Boomo Bugg Show 071726

[0:00] Now, get ready to roll Shoals, Decatur, Athens and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Good afternoon and welcome here to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in and welcome back. Braves baseball, my old friend and buckle up.

A mere six slash seven weeks from tomorrow, college football is back again. Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you? Happy Friday to you and the listeners. I believe it's 50 days for Alabama to kick off. We've been talking about Monsoon Bama Sails, what seems like three years. Yeah. He commenced to Indiana this morning. Not a big surprise. What was interesting, he is the first five-star recruit in history for Indiana. How many national championships have they won? They've won one, thank you very much. The second Mark Sears basketball camp will be held at Muscle Shoals High School gym Saturday, August 1st.

And we'll talk to Mark and his dad, Chad, about that at 1.20. But Jimmy is here right now to talk about Bama at ACC Media Days in the upcoming season. Jimmy is Jimmy Stein, co-host of the daily Locked On Bama podcast with Luke Robinson, part of the Locked On Network. And also, he's there at Cover Crimson with Clint Lamb. Jimmy, you're a busy boy. Welcome to Talking to Brett Beaird and Harold Bugg. How are you? Oh, I'm doing fantastic. Appreciate you all having me back. Absolutely. Are you ready for the unofficial opening of college football starting Monday in Tampa, Jimmy?

Heck, I started a couple weeks ago with Big 12 Media Days. I can't wait. I can't wait that long. I'm not waiting for SEC Media Days. I hop in with Big 12 Media Days. That was last week. No, I'm super excited that football's here. They call it talking season, you know, on SEC Network. But, heck, I'm just ready for football. It's not far off. You know, last night was, there's only going to be two more Thursday nights without college football or the NFL. Just two more. I like the way you think, Jimmy.

But first things first, Kaelin DeBoer and the Entourage will take you to the mics next week in Tampa, SEC Media Days. So, what's going to be the concentrated question for DeBoer from that genius group of reporters, Jimmy? He's going to get a lot of quarterback questions. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's probably first and foremost is, you know, the quarterback battle. And I wouldn't expect Alabama fans should be hanging on the edge of their seat for the answer. I mean, I don't think the answer's going to change much, at least until we get past maybe the first fall camp scrimmage, which would be roughly the 18th, 19th, 20th of August, somewhere in there, is going to be, you know, right about the time they would do that first scrimmage.

That's when we'll start getting some change to answer from what we've been hearing since the spring. But what interests me, guys, about the questions he's going to get, if y'all remember, and I'm sure y'all do, when Nick Saban was the head coach at Alabama, the questions he'd get at SEC Media Days were all about the state of college football. People sort of viewed him as the commissioner, knowing that spot doesn't even exist. That job is not reality. But Saban was sort of treated as the de facto commissioner, even when he was the head coach at Alabama.

So the assembled regional and national media would ask him about NIL and the portal and all these changes and expansion. DeBoer didn't really get those questions, nor would he want those questions. When he does occasionally get questions like that, he often says, well, that's for someone else to decide, you know, and he'd rather just talk about his team. But that's one of the things that's interesting to me. Kalen DeBoer is going to get less questions about replacing Saban, almost no questions about the state of college football, or at least in comparison to the questions that Saban would get about it.

So it's mostly focused, I think, on his football team and where he thinks his program is in year three. Jimmy, three esteemed representatives from Alabama, two of them from what may be the best secondary in the country, Bray Hubbard and Sabian Brown, Mr. Playmaker. Brian Coleman-Williams, your thoughts on the three tagging along with Kalen DeBoer to Tampa? Yeah, what's interesting is the makeup of, you know, typically what you bring with are guys that are maybe the leaders in the clubhouse, the main captains. You know, these are the guys that, like, when they do name the captains sometime in August, because DeBoer does it before the season starts, you start with, okay, who did he bring to media day?

[5:27] And as far as Ryan goes, that's like a slam dunk, because the offense is so young and it's so new. Usually, you know, what you want to bring back are returning starters. There's not really much of those guys, and like a Michael Carroll, he's just a true sophomore. And Caleb Edwards is just a true sophomore. And Daniel Hill, you know, he's kind of a returning starter, you would say. And he's an older kid as a year three junior. But, you know, most of the running back talks about E.J. Crowell, you know, not Daniel.

So, Ryan was a slam dunk. Now, defense was different, guys, because they had several candidates to choose from on defense. Yonsey Pierre is a guy that could have been there. Deion Thab is a guy that could have been there. Red Morgan is a year three returning starter. And even the two transfers that are currently projected to start, Caleb Woodson and Devin Tompkins, they were older guys. They were captains at their prior schools. So, they kind of showed up leaders and well-spoken and mature and used to dealing with the media.

So, the defense, there was a lot of choices. I'm not surprised at all that DeBoer went with Bray Hubbard and Tobian Brown. Those are two of the biggest stars that they have. And they're both very good with the media. So, I wasn't surprised at the choices. But the difference between Alabama's offense and defense is stark. The defense is older, more mature, more veterans. The offense, frankly, is just diaper young. Jimmy's down locked on Bama. Well, Jimmy, obviously, your thoughts were you as far as your vibe.

This is a good marking point with this Alabama team going forward this season at the media day point compared to last year. And we know, like we alluded to it earlier, the media is a bunch of geniuses. They always have their poll at the end of the meeting, and they put their teams. Back in the day, is it going to be Alabama or Georgia one? The other one is going to be two. And then the rest of the field after that. So, where does Alabama stack up with the geniuses once this powwow is over in Tampa?

Yeah, I'm very interested to find out. Here's my guess, and it might surprise people. I think Alabama's going to end up around seventh in this hole. About halfway. That's just a guess. Yeah. Now, I think there's seven SEC teams, to me, that are clear contenders to win the league. In other words, I think most look at the league, and it would be shocking if someone other than Texas, Georgia, Texas A&M, LSU, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, and Alabama. Those seven, because, I mean, who's next, Tennessee, South Carolina?

Is anyone putting them in the playoff? Then you put the dark horse in there, Florida, and who knows about Auburn with that huge scheme. Exactly. But I think those seven that I named, they all consistently appear as the top seven in all these spring and summer preseason top 25s. It's those seven. I'm not going to be surprised to see the SEC media put Alabama seventh. And that would be fine, based on the youth on offense and losing the quarterback and how last season ended getting blown out by Indiana.

You know, I wouldn't necessarily, if I was an Alabama fan, consider it disrespectful. But you need to be in that top seven, because I think the teams outside of that top seven are more long shots to do things like make it to Atlanta or make it to the playoff or be a real noisy team. And there's some good teams, like Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida, maybe Auburn, some good teams. But the contenders, that's that top seven group. And for Alabama fans, you need to hope that you're still in it.

Jimmy, let me ask you about the offensive line in a couple of minutes. Jackson Lloyd, Dale Gaudi, Michael Carroll, again, you can make a case. Those guys are penciled in the starters. But competition at left guard. Jimmy and also right tackle. Javon James, Nick Brooks, Will Sanders coming back from an injury. Your thoughts, left guard and right tackle. Yeah, I think you're smart, Brett, or wise, to kind of, those three spots you talked about, they're sort of pretty locked up. I mean, Carroll's obviously starting. Jackson Lloyd and Rayson Delgatti have really already been named starters.

So that's settled. The other two spots are not. I've said all summer that my projection for the left guard would be Will Sanders, who's returning from last year. He's a year three redshirt sophomore, although that redshirt term has now been flushed and will no longer use it. So I've got to get used to not saying it and instead just say year three. But Will Sanders is back. He played quite a bit with the ones a year ago, but he missed the entirety of the spring. I felt all summer he would end up winning the left guard spot, and I still feel that way.

[10:33] But where I may have been wrong or too optimistic, maybe I shouldn't assume that he'll be 100% this fall. And I'm not saying I've heard the opposite. I'm just saying that if you've missed the entirety of the spring, you might not be 100%. And if he's not, Alabama does have other options, like Ethan Fields, the transfer from Ole Miss, and Mal Waldrop, who redshirted last year in his year one, and they're very high on him. I mean, they feel like he's a future starter. So they would have other guys if Sanders isn't ready.

