Boomo Bugg Show 062526
93.9 The Score WYTK - June 25, 2026
https://www.939thescore.com/boomo-bugg-show-062526/

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

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Now, get ready to roll Shoals, Decatur, Athens and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee.
It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice.
The Boomo Bugg Show.
Your exclusive inside track to the tie, Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC.
Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score.
Good afternoon and welcome here to the Boomo Bugg Show.
I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird.
Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley.
Brett Beaird, welcome in where Bama's boss is getting a little defensive about Alabama's offensive schemes.
Good afternoon, welcome in and right off the top, do you know what happened six months from today?
Little hint, three words, ho, ho, ho.
How are you?
Happy Thursday to you.
Yeah, I could use some of that ho, ho, ho weather next week when the heat wave comes in.
The NCAA Oversight Committee proposes to reduce the transfer window again to 10 days,
which would be January the 4th through the 13th, and to adopt OTAs in place of spring practice.
Lindy Davis of Lindy Sports joins us at 1.20 to preview the SEC, but BB is here right now to talk about some of these proposed NCAA changes.
BB is not Brett Beaird.
Well, I guess it is, but it's also Bill Bender.
He is the boss, the national voice with these sporting news, and I bet he's got a magazine near you right now with his name on it.
Bill Bender, welcome in.
How are you?
Yeah, I hope everybody's got a chance to check that out.
It's on newsstands, and I've been seeing a couple pictures from some friends, and it's the big yellow one.
And it's great to talk to you guys as always.
You too.
Bill, obviously, right now, as it's safe to say, this is kind of the lull before the storm.
Media days are going to be heating up here for long.
But right now, it's a chance for all the talking heads to get together and come up with some new rules.
Brent alluded to it.
Where do you begin in your reaction to some of the news about trying to basically get a handle on it?
Is it too little, too late, or you've got to start somewhere and start reeling these kids in and give them some boundaries?
Well, I mean, the portal stuff makes sense.
You know, the five-and-five stuff makes sense.
But now, it will impact recruiting a little bit because I think it changes the makeup of your roster, right?
If you have 50-year players and you're able to build a roster full of 50-year players.
State even had a really veteran team that won national championships.
And I'm wondering if, like anything else, Harold, you've got to have a mix of the blue-chip talent, the NFL guys, the program guys, and the five-year guys.
And I think that's how you're going to win.
And the portal guys.
And that's how you're going to win.
And the bottom line is chemistry, too.
Would you agree, Bill?
You've got to have people who fit your system.
I think Cignetti basically showed people last year the importance of getting chemistry, having a locker room together.
As you mentioned, a good mix.
But basically, you've got to be able to evaluate talent.
And I think some of these guys get caught up in the rock star.
They want to win the news conference.
They want to win the recruiting battle.
We saw it with Hugh Freeze.
He got a lot of big fish.
He just didn't know what to do with them when he got them.
Nick Saban and Cignetti are great examples of coaches that know how to – I think Kaelin DeBoer knows how to evaluate talent.
You know, he's not a – Kaelin DeBoer is not a – he's a no-for-olds coach, right?
He just goes out and does the job.
And Saban was very good at it.
Whenever I talk about Nick Saban, I always say, you know, when he sent guys to the NFL, they were ready to play.
And they didn't let go seven new levels in the NFL because that's how he developed the talent.
And Cignetti's doing the same thing in Indiana.
It's pretty incredible how he's been able to do that.
Isn't it interesting how the transfer portal has changed in two years?
We had two periods.
The early period and then you had the spring.
It's going from 45 to 30, down to 15.
Now they're proposing 10.
What I still have an issue with, they wanted to run from January the 4th through the 13th.
Well, what's going on at that period?
The college football playoff.
My goodness, don't you have any – you know, put it two weeks up.
Your thoughts on that.
And then the OTAs.
We've talked about this.
I've always liked spring games for years.
But the OTAs, teams would be allowed 21 formal practices, two five- to seven-week periods.
And the fall camp would be reduced from 25 preseason practices to 21.
I think spring OTAs make sense.
I do.
I mean, more of an NFL-type model.
Spring football, as we know it, has changed a lot.
The calendar and the season's long.
I mean, I was looking at some bowl projections that I'm putting together.
And you figure out how much time is in between the semis and the – there's two weeks between the quarters and the semis.
And then there's another 11 days until the title game.
It's a long football season.
So I'm good with that one.
Now, as for that portal window, I think one thing to keep in mind, and it's hard, and I understand why they're having trouble here.
I don't know when some of the schools start after winter break or after Christmas break.
You mentioned that Christmas is going to be – don't tell me Christmas is going to be here.
But that break and when schools start impacts when kids have to make those decisions to go to the schools that they want to go to.
Bill Bennett, the Sporting News.
You mentioned Coach DeBoer.
You have the national seat at the table.
Obviously, you mentioned Nick Saban.
We know where Alabama was in recruiting back in the day.
Always – forget about being number one in the SEC.
They were number one in the country with a long streak of it.
Now, they're 16th.
But the other thing that's come out this week, DeBoer is getting a little defensive about his offensive approach.
And here's why I think a lot of folks are asking them – to me, it's a fair question.
Last year, Alabama had 104.13 yards a game.
In case you're wondering, folks at home for keeping score, that's 125th in the country.
As far as yards per carry, 335, 126th in the country.
I think people are fair in asking them a question because back in the day when Alabama had that string of running backs,
that was basically why a lot of those guys had the half.
Yeah, for sure.
And that's – you know, Saban teams regularly had over 200 rushing yards per game.
You look at how Indiana's winning.
You know, it's that mix.
I think when you can mix, it doesn't just have to be the running game.
But the way that they relentlessly hit you with the running game
and then have a quarterback that can throw it on top, it's hard to beat those teams.
So, yeah, I get it.
You always say, run the, you know what, ball down there in Alabama.
And either you could put any number of words in there to fill in that blank.
And, yeah, I think that's something that you saw in the second half of this last season
when they struggled to run the football, it kind of pressed Ty Simpson.
I mean, he was our midseason All-American quarterback last year.
And, you know, some of that play may have tailed off because they couldn't run the football.
And the other part of that too, Bill, the other aspect to that is,
let's say that you've got a lead and you need to milk the clock in the fourth quarter.
If you don't have a running game, guess what?
Passing means that's a lot of stoppage.
It's hard to milk the clock if you don't have a reliable running game.
100%.
And if you look at the last three national champions out of the Big Ten,
all of those teams have a tag team running back, right?
Like Hemby and Caitlin Black for Indiana last year.
They were amazing.
The year before Michigan, two years ago or three years ago,
Michigan had Donovan Edwards and Blake Corham.
And then, of course, Henderson and Judkins at Ohio State.
When you have that tag team that can control the game, I mean, at a certain point, game over.
And Alabama's had that in the past, obviously, with some of the tag team running backs that they've had.
But I think I always look at that with teams, when you rush over 200 yards a game
and you've got two guys that can do it, other teams in trouble.
Yeah, Steve Spurrier's, but what he wanted to do was, he always said,
we pass early and run late.
You've got to have balance, and I agree with that.
One of the big stories this week was the surprise at Michigan with Dusty May moving on to Dallas.
And a lot of people have talked about the reasons why he's not so much frustrated with players,
but certainly the agents.
But you had to call him as far as what I call realistic candidates to replace him,
and that's going to be a domino effect.
I don't know if Boynton, Mike Boynton, is going to be a two-month interim or a year interim,
but we'll see.
And then Nate Oates' name always comes up.
Well, he's got a $15 million buyout, a new practice facility, and a new contract,
and you list a lot of other candidates.
Here are some realistic candidates, according to Bill Bender.
Yeah, I think Nate Oates would be more of a long shot, but we're obligated to mention him
with the Michigan background, the person in Michigan, and any time money comes up, right?
And he's a good coach.
So, you know, I think, honestly, Brett, that Boynton's probably going to get the first look here.
And where they're at, unless there's one of those candidates, the St. Louis coach shirts,
kind of, Josh shirts kind of popped to me because they play a similar style.
And then Dusty left, it felt like Billy Donovan a little bit.
When Billy Donovan left Florida, you were all kind of shocked.
That was a long time ago, but he's still stuck in the NBA.
He's stuck, as in a good way, in the NBA.
And I think Dusty will do all right in the NBA.
I mean, anybody that goes from Florida Atlantic to national champion to the NBA on that fast track,
you know, it just makes me think that was on his mind the whole time.
I got a flag and a bad foundation to build on either.
Bill, your reaction to the Brendan Soresby News of the Week.
It's the first chance we've had to follow up.
We know about basically saying, I'm going to give up the legal, legal fight.
I'm going to try to go to the NFL in the supplemental draft.
