Boomo Bugg Show 072426

[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 tie, Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. We obviously fell short of our goals when it comes to winning the conference championship, winning more games and competing for our national championship in the playoffs, but there are some steps that I felt we took. I think there's a toughness, there's a culture that exists. You don't win that many games in our conference without, and we want to continue to build.

There you have it. The voice and man behind the scenes in Tuscaloosa, Coach Kalen DeBoer. Good afternoon. Welcome in to the Boomo Bugg Show. Brett Beaird, welcome in. Where the SEC media poll is out. Where does your favorite team roll? Good afternoon. Welcome in. And how are you? Happy Friday to you and the listeners. The SEC media poll is out. Georgia 1, Texas 2, Alabama number 6, Tennessee number 8, Auburn is ranked number 12, according to the esteemed media, attending the SEC media days. Mitch, Tennessee gets a commitment from the first $2 million running back in David Gabriel Georges.

But Jimmy is here right now to recount the tide in Tampa and preview the 2026 football season. Jimmy is happy as co-host of Locked On Bama and the Locked On Network, but I would imagine he'd take that $2 million deal to top the rock for any SEC, or for that matter, any football team anywhere. Maybe I'm wrong about that, Jimmy. Here's your chance to correct me. Otherwise, hello, welcome in, and how are you? Oh, I'm good. I'm good. I'm just wondering if that Tennessee freshman running back is going to make more money than Ryan Silverfield at Arkansas.

Who's higher paid? I'm not sure. Think about that, Jimmy. He is basically making half what Nick Saban got coming to Alabama to head up everything back in the day. It really is. Well, I was going to say absurd. Who knows when we look back on this 10, 12 years from now, if it doesn't look absurd. Sort of like how that Saban contract doesn't look absurd now, but there was an outcry when it happened back in 07. It is crazy to me. I think Lane Kiffin explained this extremely well the other day about how the NFL has this right.

There's rules in place now where there's a rookie pay wage scale where the rookies don't make more money than the veterans. Because, you know, if I'm Deshaun Bishop at Tennessee, who's their all-conference proven veteran running back, I'm wondering where my $2 million is. Jimmy, there's the issue right there. I guarantee you every AD in the country is nervous now because, you know, human nature, just like you said there at Tennessee, it's not only at Tennessee. What's going to happen if Crowell or any of these running backs at Alabama or down at Auburn, name a school, has a great year?

Guess what they're going to do? 30 seconds after chalking up the final numbers, they're going to be knocking on the door with their agent. Show me the bag. Yeah, I mean, this is what happens when you never know if it's someone's intent when it happens, but the reality of it is you somewhat set the market. Or you set the expectation, you know, amongst other players and $2 million for a running back. I mean, in the same year that per the same reporting from Pete Nacos and on three, you know, Manchun Sales, who was the nation's top receiver, who signed with Indiana or committed to Indiana, he's probably more like in the $1.2, $1.3 million range, which is still a lot.

But for the running back to make substantially more, gosh, it just seems like the sport is upside down. But on the other hand, you know, here we are, and where do we go from here? Yeah, absolutely. Jimmy, talking week in Tampa, and boy, did we ever get a lot of it. But your thoughts on the Alabama contingent, the three players, and Kalen DeBoer at the bank? Yeah, you know, one thing about Kalen DeBoer, I don't know, maybe boring is too harsh, but, you know, he's not going to be a guy that everyone looks forward to.

The 16 coaches, and you're talking to the writers, the journalists across the region, like, of the 16, who are you most looking forward to? DeBoer's never going to be on that list. And that's okay. That's okay. It doesn't really matter, right? I mean, how much does that matter? But it is a change for Alabama fans, because for 17 years, Nick Saban headed that list, nor was near the top of it each and every year. That's the coach that everybody wants to hear from. Now that's probably more like Lane, maybe Kirby, maybe Sark, but, you know, DeBoer's not going to be Saban in this regard.

[5:32] But at the same time, he was fine. He was a leader. And I thought the three players he bought were all excellent. Ryan, Coleman Williams, Bray Hubbard, and Zabian Brown all did handle themselves extremely well. We've got to remember that in the age of $2 million high school running backs, that these guys all have brands. And this is excellent exposure for them in terms of expanding and promoting their own brands. That's what college football is in 2026. The thing is, you've got that kind of money with that kind of immaturity.

It can be a storm in the locker room. Be careful. Jimmy Stein, co-host of Locked on Bama. Media poll is out. Jimmy, do you give one flip about it? Because when's the last time you've really been right? Alabama earlier basically said a lot of folks up maybe eight or nine middle of the pack. You know there's a different era now when Alabama's actually getting a pleasant surprise at number six. Yeah. To be honest, I predicted and expected Alabama to finish in this poll. Seventh. That's not my personal prediction, but just where would they finish in this poll.

I thought seventh. And they finished sixth. So you're right, Errol. It was a little higher than even I expected. You know, in terms of whether I care about it, I think I do in this sense. I think this sort of locks in a regional and national perception of where you are. I mean, this is the perception of where Alabama is. Is it the reality? Well, that's what we find out on the field. For instance, last year, and I'll look this up right before we went on air, last year Texas was picked to win the league.

They did not win the league. In fact, they did not even make the playoff. Alabama was picked to finish third. They did better than that. They finished second. You could even argue they finished tied for first because what we're talking about is the regular season. But Alabama finished ahead of where they were perceived to be a year ago. Texas did not even make the playoff. But I'll tell you who did, Oklahoma. And they were picked to finish tenth. Oh, wow. So for that reason, I wouldn't look at this poll like it's, hey, this is how the season's going to play out.

There's too much of a track record of proving this is not how the season is going to play out. But I do think there is some level of importance because it cements what the perception of your program is. And that is important for all sorts of reasons. Jimmy, one of the questions we've heard on Nauseam since the season ended, can Alabama run the friggin' ball more effectively than they did last year? And only time will tell once the season begins. I think they have made some adjustments with the new offensive line coach.

The tight end coach is a former offensive lineman. Crowell, I think, will make a difference. Josh Ford. But in all fairness to Alabama, and I think we talked about this last year, one of your partners in crime, Clint Lamb, had a very good tweet earlier. And he's not trying to make excuses. He just tried to state facts. Of Alabama's 15 opponents last year, nine. Nine were in the top 18 in run defense. Indiana, two. Oklahoma, three. Georgia, four. Auburn, 10. Missouri, 13. Wisconsin, 15. And Vandy, 18. That's amazing to play that many teams in the top 18 nationally in run defense.

It really is. It really is. Yeah, I was on that show when Clint said that, and we talked about it for quite some time, that there's, you know, it's a complex question. How come Alabama couldn't run the ball last year? There's multiple reasons. It's never one reason. I know that for simplicity's sake, it's easier to say, well, the offensive line stunk or the offensive line coach was bad. Well, it is true. That's part of it. I think that was a factor. But there's other factors, like blocking at other positions, like tight end.

Maybe the running backs, the health of that running back room, and whether the running backs were good enough. But one more additional reason that the numbers were as bad as they were was this ridiculously absurd bad luck when it came to scheduling. Yeah. It's not just that Alabama played a tough schedule. Everyone in the SEC does that. But it was an absolutely historically odd collection of the great run defenses in the country. For instance, Oklahoma, elite against the run. You played them twice. That's right. Georgia, elite against the run.

You played them twice. You ended the year playing Indiana, who might have been better against the run than either Oklahoma or Georgia. It was just a crazy collection of tough defenses. Now, some people misread that to say, that's Mayor Clint saying that, hey, this is the reason the run numbers were bad. We didn't come close to saying that. That wasn't what we meant. What we meant was, look, it was never going to be good. They had a lot of problems, some of it personnel, some of it coaching.

[10:52] But an additional reason that the numbers were historically bad was the historical schedule of playing this crazy run of elite run defenses. And just to make sure, hey, this isn't an SEC thing, Clint went further and statistically compared it to who Georgia played and their run defenses. And it wasn't close. Alabama played many more tough run defenses than Georgia did. So it was just a factor and one of the reasons that went into things. Jimmy Stein again, co-host of Locked on Bama. Jimmy, your thoughts, analysis of this schedule, because it's not only who you're playing, where you're playing, and when you're playing.

If I'm not mistaken, of all the teams in the SEC, only Alabama has back-to-bat road games in the conference, that being LSU and Vanderbilt. And I know a lot of folks are going to say, what's the big deal there? Well, look at Vanderbilt over the past few years. By the way, Diego Pavia cut into Baltimore Ravens camp before he ever had a chance. But it is Vanderbilt. They have a lot of promise there with a five-star, rock star coming in. Your thoughts about Alabama's schedule, including that back-to-bat road games in the SEC?

