Boomo Bugg Show 062226
93.9 The Score WYTK - June 22, 2026
https://www.939thescore.com/boomo-bugg-show-062226/

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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Tomorrow night, partly cloudy sky, low near 65. And Wednesday, a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms high around 85. Your weather from 93.9 The Score.
Now, get ready to roll Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee.
It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice.
Woo!
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 a free ride around the Tennessee Valley.
Brett Beaird, welcome in to the Dead Zone.
Starting today, how does your team do with all the recruiting now that it's dead?
Brett Beaird, welcome in to a friggin' good Monday.
I was exactly about to say that.
Happy Monday.
Happy friggin' Monday to you and the listeners.
It is going to be a big recruiting week.
Alabama and Auburn have some big recruiting decisions pending.
A little bit of a surprise this morning.
Michigan basketball coach Dusty May makes a surprising decision to go to the NBA Dallas Mavericks.
We'll talk about that throughout the show.
But Adam is here right now to talk about the National Championship baseball game tonight
and his number two team in the top 12 of the college football playoffs.
Adam Spencer is the executive editor of Visionary Podcast, host Saturday down south.
Adam, welcome in.
How are you?
I'm doing great, guys.
How are you?
I'm in.
Man, I'm confused.
I look up.
Brent just coined the word friggin'.
I looked it up and the spell check keeps coming back freezing.
Can you help us out with that word, master what that word means?
Yeah, it applies to Monday for sure.
Yeah, yes it does.
There you go.
All right, Adam, let's jump in.
Dead period is today.
Obviously, a lot of loose ends.
Your thoughts about the biggest surprise, both pleasant and unpleasant,
through the major part of the recruiting cycle now that the dead period kicks in today?
You know, I haven't really been following it all that closely,
but, you know, because I think that the recruiting at this point is, you know,
you're just buying to pay a guy and I owe money for his freshman year
before he hops in the portal and goes somewhere else.
But Alabama seems to have some momentum.
You know, I think that, you know, they've added some nice pieces to some key areas,
including the offensive line.
So, you know, I think that it's just, it's hard to put grades on this.
This is like kind of the NFL draft kind of rant that people always go on.
Is that like, well, you don't know how the draft went until you see the players in action.
So there's a lot to be decided here.
I haven't really, every year that goes by,
I start paying less and less attention to high school recruiting.
And, you know, we'll see where these players end up.
And if they stay, if any of them stay and contribute with the schools that they signed with,
that'll be a big plus for those programs.
That's a good point, Adam, because I think the biggest thing right now
is the recruiting fanatics and all the fans who've been following recruiting over the years.
And I think it's a period of adjustment.
Would you agree?
Because you're seeing more three stars back in the day, just taking Alabama for an example.
If they got a four-star, the fans would panic.
What are you doing taking a four-star?
Nick, come on.
You're a five-star boy.
Now you're seeing a plethora of three stars to fill out the roster,
trying to squeeze a dollar.
And fans are saying, what in the heck's going on here?
We're dead last year.
What's going on?
But to your point, I think that makes sense because in some ways, I think they're playing chess.
A lot of these coaches are going to let you spend the money initially.
And if it works out, we'll come in and try to work out a deal.
If not, then you've got to eat that first year.
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, we saw it with Quinn Ewers at Ohio State before he went to Texas.
We saw it with Julian Sayan at Alabama before he went to Ohio State.
So, yeah, I mean, it's rarer that you have a guy like Elon Russell
who's potentially in line to start a quarterback for Alabama if he wins that starting job.
But he's there for a second year already.
So that's becoming rarer and rarer.
And the more interesting thing now for recruiting fanatics who used to be looking at the high school ranks
is almost to just look at the Division II, the Group of Six, some of these lower-level programs
and find yourselves the Ahmaud Hardys and the guys that are ready for a payday after their freshman year.
Let the Group of Six programs develop these guys before they come into the big time of the SEC.
Adam, the SEC's got another chance tonight to win its, what is it,
seventh consecutive national championship in baseball.
North Carolina comes back to beat Oklahoma 62 to even the series.
Here are two stats.
If you want to know why these two teams are in the national championship game,
North Carolina has not lost consecutive games since early March.
Oklahoma's been averaging 9.4 runs per game in the postseason,
8.25 in the College World Series.
They were held to their fewest runs since the May 19th loss to LSU.
That kind of tells you why they're in the spot they're in tonight.
Yeah, absolutely.
And, I mean, Oklahoma jumped out to that early lead yesterday, too,
and it kind of looked like maybe they were going to run away with it
and we wouldn't need the game three.
But, you know, credit to North Carolina for, you know, battling back, shutting down that rally
and, you know, keeping Oklahoma in check for the rest of the way.
And now, you know, I think Oklahoma's starting a freshman tonight.
So, you know, the pressure's going to be on there.
Big lights.
You know, we'll see.
But, you know, North Carolina's down to its third starter, too.
So, I mean, it's going to – I don't think I expect plenty of offense tonight.
Like you said with that stat with Oklahoma, you know,
I don't see them getting held to two runs again tonight.
And, yeah, with just kind of every arm available kind of do-or-die game here,
you know, maybe, you know, I bet North Carolina scores plenty of runs, too.
So, you know, it's going to be all hands on deck.
And, you know, can't hold anything back now.
I mean, we saw Paul Skeens do some incredible work a few years ago for LSU
to kind of make his legend in a do-or-die game like that at the College World Series.
So, you know, we'll see who becomes the heroes tonight.
Stay tuned, as they say, and also stay tuned to Adam's workout in Spencer.
There's Saturday down south.
How surprised were you with the news of the day?
Dusty May saying goodbye to Michigan, hello, NBA.
Your thoughts on how that shakes things up.
And I think a lot of folks, the first thing they're going to think of
is a guy down in Tuscaloosa by the name of Nate Oates.
I know they've signed him up, but Michigan's got a lot of money.
They can do a lot of things.
Your thoughts about the news and how it shakes up things down the road.
Yeah, I mean, I was pretty shocked by that.
I mean, I thought if he was going to go, it would have been by now.
You know, thinking about it more and more, though.
I mean, the Mavericks, you know, they're a franchise that has been willing to spend money.
They have a franchise cornerstone in Cooper Flagg and potentially can get another impact player tomorrow night in round one of the draft.
They have Kyrie Irving potentially coming back as, you know, a great guard, but also a potential trade piece.
So, you know, Masai Ujiri is their new general manager, and he won a title with the Raptors.
So, there's a lot to like about what Dallas is doing.
I can see it.
I just didn't see it at this point.
I thought if he was going to do it, it would have been by now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They have Michigan in a bad place, but, hey, they're used to having coaches run and leave them in a bad place after winning a national championship.
So, they can handle it if any school can.
Yeah, Dusty May told some of his close friends he was very concerned about the future of college sports.
I think everybody is, quite frankly.
Your countdown, too, is number two.
You may be number one today.
The Texas Longhorns is number two in your playoff countdown from 12, and the one sticking point, you brought out a brutal schedule, and they really do have one.
The running game should improve.
They finished 90th last year in rushing, and everybody talks about Alabama's problems, but they average 137 a game.
But as you point out, another brutal schedule.
Yeah, they have six games that are potentially tough on the schedule.
They have three SEC road games.
I think they go to Texas A&M this year.
They go to LSU.
There's one other tough road trip on there.
So, even though you don't see the Georgia or Alabama on there, they still have a really brutal schedule.
They take on Ole Miss.
And then, of course, we had to hear Texas Tech bluster before they kind of had to shut their mouths here.
But they were like, we'll buy them out.
We'll play them anytime, anywhere.
And it's like, okay, but your schedule is not the same as Texas' is.
They already play Ohio State in non-conference.
And, you know, that's going to be another marquee game.
I mean, that could be another one-versus-two matchup in Week 2, depending on how the teams look in Week 1.
So, you know, I think that that's the one tripping point, because I like what they did.
You know, they have another year of consistency with Arch Manning and Steve Sarkeesian.
You know, they brought in Cam Coleman from Auburn.
Colin Simmons is on the defense.
Trevor Goosby is at left tackle.
All four of those guys, Manning, Coleman, Simmons, Goosby, they could all be top ten picks in the NFL draft next year.
They could have, like, an Ohio State type of, you know, what Ohio State did this year.
So, you know, they have the talent.
It's just going to be, can they stay healthy and can they navigate that brutal schedule to get to ten wins or beyond.
