabama needs to win. I know they bumped the start time up to, what, 3.30 today because of concern about rain. So, look, Alabama has a real opportunity here. We know they're going to host a regional. What you want to do is you want to get to at least Saturday, because if you do that, if you were to win your regional, you might have a shot now to host a super regional.

And I saw some projections where Alabama was right now like a tentative seven or eight seed. So, if you can hold on to that, that would be outstanding for this baseball team, given, look, this team has some strengths. They got a lot of weaknesses, and credit to Rob Vaughn. They have just played their way around all that to get the best or the most they can out of this lineup. Michael, that's what I was going to say. They've got one of the best rotations, Tyler Faye, Zane Adams, and Upchurch.

[26:30] And the bullpen hasn't been too bad. They do have some power. Liam Hines have had some key hits. But, Michael, it's like a hot potato. Now, they fielded the ball better against Ole Miss, but in particularly against Tennessee, it was nearly the Keystone Cups. Look, fielding has not been their friend. They're the worst fielding team in the SEC. But, look, we all know what Alabama is going to have to do if they want to go on a deep run. You're going to need your top five draft pick, Justin LeBron, to be a top five draft pick.

You're going to need his bat to get hot, and you're going to need, I guess, even more power from your freshman surprise hitter, Eric Hines. So, I mean, look, the potential is there. You just don't have the consistency. I mean, who's to say Alabama could turn out to be Ole Miss from a few years ago, get hot. You've already got the starting pitch, and if the bats come alive, you can make a deep run in this tournament. Absolutely. Listen, tell us about Todd Hoop's history. We were joking with you a couple weeks ago about Nate Oates' tees coming one after another during the summer.

What's the latest news on that, bud, and where can we get online and get everything? Yeah. So, just go to X. We're Todd Hoop's history. It's at Bama history. And, yes, I think I'm pretty much locked in now. I think I'm targeting June the 1st as the first and second. So, the plan is to highlight every game that Nate Oates has received a technical foul in. So, that's 32 games. So, timing is perfect that we can start Monday, June the 1st. I think we'll do some teasers next week.

I've got some video clips that I think will be kind of funny, so we can start teasing and promoting everything next week. And then we can just go all full blast on Monday, June the 1st. And for 32 days straight, we can all relive every game that Nate Oates has got a technical foul in. Take you right after the 4th of July. Who knows what kind of fireworks you're going to have then going forward. Michael, as they say, stay tuned. In the meantime, thank you so much for your time today, buddy.

All right. Always a pleasure, guys. I'll come on any time you have me. Thank you, buddy. Hey, listen. Phone's ringing even as we speak. Michael Southern hooking up with us. He's there amongst other places. The Blue Collar Podcast and Locked on Bama. Coming up, what is the big talk in big orange country? Ryan Callahan on that and more straight ahead. Stay with us. A lot goes into taking care of your property. You need equipment with more reliability and versatility built in. Like Kubota, BX, and L-Series compact tractors that get the job done right.

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He is 1-0. In college baseball action yesterday, North Alabama was a winner over Jacksonville yesterday. 5-0 in the A-Sun Tournament. North Alabama will play North Florida today. The Auburn Tigers were winners yesterday as Auburn defeated LSU 3-1. The Tigers advance to tomorrow's matchup against Texas A&M. 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. Shop the Sherwin-Williams Memorial Day Sale and get 30% off paints and stains May 15th through the 28th.

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And digitally demonstrate in-demand skills and credentials to employers. No application fee if you apply by June 1st. Learn more at UMGC.edu. Certified to operate in Virginia by Shell. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back here. What do you say? We say hello to Ryan Callahan. He's got the big talk with the big orange. There at Go Vols 24-7. Ryan, welcome in. How are you? Hey, guys. Doing well. How are you? Hey, Buck. Man, we're doing all right. Ryan, obviously we now know about this Tennessee baseball team as far as the season.

The cherry on top yesterday, courtesy of the Hawks from Arkansas. Ryan, where do you start describing this season for Tennessee minus Tony Batello? Yeah, it turned out to be an okay regular season. There was a lot of concern for most of the season about this team. It just seemed like they had taken a clear step back. There was, at times, until the final few weeks, really some concern this team might miss the NCAA tournament for the first time in years. So, for them to finish it the way they did, winning three of their last four series and getting at least one win in the SEC tournament seems to have put them into comfortable territory in terms of likely making the NCAA tournament.

But, yeah, still some unease about this team. Not a lot of belief that this is a team likely to make a deep run. You certainly can't rule out any SEC team, especially one that's, you know, gotten above 500 records the last few weeks, making a run in postseason play because we've seen it before. But, yeah, not a lot of – there are some holes in this team. Not a lot of depth to their pitching rotation. The lineup has improved. They're hitting the ball much better in recent weeks.

But, still, just some reasons to look at it on the surface and say, you know, probably a team too flawed to make a deep run. But, you know, overall, just, you know, clearly not where they were a couple years ago under Tony Vitello. You know, they didn't make it back to the College World Series last year. But, yeah, this looks like a team that's likely, you know, even if they make it out of a regional, probably going to have a tough time making it back to Omaha, which is not what fans were hoping to see, but it did end up at least better than it was looking at one point.

Brian, your thoughts, I mean, if you read the T-leads, I mean, the coaches, everyone is basically saying the same thing. People say, why can a team be good one year and bad the next? And a team that was bad is now good. Could it be NIL? Your thoughts about the challenge? We talked about NIL and the influence it's having on basketball and football. But what influence is it having on baseball around the SEC with these coaches? Well, yeah, it's such a challenge now, especially baseball, because, you know, you've got some NIL, but it's not nearly to the level of football and basketball.

[36:59] So, you know, you can make some things happen that way, and we've seen some teams do it. But, you know, to that point, you know, LSU and some of the other programs that are, you know, baseball powers, and that was thought to be a point of friction, at least a little bit at times at the end of the Tony Vitello era, that maybe there was some frustration there that Tennessee wasn't committed to spending at quite as high of a level as an LSU. But, yeah, you can make some things happen there, and that's where Tony Vitello was remarkably good at Tennessee, is they were able to reload year after year and keep the bar really high at a level that, you know, maybe, frankly, is going to be unsustainable for a lot of programs, and even for Tennessee, maybe so.

So, yeah, that made it awfully tough for Josh Eland. You know, I wouldn't quite put him in the same category as Kalen DeBoer following Nick Saban, but he clearly was filling some big shoes to be stepping into that situation. And to be coming in in October or November on top of that, not to have a full offseason before taking over, that made things even more complicated, I think. And some of these guys, frankly, Tony Vitello recruits, basically. So, now Josh Elander was a key recruiter for Vitello, so a lot of carry over there.

