7-18-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 1: SEC Media Days - Day 4: Auburn and A&M will surprise, Billy Liucci, Alabama & Texas recap, Cole's a double agent?!
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This Jocks 94.5 podcast is brought to you by Millennium Satellite and Video. Log on to msbnow.com. TV excellence everywhere. That's Millennium. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning starts now. All right, welcome in. Final day, SEC Media Days. Radio Row, Cole Kubelik, Greg McElroy with you. As it is Auburn Day, yesterday Alabama Day. Pretty cool moment on set, GMAC.

You're on set with Coach Saban, Roman Harper, and Kalen DeBoer to kind of discuss this Alabama football team. And it took me a moment to kind of notice it. And I was like, whoa. There it is. Like the past, the future, the present, all of it there. Right there represented. It had to be a cool moment for you as well. It was awesome. And it's been really fun. I know you've gotten to visit with Coach. Yeah.

It's been really fun being here. You got to hear the double agent line in person yesterday. Oh, yeah. No, I got to hear the double agent line when you were talking to Kalen. It was so funny. When Kalen walked to the set, you were with him. Yeah.

And Saban's like, oh, gosh, here we go again. Like, Kublik. And I told him, don't worry, he's a Manchurian candidate. Like, he's a Bama guy. Everyone thinks he's an Auburn guy, but Cole's really a Bama guy. It was funny. I mean, he was very, very comfortable, I thought, all week. Like, I know him really well. I told a guy yesterday in, I don't know, one of the radio interviews that we did yesterday, I don't recall, that

I was like, I don't think there's someone in this hotel that knows him better than me. I think I probably know him better than anybody in this entire hotel, but I don't know this version of him. So it's been a little bit of an adaptation, but man, he's been a lot of fun to hang around with. And,

Dude, he just never stops giving me a hard time. But that's like our relationship. So I'm glad that he rips me all day, every day. Did you see last night when he called me soft? No, I missed that. Oh, gosh. It was brutal.

But, see, I love it because I remember the first time that he came up to me after practice, and I had been to a couple practices, working games, and he really went in on the O-line stuff. There were other people around. He was doing it in front of other people. Yeah. I'm kind of laughing, and I think Josh Maxson, the former SID, was a little worried that I was going to think that he was being mean or something. He goes, hey, listen, just so you know.

The best compliment when it comes to coach is when he really starts giving you a hard time. The harder he rips you, the more he likes you. I was like, did you think I had my feelings hurt or something? I love it. It's great. It's a fun interaction. 100%. He's trying to already tell DeBoer that I'm a double agent yesterday. It made me happy. It made me happy to see him acknowledge that. That was great. I was like, yes, Coach and Cole are in. Let's go.

No, the harder he rips you, the more he likes you. It's just his love language. Like some of us have, you know...

personal time and acts of service. Everyone's got their words of affirmation. There's all these different love languages. Coaches is just flat out ripping you to shreds. The more he does that, the more he feels like you guys are close. He got me a couple times yesterday. It was a lot of fun. It really was. It was fun being around him. With Kalen DeBoer, we said what we wanted to see, Greg, was for him to be himself so people could start to get to know that and see what it was like.

I don't feel like he had any issue with that yesterday. I know he specifically wanted to add more time on Radio Row to be able to talk to some more people. Gracious with his time. I know when he ran into a couple of people in the hallway and on set, including myself, and just smiling, happy. There was nothing fraudulent about what I saw with Kalen DeBoer yesterday. Well, it's funny. It's like he seemed...

I don't know. We had the first interview of the day. So, you know, it takes you a little bit to kind of get going, I feel like, a little bit. So he seemed a little tighter, a little bit more on edge than I've been around him. But I didn't notice that when he was on the podium. I didn't notice that when he was engaging in some of the other places that I saw him. So I think...

I think he handled himself really well. And I believe the college football world, if you didn't have any understanding of what kind of personality he had, I hope...

that that was consumed yesterday. I mean, I hope that people now kind of know how he operates and know what you see is what you get, and he's just a super normal dude. So it was refreshing, I think, to kind of be around him and to see him in this element. All right, so staying with Alabama, quarterback Jalen Milrow yesterday on why he decided to stay at Alabama and not transfer.

I'll say initially it was all about not making an emotional decision and making the right decision that was best for me and my family. And I'm just passionate all about, you know, setting goals, whether short-term goals or long-term goals that I wanted to accomplish. And one of my initial goals coming into college was getting my degree in three years.

And I was able to achieve that this past December. And then once I achieved that, you know, my parents and I were talking. And this is prior to Coach Saban's return. I said, I'm going to get my master's degree from the University of Alabama.

