Boomo Bugg Show 042926
93.9 The Score WYTK - April 29, 2026
https://www.939thescore.com/boomo-bugg-show-042926/

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. 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.
Good afternoon and welcome here to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg, alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us three rides around the Tennessee Valley.
Brett Beaird, welcome in where the question of the day is, or statement of the day, better put, is the latest out of Tennessee. Perhaps good news for Alabama on the recruiting front. Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you?
Happy Wednesday to you and the listeners. The NCAA has initiated the final steps to expand the men's and women's basketball tournament to 76 teams.
A three-star offensive lineman, Jalen Moore, from Creekside, Georgia, commenced to Auburn this morning.
And Bill is here right now to recap the NFL draft and discuss the men's and women's basketball tournament expansion.
Bill Bender is the national voice with eSport News. Bill, welcome in. How are you?
Man, Harold, you always talk to me about the weather each week and I was ready to put away all the sweatpants and the sweatshirts and the winter, you know, like the, it's still, it's rainy and cold here today.
We just can't figure it. We can't figure out weather in Ohio. I'll tell you what.
Well, one thing it seems like you guys can't figure out in Columbus, and that's how to get a guy in the first round of the NFL draft.
Are you the only person left in Columbus or is everyone else on the way to the NFL out of your hometown there, Bill?
Well, quite a flex that they were able to post a picture that every starter on defense from that 2024 team was drafted.
That is impressive.
Now, but I was looking this up, so I had an article ready about NFL first round classes with five or more picks, and Cade McDonald ended up not getting picked in the first round.
I didn't realize Saban had, that happened six times, right?
Four or more. I'm sorry. Four or more, six times.
Wow.
Ohio State's had four or more each of the last two seasons. It's a pretty impressive run for Ryan Depp.
I really don't know if some of the draft records Saban said will ever be broken.
Your thoughts? The Big Ten took over day one.
The SEC rallied in days two and three to finish with 87.
Another record, the Big Ten 68, ACC and Big 12 38.
Your thoughts on the conferences as far as the products going into the NFL draft?
Yeah, you know, that's one of my duties each year at Sporting News.
I really enjoy it.
It was a little harder this year with eight minutes in between.
You know, those picks were flying off the board, but long story short, man, I was like clicking away, so to speak.
87 and 68, a big gap from, you know, the next two conferences, the ACC and Big 12.
And then a big gap from the G6, which only had one player taken in the first round.
I think that's one of the big stories to me, Brad, is that we have SEC and Big Ten really in their own weight class, so to speak, in terms of draft development.
I don't know that that's going to slow down in the era that we're living in.
Bill Bender again from the Sporting News.
Bill, to me, a lot of folks said the steal of the draft was the Dallas Cowboys by taking Caleb Downs.
A lot of folks, including players with the New York Giants, says, are you guys idiots?
You're not taking that guy?
Because is there something that—there's no such thing as a foolproof 100% player coming out of college.
But a lot of folks would say Caleb Downs is about as close to it as you're going to get.
Not only does he have talent, he has character, he has attitude, he has intellect.
Bill, your thoughts about the Cowboys picking up Caleb Downs when they did?
I mean, I thought he was the safest pick in the draft, and I say that in terms of you're going to get production,
you're getting an NFL-ready player, you're getting a good kid, one that learned from the two factories,
Alabama and Ohio State.
Caleb, Nick Saban had nothing but good things to say about him.
Ryan Day, same.
That was a good back-and-forth at the draft last week.
So I just see a guy that I think will play a decade, will play in the Pro Bowl a lot,
and helps the Cowboys defense that you can build around him.
You know, they use most of their picks on defensive players.
So they are addressing the issue, and it'll be interesting to see how the Cowboys fit into that NFC's race.
Yeah, I agree with that about Caleb Downs.
The big board, 50 prospects for 2027.
I counted, by the way, 15 from the SEC in the top 25 that Bill Bender had.
Jeremiah Smith, one.
Arch Manning, two.
Colin Simmons, an edge from Texas.
Dante Moore, quarterback from Oregon.
Leonard Moore from Notre Dame.
One thing I've noticed, this is not a big shock.
Offensive tackles, defensive tackles, edge rushers, and corners.
Boy, they are still a hot commodity, aren't they, Bill?
Yeah, fun to put together.
That top 10 next year is, wow.
You know, between quarterbacks and Leonard Moore and Jeremiah Smith, who the franchise has probably been waiting for for a couple years.
Offensive tackle talent up and down the board.
Defensive talent up and down the board.
Next year's draft, and what that tells you, though, is that next year's college football season ought to be a lot of fun.
One takeaway I did have from it.
Notre Dame and Texas, both schools that we love to hype in August, are going to get hyped again because that adds up to me.
When you have six, seven, eight guys on that list, which they do, you should be good.
The thing is, Bill, too, it tells the wisdom of Ty Simpson coming out this year.
A lot of folks pooh-poohed him for turning down.
I reported six million-plus to stay in college with the NIL package somewhere, but he's going to do okay, and it's all relative.
If he'd wait until next year, with the names you just mentioned, I don't see him going where he did, making that kind of money.
Your thoughts about the other side of the coin, it's nice to have a lot of first-rounders, but here comes the next question.
How do you replace those big shoes next year?
Ohio State, obviously, they've got a deep room, but teams have shown over the years, when you lose that much talent year in and year out,
at some point, it's hard to keep stockpiling, especially in the NIL era.
Your thoughts about Ohio State next year post this many first-rounders leaving?
Well, the offense has a lot of the talent next year.
Joe Jackson, Austin Sarabelle, Julian Sane was a Heisman finalist, Jeremiah Smith, Chris Henry Jr.
The defense is where, you know, when you post that graphic, that means you've lost all these guys, and you've got a backfill.
So that's my question for Ohio State next year, is how do they replace all the defensive talent?
What is Matt Patricia going to do with that next group?
And it reminds me of Georgia, you know, the third year after they won the two titles, there was a little bit of a step back on that side of the game.
Zabian Brown, number 23 in your big board, Ryan Coleman-Williams, number 26.
I noticed Trinidad Chambliss, the quarterback at Ole Miss, is number 15.
I'll tell you one thing, Bill Bender, if he plays like he did against Georgia the entire season, he'll be in the top five.
He should be.
He's probably one of my favorite players in this class.
The one thing, Brett, they're going to pick at with him is his height.
You know, is he really six foot?
Is he 6'1"?
Why did he play college for six years?
But if you get the Trinidad Chambliss, you know, for all the film rats out there, go watch the Oklahoma game.
Some of the throws he was making.
We know he was good in the playoff, but he makes some of those NFL throws.
He's a filmmaker, and he might have a chance to do exactly what you were saying.
The quarterbacks are fluid.
It really does come down to how they perform next year and at the combine.
And he did it under pressure, too.
That's another big point for him.
Your thoughts, speaking of quarterbacks who may be short of stature, what's the old saying?
Someone's always wanting to date the stripper, and the Ravens look like they have.
Diego Pavia, all of his moxie.
He finally lands him a deal, goes to the minicamp with the Ravens, and they say, okay, we'll take a flyer here.
Your thoughts about that marriage of Baltimore and Diego?
I had never heard that phrase, so I've learned something today.
Come down here.
We'll teach you a lot of things down here, Bill.
Yeah, I mean, some of those other phrases I need to learn, apparently, but that threw me off.
But Diego, confidence isn't an issue, and I had a feeling, you know, we kind of mocked him to be drafted in the sixth or seventh round.
He ends up getting taken, you know, undrafted.
The Ravens would be an interesting spot.
I do think he's a guy that we're going to gravitate toward and watch in the preseason pretty closely, because we want to see how it works out, whether or not he sticks with Baltimore.
But, yeah, I mean, again, the height, measurables are still a thing.
You know, in some cases like this, maybe it's warranted.
In other cases, because there's other factors, too.
But in other cases, like, I'm still kind of mystified that Reuben Bain fell to 15.
I know he's got short arms, but I just keep going back to the production we saw on the field all year for Miami,
and I can't help but think that, you know, maybe his arm isn't an inch longer, but I think he's going to be a productive player at the next level.
No question.
As we alluded to earlier, the NCAA has initiated the final steps to expand the men's and women's basketball tournament to gulp 76 teams.
What this means is the play-in games, they're going to be more.
There'll be the first four, the eight teams, now it'll be 12 games with 24 teams.
Their reaction on social media has been probably about 80% negative.
It is Bill Benderfield.
You know, they're not listening to the fans.
I think most of it is negative.
I mean, we'll end up watching it and consuming it like anything else, but it does water down the tournament field a little bit, extra playing games.
I was thinking about it, Brett, from the standpoint I do that bracketology every year and change my job a little bit,
because it'll probably make it easier, because, you know, if we looked at the bubble last year, we kind of knew who the teams were.
I think I got every team right for bracketology, and now you're just adding eight more teams that probably shouldn't be in the tournament into the tournament.
So, not a huge fan of it, but, you know, I am a little mystified that the NCAA isn't listening to its customers here.