But I feel when Sanders is 100% and he is ready, he would be the favorite to win the left guard job. Jabin James, a right tackle, end of the spring number one there. He's a Mississippi State transfer. I think he's got that job for now. But, again, there's some other candidates. So he's going to have to play well and show that he's improved since his time in Starkville. Absolutely. Jimmy, where can we get online and get the best Alabama coverage on the planet? Yeah, Locked On Bama.

You can find us on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. We have six brand-new shows a week. Unofficial kickoff starting Monday in Tampa State. Travel to and front if you're heading down. Jimmy, in the meantime, have a great weekend, okay? Hey, thanks a lot, guys. Thank you, Jimmy. There you have it. Jimmy Stein, Locked On Bama. Hey, we're locked on the British Open. The skies are nice. The weather is good. What about the play? The latest. Stay with us. You're on Sports Radio 93.9. The Score.

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Welcome back in. Looking to know what's going on when it comes to high school football here on the cusp across the greater Shoals area. Then you need to check out Zach Panners like us. He's the founder and editor of Shoals Sports Report. Zach, welcome in. How are you? Doing good. How are y'all? How are you doing? It's close as to what it is, Zach. You know it is when you have the media days in our neck of the woods. Before we get into some of the specifics, is it safe to say, Zach, the word across the board, A to Z, would be reclassification.

How much was that talked about amongst the coaches? Every program that I thought to, at least, it was brought in at least once or twice. If not more, due to some of the reclassification. So, what's the consensus? I know everybody's going to have their opinions. Some's going to like it. Some's going to hate it. Some's going to say, whatever, we've got to play. Those are the rules. What is the consensus across the board? Well, 5A has been the hot debate all season as far as the older classic games to come back.

And Coach Kenny Morrison from Florence, classified as NCC North, where he was at Decatur a few days ago. And multiple shows, they've embraced it, saying it's similar opponents, but it's also some older opponents on schedule as well. And 2A has a few different ones also, with travel getting more out there for 2A. 1A is more localized. And 3A gets it very localized with the county games. And Wilson, Central, Lauderdale County, and Rogers are all in the same area now. The same region for football. Playing each other now will be a big asset of each school in the county, with the gates being bigger, because it's all closer games, more localized games, more rivalry games, more opportunities.

Absolutely. You had a list of the coaches' tenures, how long they've been at their respective schools. First of all, it amazes me not to see Jeff Mason, Daryl Higgins, and Tim Bowens on the coaching list. They have moved on to other schools or to other jobs. Heath Wood at Central, the dean of Shoals Coaches, he's entering his 16th year. Ben Floyd at Cherokee, 7. Daniel Garrett, 6 years at Rogers. But the rest of these guys are 5 years or fewer. Patrick Malone, 5 at Dashler. Kenny Morrison, you just mentioned, at Florence.

Trey Lane, 4. And then you've got 5 coaches with 2 years. Of course, they've coached at other schools. Very interesting not to see those 3 veterans on the list. And 5 coaches with 2 years' tenure. Yes, and you've got 5 with more than your age in the first year. I think 10 teams in the Shoals have a first-year head coach, which is crazy. It is. But you have those veterans retired of 18 years with Coach Bass at most of the Shoals, and then I think 10 years with Jeff Mason at Lardot County. The average coaching age goes down.

[21:08] And Coach Garrett at Rogers, now one of the more veteran coaches around the area, he's only in year 6 and in his mid-30s. So it's not like he's old necessarily, but it's not like he's 25 either. I mean, it's crazy to think how the coaches at the age of seniors go up and down due to a few retirements here and there. Zach, it ain't going to be interesting this year. It's almost going to be a Freudian slip when we start talking about some of these teams. We're going to say coached by, but no, they're no longer there.

They're Morris Hill, Russellville, Brooks, and there are others, Colbert County. Your thoughts just about some of the new kids in the block. As far as the new group coming in, what, in your opinion, is the most intriguing storyline? I think Morris Hill, hiring Coach Chris Hill from Arkansas, is the most interesting. He was at Harding for three years as the offense coordinator, and he coached high school ball for 30-plus years. Was much recently at El Dorado in Arkansas, I think he's at media days, but it was at 6A high school.

He won over there. So he didn't come over here to Morris Hill where a winning standard is going to be a big factor, I think. And he even addressed how it's kind of intimidating. He said he had something to tell him, you might be the dumbest person on the earth taking that job and all the pressure that comes with it. But there's a lot of background with Coach Higgins in that job also. Coach Higgins recommended him to the board at Morris Hill. So a lot of background that we'll have in our media day recap on Morris Hill later this month.

Thanks to you, we were able to talk to Mike Horton, who replaced Tim Bowens at Brooks. I'm very impressed with him. And again, they have got an offense that scores a lot of points. 36-40, 37-33, he was the offensive coordinator. It was at Florence for a long period of time. He's excited. I know he feels like their offense is going to continue at the pace they've had for the last four years. And we talked to Brett Mask again at Lankington. 8-4, they scored an astounding 467 points last year.

He's got a crackerjack quarterback, as you know, and Zane Kilbourne. Told us he's got five offensive linemen minimum coming back, I believe even more. And you've already got an in-depth report preview about Brooks, and I know you've got a lot more coming this week and weekend. Talk a little bit about Brooks and Lankington. Yeah, I'll start with Brooks real quick. Brooks has a track for a quarterback, Jackson Hartman, coming in from Muscle Shoals this offseason. And he's already turned heads in the recruiting world. He's a sophomore, but he was at the Elite 11 football camp last week and turned heads there.

And then Lankington has Zane Kilbourne coming back for his sophomore year, started all 12 games last year. And he has also this whole offensive line coming back. So, you have the whole offensive line and quarterback returning to a two-way school. That's a huge asset to have. Yeah. For Lankington, even in the next few years, with Zane matured over the years as a junior and senior quarterback, it could be turned into a desperate situation the last couple of years where they had Price, Thornton, Garrett, Reed, and veterans on the offensive side.

But also, with Lankington, they've got to replace Will White on offensive production. So, they've got to find a receiver and running back to produce consistently throughout the game, not just the quarterback. Jack, obviously we know it's close. For the folks keeping score at home, when does camp officially open? And what about any potential jamborees? What's the earliest date we can be looking for there? So, the calendar right now is the dead week is next week. I mean, they can do anything but practice with the ball.

They can have workouts, see meetings, but they can't do anything like practice. And then after that, if you didn't do spring ball, you can start practice that next Monday. Yeah. But if you do a spring game, spring practice, or whatever, you can not start practice until August 3rd to the first Monday of August. August 14th, I think, is the Friday before the season starts. That will be a jamboree weekend, August 3rd, 14th, Thursday, Friday. And August 20th is Lexington and Larder County opening out of the hospital football.

And August 21st is week one opening Friday of the season for most everybody. As far as a lot of seniors coming back, juniors or seniors, but we ask a lot of our guests this in college, but who's your sleeper, dark horse team in the shows this coming fall? That's a tough question right now, but I would probably say some of the things that have had success lately as far as Florida County, Brooks, and some of the new coach teams. Yeah. But I will say, Wilson's don't want to count out.

Yep. With the reclassification, their schedule, they don't have Brooks and Dester anymore or West Morgan, but three games you replace with teams like Clements, West Limestone, Rogers, Central, and all those. It doesn't get easier, but it's more competitive as far as, like Coach Lane said at me in days, they've had games in the past couple years where they're playing teams with 70 guys on the sidelines. Yeah. Wow. Now, Wilson has 35 or 40. Yep. So the depth issue is going to be solved this year by going into 3A, where it might be 50 versus 50 instead of 70 versus 20.

