7-16-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 3: SEC Media Days - Day 2: Kirby Smart, Ian Fitzsimmons
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All right, welcome back in. Michael Roy and Kubelik in the morning. Day two, SEC Media Days, live from Radio Row. We are in Dallas at the Omni. Great first hour of the show. Ralph Russo, the Associated Press, Chris Budden, ESPN. I like what she dropped from climbing there. I do kind of agree with Greg, though. Chris Budden telling us that

Chris Kleiman at Big 12 Media Day said, listen, Will Howard wasn't going to be our guy. But it is also a lot easier to say that after the fact. I think we've heard a couple of different instances since the transfer portal's gotten going of coaches saying, oh yeah, we were good. He wasn't going to be the guy. He wasn't going to start. It's easy to say that then, but...

If you know Kleiman, he's not necessarily one to just put words out there that he doesn't think are real. Either way, Ohio State is going to be one of those challengers for a Georgia football team that's going to be here today, day two of SEC media days. Tennessee, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, all of which I think have very intriguing conversations around them. We mentioned Oklahoma a few moments ago, just the star power that comes with that team.

Danny Stussman at linebacker, Billy Bowman at safety, Dominic Williams, who they got from TCU in the transfer portal, maybe up front on defense, the middle of defense, all the way through, going to be stout. Offensively, Deion Banks at wide receiver. He has a chance to be super explosive. 629 yards, seven touchdowns at Purdue last year. If you saw him in the spring game, he went bananas. Jackson Arnold has that potential, has that ability at quarterback, so...

Is that enough for the Oklahoma Sooners against a little bit of a more difficult schedule? On the flip side of that, Tennessee, which I want to get Greg's thoughts on this in just a moment, Tennessee's a team that we don't really talk about as being one of the best teams in this league at the line of scrimmage. I was asked to do this for, I probably shouldn't spoil this, Greg, a little bit later on set on the SEC Network today. My top five offensive and defensive lines were

You have to do both? How angry would that make you if that's my number one defensive line in the SEC? It wouldn't make me mad. But it's going to make a lot of other people mad. A lot of people are going to be really mad about that.

Tennessee is my number one defensive line in the league. James Pierce is incredible. James Pierce is awesome. But it's more about the depth that they have in the middle of that defense. You have four guys that have played, have played well, are more than capable bodies on the interior defensive line. There's just not many teams that can say that in this league right now. Yeah, and I think that people get way too caught up in the recruiting rankings and assessing teams.

who has quality players and who has quality depth. That's not necessarily always true. And I think that while Tennessee, I'm sure they've recruited well, I don't know off the top of my head, frankly, where they've ranked from a recruiting standpoint along the defensive line. But I would imagine it's probably not bad, right? I don't know. I have no idea. Don't really care, frankly. All I see is that they've had guys they've produced well.

And while there are some other teams that have five-star guys that have been highly touted for a long time, the guys are inconsistent. And frankly, in some cases, they're just not very good. So I'll be pretty curious to see how that kind of unfolds. But I think they absolutely have a chance.

to be one of the top groups in the league. I don't know if I'd have them at the top, but I think they absolutely have a chance. Now, I'll say this. Do I think they have the top-end potential in the SEC? No, I do not. I think there are some other teams that, when it's all said and done, either this year or at the end of next year, will probably have guys that are more coveted.

But Omari Thomas has played a lot of football in this league, and he's played well. Byron Eason has played a lot of football in this league, played well. Omar Norman-Lott has been a solid interior defensive lineman for Tennessee. He's been banged up a little bit. Elijah Simmons has played inside for Tennessee a great deal. And then you throw in the fact that you have a James Pierce who's an elite edge rusher on top of that. I think Joshua Josephs is an underrated pass rusher in this league. Has great length, a little bit more bulk than Pierce. And Dominic Bailey also back for this Tennessee team. So...

I understand what A&M has. I know what Georgia has. I know what Alabama has. I know what Ole Miss has gotten through the portal. And I thought it was pretty cool that we talked about it a little bit earlier with Jim Nagy. Like, South Carolina is going to be number five on my list. They have depth of defensive tackle. And there's just – that, to me, is super valuable in this league this year because if we have more good offensive lines and teams that want to go try to run the football, and especially with the longer season, I imagine that more teams are going to want to try to at least control the clock later in the year.

Having those interior defensive linemen is going to be big. Who do you have two? Because I would have A&M. A&M too. A&M. Yeah. Because A&M... Wardaddy's. Yeah, Wardaddy. I don't know. I mean, obviously they lost a bunch of guys. No doubt. With McKinley Jackson, Walter Nolan, L.T. Overton, Zaire Riggs, Fadil Diggs. I know they lost a bunch of guys. I get that. But they have...