Once I had that commitment, I was like, you know, I'm not going anywhere. And I also wanted to trust the process with everything because, you know, during your process, everybody's process is different. Whether it's adversity, whether it is, you know, uncertainty in certain aspects of your journey, I didn't want to make an emotional decision. And I just wanted to, you know, do what's best for me and my family. I feel as though staying in Alabama was the best.

So Jalen Milrow, who it was pretty cool to see him go see Nick Saban, say hello to him on set as well. Almost took my eye out with the hat on the way up there. But a little embrace and conversation between those two, kind of cool to see as well, G-Mac. Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm so mad because I was on the set. I didn't even see it. I was talking with Kalen, who's directly to my right.

I was sitting in the fourth seat out of five. From left to right, it was Dari, Coach Saban, Roman, me, Kalen. And I was talking with Kalen to my right. Didn't even see the Milrow and Saban interaction. But that was cool. And...

I know it's probably kind of weird to see your former coach up there on the set immediately after he gets done coaching you. That's got to be a weird reality. And it was funny, too, seeing some of the reaction from the players, too.

Coach picked Texas and Georgia to play for the SEC Championship game. To see the stories that have been out there about their reaction have been pretty good as well. There were some videos that we played in the show last night for Coach that were hilarious with some of the players just giving him a hard time. I did see that segment with you and Coach last night, Watson. Here's one from Tyler Booker yesterday discussing his former coach.

Well, something that Coach Saban taught us whenever we speak to the media is to not concern ourselves with external factors. And he doesn't work in a facility anymore. He works in a stadium. So he's considered as an external factor. So I'm not really paying attention to that. He would get mad at me if I felt the way about what he said because he always used to say, don't let some guy that lives in their mom's basement determine how you feel. So I'm not going to let a guy who played golf all day determine how I feel.

And as you stated about ripping people, Coach loved it last night when he was watching them. He loved it. No, he loved it. I mean, he got a kick out of it. It was funny, man. And...

It's just cool. It's cool for people to kind of see how coach is like. Everyone has this. Don't get me wrong. When the light goes on, like he's, you know, he's very, very much like the president of the United States. Like he is very dialed in, very thoughtful, um,

extremely prepared for the moment to the point where he wants to know exactly how you're going to phrase questions that are sent in his direction because he wants to have a really thoughtful answer. He wants to spend time thinking about it. But it's been cool for, I think, people to see how he acts with the players. Whether it's me on the set or you...

calling you a double agent or how the players were jabbing at him and how he reacted to that. That was pretty neat. And then, too, another cool moment yesterday was when Sark, you know, gave him a lot of props and a lot of love. I

I mean, that I think meant a lot to Coach as well. So, yeah, that was good stuff yesterday from Booker for sure. We've seen that from Lane Kiffin. We heard it from Kalen DeBoer as well yesterday, just kind of making sure that they acknowledge Coach Saban and make sure they just discuss kind of what he's meant to them. Alabama heat and humidity can be brutal. Don't let it affect your home and family. Keep them comfortable with an affordable train cooling system. Train is our official partner here at JOX.

And they've been recognized as America's most trusted brand 10 consecutive years. Find a comfort specialist near you at train.com. So we move into, well, I want to spend a little bit more time on yesterday and just a little bit more on kind of some of the things that were happening. Texas was here yesterday. You guys, by the way, tomorrow we'll hear Greg and I's interview with Quinn Ewers.

There may or may not be some South Lake Carroll Dragon talk in that interview. But he feels just a little bit more confident, Greg. Now, he's still, I think, a lot more reserved than people would realize or think or believe. But he does seem a little bit more confident. And then on top of that, Steve Sarkeesian was oozing confidence with his football team yesterday. He feels really good about his team. Basically, the things that...

Would kind of keep us up at night? Have they improved in the secondary? Have they adequately reinforced the defensive line? He didn't seem to think those things were issues. I do think there's some aspects of maybe we're a little too far out over our skis in regards to the weapons because there's going to need to be some time.

for those guys to kind of create chemistry. But, yeah, I think he feels really good about his team. I mean, you got to visit with them a little bit more than I did. How did you feel about what he was saying? Confident. Has a good understanding of who his team is, what they have, maybe what they need a little bit more of.

But also got to visit with Kelvin Banks a little bit yesterday. Got to visit with Johnny Barron a little bit yesterday, who, by the way, is super impressive. The dude likes him some him, though. He's hilarious. He is. I love that guy. I was sitting there listening to him in an interview yesterday thinking, this guy could take my job tomorrow if he wanted to. And he probably believes that he can. It probably thinks that he will while playing and running for office. He's just a very confident young man.

We were talking running backs when he walked up, and he said, 20 carries. Because we were talking to Montreal Johnson before him, and he said, give me 20 carries, I'll get 200. And I was like, yeah, game one against Colorado State, what are you doing game two? Whoa, why are you dogging the Rams? I feel like Texas' offensive line could probably handle that. 200?