[26:27] Wow. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I agree with you. I've heard Wilson may surprise some people this year. Listen, great stuff. I know you enjoyed media days this week. You've already got Brooks on the website. You've got a lot more to go. These are in-depth previews of teams, personnel, coaches, et cetera. Where can we get on Facebook, get on social media, and get previews for the upcoming high school season? Our website is soldsportsreport.com, soldsportsreport.com. Facebook page is Show of Sports Report. And we have one preview a day through the rest of the month.

And all that's first is our overhead previews of every football team in the shows, including play football, leading right up to August 20th, and play football begins this year. In other words, just about a month from right now. In the meantime, Zach, get some rest, have a good weekend, and thank you so much for your time today. Thank you, y'all too. Thank you, bud. Zach Founders, founder and editor of Shoals Sports Report. Coming up, the unpredictable kind of like the weather. Bill Shanks next. Stay with us.

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They went through a cold spell tonight. They are back. It's the second half, Bill. We know what they did through the first, what, 95 games. The question is, what are they going to do now with these remaining 67 or so games left on the regular season schedule? Already some good news. The Phillies lost last night because the Braves were idle. Their lead increases to two and a half. But, Bill, what do they do starting tonight against the Rangers? Boy, I can't wait to see. I'm real curious. I don't know.

I mean, that's the question of the day, obviously, is what's next for this team and how are they going to work it out? I don't know. I mean, I truly am kind of curious. And I'm hopeful, obviously, that it can be positive. But a lot of it depends on the pitching. Of course, the next two-plus weeks, you know, two weeks from Monday is the trade deadline, August 3rd. So, we're close to that, obviously. And I think there's an observation period here the next 10 days that will lead up to about, you know, a little less than a week before the trade deadline, where the Braves and every other team in baseball, except for maybe the seven who were pretty much out of it already, that can say, all right, what are we?

What do we need? And what's available? And what can we get? So, I mean, I think these next 10 days, right off the bat, are going to determine what happens up to August 3rd in that trade deadline. I agree with you, Bill. It's buy or sell time. It's coming out of the chutes here at the All-Star break. Huge. But you think maybe like in NASCAR, you run the car to death. Let's face it, for lack of a better word, the Braves look like they're just out of gas, kind of coasting to get to the All-Star break.

Now they've had the pit stop. Do you think maybe for the eternal optimist, this is what they need to catch the wind and get back with some wins? Well, they don't have any starting rotation, you know. That's it. But when you don't have a rotation, rotation means it's got to go around. Well, they kind of get lost after the third start. Yeah. They kind of get on a detour and it's like, whoa, where are you going there, Cowboy? So, that's the whole key to it. I mean, look, they need better offense.

They need Riley to come back. They need Acuna to come back. He's going to AAA tonight to start his rehab process there at that level after having a few games in the camp lead down in Florida. He, you know, we'll see what he is when he comes back. You got a lot of people who could come back, but what are they going to be when they get back? There's two prongs to that. Okay, getting them back is great. That means they're off the injury list. They're no longer injured.

They can help you out. What are they going to be? I mean, people will talk about Spencer Strider. I don't have much confidence that Spencer Strider is going to be a starting pitcher who give you six innings when he comes back from his arm injury. Maybe I'll be surprised, but I'm not. I'm just not. And, you know, so there's that of answering the question. Okay, good. We're glad they're back. You know, now what? Riley's got to, of course, get on track. But they're going to have to have outside help because they're just not good enough.

That's what I was going to ask you again. And we talked about this last week. What are some reasonable, and again, whether it is Anthopolis or Liberty Media making the final call, as far as, again, a starting veteran pitcher, and I know everybody wants one, but who are some reasonable alternatives? And also, don't raid the minor league, which I know you have noted has improved quite a bit in the last two or three years. Well, first of all, we've got to get Liberty Media out of the conversation now, Brett, because they're not really involved anymore.

It's a standalone company. They own a lot of the shares. Right. I don't really think, unfortunately, while I love to blame people, I don't think Liberty Media can be on that list. I think the standalone ownership of the Braves that starts with Terry McGurray can definitely be blamed, because I think he's a schmuck. So, but anyway, I mean, I think you look, and they're going to have the $15 million that Profar would have made, so there's that money that they can spend. So that ought to get, especially, you know, that means if a $30 million player was already at the halfway point of the season, they could afford him, not that they're going to get a $30 million player.

[36:51] But I mean, even if that's the only amount of money they could spend, that's a pretty good chunk of change right there. So, I mean, I think you got that, but they got to have another starting pitcher. I mean, and if they don't get Robert Suarez back, they're going to have to have another relief pitcher. And, you know, if there's an outfielder out there, I mean, h***, five years ago, Alex and Todd was got four outfielders in two weeks. Adam Duvall, Jorge Soler, John Peterson, and Eddie Rosario.

I don't think he needs that much, but he, you know, he needs it. You know, with me, a little bit of a hiccup there with the connection, Bill Shanks, these superstations.com. Bill, speaking of outfielders, the boys in the state of Georgia have to come to Alabama for some relief out of Huntsville. Brewer-Hicklin, pretty good game heading into the All-Star break. Your thoughts about the future of the former Panther from Huntsville High? Well, I mean, he's been a AAA player, and he's done well in Gwinnett, and he had a nice game the other day, and I hope he'll continue to make contributions.

I mean, you know, you put your AAA team pretty much low with those kind of players who have been kind of quad A who haven't broken through yet to see if they can, and then if they do, if they can contribute. And he did. Jim Jarvis has obviously contributed. You've got to use a lot of players to get through a six-month season. So, that's why, I mean, they've got Andrew McCutcheon and Carlos Santana down in their Florida camp league, if that tells you anything. You're just trying to have bodies around to do the best you can to survive the six-month season.

We talked about media days coming up Monday in Tampa, about what we want to see, and particularly interested in some of the new coaches. What's Bill Shanks top two of one, two, or three things he wants to see coming out of Tampa? Well, number one, how dominant can Georgia be? Number two, how many points can they beat Alabama by? Oh, right, right. Number three, how many years will it be until Auburn beats Georgia? I mean, those are the main things, you know, from the top of my mind.

Now, you know what? Look, the coaches are definitely at the top of the list. I think you have to wonder how the coaches are going to sound. I mean, and I warned everybody yesterday after our segment with you. I said, you know, look, these coaches, these new coaches, whether it's Gullish or Summerall or, you know, Ryan, Wahoo McDaniel in Arkansas or, you know, all these new people, of course, loud-mouthed at LSU, they're going to be full of p*** and vinegar. And they should be. You know, they should be.

That should be their – they've got to rile up the fan base. And most of the time they're there because the guy before him wasn't as good. And so they've got to be better. And they've got to get the fans ready and make them think that we can beat a Georgia or an Alabama or somebody good. And so I think we'll hear a little bit of that. But I think you've got to look through that and kind of hear the crux of how – you know, I just did an interview.

I'm doing TV interviews with high school coaches for our TV station here at 41NBC. And I just did one an hour ago or so with a coach whose team was 0-10 last year. And, you know, he's the new coach and it wasn't his fault. And the guy who he replaced was a good man and a good coach, but it was a young team and they sucked. And it's like, you know, sometimes when you have a new coach come in, unfortunately you have to take a wider view and a long view and kind of look at it and say, well, okay, we want to win this year, we want to win as many as we can, but what's the bigger view?

Can we take that next step? Well, I mean, you know, for a team like his, you know, 1-9 is going to be – they'll throw a parade for him. Right. But the point is, you know, you've got to – you know, Florida and Auburn, and I'm not being a schmunk Georgia fan, they didn't get bad overnight. You know, this has been going on for a while now. And it's like their fan bases, rightfully so, are hoping after going to the well several times that they finally found the right coach to get them out of this abyss they've been in.

And it might happen. It might happen in year one. But, you know, I've said – I said this two years ago with Alabama fans. I said it 11 years ago with Georgia fans. For year one, don't expect anything. I mean, just don't have those high expectations. And then if you're surprised, if, for example, Auburn has a winning season, you'll be thrilled. My God, you'll be happy as h*** with a, you know, a 7-5 record. So, you know, we'll see what happens. It should be fun. Absolutely. Well, listen, have a great weekend.