Guys that came in that I think have a chance to be like take over the game. Shamar Turner can take over. We already know that. Nick Skorton, we talked about Skorton a lot. Skorton, I think, has a chance to be that guy as well. So you've got two now. I mean, how many teams have two? Shamar Stewart apparently had a really good spring, too. Yeah. And he's back. He can slide inside if you need him to. He's got some game. Have you watched this Cassius Howell kid at Bowling Green that they got off the edge? No.

You're the Mack guy. Live wire. You like him? He is super, super. We're going to say this about a lot of guys, like the kid that Auburn got from Arkansas State, kind of the same way. This kid, he's light, light, light, light. But he literally looks like he was plugged into a 100-bolt power.

electric volt like every time he plays. He is a spark plug, man. I love it. He's got real juice. Like, he gives full effort. Right. He's kind of similar to the kid that Auburn got at Arkansas State, except that kid's, I think, a little bit more well put together. He's got great hands. He's got good pass rush moves. Cassius Howell is his name. Played at Bowling Green last year.

And Arkansas has got a kid that they got from the FCS. It's kind of similar that we'll talk about. 6'4", 235. Like, he can rip. Now, I don't think he's an every-down player because I don't think he can survive every down. But you just want to put him out there on the edge and say, go get the quarterback. Like, he's going to be another guy you kind of add to that. He's going to be able to help. No doubt. And how about just for a second to kind of talk about Bama for just for a half second. Like, we could very easily fast forward. And, look, I'm not sitting here saying they're top defensive line of the league. I can't make that prognostication at this point.

But I do think they have enough versatility on the edges. I know the staff feels great about their edges. They think they have guys that can do a bunch of different things. They've got some run stoppers. They've got some heavy-handed dudes that can play on the inside, that can slide inside in third-down situations that are traditionally ends, but can play D-tackles in obvious passing situations. I think they like the versatility of their front. So, what if Jaheim Otis has an All-American caliber season? Which is always possible. Now,

Willie, that's a big if. Can Tim Smith, the light, finally go on in the final year of his career? Perhaps. Keenan was good last year. Keenan's solid. But he's not going to be Quinton Williams. He's solid.

He's not going to be De'Ron Payne. He's going to be solid. He's going to be a good, solid guy, mid-round pick in the NFL draft, maybe mid to late-round pick, but he's not going to be that first-round potential guy. So, you know, maybe the light goes on for some of these guys, and they're better than we anticipated. So I do think there's a ton of teams with upside, but I also think there's a ton of unknowns, too, as it relates to that position group. All right, let's go to the Georgia head football coach, Kirby Smart, taking the podium here live at SEC Media Days.

Good morning. I appreciate you guys coming out. I do want it to be duly noted that I got in here without a credential today. So it's the first time I've gotten through that door there after the news I heard yesterday. Thanks, Greg. I really appreciate the leadership he provides for us. I've been very fortunate to have nine years. I mean, that is...

Just crazy to think about. This is my ninth one of these. And, you know, Greg has done a tremendous job from every meeting I've ever been in, from every issue we've ever dealt with, with the ever-changing flow of college sports. The guy's incredible in the room with us, and I appreciate it. And I enjoyed Greg's message yesterday.

all the other sports in the SEC. Look, I am a son of the SEC. I counted 30 years since I went to the University of Georgia in 1994. 25 of the last 30 years I've spent in the SEC. I love bragging about that and I love bragging about our sports. There's not a sporting event that I don't go to in Athens, Georgia and watch

the highest level of competition in all sports. So a lot of credit goes out to all the other sports in the SEC, and this event is a chance to honor that. And I thought Greg did a great job of that yesterday. Just had a media member hit me with this, and I wanted to share it. Seth Emerson, one of the national writers, just hit me a few minutes ago. We were talking about the nine years, and he had a great line from the Indiana Jones movie I watched growing up. My brother Carl always loved Indiana Jones, but

The great line was, it's not the years, it's the mileage. And I tell you, being an SEC head coach, that's a true statement. It's not the years, it's the mileage. And it's been a great nine-year run for us at Georgia. But I'll start a little bit with my family. Yesterday was the 18th year anniversary of my wife and I, Mary Beth, and we are excited.

and honored to have spent nine of those 18 years in Athens, Georgia, where both of us were student athletes. We got to spend that anniversary in the great city of Savannah at Little League Baseball Game. So you do what you have to do to spend time with your kids, and we certainly enjoy that.