I wonder if they're going to be listening to one Detroit line-wide receiver, Jamison Williams, Bill.
He's never been exactly a poster child for Sunday school, a poster center foe, but now he's reportedly filing a landmark lawsuit against the NCAA, the Big Ten, and the SEC.
That's according to a California newspaper.
Of course, we played at Alabama, and you're in backyard Ohio State suing the three entities in Los Angeles County Court over allegations they used his name, image, and likeness without proper compensation.
I'm surprised we haven't already seen more of this by former players, but your thoughts about this case with Williams?
Well, more will come, you know, rather it's him.
I know Pharrell Pryor was talking about, you know, how he got punished by the NCAA, and, you know, all that stuff's legal now.
I don't know that that'll change anything, but for Jamison, same deal.
You know, obviously another guy that had success in a couple places, had success with the Buckeyes, had success with Alabama.
I don't know, imagine that, and these guys definitely are asking questions about like that.
So, you know, we'll see where it goes.
You know, obviously there was another big story in college football this week with Brendan Sorsby and the gambling.
Guys, I don't think he'll play down this year.
I'm not, I'm speculating, I'm obviously speculating, but I can't see a scenario where he plays this year.
Listen, Harold and I talked about this for years.
Organizations have rules.
Now, if you don't like a rule, you can go to the governing body and ask for them to change that.
But this goes back to Pete Rose, and I mean, we could spend the rest of the hour on this.
When you bet on your own team, that's a cardinal sin, and I agree with you.
I don't think he's going to be eligible this year.
Now, and I know how they're trying to spin it, but, you know, you brought up Pete Rose.
Should Pete Rose be in the Hall of Fame?
That's a debate.
I mean, it's one we have here in Ohio all the time because we know that the stadium that the Reds play on is built on Pete Rose's way.
But that was the first comparison that came to mind when the detail in the story allegedly bet on an Indiana game while playing for Indiana.
And while he may not have impacted the outcome, you can't do that.
I mean, Pete Rose does the same thing, and Pete Rose isn't in the Hall of Fame for that very reason.
Yeah, we've been saying that for years.
Again, you may not like it, but if that's the rules of the organization, you've got to abide by it.
You're exactly right.
Great stuff.
Certainly advocate getting online and looking at the big board with 50 NFL prospects for next year.
Some very, very talented players on that board.
B.B., where can we get online and get all your great stuff?
Yeah, I'm at BillBender92 at SportingNews.com, and I, you know, appreciate the conversation.
I'm going to get back to, you know, digging out some of my winter clothes for another week, unfortunately.
Thanks so much for having me on.
Thank you so much, Bill.
Stay warm up there at least as much as possible.
BillBender of the Sporting News.
B.B., we alluded to it earlier.
Here's a name to keep an eye on if you are a recruiting fanatic.
Kenneth Simon, four-star linebacker from Brentwood up in the Nashville area.
Looks like now BOL is projecting him to Alabama.
Why is that important?
But he is a legacy player in Tennessee.
His dad actually played for Phil, former Tennessee, was later in charge of player development with the Vols, an NFL scout.
So, very interesting move there.
No date specific for Kenneth Simon, but right now BOL says they like Alabama's chances to pull a big one from Tennessee with deep roots to Tennessee to Tuscaloosa.
Stay tuned for that and for the voice of the U.N.A. Lions.
Ben Ray on deck.
Stay with us.
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I think I'm just a lot more physical.
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what pitches I used to swing at.
Stuff like that.
I mean, I'm just definitely a lot more smarter and physical, really.
So, no, like, dramatic swing overall or anything at any point?
I've always had a pretty simple swing.
We're playing good baseball, and I think we got a taste of what winning feels like and what our standards need to be.
And I think as we continue to go forward, like, we'll have our ups, we'll have our downs.
It's just baseball.
Like, some people are going to play great.
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The score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back again.
We really appreciate free ride around the Tennessee Valley.
And for the fine voice of the UNA Lions taking time out of his busy schedule and joining us today, Benjamin Ray, welcome in.
How are you?
Man, I'm doing great.
Appreciate you guys having us on, as always.
I'm surprised you got a voice after calling all those home runs against Eastern Kentucky.
Man, what a display of power.
This team, I mean, it's unbelievable what they're doing.
And every weekend, it's almost like a different guy going on a hot run.
About two weeks ago, it was Dylan Coleman, the Delta State transfer, that I was talking to you guys about and saying, hey, he's got a chance to break through this single-season Division I home run record.
Well, now it's Nash Rippon, a kid from Decatur Heritage.
He's a senior now.
Now he leads the A-son in home runs this year.
He's got 16.
He's broken the Division I single-season home run record.
He's won off the school's all-time record.
And then you've got another guy, Wes Walker, another guy from Priceville, right in our backyard.
He's got 10 home runs on this season.
All of a sudden, we've got three bats with 10-plus home runs, and they are just smashing the cover off of the baseball.
It's almost contagious the way this team hits the baseball right now.
And we love a good home run chase.
I remember back in the day, the Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosek, Keith Riffey Jr. summer of home runs.
Well, it's been April where the home run ball has really come to life for this U&A baseball team.
And top to bottom, Jack Pratniak's got a lot of thumpers, and they are just terrorizing opposing pitchers right now.
One of the things I noticed was the Eastern Kentucky series win, fourth series win of the season, third during conference play.
Prior to this season, U&A had seven total conference series sweeps during the Division I era.
They're now 23-20, 14-7 in the A-Sun.
And, again, it's like you said, home runs, series wins.
This team just continues to make history.
And what do great teams do?
They win on the road, and that's what this team is doing.
They're tied for the most road wins in the A-Sun, in A-Sun play.
I think it's North Florida, both teams over 500 on the road.
And when you can go on the road and steal series, that sets you up to finish in first place.
Now, this gold division is incredibly tight with three weekend series left.
I mean, one game separates first and second place.
I think two or three games separate third and fourth place.
So the standings can change every single weekend.
But when you go and you win a series on the road like that, it sets you up for success.
You expect to win at home.
It's hard to go on the road in any sport and win, especially in the game of baseball.
I mean, baseball players are creatures of habit, right?
They don't like having that structure broken up.
And when you're in college, you can go on the road like that.
I mean, it puts you in the driver's seat.
And that's exactly what this team has done.
And now two of the final three series are at home at Mike D. Lane Field at Bank Independence Stadium.
And you've got a bunch that's got a chance to do something that we haven't done in 20-plus years.
And that's when a baseball regular season championship.
And people in the Shoals area, we love baseball, but they should be excited to come out to the park this weekend
and watch this team because what they've done on the road has put them in position to all of a sudden
play meaningful home baseball heading into the first weekend in May.
And, I mean, I can't wait to be at Mike 2.0 as we've started calling it this weekend
because I know this team's on the verge of doing something very special.
You know, you're hosting Better Mind, by the way, this weekend there.
The girls are saying, hey, what about us?
You and I softball, number 20 by D1 softball, number 23 by Softball America.
You and I's women holding their own two in the softball field.
And I've been saying it all year.
I think it's Ashley Cozart's deepest team at the Division I level.
I mean, every weekend you're seeing kind of that same consistency,
but all of a sudden a player by the name of Emma Kate Wright or Morris Hill grab from right here in Florence, Alabama,
well, she's batting 300 over the last 14 games with, I think, 10 of her 15 hits being extra base hits during this run.
And so the hitting has been off the charts.
Like always, she's got some shutdown pitchers in that order,
but for the first time they don't feel the pressure of, hey, I've got to hold this team to one or two runs.
If I give up three runs, we're going to lose.
Now it's, hey, as long as I give this offense two, three innings to get going,
they're going to hang six to eight runs and give us an opportunity to win this ball game.
Briley Dover from Loretto, Tennessee, I think she's got a shot at A-some player of the year.
I mean, this is a bunch that they just eat, breathe, and sleep softball.
You can't drive by the complex, the Hilda B. Anderson softball stadium over there on Cox Creek Parkway,
7 a.m., 10 p.m.
There's players in the batting cages getting reps in.
I mean, these girls just absolutely love softball.
They love hitting, and they love being together, and that's a dangerous combo right there.
UNA softball clinched its fifth straight 30-win season, currently 32-14,
lead the A-Sun Gold Division with a 14-7 conference record,
and I believe this weekend is senior weekend.
I don't know how many senior days you've done in your illustrious broadcast career,
but that's always special because these ladies have seen a lot under playing for UNA,
Katie Davis, Katie Simon, family show, Emily Simon, Riley Tittle, and you go on and on,
but it's always special for senior day or senior weekend.
Senior weekend's always the most emotional weekend,
and actually, Cozart places such a heavy emphasis on family in her program.
It's always great to see, and they'll have a big cookout this weekend.
They'll feed anybody and everybody that comes by.
They'll have the field decorated for those seniors.
I mean, Ashley Cozart makes everybody feel so special.
It's unbelievable the job that she does,
and this senior class has an opportunity to win an A-Sun championship,
something that we haven't done yet.
I mean, softball, you know, there's the old saying,
like, you wish you knew you were in the good old days when it's happening.