But at the end of the day, this wasn't a team he constructed. So, it's a lot that we still don't know about what a Josh Elander program might look like in the long run. But, yeah, obviously, you have more programs that have the ability, at least there at the top, to kind of keep it going year after year, and you can sort of rebuild it. Even if you're down one year, you could be right back in the running the next year. So, NIL does open up a lot more opportunities there.

But even now, we're seeing that, you know, the playing field's been leveled a little bit financially for some of these programs, and that makes it, again, just like it was for years, a challenge to stay up there year after year in college baseball. Ryan, you alluded to it, and also, I think, the Major League Baseball drought. But you've got, in the last five or six years, LSU wins a national championship last year and then have the worst year they've had, and who knows when, this year.

And then Ole Miss and Mississippi State win national championships in the following year. They didn't fall, they didn't face plant, but it really has been amazing at nearly winning a national championship for SEC teams have been a curse the next year. It really has. And, yeah, that's, again, that LSU, yeah, just a classic example of just how hard it is to stay up there in the SEC. Vanderbilt, obviously, has had some up and down years in recent years after. Tim Corbin established Vanderbilt. It's kind of the gold standard in the SEC for a few years there.

So it's tough to stay at the top in this conference. And, you know, programs like Mississippi State that are dedicated to winning in baseball haven't stayed up there every single year. Arkansas has been one of the more consistent programs, and they've had trouble breaking through at times. So they, yeah, it's a tough, tough league. And so, yeah, no question. Tennessee, you know, I think just to be in that mix again this year is a pretty good job, all things considered. We kind of, you know, a lot of people didn't know where to rank this Tennessee team going into the season.

They were thought to be, you know, 10th, 15th, somewhere in that range. But not a lot of people had this as a team that was, you know, just penciled in for a trip to Omaha. So, in a way, they're ending up back within range, at least, of kind of being on par with what they were expected to be going into the season. And at least if they make a decent showing in the NCAA tournament, they're at least back in the top 25 in that discussion for having a chance to play in a super regional and maybe at least take their shot at getting back to Omaha.

But, yeah, this is a team that obviously had some limitations, I think, going into the year, at least had a lot of question marks, especially on the pitching side. And I think that's probably where they're going to fall short, what's going to cost them in the long run. Just not enough high-level pitching, especially in the bullpen. The bullpen's been a big issue for them all year. And so, with Tony Batello and, you know, his staff not being intact from past years, I think that's where it's shown up is not quite having the pitching depth they need to make a big run.

Get the latest from UT with RC. Ryan Callahan, go all 24-7, talking football. Tennessee gets some defensive back this week. Talk to us about, if I see right, a three-star in Brandon L. Yeah, Brandon Lavelle, and he goes by the nickname Slim, so a fun one there. But, yeah, about in the six-foot and one-half-inch or six-foot-one range, so some good length there in the secondary. A guy that has played a lot on both sides of the ball in high school, but I think definitely projects in the secondary at the next level.

That's where everyone's been recruiting him to play. So, likely, you know, we'll get this first look at corner, but certainly has the versatility to play star position, nickel, or, you know, safety in the long run. So, another nice pickup there in the secondary. And you mentioned the three-star rating. He's a guy that was really not on the radar at all at the time Tennessee offered him back in February. His stock has really risen since then and ended up being a pretty big battle down the stretch, and Tennessee beats out Florida and Clemson primarily in the end.

[42:03] Florida State and NC State were also among his group of finalists in the end. So, definitely a guy that I think you could see that rating potentially improve in the coming months, and I think definitely a bit of an overlooked player until the last couple months in the mid-state here in Tennessee. So, nice pickup there in-state. Now, Tennessee took a loss or two in-state this week as well, and that's just an example of kind of a sign of the times, just how you can't afford to just go after everyone you want to keep in your own state no matter the cost.

You've got to draw a line somewhere, and Tennessee misses out on a local safety, Jarrell Chandler. Safety, potentially a linebacker, but either a big safety or a linebacker from Paul's high school here in Knoxville. He goes to Clemson, and then Miles Brown, a defensive back from West Tennessee, actually the same high school that produced Ty Simpson, goes to Kentucky earlier this week, and that's a guy that was leaning toward Tennessee for a while, I think. So, a couple tough ones in-state, but Tennessee does get Slim Lavelle, a nice pickup there in the secondary.

And, you know, again, you're not going to bat 1,000 very often in any of these states in the southeast, but certainly Tennessee, it's gotten tricky in recent years. A lot of schools coming into this state now and prioritizing some of these guys, and you just have to kind of pick your spots and be willing to walk away at a certain price point. I think that's kind of what happened with at least one of those in this case, with Tennessee missing out on an in-state guy this week.

Let me ask you about two other in-state guys. Everybody wants five-star running back. David Gabriel Georges from the Baylor School, a five-star. Now, again, according to some of the reports, Ohio State may have the inside track, but this is far from over. I believe he's coming to Tennessee. You see, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Georgia, and then Ohio State. And another three-star edge, Antoine Jackson, who I've heard a lot of chatter with him associated with Alabama. In fact, he's coming to Tuscaloosa next weekend, but I know Ole Miss, Tennessee's got to visit June 19th.

Your thoughts on the five-star running back and also three-star edge, Antoine Jackson. Yeah, David Gabriel Georges is definitely the headliner for Tennessee, really, in this whole recruiting class. Probably been a lot of focus on him for months now. Tennessee's done a really nice job with him. He's not from the volunteer state originally. He's originally from Canada, so he certainly has to take that into consideration. And Ohio State has had some luck recruiting some of those types of players, including another Baylor prospect a couple years ago, Miles LeBlanc, at tight end.

So we'll see if Tennessee can keep him in state, but that's going to be a big-time battle all the way to the finish line. As you said, there's been a little more buzz on the Ohio State side, but I think there's still a decent amount of quiet optimism on Tennessee's end, too. So that, I think, will be a tooth-and-nail battle. The interesting thing about that one is the two official visits to start his string of official visits are the two frontrunners, or perceived frontrunners at least.

Ohio State gets the first visit next weekend, then Tennessee after that, and then he goes to Georgia and Ole Miss. Ole Miss may be looming as a dark horse in that one. Don't see Georgia being a major factor in the end, but pretty much for months, it's been Ohio State-Tennessee battle, and I expect it to stay that way all the way to his commitment day, which is currently expected to be July 22nd. Antoine Jackson, he's actually expected to be back in Tennessee on Saturday for the 865 live event that the Vols will be hosting.

So that will give them another chance to have him back on campus before official visits. They're kind of making up some ground there. As you said, I think Alabama is the team that's kind of been at least one of the teams setting the pace in that one for a few months now. But Tennessee got him on campus finally last month for right after spring practice, or at the end of spring practice, I should say, and then set to get him back in town this weekend as well for one more visit before he takes his official visit to Knoxville, which is set for that last weekend in June before the dead period starts.