Based on that memo to Steve Sarkeesian, don't screw it up.
I'm looking at your list here, Adam.
And, boy, the times there are changing.
Now, back in the day, the only question was who was going to be one and who was going to be two.
Alabama-Georgia, Georgia-Alabama.
Georgia is six.
Alabama is sneaking in these days at number ten on your list.
Your thoughts about the modern 2026 race compared to just a few years ago.
Yeah, I mean, and, you know, Clemson's not even on the list.
And there was a lot there, too.
It was right in the mix there.
So, you know, I think, you know, with all this variance, it's just, you know, who's got the top-end talent.
You know, I gave the edge there to Texas because they have Manning coming back and he should get off to a smoother start than he did last year.
They have some top-end wide receivers.
They've got some star power on defense.
You know, Georgia has, you know, a lot of its defensive contributors.
They're, like, in the top five in returning production on defense coming back, and they have their quarterback.
You know, so that's why they got the nod over Alabama.
Alabama has a little bit of uncertainty at quarterback.
I think that they'll ultimately be fine.
But will it cost them a sneaky game early when, you know, the new starting quarterback is having some jitters in his first true road game or something like that?
I don't know.
You know, I think that there's going to be a lot of jockeying for position from some of these SEC schools.
I have LSU at number nine, too, just because I think that Lane Kiffin is going to hit the ground running there in Baton Rouge.
But, you know, Ole Miss certainly deserves consideration.
Oklahoma deserves consideration.
There's going to be a lot of really good teams in the SEC this year, and we'll see how many of them finally manage to make it into the 12-team field.
Adam, the NBA draft tomorrow night, and I've seen six players in the first round from the SEC.
Darius Acuff of Arkansas, six.
Nate Amen from Tennessee, 10.
LeBaron Phylon, 13 among the six.
Does that sound about right for you tomorrow night about six SEC players first round?
Yeah, and I think it would have been more if a couple of those Florida guys would have won.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, they're coming back, and they're going to be favorites to win the title this year.
But, yeah, I think that Acuff's definitely going to be the first SEC player off the board.
I'd be shocked if he wasn't somewhere in that five to seven range.
I don't know if the Clippers would want to have him at five because they already have Darius Garland.
But, you know, they could still trade that pick.
You know, maybe I think the Kings are really interested in Acuff.
I think the Nets are kind of interested in Acuff.
So, you know, even the Mavericks, who just signed Dusty May from Michigan, you know, he could want a strong young point guard there.
And that certainly fits the bill if Acuff has any type of slide.
So, yeah, Acuff's the name I'm watching.
But I think somebody's going to get a great value in LeBaron Phylon.
I think that he's just ready-made to be a sixth man in the NBA right off the bat, working his way potentially into a starting, like, two-guard role.
But, yeah, I think he's going to be an impact player off the bench for whichever team ends up drafting him.
Absolutely.
NBA Draft, National Championship in Baseball, countdown to number one.
You name it, you've got it.
Adam, where can we get online to get all the good stuff?
Yeah, SaturdayDownSouth.com.
We'll have number one in the playoff rankings tomorrow.
We'll have a mock draft tomorrow for the NBA.
And we'll have some recaps of whatever happens tonight.
So, yeah, check us out.
Sounds great, Adam.
Listen, man, thanks so much for your time.
Have a great week, okay?
Yeah, you too, guys.
Appreciate it.
Thank you, bud.
Thank you so much.
Adam Spencer, Saturday Down South.
As we mentioned at the top of the show, dead periods in the house.
Alabama picking up some help over the weekend.
How do you rate it?
Later again, how do the experts rate it?
Andrew Bone and more straight ahead.
Stay with us on the Big Bone Bug Show.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back again.
Time to say hello to Andrew Ball.
Fine columnist and recruiting editor for BamaOnline.com.
That's part of the On3.com family.
His book is called The Road to Bama.
Andrew, welcome in.
Happy Monday to you.
How are you?
I'm doing great.
How are you guys doing?
Good.
I guess we could say happy Monday or happy beginning of the dead period, Andrew.
Your thoughts about today being the dead period,
and where Alabama's been on the road to today on the recruiting trail?
Yeah, it's kind of crazy how we finally hit the dead period.
I mean, it seemed like things really went by pretty quick this summer,
and maybe I think the lack of number of recruits that were in town
throughout the official visit season,
the low number of commitments,
and the low number of expected commitments,
I guess, kind of changes things a little bit
because you're not covering 50 official visitors
and thinking that you've got 25 decisions that are going to happen
before August starts.
So, you know, things have been a little bit slower.
You know, it picked up this weekend because Alabama had nine official visitors.
I think that was tied for the most official visitors they've had on campus this summer.
They had nine on campus back on the first weekend on May the 29th through 31st.
So, you know, we've had some smaller weekends the last two weeks,
but it picked up this week.
And, you know, we should start seeing some decisions pop over the course of the next few days
to the next week or two.
So, you know, really looking kind of forward to seeing how a lot of this plays out
before the season starts.
You know, things kicked off yesterday with the commitment of Darius White,
who we've talked about really ever since January as being one of Alabama's top defensive back targets.
And I know a lot of people look at Darius White as being a three-star,
but he's been a top five DB on Alabama's recruiting board since they offered him.
I think they were hoping he'd commit, you know, months ago,
but he decided to wait off to make a decision.
And he had a lot of schools that were pushing hard for him,
including Georgia, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Florida State.
But, and he was set up to take official visits to all of those schools this month.
But, well, actually took a visit to Tennessee a couple weeks before Alabama,
but came to Tuscaloosa on that official visit weekend back in May
and decided that that was where, you know, he was completely comfortable with it.
That's where he wanted to go.
And we saw this last year, Jaira Edwards came into Tuscaloosa, committed privately,
and did not go on any other official visits that were scheduled.
I think everybody just kind of said, well, he canceled all of his visits after the Alabama trip.
So it was, you know, clearly an indication that that was where he was going to go.
And then we see it again with Darius White.
But I think Coach Moe Lindquist has done such a great job,
one, with the defensive back unit that he has in Tuscaloosa these last few years,
the development aspect, but also been able to go out there and win some top recruiting battles
over the last few years, as we've seen with DeJohn Lee and Jordan Edmonds,
you know, Jaira Edwards last year and, you know, Zion Gibson.
You know, they've done extremely well on the DB front.
And, you know, they do it again with Darius White.
So six foot three, 180 pounds.
That's definitely a guy that is the type that Alabama likes to recruit at corner.
I think Patrick Sertan was the biggest corner that Alabama signed during the Nick Saban era.
You know, just about six foot two.
And now all of a sudden, it's rare to see anybody under six two targeted in the defensive back club for Alabama.
So I know they were happy to get him on board and, you know,
should see some other decisions happening this week.
Andrew, obviously, if this strategy works, they're genius because every business owner has one thing in common.
They want a Volvo for the price of a Ugo.
In other words, paying for a buck.
Everybody gets that.
But you can't sugarcoat where they are in the rankings.
Do you agree with some of the services where Alabama is 16 out of 16?
That's great if it works.
The question is, what happens if it doesn't as far as investing in the future?
Andrew, your thoughts about the folks who are taking the double take
at how this class is being put together compared to Nick Saban's?
Yeah, I mean, I think you've got to look at it now, you know,
obviously from a money perspective.
I mean, that's, you know, that's the key there.
I mean, you're, you know, you basically have a set number that you're able to spend.
You know, whether that's from the rev share or whether that's money that's raised through the collective,
which collectors are, you know, they're not going out there paying these high school kids.
They're there to pay for, you know, for the players on your current team.
So, you know, they're trying to raise as much money as they can through these, you know, collectors right now.
But Alabama, you know, I think they look at their roster and say, hey, you know, we've got a really good roster here.
But we also have a really good roster that's going to be coming back after next year.
You know, guys that are going to be juniors, guys that they're certainly going to have to pay.
And I think Alabama looked at it from this perspective this past cycle.
I think they saw a lot of the higher-end guys in the transfer portal probably cost a lot more than what you would assume.
But they also saw players on their own team that were not in the transfer portal.
They were getting offered some big dollars behind the scenes that chose to remain in Tuscaloosa.
Now, did they get raises?
Sure.
But were they anywhere close to what some of the other programs were offering them to enter the transfer portal and transfer to their schools?
No.
And you've got an offer.
