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That's the headline. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host, Dan Schwartzman. OMG. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.
Oh my gosh. And now sitting in for Rich, it's Dan Schwartzman. It is our two of The Rich Eisen Show.
Dan Schwartzman in for Rich on this Thursday and tomorrow as well. A lot of NFL talk in our number one. Do you want to get some college football talk in here as well? Max Chadwick, football analyst for Pro Football Focus and the host of the PFF College Football Show will be joining us in about 20 or so minutes to talk some college football. Well, news this week was that Colorado has gotten record insurance coverage for its two-star players and Chidor Sanders and Travis Hunter, the Heisman Trophy winner, they are most likely going one and two in this NFL draft. If a quarterback needy team is picking one, then it's going to be Sanders. In terms of pure talent, it's going to be Travis Hunter who can be a start wide receiver or cornerback or I guess potentially both. Although a two-way player playing full-time in the NFL is unheard of.
A guy needs a break here or there. And unfortunately for Hunter, the news surrounding him has been about his relationship with his fiance. That's been like the big conversation. I feel bad for the kid. He wins a Heisman Trophy. He is going to be a top pick in this year's NFL draft and yet he's got this fiance he's been with for a while apparently and she's got a very heavy social media presence and it hasn't been a lot of positive discussions around her, fair or not. So you kind of hate to see the conversation be about that more so than the young man's ability and really about the young man himself. And people talk about that, you know, Deion Sanders had to nudge his fiance to I guess go hug him or something when he won the award.
Maybe she's just more in shock. I don't know that situation but she's been more the discussion surrounding Travis Hunter than he has been and that's kind of unfortunate. And my advice, I know a lot of people seem to be giving poor Travis Hunter advice, my advice is you got to shut off the noise, right? You have a lot going on in your favor. You're about to become a very, look, he's making million, he's already a millionaire by the way, okay? He became a millionaire when he went to Jackson State out of high school as a number one recruit in the nation. He originally committed to Florida State then goes to Deion and reports are that he got paid millions of dollars and IL deals and he's gotten paid millions of dollars at Colorado as well I'm sure. So Travis Hunter, yeah he's already a millionaire and good for him. Look, if you have a right to control your name image and likeness then by all means go out there and use it to your benefit and financially it's been to his benefit. He's going to become an even wealthier human being when he's drafted first or second in the NFL draft.
He will be. So my advice is make sure you surround yourself with people that care about you. She's been with him through the times when he wasn't the superstar I guess and the millionaire but if she is making but if she is making more noise in a negative manner than positive you have to reassess relationships.
You're a young guy, what is he 20, 21 years old. You don't need the distractions and the noise that come with your private, you know, your publicly, your private life becoming public and your partner being a positive or negative impact in that. I don't know her so I'm not going to comment on who she is. I don't know her, never met her, never have interacted with her, never met the young man or talked to him either but sitting here from the third person view of how things are shaping up my advice is make sure you surround yourself with the right people and sometimes you have to be ruthless. You do.
Sometimes the people that you surround yourself with aren't the people that you need to keep dealing with when your life is changing because when you're the one making the money, when you're the one that has the seemingly never-ending flow of cash coming in, you become very very popular with your friends because your friends kind of want to live the lifestyle as well and they don't have the opportunity to do so because they're not as talented or as smart whatever it might be. Hey Dan. Yeah. It happens to us all the time too. I have this problem all this time. You really can tell the friendships, you know. The women in our lives. It's really tough really keeping him at bay but that's the whole point.
You have got to make sure that you have put a nice cocoon around yourself of people you trust and that are really looking at your benefit. She may be, I don't know, but all I know is that's not the discussion he needs around him right now being more about his private life and his significant other than himself, the bowl game coming up, his abilities, and what his NFL future is and I think he's got a very bright future. Now that said, both Chadore Sanders and Travis Hunter will be playing in the Alamo Bowl rather than sitting out making sure they don't get hurt for one more college football game and getting themselves ready for the NFL draft. And I admire... Frank, run a slant to the bowl of chips. Bobby, one hook to the salsa. What are you gonna do, Coach Prime? Don't question your coach, man.