It's that one problem.
The NFL says, nah, we've done our homework.
We're not going to roll the dice part of the pond here and gamble on you, Mr. Soresby.
Your thoughts now, especially folks saying he's in a buy.
Well, one of the reports says that the dude out there, Mr. Big Bucks,
he's still going to pay him his $4 million deal, even though he's not going to play at Texas Tech.
If that's true, that's one thing.
He can go get treatment.
If not, then what a decision.
It's not the door finally closed.
If anything, from afar, this is the best thing that could happen to the kid.
Go and get treatment.
Then, if you check all the boxes, maybe you can come back down the road and get back into the NFL.
I was surprised by the ruling, the supplemental draft not happening a little bit.
But I think this is the NFL's way of saying, you're going to serve a punishment one way or the other.
And it was very punitive.
Their letter was, I'm not making a joke, guys, I'm serious, but it was mean.
Scathing.
It was.
It was a little bit mean.
And you to him, because no one's ever sat down and been a big daddy figure to him, probably all of his life.
Well, I mean, that's part of it, too.
So, I think he has three avenues here that make sense.
One would be, you go back to Texas Tech and not play.
Right.
Maybe be a part of the team as a practice player.
Watch from the sideline.
Get that treatment from the school.
That's one option.
You could go play JUCO football, which doesn't, you know, maybe they could ban him, too.
And then three is he, you know, privately works out for a year, gets the treatment off the field he needs, and shows up at the combine as a, somebody we're curious about that lacks a year of game film, but still has some ability.
So, I think any one of those three is, I doubt, I'll tell you this one, Harold, I wouldn't go through the NFL, though.
No.
Because that won't end well.
No.
They got more lawyer than Carter's got liver pills, you know?
Right.
Exactly.
That's not going to end well.
No.
Yeah, that was scathing, absolutely.
Listen, I always enjoy the conversation with you.
Tell us where we can get online and get your stuff and the magazine.
I'm going to try to buy one this weekend.
I'll be looking for that big yellow cover.
Yeah.
Where can we get online and get your stuff and also buy the Sporting News preseason college football magazine?
Yeah, it's available online.
Just look up the preview.
It's great.
And getting ready for holiday week next week.
I know a lot of people are going to be throttling down, but then, you know, it picks back up as we get past the holiday.
So, working on some stuff that I think you guys are going to love down the road for our Sporting News 140 coverage ahead of the college football season.
We've got some cool pieces coming out.
I don't want to reveal too much, but the one I'm working on right now is really fun.
Bill, just go ahead and tease us.
Just go ahead and tease us, Bill.
Listen, in the meantime, good to hook up with you.
Have a great rest of the weekend.
Thank you so much for your time today.
Hey, anytime, guys.
Thanks for having me on.
Thank you, Bill.
Double B, Bill Bender, National Voice with the Sporting News.
What's going on at our neck of the woods?
Caleb Suggs.
Details next.
Stay with us.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
Proud to have you on board and also proud to say hello to Caleb Suggs.
He's got it all covered over there at the Decatur Daily.
Caleb, welcome in.
How are you?
I'm doing good, guys.
How are you all?
Hey, man.
And a chance for you to kind of kick back.
You've had a busy, busy school year covering everything in that neck of the woods.
But before we get into some of the awards, which is always sweet, these guys deserve it, and girls.
It's one thing to sit here and talk about the Bob Seger song.
Remember, Night Moves back in the day?
Bob Seger with that song.
Talk to us about a special Seger family in your neck of the woods doing something kind of rare.
Not one, but being a part of two state championships this past season.
Yeah, you know, a pretty cool story.
I got to do Chad Segers, who's an assistant at Lawrence County for the softball team.
And then his son, Glavin, who's an assistant with the Hartzell baseball team.
And they were able to go out and both win a collective state championship for their individual team.
So, you know, that's really cool.
I don't think that a father-son duo getting to do that.
It would be cool if it was a father-son duo coaching for the same team.
But the fact that it was two different teams that both won their own state championships was a neat story.
And, you know, it doesn't surprise me.
You know, Chad's a very bright coach.
You know, he coached his kids most of his life, so he's kind of got into the coaching game here late.
But he's very well sought after by baseball and softball coaches because of his knowledge.
And then Glavin, it really don't surprise me that, I mean, just at 23 years old, he's already won two state titles as an assistant coach with Hartzell.
I mean, you know, when he was a player, he was a very bright player.
You know, as a catcher for Hartzell, he called the pitches, which is very rare in high school to actually have a catcher that does that.
And he's always been super smart.
So, you know, I think he's going to eventually be a head coach probably before he's 30 if I had to make a bet on it.
So, yeah, really cool story.
Glad I was able to do it.
And for two great guys and a great family that I'm very well known with.
Good job of you.
Absolutely.
We talked a lot about Lindsey Lane during the baseball season.
And I mentioned to you, I knew when Robbie Parker went to Lindsey Lane, the former baseball coach at Bob Jones,
that the baseball program at Lindsey Lane would be one of the best in the state.
Well, it already is.
Wyatt Wallace and Coach Charles Morrison are the 1A, 4A Baseball Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.
In fact, Wyatt had a 7-0 record, 75 strikeouts, 59 runs scored, 45 RBIs.
Coach Morrison did an incredible job.
They won a school record 33 games.
And as you mentioned in the article, they've only got two seniors.
They've got most of this team coming back, along with Cooper Abernathy,
the Alabama Sportswriters Class 2A Hitter of the Year.
What a season for Lindsey Lane in baseball.
And they're well-deserved of the awards.
Yeah, I think you're just looking at a program that is, like you said,
it's just becoming one of the best in not just North Alabama, but all of Alabama.
And it was about five years ago when they made the state finals in 2A.
And, you know, they were a really good team then.
You know, obviously they deserved to get there.
But I think it's different now that you can just see the difference in the program.
They boast players that could really be playing for any school.
You know, they could be playing at a Hartzell or a Bob Jones.
I mean, they're that good.
And so, you know, they're starting to get that respect.
You know, next year they're going to be playing a lot of good teams.
They've already got Bob Jones on the schedule and some other state championship-type teams.
And Hartzell is possibly going to play them.
You know, so that just shows you the respect that they're getting.
But, yeah, and then you mentioned it.
You know, only two seniors.
Wyatt Wallace, you know, is coming back.
He was just a – I mean, a lot of these guys were, like, just sophomores.
Not just – not only did they not have a bunch of seniors,
but they're, like, freshmen and sophomores.
But it's who have still played, been playing for a couple years now.
So that experience is going to pay off big going forward now.
You know, they're beefing up their schedule.
And, obviously, with the private-public split,
so they're going to be in a tough area playing teams like Mars Hill.
You know, are they going to win 33 games again?
Probably not.
But, you know, I think they're on a trajectory to eventually maybe get back to the
state finals and win a championship, which is what they really want.
So great program, a great season.
You know, it didn't end the way they wanted to.
It was a little short quarterfinals because they were the number one team
going into the playoffs.
But, you know, they lost to Mars Hill, who's, you know, really, really good, too.
So – but still a great season overall.
Caleb Suss got it all covered again there at the Decatur Daily.
It's time of the year.
The coaching carousel is busy.
But is there a more interesting changing of the guard
than at East Lawrence with their football program?
You know –
Explain that, young man.
Yeah, you know, it's pretty interesting for me, obviously.
You know, Jamie Suggs is the new head coach.
That is my father.
What can you tell us about Jamie Suggs?
Well, he – obviously, you know, doesn't have a lot of experience.
You know, I think we're going to throw that.
You know, he's a guy that, you know, kind of got into the coaching game late.
You know, kind of like Chad Segers.
You know, he grew up, you know, kind of doing what was best for me
and the family and then kind of got into his teaching late.
But, you know, I think one thing, you know, obviously anything I say
comes with a realm of bias.
But I think what's going to be good for East Lawrence is, you know,
I can attest that that is about as hard a worker as you're going to find.
And that's really why he got this job despite not having a ton of experience
because he's become so well-respected at that school
or how hard he works.
And I think another thing is, you know, he's such a stickler for details.
You know, one of those coaches that's like, you know,
we're going to do things the right way.
We're going to buy into the little things, you know, discipline and all that stuff.
And, you know, I think that's what East Lawrence has been missing.
There's not – it's not a shortage of talent is why East Lawrence has been struggling.
I mean, he's inheriting a team that has two D1 players with, you know, D1 offers on it.
So they have some great athletes, some great players.
So I think if they're able to just get a little bit of a buy-in as far as, you know,
like I said, the details, the little things, being more disciplined, you know,
the weight room, he's real big into that.
You know, these are all things that are cliches when it comes to coaching.