It's my 16-year-old twins who I like talking about. They're rising juniors now. I don't know geography, and I don't know how well you guys know geography, but I have one who is in Fiji, and I have one who is in Croatia on trips.

And I looked at the globe last night and it's hard for me because I'm a Southeastern Conference baby. I'm not a very worldly gentleman. But I have one in Fiji and one in Croatia. And I don't think you could be two further points apart from each other than they are right now. But they're enjoying those trips and getting to kind of develop and further themselves. My wife loves traveling.

I don't. And she kind of one-upped me this year when I had a chance to go with my youngest son to Cooperstown, which Greg mentioned. And I had an unbelievable time in Cooperstown, got to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and play in a lot of baseball games. And then went to Mississippi with my youngest son for a baseball tournament and spent three or four days there. My wife decided to go to Amsterdam and go to Taylor Swift concert.

So she is a huge Taylor Swift fan and took my twins there and said, if you're going to go all around the world playing baseball, I'm going to go to Amsterdam and enjoy Taylor Swift, which she's a big fan of. The three guys we got here today, I want to speak on behalf of those guys, but I want to give you a quick story to show you when you know you're getting old. And it got me yesterday. Not to pick on Coach Saban because I got a lot of kind words to say about him coming up, but...

I always thought that, oh man, I saw him as older when he was coaching and I saw myself as younger. And now I'm looking at it like, man, I'm old. I'm riding in the car yesterday with Mikel Malachi and Carson Beck. We're coming from the airport to the hotel and I'm sharing conversation with Mikel and Malachi. And of course, what's everybody talking about yesterday? What's all college football players talking about?

NCAA football game, right? The new game that's out. And I'm just trying to get in a conversation and talk to him about it.

And I said, man, that game's pretty awesome. And they're like, yeah, I can't wait to get to the hotel, and I'm going to play it tonight. And everybody's talking about it. It's all over. It's trending. It's all over everything. And I was like, how do they keep that thing in stores? It's got to sell out. How do they keep it in stores? And Mikel and Malachi just fell out laughing. And they're like, Coach, they don't sell those things in stores anymore. They're not in stores. And I was so embarrassed. But I was glad they got a kick out of that.

because it made me realize how out of touch I actually am with how far things have come. You can just download it and go play. It's that simple. So the stores don't have to keep it. But the three guys we brought today, Carson Beck, Malachi Starks, Mikel Williams, Carson's parents, Tracy and Chris, done a wonderful job with him. He is a great example of college football.

The day and age when you go somewhere and you jump school to school, it's a popular trend. This kid stuck it out. He stuck it out now, and he didn't get the starting job in a tough moment when the starter went down, and he lost the starting job to Stetson Bennett the week of UAB game two years ago, and then said, you know what? I'm sticking with it. I'm going to persevere. I'm going to show resiliency, which is one of our core traits, and he did that.

And he was able to monetize that value as well in form of NIL by staying and succeeding actually where his feet are. But he's a great leader for us. He's a great example of resiliency in college football. Please visit with him today as he's one of the leaders of our team. Malachi, you know, he's such an incredible kid. You know, his mom, Tisha, and Larry, they do a great job with him. It was a joy recruiting him. He's a local kid. He started for us since day one.

So all the knocks and all the things said out there about you can't start as a freshman at Georgia. It's too hard to play on defense. The first game he ever was in against Oregon, he started, and he started ever since. He's a quiet, humble leader. He's a very Christian young man, and he represents our university the right way. I'm really proud to have Malachi here today. And then Mikel Williams, his mom, Shemeka, and John.

are both great people and and what a great job they've done with with Mike L he's he's become very versatile for us in terms of what he does on the field but there's no greater value than what he does not locker room because he works every day he's physical he enjoys practice he's a great leader for us and he should be a huge asset for us but please enjoy those guys and visit with them as their their their their indicative of the locker room we have been great guys to be around

A couple words I want to say to Coach Saban, who meant so much to me in my career. First of all, the words he shared at the ESPYs the other night were incredible, very touching, very moving.

But what he's meant to myself, my family, as a mentor, as a friend, as a competitor that drives you to get better. There was never a day in 11 years I worked for him that we didn't share a room in some sort, whether that was the defensive room, defensive back room, staff room. We didn't share a room in some sort. And I think it made me who I am today.