Well, I mean, it's the good old days for UNA softball right now,
but we haven't won an A-Sun championship.
We've been close, and this senior class knows that they've got a chance to do it,
and a lot of these players played Juco softball together.
They were all together at Wallace State,
and now they're wrapping up their collegiate careers here at North Alabama,
and there's nothing they'd love more than to go down to Florida next week
and win an A-Sun championship.
But they need a strong finish this weekend.
There's so many seniors in this lineup.
I think of a Laura Lee Wheeler from Soledgen, Alabama.
You know, she wants to do something special this weekend,
and it almost seems like when it's senior weekend,
something magical is going to happen for one of those seniors.
Ben Ray, fine voice of UNA.
It's hard to believe less now, technically, than four months.
UNA football kicks off the season in Huntsville against Samford.
The following week, they go to Arkansas.
Yes, that Arkansas.
But first, Ben, some history coming up on July 1st.
UNA is set to become a member of the United Athletic Conference for All Sports.
Yeah, you know, it's an exciting kind of constortium of the Atlantic Sun
and the WAC coming together.
The WAC will essentially become the United Athletic Conference,
so the football playing schools are pretty much leaving the A-Sun.
But they're all going to fall under the same umbrella,
and it makes it super confusing.
But I'll tell you, there's a lot of smart people that have figured this out,
and it's for the benefit of all these schools.
It's going to help with scheduling.
It's just going to help you stay aligned with universities at this level
that have the same interest as what UNA has,
which for us, football is a big part of that.
Well, Eastern Kentucky, Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Tarleton State,
Abilene Christian, UNA.
I'm leaving somebody out here in this mix.
But it gives us all an opportunity to stay together
and where a lot of people are saying will be the second or third best
FCS football league behind the Missouri Valley in the big sky.
And those two conferences right there are typically your best FCS schools, right?
I mean, they're the ones playing for and winning the national championships every year.
For this United Athletic Conference to be so young
and already have that much respect amongst FCS peers,
I mean, it just shows you, hey, people think of UNA in that light as well.
UNA is part of that conversation as well.
And I feel like Brent Dierman's got this program really poised and ready to take off from Bank Independent Stadium this year.
Well, Aussie Newsome, the Wizard of Oz, is poised and ready to come to the 2026 Lion Pride Dinner at auction.
Do you have any tickets left?
It's May 19th.
I keep telling people it's not August.
It's May 19th to accommodate Aussie's schedule.
And I'm guessing Megan Dierman can help with that.
And I saw some updates on the football stadium.
Something new being installed every week.
Turf field, soon, seats, you name it.
It's all coming together.
Talk about tickets to the big event and then where the stadium progress is right now.
Yeah, Megan Dierman can get you the hookup there.
256-765-4615 is her number.
You can get that on rowlines.com.
And I'm excited.
I've never heard Aussie speak.
It's actually going to be a Q&A session with Aussie and I.
So I'm going to get to interview one of the greatest football lives of all time.
And I can't wait to hear his football story, his journey.
And, you know, going back home with him to Calvert County High School.
It's going to be a fun night of hearing great stories from, you know, I mean, one of the,
you think of the greats with football, Vince Lombardi, you think of Bill Belichick, Nick Saban.
Well, I mean, he's had a career like that from being a player to a GM.
Look at the Hall of Famers he drafted as a GM for the Baltimore Ravens.
So it's a blessing to get Aussie back home for this.
And it's going to be a fun night.
And I'll tell you what, that stadium, I look at it every day when I go to work.
And every day I'm just blown away.
They're running ahead of schedule.
Luckily, the rain has cooperated, knock on wood.
It's like a baseball no-hitter.
We don't like to talk about that.
But we'll start installing the video board here pretty soon.
It's going to be a spectacle.
It's going to be one of the biggest video boards for a stadium of this size,
which we've seen what video boards have done for baseball and CB&S Bank Arena.
So it's definitely going to be something to see.
And for us, our broadcast spaces will start coming together this summer.
And we'll start moving into the stadium hopefully this summer.
The turf will go down here in the next couple weeks, maybe a month or so.
And before you know it, we'll all be in there that game in September for the debut of what's going to be a special night.
And I know everywhere you go, it's what people want to talk about.
I can't go anywhere without people talking about the stadium.
And it's going to be something big for this community, something big for UNA.
And it's something everybody needs to take a lot of pride in because it's going to be super transformational for this university.
Always enjoy the conversation.
Where can we get online, Benjamin Ray, and get baseball tickets for this weekend, softball tickets,
tickets obviously to the Lion Pride dinner to listen to Ozzie or donate to the school.
Believe me, there's still plenty of opportunities for that.
Where can we get online?
Roarlines.com, your one-place stop for all things UNA Athletics.
You can follow us on social media as well.
Mike Ezekiel and his staff, they do a phenomenal job running that website, keeping everything updated.
And, you know, last weekend for softball, baseball has two more weekends.
Both teams in the top tier, their standings, there's still a lot to play for over these next three weeks.
And it's going to be a beautiful weekend.
And we just encourage people to come out and support and be a part of it.
Because it's not just about UNA.
It's about representing the entire Shoals community.
And these two baseball and softball programs have a chance to do something special.
We'll break for summer and then we'll be back with football in the fall.
So there's just so much exciting right now.
And we hope to see everybody out and around and visit Roarlines.com and you can keep up with everything.
Well, Ben, we hope we can see you back on the show as soon as possible to keep up with everything.
That may be a job in itself based on all the balls you've got juggling in the air right now.
But good luck and thank you so much for your time today.
Hey, as always, I appreciate you all and what you do.
And we're hoping for a strong finish to this year.
Thank you very much, Roarlines.
Thank you, Bill.
Ben Ray, fine voice to the UNA Lions.
Coming up, the latest time talk with the man, Rodney Orr on deck.
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Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9, The Score.
Welcome back in.
It is an absolute pleasure for us to say hello to Rodney Orr.
When it comes talking tight, he's the man.
Founder and editor of tighterinsider.com.
His book is called Bigger Than Bama.
Rodney Orr, welcome in.
How are you?
Doing well, guys.
How are y'all today?
Good.
Well, we're trying to figure out the secret to this guy who a lot of folks said could not recruit
once he came all the way out west to Tuscaloosa.
What is the secret for DeBoer when it comes to reeling in five-star quarterbacks, Rodney?
Well, I think it's his reputation for developing them.
I mean, I think that, you know, the offense, I think, obviously, if you're a quarterback,
it's a great system to play in.
I mean, look at, well, look at Ty Simpson, for example.
I mean, what happened this year, his first year to start, and he's the number 13 pick overall.
So, I think just the track record they have for developing quarterbacks, the offense that
they play in, highlights what the quarterbacks can do.
So, you know, I think all of those things contribute to it.
Absolutely.
Rodney, let me ask you about another prospect.
Harold mentioned him a little bit earlier.
Some of the websites, bamoline.com, for example, have come out, and again, they're crystal ball.
We know this can change.
Four-star linebacker, Kenneth Simon II, from Brentwood, Tennessee, I believe rated the number
seven linebacker, very interesting.
His dad played for Tennessee back in the day.
I've heard a lot of good things about him.
Rodney, your thoughts on Kenneth Simon, a four-star linebacker at Brentwood?
Yeah, I mean, I know, you know, Kenneth Simon is a really good player.
I mean, obviously, he's not very big.
But, you know, they've recruited linebackers this size and beat them up.
I think, you know, he played last year at about 190 pounds, 6'2", 190, very athletic, obviously
can move really well.
You know, has a lot of the things that you look for.
Now, he's probably bigger than that now.
I don't know what he's weighed at some of these combines, if he's gone to any camps or whatever.
But, you know, he'll get bigger.
But, again, he has the things that you look for just in terms of the athleticism, the speed,
you know, and those things that I think nowadays to be able to be versatile as a linebacker,
to be able to move are really important.
The thing is, his dad was a former two-time All-ACC player, a former up at Tennessee.
So, we'll see if the pedigree pays off there.
Obviously, in the meantime, first things first, Rodney, it's always who's next.
We know that you're about to get busy down at titerinsider.com.
These next two months, that's always Christmas season for recruiting fanatics.
But let's start with one of the more intriguing names, also a five-star.
He's from Indianapolis, and his name is Monchon, if I'm pronouncing that correctly.
But here's the part that I like.
His name is Bama Sales.
Your thoughts about Alabama landing Bama?
Well, I mean, I think, obviously, Alabama's been, you know, in the mix very heavily.
Most people think Alabama has been the leader for quite some time.
Now, I think, again, as time has gone along, things have kind of changed.
A lot of other schools have jumped in the mix.
Indiana had a lot of success last year, obviously.
They won a national championship.
I think he's a priority for them.
He just visited there here recently.
He's got some other visits set up, including one to Alabama.
We'll see what happens again.
You know, Texas has gotten heavily involved.
Anytime Texas is involved, you know what we say, watch out.
I mean, because things start changing.
And so, you know, we'll see.
He's a fantastic receiver prospect.
He's got great size.
He's about 6'5", 200.