So got some ground to make up still, but I think Tennessee at least has gotten some positive momentum in that one. But yeah, I think Alabama, one of the teams well-positioned going into the official visit. You know, Ryan, when you mentioned Baylor High at Chattanooga there, a name comes to mind. It's hard. It's amazing that the one, the great John Hanna actually went to Baylor and Chattanooga before graduating from Alperville High. How did that turn out for Alabama, the New England Patriots? And speaking of offensive line, talk to us about the Vols.

What kind of changes will Tennessee have, at least in your mind, on the O-line this season? Well, it should be a pretty experienced offensive line. They really bring back the vast majority of that group. The only departure was via the transfer portal with Lance Hurd, the left tackle for the last two years, leaving for Kentucky. So that's a noteworthy loss. I think a lot of fans have almost kind of glossed over because of what Tennessee has returning on the offensive line. But I certainly wouldn't discount that one.

One of those types of things that happen these days that you used to not see happen before NIL, but you lose a player that you had penciled into the starting lineup that some people thought could leave for the draft this past year and did not. So that's obviously a big piece, but you'll see David Sanders move over from right tackle to left tackle, the former five-star as a sophomore now. Seems like he's had a nice off-season to this point. So if he can take the kind of steps that they think he'll take this year, I think they'll be okay, certainly at the left tackle position.

[47:16] The rest of the offensive line, a lot of experience back, but it's a group that still had some pass protection issues toward the end of last season. Still got a question mark at that one tackle position, filling that vacancy where Lance Hurd left. It could go to Ori Williams, the LSU transfer, who's a big guy, 6'8", 330 or so, long arms, a lot to like about his game. He got to handle that during the spring in part because Wendell Moy, the starting guard, was out, and they've got Jesse Perry that can play either guard or tackle.

So we'll see whether the last spot will basically come down to Sham Umarov at left guard, who started 10 games last year, or Ori Williams at right tackle. In whichever direction they go, we'll kind of decide where Jesse Perry plays. But yeah, they've got a nice situation coming back with really five guys who made six or more starts last year. So that should be a solid group at the very least, but they need to take a step forward from where they were at the end of last season.

They certainly need to run the ball well. So they've got to get some movement up front to help out whoever their young quarterback ends up being. You had a very good tweet a couple of weeks ago. There's been a lot of scuttle, but certainly about, well, the SEC hasn't won a national championship in football in three years, and the Big Ten's taken over, and there have been reasons for that. And your quote was, conference DELF is sort of oversimplifying it. It's not exactly about that. It's a product of SEC teams not being able to stockpile DELF because of the transfer portal in NIL ref share, and the talent is being spread more evenly across the SEC than it once was.

I think that's exactly correct. Talk about your tweet a little bit more. Yeah, so I think, you know, this is obviously Michigan with its national championship a couple years ago. You know, we'll see if they can get back to that level, but that one felt like a little bit more of an outlier to me with Jim Harbaugh there. But when you look at what the Big Ten has year over year, you know, Indiana, we'll see if they can sustain that. That was obviously a tremendous story this past year, but no one knows whether they're going to be just a powerhouse for the foreseeable future or whether they're going to be a team that has a hard time sustaining what they did last year with a pretty unique team.

And then otherwise, when you look at the Big Ten powers, you've got Ohio State, which often isn't challenged quite as much with teams around them geographically. You know, you don't see a lot of their backups getting stolen away by other Big Ten teams the way you might see in the SEC, where if there's a backup or a third team guy at Georgia that was highly ranked coming out of high school, someone's taking that guy in the SEC, whether it's Kentucky or Mississippi State or whoever. That guy's going to start somewhere else in the SEC, and someone else might take him away.

Alabama certainly has dealt with those kinds of issues. Tennessee has even had that at times. So it's just hard for teams to keep the kind of depth that made some of those teams at the top of the SEC powerhouses in recent years. So I think it's leveled the playing field significantly. So Ohio State, they're kind of isolated. Oregon on the West Coast, kind of isolated. They can stockpile depth a bit more. You know, even USC, if they ever get it going, would probably have a little more success in maintaining it.

The SEC, you've got too many teams close by. It's just way too easy for those teams to pick your pocket and kind of steal away some of your good players that are waiting in the wings to play. Absolutely. Great stuff. I know you've got a lot to cover. Recruiting weekend really going to be wrapping up next weekend and certainly in June. Tennessee baseball, can they get a regional? Have they done enough to do that? Tennessee softball, still going. A lot of things on your plate. Where can we get online, Bud, going into Memorial weekend and get the great stuff?

Yeah, GoVols247.com in Tennessee with some official visitors this weekend. That 865 live event I mentioned. So, recruiting, jumping to the forefront this weekend to start the big summer run of visits. So, lots to keep track of right now. Great time to join at GoVols247.com. Ryan, it's always good to hook up with you. Listen, man, have a great week, weekend, and Memorial Day holiday, okay? You guys do the same. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Bud. Ryan Callahan, GoVols247. Mixed bag of news from UNA and their golf team.

The good news on the way to Arizona. Very prestigious invite. They're going to be playing in the National Golf Invitational Tournament. They get rocking tomorrow. The bad news is it'll be the last event for their head coach. Austin Phillips has resigned as a Schmitz family head coach. He's on his way to Old Dominion. A heck of a run. So, congratulations to Coach Austin Phillips. A good season. Another good season at UNA. On his way to Old Dominion, BB. Listen, Harold, UNA Baseball leading North Florida 1-0 in the third inning.

I believe Georgia and Mississippi State are tied up at one in the third inning. And Hartzell is leading Spain Park 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, trying to hang on to win another Blue Mount. Grand Hog Day in Morgan County for Hartzell High Baseball. This is not, again, is a key word. Coming up in the next hour, we're going to be taking you all over the place. We're going to be talking Auburn Tigers with Caleb Jones in Alabama with both Gray Robertson and Ryan Fowler.

[52:20] It's all straight ahead of the Boomer Buck Show. Stay with us. Looking for the perfect way to celebrate Dad this Father's Day? Bring him to Sam's Sports Grill in Florence, where we're serving up the kind of meals he really wants. Think fall-off-the-bone ribs, juicy burgers, and hand-cut ribeyes cooked just right. Paired with an ice-cold drink and catch the game, because all baseball season long, it's $3 garage beer on tap. Skip the stress this year and let us take care of Dad. Sam's Sports Grill, Florence. Great food, great vibes, great memories.

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Jordan was referring to the SPLC interim president and CEO, Brian Fair. Jordan said on Wednesday of this week that the SPLC is being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice for running a scam and ripping off their donors. On top of that, Jordan says the SPLC falsely labeled conservative groups as hate groups while they continue to run this scam. Jordan says the committee is in discussions with the SPLC to make a hearing possible. The SPLC has $800 million in assets and $700 million in an endowment fund.

