Will Stanford and Cal be joining the ACC?

It's crazy to think that at the end of this month, on the 31st, which is a Thursday, we're actually going to have college football games from schools here in the state of North Carolina being played. Wake Forest is going to be in action at home. NC State is going to be on the road at UConn. Camps are underway here in the ACC, so you know what? Let's dive right into it. Dennis Cox sitting in for Adam Gold this afternoon here on the Adam Gold Show.

Victoria producing us as always. Joining us now here on the program, Kelsey Riggs of the ACC Network and ESPN. The football road trip has been taking place.

You're just recently down in Tallahassee, but I got a question for you Kelsey. Right off the bat, you ready to take the football road trip out to to Northern California starting next season? Ready to go to Stanford? Ready to go to Cal? Calm down.

Don't tell me to calm down. We're not ready to go out there yet. Yeah man, what a wild, wild week plus it's been in the ACC. We went to Florida State yesterday. Obviously that was a hot topic of conversation last week with everything that came out of that meeting and then for the news yesterday from Pete Samuel of these exploratory conversations with Cal and Stanford. It's interesting. It's interesting. I'm you know for me I think I'm glad to see the ACC at least having these conversations. You know you look around and you keep seeing the the landscape of college football changing and different schools being picked off and what's happening to PAC-12 and who's going where.

What is the SEC doing in the Big Ten and all of these these different conferences? So I'm glad you're at least looking at what the options are. I don't know that that's the answer.

I don't know what the answer is. Thank God I'm not the one making the decisions. I always feel like I've been saying that since COVID.

Thank God I'm not the one in charge. People would probably say that a lot before or sooner before then about me but yeah it's interesting. I'm glad to see that at least the conversations are happening because I think you have to do your due diligence when you see what is happening all across college football. But I mean I love the West Coast. Don't get me wrong.

West Coast not the best coast but yeah we'll see what happens. Kelsey Greggs ACC Network ESPN joining us here on the program. Now I don't think you said you don't have the answers.

I don't think anyone actually does when it comes down to any of this. But from the conversations that you've had from from people at the ACC Network is you get to talk to a lot of people. You've been at the ACC Network for a long time.

You get a chance to talk to these athletic directors and these coaches. What is the vibe that you get from them regarding all the realignment and stuff? Is there uneasiness? Is there panic? What is the mentality around the league? You know what's interesting Dennis is like it honestly I would say depends on the day or the week because a couple weeks ago it felt more settled right?

None of all this stuff had happened. Well then you look what's happening with the Pac-12 and what's going on with USC and UCLA and then all of a sudden you're kind of looking around. I think you don't ever want to be the one left out of the party right?

So it depends on what's happening when. When we were at ACC Spring Meeting coming out of those you're hearing these these conversations and these talks about the Magnificent Seven and what's going to happen and do they want to leave? I mean I think the thing that I just keep coming back to at least for now is it's the grant of rights and it's through 2036 and no matter what you pay up front to get out of it you know you still have to figure out how you would negotiate your way out of it or what that looks like. I think that's one of the biggest question marks is what do you do with that for these schools? Obviously the revenue gap is you know it's something that is I don't want to say alarming but it's concerning to a lot of these schools and athletic directors when you think about going to 2036 they're looking around so you know the commissioner ever since he came in has been very aggressive about ACC football and wanting to make sure that it is top notch and done well and competitive and of course it matters what happens on on the field and yes you know the last two years the ACC hasn't had a team in the college football playoff but you look at what Clemson has done before that you look at Florida State you look at what Miami normally is you look at teams like Duke that surprised everybody last year with the nine win season is going to come back with a phenomenal quarterback again and Florida State back in the mix so I do think the ACC programs are strong they're continuing to head in the right direction for some of the ones that have maybe fallen off a little bit or we're still building so you've got to have the wins but it really depends on the day because everybody was freaking out a couple days ago last week because of Florida State and now all of this stuff happens with the news yesterday of these exploratory talks so it's hour by hour it's day by day I think all in all it's what is the solution and it's probably not like a long-term solution I think personally like what is the solution now what can you do now and that might not be the same thing that helps you in three years or in five years or even in two months but maybe the solution now is at least looking at these schools and talking and having these exploratory conversations to see if there is more they can do or not.