Because the demand for excellence is met by none other than him. So that standard that he set for me, day in and day out, he met himself. And every coach that ever worked with him or for him will tell you that he does it all himself as well. He doesn't hold you down.

to any different standard than he holds himself to. So a lot of the success I've had, I give credit to him and thanks. And, uh, I know he'll be critiquing me today, so I'm looking forward to that as well. Um, but he has started responding to texts and I told people the other day, I said, that's first time ever, either somebody's got his phone or he's learned how to text. And that, that makes all of us in his little circle of friends, uh, proud because we get to reach out to him.

We're dealing with new challenges this year. We don't have a chip on our shoulder in terms of people trying to use that as motivation. I've never used a failure from the previous year as motivation, and I've never used the success of a previous year as motivation. We won't do that this year. That's not who we are. We want to recreate ourselves, to say, in the best light we can. And this team has been fun to coach.

I tell people all the time, we had 15 really tough spring practices, and that includes the spring game. I probably would only trade one of those in and say, could I do it over? We got a lot out of those. I enjoy being on the grass with this group. They're fun to be with. They have a great locker room. They love each other, and they're working their butt off right now. We have four new coaches. That's a new challenge.

I don't think we've had a situation where we had four new coaches. We have four new coaches coming in. I'm excited about the energy they brought, the buy-in they brought, learning our culture and how we do things at our place. Some have been with us before. Some have been similar places. But I'm really excited about the four new coaches we got. And being able to retain Coach Muschamp was incredible because he's still an

integral part of our program and he's also going to be able to watch his son play for Clark at Vanderbilt so I'm excited about that

Every offseason, we do a study and we try to find something to look outside of football to kind of redefine ourselves and recenter, and it's great for me. I really think it's good to study successful people, whether that's in the sports industry or whether that's in the business industry. And this year, we took Nike, who I've had the great pleasure of meeting Phil Knight and his wonderful wife Penny, and I wish I could get some of that NIL money that he's sharing with Dan Lanning, but that's another note. But

The study of Nike for us has been incredible. I didn't know some of the things about when Nike originated, and we took a week-by-week look in skull sessions, breakout sessions, as well as together, and studied kind of their model. And one of the first things we studied was the belief of assume nothing.

And I think that's so important in football because when you assume something or you assume you know someone or you assume that you know somebody's name that you're in the room with, you can take things for granted. It's just like starting over from a previous year. Assume nothing.

Assume nothing. Start from ground zero and build this team different than every other team. And Nike did that. Nike followed that. They assumed nothing. Where does a name come from? So if you assume that you know everybody's name, you may not know what that name means. We had each player get up in front of the team, say what their first and middle and last name and where that came from. I encourage you, if you've never done that exercise in an organization, do it. Because you learn more about somebody when you know what they got their name from.

All right, that's Kirby Smart, Georgia head football coach, live at the podium here at SEC Media Days. We will continue letting you hear what Kirby has to say on the other side. We'll move on to some of the other things he's going to discuss live at the podium. We'll let you hear those on the other side of the break. But if you're looking to move into a new home, GMAC, who should you call? Mid-Crocker Movies is our local company owned by an Iraq War veteran, Eric Crocker. Crocker believes in hiring movies you can trust to complete full background checks and run drug tests on every single employee. These are good guys.

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That's crockermovieservices.com. Support your veterans by choosing Crocker Movies Services for your next move. Back with more Kirby Smart at the podium live from SEC Media Days, day two next on JOX 94.5. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

Welcome back in. McElroy and Kublik in the morning live from SEC Media Days at the Omni in Dallas Day 2. We'll get back to Kirby Smart Q&A in just a moment live from SEC Media Days at the podium. But tell our listeners about BJR, GMAC, and how they can help them. Well, they've been serving Alabama and customers across Birmingham for 60 years.

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Georgia got a pretty tough road draw. You've got Alabama on the road. You've got Texas on the road. You've got Ole Miss on the road. You also have Kentucky on the road. Can you talk about your road schedule and how you're preparing your team for this tough 2024 schedule? Yeah, initially I was wondering how I got that draw, you know, but we're not one to complain. We're one to be excited.

I think when you step into the shoes of a University of Georgia football player, you accept that that challenge is going to be there. I mean, we kind of embrace that, and we love it. I mean, what you didn't get to mention is that we open with Clemson, too, who's one of the top teams and the top programs in the country. So, like, we're really excited about that.

I think that motivates our offseason so that we have the right kind of approach to the offseason. And, you know, our guys embrace that. I mean, as coaches, you want to play the best. And people forget that when you spent time in the NFL, every week was like that. So when Texas and Oklahoma came into the conference, every schedule was going to get harder. It wasn't going to get easier. It was going to get harder. And we embrace that. We look forward to it and excited for the challenge to go to some really tough places.

