Boomo Bugg Show 072826

[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. Boomo Bugg Show. New exclusive inside track to the Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9. The score. Good afternoon and welcome here to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us your ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird welcome in where? Ken in the board says. Stephen A. Smith. Seriously? Good afternoon. Welcome in and how are you?

Happy Tuesday to you and the listeners. The voice of the UNA Lions, Benjamin Ray, will join us a little bit later to talk about a busy two months for UNA athletics. Las Vegas Insider Bruce Marshall will wrap up SEC Media Days for us from his viewpoint. But CP is here right now to tell us about five things, Harold Bugg, that we learned from Alabama's time at SEC Media Days. And perhaps that ain't all. CP is Charlie Potter. He's a senior team writer for BamaOnline.com, part of the On3.com family.

Charlie, welcome in. How are you? I'm great, guys. Thanks for having me. Well, that's a turning point, as they say. The media days now in the rearview mirror. What did we learn there, Charlie? Not a whole lot, if we're being honest. I don't want to say the word boring, but, like, it just wasn't – there wasn't a lot revealed. Like, in the main media room, we didn't get any kind of injury updates. We did get a positive update on Noah Rodgers and how he's coming along. It still sounds like he'll miss the start of the season, but it sounds like he's improving and progressing pretty nicely.

I was hoping to be able to ask Kalen about EJ Kroll and just, you know, what he's able to do this summer, how he's looking going into fall camp, but no dice there in that electronic media room. I never seem to have luck in that room. But, otherwise, like, it's pretty status quo and nothing really on the quarterbacks. I didn't expect him to come out, you know, announce a starter in the main media room or anything like that. I think one of the big takeaways is there's still a lot of competition and a lot of positions, and then I think the perception of Alabama is pretty unclear because there's just so many question marks about this team, whether it is a quarterback, the offensive line, the run game, special teams, where some of these, you know, transfer additions are going to fit in and how they're going to fit in.

And that, you know, people don't really know what to expect from Alabama this year. I talked to a lot of the national riders that are on three while I was in Tampa and got some mixed reviews, and then we saw on Friday of last week that the media picked Alabama to finish sixth in the SEC standings, which we know that the track record of predicting the order of finish isn't great, but still it's just the current preseason perception, I think, is kind of all over the place when it comes to Alabama and what they can accomplish this season.

Charlie, you put it on the tee for me to ask the next question because we alluded to it right off the top of the show. Stephen A. Smith, obviously, it's July, and we know how these national guys are. They love to stir the waters and click, click, click. But he questioned Kalen DeBoer's lack of energy. He questioned the extension that the university gave him, some 80-plus million dollars. In other words, he's questioned whether DeBoer is the right fit at Alabama, to which I say, this is year three, and if you're going to stay in Tuscaloosa, year three is a magic number.

Ask Nick Saban. He bingoed, and the rest, as they say, is history from there. But your thoughts a little bit more about the national perception. I agree with you. All this poll is is how the media feels at this point because with all the incoming transfers and this, that, and the other, who knows, whether it's Alabama or any other team, what's going to happen in 2026. Yeah, I think, first of all, just like most of the time when you hear a national perspective, especially someone who's not just like focused in and dialed in on college football, then you can kind of throw it out the window because they haven't really sat in the test of facts.

So, I mean, I know Stephen A. Smith is like a Nick Saban fanboy. I think he worships the ground he walked on, and rightfully so. But I don't think he really has a clue of anything that's going on in Tuscaloosa. And, look, I know a lot of people also point to the recruiting cycle. Well, look at what they're doing in 2028. It's like they have a plan. It's like they knew what they were doing when they were – because this is a roster – the last two recruiting classes from 2025 and 2026 were really, really good.

They're going to have to try to retain these guys and keep them around. I don't think they'll have a lot of players leave. So, I think this year I'm interested to see what Alabama looks like because, again, there's just so many question marks. So, like, you can tell they're gearing up for, like, a huge 2027, like, the potential for that year. I'm not already writing this year off, the 2026 season off, by any stretch of the imagination. But you can kind of see, like, the way that they're kind of pushing this thing.

[5:04] And so, I mean, I don't want to say it's not fair, but I think people forget that Alabama won 11 games last year. Like, I understand what happened in Atlanta and in Pasadena. By no stretch of the imagination is that lost on me. I know what the rushing stats were like last year. They were – you could – there are words not safe for radio that you could describe that. And – but it's a situation where it's like, did we forget everything else? Like, after the Florida State game, which is another black eye, like, they reeled off eight straight wins and they had a h*** of a stretch of games where they were able to come out victorious.

So, I think people forget, and it is almost like a recency thing. They remember the Indiana game. The Indiana game is a black eye, no doubt. But I think this team can get back to double-digit wins in the regular season. It's just they have to answer a lot of questions first. Well put. Improving the running game, how many times have we heard that since the end of the season? You bring up a couple of good points. We talked to Jimmy Stein about this, and particularly on Friday, people also forget that Alabama played six teams that were ranked between 2 and 18 in rush defense.

I mean, some extremely good defenses. Now, should they have done better? Absolutely. But the point you made is, Kevin DeBoer has addressed this, making a change on the offensive line coach with Clem coming in, tied in coach with an offensive line background, adding double-digit linemen from the transfer portal in high school. And again, time will tell. And again, I think the tight ends are going to be big, and particularly Josh Ford. Your article today about some of the impact transfer guys, again, the proof's in the pudding, but CP, he has addressed the issue.

It's been a huge emphasis. You look at the staffing changes, the additions they made. They really turned over that offensive line room. I think they brought back five players from last year's team, and really the only ones that played were Michael Carroll and Will Sanders. They're projected to be starters on this team. So it's a situation where it's not like he just sat – it's not like Caelan DeBoer sat around sitting on his hands. Like, he made changes. He made a tough call to replace his offensive line coach, bring in Richard Owens, who was an offensive line coach at Louisville.

And, yeah, I mean, I think you would have liked to have been able to hold on to Hollywood's mothers. I think that would certainly give people some more warm and fuzzies about the run game going into this year. But, like, we need to see what E.J. Crowell can do because I think they need E.J. to be the E.J. we saw dominating high school football at Jackson. And so it is a situation where they played some really tough run defenses. I think the Georgia-Oklahoma and Indiana games in particular there at the end of the season where they rushed for, like, 50 combined yards, those are three top ten defenses.

I don't think that's a good excuse, though, because you play in the SEC. Everybody can stop the run, and it's tough to run the ball week in and week out. You've got to be able to establish and not necessarily dominate, but be consistent along the line of scrimmage, and your back's got to be able to take advantage of the holes that are given. Alabama just needs to be consistent running the football. They don't have to go out and run for 200 yards a game. I don't think anybody's expecting that because of the way they recruit quarterbacks and wide receivers.

But you've got to be able to, when you have a lead, be able to run the ball, you play keep away, and like Nick Saban used to say, take the air out of it. But it's just one of those things, man. We've talked about it all off-season long, but until we see it, we're going to continue to talk about it. And I think Kalen said it best whenever he was speaking in the main media room. They know they have to prove it. And it's talking season that you're going to have situations where, yes, they're going to have to say stuff, but they know that they have to show it, too.

And I'll be interested to see what they do whenever the season kicks off. Absolutely. Let me ask you about some of the, as far as the transfer guys, you mentioned a lot of the ones, Rayson Delgotti. And you're right, it's not by accident a lot of these guys are on the offensive line. Jevin James. I think Ethan Fields and Nate Brooks, the right tackle is going to be interesting with the competition there. I think Ethan Fields has got a chance to surprise some people. CP, I would add a couple more.

Carmella O'Neal from Mercer, who they watched, of course, when Alabama played him. Quinn, the kicker from Ireland. And even Treshaun Brown. I'm going to be curious to see how they use him as a change of pace back. But no question, I think Kellen DeBoer and his staff, he had a home run with a lot of these transfer portal guys. No doubt. And, like, today's story is only about the offense. Because I was sitting there making a list. I was just going to do one. And then I was like, I can break this up into offense and defense.

[10:07] You've got at least six guys on both sides of the ball via the transfer portal that can come in and contribute, if not start. So, offensively, yeah, you see the offensive line. They can have four transfers that can make an impact. I think we'll see Jackson Lloyd and Michael Carroll for sure on this offensive line. I think Will Sanders is someone they were kind of waiting to get healthy to put back in either the lineup or the rotation because he rotated with Cam DuBerry and Gino Vandermark last year at that left guard spot.

But, yeah, I mean, I think Rayson Delgotti has submitted himself as the center. I think Javon James has a good shot at being the right tackle. But I think Nick Brooks is someone they like, too. And Brooks is just a massive huge bean and played, you know, some meaningful snaps at Texas last season. And Ethan Fields is a guy that's been in the SEC for a while, too. So, I think the three of James and Brooks and Fields, the fact that they have some SEC experience is big.

But, yeah, I mean, you look all over this roster. They address some needs via the transfer portal. Again, I think if they would have been able to add experience back to the backfield, that would have been kind of the cherry on top. But I think they like the running backs they have. Those guys just, again, it's like a broken record here. But they have to prove it. They have to be consistent. They have to stay healthy. And they need to be on their A game. Charlie Potter again, senior team writer.

BEMOnline.com, part of the On3.com family. Charlie, you can agree or disagree with a fellow that's got a national championship ring from Alabama, Greg McIlroy. When asked the obvious question about the quarterback competition, he says, basically, in effect, he straddled offense. He said, both are good. But, in effect, to paraphrase what he said, it's really not going to matter unless the old line in the running game comes together. I don't think that's a revelation for a lot of folks. But Greg McIlroy has been in that situation.