Never hurts to have a conversation Kelsey Riggs joining us here on the Adam Gold Show Dennis Cox sitting in for Adam Adam this afternoon. Kelsey you mentioned Florida State let's actually get to this upcoming season let's get into the now you're down in Tallahassee recently with the football road trip on the ACC network a lot of hype for the Knowles this season is that hype real? It is real whatever the Kool-Aid they're drinking down there is I'm sipping on it I'm all in on the Knowles I mean Jordan Travis to watch what he has done at Florida State is just so fun from a fan perspective and then from a broadcaster perspective that has gotten to cover this league in depth since 2019 you look at his growth you look at how he stuck it out there you look at how he wasn't always the guy but also what he's done on the field you know people looked at him and said oh he's a running quarterback he's so athletic oh he can throw he's a passing quarterback that can also run and so you've seen him I think that's most exciting you've seen him take another step each of the last two seasons so I'm excited to see how he continues to elevate his game he should be in the Heisman conversation he is in the Heisman conversation and there's no reason to think that he won't be when the season ends especially because you can't just have him you've got to have all the pieces around you right and you build what Mike Norvell has built there in this short time when he went through so much adversity his first couple years there and oh and four and like 2021 that start and turn things around you get guys like Jared Burse to say hey I want to come back and play another year he's going to be a first rounder Johnny Wilson who is eight feet tall when you look at him and you're standing on the sidelines they've got playmakers on both sides of the ball the culture there is top notch and I'm really excited to see what Florida State does this year. You mentioned yeah Jordan Travis definitely in the Heisman conversation but I know here in the state of North Carolina we have one in Drake May at UNC now if you look at from Jordan Travis, Drake May, Brendan Armstrong, Riley Leonard I even go to Phil Drakovic who transferred from from BC to to pick uh what Garrett Schrader's done at Syracuse you look at the depth of even just the quarterback talent here in the ACC it's as deep as you can argue with any conference in the country right now from top to bottom. And just up the road a little bit Cade Klubnek you can't name them all or down the road I guess yeah you know geography that's not my strong suit um yeah Cade who's also in the Heisman conversation and see the sports book has him in the top 10 as well you're exactly right and I love that you brought that up because I think there's this narrative too of oh look at these quarterbacks that have transferred out of the ACC look at the quarterbacks that are still here and look at the ones that left yes Sam Hartman is no longer in the ACC but how long did he stay and stick around at Wake Forest because that was a program that he wanted to be a part of and because it was winning yes now he's in Notre Dame so excited to see what he does but there are a lot of good players here and the ones that left DJ I guess he's not here anymore but again why did he leave it's not because Clemson is not an elite program and they don't play football it's because it wasn't the right fit for him anymore things changed and the transfer portal is insane right now so I do I think it's going to be another really really exciting year for these ACC quarterbacks Riley Leonard at Duke is a stud I cannot wait to see having gotten to see him play up close and personal yet so I'm really looking forward to getting to go to one of their games because I really just expect them to build on what they did last year and we just were at NC State I literally am standing in the airport right now made this flight so that's good because Tyler has to yesterday travel with a disaster with all these storms but got to see Brendan Armstrong and talk to him and and really excited to see what he does with coach and I because 2021 I mean they were lightening it up with Brendan Armstrong at quarterback all right final question for Kelsey Riggs of the ACC network I know you got to get headed now because you got your your football road trip tour which is taking place on the ESP on the ACC network definitely check it out final question for you again you've been around this conference you've been around these teams for several years now who are we sleeping on oh uh well first of all I think Duke I do think people are still sleeping on Duke and not giving Duke the respect that it deserves it was not a fluke that they won nine games last year Mike Elko came in there he continued not to change the culture because obviously coach Cutcliffe had built a great thing for a long time there were some tweaks that needed to be made so he came in continued to build on that culture got these guys in the right mindset and has great pieces coming back I think we're sleeping on Duke I think everybody's always sleeping on Wake Forest excited to see them in a couple of weeks I'll be there not this Monday but the next Monday you think oh Sam Hartman left well Mitch Griffiths knows what to do he's been in this offense for a long time they have playmakers their wide receivers are elite level talent year after year their um coach Kevin Higgins does a great job with the wide receivers there um so I'd say Wake Forest and let me think who else are we sleeping I don't think Pickett's talked about enough either you mentioned Tiltra Covic he's back with his offensive coordinator what will that look like you know the defense is just going to be suffocating as it always is so those three I mean that I feel like that whole middle pack honestly Dennis is people are like oh it's it's Clemson and Florida State and everybody else well Clemson and Florida State and you got Drake May at North Carolina you still have Tyler Van Dyke at Miami you know last year didn't go well they've got a new coordinator he's going to be able to throw the ball and get out there and do what he wants to do so I think that middle of the pack ACC is really going to have an opportunity to lift the league even more this year I think it's going to be a fun year in this conference Kelsey Riggs ACC network give her a follow on x not twitter on x uh at Kelsey Riggs weird to say right it does it's awful it just rolls off the tongue terribly it really does give her a follow at Kelsey Riggs thanks for your time and enjoy your football tour thank you so much we appreciate the time