Boomo Bugg Show 041426
93.9 The Score WYTK - April 14, 2026
https://www.939thescore.com/boomo-bugg-show-041426/

This transcript was generated automatically from the broadcast audio. Names and some words may be misspelt; the audio is the official record.

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Now, get ready to roll Shoals, Decatur, Athens and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's Exclusive FM Sports Voice.
The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Good afternoon and welcome here 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. Brett Beaird, welcome in where Alabama's prime wide receiver receives some tough news. Good afternoon. Welcome in. How are you?
Happy Tuesday to you and the listeners. Noah Rogers update. He will miss the start of the season and considering how that injury looked. Actually, I think that's a positive.
Las Vegas insider Bruce Marshall will recap SEC spring games and preview the SEC and the NFL draft. Hard to believe next week in Pittsburgh. Yeah. But Roger is here right now to recap a day, a tough weekend for Alabama baseball and Alabama softball coach, Patrick Murphy winning number 500. Wow. With a sweep of Auburn.
Now, you know, I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but that's a lot of wins. Would you agree, BB?
Yes, it is.
And we'll agree that Roger Hoover is a Swiss Army knife when it comes to calling games.
You pick a flavor. Roger's got it covered on the Crimson Tide Sports Network. Roger, welcome in.
Have you been busy trying to assess your NFL draft worth or how are you?
Boom, boom, boom, bug. I'm doing really well. Yeah, I think I'm a little over the hill for the draft at this point.
They want somebody that's 37 and out of shape. I'm their guy, but I don't think there's going to be any invincible type story with me coming up anytime soon.
Roger, would you like to trade ages? Listen, I'll throw in a player to be named later if you'd like to trade ages, okay?
As long as it's not with the Cleveland Browns, so we'll talk.
There you go. Roger, let's talk about it. Obviously, a day game, the good, the bad, the ugly, and I think it's pretty safe to say the ugly.
We just touched on it there. Noah Rogers, every coach across the country has one thing in common.
Let's get in, let's get out, and no injuries, and especially one like Noah.
Your thoughts overall about the game and the latest on one of Alabama's prime receivers coming in.
Yeah, it's disappointing to hear about it because you mentioned that's the one thing you never want to have happen in a spring game,
and it can just as easily happen in that practice at this time of year as well.
But unfortunate news with Noah and that injury because he's been a dynamic playmaker from everything you've heard all throughout spring camp for the Crimson side.
But the best news of all is that this does not mean a season-ending injury.
We do expect him to suit up at some point for the Crimson side this year.
Kalen DeVore has reiterated that over the last 24 hours.
So while it's tough not to start the season with him, you'd rather get him at some point just in general.
So I think we're going to be looking forward to his return, simply being a healthy and a difference-maker for this Alabama team.
Because, again, according to all reports we had heard and people who had been at some scrimmages as well,
he had done extremely well starting off at the time in Crimson.
Here's the bottom line.
Obviously, the other way of looking at it, if you're the eternal optimist, is it gives other guys a chance to step up and show what they've got.
And I think that's what happened over the weekend.
The issue here is it's not that the other guys are not good, but you don't bring in someone like that,
especially in this modern era without a lot of promise.
And there's also the reality of depth.
You can never have too many.
But be that as it may, you can't sit here and complain about what you can't have.
Let's talk about what they do have, starting with the wide receivers.
And if there's a kid that's lived up to his billing from high school to now, it's Morgan.
I mean, he goes to the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star game.
He's an MVP.
He is a man amongst boys over there.
Saturday, the live Bullets are flying with a scrimmage in front of a crowd.
And this kid is living up to the expectations, not to mention a guy who was almost lost last year
with a lot of promise coming in was Derek Meadows.
But your thoughts about what Alabama does have in the wide receiver room?
Well, first of all, they've got some really talented returners.
Anytime you look at Ryan Coleman-Williams, in addition to Lottie Brooks, and then Rico Scott,
I think with more consistent playing time, I think he's one of Allen Hammond's best.
I always kind of like when he had his opportunities last year because, number one,
it's speed.
He's so fast out there on the field.
So you feel good with a lot of the returners.
Derek Meadows as well is so physical, can make plays over the middle for you.
I think that was an element we didn't necessarily show a lot in last year's offense.
So you like the progress he has made getting ready for what should be a huge jump for him
this season.
And then Sideree Morgan comes in.
All these other freshmen that are going to make an impact for the Crimson side.
That'll make you feel good, and especially I feel good knowing he's throwing you the football
because we saw some really good things from both quarterbacks, Keelan Russell,
as well as Austin Mack this past Saturday.
That's exactly what I was about to ask you about was the quarterback position.
I told a friend of mine yesterday, let's don't give Keelan Russell the Heisman Trophy yet,
but you've got to be impressed with the performance that he had Saturday through for 240 yards,
four touchdowns.
Just as a command of the offense, he has got that playmaking ability with his arms and his legs.
And, again, in all fairness to Austin Mack, I know Keelan DeBoer came out after the game
and said he's been a little bit banged up, and maybe we didn't see the best.
Now, he had a couple of nice throws, but I'll tell you one thing, Roger.
Going into the season, Alabama's got a full plate at quarterback.
Yeah, it's a position of strength, I feel like, with those two guys.
And you never know how a team is going to shake out.
You may need both of them at different points.
So, obviously, I went to Jalen and Tua just a few years ago to see that.
But I really like what we've seen from Austin Mack, first of all, in games for Alabama.
I've always been impressed when he's at his opportunities, even going back to his redshirt freshman year in 2024.
Just always comes in so poised and so confident in the line of scrimmage,
and maybe it's just that tall frame as well.
He just always looks in control when he's on the football field.
And I thought I saw that as well this past A-Day as well, even if he is a little bit banged up.
And as Coach DeBoer mentioned, his highlight tape is just as impressive.
Just a lot of people aren't seeing some of the highlight tape that he has from the practice field.
But when the lights were on, Keelan Russell was as bright as could be for the Crimson's Eye.
Now, that looked really, really solid.
Looked great in the red zone.
Looked great in two-minute roll-up situations.
And that's what you want to see during a scrimmage.
So, I have no doubt the competition is going to be intense and fierce between those guys.
And I think that's a good thing.
The last thing you want is this job being decided and one not working as hard as the other
or anything like that going into the summer.
I think you're going to see two players that are highly motivated to get on that field.
And that's only going to make this football team better.
Roger Hoover hooking up with us.
Crimson Tide Sports Network.
Obviously, the other side of the coin, they say to win a championship,
you've got to have a defense.
Your thoughts overall?
And obviously, a lot of verbal bouquets so far for the Alabama secondary stacking up,
at least in the eyes of a lot of people with anybody across the country.
But in particular, I thought something that probably didn't get enough legs from Saturday
was Dre Kirkpatrick Jr.
We sometimes forget these kids are kids.
Yes, they're rich by today's standards.
But he made a mistake last year.
And in life, it's a fork.
You can sit here and get in a fetal position or you can learn from it
and try to come back from it.
And I thought what was refreshing for him, not only did he show up on Saturday,
but he got an interception.
Yeah, he's done everything the right way from what the coaching staff, Coach DeBoer,
wanted to see from him after getting in trouble last year.
Very similar to things we saw in the Saban era.
Again, people like to forget that, yes, these things would pop up as well.
And Coach Saban was here.
And even going back to Coach Bryant, these things popped up.
So for Dre, he has done everything the coaching staff asked him to do,
everything the university, the athletic department as well.
And he's getting his opportunity to return to the field.
And he was impressive.
And he's somebody with, obviously, great bloodlines from his father,
but also someone that's been around this program now for two full seasons
and understands what it looks like to play good SEC football.
I think only good things are ahead for Dre Kirkpatrick Jr.
Roger, baseball did not have the best of weekends.
And I had a friend of mine ask me about the baseball team yesterday.
I said, look, number one, nine of 16 teams in the SEC are either eight and seven or seven and eight.
There's a log jam in the middle.
Alabama lost three to two Sunday.
They were two of 12 with runners in scoring position.
And I know that the final score Saturday night was deceptive
because Arkansas only led 64 late in that game.
Again, I know UAB tonight and then Texas over the weekend, but a tough weekend for Alabama.
But if you look at it a little bit closer, pretty much all these games were close for the majority of the game.
Yeah, that was frustrating.
Alabama got really good starting pitching each and every game, which has been pretty consistent for the Crimson Tide this season.
But it really got its best start of the year from the Sunday starter, Miles Upchurch,
and just couldn't get much offense to support him in that ballgame.
So this morning, that bullpen that had been so good for so long after this winning stretch of SEC play,
had their first kind of mortal weekend that just didn't seem themselves to different points.
So it's a learning opportunity for this team.
And I think this is a group that had its backs against the wall.