He knows better than anybody the importance. In your gut right now, where is this offensive line now under new tutelage, new coach there at this point compared to this time last year? Yeah, that's hard to kind of gauge because you brought back Hayden Proctor. You brought back Parker Brailsford. You added some really veteran pieces in Cam Dewberry to that roster. And then they had some young guys they brought in, too. So, it's kind of in a different spot. And both were in kind of wait-and-see mode.

But, yeah, this is a year where I think Greg is right because I think they're in good shape whatever happens to the quarterback. Like, whoever has the job, I think they'll be fine. I think their quarterback room is really, really good. But if you don't have that one game you've seen on, then that guy's going to have a lot more on his shoulders, whoever it is. And so, I think the offensive line this year, there's just so many unknowns because there's guys that we really haven't seen outside of the 8-8 scrimmage, just in terms of our own eyeball.

And you can hear Kalen DeBoer talking about it at SEC Media Days where there's still kind of question marks about what it's going to look like. And I think some of that is you get William Sanders back for fall camp. That's big. You see what these guys were able to do with basically seven months in the program, if not a little less, in terms of just strength and conditioning, learning the system, learning the playbook, and really meshing with the group. But I think it's starting to come together.

And, like, the offensive line can't really do a whole lot in the summertime. That's one of those things, like, it's kind of, I don't want to say annoying, but at SEC Media Days when you ask all these offensive line questions, it's like, well, I mean, they're basically what we heard about in the spring because these guys aren't able to put on pads and go out and do what offensive line can do. So, I think, you know, fall camp, it's about week two of fall camp and we'll probably have a better idea about this offensive line.

But, I mean, the fact is it has to be better. Like, it can't be worse. And I don't know if it could be worse. But I don't see them really taking a step back in terms of going in the wrong direction. But they need to take a couple of steps forward from what they were able to do last year. Well, CP, one thing we do know, Obama Online has outstanding coverage of Alabama sports. I know you and your staff have been doing this all spring and summer.

Going to wrap up next week with summer camp beginning. CP, tell us a little bit about your coverage for next week. And where can we get online to get this outstanding coverage of the Crimson Tide? Yeah, I'm going to have to do some stretching before next week for sure. We're back this summer. Summer's been nice. Take some vacation. Not a lot has happened. Everybody's mad about the recruiting class. So, it's been nice on my end. But, no, we're going to have a ton of coverage starting next week.

They should be back on the field on Wednesday of next week unless something changes. And so, we'll be at every presser, every practice, have coverage of that and more at BamaOnline.com. I know Blake Byler's doing a good job covering recruiting. Tim Watts always has his finger on the pulse of what's going on in the program. And we should have some exciting news at BamaOnline.com pretty soon here in terms of additions to the site. So, stay tuned for that. Can't really say too much. But looking forward to it.

[15:12] It should be a fun preseason, no doubt. We have been warned. In the meantime, Charlie, thanks for your time, Dane. Have a great week, okay? All right, guys, thanks for that. Thank you, buddy. CP, Charlie Potter, senior team rider at BamaOnline.com, part of the On3.com family. Coming up, he's got the entire SEC and, for that matter, college football covered. Jim Gumm on deck on the Boomo Bugg Show. 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?

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Jim Gumm is owner and editor of TheBlitzSports.com, fine author of Conference Pride. Jim, welcome in. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you guys? Hi, Jim. Well, we're on the other side of media days. Put another way, Jim. The question is, are you ready for some football camp? Do you still call it fall camp or is it summer camp when you open up with the humidity and the temperature in triple digits? It's hard to use the word fall, but man, I'm old school. I know what I mean when I say it, but I'm stuck in my way.

There you go. There ain't nothing wrong with that, Jim. The poll says that Georgia is going to be the top dog. Everybody's wrong about Texas. Let's start with one and two with the brain trust called the SEC Media coming out of Tampa. Your thoughts about the poll overall? You know, I mean, this is crazy. I don't know. You guys probably know this, but since the, you know, addition of new schools starting in 92 when, you know, Arkansas and South Carolina were added, a newcomer's never won the SEC in football.

[20:37] And you think at some point it's going to happen. I mean, I love Arch Manning, but man, it's just hard for me to pick like Oklahoma or Texas or A&M because I keep every time you look, it's always, you know, it's an original member that's winning the SEC. So I'm going with Georgia, but you know, at some point we're going to have a newcomer win the SEC. Well, the thing is with Georgia, it's hard to do away with what has happened. What's the old thing?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The difference between, I think, Georgia and Texas, Texas got the bling-bling, kind of like LSU. Georgia says, we're boring, but at the end of the day, we're always there. We're the hair. We're always at the finish line. We may not always win it all, but we're going to be there. It's just basic stuff. Get out there and knock the other man in the mouth. Control the ball as best you can. And at the end of the day, have more points than the other guys.

An old-fashioned recipe for Kirby. Yeah, and obviously, if you were to line up, if you were to ask me to pick which coach I want in the SEC, Kirby Smart's the first guy I'm getting. Yeah. I mean, he's just the first guy I'm going to select over anybody else. And so that's not a slight on the other coaches, but I think Kirby Smart has a proven track record. This guy knows what he's doing. He's won a couple national championships, and they're in the hunt every year.

So, yeah, I think as far as talent, roster-wise, I think Texas and Georgia are very comparable. But, man, I think the difference to me is the guy on the sidelines. Absolutely. I thought Josh Heupel was in a good mood on Monday. We found out why on Wednesday, and we'll talk about that in a minute. But I was going to ask you about the, you know, he got asked 100 times about the quarterback competition between George McIntyre and Brandon. And he said, look, over the last nine years, going back to UCF, of course, we've had seven different starting quarterbacks.

We've had seven offenses that were in the top ten in the country in scoring. Jim, translated, that means I kind of know what I'm doing in picking a quarterback. Yeah, he knows what he's doing. And everyone around here just is under the subject of Pais on Brandon. But, man, I still think McIntyre, he probably knows the offense just a little better because he's been there longer. No, he's not dynamic as far as his running ability. But, man, I hear just such good things about this kid.

Now, there again, I mean, I think that once we see what's going to happen up there over the next few weeks, we'll be told who the starter is against Furman. But I think it's closer than a lot of people think. At the end of the day, I do believe it's going to be Pais on Brandon. But I think McIntyre is going to be, and listen, if this guy were to enter the transfer portal, he would be a hot commodity. I'll just leave it at that. And I think the coaching staff, they know that, too.

Jim Gumm is the owner and editor of the BlitzSports.com. Brent alluded to it. Jim, do you ever think that this age we'll be talking about the $2 million man who put, basically, what's the first thing he's going to buy? Clear Seal? He's going to have Clear Seal before he has Barbasol. Your thoughts about the statement made with the recent mega deal for the kid coming out of your neck of the woods there at Baylor High. And what does this do? We've been joking about this, Jim.

Every AD and general manager says, thanks a lot, Tennessee. You know what's going to happen down here when my guy has those numbers next year? They're going to want $3 million. So your thoughts about what it does for Tennessee and what it does for college sports going forward? Well, for Tennessee, it's a big gift for them. I mean, he is supposedly, and I've seen him play live once, okay? And he was really good, okay? I'm not going to sit here and say he's the greatest high school running back I've ever seen.

I'll tell you who's the greatest running back I've ever seen at a high school level was a guy named Hubert Simpson back in the 70s. He was a monster. He ended up playing with the Vols, but that was a long time ago. But he's really, really good. But, man, that's a lot of pressure being put on him to perform. And here's the thing, guys. You know, now that he's going to be, you know, he's got a $2 million contract, gosh, you know, he's going to be a target when he's playing high school football.

That's right. That's right. You know, I mean, I'd be a little concerned. If I'm Tennessee, I'm like, get him out of there, man. You know, but I don't know what's going to happen. And I always wondered this. Are there going to be any jealousy or envious guys on the roster once he gets up there? I don't know. You know it. Yeah, I think there's going to be two things. One, they're never going to say it publicly, but, you know, in that locker room, human nature is human nature.

Our zebra doesn't change its stripes. Right. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. Of course, now, listen, there's a lot of guys in some of these locker rooms already making big-time money. But most of those guys have proven themselves at the collegiate level, you know. So, it'll be interesting to see a true freshman come up there with all that money in his account. Jim, who else impressed you at Media Days? I know we talked with you early in the week. Obviously, that Florida coach, besides some a** bombs, took command of the room.

[25:54] Don't leave your phone on, man. You got that right. I'm telling you, man. Mama, don't listen. Mama, don't listen. Take the kids out in the yard. Jim, who else impressed you? You know, I love goalies, man. I think this guy's going to be a big-time winner. I just do. I know when he was in Knoxville, everyone just loved this guy. And he went to the USF, turned things around quickly there. I just think that guy has what it takes to be a winner, you know, wherever he's at.

And so, I'm impressed with him. And I'll tell you what's interesting, man. I think the, you know, that Kalen DeBoer, they're flying so far under the radar. I can't remember the last time Alabama was so just not talked about. They're just almost forgotten. And I'm sitting there going, I'm not going to sleep on Alabama. Because it seems like, you know, they're loving this. They're loving this. Everyone's talking about everyone else but them. And I think that they are going to be a lot better than most people.

So, I think those two guys kind of stood out to me. Obviously, Lane Kiffin, he kind of toned it down. I mean, he went on a, he had a monologue. You know, he only, it was only four questions abreast. So, you know, he went on a monologue. And I think that was by design. And I think he's realizing, you know what, it's best. You know, of course, he's really, really been, he's not on social media like he once was. I think maybe he's growing up just a little bit.