I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. The news cycle can be overwhelming, to say the least. Andrea Tice cuts you all the noise with the Daily Detail from 1819 News, Alabama, and National News in just 10 to 15 minutes. What you need to know before you start your day. Find the Daily Detail wherever you get your podcast. A man has died as a result of a house fire in Ashford. The fire broke out on Tuesday night. The structure was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. 68-year-old Howard McLeod is the victim who was inside that home.

The Houston County Sheriff's Office is launching an investigation. The University of South Alabama is expanding its on-campus housing by way of acquiring an apartment complex. The university is purchasing the central house-on-stadium complex for $40 million from Cardinal Group. Tenants who are currently at the apartment complex are being notified of future housing plans so that by this fall semester, only students at USA will be living in those apartments. This apartment complex has 384 units and will help alleviate the housing shortage that has been caused by an increase in undergraduate enrollment at the university.

[57:43] I'm Andrea Tice. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the Daily Newsletter. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, the Shores. Sports Radio 93.9, the score. Strap in Braves country because this 2026 Braves squad is reminding the league that the road to the postseason still runs through Atlanta. Michael Harris gets good wood on it. Rising back to the chop house. Taking flight and out of here. Tonight, the Braves close out their four-game set with the Miami Marlins in South Florida before heading back to Atlanta this weekend.

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Tomorrow showers and thunderstorms likely with possible gusty winds and a high around 80. Tomorrow night mostly cloudy with 80% chance of showers overnight and a low near 65. Ampure Saturday mostly cloudy with a 70% chance of midday showers and a high around 85. Your weather from 93.9, the score. Now, get ready to roll. Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of northwest Alabama and southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM sports voice. The boom old bug 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 boom old bug show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley. And for Caleb Jones, taking time out of his busy schedule, following the Auburn Tigers there at auburnsports.com. Caleb, welcome in. How are you? Hey, how's it going, guys? Hey, man. Well, did you get your midnight snack and Auburn baseball all in one whack last night, Caleb? Good things come to those who wait if you're an Auburn fan, right, in baseball.

Oh, yeah. I think Brian Matthews from our side is over there and Hoover watching Auburn baseball. But a big win last night for the team, beating LSU, I think, 3-1, right? Yeah? Yeah. Yes. And now, it's amazing how this baseball team kind of parallels the basketball team. At one point, people are giving up on the basketball team. What did they do in the NIT? At one point, I think a lot of folks gave up on this Auburn baseball team. What did they do? They're still rocking and rolling.

So, just from an overall standpoint, both basketball and baseball, I know we're going to get into recruiting here in a second, but from that standpoint, they're kind of building some momentum, if nothing else, for the football team coming in. Yeah, I mean, momentum's big, especially in something like a tournament style, you know. You see it in basketball all the time, teams making extended runs in March Madness. A lot of times, those runs start in their conference tournament. And so, if Auburn can piece together some more wins over the next couple of days over there in Hoover, who knows what could happen with this baseball team.

But they've been playing really well in SEC play. So, we'll see kind of what happens. Caleb, usually Big Cat weekend results in one or two commitments, sometimes on the weekend or a few days after that. And sure enough, that's what happened. Kareem Palmer, a three-star linebacker, committed to Auburn. And then, after him, a four-star offensive tackle, Leighton Von Brandt from Delaware, also committed. Again, we knew some were coming, and I thought there would be one or two. Talk about the two commitments coming out of Big Cat.

Yeah, so, I'll start just by Kareem Palmer, 6'2", 210 pounds. He's a composite four-star, a rival tides him as a three-star. That's a guy that DJ Durkin identified. And if anything, over the last couple of years, I mean, if anything, if there's anybody on that staff that's been with Auburn, you know, for several years now that I trust your judgment, DJ Durkin is one of those guys. I mean, he hit on Xavier Atkins, he hit on Elijah Melendez. So, I mean, if DJ Durkin says, this guy is good, and DJ Durkin wants him in that class, I trust DJ Durkin's judgment there, and I think Auburn's going to get a really good football player out of Kareem Palmer.

[1:02:59] Looking over at Leighton Von Brandt, you know, four-star offensive tackle. On three, we have him as the number five offensive tackle in the country. That's another big win for Auburn. A lot of schools were after him. Notre Dame, I think, was the other school that Auburn was really pitted against in this recruiting battle. I think it came down to Auburn-Notre Dame. And this is a commitment that, you know, Leighton Von Brandt, he wasn't at Big Cat. He made one visit to Auburn that was back in the spring.

I think he had a lot of good things to say about just the campus. I think it kind of surprised him as to kind of what the campus feel was like. But, I mean, one visit to Auburn was enough to kind of secure Leighton Von Brandt. You know, he's got a great relationship with a lot of the staff over with Auburn and their offensive line. You know, Coach Hoodie, Tyler Hoodnick. He's done a fantastic job with Auburn's offensive line and especially recruiting that position. So, that's a big-time commitment.

I know, especially the Leighton Von Brandt, that's a pickup that's got a lot of Auburn fans fired up because it's been a long time, I think, since they've seen, you know, such a high-caliber offensive lineman commit to Auburn. Talk to us about that, Caleb. Obviously, if you're an Auburn fan, you know the problem with Gus and others. For some reason, it was like, let's go get all these rock and roll guys as far as hot shot receivers, maybe a quarterback here and there in these other positions.

But everybody who knows football knows if you don't have a line, you don't have a trophy in the case. What is the state of both lines right now? And how far have they come since the days when, basically, Gus Malza is almost as, I know it wasn't, but it seemed like it was an afterthought on the recruiting trail. Yeah, for sure. I mean, one thing that I think, you know, Alex Golesh has done since he's got to Auburn is, you know, in his, I think it was his introductory press conference, you know, he talked about, well, the games are going to be won in the trenches, you know.

Defensive line, those are really high priority for the staff and recruiting. As far as the state of either the defensive line, you have a little bit more stability there, right? You've got Von Sheryl King-Williams coming in. He's had a couple of guys that are, you know, they've been in his system. They understand his coaching style. They've been in Auburn. So I think there's a little bit more stability. I think it's going to be a little bit easier to predict kind of how that defensive line is going to look.

It's going to, I think it's going to look kind of similar to, it's going to look similar to what you've seen over the last couple of years, ever since Von Sheryl King-Williams kind of took over that position. As far as the offensive line goes, I mean, this is a new, this is a new staff on that side of the ball completely. So you're going to have some guys. Now, granted, it's really beneficial for Auburn that they've got several guys along the offensive line that have been, you know, with Coach Hoodie over at South Florida before.

You know, Cole Best, Cole Skinner, well, Cole Best is your kind of, he is your starting center right there along the line there. And he, a lot of snaps between him and Byron Brown, which is very beneficial. I think, you know, they have that chemistry already established. But the identity of this offensive line, I think it's going to be wait and see. And, you know, Auburn's waiting to get Stanton Ramil really back into that rotation. You know, he was out the entire spring, wasn't participating in those contact drills as he's coming back from an injury.

