Kicking Thursday off with a full runway!

And we start right away. Ross Martin inside Carolina joins us on the Adam Gold Show. There he is looking all handsome. All right, so yesterday found out that... Oh, you're laughing.

Nice, nice mustache. November's over. Phil Longo leaves UNC for the Wisconsin Offensive Coordinator gig. The O-line coach, Jack McMill goes with him to Wisconsin. We'll just start there because there's a lot of other things to discuss.

So let's start right there. Were you surprised? What are your thoughts on Longo and others now leaving for Wisconsin to go join Luke Fickle?

Yeah, I was surprised at the destination. You know, we hadn't heard Wisconsin. We had heard, you know, rumors of Auburn, maybe text A&M, but it was mostly just message board stuff and Twitter stuff.

So nothing really concrete. But yeah, Wisconsin kind of came out of nowhere. You know, you don't really, you know, you don't really think about, I don't know, you always think about the SEC as a place to poach ACC coordinators. You only think about the Big Ten.

But Luke Fickle, they have a history, apparently, according to Bruce Feldman. They never coached together, look at their history. But man, imagine that air raid. Wisconsin football is known for running the ball, right? Running the ball, big offensive lineman, you know, cheese curds and towels and slow football.

And now you have, you know, air raid, which is high flying fast, wide receivers, star quarterbacks. And so I talked to Phil last night, and he's pumped. His wife, apparently, is from Wisconsin.

Okay, there's a couple connections there. And look, four years at UNC, four years anywhere is kind of long these days for a coordinator, especially one who's had some success as, as long ago. So he's out the door and it took Jack Bicknell, who was in Chapel Hill for eight months with. So, because I know you're good at your job, Ross Martin, did you ask Phil Longo, are you crazy for leaving Drake May? Yeah, I mean, I didn't ask him that. It was just kind of a, you know, you have to be pretty on these, these text conversations with coaches.

You gotta be a little careful. But yeah, that was surprising. I mean, that's surprising too. You know, he's going to somewhere where they don't have, I don't think they have a, you know, starting quarterback right now.

No, their guy jumped in the portal. Yeah, I think he's going to go to Kentucky. But yeah, leaving Drake May, I mean, it, you know, he is set up to have a Heisman type season next year. They're returning a lot of wide receivers. They do lose some talent at wide receiver with Josh Downs, likely leaving and Antoine Green leaving, but they should return most of the offensive line, you know, all the running backs, free back or adding British Brooks back. So to be a stacked offense again, which, you know, it's a desirable place to come be an offensive coordinator. If you want to come to Chapel Hill and raise your kids in Chapel Hill and be a young coordinator, I mean, Mack rounds should have, should have the pick of, of any hot name out there, you know, in the, in the power five or group of five to come. So, but yeah, leaving Drake May, that's an interesting choice at Ross Martin underscore IC from inside Carolina, joining us here on the Adam Gold show.

Some people suggested that this was a lateral. Oh, wait. Corey Smith is, is, is, is kind of interloping here. He's next.

Corey Smith from Pat bride is next. We were stacked up. It's like a runway.

I know we got them all like an airport runway at the holidays. Some people suggested that this was a lateral move. You don't see it as a lateral move. Do you know, I think Wisconsin is a is a bigger football program. There's more money. The whole, you know, when the merger of USC and UCLA and the big 10 brought about the two big power conferences. Now, the big 10 is gonna have way more money.

You'll get a big raise there. Football is more important there than it is at UNC, no matter what fans want to think. And yeah, I think you can win a little bigger there. They have division still. I believe the big 10 West is very winnable for Wisconsin. So they should be competing every year to in the conference championship against the highest state or Michigan.

And you know, you got it. We thought his next job will be a head job would be a head job. You know, he interviewed for UCF two years ago, I believe, you know, he I'm sure his name has been floated for a lot of different jobs. So we didn't think he was going to take a OC job.

But you know, sometimes a fresh start is good. And Wisconsin is a little bit of a step up from a football since from North Carolina, I believe. Yeah, I mean, it's it's not a lateral move. It's a it's it's an upward move, probably in salary, and certainly in. And I don't know, but I mean, North Carolina just played for the ACC championship. So although that will be different without divisions, and it would be different in the big 10 without divisions, and I appreciate you using the nerve, the term merger, merger, when it comes to USC and UCLA in the big 10.

Because I think that's probably closer to the reality of it. All right, now. Now let's get to the portal part of this. Ross Martin, Tony Grimes, we heard right away was entering the portal, storm duck, joined him in there.

What, what are your thoughts on guys? I mean, duck was among, you know, one of the better corners in the ACC this year. I think the the AP named him first team corner.

What are your thoughts on on those two guys looking to get out? Yeah, the Grimes thing we knew about, look, I think the secondary was a big issue this year. So I think there's some developmental issues on the staff that, you know, maybe players want to leave to improve their NFL draft.