Yeah, it's really tough. Everybody in the SEC is playing tough schedules. I thought the number that really stood out to me after a week of media days was that of the 20 toughest schedules in college football per ESPN, all 16 SEC teams are inside that top 20. But what's notable is that Alabama is near the bottom end of that group. I do think Alabama's schedule is fair compared to most of the SEC. Mississippi State and Oklahoma? Right. I would just say there's seven SEC contenders this year. I see seven teams that can win the SEC, and Alabama's among them.

Of those seven, I think Alabama and Georgia have the most manageable schedules of those seven. And I think in that sense, the schedule's advantageous to Alabama. Now, when you look at Alabama's schedule, it's hard to find advantage anywhere. It just goes to show how incredibly tough the league is, how incredibly deep it is, because you say that Alabama's, you know, one of the two most manageable schedules amongst the contenders. It doesn't look manageable at all, but it is easily divided into three sections. I call it the first five, the nightmare four, and then the manageable three at the end, meaning that in the first five games, you're probably a double-digit favorite in all five.

A couple of them include SEC road games that will not be easy wins, period. But you are going to be favored to win those first five. Then you play those middle four, which is just really, really tough. Georgia at Tennessee, Texas A&M at LSU. That's a crazy four-game stretch. But then you end the year at Vanderbilt, who's probably taken some steps back, UT Chattanooga, and then Auburn at home. It might be different if that Auburn game was on the road, but it's in Tuscaloosa. So, to me, it's the first five that you should win.

The middle four, which will tell the world if you're a playoff team or not. And then the final three, those are also games that this Alabama team should win. Yeah, I agree with you, Jimmy. I know a lot of fans and journalists are looking at that Georgia game as a litmus test. Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, they will prove something to me if they go to Knoxville the next week and show some maturity and beat Tennessee for the first time in three tries. We'll see where that goes.

Can't think of a better way to end Friday than beginning the show with Jimmy Stein. And you and Luke do six days a week, I know. A lot of material this week. Jimmy, where can we get online and get the best Alabama sports podcast on the planet? Yeah, thanks, Brett. Locked on Bama. You can find us on YouTube. You can find us wherever you get your audio podcasts if you understandably don't want to see our faces. So, either way, locked on Bama with myself and Luke Robinson.

Today's a week. Well, I don't think you need to be reminded, but six weeks from tomorrow, guess what happens? Jimmy, get some rest, and thank you so much. In the meantime, have a great weekend, all right? Hey, appreciate it, guys. Have a great weekend, too. Thank you, buddy. Jimmy Stein, co-host of Locked on Bama. He's locked on the entire SEC. Blake Lovell on deck on the Boomhole Bug Show. Stay with us. I've always wanted to learn French, but the app I tried didn't help. If you want to memorize words in another language, there's an app for that.

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That's G-U-S-T-O dot com. Gusto dot com. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Let me put it to you this way, okay? Like, would you quit your job before interviewing for another job or being offered another job? No, no, nobody would. But, right, but we have a portal that you can go in with a do not contact. I'm going to quit my job where I'm getting paid. And I'm going to go in saying I need a new job, but nobody can call me to interview.

Like, what have we created? So, we've created it on top of representation for these players, right? That it's their responsibility to make sure they get paid really well and they also have opportunities. So, by design, it's put a lot of people in bad positions. And let's not act like recruiting in college football for the last hundred years is the most moral thing, right, that's ever been existed. I mean, like, what are we talking about here? But, no, I mean, the model, obviously, has been broken. And I'm all for everybody being on the same playing field and doing the same things.

[21:28] I get it. But I think that's in any job, right? Like, coaches, we're under contract. You don't think other ADs are calling us during the year? Same ones that are b****** about all this stuff are the same ones calling coaches, right, to come to other schools, right, and everything. So, it's everywhere. It's in every profession. So, I'm not saying I've got all the answers. I'm not saying that at all, right? Does that make sense? So, we go by then the rules of the program, right, and how the flow, just like when you're on the interstate and people are flying by you, what do you start doing?

You're d*** right. You're going to get hit, right? Does that make sense? In this profession, you're going to get fired. Welcome back in to the Boomo Bugg Show. Those are thoughts of the one and only Pete Golding, and he had quite a few thoughts. Harold's going to rejoin us here in just a minute, but delighted to bring in Blake Lovell, who does a tremendous job of covering the SEC for Southeastern 16. Blake, did you write Pete Golding's script this week? Not quite, Brad. It was probably one that was predictable in terms of, like, what you expected with the delivery.

It's going to be very unpredictable in terms of what he actually said. So, no, I mean, hey, there's not a lot of people like him, and I think that's why Ole Miss was like, you know what, we're fine with this guy as our head football coach. Yeah, it was a colorful week. The word fertilizer was used quite a bit. Nick Saban twice, Jon Sumrall twice, and I think another one got slipped in there, too. Your thoughts on media, Dave's? I know a lot of the coaches talked about how to handle roster construction.

Everybody wanted to hear from the five new coaches. I thought Silverfield, Ryan Silverfield at Arkansas did a very good job. Sumrall, Stein, who's rather confident. Golding, Golich, and, of course, we know Lane just switched schools. Why couldn't teams run the ball? And then Greg Sankey got everything started with the bang. Your thoughts on media, Dave? Yeah, like you said, I think it was a lot of the off-the-field stuff that was really the big discussion, as we expected, whether it was, again, Greg Sankey starting off with, you know, I feel like the common theme this week is that the SEC is just, you know, this big threat is facing SEC football, and I don't know if that's necessarily the case.

Obviously, you know, it's a difficult time, I think, for coaches and all that in terms of how they are constructing their rosters and trying to figure out their path to playoffs, of course, that got into the whole nine-game schedule, and you just kind of keep going, again, in a lot of these things that I think that fans are interested in, but at the same time, you know, as well as anybody, but it's like fans also just want to hear about their teams. They don't necessarily want to get into the ins and outs all the time of all these, again, systematic-type things that I feel like we have really just been all immersed in over the past, you know, couple years now, and I think that's just something where all these things will eventually kind of work themselves out, but I thought that was it, really.

It's just, you know, probably fans are thinking, you know what, I would have liked to hear a lot more about my team, but you'll get that, of course, as we get closer to the season. Blake Lovell, hooking it with us, Southeastern 16. Blake, obviously, the poll is out from the media. Maybe this year they'll get it right. Everybody pretty much had Texas pencils in. They got Georgia being the top dog. Texas is second. Relative to us, Blake, Alabama is number six. Auburn is number 12. A lot of folks criticizing the board. I will say this. Everybody loving Pete Golding. This is July.

It doesn't matter. We've been around this rodeo too many years. If you win, they don't care if you're a rattlesnake. If you lose, they don't care if you've got a halo on your head. I'm talking about they being fans. Your thoughts about the poll and Alabama and Auburn, respectively, at six and 12. Well, let's keep this in mind, and this is where, as always, the poll is going to be put out, but without context, I think you're really missing a big part of this, because why? Well, Ole Miss got 2,004 points in the poll at number three, and Oklahoma, at number seven, got 1,914 points.

So there's 90 points that are separated from teams three to seven. I mean, there's just virtually no gap there when you talk about Ole Miss, A&M, LSU, Alabama, and Oklahoma when it comes to the voters in the preseason poll. Yes, as expected, Georgia and Texas are going to have a few more than everybody else, and that was no surprise. It was just going to be a matter of what order, and, of course, that one was very close, too. So I think that's kind of been the theme of the offseason thus far, is that, you know, all those teams, like, it really is.

It was going to be those five. They've been kind of a jumbled mess for people, and how do you sort out the order? Well, we'll sort it out come September, but for now, I don't read a lot into it. I just think it tells you that there are, you know, five teams there. If you do want to kind of go with that peer system and say Georgia and Texas are above everyone, then you've kind of got this group here that feel like all of them, the expectation is to make the playoff this year.

That's probably not going to happen, and so who's going to be the team or team that is left out? That becomes the big discussion, and then with Auburn, you know, honestly, I didn't have a great read on where I thought they would be picked. I just thought, again, it was really going to come down to if you're really looking at the personnel and what your confidence is in Alex Colish. In all honesty, I think I would probably have been a little bit fine putting Auburn ahead of a South Carolina, but the other teams, I don't think you can really argue that.

[26:53] I think Florida is the team with the first-year coach minus, again, the Lane and Golding ones with guys who have already actually coached in this league or on their specific team. I thought Florida would be the one that would get the most votes. They did, and so Auburn, to me, I think is going to be right there in that sleeper-type category. I thought Josh Heupel was in, for him, a particularly good mood on Tuesday. We found out why on Wednesday when he gets a commitment from five-star running back David Gabriel Georges for a three-year contract at $2 million plus other incentives.