That's on him, not me. I just feel like I could get it done. I said, how about week two? And he goes, $1.80. And I was like, yeah, no. I'll take the under on that one. $1.80 against Michigan? Yeah, no. I'll take the under. You might want to keep the ball if you go for $1.80 against Michigan. That's...

That's one where you get that sucker painted. Absolutely. But I think Sark, Quinn Ewers, I think they have a good idea of kind of who they are, where they are. They know the challenges that lie ahead of them. But I did sort of appreciate, Greg, that there doesn't seem to be any fear, hesitation, or intimidation for Oklahoma or Texas coming into this league. I don't know exactly how I expected them to reference it all.

But I felt like he was just about right. It wasn't overconfidence. It wasn't arrogance. But it also wasn't backing down from anything at the same time. I also thought there was this kind of built-up, I guess you could say, like a built-up energy or like a built-up narrative where they were going to come in and be like deferential.

The people coming in. You want multi-view or regular round coverage? Are you putting on the golf tournament? I'm doing this just for you. Who are you? I like to keep my partner happy. Wow, that's big. This is the first acknowledgement of a major championship going on this week. But, hey, we're in a good spot. I think there was a lot of people that were like, they're going to come in and kind of kiss the SEC ring. Why would you do that?

If you're Brent Venables or if you're Steve Sarkeesian, how does that benefit your program? Like, oh man, we're just so grateful to be in the league and we're just going to do our best. How does that help you? I'm not saying you need to go out there and be like, yeah, we're going to come in here and just start dominating folks. That ain't going to happen. But I also think, too, coming in and giving off a presence of...

hey, we belong, is really important messaging to send to your fan base, right? This whole notion of, hey, they're going to be deferential, to me, I was like, they better not be. We'll rip them to shreds if that's the case, because that is not the way that you want to kind of come into this world. So I thought that was a unique narrative, but I also thought they handled it exactly how they should handle it, like confidence without...

And I think that's an appropriate way in dealing with this whole scenario. Also, quickly last night, before I forget this, I never found the firebomb, hotbomb candy things at Bob's last night.

Oh, they're tucked in the corner. They're not fire bombs. Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't get any last night because we had dessert. You were going to double up. You had dessert. I still don't even know what we're talking about. I've never had one. How big are these things? They're a pretty good size. I had a bite of the creme brulee.

Did you go chocolate cake? No, I went creme brulee. We made a mistake. That chocolate cake looked legit. It was huge, though. It was too big. I can't do chocolate cake. What am I going to do? Did you get the bone in? Yeah. I was underwhelmed with how mine was cooked. I was a little bummed. I'm a medium guy. Mine was rare, rare. The little lamb chop appetizers were legit. I'm a blue cheese guy. We went to Bob's Steak and Chop House last night.

Honestly, I don't know if I could have set up the table better. If I could tell you who is sitting at our table. It was the greatest. I will say this. Maybe a little sooner strong for me. Fair enough. We did have Dari Noka and Dusty Dvorak at the table. Cole is two seats to my left. And in between Cole and I.

It was exactly who I wanted in between Cole and I. It was, what, about four years in a row now that we've made that happen? I've never been more than two seats away from you. But from him also. 100%. And I told him before the dinner, I said, we have to save me a seat, make sure. No, there used to be, and it was like a running joke, and we'll explain who we're talking about in a moment. But it was like a running joke, and the first time we did that dinner was 2014, and

In 2015, 16, and 17, it was a race within the ESPN constituency to go sit next to Mark Womack. Now, a lot of people are going to say, who is Mark Womack? Mark Womack is – I don't know exactly what his title is. I don't know.

But at one point, he was the PR director of the SEC. But he has been at the Southeastern Conference since 1978. It's incredible. He has seen the world change beneath our feet, and his stories are incredible. So it's like if I get – that's the one dinner a year I get with him. I'm sitting next to Womack. I don't care who else is at the table. If Cubes is there, that's awesome.

But I really want to be next to Womack. So to sit next to him, Cube. Matt Evans, who's a really good friend of mine and now used to work at ESPN and now works at the SEC. Dari...

Dusty, Doering, and there's one. That was it. No, Brad. Oh, Brad Buchanan, so a producer at SEC Network. You're right. So it was just an amazing night last night to spend some time with the league and to kind of have them pull back the curtain of what's going on. I mean, Womack and Evans are in charge of scheduling, and they're in the process of putting together the schedule for 2025. And golly, you want to talk about a tough job. I mean, you're just going to have everybody hate you. It's just a tough spot to be in.

