Boomo Bugg Show 063026
93.9 The Score WYTK - June 30, 2026
https://www.939thescore.com/boomo-bugg-show-063026/

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 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 free ride around the Tennessee Valley.
Brett Beaird, welcome in.
Where the question of the day is, what does Phil still know about Alabama that the other so-called experts don't?
Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you?
Happy Tuesday to you and the listeners.
We'll recap some big recruiting news for Alabama, Auburn and Tennessee during the course of the show.
Las Vegas insider Bruce Marshall will talk some World Cup action and preview the upcoming college football season.
But Jimmy is here right now to recap a busy week for Alabama football recruiting.
Jimmy Stein is busy there as co-host of the daily Locked On Bama podcast with Luke Robinson, part of the, guess what, Locked On Network.
It's funny how that works.
And also twice a week on Cover Crimson with Clint Lamb.
Jimmy, welcome in.
How are you?
Oh, doing great, guys.
Hope you all have a great fourth.
Hey, bud.
Well, so far, so good.
We've got all our sparklers.
We live dangerously here, Jimmy.
We've got sparklers and firecrackers.
I mean, when we go off the edge, we go off the edge.
Jimmy, what about you?
No, I'm going to stay away from sparklers.
I'm just going to watch some tape of some old football games.
Well, it's never too early to get into that.
Jimmy, speaking of early, before we get into the recruiting chatter, Phil Steele basically has a Bible that comes out every year about this time with his preseason picks.
He's had a good track record over the years.
And Brett and I joke, and we know Phil, so we can say this.
We do it tongue-in-cheek.
We know it's good because he tells us.
He's got his preseason rankings out.
But here's what's interesting about it.
Alabama, consensus-wise, and if you'll agree or disagree, pretty much just outside the top 10.
Phil's got them at number 11 like a lot of other folks.
But here's the difference.
He also comes out what he calls the non-guys in the top 10 of the preseason that can make a serious run once the season gets started.
And at the top of that list is the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Translated, they're not in the top 10 right now.
But Phil still says he believes in Kalen DeBoer.
What do you say?
Well, the questions about Alabama are fair, but it starts with quarterback.
The fact that most likely you're, well, definitely, you're putting a quarterback on the field that hasn't played.
But you know what?
A lot of people one year ago were asking the same questions about Alabama because the quarterback hadn't played.
What happened?
He ended up being the 13th pick of the draft and in the first round.
You can make a case.
Now, I'm not saying this is going to be the case, but you can make a case.
There's more evidence today that Keelan Russell is going to be great than there was one year ago for Ty Simpson.
I think there were even more questions about Ty.
He was a redshirt junior.
When he had played, it hadn't been good.
He couldn't beat out Milrow.
That was a shot some people were taking at him, not me, but some did.
I'm just saying there were some legit questions about Ty.
In my mind, there's fewer questions about Keelan Russell.
Yet Keelan might not even be the quarterback.
He might get beat out by Austin Mack, which would also be good news.
So, if the questions about Alabama in terms of, hey, why isn't Alabama not in the top ten?
They finished in the top ten last year.
Why aren't they in the top ten?
I think those questions start at quarterback.
Yet, there's reason to be very optimistic about that position at Alabama.
I agree with you entirely, Jimmy.
Very productive week for recruiting for Alabama.
Started last Sunday with Darius White, the 6-3 corner from Georgia.
Tyler Younger, a three-star edge on Tuesday, along with Stafford Willis from A-Rab.
Three-star offensive lineman.
And then, on Friday, Jeremiah Beverly from Hillcrest High School, a three-star edge.
And then, it ended with Osani Gales, which I know we talked with you about a couple weeks ago.
The four-star from IMG.
And I know some people say, well, these are all three-stars.
Well, they fit the Alabama system.
There is a reason for that.
There's been a lot of chatter.
But, Jimmy, five commitments for Alabama in that last week.
Yeah, it's kind of a longer spiel, guys.
But, I think, just so everyone kind of knows what recruiting is like in 2026.
And, you know, I used to, as a fan of recruiting, I've been following Alabama recruiting all the way back to the 80s.
As a fan of it and someone that's followed it intensely, I would watch tape or watch film or talk to people.
And, before all this NIL and revenue share stuff, it was just kind of one simple question.
Is this kid good enough to play for Alabama?
Yeah.
I mean, that was the question.
Is he good enough to play for Alabama?
Now, it's a lot more complex than that.
I'll give you a fictional example.
Let's say there's a linebacker from Mobile.
And I like him.
I watch the tape.
And you ask that first question.
Is this kid good enough to play for Alabama?
Well, you watch the tape and you're like, you know what?
Yeah.
Yeah.
This kid can play for Alabama.
That's only part of it.
Because the next question is, what does it cost to get this kid to Alabama?
When the answer is $800,000, now you don't like the kid.
Well, I like him, but not at that cost, right?
So, sometimes you can go to the other end of the spectrum.
You watch a kid and there's some questions.
There's like, is he quick enough?
Is he good enough?
Does he have this skill set or that?
But you know what it costs to get him to Tuscaloosa?
A scholarship and maybe some coupons to Whataburger.
And that's the deal.
And you're like, hey, for that price, yeah, I love this guy.
He's a definite take at that price.
That's how it's gotten so complicated.
It used to be so much more simple.
It used to just be, is he good enough?
Now it's, is he good enough?
And then what does it cost?
And maybe if it's a player that you're not sure he's good enough,
but it's very low cost, there's no harm in it.
You have 105 spots that you can fill out.
You have 105 scholarships to give, not 85.
So some of these kids fit that category because you have to sign a number of those kids
to A, get up to 105, and B, stay under budget.
I know a lot of fans think, oh gosh, I wish my favorite team had Texas's resources or Texas A&M's.
Hey, you know what?
They don't have 105 highly paid players.
They don't.
They can't afford it either.
They might have a few more highly paid players than others, but they have to fill out their 105 with inexpensive guys too.
So everybody is in that boat.
Most people just pay attention to their favorite team.
But everyone is doing this.
Jimmy Stein hooking up with us, Locked on Bama.
The yardstick is going to be, on the last day of June, it's easy for us to sit here and say this,
but we know fans, come December and January, we don't want to hear anything other than my team is winning.
And that's going to be, and it comes down to player evaluation as much as anything else, Jimmy.
Would you agree on that?
You mentioned Texas A&M.
The strategy is different.
I just saw a blurb this morning.
They have five or six, five stars.
And everybody's going to go, wow, how can they do it?
Well, they got money.
But to your point, they still got to fill out the roster with the rest of it.
And to me, that is the dilemma.
And the other side, Jimmy, would you agree with this?
It's an observation.
There's nothing scientific to back it up.
Coaches now are not so much concerned about if the boss comes in and says, you're gone,
he says, okay, call my agent, let's settle in the buyout, and I'll move on my $10, $20 million,
and I'll find another job somewhere else.
In other words, you see coaches now planning for this year and maybe next,
and they're not so much worried about three or four years down the road
because every year you've got to reinvent your roster.
Yeah, you don't know whether you're going to be there in three or four years,
whether it's your choice or somebody else's choice.
Right.
But you're not going to be there in three or four years.
In the SEC, that's certainly the case.
Yeah, those are all interesting questions.
I'll just point out that last year USC signed the number one class in the country.
Thirteen of their signees were three stars.
Right now, Texas A&M has the number one class in the country.
Eight of their signees are three stars.
So they're having to be inexpensive on the back end of the rosters, too,
even though they are spending a lot more on the front end.
One of the reasons Alabama just doesn't – it's not that Alabama doesn't have the money.
They're actually, I think, to my limited knowledge, let's say, I think Alabama is the top 10 or top 12 spender in the sport.
That's not changing.
What's changed is just how many spots do they have available in the 2027 group because so much of the team is expected to return.
My understanding is that Texas A&M, they're expecting as many as 30 players to leave the roster at the end of the year
through either going pro or graduating or just simply moving on.
But they're going to have about 30 in, so they can have 30 out.
As of right now, Alabama only knows for a fact seven players are leaving.
Seven.
So you've already got 13, 14 commits.
Heck, technically you're over right now.
Now, of course, some kids are going to portal out.
Some kids are.
That's an inevitability, sure.
But Alabama just simply doesn't have a lot of anticipated roster space.
And when you don't have anticipated roster space, that's another way to say that most of the money is already spoken for.
They're not spending less.
They're just going to have to distribute it to the players that are returning to the team.
Somebody like Texas A&M is just expecting a lot of attrition.
A lot of guys out, a lot of guys in.
So they're going to have more money for those spots.
Jimmy, let me ask you how July will go for Alabama.
Monsoon, Alabama sales, that one has been, he's grew up an Alabama fan, got family in Inslee in the Birmingham area.