And the pressure's still on him, man. No matter what, the pressure's on him to win at LSU. And if you've ever been to LSU, you know right now the honeymoon's on. But they'll turn on you in a New York, not many, but New York second down in Baton Rouge, I can't tell you. Jim Gomm, again, there with theblitzsports.com. Jim, as far as other teams that kind of flying under the radar, I think one of the more intriguing teams is Vanderbilt. Did you see the story this week where Diego is dropping hints?

Since I am no good at the NFL, I need some money. I'm just going to get my lawyer. We're going to go to court. We're going to see if I can get another year at Vanderbilt. And cash the big checks again, heaven forbid. But your thoughts about, to me, an intriguing story about Vanderbilt this season. Well, Vanderbilt, you know, it used to be they were like, you know, nobody talked about Vanderbilt ever, you know. No, no. And then a couple years ago, they had a little success.

Not in a good way. Right, exactly. They had a little success a couple years ago. And then last year, they had a lot of success. And they really were very, very close to making the college football playoffs. And with the NIL, and listen, we all know that Vanderbilt, there's a lot of rich people that have gone to school at Vanderbilt. And some of that money that was allocated towards academics has now been funneled towards the athletic department. And, you know, they're getting athletes there that they never would have done.

Listen, they got a quarterback that was, everyone thought he was going to Georgia. And so he ends up at Vanderbilt, and I think Clark Lee is a guy that I don't know him. I've never actually talked to the guy. But just watching interviews, he's very impressive to me. I think things are bright there in Nashville. I really do. Jim, the other thing that's very impressive is the blitz. Tell us about the content. I think it's great bragging rights, predicting who's going to be in the playoffs.

You've got all the schedules and results. Jim, where can we get online and get a copy of the blitz? Yeah, the best way to reach me, guys, and I'm old school, once again, is just email me. Derek, I've actually had some of your listeners, when I was on a couple weeks ago, they emailed me. And I'm going to send them the first issue. It comes out in about three weeks. And, you know, we'll see if they like it. But, I mean, that's the thing. You know, just email me, direct jimgum.blitz at gmail.com.

That's J-I-M-G-U-M-M dot blitz, D-L-I-T-Z, at gmail.com. And I'll send you issue one. I'll send you issue one of this upcoming season. Sounds great, Jim. You mentioned that Vanderbilt is taking money out of academics and putting it in sports. It reminds me of the story from Babe Ruth back in the day. He was one of the first guys to make a mega six-figure salary. Someone told him, said, Babe, you know you made more than a present last year. He said, I had a better year than a present last year.

So, yeah, no doubt. Absolutely, no question. Show me the money. Jeff, thanks for your time. Let's do it again soon, okay? Okay, y'all have a great day. Thank you, Jim. Jim Gomm, again, it's called the Blitz Sports. Jim Gomm, that's two M's, G-M-G-U-M-M dot blitz at gmail.com. Coming up, it's time to go to Vegas. Or is he in Vegas? Bruce Marshall, the traveling man, next. Stay with us. At First Metro Bank, we don't just do business in the Shoals community. We're part of it. Our roots are right here, and we know what matters to you because it matters to us, too.

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Chris Sale on the bump for Atlanta. He's 11-6 with a 2.19 ERA. Christian Scott will start for the Mets. He is 3-2 on the season. The Atlanta Falcons veterans are reporting today as training camp is set to get underway this week. The Falcons are set for the first preseason game August 14th when they host the Denver Broncos at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Sports Update brought to you by Progressive. Bundle auto and home, renters or condo and save with Progressive. 93-9, the score. Are you 50 or older? This news is for you.

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Bruce, welcome in. How are you? And again, where are you? Well, I'm actually in Las Vegas. Wow. Believe it or not. I was just resting at home. I did not do the Big Ten this week. No interest in going to Chicago. I don't really hate. Thank you. But I did the ACC and SEC the last two weeks and just thought I would rest and maybe if I wanted to watch the Big Ten, I could tune in to the Big Ten Network if I wished. But we're about ready to wrap up all the media days this week.

[36:04] And then we're into August and season kickoff, not far away. Bruce, obviously, your impression, starting with the homeboys, coming out of the SEC media days, did anything change in your thinking of how things are going to wind up at the end of the season? Well, just a couple of notes. I'm going to circle to what Greg Sankey was saying right at the start because I think that was sort of some important stuff, not necessarily related to this season, but just in general. And it got some play when he talked about, you know, the mention of the SEC breaking away and doing away from, you know, from NCAA and the college football and sort of going on its own, maybe with the Big Ten.

I don't think that's a realistic option, but I thought Greg Sankey actually played it pretty well. Keep it on the table, and don't completely dismiss it, and not to mention, don't hint that it's imminent either because it really isn't, but at least that it's been discussed. And I think, I mean, there might be some outposts in the SEC that are more serious than others about this. Georgia comes tomorrow. But he put it out there, and at least we've had discussions about it and sort of left it there.

But that's all he really had to do, and he's playing it very well. Because I really think what he wants, what the SEC would want to do, is in the, you know, the Protect College Sports Act and the various things coming up to Congress, the provision for all of the media revenues to be split is a non-starter for the SEC. And it should be a non-starter, and that would be enough to prevent the SEC from ever signing on to anything. And I think if that provision is dropped, the SEC would be more likely to go along with some of the other things there.

But Sankey's absolutely right to hold the breakaway thing at least as a stick over the rest of the conferences. Like, you know, we could still do this. So it gives him some leverage, and I think getting rid of what he would like to see eliminated from the Protect College Sports Act. The expansion to 24 in the playoff, I think it's a related, but it's a little different subject. And he's reluctant to go there. And I think in Sankey's case it might be more just the whole thing with the potential elimination of the SEC title game and all conference title games.

That's a pretty big cash cow for the SEC, so I think at the bottom line there would be if they can replace that revenue from whatever the playoff could generate from the extra round or two, be more likely to do it. There's another factor, which I think, and I think Sankey knows this too, that we start getting into September and you're starting to add, I mean, double the amount of games and playoff games and things. There are only so many dates, so many TV windows. And in December, the NFL likes some of those Saturdays too.

And, you know, the SEC, they're big boys, but they ain't the big boy on the block. That's the NFL, and you don't want to mess with them too much. And I remember last December, you know, that Oregon-James Madison playoff game. Well, the NFL put the Bears and the Packers up against that, and you know which one the TV ratings bid. So I think Sankey also knows that they run the risk of these TV ratings really tanking and damaging the whole project of an expansion if you anger the NFL too much.

So I think in his case, though, it's more about the SEC title game and how they've replaced that revenue, and that's sort of his reason, I think, for holding back for the moment, at least, on this 2014 playoff idea. We talked to you on Tuesday, and I think you were there at least one more day, if not two. Player or coach, who else impressed you? Well, Sumerl did, and I'm not sure if he had talked right before we went on, but you can sort of tell from him that, you know, something's, he's thinking there.

He's very intelligent, and you seem to know, you seem to get an idea of, you know, where he's coming from. I really wasn't impressed by him. Kirby was there, I think Kirby might have come up right before I went with you guys last week. His look, I mean, he looks like he could do a Pepto-Bismol commercial. I mean, every time you see him, he just doesn't look that comfortable up there. He's always agonizing, but I mean, you know, he is Kirby. I was impressed by, Pete Golding impressed me some.

He was there, Clark Lee, Clark Lee's a very impressive guy, and he's very well-spoken, and, you know, he remembered me from a question I asked last year, you know, and you can tell that he's thinking there, and I think that's actually one of the more interesting storylines again this year, because they've got a very hot-shot quarterback in Jared Curtis that they've brought in as a freshman, and he stole it. They flipped the recruit from Georgia. That doesn't happen too much, Georgia and Vanderbilt, and they've got to replace Pavia, too, so I think Clark Lee's a very impressive guy.

[41:29] So is Bruce Marshall, busy there amongst other places, Vegas Insider. Bruce, you know our zip code. We'll make him a two-parter. We're starting with Alabama. I think the media, the geniuses there, picked them sixth. Nick Saban said, say what? In your opinion, and not only that, Stephen A. Smith coming out and saying, boy, did Alabama screw up giving him that extension. He's boring. He doesn't need to be there. Your thoughts about that. But Alabama at number six, not the nation, the conference, is that too high, too low, or just about right?

It's probably about right, but I think that you could see an arrow pointing up for Bama. I know there's some people who, the DeBoer comparison, it's just a code saving. Nobody's going to stand up compared to that. I think he's done pretty darn well, and I think he will continue to do pretty well. What did surprise me, though, I think Bama only got three first-place votes in Tampa last week, which I think maybe since Mike Shula's days, it's over 20 years ago, since Bama had that little support for winning the league.

And there's questions, to be sure, especially in a league where there's a lot of quarterbacks who are established, and DeBoer is coming in with whoever he's going to use this year. He isn't going to have much experience coming into the season. But his track record is so good with these guys. I mean, look, I mean, the last, I mean, for years. I mean, Michael Penix, Bill Rowe, and Ty Simpson, they're all in the NFL. And so his track record is pretty good. I think people got to remember that.

And then compared, I go, who would you rather have coached in Alabama right now? Signetti? He ain't leaving Indiana. And let's, you know, that's just, you know, let's see if Indiana can sustain this. DeBoer is there. My question with DeBoer, and most people we talk to, is they wonder at some point if this pressure just might get to him. There you go. He'll do a Bill Curry thing maybe, but no indication. He doesn't seem to be too disturbed by anything. He's very calm. I kind of like his demeanor.

He's very pleasant. And it seems very matter-of-fact. That's what I think you need to be. You can add Dennis Franchone to that conversation, too. We mentioned a two-parter. Your thoughts about Auburn, they're picked at the dozen spot, number 12 out of 16. Your thoughts, is that too high, too low, or just about right? Oh, for Auburn? Yeah. Yeah, I think it's too low. I had Auburn picked higher. And it's because I, unlike some, and now this would go for Sumrall, too, and Alex Goulish. To a certain extent, Silverfield, too.