All coaches say these.
But it's one thing to say that.
It's another thing to have a coach that really invests in that.
And so I think he's going to do a good job with that.
Obviously, like I said, anything I see is going to be biased.
But I do think – I do think he's going to do a pretty good job.
I think he's going to get them on the right track.
And, you know, we'll see.
I hope he does well, I mean, selfishly.
But I guess we'll just have to find out.
He will.
I guarantee you.
Let me ask you about two before we let you go.
We talked a lot about Lawrence County.
They had an incredible year in an 11-year drought in the postseason.
Josh Graham of Lawrence County is the Cater Daily's 5A, 7A coach of the year.
And they had an absolutely incredible run.
And you use the term video game numbers,
which aptly describes Arden Breedlove for Austin.
Batted nearly 600, 98 RBIs, 89 runs, 27 home runs, so 29 bases.
And, I mean, it's just absolutely incredible.
Your award winners this year, or the Cater Daily Award winners, are well-deserving.
But Lawrence County had a tremendous year, a well-deserved coach of the year.
And Arden Breedlove had put up some incredible numbers.
Yeah, you know, coming into it, you know,
real cool story there with Coach Graham.
Been at L.C. before, had success, you know,
kind of went on in, you know, other places and just found his way back.
And I think he was the right guy because, you know,
Lawrence County has tons of talent, you know, right now.
And they've been real close the last two years,
falling short of the state tournament, like, by a game both years.
You know, but still, I think last year they won over 40 games.
I mean, they were so talented last year.
So, I think he was the right guy to come in and kind of get them over the hump.
And then, you know, they still got a lot of talent coming back, too.
So, they're going to be really good again next year.
And then Arden Breedlove, I mean, that's just insane.
I don't, the numbers she put up, I mean, that really was the best way to describe it.
I mean, those are the kind of things you see in video games.
And, you know, she's going to Mississippi College with, there's nothing to scoff at,
but I think some bigger schools are going to wish that they had recruited her harder.
And I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up at a bigger school,
because I think she's a heck of a player and does, you know, not just the numbers,
but just the way she attacks the game.
I think one of the best players all around that I've covered.
And, you know, it's been a pleasure to watch her.
And I know she's going to do great things in college.
And I wouldn't, like I said, I wouldn't be surprised she ends up playing
for somebody pretty big down the road.
I think you're exactly right, by the way.
Congratulations also to East Limestones baseball coach Adam Brown,
the Decatur Daily's 5A, 7A Baseball Coach of the Year.
And also another coach in Carousel, Nicholas Holland,
is the new baseball coach at Decatur.
I think Decatur is beginning to grow again.
So we're going to see that.
His dad is a mutual friend of Harold and I, Barry Holland,
who is friends with our good friend, Freddie Kirby.
So congratulations to Nicholas Holland,
now being named the Decatur baseball coach.
You can get that information, all your stories on the player
and coaches of the year.
But where can we get online and get a lot of your articles
in the postseason awards?
Yeah, you can get online at DecaturDaily.com.
We've still got a few of these postseason awards to roll out.
And then, you know, next week the calendar turns to July.
And that means it'll be time to get ready for football.
So it'll be here before you know it.
Caleb's always good to hook up with you.
Listen, if you see that new coach out at East Lawrence
telling that Brett and I said hello, okay?
Okay.
I'll try to remember that.
Thank you, bud.
We'll hold you to it.
Caleb sucks.
Hooking up with us.
We'll see you there with the Decatur Daily.
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The Atlanta Falcons this week locked in tight end.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
I read a personal question, if you don't mind, okay?
Yeah.
Do you love preseason football magazines?
Well, of course I do.
Do you know anybody who probably knows a lot about preseason magazines?
You know, it's ironic.
We've got Lindy Davis on at 120, who is the publisher of Lindy's Magazine.
And I was looking at the Tennessee segment yesterday.
I was looking at the schedule, looking at the scattering report for office and defense.
Right.
And I got down to the end of the article, and it had two words.
Ryan Callahan.
Way.
I know that guy.
And, you know, I think we need to ask him if it's the Ryan Callahan who wrote that article
for Lindy's.
RC on UT and now on the Boomo Bugg show.
Ryan Callahan, Go Vols 24-7.
Ryan, welcome in.
We knew you when you weren't all that famous.
How are you?
Doing well.
How are you guys?
Good.
All right.
That's a treat, is it not to be?
We've known Lindy for a while, and in one of the iconic preseason magazines, he was there
when basically people said, what are they doing?
He's still there, which tells you he's doing something right.
That had to be a treat, Ryan.
Yeah, it's the second year I've done the Tennessee section.
I did a little bit of work for them before.
We've partnered with them at 24-7 Sports for years to do their recruiting content as part
of those team previews.
So, yeah, it's fun to do that, and it's a lot of work that goes into that.
And you have to do it coming out of spring practice.
So, there's a lot of, you know, there's a starting lineup we list in there, a lot of
projecting involved in that.
So, there's some guesswork a little bit.
You've got to do the best you can in April or May to piece it all together.
But, yeah, it's fun to do that, and definitely gives you an appreciation for all the work
that goes into that, because just to put one of those together, and they've got, you
know, dozens, if not hundreds of teams to worry about.
I tell you what, Ryan, we're going to have the balls on.
We'll put a good word in for you if you can kind of give us a sneak peek without having
to shoot us of what will be in that magazine about Tennessee as far as offensive line
targets and everything else that you might be able to share with us.
Well, offensive line targets, do you mean recruiting or?
Yeah, recruiting separately, but also maybe what would be some of the insights in the article.
I know you can't tell us everything, but some of the things that folks who are curious about
what is going on with Tennessee.
Yeah, well, so the recruiting section actually didn't do the Tennessee part for them this year,
but on the team side, you know, definitely I think just a general theme is, you know, a lot of changes this year,
a lot of key changes for Tennessee, especially on the staff side of things, and some several important new faces
on defense where Tennessee obviously struggled last year, but, you know, from Jim Knoll, the defensive coordinator,
to bringing in a new strength coach from Indiana right after the season,
to really change some things up that for the first time under Josh Heupel felt like they really needed to be changed.
I think that's kind of the theme of this season, and it continues with, you know,
whether they intended it this way in the beginning or not, a couple young quarterbacks,
one of whom either as a true freshman in Faison Brandon or a redshirt freshman in George McIntyre,
is going to be starting and playing some tough games early at Georgia Tech, for example, a road game in week two.
They're going to have some youth there at quarterback.
They've got a few weeks to figure things out before you get into SEC play,
but they're going to have a young quarterback either way as part of those changes.
So, yeah, definitely a year of change for Tennessee,
and that kind of goes hand in hand with the fact that people aren't necessarily expecting a lot from Tennessee,
a lot of projections of them being around seven or eight wins and things like that,
and that's not something we've heard a lot of the past few years for Josh Heupel and that staff.
Let me ask you about recruiting.
Tennessee's got two offensive line commitments, Amari Hudson and Princeton U, I'll call him, two other guys.
I know there have been a lot of commitments this week, and I've been running to keep up with.
Miller Westerfield, and then a guy that Auburn has looked at, Nico Kompas.
I grew up in Germany, went to the NFL Academy in London.
I know those are two that Tennessee has looked at.
Of course, other schools have two.
Ismail Kamara, who I believe is going to wait until the fall to take his official visits.
Where's Tennessee in recruiting for the offensive line?
Yeah, still waiting on those, you know, mainly those two guys you mentioned, Miller Westerfield and Nico Kompas.
We'll see if Tennessee is able to land either of those guys.
It sounds like it's been mostly an SEC battle for Nico Kompas.
That's Auburn, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee, the main contenders there.
He also took an official visit to Michigan.
Tennessee does have a connection there that could prove to be helpful.
They've got his former NFL Academy teammate, Luca Wolfe, a freshman tight end on campus,
and those guys knew each other pretty well from their time at the NFL Academy.
So having that tie could at least help the Vols a little bit.
And they've landed two players from the NFL Academy in England, including Emmanuel Okoye,
an edge rusher who transferred out to Cal earlier this year.
So they do have some relationships there that could help in that battle,
but so does Alex Golesh and that staff at Auburn.
So I think those two might be at least the main contenders down the stretch,
but no final word yet on where he might be headed.
Miller Westerfield has been a trickier one to assess, not quite as much Tennessee buzz maybe,
but just partly because he's a quiet kid, and I think people don't have a great feel
for where that one's headed.
But Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee kind of thought to be the finalists there.
And Tennessee made a good impression on his first official visit a few weeks ago,
but hard to say how much might have changed since he took those final two trips.
So we'll see about that one down the stretch.
But those are really the only two names left on the board for the Vols right now.
