Boomo Bugg Show 122225

[0:00] Now, get ready to roll Shoals, Decatur, Athens and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's Exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. New Exclusive Inside Track to the Tide, Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Gets the snap, looking, firing, catch made, first down. Lottie Brooks breaks the tackle. 4-3-2-1, touchdown. Lottie Brooks broke a tackle at the 5, got to the end zone, an 11-yard gain. Bama goes for it on fourth down. It pays off for the first score of the game for Alabama.

Bama putting eight men up initially and now dropping back. A pick, a pick at the 45, to the 30, to the 20, to the 10, to the 5. Touchdown, Sabian Brown takes it to the house. Bama changed its coverage and the Sooners throw it right to us. Simpson getting the snap. Plenty of time. Firing downfield towards the end zone. Brooks caught it. Touchdown, Alabama. 30 yards on the strike. And Alabama takes its first lead of the night. 23 consecutive points for the Crimson Tide to go on top. Now Lindsey will come in motion to the right.

Will hand it off. No. Play action. Throwing nearside for Jeremy. Took it off the back of a defender. And then it gets stripped away. Incomplete or is it? They're going to call him completion right now. They're going to call him a catch. It's a catch for Jeremy Bernard at the 5 as he took it off the back of the OU defender. What a play. Victory. Formation for Ty Simpson in the Crimson Tide. And a victory is exactly what we've gotten. California. Here we come. Alabama. A winner over the Sooners in Norman.

34-24. A win by 10 from the golden lips of the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Chris Stewart and their crew. Good afternoon. I'm Harold Boyd. That's Brett Beaird. Thanks so much for making us a part of your Monday before Christmas. And Brett Beaird, welcome in. Is it safe to say coming up that Alabama gets the roses and a lot of the social media geniuses, they get the thorns on their early demise of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Good afternoon. Welcome in. And how are you? Happy Monday to you.

Yeah, social media got a little carried away after Alabama got behind the 17 and even before then. But we'll be talking about the Alabama game and all of the games in the first round, including Alabama's impressive comeback win against the Sooners. Auburn quarterback Ashton Daniels enters the portal. And South Florida quarterback Byron Brown enters the portal this morning. Really? Brian Matthews of AuburnSports.com will tell us what does that mean. And we're going to have on Andrew Bowen in just a few minutes who is going to be wearing his professor hat and give us his grades for Alabama's performance against the Sooners.

Yeah, I think that Andrew must have heard you. He is in the huddle with us now. Andrew is the flying columnist and recruiting editor there at BamaOnline.com, part of the OnFree.com family. His book is ready for a Christmas stocking near you. It's called The Road to Bama. A.B., welcome in. How are you? Hey, doing great, guys. How are we doing today? Good. Man, we're doing all right. Andrew, it's safe to say that a lot of the social media geniuses, they got more egg on their face than a drunk at Waffle House at 3 o'clock in the morning.

Would you agree with that? Yeah, probably so. I mean, I think that, you know, a lot of people regret a lot of things they were saying during that game the other night, especially after the first 13, or I guess after the first 18 minutes or so of the football game. I mean, it certainly looked not pretty. And over the course of the last couple years when we've seen Alabama get down double digits, we really hadn't seen them fight back and get back into the game and win the game.

So I think, you know, when you see Alabama get down 17 to nothing, it's just sort of a, well, here we go again situation because we saw that obviously last year in Norman. We saw it in Tallahassee and we saw it in Atlanta. So you weren't really expecting anything to change. But I think the Alabama team, you know, that coaching staff certainly showed us a lot. Showed us a lot of resiliency, showed us a lot of hearts and guts. And I think the fact is we didn't see them just, you know, completely fold and give up.

[5:20] So it was good to kind of see them fight back. And, you know, once you got that first down, that first first down with Lazier Brooks, you know, you were kind of hoping, all right, maybe this is something. And maybe they'll move the ball down the field. And the fourth and two call for a touchdown certainly got them back into the game. But, yeah, I mean, there was a lot of momentum swinging moments in that trip to Norman. And, you know, you got to tip your hat to the Alabama team and coaching staff for winning that game.

The thing is, you know, let's dab a little deeper into that, especially he's had his critics came Womack. If you're a coach at Alabama, you're going to get it when things don't go right. The fact that two things on that, they made you adjustments because Oklahoma came out and it was like running water through a sieve. They just went right down the field for the first 17. And then apparently the players went to Womack and said, Coach, look, dude, you're playing zone. We can do man here.

Let's go man and see what happens. To his credit, he was a coach that swallowed his ego and his pride and says, let's give it a shot. We saw what happened. Yeah, you know, and often you don't see that. And, yeah, I think Kane had a lot of belief in his players. And, obviously, they rose to the challenge. I mean, they weren't getting any pressure. They weren't being able to do, you know, a lot. And then, you know, after, I think it was, you know, they had, what was it, maybe two sacks, one sack, you know, going into the, or zero sacks going into the second quarter.

You end up with five sacks, which is more than, which was more than Oklahoma, you know, the number one sack team in the country. So, you know, we saw that Oklahoma, they started out three of five on third down and tenth, and they end up, you know, the rest of the way, I think they were four of 13. So, you know, I think that the Alabama players, you know, the fact that Kane believed in them, they rose to that challenge, and they believed in themselves. I mean, they were able to make some big stops.

I thought in the second half, you know, when we saw, when we saw Oklahoma just moving the ball down the field on those three or three of the first four drives resulted in points for them. There wasn't a lot of effort. I mean, there wasn't a lot of intensity. You know, there were missing tackles. They had wide receivers that were wide open, and, you know, they were just moving the ball down the field at ease. And then, you know, we saw that defense completely just, you know, turn in an instant.

And, you know, I think in that, I want to say in the second half, we saw four drives that were three and outs. So, you know, we saw another, you know, a couple more drives that were, you know, they only had five or six plays total and 126 yards in the entire second half by that Oklahoma offense. So, you know, it was an impressive display, especially on that defense side of the ball, the way they were able to just completely flip the script, you know, after they made that change.

Amber, you gave the defense on your grades, and you do this after every Alabama game, a B+. A lot of that, obviously, was probably an A in the last three quarters. As you mentioned, Alabama, Oklahoma ran for 50 yards in the first quarter, and after that, I think they had five to seven yards, seven tackles, four loss, five sacks. Matera, who looked very good in the first quarter, finished with 3-0-7, but he was held at 121, as you noted. But Keon Keeley, Kelby Collins, Womag has played so many players on that defensive front.

London Simmons, I've got to say, so many of these guys played so well, they played so many guys during the course of the year. It's really paid off for them now. Yeah, I certainly think so. I think, you know, when you see guys that are rotating throughout the season, you know, getting some action, even if it's not much. I mean, even if it's 15, you know, 16 snaps a game, you're at least getting in there. And it's not just playing against, you know, low-level competition. If you're, you know, getting, you know, a bunch of, you know, double-digit snaps against, you know, SEC competition or an SEC championship game, you know, you are, you're battle-tested.

So when you get into the playoffs, you have some depth. You have some guys that are able to rotate in there. You know, with the loss of L.T. Overton, you know, you kind of had to have some defensive linemen that were going to step up in his place. And with Kelby Collins, you know, a guy who was a transfer, who probably hasn't made as big of an impact on the team this year as everybody was expecting, as far as, you know, being a starter, you know, potentially being a major impact.

He's played really well down the home stretch. Now, he was injured a little bit, so he's missed some time. But, you know, being in that game, being a guy who's able to make some plays and have, you know, him and Keon Keeley having sacks in that game were, you know, just so big for Alabama. I mean, kind of hope that, you know, they build on to that, you know, heading into this next round against Indiana. Andrew Bonfine, columnist and recruiting editor at BamaLine.com. Let's talk about that, Andrew.

[10:34] Alabama is in the playoffs, second round against Indiana football, not basketball. And they are the seven-point underdog at the Rose Bowl. First time since 2008 they've been this big of a dog in the postseason. And ironically, 100 years ago, Alabama went to the Rose Bowl. Alabama is sitting on 999 wins. Do the math. If they win this, it will be their 1,000th win. But they've got to do it, coming from behind, according to Vegas. Yeah, how about that? Yeah, I think that, you know, Alabama going into this game, you know, it's certainly, I think, justified being an underdog because of the way that the Indiana has played throughout the season.

They've, you know, they've been obviously very solid. You know, they've been sound. They don't make a lot of mistakes. They, you know, they have a tough, you know, hard-nosed football team. And I think they, you know, completely understand, you know, who they are on both sides of the football. And I think, you know, losing their best defensive player to a torn ACL in a celebration after the victory against Ohio State was certainly a big loss for them. But, you know, I still think that they have, you know, obviously a really talented team.

They've got a great coach and, you know, coaching Nettie. So, I think that they are certainly a, you know, in a spot where they should be. They're the number one team in the country. But when you look at being a seven-point underdog to Indiana and your Alabama, I mean, it's crazy how quickly that can change. I still think Alabama, when you look at the rosters, has more talent. I mean, there's no doubt about it. You know, can they piece it together? You know, can they be consistent?