There you go. Deion Sanders, who by the way is a lot of fun. So I've sat down Deion on a handful of occasions, always had good conversations.
He's a very thoughtful guy. But as much as I admire two team leaders, two guys that have been there a while, two guys who are the face of the team saying, we're gonna play with our teammates, we're gonna be there for the bowl, and again, I admire that. On the other hand, this is a business, right? Even college football now is completely a business. There's no more masquerading with that nonsense of student athletes.
These are athletes. These aren't students. I don't know what their classroom work is. I don't know how often they attend class. I don't know how much work they're actually doing.
I'm hoping the answers are they go to a lot of classes and they do their own work and are doing well and taking college seriously. And I hope prime time Deion is actually cultivating that. And I actually believe he is. From what you read in here, he does care about the academics of his student athletes.
He does. But when you're talking about Shenoor Sanders and Travis Hunter and the potential hundreds of millions of dollars that they have coming their way, hundreds of millions of dollars, forget just the rookie contracts they will sign as top draft picks, which are gonna be 40, 50 million dollars guaranteed off the bat for four years and that option year for that fifth year. You're talking a ton of money here. The endorsement deals. You're getting the endorsement deals because of the fact you're going to be an NFL player. If they're bust or injured, that money dries up very quickly because who is Travis Hunter if he doesn't have football? He's a nobody. He's the average Joe. So again, I admire the fact they want to play, but you're not playing for a national championship in the Alamo bowl.
You're not. And even though Colorado will not tell us the amount of insurance coverage that they've gotten for their two top players, they say it's the largest in college football history. It better be for hundreds of millions because that's probably what you're looking at with those two players. The earning potential they have is nine figures. The average person has no idea what that means.
I have no idea what that means, but when you have the potential to make literally hundreds of millions of dollars and your health is pretty much the main reason if you do or you don't, I'm not screwing with that. I'm not risking that to play one lousy college football game, regardless of the fact it's a bowl game or not. And we're not talking about a national championship game. They're playing Saturday against BYU in the Alamo bowl for crying out loud. And I'll tell you what, five years ago when this started happening six years ago and players started to sit out rather than play, I'm like, oh my gosh, that's terrible.
How do these guys do that? You're screwing around here. You're screwing up your teammates here. That's so selfish of you. Why would you not go play?
Why would you not take the opportunity to play in your last college football game you have the chance to play before it all becomes a real business? That's how I used to think. But now I think, because I think I'm a little smarter now in my older age, really a little wiser.
I think so. I think I'm a little smarter now. The wife and kids may not believe it, but when I had pets, they believed it. But like, I just honestly just don't understand. I don't care about insurance policies and I don't care about doing the right thing. When it comes to money and lots of it, you look out for yourself, period.
Period. I don't care about Deion. I don't care what he wants you to do. I don't care if Deion needs you to win the game. This isn't about Deion Sanders.
This is about what's best for Travis Hunter. And I don't care if it's dead, in Shadore Sanders's case. Dead, I'm not playing because I'm not taking a big hit. I'm not risking an injury.
Sorry, dead. Play the backup quarterback. Let him start. It's just, what are you trying to accomplish here?
What are you trying to show? If it's up to me or if I'm the advisors for these two young men, hell no, are you playing in Saturday's Alamo Bowl. That ain't happening. Not happening. Not happening. Makes absolutely no sense for you to do so regardless of the insurance coverage.
Now, on the other hand though, I do have to admire Colorado going out and doing this. And does this set a precedence where other top players are going to say, okay, sure. If you want to take out $100 million insurance policy on me, I'll play. Because if it's a career ending injury, then yeah, I still make $100 million. That actually might be more than I'd make in the NFL. Say you're a top running back. You're a drafted seventh or eighth overall. What's your earning potential, right? You get right off the bat probably like 28 million bucks guaranteed. At running back, there's nothing after that. What if you're no good?
You're not making a lot more money than that. You probably actually are better off getting hurt and collecting the insurance policy. And what is the lifespan of a running back? Exactly. Not everybody's Derek Henry who's rushing for 1,800 yards at the age of 30. Most guys by the age of 30 are falling off a cliff.