Seemed to be a lane to Alabama for a long time, but then others got involved, particularly Indiana and Ohio State.
His last official, he seemed to be moving back toward Alabama again.
We'll see when he makes a decision.
Stelp, Hayden Stelp, one of the top five cornerbacks, I believe will probably end up going to Oregon tomorrow.
And then Caldwell, Kyron Caldwell from Lake City to Bama on July the 4th.
But, Jimmy, your thoughts on sales and will Alabama pick up Caldwell on the 4th of July?
Yeah, I'll say Caldwell first.
I'm very optimistic on Caldwell, but they do have to work out, of course, the financial end of things.
He's not particularly a pricey player, but he's also recruited and offered by enough good power programs and is such a good player.
He's not going to be one of these scholarship-only guys.
I mean, I think you have to reach some financial terms with him, even if he's not particularly pricey compared to somebody like Amon Shun Sales.
Now, he is very pricey because he is the number one wide receiver prospect in the country.
Not only is that the case, I think he's very special.
I mean, I think some cycles there's not a guy that's got what he's got.
So he's very pricey, but at the same time, clearly Alabama is in the ballpark here.
They've made a competitive offer.
It's not true that Alabama doesn't pay for players.
They just have a pretty strict valuation method, and they stick to it.
They stick to, hey, we think this kid is worth X amount of dollars, and they stick to it.
Now, they might think a kid's worth quite a bit, and Amon Shun Sales would be.
So Alabama is in the ballpark here, or they wouldn't be a finalist.
Now, are they going to have the highest bid?
No.
Do kids always choose the highest bid?
No.
So they're in this.
It's very realistic that he chooses his childhood favorite program,
but I think Alabama knows what they're up against.
He would be a major hometown hero if he stayed at home.
A lot of people think it's about money.
I think if it was about money, his finalist list would look a little different than it does.
To me, his decision is about, am I going to be the hometown hero and stay with Indiana,
or am I going to play for my childhood favorite?
He's going to be pretty wealthy either way.
Yeah.
I think you're exactly right.
By the way, four-star edge Antoine Jackson announcing Friday,
and I know a lot of people got him pegged to go to Ole Miss.
Jimmy, thank you for coming on for a couple of days early.
We'll be off, of course, on Friday for the 4th.
But I know you and Luke Robinson will continue working, putting out great stuff.
Where can we get a line to get the best coverage of Alabama sports on the planet?
I appreciate that, Brett.
Locked on Bama.
You can just Google us and find us on YouTube.
About half our audience watches the video version of the show.
The other half just listens to the audio.
They're kind of no different than a radio show.
The audio podcast can be found on iHeart, Spotify, Apple,
wherever you get your podcasts audio-wise.
You can find Locked on Bama with me and Luke Robinson.
We have six new shows every week.
It's not how you get there.
Just get there, Jimmy.
Enjoy those reruns.
It's 4th of July, and let's do it again soon, okay?
Hey, thanks a lot, guys.
Happy 4th.
Thank you, Jimmy.
Thank you so much.
Right back at you.
Jimmy Stein, Locked on Bama.
Caleb Jones is Locked on Auburn.
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The Score.
Now, back with Pumo Bug on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
Time to say hello to Caleb Jones.
He's got the Auburn Tigers covered at auburnsports.com.
Caleb, welcome in.
How are you?
And I'm doing great.
How are you guys?
Hey, bud.
I'm doing all right.
Appreciate you asking, Caleb.
You know, is it safe to say, is this kind of the calm before the storm?
July 4th is coming up.
We know what happens in our neck of the woods after that.
Or put another way, Caleb, has there been any calm at all with this administration on the
recruiting trail that's been pretty busy, which I would imagine means you've been pretty
busy.
Caleb, let me ask you if you're still with us.
We had Tom Lemming on the show last week, and he mentioned in particularly several players
for Auburn.
Mason Johnson-Cook, the running back, Leighton Von Brandt, and several others.
He was very impressed with this recruiting class Auburn has got commitments from so far.
Obviously an issue there with Caleb's audio there, busy with auburnsports.com.
And I would imagine as much as these guys who follow Auburn on a daily basis, they're probably
tired, BB.
They've been running all over the place compared to the last couple of administrations.
It'd be interesting if we get Caleb back to talk just about the mindset of this staff.
And I've always been interested in this time of the year, kind of getting the vibe.
And the way you do that is you go to the weight room because that's the one area of these
coaches, they can't go in there under rule anyway and do what they do on a daily basis.
But they go to the strength and conditioning team to find out kind of the vibe, to see who
are the alpha males who are going to take the room and kind of lead it, that type thing.
Maybe we'll get Caleb back.
Yeah, he's rejoined us, Harold.
I'm sorry.
Go ahead.
Yeah, he's rejoined us.
Okay.
Sorry, Caleb.
A little bit of a hiccup there.
Busy there at auburnsports.com.
Caleb, we were just saying, if you can hear us now, just kind of getting a vibe of coming
into this 4th of July with the room, the strength and conditioning room, based on what
you're able to hear.
We know they don't have press conferences every day, but through the great vibe, where
are things right now as we're heading into this July 4th under this coaching staff?
Well, first things, do a little mic check here.
Y'all got me now?
Yeah.
Yeah.
As I say on the commercial, we can hear you now.
There we go.
I'm not really sure what happened there.
Auburn had some updated roster numbers as far as weights and heights of some of their
players.
I liked a lot of what I saw there.
I think there's a very good kind of plan and design for each individual player.
I know you were kind of talking about the strength and conditioning staff.
I think the staff has a vision for where they want every player to be at, and I think you're
starting to see some guys put on some healthy weight.
You're starting to see some guys maybe knock off some weight that they didn't want to have,
but it's going to be a tough July as you go into August and get ready for the season.
You know, ball camp is not that far away.
Absolutely.
Let me ask you about the receiver position.
Five of the receivers hit the transfer portal after the season, but I think that Auburn's done
a very good job of replacing them.
Three of them coming in from UCL, Singleton, Nimrod, and Coger.
As a matter of fact, 111 catches for 2,000 yards.
I think that's a pretty good job of replacing the lost five.
I really do think, again, Alex Golich, he said, we're going to run the frigging ball, as we
joke about here.
But when they throw it, they do have some receivers.
Also, Pettigrew, Bryce Kane, I think they did a good job of replacing the five who hit the portal.
Yeah, you lost your main pieces of production last season.
But like you said, goal is the staff they brought in.
Some guys that, when you look at the numbers, obviously two completely different conferences,
two completely different levels of competition.
But you did kind of find those numbers and find that production through the transfer portal.
And one thing that you're also getting is you're already getting an established chemistry
between, you know, your quarterback, and then a lot of those receivers.
Caleb, everybody's focusing on just that, the offense, bringing basically South Florida to
South Alabama, if you will, to Auburn.
Everybody's focusing on that offense and how it may contrast to last year.
But are people talking enough about the other side of the ball?
Your thoughts about how Auburn will look differently on the defensive side of the ball?
Well, I don't think there's going to be too much difference, really, just because you're
returning D.J. Durkin, your defensive coordinator.
You're returning a lot of the core pieces.
There are some, obviously, some positions like cornerback is going to be completely new
as far as your two starters at that position.
But your core linebacker group, your core safety group, your core kind of defensive line
group, you're getting most of those guys back.
So it's going to look, I think it's going to look pretty similar.
I'm really interested to kind of see the growth of some of the guys, especially along the
interior of the defensive line, talking about guys like Jordan Crawford, Malik Autry.
You're getting Dallas Walker back.
That's a big-time thing.
You know, Chris Murray's coming back on the end there.
So, I mean, this defense is looking like a strength of this team just because there's
already that established familiarity.
And returning guys like D.J. Durkin to the staff, Montreal King-Williams.
So, it's going to be another exciting year, I think, of Auburn's defense just kind of doing
what it's done in years past, especially under D.J. Durkin, which is doing its job, kind of
keeping on Auburn in some ballgames.
Now, if you can get the offensive side going, then maybe you're seeing some different outcomes
than in years past.
I agree with you, Caleb.
In fact, I think they may have the best linebacking core in the SEC with Xavier Atkins,
Bryce Deese, Melendez, and Demarcus Riddick.
Oh, yeah.
That room right there is stacked.
I mean, Xavier Atkins is, you know, a standout in the SEC.
Elijah Melendez showed clashes last year.
He's probably going to be the next guy to be one of the best to do it in the SEC.
Like you said, Bryce Deese, he's put on some weight.
I mean, he just, he looks the part and he can play.
And same thing with Demarcus Riddick, who's dealt with some injuries over the last year
or so, so he can get back to, you know, full health.
And, I mean, he's just another piece of that that can be a threat to that linebacker.