We'll be talking with you next week. I know Brother Brent's going to be there giving the roving reporter again. Where can we get online and listen to Bill Shanks' show this afternoon? TheSuperSessions.com. We've got ears and eyes on you, Bill. Bill Shanks, thank you so much for your time. Let's get a little latest on the British Open across the pond. Stay with us. This update on the 2026 British Open is brought to you locally by Cypress Lakes Golf Course and Muscle Shoals. Westwood One Sports presents this special report on the 154th Open Championship.

[42:32] Sponsored by Wyman. Stainless steel 3-in-1. Clean. Shine. Protect. Bryson DeChambeau wants to serve some crow to Nick Faldo, who said this week DeChambeau has zero clue about strategy on Lynx courses. DeChambeau is 5-under. He has played 12 holes today. He's now 3 off the lead. Lucas Herbert in front at 8-under after an 8-under 62 that equaled the best round in men's major history. Sam Burns also posted 62 to move to 5-under. This is very much like the first round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club three years ago when Ricky Fowler and Xander Schauffele both shot 62.

Scotty Scheffler is trundling along at 3-under. He's 5-back. 5 holes to play. Projected cut plus 1 on the outside. The last two major winners. Aaron Rye and Wyndham Clark. Rye at plus 2. Clark at plus 3. I'm Ted Emmerich, Westwood One Sports. When you see this in your kitchen. The stainless steel fridge is covered in fingerprints. You hear this. Leslie, people are going to think you were raised in a barn or by wolves. Erased in a barn by wolves. Fortunately, Wyman's stainless steel 3-in-1 cleans, shines, and protects to give you the best shine.

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The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. Obviously, B.B., when we saw the news earlier this week about the big flip from Auburn to Alabama, is it safe to say that was kind of a portend to what happened this morning on the recruiting trail? I think that's exactly what it was. I think Alabama was actually in the race for five-star monsoon, Alabama sails. I grew up in Birmingham. Actually, you've still got family in Inslee. But it was really a case of, am I going to stay with Indiana and take the NIL or go with my heart and go to Alabama?

And I think when Cedric Simmons from Selma committed or flipped from Auburn earlier this year, that was a telling sign. It was also interesting, Chris Hummer, who we've had on the show a few times over the years with 24-7 sports, literally had the stat, the first five-star in the history of Indiana football. Yeah, I'm sure his heart played a role, but I bet you that big bankroll played a little bit of a factor, too. B.B., next week, they tell me the NCC Media Days kicks off down in Tampa.

Can we be a part of the party, my friend? We are going to be a part, starting bonus coverage on Monday through Wednesday. From 11 to 2, we're going to have guests galore. We'll be talking about that, of course, obviously more on Monday. But, Harold, let me take a second to thank the sponsors for 2026 SEC Media Days. We'll be talking about those guys quite a bit next Monday through Wednesday, but certainly appreciate their support of 2026 SEC Media Days in Tampa. Or, as I was to say, thank you, thank you, thank you very much.

In the meantime, speaking of Elmer Pierce, going to be on board next hour, going to be talking over with Justin Ferguson. Ryan Callahan is going to be on board. And the one and the only, the legend from Muscle Shoes and Papa, Chad Shears, and more. Straight ahead, stay with us. 1819 News. Alabama's Republican delegates to Congress are redoubling their efforts to pass the Save America Act after President Trump delivered a speech last night to the nation regarding the level that China, as well as deep state actors here in the U.S. government, have interfered in U.S. elections.

The documents were released by the White House showing how much voter data was stolen and manipulated from the 2020 elections onward. The president said the first action step for Congress to take in securing future elections would be to pass the Save Act, which requires proof of U.S. citizenship and voter ID. Senator Tommy Tuberville, as well as Congressman Barry Moore and Robert Adderholt, posted about the need to get this legislation passed. Democrat Congresswoman Terri Sewell posted that the Save Act is designed to block millions of eligible Americans from voting.

I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Brian Dawson here, CEO of 1819 News. I'm also the host of 1819 News, the podcast, and we'd love for you to join us by listening to our weekly show on all the top podcast apps, both in audio and video format. At 1819 News, the podcast, we are in pursuit of a free and flourishing Alabama. Every week, we're having important conversations with guests from across this great state, all with the goal of equipping Alabamians to be in pursuit of a free and flourishing Alabama with us.

New episodes are released weekly. I hope you'll join us. CNN is now reporting on an investigation they had regarding the source of cyclosporiasis illnesses. Contaminated lettuce has been identified as the element that's been carrying a parasite causing the diarrhea cases across the nation. That contaminated lettuce has been traced back to Taylor Farms in the California Bay Area. The farm sells the iceberg lettuce primarily to Taco Bell restaurants. There have been almost 7,000 cases of the illness across the nation since May of this year, 11 cases confirmed here in Alabama.

I'm Andrea Tess. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. Do you owe back taxes or have unfiled tax returns? The IRS won't quit until they get your money. Here's great news. Fresh from those in the know. Major changes have happened at the IRS. If you owe more than $10,000, you may be eligible for a 99% reduction of what you owe. Haven't filed a return for a while? Their happy clients are talking. The IRS was going to levy my bank account, but Guardian was able to prevent that and fix all my IRS issues.

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From payroll and compliance to hiring, onboarding, and more. With Gusto, you can get back two full days each month with all the time you have saved. Go to Gusto.com today and learn why over 500,000 small businesses choose Gusto. That's G-U-S-T-O.com. Gusto.com. Restoration Ranch, 722 Little Israel Road in Tuscumbia is having a Gospel Music Fest. This Saturday, July 18, 2026 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Performances by Mackentrax, Freedom Bridge, Reverend Jerry Reeves, and the Galilee Baptist Church Choir. This is a free inside event with a live auction, stew, door prizes, and live music.

Sponsored by Glenda's Rockin' It Promotions. Gospel Music Fest at Restoration Ranch. This Saturday, July 18, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITKFM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shores. Sports Radio 93.9 The Score. Westwood One Sports presents this World Soccer Update. Spain comes into Sunday's World Cup Final with six straight wins since they opened up with a scoreless tie against Cape Verde. Since then, Spain's outscored the opposition 13-1. Argentina, 7-0. Narrow victories in each of the last four games. They're the defending champs. We asked Westwood One Soccer Analyst Jamie Watson how Spain can win.

The blueprint is there for Spain to win it. Just do exactly what you did against France. Against a slightly lesser team in Argentina, in my opinion. But Argentina, they've got Lionel Messi. How do you game plan? How do you try to be able to beat that if you're Spain? Because this man, you can throw all the best tactics in the world. He's the one guy that can undo it all with a moment of brilliance. Sunday's final ends a vastly successful World Cup in three North American nations.

Sellout crowds, great games, and a record three wins by the U.S. John Stashanler, Westwood One Sports. You know that junk drawer you keep avoiding? Yeah, that was my payroll situation before switching to Gusto, the online payroll and benefit software built for small businesses. Gusto is all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use. You can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere with unlimited payroll runs and no surprise fees. Go to Gusto.com today and learn why over 500,000 small businesses choose Gusto. That is G-U-S-T-O.com.

Gusto.com. When you first saw her, she was out walking her dog. You didn't notice her at first. But when you finally did, it was too late. Because at that moment, you were speeding. She was out walking her dog and only had a second to let go of the leash. Your foot was on the gas, and her life was on the line. Speeding catches up with you. Paid for by NHTSA. Everybody, Bill King, Bill King Show. Listen to me. Nine until noon. 93-9 to score Monday through Friday as we talk college football like nobody else does.

[58:36] Because he listens in Florence. Our show's, Charlie, our show's on down there. Bill King Show, Monday through Friday, nine until noon. Every league, every big topic is covered. 93-9, the score. This weekend on ESPN Radio, two iconic franchises kick off the second half in the Bronx. Way deep and out of here, Shohei Ohtani. Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers are in New York to face Ben Rice and the Yankees. And he drives the pitch. Deep right field. Way back. Gone home run. Ben Rice. Dodgers and Yankees.