Your thoughts on the $2 million man? Yeah, I mean, listen, you guys have heard it. I've heard it from other people that I respect that this is one of the best players they've seen at the high school level, and I think that's just when you hear stuff like that. Again, we're always going to maybe overreact to some more recent stuff with recency bias and everything, but you don't hear these kind of people talk guys up that way. And I think when you look at just what his skill set is, and you've mentioned contracts, Josh Heupel's saying, yeah, let's bring up that contract word because he may be buying me a little bit more time here.

Because, again, Tennessee's picked eight in the preseason. We know Tennessee fans don't want to be picked eight. They want to be one, two, three. They don't want to be an eight because that means you're probably on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff and all that. And so I think that was huge for Josh Heupel because what that does, and we know the impact of these kind of things, doesn't mean everything, but you better believe when you have a player like this coming in, you're going to give yourself a little bit of wiggle room there.

And so, of course, you can't go four and eight this year or anything like that, but if Tennessee can kind of, again, be what the expectation is or be better, then obviously that gives Josh Heupel a lot of momentum heading into next season when you add a player like this. So, yeah, there's no doubt, very significant addition, and, again, someone who could be talked about for a long time to come if it translates the way we think it will. And let's just be honest with you, Blake.

Smart business people, they don't always look in terms of what they're spending. They look at what they're investing. Alabama invested $4 million. How much did they make back on that $4 million? They could have gone out and probably got somebody probably for $900,000. Where would they be now? Sometimes it's cheaper to pay a high price than it is to go and nickel and dime yourself to death. Yeah, and, look, I don't know what Tennessee's protocol is on selling their season tickets for next year yet, but if I'm there, go ahead and get them on sale right this time before you end up the game this year.

You've got the moment of bringing in this guy. So, go ahead and get those tickets full for next year because I'm telling you, you know, it's going to probably, again, produce quite a bit of revenue and quite a financial haul that's going to be, I think, by bringing him in. Blake, I saw some clips on that kid. Well, I've seen some before, but I saw more yesterday. He looks like a young Hershel Walker. Oh, boy. And, again, I know people are going to get carried away with this, but when you look at his clips, and you've got to take into account the caliber of competition that he was playing, but one play in particularly, he broke five tackles and just outran the secondary.

It's just the way he runs. I think that's where, like you said, we can't compare guys to people who have had Hall of Fame careers and all this other stuff, but you can compare style. Like, you can compare, again, how guys play, and you can see, especially, I think, in a running back, the way they attack, and I think that's very important. You can see how a guy runs, and I think that has been kind of the main comparison is that if you do want to go ahead and get on the hype train, because it is, you know, right now he's not played a game in college, but if you want to jump all in, it is easy to spot some of those similarities with some of the greats that we've seen because of how he runs, and I think that's the big thing, is he just feels like he's got the ultimate combination of everything you need to be a great, great running back, and so, yeah, and I think, again, when you look at just kind of the state of Tennessee and knowing this year what all the talk's going to be, it's going to be around the quarterback position and maybe the unknown with the balls, and I know Tennessee fans were absolutely shuddering at the idea when Josh Heupel mentioned possibly playing two quarterbacks.

We know what that means, but this is something that you can, again, really much lean on and feel like this is a guy who can be potentially a game changer for our program, and again, I think a lot of it has to do with just the style. Absolutely. Well, listen, always great stuff. I know Southeastern 16, your staff has got the college football preseason as far as schedules, teams, players, predictions, all of that handled. By the way, Nate Oates bringing in that seven-foot Canadian was quite interesting, as I know you noticed that earlier this week.

[31:59] Where can we get online to get the great stuff? Yeah, I really appreciate it, guys. Yeah, check us out over at Southeastern 16, plenty of SEC football stuff to get you ready for the upcoming season, and, yeah, lots of off-season basketball and baseball stuff as well. There's Southeastern 16 on YouTube. Thanks. Listen, man, have a great weekend. Let's do it again soon, okay? Thanks, guys. Thank you, bud. Great level of South Eastern 16. Can you imagine in this day and time, what would be the value of a Hershel Walker or a Bo Jackson baby right now?

Well, it's, yeah, I know. I know. It'd be incredible. Back up the brink truck and then bring another one. Coming up, speaking of the gold mine, let's talk about the big orange diamond in the rough with Ryan Callahan on deck on the Boom O' Buck Show. 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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Teams battling through adversity. Athletes fighting for every yard. The toughest warriors I've ever seen, though, aren't on the field. They're kids fighting cancer. They're families standing beside them. Doctors, nurses, caregivers. That's why I'm proud to support Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 28 years, they've helped fund pediatric cancer research, raising more than $303 million and supporting over 40,000 children. Learn more and donate at HyundaiUSA.com backslash hopeonwheels. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93-9. The score. The Atlanta Braves were winners yesterday. They beat the Padres 6-5. Both teams, 9 hits.

Chris Sale earned the win. He's 11-6. Braves now 60-42. Braves will play in Baltimore tonight as they start a series with the Orioles. Grant Holmes will start for Atlanta. He's 6-4. The PGA Tour is at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota. It's round number two of the 3M Open today. Ben Cole's had the day one lead at nine under par. The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon for the Brickyard 400. It's also the championship for the in-season challenge where Ryan Blaney and Todd Gilliland will race for the $1 million prize.

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. The Colonels cooked up a new $10 bucket of the day just for you. Monday, 24 nuggets for $10. Tuesday, 8-piece fried chicken for $10. Wednesday, 10 wings for $10. Thursday, 8 tenders for $10. Friday, 24 nuggets for… Oh, you guessed it, didn't you? $10, the $10 bucket of the day deal. Every weekday, only at KFC, it's finger-lickin' good. Prices and participation very well. Supplies last not available on third-party ordering platforms. Tax extra. Progressive knows you could have easily taken the freeway, but you took the scenic route to see a waterfall and an oddly busy boiled peanut stand.

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Well, I think Ryan Callahan and a lot of folks may have the answer to that when it comes to talking Tennessee. RC is busy there at Gold Balls 24-7. Ryan Callahan, welcome in. How are you? Hey, guys. Doing well. How are you? Hey, buddy. Man, we're just wondering, is there gold in them dar heels of East Tennessee? We thought Fort Knox was in Kentucky. But after this latest news about the running back, have they moved Fort Knox from Kentucky to Knoxville? Well, Tennessee got its guy, that's for sure.

Five-star running back David Gabriel George of Baylor School in Chattanooga is committed to Tennessee. He picked the balls over Ohio State and Ole Miss on Wednesday. Very lucrative deal, it sounds like, and definitely a situation where he was the guy Tennessee wanted from the beginning in this class. And they were pretty much all in on him for the past year or more. And so this was their plan all along, to devote whatever resources necessary, essentially, to get a running back that they view as kind of a generational talent, perhaps, in the state of Tennessee.

There have been some good running backs from this state over the years. You know, Jalen Hurd, Ty Chandler, and Eric Gray that played at Tennessee. Master Teague that went to Ohio State. There have been some good ones. But to have a guy like this come down from Canada and just happen to play at a school 90 minutes from Knoxville, I think Tennessee just viewed this as a rare opportunity to get a really special player. And just the kind of guy that once you saw what he was, I think Tennessee decided, you know, we can't let this guy go to Ohio State or Georgia or somewhere else and be an All-American.

We need to keep him in state. And so they made it happen. So give Tennessee credit. They've had a pretty remarkable track record in kind of getting their guy when they set their sights on a top target. It's been Niko Iamaliava a few years ago. David Sanders a couple years ago, Faison Brandon and T.K. Keyes last year. So when they really zero in on someone like that, they tend to get their guy. And that's a statement for Josh Heupel's staff and certainly a reflection of the kind of resources they're able to devote to those guys.

It's amazing, Ryan. When you're a good salesman, you got $2 million, what you can do with those skills, right? So let me ask you this. Obviously, Nick Saban said the other day, if you can play, you can play. But all things are relative. How good is the competition there that Baylor has on the schedule? Sometimes over the course of time, you get a man amongst boys. And then when you wrap it up, we saw this week with Diego Pavi. He was pretty good at Vanderbilt. He goes to the NFL and it's like, pick a door, Diego.

We'll see you later. How good is the competition for Baylor? You know, anywhere in Tennessee, I feel like it's pretty hit and miss. You know, it's become a much better state for producing top-level talent over the past 10 to 15 years than it used to be. But it's still, in terms of facing great players on a weekly basis, it's not the Atlanta area. It's not South Florida. You know, there's still a difference there. With that being said, Baylor faces some of the best competition that Tennessee has to offer in that top private school division, Division II, AAA.