You have to offer a big number for a guy to consider entering the transfer portal who's not necessarily thinking about it at the time.
And we saw that a lot under the radar that people don't really know about last year.
So I think Alabama is looking ahead, knowing the guys that are going to be juniors.
I mean, you look at it.
Michael Carroll, Jackson Lloyd.
You've got three linebackers that are going into their sophomore this year.
You've got six offensive linemen that are freshmen, six defensive linemen that are freshmen.
DeJohn Lee is going to be a junior next year.
So you've got a lot of guys that are probably going to get offered behind the scenes some money.
So you've got to take that into account.
But I think they feel comfortable as far as their numbers at various positions as far as the young talent.
And you just don't have to go out and spend a heavy amount.
I mean, are you going to go out and spend a million dollars or $800 or $750 on a guy that's going to come in and sit down as a true freshman and not play at all?
But he can get developed, but why not develop a guy that's going to be a fourth of the price and kind of see where that goes?
If it doesn't work out, you just go and get somebody in the transfer portal.
So I think that's something that Alabama is trying to manage.
I'm not one of these guys that's going to trash the staff because I look at it from the entire angle.
I know that they've recruited well.
I know what they're going to have coming back.
And roster retention is going to be certainly very important.
And if they feel like that's how they want to go, trust them and kind of see how it shakes out.
But I just don't see them making these humongous investments on certain players that they don't necessarily have to.
And we saw what we've seen on our end is, well, it's going to be a smaller class, so that means you've got more money to spend.
No, you still have the same amount of money to spend.
That doesn't change at all.
And it's not like you're going to go, oh, well, we signed six defensive linemen, so let's go spend a million dollars and get one defensive lineman this year.
That's not how it really works out.
So I think that they feel comfortable and confident in a lot of their young players that they don't have to go out and just spend a fortune to get somebody to come in and be a backup for a couple years and just play it out that way.
Now, is it going to be the wrong thing to do?
I don't know, but I don't think Alabama looks at it as wrong.
And they're playing with the money that they have available and the money that they know that they're going to have to spend on their sophomores and on their freshmen when this season's over.
Andrew, there are six players associated with Alabama who are going to be making decisions this week.
There are three tomorrow.
Tyler Younger, a three-star edge from Atlanta.
Cedric Simmons, a wide receiver who seems to be between Alabama and Auburn.
2,100 yards of receiving and 20 touchdowns.
Stafford Willis, an offensive lineman from A-Rab, is making a decision tomorrow.
Friday is Junior James Tuopo from Thompson, maybe leading to Texas.
Jeremiah Beverly, a three-star edge on Friday.
And then on Sonny Gales, the four-star receiver who canceled trips to Notre Dame and Tennessee.
And I believe BOL has projected him to Alabama.
Of those six, Bud, how many do you think eventually end up committing to Alabama this week?
Well, I think they – I like their position with at least four or five of those guys.
And I'll start with the guys that are announcing tomorrow.
I think they're in really good shape with Tyler Younger.
And you talked about the recruiting class earlier, how it's kind of at the bottom of the SEC right now.
Yeah, there's guys in the class that I just absolutely love that are ranked low.
We talked about Darius White a minute ago.
Oakley Keegan, who's a tight end.
If you saw his pictures, I mean, he's one of the most impressive tight ends that's out there.
But he's ranked extremely low because he missed his entire junior season due to an injury.
So, I think that there's some guys in this class that have really good high potential that are getting slept on.
And I think that's the case with Tyler Younger.
He's 6'5", 230 pounds.
This is a guy that they push for harder than – I'm not saying he was hard.
They push for him harder than some of these other guys, you know, like a Frederick Ards who ended up going to Texas A&M.
But he's a guy that they really liked a lot as far as his potential.
And, you know, they didn't necessarily need a wolf to come in and start right away.
You know, let's say you lose Yonse Pierre next – you know, after this season, you've got Justin Hill.
You've got Xavier Griffin.
If they need some more talent, you can go and get somebody in the portal because you've got a pretty high price.
Wolf and Pierre that's going to be off your roster next year.
So, I think with Younger, they see his development guy, moved from inside linebacker the last couple seasons.
Also played wide receiver.
He was a receiver when he started in high school and then moved to inside linebacker and now playing off the edge.
And Christian Robinson went and saw him during the spring, really liked him a lot.
Said that they wanted to bring him into camp, work him out, just because it was a new position for him and kind of see how
he did out there in camp.
And, you know, they told him – I know he announced an offer last week, but they told him in camp, hey, you've got an offer from us.
We want you to come in for an official visit on June the 21st – or June the 19th through 21st.
And, you know, we're going to be ready to accept your commitment during that visit.
So, you know, he didn't really go anywhere else.
I think he ended up taking a trip out to Stanford last week.
But after Alabama, you know, really told him that they were going to have a spot for him, he kept things quiet and then came on that visit.
And I think that, you know, this is a spot there that he really wants to go to and get developed at.
And I like Alabama's chances there.
I think with Stafford Willis, you know, another kid that's a, you know, development guy, you know, once again, they signed six –
they had six freshman offensive linemen on their campus.
They're going to return their entire offensive starting front after this upcoming season.
So you don't necessarily have to have a guy that's going to come in and, you know, potentially even be a second-team guy right away.
So you get a chance to, you know, get a big kid who's 6'5", 300 pounds, that's played left tackle,
but seen more as an interior player at the next level.
So – and that's kind of where Alabama sees them as an interior guy.
So you get a kid into your system working at the – you know, learning the position on the interior
and potentially developing into a really good prospect in the next couple years.
So those are two guys that I feel Alabama's in a really good spot for heading into tomorrow's decisions.
Cedric Simmons, they've had two wide receivers on campus the last few weekends,
and Cedric Simmons and Kyron Caldwell, and everybody obviously knows about Monsoon Sills and Osani Gales,
and Gales is going to be announcing on the 27th, really like where Alabama stands there,
and then Sills mid-July.
I don't think either one of these decisions with Cedric Simmons or Kyron Caldwell affect Alabama's pursuit
or how much money that they're going to, you know, have set aside for Sills and all is said and done.
So we'll have to see.
Simmons had a great visit to Auburn this past weekend.
He grew up an Alabama fan.
Auburn's recruited him a lot longer.
Alabama just got involved a couple weeks ago, but I know he had a great visit two weekends ago to Alabama.
Kyron Caldwell's coming off the official to Alabama this weekend.
He's been recruited a little bit longer.
Alabama offered him back in the spring, made a couple trips to Tuscaloosa,
so I think that's a really good relationship.
It's stretched a little bit further than the one with Simmons, but I also think that, you know,
there is an opportunity for Alabama to, that they would accept both of those commitments,
but I do think Caldwell will make a decision within the next, you know, he hasn't,
I think he set an announcement date for July the 4th, but I also think that, you know,
it could happen earlier, and I like Alabama's position with Caldwell probably more than Simmons,
but like I said, I also wouldn't be, you know, really surprised with Simmons,
but I think it could go either way there, and then I think Jeremiah Beverly was the other one you mentioned
he's announcing on Friday.
Hillcrest, Tuscaloosa kid, he's a local guy, and he loves Alabama, you know,
grown up, always wanting to play there.
I didn't really have a ton of offers, but I think with, you know, the way things are,
as far as being able to offer 105 scholarships, you're not really having to make a humongous
investment there, and I think that Alabama, you know, sees him as a guy that can develop
and potentially be a good defensive player for them in the future, so I like Alabama's position there.
Obviously, everybody wants to know about all the other big guys that are out there,
like the Mitchell-Turners, the Hayden-Chepps, the Montague-Sill, but all those guys are really kind of just,
you know, coming off their final visits, they're sitting down with their families,
they're trying to make decisions and kind of go from there, so we're still kind of waiting on,
you know, when these decisions are going to be announced.
Junior Tuopo from Thompson High School is announcing on Friday, came off the official to Alabama this weekend.
Texas has been at the forefront, and I know a lot of people still feel that they're at the top of the list,
and, you know, very well could be, but, you know, we know that he had a great official visit to Alabama,
been to Tuscaloosa several times, has his teammate Trent Seaborn as a commitment,
and he was down there helping recruit this weekend, too.
But, you know, I think, as of right now, probably could go either way.
Yeah.
You know, we're just going to have to wait and see.
Right.
Over the next few days.
Right, buddy.
Well, listen, we've got to run to a break, but great stuff.