Sunday at 6.30 Eastern on ESPN Radio. 93-9, the score weather. Today, a 40% chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms with a high around 90 and heated X values as high as 100. Tonight, partly cloudy with a 10% chance of showers overnight and a low near 75. Tomorrow, sunny with a 20% chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms with a high around 95. Tomorrow night, mostly clear with a 20% chance of showers overnight and a low near 75. Ampere Sunday, mostly sunny with a 50% chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms with a high around 95. Your weather from 93-9, the score.

Now, get ready to roll, Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of northwest Alabama and southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM sports voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the tide. Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9. The score. Welcome back in, our tour of the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a ride around the Tennessee Valley and for checking in with the man who knows the big orange better than anybody we know.

And he's parched Ryan Callahan. He's busy there covering Tennessee at Go Vols 24-7. Ryan, welcome in. How are you? Hey, guys. Doing well. How are you? Hey, buddy. Fine, Ryan. Next week, there's a T in Tennessee, Stanford, Tampa. Are you ready for some big orange talk? Yeah, ready for some big orange talk. Now, that being said, we will – I personally will not be in Tampa. We often go, you know, three or four, however many we have on the Go Vols 24-7 staff. That's such a long trip, and the event becomes such a big circus, I actually won't even be making the trip this year.

But we're looking forward to hearing the talk from a distance, nonetheless, and tracking all that. But, yeah, it's different. They move it all around. We like it better when it's in Hoover, Nashville, Atlanta, one of the places it's easy to get to. Ryan, I wish you could be the commissioner because I think about 99% of the people in this biz, I guarantee you would agree with you. So let's talk about what's going to be talked about from the folks who are there. And can you confirm or deny it?

First of all, will Smokey make the trip? And if not, what are the ones who are representing Tennessee? What's going to be the most asked question, starting with one, Josh Heupel? Yeah, so the three players going down there will be senior linebacker Arian Carter, who withdrew from the NFL draft earlier this year to come back and is the unquestioned leader of Tennessee's defense. And then his sidekick there at linebacker, Jeremiah T. Lander, a fellow senior. Those guys will potentially be Tennessee's starters there, but they've got some competition at that spot, at least going into preseason camp.

Quite possibly, Tennessee's starting linebacker tandem. And then Deshaun Bishop, the junior running back, coming off a 1,000-yard season after starting his career at Tennessee as a walk-on out of Knoxville's Carrins High School. So that'll be the trio there. But, yeah, I think the obvious question, certainly for Josh Heupel, is going to be about his quarterback situation. He's going to get a lot of questions about George McIntyre, the redshirt freshman, and then Faison Brandon, the five-star freshman, what direction that competition's going to take, how they're going to approach it in August.

And, you know, we've seen a few of those already throughout the Josh Heupel era. It seems like every year there's been a quarterback competition of some sort. Even the year Nico Iamaliava was really the assumed starter, and the year Joe Milton took over as the assumed starter, they still tried to keep the competition going. So in a year like this where you know they're absolutely a competition, we pretty much know how he's going to approach it, that there's going to be no starter named for at least a couple weeks in camp.

It's going to come down to the scrimmages and how those guys look in practice settings, but he's still going to get a lot of questions about it and exactly what he's seen from those guys. And then a lot of questions, I'm sure, about just how much different Tennessee's defense can look. Jim Knowles, first-year defensive coordinator, Tennessee ranked in the 90s nationally in a lot of major defensive categories last year. So how much they can improve. It's a revamped roster there, several new starters out of the transfer portal, several major contributors out of the transfer portal.

So it should be a very different-looking defense, and I'm sure a lot of questions about that. And, oh, yeah, a little bit of drama they had this offseason with one of those additions from the transfer portal, Chaz Coleman, the Penn State edge transfer, not ever seeing the field to play a snap at Tennessee. I'm sure there will be some questions about that as well. Yeah, Josh Heupel's had some experience with Nico and Boo and on and on and on. You alluded to Jim Knowles, the defensive coordinator.

[1:04:01] I agree with you. I think Heupel would get several questions about that. But we talked about that with you. Again, he's got a complex defense, but he brought in, brought some coaches with him, brought some players with him. And I think maybe he has cut down or narrowed the acclimation period for this day. Again, it's still going to take some time, but I think that's going to be the big difference in this team is the defense. Yeah, it should be, and it has to be if this team's going to be anywhere near what they're hoping they can be, because this is an important year for Josh Heupel.

I don't think there's a lot of hot seat talk for him going into this season, but it's the kind of year that could turn into that if things were to go sideways in a couple of these games that they're expected to win. So they really need to keep things on the rails, and with a young quarterback, that's a challenge no matter who wins that job. So the defense has got to take a big step forward, even if they jump from being in the 90s in total defense, the scoring defense and things like that, to somewhere in the 30s or 40s.

That would be a pretty significant jump. So they don't have to be an elite defense to be noticeably better, and that would go a long way toward keeping Tennessee in some of these games that they really struggled to win last year, just because they had to get in kind of a track meet or couldn't make the timely shots when they needed them. So yeah, they've got to be better on that side of the ball, and like you said, I think they're confident that the way they've approached building Jim Knowles' staff, bringing in a few new assistants with him, guys that have worked with him at previous stops, I think they feel like that's really helped.

And based on what they saw from the defense during the spring, I think they feel confident in that too, that players picked up things pretty quickly, whether that's because they brought in the assistants that knew Jim Knowles' way of doing things, or just they got some veterans that they were able to pick things up quickly. Whatever it was, it seemed like the transition went really well this spring, so I think they feel pretty good about where things are. Your thoughts, Ryan, Ryan Callahan, go balls 24-7.

Obviously, when you lose somebody big, like they did with a kid coming out from Penn State, that begs two things. Number one, does Tennessee have to eat that budget, which could be going to someone who could help? And the other one, day-to-day, how do they, it's a crazy question to ask how do they fill those shoes, because they can't, but how do they try to fill those shoes, given what they've got? Yeah, that's one of the open questions. We really don't know all the details, of course.

There's no transparency in all this stuff, but the bottom line is, Tennessee, there's nothing you can do with that money, regardless of whether they were able to recoup any of it. I mean, there's nothing you can do with it at this point in the year. The transfer portal is not really open. There's nobody out there that's going to be a quality enough option to really give you any help. So whether that money could be spent again next year or not, it can't help you this year.

So bottom line, they earmarked that money for Chaz Coleman, and you don't get it back at least until next year, essentially. So your team is what it is at this point, and there's not much you can do to reinforce your roster a little bit. And that's negative for a couple reasons. For one, they didn't really cast a wide net in bringing in some help on the edge. They lost both Jordan Ross and Caleb Herring that went to SEC schools, Jordan Ross to LSU, Caleb Herring to South Carolina.

Those guys were in line to be Tennessee's top two returning players to that position. You replaced them essentially with Chaz Coleman only, and they had some internal options. They've got some freshmen that are in there, but really not an obvious one-for-one replacement there. So it's either going to be a group effort, or more likely, what it looks like they're going to do is probably play some slightly bigger defensive ends on that side of the ball, what we considered the Leo position in Tim Banks' defense. It sounds like they're kind of transitioning to maybe calling that the Jack position a little bit more like we hear in other defenses like Alabama's.

But it's not going to be just a one-for-one trade. It might be some 280-pound defensive ends on that other side, which makes you wonder how well they're going to get to the quarterback. That's a really open question about this team is how effective their pass rush off the edge is going to be. So I think you're going to see some different looks from Tennessee. Jim Knowles might even experiment with some three and four linebacker sets because they've got a lot of depth at linebacker. They're going to mix and match, but I don't think there's an obvious answer to that question right now as far as how they're going to generate the pass rush they really need.