So, ideally, you've got to kind of wait and see, I think, how this offensive line is going to mesh. You know, they're looking to get Stanton Ramil back. And I think that could really change the identity of it. But as far as the offensive line goes, there's a bunch of guys that could play. There's a bunch of guys that you saw step up in spring training. So, it's definitely going to be a position I'm watching here in a couple of months when fall camp gets started.

It's going to be and kind of see who's not just, not only just who's the one, but who are the two, who are the guys that are going to be in the situation constantly. And a lot of folks are also, and Auburn fans, watching overall with the recruiting of the offensive side of the board. I mean, obviously, Goers makes no bones about it. He wants to come in and win immediately, which means he brought up a lot of guys, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.

That has the potential to be good this year, but what happens next year and beyond? Your thoughts about the strategy of trying to fill those big shoes of folks coming up from South Florida going forward for Auburn? Yeah, I mean, Auburn rebuilt their offense, and I think one thing that plays to Auburn's strengths this season, the biggest thing for me, is the established stability between, you know, Byron Brown, Alex Skolish, Joel Gordon, familiar guys, familiar offense for a quarterback. That hasn't happened for Auburn in a long time.

You've had guys come into Auburn, and they're having to do what? They're having to learn a new system, get to know their playmakers, try and, you know, build that chemistry. Already, even though it's year one, that's established, you know, with Byron Brown, a lot of these receivers that followed Skolish over from South Florida. Now, the biggest challenge there is going to be that level of stepping up is you're no longer in the American Conference. You're going to be in the SEC. You're going against some of the top corners in the nation, some of the top safeties, some of the better defensive schemes in the country week in and week out.

[1:08:34] Now, it's not strange to Alex Skolish. He's played, he's faced Alabama before. You know, he spent several years as the offensive coordinator at Tennessee. He went into the swamp and upset Florida last year as a head coach at South Florida. So, I mean, it's just going to be kind of figuring things out on the SEC. I'm really excited to see how kind of the team pieces together. And, you know, I think those first couple of weeks, especially those two home games against Florida and Vanderbilt, I've got those to kind of see how this offense gets rolling.

Let me ask you about two potential defensive backs coming to Auburn. Thompson High School has been very, very good to Auburn. In fact, they've been able to bring in quite a few guys there, Anquan Feagans, DeMonte Talb, Caleb Harris, and Junior James. And he added another last name to Opo, who a lot of people think is a very good prospect. And then another guy who was a former Alabama commitment, Nash Johnson III. He's out of Georgia, and I know other schools are looking at him, but I think Auburn has made a lot of hay with him.

Your thoughts on Nash Johnson and then another potential pickup from Thompson High School. Yeah, I'll start off just by talking about that relationship that Auburn has established with Thompson High School. Thompson's been one of the better programs in the state since Mark Freeman took over there. He's done a phenomenal job with that program. I mean, you've got some dudes coming out of that program every single year. I mean, you look, Peter Woods was just drafted out of Clemson. I think he went, he's out of first or second round.

He was from Thompson. You've got some guys that are in Auburn, in Auburn's safety room, just in general. There's like three of them now. Yeah. And they're all really good players. I mean, new boy Fagans is looking like the real deal, like a legit, he could be one of the better safeties in the SEC. You know, as early as this season, you know, this is going to be year two for him. So it's going to be, I'm looking for him to take a step up. But I mean, just getting your foot in the door at a place like Thompson has been huge for Auburn.

You know, they've got the guys. And not only did they get the guys, they've retained the guys, right? Caleb Harris has now been here several years. Like I said, new boy Fagans is entering his second season. And then you've got DeMonte Tav, kind of a late pickup there as part of the 26th class. So getting your foot in the door, now you've got that established relationship to where, you know, not necessarily guys aren't, guys aren't following in other, other guys' footsteps. But it can't be stressed enough, the importance of having a guy on the inside, right?

Somebody that, other players that know, they can trust, and, you know, they can go to somebody like new boy Fagans or Caleb Harris and ask, well, what is Auburn really like? And they can tell him straight up and trust that that is the truth. So, I mean, that's huge. As far as Nash Johnson goes, Auburn's put themselves, excuse me, Auburn's put themselves in a really good spot. You know, Jeffrey Leeds had a couple of stories on him over the last couple of months. And Auburn's been relentless, kind of, in recruiting him, you know.

Even when he was committed to Alabama, Auburn was, you know, working to get him on campus. You know, they wanted that relationship, you know. And now he's wide open, and I think Auburn's the team to beat right now for Nash Johnson. I think he's out of Atlanta, yeah? Yeah. Yeah, so, I mean, if you can get a guy like Nash Johnson to cross over into Alabama, and you can beat out teams like Georgia and Alabama, that's good for Auburn, you know. Absolutely. Well, you're going to be really busy because I know Tennessee's got some folks coming in this weekend, but the last weekend of May is really going to be busy, and then the entire month of June and early July with official visits, and we'll start having some commitments with that.

Great stuff, Caleb. I always enjoy the conversation. Where can we get online and get your good stuff? Yeah, absolutely. Like you said, official visit season is coming up fast, and a lot of guys, Auburn's going to bring in a lot of guys over the next couple of weeks here before this dead period begins in late June, so make sure you're following us for all of our coverage over on auburnsports.com, part of the On3 and Rivals team there, so come check us out. We're going to have anything you need when it comes to football recruiting, football news, basketball recruiting, basketball news.

Follow this Auburn baseball team as they look to make a run in NCAA tournament, so yeah, we're over on auburnsports.com. Come check us out. We got some fantastic message boards to communicate. You can talk about anything and everything Auburn-related with other folks that want to talk Auburn, auburnsports.com. That's the place to be. Man, Auburn, cornucopia. Caleb, listen, man, thanks for your time today. Have a great weekend and holiday, okay? Thanks, guys. Thank you, bud. Caleb Jones, got it all covered there when it comes, the Auburn Tigers.

[1:13:46] Auburnsports.com. He's got Alabama softball coverage. He's got the best seat in the house when it comes game time. We'll explain with Gray Robertson 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. Our local agents make it simple, so stop by our office at 885 Florence Boulevard or give us a call at 256-648-5710.

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Welcome back. Can't ask anybody in the know when it comes to Tuscaloosa. One of the hottest tickets in town is to an Alabama softball game, especially when it's super regional time. And why not check in with a man who's got the best seat in the house when it comes to Alabama softball, Gray Robertson. He is the voice of the Alabama softball team. Gray, welcome in. How are you? I am fantastic. I'm standing out in the brickyard, actually, here at Rhodes. We've got media going on before the super.

And just excited. You know, we've got games tonight. Alabama LSU starts tomorrow, and it's just going to be an action-packed weekend of softball. No better time of the year. Before we get into the specifics, talk to us just about the vibe. Do people realize, for the folks who have never been, who have never watched an Alabama softball game, do they know what they're missing as far as, not just the game, not just the level of talent, but these girls are loosey-goosey, are they not? They're serious, but they have a way of making it fun for everybody.