I know you and Tim Watts and the guys are going to be on top of this.
Three decisions tomorrow and six by Saturday.
A.B., thank you so much for taking the time to go into detail about these.
Where can we get online to get all the great stuff?
Well, just come to BamaOnline.com, 50% off special right now for a year,
so come check us out, BamaOnline.
You can read all of our coverage content and also interact with us every single day
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Andrew, listen, man, thanks so much for your time.
Have a great week, okay?
You guys do the same.
Thank you.
Andrew Bowen looking up with us.
Visit there at BamaOnline.com, part of the On3.com family.
Again, his book is called The Road to Bama.
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Let's get the latest Tiger talk with Brian Matthews on deck.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back again.
Time to head on down to Auburn.
Say hello to Brian Matthews.
He's a senior editor for AuburnSports.com.
Brian, welcome in.
How are you?
I am doing great, guys.
Thanks for having me.
Are you celebrating the beginning of the dead period today, Brian?
Well, yes and no, right?
Because we've got to create some content now a little bit for the next five or six weeks.
But, yeah, I think it's a great time now.
You know, the coaches need some time off.
I think they're working their tails off.
Yeah.
Since then, the season, right, with the transfer portal, then straight into spring practice, and then a heavy period of recruiting and official visits.
And now, even though they can still contact recruits, they can't host any off-campus or visit any off-campus.
So, that's going to allow them to get away a little bit and get some time with the family support.
The whole process starts over again this fall.
And it's that time of the year for a reporter when you say, does the quarterback have seven hairs or five hairs?
Let's do an in-depth story on that.
So, we've all been there.
Brian, is there a greater contrast inside of the state, certainly inside of a rivalry like Auburn and Alabama, with the respective recruiting strategies?
We want to talk about the latest, Auburn Fresh, you're picking up number 22, Alabama, at last report, is still struggling to get to double digits, period.
Now, the dead period's on.
That takes on a different perspective.
Brian, your thoughts about Auburn's strategy?
Well, I think you can go back to A-Day, right?
A little bit more than two months ago, Auburn got their second commitment.
This class was ranked 58th, I believe, nationally.
So, I think there was a lot of concern there.
And, you know, I probably came on your show at some point during that period and said, hey, you know, recruiting really picks up in May and June and, you know, the first couple weeks in July.
So, let's pump the place a little bit and wait and see what happens.
And it's really happened for Auburn.
They picked up 20 commitments this, you know, since then.
I think it's the two so far this weekend, if I'm correct there.
They're up to top 12, I believe, nationally in our rankings.
I have not looked since this morning, so that can change.
But I think they're top 10 in some other places.
So, that's just an indication of what a great job the staff has done, getting kids on campus, you know, getting them here multiple times, whether it was for an official visit, whether it was for, you know, just a practice or really anything.
I just think they did a great job recruiting, just put a lot of effort in.
You can see the results of that effort now.
And, you know, even, you know, this weekend they got a commitment from that running back, what's his name, Moni Williams, right?
And he's a good player.
They flipped him from West Virginia, I believe.
Yep.
But I think they got him in anticipation that one of their other running back commitments, you know, might be flipping to Missouri here fairly soon.
And, you know, it's no big deal.
Kingston Miles is from St. Louis, Missouri.
Their other running back commitment, Myron Johnson Cook, is from East St. Louis.
So it's not surprising that Missouri is going to pull out all the stops and try to get one of those guys.
And I think they've really recruited Kingston Miles really, really hard here over the last month or so.
But I give the staff credit because every single school is going to have decommitments.
But what I haven't seen enough of at Auburn is people being, you know, up front about it and assertive about it
and not just being the victim but going ahead and going out and getting that guy's replacement before he even decommits.
I think that's pretty impressive, yes, man.
Yeah, Auburn's number 12 in 24-7.
Let me double-check with you.
19th commitment was three-star Maryland safety Canary Crum.
That's an interesting name.
The 20th commitment was four-star edge James Pace III from Maryland to Martha Catholic in Maryland.
21, three-star Preston Williams from George W. Lone High School.
And as you mentioned, was the West Virginia flip number 22, Kamani Williams from West Virginia.
Is that correct?
That is correct.
You know, James Pace, again, another kid, a defensive player.
They're getting from the Baltimore area, right, where D.J.
Durkin has a connection.
I think Coleman Hutzler, their new edge coach, is a very, very good recruiter and well-respected, I think, among kids that want to come play for him.
He's going to show a lot of really good SEC schools.
I think Auburn's really fortunate to have him, and I think, you know, James Pace is going to be a really good player.
I'm also excited about Preston Williams.
You know, he's not a highly recruited kid.
I think we have him as a three-star, I believe.
Or maybe he's not even ranked yet on our site, but he's from the smaller schools, GW Long and Skipperville, Alabama.
But he's 6'2", 180, can really run.
Auburn has evaluated him really closely, and he's really impressed them.
I think he's going to end up being either a tall cornerback or a nickel or, you know, maybe a safety and end up being a really good player.
This is one of those players from, you know, that Alabama finds, I mean, Auburn finds in state a lot of times and turns out to be really good in the future for them.
So I'm excited about that pickup, too.
And, you know, I think nowadays you just cannot do what Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State did for, you know, a decade and more and just stack your classes up with five stars.
First of all, you can't afford that anymore.
They're too expensive.
And secondly, they're not going to stick around for long if they don't play right away.
So you're not going to have a lot of guys, you know, your third string defensive end is a five-star, right?
It's hard to do now.
It's more spread out.
So I think when you recruit now, you've also got to take a blend of those great players, those five-star caliber players, Rivals 100-type players.
And you've got to take some guys you think are going to develop, guys that you've evaluated differently than other schools.
And I think Preston's one of those guys for Auburn.
The A-trap was good back in the day, but I don't think it'll play now in most circles.
Obviously, the dead period is on, Brian, but it doesn't mean that the kids can't still come see you.
You just can't go see them as such.
Tomorrow's supposed to be D-Day for Cedric Simmons, at least on paper.
It looks like the wide receiver from N-State will choose between Auburn and Alabama.
What are you hearing?
I haven't heard really anything other than I think he did not grow up in Auburn.
I mean, Alabama fan.
Yes.
Yeah, that's correct.
I know Auburn's been recruiting him fairly hard.
So I don't really have a great, you know, hey, I think he's going here or there.
I just, you know, if a kid grows up, an Alabama fan in the state, and he's being recruited by Alabama pretty hard,
and he has a legit offer from Alabama, I think all those things fit Cedric's case.
I'm not an expert on recruiting.
I cover the team more, but I think that's the case.
If that's so, you know, most of the time those kids end up at Alabama.
So we'll see.
But he's making it tomorrow.
I'm not sure exactly of the time, but it'll be Auburn or Alabama.
Either way, I think Auburn's getting, or Alabama's getting a really talented young man,
a guy that goes from Southside Selma, guys really athletic, and should step in and play fairly early in his career.
That was an interesting comment before we let you go.
Tom Luginville of ESPN, who's got roots to the Tennessee Valley and the Elk River,
said they were asking about Byron Brown on the round table with Dunaway and Brown.
I thought he had a good comment.
He said, it ain't pretty when you look at him on tape, but he's a point A to point B guy.
It gets you really quick from point A to point B, and quite frankly, that's what a quarterback's supposed to do.
Yes, and, you know, I think with his running ability, I think it's going to sort of marry well with Golesh's,
you know, want to really be a power running team with, you know, the running backs and the offensive line many signs.
So I think that's really a good double there, having a guy who can run the ball,
who can throw it deep, of course, is very important in his offense.
I think he's got some big receivers that can run and get downfield and make some plays one-on-one too.
So I think that all fits in his offensive attack.
I don't think he's going to throw for 3,000 yards and run for 1,000 in the SEC,
but he is welcome to prove me wrong, right?
But anybody that can do that at any level is probably going to have some success when he moves up,
and I think Byron is going to be successful for Auburn this year,
and I think he has a chance to help Auburn break out of this funk of five straight
losing seasons.
Well, AuburnSports.com is very successful.
A lot of great stuff, recruiting certainly on top.
I know you do a lot of preseason stuff in football.
B-Matt, where can we get online to get all the good stuff?
I appreciate that.
And we had a bunch of content this morning, including commitment,
but about to put up my Monday Musings here, so that'll be coming up soon.
You can read all about not just the commitments, but how they kind of fit in
and what their sort of role is going to be at Auburn and how closely they can contribute.