Coach, we'll go right down the center aisle, right here on the near aisle. Coach Smart, Drew D. Armand, WCZN Radio, Huntsville, Alabama. Much like your mentor Nick Saban, when you compete at the highest level, you do have staff changes. You mentioned the four guys you brought in. What was your thoughts on bringing in Travarius Robinson, and what does he bring to your staff?

Well, first of all, he has a great pedigree as a player. He played in the SEC, and one of the things you can never really justify or explain to people is the culture of the SEC. Number one, recruiting. It's tough. It's hard. It's

It's cutthroat. And you don't have experience in those battles. It's hard to win those battles. He was a really good player. He played for Coach Tuberville, who has a lot of stories about T-Rob and the great job he's done. I've always recruited against him and had respect for him on the road, the way he carries himself, the way he presents himself, the fact he worked for Coach Muschamp. They have a great relationship. Coach Muschamp vouched for him and talked about the great job he's done. And he's brought in a tremendous energy into our secondary, which is a young secondary.

And he got the valuable time that he got to spend over with Coach Saban in Alabama, which is invaluable in terms of knowing how our program operates. So I'm excited to have T-Rob, his family. He's got wonderful family, and I know he's excited to be with us. Coach, we'll go to the section just to your right. Yeah, Coach, Brooks Austin with Dogs Daily. You mentioned that moment UAB with Carson Peck.

And when he reflects on that moment, he thought of it as an opportunity to say, hey, I'm not quite ready for this. I need to continue to develop. Stuck around for a couple more years before he was a starter. Is that a repeatable trait or a common trait maybe you can look for in future athletes that you recruit? Because it's important nowadays. Guys leave when they don't have an opportunity to play. But this is a very unique example. Is it something you might be able to replicate in the future?

Yeah, I'd love to be able to replicate the DNA he has with which to respond to adversity that way. Like, I don't know. As you go recruit a kid, staying power is really important now because I don't think there's a huge difference in the players we recruit. It's a difference when they stay in your program. So the retention is really critical because we think...

The process we go through of the off-field training, the on-field training, the weight room training, the football training is going to pay off in the years they've been there. Carson's a great example of that. All those years of practice and third down and pressure periods and blitz pickups paid off when he got to start.

It's not to say he wasn't ready, UAB. He may have been ready. We felt like Stetson gave us the best chance to win that game, and he played lights out that game and never really looked back after that. Who's to say that Carson might not have done the same thing? But he certainly responded the right way, and I wish we could kind of inject the chip and say that every kid had that response, but we know that's not going to be the case. Coach, we'll go back over here to our far left on the front row.

Hey, Coach. Graham, CoffeeDogCentral.com. When you look at your schedule and the potential of playing 16, 17 games, do you think that will change how you guys manage maybe a lead or trying to get guys out of games earlier? And will it add any importance to the overall strength of your roster? What was the ending part of that? The overall strength and depth on your roster just from 1 to 85.

playing the schedule we play and improving the strength of the roster. I don't know if that's the case. I think the way we go about practicing is critical. I believe in having a physical tough camp. I don't think you back off from that. If you do, it may not matter about those games. If you're not physical enough at the line of scrimmage and you're not tough enough and you don't demand excellence, because during the season there's only so much we can do to create the toughness that we need at the line of scrimmage and the toughness we need as an overall football team. Camp is tough.

And I think that's important that it remains tough. We do have to be smart to stay healthy. We have certain areas of our team that we maybe have more depth than others. And you've got to be smart and calculated about the risk you take of losing guys. But I think every coach is reflecting right now saying, okay, we may have a longer schedule. We certainly have a tougher schedule.

How we play games is played to win. And how we play at the end of the games, if we have leads, we've always looking to get guys opportunity and grow players, a la Carson Beck getting into a lot of games when he was behind Stetson so they're ready when their opportunity comes. We'll go down the mid aisle over here on section in front of me about three quarters of the way back.

Hey, Coach. Raphael Cruz, Dog Time, and Lake Oconee News. You lost three senior leaders in Javon Bullard to Tykee Smith and Kamari Lassiter in the secondary. Who are some of the guys that are stepping in this offseason that you're excited about competing for those starting spots? Yeah, first off, I'll correct you there. Two of those guys were actually juniors.