And to that point, on a pretty talented team and against some pretty talented competition, this guy won Mr. Football as a sophomore at Baylor. And he wasn't even the number one running back on his team. He was behind a guy named Shaqai Mills Knight, a four-star is now at Ole Miss. So as a guy splitting carries, he won that kind of honor as a sophomore in the state's top classification. Won it again last year, despite battling some injuries that kept him out of a couple games.

In 10 games, ran for 1,700-plus yards and 27 touchdowns, had a 400-yard game in the playoff against Macaulay, a crosstown rival that's usually among Baylor's main competition for the state championship. So that's a very good competition that he did that against. An average 10.9 yards per carry. And that's the number that Andrew Ivins, our director of scouting, often points to in scouting running backs. You know, you see lots of guys that rack up yards against, you know, small school competition in the public school ranks and things like that.

But when a guy averages 10 yards per carry, that usually takes a, no matter of the competition, that takes some pretty special ability usually. So to have that kind of average yards per carry against that level of competition, I think, is a reflection of the kind of talent you're talking about with him. Ryan, without trying to get carried away here, I looked at several clips yesterday, and that's why I mentioned earlier about the question about the caliber. But he just, as Blake Lovell, our friend that we talked to earlier in the show, said, he just attacks a defense.

[42:09] He brought five tackles, and then with his speed out, ran the secondary on one play that I saw. And it's obvious that he is, I would agree now, again, we'll see, against SEC defenses would be a potential generational talent. Listen, he's not the only one that Tennessee's got commitments from for next season, as far as four and five stars. Talk about some of the other jewels in this class. Yeah, it's not a class that's currently as deep as some they've had in recent years in terms of highly ranked players, but they do have a handful of really good ones at the top of the class.

And the interesting thing about this, the top, you know, all but one of the top 247 prospects in their class are from the state of Tennessee. They've got Keyshawn Bowman, a wide receiver who's a top 100 player from Brentwood Academy. Those two teams will square off in, I believe, a nationally televised showdown on a Thursday night next month. So that'll be a fun one to watch with three Tennessee commitments in that game, including Kenneth Simon II, the former Alabama linebacker commitment who flipped to Tennessee last month. So those guys will all be on the same field, but those are three of the top guys in Tennessee's class for sure.

And then Malik Howard, a four-star tight end from Oak Ridge High School just down the road from Knoxville. So those guys are kind of the headliners of Tennessee's class right now. And then obviously Nico Kompass, the four-star offensive tackle from Germany, who's now at NFL Academy in England, was one of Tennessee's more recent commitments. And he's also one of those top 247 guys. And then another four-star from in-state, Princeton-Uefo, an offensive tackle from Murfreesboro that gave Tennessee an early commitment last fall. So still some good players in this class, but maybe not quite the depth yet.

They're up to 18 commitments total. So they're now in the top 25 nationally. They've been kind of down there, kind of hanging out with Alabama. It's one of those classes that you're stretching your head about wondering how they're that far down. But a big boost in the rankings yesterday or Wednesday with the addition of David Gabriel George. And starting to look a little more like the classes we're accustomed to seeing Tennessee sign. And now it's going to be a question of maybe who they can flip during the season that might give them a chance to move up even farther.

Ryan Callahan, Go Vols 24-7. The media geniuses are out with their poll, Ryan. Basically, it says that half the teams in the SEC are better than Tennessee. The other half, Tennessee's better than them. In other words, pretty much smack dab in the middle. They rate an eight in the SEC media poll. Your critique of that number? Yeah, that's really where I thought they would be. I was asked earlier this week, and my guess was eight. But somewhere in the middle of the pack, it seemed like they were pretty much destined to end up there.

To Josh Heupel's credit, they've gotten Tennessee to the point that I think people kind of expect them to be at least a decent team most years and kind of give that staff the benefit of the doubt. And they do have a good bit of talent on the roster. And a lot of players around the quarterback on both sides of the ball, for that matter, that make you think they could be pretty good this year. At the same time, there's just so many good teams at the top of the SEC that don't have the question a quarterback of having to break in either a true freshman or redshirt freshman who's never started, that don't have the question marks on defense, where you've got a first-year defensive coordinator and several new guys out of the transfer portal, and you're not quite sure how that's going to work out after Tennessee was ranked close to 100th nationally in a few major categories.

So just some question marks that are hard to overlook. And yeah, look, I mean, the media, we knock it out of the park every year, right? I mean, how many times have we gotten the SEC championship? Right. I think once in the last eight years or something like that, we've failed the SEC champion. It's hard to get it right. But yeah, I mean, I think that's a fair assessment probably of where Tennessee is. They're one of those teams that's probably in the second tier among the contenders where you don't expect them to make the college football playoff.

And a lot of things would have to fall into place for them, for them to be a college football playoff team. But they're good enough that on any given Saturday, they're going to be a tough out for most of the teams they face. And the SEC, that kind of puts you right smack dab in the middle. Eli Drinkwood came out earlier this week and said, SEC coaches are going to regret going to that ninth conference game. And with only one bye week, I think they already are.

But we knew that now one thing I like about the new schedule is you're not going to have teams going a decade without going to another team's venue. But isn't it interesting this year, Tennessee had played Florida for 34 consecutive, let me see, 36 consecutive years and Georgia for 34. Tennessee does not play Florida and Georgia this year. And when I looked at the schedule initially, I thought, am I saying that right? What are your subscribers and Tennessee fans, they may be saying, thank you, God, we don't play Georgia this year.

But with the tradition-rich SEC, what comments have you heard about that? Yeah, you know, I think fans have had a while to get used to it, so there's not been as much talk about it recently. But it's still, yeah, it's very different to not have Florida coming to Knoxville this year. They were at the Swamp last year. To not be going back to Georgia this year, it just became such an annual thing in the years of the SEC East, especially, that it's hard to imagine it being different.

[47:35] So it is going to be very strange. At the same time, you know, we've already kind of gotten used to the, you know, breaking out of division play. Tennessee didn't play South Carolina the last couple of years, and that had become a very important and pretty competitive series for years, where Tennessee's had some damaging losses to South Carolina. And only because they have permanent rival status with them will Vanderbilt and Kentucky stay on the schedule. You know, they haven't played Missouri recently, so it's a different world.

But yeah, those Florida and Georgia games in particular, those are going to be strange ones not to see on the schedule. And we'll see how fans receive this over the long term. I think the fact that you're going to face teams like that about every other year takes away some of the sting, but it does recalibrate kind of how you view those games. You know, you would imagine the rivalry status those teams once held, certainly Florida in particular for Tennessee, not going to be quite the same, I would imagine, with them being on the schedule twice every four years.

So it's different, and yeah, a sign of the times. But I think if you ask most fans, I think all things considered, they would probably rather have it this way, because regardless, now, Eli Drinkwitz and those people, they're talking about it from the coach's perspective, because it's going to be harder to get to eight wins, nine wins, especially ten wins. They don't like that. That's about job security for them. But for fans and for people just absorbing the product, it's going to be a better product.

You know, the NFL, you don't have to worry about having three games that are gimmies on the schedule. College football, you've still got three. There's still three out of the 12 games you're going to watch that are essentially pushovers most years. So this makes it a better product, and it's a grind, but it's going to be more fun for fans, because there's going to be fewer games you can pencil in as wins going into any season. Ryan, just about to put a rock and seal this talking season, you're going to be getting down to action before we know it.

When does Tennessee open up camp, and what is your gut about the vibe for this team this season? Well, they start Wednesday, August 5th, since that's about exactly a month out from their season opener against the performance, so I would imagine that's about the start date for everybody. But yeah, Tennessee will have a preseason media day on Tuesday, August 4th. We'll hear from the quarterbacks that day, and that'll probably be the last time we hear from those guys before a starter is named, I would imagine.

Yeah, but that'll be getting started here in less than two weeks. So yeah, I think the overall vibe for this team, it's interesting to hear Josh Heupel talk about it this week at SEC media days, and sure, look, no coach goes down there and says, you know, I think we're in trouble. I think we're really not in good shape. So with that caveat, still, he seemed rather loose and kind of upbeat about this team. I think he feels he's got a pretty good football team, and for that matter, in talking about the biggest concern about this team, the quarterback situation, and some of this was from his years at UCF, so that's a different level of competition you're facing there.

But even with Nico Iamaliava a couple years ago when they made the college football playoff with him as a redshirt freshman, he said, hey, look, we've done it a few times with freshman quarterbacks, so he doesn't seem too concerned about that, and I think in their system, they feel like there's some things they can do to make things a little simpler for a talented young quarterback, so that's the big question mark about this team. If they can answer it as well as he seems to think they can, they've got a chance to maybe surprise some people, because they do have a good bit of talent on both sides of the ball around that quarterback, but still some other questions to answer.