We know that. That's just the way things are. And I just think to myself, that may be the game changer. Maybe that's how people look at it. Maybe that's how people will decide if they want to play or not in their bowl games.
Now that one school has gone out there and made it financially, I guess, more palpable, that if you're hurt, there is that safety net, you're able to still compete financially because of the fact the school did that. Okay, that's great. I do admire them.
Again, though, I am not going to do that. And by the way, a bunch of bowl games going on today. I understand how great it is for these kids. They get the opportunity to play in a bowl game. They get to do things that the average person doesn't get to do.
They get to go travel somewhere and have a good time. But my goodness, listen to this bowl schedule today, Art. Are you ready? Are you excited for this one? I am sitting down.
All right, here we go. In about an hour or so, kickoff. Toledo versus Pittsburgh at Ford Field in Detroit. Yeah. Then you got Rutgers at Kansas State at Chase Field in Phoenix.
Then in Mobile, Alabama, the 68 Ventures Bowl, Arkansas State versus Bowling Green. The what? The what? The what?
The what? The 68 Ventures Bowl. You have the Game Above Sports Bowl.
That's Toledo, Pittsburgh. Rate Bowl, which is Rutgers, Kansas State. And the 68 Ventures Bowl, Bowling Green versus Arkansas State. That is tonight from Mobile, Alabama.
I'm going to be watching that one. The 68 Ventures Bowl. What is 68 Ventures? Is that a company or something? It's got to be.
Yeah, right? What else would it be? I think it's a company. Who else can afford to sponsor bowl games and put your name on some bowl game that's in Mobile, Alabama, of all places.
You found it yet, Art? What is 68 Ventures? 68 Ventures is the parent company for numerous operating businesses along the Gulf Coast. Okay, so if it's the Gulf Coast, it makes sense why they would sponsor a game in Mobile, Alabama. That's, of course, in the Gulf of Mexico, so that makes sense.
I like Mobile. Mobile Bay. You got the USS Alabama. The World War II Battleship is docked there.
It's a museum, floating museum. Yeah, we have one here in Long Beach, California. It's the Iowa. Why is the Iowa Long Beach?
That's a good question. Isn't that where Japan surrendered in World War II? No, it was the Missouri. Missouri, you're right.
It's one of those states there in that middle portion of the country, right? That was close. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. September 2nd, by the way. My birthday.
Yes, yes, yes. That's how I remember. I got a free tour every Veterans Day because I'm a veteran. So, how many times have you been on the ship?
Like six or seven. Does anything look different when you go on there? No, no. Yeah, this way you should be giving the tours art. Oh, absolutely, yeah. I mean, yeah, it's been in every compartment almost. This is where they ate. This is where the shells were kept.
Yeah, exactly. This is the toilets, the latrines. Latrines, yeah. You know exactly where... Bunks.
Although, I do the same thing. We had the Intrepid here in New York, the old World War II aircraft carrier that was hit by kamikaze in World War II. Yes, it was, absolutely. But it's always fun to check out the planes they have on the deck. They have a Concorde there. They used to have a Concorde there. They have the SR-71 Blackbird there. They have all kinds of great jets on the flight deck there. And you look at the size of that carrier and you compare that to a modern day carrier like the...
The Eisenhower or the Abraham Lincoln. Yeah, you know, one of those newer ships and it's like a third of the size. It's incredible. You think about how big that is compared to what exactly they have now, which are even more massive. It's like when they put a modern day cruise ship next to the Titanic, which at the time, you know, 1912, was a massive ship. Now it's tiny compared to these like Carnival Cruise Line ships and things like that that are just floating hotels, floating cities, frankly. And floating viruses too. Floating viruses and floating all-you-can-eat buffets, by the way.
And floating top-shelf alcohol distributors. Never been on a cruise. And neither have I. I like traveling. I like seeing the world. I like seeing new places.