I mean, you can't make mistakes against this Indiana team. Or, as we've seen kind of throughout the season, they're capable of blowing teams out. So, you want to play your best football right now? I think the Alabama team, they didn't play their best football in that first quarter against Oklahoma. But, you know, throughout the game, we saw that team build a lot more confidence and belief in each other. And we started seeing them play like, you know, we all felt like they were capable of playing throughout the season.

So, you kind of hope that that can carry over into the Rose Bowl. And, you know, I think that they certainly match up pretty well against Indiana. So, you know, this is going to be a big game for them, big game for Kalen DeBoer. But, you know, getting that win on the road in a very, very hostile environment. And we've seen that throughout the season. You know, we saw that at Auburn. We saw that at Missouri. We saw that at South Carolina. They were battle-tested throughout the year.

Even in games that people expected them to just go in and easily win. Even though they weren't easy wins, they still found ways to win those games. And then we saw it against, you know, a tough, you know, top-ten Oklahoma team this past weekend. So, now you're going to the Rose Bowl. You can kind of expect Indiana's going to travel well out there. But it's also not going to be a home game for Indiana. So, I hope that, you know, we see Alabama play at a really high level and can compete and potentially go out there and win.

Andrew, the one massive advantage that so many people thought Oklahoma had over Alabama was special teams. Well, Professor Bone gives special teams for Alabama an A-. Tate Sandell, who just recently won the Luke Groves Award, mystifyingly missed two field goals in the fourth quarter. The first team All-SEC punter Graham, Grayson Miller, literally dropped the ball and Tim Keenan blocked it. Blanked down after his first punt actually had a very solid showing, massive turnaround on special teams for Alabama. Yeah, no doubt. You know, before the game, you know, I post my game predictions as far as what I kind of see happening as far as players, as far as the team, you know, turnovers and stuff like that.

And, you know, I predicted that the game would come down to special teams. And it's probably not a big surprise, but we saw that happen in the first game with Talty missing the field goal. We saw the, you know, the fumble on the punt return. Oklahoma was, they were great on special teams against Alabama. I think they hit two, maybe two 50-yard plus field goals in that game. They were great on, I think they had a 42-yard punt return in that game. So, I said, if Alabama could just be a little bit better than they were, they didn't have to be better than Oklahoma in the game on Saturday, but better than they were on November the 15th, and we saw that.

I think, I would say after seeing the punter, or excuse me, the kicker for Oklahoma hit a, I guess it was 52-yard field goal in that first quarter, I thought to myself, man, he's already on. He, you know, he's going to certainly nail all his field goals tonight. And then, you know, seeing him miss two field goals in that fourth quarter when they certainly desperately needed it. And then to see Connor Taught to go in and hit two field goals, a 40-yarder and a 35-yarder. And he's been perfect.

[15:58] I mean, since the Eastern Illinois game when he missed that short field goal and he got booed, I think Alabama fans are a lot more appreciative of him since that game with the way that he's performed. And, you know, he's certainly going to be needed, you know, here on out. So, you know, I don't like the way the special teams performed. I think the one, you know, the one minus I had was, you know, returning the kickoffs. You know, that just has not gone well for Alabama for whatever reason.

And I know, you know, a lot here, Brooks, I mean, you know, one of the most explosive athletes on the team. I mean, you could kind of see him, you know, being that guy who can make those big returns and get Alabama in really good field position. And I think that's what he's tried to do these last few games against Georgia and then against Oklahoma. He's hoping to kind of create a little bit of a spark for that offense before it gets out there on the field.

But, unfortunately, it just hasn't worked out well. I mean, he's not getting past the 15-yard line on these kickoff returns. So we started seeing him, you know, down it, not return it, you know, after that first time that he got tackled, I think, on the 13-yard line. So it was good to see that. But I want to continue to see that happening. And I think punt blocking, punt protection certainly has to be a lot better because Oklahoma was really close to blocking a punt in that first quarter and could have resented him in six points.

So that's got to improve because, I mean, it was, you know, it seemed like centimeters away from being blocked and scooped and scored for a touchdown there. So you've got to improve there. You've got to, you know, obviously not return those kickoffs anymore. I don't think. I think as long as you can start on the 25-yard line, it's going to be a lot better than starting on the 13. Two words, Lottie. Fair catch from now on. You're exactly right. Great stuff. If you want to read the professor's grades, you can go to BAM Online and awesome recruiting.

I saw where Alabama's favored maybe to get the number two receiver in the country. We'll talk with you about that soon. And also, as Harold mentioned, a stocking stuffer, The Road to Bama. Where can we get all your great stuff and also buy the book? Well, go check out all of our coverage at BamaOnline.com. That's where all of our daily content is from team, recruiting, basketball, everything you want to know that's happening leading up to the Rose Bowl. A lot of the signees on 26th class are also starting to arrive on campus this week.

So they'll be participating in bowl practices. So we'll have everything covered on BamaOnline.com. Plus, you can come on to the BOL Roundtable, our premium message board, and talk with us just about anything and everything. Of course, as you mentioned, Stocking Stuffer, The Road to Bama, The Incredible Twist and Improbable Turns along the Crimson Tide Recruiting Trail. That's my book that I wrote it about, let's see, what year are we, 2025? I guess it came out in 2021. And I know that Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, Amazon, they all sell it.

But it was really cool because I went to the, I went to Books A Million last, or excuse me, Barnes & Noble last week with my kids. And we weren't even going there to look for that, but we were in the sports section. And my son sees the book, points it, and says, Dad, you've got that same book at our house. I said, yes, we sure do. So it was pretty cool to kind of see that moment. But, yeah, if you're looking for a late gift, I'll get you one.

But if not, hey, come over to BamaOnline.com. We've got a 50% off special for an annual subscription, so $50 for the entire year. It gets you all of my content along with our entire team coverage and recruiting coverage on BOL. Andrew, as always, we want to echo the same sentiments to you as far as a Merry, Merry Christmas to you and your family. And, by the way, it's safe to say that Alabama fans love this coaching staff. This week. Is that safe to say? Well, Merry Christmas.

Happy holidays to everybody. You know, we certainly appreciate that and appreciate you guys for having me on the show throughout the year. But, yeah, I think Alabama fans are happy with Coach DeBoer, the staff, and I think that there's certainly a lot of excitement here for the future. Have a good one, Andrew. Thanks so much for your time today. Andrew Ball, by columnist BamaOnline, part of the On3.com family. Coming up, time to go to the max on deck. Stay with us. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Hugo's Mexican Restaurant at 4160 Florence Boulevard at the entrance to Kendall Gardens.

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Welcome back, and I would imagine Max H*** has seen it all as a pioneer in sports talk radio in the southeast. Assistant coach at Ole Miss in Florida State. Now, living the life in the state of the… Max H***, welcome in. How are you? Trying to get ready for Christmas, Errol. Oh, my gosh. You've still got two days. What's the rush, Max? Well, that's exactly what I put on my calendar this morning. I said, I'll have another full day. Right. So, Max, did it go exactly to say, was it you or who told us that this game at Oklahoma, Alabama's going to fall behind 17-0 in Conroy?

[26:30] Was that you, or where did we get that, Max? Well, I don't know, but what I want to know is who talked to them between the first and second quarter. I know in halftime what they did. I mean, they replayed the second quarter. But the first quarter, when they got 17 down, I just shook my head and I said, here we go again. But sure enough, they regrouped and came out and really played. They played an outstanding ball game for three quarters, I'll tell you. And I think they're going to take that same attitude right over to Indiana.

Yeah. I mean, Alabama's got a track record. We know that. And I don't believe Indiana thinks about that. Most people know Indiana by Bobby Knight. And I don't think they're going to be bouncing. They're not going to be bouncing a real ball out there on that field. So, you know, I think they've got it together there. And I think they've got a great chance to get all the way to the finals. I really do. Let me ask you to put on your coach's hat. Bama usually plays, Womit usually plays zone defense in the secondary.

Some of the secondary came up to him and said, we need to switch to a man defense. Once they did that, Mateer throws for only 120 yards in the second half. Max, your thoughts, and I'm like you. I thought Alabama made some of the best adjustments. They matched Oklahoma's physicality. Talk about that. The plan is on, switch to a man, and really held the Oklahoma passing attack. Of course, they put him on his butt five times, which helped, too. Max, talk about that. All right. The first thing, without a doubt, you've got to be a much better athlete to play mid coverage.

You've got to read that route on top of state on top of him. And, of course, I hate to say this, but you can't play outstanding mid coverage without pass interference. You're going to have to grab hold to the guy because he knows where he's going and you don't. That's the key to it right there. And that's another reason, and I've noticed that some of the corners now in the big schools are going to 6'2", 6'3". Guys, I think I read Woodward. Yeah, that's right. Some 6'4", 6'4", guys.

I remember when I was at Florida State, we had Deion Sanders and Llewell Butler. Deion was almost 6'2". We even, he was just an outstanding athlete. But most of those great defensive backs, particular quarters, are 5'10", about 6'1". And it's because of the mechanics of your body, being able to run and play it and start and twist. But when they started going to 6'5", 6'6", wide receivers, you know, the people had to do something. So, go back to say, zone coverage, you can play soft in zone coverage and still make up while the ball is in the air.