We talked about the pass rush. They've got to figure that out. The offensive line returns four starters from last year, but they didn't play that well at the end of last season. I saw one ranking recently that had them the seventh best offensive line in the country. If they play that well, they'll be a good team. If they don't, it might be a different story, so they've got some questions to answer, but I think Josh Heupel feels pretty good about this team. A lot of veterans outside of the quarterbacks, and still some things you can point to and say they ought to be pretty good there.

Absolutely. Ryan, I guess it's the traditionalist in me. I still remember vividly the first night game in mid-September on CBS. It was Tennessee and Florida with Spurrier and Fulmer. So many great games there over the years, but you're right. Football evolves in mood zone, but great stuff. Thank you for coming on with short notice. Listen, glad you enjoyed media days. Had a lot of things to talk about this week. Where can we get online to get your stuff and the teams? Yeah, govolts247.com. Plenty of coverage wrapping up SEC media days, including that preseason poll.

The all-SEC teams just came out earlier as well. So, yeah, breaking all that down and looking ahead to one more announcement coming up and involving a Tennessee target next week, Asa Barnes and in-state running backs of all. They're still hoping to add to go along with DGG that they added on Wednesday. So, then preseason camp will be here before you know it. So, lots to check out and plenty of coverage at govolts247.com. Ryan, as always, good to hook up with you. By the way, send us some of that money you guys got up there in East Tennessee, okay?

I'm still trying to get an NIL deal myself working on that. Maybe we're getting lucky, right? Listen, I hope you have a great weekend. Ryan Callahan busy there at Go Vols 24-7. Coming up the next time, I'm going to be taking you all over the place. The Hall of Famer, Doug Segrist, Justin Ferguson, talking about the Auburn Tigers. Emmer Pierce is going to be on board. And it's all going to lead off with Mike Huguenen. That's straight ahead on the Boom Up Bug Show. Stay with us.

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Now Mondani is the mayor of a major U.S. city. Tuberville spoke about it on the Benny Johnson podcast. Yeah, the guy's a thug. You know, he came here eight years ago. That's when I started running for this position. It's amazing to me. We allow a guy to come in this country just a few years ago, lie about everything on his papers to get into this country. And for some reason, we have enough people in New York that would vote for this guy to run the largest and the most popular city in the world.

It just goes to show you how close we are to losing our country because the guy hates this country. He wants to change it. And it's not going to happen. It is not going to happen. We're not going to allow him, just because he's mayor of New York, to be able to change our Constitution and everything that we believe in. And that my dad died on active duty in this country. And I tell you what, we owe it to the people that have lost their lives or given their lives or limbs to put this country where it's at.

And we're not going to allow a thug like this to change it and take us another direction. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Covenant Rescue Group seeks to directly support organizations and agencies that are fighting the global battle against human trafficking. They do this through funding, procuring, and advocating. You can go to covenantrescue.org for further details. They need your donations, guys. Hop on and donate. Two people have been arrested by federal marshals after a two-year-old boy was abducted from his home in Enterprise.

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Guardian Tax Service is really great to work with. They really help me out. I'd recommend them highly. Call now for a free confidential consultation. night after night, the Atlanta Braves take the field with one thing on their minds, getting a W. tonight, Ozzie Albies and the Braves hit the road for a quick interleague stop in Baltimore, taking on the Orioles at Camden Yards. Braves radio is on the air at 550 Central on the Braves radio network. Brought to you locally by the law firm of Johnson Pesture, Medley and Virtual, J.C. Hammonson, First Metro Bank, nationwide insurance agents Michael Doe and Bill Cochran, Champy's Famous Fried Chicken, Mefford Jewelers, Valley Credit Union, Mugshots Grill and Bar, Certified Alarm, Southern Pride Pest Control, Lost Pizza, Cypress Creek Indoor Range, and Alabama Health Guidance.

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The Paul Feinbaum Show, weekdays at 3 Eastern on the ESPN app and on the SEC network. Evan, Canty, and Michelle are Unsportsmanlike. I think it's a very important year for Nick Sirianni. It's a pivotal year, and if they don't have the level of success that everybody thinks they should, which is not only winning the division, but winning in the postseason, then I think there's a very real scenario where Nick Sirianni is no longer the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles after this season. Unsportsmanlike. Weekday mornings starting at 6 Eastern on ESPN Radio and on ESPN2.

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The Boomo Bugg Show. New exclusive inside track to the Tide. Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. You know, I made a challenging decision and change. And I think as I look back to that, I thought I could find a way for everybody to understand. And now as I look back later on, that was never going to happen. And I made a decision that I changed jobs. And as I get older and I go through things and losing both parents, I was actually talking to Ross Dellinger, and I kind of said something that might sound kind of funny to you, but, you know, I watched the Hulk Hogan special.

And I realized and I was like, we're all going to die. And so some of the things that we put importance on, we worry about, and what this person says and that, like, really aren't going to matter. And when I lost my dad, I started thinking that. And I really started thinking, when I grew up, there were two people that I thought just wouldn't die. My dad and Hulk Hogan. And then I watched that special and really, like, Hulk Hogan died too. Like, there was no way Hulk Hogan was ever going to not wrestle and die.

And he did. And so it just made me reflect really on, like, I can't be so concerned about little things and what people say and this. And you've got to make decisions. You've got to go with them. There you have it. Let's move over, Plato. There is the philosopher of 2026, one Lane Kiffin, a.k.a. now the top tiger at LSU. Welcome in our tour to the Boom Old Bug Show. I'm Harold Bugg. That's Brett Beaird. And that is the man in Orlando, National College football slash basketball analyst, Mike Hogan.

Mike, welcome in. How are you? You know, I wasn't at SEC Media Days, and I certainly didn't watch on TV, but I did read some of the transcripts and some of the, most of the stories written out of there. And, you know, Kiffin can be a very charming person. But I'm not, I'll be honest, when I read the quote about, I watched the Hulk Hogan documentary came away with, everybody's going to die. I don't think I need to see a documentary to realize that. And to me, it was a very tortured way of saying you shouldn't care what people think.

Thank you. I don't think Lane Kiffin has ever told me what people think. Not the opposite, Mike. He loves it. Yeah, the idea he thought he could leave Ole Miss the way he did, and Ole Miss people would, oh, yeah, good job. Good job, Lane. Have fun in Baton Rouge. You know, come on. It's more of his, you know, just like last year, in the middle of the season, Kiffin sits down with writers, I'm a changed man, blah, blah, blah. You know, he is who he is, and he always will be.

[1:03:48] Yeah. Well, I mean, let's face, he's got dimples. He's got a curl up top. He's well-coived. You know, you look at Lane, it's like he goes with a clothing consultant, makes sure that I look good. And then you look at the guys replacing me at Ole Miss, and it looks like he's the guy that went down to the Salvation Army and said, give me some clothes, I've got to go to the SEC Media Days, and after that, I'm going to go to the bar and have a beer with the boys.

What a contrast for Ole Miss. Got the full-time job shortly after Kiffin left, and, you know, I'm not sure that's going to pay off. Obviously, it was a smart move at the time, although I think they could have made him the interim. Let's look at Pete Golding this way. If we're sitting here a year ago today, if anybody would have asked, name five SEC assistants who will become an SEC head coach the quickest. Absolutely nobody you talk to. That's right. No honest person. No, exactly. So, he certainly is different than Kiffin.

I think he cuts corners like Kiffin, though. He's going to have, you know, I think the Ole Miss defense will be as good as it was last year when it was good enough to get to the quarterfinals of the CSP. But I'm extremely interested in seeing the offense, totally new coaching staff on that side of the ball. Now, Chambliss is back. Keywon Lacy's back. They've got some good receivers. But I still think Ole Miss takes a step back. And I think at some point this season, Ole Miss fans are going to say, you know, maybe we should have just made him the interim and gone out and gotten a coach because Kiffin made it into a good job.

Yeah. And I think they took the easy way out. It was smart to have Golding finish out the year, but I'm not sure it was smart to make him the permanent coach. Let me ask you about some of the themes of media days. One of them was the talking heads would ask each coach, how do you handle roster construction? Most of them have hired a general manager, which is a real key now in helping construct a roster. Ryan Silverfield, who I was impressed with yesterday, literally came out and said, look, we've got, I think he said, 80 new players.

Alabama's got 50 new players. And you just go on down the list. But he said, I'm still going to look at signing high school players, probably 20 to 25. We'll sign 10 to 20 transfer portal. And then you mentioned something else that is new, which is what Kalen DeBoer has been talking about in the offseason is roster retention. What we've got to be aware, first of all, you've got to develop these guys. But if they have a good year, we're going to have to pay them more money, in other words, to keep them here for another year.