I mean, there's no better show to me. You know, you can look at the phenomenon that is Punch Moten. If you want an example, Vic Moten, the freshman pitcher, her son is Punch Moten, the stuffed animal monkey, and he has appeared in every post-game interview that we've done on the TV side. He's got a placard for the press conference at 3 o'clock. He came up for post-game in regionals. I mean, and that's just a little snippet of it. I mean, you look around the country, it's like that, too.

Mississippi State and the broccoli, that was a phenomenon this past week. I mean, it's just, it's fun because you've got teams who are doing what they love, playing with people that they love, and just having fun with it. And then, you know, you get between the white lines, and it's, I want to take your head off, but it's so much fun to see the cultures that all these teams really have and the way that they're able to have fun with it while taking it as seriously as you can.

Gray, it's kind of hard to win games when you get outscored by a combined 20 to nothing. I think that's the second time in history Alabama's gone through a regional without allowing a run. Then you got four home runs in a nine-run outburst. I'll tell you one thing, it just all came together. And again, I know they were not playing LSU or SEC competition, but that was quite impressive. It really was. Because, you know, it's funny how the tune changed a little bit nationally. When the bracket came out, I got a ton of DMs and texts from people around softball going, how in the world is that the regional?

They gave the number one overall seed, and then all of a sudden Alabama sweeps through and you go, ah, Alabama always had an easy regional. When you play well, it really does make things look a lot easier than it is. And Alabama, against good competition, played very, very well. Maya Johnson is our, at Softball America, our national pitcher of the year. And she's earned that, and Alabama was on top of her early on, and that was all that they needed. They got to upstate. They just, they played well in all the facets.

Pitching was obviously outstanding. The offensive execution was really, really good. And then the defense, there were a couple errors here and there, but the spectacular plays far outweighed the mistakes. And it just felt like an Alabama team that played like a number one overall seed. That really was trying to prove a point a little bit, that not only have we earned this based on what we've done in the regular season, but we're going to continue to prove that we deserve this and that we can go a long way with how we play on the field once the tournament starts.

Here, Gray Robinson, the University of Alabama softball, play-by-play man. Gray, talk to us two things on this. We can sit here and look at stats all day, but you know these girls personally. Talk to us about some of the characters on the team and the importance of having a coach who knows how to identify talent. Pat Murphy's been consistent, especially this year with that freshman class. You know, it is an interesting mesh of personalities because we talked about the goofiness and, you know, they love each other, but they're also really, really smart.

You've got a lot of high softball IQ people, and I'm not just talking about how to play the game, but they're aware of what's going on around the country. They're aware of everyone that they're going to play because they've been watching them all year. And it's just so cool to see the coaching staff really lean into that and really play to the strengths of all of these players because everyone is coached differently. You know, it's not a cookie-cutter approach. You don't want to have anyone conform to you either because so much of this game is mental.

[1:24:17] And if you break down that aspect by trying to make them acquiesce to the way you do things, it's just not going to be a good fit. And the way that Coach Murphy, Coach Bro, Adam Arbor, Lance McMahon, Ryan I. Murray, the whole staff, the way that they were able to communicate to each player individually along with making sure that a message gets across to everybody as a whole is really, really impressive. And it's helped the buy-in come early and stay sustained throughout the season. That's not an easy thing in this day and age, especially with how transactional college sports can be.

But this coaching staff has figured out how to do that. And it also helps when you've got just a lot of good kids. I mean, a lot of really good kids who are doing it for the right reasons, who care about the university, who care about each other, who care about the team. It's just the chemistry has been right this year. And that's half the battle in college sports. Talk a little bit about sophomore Audrey Vandergrift. It was, had a very good freshman year. It's been laid off primarily or a lot certainly this year.

I know she's about mid-season. She had a little bit of a lull. What a regional. Six of nine. Two home runs. Four RBIs. Four runs scored. Two stolen bases. I mean, again, with the speed, beating out bunts, and then crushing two home runs. What a regional for her. She was really, really strong. And, you know, it has been kind of a complicated year for Audrey because she was so good as a freshman. She bursts onto the scene. She gets all the big hits, it feels like.

I think 80% of her home runs last year were against ranked teams. And she was just, I mean, she was the key cog in the offense, she and Callie Hevelin. And this year, if you look at the stats, take the name off, you would go, this kid is having a pretty good year. But I think for a lot of people, they look at it with Audrey Bandegriff's name on it and go, what's going wrong with this All-American sophomore? And what I love about Audrey is she's a coach's kid.

So she understands, do it for the team, do it for the team. And when Coach Murphy talked to her about moving down from a leadoff spot down to the six hole, she was like, great, I'm all in. Let's go. I'll be the best six hitter in America. And I think what being in that position has done for her is it has taken the pressure off of setting the table for Brooke Wells and Lex Papillo and allowed her to just execute. And it's allowed her the freedom to do that in a myriad of ways, whether it's pulling a single through the right side, whether it's an opposite field home run, or what I think she does that really messes with defenses the most is lay down a butt, single, and beat it out.

I mean, the weaponry, it's so tough to play her. And as she's gotten more adept at reading defenses, you can just see that the infield doesn't know where to go. The outfield doesn't know how to align because there are so many ways Audrey can beat you. And now that that leadoff pressure is off of her, as she's kind of gotten her groove back, it just opens up all the possibilities you could want. Good point, Gray. Obviously, a great season. You love your seed. But let's face it, the next game is the most important one.

So let's talk about Bama's next game against LSU. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing about the NCAA tournament. You can be whatever seed you want, and it will be hard. It doesn't matter who you're playing. You've got to execute. You've got to play your game. And you've got to play well. Because if you don't play well, you're gone. That's how this goes. And there's some familiarity. Not this year. These teams haven't played. But both programs know intrinsically about the other. They played last year in Baton Rouge.

You've got coaches who are familiar with each other. Lance McMahon, the pitching coach at Alabama, was a GA for Beth Tarina at LSU. So, I mean, there's going to be a lot of intensity on the field because this is an LSU team that's playing their best ball right now. And their pitching staff has been outstanding this season. And they know the task at hand against Alabama. And Alabama, I mean, they desperately want to go back to OKC. They didn't last year. They hate that feeling. They want to be back this year.

And it's just going to be all about execution. And I think for Alabama, more specifically, all about absolutely squelching any belief. You know, when you're the underdog in the postseason, if you start to believe, then it feels like anything is possible. I think of two years ago when Alabama was at Tennessee and that first game, you could just feel the belief. And Alabama lost that game. But it was everyone left saying, I think we're the better team. And then Alabama won the next two games and went to OKC.