And you watch it, you can keep up with wide receiver in your zone area and then watch the ball if it's coming your way. It takes a much better athlete to play mid-coverage. Alabama's got those guys. A lot of coaches now can show you the picture of zone coverage because the quarterbacks can read that easily. And when the ball snapped and switched the band during the play, that confuses a lot of quarterbacks, I'll tell you. We were able to do that when I was at Florida State because we had great athletes down there.

But everybody didn't have those kind of players. But the fact is, that is a common, that's a common occurrence there in the playbook on certain offices. They read the quarterback. And also another thing, the first thing they do is they try to get a read on the arm streak for the quarterback. There's no need to play zone coverage and line up at 18 and start backing up on the snap. Because if a guy can't throw the ball 35, 40 yards, then you're wasting your time playing defense on that side.

You need to play mid-coverage after that. So those are just some of the things that the tapes that you have in preparation for a game plan will show you most of that. But there's a lot of times they'll switch. They'll have a wide receiver that they hadn't used very well. You don't know a lot about him. You don't know if he can run a 4-3 or whatever. And consequently, you know, your main coverage sometimes, a guy gets beat because he's not prepared for that guy. So, you know, I say all that to tell you that the planning of the defense is most important based on the personnel that you're playing.

And if you have a good scouting report on those guys and you can read their tendencies on top of that, then you've got a great chance. And I think Alabama exhibited that in the second, third, and fourth quarters of the night. Max, I look at this matchup like Alabama being the Final Four in basketball against Indiana. All of a sudden, you know what I'm saying, even though they may have a better team on paper, Indiana's known for basketball, Alabama for football. This is a good team.

[31:42] Take nothing away from Indiana. They're sound. They don't beat themselves to this point. They've got a good coach. It's a battle of player development. They've got a lot of two and three stars compared to Alabama's roster, but they know how to play in that system. But having said that, they beat Ohio State. They beat Oregon. But if you go over the strength of schedule, this is Sager, which is recognized as the gold standard. Their strength of schedule is 42nd. Alabama's is third. And not only that, Alabama's coming out of a game where you couldn't ask for a more battle-tested team to go to Oklahoma on a Friday night and do what they did.

Your thoughts just about how much emphasis do you put on strength of schedule? Well, a lot. And, of course, Alabama not only has got just this year's there, but they've got a history of that. And you know good well that Indiana's heard all about that. And I hope, I really hope that Alabama will come out of the blocks showing them just how good they are. I really do. And, you know, I hope Simpson will light them up right from the first snap. I really do. And I think, I think in a team like Indiana, this is just general speaking, though, a team that's relatively new, historically they are, as far as losses are concerned, over the other than football has ever been.

They've been doted for basketball their whole career. Right. So, I think that's going to play. I think the psychological edge right now, always in Alabama's favor. That's big this time of year when you get to the playoff time. If I was coaching them, I'd script the first 10 to 15 plays, don't care what kind of defense they read. And I'd throw it about, I'd throw it out of 15, I'd throw it 10 times just to be sure that their secondary said, this is us and here we come. Because what will happen, you let three or four of those get completed for 34 yards in a whack, they can be like, hey, this team is for real.

We just sold them on tape, but they are for real when we get to the ball game. And I, of course, I have no idea, you know, the philosophy of how Coach DeBoer didn't prepare for a game like this. We know that their preparation wasn't very good for the first board of the game the other day, but they regrouped on the sideline, and that's what matters. Absolutely. Max, talking to you, the money for Christmas is an early Christmas present, I can assure you. Listen, we wish you and your family, I know you got a chance to see them at Thanksgiving, but Merry Christmas to you.

It's a blessing to talk life and sports with Max Howell every week. Max, have a great, great and fun Merry Christmas. Thank you, same to you guys, it's always my pleasure. I certainly enjoy everybody, I really do. Same right back at you. Remember, you got two more days, so don't rush that Christmas shopping, okay, Max? In fact, the next 44 hours, I'll give them a list. There you go. The one, the only, Max Howell. Coming up, quarterback shuffle down in the plains, Brian Matthews putting all the pieces together next on the Boomo Bugg Show.

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Only at Target. Restrictions apply. Dr. John and Misty Waddell and staff want to wish our family and patients peace, love, joy, and a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. From Dr. John Waddell's Family Dentistry, 1829 Darby Drive, Florence. This college football moment is brought to you by ServPro. College football teams have moments they recover from and made it like it never even happened. Like on September 24th, 2016, when Tulsa found themselves down 31-0 to Fresno State. With 10 minutes left in the second quarter, Tulsa fought back to tie the game at 41.

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Sonos' holiday sale is on now through December 28th, 2025 at Sonos.com. Discover how easy it is to bring every room to life with Sonos. Hello everyone, this is Ron Tyler, mayor of the city of Florence. I would like to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas. During this time, I hope you're able to remember the reason behind this season and can celebrate the virgin birth. Take this opportunity to enjoy the hope, peace, and joy that comes in this season. Merry Christmas. Hello, my name is Keith Medley, and I'm an attorney with the law firm of Johnson, Passeur, Medley & Burchill.

Why call an out-of-town lawyer when you can call our law firm, which has over 100 years of combined experience in all areas of the law. Check us out first by calling our office at 256-766-3131. No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers. Progressive presents The Sports Flash on 93.9 The Score. In the college football playoff this weekend on Friday night, Alabama rallied for a 34-24 win at Oklahoma. That means the tide advances on to the next round.

Alabama is set to take on Indiana on New Year's Day. The other matchups in the quarterfinals are Georgia hosting Ole Miss New Year's night, and Texas Tech will host Oregon New Year's Eve. It's Miami at Ohio State. Atlanta Falcons yesterday won in Arizona. They beat the Cardinals 26-19. Falcons with the win are now 6-9 on the season. Bundle auto and home, renters or condo, and save with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with The Sports Flash presented by Progressive on 93.9 The Score. So you need last-minute gifts. No judgment.

Get an extra 25% off during Kohl's Friends and Family Sale and find great gifts under $20. Like something cozy, something thoughtful, something that says you plan this all along. Yep, you're just one quick trip away from checking off the last gifts on your list. Save now at Kohl'sandKohl's.com. Select styles. Offerings December 24th. Some exclusions apply. See store or Kohl's.com for details. FIFA World Cup 2026 is coming soon, but your opportunity to be there starts now through an exclusive offer with an eligible Bank of America Visa credit card.

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Brian Matthews, the latest with a shuffle going on down the plains, senior editor of auburnsports.com. Brian, welcome in. Safe to say, things are going to look a little different next year for the Auburn Tigers, especially on offense. Would you agree? How are you? Oh, I would agree. A lot of players have indicated they're getting into the portal for Auburn. So, big changes coming to both sides of the ball, really. They're going to have to do a lot of work in the portal when it officially opens January 2nd just to bring enough talent to be competitive next season.

Brian, I work with a BB. Is this the same BB that said he's entered the portal this morning at South Florida? And the reason to bring it up, could there be a connection with this BB at South Florida and the Auburn Tigers? I'm not aware who you're speaking of. Mr. Brown. Yeah, Mr. Brown. Oh, right, right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Brian Brown, quarterback. Yeah. Yes. I thought you were saying South Alabama. I'm like, ooh. I mean, South Florida. Yeah. Yeah, I think that one's, I wouldn't say it's a done deal, but I think that one is one that Auburn's been pointing to for a while.

And I think that will be a high priority for Auburn to get that done as soon as possible. They need a starting quarterback. He's played in the system. He knows the staff. I think it's a great fit. And it'll be an opportunity for Byron if he does come to Auburn to step up and compete in the SEC. Ashton Daniels announced on social media, and I quote him, he is entering the transfer portal. I know I promised a return to this amazing place, but things didn't work out how I thought they would.

[42:13] Be that NIL or a chance to be the starting quarterback. B-Matt, your thoughts on Ashton Daniel entering the portal? I have a lot of different thoughts. First of all, a great human being. Terrific young man. Deserves the opportunity to go somewhere where he can start and play and have fun playing football. This final year of eligibility he's got left. You know, I don't know all the reasons, but I think the main reason is that, you know, I think he saw the writing on the wall as far as Byron Brown goes.

I think that writing's been on the wall for weeks now and understood that if Byron came in, even if he was going to compete for the starting job, it's going to be tough to beat out a guy that put up those kind of numbers and then has that kind of relationship with his staff and with his offense. So, I think the thing with Auburn and quarterback is, if they bring in Brown, can they convince Deuce Knight to hang out for another year and compete with him and also, you know, be the guy that builds a team around for the next year.

We'll see if that's possible or not. They'll need to bring in somebody else. So, that's a big question to watch over the next couple weeks. Another one, Brian, if you elaborate, because obviously you look at it's a business now. It's no longer just this or that. It's a business across the board with its coaches, players, et cetera. Your thoughts about Deuce Knight, because here's a kid who has shown that he can play. If he's willing to sit there, you touched on it, but if we could elaborate a little bit more, is Deuce Knight willing to sit here another year and wait his turn at Auburn?

I don't know. He's getting paid pretty good money to beat that back out, and I think that'll still be the case, even with the new staff and them seemingly wanting to pay people more on results necessarily, but potential. We'll see how that works in the long run. I have my questions about that, but, you know. But there's also the allure of being a starter. That's right. And if another school thinks he can be their starter, and they can pay him starters money, I just think it's going to be really, really difficult for Auburn to hold on to him.