It was a great dinner. That bone-in was heavy. I had to stop myself. I didn't finish mine either. I had to avoid the gout first and foremost. 22 ounces. It was big. And the bone wasn't very big. Well, but you had a couple of shrimp before that. Then you had the lamb chops before that. You had a piece of bread before that. Wedge. Yeah. Wedge salad. That was a lot. So I just had to say, you know what? It's time to stop. This is it.

Hey, you ate a bunch of bread. I didn't eat any bread. I had one piece. Oh, stop. I've been carb loading all week. You've got to get the energy going here at SEC Media Days. Is that what it is? I hated leaving early, but SportsCenter was 6.15. I didn't know where you went. I had to go. I had to get out of there. I thought you were in the bathroom. I was like, what's going on? No, I knew that it would be another...

before I got out of there. So I just... No, it wasn't a terrible move, but Cole did give us the Irish goodbye last night, Sabre. And it was a bad one, too. I told everyone I was leaving. You did not tell me. Greg was immersed in a conversation and decided not to pay attention. Well, I was listening, probably listening to a Womack story about when...

Dale Brown was trying to fight everybody at the conference. I mean, it was just like this. Or Dale Murphy or whatever. Whatever his name is. LSU coach. They both were. Whatever. I don't care. The LSU coach. Whatever it was. You know what the one thing we did miss, though? I will say this. Womack's Spurrier not in the same ballpark as the individual who we were missing last night. Stichko? No. No.

Charlie. Oh, Charlie does a good Spurrier. Charlie does the best Spurrier, and he was there with us last night. That was a little bit of a – I missed Charlie last night. We're thinking about Charlie and his friends, but, man, that was – I did miss that part of it. But either way, it was a great dinner. They do that for us once a year. All the SEC Network folks go out, and Commissioner Sankey kind of addresses us, talks to us. It was really cool last night just to be around.

Everybody, see some of the new folks like Randall Cobb coming in. Yeah. I would kind of talk to him. I had never really. I spent a lot of time with him. Yeah, I never met Randall, never talked to him. But, man, what a guy. Seems just really awesome. Really good dude. He's got some good stories. Oh, I can imagine. We were gassing him up, though. It was so funny. Like, there were multiple examples yesterday where, and I'm sure there were probably seven or eight people that were guilty of it.

We're like, we're going through the teams, and it's just funny because Kentucky's today. And for whatever reason, I just kept forgetting that Kentucky was today. I was like, I'm just really looking forward to hearing from Elko and Freeze and all these guys tomorrow and Sam Pittman. And he's like, hang on a second, there's one more. I'm like, who? It was Kentucky. I was like, oh, my God. It was not even intentional jabs. And then once I found out he was sensitive to it, it was like nonstop, like just killing them on Kentucky. So, yeah.

He's a great dude and knows ball and wants to be great at TV. So I'm really glad to have him on our team. All right, here's what we've got for you today. Billy Lucci is going to stop by. Greg Sankey, 8 o'clock. Lucci will be here at 740. Brett McMurphy, Chris Doering, Laura Rutledge, Andy Staples, and then whoever else is floating by, maybe from some of the teams. The team's coming a little bit later today, so I don't know who we're going to get live.

You will hear from Coach Freeze tomorrow on the show because we'll talk to him after the show today. Probably a couple of Auburn players as well. A lot of conversations that Greg and I have had. I mentioned Quinn Ewers. I talked to Steve Sarkeesian yesterday. Greg talked to Kirby Smarks.

We're going to have all of those for you guys tomorrow. Shane Beamer I talked to earlier in the week. We're just going to load you up with all the conversations that we've had from SEC Media Days tomorrow. And if you need a new ride for summer road trips, Royal's got it. My friends at Royal Automotive want to help you experience how car buying should be.

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Make Royal your first and last stop when car shopping. All offers are valid through July 31st. Certain restrictions do apply. And remember, for every ride, there's Royal. Back with more live from SEC Media Days Day 4. Right here 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...

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 Kubrick in the morning live on Radio Row from SEC Media Days. What's our British Open update here? G-Mac, course looks flat. I will say that. Well, you should have heard Cole a second ago, guys, breaking down the course. I was like, I'm not familiar with Royal Troon. And Cole's like...

Yeah, well, the greens are fast, and the wind's blowing, and the course is in Scotland or England or Ireland. And it's flat. And it's flat, and there's hazards, and they have bunkers, and the greens are fast. I don't know if I said that already, but it's like, all right, yeah, great breakdown, Cole. Appreciate that. Big cat warming up right now, Tiger Woods. A little controversy this week for Tiger Woods as...

Did you see what was said by Colin Montgomery about Tiger? I did, yes. And I think that Tiger, not that he needs extra motivation, but...

I think he's going to be a little fired up. I would expect Tiger to play well in the British Open, to be honest with you. It's a short game. It favors how he has to play. Short game, lag putting. It's probably not going to go crazy low. It's a grinder. Scores will not get away from you. He can't go shoot a 62 and keep up in the PGA Championship anymore. That ain't happening. I think he's got a chance to be around this week. I don't know.