But I have friends who are... They love that cruise culture. To me, if I'm going somewhere, I want to do it on my own time where it's like I don't have to be back anywhere in a couple hours. I don't need to be like, oh my God, if I miss this ship, I'm going to miss going to the next port. I got to find my way there. You know, it's like, no, if I'm going to be in Europe and I like a city, I want to stay there for a couple extra days.
Why not? I don't want to have to be beholden to getting back to a ship at a certain time or else there goes my ride. And I understand there's all-you-can-eat food and it's really good food and there's entertainment and things to do. And people that go on cruises, they love cruises. They go every year. That's the Alaskan cruise, the Mediterranean cruise, whatever it might be. They go on cruises.
They love it. That's not me. Just park me in Paris for a week and I'd love it. I don't need to then get off that boat and go on another boat and things.
No, thank you. I know. I'm different because I want to be in the middle of nowhere in my camper with my dog. Yeah, that sounds really not appealing to me. Not being with you in the middle of nowhere.
Just being in the middle of nowhere to me is like my wife's like, oh my goodness, I just want to go plop on a beach in the Caribbean. I'm like, nah. Doesn't excite me. Like, yeah, yeah, fine. If you want to go, great.
But no, I want to be like in a vibrant city somewhere, beautiful architecture, great foods, just things to do. You know, I like that. I have to be stimulated. The wife, nope. Put me on a Costa Rican beach and I'm happy. I'm like, nah, nah.
Doesn't interest me. Yeah. Put me in a mountain with nobody around with my dog and I'm happy. Yeah. Just disappear right off the grid. Absolutely.
Live off the land. US Marine. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, no thanks.
Put me in a beautiful European city and I'm happy as a clam. That's the way it should be. All right, Max Chadwick, football analyst for PFF, Pro Football Focus, and the host of the PFF College Football Show. He will join us next.
What does he think about this insurance policy? And if you're Shidoor Sanders and Travis Hunter, should you be playing in this Alamo Bowl coming up Saturday versus BYU? It's honorable, but boy are they potentially playing with even more future earnings. Dan Schwartzman on a Thursday. Plenty of show left here to go.
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That's OReillyAuto.com slash E-I-S-E-N, O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. Let's talk game time, people, and the holiday season. Game time's all about togetherness. And isn't the holiday season all about that too?
The answer is yes. This means when you bring people together at live events, the experience is that much better, and it's the perfect gift. And game time has this new feature called game time picks. It makes getting tickets for live events even easier. I love using game time picks because it filters out all the fluff, shows you only the incredible deals you want on the great seats you need, so you don't waste a single second searching through thousands of tickets. And then there's that all-in pricing feature I love. You see your total upfront. There's no surprise fees at checkout. The price that they tell you is the price that you're going to buy.
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Game time. And welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you. Call.
Click Grainger.com or just stop by. Dance work's been in for Rich on this Thursday day after Christmas. Three bowl games today, none of real value. The big talk though, Alamo Bowl coming up on Saturday. Shidoor Sanders, Travis Hunter, both will be playing for Colorado. University saying they got the record insurance amount for both of them.
I guess in case of injury. Max Chadwick, football analyst for Pro Football Focus and the host of the PFF College Football Show joins us next. Max, first off, Merry Christmas to you and the family. Look, I admire two young men like Shidoor Sanders and Travis Hunter. They're both obviously team leaders on that Colorado squad.
Tremendous players. Could be the number one and number two pick in this draft. University gets them an insurance policy, but man, are you playing in this bowl game? An Alamo Bowl on Saturday with your potential NFL future and earnings could be hurt if you are injured, God forbid, in this game?
Yeah, well first off, happy holidays to you and yours, Dan, as well, honestly. But yeah, it's an interesting question, right? Because Shidoor Sanders and Travis Hunter, like you mentioned, are probably going to be top five picks in the NFL draft. So obviously, there's a lot to lose, right? If they both get hurt and maybe not a lot to gain by some people's standards and only the Alamo Bowl. It's not like it's a playoff game or anything like that.