We have some really great guys here like Cole Pinkston who can break down that type of info
and bring it to you in a way that really makes a lot of sense.
So, all that and more at AuburnSports.com.
Check us out and sign up online.
We're running a 50% off deal for the summer.
And, of course, you can follow me on social media, on Twitter, such as X at B-Matt-A-U.
Sounds great, Brian.
This is a kickback.
Enjoy the beginning of the dead period.
Let's do it again soon, okay?
I appreciate you guys.
Thank you.
Thank you, bud.
Thank you so much.
Brian Matthews, senior at AuburnSports.com.
Coming up the next hour, we're going to go to the Man of Steel.
Jim Steel is going to be on board.
Vince Rawls is also going to be talking Tennessee.
And Ben Thomas has got the entire state of Alabama cover from one end to the next.
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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 Tide, Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC.
Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in our tour 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.
And for Ben Thomas on the other end of the Tennessee Valley joining us.
Ben's got it all covered there at AL.com.
BT, welcome in.
How's life in South Alabama again today?
Well, I think it's good, but that's not where I am today.
So, I'm actually not too far from y'all.
I'm in North Georgia, in Eastville, Georgia, visiting my mom for the week.
So, I'm helping her out.
Still working, but being here with her for a week.
Good for you.
And everything's good up here.
I hope things are well with y'all.
Yeah, that's a beautiful part.
I don't know how close you are to Helen up there, but my late brother has a place up there.
To me, it is.
If you want to go to the Smokies, but you don't have to deal with people like crazy up there in the park, go to North Georgia.
It's beautiful up there.
Yeah, Helen's not far at all from here, less than an hour.
Dolanaga is very nice.
It's less than 30 minutes, especially if you go during Christmas, where they have it all night.
Helen's a little bit touristy.
I mean, during the tourist season, it takes an hour to get through there, but it is nice.
Y'all probably didn't call to talk to me about North Georgia geography.
Hey, what the heck?
What the heck, BT?
One thing we did want to talk to you about is you had a big powwow over the weekend with the boss of the Alabama High School Athletic Association.
Talk to us about some of the points coming out of the meeting or the conversation, or at least a speech from Heath Harmon.
Yeah, that was actually last weekend.
He spoke to the sportswriters convention, and he tells you a lot, but sometimes you've got to read into it to see if there's any newsworthy information in there, if that makes sense.
Yeah, it does.
You know, a couple of things he pointed out that were interesting, and of course we have some news at the HSA today we can talk about when I get through with this.
But, yeah, so we asked him obviously about the two, you know, the talk in the last four weeks has been about the two major football programs that were put on restrictive probation, Mary G. Montgomery and Pell City.
Both coaches there suspended for a year from coaching in the AHSAA and a playoff ban currently for those two, and he was asked directly about, you know, could there be any relief of penalties for those two schools?
And I believe both of them are supposed to go in front of the central board on July 29th, which is, I think, the next official meeting of the board.
And so they will, I'm sure, talk about what they have.
You know, I guess they could give some rebuttal points if they want to, but also I think talk about, you know, what maybe they put in place to not have the same things happen again that are alleged to happen this time.
And I think at that point, I don't, I think the coaches will still be suspended.
I think the question is, will they get the playoffs back?
And I think there's probably a possibility that both of them may still be eligible for the playoffs, depending on what happens at that central board meeting.
So that'll be something to watch a little over a month from now.
And probably in both cases, they may still be debating, you know, what student athletes are affected by this, because they've come out and said in both cases that student athletes that were allegedly recruited or whatever will not be eligible at that school.
So they would have to go back to their homeschool.
So, I mean, I think that's a big, the Mary G. Montgomery coach, who's now the full-time coach, Alex Page, said back in May that that could be as many as 20 players at Mary G. Montgomery.
So I think that's something to watch as well.
So he talked about that.
We also asked him about the expansion of the private school playoffs.
I've written a little bit about that.
Private schools want more teams in the playoffs.
Really, what they want is more rounds of the playoffs, because just, for instance, in that larger AA private school classification in football, there's only 16 teams.
And the model of the HSAA release was that only eight of them will be in the playoffs.
Well, that means that there's only three rounds of playoffs.
They would play week two and week three and then the championship.
So if they go at least to 12, they'd have some bias, but they'd be able to play week one, two, and three and then have a bye week before the championship.
I still think that's going to happen, and it's going to affect multiple sports.
And we'll see when that, it's got to be, if it does, and it starts this fall, it's got to be announced soon.
I mean, we're, what, really two weeks, two months away from the start of football season right now.
Yeah, absolutely.
He also mentioned that he was going to create a private school advisory committee.
He's done that.
And hire an assistant director primarily for the private schools, and I believe he hired Buster Daniel B.T. with the former Lee Scott coach.
Listen, you teased us with it.
What was the announcement this morning?
Yeah, so, well, you're right.
They said they've made two major hires over the last couple of days.
You nailed it with Buster Daniel, pretty well-respected coach.
Yep.
State one night.
He's been at Lee Scott, but he also has some public school experience.
So, yeah, that fulfills what Heath Harmon promised to do when he announced the separation, or as he calls it, the restructuring of championship pathways,
which is to start this private school committee.
He's done that.
There's eight of them.
There's a representative from either of the eight districts.
They've already met twice, and now he also promised to hire somebody or appoint somebody, an assistant director, to kind of be in charge of that.
And so now they've hired Buster to do that.
I think that's a good hire.
And just today, I mean, we've been talking since really December, really before that, who's going to replace Ron Ingram, the Hall of Fame school writer that was director of communications for 15 years.
Of course, he's technically retired in December, but basically he's not retired.
He's still been helping him out a lot since then.
Well, just today, in fact, a little while ago, they announced that it was going to be Birmingham TV personality Scott Griffin.
How about that?
Pretty well-known guy.
Harold, I know him, Scott.
I don't know him real well.
I bet you know him better than I do.
Yeah, we were cellmates down at Riker Island together.
That was years ago.
And, you know, of course, we signed a pledge that we wouldn't talk.
So now this guy, he's been there and done that.
He's done everything.
He's done radio.
He's done TV.
So the bottom line is he's got a well-rounded background.
So no matter what they throw at him, he ought to be able to handle it.
And not only that, he's from here.
His heart's in Alabama.
So I think, at least on the surface, you know, I think it's a good hire.
Yeah, he went to Inslee and I think the University of Alabama.
And I think he's been at about every major sports station, TV station in the first-game area.
And some of us are named in this show.
You know, I'm sure Scott and I have met in passing.
I mean, we've both been in, you know, I just had my 40th high school anniversary this weekend.
I didn't, our reunion, I didn't know.
But so he and I have both been in the state for a long time.
I'm sure we've come across each other.
It's surprising, really, that I don't know him any better than I do.
But certainly in this position, I hope to get to know him very well.
Wait, here's the bottom line.
Don't go to any high school reunions at a certain point.
Because, look, you don't recognize anybody.
Nobody recognizes you unless you've got a nameplate on site.
Yeah.
It's just bad to stay away.
I didn't regret it at all, Harold.
In fact, I was looking at pictures on Facebook, and you're exactly right.
I had to kind of zoom in on the name tags.
Yeah, man.
Absolutely.
But they had a good time, and I'm glad for them.
But I didn't miss particularly.
Amen, brother.
Listen, you got your poll out.
Do you think significant progress is being made to curb recruiting of high school athletes in the state?
What does your poll say on that, Ben?
Well, it's pretty mixed.
Yeah.
I mean, I think it – I think – let me call it the results here.
I just was looking at them earlier.
Yeah, this was in our newsletter.
Again, I appreciate you guys bringing that.
Y'all always are good about bringing up something in our little newsletter, and I appreciate that.
But – so it's – you know, so – well, we haven't got the – we haven't got the results on that.
I mean, we'll get the results on that Thursday.
It was – that was this week's question.
Do you think significant progress is being made to curb recruiting?
Yeah.
The answers were yes, no, or time will tell.
We'll see.
We'll see what the answers are.
I would guess most of them are no.
There's still much more to be done.
But I think we have made progress.
I mean, I think any time you sanction – you know, put somebody on restrictive probation like they've done for Pell City and Mary G. Montgomery,
that at least has to open some eyes.
And we'll see.
I mean, you still – every coach I talk to almost talks about some other school that's recruiting, you know.
Oh, yeah.