But so far, Justin Thomas, three under. Very quiet coming into the tournament. Haven't heard anything about him. Scotty Scheffler has yet to tee off. And some of the other favorites are really nowhere to be found. So it's going to be interesting. Roy McIlroy, five over, by the way. So tough start after what was a very disappointing U.S. Open, but...

I haven't watched much this morning, but it looks like the course is playing pretty difficult considering the leaders of three and no one else. There's a bunch of over par scores. Wanted to make sure we had it for you, though. I appreciate that. You're welcome. Greg Sankey coming up top of the hour. Billy Lucci before that. I want to get to just a couple more things from yesterday. Before we do that, GMac, tell our listeners about Polar Bear Services and how they can help them. Well, they can do so many different things for you around your house, and that gives me great peace of mind as a homeowner knowing that I can just make one call

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New installations, you name it, they got it. Remember, if you have a problem with your electrical, plumbing, heat, or air, just pick up the phone and call the Bear. It's 205-497-BEAR. It's 497-BEAR. All right, yesterday I also heard a little bit more from Steve Sarkeesian, Texas head football coach coming into the SEC. How playing in the SEC might be a little bit different.

It's hard to put it on one thing because I think the first thing about this conference is the quality of coaching and the commitment to the quality of coaching that this conference has. And it's not just head coaches, it's position coaches, it's coordinators. These guys know how to develop talent. They're great recruiters, right? And so that's the first part. The second part is the quality of the player. It's no secret year in and year out the SEC has more players drafted in the NFL than any other conference in the country. That's the second part.

The third part is when you go on the road and what it's like playing in these environments. And so you start putting all three of those things together. That's the daunting task is that it's the challenge is the week in and week out grind. There are no gimmies. There are no weeks off. You have to bring it week in and week out and you have to stay focused on the task at hand. You got to stay focused on what you need to do to be successful each week because any given week, anybody can beat anybody in this conference.

So that's Steve Sarkeesian yesterday. Also, I feel like a lot of people kind of trying to make the Quinn Ewers, Arch Manning thing a thing. Steve Sarkeesian discussed their relationship yesterday. Outside our walls, the narrative is Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning are pitted against each other. Inside our walls, there's probably not two players that are closer and better friends than those two guys. And, uh,

That's what I love about our quarterback room. But those two guys, I think, have a great appreciation for what each other's going through. I think Arch appreciates the pressures and the things on Quinn and the way he handled adversity and injury last season. I think Quinn appreciates what Arch is going through and the expectations and being that guy that when you play, you're supposed to throw 19 touchdowns the first game you play in. And so I think they lean into each other.

play off of one another. I think Arch really appreciates the quality of play that Quinn has played with and the opportunities he's getting going into this season. But I also think Quinn really appreciated Arch knowing how much work he put in. Think of the spring game, his true freshman year. Think of the spring game this past year and the way that he played. I think there's a great appreciation and love for one another and they're definitely highly competitive guys and that's what makes them special.

So folks want to make this problematic, Greg. Is there any way it potentially will be? No. It'd be one thing if Quinn wasn't good or had had a bit of a shaky year. Then I can understand why there'd be some chatter. But, I mean, let's be real, dude. I mean, I don't see a scenario that Quinn doesn't start every game if he's available.

So, and Arch is great. He's going to be a great player. You go watch his Texas Tech tape last year. You go watch the spring game. Like, he has really progressed, but he's not in a rush to get on the field. Like, his family understands that the Carson Beck approach is a real nice approach. So, I don't really understand where it's coming from. I think people just want it to be dramatic, and they want to see Arch and

There's obviously so much buildup with the other Manning in the league, but I don't see a scenario where he starts over Quinn. Barring something completely unforeseen, a la a Jalen Hurts situation in 2016 where he completely... or 2017 where he completely loses his confidence. I mean, that's the only way I could see...

Quinn Ewers being replaced at some point this year. Here is Quinn Ewers, Texas starting quarterback, discussing this upcoming season and a rivalry he's looking forward to. I stopped playing back in 2011, if I'm correct. I was pretty young. I think I was eight. Just hearing stories and

and what my dad and family has talked about it. My dad actually said that he thinks that him growing up, he believed that the A&M game was bigger than the Red rivalry game. So I'm excited to have that game back, and it's going to be a cool experience, especially going to Kyle Field Thanksgiving weekend. I know that place is going to be rocking, so we're all pretty fired up for it.