Absolutely.
Listen, we've got to run to an update with Wimbledon.
Always enjoy the conversation.
Caleb, where can we get on line to get your stuff and the teams?
Guys, always appreciate you having me.
You can find us at auburnsports.com.
We've got everything you need to know.
Auburn, face-wise, we've got it over there at auburnsports.com.
Come check us out.
Caleb Rinsman, thank you for your time today.
Kick back all the best to you and your family.
Stay safe out there, and let's do it again soon, okay?
All right, thanks, guys.
Thank you, bud.
Caleb Jones, auburnsports.com.
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and get the latest here on Sports Radio 93.9, the score.
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After a day of yesterday, the Braves are back at home tonight.
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Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
Our next guest is so busy in Las Vegas.
How busy is he, you ask?
He needs a two-armed bandit, not a one-armed bandit in Vegas, to keep up with everything.
Bruce Marshall, please, you're there with Las Vegas Insider for the gold sheet.
Belms, sports.net, CBS Sportsline, Winners and Winers, Picks and Parlays, Bent Rivers, and Vegas Insider.
Bruce Marshall, welcome in.
How are you?
Hey, pretty good.
It's very busy here, actually, with the World Cup.
You know, we're hearing some numbers that some of these worksbooks here are saying this is, like, unprecedented,
and they think it's actually a bigger deal than the Super Bowl.
It's a one-day thing, but over the course of it, the World Cup is breaking records.
This is very interesting.
Talk to us about that, Bruce, because you look at it, and I'm seeing,
this is an introduction to the American audience who defines football one way
as opposed to the international audience who defines it another.
It seems like that the international folks are having a ball with this thing in America.
They appreciate the country.
I'm seeing pockets out there that you may want to have a debate on that,
but your thoughts just the influence of how this has inspired Americans to do business with you,
and how busy is it internationally from that standpoint?
Well, I'll tell you one thing.
The international, the travelers over here, they love things like Waffle House.
Air conditioning?
Yeah.
Yeah.
They don't have, like, refills on your sodas and things like that.
No lucky.
Yeah, I mean, little things like that are keeping them very, very happy.
But, no, I think the whole, you know, phenomenon, this is a great place to host a tournament like this
because we can handle it.
And then, you know, now with so many games, you know, you've spilled some into Canada and Mexico, too,
but it's working out just fine.
But, you know, every four years, you know, the Internet, this is a massive deal,
and it's kind of neat now, the Americans who have been involved in World Cups most of the time for the last 30 years.
They missed eight years ago.
But now, and even more so than 94 when the U.S. hosted, and it was still kind of a,
it was a smaller tournament then, and there were half as many teams as there are now,
and it wasn't quite the big deal.
But we're kind of feeling here what they're feeling internationally about it now.
And if the sportsbooks are any indication, I mean, it's really suddenly an extremely big deal.
So all kind of fun to see.
Preview tomorrow night's game with Bosnia.
Turkey or Turkey, whichever one they go by now, upset.
I mean, literally in the last second, of course, again, the United States was playing a lot of bench players,
but this is the knockout round.
The U.S. has got to win.
Preview tomorrow night's game.
Yeah, well, you know, you're right.
That was the reserve side they put out on the field that Pochettino did in the Turkey game.
And it was sort of like an NFL Week 18 regular season game.
Sort of rest your starters.
I will give Pochettino credit for one thing.
I was a little critical of him into the tournament because I thought,
in comparison to the best-performing U.S. team at a World Cup in my lifetime, which was 0-2 in Asia,
and that was Bruce Arena's team.
But they were very hard to play through.
Defense first, low block, a lot of mid-block played on the counter.
They were very hard to play through, but a very pragmatic style.
But I think Arena sort of had to coach the team in that manner because that's how they had the best chance to advance.
They got all the way to the quarterfinals that year, which was probably their ceiling.
I think Pochettino, and this is where I sort of heard, I mean, he looks at his group of players he's got now,
and it is a more attack-minded group.
He's got more accomplished guys internationally who can score goals,
and offensively they've got more firepower.
So he really couldn't coach this team the way and the style that Arena did 24 years ago in Asia.
He had to sort of let these guys loose.
My complaint about the U.S. end of the tournament was, and my worry, was, one, first of all,
the goalkeeper situation, he had two goalies from MLS, two, and one's 40 years old,
and he didn't look all that good against Turkey.
That's Turner.
So look back to Freeze for these games.
Two, the defense in the run-up games to the World Cup, the better offensive teams were just really,
you know, they walked sort of through that U.S. defense.
Now he hasn't, Pochettino hasn't faced teams at least in the first two matches that could hurt him like that,
so he could play this sort of high press.
He could play this sort of identifying overloads and force turnovers deep in the opposing end without much fear.
He's not going to be able to do that much further against the better teams that have better midfields
and can control possession, and the U.S. doesn't have the ball.
They're not going to be able to use this high-press style, which is pretty exciting,
but if you don't have the ball, you can't do anything.
Bosnia will, Bosnia is not quite, they're not slick like a France or an Argentina.
They are a determined bunch, though, and resilient, and they will try,
they will probably fall back into that low block and just sort of invite this game to go into penalty kicks.
If they can, they'd be thrilled to go nil-nil all the way through.
I would caution these guys, they went in the UEFA Euro qualifiers to actually get here.
They had a two-legged thing.
They had to win at Wales when they were a big underdog, and they did, and then they had to beat Italy.
They were a bigger underdog, and they did.
Both of those were in penalty kicks.
So this team has been looked into the abyss and pulled itself out a couple of times,
so I'm a little worried about that.
Zekko is a 40-year-old player who's still there doing things.
He's still very active in Europe and Germany with Schalke.
And this kid, they've got Ali, I'm sorry, Kerem Ali Begovic,
is the pride of this Red Bull soccer stable, and he's out of Salzburg now.
I think it's going to be a difficult game for you guys.
I think they get there, it might even take extra time.
I think they advance, but the days of the rollicking wins over Ottawa and Australia,
who were sort of built perfectly to make the U.S. look good,
I think those days are back in the group phase now.
I just hate reality sometimes.
Bruce, reality stinks, does it not?
Bruce Marshall hooking up with us amongst other places, Vegas Insider.
Switching gears, let's talk football's cousin, American football,
a fellow who's on our show from time to time with the name of Phil Steele,
has come out with his interesting observations.
You know our zip code here, Bruce.
He's talking about his top 10, of which Alabama is not in.
They're at number 11, but he's throwing some news to Alabama fans.
Don't fret just yet.
That's June.
He's got Alabama number 11.
On his non-top 10 teams now, that may make noise once the season gets into gear
and winds up.
He's got Alabama at the top of his list of the non-top 10s now that could make the playoffs,
and according to Phil, could be a national championship contender.
Bruce, you say what to Phil Steele's observations.
Yeah, well, he might be right for once, and I kind of agree with him on this.
I'm older than him, by the way.
I just look younger.
But with the Keelan Russell, we'll see how that plays out.
I am really interested in that Florida State game early.
First of all, it's a revenge thing.
I think that psychologically is going to be very important for Alabama to get that revenge on Florida State.
It's also, I mean, I think Norvell's job is absolutely on the line here.
You know, and that one-year experiment with Gus Malzahn didn't work as the coordinator,
and we'll see what Florida State's got.
But I could see that happening.
But there's so many different ways.
The dominoes could fall so many different ways in the SEC.
And, you know, you can get in the top 12, you're in the playoff, or I say 11, Notre Dame gets this sort of pass to get through,
which I'm still, you know, down in Tampa in a few weeks.
Somebody, if it's not somebody else, and they'll call on me, I'm going to ask Greg Sankey about that.
He's got to have some insight into how Notre Dame got this deal.
But I could see Alabama doing it.
But there's a long way to go.
But I really think the first indicator is going to be that Florida State game.
If they take care of business in that, and they can get the revenge on the Seminoles, then it's full steam ahead.
But that's the one first test I think we want to see if this team really has got something.
And maybe it does.
I'll expand on that, Bruce.
I think most folks right now would say, okay, revenge is always a powerful weapon to come into it.
And you're playing at home.
The other way of looking at that is, if you lost last year there, and you've got them here now,
and you're playing at home, what happens to this staff if things go south for Alabama at that Florida State game?
I think it would, because this is a younger team this year with a lot of newer faces, it may not be as devastating.
And last year's team did bounce back.
I mean, they ended up, they didn't make the playoff last year.
But it would not be a good harbinger of things to come.
They sort of got ambushed last year.
They were in Tallahassee, and it just didn't work.
Now you get them back at home.
If you don't win this one, though, I think there's indicated that maybe they're not quite ready.
So in a way, I think for the long-term prospect for Alabama this year, it's more important to win that game.