So we will see how that goes. We will see what he wants to do. We will see what the market looks like, and ultimately, we'll see if he decides to jump into that portal or not. Talk to us about that, Brian, because let's face it. If some of the old fans could come back now, they'd say, are you kidding me? It used to be that the kid loved the school. It was the family. They sold a lot off that. Now it's strictly business. Your thoughts about Auburn now with the staff coming in, how will the NIL structure be?

Will it be overhauled? Because let's face it at the end of the day, that's what tips the scales for most of these kids, certainly the five stars. Yeah, I think it is being overhauled right now. I think if you look at your Auburn's roster last year, and I don't have the exact figures, but they paid a lot of money for a wide receiver room and a quarterback room that was ultimately very, very unsuccessful under Ufreeze. Derek Nixon, he took over, was able to unlock some things there.

But still, compared to the money they spent on the offensive line for a player or running back room or tied in, it was a significant difference, and it really didn't pay dividends. So I think you're going to see them be a little bit smarter about that. I think that was a mistake. I think that's one of the reasons Malcolm Simmons jumped into the portal was to seek more money, and you saw Perry Thompson, of course, do the same. So we'll see how it works out, but that's kind of the way I look at it now.

You know, the problem, I think, with Auburn right now is you're on a five-season losing streak, and fans are antsy. They want to win now. And this seems like a great plan, but it also seems like a plan that might take a while to get going, which I don't think anybody wants to hear. Yeah, excuse me, bud. I always enjoy Monday musings, and you had a very good paragraph about fair to be concerned. And you're talking about the transfer portal. Again, Auburn was 44th in the country, according to rivals, and I keep saying this.

That was not Alex Golesh's fault. I mean, he walked in the door 48 hours before all this happened. But the point you made was there are 21 players right now planning to enter the portal when it opens January 2nd. Now, I still say not all of them are going to go. Some of them may decide to come back, but they're key guys. Malcolm Simmons, Jake Crawford, Cain Lee, Malik Blockton, Marius Williams. Those are five of the best players, B-Man, in the SEC. And as you said, this is concerning.

Pretending that it's no big deal or just par for the course isn't being realistic. I agree with you. I do, too. Yeah. Yeah, that's five players who are starters or projected starters. I think there are at least a couple more that fit that same category that could opt for the portal here in the next few days. We'll see. So, you know, if that does happen, you're talking about a third of Auburn's roster starting group or projection starters already leaving. That's just a lot of pressure on a brand new staff to put that back together.

[47:34] On top of all the, you know, the guys are leaving because their eligibility is up, because they're going to the NFL. You know, you don't have a huge, you know, talented freshman group coming in. So, yeah, it's just all adding up to reasons to be concerned and wonder what's going on and, you know, how much are they going to spend the portal? Are they going to be able to go find the players they need? And, you know, I just don't have all those answers yet. You had a great article last week on Money Musings about revamping the college football calendar, the CFP committee.

I know we had a little tentacle issue, but you suggested starting week zero. There's no sense in playing to January the 19th or the 23rd. It's too long. You know, we don't know what the future of conference championship games are going to be, but no more weekly reveal shows. I think we've decided on that. No more guaranteed group of fines. And no more special treatment for Notre Dame. You know, Rosette, Forrest, because you had some very good ideals. Well, I appreciate that. And I think in some ways college football is great right now.

In other ways, it's just a mess. Yes. I think as the sport has gotten more competitive, you see more teams competing at the top and having chances of a win that you didn't maybe see five, six, seven years ago. I think the talent spread out more. I think those are all good things. I don't like the way the postseason is formed at the moment. I do think conference championship games are not really useful anymore. These giant conferences, I think they should share the regular season title and not play those games.

I don't understand the point of building these giant conferences if you're not giving guaranteed spots in those conferences into the playoffs and are having play-in games in those conferences. That makes sense to me. That's the way to generate money. That's a good reason to have these 16-team or 18-team conferences. But everybody's scared to do that now. So that doesn't make no sense to me. I mean, if everything was equal, I'd like a 16-team playoff. It'd be great, you know, to take the best 16-teams in the country.

But I also like the idea of playing games when you have most of the best teams in the Big Ten in the SEC. And I think that would add something. But I also like the idea of starting in week zero at the end of August and finishing up on or around January 1st, which is the traditional time that college football would pinch. And I think that would be great. And I think they can do it. It's just a matter of getting everybody together and getting everybody on the same page.

Absolutely. Auburn, with a tough game in basketball, we're Purdue. But, my Lord, they played probably four teams that are going to be in the lead eight in the preseason. Listen, we certainly wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas. I know watching your daughter get married earlier in the year was probably an early Christmas present itself. Listen, where can we get online and get football, basketball, transfer, portal, coaches, the whole nine yards? I appreciate that. You can check us out at AuburnSports.com. You can follow me on social media at BMATAU on Twitter slash X.

And, you know, give us a follow. We'll continue to put out a lot of content on the portal, on basketball, anything happening with the football program. You've got it all there at AuburnSports.com. Hope you got the chimney clean, standing on its way. Brian, listen, happy holidays to you, Merry Christmas to you and your family, and stay safe down there, okay? Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, bud. Brian Matthews, sitting here at AuburnSports.com, latest basketball poll in, Bama up to 14th. What an interesting ball game against Kennesaw State over the weekend in Huntsville, BB.

Harold, Alabama got out to a 30-point lead and then took a nap. They looked really impressive. They had about 4,000 people there yesterday. But, again, Kennesaw State, in fact, Phillip Pearson used to be an Alabama assistant, chewed them out for not playing defense, and they responded to that. Kennesaw State is a good team in Conference USA. Again, Bama played well for 30 minutes, but the game's still 40. Can Bama fans get a consistent four-quarter game from basketball or football, baby? Is that too much to ask? We will see.

Coming up in the next hour, speaking of Bama, going to be Todd checking in with the Redfish, William Redfish Barger on board. Ben's for all our talk in Tennessee. And Ben Thomas has got the entire state of Alabama covered from one end to the next from AL.com with the Boomo Bugg Show. Stay with us. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Patterson Properties and Auctions. Booking auctions for spring of 2026. Let us turn assets into cash. If you're ready to downsize or if you inherited property and would like to cash it in, call us.

[52:42] Thanks to all our clients and customers for a great 2025. License in Alabama and Tennessee. We also work in Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida. Daniel Patterson, Alabama License 1182. Have you ever seen those halftime scholarships where you have to nail a 40-yard field goal? Yeah, this isn't that. I didn't have to write a long essay or audition or make a half-court shot. I just had to open a bank independent account, use my debit card, sign up for online banking, and have a positive balance. That's it. A 20% scholarship to UNA.

When bank independent invests in students like me, they're investing in all of us and the future of our community. Bank independent. We're invested in your future. Member FDIC. Florence Utilities offers several ways to view and pay your utility bill. Log into your account to sign up for paperless, auto-pay, text-pay to make your life easier. When you go green and go paperless, you will no longer have paper bills to fill up your mailbox and you'll be helping the environment. To continue receiving a paper bill and an electronic bill notification, sign up for text-pay.

Add your email address to your account. Easily view and pay your bill by clicking on the link in the text or email notification. Visit FlorenceAL.org and select Utilities to register for an account. Or call 256-760-6512 for more information. Never have I ever called my sister from the finish line of my first marathon. Hello? You won't believe where I am. Are you running? Mile 26. I'm going to make it. Switch to T-Mobile's 55 Plus plan and get iPhone 16E with its advanced camera system on up. Plus two lines for just 30 bucks a line.

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Drive sober or get pulled over. Paid for by NHTSA. Hey fans, welcome back to Fansville's Cheers and Tears. Okay, so like everybody deals with losing, right? To a rival on a last-second field goal. Whatever, it's fine. I'm totally fine. But I cope with losing with an ice-cold Dr. Pepper. Mmm, those 23 flavors are like so delicious. They totally wash away the pain of your college football team taking a big fat L. College football, it's a pepper thing. No gift, no problem. With Target's last-minute gifts, the holidays are a breeze.

You can score on the hottest toys, beauty must-haves, chocolatey stocking stuffers, and much more. And if you need it now, no worries. Swing by any Target store today and snag all the stocking stuffers and gifts for the most magical season yet. Step into the holidays, check off everything on your list, and save big on your last-minute gifts. Only at Target. Restrictions apply. 1819 News. An 8-year-old child has died in Montgomery due to a house fire that occurred this past weekend. Two others were critically injured from that blaze.

Fire crews were called to a unit at Woodley Terrace Apartments this past Sunday. An adult and two juveniles, including the 8-year-old child, were found inside and pulled out. The fire was first spotted by J. Brian Solomon, who told WSFA News that he was walking to the store when he saw the smoke and fire. I seen the smoke, but I thought it was the rent office at first. I ran all the way from the back to the front for to go and save the folks. And I was knocking on the doors and dragging folks out and stuff.