It'd be a major coup.
You know, again, Harold, I wish I could give a call on that one right now.
But I still think it's early.
And I still think that, you know, once he takes all his visits, that'll certainly kind of start to clarify some things.
Let me ask you about a family affair.
We talked to Tom Lemming, a recruiting guru, just came off of a 10,000-mile trip.
One of the places he's going to in two weeks is Glassboro High School in New Jersey.
Well, who plays there?
Xavier Salle, a five-star receiver slash defensive back.
In fact, Tom said he may be as good of a defensive back as he is a receiver.
Of course, everybody knows his other brother, Keon, starting safety for Alabama.
The younger brother, Amari, will enroll in Alabama in May.
And Alabama's not the only one looking at him.
He's got an official visit, May 29 through 31.
Ron, you talk about the Salle family and how good is Xavier?
Just a great athlete.
I mean, there's no doubt about it.
That's why some people list him as an athlete, because he can play on either side of the ball.
He's a fantastic player.
He's got legit speed.
He's about 6'1", I think, 180, 185.
So he's got good height.
He's got a good frame.
You know, all of those things, tremendous speed.
I think he's been clocked sub 4'5".
So he's probably faster than Keon, for sure.
But, yeah, we'll see.
I mean, again, you would think that the ties might be helpful to Alabama.
But, again, I think a lot of other schools are really involved as well, Oregon being one of those, among others.
But I didn't know Tom was still tracking the country, man.
That's crazy.
He's been doing that for I don't know how many years now.
He started the five-star system, according to Tom.
So he's been doing it that long.
Rodney Orr, hooking up with us, tighterinsider.com.
Rodney, your thoughts on looking at, not necessarily names, on looking at positions here.
And I see a lot of wide receivers, obviously the quarterbacks.
There are those who say, as Alabama emphasized in those positions too much and not enough as far as linemen on both sides of the ball.
And, of course, a lot of folks are going to say, well, go back to last year.
They recruited a lot of linemen last year.
Rodney, where are you as far as just the balance of positions with the staff?
Well, they did get some linemen last year.
But they also brought in some young offensive linemen from the portal.
Ty Haywood was only a true freshman last year at Michigan who red-shirted.
You know, Caden Strayhorn was a young player at Michigan.
He was part of that same class with Ty Haywood.
So, those guys transferred here, it's like it's adding two, you know, new true freshmen almost.
So, you have a bunch of young guys.
You do have that.
I agree.
But also, you know, and again, they're going to do it however they do it.
I'm not kidding.
But my philosophy, my thoughts on it is you always recruit linemen.
Yes.
You know, there's some talk that maybe Alabama signs one or two offensive linemen in this class
because they have 16 coming back.
Well, it may look like 16 today and it might look like eight come January.
That's right.
Of the transfer portal.
The same thing works on the defensive line.
I don't think you can ever get caught short.
And I'll tell you what I do think about on the offensive line, too.
And, again, some people may have a different opinion.
But I think a lot of the relationships that were built with the offensive linemen
that they were recruiting were built by Coach Kapp,
who, of course, is no longer here as the offensive line coach.
And I think once he left, a lot of those relationships went with him, you know.
So I think that might have hurt Alabama to some extent on some of those big names that they were in on.
Several offensive tackles.
Now, I do know that Antonio Berry out of Tupelo, Mississippi, has an official visit set up.
Some people think he's going to end up a five-star rated player.
Alabama's strongly in the mix with Ole Miss.
Some people think Alabama leads for him.
Great if you get him, but you need more, in my opinion.
But, again, too, let's not forget the transfer portal, which they did a very good job in the transfer portal this year, I think,
on both sides of the line of scrimmage.
And, you know, they can always use that as well in this class.
But as far as high school offensive linemen, you know, Harold Brett, defensive linemen, same thing.
I think you always sign at least three.
That's just my opinion.
Well, it's a good opinion.
Trey Martin, a four-star ringback from Franklin Parish.
If you name Parish, you know it's in Louisiana.
Queensborough, Louisiana, coming back June 5th through the 7th.
Ronnie, tell us, and, again, Alabama's not the only school.
A lot of SEC schools are looking at him.
Help big easy, fast.
Your thoughts on Trey Martin?
Well, I think, you know, when you look at Trey Martin, obviously he's a fantastic running back prospect.
I know that LSU was really, you know, has been in on him as well.
So it's not like Alabama would be going in there and getting a guy that, you know, getting a guy that LSU didn't want.
Which, by the way, it's kind of funny because there's a lot of people in Louisiana right now that say that they passed on Elijah Haven,
the five-star quarterback that we talked about earlier.
But, you know, I just think that Martin, you know, he's a really good back.
He's 5'10", he's 185.
He's probably, you know, in the 4'5 range in the 40.
He's very productive.
You know, there's another running back that they're recruiting out of Gainesville, Georgia,
and I don't know, you know, Kirk, that a lot of people think will end up here.
It's a fantastic back as well.
So both of those guys, I don't know if they take both of them.
But, you know, again, you almost wonder when you look at Alabama's running back room, you know,
are some of these guys maybe on their last leg here if they don't, you know, kind of have productive years
or play as much as they might hope.
So that's the one thing I always say about this portal now.
It makes it tough, Harold and Brett, to say, okay, this is how many we need at this position.
Because you really don't know.
You just really don't know.
Before you jump off, Rodney, you run the most productive, I think, interactive board out there at tighterinsider.com.
It's global.
We know what the initial reaction was to all this contract extension talk for both prominent coaches.
Your thoughts, has the Bama Nation settled down now that they reeled in Haven as far as the five-star quarterback?
And where are things now as far as the fan base with the contract extensions?
Well, I think, Harold, it's probably, you know, split still.
I mean, I think that's where it is.
And, you know, you can kind of understand both sides of it.
I think that, you know, there's one group that says, hey, you know, we've made a lot of progress.
We've won 11 games.
You know, we went to the SEC championship game.
We went to the playoffs.
We won a playoff game on the road.
You know, obviously, we're making progress.
You know, he deserves an extension.
And then there's the other side of it that says we're still seeing inexplicable performances, up and downs, you know, highs and lows, those types of things.
We've lost games by two, three, and five touchdowns.
You know, let's hold off before we go give an extension.
But, you know, Harold Britt, I mean, it is what it is.
The market kind of dictates it a little bit.
And, you know, there's no question that I think Penn State and Michigan were very much after or coveted Kaelin DeBoer.
And I think, you know, Greg Byrne, to keep his coach, he had to do what he had to do.
Yeah, I think that was a business decision.
You're right.
Ronnie, great stuff.
Titer Insider TV, as Harold mentioned, the 24-7 message board recruiting, really about to get cranked up in late May, June, with the official visits and commitments to follow.
Ronnie, where can we get all a plethora of information about Alabama sports at a very nominal price?
And also, with beach time coming up, where can we buy your book?
Well, I appreciate it, Brett.
It's TiterInsider.com.
It's only $48 a year, and you can get instant access with your credit card.
If you prefer, there is an address there to send a check.
It gives you all our premium information, but also our all-sports forum.
And right now, that's kind of where it's at.
A lot of discussion going on, whether it's basketball, football, and some of the things that we discussed here today.
And then, also, you mentioned the book.
Of course, you can go to RodneyOr.com.
That's RodneyOr.com.
Or you can go to Amazon, either one.
Just plug in Bay and Bama, and you'll get all the details there.
Sounds great.
Listen, Rodney, I know you're about to see who's behind door number two as far as the next drop.
So, I know you got an eye on that.
We got an eye on you.
And thanks so much for your time today, buddy.
Okay, Harold Britt.
Take care.
Thank you, buddy.
The one, the only, Rodney Orr.
Basically, BB, the Braves are rocking and rolling.
Another time, another win, 21-9, seven up on the Marlins.
Keep in mind, this team they're facing, they're pretty good.
The Detroit Tigers, they lead the American League Central.
So, not of the Braves winning.
They're winning against pretty good talent, too, BB.
No question, Harold.
They beat Detroit last night, as you mentioned, 5-2.
Perez got the win.
Ozzie Albies hit a two-run over.
Cunha, two of three.
He's beginning to heat up a little bit.
Again, Braves game tonight, day game tomorrow.
But they're playing awfully well right now.
In the meantime, the latest Big Orange Talk with Ryan Callahan, Nathan King, got the Auburn Tigers covered.
And, of course, Drew DeArmond's got everything else right ahead of the second hour of the Bumo Buck Show.
Stay with us.
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1819 News.
U.S. Senator Katie Britt listed chilling details about the leftist ideology that formed at Brown
University for years, leading up to a shooter gaining access to that campus last year and
killing Mountain Brook native Ella Cook.
That leftist ideology led to ongoing degradation of security and vilification of police officers
on that campus.
So by the time we get to December 13th, the day that Ella Cook lost her life, there were
15 vacant officer positions, resulting in only five officers protecting campus that day.
A 15-year veteran custodian, Derek Lisi, saw the assailant casing the place for weeks, Madam
Secretary, pacing hallways, ducking into bathrooms, and staring into room 166.