Practically speaking, I don't know that the season gets dusted because they lose that game.
And I don't expect them to lose that game.
But it would be worrying, because you've got a lot of tough SEC games still to come after that.
So that would suggest maybe they're not all the way back.
I do think they'll bounce back.
I do think they'll win.
I think they'll get revenge.
But, you know, as it is always moving to July here, you know, we'll know more in September than we know in July.
Speaking of that, let me dovetail into, I've seen numerous coaches on the hot seat list.
And I saw another one at CBS yesterday.
And I'll mention some of these names, too.
Shane Beamer at South Carolina got off to a lot, a lot of enthusiasm.
But he was 4-8, 1-7 last year, took Alabama down to the wire.
And they came back, the Tide came back to win.
Mike Loxley at Maryland, a Sterling 17-48 record in the Big Ten.
Nick Saban's former offensive coordinator.
Luke Fickle at Wisconsin.
He's 17-21 with the Badgers.
And supposedly he's going back to more of a physical game this year.
Auburn's first opponent of the season, Dave Aranda, Baylor in Atlanta.
D.J. Lagways, their quarterback, the transfer from Florida.
And you just got through talking about him, Mike Norville at Florida State.
I think all of the hot seat coaches I've seen, at least three or four of those guys have been on it.
Yes, I agree with all that, Brett.
And, you know, the one thing you see now in college, these schools, once, you know, it looks like the handwriting is on the wall, they don't wait.
I mean, that used to be just sort of a thing in the NFL where you'd dismiss coaches during the season.
And I don't know how many, what did we have, 10, 12, 15 last year to dismiss before the season did it?
So, you know, we will see, of those guys you mentioned, yeah, they're all, I mean, Fickle, he sort of said the same thing last year.
They're going to go back to more of a power sort of a game.
But they didn't do it, and they lost their identity there.
And that is very hard to get back, that sort of style, that physical style that worked for Barry Alvarez and Bielema and even for Paul Chris for a while.
I think Fickle's in big trouble because that's a very hard thing to do in the Big Ten is very tough.
I think Loxley is just there because of contractual issues that they just couldn't do the buyout for him last year.
I mean, he deserves to go.
So it's the same.
Maryland's going to start off probably, well, another week down conference schedule.
Then they'll get found out in Big Ten play.
Maybe they'll go five and seven and they'll have a decision to make.
I think they'll pull the plug on Loxley.
Aranda is an interesting one because he seems to be in some trouble there.
We'll see if Flagway helps them out.
But Norvell is the other one.
Norvell and Fickle and Loxley.
Norvell is lucky to survive.
And I look back, that 2023 Florida State was the biggest fluke in modern times in college football.
The schedule broke so incredibly well for them.
And they still almost lost a couple of times early.
And I know the quarterback got hurt late in the season, but Georgia kind of reminded everybody in the Orange Bowl that year that it's a good thing Florida State didn't make a playoff because they didn't belong there.
So Norvell's been living on that and the two years since have been absolute failures.
I think he has got some real, real problems there at Florida State.
And ironically, Bruce, the game that kind of turned things south for that team that year was UNA.
That's the game the quarterback got injured in and they haven't been the same since.
You mentioned Notre Dame, Bruce.
Let's circle back to that.
We seem to have this conversation every year and yet we keep on putting up with it.
It's like the brat kid that keeps on stealing candy at the counter and gets away with it.
At what point will people say, Notre Dame, look, dude, you're just one of us.
Stop believing that you're over here in a separate class.
I keep hoping, Harold, that would have happened years ago.
And for some reason it doesn't.
You can't keep making.
Part of it is this NBC deal.
And again, I'm sort of mad at NBC for doing that too.
And by the way, they've shuffled a lot of those games off to the Peacock.
It's not on big NBC.
But they sort of create, there's this unbelievable sense of entitlement that Notre Dame has.
But I blame the rest of college football for letting Notre Dame do that.
There's no reason you should say, you join a conference, you join the ACC.
Now, the problem, again, goes back to this TV deal.
And which conferences would let Notre Dame in and maybe still keep that NBC deal?
The SEC wouldn't.
The Big Ten probably wouldn't.
The ACC probably would.
But Notre Dame hasn't gone that way yet.
But it's going to take a collective effort by all the conferences just to say, look, we're all in conferences here.
You join one too.
You're in one for every other sport.
You're in the ACC for basketball.
Just do it for football.
They're letting the tail wag the dog here way too much.
But I'm not holding my breath.
We would have said this years ago.
Quit making exceptions for Notre Dame, but they keep seeming to do it.
And I can't figure it out.
Did the NCAA actually have some common sense with their latest proposals, whittling down the transfer window?
It was at 45 and two windows, now down to only 10 days from January the 4th through the 13th.
I still wonder about the dates on that.
OTAs in place of spring practice.
In fact, you'll have two five- to seven-week periods.
And I know we've talked about the five years to play five.
Am I wrong?
Those are actually reasonable, logical cures for some of the issues here.
They are.
And they've already gotten rid of the spring transfer window already.
So they've got, you know, again, shortened that window in January.
That's good.
That's after most of the season is done for most of the teams that aren't in the playoffs.
So I think that's good.
The OTA thing is much overdue.
And a lot of coaches have been talking about that for years.
I don't, if they were being truthful, none of them really like spring football the way it used to be.
Do it the way the NFL does it.
I mean, it's just, you know, it makes more sense.
So that's good.
The five for five makes a lot of sense.
And you've sort of done away with the, all the, you know, the red shirts and all those things that manipulated it.
It's still going to have, they will still get some legal challenges already.
The guys out of the high school class of 2022, there's a class action suit with some of them suing, thinking that they're the ones that have been.
Because it started for the guys after that class where it would work.
The next challenges are going to be if a, if a guy in his fifth year blows out his knee in the first game and he would have had a medical red shirt before.
He's not, he'll go to court and we'll see if, we'll see what happens then.
That's still to be determined.
Eventually down the road, you're getting with, with all the money getting paid to college guys now.
And I'm, I don't know when this will happen, but I predict it will.
Before the end of the decade, somebody is going to sue and say, look, this is, we're getting paid.
As long as I'm enrolled in school, I should be able to play.
And they will challenge this on, as long as you're enrolled, you get to play.
Hey, look, it's, it's unfair.
It's, it's pay.
And, and you, you, there, there'd probably have to be some sort of a collective bargaining place with the players to get that done.
That could all still happen.
Um, so, but in the, in the short term, anything that lends more order to college football, uh, which has had a lot of trouble policing itself is good.
So I think the five for five is generally is a, is a really good idea.
Now let's see if it can withstand some challenges in the upcoming years.
Amen, brother.
Uh, uh, but you're still the gold standard, the gold sheet wager talk.
Bruce, where can we get online, find the latest about major league baseball?
By the way, the Braves need all the help they can get, uh, in the world cup.
Where can we get all this great stuff from the man?
Yeah.
You see, the Phillies are starting to loom up on the horizon right now.
All of a sudden, what, there's three backs.
So there you go.
Uh, yeah, all my picks up there.
We've got baseball going good world cup.
That's keeping us busy in July.
And then we're going to get into preseason football before you know it.
All my picks are up there.
It's under the wager talk.com umbrella gold sheet.com there as well.
We'll start populating that with some football stories when we get into August, but right now, wager talk.com picks up their world cup baseball.
Also, you can find picks and parlays, winners and liners up there too.
Sounds good.
Bruce, listen, man.
Thanks for your time to enjoy the 4th of July fireworks and be safe.
Okay.
Yeah.
Happy holiday guys.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Right back at you, Bruce.
Bruce Marshall, again, other places, Vegas insider coming up the next time.
I'm going to be taking all over the place.
Matt Michelle checking in along with Vince Ferrara, Elmer Pierce, and Freddie Kirby batting first in the next hour.
Stay with us.
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Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shores.
Sports Radio 93.9, The Score.
Westwood One Sports presents this World Soccer Update.
I'm Erika Herskowitz.
It's day 20 at the World Cup and the third day of knockout matches.
Today's triple header is underway in Arlington, Texas.
At the half, Norway leads Ivory Coast 1-0.
The Vikings snapped a scoreless tie on a goal from Antonio Nusa in the 39th minute.
The African nation is making its debut in the tournament's knockout stage,
having finished second behind Germany in its group.
Norway also advanced as runners-up after opening the tournament with two wins
before suffering a defeat in its final group game.
The winner of this one moves on to play Brazil.
The loser goes home.
Later today, France and Sweden meet at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
And then tonight, Mexico will take on Ecuador in Mexico City.
Host nation Mexico swept Group A with a flawless maximum of nine points,
scoring six goals and keeping three consecutive clean sheets.
I'm Erika Herskowitz, Westwood One Sports.