Coaches coming in here who have proven, who have done it, who have been head coaches before, proven concept, and have won. And Sumrall probably won a little bit more than Goulish or Silverfield. But that's a track record I think you can sort of respect. And more than a coach who's just getting promoted for the first time, like Will Stein, never been a head coach. And any coordinator gets his first job, and his first job's in the SEC. It might appear to be goalie, although he had those couple games at the end of last year.

A little bit more skeptical about that. Goulish, though, does have proven concept. We know his offensive concepts are very progressive. And that comes, you know, he worked with Josh Heupel. When Tennessee was flying high a few years ago, he's picked, he got South Florida's program up and moving, and South Florida was kind of in the dumps. And his offense was very, very good. And he's brought his quarterback with him, Byron Brown, and several others. That's the key for me with Goulish. And one thing, and we talked about this before, one thing Hugh Freeze didn't have right was offense.

Offense and his quarterbacks. I don't think Peyton Thorne was the answer for him. I think he could run what Freeze wanted to do. Jackson Arnold, now you're an LV. You know, he really wasn't the answer either. I think, now, Brown is a big upgrade over both of those. And running an offense, he recognizes from Goulish, is good. We'll see how the rest of the team goes. Auburn wasn't that far away last year. I mean, a lot of those losses were close. So, they might not be as far away as you think.

And I think 12 is too low for them. I think I had them 7th or 8th. I can't remember where I put them, but I had them up a little higher. Let me ask you about Big Ten stuff going on today. Not just media days. We've got it on the monitor here in the studio. Ohio State receives a cool $17 million a year for jersey patches from J.P. Morgan Chase. Now, the Big 12 gets $20 million total, and every school gets $1 million. Ohio State checked that pretty well. And then Ward-Manuel is leaving.

I think everybody knew that was coming after an $11 million investigation. What a waste of money. But he's taken a parting gift of $7 million in a buyout in addition to retirement and health benefits. That's a pretty good parting gift. First thing I thought, Brett, when I saw that was maybe Jimmy Sexton was his agent. He got him that deal. I'd retire with that tomorrow. Absolutely. If you got a deal like that. The other thing, you mentioned that about the patches. Because I couldn't see the day where college jerseys start looking like NASCAR.

[47:12] And I'd watch. The Big 12 is going to come. Brett Lomark, mark my words. He's going to come out and say, we're going to make this three or four patches he's going to put on our uniforms. And they're going to say, okay, we're going to want that. Once you open that, the genie escapes that bottle. And I'm not talking about Barbara Eden. It's hard to put back in. And it will just continue on that. If there's ways to generate revenue, they'll find it. And I think Yawmark's going to end up getting first in the line.

And there will be multiple Big 12 schools with multiple advertisements in their uniforms for the end of the decade. You said, I dream a genie there with Barbara Eden. If you've been dreaming about football finally getting back, can you believe this, Bruce? This is the last week of not having a college football game on at least once a night until February. Next week, are you ready for that Mighty Panthers and Cardinals game in the Hall of Fame game up in Canton, Ohio? No. Not ready yet. I will.

And usually, the preseason's actually been pretty good to me in recent years. So I don't shun the preseason. That game there does, you know, I'm not too wild about that. The Cardinals, I've got some questions about what's going on with them. But in the preseason, you've got some coaches that have these games. People talk about the regular season. It has no relation to the regular season. So why do you bet them? Well, fine. It's just there's a different set of parameters that you handicap in the preseason, often do with coaches and quarterback rotations.

I would watch a team like the Giants with John Harbaugh because his record with the Ravens has been spectacular in the preseason for the past decade. Now he moves his back to New York, and I would bet you the Giants might be worth a look in the preseason. John Payton's another one. John Payton's another one throughout his career has had, at least, you know, for a good while with the Saints. And then last year, last couple years, the Broncos, very good in preseason. He likes to win these games.

And he's generally got a good quarterback rotation. And it's those second and third quarterbacks. I'm telling you, Sam Ellinger is a great preseason quarterback. He will be playing for Denver. I would watch some of these other quarterbacks who are getting a look in the preseason. But you can beat the preseason, just have to look at it a little bit differently than the NFL regular season. You know, Bruce, talking about quarterbacks, back when Ty Simpson came out of high school, we had a call, and a guy said, you know, never make it to Alabama.

And now he's going to be making mega million dollars, a first-round pick with the San Francisco 49ers. Your thoughts about what's the realistic expectation for Ty Simpson this year? If he plays, then it's not going well for the Rams. Because that means Stafford got hurt. And right now, I would, or Simpson, I'd let him play in preseason, and he will. And don't worry if you don't see him take a snap in the regular season, unless they're ahead 35-0 in the fourth quarter and he comes in.

He doesn't have to play this year. This is still Stafford's year. And, you know, every year with Stafford, we're thinking it might be his last year. So, all you want of it with Simpson, watch him in the preseason. Don't worry if he doesn't play in the regular season. This is still Stafford's year. If he does play a lot in the regular season, it's not a good thing this year. It's really not good for the Rams. So, that's how I'd look at it with him. You know, he's a down-the-road sort of pick.

And I think the Rams are thinking that way, too. But they just want to look at him in preseason, see progress, and I think they'd be all happy with that. If Josh Heupel, the head football coach at Tennessee, offers you a $2 million deal for three years to run the football, are you going to think about it? I'll take it. Yeah, I knew you would. I'll take it. Knoxville's not a bad place. I kind of like Knoxville. They've got Waffle House. They've got Waffle House's there. You know, it's fine.

So, I will, too. But, you know, by the way, Heupel's another one of these coaches. If, you know, if they slip back a little bit, he's going to start feeling some heat. Because I think they just didn't quite hit those high notes, and they had a chance a couple years ago, and they're slipping back a bit. And so, he's one of those coaches where he doesn't have a big year, you know, seven and five or so, hot seat next year. Yeah, absolutely. Listen, my brother told me I talked to him after media days.

He said, you know, of all the people I talked to at media days, the one I enjoyed probably the most was your friend Bruce Marshall. And I said, you're a smart brother, and I know he certainly enjoyed talking with you. Listen, a lot of steel, baseball going on. Can the Braves hang on if they can get a starting pitcher? But you're right. Practice begins next week for most college teams. Where can we get on and get the gold standard with Bruce Marshall? Well, you can also, right now, up at goldseat.com, the website, it's all underneath the wagertalk.com umbrella.

[52:31] We're starting to put up some of my seasonal win projections. And I got, I started, it's not alphabetical. I just happened to start off with Air Force and Arkansas. So, they should be up there today, and then we'll have like one per day into late August projections. I'll get around the, I got one SEC. It was an under, by the way, for Arkansas. I had 4.5. But we'll put Boston College up there later today. Anyway, so we're getting ready for football, but it's still baseball time here now.

Pick's going pretty well. And tonight, special $5 top choice. That's at wagertalk.com. Also, picks and parlays, winnersandwiners.com. It's all under that wagertalk.com umbrella. Bruce, always a busy boy. About to get even busier. In the meantime, enjoy some home cooking for a change out there, okay? I will. Have a good week, boys. You too, buddy. You do the same. Bruce Marshall, again, amongst other places, Vegas Insider. Coming up in the next hour, going to be taking all over the place. Matt Michelle is going to be on board.

Nathan Keene talking to Auburn. Benjamin Ray talking UNA. And Emmer Pierce talking about a great way to get to the game in style this fall. All that straight ahead. Stay with us. Indeed presents, hires you can't afford to get wrong. Like public work supervisor. Hey, this water man is under a ton of pressure. Did you ever fix it? Yeah, three layers of duct tape. Wait, should I have added a fourth layer? This is what happens when you don't sponsor your job on Indeed. Next time, get matched with quality candidates with Indeed-sponsored jobs.

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Mamdani announced this week that he plans to create five of these grocery stores in the city by 2029. Our five-city-run grocery stores will set prices for this core set of goods at 30% below typical retail prices. No exceptions, no gimmicks. That means no weekly fluctuations nor sticker shock at the checkout line. Tuberville was on Newsmax urging Americans to not become dependent on the federal government. Go get a job. Go out there and work. You know, don't lean on somebody else. Don't lean on the federal government. But this is socialism and communism at its best.

And it won't last long. I think they're spending the first few months $90 million on this nonsense. The American people should be appalled across the country because we're only having this in New York, the top and most renowned city in the world where you have opportunities galore to get a job. But we're having to open up these grocery stores for illegals, basically, Rob. It's going to be illegals that don't have money to try to get their vote. 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. More details emerge about a helicopter crash that occurred in the town of Op on Monday. The UH-72 Lakota helicopter took off from Fort Rucker with three crew members on board. The flight was all part of routine training exercises. All three crew members were hospitalized after the crash and are reported as in stable condition. The cause of the crash has yet to be determined.

I'm Andrea Tice. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. Night after night, the Atlanta Braves take the field with one thing on their minds. Brought to you locally by the law firm of Johnson, Pesher, Medley, and Birchell, J.C. Hammonson. Boom! Braves win it! Tonight, the division battle rolls on in Queens as Drake Baldwin and the Braves take on the New York Mets in game two of this big NL East Road series. Braves radios on the air at 5.55 on the Braves radio network.

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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. Welcome back in. Our turn 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. And if you're listening on the app, we appreciate that.