The custodian reported this to the security contractors on campus not once, but twice.
The security staff responded with, quote, I'm not here for that, end quote.
Britt spoke at the Labor, Health, and Human Services subcommittee.
I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this.
The news cycle can be overwhelming, to say the least.
Andrea Tice cuts through all the noise with the daily detail from 1819 News, Alabama and
national news in just 10 to 15 minutes.
What you need to know before you start your day.
Find the daily detail wherever you get your podcast.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held today at Redstone Arsenal as part of the relocation
of U.S. Space Command.
This will be the Space Command's first dedicated operational facility.
Personnel who will be working at this facility have already relocated from Colorado to Huntsville
earlier this year.
I'm Andrea Tice.
For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com.
And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter.
27 tournament trips.
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72 major leaguers.
It's good to be a Bama baseball fanatic.
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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.
And welcome back to the Boomo Bugg Show.
Brett Beaird in for Harold Bugg.
Harold, a little bit under the weather, and I applaud him for you trying to get through the first hour.
Been a lot of issues.
I know there's a lot of sick people throughout the Tennessee Valley.
Afternoon, you're trying to bring on Brian Callahan of GoVoz247, always does an exceptional job.
Talking about Tennessee sports, they did do one of the things that we can get him on.
They did have a fairly good draft.
I know for a lot of Tennessee fans, not as abundant as they thought it would be.
Jermon McCoy, the cornerback, a lot of people thought, even though he didn't play it down last year because of injuries, was healthy.
But his health report seemed to scare some of the NFL teams off.
He did eventually end up going in the fourth round to Las Vegas.
Colton Hood, the transfer from Colorado and Auburn, was the – a lot of people thought he might be in the first round late.
Ended up going in the second round, pick number 37 to the New York Giants.
And Chris Brazel, the very talented wide receiver, went in the third round, the 83rd pick to the Carolina Panthers.
Joshua Joseph's edge, went to the Washington Commanders in the fifth round.
And their final selectee in the NFL draft, Tyree West, to the Detroit Lions, defensive lineman number seven, actually picked number 222.
Some people thought Joey Aguilar, the quarterback, I know he had some issues, was very productive in some games, but had some issues with turnovers.
Signed a free agent contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Then Miles Kisselman, the transfer from Alabama, went to the Lions with the free agent, and so on and so forth.
But Tennessee ended up having a solid draft.
Where I'm really impressed with the volunteers is their basketball recruiting.
We don't convince Ferrara of the sports animal in Knoxville on Monday, and they had picked up one more transfer, Kennesaw State.
Antoine Pidway is the coach there, Ford, Brandon Lee, who announced on April 24th he was going to be coming to Tennessee.
They now have six transfer basketball players who had been averaging a combined 86 points a game.
They've shot over 330 threes.
And I know that's one of the complaints about Rick Barnes' team is the lack of offense.
And I think he may have remedied that problem.
Tyler Lundblade from Belmont.
Very good school, but very efficient at 16 points a game.
Day Day Ames from Cale, a point guard.
Miles Rubin, big center.
Loyola, Chicago.
And Jalen Harrelson from Notre Dame, a point guard.
Terrence Hill from VCU, another guard.
And, of course, Brandon Lowe from, Lou, I'm sorry, from Kennesaw State.
But Tennessee doing really well.
And the, as far as recruiting is concerned, we're going to be talking to Nathan King in the next segment.
But some of you may have missed this when we first came on the hour in the first hour.
Jalen Boer, a big interior offensive lineman, announced his commitment to Auburn this morning.
All 6'4", 305 pounds from Creekside, Georgia.
That is a fertile recruiting ground for Auburn has been for years.
And we'll be talking to Nathan about not only recruiting, but also basketball is for some of the guys that they may be bringing in.
Alex Golich was at the regional tournament.
And I think Brian may have joined us now.
Always a delight to bring Ryan in to talk a little bit more about the Tennessee Volunteer.
Staff writer for GoBoss247, covering recruiting and football.
Ryan, welcome into the show today, bud.
How are you doing?
Hey, good.
How are you?
Great, man.
Listen, I went over it a little bit, but summarize the NFL draft for Tennessee.
May not be spectacular.
I would probably use the word solid.
Yeah, solid, and they've gotten to the point, obviously it wasn't that long ago, that Tennessee was having nobody drafted in any given year.
That happened a couple times during the Butch Jones era and even, I believe, once in the Jeremy Pruitt era.
So to be where they are now is clearly a step forward from those years.
But, yeah, no way around.
It's a little bit of a disappointment for Tennessee that they didn't have a single first-round pick after multiple mock drafts over the past few months
had both Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood projected as first-round picks.
And for neither of those guys to go in the first round, obviously a bit of a blow.
So, you know, they still, you know, I think only SEC team to have two cornerbacks drafted this year, had, what, five players overall drafted.
So still a good showing top to bottom, but just not quite as good as they thought it was going to be going into it.
And obviously the fall of Jermod McCoy, kind of the headliner there where, you know, projected as a top 10, top 15 pick a lot of times in recent months
and then ends up going early in the fourth round, having to wait until day three, you know, because of medical concerns there.
Not ideal, but obviously something that he didn't foresee being quite the issue that it was for some NFL teams.
Were you, listen, we talked with you about Joey Aguilar.
Some games he played very well.
But again, the interceptions, and particularly everybody remembers the 99-yard pick six for Alabama's A.B. Brown took it to the house.
Did you think he might get drafted maybe sixth or seventh round?
I know he signed as a free agent with the Jack Weyers.
Yeah, I'm not totally surprised that he went undrafted.
I thought that was probably the most likely outcome, but there were some projections, some rankings that suggested that maybe he had a chance of slipping into the late rounds.
There were some different people that were high on him throughout the process, and I think it was maybe Chris Sims who said that he had Joey Aguilar as his, you know, fourth best quarterback in the draft or something like that.
So there have been some outliers, but for the most part, I think most people thought he was likely going to be an undrafted free agent, but one that could maybe pick his spot and find a good situation for him that would allow him to make a roster,
which is obviously the first hurdle for any of these guys that are going in the late rounds or going undrafted.
So we'll see how that works out for him in Jacksonville.
I think there's at least an opportunity there for him to maybe make the roster, depending on, you know, you never know how many quarterbacks teams are going to keep these days.
Some just keep two, some keep three.
So that's always a variable, but, you know, if nothing else, maybe an opportunity for him to play his way onto a practice squad.
You know, it's certainly an opportunity, though, for him because I think some NFL teams are really intrigued.
You see some of the red flags, like you mentioned, the interceptions, they kind of followed him from Appalachian State to Tennessee,
had some costly interceptions like that pick six against Alabama, but at the same time,
having the ability to hit the deep ball as often as he did at Tennessee is certainly a skill that a lot of NFL teams would love to have as a number two or number three quarterback
to kind of mentor and develop over the next few years and see how he turns out.
So he's an interesting prospect for some people, but, you know, definitely got some work to do to carve out a role for himself in the NFL.
Those are the thoughts of Ryan Callahan, staff writer for Gold Volons 247.
I mentioned basketball, which has been phenomenal.
Six transfers, Kennesaw State transfer, Braden Liu is the latest one,
and I saw several tweets that said the six coming in have a combined something over 86 points a game,
and they've shot 333s, maybe a little bit more of an offensive tint to this class.
Yeah, and that's going to be really interesting to see because Rick Barnes' teams always kind of have a signature style,
which is, you know, often built around defense, and one of the things that, you know,
a lot of people feel has kept them from getting over that final hurdle and getting to the final four
is just not having quite enough offense, not quite enough pure shooting ability and things like that
to give them the offensive punch they need to keep up with some of these top teams.
They've run into some really good teams in the Elite Eight the past three years,
especially Michigan this year, but to make that next jump and take another step,
I think they've figured out they're going to have to bring in some more offense,
but how's that going to work in a Rick Barnes system that is so often predicated on defense?
There's going to have to be, you know, some blending of ideas for sure to satisfy him
because he's never going to make defense less of a priority.
It's just going to have to be part of the package that goes along with having some offensive skill
also out on the court.
So, but yeah, they no doubt have a lot of offensive scoring on this,
in this transfer class they just brought in and still might not be done just yet.
Still in the mix for Duke Harris, the Wake Forest transfer that's drawing a lot of attention
from several major programs and, you know, a lot of attention has been centered around
Tennessee, Michigan, you know, maybe North Carolina, but, you know,
even some other teams may be creeping into the picture there since he's still out on the market
and still exploring his NBA stock at the same time.
So, yeah, maybe not done yet, but even with what they've brought in so far,
a really strong group that's going to have a lot more scoring potential
than what Tennessee's had in most recent years.
Brian, in fact, this transfer portal class ranked number four nationally according to 24-7 Sports
and, as you mentioned, may improve on that.
Will Nate Aitman now stay in the NBA draft?
Yeah, I think that's definitely the expectation at this point.
You know, Rick Barnes last week spoke with media coming off this recent wave of transfer additions
and made it pretty clear he doesn't really expect Nate Aitman to come back.