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Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
It is an absolute pleasure for us to welcome the man who is the big orange whisperer and the dog whisperer,
Vince Sorara, the V-Man.
Welcome in.
How are you?
I am good, gentlemen.
Not necessarily in that order, right?
Like Daphne's priority and then work and covering the balls comes after that, even though it's very enjoyable.
You guys are a team, are you not, V-Man?
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oh, what a cute puppy, and you just kind of happen to start the conversation.
Does Daphne do her part in that regard?
You know, being that I'm single, we're kind of still at the work in progress.
Right.
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So we're basically in training camp for that.
So hopefully we'll be ready for the start of the season here at some point soon.
Yes, an extra treat if bingo happens to be the game.
The Boomo Bugg Show, weekdays noon to 2 on 93.9 The Score.
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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 true little bit more Bug Show.
I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird.
Thank you so much for giving a free ride around the Tennessee Valley.
And for opening the door and saying hello to a man who's been there and done that when it comes to recruiting.
Freddie Kirby, now busy over at Southeastern Athletes Incorporated.
Freddie Kirby, welcome in.
How are you?
You're just fine, guys.
You get a free ride around the Tennessee Valley.
I get an expense-paid ride all across the south.
I mean, over the course, just for the folks who are brand new to the show, they may not be aware.
But people who are like from time to time, obviously, Freddie, we catch up.
In a month's time, how many stops do you normally make?
Well, this past month, I would say that's somewhere in the neighborhood of 30.
Wow.
In other words, one a day.
And counting Saturdays and Sundays.
Well, I bought a car six weeks ago and put $12,000 on it in six weeks.
That tells you a lot.
So this ain't going to be that little old lady from Pasadena who is trying to get rid of her Cadillac
and only went to the grocery store, right, Freddie?
That's right.
Yeah, I put one in the grave and bought another.
Sounds like a lot of marriages out there.
Freddie, let's talk about something that you've been around a long time, decades with an S,
and that's called college recruiting.
Your thoughts overall, the state and, in this case, Alabama, picking up their 13th commitment.
They had five last week.
And, Freddie, you know where we're going with this.
You hear it as much as we do.
They had five, one four-star and four three-stars.
Freddie, your thoughts about the pickup and just the approach in the modern era of college football recruiting.
Well, this day and time, it comes down to philosophy of how you want to attack recruiting because some people live and die by the portal.
Some people still believe in the high school process of taking the high school kids and reinvesting in them and fill it in with the portal.
It comes down to what each one of the schools' mindset is.
But, to me, the coaches that take the high school kids and develop those are the ones that are going to succeed in the end.
Because when you've got to go out here and buy somebody else's problem that couldn't succeed with them or somebody just money hungry, you're not going to have a successful overall program.
But, year in, year out, you may have it a year or two, but you're not going to have it year in, year out.
Your foundation's got to be based on high school kids and everything if you're going to be successful.
I agree with you entirely.
Freddie, let me get your assessment of the five that Alabama's gotten.
Darius White, the three-star, 6'3", a cornerback.
Tyler Younger from the Atlanta area, 6'5", three-star edge.
Stanford Willis from A-Rab, 6'5", 280, approximately.
Jeremiah Beverly from Hillcrest, New Tuscaloosa.
And, of course, the latest, O'Sonnie Gales, the four-star from IMG.
Well, to start in the order that you said them there, Darius White is far from a three-star, in my opinion.
And everything, 6'3", 185 from Creekside High School in Fairbair, Georgia, which is a school that dates back to my thick-skinned prep days and everything.
It's always produced major talent.
It's always had a lot of kids come out of there.
And when Mo Lindquist identifies you as the number one deep corner that he wants and everything, most of the time he's got a very good eye for what he wants in a talent.
His kid's got height, he's got reach, he's got length and everything.
But he's a locked-down corner also.
He's got the footwork to be able to stay one-on-one with wide receivers of any speed and size.
Tyler Younger, as a kid, I love his frame.
I love his possibilities, what he could become.
And he's a three-star and everything, from greater Atlanta Christian out across Georgia and everything.
And then he's 6'5", 220, 230 pounds, depending on who you look at.
And I've watched him on film, he gets off the ball pretty decent, could be a little bit quicker and everything.
But he pursues down the line very well.
He gets after you and everything.
And I'm just picturing him with this same philosophy at 6'5", 250, 260 pounds, as opposed to 220 pounds.
Because he has the frame to carry 250-plus and everything.
Stafford Willis is a young man out of A-Rab, Alabama, here in North Alabama.
I watched his commitment video, was very touched by the way his passion is for Christ and everything and what he stands for.
He's got great size at 6'5", 2'9".
He has the flexibility to move inside.
And watching his film, I can see why Alabama is looking at potentially moving him inside and everything.
Because he gets to the second level very quickly off the ball and everything.
He can bump and get to the linebackers and create a hole after hitting two different men on one play.
And that's the reason I think they're looking to move him inside.
And when a kid wants to be somewhere, most times you're going to get a very good production out of him.
Jeremiah Beverly is probably the least known of the group and everything right there in the back door at Hillcrest High School.
He's been going to Alabama camps for years and everything.
And when K.J. Green decided to take the money and run and everything, Alabama turned to the back door to get Jeremiah Beverly.
And dating back, I'm not saying this guy's going to be this guy.
Don't get me wrong when I say this.
But the recruitment flies back to the Franchoni's days when I was actually involved in it with Coach Charlie North, who was the recruitment coordinator.
When I told him he needed to go after a linebacker from just near high school who was by far the best player on the field.
The night I went to watch Titus Ryans play.
And then the following week, that same linebacker played Hillcrest High School with a young man named Brandon Avalos, who was already committed to Alabama.
And as you all know, it's the son of Rodney Orr.
And the same linebacker destroyed Brandon.
And Rodney told Fran that the following day that, Coach, I'm telling you right now, you need to go get this guy.
He about killed Brandon last night.
And so, him and Charlie both said, is he not 5'11"?
I said, Coach, I had to look up to him.
And Rodney told him the same thing.
He said, the kid's at least 6'1", 6'2".
Too many people get caught up in heights is what I'm getting at.
And this linebacker's name is the coach of the Houston Texans right now, D'Amico Ryans.
Pretty good.
And the Jeremiah Beverly falls into that same kind of pattern.
He's got a local kid that kind of got overlooked and everything that's going to give you everything he's got.
And he also has growth potential there and everything.
But he's pretty quick already coming off that edge and everything.
Now, the highlight of the group is O'Sonnie Gales, one of the top 50 players in America, wide receiver.
The flash is a lot like Lottier Brooks.
It's going to be a nightmare for people underneath to try to cover.
But he also can take you off the top and everything.
And when you've got quarterbacks like Alabama has committed and going to have committed and everything.
But that ball in the air looks very good when he's running down the field and going after it.
But those five right there, and this class overall is going to be a complimentary class to what you've got in the last two years.
And everything, you've got to have some of these players.
You've got to have these players that are going to get out there and bust their living butt off to make the superstars have to work to keep their job.
So, these are the kind of players you win with.
Brady Kirby, in the huddle with us.
Brady, it's always next.
You know this.
Back to you, Pigskin Prep today.
Let's talk about one of the rock stars, five-star wide receiver, Monshine, Bama Sells.
We know Alabama's in the conversation, but at the end of the day, people say money might play a role here.
Indiana's courting them hard, along with every college in America.
Would you pay the money, if all things being equal, would you reach into the piggy bank and make it work from your budget to pick up sales?
I'm going to go with what my beliefs are as a team and everything.
I'm not going to sit here and say one kid is a superstar compared to somebody else and everything, because it all comes down to how much are you willing to put out.
And that Monshine's sales, if it wasn't for NIL, Portal, and all this stuff here, he'd already be committed.
It's going to come down to if the kid lives out the dream he wants and everything, or if he's going to let money and family determine where he goes and everything.
He could end up in Alabama.
I don't think it's a done deal that he's going anywhere yet.
I think he's looking at two or three schools.
The money is a dictating force with the other schools, and a lot of them have more money on the table than Alabama does.
But it comes down to, three years from now, are you going to be developed to where you go in the first round, or are you going to lose a ton of money going in the third, fourth, fifth round?
And some kids don't get developed, and I'm not trying to throw shade here, but Cam Coleman at Auburn was the same kind of player, but he didn't get developed at Auburn.
And you don't want to fall into that boat.
You've got to look at who's going to be throwing the football to you.
Yep, that's it.
And to make you shine the way you want to shine and fulfill your total obligations and the dreams that you want.
Like I said, if he goes where he wants to go, he'll go to Tuscaloosa.
If he listens to the outside forces, he'll probably go somewhere else.