93.9 The Score. If you don't have it, please get it and share it with folks all over this great globe of ours, wherever they may be. They can get the latest talk right here in the shows, North Pole, South Pole, and all points in between. BB, speaking of geography, a little bit too much rain for the Braves and Mets. Quick note there. If you're anticipating a game, don't today. Get ready for a doubleheader tomorrow here on 93.9 The Score. I thought that was coming. I was literally listening to the end of that game last night.

And again, the Mets won 14-3, which was easy to forget. Yes, but Ben mentioned the weather looked awfully bad for tonight, so they made an early decision on that game. Well, speaking of Ben, look who's on deck with us. Another Ben. Hey, no, the Ben. Ben Raypine, voice of UNA. Ben, welcome in. Is it raining in your backyard? How are you? Hey, thanks for having me, guys. I'll tell you what. I'm glad we're not having any rain right now. I feel like it's done nothing but rain for the last month and a half.

And I'm a little relieved I can take a night off from baseball, but now that just means tomorrow I'll be bothered all day by whatever result happens. So I'm enjoying this Braves baseball season. You bring up a good point, Ben. Obviously, it's an interesting time with UNA Sports, and who better to take us A to Z than you. What's all this weather done, if anything, to the obvious question, the brand-new stadium trying to get it done on time for this season. Has the weather been – I know it's been a headache, but has it caused any major delays?

To my knowledge, no. I mean, luckily, with this wet summer that we have had, most of the work is indoors in the actual stadium. The turf arrived yesterday. It'll start going down here in the next day or week or so, and that won't take long to do, and luckily it's going to be dry during that. But, you know, they've been working inside the press box, the suite areas, getting all of that up and running, which is a lot of my area, which is exciting. I was actually up in the stadium yesterday.

We were looking at some stuff up there, kind of rearranging a couple of things, and it's exciting seeing it come together. And just every time you get up there, there's something different. I was up there yesterday, and the field, the playing surface, has been planed. It's been leveled. They got the gravel down. So you can really see how it's starting to take shape. It's almost to the point where it's hard to imagine what it was like beforehand. But it's majestic. It's beautiful. I mean, it's a dream come true for the University of North Alabama, and we're all anxiously awaiting that day when they hand us the keys, and they say, hey, here you go.

[1:03:37] Go have fun. Play ball. Absolutely. We've been talking about all the SEC schools beginning summer camp next week. Well, guess what? UNA begins tomorrow. I think it's a morning practice from 9 to 10. 40. Brent Dierman is not going to be calling plays. He's turned that over to his OC. Brought in a lot of transfer guys. Exciting games. UNA-Sanford, August 29th, and then after that's the Hogs in Fayetteville, and then christening the new stadium a couple weeks after that. I know everybody's excited. Hard to believe summer camp begins for UNA football tomorrow morning.

And, you know, I think today might be the hottest day of the year. Yes. We're under heat advisory, and tomorrow it's going to be a little bit cooler. So, Coach Dierman really did a good job picking out that schedule. Yes. We're not out there today. But it's exciting. I mean, I feel like it was just yesterday. We were wrapping up that final game in Brown. It feels like yesterday I was talking to you guys at the end of baseball season, and now here I am talking to you guys, and football starts tomorrow.

And it feels like that marks the official end of summer for us. It's like school's starting back. And there's a lot of excitement, not just with the stadium, but with this team. UNA football is one of three schools in our conference, United Athletic Conference, to bring a starting quarterback back. And then Destin Wade, who showed great flashes a season ago before some injuries kind of knocked him off for just a little bit. But Destin is a great dual-threat quarterback, and he's really stepped into a leadership role.

And Coach Dierman, you mentioned Coach Partridge taking over. He has surrounded himself with just outstanding coaches. I've enjoyed getting to know all of these coaches, from Coach Bowen on the defensive side, Coach Partridge offensively, to Coach Schurig, who's back, who's been a head coach in his career. So he's got an excellent staff put together, a staff that's hungry and motivated. And he brought in some big dudes. I was talking about the strength staff. And one of the things they told me about this team was the group that saw that the biggest increase was the offensive and defensive lines in terms of strength in the weight room.

And so that's just something really exciting to see. Ben Ray, my voice of UNA, Ben, obviously, it's so many changes. We talked about the brand-new digs coming up there with the stadium, but also a brand-new conference for the folks who are just coming to the table. They've been busy doing a thing called making a living out there, may not be aware of it. Talk to us about how things are going to look different this year as far as the conference from A to Z. Yeah, so it is an interesting conference alignment now.

We fall under the umbrella of the Unison, and the Unison is kind of a tag-team effort between the Atlantic Sun and what was once the WAC, which has been rebranded as the UAC. And UAC football has been around for the last three, four seasons. Now pretty much what you've seen is you've got a basketball conference in the Atlantic Sun with all the Florida schools, plus Lipscomb, Bellerin. And then on the other side, you've got Abilene Christian, you've got Tarleton State coming over with the other football schools.

Texas, yeah. Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky, West Georgia, North Alabama, Central Arkansas. And then you throw in Little Rock, which is a basketball-only school, and UT Arlington, which is a basketball-only school. So it's going to be a new-look conference for UNA. It's more of kind of southeastern-driven from West Georgia being the furthest east school to going as far west as Texas. So it's going to be a competitive league. Football, we know what to expect because we know these schools. We've gotten to know them the last handful of years.

Basketball, I don't know. I don't know what that league is going to look like for every other sport. So it's pretty exciting to see. But you've got schools that are aligned in their visions all in the same conferences now. And it's going to be very strong. And already people are calling the UAC, the football league that we're in, as one of the top three or four leagues in FCS college football. So it's kind of cool to see those high expectations already placed on this league. We've been talking about the new stadium.

Let me ask you this every time you come on. And I know Megan Dye is the queen of fundraising for UNA. But if you would like, if you're listening and you're an alumnus, you're a fan, or you're just someone interested who caught UNA, you can still donate for the stadium, $100 to a multi-million. Bobby Wallace-Field, Mike Lane-Field, trees, benches, plaques, donation to UNA Athletics, join the Athletic Club. I know Megan Dye is a great place to start, but there are so many examples of support for UNA Athletics.

[1:08:44] If you're listening right now and you're interested and say, you know, I would like to help get this season started, how do you do it? Go to RoarLions.com, and there's a tab at the top called Support, and it's got all the links to how you can give, whether you're a business that wants to get involved, whether you want to make a charitable donation, or be a part of the exciting things happening down here on the Pines. I mean, you've got an opportunity to give right now.

And I think right now the school has more support athletically than we've ever seen. I mean, we're top tier in the conference and attendance for everything, record donations year after year. I mean, the excitement and the buzz for UNA is as big as it's ever been. And it's exciting to see as the kids get ready to start school next week, as they like to say. Ben Ray in the huddle with us. Ben, talk to us about, if you can go a little more in depth in the schedule, because when you start making leaps from D2 all the way up to D1, sometimes you've got to fall on the sword.

In other words, a lot of road gains for many reasons, including trying to play for the check. Talk to us about this year. You're going to start in North Alabama, but not in Lawrence. It's going to be over in Huntsville. And then compared to years past, what's the home schedule like this season? This might be the best home schedule we've ever had. And I remember the first year of Division I, 2018, we did not have a single Division I school come. Right. Nobody wanted to come. And we weren't in a conference that first year.

Then year two, we played a straight Division I schedule. That was super exciting. But this year, for the first time ever, we have six home games. Wow. Which is incredible. And then you throw in that game in Huntsville. You've got seven games in this North Alabama region. So we're going to open up at Davis Stadium week zero, which is going to be week one here pretty soon. August 29th against Stanford. And we've got a lot of cool connections with Sanford. I mean, our first football game in the modern era back in 1949 was against Sanford.

Bobby Bowden played in that game. Wow. So there's all sorts of cool nuggets after that. But strategically, they did the first three on the road. But what the beauty is, it's three straight road games because we get that first game in Huntsville with Joe Davis. There's going to be a lot of UNA fans there. It's going to be a treat. Then we go to Arkansas. Then we go to Southeastern Louisiana. And then the long-awaited September 19th home game against Alcorn State. First-ever game at Bobby Wallace Field.

Yeah. Independent Stadium. First two games at home follow. And we'll go through a stretch with four of our five games at home, which is an exciting run. But six games overall after that. Those two, you can get conference games against Abilene Christian, defending champs coming to town. Austin Peay for homecoming October 24th, who we've built a phenomenal rivalry with the last couple years. And then our old Gold South Conference for West Florida comes on November 7th. And we wrap up the season against Tarleton State on November 21st.

So six home games at Bank Independent Stadium. I mean, you could not ask for a better way to start the run at BI Stadium at Bobby Wallace Field than with six home games. So if you haven't bought season tickets, you've got six tries to come on out there and check out the new ballpark. Well, what's new for you this fall? James and I were watching you do YouTube on basketball, I think was the final summer. But I know Varsity Network, 4 Radio, there are a lot of teams across the country that have done that.

YouTube, TV possibilities. What's going to be new this coming season for you? It's exciting. Well, we've got some things cooking, some things that will release here in the next couple of weeks. There's still some agreements to be made, but Ruralines Production, kind of our audio arm, our streaming arm. You'll find us on all the social medias. You can watch everything we do on Twitter. I still call it Twitter. They tell me to call it X. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or even on Twitch for some of the young folks out there.

I still don't know what Twitch is, but they tell me that that's what we stream on. So we're there. You can catch everything on Ruralines.com. And then the Varsity Network app, it's the home of college athletics. You can listen to every college event on the Varsity Network app. And our big thing is we want to be where the people are and where people, they're on their phones. And this will be our second year kind of with Ruralines Productions, Grant Wakefield, Braden Rogers. They do a great job running that behind the scenes.