You know, Tony Grimes was a guy who sped up his clock. He enrolled early as a high school senior, he skipped his senior year, the whole goal was to get to the NFL in three years, you know, he is likely not going to enter the NFL draft is going to transfer. So the NFL has been a goal for him. So he wants a fresh start. I don't think the scheme that Gene Chiswick ran what was, I don't think that was very conducive to high quality quarterback play.

They've always played like seven yards off, five yards off, they didn't, you know, get them right to line scrimmage, your ducks, a different situation. Some of the same reasons, but you know, he's a grad transfer. He's been at UNC for four years, fresh start somewhere else.

I think there's a chance he may also look at his NFL stock and see if that's an option as well. Reductant enter on Monday or Tuesday, we thought he was gonna stay, but he entered last night. So it's a lot of defensive backs leaving.

I think there's six or seven. We had one guy, one guy just came back to Carolina, entered his name on Tuesday, on Monday, came back on, on Thursday. So the portal, it's a silly time right now because you add coaching changes and now you add transfer portal. It's a wild time.

You never know what's going to happen. All right. And then the, the biggest news, as I learned from, at Ross Martin underscore I see as burger shack changed ownership is everything cool in, in Chapel Hill. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot, a lot of things going on with Al, you can read the triangle business journal article.

I mean, there's like chapter 11 bankruptcy stuff. I do know the new owners. I do know one of the new owners.

So that is not only sourced Intel. I work out with Charlie Ferris, who has purchased Alice burger. A great dude owns a bunch of Jersey Mike's franchises in Chapel Hill and Durham and Chatham County. And so he's becoming a restaurant mogul in the area.

So they're going to look to expand. So maybe a, maybe Alice burger is coming near y'all in Raleigh, but you're over there. You're an Oxford. Yeah. Let's get one in Oxford, man.

I need options. Right. Yeah. I imagine, I imagine Durham and Raleigh are probably two of the next desirable locations for an Alice burger. So look out there. It's a, it's a famous restaurant here in town. Durham is a Durham's pretty close to Oxford.

Ross Martin. I appreciate your time, man. Thank you so much. All right. Anytime.

I'd appreciate it. You got it. That's Ross Martin inside Carolina. Like I wasn't lying. They're backed up on the runway. Corey Smith, editor, pack pride, 24 seven sports. There he is. I told you he was next on the runway.

I think I thank you very much. Corey let's start. We won't talk about football just yet. I saw this news and I didn't even know this was a possibility nowadays, but Isaiah Miranda, seven footer top 30 player committed to state. And it's going to be here for the second semester, which, which starts soon.

Explain how all of this happens. Well, yeah, the big thing for NC state here is the fact that they had an open scholarship. You know, that's not normal this time of year, especially when you, you only start with 12 scholarships for NC state that only have a full 13. And they, they had one open still throughout the rest of the season. You know, one guy that they originally had committed isn't going to be academically eligible for the remainder of the season.

So they had that one come back open. It just so happens that a guy in Isaiah Miranda, seven foot one, 200 pound big man that can shoot threes and happens to fill a gap for NC state that now is probably left by Dushan Muhurcek for a little while. They get him in the fold. He's a guy that, that has NBA draft potential. So he wants to go somewhere, play in college, get immediate playing time and NC state potentially has it now. So it's just a match made in heaven for NC state and for Isaiah Miranda, it sounds like he's going to be here next week.

He'll be, he'll arrive on Monday, could be available for the Vanderbilt game, but more than likely would be available to start ACC play at our Corey Smith on Twitter. If I could, if I gathered this correctly, you had, you had been sitting on this news. Good for you. Something like this is not, uh, not easy to continue to sit on, uh, was NC state. Did they save this scholarship for this possibility entirely?

Not really. Uh, they had actually, like I said, they had had another player in the folds. His name is Maddie Treyor. Uh, they had had him, you know, ready to go. Unfortunately, he's not going to be academically eligible to join this year. They're going to try to get him in for next year right now, but, uh, that scholarship becomes available again. So, uh, they got him at the end of the summer and it doesn't sound like he's going to be able to come. So now, uh, they have the spot open.

I mean, like I said, it's just a perfect situation for NC state and, and yeah, it was something where, uh, Joel justice and assistant for NC state had, had gone after him really hard. Uh, the family didn't want any information out there. And, and obviously, you know, with us having something lined up with 24 seven CBS sports to have the announcement, obviously we didn't want anything out there either. Uh, yeah.

So, okay. So this whole thing is, is new to me. You don't, you, I can't remember the last time we saw a recruit join a program, uh, coming out of high school in the middle of a season. Uh, I mean, did he graduate early?

Explain how all of that came together. Yeah, it's actually, it's happened a couple of times in the past few years, uh, you know, with mostly with Kentucky and I want to say, uh, there was another situation. Yeah, this doesn't normally happen to NC state is what we're saying. Uh, but this was a situation for, for NC state where, you know, he's a player that has already graduated from high school. He's a post-grad player. Uh, the issue him is the fact that, you know, he hadn't really proven himself to NBA scouts now at this point. So he still had something to prove. He wanted to do it at the college level.