Randy, will Alabama's next verbal commitment be Kyron Caldwell, a receiver, three-star from Columbia High School in Lake City, Florida, on the 4th of July?
I think they've got a shadow of a doubt.
He definitely will be, from every indication I'm getting and everything.
Lake City, Columbia, once again, has produced 1,000 players in Florida and everything.
Raynard Wilson went to Florida State when it comes to my mind.
He's always a very strong player.
But he's also a receiver type that's going to be a complimentary player to lots of your Brooks and Osani Galsey.
The three of them together are probably going to be a pretty good nucleus on the inside and everything.
But he's the one that's got great hands, runs very good routes.
And he's one of the ones that's going to – he may even be just a scholarship, not necessarily not an NIL player.
I don't know exactly what their plans are there and everything.
But he's one that's going to be kind of like your Cole Adams type, or maybe just a little bit more electric, a little bit more game-breaking speed.
One of the reasons you just put 12,000 miles on your new car is you travel all over the South, looking at young men and women, trying to help families.
With scholarships, you do a lot of the leg work.
Freddie, tell us a little bit more about Southeastern Athletics.
Well, we're an organization that does all the leg work to get kids seen by college coaches.
I put out a young baseball player from Holly Pond yesterday, like here this morning, East Tennessee State, Tarleton State,
Truett McConnell over in Georgia, and Foyer Rivers Community College out in Missouri have all hit him already and everything,
and invited him to come visit and work out for them and everything.
And, of course, the D1 schools are going to invite him to come to camp so they can watch him and everything.
And then I've got a – this is the one that blows my mind.
Like, I put a picture out who has already graduated.
And usually I don't even take a kid at that stage of the game.
I put her out there because she's moved here from California.
Her dad's got brain cancer.
And she's got the reliance as a mother and everything, and she asked me would I help her.
And I put her out there with not a whole lot of expectations, and 22 schools have already invited her to come visit.
Wow.
And so I'm very tickled for the kid and everything, but that's what we do.
We try to get you seen, get you in front of college coaches and everything to make it a lot more feasible on your parents
to afford your college education and everything.
We're located in Russell, Alabama.
This is our 41st year to be here.
And if you're interested in getting seen, our office number here is 256-227-6986.
Of course, that's my cell phone here at the office.
It's 256-332-5513.
And everything.
Don't cost you anything to sit down and talk to us if you don't like what you see.
All you got to do is say no.
But right now, 98% of the kids that I have taken personally in the company have signed, 87% overall in 40 years.
And we've got a very strong reputation.
Not bad numbers.
And a great story there with the young lady with family issues.
All the best to that.
Keep up the good work, Freddie.
Stay safe out there on the 4th of July, okay?
We plan on being in.
Y'all have a great 4th of July.
You said, don't eat too much.
You look like me.
We have been more.
Freddie Kirby, who's going to win the Southeastern Athletics.
Coming up, let's jump over the state line and talk Big Orange with Vince Rora and Dak.
Stay with us.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
Really appreciate it.
We ride around the valley.
V-Man is always a little tied up.
We'll try to get to him just asap.
But, B.B., back to what we were talking about earlier.
We're going to be having to get Phil still on.
He's on with us every year about this time for some reason.
In case you missed his observations about Alabama, it just seems like he basically is echoing what all the national so-called experts are saying about Bama.
They're not a top-10 team.
Some have them at number 10.
Phil has them just on the outside at number 11.
Number one, if I am DeBoer and his staff, I like that because, keep in mind, this is not the old days.
As long as you're in the top 12 at the end of the year, you still are playing with a clean slate because that's the field.
But here's the other side of the coin in case you missed it earlier.
What Phil still is saying, they're not in the top 10 right now, but he comes out with a secular list of teams that are not in right now.
But after they play the season, in his projections, will be in not only in the top 10 in case of Alabama, but at the head of the class going as far as saying he thinks that they've got a strong chance of not only making the playoffs, but winning it all.
Why does Phil still know that a lot of the so-called experts out there do not know Bama?
Well, Harold, I mentioned this, and try not to be redundant here, but I mentioned this two or three times.
The reason Alabama's not in the top 10 for all the prognosticators is they don't have a veteran quarterback, and they've also got a new offensive line.
Now, I think this is going to be probably Kellen DeBoer's best defense.
They've got to stay healthy.
They've got to avoid, and we talk to Rodney Orr about this about every other week.
They can't continue to lose to Kentucky or Vanderbilt, and they play both of them this upcoming season.
In other words, they've got to get through the trap games, Kentucky the second game of the year, and I tell you another trap game that a lot of people are overlooking is, well, Mississippi State before Georgia, but after Georgia, if Alabama gets a big emotional win in Bryant-Denny on a Saturday night, they go to Knoxville the next week.
And coming off a huge win during the regular season, the record for Kellen DeBoer teams is not very good.
But once again, if this offensive line comes through, the age-old question for the last year is, can they run the football?
And I think they can.
Again, I keep saying this, Crowell is a very good running back.
Daniel Hill is there.
And if the offensive line can open some holes, and we don't know who the quarterback's going to be.
I think Keelan Russell is an absolute phenom.
And I keep saying this, he's going to run for 75 yards a game, and particularly when a play breaks down.
But there's no question, if Alabama can win the games they're supposed to win and continue to win on the road like they did last year,
and this defense is what I think they've got the best secondary in the country.
I know it's the deepest one, and the defensive line comes through.
I do think this could potentially be a very good, certainly a playoff team and a very good team this year.
I mean, let's just cut to the chase here.
If Russell is not the quarterback, to me, that says one or two things.
People have been wrong about the kid or were crazy because he, rarely do you get someone who gets the label of can't miss.
And two things on that, they need him right now.
The offensive line does not promise, so you need his legs.
And number three, this kid ain't going to sit on the bench another year.
That's not going to happen.
Now, you either go ahead and roll the dice, roll him out there, and if Austin Mack wants to leave, leave.
But all things being equal, how could they not play?
But you hit on a very interesting point.
Number one, they've got to stay healthy.
I think that's as much as anything.
And number two, this staff under DeBoer, the last two seasons, they will win games that you probably think they may not win,
but they are one of those staffs that will lose games that you think they will not lose, especially at the end of the year.
Is it a fair observation to say this staff tends to take their eye off the ball at times and run out of gas at key points on the schedule?
Well, we've seen it, but certainly in the first two years, DeBoer is there, but they've got a gauntlet.
Again, you've got a tough game in Starkville.
They've got a quarterback who played two games for him last year who I heard really showed out at the Manning Passing Academy last week.
But again, you've got a gauntlet.
You've got Georgia, Tennessee, Texas A&M, LSU in a row, and then the next week you've got Vandy in Nashville.
Now, what happened in Nashville two years ago, I don't think it is going to happen again, but that's going to be the key for this team.
I think we're going to get a little better ideal in the first three games against Kentucky.
You're going to have a fired-up crowd there.
Will Stein, who did a very good job as the offensive coordinator at Oregon, I think we'll have that Kentucky team.
Mincey was the backup at Notre Dame.
I don't know how good he's going to be, but again, Alabama must beat Kentucky and Florida State, in my opinion, handily.
Well, a couple things on that.
Number one, Kentucky is going to have a new playbook, so there's no pattern there.
This is going to be a brand-new, fresh stuff.
So the old Kentucky of the last few years, after a while, you start looking for trends.
So Stutz is gone, so it's going to be interesting to see what kind of playbook these guys have got.
And then you mentioned not only Vanderbilt, but to my knowledge, Alabama, I think there's maybe three teams in the league
where they play back-to-back opponents from the SEC on the road.
And Alabama's one of them.
They've got LSU one week and Vanderbilt the last coming up the next week.
And what happened before when they had Georgia?
Georgia was at home before.
We saw what happened the next week against Vanderbilt back to the point we made.
Sometimes the staff tends to take their eyes off the ball as opposed to Nick Saban.
Don't worry about the score.
Just play the next play.
So we'll see about that.
The other point that we're trying to get to with V-Man, if you're a Tennessee fan or you're playing Tennessee,
we know it's summertime, you stay busy, you're with the kids, you're playing pickleball and everything else.
Chaz Coleman, BB, to me, that is big news, not only for Tennessee, but anybody that's playing Tennessee.
And if Tennessee is going to make the postseason big for those potential opponents,
but that is a big piece of news out of Knoxville.
Yeah, Chaz Coleman reportedly had a $2 million NIL contract, but he was at Penn State.
He came with quite a few, at least four players and three coaches.
And a lot of people had high hopes for him, but Harold, it just never worked out.
He had a head injury last year and never seemed to get over that.
And he just would not comply with the coaches, with the program.
Tennessee went through this last year with Boo Carter and also Nico, and this would have been the third time with this.