But all the coaches said, look, it's a challenge now. You know the issue, but you followed the transfer portal for years. But I thought that was one of the central themes for SEC Media Days this week was asking the coaches about roster retention or construction. If any of the 16 had been truly honest, the first answer would have been said, well, you need a lot of money. Because, you know, you can be the greatest X's and O's guy in the world. Thank you. But if your players are not high caliber, ultimately it's not going to matter.

And then you had Sarkeesian on the other end saying, oh, you know, we had to make salary cap cuts because we wanted to bring in all these guys. And I read that and I'm thinking, dude, you better win or else you should get fired. And you should get fired considering how much money you're spending and how cavalier you are about this. But I think, yeah, I think every coach, if everything was working right, would sign between 10 and, I would argue, 15 guys out of the portal. I think roster retention is vital.

Most of your money, I think, should be tied up in those kind of players. The concern slash issue is I signed a kid out of high school. He plays in four games as a freshman and he's thinking, no, I'm gone. And I think that's the issue. You have to pay a lot of money to high school kids off their promise, not necessarily their production. Now, the kids who come in as freshmen and play right away, you know they're going to get their money. But it is, I think, more difficult now.

In the old days, hey, you know, we've got a third-year sophomore who's worked his way up. Well, chances are a third-year sophomore these days is at least his second school. Mike, you're going to be in the huddle with us. Mike, did you notice the new kids on the block? It was almost like they're already in competitive mode. Will Stein comes out and he throws it down. Then Alex Skolish comes out, he throws it down. And then Jon Sumrall comes out, he throws it down. No lack of testosterone for the new kids on the block.

[1:09:15] Your thoughts about the new boys in the SEC? Will Stein certainly has a lot of confidence. Will Stein also is leaving one of the best financial – he's leaving a program that is in a different financial strata than Kentucky. Will Stein has been coaching great players. I don't think anybody looks at Kentucky and says, oh, man, that team is loaded. And some of this stuff I think is false bravado. You have to put on a happy face, that kind of stuff. But, yeah, Silverfield, to me, has a bad team.

Stein has a bad team. I think Gullish and Sumrall have the more talented squads, especially with the Auburn defense. That's a solid unit. But, yeah, I think it's going to be – let's put it this way. There's four new coaches in the SEC this year, not counting Kiffin. Three years from now, I'm saying only two are going to still be there. Wow. I think in this day and age, Kurt Cignetti made things more difficult for everybody. Yeah, absolutely. If you're not successful in year two now, I think you're on the chopping block.

And it's – especially in the SEC. And maybe I should have said three – yeah, 20-29, maybe just two of these guys are there. I think Sumrall and Gullish are taking over the better programs. I think it's going to be a heck of a lot tougher for Stein and Silverfield. And people forget – Will Stein's a young guy. In 2019, Will Stein was an high school offensive coordinator in Austin. 2019. And, you know, that's seven years ago. That's right. And now he's coaching the SEC team as the head coach. So, it was interesting to see how the new guys handled themselves.

I think it was a little bit of false bravado on the part of Stein and Silverfield. Mike, I thought another theme was interesting from the talking heads was, why did some of the top teams in the SEC have such a problem running the ball last year? Texas, Oklahoma, LSU, and Alabama. Texas was 90th. Oklahoma, LSU, and Alabama were 113 to 123 nationally running the ball. Now, all four of these teams have made some major efforts to try to improve the run game this year. But that was interesting.

A league that is known for physicality and run the ball, that four or five of the top tens couldn't do it last year. You know, this wasn't Kentucky and South Carolina and Missouri. You know, Missouri ran the ball on everybody. Yeah. This was premier programs that couldn't get out of their own way when they ran the ball. I think part of that is their offensive line is all underachieved. I'm not sure about the quality of the running back. And I think part of it, though, I mean, all those teams, I think, felt more comfortable throwing it.

But I think one reason for that is, well, we have to throw because we can't run. And I think the physicality aspect, certainly Alabama and certainly Texas and certainly LSU, the idea that those guys were inept running the ball, that's embarrassing. And that cannot happen. LSU didn't really run the ball during the Brian Kelly era, which is interesting because he was a guy who relied on the run in Notre Dame. So, I knew the importance of offensive linemen. So, you know, Alabama's got, what, I think three new starters on the offensive line.

LSU's got four. Texas A&M's another one with four new starters. Texas has new starters on the line. The physicality aspect, SEC defensive lines, even the bad teams got guys who can play up front. And I think that showed last year when, yeah, you know, Texas, when they played Florida, was horrible last year. And Florida totally dominated Texas' offensive line. So, that kind of stuff can happen if you're Steve Sarkeesian, if you're Kaelin DeBoer, and if you're Kip in the shoes. You have to run the ball to win games going forward.

No question about it. Listen, we always enjoy talking ball with Mike Huguen. Listen, have a great weekend. We're one more Friday closer, EMH, to high school and college football. Stay as cool as you can. Have a great weekend. Let's do this again next Friday. There you have it. Mike Huguen and checking in from the big old Orlando. Down to B-Ham and Doug Segrist next on the Big Old Bug Show. Stay with us. You got a craving they won't quit. Lost Pizza Company Shoals just dropped something new, and it's only around for a limited time.

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And sometimes it's the perspective and the way you look at it. A coach might look at it different than a fan or an analyst. But for us and the way I've accomplished it in the past is just really challenge every group in the team, wherever you're at, to improve. And we've got to address our weaknesses. We've got to make sure we continue to keep our strengths in order and who we are, understanding our identity. And, you know, continue to learn from those things that have happened to us, both good and bad.

[1:19:44] There you have it. The one, the only, Bama boss, Kalen DeBoer. SEC Media Days down in Tee, Florida. And let's get our thoughts as far as analyzing that and everything else. Well, the man who's been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama sports writers in this great state of ours. Also, the author of A Storm Came Up. TV time, ABC 3340. Doug Segrist, welcome in. How are you? I could not be better, but the weather could. It's July. It is not February. Can you do us a favor and give us some football weather, Doug?

Is that too much to ask? It is not. It is the American way. Well, if you're a duck or a farmer, I guarantee you'll appreciate it. Doug, does anything say SEC football more than Ocing Media Days in Tampa, Florida? Today, it definitely does. Historically, no. But, listen, it's a good market. They're trying to move it around. You know, from a media standpoint, just keep it in Birmingham. I mean, just keep it located where everybody knows their way around. But I get it. You're trying to get attention.

But it's not a fan event. You know, if you want to have it in the middle of the Georgia Dome and, you know, the coach speaks and there are people in the crowd, you know, that's one thing. I get it from a marketing standpoint. But I just – I think the media kind of gets lost in this. Yeah. It just makes it more difficult. Yeah. Brett and I miss being able to come down and stay with you and your family for a week. So, we miss that, Doug, terribly.

I'm sure you don't, but we miss that. Your thoughts about – Hey, we've got bats out of the attic now. There you go. You're still trying to – you're still trying to clean up the mess, I'm sure. Doug, talk to us about the teams relative to us, Alabama and Auburn. Obviously, you're never going to mistake this guy named DeBoer for saving. Back in the day, Saban didn't talk about Alabama. He talked about college football. DeBoer, basically, a lot of folks say that's why they name him DeBoer. But it doesn't – does it really matter this time of the year what you say?

It's what you're saying late December, January. Your thoughts critiquing Alabama and Auburn coming out of SEC media days? It's a weird situation because I think Alabama's flying under the radar for the first time in a long time. You know, if you look at where they're ranked, it's their lowest preseason ranking since 2008. Well, that's worked out pretty well. Yeah. At the same time, Auburn's almost forgotten yet the expectations among the fan base are rising. And, again, they're kind of picked in the middle of the pack, which is not a bad thing at all.

So, it shows people are noticing. I just think when we look, there are just more unknowns going into this season than any season I can remember. And it's not just the rosters, which we don't know as well. Right. But it's who's got the culture. You know, and we know Georgia has the culture. Yep. We have questions about Alabama's culture because of the bad losses. Right. We don't know what Auburn's culture will be. Listen, the culture improved dramatically. I don't know if you phrase the results didn't.

So, there's just so many things we don't know. And, you know, the team, pick 14th, 15th, 16th, you know, nobody's given credit for it as a Vanderbilt team. It's been knocking on the door of the playoffs two straight years. That's right. But, really, all they lost was the quarterback. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Let me ask you about Alex Golich. I thought he did a good job for his first time at Media Days. This is not his first rodeo, so to speak, but it was for Media Days. And he said, look, I'm not going to make any predictions.

We are here this first year to build a foundation and establish an identity. I thought that was a good statement. Yeah, I did, too. So, kind of just focus on the season ahead. Don't oversell it, which, again, I think has gotten some Auburn coaches in trouble before. Yep. This is a guy who's been around the block. He's been in the SEC. You know, it's going to all be proven on the field. Now, I will say this. I was vent with the Auburn team about a week ago.