I tried to go get the turn, but my jacket had caught up on fire. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Are you enjoying 1819 News? If so, consider joining 1819 News as a member. As a nonprofit news organization, we depend on the support of Alabamians like you. Memberships start out as little as $5 a month, and you'll get access to exclusive content only offered to our members. You'll be supporting independent journalism done by people who cherish Alabama values. Become a member today by visiting 1819news.com and clicking Become a Member.

That's 1819news.com and click Become a Member today. The Alabama Department of Corrections is asking for the public's help in locating an escaped inmate. 27-year-old Alexis Percival Lawley left her work assignment in Hoover this past Saturday. Percival Lawley is described as a white female, 5'1", 120 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She also has multiple tattoos on her body, including a lightning bolt, cross symbol, and butterfly. She's been serving a sentence for first-degree robbery. Seven people were arrested in Dothan on human trafficking charges. The arrests were part of a two-day undercover operation conducted by the Dale County Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement agencies.

[58:16] The names of those arrested have not been publicly released at this time. I'm Andrea Tice. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shore, Sports Radio 93.9, The Score. Roll Tide. Firing, catch made, first down, Lottie Brooks breaks the tackle. 4-3-2-1, touchdown. The Tide advances to play. Top seed in Indiana in the quarterfinals of the CFP. But as for Norman in this night, let's get out of here.

Next stop, the college football playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl. Live from Pasadena, California. On the Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. 93.9, The Score weather. Today, mostly cloudy with a 20% chance of showers and a high around 55. Tonight, mostly cloudy with a 30% chance of showers overnight and a low near 50. Tomorrow, partly sunny with a high around 65. Tomorrow night, mostly cloudy with a low near 55. And for your Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a high around 70. Your weather from 93.9, The Score. Now, get ready to roll, Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of northwest Alabama and southern Tennessee.

It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tide. Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score. Welcome back in. Our show to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Bebe, I can't think of a better way to kick off this second half than saying hello to the BT Express. Ben Thomas, got it all covered there at AL.com.

Ben, welcome in. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Hopefully, it has been an absolutely great year for you and your family. How are you? Hey, doing good. Merry Christmas to you guys. Hope you guys are set for a good week with your families and loved ones. I know I'm looking forward to that. Before we jump into the high school stuff, Ben, let's talk about your neighbor, Phillip Rivers. Who's got more gray in their beard, Phillip or Santa Claus? And is he done with part two of his NFL career, Ben?

No, I mean, I think we'll watch him tonight on Monday Night Football. I'm looking forward to it. I didn't get to see him last week. We didn't get that game down in South Alabama. Tonight, they should have their hands full against the 49ers. I'm not the closest follower of the NFL, except for when one of my high school coaches decides to play quarterback at age 44. But it should be fun. I mean, you know, good for Phillip. I hadn't talked to him since he made this decision.

I know the kids are having a, you know, they had the viral post last week where the kids were watching him play. And the St. Michael kids, again, are having a watch party down in Foley, I understand, to watch tonight's game. So, I mean, it's really cool, obviously, for Phillip. But think how cool it is for those high school kids who, you know, were just being yelled at for 14 weeks by their coach. And now get to watch them play in the NFL. It's got to be a cool experience for them.

On his way to the NFL Hall of Fame, talk to us about that. Not forget the numbers, what this means from someone who practices what they preach. He is showing leadership. You know, Phillip's got all the money in the world. He is a natural competitor. Anybody that's known him since he was a kid knows that. But what kind of example is this for the kids? You lead by example. And if going ever gets tough for these kids, they have no excuse when they go and talk with Coach Rivers, do they?

No, I think you're right, Harold. You know, he just is, you hit the nail on the head. He's just, I think I mentioned it last week, he's one of the most competitive, if not the most competitive people I've ever met in my life. All you have to do is watch him on the sideline on a Friday night to determine that. I think he kind of secretly was hoping to get back, you know, for a run at this thing in the NFL for the last five years.

I think he finally had realized, look, I'm 44, it's not going to happen, I've got to move on. And then he gets his chance. And he just, he couldn't turn it down. I mean, my guess is as soon as he got that phone call, he was all in maybe after talking to his wife and praying a little bit about it. But I think for his kids, you know, what I heard him say last week was, you know, for them, if you've got a chance to do something, don't be afraid, go for it.

[1:03:36] And certainly he's done that. All indications are that I've read from the Colts and stuff is that the teammates already are following him and respect him. He's not a guy that's going to go in there and be shy. And he's going to be, we saw his, after he threw that touchdown pass, he was right back celebrating again. It's fun being on this side now and knowing him personally and getting to watch him do this type thing. It's real fun. And again, when he took the job at St. Michael Catholic, he was never looking for a way out.

I mean, he always is going to be the coach. Well, not always, but, you know, that's his plan is to be the high school football coach there for however long to come. This is just, you know, four games, a little bit more if they make the playoffs of a diversion. But he'll be back whenever his time is out and he'll be back with his team again. B.T., the Alabama Sports Riders Association unveils their 2025 All-State team and Coaches of the Year. And as our listeners can imagine, a lot of the first-teamers we saw play in Birmingham at the Super 7.

Corey Barber, Clay Chalkvold, Nehemiah McCrary, Maplesville, Trent Seaborn. We've talked with you about him for years. Jackson Penn of Morris Hill. They unveil a first, second team, and then two honorable mentions. And a lot of players through the state of Alabama get certainly justification for the great year that they played. They also have Coach of the Year. And we'll talk about one of them in a few minutes, Brian Moore of Opelika, who resigned. And we'll talk about where he may be going. But 6A Coach of the Year, Scott Baston from most of the shows.

What a tremendous year they had losing to Clay Chalkvold in the semifinals. 5A Coach of the Year, Seth Parker, Priceful. We talked to Seth earlier in the year about their great last-second comeback win. But I always enjoyed looking at the coaches and players of the year from the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Yeah, that was – thanks, Brent. It was – that came out on Saturday. You can find it on AL.com or on the Times Daily site. Or if you get the Times Daily, I'm sure it was in there.

But it's a task now to come up with that. And, you know, it's kind of a day that I've started to kind of stay off social media because as hard as we try, somebody's always going to feel left out. I'm not sure the way it is. I think we had close to 1,300 nominations this year from 280-something schools. And we have to try and narrow that down the best we can. And hopefully we do a good job. I know it's not for a lack of effort by myself and Stacey Long and a bunch of other different people across the state.

But you mentioned Scott Bazedon. I mean, we had a tough choice for 6A Coach of the Year. I mean, you had Stuart Floyd, who was undefeated at Clay Chalkville, really not – really tested other than that Thompson game. But we just felt like, I think, speaking for the group, that Coach Bazedon, what he did with that Muscle Shoals team going 12-1, allowing less than 10 points a game. And then giving Clay Chalkville a good battle there in the state semifinals was impressive. And Jeff Kelly did a good job.

I mean, a lot of coaches did a good job this year. But Scott Bazedon was the one that we felt was most deserving this year in 6A. I know the folks at the Muscle Shoals totally agree with you. Well, let's talk. Brett mentioned Brian Moore, former head coach down his way at Jasper, Hartsoil, Opelika, freshman winning the 7A title and says, hold on, time to do some changing here. Talk to us about Coach Brian Moore. Yeah, that was – that one surprised me a little bit. I got to tell you, I try not to be surprised by too much in the world of sports these days.

But, you know, when Coach Moore left Hartsoil and went to Opelika, a place he'd been as an assistant coach before, you know, going on his mid-coaching tenures at different schools, I thought that was kind of his destination job. And he was only there two years, as the case may be. He – of course, he led them to the state championship game this year, kind of a Cinderella story. They'd lost two out of the last three regular season games, and then, you know, it fell their way, and they get to the state championship game.

That didn't turn out that well for them because they played Thompson. But it was the first time Opelika had even been to the 7A title game. So that was – that was a big deal. But, you know, last week, you know, he submitted his resignation to the Board of Education there, and they accepted it. It looks like – we haven't reported it yet, but a lot of talk that he's going to end up as the Foley head coach. Which is down there in my neck of the woods, we'll see.

Probably be January, but that's officially announced. I think their next board meeting is on the 15th. But Foley is a program that's, you know, had some success in the past, been a little bit of a roller coaster for them since Todd Watson left a decade ago or so. But, you know, I guess if it turns out like we think it's going to turn out, Coach Moore will be in charge of getting that turned around and putting Foley back as a state title contender. I'm surprised. I mean, I thought he'd be at Opelika for a while, but I guess he got a good offer from Foley that he couldn't turn down.

[1:09:06] You told us last Monday, and I mentioned that Moody coach Jake Gaines had resigned from Moody, and you said, well, he's probably going to Pell City once again. That proved to be correct. He's a very good coach, and I wonder if Jamie DuBose and Rush Probst could get together in Swamp Notes. Jamie DuBose, who's been at Susan Moore, of course, here in Florence, Orange Beach, resigned and has been named the head football coach at Bainbridge, Georgia. Yeah, I mean, Coach DuBose, obviously, good football coach. Won, I think, three state titles, two at Prattville, one at Central Phoenix City.