Now, he's doing his due diligence.
There was a report about a week earlier that suggested that his agency was maybe split
on whether he should go to the draft and stay in this, you know, very deep draft in the top 10
where he's still being projected as a possible top 10 pick,
but it's maybe not a sure thing because of how strong this draft class is.
Or maybe come back and see if he can take a swing at being the number one overall pick next year,
which is what some people in his agency feel is possible given his skill set
and what he's already proven and what another year of development in the college game
could do for his stock in a presumably thinner draft class next year based on what they know so far.
So, yeah, it's not likely, but he still, I think, is making sure that this is the right decision for him.
But Rick Barnes seemed to be pretty convinced that that's the path he's going to take
and what he honestly kind of thought he should do given where he is right now.
It's not many guys that are willing to take that risk of having an injury
really get in the way of their prospects.
And even with the number one pick maybe being an outside possibility next year,
it's still a lot for him to lose if he were to come back and suffer an injury of some sort.
Yeah, you're exactly right.
A lot of things going on.
Listen, I appreciate you coming on with us a day early.
Normally we try to have you on Thursdays when it's convenient,
but still a lot of things going on.
Tennessee baseball beats Alabama last week.
The tide just fumbled the ball all over the infield last year.
Last week was not a good start, but Tennessee took advantage of it.
Recruiting really about to get hot and heavy with official visits late May, June, and July.
Ryan, where can we get online to get that stuff and a lot more?
Yeah, coaches on the road right now, so keeping track of where they are during the spring contact period.
Lots to keep track of.
And great time to sign up for GoVols247.com.
50% off your first year as an annual subscriber if you join right now.
That's just available for a couple more days.
Take advantage of that while you still can, and as you said, get all that coverage and much more.
Also got a big orange caravan stop.
I'll be there tonight in Nashville, so plenty of coverage of Rick Barnes and Josh Heupel and Ken Caldwell,
along with AD Danny White, to see what they have to say about what Tennessee's just done in the transfer portal and a lot more.
So lots of good stuff on GoVols247.com.
Safe travels to Nashville.
I know you follow that every spring, and I'm sure you enjoy the fellowship and food.
Ryan, as always, bud, we enjoy it.
Have a great weekend.
You too.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you, bud.
Ryan Callahan talking Tennessee, and when we come back, Nathan King going to be talking Auburn
when we return to the B-Mobile Boat Show on 93.9.
Let's go on.
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Hey, welcome back to the Boomo Bugg Show.
Brett Beaird in for an ailing Harold Bugg.
Hopefully, he will feel a little bit better as the week progresses.
But delighted to bring in Nathan King, Auburn beat writer for 24-7 Sports.
Auburn undercover covering football and basketball.
Nathan King, welcome to the show, my friend.
How are you doing?
I'm doing good, Brett.
How are you?
Good, man.
Let me touch on recruiting because, obviously, it's front and center for Auburn this morning and this week.
They pick up another commitment this morning.
Jalen Moore, big offensive lineman from Creekside, Georgia, all 6'4", 305 of him.
And then earlier in the week, Auburn got one of the top running backs in the country in Myson Jackson Cook from East St. Louis, Illinois.
2,200 yards, 10 yards a tote.
That's pretty impressive.
Auburn's had a good week on the recruiting trail.
Yeah, Jackson Cook felt like a massive win for them.
He's a guy who could end up being a really, really highly rated player when it's all said and done.
Just a tremendous skill set on him.
And then, obviously, any time you get an offensive lineman that you feel good about, like a Jalen Moore, that's obviously big for this program that's struggled in offensive line recruiting.
In the past few head coaching ten years, yeah, Alex Golesh talked about it last night, you know, just how important this upcoming official visit period is.
But really, you know, something he's addressed all the way back to the early stages of his Auburn tenure when he was introduced was he knows he's got to put some proof of concept on the field this fall.
And particularly on the offensive side, like, his goal is not to go so heavy in the transfer portal every single year.
But they had to do that, obviously, with the roster turnover in year one.
And his mindset right now is, you know, he'll continue to sort of be in win-now mode and not so much of a recruiting development mode until he can convince these players, you know, he's got to go out and do it on the field this year.
A lot of them obviously don't know him, you know, him coming from a smaller conference.
And so I think a seven or eight win season for Auburn, if they have an exciting offensive product, I think that would really go a long way in Golesh's first season.
Because, you know, contrary to a guy like Hugh Freeze, who he was all about recruiting, and his recruiting chops are very well known.
You know, Alex Golesh is a younger coach who's still sort of up and coming, so he's looking to prove himself on the field.
That said, I mean, I do think this recruiting class is going to take a turn for the better here in the next few weeks.
I know they sat at last in the SEC for quite a while, but that was just the staff kind of getting their orders, you know, getting everything in order, getting their affairs in order, and getting ready for what they hope is the big summer.
Yeah, they've done a very good job with cultivating a lot of the kids and then a lot of the official visits coming in next month in June.
One of the ways you can help recruiting is to get kids to the NFL, and Auburn had a solid draft.
They finally ended that first round X.
Kendrick Falk going to the Titans late in the first round.
Keron Crawford going to the Raiders third round.
Connor Liu, if he would have been, I know the medical report probably hurt him.
Fourth round, he could have been a second or third round pick.
Jeremiah Wright going to the Saints, Bobby Jamison Travis going to the Giants.
A solid draft that they can build on for the next couple of years.
Yeah, I mean, look, five guys drafted off of a team that hasn't won a game, or excuse me, hasn't had a winning season in quite a while.
Like, that's always pretty solid.
Goes to show the talent that was on this team.
Yeah, obviously, Keldrick Falk, like you said, the headliner there.
He becomes Auburn's first selection in the first round since both Derek Brown and Noah Igbenogany went in the 2020 draft.
And you mentioned Connor Liu.
You know, I do think that's tremendous value for the Bengals.
I think that's a good spot for him.
I mean, obviously, they've had issues affecting Joe Burrow in seasons past.
And look, he was the guy during, like, last season that people were talking about, could he be the number one center in the draft?
And that could inform him being a first or a second round pick.
Now, obviously, he had the torn ACL.
But as long as he recovers just fine, I think the fourth round is tremendous value for him.
And, you know, it's going to be interesting next year.
I think so much depends in terms of Auburn's, you know, NFL stock, if you will, next season.
Like, so much depends on if this offense clicks.
Because, I mean, if they're able to somewhat replicate the exciting brand of football and productive brand of football they had at USF,
like, you know, a guy like Byron Brown could get a look in the really late round.
I mean, there's not a lot of quarterbacks who look and move like him.
You know, some of these wide receivers that they produce.
You know, Jeremiah Cobb, I would explain.
He had nearly a thousand-yard season.
You know, Joe Simmons at left tackle.
Like, can he be a high-round guy?
He's obviously got all the tools.
Can they have a successful season on that side of the ball?
So it should be interesting to see.
But, yeah, tying their most draft picks in the last five years with five selections was good for Auburn.
Nice, healthy NFL draft for them.
Absolutely.
Nathan King of Auburn Undercover joining us.
You had a very good article about Auburn's best position groups coming out of the spring.
And I think this is unanimous across the board for Auburn Media.
Number one is linebacker.
I mean, this is maybe the best group in the SEC.
Xavier Atkins, Belinda's, Toodle, Demarcus Riddick, and Friends.
I know you had quarterback, I believe, second, running back third, and safety Nichols, one of the best in the conference.
And you've got strength and weaknesses for both positions.
Priorize your top position groups that you hit this week.
Yeah, I mean, linebacker, like you said, with Xavier Atkins coming back, it's rare you get to return an All-American.
That's just not something that happens all the time in college football.
For Auburn, it's the first returning All-American they've had in over 25 years at linebacker.
And so what's funny about Xavier Atkins is, like, one of the first days of spring practice, Alex Dolish kind of made a passing comment.
And he was like, you know, X still needs to figure out, you know, what's going on out there.
And it's like, it's just a reminder that this kid didn't play much at LSU in his only real playing time of his college career.
He had an incredible season, but he's still really young.
And somebody described him yesterday as kind of like a golden retriever out on the field.
Like, he's going to run all over the place, but when he makes the right decisions, he's a freak athlete.
So they've got great depth there.
Yeah, I mean, you really could pick and choose who you want to be.
I kind of did it by, like, confidence level exiting the spring, who you'd think Auburn's second best position group is.
I ended up going with quarterback just because of what Byron Brown has shown.
Like, just the guy that we know he has been at USF.
Obviously, he hasn't done that at Auburn.
But, I mean, this is the first time in several seasons that Auburn has had this, you know, hyped up of a quarterback going into the year.
And then, obviously, running back, you've got Jeremiah Cobb.
If they find a nice number two complement, whether that's Bryson Washington, whether that's Omar Mavson, the sophomore, you know, whoever that is, that they've got a lot of depth there.
And, obviously, some question marks.
I mean, the offensive line, like, that's a group that has a long way to go.
You know, Stanton Ramil comes back from injury.
Maybe that will help them.