One of the top uncommitted prospects committed this morning in Bama sales, the wide five-star wide receiver, chose Indiana over Alabama and a few other schools. There is one more out there, and you know his name, running back David Gabriel Georges. If you could get paid money for the number of questions you've been asked about him, you might have a nest egg. He's going to announce shortly. Where is he going? Yeah, he'll be announcing Wednesday evening. He's got a ceremony scheduled for Baylor School in Chattanooga where he's getting ready for his senior season.

And originally from Canada, he'll have his family in town for that and everything. So this has been planned for weeks, and there were questions at some point over the past several weeks whether he'd last until July 22nd. But they've stuck to that plan, and he will be announcing on Wednesday. It's been a Tennessee-Ohio State battle down the stretch, and it's been that way for a while, really, and that still appears to be the case. You know, Ole Miss is kind of the third hat on the table, but no one close to that one really thinks the Rebels are a major contender.

[1:09:28] So it's pretty much down to the Vols and the Buckeyes. And you know, you can't rule out anything in these types of battles just because, A, the era we're in, but also, B, we've seen situations where Ohio State, you know, sometimes guys just want to be at a program like that. The NFL track record and everything that the Buckeyes have to offer, it's obviously a top-notch program, and in some ways, Tennessee might struggle to match everything Ohio State has to offer. But there's still more reasons right now to think Tennessee might be the pick on Wednesday.

We'll see how it shakes out on Wednesday. But Tennessee has kind of been all in on David Gabriel George from the start, really, and especially since last year. They were in on another five-star running back in the 2026 class, Savion Hyder, went to Michigan. From the final month of that one forward, it pretty much looked like, you know what, Tennessee was okay to some degree if they missed out on Savion Hyder because they would just go all in on David Gabriel George in this class. And that seems to have been their approach from the start.

This is the guy that they want to be, the face of this class, and they've approached it that way several months now. So I think Tennessee's done a nice job with them. He's been to Tennessee more than any other school. I've visited seven times in the past two years and has a couple teammates that are also from Canada, or former teammates from Baylor, and Gabriel Lucinda, an offensive lineman, and Jamie and Theodore, a freshman cornerback, that are both guys that he's pretty close to. So multiple reasons to think Tennessee's going to be tough to beat.

But, you know, again, you never say never in this era. But right now, I would lean toward the Vols being the favorites going into that one. Two things before we let you go. Number one, do you anticipate this will be $1 million plus as far as, again, it's the price of business we know now with five-star players? And number two, tell us about your cover. Where can we get online to get all the great coverage of SEC Media Days next week? Yeah, well, first of all, there's been enough reported out there.

I think it is pretty safe to say that wherever David Gabriel George goes, it's going to be a seven-figure deal of some type. There's been rumored, the rumored price tag could be in the vicinity of $2 million, depending on what you believe what's out there right now. But yeah, it's going to be a hefty price tag. And we'll see, whatever it does, if it's seven figures, that would make him the highest-paid, we believe, highest-paid running back coming out of high school in this NIL era. So we'll see if that works out.

It's a hefty price tag to put on a running back, a position that's obviously been kind of de-emphasized in the NFL, but a little bit different sometimes at the college level. Those guys can be difference makers, and whoever gets them will certainly be hoping that's the case and counting on him to play right away. But yeah, lots of coverage of that, and obviously, SEC Media Days with Tennessee's appearance that are coming up on Monday at GoVals247.com. So great time to join the site and check out all that coverage and more.

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Scotty Scheffler with a birdie at 14. Scheffler, the number one player in the world, is now four under, four back. Jordan Spieth might not be around for the weekend. Four over, five holes to go. I'm Ted Emmerich, Westwood One Sports. This is the story of the one. As a maintenance engineer at a beverage manufacturing plant, he starts his day knowing every line is ready to run because Grainger delivers the industrial-grade products he needs to keep mixers, conveyors, and packaging equipment moving. With Grainger's vast selection of bearings, belts, and motors, he keeps operations running smoothly, so nothing grinds to a halt.

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Mark Sears. Obviously, the community very proud of Mark. But nobody prouder than his papa. And together, they're teaming up for some big time just around the corner here in the shows, are they not? They're going to talk about life and basketball, Harold Bugg. In fact, I had the privilege of interviewing Chad and Mark two years ago with the first camp. And they decided to come back again Saturday, August the 1st. But this is one of the most incredible families. And we will talk about the other two a little bit later in the interview.

An incredibly talented daughter and, of course, mother and wife. But, no, Harold, it is an absolute delight to bring in Chad Sears, father of the one and only Mark Sears, former MULSA Shoals and University of Alabama first-team All-American guard. And Chad Sears was the Teacher of the Year at Florence at Harlan Elementary in 2023. Harold, we're talking to one of the most talented families I've ever been associated with. Well, I didn't do too well on the court nor in a classroom. So, we may not be able to interview you, Chad.

Welcome in. How are you? I'm doing well. Thank you, guys, for having me. Thank you, guys. Congratulations. What's it like? I mean, first of all, congratulations to you. Because, to me, sports is actually easier than going to the classrooms. First of all, congratulations to you. What's in the genes of the Sears family? Well, like Mark said, you know, hard work is undefeated. You know, I've always taught them to work hard and they can achieve anything that they want. So, the key component is, you know, just to work hard.

Let me ask you this. Obviously, Mark had, we're going to get to the camp here in a second, but Mark had all kinds of options to leave Alabama early. In your opinion, now that you're on this side of that decision, how wise was it, first of all, just from a growing up standpoint, obviously the deal was still there. What message can you tell kids and parents and those who are in a similar situation? There's not many in a rarefied era there, as far as how you made that decision to go ahead and say, you know what, come back and let's go from there.

[1:20:10] Well, of course, at the end of the day, it was his decision, you know, to come back. You know, we just tried to, you know, tell him the pros and cons of staying and leaving. But, you know, in the beginning, you know, it's trials and tribulations in the beginning. And what I tell most young people is, you know, with the transfer reporter now, you know, just stay the course. You know, trust the coach. And, you know, when a coach coaches you hard, you know, don't try to jump ship.

Just trust the process because, you know, most people make the biggest jump in between the first and second year. So, you know, like I said, with transfer reporter now, I think kids need to just stay at least two years. Because the second year is always the best year. You know, you hear a lot of high school coaches and college coaches say, you know, teams make the biggest jump on the first and second, first to second game. And it's the same as in the transfer reporter. You know, a lot of kids make the biggest jump in between the first and second year.

Absolutely. Chad, let's bring Mark in. Mark, first of all, it's a pleasure to talk to you again. I know you're looking forward to getting back to most of the shows in a couple weeks. Listen, tell us about the NBA career, about the Summer League. How are things going so far? Yeah, so, yeah, the Summer League and the NBA, you know, it's been pretty good, you know, so far. You know, my first year, I played, you know, seven games for the Milwaukee Bucks and I did a lot of learning.

And, you know, I just took that as a tool to get better and really work on my game and just really, you know, put the work in. And, you know, I feel like so far in, you know, Summer League, you know, I've really been seeing parts of my game grow that I've been putting in since this offseason has started. And, you know, speaking of, you know, one of last night's games we played, you know, I really feel like my work is really coming to a flow.

Mark, obviously, it's a big jump. The SEC's got some good ball players and so does a lot of baseball players. We talked with David Weathers, who played almost 20 years in Major League Baseball, and asking about the biggest jump between playing at certain levels and going to the majors. He said, when you go to the majors, it's like throwing through a coffee cup, a coffee can. That's what you've got to hit every time. Talk to us. You played against some good competition across the SEC and across the nation.

Congratulations again. First team around All-American. So, obviously, it goes without saying you're pretty good yourself. But what about the biggest difference, the biggest adjustment going from college play to the NBA? Yeah, obviously, it's going to be more talented. But one of the biggest adjustments is the physicality and strength level. It is to play at this level because, you know, you're dealing with people that have been working out for 10-plus years in the league. Yeah. And you've got people coming from college. You lift, but, you know, you're like a full-time college student as well, but you're dealing with guys that this is what they do for a living.