He does move a lot. I mean, I don't know what else to say about it. He went to Phoenix City after a state championship and went to Georgia, coached at Lowndes County, Georgia, for a couple years, and he came back to Alabama. He talked like he missed the camaraderie of the coaches in Alabama, and he was down here at Orange Beach for two years, I believe, and then the last couple years he's been over at Biloxi, Mississippi, as the head coach at Biloxi, Mississippi, but now going back to Georgia, to Bainbridge, Georgia.

So, you know, good luck to him. He's a good football coach. I mean, that's what stats show us, and we know it to be true. But I just wish him luck. It's just, you know, I feel for these coaches' families that are on the move so much. I mean, you know, it happens in other jobs as well. We just know more about these jobs because we're following them closely. But good luck to him. Coach Brooks, I'm interested to see what happens with him since we talked last.

Kusa decided to bring back Mark O'Brien as the head coach. He was the guy who was suspended. Last season, Coach Brooks took over and led him to the state championship. Mark O'Brien is now back as head coach at Kusa, which leaves us to wonder where Rush Brooks, who has said, six or seven years, where he'll be at. You know, could it be in Alabama? Maybe it's in another state. We'll see if somebody wants to hire Coach Brooks. He stays in the portal, does he not? I don't know where he's going to start.

I know where he'll end up. State championship game. It doesn't matter what jersey he's wearing. He's got a closet full of jerseys. Ben, obviously a year full of good talent. And how many folks from Alabama said if Alabama had Crowell on the roster now, they'd go to sleep a lot better. Your thoughts overall, Crowell, Seaborn, St. Jones, Gunner Rivers, C.D. Morgan. We can go on and on. My favorite is Chicken Gare. In your opinion, who is the best talent of these kids coming out of high school this year in Alabama?

Well, that's hard to narrow down, Harold. I mean, I think I may have said this last week to you guys, but when we were at the Alabama-Mississippi game last weekend in Hattiesburg, the coaches that we talked to from the Alabama side, we asked them, I'm like, look, who were the best players in practice all week long? And they said, without a doubt, the two best players were E.J. Crowell, the Jackson running back, and Tank Jones from St. Paul. Tank Jones going to Oregon. Obviously, E.J. signed and going to report to Alabama in January.

So, those two guys, I think you would have to consider Tank. I have not seen Tank Jones in a while. He is huge. Is he? And I think if he stays at Oregon, I think he'll be a dominant player there. Or if he ends up coming back, a lot of people, maybe he'll think he'll come back closer to home down the road. Who knows anymore how that works out. That's right. Money. Those two guys, both all-state players, first-teamers, by the way, are really good. And the other guys you mentioned as well, Gunnar Rivers is only a junior.

His recruitment is going to be really interesting. I still think NC State, obviously, where his dad played. Now that his running back, Noah Moss, is signed there, I think maybe they might be the favorite. So, a lot of good players on the horizon, for sure. You mentioned this. He introduced it last week. Last Monday was round one of the AL.com High School Football Players of the Year. And Harold mentioned quite a bit of them. It's a very impressive list. I believe today begins round two.

How can our listeners get online and help you narrow this down? I know you'll be going down to two to sign them. But tell us about the contest and how they can participate. Yeah, we are. So, we finished our week of voting. Had a good week. The top three seeds advanced in our 16-member bracket. The aforementioned Crowell, Trent Seaborn was the second seed. And then Tank was the third seed. They all advanced. Speaking of Muscle Shoals, Kamari Johnson had one of the bigger upsets of the week.

[1:14:06] He beat Gunnar Rivers by five votes. Wow. To advance to the quarterfinals. Wow. And that was McGaskin, another game commitment from Williamson, beat Jaquez Wilkes, the Auburn signee of Wiley, by 11 votes. So, we will start actually within the hour, I think about 2 o'clock. The quarterfinals pairings will be released. And you can vote on those all week on youchicodaale.com. And you can vote on all four of those races. Some interesting races. I mean, an all-Jackson race between E.J. Crowell and his quarterback, Landon Duckworth, is one of the four quarterfinals.

So, yeah, look for that on AL.com. Within the hour and really all week, you can go back and vote for whoever you want to advance. BT, I noticed the three finalists in classes 1A through 7A in the AISA would be voted on Saturday, December the 27th. And then Mr. Football would be announced at the banquet Tuesday, January the 20th. And if memory serves me, January 23rd is the big day for reclassification. BT, that's going to be an interesting week, isn't it? It is. And not necessarily related to high school, but January 19th is the national championship game.

That's right. That's going to be a big week. Yeah, so first of all, Saturday we voted on and we will release the three finalists for back and lineman of the year in each classification of an AISA. And those players will be invited to the Mr. Football banquet on January 20th, where we'll name the players of the year and eventually Mr. Football. So we're looking forward to that. Look, I think right after the holidays, those three weeks are going to be really interesting for the Alabama High School Athletic Association and what they do with reclassification.

So much talk right now about private schools are going to have their own championship. I mean, that's out there. I don't know whether it happens this year or not, but there's no doubt it's being talked about. So I think January 23rd is going to be a fascinating day in Montgomery for sure. We know you've got it all covered there, Ben. Listen, man, thanks so much for your time today. And I know I echo the sentiments again. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Hey, Merry Christmas to you guys.

Thanks for having me. Quick shout out. We lost a friend of the high school world last week, Christina Chambers, who was a very well-loved TV reporter, former TV reporter, and just died in a terrible situation. And just praying for her family. They had her celebration of life today. So praying for her family through this difficult time, these difficult holidays. But Merry Christmas to you guys and look forward to talking to you next year. Appreciate you pointing that out. I guarantee you. Ben Thomas again, AL.com.

Coming up, what's the big story in Big Orange Country? The B-Man, Vince Ferraro on deck. Stay with us. Happy Holidays from our team at Valley Credit Union. Now with five branches in the shoals, including our newest branch in Kittlin. Valley Credit Union. Rooted in community and committed to you in the coming year. The season's in full swing, and there's no better place to watch football than Sam's Sports Grill in Florence. We're serving up fall-off-the-bone ribs, juicy burgers, saucy wings, and ice-cold beverages. Everything you need for the ultimate game day.

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Shoals Royale, 2026, Saturday, February 21st at 7 p.m. at the Renathon Shoals Conference Center. Tickets are available now at givebutter.com slash ShoalsRoyale2026. Hey everybody, this is Brady Cox, mayor of Rogersville. I just wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season from all of us in Rogersville. We hope to see you soon. We'd love to have you in town. And we hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday season. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back, and he is the man when it comes talking Big Orange, the V-Man, Vince Ferraro on the radio at 99.1.

The sports animal up in Knoxville. Today down in Tampa with his favorite person in the whole wide world, his great mom, Vince Ferraro. Welcome in. May we go ahead and apologize. Are you having a blue, blue turf Christmas watching the Idaho Potato Bowl between Washington State and Utah State? We apologize if we're taking you away from the game, V-Man, in advance. How are you? I am not, but you guys mean so much to me. We were eating, and I've stepped away to talk to you. Oh, my goodness.

That's how special you guys are. Man, I am touched. That takes a lot to get you away from Mama V's table. So, we are flattered, V-Man. Talk to us about that. I mean, you had an interesting story. You've obviously got roots to Florida. You spent time in Tuscaloosa. Now, you're a fixture in Knoxville. It's been a good run, has it not, V? It's the time of the year we can reflect a little bit on that, in addition to talking chalk. Yeah, there's no doubt, and there's so much going on in the sports world at the same time.

A lot to be thankful for, and, you know, I'm extra thankful, but while it's cold in a lot of parts of the country, it's comfortable here. It's not as deathly hot as it is for, you know, 10 months of the year. It's comfortable, but it's still warm and still walking around in shorts. So, yeah, great to see family, friends, and, you know, kind of reflect on everything. So, appreciate that. V, the transfer portal continues for everyone, and running back Peyton Lewis of Tennessee has mentioned on social media that he plans on entering the portal ran for nearly 300 yards, 70 carries.

But, V, Deshaun Bishop, Dwayne Morris, Justin Baker, Hunter Barnes, or the current backs set to return. We'll see if that changes. With Peyton Lewis entering the portal, do you believe Tennessee will look to add a running back in January? There's no doubt. I thought that they were going to add to that position even before this because they did not sign a running back in this class. Wow. So, yeah, to me, this doesn't make playing time sense to me. If you have confidence in your ability, you're basically the number two running back.

[1:24:38] Now, he was banged up a fair amount of time in his time at Tennessee in the first two years, and Dwayne Morris maybe got a little bit more of the carries as the number two in the final game, but does that guarantee that that's what it is moving forward? There was plenty of times where Peyton Lewis got more run than Star Thomas, and Star Thomas had some really good games earlier in the year, but they thought enough of Peyton Lewis to where, you know, using his short yardage, he was in the top four or five in touchdowns on the season, like seven.

So, Star Thomas is graduating and moving on, and he's next in line behind Deshaun Bishop, and they use a lot of guys in rotation. And they didn't bring anybody in in the signing class. So, where is this lack of playing time or pathway to playing time? If he goes somewhere else, I don't think anyone's going to say, you're our number one running back. I guess if you go way down in levels or, you know, group of five or something, perhaps. But, man, I don't get it.