Always possible they could go into the season and look to flip some guys
or find some late emerging players, or obviously go to the transfer portal in the offseason.
That's kind of something we might see more with this class for Tennessee,
just not looking like it's going to be a very large class,
but they certainly would like to add at least one more piece to that offensive line if possible.
And so a lot of focus on Westerfield and campus to see if Tennessee can get one of those guys.
Ryan Callahan, Govall, 24-7.
You mentioned the flip word.
Recently, anytime Tennessee flips anybody, that's news,
but especially when it's, I guess, from Alabama by way of Tennessee.
You know where I'm going with this.
Timebacker Kenneth Simon II, after committing to Alabama, had a cup of coffee,
and now it's flipped to Tennessee.
And shock, shock, Ryan, a lot of folks are not shocked by this flip.
Are you?
Well, at the time it happened, it was shocking to a lot of people
and sort of came out of nowhere because there wasn't an official visit that preceded it.
Now, there was sort of a quiet, you know, I guess you could call it an unofficial visit,
but essentially the weekend before he flipped, Kenneth Simon was back in Knoxville where he grew up.
You know, he was born and raised in Knoxville and spent a lot of time there,
obviously, around the program, but just happened to be in Knoxville
for his younger brother's baseball tournament,
had some guys that he knew on campus for official visits,
including his teammate from Brentwood Academy, Keyshawn Bowman.
And those guys just kind of hit him up, knew he was in town, and said,
hey, why don't you come over and hang out?
And so he just ended up over at a player's apartment,
kind of hanging out with those guys during their official visits
and just kind of realized how many familiar faces there were at Tennessee
and just kind of came away from that little bit of time he spent with them thinking,
you know, I think I might want to be here.
And so that started the conversation.
And so obviously there's, you know, there's the money side to everything.
Things had to work out on all fronts for the flip to happen.
But, you know, Tennessee was able to get that one done and made it happen.
And like you said, they had that strong family connection there
with his dad, Kevin Simon, being a former Tennessee linebacker,
also having been a part of Tennessee's staff under Jeremy Pruitt.
And actually in the early days of the Josh Heupel era,
before Heupel chose not to retain him,
you wondered if that might have made things more complicated for Tennessee
in the recruiting process.
But the Vols were able to overcome that.
And I think the staff changes they made on defense that I mentioned earlier,
you know, Jim Knowles replacing Tim Banks.
I think that kind of gave Tennessee some new life in that recruitment,
but still it looked like a tough one for Tennessee throughout the spring.
So, yeah, that was definitely not one of those situations
where people were just expecting a flip.
And it sort of did come out of nowhere at the time.
But in hindsight, obviously there are plenty of reasons to look at it
and say, well, that makes sense.
You know, the guy that grew up in Knoxville loves the idea of playing at Tennessee
and has the family connection there.
And sometimes, you know, just the familiarity of knowing you can play
with a bunch of guys that you know and grew up with
can be a deciding factor for some guys as long as the money adds up
and everything makes sense on all fronts.
Speaking of that, connections to Knoxville,
let's ask you, if you will, about another one.
Now, obviously this road has two lanes.
One leads from Alabama to Tennessee.
The other is Tennessee leads to Alabama.
Braylon Gibbs, a Knoxville native, committed to Vanderbilt.
Some of them enlisted as a four.
Others are three-star cornerback.
And then Alabama used the flip word to bring in Braylon Gibbs
from Knoxville by way of Vanderbilt to Tuscaloosa.
What can you tell us about Braylon Gibbs?
Yeah, nice early pickup there for Alabama.
Been an active recruitment already for a guy just going into his junior year
of high school.
But, yeah, he's got a good number of early offers, more than 15 in all.
And Tennessee, among the schools that was already pursuing him,
Notre Dame, Miami, some other heavy hitters.
So, clearly a good player, good length, you know, around 6'2", 175 pounds.
So, there's a lot to like there.
Knoxville Catholic High School just down the road from Tennessee's campus.
And, you know, a lot of talent on that roster right now with several guys
having Tennessee offers.
So, yeah, nice pickup there.
And it's interesting to see some early commitments, a little bit more than usual.
We even saw a 20-29 commitment in the last few days here.
So, you know, it's interesting even in this era where everyone's kind of all, you know,
high school recruiting hasn't been completely de-emphasized,
but people are a little more interested these days in portal recruiting
versus high school recruiting.
But interesting to see, not only is that still important to a lot of programs,
but we're still seeing some very early commitments
and clearly some schools prioritizing these guys to the point that you're getting
those early commitments.
So, yeah, it's an interesting era that we're in.
But, yeah, you still see some early pickups like this.
And, yeah, nice early addition for Alabama that, again, long way to go in that one.
We'll see if it lasts all the way to the finish line.
But that's a kid who's already been pretty active committing to two different SEC schools
before his junior years even started.
Five-star wide receiver Xavier Salb has two older brothers playing at Alabama right now.
According to a lot of sources, he won't be coming to Alabama.
But I know he visited Tennessee on an official in June.
Tennessee, as you mentioned, Keyshawn Bowman,
Dane Cooper or two that they've got commitments from.
Where's Tennessee's stance with Xavier Salb?
Yeah, it seemed like Tennessee had made a pretty good impression there
during his official visit to Knoxville the weekend of June 12th.
That was his next-to-last official visit.
But he ended that string of visits by going back to Oregon last weekend
and certainly seemed like the Ducks were the team to beat going into that final visit.
And that's been kind of the buzz coming out of that one as well.
So it does sound like Oregon, probably the leader in the clubhouse right now,
not a done deal just yet.
But that looks very possible he'll be heading out west to play for the Ducks.
So that seems to be where that one is trending right now.
Tennessee, if there's another team to watch in that one, it could be Tennessee.
But with them already having Keyshawn Bowman, as you mentioned,
the highly-ranked in-state receiver, and then Dane Cooper already committed,
I think they're at least content if they don't get Xavier Saab to kind of be at a good place
with those two guys committed at wide receiver and Saab, one of those highly-ranked players
that you're not going to get without investing some resources.
So we'll see if that one works out for Tennessee.
But right now there's more reason to think he might end up at Oregon
as opposed to his other finalists.
Nate Amant, selected number 13, I'd seen anywhere from 10 to 15 for the NBA draft.
Tennessee fans, I know, wish he could come back for another year, but he was so talented.
He got hurt late in the year and played through that.
Going 13, is that about where you thought he'd be selected?
Well, that was thought to be a real possibility.
There were some projections later in the process, especially where you thought
maybe he could slide into the top 10.
But it was a pretty deep draft, obviously.
You had the Michigan players in there that drew a lot of attention
and kind of caused him to fall down the board a little bit farther.
So it made some sense.
But he's an interesting prospect to a lot of teams, I think, who, you know,
intrigued by the age, by the upside, you know,
really started to come into his own the second half of the season at Tennessee
and a lot of people still think he's got another level that he can take his game to
in the NBA.
But the landing spot is pretty good.
He ends up with the Bucs and, you know, finds a real opportunity there,
obviously, with Giannis no longer on the roster.
You know, similar build, I guess, and in some ways maybe similar game
to where he can be a guy for them early and have a chance to really make himself
kind of a cornerstone for that franchise.
So we'll see how that works out for him.
But, you know, on one hand, not a team that's going to be expected to do a lot
this year probably without Giannis.
But on the flip side, a real opportunity there for him to go in
and make himself a big name for them pretty early if he can live up to the hype.
So not a bad landing spot, even though he slipped toward the back end
of the lottery picks.
But in a strong draft for a young guy, that's not the worst landing spot for sure.
Yeah.
Our listeners certainly remember Nate Amey lining up Alabama for 28 in Tuscaloosa.
That was another one of his coming out games.
By the way, again, congratulations on the article on Lindy's about Tennessee for the upcoming season.
And you're right.
I'm sure that was a lot of work that you put in for that.
Recruiting, baseball transfer portal, still a lot of stuff going on,
much less previewing the upcoming season.
Where can we get online to get all the good stuff?
Yeah, appreciate that.
But, yeah, a lot's going on.
Great time to check out the site.
50% off right now on annual subscription to get all the recruiting coverage
and football preview coverage.
Preseason camp just around the corner, already looking ahead to where Tennessee's going to be
going into this season.
But, yeah, lots to check out right now at GoVols247.com.
And you can follow me on Twitter at RyanCallahan247 as well.
That's great, Ryan.
Listen, man, thanks so much for your time today.
Have a great Thursday, Friday, and weekend, okay?
You guys do the same.
Thank you, bud.
RC on UT, GoVols247.
BB coming up the next hour.