They weren't seniors. And that's what really gets your program when you lose two juniors in one room that are excellent players and have been unbelievable kids within our program. And they love football. They came to every practice this spring, and they were getting ready to get drafted, and they were at every practice.

Just cheering on guys, coaching guys, the right kind of guys to have around your program. So they're tough losses. We've got some good, young, talented players in the secondary. It's going to be really important they grow up fast. They're going to go against a really high-tempo offense in Clemson to start with. Our job is to prepare them. They get to go against a really good offense day in and day out with Carson Beck.

So I'm excited about the guys we have in that room, and they'll step up to play. We have some experience at the safety position between Dan and Malachi, but it'll be the nickel position and the depth at those positions that's really critical.

All right, that's Kirby Smart live at the podium here at SEC Media Days. We'll keep you up if anything comes up about individual players off the field stuff, which we thought Kirby would be asked about right out of the gate. Has not been. One thing that we do know about GMAC is iconic cards and how great they can be for our listeners. Yeah, if you've been thinking about buying a golf card for the neighborhood, the beach, the lake, iconic cards has the largest selection. And you need to check out these brand new 2024 Street Legal Evolution cards.

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All right, more from SEC Media Days Day 2 next, live from Radio Row right here on McElroy and Kubrick in the morning. If you think about selling your home...

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The capital of the sports talk nation. This is Jocks 94.5 and jocksfm.com. Hurry and... Welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Kirby Smart off the podium now. Keep you updated on what's next. Live here from SEC Media Days. We're on Radio Row, day two. SEC Media Days.

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vehicles, racing, off the field issues with this team? I am, but also at the same time, like, I've seen coaches get asked questions all the time as it relates to something that might have happened in the offseason. And they're prepared for it. You almost never get

a great answer from it. When you're going to get something good from it is going to be when they're in one of these back rooms with the print media or with, you know what I mean? The electronic media. You know what I mean? Like the electronic media. That's when they kind of let their guard down at the podium. You're not getting anything. So I'm not that surprised. But it'd be something to continue monitoring, you know, the rest of the day. How about Commissioner Sankey? Three questions back to back to back on realignment yesterday. Well...

You would think, if he's not going to answer it, he's not going to answer it. To keep going there, I felt like it was a little bit irresponsible. It's kind of a waste of time, for sure. But, you know, realignment moves the needle. Maybe I'm naive. I just don't think the SEC is... They're not trying to water down their product.

I just, and I'm not saying that Clemson and Florida State would water down their product at all. All I'm suggesting is like right now they have a pie and they're not trying to decrease the size of the slices that they're giving out to all their current members. So I think they're

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Catch up with all things McElroy and Kublik in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Cup or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kublik in the morning. Day two, SEC Media Days. Live from Radio Row. Visit with ESPN Radio's Ian Fitzsimmons here in just a moment.

Some realignment news, as we've sort of alluded to it just a few times today during the course of the show. I'll get to that in just a moment. GMAC, first tell our listeners how ABS Systems can help them. Well, they always put the customer first, so it gives you great peace of mind as a business owner to know that ABS Systems is going to be taking care of you just like they've taken care of thousands of companies over the last 30 years. And they're also taking it one step further now, introducing ABS Pure Water,

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Or start the conversation at absimage.com. ABS, creating customers for life. We've kind of hit a little bit of realignment and hinted around some of the things that may be coming, some of the discussions. Brett McMurphy tweeting out just a few minutes ago, Big Ten SEC unlikely to add Florida State if it leaves ACC and ACC survives, sources told the Action Network. Big Ten and SEC don't want FSU because adding FSU doesn't make financial sense.

no desire to expand, and, quote, they've been a disruptive partner, said sources. You don't say. I wanted you to hop on here, Ian, because I thought that was an interesting phrase. Wow.

Because there's a team that's coming into the SEC that a lot of people believe has been a disruptive partner. And Nick Saban sort of tried to squash that a little bit yesterday saying, Texas is not going to come in and run the SEC. And I actually don't think that he just meant on the field. I actually think that he was alluding to off the field as well. You know that program well. You've been around it. You've been here in Dallas for a while.

Can Texas have their way in the SEC? Yeah. Your partner here, man, grew up here. He's a Hall of Famer. He's a Hall of Famer. Right there, man. That's like an all-time power clean record. Really? Still got it. Seriously? Duh. Did

Did you dye your hair blonde? I think that's high school. That whole dragon thing? I don't know if they do power cleans anymore, so it's probably not going to get broken. There you go. You notice he's avoiding the whole blonde thing. Of course. We all dyed our hair blonde. I think it shows the lack of O-linemen and D-linemen you guys had recruited.