Interesting thought that senior yours believes that the A&M game is bigger than one other rivalry game that we've had some heated discussions about this week. Yeah, I don't necessarily agree with that, but I appreciate the perspective. I did think it was odd, Greg, that when Dusty and I had that back and forth about rivalry games in the league and the Oklahoma Nation rivalry,

Came at me full bore on Twitter. First off, the hilarious part was that they thought I was attempting to bully Dusty Dvorak, which just doesn't happen. No. But you know how many Texas fans have tweeted me about that? Zero. Not a single one. Texas don't care. Same. I'm telling you, Texas has... It didn't hurt their feelings. Texas has a massive superiority complex. They don't care. The superiority complex, inferiority complex in college football is...

is very, very fun. I love that. And you can always tell based on how people act what side of the aisle their potential fan base is on for sure.

Just interesting to kind of think about and look at kind of where that was and what it is. All right, we've got Billy Lucci coming up in a couple minutes. Before we head off to break, T-Mac, iconic carts. Speaking of watching here, the British Open, you know, those guys are going to need a little extra help rolling around between the course and where they're staying and whatnot. Iconic carts could definitely help out with that. It would be great to see a brand-new Evolution or a Denago cart just cruising right down the fairway on 13 at Royal Troon for sure.

But if you've been thinking about a new golf cart for the neighborhood, Beach Lake, you name it, they have a massive selection. And they also have what gives me great peace of mind is they have homeowners, or excuse me, homeowners. They have master technicians who are qualified to work on all makes and models of carts and off-road vehicles. So if something goes wrong with your cart for whatever reason, they can get you back on the road. They also do carpentry.

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In a positive way, who's the biggest surprise? We'll discuss it next right here on McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. The capital of the sports talk nation. This is Jocks 94.5 and jocksfm.com. Hurry and... Welcome back in. Radio Row, SEC Media Days, day four. The media day's fog is full go here. What day it is, what I've done, what I need to do, where I need to go, who I need to talk to.

It is all running together. But we have four more teams coming today, and there are four interesting teams for maybe different reasons of the last two days' teams. And that is, I feel like the ceiling floor gap with these teams is fairly large. All of them, for different reasons.

Some ceilings may be a little bit lower. Some floors may be a little bit further. But a lot of unknowns with these teams. If I asked you who surprises the most, Greg, going in a positive direction of the teams that are going to be here today, which direction would you go? Positive? A&M. I think A&M's got a chance to be pretty dang good. I think Auburn does too. I'm really bullish on Auburn. I know we live it every day. So we cover them and we know these teams inside and out. We're probably a little close.

to Auburn and Alabama. I understand that, but...

I really feel pretty good about them. I mean, the issues that they had last year, they feel like they are a thing of the past. I mean, it just feels like there's no way possible that their receiver core isn't improved tremendously here in year number two. It feels like the secondary is going to continue to be a solid piece. I think they're going to be okay up front. I don't think they're going to be elite. I think they're going to be okay. So I just...

I don't know, man. I'm pretty bullish on A&M and Auburn. Here's the reason I wouldn't go A&M is because I think the expectations are still a little bit more favorable for A&M. I think most people, regardless of how good or bad they feel about A&M, are in probably at least the 7 or 8 win range. I don't think they're going to go past 9, kind of regardless of how it goes. They have a nice home schedule, though. That is fair. Totally fair. They've got a lot of opportunities. Their toughest games are at home, and if they...

can handle their business in their own backyard. They got a chance to have a pretty special year. They really do. Just with some of the wins, if you get some of those wins at home, you beat Missouri at home, you beat Texas at home, you're going to be pretty well respected at season's end. The road schedule at Tennessee, at Auburn, at Mississippi State, at Alabama. Two teams that are just flat out going to be tough to defeat, but all difficult venues to go play in, which makes it a little bit more complicated. Then, of course...

You've got the neutral site game with Arkansas. So it's not an amazingly difficult schedule for Texas A&M. Notre Dame at home starts it off. And I'm sorry, you'll be at Florida, neutral site Arkansas. You'll be at Mississippi State, at South Carolina, at Auburn. Finishing it up with Texas, of course, a game that we're looking forward to. Glad to have it back. Everybody's excited about it.

You mentioned the home games. You've got Missouri at home. You've got LSU at home. And then, of course, New Mexico State late. So it's a little bit favorable from the perspective of where some games are.

At Auburn before Texas, I don't like that for A&M because we know – I mean, imagine the conversation now about that game. Imagine middle of November what the conversation is going to be like, especially if one or both are in some sort of a postseason conversation going into that game. So I don't like going to Auburn the week before you're going to get Texas back on the schedule. Yeah. I mean, that's no question about it. That's a tough spot. I mean, it's not –

It's not an easy game. I would probably feel pretty good if I were Auburn in that situation. But I do think there's some opportunities to make some noise. And if their defensive line is still pretty good, if Colin Kline comes in and makes sure that they put together an offense that keeps Connor Wigman upright, if their receivers come along, because I don't think they have a true number one. I think they've got a lot of really solid number twos.