So they can lock in on just, you know, making sure they're the best player version of themselves. Guys, I had the pleasure, as I mentioned earlier, of attending the camp two years ago. And let me ask you both this. You could have done this in Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham, somewhere else. Yeah. But you're coming back to muscle shows. And, Chad, I know you've talked about this. When we did the interview a couple years ago, I know you mentioned to me that the local kids can see Mark now in the NBA was an All-American in Alabama.

That would give them some aspiration, some hope to take it to the next level on and off the court. Guys, let me ask you both. What does it mean? How important is it for you to have your second camp back at muscle shows? Yeah, first, you know, that's where it all started, muscle shows, Alabama. And, you know, just I feel like for me to have it back there is just really just to, you know, give back to the kids. Because, you know, a lot of people, it's really hard to, you know, make it out of muscle shows and out of this area.

And just for me to be able to come back in a poor game to the kids and the next generation coming up, I feel like that would really be helpful. Chad? Let me ask you this, Mark. And to you too, Chad, if you don't mind, what is the number one message you want to tell the kids? Because a lot of kids are God-gifted like you. They got the talent. But let's face it, it takes so much more than that. Attitude, being able to take coaching, as you mentioned a while ago, Chad, taking tough coaching, which to me is the best thing.

[1:25:17] Because a lot of guys are young bucks. They need some discipline. But what's the one message you would tell kids who will be coming to your camp? Okay. I think, like I mentioned earlier, this state, of course, you know, things, adversity will come, you know, especially through coaches. You know, in high school and at the collegiate and professional level, it's a tough field. But I think a lot of kids and parents need to, you know, we just got to stay the course and be ready to accept the tough coaching.

And if you can accept the tough coaching, then I think you can, it'll be the first ingredient in order to become a really good basketball player. And Mark, what about you? You've been there and done it. What would be the message? Because let's face it, when you have that kind of God-given talent and you're on the court with kids at that level, it's easy to take an attitude. That's just part of being young and maybe immature at that point. That's not everybody, of course, but it's so common.

But what message would you tell kids of this age group? Yeah, I just want to say, you know, the older, like, I've been through it that the harder, everything you want is on the other side of heart. And, you know, that's part of adversity, you know, when things are going hard and you push through it and you're mentally, you're able to mentally push through it, you're just going to, you're going to transform your mindset. It's going to be better and it's going to just sharpen your confidence.

I just say, you know, everything that you want is on that other side of heart. You just got to push through it. Absolutely. Shan, talk about that other child of yours, Mackenzie. Listen, she is an incredible talent herself in basketball, averaged 15 points, eight rebounds a game, All-State in volleyball. She's amazing. And I know something you're more proud of. She graduated from most of the shows earlier this year. And I know education is so big for you and your wife. And speaking of your very talented wife, she's a traveling nurse.

Um, she's an amateur fashion designer who I think does a very good job. Talk about the other two members of your family you're quite proud of. Oh, yeah. Of course, you know, you mentioned, you know, my wife, um, yeah, she, she, you know, she loves, she loves the television. I'm going to be honest. I'm the guy, I'm the guy that's kind of laid back and, you know, I just want to, you know, just kind of relax and kind of watch everything around me. Um, and my daughter, um, Mackenzie, you know, she, she is, um, she's very talented.

Um, and of course, from a parent's point of view, you know, she could be even better. Um, but I think, you know, with her going to Northwest shows to play volleyball to see, you know, some of the girls that she'll be working with, um, I think she's found out that, um, she has to work, um, just like Mark mentioned, she has to work in order to get what she wants. Um, so, you know, those two, you know, they kind of like, you know, they, the boss of ladies of the family and, you know, we just kind of roll with it.

That was, that was a smart answer. Listen, this has been an absolute pleasure to talk with both of you a little bit about life, advice on NIL. The camp, again, is going to be Saturday, August the 1st. I'm going to try to get, uh, your, um, organizer, Dominic Johnson, on the show again soon to talk about it. But it's going to be, again, I believe it begins at 9 a.m. You've got two sessions, 9 a.m. for the younger and then for the older ones in the afternoon.

Guys, uh, Mark, listen, God bless you. Good luck in the NBA with summer camp. Hope it continues to progress. Chad, thank you for your time and thank you for raising an amazing family. Thank you guys for having me. Thank you so much. There you have it. Papa, Chad, and son, Mark, what a dynamic deal. We'll give you more details. That is an event. If you've got a kid and you want to go to a camp and you don't want to go around and say to Timbuktu to get that kind of wisdom, highly recommend it.

Most of the shows, we'll give you some more details down the road. But, uh, speaking of the road, let's go all the way down to Auburn and talk Tigers with Justin Ferguson next. Stay with us. Hello, Shoals. It's Elmer Pierce from Garner Pierce Autos. Are you tired of being told that it will take two weeks to service your vehicle or even to look at it to tell you what's wrong with it? Are you tired of being told that it's going to be $200 to $300 an hour for labor?

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Make a game plan for your mental health at loveyourmindplaybook.org. Love your mind. Brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and the Ag Council. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. Next week, they tell me that the SEC will be talking football down in Tampa. And what about the latest chapter for the Auburn Tigers? Justin Ferguson's got that and more covered. Busy there, writing, podcasting, you name it, at the Auburn Observer. Justin, welcome in.

Are you ready for some SEC media days? Yeah, it's always a good time of year to get down there and kind of feel like, okay, the offseason's over. It's been a good offseason. It's been a good break, but it's time to get closer to the season. So I always look forward to the media days being kind of the start of what feels like football season. Did Auburn's head coach and quarterback have anything to do with locating it in Tampa? I mean, what dynamic duo knows the city of Tampa better than Auburn's at least two of the entourage going down from the plains?

Yeah, a really good time. And you have the media days in Tampa. I'm still trying to figure out why media days were in Tampa because… Money. Yeah, it's south of Gainesville, I guess. But, yeah, no, it's definitely going to be a cool scene down there for Alex Colish. And Byron Brown going back to a place that, you know, put them on the map, you know, got them these roles that they are in now at Auburn. And, you know, I think that's going to be something that, you know, just gives it an extra little edge there, a little bit more fun for those guys going back to a place where they had a whole lot of success these last few years, especially last season.

You've heard Alex Colish with the media, and he'll be asked, I'm sure, obviously about the transition. How is that going? Brought in a lot of players from UCL, et cetera. Any particular message that you think Alex is going to try to get across next week? Yeah, I think the big thing for Alex Colish is that he's been really kind of clear about how, you know, how much they've got to continue to work and how much they want to kind of hit this thing, you know, hit the ground running.

And it sets the tone. I don't think you're going to hear a guy talk about kind of waiting around for recruits or anything like that. I think what you're going to hear from Alex Colish is, you know, a guy who comes in and says, hey, you know, we've got a hungry team, got a team full of guys that decided to stay and continue to compete at Auburn. And then a bunch of new guys that are in here who want to prove themselves that they belong at this level and they can win at this level.

I think the coaching staff's got that mindset. I think the roster's got that mindset. So I think that's kind of been the message you heard. I don't think, you know, Auburn's going to sit here and say, hey, you know, we think we can win every single game. Or, hey, we're going to, you know, compete for the SEC championship right away. I think, though, what you're going to hear is a team that's like, hey, Auburn needs to start winning more games in this streak of losing season.

And we think we have the team to go ahead and do that and start this new era. I think that's going to be kind of the main kind of message from this team when you hear them next week. I saw the list of folks, the most impactful guys coming in via the transfer portal. I don't think, here's what's ironic about it. Number one on the list is Cam Coleman, which is his two-parter. Number one, he came from, of course, Auburn. It's sitting to ask the question, who's going to fill those shoes?

[1:35:33] And you've got that kind of potential. But the question of how Auburn will handle that. And the other one, on the other side of the coin, number 15 on the list was Byron Brown coming in as quarterback. Is he the plug-and-play quarterback that a lot of folks, I know right now the answer would be yes. But your thoughts just about how realistic it will relative to SEC defenses and coordinators week in and week out. Yeah, no, I think he's definitely a guy. I mean, the Byron Brown has had success against the better teams.