I've done Alabama the week before Auburn. There's a lot of confidence in that room. And there are a lot of guys from South Florida who have just kind of made the transition. They're part of the team. You're leaders from South Florida. So, I think there's a feeling. There's a confident feeling. But it's not what we've heard the last few years. Oh, my God. You won't believe this guy. You won't believe that guy. It's just this confidence that they're going to get things done. Let's face it, Doug.

When you picked where they are, both Alabama and Auburn, the only direction you can go is up relative to those programs. Texas, other schools like Georgia, only one direction you can go. That's down. But overall, top to bottom, 1-16. Doug, in your opinion, right now, coming out of SEC media days, who may be the most overrated team in the league? And who may be the most underrated team in the league? I think overrated might be LSU. Again, you know, they've kind of assembled this roster. There's so many expectations.

[1:25:03] But the problem the last two years was culture. And I'm not sure Lane Kiffin's the guy to fix your culture. So, again, I just think the expectations are so sky high. The money is sky high. And, you know, you look at the start of their season, if things go wrong, they can explode really fast. Underrated, I'm going to go with Vanderbilt again. You know, you talk about a culture. They play defense. That's the key. Yeah. And their offense, they control the ball and they keep the other offense off the field.

They got playmakers. You know, it's just everybody dismisses Vanderbilt every year. And this is, you know, they got as much money as anybody now. Let me ask you about some of the new boys on the block. Summer Hall, besides dropping a couple of S-bombs and comparing Tulane and Ole Miss, really took command of the room. Florida fans were quite encouraged after his performance. Will Stein at Kentucky when asked, well, will Kentucky be better? Yes, because of me. Me. Because of me. And then Pete Golding had a couple of jokes and talked about ex-wives and a couple of other things.

And he and Kiffin are buddies. I really like Ryan Silverfield. I know you've been working for a living and did not get a chance to listen to a lot of the talking heads. Silverfield was impressive to me. Of the new coaches, who impressed you? I think we saw a side of Pete Golding that we haven't seen before. And this was a guy in charge who, I mean, it's very saving to ask. I mean, you kind of saw some of the mannerisms. You heard some of the same things.

A guy with a lot of confidence. And I'll go back to when he was at Alabama. You know, defense coordinator, the Alabama fans always wanted somebody different. But the numbers weren't that bad. But just from talking to people on that staff room, this is a guy, Nick Saban, really respects a lot. Just his football knowledge. He's got the best quarterback in the league. He's got the best running back in the league. That's right. You know, expectations are sky high. But I just thought he commanded the room.

And he was kind of the runaway winner in terms of press conference. I think some are all people just who've dealt with him just so impressed. Again, you know, I think Alex Gullish made a good impression. But again, he's been around the block before. You know, Stein came off. Here's the weird thing. It didn't really come off cocky. It just came off. He's sure of himself. And he's been doing these things at Oregon. He's been doing it at the Big Ten. And if I'm coming from the Big Ten, you know, to the SEC, and I think all things are equal, I think I got this.

I think what he's going to find out week two is it's not week in, week out. It's not the Big Ten. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's the biggest misnomer. Yeah, I'm sorry. Quickly, Doug. Obviously, Tennessee gets their running back, has something to do with a $2 million deal. Your thoughts, what would be the number on Hershel Walker, Bo Jackson, or a number of Alabama running backs at their height? Repeat that. I'm sorry, Harold. Tennessee just got a running back. They signed him basically to a $2 million deal.

Yeah. Okay. He's out of Baylor High up in Chattanooga. Just taking that paradigm, what would a Hershel Walker, Bo Jackson, or a host of Alabama running backs at their height, what kind of market value would they draw now? 10? Yeah. Yeah. Because you're talking about greatest of all times. If a guy can impact the game like Bo, Hershel, Derek Henry, you pay him everything you've got. Mm-hmm. You're exactly right about that. Well, listen, with media days over with, we know it is just a matter of time.

And I know you're getting it already thinking about snacks, making sure the TV reception is good, your wardrobe is spiced up again for the season. You know we always enjoy talking with you. Listen, have a great week. Let's do this again real soon. I look forward to, remember, the bats are out of the attic next time you're going to stay. I'm writing it down even as we speak. I'm going to hold you to it. The one, the only, Doug Siegert. Speaking of the Auburn Tigers, what up after media days, Justin Ferguson, that and more.

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Online health questions required. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9 The Score. The PGA Tour is at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota. It's round number two of the 3M Open today. Ben Cole's had the day one lead at nine under par. The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon for the Brickyard 400. It's also the championship for the end-season challenge, where Ryan Blaney and Todd Gilliland will race for the $1 million prize. The Atlanta Braves were winners yesterday. They beat the Padres 6-5. Both teams, nine hits.

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Classes start August 12th. Learn more at umgc.edu. Certified to operate in Virginia by show. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. Time to bring in the traveling man, Justin Ferguson. Follows the Auburn Tigers to the moon and back there at the Auburn Observer. Justin, welcome in. How are you? I'm all right. How are you? Hey, buddy. Good, good, good. How was Tampa to you? Did you like that SEC experience on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico? It was quite hot.

Pretty warm. You know, after Auburn got done with their day on Tuesday, I went to dinner and I looked down at my phone and it was 8 o'clock and it was still 90 degrees outside. Other than that, though, I thought Tampa did a great job. You know, I was kind of. But they did a really good job. There was a really good turnout. So I think it was a pretty big hit. Excuse me. I said Gulf of Mexico. Some would call it the Gulf of America. We won't get into that debate.

But no debate. There's a lot of new kids on the block when it comes to NCC head coaches. Let's start with one that you know pretty well. And that's Alex Golesh. Yeah, I mean, it was a pretty good introduction, I think, for a lot of people to Alex Golesh. As a head coach at Auburn. You know, he came out and kind of made his stance pretty clear about how he feels about this Auburn team. The confidence they have in the pizza they've got. The progress they've made this summer maintains they've got a lot of work to do.

[1:35:25] And he didn't want to put a number on like a goal for like, you know, wind tolls or anything like that. But this is all about kind of setting the tone and getting people excited about Auburn football again. I thought he did a good job of conveying that message. And he won over some folks with what he was, you know, saying down in Tampa, you know, this week. I was stalking you on Twitter this morning and I saw one of them. Auburn coaches in the past have talked a lot about pace of offense and pace of offensive play.

Gus Malzahn talked about it all the time. And he would do it for a game or two and then he'd go back once again. And then Hugh Freeze talked about it a little bit and did it every once in a while. But as you pointed out, Alex Golich takes it to another level. His teams have been in the top two. Top two of FBS in seconds per play for each of the last five years. That's fast. Yeah, it's really fast. I mean, it is an offense that's moving, you know.

And, yeah, that's the thing about it is that, you know, it's done in a variety of ways. So that pace is big. He talked about today or he talked about this week. He was saying, you know, hey, our main thing is we think offensive football is about, you know, winning matchups in space. And then we do it as fast as we can. And so I think when you have a team that wants to go out there and wants to get as many plays out there as possible, wants to get it rolling, you know, I think it's just exactly what kind of Auburn needs at this point.

You know you've got a pretty good defense. You know you've been able to put out pretty good defense these last several years, but you've lost a lot of games and a lot of close games because you can't get much going on offense. So you've got an offensive mindset of, you know, let's put out there, go out and put on a show, try to do it as fast as we can and put as many points on the board. And I think it's just going to be a really big change of pace for Auburn, quite literally, that, you know, it just, it's been a long time coming and it is a commitment to playing tempo football, you know, better than maybe anybody else in the country.

They just really, really lean on it and they're going to bring that to Auburn. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer. Justin, as long as that works, it's a fan favorite because especially in social media where everything is right now, we want it, we want it yesterday. So that's going to, as long as it works, that's great. If it doesn't work, your thoughts just about how fit this defense is because they've got to be on the field a whole lot and how deep it's when you look at a roster, everybody says, well, this team is good.

Do we sometimes overlook the fact of, yeah, that may be the first part of a tough SEC schedule and let's face it's going to be even tougher now, more physical, nine games. How deep is this roster for Auburn, especially in the second half of the season? I think this is a really deep team. I don't think it's got as much star power as we've seen the last few years up at top of them on their starters, but I do think it is a deeper team. I think one of the best examples of that comes at running back.

You know, this is a team that wants to run the ball a ton and wants to do it quickly. Auburn's got four different guys at running back this year who were the top running backs on an FBS team last season. And they got two more guys in Omar Mabson and Alvin Henderson who are still on campus. So really deep from there, very deep tight end room. I think the offensive line is going to be the big question mark this year because you don't have a lot of, you know, returning experience and, you know, big name guys, but you got a lot of depth.