You mentioned his boss, Lindy Davis himself, is going to be on board,
going to be checking in with a little tight talk from Ryan Fowler
and going to kick it all off by going to his favorite neighborhood,
Mike Neighbors and more.
Straight ahead, stay with us.
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Westwood One Sports presents this World Soccer Update.
Already assured a spot in the round of 32,
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Boomo Bugg on 93.9, the score.
Is it ever too early to get to those ACC football power rankings?
Never.
Never.
This is from on3.com.
Foddy, Lang, Kiffin, Stretbeard are at number six ahead of the Alabama Crimson Tides.
They're basically in the middle of the pack.
Can you imagine a few years back saying Alabama is in the middle of the pack right now?
Well, I've said this for months.
The reason Alabama, Harold, is anywhere from 10 to 15,
they don't have a veteran quarterback.
If Ty Simpson would have come back,
Alabama would have probably been third in the SEC
and eighth or ninth in the majority of the national polls.
A lot of these polls, the guys that put them together,
can't get past an experienced quarterback.
I think that's why they're there.
Auburn is 13, you agree with that.
Harold, I think if they will have a good year,
they're going to have a winning season.
Again, they already know their identity, Harold.
They're going to run the frigging bowl,
as Alex Golding said in the preseason.
What kind of bowl are they going to run, Brent?
Yeah, frigging bowl.
The Boomo Bugg show, weekdays noon to 2 on 93.9, the score.
93.9, the score weather.
Today, a 20% chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms
with a high around 90.
Tonight, partly cloudy with a 10% chance of showers overnight
and a low near 70.
Tomorrow, mostly sunny with a 10% chance of showers
and a high around 95.
Tomorrow night, partly cloudy with a low near 75.
Ampere Saturday, mostly sunny with a high around 90.
Your weather from 93.9, the score.
Now, get ready to roll.
Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of northwest Alabama
and southern Tennessee.
It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM sports voice.
The Boomo Bugg show.
Your exclusive inside track to the tie.
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, Harold, will be joining in just a few minutes,
but absolutely delighted to bring in good friend, Mike Neighbors.
And it may take me two minutes to do his introduction.
Florida Southern College professor, NFL broadcaster,
or used to be covering the Saints and the Tampa Bay Bucs,
author of several books, including Don't Quit Pivot
and the Breezeway, and we'll talk about Don't Quit Pivot
in a few minutes, Major League Baseball writer,
Aarons, I'll let him explain that,
neighborhood blogger, and just all-around nice guy.
Welcome into the show, Mike.
How are you doing?
What's up, brother?
I was at Birmingham this week.
I was so close, yet so far from you.
How are you?
Man, we're doing all right.
I was a little late because I had to change the ink
in the printer just to get all your accomplishments there, Mike.
One thing I admire about you, you are not afraid to go through things
and try to bring in new things.
You should write a book, as Rick alluded to.
You should write a book that says Don't Quit But Pivot.
Have you ever thought about doing that, Mike?
You know what?
Yeah, I'm going to get to that one of these days.
Absolutely.
We want to talk more about that.
But first of all, about the family, how are they doing,
including your daughter, who knows all about a place
called the University of Alabama, where Papa spent some time back in the day?
Yeah, you know what?
This will show you how small our business is, Harold.
My first TV job, my daughter's doing great, by the way,
but my first TV job was in Tuscaloosa,
and a guy by the name of David Lamb hired me.
You know David Lamb?
Yep, I do.
I had not seen David Lamb in, I'm going to say, 32 years,
and we had lunch in Birmingham and talked about Gene Stallings,
when Davos Sweeney was a walk-on wide receiver,
some quarterback nobody believed in, Jay Barker.
You know, Tuscaloosa, great memories.
I couldn't have asked for a better first job.
And as you guys know, the business is so small,
it's always great to reunite with people, too.
Well, we appreciate you taking time out, Mike,
because like I said, you're one of the guys who's been there and done that.
You've gone to school, but you've also gone to the School of Hard Knocks.
You know about life, and now you are a professor at Florida Southern.
Congratulations on that, which means let's go and get the textbook of the NCAA.
Mike, your thoughts about what's going on as far as this time of the year.
We know football is going to get busy on the field,
but now it seems like the NCAA is trying to get a handle on things.
Maybe they'll let Pandora get out of the box,
and good luck in trying to get it back.
But the transfer window, they're narrowing it down five years to play,
you know, a five-for-five rule, they call it.
They're trying to put all kinds of guardrails up now, it seems.
Mike, where are you with where college football is and where it's going?
Well, I guess better late than never, right?
I like the fact that they are seemingly taking it over the gambling situation.
I like that really recently.
I thought that was something that was needed.
You talk about the Pandora's box.
If they allow the quarterback to play,
it's just going to open up the floodgates in so many ways.
So I like the fact that they're probably taking hold of things.
It'll be interesting to see where this goes.
Because the guardrails have been lifted, the players have a ton of power,
and once you're cutting checks the way they've cut checks the last three or four years,
it'll be very interesting to see where it is moving forward.
You know, I tell my students all the time,
we're going to look back at this era and say,
boy, what a great time to be a college athlete.
Because I just don't see this continuing.
You see Dusty May leaving a national championship team to go coaching the NBA
because the NBA is more structured than the college game.
You can build a team more with a salary cap.
And so they've got to take hold better late than never.
But it'll be very interesting to see where we are in like five years, right?
To look back at this period and say, boy, what a great time to be a college athlete.
But what a crazy time to be a coach or an administrator.
Let me ask you about OTAs.
Two things that happened today with the Division I Council,
they came down with they've reduced the transfer window.
This used to be 45 days two years ago.
Now their proposal is they're going to reduce it to 10
from January the 4th through the 13th.
And something you're quite familiar with, covering NFL teams for years,
and this has been rumored or talked about for years,
OTAs will replace spring practice for college football.
Teams will be allowed 21 practices.
They're even reducing the number of practices in late July and in August.
You've been around OTAs.
Your thoughts about college adopting that?
Well, I think a lot of football players will tell you that you're getting more injuries
maybe because you're not hitting as much in practice, you know?
I mean, I think they had to adjust the two-a-day model.
I mean, you look back at when I covered training camp for years in the NFL
when they had two-a-days, and frankly, the college preseason was a little tougher back in the day.
I think that had to be modified a little bit.
But I think they're maybe going too far the other way now.
You know, when they adopt the 18-game schedule, guys, you know that's coming in the NFL, obviously.
They're going to dwindle that preseason more and more because they're going to have to.
The collective bargaining agreement, the players are going to say,
okay, well, if we're going to play 18 games, we're only going to play two preseason games.
We're going to cut back the offseason.
And here's something I heard yesterday that's kind of an interesting wrinkle with this World Cup
where they have, you know, a lot of these stadiums having grass surfaces.
You know, what about throwing that in there?
Hey, we don't want to play on turf anymore.
We want to be like these soccer guys and play on grass.
I mean, there's all kinds of give and take they're going to have
with this collective bargaining agreement.
But I think there has to be middle ground.
Two-a-days were kind of insane in a lot of ways,
especially if they were going full pads.
But now I think maybe they're not being physical enough in practice.
It's already tough enough being a head coach with this NIL stuff.
And now you've got to deal with, you know, the different practices
that you can't prepare these players who you're building a whole new roster too.
So I feel for the coaches in a lot of ways.
I do.
Mike Nabors is hooking up with us.
Mike, you bring up coaches and how things have changed.
Number one, how smart is Nick Saban to look down the road and say,
uh-uh, I'm not going to put up with this.
Do you see coaches now?
Do you get the feeling fans are used to a model?
You bring in kids, you put them on the bench, you build depth,
and in about two years you play them.
They're not going to do that anymore.
The other side of that coin, see if you agree with this observation
or possibility, Mike.
These coaches now are not looking two or three years down the road
because they want to build now, when now, through the portal.
And then if it doesn't work out, I got a resume.
I just go and job hop to the next school.
In other words, you're not going to go back and get a Nick Saban
or some of the guys back in the day, Joe Paterno,
where they're going to come and just die on the job.
Dabo might be the last of that class.
But your thoughts about how things have changed
and just how these coaches are putting together.
You don't see many.
I'm sure there's always an exception to the rule
who are building this class for three or four years.
They're looking at it right now.
Yeah, I mean, I'll look at your placement for Nick Saban, Caleb DeBoer.
I mean, once he lost 20 games in 11 years,
and there's a lot of fans that are all over him in Alabama.
It'll be interesting to see what he does moving forward,
but I think it's smart that he's one of those guys, too.
It kind of reminds me of Tony Dungy when I used to cover him with the Bucs.
When they fired him, he was out of work about two minutes.
Let's just say they got rid of Caleb DeBoer,
which they weren't going to do last year,
but obviously Alabama fans weren't happy with that Indiana game.