I mean, the season in so many ways looked over.
When you're swept by Kentucky, you lose a midweek to South Alabama where you've just committed five errors.
And then right after that, you get the no-hitter by Tyler Faye.
All of a sudden, a long winning streak.
So I think still something else good is around the corner for this baseball team that's going to have to start on the road against Texas,
like you mentioned, coming up this weekend against the Longhorn team that is pretty upset after losing two out of three.
Or only played two games.
The Texas A&M had one rain out.
So they're going to be mad as can be in Austin and a great ballpark.
It's going to be a fun atmosphere coming up for that game.
In addition to what we have tonight, we're going to stay very good and improved UAB team.
It'll be a typical midweek that Alabama is getting ready for tonight in downtown Birmingham.
And to mention being mortal, you look at a guy that only had one direction to go from preseason high up to now.
And that's the Alabama shortstop.
Justin LeBron shows that he's mortal over the weekend.
But I like what Vaughn says.
Skipper Vaughn came out and said, yeah, he had a rough night, but he's human.
And nobody knows that more than Justin.
Your thoughts about Justin LeBron?
I think on Sunday it was interesting.
Alabama shook up the lineup quite a bit.
Not only with some young players getting an opportunity, but just the batting order was jumbled.
And Justin LeBron moved from the second spot of the order down to batting cleanup.
And he ended up getting two hits, two doubles.
It was really, really sharp at the plate.
It'll be interesting to see what happens tonight with the lineup, if it's pretty similar.
Maybe that takes some of the pressure off, Justin.
We'll see.
But he's certainly someone that's capable.
It's just been a long time since his last home run.
Hasn't had many extra base hits in SEC play.
And defensively, he's had some tough errors at times this year on some routine plays that he'll always say he should make.
So, you know, for Justin, it may not be the first half of conference play that he wanted, but we know what he's capable of in the second half of SEC play.
And as we get to the postseason, I mean, he literally is the type of player that can carry you to Omaha, have some monster weekends in a regional and super regional, and you're going to the college world series as a result.
So, I think still to be written so much about Justin LeBron and what this story of the season is going to be for him.
And I can't wait to see it all unfold because nobody's more capable in college baseball of carrying a team all the way than Justin.
Roger, I mentioned it at the top of the show.
Congratulations to Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy, winning number 500 with a sweep of Auburn.
Alabama now 39-3, 39-3, 12-3 in the SEC.
There's not another SEC coach who's even reached 400 wins.
And I listened to this the last two or three years about, well, maybe the game's passed him by.
You know, he may be a little long in the tooth.
Look, this guy does know how to coach.
He's revamped the lineup.
This may be the best Alabama team, softball team they've had for years.
But congratulations to Coach Murphy, winning number 500 at the capstone.
Yeah, he's one of my favorite people on campus.
Really does such a great job not only leading his softball team, but he is a resource for each and every coach that's on his campus.
I think Nate Oates kind of amplified the Mudita mindset a couple years ago when Alabama went to the Final Four.
That comes from Coach Murphy and the softball team.
Mudita is just a word for having joy in others' success.
And that's really been something that you've seen from his softball team throughout the years.
And I think everyone's really having joy watching Murph right now and the way he's leading the team with a lot of good young players as well.
They've got freshmen that are really making an impact for their big mode in pitching, Anna Roman in right field.
And then somebody I will be talking with later this week on Crimson Drive, Amber Taylor from Jasper.
And she's about as country as a turning green.
We had a really good conversation talking with her.
If you like a good Alabama accent, she and Ace Austin are in the running for the best this season.
But really great player that loves getting to play at Alabama.
Marlee Giles, the catcher as well.
You know, just outstanding all the way around.
I think this is a program that everyone can get behind and really root for.
And we're certainly rooting for success this year because nobody deserves it more than Patrick Murphy.
Well, we're rooting for Roger Hoover and calling UAB tonight in Texas over the weekend.
You mentioned Crimson Drive.
Tell us who you've got on today and Thursday.
And also tell us about Roger Hoover's upcoming week.
Yeah, we have a doubled up in baseball today talking with our second baseman, Brendan Holtz.
And then we've had a lot of interviews this season with Logan Davenport, who has been injured,
has not been able to play, but he kind of joins us every couple weeks to kind of give us almost like a coach's perspective.
He's got the great insight of kind of being almost like a coach in addition to still being in uniform, being a player.
So Logan does a great job breaking things down for us later today.
And then I mentioned Ambry Taylor.
Fun conversation with her about her first season in Crimson and growing up a diehard Alabama softball fan
and getting this opportunity.
A really incredible conversation with her coming up on Thursday's show.
So, as again, Tuesday and Thursday at 2 o'clock on all our CPSN social media platforms.
And then it's time to dust off the cowboy hat and get on to Texas for the weekend.
I look forward to being in Austin for three fun days that should be coming up as we start the second half of the SEC schedule.
Hee-haw!
Safe travels to and from, Roger.
And thanks so much for your time today, buddy.
Sounds great.
Thank you guys for having me on.
Real time.
Thank you, Billy.
All right.
Roger Hoover on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
Coming up, AA, I'm Andrea Adelson from ESPN on deck.
Stay with us.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
Really appreciate free ride around the valley.
And for that, what do you say we go to literally the home of the champions?
Wife wins national championships in football.
Husband wins national championships in basketball.
Andrea Adelson from ESPN.
What's in the water at the Adelson house in Orlando, Florida?
How are you?
Well, I'm doing great, fellas.
You know we're home to the two best universities in the whole entire world.
I've heard that.
I've heard that.
It's natural that both schools win championships, fellas.
You might get a little bit of a disagreement in this particular zip code.
I'm just saying, Andrea, but congratulations to your husband.
Has he made you aware that he is the latest national champion in your household?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That may or may not have come up over the last week.
Yeah, I bet it did.
Back-to-back championships, right?
Like, okay, it's fine to pass the bragging rights on to my husband, right?
If anyone's going to get him, it might as well be him and, of course, my kids who love Michigan as well.
But lots of partying in the Adelson home over the last year, guys.
Would it break your heart if the Florida Gators dethroned Michigan?
By the way, Michigan is thrown in Florida.
Do you have any connection to the Florida Gators?
And if so, what happened this weekend in the Gators spring game?
Yeah, obviously, that's my alma mater for folks tuning in and didn't already know.
Obviously, I think Florida fans, no offense to basketball, would love it if football was the one that got the next national championship.
But, look, I like the energy and the determination of Jon Sumrall.
I think he is bringing something a little bit different to the table than Billy Napier in terms of the fact that he's being a little bit more bold about what he is saying, about where the program has been.
I think he said it was a sleeping giant.
I actually disagree with that.
To me, sleeping giant means you haven't won anything, but everyone kind of expects you to.
The thing I agreed with, though, was he said we have to get this ship turned around.
And it's a large ship.
It's going to take some time.
I get it.
But I think we saw some flashes offensively of what this group can look like.
I think more exciting with Buster Faulkner now calling the plays, quite honestly.
Something Florida fans would love to see going back to the days when you had somebody who knew what they were doing calling the plays.
Again, no offense to Billy Napier.
And, look, I mean, for Florida fans, that's what they care about, right?
What is the offense?
Are they going to score a lot of points?
If it looks like yes, and all indications from the spring game appear to be they're headed in that direction, great.
That'll work.
And, by the way, they've gotten a couple of commits here from some high-level prospects over the last week for the recruiting trail that I think are also leading to some optimism.
But, guys, there's been optimism in Gainesville before.
Y'all know that.
It's time to see some results, and I will say, I'll end on this, schedule is a lot friendlier for Jon Sumrall this year than it was the last two years for Billy Napier.
You mentioned Sumrall.
I don't have it in front of me.
You said he was tough.
Where is he from?
What is his hometown, if you can remind us of that, Andrea?
Is his hometown somewhere in Alabama?
Yes, he is.
You think that may have something to do with his cowboy mentality coming in?
John Wayne is in the house.
You know, I love it, guys, because you all know, right, the standard is spurrier.
It's not necessarily an admirer, right?
When people think about Florida and when Florida fans think about what do they want the program to look like, they want a swashbuckler as the head coach.
Because that's kind of what got all of this started for Florida.
And so when you have a guy who isn't afraid to talk, who isn't afraid to kind of say what everyone's thinking, and I think Billy was so careful with the way he approached his media opportunities, even his one-on-one opportunities, didn't want to say the wrong thing, didn't want to be pigeonholed or pegged into saying something and held to it.
It certainly seems that Sumrall is the opposite of that.
And I think that's just refreshing for Florida fans who want something to hold on to here in the long offseason before the season begins.
Again, there's a long way to go, and just because he talks a big game doesn't mean they're actually going to play a big game.