I think it's a deeper offensive line than what we're used to seeing for Auburn. I think this is the potential to be probably the best and maybe deepest linebacker group Auburn's had in a while. Safety is exceptionally deep. Cornerbacks are really deep with the options. Defensive line, I mean, like pretty much across the board, you can see really good depth. So while I think Auburn doesn't have as much talent as it had maybe over the last couple of years, some big name guys now gone. I think it's a deep team and so it's about kind of executing your system and getting that kind of footing early on because I do like the amount of players.

And I think when you play as fast as Auburn wants to do, as challenging, as taxing on the body as you want to do on offense, you're going to need that kind of depth. Even on the flip side, we know DJ Durkin loves to roll as many guys as possible on the defensive side. So really, really like the depth of this team. You know, I think that's going to be one of their strengths. It's just going to be a matter of identifying which guys can really take them there to start the season and, you know, how well they do early on.

Let me check with you on something. The injury report, Golesh was asked in one of the rooms about the health of the players going into summer camp. He mentioned Devin Williams had an ACL in the spring and he's going to miss the year, which, unfortunately, that's normally what that amounts to. But Stanton Ramel, the offensive lineman, said he was cleared at the end of spring. Is there a question about anybody else or did that pretty much summarize it? That's definitely, yeah. I mean, you know, they know Williams is going to be the only one who's going to be out.

[1:40:32] Ramel is back and cleared. There's a number of guys who, you know, didn't play fully in the spring, didn't participate fully, but they should be all cleared and good to go. Champ Anthony, who was down there this week, the DB rep, is one of them. You know, a number of tight ends back. Demarcus Riddick recovered from his shoulder injuries that really kind of hurt him for most of the last season. So, you know, Golesh did mention there were a few guys, I think you said three, that had some kind of cleanup surgeries at the end of the spring.

So, they might be a little careful with them at the beginning of fall camp. But for the most part, I would say you could say probably 95% or above this fall camp roster is going to be good and ready to go, which is a really good sign. They had to kind of sit out some guys, had to kind of, you know, hold some guys back in the spring, didn't get kind of the full glimpse of what this team could be out of precaution. And I think it's kind of paid off because these guys have been able to stay healthy in the summer.

And I think it's going to, you know, I think it's going to be a situation where they're going to be able to roll from day one. Justin, the Rhodes Scholar, aka ACC media members, have come out with a preseason poll again. They have Auburn number 12, too high, too low, or just about right. Yeah, I think it's just right. I mean, I think, you know, I was talking to somebody this week, I said, if you could put Auburn anywhere between like 9 to 13, I think you'd be all right.

And, you know, as big as this conference is now, you know, the difference between 9 and 13 might not even be a game. They could all just, they all could be tied at that point. So, you know, I think the big thing for Auburn is, look, you've had five straight losing seasons. You know, I think Auburn has the potential to outplay those expectations this year. I think Auburn has the potential to be a better team than, you know, 12th or 13th in the SEC this season. However, you know, if I'm looking at Auburn and I'm somebody who covers this sport regionally or nationally, whatever, you know, what am I going to, what is going to make me think, you know what, I think Auburn's going to be better than several teams ahead of them.

Especially in July. Yeah. Yeah. They'd be like, you know, you know, I was talking to Auburn fans about this week about it. It's like, you may stay out there and think, hey, I think Auburn's going to be better than Missouri or South Carolina this year. Okay. Well, you might think that, but what's going to convince other people that I know that at this point. So I, you know, I'll just say it this way. Believe it when you see it, when it comes to Auburn, if they can prove people wrong, they'll start getting that respect.

But, you know, for now they're going to be okay flying under the radar. I thought Golich was smart. He was asked a couple of times in all the rooms, in the car wash, as they call it, what are your goals for this year? And he just simply said, look, I don't set goals. I set standards. And he said, you know, but what we want to do this year one is to establish a foundation and an identity. That's really all he needed to say. Yeah. No, absolutely.

And I think that's the thing about this team is that, you know, I think you don't have the talent, the top level talent to be a contender right away. You don't have the, like, I look at offensive line and say, you know what, this is our offensive line. Just see what the best you can make of a kind of a patchwork group in year one. You know, you're not fully where you want to be yet in terms of your talent, but you're recruiting well and you're in the right spot.

But yes, this year is about, this is what Auburn football is going to look like moving forward. This is how we're going to play. And this is going to be something you can sell, you know, not only to future recruits, but to fans and other people to say, hey, you know, this is, this is what we're going to do. And so that's the thing. It's like, I think Auburn, you know, if they can put it together and play to their potential, this team could win seven or eight games and be improved and take that step forward that they need.

But more importantly is you don't want to kind of make it all about, hey, all in on this year and doing, you know, doing everything you can just to kind of max out this year. And then what do you have moving forward? It's more about, hey, let's establish the way we want to play and how we want to do things. And so in year two, three, and four, and moving forward for Alex Kulish, hopefully they can get closer and closer to becoming a contender again. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer is about to get serious.

Justin, as far as camp opening up for the folks wondering the answer to that question. And is this July in December or even sooner, who's going to be the name in your opinion on this roster that nobody's talking about now, but will be then? Yeah. I mean, I'll start with that second question. You know, I think a guy that I'm really continually impressed with every time you hear about him is Deshaun Spencer from Fairland. He got a lot of buzz this week. You know, everybody's making rightful points about, hey, all these USF receivers, all these guys who know the system.

Auburn's going to need a little bit more than that receiver this year. Deshaun Spencer was the 8A MVP, had about 1,800 yards receiving at Fairland last year. Explosive, explosive player. He looked really good and really smooth on the ball in spring practices. I would not be surprised at all if he ends up being one of Auburn's best slot receivers this season. And the one thing I can tell you about watching this offense from the spring is they're going to feed the ball to the slot receivers a lot.

[1:45:51] So I think Spencer's going to be in that mix. You know, for the question about fall camp, fall camp's supposed to get underway in a couple of weeks. I think it's not this upcoming Tuesday, but the next Tuesday is when players will report and then they will practice for the first time on Wednesday. So we're getting right up on it less than two weeks away. Well, listen, glad you had a great trip to Tampa. It is a great area. 6 a.m. emails, Friday mailbag, podcast, all sorts of good stuff.

Where can we get online and get all of it? AuburnObserver.com. Sign up there. Everything we do gets sent to your email inbox as soon as we drop it. So a lot of football this week from SEC Media Days, both on the newsletter side and our podcast side. Next week we'll have some more football, getting you ready for fall camp. A little basketball in as well as Auburn Hooch is about to head out on their overseas trip in a couple of weeks. So AuburnObserver.com, sign up there.

You get everything we've got going on. And in a couple of weeks, we'll have a ton of stuff from fall camp. So it's a great time to get on board. Busy, as you mentioned, about to get busier. In the meantime, Justin, have a great weekend. And thanks so much for your time today. Thank you all, too. Thank you. Thank you, buddy. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer. Coming up, what better way to get ready for football season, those road trips, than checking in with Elmer Pierce. The tale straight ahead here on the Boomo Bugg Show.

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[1:51:11] BB, in the meantime, a crazy week. And lost in all this shuffle, everybody's wondering about the Braves, how they're going to respond coming out of the All-Star break. And I got to say, they're still not exactly where they want to be, but I think all things considered, they're now four and a half ahead of the surging fields right now. They're actually playing better. They had a five and two road trip, road trip, home trip. They're in Baltimore tonight. They're hitting the ball. They've had two or three games in the last week where they've had three or four home runs.

Sale did his thing yesterday, striking out 11, which is just amazing at his streak of double-digit strikeouts. But Ozzie is hitting the ball better. Austin Riley has had some home runs. Again, they still need to, and we'll talk to our beloved Bill Shanks about this next Friday. As far as the trade deadline is just about 10 days away from us, and they've still got to get a starting pitcher. But to go five and two on this road trip and win the series against the Rangers and the Padres, they've got off to a very good start in what I call the second half.

And on paper, anyway, they can add to it starting tonight. They take on the O's. They're underwater at 50-53. And the fields, meanwhile, they're taking on the other team in the AL East called the New York Yankees. So a great chance for the Braves to build on that. And speaking of the Yankees, another reason to pull for the Yankees tomorrow when they take on the fields, the pride of Loretta. Ryan Weathers on the mound for a Saturday start for the boys in pinstripes. So a lot of folks in our neck of the woods, all the more reason to pull for the Yankees against the fields this weekend.

That's going to take care of business for now. On behalf of B.B., Greg, James Blair, the entire crew here, Peril Buck, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again Monday, noon to two for the Bumble Buck Show, back here on Sports Radio, 93.9 The Score. We'll be right back.