So, if you're Alabama, you cannot let LSU feel that. They cannot believe that there is a better team, that they can truly do this. And you do that by getting off to a good start in game one and then continuing to apply the pressure. Greg, let me ask you to confirm the game times and TV. Game one tomorrow, 6 p.m. Central Time on ESPN2. Game two Saturday at 2 o'clock Central Time on ESPN2. I don't think if there is a game three, the time's announced. But is the Friday and Saturday games, again, 6 o'clock, 6 Friday on ESPN2 and 2 o'clock Central Time on ESPN2 Saturday?

[1:29:45] Yes, those times are correct. If we do see a game three, that time will be announced late Saturday night because they've got to see how many games we have that day. But, yes, those times are correct. And I would just encourage fans, if you're coming, prepare to be flexible. I know weather is going to be probably something we're all watching this weekend. Hey, be ready to show up no matter what because both teams will be here and we need the fan base to show up as much as possible as well, no matter what time they put us out on the field.

Great, great stuff. Thank you so much. I know you stepped out of a press conference to talk to us about that, and we appreciate this. Listen, you've done a great job. I hear a lot of very good compliments about you and the broadcast team. Where can we get online and listen to the games, number one? And, number two, also follow you on social media. Well, thank you for the compliment, guys. That means a lot. Yeah, there are a lot of ways to tune in to us.

If you're in the Tuscaloosa area, 100.1 FM, that's just over the radio. If you're outside of Tuscaloosa, because if you go to Northport, you might not get it, you've got to use the apps. There's the Catfish 100.1 FM app. There's the Varsity app as well where you can just search Alabama and find it. And if you go to RollTide.com and go to the schedule page for Alabama softball, there's a Listen Live link. You just click that. That'll take you where you need to go. And as for me, I'm at Gray, G-R-A-Y underscore Robertson on Twitter or X or whatever we're calling it now.

And we will have all the content you could possibly want this weekend. We appreciate you going the extra mile. Thank you so much. Have another great call and have a great weekend, okay? Absolutely. Thanks, guys. Thank you, bud. Gray Robertson getting ready for the call. Alabama LSU Super Regional Softball. Coming up, he's got everything when it comes to Crimson Covered. Ryan Fowler on deck. Stay with us. At First Metro Bank, we're more than just a place to keep your money. We're a proud part of this community, committed to helping you achieve your dreams.

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Ryan, welcome in. If we recommend two trips to the beach and call us in the morning, would you agree? How are you? Oh, no doubt. No doubt. No doubt. That'll always help you. We've got softball. We've got baseball. Yep. Baseball's been moved up. And you guys know this. You know, when you do afternoons in Tuscaloosa and you play everything, because we air everything. Baseball is one of those sports that it's hard, because, like, today I'll start the show, and I don't know if I'll have an hour and a half minimum.

Right. Okay, that's the minimum. But I could be here all four hours if there's a lightning shot within the 30-mile radius of the Hoover Mets. So, I'll be here until they tell me to go home, and that's what I'll do. But, you know, it is a – this athletic department and, you know, track and field, what do they do? I think they won the SEC this past weekend. When you look at men's and women's, I mean, this athletic department, guys, it's blinking. And you need to give Greg Burns some credit, because he's been able to navigate some very difficult waters in the world of college athletics.

And, you know, you think about NATO, you think about Rob Vaughn. We had Patrick Murphy on a couple of days ago. And, you know, this softball team with a super regional coming up tomorrow starting against LSU, you talk to the experts. I'm one of those, I'm willing to talk to the experts because I'm not a softball expert. And listening to them, they think Alabama may have a chance to, you know, obviously got to get through LSU, get to Oklahoma City. But this is a type of team that has the potential to go and hoist up a trophy out in Oklahoma City.

Yeah, absolutely. Let me ask you about next week, and we'll talk about it then. You have been – I'm trying to find the proper word for this as far as your comments on Greg Sankey, the commissioner of SEC. Critical has been a little bit of it. It's a big week for him. And, yeah, is he going to continue to dig in his heels and be probably the only commissioner in college football to say we're staying at 12 or only going to 16? Because, again, I know everybody thinks this is automatically going to 24 because Padetti has been talking about it for weeks.

They can't do that without the permission of the SEC. But we all know this. Next week in his state of the state address for the SEC, that's a big week for Greg Sankey. It is a gigantic week. And, you know, because to me, it's – and I'm not sure if you guys have read it. It just got posted a couple of minutes ago from Brandon Marcello, and the SEC is split on a consensus of the 2014 playoff. Well, you know, Kirby gave us some inside track with the nine games.

[1:40:38] I mean, he said all – he said all of the coaches that I talk to are against the nine-game schedule, okay, from a conference game. Now, I would imagine Kirby talks to every coach in the SEC. So, if he says all, all of the coaches that I talk to, I just – right now, I don't know if I look at Greg Sankey and I think about leadership. His highlight so far has been COVID, where he stood up to Kevin Warren, the commissioner of the Big Ten, and said – but at this point, I just don't feel like he has that leverage.

And I keep trying to figure out what he's doing with this 2014, the hesitation here, because I don't like it. I don't like a 2014 playoff. I just think it's not really good for the game. I don't think it protects the regular season. I think it devalues that from a lot of standpoint. I know you'll have that competitive drive. It'll always be important to beat LSU and to beat Tennessee and continue to beat Auburn the way that Alabama's done the last six years. But it's one of those that when you think about where this game is going, I don't think 2014s need to compete for a national title.

I just don't think they've earned it. And I think when we devalue that, it would be like that Little League, everybody gets a trophy. Everybody gets a trophy. Because 24 teams can now claim that they have success. But Greg's going to have to take charge of that room. And it's a room that is not all walking in in sync. We've got fights. We've got bickering going back and forth with Ole Miss and LSU and Sark. You know, I can't believe, you know, as much as we pick on Lane Kiffin, I can't believe Sark said that.

Yeah. With a legacy of, like, Ole Miss, the quarterback that his starting quarterback, his grandfather, his grandmother, his uncle, his dad, his mom went to Loyola, New Orleans. But his entire family is part of Ole Miss. You just literally offended them. And you literally took a shot at their academics by Sark. So Greg's going to have to give this room in a cohesion to go. Because I've noticed something this week in the Big Ten. They've been step in step. Yeah, no question. With this 2014 playoff. It doesn't feel that way going into this SEC.

And listen, by the way, I mean, we're sitting here, I know it's been a five-minute opening question, but the NBA G League players, what has he been able to get from his group right now? And what's he holding out on? Is he doing the favor for the ESPN group? Because, see, that's a big part of it, too. The TV contracts. Because if they move beyond 12, then they get to renegotiate this contract. And now Fox wants to be a part of it. Well, who is Fox in bed with?