We've seen a coach from a G5 in Louisiana have success come to Florida and not have success there.
But again, there's that hesitation.
But everything I've seen and heard from Florida this spring, it just feels like it's a complete 180 from where they were last year under Billy Napier.
Yeah, Florida fans love these bold, outspoken coaches.
Double-A, there are eight SEC spring games this weekend, and I know they're scattered throughout the country.
But I just wanted to ask you what you might be looking for.
You've got so many games.
Alex Golich debuting his offense, and Byron Brown, Will Stein at Kentucky, Mincy, the transfer from Notre Dame.
I hear a lot of Kentucky fans really needed the breath of fresh air.
And Jared Curtis, the five-star freshman quarterback that Vandy was able to finagle out of the state of Georgia.
Those are three that I'm looking forward to.
What are some of the themes this weekend, be it in the ACC, ACC, that you're looking forward to getting a glimpse of?
Well, I'm glad you mentioned Auburn, because this gives us a little bit of time to talk about Alex Golich and what he's bringing to the table.
Obviously, I had a chance to watch USF over the last couple of years and Byron Brown and his development
and what he has meant to USF in getting them that top 25 ranking last year.
Obviously, they beat Florida.
I think the fact that Byron came with Alex Golich to Auburn is a huge positive,
because they have got a chemistry, a camaraderie.
Byron has grown so much from his time at USF, a true dual-threat quarterback, tough as they come.
But there's obviously going to be a comfort level to the system that you want as a first-year head coach
when you're trying to remake a program in your image.
I know they did a really nice job through the transfer portal and bringing in a lot of guys they feel can fit right into that offensive scheme
that they like to run.
And I also think that Alex's past in the SEC and being at Tennessee kind of gives an idea of what is needed to be able to win in the SEC.
So I have pretty high hopes, quite honestly, for what they can do this year,
just based on what I saw Alex Golich do in a very short period of time at USF with Byron Brown.
Again, I know it's a step up in competition, but they did go into Gainesville, and they did beat Florida last year.
And so I think that probably only adds to kind of like the confidence level of potentially what they can do.
It's more than one game in the SEC.
We all know that.
But I have a feeling that Byron Brown at Auburn is going to work.
And even though it's just for a year, you kind of want to lay that foundation and that groundwork for what it's going to look like moving forward on offense.
I cannot think of a more perfect guy for what Alex likes to do on offense than Byron Brown.
So really looking forward to seeing how they look this spring and how it plays out this fall.
By the way, you may not have heard this, but Arch Manning is the starting quarterback at Texas.
You can confirm that?
What?
You can confirm that?
The summer of Arch.
You heard it first here.
The summer of Arch.
Hey, Rhys Davis, take that.
Oh, baby.
Yeah, well, look, here's the thing about Arch.
You know, he ended last season playing a lot better than he did at the beginning of the year.
And Sark, toward the end of the year, and I saw him here in Orlando, you know, when they played in the bowl game against Michigan, basically said, like, he felt people were just so quick to judge Arch because Arch, right?
It's like you have this idea in your head of what it should look like for him because he waited his turn and it should look amazing as soon as he takes that first snap from center.
And it didn't quite look the way other people thought it was going to look.
There obviously were some growing pains for someone who was making his way as now a full-time starter.
And so the fact that he was able to grow, the fact that he was able to learn, the fact that he was able to handle all of the stuff that comes with being Arch man, and some of the people just writing him off.
I think it was the New York Times that wrote him off, like, right away after two games.
So Sark was kind of defensive about the way Arch played at the, you know, at the end of last season because he felt like people's impression of him was what it was in the first two weeks and not necessarily the way that he played in the last month of the season.
So I think last year was a really nice springboard for what Arch can do now this year.
They obviously won the portal, they reloaded, got some really good skill position players, including Hollywood Smothers from NC State, who I think very highly of.
So it's no surprise to see a lot of people picking Texas to make it back on the CFP again, maybe have a chance at a national championship, because you're just looking at the progress that was made last year in the second half of the year for Arch and what Texas did to kind of surround him with those skill players now to allow them to get off to a much faster start than they did a year ago.
Yeah, I agree with you.
I thought Arch was the best quarterback in the country in November.
And Hollywood Smothers, by the way, was an Alabama commitment for about 12 hours.
Yeah.
But that didn't work out too well.
I always enjoyed the conversation.
Where can we get online to get your great stuff, your team's great stuff, and also you and David Hale, you know, quite frankly, every week now, you're a TV star.
When is the next TV broadcast coming out?
Well, I appreciate that, fellas.
Inside Access tomorrow on ACC Network.
I'm going to be live from Florida State.
But if folks missed it, we were, I know there's a large Virginia Tech contingency that listens to y'all's show.
We were at Virginia Tech last week.
You can check that out on the ESPN app.
Just type in Inside Access.
You'll be able to find last week's show or on my social media.
A. Adelson ESPN.
I posted some clips from our James Franklin interview.
I thought it was really illuminating.
And we've got a ton of draft coverage coming up the next couple of weeks on our college page, as well as some spring game previews, as you just alluded to.
Just go to ESPN.com.
Click on the college football page.
You'll find all that and more.
I'm proud you brought up the Virginia Tech fans.
Brett and I had a mutual friend back in the day.
He was the CEO of a local hospital.
He played at Virginia Tech.
He informed us about the bed burning, the couch burning before a game of Virginia Tech.
So we are enlightened about Virginia Tech pregame shows, Andrew, if you ever need any help.
Listen, it's always good to hook up with you.
Thanks so much for your time today.
And I don't know what you did to deserve it, but good luck at Florida State this weekend, okay?
All right, fellas.
I appreciate you, as always.
Thanks for having me.
Thank you, dear.
Double A, Andrew Adelson, ESPN.
Coming up, we go from that to the desert.
Bruce Marshall from Vegas next.
Stay with us.
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Welcome back here.
Time to head west, young man, and say hello to the man out in Las Vegas called Bruce Marshall.
He's busy there with the Las Vegas Insider on the Gold Sheet Wager Talk.
Winners and whiners, picks and parlays, CBS Sportsline, Bent Rivers, Vegas Insider, Bruce Marshall.
You're a busy boy these days.
As always, welcome in.
How are you?
Hey, pretty good.
Pretty good.
Just trying to figure out what to do here now that we're beyond college hoop.
There's enough to keep it.
Yes.
Do us a favor, Bruce.
You find out.
Text us and let us know as well.
But in the meantime, Bruce, what are the odds in Vegas of Keelan Russell?
Based on what the early returns, he's already the early favorite for the Heisman this year.
He hasn't played a game.
Would you agree with it?
I'll say that with tongue-in-cheek.
Bruce, would you agree with the potential of one Keelan Russell?
Well, maybe not.
I mean, I hate talking Heisman in April.
You know, we're still going to have another Arch Manning rush here.
I'll tell you a guy who I would look at right now, and I make it a decent price on him, is Sam Leavitt at LSU.
You know, he was at Arizona State, as we know, and before he got hurt last year, there was thought he would come out and be a first-round kick, probably.
He may well be that after this year.
You put him with Lane Kiffin for a year.
I mean, he showed a lot.
That one year he had as a starter at Arizona State, and he wasn't doing too bad the first half of last season before he got hurt.
I think he's an interesting one there, and that dovetails back into the Kiffin storyline, which I think is going to be front and center from the get-go this fall.
So, he'll have plenty of exposure if he puts up big stats like I think he will.
He's working for a very – he's playing for a very creative coach.
That's the guy I would look at right now.
Let me ask you about Tennessee.
They had their spring game over the weekend.
They got a quarterback battle with George McIntyre, the grandson of the former Vandy coach, and then Faison Brandon.
Brandon, I think, played a little bit.
McIntyre's a tall drink of water.
He's gained 20 pounds, and still looks like he's 20 pounds underweight.
Their defense seems to be pretty good.
Again, Knoll's coming from Ohio State.
I know he runs a complicated defense, but he brought four players with him and two to three of the coaches.
And Josh Heupel wants to get that offense going this year.
They were good.
And then in crunch time, they had too many interceptions.
Your thoughts on Tennessee going into 2026?
Yeah, I think Heupel.
I mean, he's not in any trouble there.
And he's had some success.
He got in the playoff two years ago, got knocked out quick by Ohio State, which ended up winning the whole thing.
But I think last year, a little bit of a letdown.
You're right.
Jaguar was there after that strange stuff with Nico, and he had some moments, and then he also made some mistakes, and now he's not looking for another quarterback.
I think the one I would want, we'll see about McIntyre or Brandon, the true freshman they're pretty high on.
One of those two could emerge.
It will help.
But you touched upon the biggest thing in there with Tennessee.
The defense had some problems last year.
I mean, they went well up the track in the SEC.