And, you know, last year we had over 300,000 total views across all the different events that we did, which was unbelievable for year number one. So we're doing more and more stuff, more and more productions that you can catch on there. We had the basketball show on there. We'll be live at football practice tomorrow doing some things as well. It's a great way to be engaged and to keep up. And just simple as giving a like and a follow on social media, and you can go back and watch everything that we've done.

[1:14:04] It's a good little home for UNA Athletics. Absolutely. Now, listen, if you need Harold and I to contact Josh Looney and nominate the radio booth or the communication booth, the Benjamin Ray Broadcasting Center, or we can find some sexy name for it, just let us know if we can help you with that. But if you want to make a donation or get more information about UNA Athletics, again, tell us where can we go. Hey, how about the Jeff Hodges press box? Oh, that's a good one.

That's a good one. That's a good ring to it. Visit RoarLions.com, and we can make all of that happen right there. Sounds great, Ben. Listen, good to catch up with you. All the best this season. Let's do it again soon. In the meantime, happy twitching, okay? Happy twitching. I'll try to keep my twitch going. Thank you, guys. Thank you, buddy. Appreciate you always calling me. See you, buddy. Ben Ray, fine voice of UNA. Coming up, he knows all about the Auburn Tigers. In fact, he's the king.

Nathan King next. Stay with us from the Boomer Buck Show. Earn an accredited MBA in as few as 16 months for about 21K at University of Maryland Global Campus. Explore 10 specializations including finance, HR, cyber technology, and more. Plus, showcase the value of your MBA with a comprehensive learner record and digitally demonstrate in-demand skills and credentials to employers. Apply now and save with no application fee. Classes start August 12th. Learn more at umgc.edu. Certified to operate in Virginia by show. If there's one thing you can count on, it's 24-7 protection when you bundle home and auto insurance with Progressive.

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And the person that comes after usually doesn't have a lot of success. The Paul Feinbaum Show. Weekdays at 3 Eastern on the ESPN app and on the SEC network. Evan, Canty, and Michelle are Unsportsman Life. It's harder to replicate that success than it is otherwise. We're giving Caleb Williams specifically the benefit of the doubt. He had to pull magic out of his hat a lot. He did have five turnovers across two playoff games. He still sometimes has those problematic issues. And I don't know why we're just automatically assuming that he's going to be able to do this again.

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The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back again. Again, really appreciate free ride around the valley. And for Nathan King, taking time out of his busy schedule, following the Auburn Tigers there at 24-7 Sports. Nathan, welcome in. How are you? I am doing great. How are you guys? Good. And just the question, are you catching up on your rest? Because a little birdie tells us you're about to get really busy here in a few days. Now, the curtain is about to come up, Nathan.

[1:19:16] Yep, for sure. The team reports next Tuesday, whatever date that is, on the 4th. That'll be, we'll talk to Alex Skolish that day. We'll talk about the coordinators that day as well. And then the following morning, bright and early, first day of fall camp. Exactly a month out from the start of the season, August 5th to September 5th, the opener against Baylor. And so, media days, obviously putting a bow on talking season, putting a bow on all the off-season chatter around what Alex Skolish's team can look like in year one.

And coming up here pretty shortly, we're about to find out exactly what the Tigers could look like when they start their season. Nathan, coming out of the SEC media days, before we get into all the stuff from the media days itself, where's your gut with this team now? Right here on the cusp of camp opening up compared to 365 days ago or so under Hugh Freeze. That's a great question. I mean, look, there were a lot of reasons to, you could have gotten behind last year's team under Hugh Freeze and sort of convinced yourself that that could be the turnaround year.

You had to ignore some of the previous results. And I think you had to ignore the quarterback question. And, you know, we talked about this as soon as Hugh Freeze was let go, as soon as they hired Alex Skolish. Can this program finally find some consistency at quarterback? And can they find a coach who can coach the quarterback position well and put them in positions to succeed? Guys, it's just such a different feeling. And I'm not saying Byron Brown's going to be all SEC. I'm not even, you know, we'll see if he's in the top half of the league.

I don't even think he has to be in the top half of the league for this team to be improved. But what a different feeling to just have that comfort level at quarterback. It really is something Auburn has not had for a long time, maybe since Bo Nix's second season when he was building off that freshman year. When you have a guy like Byron Brown as the nucleus of your offensive system, half of it is him and what he's done, you know, in his career so far.

The other half is these coaches. I mean, like we're not having the same conversation if Byron Brown transfers to Arkansas or let's say he transfers to stays in the state and goes to Florida. If he doesn't have these same coaches and the same exact system in place, I'm not sure we have this level of confidence. So that's that's the difference to me is sort of having this baseline confidence in what this offense can be. Again, I'm not saying they're going to be extremely good. We'll see how good they end up being.

But you have a much better sense that they're probably going to be competent and look like they know what they're doing. And obviously, that was not something we could have said about the Hugh Freeze teams very much. I always enjoy your article, three things I know and three things I think I know. And there's a lot of common sense in here, which is kind of rare these days. One of your standard questions was, well, a bunch of transfers from South Florida, would they be able to play and have success in the SEC?

And your questions about the offensive line, I think it has tremendous potential. But Stanton Ramil from Michigan State, a powerful experience, but is he healthy enough by week one? Derek Plaz, we've talked with you about him. Very physically impressive, but a little college experience. Buster, exciting player, but is he ready for a starting role? Just an example of some of the common sense questions you've got leading into the season. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned the offensive line. You would not find a coach in the country that's not going to have some level of healthy concern about where their O-line is.

And Alex Gilles was able to carry some cautious optimism into SEC media days, talking about how well that group has come together in the offseason. He credited Cole Best, who is obviously that veteran who came over from USF. He's going to be the center. He credited him and said, look, he's gotten this group together in the offseason and done a really good job. With that, obviously, so much revolves around Stanton Ramil. Like, if he's a no-doubter at right tackle when fall camp starts, that allows you to do some other things, allows you to kick Ty Buster to the inside.

But really, guys, a theme, kind of going off that, a theme that I got from Gullish throughout SEC media days was that, we just mentioned Byron Brown. I think it's very intentional by him to challenge everyone else on this offense to rise to the occasion. Like, I have no doubt Byron Brown is up to this task. Like, now what does that look like? Yardage, wins and losses? I don't know. But you come away with a little doubt that he's going to be a pretty good quarterback.

But Alex Gullish is challenging everyone else on this offense. This O-line is brand new. They need to be pretty good. This running back room, they're deep. Jeremiah Cobb is back. But we've heard him now several times challenge Bryson-Washington, the Baylor transfer, and say, look, man, you've got to get into shape. Like, that's not something that, you know, you hear super often, you know, talking about a coach who got such a big portal pickup. These wide receivers from USF, they were really, really good there. And they've known this coaching staff a long time, and they were very consistent.

[1:24:17] He's talked about multiple of those guys, Keyshawn Singleton and Jeremiah Coker, who are going to be starters. He said, look, I need more from those guys. Like, I need them on a daily basis to be better. I think that's very intentional. I think it's Alex Gullish and the staff getting ready for the season and telling these guys, look, most of you, you know, if you're here at USF or wherever you were before, I know you were pretty good. You have to be a little bit better because it's the SEC now, and you're facing good competition every week.

And obviously, it starts with the O-line, but he's definitely challenging those other guys on offense. Well, Nathan King, 24-7 Sports. Nathan, to elaborate on what you said, I think that's a very important point. You've got to establish boundaries, and then if someone doesn't want to play within those boundaries, they can leave. But you can't sit here and push your foot around and let the tail wag the dog. And I think what he said there about Washington sends a message to the rest of the team, and especially in the modern era, whether you agree or not, these kids come in, they got the money.

And if they can, not all of them, but some of them, if they have a fingernail that has a nick, they're going to sit on the bench because they don't want to jeopardize that money coming in. And to me, that's a very important message to send to the rest of the team, especially in this modern era. Yeah, for sure. And look, Washington, maybe he'll turn out to be an improper example because I think if you're looking at the odds, do I think he's going to be Auburn's number two running back and compliment Jeremiah Cobb pretty well?

Yeah, I do. Like, I think when we're talking about it at the end of the season, what he did at Baylor was just too good. I think he's going to be the number two option in the backfield. But you're exactly right. He was the guy that was a really highly rated transfer. Honestly, it was a little surprising when Auburn got him because they got him the day after Jeremiah Cobb came back. And it was like, wow, you convinced that guy to come here. I'm sure he was a pretty penny for them to get.

So that's exactly your point as well. Like, look, you know, these guys cost money, you know, to fill up an offer like this. You need to hold them. Yeah, you need to hold them to that standard. Look, that goes for Byron Brown, that quarterback. He would be the first to, you know, uphold that standard that Gullish has set. And it goes for a lot of these defensive guys as well. I know we haven't talked about that very much, but there's a lot of talent on that defense.

A lot of guys who are familiar with DJ Durkin, they're going to be held to a very high standard as these coaches saying, look, it's year three or year two or year three for you in Durkin's system. We expect you to be a consistent player. That sentiment certainly applies to a lot of guys. Let me ask you about offensive pace. We've talked about this a little bit in the last week. A lot of people don't realize Alex Gullish teams were number two in the FBS in seconds per play in each of the last five years.

And I know some of the Auburn coaches, Gus Malzahn actually did something about it. Some others gave, gave lip service to this, but if you can run an offense at the pace that he is accustomed to, you can wear defense out. Now the opposite of that, you may wear your own defense out if you go three and out, but I'm going to be curious if the O-line's ready and everything else works. And they go at this pace, that's going to be a real weapon for Auburn.

Yeah, but you're exactly right that you have to have a plan. You can't just have blinding pace and not expect the ramifications of it. I did an interview a few weeks ago now with Auburn's strength coach, George Cordy, who was with Alex Gullish at USF. And I asked him that, I was like, look, how do you tangibly prepare a defense for this, for getting back on the field so quickly, other than running a bunch of sprints and other than saying, hey man, you got to be conditioned.