So, it's a weird question. I do commend them for playing in it, obviously, because there has been a lot of opt-outs in recent years, obviously, with some top prospects not choosing to play in their bowl game. So, it is certainly a little risky, but I do also love, you know, making bowl games matter a little bit more than they have in the past. Whereas, you know, back then, it just felt like a glorified spring game sometimes. Now, I think it's better that guys like them, Cam Ward is also playing in the bowl game as well. It's cool to see a lot of those smaller bowl games start to matter a little bit more and all the star players playing them too. But Max, aren't we being selfish? Because I agree with you. As a viewer, of course, I'd rather see Shadore Sanders and Cam Ward and Travis Hunter and guys who are going to be top five, top 10 picks in the NFL draft play, but flip it and be in their shoes, right?
A, are you playing with the same intensity thinking to yourself, I just have to stay healthy for 60 more minutes and the future is bright for me? Or, you know, maybe I step out of bounds here when I wouldn't because I can't get hurt because if I do, that could be hundreds of millions of dollars. From my aspect, yeah, I love watching it, but if I'm them or their advisors, hell no, am I playing.
No way, Max. Yeah, I don't know if I would either, honestly. It's obviously up to them and I think a big part of it is Deion coaching them. So, I'm sure his dad is coaching him. So, obviously, he probably wants to play one last time with his dad and all that. I know Travis Hunter kind of views Deion as a second father almost as well. So, I think it's a part of it that goes into they want to play for him one last time.
But, yeah, like I said, I don't know if I would be playing out there, but I do commend them for playing in a game and, like I said, making these bowl games matter a little bit more than they've mattered in the past. All right, Max, we talked about Chidor Sanders, Cam Ward, Jalen Milro, of course, the three quarterbacks a lot of people talk about in terms of potentially the top three quarterbacks selected in this upcoming draft. Rank him in order of how you see them potentially being NFL players. Yeah, I would say the number three for me pretty clearly is Jalen Milro. I think he's probably got the highest ceiling out of all of them, but there's a low floor there as well. I think a lower floor than there is with a Chidor Sanders or a Cam Ward, for example.
I mean, it kind of reminds me, it gives me like Malik Willis vibes coming out of Liberty where everyone kind of thought, oh, yeah, the physical tools are out of this world, but, you know, there's just a lot of not great play in there. So, I think Jalen Milro, physical tools out of this world, there's a lot of development needed for him to become a franchise NFL quarterback, but there is the potential that he can become that in the NFL. But he's pretty clearly number three for me. Honestly, it's like a one, a one B, uh, with Cam Ward and Chidor Sanders for me right now.
Um, I would probably say Chidor, I would take first out of the two of them as of right now. I think there's a little bit of a higher floor there, but Cam Ward presents, you know, a little bit of higher ceiling, I think with the, uh, physical tools that he's got as well. Whereas your centers doesn't really have the best arm strength or anything like that, or the best physical tools. But I do think there's a cleanness and Chidor Sanders is a game that there isn't with Cam Ward. Sometimes where Cam Ward can still be a little loose with the football.
Sure. Sanders is a very, very safe quarterback. We'll also make some big time throws down the field. So to me, I think you can't really go wrong with either Chidor Sanders or Cam Ward as a top quarterback in the draft, but I think they're pretty clearly the top two in this draft. And there's a pretty big gap between those two, Jalen Melrose and everyone else, in my opinion. Max, no one complained when Caleb Williams went number one last year out of USC to the bears. Compare the names, Cam Ward and Chidor Sanders to a Caleb Williams. Is there a significant gap in terms of how they're viewed coming out of college or is it a smaller gap than some people may say?
I think it's a pretty big gap. I do think the top of this quarterback class is not nearly what it was even last year. So just put in perspective, I would probably say Chidor Sanders and Cam Ward would have been in the grouping of like JJ McCarthy, Michael Panics Jr. and Bo Nix coming out of last year's class.
Where everyone kind of viewed it as, all right, the top three is the top three between Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels and Drake May. Then there's a little bit of a gap and then you got the next three of, like I said, McCarthy, Nix and Panics. I would probably put Ward and Sanders in the McCarthy, Nix and Panics tier than I would the Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels and Drake May tier, honestly. So obviously, Bo Nix is doing really well in the NFL already. Michael Panics has shown some really nice things already in the NFL and we'll see what happens between McCarthy and his career. But I do think those two would be in that grouping and not in the top three grouping that we had this past year. Chatting with Max Chadwick, football analyst for PFF and the host of the PFF College Football Show here on the Rich Eisen Show.