It showed the discrepancy in the way these two programs,
the state of the programs were anyway.
If they got rid of Caleb DeBoer, which they weren't going to do,
but if they did, he'd get a job in about two minutes, too.
Or less.
Or less, yeah.
But to your point, I go back to Dusty May in Michigan,
the basketball coach.
He puts together the first team ever that has all-new starters
to win a national championship team.
And then doesn't defend it and go to the NBA if there isn't a bigger case study
for the state of coaches in college sports.
I mean, it's Dusty May in Michigan.
So until they fix this, until they have kind of a salary cap or guardrails
or get a hold of the transfer portal, we're going to see stories like that just continue.
And it's a shame.
Because think about Michigan.
You know, they haven't been relevant basketball in a long time to that degree.
And now, not only do you lose most of your roster,
but you lose your coach, too.
It's just a year-to-year thing for the fans as well.
You mentioned collective bargaining.
Is that one of the solutions for how to control NIL in college football?
Absolutely.
You know, every state has a different law.
I mean, every program, every conference has a different advantage.
You know, you look at maybe an outlier school like Texas Tech
who has a good, solid booster base.
But if you have collective bargaining, if you have the salary cap,
I think it fixes a lot of problems.
It levels the playing field.
I mean, Major League Baseball is probably going to have a worse stoppage
because they don't have a salary cap.
So they've got to get a hold of that in Major League Baseball
and they've got to get a hold of that in college sports
so they could be more like the NFL and, frankly, the NHL and the NBA
who have a solid salary structure.
What was the old disco song back in the day?
More, more, more when it comes to money.
Mike, a lot of guys right now are fighting life.
And a lot of them are saying, you know what, I need some inspiration.
If someone said, Mike, what can you tell guys to not quit but pivot?
You know what, I'll say this, and I appreciate it.
It's the title of my book, and I think we all have skills that we take for granted.
I mean, for so many years, I thought that all I could do is be a sportscaster.
And that was okay because I love doing it.
But I wanted to create more options in my life.
And I went back to school, got my master's, and I teach just like I was a sportscaster.
And if you're listening right now and you're frustrated, you know, write down five attributes you have that you've built over the years in your profession that maybe you've taken for granted and that you could use in a different job.
And really, you could be 23, you could be 93, you could be every age in between.
We all have skills we take for granted.
So use those to channel a new career, but you've got to have a purpose.
I mean, you can have a passion, you can want to do all these things, but you've got to have a purpose, you've got to have a game plan to make it happen.
Listen, as you know, I've read your book and just two very good illustrations, and I've used this before.
The actress, Sharon Stone, she has gone back to painting, and Steve Martin, the comedian and actor, is very fond of playing the banjo and is in a band.
And these guys just kind of, you know, it was their passion, and they kind of went back to that.
Listen, always great to catch up with you.
Glad to hear the daughter and the families are doing well.
I know SEC Media Days in Tampa, I know you can be hosting all these guys at your house.
Listen, where can we get online and buy your great book?
It's also on Amazon as well, if you want to pick it up.
The Breeze Way is the other book I wrote, and Drew's going to the Hall of Fame this year, so it'll have an added meaning to a lot of football fans.
You'll have to be a Saints fan to like it.
But I'll be at SEC Media Days, guys.
If you're there, I look forward to seeing you, but if you need a correspondent, let me know.
Absolutely.
You don't know, but you just got locked in, my friend.
Mike, it's always good to hook it with you.
Thanks so much.
And stay safe down there, okay?
All right.
Have a good summer, guys.
You too, buddy.
You do the same.
There you have it.
The one, the only, Mike Neighbors.
Coming up, if you go to Books of Million, you look up and you see Lindy's, you see the magazine,
what about the voice and the man behind it?
He's behind door number two, and he's next.
Stay with us.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back again, Brett.
You think the Anderson family in the Shoals area would be familiar with our next guest?
They are very familiar with our next guest.
And, Harold, it's amazing to me, and I'll let Lindy confirm this.
This is the 45th year for Lindy Sports to publish a college football magazine.
It is, I think they've learned a thing or two over the years.
Of course, the Anderson family there with Books A Million, where you can see the work of Lindy.
Davis is a publisher of Lindy Sports.
Lindy, welcome in.
And are you finally able to catch your breath, and has anything changed in the 45 years since you started this?
Quite a lot has changed, is the understatement.
Yeah, when we started, it seemed like it was the same few teams that you could probably count on.
There was only limited games on TV.
NIL, of course, none of us would have played that three or four years ago, right?
No, no.
Everything has changed, for sure.
But what hasn't changed is people still love college football.
They love pro football.
They love fantasy football.
And, thankfully, they do.
That's why we're still in business.
How many college football publications do you guys put out?
We had one of your writers on earlier with us today, Ryan Kellahan, who did an article for you for Tennessee.
Just how we sit here and say, well, you're based out of the Birmingham area,
but did the people realize how many publications you've got nationwide?
Yeah, well, we used to do a lot more than we do now.
We still do 10 preseason magazines.
I mean, we used to do all the conferences, but now we do football.
We do an NFL draft book, which does real well for us.
We do SEC, Big Ten, National College, football, pro football, fantasy football.
We do a baseball book, fantasy baseball, college, and pro basketball.
We do 10 preseasons, which is down from, like I said, the 14th we used to do.
But, anyway, it still keeps us very busy.
Lenny, we were going to talk about, obviously, some of the teams in the SEC,
and I was getting interested.
I bought the magazine last week.
I had a friend of mine we were talking about.
He said, you know, you'd think Lenny Davis would have Alabama a little higher than what he does
in the top 25.
I said, look, Anthony Gimeno has been doing this for Lenny for years and years,
and he lives in New York, and they've got a little more objective.
Well, not in New York.
He lives in Arizona.
Oh, okay.
I hadn't done a pick in 40 years, so 40-something years.
Let's talk about that, Lenny.
Obviously, the one thing that has changed since Nick is Alabama.
Back in the day, being one and two, the only question I would imagine was,
do you put Alabama here or Georgia, maybe Clemson some years there,
but, boy, things have shuffled.
Does it have anything to do with the NIL and post-Nick Saban era?
Well, no doubt about that.
NIL has a lot to do with anything.
Well, everything.
Look at Indiana and what's happening up there.
What's happened to Indiana is the most amazing thing that I've seen in 45 years.
Any sport, anything.
I don't call it football, any sport you want to name.
And it wouldn't have been possible with NIL without NIL, but Cignetti has done it.
It's a lot more than that.
A lot of people spent more money than they did in NIL, and they didn't do so well.
So it has a lot to do with that.
It has a lot to do with coaching also.
But no doubt, but Alabama has a good NIL budget.
They don't have as much as Texas.
Texas, I think, this year has got the best thing money can buy.
They've got reported $48 million in their roster.
Now, whether that's true, I think it probably is,
but that's the reported number I've been reading.
So, but NIL is important, but you look at Major League Baseball,
believe this or not, the last five years,
the New York Mets has spent more than the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And they're dead last right now.
They don't have much to show for it.
That's right.
Good tax right now.
You've got to spin wisely.
You've got to coach them up.
You've got to have chemistry.
But NIL does play a part in it.
If you don't have NIL dollars, you really can't compete in this age.
But how you handle the portal is important.
You all mentioned Alabama.
Well, Alabama, the boys recruited better than probably anybody even thought he would.
Everybody sees a great coach when they hired him,
but can't even recruit.
That's what everybody thought.
Well, he's recruited better than anybody.
He probably could have thought he would have done.
But the results haven't been yet quite what Alabama fans would hope for.
And Alabama hasn't done as well in the portal as other schools.
You've got to recruit and do well in the portal.
You've got to look at the whole picture now.
So, anyway, a lot of things evolve, but NIL certainly plays a part.
You really can't compete without adequate NIL dollars anyway.
Lindy, Auburn, five consecutive losing seasons.
A lot of people are saying that finally ends this year with Alex Goldidge coming in.
Your thoughts on Auburn?
I think Auburn finally got it right.
I asked one of my – I've got two college football editors.
One was here, and I said, what's the – and he's also – he's not the one from Arizona.
He's from Washington State.
But he said – he thought Auburn hit a home run without Alex Goldidge.
That was his opinion.
I listened to his press conference.
I was extremely impressed.
A lot of coaches give a good press conference.
I understand that.
But I was really impressed the way he approached it, what he said.
And I think maybe Auburn finally got it right.
Time will tell.
But what they do have is they've got an excellent quarterback in Byron Brown.
He's a dual threat.
They've got an All-American linebacker, first-team All-American Xavier Atkins,
according to Lindy.
He was a dominant player last year.
And they've got an outstanding kicker in McPherson.