And he said there's a science to it, and there has been going back to his time at USF, Alex Gullish's time at USF, and going back to his time working under Josh Heupel at Tennessee. There has to be a science to it. They said that they stimulate stuff in practice for the defense. Like, sometimes between drills and between reps, they will just chill out, and basically that's kind of simulating a longer drive. Sometimes they go three plays, because if Auburn's going to go three and out this year, it's going to be a really fast three and out.

Sometimes they go 20 seconds and they put them back on the field. You just have to keep them on their toes and have to stimulate that sort of work. And yeah, I mean, that's part of the conversation we just had about Bryce and Washington, but it extends to other positions on the roster. There's just a different, I'm not saying it's more difficult, because if it was the best thing to do, everyone would do it. But there is a different level of conditioning, a different level of preparation, a different type of preparation that comes with playing in this offense.

That's part of what makes Alex Gullish's system work. But I think the most encouraging thing out of all that, you mentioned Gus Malzahn, and the biggest thing about Gus, look, did he have that down pat better than anybody early on? Absolutely. There's no question. What he didn't do was adapt over the course of his career. And mainly it was the rule changes. I don't think that's going to happen this time around for Gullish. But the big thing about Gullish is he's talked so much about adaptability, and he's talked about, look, this is quote-unquote my offense, but over the years it's changed so much.

And he said in an interview earlier this offseason, it's unrecognizable, the offense from 2022 at Tennessee that set so many records, that he was the OC. He's like, I don't even recognize that offense. It's ebbed and flowed so much over the years. That is going to be key. Whatever Auburn looks like this fall, how good their offense is, I think it can be pretty solid. It's got to look different the next year. And then it's got to look different in year three. That's something that maybe Auburn's past few coaches, you know, Hugh Freeze never really stopped coaching like it was 2015.

[1:29:26] Gus never really came out of that era either and never adapted. Alex Gullish has to do that. And, you know, it's lip service right now. He's not coached a game as Auburn's head coach, but he seems like, you know, throughout his career, the last decade or so, he's been very committed to doing that as an offensive line. Absolutely. Listen, you and Jason Caldwell did a great job as far as coverage of Auburn in Tampa and also thoughts on the SEC. I know a few changes, but it's still the same outstanding coverage of Auburn sports.

Where can we get online to get all the good stuff? Yeah, for sure. Auburn247.com is no longer Auburn undercover. Our new domain is Auburn247. Like you said, same team, really, really excited. Never been more excited about a football season because I love our staff, love what we're doing. If you're an Auburn fan and want to get locked in, there's no better time because fall camp's right around the corner. You don't want to miss anything, 50% off. You just head to our homepage, Auburn247.com, and you can take advantage of that.

We would love to have you. Look forward to talking with you guys throughout camp, and the season will be here before we know it. That's right. Green light next week. In the meantime, thanks for your time today, Nathan. Thank you, sir. Appreciate y'all. Nathan King, hook it up with us, 24-7 sports. He's got all the sports coverage in the Big O. Matt Merchell on deck. Stay with us. It's game day. Are your moderate to severe Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms keeping you from the action?

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Learn more at Skyrizi.com or 1-866-SKYRIZI. Rich Eisen here. We talk a lot about battles in sports. Teams battling through adversity. Athletes fighting for every yard. The toughest warriors I've ever seen, though, aren't on the field. Their kids fighting cancer. Their 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. Rich Eisen here.

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As the Dodgers fight for the top of Major League Baseball, they welcome the surging Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox at the Dodgers on Sunday Night Baseball. Coverage begins at 6.30 Eastern with first pitch at 7.20 Eastern on ESPN Radio and on the ESPN app. Everybody, Bill King, Bill King Show. Listen to me. Nine until noon. 93-9. The score. Monday through Friday as we talk college football like nobody else does. 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. If life is a game to be won, then every child deserves to play on a level field to unlock their full potential and thrive. Children International is empowering young people in poverty on their journey. We're working alongside partners and communities in 10 countries to give children and youth the tools, the training, and the skills to build confidence, shape their futures, and win in luck. This journey of hope begins in the early days of development and continues through all stages of growth and into employment.

We invest in children and youth so they can achieve their goals. And it's a game changer for children, their families, and their entire communities. This is how, together, we can help end poverty for good. Join the journey at children.org today. The score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. It's always good to say hello to him and him. Matt Merchel, College Insider with the Orlando Center. This podcast is called Gridiron 365. Matt, welcome in. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you guys doing today?

[1:34:59] I'm hoping you're loading up on the calories because this is it. Last week, we got kind of the introduction. This is the lull. And then starting next week, boom, boom, boom. Camp's opening up all over the place. Are you ready for some college football, Matt? Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I mean, I've been in the gym all week long, working out, trying to get myself back in shape. You know, making sure we're ready to go. Got my batteries in my recorder and ready to do a brand new notebook.

Ready to take all the notes I need to take over the next week. I'm looking forward to camp next week. I believe it. All right. Run through that concrete wall. Fired up. Yeah. Let me ask you this. Obviously, ACC Media Day is kind of close to you, kind of close to us. I think the thing that a lot of folks said coming out of it's most memorable, the new kids in the block, if you will, the new head coaches. One thing we know now, they can talk it.

The question is, Matt, can they walk it in the SEC? Yeah, you know, I think that's going to be interesting. You know, one of the things that moving forward into the season, some of the new coaches, John Summerall, just up the road from us here in Orlando. You know, is he going to be prepared? You know, obviously, he has had a great success, you know, when he was at Tulane. But, you know, it's going to be more of a challenge, I think, with Florida, trying to figure out what's going on there.

You know, you look at Lane Kiffin, even though he's not really a new coach, you know, moving into a new place. A lot of attention is set on Lane and a lot of expectations for LSU based on what they feel like they're going to have an opportunity maybe to do something a little different. So, you know, there are opportunities for a lot of these young coaches to step up and try to make a name for themselves. But it's going to be difficult because this is a tough league to try to find a way to win.

So, Alex Goldish at Auburn as well, another new base, going to try to come in and try to light a little bit of a fire under that program. It's been kind of some down years over the last few years. Matt, one of the themes of media days was the talking heads asked the coaches about roster construction. And Ryan Silverfield of Arkansas just came out flat and said, look, we're going to sign 20 high school players, probably 15 transfer portal. And then here's the new part of this, roster retention.

We've got to pay our current players to keep them. And particularly if they have a good year. And that's one of the reasons why some of these schools, if you'd ask somebody five years ago, who's the general manager, they'd look at you like you're crazy. Now you've got to have a staff that does this. That was one of the themes. And I'm sure they'll talk about this in the Big Ten, too. It's how to put a roster together. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. You know, it's not one blueprint plan that everybody is sitting down and using.

I think a lot of different programs are taking different approaches to it. You know, some want to lean heavily on the high school ranks. They're still willing to sign a class of maybe 20 to 25 kids. Others don't want to necessarily put that much effort in the high school class. Not that they don't think they're important, but the idea basically is if I'm paying you money, if I'm paying a freshman coming in money, you better be willing to perform right now and be able to perform right now.

So it's not just sitting on a bench holding a clipboard for a couple of seasons. You're going to have to be able to step on the field. You want an instantaneous, you know, payoff for your investment. And so that's why you're seeing a lot of schools really trying to work in that portal, trying to figure out what's the best system in that. I think roster retention is a huge deal. I think if you can keep, you know, 50 to 55 to 60 players on your roster for the previous season, especially players who actually matter, you know, players who actually, you know, are either going to provide you, you know, or have good years or going to provide you a good season, you know, that's probably a real home run hit for you.

And I think that's something that a lot of coaches are talking about. Because part of that is then you could spend your money. Listen, if you get 24, what is it, 23, $24 million on your, you know, whatever it is your cap is now, you know, you could go around and spend a little bit more in different spots than maybe you could if you had to find 60 or 70 players. And I think that's where really you're looking at it. How do you make that thing all work right now? That's where a GM really comes in.

And it's a really important idea of finding a way to make that plan work. Like I said, not every program does the same thing. And you'll find a lot of coaches who believe that it's more important to retain players than it is maybe to keep rebuilding roster year in and year out. Matt, have you been talking to Kaelin DeBoer and his staff at Alabama? Because that exactly describes their strategy. They've had back-to-back top five classes. And this year, if you were up here, you could hear the roar of the paints coming off the wall about this class.

But then you fast forward to next year's class, and the number one, not for 27's class, but 28. So basically, people say, what in the world is going on? Your point is well taken. They got the top five classes in. Now they're trying to hold on to them. They're taking this year's budget, it seems in a way, and say, let's invest, not spend, but invest it here. And then next year, start planning more seeds. Would you agree with that strategy that Alabama, basically, it seems in a way, personifies what you're talking about?

[1:40:07] Yeah, I agree. And I think it's really interesting, because I think there are some coaches who are willing to sacrifice not having a good recruiting class now. Right. To see what happens in the future. Because, listen, I'll give you a good example. They're willing occasionally to let guys go and find with a Florida or an Alabama or a Michigan or a Texas. But their thinking is that they're local guys, and they're still really good, that maybe in a year or two, you can convince those players to come play for you.

Because maybe they want to come home and play close to home, play in front of mom and dad and the family and kids. You know, those are kind of the ideas you take is, okay, we may not get you initially in that recruiting class, but we have an opportunity to get you down the road. You know what I mean? Where maybe we can, when you have a little more season, where you've spent a few years. When you grow up. Yeah, you grow up and you're ready to grab it.