And bringing Jim Knowles in from Ohio State, he is very well respected.
Like you said, brought some players with him.
I think that's where Tennessee's got to tighten things up this year, is on the defensive side of things.
And, you know, that's going to be the deal.
And one of these quarterbacks to slip through.
The schedule at the start is manageable.
You know, Furman at Georgia Tech could be kind of interesting there, but that's post-Tames King.
And then Kennesaw at home.
So they should have two wins for sure.
Could be three and out of the Texas game, and week four will be kind of big.
And then, of course, third Saturday in October, Alabama again.
So I think he's getting to kind of a crossroads point now, I think, at Tennessee.
Bruce Marshall, amongst other places.
Goal sheets, wager talk.
Bruce, one of the reasons, many reasons, we love having you on.
You have the national seat at the table.
Obviously, we focus a lot here on the obvious, the SEC.
Maybe that's it.
But as far as all the spring flames across the country, in your opinion,
what is the most intriguing one this spring?
Yeah, I think, you know, Notre Dame, what's going to go on there?
I mean, they're really talking big at Notre Dame.
I mean, they are really talking big.
They thought they were, you know, pushed out right at the end.
I can sort of see their complaint, but it's their own fault.
The way they scheduled last year, they scheduled their two toughest games right off the bat with the new quarterback coming in.
And they were close, but they lost.
And then the rest of the schedule is pretty weak.
CJ Carr, by the way, is another guy I think we should keep in mind for the Heisman because he did come on gangbusters there like that.
But I'm interested in how Notre Dame is going to be, you know, and how the selection committee is going to deal with Notre Dame this year after getting some flack last year.
But the schedule doesn't look all that tough again.
Wisconsin is well down.
That's their opener.
They get rice.
Michigan State has been down.
New coach coming in.
So, you know, Purdue, this looks like a schedule.
They may be able to make a run this year.
So, they're making a lot of noise at Notre Dame.
That's not new, but, I mean, this year they look like they've got something.
They've got a little blue in their saddle.
We'll see what goes.
Yeah, we'll see if the dog can buy it in addition to barking.
Bruce, let's just have some fun here to say that they're all that in a bag of chips.
Who would give them the biggest run for the money from the SEC?
We know back in the day that would have been a laughable question to ask when Nick was in charge.
Maybe the new era would do that.
We know Georgia's got a reputation.
We know Texas got a billion-dollar payroll.
So, who from the SEC is going to be in the thick of things?
A bunch of them, I think.
Georgia's going to be right there.
Gunnar Stockton comes back.
Maybe we should mention him in the Heiser mix.
We know Texas.
Here we go again.
We're going to get all the hype with Texas.
Yeah, we are.
Absolutely.
That's coming.
That's for sure.
A&M made a nice move last year.
Ferelko, I think he's the right guy.
I'm curious how Ole Miss is going to function here without Lane and Pete Golding.
I have a lot of pressure on him.
But like I mentioned a minute ago, the one I'm watching is LSU.
Because I think Lane, I think it was such a bad fit with Kelly there last year.
For the last few years.
Nobody seemed to like him.
He didn't seem comfortable.
Nobody seemed happy there.
Yeah.
And Lane's going to come in.
Lane won.
Listen, I was talking to Brett, you know, last week.
He said, don't forget.
He said, Ole Miss was sort of out of the big-time football business until Lane got there.
He won 52 games in five years.
Basically, I was nowhere with Matt Luke, and he got him up to speed really quick.
He's inheriting something there.
He's worked the portal pretty well.
He's brought some guys down from Ole Miss, brought most of his staff down.
And Levitt, who I mentioned at the outset.
I really would watch LSU here.
I think, you know, Lane, I mean, the honeymoon might last a little while there.
And especially if they want to win, and I think they will.
We'll see.
Let me ask you, we'll be talking about this a lot next week with the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh.
Who is Bruce Marshall's top five picks?
I know I've seen several mocks this morning.
Fernando Mendoza from Indiana to Las Vegas, the number one pick.
Arvel Reese, the linebacker from a Hall State, maybe to the Jets second.
David Bailey's probably going in the top five, the edge from Texas Tech.
And I keep hearing the Titans are looking at Jeremiah Love, speaking of Notre Dame.
They want to try to give Kim Ward some help.
Probably need to be looking at some offensive linemen, too.
And Sonny Stiles from Ohio State.
And, again, we mentioned 10 other names.
Who's Bruce Marshall's top five next week?
Well, yeah.
I mean, I think Mendoza and Reese go one, too.
And, by the way, the Jets are going to pick right near the top, top of the second round.
And that's where I think Ty Simpson might end up.
I think the Jets are still going to make another move at quarterback here.
If Aaron Glenn wants to save his job, I'm not sure Geno Smith's going to do it.
I think that would happen in the second round for them.
Beyond that, the guy you'd want to watch here, if there's a lineman moving up,
Margoa from Miami, the big tackle, could move into the top five.
Arizona's sitting there at five.
They might want to take a look at him.
You know, Bailey from Texas Tech, you mentioned him.
Ed Rusher, he's going to be in demand.
And where Jeremiah Love goes is going to be pretty interesting if Tennessee wants to do it.
They do need a little bit more help for Cam Ward, who I think the jury is still out on.
But he did make some progress late last year.
They've got a new staff in there, so let's see what happens with the Titans.
And, you know, I've also watched Makai Lemon, you know, out of USC.
Big-time game-breaker, sort of a receiver.
I don't know if he's a top five pick, but in styles too.
So somewhere in that mix, and there could still be some trades too.
Somebody's going to want to move up.
I don't think we'll see another quarterback pick besides maybe Simpson later in the first round.
But I'm kind of thinking it might be Mendoza.
Then we've got to wait until Simpson at the top of the second round for a quarterback pick.
Martin, Tennessee and New York City, that's going to be a major change.
Bruce, if we can indulge just a second here.
By the way, Bruce Marshall, amongst other places, Vegas Insider.
Talk a little basketball transfer.
Alabama shopping like everybody else picks up at least a tall drink of water, 6'10", Brandon Garrison.
He's got the Kentucky pedigree, but Kentucky fans said he didn't live up to his billings.
He's got a 7'3'' wingspan.
Your thoughts about Alabama.
Did they win or lose with Brandon Garrison coming in?
Boy, that's to be determined there.
I mean, that's good if you're on the tarmac trying to take off at the airport there, 7'3'' wingspan.
But we'll see.
I've seen a lot of guys with long arms not make it in college hoops.
What gets me, though, is as of the end of last week, the portal opened up, what was it, the 7th or 8th in the middle of last week.
It's 7th.
Yeah, there were already 1,500 guys in the portal after three days.
And I think last year we had 2,300.
Now, they don't all move.
They don't all move.
Some of them stay in their same spots.
But it's quite wild here what's going on.
We'll see what happens with the big man from Alabama.
And if anybody else jumps in, I'd watch a couple guys of interest.
Badunga from Kansas looks like he's going to land at Louisville.
I think they made a pretty good move with him.
Blackwell, the guard from Wisconsin, is a big-time scorer.
He has not announced where he's going yet.
Monsilovich, the three-point specialist at Iowa State, is in there.
Alan Graves, Santa Clara.
Now, he's also going to put his name in the NBA draft.
And a couple of these guys could do that as well.
If he decides to stick for Santa Clara, he's going to lose the best three players to the portal or NBA draft.
But Graves is a guy I'd watch if he does not go into the NBA.
Right now, though, Monsilovich and Blackwell are two I would watch.
But I'm curious to see if we'll actually get above that 2,300 mark.
I think there's only about 3,000 D1 players.
You've got almost three-quarters of them going in the portal.
Some of them will stay, obviously.
I'm also curious, we saw the enterprising coaches go down into D2.
And you can generally find a lot of shooters at the next level down.
Bigs, not as much, but shooters, there's plenty of them there.
So that's sort of another frontier that D1 coaches can explore.
There's the old J.C. route, too.
But, God, it's amazing.
You lose track of all these guys in the portal.
I can't imagine being a coach now trying to follow this stuff.
Let me circle back real quick to the NFL draft.
Will Alabama's left tackle, Caden Proctor, be selected in the first round?
I saw today maybe even as high as six to Cleveland.
I don't know if that would be that high.
And will Auburn get their first first-round pick since 2019?
I saw Kendrick Falk going number 25 to the Bears.
Boy, wouldn't that be something if Auburn does that?
I think it's close.
Whenever you get to the end of the first round, a lot of those guys,
they could go either way.
But I think that could happen.
Proctor, I think, will go in the first round.
And I think, you know, I've seen some projections, Buffalo for him.
But I think Proctor will.
I think he's more likely to go in the first round than Falk.
But I think Falk might, too.
Edge rushers are kind of in vogue right now.