I mean, we shouldn't be surprised at anyone that hits the portal. But it's one thing if you're – there's a whole bunch of guys there, and they just brought in a bunch more. This one is a little bit more head-scratching. But, you know, hey, it happens, and there's more than just playing time as motivators for Tennessee State. It is 2025. Go figure. V-Man, talk to us about the Joy Aguilar Sweet Stakes, because a lot of folks who don't follow Tennessee every day, they don't exactly know what base things are because of, obviously, the way things are structured with the NCAA eligibility, et cetera.

Where are things with Aguilar going forward, and where does Tennessee go regardless of the quarterback spot? Yeah, it is a great question, Harold, and it's really what Tennessee does in the portal. Their approach is the number one question with this football team right now. I guess any staff changes would be right up there as well, probably just behind that in terms of fan interest. But the Joy Aguilar situation, whether he gets more eligibility, they're trying to seek all those JUCO years to not count towards your college eligibility.

We don't know when that's going to be heard. Josh Eiple has asked about it if he has any sort of timetable. So he said he doesn't, and if anyone has some insight on that, it would maybe be them behind the scenes. So without having a timetable, and the likelihood probably being after the portal not only opens but closes to where there's clarity on this, Tennessee's probably going to have to move on whatever they're going to do. So my guess would be they have to operate with the assumption they're not going to have them.

And then that leaves them with two scholarship quarterbacks in redshirt freshman George McIntyre, who was a high four-star in the end, a one-time five-star but a high four-star in the end, that just got a cup of coffee on the field. They think highly of him, but he didn't play. He's got to put on weight, and where he played at Brownwood Academy wasn't a big passing offense all the time, so there's still development probably there. And so he's going to go into his second year, and then Faison Brandon, one of the top quarterbacks in this class, but he also will be a true freshman.

So that's it in terms of your scholarship QBs. So the question is, does Tennessee go after one of the top quarterbacks in the portal and spend a lot of NIL dollars that they may need to address other critical need positions like D-line and safety, which work with Jim Knowles' defense and some other positions running back, as we talked about, or do you spend moderately and then leave money and redistribute it for other positions? And then bring in someone with just one year of eligibility. If you bring in one of the top guys and they have multiple years of eligibility, how do your two young guys on your roster look at that?

You can't risk one of them wanting to leave. So it is a delicate situation. Tennessee's got to make the right decision, and they have to evaluate the right guy. Does it depend on who they can get? If they can get an elite guy, then all bets are off. Even if Aguilar gets cleared, they may feel like one of these guys takes them to an even higher level. And then Joey Aguilar, if he's available, either comes back into the mix or goes elsewhere. And so if he goes elsewhere, he could be a free agent if he decides not to come back here.

So it can be really complicated and messy. Tennessee's got to make the right move here. And, you know, there's been reports that Tennessee's interested in Josh Hoover, who was one of their top targets, TCU's starting quarterback last year, and he stayed there. I mean, he would be a great fit. I think he is a top-tier quarterback in college football. So Brendan Sorsby from Cincinnati, he's got a family that lives here, and he's talked about, you know, dreamed about playing at Neyland Stadium, those kind of things.

[1:30:02] So those would be the two high-level PBs that people talk about the most. You know, D.J. Lagway in the conference, people make that connection. But he's, to me, a little bit higher risk. So, yeah, how Tennessee handles that is a massive question with the timing of it not laying out there perfectly for them. Yeah, Patrick Brown, the Go Vols, 247, mentioned Brendan Sorsby and Hoover. He mentioned on Hoover that his agent wanted a million dollars more before in the past. So we'll see how that goes, V-Man.

Listen, we'll let you get back to Mama's lunch, which I would imagine is absolutely incredible. Listen, have a great week. Merry Christmas to you. It's a blessing to talk to you every Monday. Have a great Christmas, my friend. It's my Merry Christmas to you guys, your families, and everybody listening. Always a joy to visit with you guys and look forward to doing it next week. Absolutely. Stay safe there. Safe travel is back home. V-Man, 99.1, the sports animal. Shout out, BB, to the pride of Madison, Alabama.

Former coach and player, I should say, at UNA. Former coach at Deshner and Calvert Heights, Chip Lindsey. Yep. Lost in all this stuff at Michigan. Chip, the offensive coordinator, now the former offensive coordinator at Michigan. He's coming back to the SEC. He is the new O.C. for the Missouri Tigers, BB. So, Chip Lindsey on the move once again. That's a good job. Absolutely. He's replacing more. And get out of that mess there at Michigan, not to say the least. Coming up, the Redfish on deck.

Stay with us. Hey, Rickatoni Valentino here to say thank you for all the fun we've had over the past 30 years. And to remind you that a gift card from Rickatoni's might be just the perfect gift for that somewhat special this holiday season. From all of us at Rickatoni's, Merry Christmas. Hey, this is Russell from Medford Jewelers, reminding everyone as we celebrate our 80th Christmas in downtown Florence that we have you covered. If you need a pair of two-carat lab diamond studs, we've got them on sale for $599.

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May the true spirit of Christmas fill your heart and home with joy today and into the new year. Merry Christmas from Allstate insurance agent BJ Brewer on Darby Drive in Florence. Switch on your list this season? Get 50% off your first six months of payroll at gusto.com slash radio. Gusto saves you two days every month on payroll taxes and compliance. So you can go from making payroll to making gingerbread houses, checking your books to decking the halls, spreadsheets to snow angels. Switch before the end of the year and there's no need to transfer payroll history.

Now that's a reason to be merry. Choose a future with Gusto and get more time for what matters. For a limited time, get 50% off your first six months at gusto.com slash radio. Rich Eisen here. As you all know, I care deeply about pediatric cancer research and awareness. That's why I'm proud to talk about Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 27 years, every Hyundai Sold has helped fund life-saving pediatric cancer research. Together with over 850 dealers nationwide, they've raised more than $277 million, supporting over 25,000 kids in their fight against cancer.

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Alabama is set to take on Indiana on New Year's Day. The other matchups in the quarterfinals are Georgia hosting Ole Miss New Year's night. And Texas Tech will host Oregon New Year's Eve. It's Miami at Ohio State. Atlanta Falcons yesterday won in Arizona. They beat the Cardinals 26-19. Falcons with the win are now 6-9 on the season. Bundle auto and home, renters or condo, and save with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash presented by Progressive on 93.9, the score. Christmas is just around the corner.

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Wishing you and your family an extra measure of comfort, joy, and hope this Christmas. From Williams Funeral Home. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back in. It is a pleasure for us to open the door and say hello to William Redfish Barger, former University of Alabama offensive lineman, and now co-host of Bounds Radio. William, welcome in. How are you? Doing good, guys. Hope y'all are as well. Yeah, we are. Thanks for asking, William. How was your language in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of that game against Oklahoma, William?

Vastly different. Vastly different. Like the team, right? Vastly different. And, you know, that was a great, great win to see. It was, you know, it was good to see the, you know, the team get punched in the face again and punched back. And, you know, that's the, you don't get to see them often because things always, you know, kind of have to align for this to happen. But any time you can have a win where we're all three phases of the game, offense, defense, and special teams, you know, play a significant role in the victory.

You know, I think that's very satisfying as a player and as a coach. So, you know, it was really good to see. And, you know, it's, again, I think a lot of these moments, you know, throughout the course of the season where this team, and they haven't always punched back, you know, when this kind of stuff has happened. But I think the more that they do it and are successful with their response, you know, the more it will galvanize them and, you know, make them a tighter-knit group and, you know, a tougher outfit to beat on the field.

Were you ever part of a game like that, William? I know, I'm thinking back to the day, and I think a lot of folks did too. I know maybe not once but twice against Ole Miss, correct me if I'm wrong, Bama fell behind 21-0, wound up winning. Your thoughts about that in just the – and that's in the regular season. I can't imagine going to a place like Oklahoma with everything on the line. Your season was going to be over on December the 19th. You're going to be hung with your fourth loss, and it's over.

And who knows what could happen to the program after that given the social media influence out there now. But were you ever a part of that and just what that does for a team from a standpoint we're never out of it from just a psychological standpoint going forward? Well, you know, that's one of the things that happens to you when you get older is you have more time to reflect on stuff. And, you know, there wouldn't have been a 1992 national championship without four or five games.

Right. Not where we came from behind that badly. Mississippi State. We weren't – Well, no, I mean, the last three games of the year, there's not a guy by the name of Antonio Langham. And I always play this card when I run into – I can't use this word on live radio. But when I run into not-so-nice Alabama fans that want to trash Antonio for the probation that they blame him for, I'm like, look, you can trash him for signing a cocktail napkin all you want to. But that baseball cap you got on celebrating that national championship game never happens without his block run against Mississippi State, his interceptions against Auburn and Florida.

[1:40:19] And, you know, there was another one kind of hidden earlier in the season, you know, when David Palmer, you know, had been suspended for an off-the-field episode. And, you know, we were – we weren't exactly known for being a dynamic offensive unit back in those days anyway. But, you know, there was always the feather in our cap. If we got behind, you know, you could count on David for returning a punt. And all of a sudden in a particular game, you look around and you forgot David's standing over there with a baseball cap on and can't play.