And I think the Tennessee coach had just said, look, we've had enough of this.
We appreciate you trying.
Harold, the problem with that, and we talk about this a lot, it's the C word, it's chemistry.
If you've got a cancer in the locker room, eventually it's going to cause a problem.
Well, here's the problem with that.
Does Tennessee have to eat that contract?
And if so, that's money, what kind of ROI?
And it goes back to what Freddie Kirby and we've been talking about.
As far as these coaches, you've got to be cautious with that.
There's a reason these guys are coming to your team.
They're chasing the bag, as a street colloquial term is.
And when they get in that room, they want their money, and human nature says, I want the most for the least.
And I think that's a major influence.
But your thoughts about how this may impact Tennessee, this is not only losing somebody that's making a lot of money, but it's at a position of need.
Well, it is a position of need, Harold.
But again, I don't think this is going to face Tennessee.
They haven't really practiced with him.
Jim Knowles, who came, is one of the best defensive coordinators in the country.
I really don't think this is going to face Tennessee overall.
And Coleman's coach at Penn State was Jim Knowles.
I think that's what makes it very interesting, BB.
Have you got your fireworks?
Have you got your sparklers?
And have you got your World Cup menu filled out for the USA and Bosnia tomorrow night?
It should be exciting tomorrow night, Harold Bugg.
A lot going on.
On the last day of June, you've got the World Cup.
More action tonight, USA tomorrow night.
But first, something else that's still in the headlines across the country is across the big pond, the Atlantic.
And that's Wilmington, the very latest from the grass.
You're on Sports Radio 93.9, The Score.
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The United States is set to play tomorrow night in the round of 32 of the World Cup
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After a day of yesterday, the Braves are back at home tonight.
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The ERA right at 3.
Matthew Liberatore, who's 3 and 5, will start for St. Louis.
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The score.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back, and if you think we can pitch a 4th of July fireworks display here,
you should go to the backyard of our Netscast.
Matt Mischel, he's a college insider with the Orlando Center.
This podcast is Gridiron 365.
In a place called Orlando, home of the fireworks,
next door at Disney World.
Matt, welcome in.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
How are you guys doing today?
Yeah, we're doing all right.
Matt, did the NCAA, did they start reading your work at the Orlando Center
or listening to your podcast at Gridiron 365?
They got smart over the last few days about some of the changes that they got,
including the 5 for 5 and other, I think, changes that most folks with common sense would agree with.
Would you agree?
Yeah, I think this is obviously a way that we were kind of headed towards.
You know, coaches, if you talk to any coach going on right, you know, in the country right now,
they talk about, you know, common sense of what's going on in the sport.
The 5 for 5 rule is something that a lot of coaches I've spoken with were really in favor of,
wanting to make sure that it would kind of, you know, balance everything out.
You wouldn't have 25, 26, 27-year-old, you know, players, you know, in the league and playing football and basketball and things like that.
So, I think this is a smart rule.
I think this is just one step.
But I always warn people that this doesn't fix all the problems.
I mean, obviously, it's just a way to kind of make things a little more easier for coaches to go through.
And it's going to be, I definitely believe over the next few weeks,
it's going to be one of the top topics we're going to be talking about in the media days,
you know, at different conferences is just, you know, kind of the impact about this
and when that's going to happen.
Also, you know, the transfer portal window gets, you know, kind of cut down from 15 days to 10.
There's also the idea of allowing, you know, players to actually have a window to be able to talk to other teams
where they can negotiate and then move on.
There's a lot of things that have been kind of been put out there that I think that eventually maybe will help curb some things,
but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done.
And, Matt, also 14 weeks beginning in 2007 to play 12 games, which means they've got two bye weeks.
And then they also put out there, or they call them now,
stand-alone weekends for conference championship games and the Army-Navy game.
I understand they want to try to continue to do Army-Navy.
We'll see where the championship games go.
We've talked about that, have they run their course, et cetera.
But, Matt, I agree.
I think these are at least the transfer rule.
And, oh, by the way, the OTAs.
I know a lot of people like the spring games, but I think we saw the OTAs coming two five- to seven-week periods.
But the two-binds, the OTAs, and some of the other things do make sense.
Yeah.
You know, I think talking to some coaches about this, you know, I think the OTAs are something that people are interested in looking at.
You know, I did talk to a few coaches who mentioned, you know, listen, you know, there already isn't enough time off for some of these coaches, you know,
I mean, and their coaching staff, their concern with some of these OTAs is that they don't want to see stretching things out throughout the summer.
You know, the July is pretty much the only month right now where a lot of these coaches get a chance to maybe, you know, get off the road recruiting,
spend time with their families, kind of, you know, rewind, do everything like that.
Their concern is they just don't want to see it to get to the point where all of a sudden you're allowing teams to have OTAs in July, you know,
and you've got people, you know, you've got, you know, players taking part in it, you've got coaches taking part in it,
and then these guys never have any time off, you know what I mean?
We talk about, you know, coaching burnout, you know, basically with coaches like, you know, Dusty May leaving, you know, to go to the NBA.
Those are the kind of situations I think where you would start to see maybe some coaches want to do that.
But, again, if this can all be monitored or coaches can determine when they use these OTAs, I think it's a good format.
I think it gives them opportunity to do some different things.
Maybe you don't necessarily want to have, like you mentioned, spring games.
Maybe you don't want to have 15 practices and, you know, how many weeks, five weeks.
Maybe you'd rather kind of stretch it out, review a few weeks here, a few weeks there,
and then maybe you could kind of see how things go from there.
You know, man, I just listened to that, and I think a lot of folks would agree,
but is there any formula out there where, to me, the one thing that would be as far as taking a hit
if they do away with the spring games, and that's the communities like Tuscaloosa, like Auburn,
like Gainesville is not the biggest place in the world, Oxford, Stockville.
Is there any way they could come up with a scenario where they say the local economies can steal one of those OTAs,
the fans can come in in some format.
I don't have the specifics, but they're smarter than we are.
Is there anything they could do to maybe give these smaller communities with these campuses
that depend on college football for their budgets some help as well?
Yeah, I mean, maybe.
I mean, you know, I've seen where some of the programs will open up a practice, you know,
like maybe the final practice of spring, and they'll allow fans just to take part in it.
It's nowhere near the spectacle that a spring game is for each, you know, for anything like that.
You know, you're not making nearly as much revenue.
It's not like the hotel's still up because of it, but at least offers an opportunity for fans to kind of take part
and, you know, see what's going on with their favorite teams.
I'm just not sure anymore, guys.
I mean, you know, I know the economies would love to keep that up.
They want it.
It's a huge, you know, it's a huge boost to the economy, but I don't know if teams or schools are really that interested in doing that.
You know, talking to the coaches, you know, the idea of doing a spring game just is not even in their lexicon right now.
They're talking about, you know, well, I need to make sure this happens, and I need to make sure this guy's okay.
I need to make sure we hold guys out, and I need to make sure we do that.
You know, there's a lot that goes into it.
I remember the day when, you know, a coach would cringe at a spring game because he didn't have enough healthy offensive linemen.
You know, and so you, so, and then in the NIL generation, we've seen teams, and this has happened at UCF, where half the spring game is an NIL opportunity for fans, where they open it up to pass, punt, and kick type situations, you know, where your team only, where you only get to see the team for maybe two quarters, and that's it.
So I'm not sure if we're going to go back to the idea of having, now, if they would ever decide to allow teams to host other teams, other schools, you know, kind of like what the NFL does during practice, you know, during spring, or during their practices, preseason practice, where maybe you host a different team for a spring game, and you're allowed to do that.
Maybe then that would open the door to do that, but I'm not sure if college football is ready to go that route just yet.
I know we've talked about it a few times, but, you know, the idea of having, you know, just, like, I think it's why the OTAs is so much more of an idea that coaches are embracing right now, because the idea of just being able to do whatever you want, you know, you don't necessarily have to have to host a game.
You can just have just sort of an opportunity for your players to get out there and kind of run through some stuff.
So, we'll see, but I'm almost positive that I think the era of spring games is probably going to disappear.
You mentioned Central Florida.
You know Gus better than any of us.
You were the beat reporter under Gus when he was there at Central Florida.
What happened with Gus at Florida State?
Couldn't have gotten off to a better start, knocking off his old buddies from Tuscaloosa, and then things didn't pan out the way they wanted.
Your thoughts about that, and we've been kind of getting an early word on the rematch, the revenge match,
if you want to call that, Florida State in Tuscaloosa this season.
Kind of a two-part there, Matt, as far as the match there with Gus, and then what's going to happen in the revenge bowl?
Well, you know, I think a lot of things happen with Gus.
I think, you know, it got to a point where maybe, you know, you've got to remember that Mike Norvell gave up play-calling duties to Gus.