No, I was a quarter. That they couldn't pass you? Oh, you just have the quarterback record. Yeah, I just have the quarterback record. I thought you had the school record. I'm not going to brag about that anymore. No, never yet. Never mind. No, it's not a big deal. Let's just go ahead and dismiss that thing. Down for pound. There you go. Quintet has got nothing on the power clean when it comes to Greg Mackler. I'm not worried about that. Greg Mackler actually played his senior year, so we're not going to have that talk. Wow. That was a drive-by. Sorry, bro. I'm not cool on people quitting on their teams. It's not for me. Well, going to your question about Texas.

The days of Daddy DeLoss Dodds, former athletic director of Texas, calling the shots in an entire conference when it was Texas, Oklahoma, and then everybody else, it's long gone. And that's something that Texas fans and the big oil boosters who've got millions of dollars in their glove compartments are going to have to get used to. Texas has as much say as Vandy. That's the Southeastern Conference. That's the way it goes.

And did Saban have a little more pull? And could he at times shoot a text or call Greg Sankey and say, you know, we might want to consider this? Yeah, I'm sure he did. But not to the degree that Texas ran the Big 12. Right. So, I mean, they got their own network done with us. Yeah. But that's the power that Texas had. And those days are long gone to the point where in our officiating seminar we just got done with, Horns Down came up.

That is not an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty if it is done away from a Texas player. If you're going toward your bench, that's how ridiculous this whole thing is. And that's how soft Texas fans and Texas alums have been for decades. Where if you did a horns down going away from the Texas bench toward your own with your teammates, that was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Now, what was it if you did it towards their bench? Death. Dismemberment? Punishable by death. Drawn and quartered? But if you do it toward, and John brought up, you know, ahead of officiating,

brought up where if you do a gator chomp at a gator player's face, that's what sportsmen like. So if you do a horns down right. Taunting is taunting. It doesn't matter what you're doing. Right. But if you're doing it away on your own bench and you're flashing it to the ABC cameras or the ESPN cameras, that is no longer a penalty. And that is something that Texas is going to have to get used to. Well, I mean, as someone that did horns down a million times. There may or may not be a GIF.

Well, it was definitely directed towards our own bench. I would never, ever direct anything towards Texas' bench. Had no reason to celebrate with them. But I do think... This guy, I love him. I do think it's kind of comical what it got to in the Big 12. It's like, dude...

I understand the network thing is a good example. It's a little bit of a misconception because they were under the assumption that you could put high school games on the Longhorn Network, and then that was a recruiting advantage that Texas would have. So the Longhorn Network, there were different tentacles to that that ended up not working. But I do think that Texas carries weight.

regardless of what people acknowledge, I don't think they're going to go in and start telling Greg Sankey how to do things. But I do think what's good for Texas would be good for the gander, given that they have the deepest pockets around, maybe outside of Texas A&M. So I think it would be beneficial to keep them happy, but at the same time, they're not going to be able to push people around. I don't disagree with that one bit.

But when it comes to running a conference, as they did, as you know, especially with the Lost Dots as their athletic director, those days are long gone. I mean, long gone. That's in your rearview mirror. But I'll tell you this, they're SEC ready. I mean, they're good, man. They're beyond good. Have you really taken a look at their schedule? Yeah. I mean, it's their first road game, folks. In case you didn't know, I know you two do, but...

Their first SEC road game. Is that Michigan? October 20th. First road game as an SEC member. I'm just saying that one kind of matters. I'm talking about an SEC game. No, I know. October 26th at Vandy. Yeah.

It's manageable at the beginning, for sure. You get Michigan week two, and they just lost, what, 15 guys drafted and another, what, eight that are camp invites? You're looking at a starting squad, right? All 22 starters and a backup are on NFL rosters right now. So Michigan is very gettable, even in the big house week two by Texas. And then take a look at that thing. It's like ULM.

Mississippi State? Yeah. I mean, and your first road game is October 26th? Pencil them in right now, man, for the college football playoff and surviving in advance. Well, help me out with this, though. I'm just saying this is a bit of a right turn.

It's unintentional, but I think it's kind of related. You live here. I think you have a unique perspective. We talked to Chris Budden here. I'm from here. This is never SEC territory. This is Big 12. We were Big 12 fans growing up. I was not an SEC fan growing up. I was a Big 12 fan.