By the way, I think I omitted Alabama.
I shouldn't.
I got so carried with LSU.
Kaelin, the ball will have Alabama in the mix again this year.
That's for sure.
They'll be there.
I would also watch how Alex Goalish gets Auburn going with his transfer quarterback
from South Florida, Byron Brown.
So lots to look forward to this fall.
No question about it.
And you are still the gold standard back with them again.
The NFL next week.
College baseball.
I don't know how much of that you do.
We've got a lot of 8-7, 7-8 teams in the SEC.
Again, spring football.
Not too many people betting on that.
But it's certainly alive down here.
NBA, hockey, you name it, you do it.
Where can we get online to get all the good stuff?
Yeah, some people do end up betting college baseball.
They put numbers and some books on that.
Former Alabama coaches, for one.
Yeah, there you go.
You're getting the World Series.
Actually, I just like to enjoy that, watching it.
That's one sport I just enjoy.
I don't have to worry about making picks.
But anyway, all my stuff under one umbrella now.
And that's wagertalk.com.
Now, that's goldsheet.com, too.
And I'm back there from like the old days.
But we'll get more of that stuff towards football season picks now.
It's also picks and parlays and winnersandwiners.com under that umbrella.
But wagertalk.com, too.
Picks up there.
And that's where you go for everything Bruce these days.
Bruce, keep on hitting it out of the park.
And thank you so much again for your time this week, buddy.
Have a good week, boys.
Thank you.
Thank you, buddy.
You do the same.
Bruce Marshall going up with us.
Visually against a bunch of other places, Vegas, and Saturday.
Bad dad joke.
Speaking of betting on spring games, I'm taking Auburn this weekend, BB.
And we'll also take Matt Merchelle with the open door next hour.
Also, Joe Cox and John Ferrari.
That's all straight ahead.
Stay with us.
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Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is blaming the city leadership of Montgomery for
the recent spate of homicides that occurred this past weekend, leaving four people dead from
four different shooting cases.
Marshall posted on social media that the city leaders refused to take responsibility for
the growing crime in that city and are now at 14 homicides since the start of 2026.
Marshall says the city officials are out of excuses and pointed to the Montgomery Mayor Stephen
Reed's opposition to a bill that was offered in this legislative session that would have required
class three cities such as Montgomery and Huntsville to hire more full-time police officers.
That bill never made it out of the session due to Democrat opposition that was urged on by Mayor Reed.
I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this.
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More details emerged from a grand jury indictment of a Florida doctor, Thomas Shachnofsky.
This is regarding the surgery death of Bill Bryan of Muscle Shoals.
Shachnofsky admitted that he panicked during surgery when he thought an aneurysm had occurred.
He ended up removing Bill Bryan's liver instead of his spleen, killing him there on the operating table.
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He has been licensed to perform surgeries in both Alabama and Florida.
I'm Andrea Tyson.
For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com.
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Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of northwest Alabama and southern Tennessee.
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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 and really appreciate free ride around the Tennessee Valley.
And for John Flory, taking time out of his busy schedule down in the state of Florida.
CBS Sports Radio, 1420 WAOC and 1240 WFOY in St. Augustine, Florida.
That city's been around a long time.
And also online anytime at 965sports.com.
John, welcome in.
How are you?
Harold, doing great.
I tell you what, this is why we live in the state of Florida.
This weather's about a 10 over here.
Hopefully, you guys are getting close to that.
But it's just fantastic.
And it was beautiful at the spring game on Saturday as well.
I don't think John Summerall could have dialed it up any better.
You said John Summerall.
What we're understanding, John, is John Wayne.
He seems to be bringing some of his Alabama roots with him.
Are the Florida players, are they accepting that tough new attitude?
Or are they breaking out the Kleenex and crying to mom?
No, they're expecting that tough new attitude.
And John Wayne, I like that, Harold.
But in the postgame, John Summerall brought up that if you want to play tough and physical and love football, come to Florida.
If you're soft and you just like football, don't go to Georgia.
Yeah, go to Georgia or go to Florida State.
And I like that bravado, to be quite frank.
And he said they are the fifth-rated public university in the country.
They've got beautiful weather.
They've got history and heritage.
He said there's no reason we can't recruit anybody we want here.
And that's kind of refreshing.
And to have a spring game at noon on a Saturday is refreshing.
And not doing it on a Thursday night because, allegedly, you need to do it to help recruiting.
No.
That premise was so ridiculous, guys.
It is Florida.
It is prestigious.
And you can bring them here.
So, I love what John Summerall said after the game on Saturday.
John, I saw these stats this morning, and I had to do a double take.
It's been seven years since Florida Notch double-digit wins.
Wow.
And 17 years since the Gators were legitimate national championship contenders.
Florida is 29-37 over its last 66 games,
including losing seasons in four of the past five years.
Were my eyes deceiving me, or is that unfortunately true?
That is unfortunately true because my eyes have seen it in person for most of those years, Brett, unfortunately.
And that's why I don't blame the fan base or the boosters for being livid
because with the money that's being put into that program,
the numbers you just ran off, it's outrageous it's been that bad, to be quite frank about it.
But hopefully John Summerall can turn this thing around.
I know he wants to do it immediately.
Now, that doesn't mean you're going to win a championship,
but I just like the attitude he's bringing and coming in with that Florida shouldn't be that way.
And there's no reason to be that way.
So, moving forward, we'll see how it plays out.
I'll say this, he's had a lot of momentum in the recruiting as well for 20-27,
which isn't going to help this upcoming season,
but he got a five-star offensive lineman, Maxwell Hiller, to commit.
Davin Davidson from Sarasota, Mooney, the four-star quarterback, committed.
Had a cornerback from South Carolina flip to Florida and actually greeted Summerall in the tunnel after the spring game
and said he was coming to Florida.
So, there's a lot of good momentum, but like everything, Brett, it's all going to come down to
you've got to put a winning product out on the field on Saturday.
And what you just rolled out, haven't had a winning product since 2020.
The COVID deal with Dan Bullock, to be quite frank about it.
That's the last time it was a quality product.
I know they backdoored into an 8-5 in 2024 with Billy Napier, but that never felt like a contending team ever.
So, it's time to turn that around, no doubt.
John, 4965sports.com, we joke about the attitude.
Every first year, a coach is a hero in April.
They're undefeated.
They haven't made a boo-boo yet, so the fans have no reason to really hate them.
It's easy to do the talking.
Your question, the question to you, Johnny, is based on what you saw,
what will happen to go from talking to walking?
We know ballgames probably are lost by coaches,
but it's the Jimmys and Joes that's going to win on the field.
Your thoughts about the Jimmys and Joes this year?
Well, I think they're going to have more playmakers this year
in the backfield and at wide receiver.
Now, Dallas Wilson didn't participate on Saturday.
He was held out for precautionary reasons,
but they had a young man, Micah Mays, who stood out.
Burnell Brown, who had been there last year, a legacy recruit, stood out.
Jaden Ball, of course, we know is going to get the ball more than 10, 12 times a game.
There's no doubt in my mind they're going to feed him.
And I think Duke Clark is going to be a name that your listeners are going to get familiar with
at running back as well.
My concern, and John Summerall's concern in the postgame, was the offensive line.
You're only going to go as far as these guys go over the summer, as well as after the spring game.
So that's going to be the conundrum, as they say, guys.
How much can they get out of that line in John Summerall's first year?
The schedule slacks up a little bit for them.
It's still the SEC, I realize that, but they don't have Miami, LSU, or Tennessee on this schedule,
which they've had the past two years, and those were all three losses the last two years.
So I think that helps as well.
I think it's a team that can get eight wins.
Now, it's hard to base a lot off a spring game, but I think they could get to eight wins next year.
I think that's got to be the target.
Obviously, it's got to be a lot better than four and eight and five and seven,
which is where it's been two out of the last three years, unfortunately.
John, the quarterback battles is always of interest to fans.
Aaron Filo came with Buster Faulkner from Georgia Tech.
Numbers were good in the spring.
21-28, 193, and two touchdowns.
Trammell Jones Jr. went 13-17 for 210, including a 75-yard beautiful pass.
I saw a clip of it.
I know we were texting earlier in the week, and you thought Jones may have had the best performance.
Your thoughts on the Florida quarterback competition?
I thought Jones was cleaner because Filo made a couple of bad decisions during that spring game.
Had a couple of interceptions.
Now, I thought Filo got the ball out faster, but I thought Jones had the better performance on Saturday.
Now, whether that means he's the starter in September, because it's like the CIA down there, guys.
They don't let us see much of anything else but the spring game.
So, I don't know how he looked leading up to it.
Of course, it's going to be open in fall camp, and I still think they're probably, they being the coaching staff, leaning toward Filo if it's close because that was a hand-picked transfer they wanted.