So it's a very interesting balance. I think a lot of programs are trying to figure out is, yes, you want to, high schools are important. Yes, you want to develop talent. But also, it's so hard nowadays to sit and wait and have a guy on your roster. And especially because those kids see this and they say, I want, you know, $100,000. I want $300,000. I want to see this. And then you're looking around going, well, I could spend, I can give this kid $100,000 as a true freshman. And I can get a guy for $200,000 in the transfer portal.

It's going to help me a lot better than getting one kid who's at $300,000. So it's so much, much like the NFL, sitting down and really kind of working out what is your cap, what works best for you, and also looking for the future. Believe me, this five for five, you know, and all the new bills that are being looked at right now, it's a huge deal because a lot of coaches are looking around thinking, how can that change our roster even now? Man, I talked with you a couple weeks ago when you got back from the Big 12 media days about the monster deal that literally, that Brett Gormack put together to commission the Big 12, $20 million, every school would get one.

Well, Ohio State upped that today. They announced a $17 million deal with JPMorgan Chase for basically a, in a corporate partnership with them for a jersey patch. About the size of a large stamp, to be honest with you, that's quite an increase, but I'll say this about Jormack. He's always trying to find some more revenue streams and another sponsor deal. Now, Arkansas's got one with Tyson Foods, LSU with Woodside Energy, but the same thing we just got through talking about constructing rosters. ADs now and commissioners are looking for sponsor deals everywhere.

Oh, for sure. I mean, I've spoken to some ADs who told me, listen, if there's space, I'll slap a logo on it. You know, I'll slap some sort of corporate logo on it. I've had people tell me if they can do it on mouth guards, if they can do it on, you know, gloves. Sure, jockstraps. They would do it because, you know, listen, they want to try to find a way to make as much money as possible. I think the Big 12 monster deal was interesting in the sense that it was a league.

The league says we're going to sell this patch, we're going to try to make a little extra money. Now you're looking around, you've got these individual teams saying, let's get our own deals. And those deals may be even more lucrative, as you just mentioned. So I think that's important. I mean, I think right now there's about 35, 36 teams that have, you know, logos, patch logo deals going on. There's probably going to be a few more in the next couple weeks. But everybody's looking to try to find a way to make a dollar.

It's the same when you look at a state, a court for basketball, or when you look for the field, a football field, they're looking for every inch of space they can put a logo on and try to figure out a way to make as much money. It goes back to the days when, and this is relatively new for some people, putting a soda, having a deal with Coke or Pepsi, and put a soda bottle at a news conference. Because it's got to be shown, and that's got to be sponsored.

I mean, everyone's going through it, and everyone's going to find a way to make as much money as possible. I'm sure we're going to find something new. Guaranteed. You are the perfect person to ask this. We've talked to some of my friends out in Vegas and elsewhere, and they said the national perception, let me reemphasize that, national perception of Alabama right now is they ain't been his spot in like 20 years, back to the days of Mike Shula, as far as preseason polls, number of first place votes out of SEC media days.

You are a national voice, man. What is your national perception of Alabama right now? Well, I mean, I don't think they're anywhere near what they were three or four years ago. I mean, I don't think, you know, when you talked about college football season coming around the corner, it was generally about Alabama and then everyone else. You're not getting that right now. And I'm not blaming, this is not on Kalen DeBoer for, you know, what's happened. I just think that this is the cycle of college athletics, you know, that once Nick Saban retired, you know, you've got programs.

They'll look around and they're trying to find ways to catch up with everybody. You know, if everyone was trying to catch up to Alabama for so many years, I think you're probably starting to see that. Then you look around and the game itself has changed. The college athletics has changed. You're looking at revenue sharing. You're looking at how money is being spent. You're looking at what teams are throwing at some of these rosters. And all of a sudden, you've got teams now that are in the hunt that weren't there before.

[1:45:26] If you told me five years ago that Texas Tech would be in the mix for a college football playoff, I would have laughed. But now with money and everything going on, that makes total sense. So I think for Alabama, I think that's where they're at right now. Because they've kind of, everyone's caught up. And yes, they've shot ahead of them a little bit of time. But I think they're going to get back. You know, I just think it's going to take a little bit of time.

I just think, you know, they've got to figure out how they're putting together that blueprint. Like we talked about earlier when it comes to rosters and tensions. How do you put together that blueprint? Do you go heavy into the recruiting ranks like they've done most of their lives? No. Maybe not so. Maybe you pull back a little bit. Maybe you go more into the transfer portal. Okay, then that happens. Then you've got to look at the quarterback position. You've got to develop a quarterback. You've got to make sure that becomes a key area of interest.

And so I think that's where some of these things that maybe caught up with Alabama that have maybe kind of held them back a little bit the last couple of years. But it's not just Alabama. I mean, Clemson. Look what's happened to Clemson. Remember Alabama Clemson? Clemson is just experiencing the same sort of thing. Ohio State seems to be there, but they're pumping a lot of money in their program. So this is just kind of the way the cycle works. And I think eventually Alabama's going to find its way back.

Matt, it's rather humorous. 30 minutes ago, I just saw a tweet. Notre Dame Athletics has signed a jersey patch sponsorship deal with SoFi worth $18 million to $20 million. So they have won up Ohio State with J.P. Morgan. We'll be seeing this for the next two or three weeks, as you mentioned. Matt, got to run and talk to one of our outstanding sponsors. But where can we get online and get all the great stuff? By the way, congratulations on getting away and getting some time off last week.

Where can we get you good stuff? Yeah, you can go to OrlandoSentinel.com to check out the latest or follow me on social media. Oh, it's Matt Merchelle. Yeah, we're in the middle right now. This week, we started up our college football preview section, the NFL preview section. And so I've been busy trying to crank out as much time as I can before camp starts next week. And then I'm buried with camp. Sounds great, Matt. By the way, Brett and I, if you're looking to put your patch on someone, Brett and I would give you a better deal than what Notre Dame charged, okay, in Ohio State.

I'm just saying, there you go. You're willing to pay me. I'm fine. I'll wear it. I'll pass you on. Hey, Jerry Maguire, show me the money. Hey, man, listen, Matt. Hey, listen, have a good week. And thank you so much for your time today. All right, talk to you guys later. Thank you, bud. Double L, Matt Merchelle, the Orlando Center. Speaking of sponsors, Cameron Pierce on deck. Stay with us. Leslie, people are going to think you were raised in a barn or by wolves. Erased in a barn by wolves.

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Online health questions required. Welcome back, Ken. He may be your MVP if you're looking to get your favorite game this college football season. Elmer Pierce, owner of Garner Pierce Autos. Elmer, welcome in. We're looking for a car that has only two things, a windshield wiper and an air conditioning. Can you help us out? How are you? Absolutely, guys. I sure can. I sure can. Thank you all for having me today. Well, as we mentioned, it's time to get busy. All the talking is over. College football is coming, and we just talked with some of our friends at UNA.

[1:50:38] I tell you what, if you go on the road to follow the lines this season, everything from Georgia, Florida to Texas, for a UNA fan looking for a reliable ride at a good price, what can you tell them? Man, I tell you, we have got some great, great inventory. Probably as good as we've had in about a year. A lot of this stuff is moving and moving in a hurry. We've got anything from a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Fastback to a 2009 Toyota Camry LE local one-owner car out of Blount County and 52,000 miles on that car.

It's just unbelievable. That's one of the things that we've talked about on and off the air is, I know you went to Louisiana to get one a couple weeks ago, but the key about this, you check, you do your research, you check this stuff out. If the car's been in an accident or there are any issues with the car, you're always up front talking about the customer about the customer about the past history. Yeah. You know, the thing about it is, guys, everybody thinks this business is easy.

The hard part is finding the cars. The hard part is not selling the car. Yeah. I mean, if you only realize how hard it was to find this stuff, I mean, that has a good history, that has not been in multiple accidents, that is a local one-owner car, stuff like that, that is the hardest part. Like I said, once you find that, selling it is easy. I mean, you know, I hate to say that, it is, but finding the good quality stuff that has a good history report and is worth the money.

I mean, these guys, I mean, you can go out and buy good stuff, but if you're paying retail for it, what am I supposed to ask my customer to pay, you know, I mean, I got to go to church with you guys. I got to, you know, our kids got to play ball together and sit next to each other in the stands and stuff like that, you know. So that's the hard part, and most people don't want to do that or they're too lazy to do it, either one.

So that's, you know, that's kind of what sets us apart from a lot of other folks out there. Elmer, your reputation is worth a lot of money. My dad told me that for many years. Who, what, when, and where, if you need service, if you need a new used car, where do we need to go? Guys, give us a shout, www.garner-pierceautos.com. Come and see us, 2261 Florence Boulevard, right next to Applebee's here in Florence. Give us a shout, 256-768-5660 or www.garner-pierceautos.com. Come and see us, say hello, take a look what all we have.

I mean, just from one end of the spectrum to the other, we've got it right now. Hot deals, hot temps. Thanks so much for your time, Dave. Keep up the good work, okay? Thanks, guys, appreciate it. Thank you, Elmer. Elmer Pierce, owner of Garner-pierceautos. Quick note again, speaking of rain, the Braves, no game because of the rain tonight. Are you ready for a twin bill tomorrow, BB? Yeah, I kind of thought that was coming. Ben Ingram mentioned that when the score was 14-3, the Mets. But you're right, the Braves with an opportunity.

Again, Chris Sale pitching tomorrow, which gives the Braves an even better chance to win. You can hear both games here on 93.9, the score. That's a twofer coming up tomorrow. It's going to take care of bids for now on behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire crew here. Harold Buck, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again tomorrow, noon to two for the BMO Buck Show, back here on Sports Radio 93.9, the score.