Unfortunately, it was a little late, a little late in the mix. Most teams had already filled up all their scholarships. So for NC state, like I said, you have an open spot and you can bring them in and, uh, you know, it, and as I said, it, it fills a hole for NC state that they needed right away. And it helps for Isaiah Moran. It's potentially to help himself to be drafted in just a couple of months. So this could be a very short stay for him. NC state's hoping it's not, but at the same time, this could be a very short stay for him to go to the NBA suit or I could, I could spend it this way. I hope it is a short stay because that would probably mean that he played well.

Uh, so let's, let's all, let's talk about, uh, is it Duhan or Dusan, uh, Mihorčić? Um, did they say it's indefinite, which, you know, at Duke means one game, just kidding. Uh, but the, the, did they escape the worst case scenario here? They said it was a dislocated knee. Uh, did they escape the worst case scenario here or are we talking about this is probably the entire season? I don't know one way or the other, honestly, the way that they announced it, it didn't say anything about any structural damage, you know, whether or not it tore any ligaments.

I think that was the concern here. Uh, they did just say it was a dislocated patella, which is your kneecap. So there's a, there's a chance that that's a two to three week timeline that he can return. Unfortunately, they also said it required surgery.

So it doesn't sound like it's going to be anytime soon. Uh, but you know, there's, there's a chance that it could be a six to eight week recovery. He can come back, you know, somewhere around February and help. Uh, and I think that would be a big boost for NC state. You know, again, the, the fortunate part here is the fact that you get Isaiah Miranda to come in and you have a good solid rotation of big men this year, which you clearly didn't have last year, uh, when you lost Mandy Bates, it's a little bit different situation in terms of the personnel, but man, Dusan Mihorčić, yeah, he was playing extremely well for NC state. Uh, if he's able to come back anytime in the near future, they definitely want him to get back as soon as possible. And it sounds like Miranda and Mihorčić could even play together or Miranda and, uh, Burns could even play together, which would be good because my guess is at 200 pounds and seven one banging around inside near the rim is probably not, uh, on Ismail's, uh, uh, Isaiah Miranda's like his thing.

It's not necessarily what he wants to do. All right, let me, uh, let me ask about Devin Leary. And I think I just said everybody's name wrong. Uh, let me get to Devin Leary here. Do we have any idea where Devin is leaning towards, uh, exiting the portal?

Uh, not yet. Uh, you know, all, all signs pointed towards Notre Dame initially. Uh, and then we've now heard Florida's kind of in the mix, obviously, you know, Mizzou is always going to be in the mix just because Eli Drinkwitz was the coach that brought him to NC State before he left to go to App State. We've also heard, you know, Kentucky's in the mix, too. Kentucky loses Will Levis after this season. Do they try to bring him in to compete again in the in the SEC? Uh, you know, but there's also those kind of looming teams like a Georgia, potentially, or even in Alabama. Once if those players move on, obviously, uh, you know, there's a chance that they could go after him. But, uh, everything we've heard so far has been Notre Dame. And I forgot to mention Illinois, too, in that mix with his brother being there. And obviously, them potentially having a quarterback situation after the season.

But there's just it's all over the place right now. And I think there's just a lot of teams that are that are kind of realizing that type of player is out there. And honestly, I think after the news last night, you were just talking to Ross Martin about this, the Drake Mays situation. It was kind of this, you know, this looming like, hey, if he enters the portal, that's that's potentially the number one guy, because you get a full year out of him and there's no injury concerns. Whereas with Devin Leary, there's obviously injury concerns. So I think now this only ups the market for a guy like Devin Leary, knowing that Drake May is going to stay at UNC, too. Corey Smith, before we before we say goodbye, is is everybody going to play in the bowl game at some point?

We have to ask these questions now. And I'm not even bent out of shape for anybody that doesn't want to play in the bowl game who has NFL aspirations. But have you heard about anybody that might not play in the bowl game?

Not really at this point. You know, there's there's several guys that were injured at the end of the season that are question marks. You know, Grant Gibson, I don't expect him to play. I think he's more than likely out for this game, starting center for NC State. That's still, you know, a shuffle that they had to make against UNC.

And it seemed to work out a little better. The you know, the big question mark is going to be if MJ Morris plays and that's not even an NFL draft question. It's just an injury question. And then you know, the other guys potential NFL guys would be, you know, a Drake Thomas, maybe a Chandler Zavala. But I don't think any of those guys are necessarily going to sit out from what we've heard so far. Devin Carter played in the last game and played extremely well. All these guys still have something to prove going into this bowl game. They don't necessarily have their NFL draft stock set. So I think that's a that's a benefit to NC State.

But it also goes to show you how close a lot of these guys were to being fringe NFL players and not being, you know, those surefire number one overall picks or anything along those lines. Corey Smith, our Corey Smith on Twitter from Pac Pride, the editor. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much for doing this. We'll talk again. Appreciate it.