He came with Buster Faulkner, the offensive coordinator, but Trammell Jones looked better to me on Saturday.
The defense, it flashed at times.
Coramani McClain, Conan Bonney.
Again, the defensive front, you've got to have a defensive front in this league.
John, your thoughts overall, defensive line, linebacker, and secondary?
I thought L.J. McRae flashed on the defensive line on Saturday.
You mentioned Coramani McClain.
I thought the secondary looked really good.
They had a couple of interceptions, as I mentioned.
Now, they did give up the long 75-yarder to Micah Mays, the one from Trammell Jones you touched on, Brett.
But I thought overall they looked good.
The linebackers were okay.
Nothing really jumped off the chart from them for me on Saturday.
Now, again, a spring game, limited tackling, obviously.
You don't touch the quarterback, and everything's pretty vanilla.
So that's the other thing I take into account with this.
What you're seeing there, you're going to see it amped up by 1,000, you know,
when we get to late August and early September.
But I think the defense is going to be improved, though.
And that's John Summerall's specialty, as you guys know.
So I expect the defense to be improved.
But my biggest concern, I'll just circle back, is the offensive line.
And are they going to be able to protect and open up enough holes for Ball and Duke Clark
and protect Philo and Jones?
That's really, to me, how far this team's going to go in 26 is how good they can be,
that offensive line, starting in the fall.
You need to have a breakfast, a cup of coffee with an Alabama fan.
It's exactly what they'd be talking to you about on this side of the fence, too.
John, obviously you mentioned it in the spring.
You've got to take it with a grain of salt, including the officiating.
But one thing that stood out to me under Napier is almost like, at some point,
he's going to screw it up, a penalty here, a penalty there, a bad call.
Cranny, if I'm wrong, just five penalties in the game.
I know you're going to get some home cooking with the officiating.
If you want to come back and do it again, you better be good to us.
But your thoughts, just for me, one of Billy's biggest bugaboos was Billy at times.
That was his biggest liability, sadly, was Billy getting in the way of Billy
and the program and the ego, to be quite frank about it.
But it did look pretty clean on Saturday.
I don't expect as many penalties and as many coaching gaps with John Summerall.
And I've never, actually, other than the college football playoff,
watched him coach an actual game from start to finish.
But just things were so bad with Coach Napier.
I don't want to pile on.
He's gone now.
I wish him the best at James Madison.
But there's only one direction that can go, guys, honestly.
And special teams, specifically, that was such an area that was just so undercoached,
not performed in the four years Coach Napier was here.
And then the play calling on offense, which that's a problem that you're not going to
have to worry about your head coach, you know, getting a play caller.
So I think Florida's ahead by leaps and bounds just by those two things alone in the next fall.
John, I was amazed at something else I read about Florida.
And the pro day, I believe in March, long snapper Rocco Underwood put up 14 reps and 225 pounds.
That's the standard for pro days or combines.
Three-year starting guard Damian George Jr. from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, well, played in Alabama only at 12.
The focus on the weight room would be certainly there in the spring, wouldn't it, John?
There's no doubt, Brett.
There's been focus on that from day one, from what Coach Summerall's comments, which he never directly, you know,
mentioned Napier or the former staff.
You just don't do that.
But he said the things that were going on there as far as the lack of physicality and lack of strength led you to believe, you know,
that just big reason why Florida was where they were the last four years.
And the weight room is going to be priority number one from April 14th today all the way to August when they show up for fall camp.
There's no doubt in my mind from John Summerall's comments.
That's going to be hit heavy, hard, and often throughout the spring and early summer.
John, great stuff as always.
Listen, Harold and I really believe John Summerall is going to get the job done at Florida.
But not overnight, but it will eventually get there.
But where can we get online to listen to your show?
Well, you can get online at 1021news.com.
You can follow me on social media at JF underscore sports now and in St. Augustine at 102.1 and 1240 WFOI.
And, guys, always an honor and a pleasure.
And you know what?
It's going to be July 20th and SEC Media Days before you know it.
Don't point your eyes.
It's moving.
In the meantime, enjoy that Florida Chamber of Commerce weathering, John.
And thanks for your time, Dave, buddy.
We will do it.
Thank you, guys.
Thank you, bud.
John Flory against, amongst other places, 965sports.com.
Across the SEC, all 16 under Joe Cox's umbrella.
We'll share it next.
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On Tuesday's edition of Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR,
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back again.
Many big thanks for having us get through the afternoon and also for our next guest, Joe Cox.
Stepping up, he is busy there.
Find column is Saturday down south.
Joe, welcome in.
Are you enjoying football season in April across the SEC?
Oh, it's always fun.
You know, it's one of those, it's a little good, a little bad.
You never know what to make of spring ball because, you know, if your offense looks great,
your defense is probably lousy and vice versa, but, you know, hope springs eternal, guys.
To be in this business, you've got to be crazy or an optimist or maybe both.
Yeah.
I know where I fall on that, and I'm afraid I could guess with you guys, too.
We've got something in coming there.
We always just fire the coach when they have a bad spring, just fire the coach.
Let's go back and have some fun here with this thing, talking about Alabama, the quarterback competition.
And I think if Ken and DeBoer ask the fans, it's pretty easy, his choice of quarterback heading into the season.
But in some ways, I'm going to try to dust off this old memory of mine and see if it's not some equated to the situation back in the day at Tennessee.
They had a kid there that was all that in the bag of shoes named Brandon Stewart.
That's the name.
I think that's right.
And he was going to be the man until they had this other kid.
I think his name was Manning.
Peyton was his first name, not Arch.
And basically, Fulmer had to face the decision, who am I going to start?
Well, we know how that worked out.
And I hope I got that name right, Brandon Stewart.
But he ended up at Texas A&M.
But your thoughts about the situation at Alabama is, in some ways, is there a cousin to that?
Because it's clear to most people that Keelan Russell is living up to all this hype out of high school.
And poor old Austin Mack, I mean, all he's done is he's followed his coaching staff a little bit across the country, tried to earn his stripes.
But then sometimes you face this guy as a phenom in camp.
Absolutely.
And these things have a funny way of working themselves out, even in the case of Messers Hurts and Tagovailoa.
Sometimes two quarterbacks is a luxury that becomes a necessity.
But I will go back and muddy the waters historically a little bit.
You left out part of that story.
I remember watching that Tennessee team.
The other quarterback is a baseball Hall of Famer now, Todd Helton.
So it worked out for him, too.
So, you know, sometimes competition sends one guy up and one guy out and one guy to the baseball Hall of Fame.
So, you know, it has a funny way of working out.
But, yeah, I think you've got to like where you're at right now with Russell.
And you think he's obviously going to get the first not at it.
But, yes, as Peyton's saga proves to us, sometimes first isn't last.
And we'll just have to see how it all plays its way out.
Nobody knows Kentucky sports better than you do.
And they've got their spring game, one of eight, on Saturday.
From what I gather with reports, the Big Blue Nation welcomes the change.
Mark Stoops did a lot for that program.
But it probably best for the program, both went their separate ways.
Will Stein now is there now.
High-octane offense.
Mincy, the transfer from Notre Dame.
I know they brought some other transfers in with them, Joe.
Your thoughts on a new look Kentucky beginning Saturday?
You know, it really was time just from a standpoint that even a good thing can become a stale thing.
And it hadn't been so great in the last couple years.
For one thing, Kentucky fans are excited because I don't think this is a big secret,
but I think Mark Stoops pretty much hated spring games.
Kentucky either wouldn't have one or they'd hide it.
You know, they'd play it at 2 o'clock in the morning in the parking lot somewhere.
Whatever they could do to just stay out of the eye.
That was Stoops' M.O.
So between years where they didn't have it or they'd do weird formats,
I know I'm just looking forward to seeing, you know, some actual reps with some actual players.
So, you know, it's new.
It's a time of enthusiasm.
Will that enthusiasm get tempered week two with Alabama?
Yeah.
Yeah, I think it will.
But, you know, if you're Will Stein, you've got that wave of excitement.
And if you can throw the ball around and make it at least fun to watch,
that might keep people at bay for a couple of years while you can hopefully build something that will last.
Joe Cox is there Saturday down south.
Joe, if you'll indulge us, another team that was sitting and watching Alabama last weekend.
Alabama will now take a seat on the sidelines and watch Auburn with their spring playing.
Talked with some folks earlier this week in as far as what to expect.
And they said they expect the offense to be all that in a bag of chips
because this is basically South Florida North when they bring in the offense.
So they're going to click.
The question is how will the defense compare with that?
But, Joe, realistically, what do you expect down the plains this weekend, this fall?
Well, I think what you expect in a spring game, particularly where you're a coach like Golesh,
where, you know, you've got this offense that everybody's going to be talking about.