Yeah.
You know, the year that he was there, and you know, that's a big, that was a big ask for Mike Norvell.
I'm not taking anything away from Gus.
I'm just saying Gus went through that on his own.
You know, having his play-calling duties kind of taken away from him.
A lot of coaches don't like that, especially if you're doing that for all your career.
You really don't like that kind of idea.
And I don't think there was any animosity between the two of them, but I just think that maybe at some point,
maybe Gus looked around and decided it's getting tougher and tougher.
And the reason he, you know, resigned at UCF was because of the fact that, you know, he generally,
he just got tired of dealing with the way the college landscape has shifted.
You know, I mean, the idea that NIL was such a big deal, the idea that you would have a bye week
and you've got players in your office with agents demanding new contracts or wanting to make more money
because they felt like that a good year.
You know, and granted, as a coordinator, you don't deal with that as much, but it's still a part of your game.
You know, you start to look around and realize I have to play this guy, this guy, maybe this guy,
because we've invested a lot of money in him.
You know what I mean?
It's something maybe he wasn't, he wasn't really kind of open to, to maybe going down or continuing.
So it's going to be interesting about the rematch.
I think this is, and I've said this a couple of times, this has been one of the quietest off seasons
for the state that I can, I've been around, you know, where we just haven't heard a lot of buzz about this team.
And you look at this roster and you look at what they're trying to do.
I think there's concern outside the program on, can they get this thing turned around?
You know, you look at their schedule and, you know, yeah, they've got a couple decent games early on with New Mexico State and SMU.
But then you mentioned that game at Alabama.
And I think that's going to be a, that could be the make or break type situation.
If you go to Alabama and you get destroyed on national TV, how does that help you out?
How does that, you know, does that build confidence in your team?
I mean, if you can come away with a win, you know, it would be huge, but I'm not sure about this team.
I mean, I've looked at this roster.
I've seen some of these guys.
I haven't been at practice or anything like that, but you know, I'm not sure if this is a roster that to me instills a lot of fear in anybody.
I think it's one of the reasons why Florida State's probably projected to finish at the bottom of the ACC or near the bottom of the ACC, about a half.
So it's going to be interesting.
It's going to be interesting to see if how Florida State can kind of respond if they start out strong.
And this would be a good opportunity for them to make a case, especially for Mike Norvell, who desperately needs to have a big win if he's going to help his chance of staying at Florida State.
You're going to be busy next week covering Big 12 Media Days.
I believe it's the first Media Days for a conference, July 7th through 8th, sponsored by Monster.
Now, you know, I haven't seen a lot of Media Days with a corporate sponsor, but the Big 12's got one, and I'm sure that will begin to take off for the conferences.
I think Microsoft Co-Pilot had the last one, but that's going to be July 7th through the 8th.
I always enjoy the conversation.
Where can we get online and get Matt Merchelle's great stuff?
Yeah, you can go to OrlandoSentinel.com to check out the latest or follow me on social media at OSMattMerchelle.
And I understand that Milli Vanilli is going to be the entertainment between coaches shuffling you the microphone.
So enjoy that down there, Matt.
And in the meantime, have a happy and safe fourth, okay?
All right.
Thanks a lot, guys.
Take care.
Thank you, bud.
Matt Merchelle, with us, Orlando Sentinel, and again, the podcast called Gridiron 365.
Coming up, he's ready to give you a good drive.
Elmer Pierce on deck.
Stay with us.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
The hardest working man of the show.
This is Elmer Pierce.
He's the owner of Garner Pierce Autos.
Elmer, welcome in.
How are you?
Good, guys.
Good.
How are you all doing today?
And we're gearing up for the fourth.
You got any fireworks, anything going on at Garner Pierce Autos?
It's vacation season.
A lot of folks trying to hit the road.
They probably don't want to in an old jalopy.
So, Elmer, what can you do to help people out with a good ride?
Man, I tell you what, we have a lot of inventory right now.
Got a lot of new stuff in in the last couple of days, couple of weeks.
Got a really, really nice 2018 Chevy Silverada LTZ.
That's the top of the line back then.
Real nice crew cab, four-wheel drive truck.
So, tons of 20, 22, 23 inventory that we've recently bought.
So, a couple of 24 Camrys, 25 Corolla.
So, tons of inventory if you guys looking to beat the gas bill.
A lot of really good gas mileage cars right now.
I'm supposed to have a Tesla coming soon.
So, we've got a little bit of everything for everybody.
Everything from a 22 Jeep Wagoneer with 40,000 miles, local one owner, all the way.
We probably have the best selection of six to $8,000 vehicles right now that we've had a long time.
So, we've got a little bit of everything for everybody.
Elmer, that's what I was going to say.
I know you've got certainly a lot of cars on the lot, but if you want a custom car that, just say, Elmer, I want a 2019 Toyota Camry with less than 75,000 miles, the color blue.
Y'all do that all day long, don't you?
You know, I tell people, I said, you don't realize how much of our day looking for people a car is.
You know, there's probably 25 people just off the top of my head that we have found a car for in the last year.
People go, hey, I don't want to go to a dealership and spend six or eight hours buying a car.
And I sure don't want to, like, pick up the phone and start calling every dealer I find one at and go, hey, is this really there?
And what's all the, you know, the story behind it?
Because, unfortunately, a lot of dealers, you know, well, that price is only if you finance with us.
And if not, it's $1,500 more.
And it's only if you have a trade-in.
If not, it's another $1,000, you know.
So we cut through all the BS, find you a car, here's the pictures, here's the 50 photographs.
If it's what you want, we buy it, go pick it up.
If you come to look at it and it's not what it's supposed to be, it's not yours.
So we do that for tons of customers.
I can't tell you how many people we've done it for three, four, five times already.
And they're like, this is the only way I will ever buy a car again, you know.
So it makes it easy and takes out all the headache.
And, you know, unfortunately, as busy as people are nowadays, that's what they don't want to put up with is the headache.
Elmer, talk to us about something else in that service because a lot of folks, like we mentioned, they're hitting the road.
They want to make sure that everything is good, belts, water pumps, et cetera.
Talk to us about the services that you offer.
Oh, yeah, yeah, guys.
Everything from, you know, engine and transmission replacements to oil changes and tire rotations.
I mean, you name it.
Anything from brake jobs to, like you just said, water pumps, any type of service you can think of on any car.
We've replaced hybrid batteries in a bunch of the hybrid cars that are getting a little older and some mileage on them.
People are like, oh, my gosh, it's going to be, you know, seven grand to replace my batteries.
The last five we've done have been between $1,500 and $1,900.
It's not as dramatic as people try to make it out to be.
And we can do that in about half a day and have your car back to you.
Your car has a two-year warranty, unlimited mileage on the battery packs whenever that happens.
So, yeah, it can be done.
That's a good deal.
Elmer, tell us before we let you go again, who, what, when, and where, where you're located, your hours, et cetera.
Yes, sir.
We are 8 to 5, Monday through Friday.
Service and sales is 8.30 to 5.
We're usually there at the 6 or 6.30, so don't worry about the 5 o'clock.
We're always there to late.
So, sales is open on Saturday, 9 to 2.
Come and see us, Garner Pierce Autos next to Applebee's on the Florence Boulevard, 2261 Florence Boulevard.
Come and see us on the web, www.garner-pierceautos.com.
Come and see us, guys.
Hey, we're good to hook up with you.
Just a quick story about an electric vehicle.
I had a rental back in the day.
This was back when it started coming out, and I was with my wife.
I went to a red light, and I looked at her and said, what's going on?
It was quiet.
It shut down.
She says, crank it again.
I tried to crank it, and we said a red light, and the people next door were laughing their heads off.
You got an electric vehicle.
It shuts off.
Yeah, it'll, uh, we have to tell people that that have never been in one.
Yes, yes, like me.
It's dead, yeah, yeah.
I'm going to deny that if I ever tell it again.
I'm too embarrassed.
Elmer, listen, happy 4th of July to you, and thank you so much, and stay safe, okay?
Happy 4th, everybody.
Thank you, Elmer.
It's a great weekend.
You too.
Elmer Pierce, owner of Garner Pierce Autos.
BB, can the Braves get some early fireworks tonight?
The Braves need all the help they can get.
But I hope with some home cooking, Harold, they will improve and win a game tonight.
And you can hear it right here on 93.9, the score.
They will start tonight 3 1⁄2 up.
The Pirates giving the Braves a gift last night.
They beat the Pills, and because of that, the Braves idle picked up a half game on the charging Pills.
It's going to take care of business for now on behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire crew here.
Harold Buck, thank you just so much for your time today.
Let's do it again tomorrow on noon to 2 for the Boom on Bug Show.
Back here on Sports Radio 93.9, the score.