So you kind of got to read between the lines on that and what may be going on.
Our poll from last week was about the expansion of the private school playoff, particularly in AA.
And 37% of the people said, no, they didn't need to – they didn't need another round of playoff.
So we'll see.
Yeah, 32% said yes and 29% said not sure.
Big day in recruiting this week.
Alabama may pick up four or five.
Auburn's been on a roll.
But Randy Kennedy had a storm last week, and we couldn't get him on.
But one of the things that I did notice was four of the top five senior prospects in the state are committed to other colleges.
King Hall is going to Miami.
Isaac McNeil is going – well, he's going to Auburn.
To Torrey Williams to Miami, Carlos May has made up his decision.
I'll tell you one thing, BT, Oregon and a lot of other schools nationally have figured out there's a lot of good talent in the state of Alabama.
Yeah, I think they figured that out a while ago.
They've been rating us pretty good.
If you look at – it depends on what polls you look at or whatever, but if you look at the 247 composite, which is, in general, what I look at, you've got, as you mentioned, two of the top three going to Miami.
Then you've got Vigert at Auburn, and then we've had a lot of kids go to Texas.
Jabari's Garrar, who used to be the Alabama commit, was a long-time Alabama commit, just announced last week he was going to Texas.
Obviously, you've got an outlier there, Gunnar Rivers, but we know about that.
I mean, he's going to NC State.
We know why he's going to NC State.
So, it's a good class.
Randy, I think he's got one watch list left for his watch list, and then, I believe starting July 9th, we will start revealing the top 50, our best in Bama recruits, which we do.
You know, it's just recruits overall, not just seniors.
This is the best high school recruits in Alabama.
We rank them, and then we update it every week of the football season.
So, that will be starting in early, mid to mid-July.
Absolutely.
And before we let you go, the People's Choice Awards for the Alabama Baseball Player of the Year, I think it's down to St. Paul's slugger, John Stowers, and Hartzell star, Asher Doppel.
Doppel, I believe, is, Lord have mercy, what a career he's had at Hartzell.
But, tell us about that and any other things you've got going on this week.
Yeah, so, Stowers is the Auburn signee, one of the top prospects, catcher.
And then, Doppel, like you said, I think he's been MVP of the last two Class 6A title series.
So, you can vote on that now through Thursday, I think, or maybe through Wednesday, and then we'll announce the winner.
And then, softball, I think the finals will start tomorrow.
We're still trying to figure out who made it out of the semifinals.
And also, this week, we were doing our, we kind of started our all-region teams in Mobile, Birmingham, and Huntsville.
We call them the Terrific 22.
So, today, we had the Mobile baseball team.
I think tomorrow may be Huntsville baseball, and then, you know, softball after that.
So, we'll have that all week, and we'll see what happens with the HSAA the rest of the week.
Stay tuned to that.
But, boy, jump off, Ben.
Obviously, a lot of folks want to find out about Cedric Simmons, your take.
Supposedly going to be making his announcement tomorrow between Alabama and Auburn.
Your thoughts on that, and whoever gets him, he's out of Selma, south side there, and Selma, how, what's your rating, and your thoughts on Cedric Simmons?
Well, he's a good player.
I mean, big, tall, wide receiver, had a lot of yardage.
I think he's at, did he, I don't know if he transferred over to Selma or not when the coach and quarterback left.
But, it does seem to be an Auburn or Alabama battle.
You know, I think maybe Alabama might have the edge there, but we'll see.
I think also the Thompson DB, Junior Tuapu, Junior James Tuapu.
Right.
He was Junior James.
Now he's Junior James Tuapu.
There you go.
I think he's going to, I think his commitment's upcoming.
So, it is, June has kind of become a commitment month.
Yeah.
Over the years.
It's just amazing how they changed their names.
Next week, will it be Thomas Ben, or will you stay with Ben Thomas, Ben?
I'll just stay with Ben Thomas and go, and I attended Auburn University, not the University,
of Auburn.
Breaking news as it comes.
Oh, man.
Thanks so much for your time, Dan.
Let's do it again soon.
And good luck with Mom over there in Georgia.
I'd love to hear those stories.
Have a good time over there, okay?
All right.
Thank you, guys.
Thank you, buddy.
The BT Express, Ben Thomas, not Thomas Ben with AL.com.
Coming up, time to go to the V-Man and top Big Orange, Vince Ferraro and Dex.
Stay with us.
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Okay, class, let's begin.
Psst, love your boots.
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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 Tennessee Valley.
And speaking of Tennessee, why don't you say we go there right now and speak with the V-Man, Vince Ferrara.
He's got the big orange cover there at 99.1 The Sports Animal in K-Town.
V-Man, welcome in.
How are you?
I'm good, H-Man.
Hope you're doing well.
Does it ever have an off-season for Vince Ferrara?
I mean, is it always September in your backyard, V-Man?
Yeah, I mean, you know, this alleged off-season, you know, recruiting, the June is arguably the biggest month in recruiting.
So, you're tracking that.
And then, you know, there's NFL minicamps going on, and there's 39 former Tennessee players in those expanded rosters.
So, I've been doing a bunch of interviews with former Tennessee players that are on NFL rosters.
And so, that's work to get it done, first of all.
And then, you know, follow up and everything.
But then, you know, talking to them and everything, doing the research for it.
You know, it's been fun, but it does eat up some time.
And next thing you know, you know, a couple weeks headed to Tampa for family and then SEC football media day.
So, no, it does not stop it.
All of it is kind of bridged together.
Do you ever sleep, V-Man?
Do you ever sleep?
Not enough.
I mean, you mentioned Tampa.
Well, just before we get into some of the meat of the matter here, Brett and I are trying to find a nice, convenient, clean place to stay at the right rate.
Do you know anybody in Tampa, V-Man?
Well, you know, my mom's house, Mama for our house.
What a coincidence!
It's not a big house.
If you can find a place to stay, we can have you guys over for dinner.
So, how's that?
That's fair enough.
By the way, we're joking.
So, you can tell mom, she can breathe a sigh of relief.
But let's talk a little bit.
We want to get to that in a second.
But let's talk about Tennessee and the strategy of putting together a class in 2026.
Back in the day, it was automatic what Nick Saban was going to do.
And you know how this game is played.
Fanatics would say, Nick, why are you taking that four-star?
And that just takes up a spot for the five-star.
And nowadays, you look and there's three-star.
And then you go back, there's another three-star.
And then you get another three-star.
And, of course, you ask why.
Well, it's because we've got an expanded roster.
We don't want to spend a lot of money.
We're trying to squeeze it.
We're going to have a small class.
That seems to be the strategy at Tuscaloosa.
Auburn has now got 22 in the house.
What is the strategy in Knoxville for this class?
Well, it's interesting you brought it up, H-Man.
John Wilkerson and I were talking about it this morning on Sports Talk
and how people are wondering, all right, how many are you going to take?
You can save some from the portal.
Well, do you really have to save some from the portal?
What if you lose a whole bunch in the portal?
And then if, for some reason, you need to recoup in the portal and upgrade,
that's a part of college football today where guys can be told, hey, we love you,
but you may need to find another place to play in order to get playing time.
Or here's where you fall in the grand scheme of things.
Not putting the kid down and say, hey, here's the reality of it.
You're probably fourth in our position on our projected depth chart, things like that.
And then here's another equation.
Sometimes you end up losing players that you like and they like you, but their representation wants a certain dollar figure that you don't.
You mentioned budget.
You don't budget for them.
So if they're crazy out of whack, you may like a player, maybe someone that you feel can be a diamond in the rough.
But when they come back after a year and they're asking for a whole lot more money than what you're willing to budget for them with everything else you got to take care of,
you may end up losing them.
So you have to over-recruit in bringing in numbers in high school and the portal, and then you have to let it kind of sift out.
And then, you know, those on the lower levels will get something.
We'll kind of get those that drop down to them.
It's unfortunate, but it's kind of a game.
I think the big boys are playing, even though that's not openly discussed.
Well, and these guys are making a lot of money, so it's on them to make the right call.
That's kind of their job.
It's called player evaluation.
To me, you look at it, V-Man, and he just seems to be part of the chess game right here.
If I see a hotshot kid and he's heavily represented, and if he's a five-star, you know he's got reps,
and they're just sitting there waiting for that money grab behind the curtain.
I'm going to let you, Vince Ferraro, recruiting him at a high school, putting him on the bench,
paying him his million, $2 million a year, and then if it doesn't work out, then I'm coming in,
and I can get him for basically half that price.