I think the defense is going to be very vanilla.
I think it's going to be very straightforward, very few wrinkles.
And that doesn't mean that that's how they'll play defense in the fall.
It just means why on earth would you start out a new thing by giving somebody a bunch of game tape
that they can use to tear you apart in September?
I think they'll keep it pretty dialed down on defense.
And I think it'll be fairly dialed down on offense.
I'm sure you'll see some wrinkles in some of the things they're going to do.
But, you know, those back pages in the playbook, those are not going to get dusted off.
I think they'll stay in the attic for a little while.
But, you know, it's a good chance just to see how new players fit in
and how familiar players react to different roles in different environments.
Joe, you cover SEC baseball very well.
And it has been a perplexing, fascinating, weird at times.
I know two or three weeks ago you had seven out of eight series were sweeps.
But in the midpoint of the SEC baseball season, nine of 16 teams were either eight and seven or seven and eight.
Georgia lids the pack, 11-4, 29-8 with their guerrilla ball.
Texas A&M with two wins over Texas.
One game got rained out.
Florida, Kevin O'Sullivan changed up his pitching rotation.
It really helped them.
They played awfully well.
Alabama lost two close games to the Hogs.
Dave Van Horn threw them a little bit off kilter after they played really very good baseball for a month.
Auburn wins a series against Kentucky.
Fascinating year in SEC baseball.
Yeah, week to week, it's like covering a different league.
Whatever you think you know, you can throw it out.
I mean, Alabama had been red hot.
It really looked like one of the best teams.
But, yeah, they have a tough week.
But everybody's going to have some tough weeks.
You can't extrapolate from one particular series or even a couple of particular series what it means in the big picture.
And, you know, to see teams like Tennessee and LSU near the bottom of the standings,
I think that just tells you how flexible everything is and how changeable everything is.
And, yeah, with more than half of the league, you know, one game above or one game below 500,
I think it's safe to say that we're still very, very much searching for answers past the midway point of the season.
Joe, let me close with LSU.
And I've said this for years.
They take a nap until about mid to late April.
And then they wake up.
They're 22 and 15 with five weekends remaining.
Jay Johnson, six and nine in conference.
And always this just seems to be the time of the year they start playing better baseball.
But they put themselves in this spot a couple years ago.
And then, boy, did they ever get it right.
But, Joe, your thoughts on an LSU baseball team that is being sluggish at best so far?
They really have, really uneven, haven't been consistent on the mound, haven't really showed out at the plate.
I mean, there have been flashes.
But, you know, as far as coming in game in and game out and playing well, it's just not been there.
And, boy, this is a tough schedule they've got the rest of the way.
They've still got to play A&M.
They've got to go to Starkville and to Athens both.
You know, yeah, I'm with you in that you kind of just wait for these guys to start playing really well.
But if they wait too much longer, they're going to have waited too long.
So, you know, let's see where they go this weekend.
They're at home.
A&M is tough, but it is at home.
But, yeah, you're in a spot where you lose that series, even if you win one.
If you lose two out of the three, you know, record-wise, you're putting yourself in a tough spot.
You'd be, you know, 7-11.
That does not sound good heading down the stretch of the season.
Absolutely.
Listen, where can we get online and get your power rankings later this week?
Baseball, spring football, SDS has got it covered.
That's it.
Saturday down south.
And, yeah, if it's going on out there and it involves the SEC, I think probably down to tiddlywinks and, you know, corn flipping, we're probably in on it somewhere.
As our Greek fans would say, from the Alpha to the Omega.
Joe, thanks so much.
Keep up the good work.
Let's do it again soon, okay?
Let's do that.
You guys take care.
Thank you, Joe.
J.C.
Joe Cox, Saturday down south.
Coming up, it's the M&M show.
Not that candy, but the man himself, Matt Merchel.
Next.
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Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9 The Score.
In college baseball action tonight, number 8 Alabama set to take on UAB in Birmingham.
15th ranked Auburn will play at home against Alabama State.
South Alabama will host Nichols tonight while Troy is set to visit New Orleans.
North Alabama is set to take on Tennessee Martin.
Atlanta Bravesville yesterday.
They lost at home to the Miami Marlins.
Aaron Ballmer took the loss for the Braves.
He drops to 0-1 on the season.
The Braves are now 10-7 on the year.
The Braves are back at home tonight against the Miami Marlins.
Rinaldo Lopez will start for Atlanta.
He's 1-0 with a 1.15 ERA.
Max Meyer starts for Miami.
He's 1-0 on the season.
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I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash presented by Progressive on 93.9 The Score.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
The Score.
So, Florida.
So, the man, Matt Mischel, basically there with the Orlando Center.
He's a college insider with the Big O.
Also, his podcast is called Gridiron 365.
Matt, welcome in.
Happy, what is this, Tuesday to you.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
How are you guys doing today?
Man, we're doing all right.
Man, you got no shortage of spring games in Florida, Florida, Florida State, Miami.
But if you don't mind, Matt, let's go with a team that was, I guess, to your west there, that now has the former head coach at Auburn.
What do you expect?
You had time in covering goalish there at South Florida.
This weekend is Auburn's turn with the spring flame.
What can you tell Auburn fans coming into the spring game under the new boss?
Well, I mean, I could tell you that he's going to bring an exciting attitude to the program.
He's a guy that started out as an offensive coordinator a couple stops.
Was at UCF very briefly under Josh Heupel.
Took over the head coaching job at USF.
Did a great job there.
And you saw their offense was explosive.
You know, they like to run the football, but they also, they love to play action pass.
They love to kind of move the ball up and down the field.
This is going to be a tough-nosed team.
And so, it's going to take a little bit, you know, for him to probably get some of that personality of his into the team itself.
You know, but I think this is going to be an opportunity for him to kind of, you know, grow his brand and build what he started at USF
and maybe take it to the next level, you know, at Auburn, which is desperately seeking to kind of reignite, you know,
to really kind of get back to where it needs to be.
Matt, you cover Central Florida.
Scott Frost is back.
I know you cover pretty much all their sports now.
I know we talked about him certainly earlier in the year in recruiting.
Spring now going on.
They're halfway through.
I'm guessing he's more comfortable the second time.
Matt, what are you seeing from him, from the team, how's spring going so far?
Well, you know, you're right.
He's a lot more comfortable, you know, coming into this year.
You know, last year, he'd taken the job.
He'd been out of coaching for about three years, but I've been away from being a head coach for about three years.
Comes back to the place where it kind of all started for him a lot of ways.
And, you know, he got thrown into the deep end with the transfer portal and NIL and revenue sharing.
And, you know, I think, you know, it was a lot of him trying to kind of, what's the expression, you know, drink from the fire hose.
You know what I mean?
We spent a lot of time trying to figure a way to kind of get everything going.
And they finished last year five and seven.
They did a reasonable job.
He brought in 70 newcomers.
This time around, you know, he was able to keep a lot of the players back from last year.
They brought in only 47, you know, newcomers, 31 through the transfer portal.
Their biggest one is Alonzo Barnett, you know, the third.
Their quarterback is going to be their starting quarterback.
Barnett has not taken the field in spring, you know, outside of maybe just doing some warm-ups.
He's been kind of limited because of an off-season.
They say Scott calls it a little thing.
We're assuming it's some sort of surgery or something, maybe to clean something up.
But he hasn't really had a chance to be on the field.
But they also have other – they have a whole new quarterback's room, so they're trying to get that together.
They've also brought in brand-new running backs.
They're rebuilding the offensive line.
This is an offense that's got lots of capability, you know, lots of experience, you know,
but they're just kind of learning to kind of get to know each other a little bit during the spring.
And the defense, again, is probably going to be their strength going into the Big 12 season next year.
They return a lot of experience.
So it's been a different kind of spring camp, you know, a lot more laughs, a lot more smiles from everybody.
It's not nearly as stressful.
I also think, too, eliminating the spring transfer portal was a big help for him.
I think he was able to kind of not have to worry about losing players,
worrying about, you know, scouts checking out his players and picking them out, you know, in the April window.
So now he's been able to kind of focus on what they need to do to get going for year two,
where she hopes it's going to be a bowl game and pretending for the Big 12 championship.
Ma'am, we're showing up with us.
The Orlando Center, let's go up to Tallahassee.
My, oh, my, it's not how you begin, they say, but how you end.
I don't think Florida State could have had a better beginning last season.
We know a few have forgotten just asking the Alabama fan.
The question is what happens after that.
Florida State cashed all their chips in that season opener against Alabama,
and from there it went downhill.
Let's face it, it's a reset.
One thing we know for sure coming in, Matt,
is it safe to say that Florida State fans can't blame Gus Malzahn for a bad offense this season in Tallahassee.
Your thoughts coming into this spring up at the state capitol?