He's fully healthy now.
So, Auburn's got some good pieces there.
I do think they'll win their losing streak.
I do.
I'll go to a bowl this year.
I do.
Lindy Davis, Lindy's Magazine.
Lindy, right now, for the folks who haven't seen it, but they will.
You know where you are in the state of Alabama.
Alabama is outside the top 10 at number 11.
Auburn is not in the top 25, unless my old eyes are missing something here.
This is where we are in June.
Lindy, in your opinion, where will Alabama and Auburn wind up?
In other words, will Auburn be the dark horse?
And if not, who will be the dark horse in the SEC this season?
Well, it's funny.
Tennessee, I really, and I'm not saying that you guys are in North Alabama.
I know you've got some Tennessee fans up there, but Tennessee could well be that team, in my opinion,
if one of those quarterbacks comes through.
Jim Knowles, they hired him.
He's a terrific defensive coordinator.
He's respected in the country, came from Ohio State and Penn State.
He also brought two or three good players with him, and that helps.
I've always scored points, so I could see Tennessee surprising some people this year.
I really could.
We'll see.
They didn't beat a team last year with a winning, they didn't beat a Division I team last year with a winning record.
They really, they really crawled in here in Vanderbilt, blew them out on their home field.
But I think North will help their defense, I do, so I could see them being a sleeper, potentially.
Oklahoma, we've got them at 13.
I'll tell you, they look pretty good on paper.
They've got six starters back from one of the best defenses in the country.
Their quarterback is healthy.
Mateer is healthy.
He was really good before he got hurt last year.
He wasn't the same after that.
So, they're a sleeper.
They could also be out of it the first month.
They play their first five games at Michigan, at Georgia, and Texas, and Dallas.
So, how about them apples?
Well, on paper, they look pretty good.
They could also be two or three.
Lindy, does Texas or Georgia win the SEC?
Well, we pick Texas.
You could probably flip a coin.
They both look really good on paper.
Georgia's got like 15 starters back, which is incredible in this day and age.
I don't ever see that.
Texas has got a lot of starters back.
Most people think Arch, you know, last half of the year.
He looked real good the last half of the year after struggling the first half.
They've got, did tremendously well in the pool.
I mentioned the money well.
Hollywood Sanders, Alabama, thought they had him in the pool.
Guess what?
Texas offered a little more cash.
He ended up in Texas.
So, there's one instance where having the cash, I think, made a difference.
They got Cam Coleman, top receiver in the pool from Auburn.
So, I think the thing with Texas, and this is just my opinion, but it's Sarkisian.
They had a championship coach.
He really hadn't proven that in my mind.
He didn't do that much at Southern Cal.
He didn't do that much at Washington.
And this is like his sixth year at Texas.
Well, he didn't want anything yet.
He's been close.
So, he gave the benefit of the doubt.
But he's a great offensive mind, but that doesn't necessarily make him a great head coach or a championship coach.
Absolutely.
Listen, it is an absolute delight to catch up with you again, get your thoughts.
Listen, I purchased my Lindy's at Publix, and I know there are a lot.
You can get it online, too.
But where can our listeners go to purchase the latest issue, and particularly the SEC and then your national publication?
Well, I'll be honest, the distribution system in the United States is totally broke, by the way.
The magazine distribution system is totally broke.
I hate to say that, but it's very true.
In the Southeast, Barnes & Noble and Publix are your two best bets.
You should be able to find it there outside of that.
I couldn't promise you anything.
But Publix and Barnes & Noble would be your two best bets in the Southeast.
If they can't find it, they can call us or online, lindysports.com or 205-871-1182.
We can get it for them.
But the distribution system is really, really in bad shape, guys.
But Publix, you should have luck at Publix, or for sure Barnes & Noble.
Lindy, it's always good to hook up with you.
Anytime we talk to you, we know that there's light at the end of the drought season.
Football is a comment.
Stay safe out there.
And, again, thanks so much for your time today.
Thanks for having me on, guys.
Thank you, Lindy.
Lindy Davis.
Publisher of Lindy's Sports.
Talked about Alabama.
Let's just go to T-Town and check out the latest with Ryan Feller on deck.
Stay with us.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
What do you say?
We head on down to West Alabama,
a place called Tuscaloosa.
Say hello to the voice of T-Town, Ryan Fowler.
He's host of the game on Tide 109 FM Afternoons.
On your way home, Ryan Fowler, welcome in.
How are you?
I'm good.
Doing good, doing good.
Just trying to plug through the day and get through this month of June
and get to media days down in Tampa.
You know, it seems like, you know, we've hit a little bit of a lull,
unless you're a soccer fan.
If you're a soccer fan.
But I'll let you guys explain to me about soccer, because at this point,
I don't know a lot about it.
It's got six letters.
We can tell you that.
S-O-C-C-E-R.
And outside of that, Ryan, we'll leave that to our European fans.
Let's talk about football on your side of the state.
You mentioned media days coming up here,
basically about a month this week, matter of fact, down in Tampa.
But what do you think Ken and DeBoer is going to be asked when he takes to the podium, Ryan?
You know, and DeBoer did an interview this morning with Martin Houston on our station,
and it seems to be the theme.
It's all about, can they get back to running the football?
Thank you.
Can they get back to running the football?
And I know that sounds, but it's so simple.
It is literally so, so, so simple.
101.
Yeah, and can the offensive line perform?
I mean, it's the questions that they are.
I mean, I think you'll be asked about some of the new rule changes that will be, you know, proposed.
But to me, it's this Alabama football team.
Can they get back to this offensive line of beating people?
And if they can, then we can talk about a team that's going to accomplish a lot of goals.
And if we can't, then we're going to talk about a team that's probably going to underachieve.
And, you know, he got beat last year simply by the lack of depth on the offensive line.
And this year, I think it's going to be one of those that's going to be a little bit different.
And to try to find a way to plug that in, I think, is the key, is can this team, because they went out and got guys who could play multiple different positions.
That's the one that, when you really get thinking about it, that's what they did.
I mean, they got guys that could play right tackle, right guard, versatility.
They didn't have that last year.
They did not have that last year.
That's a, you know, that's a thing that I think I look at and try to study.
And that's something that they did.
Ryan, one of the things they're trying to do is, if you look, they made some changes to the coaching staff on the O-line.
In fact, they brought in a guy just this week, matter of fact, from USC.
So, obviously, the key to life is addressing problems and coming up with workable solutions.
And the numbers don't lie, Ryan.
Going back to last year, did you ever think Alabama would be 125th in the running game of the nation?
126 in average yards per carry.
Even if they double that, they'd still be only in the 60s.
But that'd be a major improvement.
To me, I don't even have a clue.
At the University of Alabama, I mean, that's slippery rock numbers.
How in the world could they slip that fast on that side of the ball?
They did.
They did.
I mean, I think the injuries hurt, but I think it goes back to the offensive line.
I mean, I just don't think we can make this, you know, bigger than what it is.
I mean, the offensive line struggled.
And they didn't have the quality of backs that maybe they were anticipating.
I think, you know, Jan Miller had several injuries.
I think he was starting to come on into his own.
And then, boom, you know, that happened.
So, I think when you really, you know, you get to spending some time thinking about it.
I mean, it's just not, to me, it's not as fancy as, you know, we try to make it.
I mean, we try to make it out of something.
And it's, to me, it's just simple.
Their offensive line was not very good.
It was awful.
And you combine that, like, you can overcome it if you have a Barry Sanderson or a Derrick Henry or...
Bo Jackson.
You can overcome that.
This team was not able to overcome it.
Ryan, I think you answered the question.
It was, a lot of it was lack of doubt, was injuries.
And quite frankly, something that is not mentioned as much as it was later in the season was Ryan Grubb maybe not being as committed to the run as he should be.
Now, with the coaching changes that Harold alluded to, you've got 16 offensive linemen, and you've got three veteran backs now who were in also a transfer.
He sold the show during spring, and Cleome, to me, is more of a tactician.
Coach Kelp was a very good recruiter, but I think that Kalen DeBoer is much more pleased with this offensive line staff.
A tight end, and as Harold mentioned, one came, he was a former commitment to Alabama.
I think that's going to make a difference.
Plus, Keelon Russell can run for 75 yards a game.
Yeah, well, and I think that may be as much about the quarterback competition as anything.
Absolutely.
Because it's, who's going to win this job is you've got to go back, and you spend time looking back, and you're thinking about, what is Austin Mack's skill set?
What are Keelon Russell's skill set?
Because this offensive line is not going to be 2012 off the game.
No.
It's just not going to be.
Or 20.
So, to me, Keelon Russell gives you that extend the play.
That you can find a way to, to me, to, you know, to go back and extend the play.