The Big Ten. That's it. I mean, we're looking at some fighting right now. And, you know, the Georgia president saying that we can govern our own rules. I don't know if I want Greg Sanky governing any rules. Has he done a solid job? I mean, some of the biggest spenders in the NIL revenue share breaking laws that we're having is in our league. Yeah. Is in our league in the SEC. Do I want him to be in charge of the governing body of college athletics right now?

No. That answer is no. And it is a hundred percent no. No thank you. Because we've seen the work so far. If you're not willing to do it when nobody's watching, when everybody's watching, are you still not going to be able to do it? I think that answer is yes. I don't trust the SEC to be the governing body of college athletics. Ryan, we have heard from three or four guests this week. And we've gotten in this conversation. Now, you and I have been hearing this for 30 years.

At some point, the SEC and the Big Ten are going to break away from the NCAA in football. Now, basketball is going to remain because that's the cash cow for the NCAA. Baseball and the Olympic sports will stay. But one of the agenda items, according to Ross Dillinger of Yahoo, next week in San Destin is, should the SEC seriously consider breaking away from the NCAA? And we're talking about really now probably at the end of this decade at 2030. Ryan, your thoughts on that? You know, I hear it.

And I've had a lot of conversations this week because the Iowa State AD, and I forget his name, he threw it out and said, hey, you guys break away. Break away. Don't just break away with football. Break away with everything and see how that works out for you. You know, as much as I don't want to side with the Iowa State AD, I think he brings up a really good point. Because is it really, because is it a talking point or is it really feasible? Do you, is the SEC big enough?

[1:45:38] Because you have to remember, the reason the NFL works is you have a lot of teams. Yes, you've got some bottom dwellers. But unfortunately, we've got a pretty good percentage of simply, you know, somebody's got to win, somebody's got to lose. We've got some bottom dwellers in this league. Would an SEC Big Ten survive? Yeah. And would you have to trim the fat? Because the part of saying, yes, you're part of the super conference is good, but are you going to walk up and tell Arkansas, you didn't make the cut?

Yeah. Mississippi State, you didn't make the cut. How do you do that? Because I don't know if it's sustainable from, or feasible, if it really, can we really work this out? And guys, we can't agree on anything right now. You know, I thought the Iowa AD said it. He said, guys, we've spent a lot of work in this College Sports Commission. Four conferences unified to create a College Sports Commission. For those listening, the College Sports Commission is what proves NIL deals. In other words, they say that this is a valid NIL agreement between a player and a school.

But it's, you know, it's true market value. Well, they turned down like 75% of those deals because they're fake. In other words, they're fake NIL. They're not money fake, but they're not really solid deals. When I can get Patrick Mahomes to do an autograph signing cheaper than I can a backup running back, that's not a real NIL deal. And what I mean is, you look at Hollywood Smothers. He signed a six-figure deal to do like three autograph signings. Guys, you can go get NFL players to do autograph signings cheaper than, quote, on paper that we're doing in college athletics.

You think Texas? Guys never even played a down for Texas? He's going to demand $50,000 for an autograph signing? Guys, we deal with autograph signings in Tuscaloosa. I've watched players come through here all the time. Guys, they signed for $20, $30 a pop. And I'm talking about the big ones. It's just not the market. And we've faked a lot of this to get these players and to build these super rosters. In the meantime, Greg's sitting up in his comfortable office, you know, reading books on leadership. Quickly, Ryan, before we jump off, your thoughts about some of the comments from the offensive linemen this week.

Everybody's concerned about Bama's running back room. And one of the linemen I saw blurbs is they're scary good. What are you hearing on your end, Ryan? You know, and that was on our station. William Sanders was on with Gary Harris and talked about the running backs. I think they are going to be better. I do think that this rushing game will be a lot, a lot better. I think it will take a big step, you know, in the right direction. And, you know, it's one of those that I think this offensive line is going to be better, too.

I think when you look at this offensive line as a group, this group should be better. I'd be shocked if it's not. So, it starts there. But I think this offense has a chance to be as good as they need to because this defense is going to be off the charge. Guys, this defense. I agree. I mean, it's deep. And that's what builds a great defense. Defensive line, you know, if you can find that answer for the running mate with Caleb Woodson, you've got to feel pretty good about that defense.

And I think they've got plenty of options there at that linebacker spot. So, I think this Alabama team is a team that really is out of the top spotlight right now. And I think that's a good position for Caleb Woodward to overachieve some of those expectations that he has for his team or for the public's perception of Alabama. But I think right now, we just don't know about college football because we don't know everybody else. You know what Alabama's like. But we've went through every different stop.

So, as you guys do, every SEC school that we've stopped at has problems on the offensive line. We've not talked to a one that said, hey, guys, we're very comfortable with all five players on the offensive line. I think Georgia's probably got the biggest stake to that right now. They've got problems in Austin. They've got problems in Texas A&M. LSU's got major offensive line issues. It's just a trend around college football. It's who can manage it the best is the one that will hoist up the trophy over the lineup.

That's exactly right. Tennessee's got five returning starters on the offensive line, but they're flipping Sanders from right to left, and you don't know how that's going to work out. Great stuff. Well, listen, good luck today. Whether it's 90 minutes or four hours this afternoon, according to the weather, who have you got on the show, and where can we get on line to listen? Yeah, we've got Mike Johnson. We've got Rodney Orr. We've got Bobby Carpenter. I had to jam all these guys in just a short amount of time.

[1:50:53] And, hey, guys, we just got our SEC meet the credential request. I wonder, you know, if we can afford Radio Row, because that's another discussion that we can have another day. But we just got that for Tampa. Like, literally, I was sitting here talking to you. So, we're getting close, 100 days away. We'll talk about it coming up in about 10 minutes in Tuscaloosa. Thank you guys so much. Thank you, bud. Thank you so much, Ryan. Good luck with that up and down show. Ryan Fowler is hooking up with us from Tuscaloosa.

Baby, quickly, the Braves, all of a sudden, that lead got cut to seven, and boom, it's back to nine games over both the Fields and the Nats, BB. Yeah, they had two three-run homers last night. Spencer Strider on the mound for the final game with the Fish and Harold Bugg. Let's get some updates here. UNA Baseball, 6-0. Yeah. 6-0 over Northern Florida in the seventh inning. Georgia, 4-2 over Mississippi State and Hoover, I believe, in the fifth. And Morgan County is going to be celebrating again.

Another Blue Mouth is coming back. Hartzell 2, Spain Park 1. And Colbert County won the softball game this morning, beating Glenwood 8-2. And in the fourth inning now, Colbert County leading Hatsville 4-0 in, I believe, the fourth inning. And hopefully, the ladies are going to go and win two games at least today. As they say, our Valley guys and gals, pretty doggone good. All the best the rest of the afternoon. It's going to take care of business for now on behalf of maybe Greg James Flair, the entire crew here.

Harold Bugg, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again tomorrow, noon to 2 for the Boomwell Bug Show, back here on Sports Radio 93.9, The Score. We'll see you next time.