Yeah, you know, I think that's going to be it.
You know, you look at what happened this past year, you know, not what they wanted to have happen.
You know, obviously, Mike Norvell, you know, disappointing season.
It felt like they were going to take big steps.
They didn't.
You know, they made some changes, you know, on the coaching staff.
Gus left, you know, retired.
You know, they feel like they've added some pieces.
They've got to find a new quarterback, starting quarterback.
They've really got to get some pieces together.
You know, I mean, this is a team that, you know,
Florida State fan base won't accept, you know, another losing season.
So, you know, they've got to find a way to turn some things around.
And, you know, I know Mike has a huge buyout in his contract.
It's something that's been talked about a lot, believe me, in Tallahassee and around the state.
But, you know, if they don't find a way to turn around and win some things, you know,
I think the fan base is going to lose patience really quickly,
particularly when you look down the road and you've got, you know,
Jon Sumrall doing things over at Florida and what's going on at Miami, you know,
with, you know, with things going on there with Mario Cristobal.
We want to talk about it, obviously, John, here in a second down in Gainesville.
But quickly back to Florida State.
Can they afford it?
Because at one point, the word was Florida State does not have a lot of money compared to other schools.
In fact, I saw one number.
They were underwater.
I'm talking about millions with an S.
There's what you want to do and what you can afford to do.
Can they, even if they have a bad season, comfortably absorb things financially there?
No, I'm not sure.
I don't think they can.
I mean, yeah, you talk about all the numbers.
You know, one of the things that's hampered Florida State a little bit has been their debt.
You know, they've invested in a lot of, you know, upgrades and abilities.
You know, they've tried to really kind of invest in, you know, we talked about football, the football program.
They've spent a lot of money on debt.
And, you know, trying to kind of come out of that, you know, making sure they don't have these giant debt payments has been something that's really kind of hampered them right now.
So I don't think necessarily they could just, you know, pay off Mike Norvell if this is another bad season.
But I also think that if it comes down to it, they do have big pocket donors.
You know, if something came down to it and they felt like, okay, listen, we can't, you know, let's say they come off another two or three win seasons.
Believe me, someone's going to pony up somebody to try to figure out a way to work out a way to get a buyout that shrinks down a little bit, that gets Mike, you know, that gets Mike out of the seat and maybe bring someone else in.
I also believe, too, some of this goes back to who is going to be out there, you know, what I mean?
I mean, every year I talk, when fan bases are screaming and yelling, we got to fire a coach.
I always say that's great, but who's the guy to replace him?
You know, if you don't have a good candidate, you know, why spend $50 million to get rid of a guy, to bring in a guy who's, you know, let's give a good example, Billy Napier.
You know what I mean?
To bring in a guy who didn't have success, who you paid a lot of money to at Florida, you know, you paid a lot of money to get him out.
And so, to me, it has to come down to who's available, who do they think is going to be the right fit, if things don't work out.
I'm still the big believer that, listen, you know, you've got to go for at least another year or two, see what happens, and then make a move.
But, again, I've looked around guys, and I've seen money being tossed around like it's candy, you know, at a Mardi Gras parade.
So, I mean, nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to college athletics.
We're taking a tour of Florida.
What about Miami?
You mentioned them earlier.
They've got a spring game Saturday, 13-3.
Last year, kind of the metamorphosis of the program under Mario.
Carson Beck's gone.
Francis Magua, who may be in the top 10 in the NFL draft.
James Brockermeyer, former Alabama center.
Darian Mensah is coming in.
Malachi Tony's coming back.
Mark Fletcher, Jr., who really played well in the postseason.
And they also got the defensive end for Missouri, Damon Wilson, who's good.
Will Miami pick up where they left off?
Yeah, I think they've got a good chance to do that.
You know, I think that Mario has done a good job.
You know, obviously they had to, you know, find a way to replace, you know, the quarterback position.
They brought Darian Mensah in from Duke.
You know, the biggest question to me is going to be rebuilding that defense.
You know, replacing Ruben Bain, Jr., you know, and, you know, a team at the door.
You know, I mean, those are the guys that were kind of big, big playmakers.
This defense was one of the things that kept them around in a lot of those games.
To me, I think Mario's got to feel a lot less pressure going into this spring than he did last year.
You know, at least you get to the national championship game.
At least Miami fans could say, okay, you know, it's not like we were knocked out.
We didn't even get to this point.
They got there.
But, again, you also feel like, you know, you've got to have an opportunity to try to win it all.
You know, you were so close.
What can you do to get there?
You know, I think they've got facilities.
I mean, they've got the kind of players they need to get, you know, to try to make another run at it.
It's just going to be, you know, can they find a way to find that success?
It's going to be a challenge for them.
But I also think that Mario understands exactly what they're doing.
And, you know, it's going to be something that I think that they're, you know, they can find a way to get their offense going again and fix those holes in defense.
I think they've got a good chance.
Matt, unlike a politician, we're going to live up to our promise here.
We promised you Gator News.
What are you hearing out of Gainesville?
Well, you know, listen, they had their spring game on Saturday.
It's like any spring game.
I always warn fans, you know, I don't take a lot of stock in spring games.
I mean, they're just, you know, they're glorified practices.
You know, if, you know, your team puts up a bunch of points, you know, you think your offense is great.
I'm going to tell you that they want you to think that.
You know, we saw that a little bit in Gainesville this weekend.
You know, we thought, you know, obviously the quarterbacks, there's a good quarterback battle going on with Aaron Filo and, you know, Trammell Jones Jr., you know,
trying to figure out who's going to be the next, you know, starting quarterback.
I think you saw both those guys throw some really good passes, had some exciting, electrifying touchdown throws.
You know, the offense looked great.
But I'm going to tell you that a lot of that was scheduled.
I mean, they want you to showcase a little bit more fans to get started in front of it.
Defense, you know, I didn't think they really played as well.
I think the thing that stood out to me the most was John Summerall after the game, just saying, listen, we're not there.
You know, don't get excited and think we're there.
You know, like, this is going to take some time.
I think he was kind of giving a splash of reality to Florida fans.
You know, just let them know that they're going to have to work hard.
It's going to be a challenge this year.
He still feels like their pieces they still have to replace.
Their guys, they're going to have to find.
They're going to come in and help them out.
It's not going to happen in year one.
You know what I mean?
You want to kind of lower that expectation, I think, because you just don't want to get to the point where
you get Florida fans thinking they're going to somehow win the SEC.
And, you know, if you finish five and seven, you know, everyone thinks the sky is falling.
I think you just have to be realistic about the idea of they're going to take that quarterback competition all the way to fall.
They're going to find out who's going to be the guy.
And they're going to try to find a way to go out there and play harder.
I think this is encouraging science for Florida.
But, again, those are all the things that you want a new coach to take to your fan base.
You don't want someone to give you the droopy dog, oh, well, everything's bad.
You know, everything's going to be good.
So, I mean, there's a lot of exciting pieces.
They've got a lot of players, I think, that stood out.
To me, it's going to be about can they show the effort on the field?
You know, can they do that for a full game?
Are they going to be able to contend with some of the teams that we know are going to be, you know,
the top teams in the SEC this upcoming season?
They have great stuff.
It's always fun to kind of go around with so many spring games on tail for Saturday.
But where can we get online to get Matt Merchelle's great stuff?
Yeah, you can go to OrlandoSettle.com to check out the latest
or follow me on social media, OS Matt Merchelle.
Matt, sounds great, man.
Thanks so much for your time, Dave, and have a great week, okay?
All right.
Take care, guys.
Thank you, Bill.
Matt Merchelle is going to be with us from the Orlando Center.
BB UNA says, bring on the SEC on the softball field tonight.
They've had a good season so far.
Going to play those Ole Miss Rebel Black Bear Land Sharks.
But another chance for UNA softball to pick off an SEC opponent.
I believe that game's tonight at 6 o'clock.
Speaking of guys that are on the big stage tonight, Ryan Weathers out of Loretto's back on the mound for the New York Yankees.
They take on the Los Angeles Angels tonight.
By the way, Ryan's ERA under three.
Very good so far.
For the Braves, it's bounce back night, BB.
Yeah, they got beat last night 10-4 to the Marlins.
Grant Holmes had a very brief pitching performance.
And then the bullpen kind of fell apart.
But once again, Lopez, I believe, is pitching tonight.
You can hear that game on 93-9, the score tonight.
Talking about skinny.
Lopez's ERA to date, 1-1-5.
That's good in any universe.
See how much you can do on it tonight.
You're on 93-9, the score.
It's going to take care of us for now.
On behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire crew here.
Harold Buck, thank you so much for your time today.
Let's do it again tomorrow on noon to 2 for the BML Buck Show.
Back here on Sports Radio, 93-9, the score.