Because this offensive line is not going to provide a clean pocket at times.
It's going to, it's going to be able to struggle.
It's not going to be, hey, we're just going to push people off the line of scrimmage.
That's not just not the way the offensive line works.
It's just not.
Ryan Fowler hooking up with us.
Ryan, you are in the heartbeat of Alabama country.
What are Alabama fans saying on your show about the vibe right now with this season?
And you look at recruiting, and, you know, you've got two schools that thought it's early.
You've still got six months.
The other school is, that may be true, but right now, you're 16 out of 16 of the SEC.
That's a lot of room to make up.
The question is, if they do it, fine.
We've still got six months to see it.
But right now, what is the vibe that you're getting from Alabama fans in your neck of the woods?
Well, it's the ones who don't understand what Caleb Moore has said multiple times.
He said that this is going to be a small class.
And it really is a byproduct of the success of retention that you've had.
You say, what are you talking about?
Well, they haven't lost as many guys.
If you go back and look at the guys that they've recruited, just take the two recruiting classes that they've got.
And that is the area that they've been able to do is retention.
And I think they're saving some of that money because they're also going to have retention.
And that's the story.
When you really begin to analyze it, think about it, it's been retention.
So, yes, it does cause this immediate reaction.
But it also gets into a point where if you really study it, they've not spent a lot of money because they're saving it for some of these younger players because of the top five.
And I think it's going to be a lot of classes that they've had back-to-back for retention.
And to be able to say, okay, hey, you're not going to come take a Dijon Lee, who would be an eligible guy but not eligible for the draft.
You're not going to go take a Derrick Meadows.
You're not going to go take a Caleb Edwards.
You're not going to go take a Michael Carroll, which will be going into his third season after this season.
We're going to be able to retain those guys.
And I think it's just roster management.
You're seeing the three stars, you know, get signed.
Obviously, that doesn't run up.
But the need in Tuscaloosa is different than it does other places.
Now, I think they're also saving back for the portal because they may have to go to the portal and clean some of those things up.
I think if the average Alabama fan took a little bit of a nosedive and went into that.
Kaylin Moore talked about it this week, talked about this morning with Martin.
The numbers, they just don't have the numbers.
They don't have the scholarships.
And a lot of that's because they don't have the seniors.
I think they've only got like nine seniors.
They've got nine.
They've got nine seniors.
But then they've got 19 juniors that are coming.
And some of those guys will come out.
But listen, the guys that are on the fence, you may have enough money to offer them where they don't go to the NFL.
So you look at that.
I think it's just smart managing their money.
I think it's just a strategy.
And you saw a couple of years ago, I think Georgia did that.
But you sign these development guys that may not be ready in year number one but could be ready in year number two.
So it's an approach.
You can go out here and spin.
But I often wonder if the spin side of things, let's say you go out here and spin and you're known as a portal guy.
Let's just say that you're known as, hey, whatever, we're going to fix our problems.
We're going to fix it via the portal.
Playing camping.
If you do that, doesn't that become the trend that you now have to fight?
Because you're in a recruiting living room and you're like, okay.
Or even in your locker room.
Hey, I'm the first guy.
I've busted my butt.
I've waited my turn.
Well, then all of a sudden you go and buy a $4 million player.
Then what happens?
Then, to me, I don't know how these coaches do it.
No.
To manage the chemistry.
And people say, well, the NFL does it all the time.
But the NFL are 25, 26, 27, 30, 35-year-old kids.
Right.
Man, listen, jealousy is a part of humans.
All of us have it.
It's can you manage it and understand that's the trick.
Because if you become known as a portal guy, I think it also hurts you in the recruiting side of things.
Yeah.
Ryan, how much smarter does Greg Byrne look right now?
When he gave Nate Oates an extension and increased his salary to $7.5 million,
I've heard a lot of people saying, well, he hadn't won a national championship year,
you know, and he had the BDACO deal that looked bad.
Now, he's got a $15 million buyout.
He's got a new practice facility.
He's got a new contract.
And, of course, he was going to be linked to once Dusty May took off to the NBA
because of his 11 years coaching in the state of Michigan.
But how much smarter does Greg Byrne look right now?
I tell you what, man, he is stepping out there and looking like a superstar in a lot of different areas.
I mean, it is a ton of different areas when you think about Greg Byrne.
I mean, the year that he's had on the fields, the different success of the programs.
You can talk about the Charles Mediaco slip-up.
You can.
And you can have strong opinions against Greg Byrne, whichever way you feel.
And I think those are fair.
I don't think those are unfair when you have those.
But it will all be judged.
As much as we want to give Greg Byrne credit, it's going to be judged on Caleb Orr.
I mean, I love all this stuff.
And I think, listen, it makes him look brilliant that he's running this type of athletic department.
But at the end of the day, Greg Byrne was brought up to Tuscaloosa for one reason.
To hire the replacement of Nick Saban.
So it's like everything we brag on Greg Byrne, it always comes back.
He's going to be judged on one thing.
How successful is that football program to make sure that he's got the resources that he needs?
And I think Taylor DeBoer is a heck of a football coach.
We went out to Oregon yesterday and featured a reporter.
And this guy was, he was just talking about his football teams out of UW.
And that they had, you know, he beat Dan Lanning three times.
He was 3-0.
Yeah.
But he didn't have the resources that Dan Lanning had.
From a money portal side of things.
And that's one of the things that kind of jumped out.
It's kind of funny that this guy was kind of illustrating what that looked like.
That UW not only beat him three times and he went undefeated against Dan Lanning.
He did it with limited resources.
That's right.
And I'm not saying Alabama's like UW.
Alabama's got more money than UW.
But, you know, they may not have as much money as Texas or Texas A&M.
Right.
Some of the other bigs.
But I think a lot of teams are in this category with Alabama.
I think Georgia's not a team that's a mega spender.
They're not.
No.
But, listen, recruiting in the month of June, it's a long way.
You know, because these kids can commit.
And, you know, let's say Pete Golding is not the coach that we think he is.
Kids will decommit in a hurry.
They will.
You know, the guy across the state, right now it looks good.
He's rebuilding a program.
But if Vegas has them at six and a half wins, what if they throw a six and six spot up there?
Yeah.
Good luck.
That's hard to sell in this world that we live in now.
But you can pay it.
You can pay for it.
You can, you know, you have to pay and compensate.
But this recruiting thing, it is one of those that grabs your attention.
But I'll leave you with this.
Taylor DeBoer said this morning on the radio that he wants Alabama to be the most hated
team in the country.
I thought that was a pretty good line.
That was a pretty good line.
Because, you know, if you do that, then if you're the hated, generally you're winning.
And I think that's what he was talking about.
But I thought it was a good line this morning.
And he did it at 6.15.
You ever heard of a coach doing an interview at 6.15 in the morning?
Not a.m., maybe p.m.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely not.
Listen, I was great to talk to you.
Great points.
Where can we get online to listen?
Who have you got on the show this afternoon?
Yeah.
Make sure you follow me on Twitter.
Because I got expert soccer analysis.
Daily soccer updates at Ryan C. Fowler.
I do want the USA to do good.
Other than that, you won't find too much soccer.
But Tide100.9.com.
Tide109.com.
We appreciate you guys so much, man.
And happy weekend.
Hope you guys have a great weekend.
Always great.
You do the same, Ryan.
Ryan, Fowler hooking up with us down in Tuscaloosa.
Quickly, BB, speaking of Ryan.
Ryan Weathers, we talked to Daddy yesterday.
He was at Detroit, nervously waiting for his son to take the mound.
He picks up the win.
How about this right now for Ryan?
Don't look at the record.
His ERA 395, 95 strikeouts.
His ratio of strikeouts to walks almost 4 to 1.
2 to 1, by the way, is good.
And in the majors, if you have what they call a whip, that's a combination of base runners,
hits, walks, et cetera.
1 to 5 is considered good.
Anything less than 1 to 1 to 5 is considered to be great.
Ryan Weathers right now 1 to 1 to 4.
So, good job, Ryan Weathers.
I know he's made his papa and mama proud last night in Motown.
Yeah, we talked about that yesterday.
He lost to the White Sox 6 to 1, but gave up one run, struck out 8.
Again, baseball stats are quite deceiving.
The Braves, no stats added or subtracted.
They're off tonight.
It's go get them.
Braves coming up tomorrow night.
That lead of the field is now down to a mere 4 and a half.
Maybe the off night will help the Braves re-energize.
We shall see.
But in the meantime, I'm FBB, Greg James Blair, the entire crew here.
Peril Buck, thank you so much for your time today.
Let's do it again tomorrow on noon to 2 for the Boomo Bugg Show.
Back here on Sports Radio, 93.9 The Score.