You were committed to Texas Tech, right? I was, but the ground has changed so drastically. But I don't feel like knowing that a lot of my friends went to Arkansas. And this was kind of a melting pot, if you will, but it was still a heavy Big 12 lean. How much has that changed, though, since A&M and Missouri have gotten into the league? And now is it totally over the top with the addition of Texas to Oklahoma? Is Dallas truly an SEC town now?

I wouldn't say yet, but it's going to be. Yeah. You know, when Texas A&M and Missouri came in years ago, you were still here then, I think. You saw the SEC billboards all over the Metroplex. And for people who don't know, the Metroplex is a Dallas-Arlington-Fort Worth area. They were everywhere. You know, this is SEC country. It was a brilliant marketing move by Sankey and his PR staff. Yeah.

On I-35, I-30, 75 Central Expressway, every major artery coal had, this is SEC country, everywhere. Now, the Big 12 takes their media days last week to Las Vegas. What does Sankey do? Oh, pumpkin? You're leaving town?

Well, I'll tell you what we're going to do. With Texas and Oklahoma coming in, we're just going to go park our big old bloated butt right there in your backyard and go ahead and hold court for an entire week right there in your biggest market. So is it yet? Not yet. But will it be? Absolutely. All right, so from a Dallas resident's perspective that has followed the Texas program very closely for a long time, you also have to follow the Oklahoma program.

Give us your 1,000-foot view of Oklahoma coming into the SEC. I think we have a good understanding of Texas. We've talked about it multiple times today. But just what do the Sooners mean geographically, historically, and then competitively here in the near future? I think they're better than most people think, but they're not near as SEC-ready as Texas is.

Look at that staff, right? Sarkeesian, Kyle Flood, Jeff Banks, Millwee, all came from Alabama. Bo Davis. Yeah. They all know what it takes to how to build an SEC-ready championship-type contending football team. Get your quarterback, get speed, and you build it from the guts out. O-line, D-line, and let's go swap paint.

I think Oklahoma's a couple years behind Texas right now, but I think they're going to be better than most people think they are. I don't know what they have in Jackson Arnold, quarterback. A lot of people are very high on him. Mack, I'm sure you've studied film on the guy. It's such a small sample size. Yeah. It's not enough to go on yet. Defensively, with Stutzman and Du Bois, are they a pretty good unit? Yeah, I think so. But people talk about seven wins, eight wins. I think they're better than that, but

But they are not as close to, and the schedule also. I mean, take a look at their schedule as well. It's not as friendly, and I don't think they're as deep as Texas is. But I think they will be better than most people think they are. Ian, thanks for hanging out with us for a few minutes, man. Just wanted to get your perspective and always enjoy talking football with you. Me casino last night.

Where? Lakewood. I live in Lakewood, man. It's two minutes from my house. Lakewood is five minutes from Highland Park. Why would they add a Mika Sina five minutes away? It also took over from Matt's traffic. Literally five minutes apart. But Matt's used to be right there. An old school Tex-Mex joint. It's gone. Mika Sina just jumped in. Well, Miko's a good spot. I personally... Here you go, Mia's. Personally, a little overrated.

But, you know, I think there's a lot of places that are a little overrated that people love. So, you know, it's just maybe I'm just a hater. Maybe that's what it is. Let's go by the Goss. I'll cook you a better steak than any steakhouse in town.

Like, for example, I think the steak houses here are phenomenal. Nick and Sam's. Nick and Sam's is a great scene. Bob's is phenomenal. I love... Del Frisco's? Del Frisco's is good. I'm not as high on Del Frisco's as other places. Thank you. I'm glad you said that. I really like, personally, Papa's Steakhouse. Great spot. But Miko to me, I don't know. We had one in Southlake, and it just always kind of rubbed me the wrong way. As a loyal... I'm a Javier's guy. No. I think Javier's...

Javier's is overrated. See, Javier's rocks. Ten years ago, I thought it was great. Javier's now is the name. You're going to go to that price point. Take me to Nick and Sam. It's not that expensive. This is the official welcoming of Texas to the SEC. We're debating Dallas eating spots right here on the show in Birmingham. See you, boys. One thing that I do know. Birmingham food is a thousand times better than Dallas food. I like that. I don't disagree with that. Seriously? At all. Per capita?

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All right, tomorrow, Alabama Day. You rested up for Bama Day, GMAC, tomorrow? I will be. A lot of duties. A lot of things. You and Saban hanging out again tomorrow? Tomorrow's a long one, but we'll be ready to roll, I can assure you. All right. I'm heading over to the SEC Network at noon. McElroy and Kublik back tomorrow morning at 7 live from Radio Row. This is McElroy and Kublik in the morning.

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