So just going to have to distribute and spread the ball around. I think they're pretty good at running the football. That's to be expected. But it's really the corners. I mean, that's really the one issue. But I look at how Elko has schemed in the past. He didn't have great corners at Duke. So what'd they do? A bunch of zone pressures, a bunch of simulated pressures. And they kind of trick you into throwing it in certain places. So I'm a pretty big fan of what we've seen from...

Elko's defensive scheme and how it might mesh with the guys that he's working with. I think I would probably go Auburn in this scenario because I think my expectation for A&M is in that 8-9 win range. I think of the Tier 3 teams, they're kind of one of the better, more talented at least. But I think Auburn, for some of the reasons we're going to talk about today, would probably be that surprise team. All right, we're going to talk to Billy Lucci on the other side.

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Those, if that's what you need for your health, gamedaymenshealth.com. Go check them out today. Billy Lucci next, live from Radio Row. 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 a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Tap or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. McElroy and Kubrick in the morning, 746 a.m. here.

Dallas, Texas, SEC Media Days, day number four. Still a good day though. A lot of intriguing storylines surrounding the teams that will be in attendance today. Several of which near and dear to our heart with Texas A&M coming through and Auburn of course coming through here in a little bit as well.

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Obviously a good buddy of mine, but also our resident expert as it relates to all things Texas. What's going on, buddy? I'm good. I'm great. Last day, best day, right? Isn't that what they say on Instagram? Last day, best day for sure. And it's nice for us to have teams that we really care about in the last day. That's true. Sometimes when you get a – I won't say the teams out loud, but you get a draw sometimes on Thursday where the teams don't have some buzz.

It's a little bit of a tough day to pull through, but we've got some action today. Cole had a great Instagram post yesterday about this group. What do we call them, the Luchitos? Somebody else said that, but yeah. I mean, your army, they're ready today. You can tell. They're just there. Everybody dressed up a little bit more. I think Uno's got some of the people in the shower. Uno's got his glasses on today. Was it you? The purple suit there. We've got business attire for...

The photographer? I mean, it's big time. I don't know what's going on. I'm kind of nervous. Your guy's still rocking the mustache, so he ain't getting rid of that thing. No, he's not. No, he's not. I'm trying to figure out what they're doing with the camera here. Oh, they're moving it now. Okay. I was like, why is he taking a video of the... I don't know why he was taking a video of the wall. No, no. Normally... He didn't like that. They don't... He's locked in. They get confused easily. Normally...

If it was those teams you're talking about, this group stays, and I take a flight home early. You've got to get back. Since we're in Dallas, I have some plans. And Paul locked me into that 5 or 5.30 time bomb. Oh, no. No, he did not. That's not cool. That is. That's a dagger right there. That's not cool. Hey, could you Thursday, like, 5.40-ish stop by? So the only thing that could make that worse is if you're, like, 5.45. Yeah.

Yeah. Because if you get that hard out time, he's off the air at 54.30. Oh, yeah. So he's getting to you at 48, so you have six minutes, and you just waited around all day to do it. And lose an interest after four because it's checkout time. Checkout time, for sure. What do you want to hear from Coach Elko today? What do I want to hear? I think we're going to hear what we want to hear, which is he's going to be entertaining, I think. Not like up there talking.

cutting up, but he's going to be a pretty interesting listen. Here's what I want to hear is just the usual Coach Elko, which is going to be he's going to be self-deprecating. He's going to have some fun with some of the questions, but also, I think if you really pay attention, I think you're going to hear a coach that

He's going to tell you where his levels of concern are, but he's not going to really dive into them and make them a bigger thing than they are. But just pay attention to what he says he's encouraged by or what parts of his team are strengths because this is a coach that's not a Lou Holtz thing, but he's going to lean more towards in that big room. I almost feel like kind of realistic, which seems...

Yeah. That's going to be very different. He is going to be very different. He's not going to go on a long... He's not going to compare every player he has to the greatest player at that position he's ever had? No, he's not. And he actually... I'm telling you, this Haynes Kings kid, just like Jameis. Oh, man. What? What?

The one thing I loved about Jimbo. King and Green, I'm telling you, Cole, he's Willie Anderson. I was like, he could be really good, Cole, if we don't have to. That guy's going to have a jacket one day. But you're talking about a first-round pick. He did that with one of these guys that got hurt. How many tight ends, Greg? Oh, gosh, Jay Sternberger. First, second-round pick. Jay Sternberger, he's going to be top. I'm telling you, he's a top-half first-round guy. He's that kind of guy. Billy, the tall kid that can never stay healthy. And he looked good in the spring game one year.