How much of that is going on in college football outside of maybe some teams like Texas and others?
And here's where I see it now, V-Man.
The teams that have deep pockets, they're recruiting depth.
A lot of these schools are sitting here and writing big checks for the front 11,
but Texas now, it looks like Texas like that, Ohio State, some of these other schools,
they're able to go out and recruit the front 11 and some depth.
Look at Arch Manning.
How much money did he make sitting on the bench for two years?
Yeah, I think there's some exceptions to it, H-Man,
but I think part of what's brought more teams closer together
and brought the SEC back to the pack, including the Big Ten,
is the fact that the SEC, the big boys, the Alabamas, the Georgias,
they don't have the ability to retain their depth like they used to.
Georgia used to be able to stockpile five stars behind five stars.
Now those players want a lot of money because they were five stars
and they know that they can still demand it in the portal.
I don't think you get a discount.
I think those guys, knowing what they're recruited,
knowing what their potential is,
especially if that position is short on the market,
they can still get plenty of money.
So the portal always, to me, will draw players more money
than what they could get staying at their own school.
That's part of the problem,
is that everyone will leave their good situation to develop,
that they could develop,
because they know they can get more money
being on the open market in the portal.
You know it's going to happen,
but I do think that it has hurt the depth of the big SEC programs.
Yes, there's a few exceptions, Ohio State, Georgia,
that are still better equipped with depth than others,
but I don't think it is what it used to be
with four-star, five-star, all over the place.
And the best programs that sustain winning
are the ones that can find a way around being the biggest spenders.
I don't think Georgia is the biggest spender.
They have to be able to sell the NFL
and development and wanting the right kind of kids.
And if they get that,
then yeah, they can have great players on their roster,
but not always be the highest bidder.
Like, everyone that just plays the highest bidder game,
I think that's where you will run into problems.
Especially down the road.
You better get that money for that class down the road.
That's when you start having to sit here and take the hit.
V-Man hooking up with us, 99-1, the sports animal.
V-Man, just to illustrate where we are in 2026,
did you ever think under Nick Saban, Bama fans would get excited
by getting a flip from Vanderbilt?
Over the last few days, they got Braylon Gibbs, a four-star quarterback.
Here's the reason I bring it up to you, V-Man.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
He's from Knoxville, which the automatic question is,
if he's a four-star, why is Tennessee not on him heavily?
Or is this one of those deals, the old proverbial comeback to that normally,
is, well, the kid wants to go out of state somewhere?
Well, no, I mean, because he committed to Vanderbilt initially.
So I don't think that Tim's seeking there.
You know, he liked Vanderbilt, had that commitment early on,
a connection to that coaching staff.
Tennessee has gotten a number of in-state players.
Half of their 16 commits right now are in-state players,
and a number of them local product, but not everybody.
It's just a really deep year in the state of Tennessee and in East Tennessee.
So you're not going to get everybody.
I'll have to dig.
I'm not sure exactly why he wasn't.
Maybe he was just beat.
Maybe Tennessee did want him, and they were just beaten out by Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt had a lot of momentum when he committed to them.
So that may have just been a win for Vandy as opposed to Tennessee didn't want him.
But, yeah, you know, I don't think it was in-state, out-of-state.
I just think you saw an opportunity there at Alabama,
and maybe they had a spot open up.
You just never know how that works with Kenneth Simon Jr.
flipping from Alabama to Tennessee.
Maybe there was an opportunity there.
Different position, I get it, but just maybe another spot and saw, hey,
I want to be there.
Let's go after it.
What's going through the mind of Tony Vitello these days with the Giants?
You think maybe he'd like to come back to Knoxville in some way,
minus the prestige and paycheck he's probably given to the Giants.
The reason I bring it up, did you see the latest episode?
Earlier this season, he couldn't communicate with a bullpen who he wanted to come in
and pitch.
And over the weekend, he's sitting in a pinch runner for the Giants.
And the guy on first base said, get away.
When the kid came out of the dugout, he sent him back.
I can't imagine back in the day of a player showing up a manager like that.
It has been a long year for Tony Vitello, is it not?
Well, yeah, the team wasn't very good.
At max, there were going to be a 500 team at max.
Their veterans have not played up to par.
Some of them have started to turn around recently and get better.
Yeah, they've had their issues, there's no doubt.
By the way, Devers, I think, eventually had the guy that was at first that was being
pinch run for.
He came out of the game because they had already pinch run for him.
He could say he didn't want to come out anyway.
He's one that needs to move.
But, no, he's not coming back to Tennessee.
If it's one and done, which I would still be surprised.
Arkansas.
Then it would be for another college gig, I think.
Yeah, I know Arkansas is lusting over him coming back over there and getting back to
his roots there.
B-Man, it's always good to hook up with you.
Listen, man, thanks so much for your time today.
Let's do it again soon.
All right.
Always look forward to it.
Thanks, Sarah.
All right.
B-Man, Vince Roy, 99.1, the sports animal in Knoxville.
Let's go to West Tennessee and speak with the man of steel, Jim Steele, on deck.
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Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
It is an absolute pleasure.
If I say hello again to Jim Steele, he's a fine award-winning writer for the Richardson Media Group.
Jim, long time.
Welcome in.
How are you?
Well, I'm a lot better now.
I've gotten both hips replaced, and I'm no longer walking around like Fred Sanford.
So in NASCAR terms, you took a pit stop, got your tires changed, and you're ready for the race again, right?
Oh, yeah.
I got my tire changed.
Yeah, spoilers adjusted to everything.
So, yeah, I'm good to go.
I'm very pleased.
It's been a year, and I have had no difficulty with it.
So folks out there with arthritis and having hip problems, go get your hips replaced.
Even if you don't need it, I recommend it.
There you go.
And when you get your oil changed, that's when you're really going to get back on track there, Jim.
So I'm good luck with that.
You are, like a lot of us, a baseball fan.
Right.
No secret.
You love your Cincinnati Reds, and here we go again.
Before we get into that, Jim, let's talk a little bit about baseball as a whole, if you will.
I mean, this guy named Manfred Jr., the commish, Braves fans know what he did a few years ago because of politics,
took the All-Star game, moved it to Denver.
They threw him a fish down the road.
Now he's coming back.
He's making political statements with these kids, basically saying,
you've got to go to court to fight my policies on certain things.
And now, basically, trying to take away kids coming out of high school and going directly to the majors.
And one of the reasons we bring that up, it's no secret what they're trying to do.
They won't put that expense on colleges to see who's good and who's not.
Then they'll come into the mix.
But you're a Reds fan, and one of our best folks in this neck of the woods
is a former Cincinnati Reds pitcher by the name of David Weathers.
David's son, Ryan, now pitches for the Yankees.
He came out of Monte Loretto, Tennessee in high school and basically signed a contract that could set him up for life.
If Manfred has his way, that would go bye-bye.
Your thoughts about the politics and the policies of this crazy man, Manfred?
I've talked to a lot of guys that are currently in Major League Baseball in some capacity or another,
and I think the consensus is that Rob Manfred is an idiot.
Some of the policies, for example, they're going to try to put in the balls and strikes.
They do that in the minor leagues where it's a machine that does it and not the umpire.
And they say the appeals, that works pretty well.
But generally speaking, everybody says that's going to be a disaster in Major League.
So I just, I don't know.
But yeah, I mean, all the stuff that he's doing, it makes me wonder what's going on.
I don't understand why.
I mean, if a player doesn't want to celebrate a lifestyle, nobody's celebrating my lifestyle.
So, you know, why is it that they got to, they're mandated to celebrate others?
So that's my question about that.
But that's neither here nor there, I guess.
Rob Manfred's going to do what he does.
And I really and truly, I almost want Bud Selig back.
That's how bad it is, right?
Oh, man.
Well, it goes back to, as you mentioned there, going back as far as the automatic balls and strikes.
I think it has a place.
It's a strategy now.
You can sit here twice, and you can use that to your advantage, or it can cost you.
But to me, it's like going to a store and going through the self-checkout stand.
When I do that, basically, I'm cutting somebody out of a job.
I'd hate to see the umpires be cut out of a job because of this tech.
I get the reasons why on paper, but it's life all about bottom line.
It's just about a bottom line world out there.
I guess that's what I'm trying to say.
In other words, the umpires helped build this industry, and now they're saying, well, thank
you for your services, but we can make more money on this.