Cornerback, like, you bring back a couple guys from last season, but you still lost both your starters.
Those position groups obviously carry some concern for the staff, and they're going to be certainly under the microscope when we get into fall camp.
Absolutely.
Basketball, Stephen Pearl saying that he needs to fill one more spot.
But I'll tell you what, he has done a very good job of, number one, keeping the core players, Overton, Pettiford, for example, and then bringing in size and skill set.
Your thoughts on this reconstruction of the Auburn basketball roster?
Yeah, I believe, I mean, I may have been on with you guys last week or a couple weeks ago and talking about how big it was to get Sebastian Williams Adams back.
Well, obviously, he decided to pivot and enter the transfer portal.
So, basically, you know, you had five potential returning pieces from this rotation.
They only keep two of them, and I think that just goes to show what college basketball is nowadays.
Like, the guys they lost are the developmental pieces that you thought, okay, let's get another year in the system, another year with the same team.
They all decided to go.
They all decided to go somewhere where they're going to have what is perceived to be, you know, bigger roles and probably making more money.
But you keep your starting backcourt, and that's where everything starts for this team.
Sahad Pettiford and Kevin Overson played really well down the stretch last season.
And then at the moment, yeah, you said, you know, one more transfer addition probably for this team is what Stephen Pearl said yesterday.
You look at the lineup.
It feels pretty complete.
They've got a lot more size.
It's three players above 6'10", in Owen Freeman from Creighton, Buki Abouye from Santa Clara, and Narcisse Ngoi, who's a former French professional, actually playing professionally in France right now.
He'll get here next month.
And so, I mean, that size that they didn't have last season, you've got some sharp shooting forwards.
Adam Olsen, Stephen Pearl called him the best shooter in the portal.
And it's hard to argue that when you look at his size and the ability to shoot, you know, 38% from deep as a 6'8", 6'9", forward.
And then I thought a really underrated pickup for them was George Kimball.
He was a guy who played at a really high level at Eastern Kentucky.
He was one of the best mid-major point guards in the country, but then suffered a torn ACL, goes to Vanderbilt last season, medically redshirt, started practicing.
I talked to him last week.
He said he is a defense-first player.
He said he likes to earn his keep on that end of the floor, and that is obviously welcome news to an Auburn team that didn't play very good defense last season.
So I think he can come off the bench and provide an impact there.
But one guy remaining is what Stephen Pearl and his staff want.
He said within the next couple weeks, maybe they can make a move there, somebody that can play the two or the three spot.
I mean, the name that fills that spot is Mantis Rubishasius from Lithuania.
He's a 23-year-old pro.
He's a guy we've heard about a lot throughout this process.
Auburn thinks they are in a position to get him, but it's still ongoing.
You know, they don't have him yet.
Nothing is done until it's done.
So we'll see if they're able to get Mantis.
That would be the second, you know, former overseas pro for them this year, the third in the last two years.
And the guy who's a really, really high-volume scorer over there, a guy who can score all over the floor and played in the summer league with the Golden State Warriors a couple years ago, didn't get drafted, decided to go back to Lithuania.
And we'll see if he is that last guy for Auburn.
He certainly fits the bill of what Stephen Pearl was talking about yesterday.
By the way, congratulations on correctly pronouncing his name.
Several, before all the media tried but failed miserably.
We'll see.
I mean, if he comes to Auburn, we'll certainly get a lot more reps on it.
You're right.
Listen, I always enjoy the conversation with you.
A lot of stuff going on or creating really about to heat up with the official visits.
Auburn baseball playing better now.
And we'll see where the next time we turn around they're going to be in Hoover.
But I know you've got football and basketball covered.
Nathan, where can we get online to get all the great stuff?
Yep, auburnundercover.com.
You mentioned football and basketball.
We got to talk to Golesh and Stephen Pearl last night.
So I'll continue to have a handful of stories at Auburn Undercover, Auburn baseball.
Yet another top ten matchup this weekend at Texas A&M.
And like you said, recruiting is getting hot.
It's about time for official visit season.
So if you're an Auburn fan and want all of that covered, go to auburnundercover.com.
Nathan, I always enjoy the conversation, bud.
Have a great week.
Thank you, sir.
You too.
Hello, everybody.
Nathan Keene talking Auburn.
And if we talk Auburn, we'd better talk Alabama.
Drew DeArmond talking the tide.
Maybe a little high school baseball.
When we return to the B-Mo Book Show on 93.9.
Let's go.
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Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9.
The score.
In college baseball action yesterday, the Troy Trojans lost in fifth ranked Georgia.
At fully field, 11 to 1.
Troy had six hits in the loss.
The Trojans with the sit-back are now 22 and 23.
Alabama State's game against Georgia State was canceled.
Alabama State is 23 and 19 on the year.
South Alabama is back in action tonight.
They'll play in New Orleans.
South Alabama comes into the matchup 26 and 18.
Atlanta Braves were winners yesterday to beat the Detroit Tigers 5-2.
The Braves are now 21 and 9 on the season.
The Braves are back at home tonight as they take on the Tigers game two of the series.
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The score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
The score.
And welcome back to the Boomo Bugg Show.
Harold Bugg was in for the first hour and did not feel well, and hopefully he will feel
much better as we go throughout the week.
But delighted to bring in good friend Drew DeArmond, host of Talking Ball on Huntsville's 97.7 The Zone.
D2, welcome into the show today, buddy.
How are you doing?
I'm doing well, Brett.
How are you doing, man?
I hope you're all going to feel better.
I appreciate that.
And I know he does, too.
D2, three years ago, I heard all nauseam that this staff could not recruit football players.
I know one thing they can do.
They can recruit five-star quarterbacks.
Your thoughts on the latest pickup, Elijah Haven from Louisiana.
Yeah, I mean, he's the number one quarterback in the 2027 class out of Baton Rouge.
They've done a really good job being his family, you know, really for the last year or so to kind of put the pieces in place to bring him aboard early.
You know, the way they approach things, especially for the quarterback position is, you know, they try to be a year ahead.
And I think in fact, they're a little different, too, because even under Nick Saban, we only occasionally saw two QBs in one class.
Well, it looks like they are, as long as they hold on to Trent Seaborn of the three-time state champion at Thompson, they're going to sign back-to-back classes with two QBs.
Because, as you know, last year, you know, Brett, they got Jet Tamala, and he turned out to be a five-star quarterback out of Omaha, Nebraska.
And then they ended up with Tate and Cala out of Utah via Hawaii.
So, that's four quarterbacks already.
And, you know, we've already heard Kellen DeBoer go on the record as saying they like to have four to five QBs in the room, which is a ton, really, in this era.
Because it's hard enough for some squads with the NIL and how valuable the position is financially to keep two or even three on the scholarship.
But I think in a lot of ways, they use the red share.
It's not pure NIL.
And that's the way they're trying to get it done.
And they're trying to develop QBs from the high school level.
You know, guys like Wayne Kiffin, you know, we've seen that.
We've seen – and we've seen other schools, you know, that – in Texas Tech, they depend on just getting transfers.
They don't develop their own.
They just – they go out Miami and they go into the portal and spend big bucks and try to get an older QB to win right now.
Alabama's trying to win right now, but they're also trying to develop the high school player.
And that's just – it's actually just a really interesting way to attack it.
And I think it's kind of – Kellen DeBoer wants to do the best in both worlds.
Because I've told some people, you know, that were mystified by his contract extension, you know,
and his $2 million plus raise.
I said, well, they're investing in the head coach and the coaching staff.
Because there are others that have used at least $100 million, A, to, you know, buy out the previous staff, B, to bring in the new one.
And then part of that also, pay $40 million for a football roster.
And I can just tell you from knowing the inner workings at Alabama, they're not – they certainly don't want to pay huge buyout to a staff.
They certainly don't want to have to spend, you know, big bucks, you know, $60 million, $70 million, $80 million on a new staff.
And then turn around and spend $30 to $40 million on a football roster.
And by the way, Alabama, in my opinion, I don't think we'll ever see them spend $30 to $40 million on a football roster.
Because I just don't think they think it's financially feasible.
I think you're exactly right.
Let's talk a little basketball.
One of the things that kind of went unnoticed, Nate Oates got a little nice bump in pay.
I was also glad to see Alabama's unofficial general manager and meme expert, Preston Murphy, get a raise two years ago, making $450.
Now he's up to, I believe, a little bit less than $100,000.
And you've got to have a GM now.
I would imagine Nate will officially name him sooner or later.
But, D2, Preston Murphy does a lot for this basketball program.
Yeah, he always has since he and Nate teamed up a few years ago.
He brought him back after, you know, he had kind of been banished a little bit by the NCAA for what happened to Creighton.
And in this climate, it almost seems like a speeding ticket compared to especially what Western Union, a.k.a. Will Wade, has been doing.
But certainly, he's done a great job.
It's funny, in the last two years, you talk about investing.
Alabama's invested in Preston Murphy because he was making, I think, $450,000 two years ago coming off of that Final Four trip.
He got bumped all the way up to $675,000.