And so, you know, it's stuff like that that you don't really think about it as you're in the progress of the season or in the moment. But after things and you've got a chance to hit the rewind button, they become more clear. Let me ask you about the defense. Quite a few – quite a bit of talk about Kane Womack in the secondary switching from a zone coverage to a man coverage. Material, I think, threw for only 120 yards in the second half. And we've talked about the production – the increased production of the kids.

Three sacks in the second half, five total, but three from Keyon Keeley, London Simmons, and Kelby Collins, of course, the transfer. Now, the old man, Deontay Lawson, had 10 tackles in the game. And I'm sure that meant a lot to him after having the knee injury last year in Norman. Now leads the team, I believe, with 85 tackles on the year second in the SEC. But we've talked about the maturity and the growth and how it would work out at the end for Womack playing so many kids.

And it certainly did against Oklahoma. Yeah, and it was nice to see the in-game adjustments by Kane. Yes. You know, they weren't doing a very good job of making Mateer uncomfortable in the pocket, especially in the first quarter. And, you know, once they got more aggressive and, you know, finally waved the white flag and realized that they couldn't get pressure by just bringing three, sometimes four guys, and got aggressive with their blitzes and started forcing him to have to move around in the pocket. And, you know, when he did, you know, try one of his QB keepers outside of the pocket or up the middle, you know, they closed real quickly.

And, you know, again, you see, you know, Zavian Brown, who, you know, is going to have a fireplace mantle full of Daniel Moore prints if he doesn't stop his foolishness. But, you know, it's – and there again, man, that's a guy that's, you know, in two short seasons that's already provided some Antonio Langham-esque magic as far as ceiling games and making huge plays. And, you know, when he gets his opportunities, he makes good on them. But, yeah, I mean, seeing, you know, guys like Kelby Collins and Keon Keeley making contributions the way that they did, you know, you saw a lot of London Simmons and Fogwa, the young defensive tackles.

And so it was a great team effort. And, you know, it was great seeing, you know, the fans get to see what Lottie Brooks is capable of if he gets the targets. I mean, that's a dynamic young playmaker. You know, you go back and think about a year and a half ago and until Alabama offered, he was staring down the barrel of having to go play for Bill O'Brien at Boston College possibly. So that was his next best offer. So, you know, Kalen DeBoer continues to do a great job of identifying high school prospects that aren't highly rated by recruiting services.

I like what Brooks said. That's his first touchdown catch of the year. He still got to the end zone. He didn't know what to do. He went to Virgin. He just started dancing. I've got a sneaking suspicion he's going to get a lot of practice to work on his celebration stance going forward. You know, the thing is, Redfish, people want to sit here and talk about Ty Simpson and criticize him. But if you look at the stats, Alabama statistically has no business being where they are.

You look at the line of criticism they face, the running game's been nonexistent, defense been up and down. The one thing that's been there, when he has time, Ty Simpson's shown he can put up numbers. Your thoughts about that, and now, let's face it, they're taking on an interesting matchup. Who ever thought that Alabama would be advancing in the playoffs against Indiana and being the seven-point underdog to the Hoosers football team, not basketball team? Your thoughts about Ty and this next matchup, Redfish? Well, I think, you know, we talked about this on your show before the first matchup.

And, you know, if you can survive the front seven h*** that Brent Vanderbilt is going to unleash on your offensive line, and, you know, if you can pick it up, there's plays to be made on the back end because of what he chooses to do. And, you know, he's successful a lot more times than he isn't. And, you know, they were able to give Ty enough time in certain occasions where he was able to make those plays that were available to him. And, you know, if there hadn't have been some more drops by the wide receivers, there would have been bigger explosive plays made.

[1:45:49] And, you know, I think he just shows his resiliency. And, you know, I think that's a great, you know, adjective to describe this whole football team and the coaching staff. You know, you've got a Rust Belt fan base up in Michigan that thinks we're just sitting around waiting for an excuse to fire Kalen DeBoer, who's now, by the way, the only active college head football coach that's won college football playoff games at two different institutions. But I think Ty kind of is the, you know, the ringleader of this team with his resiliency and his leadership, obviously his toughness.

I mean, he got slapped around, you know, numerous times Friday night and got back up, dusted himself off, and continued to make plays. So, you know, maybe I'm going to look like an idiot here in 12 days, but this Indiana team, outside of their undefeated record, they don't scare me. I look at the schedule that they've played. They kind of remind me a little bit of Texas A&M and their schedule that they played in the SEC, except the bottom half of the Big Ten is a little bit different than the bottom half of the SEC.

You know, if we're honest, let's see, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Mississippi State, and Arkansas, you know, if they aren't giving games away, I mean, they're capable of beating anybody in the SEC. And, you know, I think you've got the transfer portal to, you know, thank them for that. But, you know, we'll see. I think this is going to be a little bit step up in competition for Indiana. You know, Mendoza, I've seen quarterbacks that go make the, you know, the Heisman Trophy media circuit and banquet circuit, and they eat too much and drink too much and, you know, too much time off for the team, and they come out and they're not crisp.

So, you know, I don't think this is a mountain that's too steep for this Alabama team to climb with this matchup with Indiana, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they respond to it. William, let me also thank someone else who deserves it. Maybe by the end of this season, he may end up being the MVP, is Jeff Allen and his training staff. They had eight guys by the time they got to the fourth quarter against Georgia and Atlanta. They were out of that game, and one tough son of a gun is Josh Cuevas, who had three catches for four yards, and they talked about this after the game, what this guy's gone through.

Jeff Allen himself did a marvelous job of getting the majority of these players back. Well, you know, Cuevas is my favorite player on the team, and I was telling a former teammate of mine, you're not going to see kids in college today that can really relate to this because a lot of this blue-collar type stuff is a thing of the past. But Josh Cuevas reminds me of a kid that grew up in the hills of Pennsylvania. His daddy worked the night shift at the steel mill, probably in the blast furnace, and if football doesn't work out for Josh Cuevas, he knows his only option is he's going back home and having to work in that blast furnace with his daddy.

And he's gritty. He's tough. I see a little Mark Bavaro. I'm dating myself with that comparison. But I see a little Mark Bavaro in that guy. And, you know, being able to get him 12 days, you know, back closer to being 100%, I think. Because he is. You know, you talk about his ability as a receiving tight end, but the thing that that team missed while he was out was you never see him get circled with that teleprompter for missing a block at the point of attack. Or if he's in max pass protection, you know, getting beat in pass pro.

So that's the type of character and that's the type of leadership that when it's not out there in that huddle with you, you know, it's missed. I appreciate you bringing that up about the factory. Anyone who's ever worked in a factory, they know it ain't the most glamorous job in the world. That's a great analogy there. Redfish, let me ask you this. Did Jeremy Menard study your moves back in the day? Is that how he made that catch? You studied your moves when you were wearing a crimson jersey?

Well, I actually played tight end for three years in high school, but I can assure you, there was never any catches made like that. None? None? But, you know, man, and there's another guy that, you know, I think you get the best version of Jeremy Menard every Saturday, or in this case a Friday night when they teed it up. And, you know, he's another guy that I think that, you know, the minute he stepped on campus, he was the best wide receiver in that receiver room, and he's backed that up now for two seasons.

And, you know, just a typical example of, you know, when you're that alpha, you're expected, and you typically do produce, you know, making big-time plays and big-time games like that. Did you ever in your wildest dreams think Alabama would outplay Oklahoma in special teams? You got the Luke Groza Award winner in Tate Sandell, the first-team All-SEC punter, in Grayson Miller, and Sandell misses two field goals. Miller drops the ball and gets it blocked by Tim Keenan. Blake Dowd, after his first punt, actually did pretty well.

[1:51:27] Now, if Lonnie Brooks would just call a fair catch on the kicks, but, William, was that the biggest surprise of the night for you? Well, the aftermath is probably even a bigger surprise to me. I mean, I've always felt like Alabama was the most unhinged fan base in college football, but, man, those Senators fans, they're accusing that poor Miller of point-shaking. Well, they were. They're not nice. No, no. So, you know, it was nice to see the shoe on somebody else's foot for a change. But, yeah, man, I think that's something that, you know, it was a huge boost in the game.

You know, certainly it was a momentum changer. And, you know, probably I would say along with the, you know, the circus catch that Brooks made there, you know, when Ty had no other choice but to put the ball where he did before he got slapped in the face. So, there again, man, it was just a good old-fashioned team win. And when you can get all three phases to, you know, contribute the way that they did, you know, you got the pick six on defense, all the sacks, you know, big plays, you know.

You know, even Danny Hill, you know, ran with some authority and looks like he's a little bit closer, being 100%, and they'll need him to be 100% when they make that trip out to Pasadena in a week and a half. No question about it. Listen, we always enjoy the insight in the game, as only you can bring. Listen, Merry Christmas to you and your family. Hope you have a few days off and enjoy it. And let's do this again real soon. And I appreciate it, guys. And Merry Christmas to you all, too.

Thank you, Redfish. Really appreciate that. Redfish, Barger, BB. Obviously, an interesting Monday after. Have you begun your Christmas shopping yet? Actually, I've got about half of it done, but don't tell my wife I've got to go finish. You still have time. It's on the man's counter. That's good. Take care of business for now. On behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire crew here. Parallel Bug, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again tomorrow on noon. The tube of the Boom on Bug Show.

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