And if we can let the colleges pick up the tab for these kids to develop, that way we save
more money.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, that's, well, the NBA and the NFL are doing it.
I mean, that's the thing.
I mean, they've got, you know, baseball is really the only professional sport.
Well, hockey to some extent, and that's so disjointed, but baseball is
a big time farm system.
And so, um, you know, colleges serve that for the NFL, essentially, and for a college
basketball.
I mean, you got the D league or whatever, but I mean, really, truly most of the kids,
if you don't go to college and you're not European, you're out of stock.
Yeah.
Well, back to David, David went to mining Motlow Community College.
How much money is, is a community college going to be able to pay a kid, uh, compared to some
of the big powerhouses out there.
So somebody somewhere is going to have to take the hit for this modern.
If it's, if it's, if it comes to a law, somebody somewhere is going to take the hit.
Jim, let's talk about markets like Cincinnati.
You're in an interesting place up there in West Tennessee.
You come between the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals up there, but markets like
that, can, can they survive?
Will they ever be able to do more than remember?
The old Harlem Globetrotters was at the Washington generals.
They had to have an opponent is baseball turning into the markets, like Cincinnati and St.
Louis and Pittsburgh.
Are they turning into the Washington generals?
Just having somebody on the schedule, would they ever realistically be able to compete for
a world series title at one time?
We know the Reds machine, they could do it.
The Cardinals did it, but will they ever get back to it in the modern climate?
That's a good question.
I think they can, but I mean, when you look at the Reds, that's just a lily pad for them.
Guy goes there and then somebody else, you know, walks the fog and he leaps to another lily pad.
Right.
Got the NIL package in college football.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, that's, don't get me started on that.
But that, yeah, I mean, that's the thing about a place like Cincinnati, they get a guy for
about two or three years and then he's gone because, you know, the Reds don't want to pay
him and the Reds probably could pay him.
They don't want to.
They don't keep the money.
Well, yeah, that's true.
You know, and that's something you said earlier about, you know, keeping the money and the
umpires, you know, league going.
I mean, everybody wants to trim the thing.
You don't ever see in baseball, for example, you don't ever see doubleheaders anymore where
you have one game right after the other.
They're day and night because owners don't want to give away free innings.
Uh, it's old, uh, Comiskey park or whatever they call it in Chicago.
Now they used to open the gate after the seventh inning to let the neighborhood kids in to watch
the games for free.
Nope.
And now they don't do that anymore.
They said, well, we'll, we'll give random tickets to kindergartners and first graders around
the area, but that's not the neighborhood kids.
And so owners are so reluctant to give away free innings.
There, uh, plus they also sell like every team has like three or four different hat combinations.
Yep.
So when you buy your merchandise or whatever, they want you to have, uh, different kinds of,
uh, variety.
And so they're just trying to chase that almighty dollar.
Uh, I think people are getting kind of sick of that at some point in time, because you're
already seeing people get sick of it in football already.
Well, something else to show you how the modern world is compared to where it was.
You mentioned the old fashioned twin bills, uh, day, night, double headers that over the
weekend, you see teams taking off Friday night, Saturday night, taking off holidays.
That would have been unheard of at one time in baseball.
And, but you mentioned college football is the same pattern coming to college football.
We, this is big recruiting country.
We know you're in big and recruiting country, but if you took the pulse of where the
passion is now for the respective teams compared to where it was just five years ago, certainly
10 years ago, it is cool considerably because I think a lot of fans are starting to see people
here love college football.
They'll put up with a lot, but, uh, you're starting to see some spots on the banana, so
to speak of fans saying, I'm tired of these 18, 19 year old kids, not necessarily the kids,
but their handlers coming in and maximizing the dollars.
And then my cue said about the reds, they stay a year and then they transfer out and the
schools left holding a baggage for a lot of money.
Oh yeah.
I mean, that's, it's, I'm going to be honest with you, um, Harold, I, I, I, um, I'm not really
looking forward to college football this year, primarily because of this very thing.
I don't know who's going to be playing where last year during the championship game or
something.
I heard somebody say, well, this is this guy's fourth, fourth college to play in four years.
Now what's that about?
Yeah.
Um, you know, it's, it's ridiculous.
I remember when I was going through it, you got five to play four.
And if you transferred, you had to sit out a year.
Yeah.
Um, I've often thought if you transfer, okay, maybe you can be immediately eligible for one,
one year, but you get one bite at that apple.
And then after that, you've got to sit out and, uh, and do whatever, because this is getting
out of control.
I mean, uh, Nick Saban has been very outspoken about it.
So it's John Calipari and Tommy Tuberville.
Uh, they need to get a handle on all this stuff because they did, I think was, was a nice
idea, but they've got unintended consequences.
They didn't account for, and now they've got to, they've got to fix that.
Yeah.
To illustrate your point that you have no idea of the lineup, I bet you, uh, a dime to a donut.
You can remember the Reds lineup back in their heyday.
Who batted first, who batted second, what position, and I would challenge any fan now
to tell me what the lineup is from last year for these teams.
It's the same with football now.
Oh yeah.
You're exactly right.
You're exactly right.
Um, you know, you, you, you don't know who's coming in and who is going to identify with
them.
Yeah.
That's the thing.
I mean, and here's another thing too, you know, uh, February 5th was always signing
day, right?
Yeah.
Right.
It was.
Yeah.
We've got this transfer portal.
Now, does anybody talk about recruiting anymore?
No, no, no, because they got to wait to see who's coming in on the portal.
And I think that's the big deal.
You're in Tennessee country.
Speaking of which, Jim, what, what are fans there realistic expecting about Tennessee?
We know that the hardcore fans always saying anything less than national championship.
And I'm disappointed.
Is there such a thing as a realistic fan?
And if so, what are some realistic numbers from those fans in your neck of the woods for
this Tennessee football team coming up?
Boy, that's a good question because I'm real, I haven't really heard too many people talk
about it.
And that's when you go a lot of people usually this time of year, like, well, I can't wait
for that season.
And now people are like, yeah, well, you know, yeah, they're going to play.
Just in my mind, I haven't really talked to anybody about it because nobody's mentioned
it to me.
I think Tennessee's going to be probably a middle-of-the-road team again.
Last year, they finished ninth in the SEC.
They were, what were they, eight and five.
Yeah.
They got hammered by Vanderbilt.
They had a lot of things that went really wrong last year.
You know, losing out on Nico Imaliava, which to me was kind of like addition by subtraction,
sort of added a little fervor to the beginning of the season.
But, you know, I think, you know, they had an after placement and now he's gone.
You know, Aguilar's gone.
So Tennessee's, I mean, it's just, I don't know.
It's like, I don't know what they're going to do.
I think Tennessee's going to have a, they've got some good players, but I think on defense,
I think I counted, what was it, eight transfers coming in on defensive side?
Something like that.
I mean, so we don't know how they're going to meld.
I mean, they, they're going to have to learn that the system, they've got a new defensive
coordinator, which is probably a good thing.
Yeah.
Mr. Knowles.
And, and so, yeah, I don't know.
I think Tennessee's going to be very interesting this year to be sure.
But again, I, their schedule stuff, you know, you look at, you know, they got Texas coming
in, they got Alabama.
They don't have Florida anymore, but Florida would have been great this year.
Yeah.
I think LSU is on the schedule and I don't know what Lane Kiffin's going to, going to do
down there.
I suspect he'll do quite a bit better than Brian Kelly, which I never did understand that hiring.
But anyway, um, um, so yeah, Tennessee's going to have a, they may surprise everybody because
nobody's talking about them, but, um, um, I don't know.
It's going to be curious to see.
Here's the deal, Jim.
You know, when you're in the state of Tennessee, if more people are buzzing about Vanderbilt
than Tennessee, you know, something ain't right.
Jim is always good to hook up with you, man.
Here's the bottom line.
Tickled to death to hear about the hip replacement.
My, uh, the better half of this clan here, my wife had double knee replacement surgery and
now I can't keep up with her.
So highly recommend it.
Good luck and keep those wheels oiled up there.
Okay, Harold, thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
There you have it.
Uh, Jim Steele hooking up with us, the Richardson media group in the state of Tennessee.
It's going to take care of biz for us for now.
The Braves, by the way, later on tonight, get a nap.
They got the late date at San Diego, but in the meantime, 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 Dune to two for the BMO Buck show back here on sports
radio, 93, nine, the score.
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