I mean, last season they did go beat Florida in the swamp. He had some good plays against, you know, good moments against Miami. I know that game was lopsided. Miami kind of had their way with USF's defense in that game. But he had some good moments, some good plays against the Miami team that played for a national title. You know, he's a guy that I think has been really, really good these last several years. It just kind of rises the occasion. You know, you can make the argument stats-wise, he's probably a top-five quarterback coming back in college football this year.

So, yes, there will be an adjustment to, you know, get used to playing at this level and how, you know, week in and week out the challenge is going to be there. But I do think that's kind of where Auburn's schedule comes in handy, where you have the Baylor game to open and you have some home games. So, you're not getting thrown immediately into the fire as much as like, hey, you know, hey, you got to go play, you know, LSU next week. Or, hey, you got to go into Georgia next week or something like that.

So, I think he's going to have time to kind of work himself into that and then that familiarity. You know, speaking of replacing Cam Coleman, you can't replace a dude at his talent level. He's, you know, a great show. And I think he's going to have an incredible year at Texas, for sure. He's a really, really talented guy. With Archmanning. Yeah, with Archmanning and throwing the ball. That'll help a lot. Sarkeesian calling plays for him. That'll help a lot, too. But I think when you're looking at replacing a guy like Cam Coleman, and I would also say, you know, Malcolm Simmons is now at Texas Tech.

He's another one. Eric Singleton is going to be at Florida now. Those are all really good receivers. When you look at the replacement for Auburn, they went with familiarity. And they went with, you know, guys who know the system inside and out more than just big-name transfers to replace them. So, you go with guys like Keyshawn Singleton and Jeremiah Koger, Chaz Nimrod, Christian Neptune. These are all guys that have been really good in this offense playing with Byron Brown. And so, I think that's where Auburn's going to have to lean on.

You know, this is not a star-study group. But these are guys who put up numbers in this offense. They spread the field. You know, I think you look at last season, you know, Singleton and Koger, either one of those guys would have been Auburn's number one receiver in terms of just numbers last season just because very, very productive in this offense. So, it's going to be interesting. I mean, you know, those guys are, you know, Cam's really, really talented. The guys that they left were really good.

But I think Auburn's kind of leaning in on, okay, here we go. We're going to go with guys who know the system inside and out and try to kind of ease the transition that way because there isn't a five-star wide receiver walking through the door there. You're going to have to take some time. But I do like Jeremiah Koger a lot. And I'm not saying he's Cam Coleman in terms of, you know, his skill set. You know, Cam's probably the best dude at tracking the ball in the air that I've ever seen.

But Koger, you know, 6'3", super athletic, takes the top off of defense, had really good numbers last season, young. So, he's the kind of guy that I think, you know, maybe in a couple years we're talking about him as, you know, an NFL draft pick off of this team. Maybe not Cam Coleman, first-round talent. But I do like him kind of plugging into that role as being the vertical threat, the big guy downfield and going to win those one-on-one balls. Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports had an interesting article about the NIL deal with the Aflac kickoff game with Auburn and Baylor.

$6 million. A groundbreaking deal will be distributed among 24 Auburn players was the quote in the article. Why 24 and who selects the 24? Yeah, it's these individual NIL deals. And this is kind of part of the negotiation process when Auburn was recruiting some of these guys. It's like, hey, if you want this kind of number, if this is what you're looking for, you know, at Auburn, here's what we can do for you. We're going to be playing this game in Atlanta at the beginning of the year. And, you know, we've got X number of players who can sign these deals for them.

So, I would imagine kind of the bigger-name guys on this team, guys who stayed, you know, who Auburn retained and some of the bigger-name guys that they brought in. Yeah, it's just NIL. And it's a roundabout way of, you know, kind of, you know, the old ways of like NIL where it's like, hey, if you're a big-name player, you can get paid to basically do a brand deal. And this is kind of what you're doing here, but it's in a bulk kind of setting. It's in a, hey, we're doing this for your team.

So, you know, you have a variety of those. I think about yesterday, Auburn announced and kind of showed off several guys, you know, on their team right now, including Byron Brown, including Xavier Atkins, have NIL deals now with Nike. And they've got that first full year under their belt with the contract. They could start kind of promoting those. So, that was part of it. Michael Johnson Cook, the really elite running back, Auburn's got committed. He has an NIL deal with Nike now. So, it's a lot of that kind of stuff where, you know, it's these brands, it's these companies working closely with Auburn and Auburn being able to kind of, you know, funnel that money to the players that, you know, kind of demand the bigger payouts, you know, kind of what you would expect from NIL.

[1:41:12] Absolutely. Listen, we've got to run to a update with the British Open, but look forward to your coverage from Tamplin next week. But where can we get online, get the 6 a.m. emails, Rodney Mailbag, the great podcast, and everything else? Yep. AuburnObserver.com, 6 bucks a month or $60 here. Got a ton of stuff this week on the side about football and a little basketball as well. And we'll be in Tamplin next week. So, jump on board and we'll get you covered from down there. Sounds great, bud.

Listen, have a safe trip. Justin Ferguson of the Auburn Observer. When we come back, talking Amber Pearce and his car lot when we return to the Boomo Bugg Show on 93.9 Discord. This update on the 2026 British Open is brought to you locally by Cypress Lakes Golf Course in Muscle Shoals. Westwood One Sports presents this special report on the 154th Open Championship. Sponsored by Prevagen. Prevagen, made for your brain. Early evening at Royal Birkdale, last few groups on the course here in the second round. Scotty Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau in the same group, both trying to close the gap between them and the leader, Lucas Herbert.

Both parred the 16th. DeChambeau is five under. Scheffler, four under. Four back. No bogeys on the card for Scheffler, but he hasn't made a putt longer than six feet today. Birkdale was no match for Herbert earlier. Nine birdies, only one bogey that came at the last, and a major record tying 62. Herbert is eight under. He leads by two over Cameron Young and Jackson Suber, both at six under. Twenty minutes after Herbert wrapped up, Sam Burns holed out from a bunker at 18 for his own 62. Burns is five under, like DeChambeau, three off the lead.

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Welcome back in quickly, baby. A couple of things here. This is the last week that the sun will set 8 o'clock or later. It's now under 8 o'clock. Next time, mark it down, guys. June 13th next year. Thank goodness we don't have to wait that long for some ACC football talk next week, my friend. Begins Monday. Bonus coverage on the Boomo Bugg show would be 11 to 2 o'clock. The lineup for Monday, the Kentucky Wildcats, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Josh Heupel with Tennessee. And hopefully, we're going to get as many interviews as possible.

But again, the unofficial start of college football begins Monday. The start of the second half of Major League Baseball is tonight. Can the Braves get off on the right foot with Mr. Sell? With Mr. Sell on the mound, they can. But again, they've got to get Austin Riley going. But again, as Bill mentioned, they have got to bring in a veteran starting pitcher. You know, whether it's Scooble or Sonny Gray from the Red Sox, whatever the case may be. I really think they need another bat.

And when you look at the last two years with Acuna, if he can stay healthy, and they've got to get some of these guys going when Acuna gets back, hopefully he can do well. But again, Harold, if you'd have told me in April that they'd have a two-and-a-half game lead after the All-Star break, I would be giddy. You know, we know what's happened. But yeah, they've still got a good chance to win it, but they need some help. I think, Gray, would crawl back to the south.

He's from Murfreesboro. If you've ever been to Boston, in all due respect to Beantown, it ain't the south. He's from Murfreesboro. So I think, all things being equal, he'd love to come back home if he will. Catch the game tonight, the Braves and the Rangers. They'll start tonight two-and-a-half games up on the second-place fields. Check out tonight's game with the Rangers again here at 93-9 to score. It's going to take care of business for now. On behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, and the entire crew here, Harold Buck, thank you so much for your time today.

Let's do it again Monday, 11 to 2. Bonus coverage right here on Sports Radio 93-9, the score.