And then I was asked, you know, earlier this, you know, during the season, is Murphy going to get a head coaching job or is he going to come back?
And I was told, no.
I was like, he's returning.
And you saw why, because they bumped him up to $900,000 plus.
It's his salary.
And I don't blame him.
He and Nate work lockstep.
And, you know, and certainly, you know, Preston Murphy does some of the coaching.
But you're right.
He is basically the de facto general manager.
And, you know, today was the region's, you know, pro-am golf tournament.
And I know Nate Oates spoke about some of that.
And, you know, the roster spots that they have available.
And I think they do have one or two where they can add some players.
And as I figured, he admitted he and Preston Murphy have a plan.
And it could involve overseas talent.
We'll see.
Many people are doing that now.
Or they may be taking their time waiting for this, you know, fifth-year situation to be voted in.
Of course, it won't affect the current folks that were seniors this year, which I agree with.
But it certainly could open up, you know, for additional years of eligibility for guys they have on the squad,
like an Aidan Holloway, who they're trying to get back to that legal situation.
And then, again, I think, you know, they're going to keep a very close eye on that, try to get him cleared.
They admitted he also talked about Chris Onye-Juwaka.
They're waiting for him to hopefully be cleared this summer.
They certainly would like to have him back on the roster.
And then you keep up constant communication with Amari Allen, who, of course, is, you know, going through the draft process.
He would be a huge piece back.
And then, to me, you would just need another point guard or combo-type guard.
They certainly didn't get Alex Wilkins, who ended up going to Kentucky.
But I think there's some other guys out there that they have an interest in.
Yeah, absolutely.
And that investment in Nate Oates, again, he went from, I believe, 6.25 to 7.25.
The other thing I believe some people noticed was the buyout, which had come down, has been ramped up significantly.
So right now, for the next two or three years, it looks like Nate Oates is going to be in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Well, he needs to be, and I think he wants to be.
That's the most important thing.
And as you know, Brett, you follow it very closely.
That $50 million practice facility is nearly completed.
It'll be, you know, next level for Alabama, at least for the time being, would probably be the best in college basketball.
You mentioned his compensation package, which is $7.2 million.
I think that's in the top five in college basketball.
It makes him, you know, one of the highest-paid coaches in America.
Certainly, he'll have the budget for his staff.
And obviously, you know, some people were worried because, well, they're not going to spend $20-plus million on the roster.
He obviously must have enough NIL where he believes he can have a chance to win at the highest level.
Because, again, if he didn't, he would try to pursue jobs like Michigan a couple years ago, like North Carolina in this cycle.
We know Mark Pope's probably not in the greatest position right now at Kentucky.
But he's always shown the propensity to want to stay in Tuscaloosa and build.
And, you know, I've always said this, Greg Byrne does a great job of taking care of his coaches.
He took care of Caleb DeBoer when he had to last year.
Because, I mean, they realized if they didn't, then Michigan or Penn State could have easily hired him away.
And then you're starting all over from ground zero.
And you're not a university that's going to buy a roster for $40-50 million.
And then I always challenge people, like, you know, Alabama, basketball-wise,
with Nato's coaching tree and the way it's evolved, there are people like Brian Hodgson
who went to Providence that you could probably hire.
There is a Bucky McMillan that would be on the radar, even though he's being very well compensated
certainly at Texas A&M.
But football-wise, who are you going to hire?
I mean, there's not an obvious coach out there.
So, to me, if you have really good coaches on your campus and you believe in them,
then you invest in them.
And that's what, in the last two years, Greg Byrne has done with, certainly with Nato,
with Caleb DeBoer, and then certainly with Rob Vaughn.
Absolutely.
We have been talking about the second round of the Alabama High School Athletic Association
baseball.
There are seven teams from Madison County in the second round.
Again, I know it's 7A, which has gotten about another month to go before they change it.
But D24A, Westbrook, Christian, and Madison County.
Madison Academy hosting Boaz.
Hazel Green hosting Oxford.
That's quite a matchup.
Bob Jones, some of these have been revised.
A lot of the schools have moved to Thursday, doubleheader, because of some impending weather
coming in on Friday.
Bob Jones at Vestavia Hills.
That's tomorrow.
Spartman at Thompson.
Tuscaloosa County at Grissom.
The Tigers hosting Tuscaloosa County.
James Clements hosting Hewitt Thrustful.
That on Thursday, too.
The two of seven Madison County teams, Madison City, Huntsville City, got a chance to make
some noise this week.
Yeah, they do.
We talked a lot of high school baseball today.
I mean, Andrew Dennis has done a great job in his first year at Hazel Green.
They'll take on that Oxford program tomorrow out of Meridianville.
You know, like I told him during the interview, I'm really starting to feel old because I'm
interviewing these coaches, and they tell me about their teams, and they tell me about
who they're playing.
Oxford's got a reclassified senior shortstop.
I'm assuming he plays short, like his dad.
Rocky Maniscalco.
His father was Matthew Maniscalco.
I'm 99% sure it's his son.
How many Maniscalcos in Oxford are there?
But his dad was a great player, was a great player at Mississippi State, played professional
baseball, and now I guess his son's another great prospect at Oxford.
And, you know, the great Joel Austin that played for Butch Weaver at Lee, he's got a
son at Huntsville High now who I believe is a junior.
So there's a lot of great talent, no question.
Jeremy Brown's done a really good job at Grissom.
He's won three straight area titles.
The only thing he hasn't been able to do is advance in the first round, out of the first
round of the playoffs, I should say, because, as you know, you just mentioned some of those
matchups.
7A's brutal.
I mean, you know, Bob Jones won the state two years ago.
This year they did not win the area.
James Clemens and Coach Johnson did, and he's done a great job there.
And we've had, you know, both Bob Jones win it all.
We've had James Clemens make deep runs.
And now Vestavia's had a little bit of a renaissance.
So, you know, Bob Jones has to travel to Vestavia, you know, and so those, some of those
matchups, like you said, are just really brutal.
We talked to David Presley at Madison Academy, and they've got Boaz.
Boaz is really good.
They've got Boaz tomorrow.
Luckily, a lot of our schools around the area now have turf fields, which gives them a better
chance.
We were talking to Jeremy Brown about that because kind of the anxiety and the worry about the
weather is kind of out the door when you have a turf field because it's so much easier
to play after some inclement weather.
But you're right.
I mean, the weather hasn't been good early in the week.
Hopefully, it's going to open up for Thursday and Friday and give these squads a chance to
advance.
But several good, you know, programs around the area.
East Limestone's another really good one.
Yes, they are.
Yeah, they beat Madison Academy, and Madison Academy actually had to eliminate Scottsboro a
couple, about a week and a half ago on a play at the plate, and they had to win a game over
at Scottsboro, nine to eight, just to get into the playoffs.
So, there's, you know, a lot of great baseball action going on, and certainly, we've had kind
of yellow submarine weather the last two days, but hopefully, it's going to clear up, and
we'll see some quality action on the Diamonds and in the circle of our softball-wise around
the area starting up by tomorrow.
Absolutely.
Limestone County with four teams, D2, Lindsay Lane, Robbie Parker there, Elkmont, East Limestone,
and Athens Bible, and of course, seven schools in the shows area, and of course, 93.9 listing
area.
Always enjoy the conversation, my friend.
Tell us, where can we get online and get that expanded talking ball show with you and Scott?
Yeah, absolutely.
You can catch me Monday through Friday, 7 to 10 a.m.
now, three hours on 97.7 The Zone.
Scott Tyson and I bring you talking ball, and if you missed any of our content, we have our
SoundCloud page, 97.7 The Zone, ESPN 97.7 The Zone.
You can catch it.
It's posted every day, and then, of course, you can go to 977ESPN.com.
We also are carried live on WZZN TV, our YouTube channel.
So, if you want to catch us live each morning, you certainly can, or you can go back, watch
it on TV, or catch us, like we said, online or on our SoundCloud page.
But we always enjoy being on with you guys to talk some ball on 93.9, the score.
And I'll just tell you this, from a little birdie last night, Alabama may not be done with
recruiting news.
And as amazing as it is, Brent, they may be about to add their 2028 quarterback to their
recruiting class.
I think it would be that first 2028 commitment.
Charles Scott from Richmond, Virginia.
Remember that name.
He could be going public for the Tide in the very near future.
They do a good job of cornerbacks.
I know that, D2.
Listen, yeah, I was listening to the, and saw the ZNN TV.
I didn't know if you and Scott put on makeup now before the show, but it's probably not, not
necessary.
Listen, I always enjoy the conversation, buddy.
Have a great week.
Appreciate it.
And I have a face for radio.
I don't need any kind of makeup or anything like that.
Appreciate it, Brent.
Thank you, sir.
All right, buddy.
Have a great week.
Yes, I can certainly understand that very well.
That's going to do it for today's show.
Harold Bowe will hopefully be feeling better on Friday.
We'll be back Friday because of Bray's Day game on tomorrow.
James did a great job once again of producing the show.
And for James Blair, Greg, and Harold, thank you for listening today.
Paul Feinbaum is next.
Have a great day and a great week, everybody.