Quarterback? No, tight end. He could run. Baylor Cup. Every year. Oh, he ended up at Texas Tech. Every year. He was going to. First, second round. You guys mentioned Jace, who's an All-American, and Ken, who's a first-rounder. I'm talking about the ones that never saw the field. First, second round pick. You probably got a lot more of that than we did. But imagine me early on when he came in because Florida State, so I'm like,

Damn, this is real recruiting now. Every single guy is going to be a first center. We might not lose another game. This is what it's like. Oh, man. But no, Elko will be, if you hear him complimenting or really going in on a position, I feel really good about it. And when he said coming out of spring ball, he thought this had a chance to be his best defense he's had at A&M.

I kind of went, oh, okay. Because he didn't have – they were elite at stopping the run, but he had really strong defenses. Their corners were not good. Exactly. They haven't been good in forever. Why is that? I was talking to Roman about that actually yesterday. I said, do you know A&M's had one corner drafted since they joined the SEC? And that was Brandon Williams, who was a five-star tailback that they converted to corner for one year. Do you know how hard that is to do? It's almost impossible. You almost have to try. Exactly.

And with the level they've been recruiting at, it's almost impossible. It's hard to wrap your head around. And I think that's where Elko is. His scheme will take some of the pressure off of that. Well, but I think, too, from when he left and got back and then what he was able to do in the portal, I think he's looking at it now going, this is night and day different than what I had in the secondary when I was here last year, last time, which I think that's where a lot of that optimism is coming from. Obviously, the D-line.

But he's got some twitchy, smaller edge guys. Cole, we talked about Cassius Howell. He's got some juice, man, I'm telling you. To go with all those big, strong, you know, set the edge. Yeah. But I think his excitement level coming out of spring that maybe he'd go, all right,

Is that back end? And I actually think running backs. Running backs are strong. Le'Veon Moss and Ruben Owen. It's funny. You listen to the national media. They're like, I don't know about these backs. We'll see. I'm like, really? I've seen these guys. These backs are fine. That's the least of my concerns. Billy, you got in trouble yesterday with your own fan base for being a little bit overly complimentary of Quinn Ewers. Yeah. Quinn Ewers also said yesterday that he's really looking forward to the A&M game, that his dad always thought that was a bigger game than Red River growing up. Just...

Kind of try to put into perspective that game that we're going to get in November, having it back, just what it's going to mean and what it's going to be like. Boom.

The two of us right here have a really unique perspective, particularly Greg being a high school football star in that state. Oh, I thought you were going to say when you did the horns down in a game. Did you really? I did that too. Who did you do that to? Oh, at BAM. I was thinking, like, why at Southlake would you horns down somebody? I really did. What a Texas guy. He thinks in high school terms. Well, we were, like, talking high school. But, no, I think the Red River Rivalries.

It's special. It's badass. We all know that. And it's so unique. I heard Sark talking about it yesterday, just the way that stadium split, sharing that tunnel, all these things, the state fair. A&M Texas is, I know every in-state rivalry is, oh, families. But when you're talking about two schools of that size with that alumni base, that close to each other, they're 90 miles away, so many kids playing.

I went to A&M. My sister went to Texas. There's a million families in the state of Texas that can say that. My mom went to, you know, I'm saying like the mom went to Texas. The dad went to A&M. The funny thing is the schools are so different.

Yeah. It's so funny to me that two kids... Auburn and Alabama, I know people might disagree. The schools are pretty similar. If you want to become a pharmacist or a veterinarian or you want to go into... Sure, there's certain majors that are elevated at one school versus the other, but Austin and College Station could not be more different. And yet...

You have so many houses divided. Say you and I both went to the same high school. We grow up together. We're like best friends. When you're 17, 18 years old and you're picking a school, you don't really know what's best for you. I was going to study engineering. I applied to A&M Texas and Columbia.

How many did you get into? All three. No, you didn't. Wow. Greg, I think you're underestimating the brilliance that's sitting here. Well, I do kind of judge a book by its cover. You don't feel like you've gotten a haircut in about three years. That is fair. I look more like Austin. Yeah, you do have an Austin vibe. Yeah, for sure. Totally fair. But no, so that split, and then the players...

This is like Alabama-Auburn. Virtually all of them visited both schools. They all grew up playing together, playing against each other. It's intense. And then with the way the last, for Texas, 15 years has gone, you know, there's a lot of pressure on this game this year. This is McElroy and Kulik in the morning.

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I'm not self-aware. I refuse to be self-aware. I don't even look in mirrors at all.

which you can probably tell from my appearance. I don't have a crazy high IQ or I really don't have that many skills. I would say my main skill is I believe my instincts. I don't hesitate to follow my instincts ever. The extent that I have, I've gotten in trouble. The Sean Ryan Show on YouTube or wherever you listen.