Dan Schwartz has been in for Rich on this Thursday. Give me a name that we're not talking about at the quarterback position and I say that, Max, because every year there seems to be a guy that, through personal workouts or at the combine, people start saying, you know what, that guy's really good. Is there a player like that we're not talking about yet when you talk about the quarterback position? Yeah, I think, you know, it's like I said, it's not a great quarterback class, but I would say a guy that I think could be moving upwards is Dylan Gabriel from Oregon.
And now, you know, he's small, you know, a little bit bigger than Bryce Young. Probably the arm talent is just not that great either. But I do think he plays it at a, as a point guard role in that offense really, really well. Kind of like a lot like Bo Nix. Now I do think Bo Nix is more physically talented, which is why he was a top 15 pick in the NFL draft. And I do not think Dylan Gabriel would be anything close to a top 15 pick in the NFL draft.
But I do think Dylan Gabriel could be a guy that moves up boards. You know, he's going to the Senior Bowl. He could probably perform pretty well there.
Probably would really impress the interview process as well. He is an older prospect. I think he's in his sixth year of college football right now.
But I do think Dylan Gabriel is a guy that couldn't be a guy that goes into, say, third or fourth round of the NFL draft and maybe gets a shot to start a few games in his NFL career. I like to ask this question of people that are in the college football world. What are your expectations for Bill Belichick in North Carolina?
I'm excited. You know, I think a lot of people are saying, oh, he's not going to work because of, you know, he's not really not a recruit or NIL and all the ever-changing landscape of college football. But also at the same time, I think he'll be able to figure that out.
He's got guys in place there that'll kind of handle that form a lot of times. And from pure X's standpoint, like he might be the smartest coach in football history, right? And so you got the greatest NFL coach of all time going down to the college ranks. And yeah, it's obviously a very different game than what it is in the NFL. But I'm excited to see because he's obviously going to run a very, very professional program at North Carolina. I'm excited to see how that works with 18, 19, 20 year olds compared to the guys who's working with the NFL. But there's no denying from a pure X's and O's standpoint, he is one of the smartest coaches we've ever had in the sport.
So I'm excited to see how that translates to the college game. Max, I've talked to expatriates about Bill Belichick and at times the guy can be thought of as a raving lunatic, but he could always point to the rings and say, what I do works, obviously, right? You talk to people that played for Tom Coughlin, same thing.
Sometimes you scratch your head, but in the end he's one ring. So whatever he does works. But kids today are a bit different, right? Kids today, let's say they're a little bit more thin-skinned or they're pampered a bit more than I'm 46, my generation or older.
Do you think Belichick's got to change himself in how he acts toward players to work at the college level? Because yeah, he's a big name and he's got all those rings, but kids don't want to be yelled at anymore. They don't want to be told as much what to do as our generations. How's that going to play when the younger generation is a bit more, how do I put this kindly? I'm trying to say this nicely here, Max, but they're a bit more sensitive than I think the older generations.
Yeah, I think, I think it's a point, right? I think that's, um, you know, Bill, well, it's probably gonna adapt, uh, as well to, to the new kind of style of players he's coaching now. Um, but I will say in new England, you know, players adapted to him as well. And I do think the players in college will probably adapt to him. And I do think there will be a level of respect there that they have for, uh, Bill Belichick, because let's face it, a lot of those kids, he's gonna be coaching in North Carolina.
I mean, they grew up watching him win circles year after year after year after year. I mean, there's obviously respected or that's going to be commanded by Bill Belichick, but just by simply being in the room, right? So, um, I do think he's got to adapt.
I don't know if it'll work, um, as well as it did in new England with, as, uh, with college kids. But at the same time, I do think there's a Bill Belichick in there. Like we've seen him on TV a lot as well. He is a fun loving guy at the end of the day. Um, maybe just doesn't show it to the media all that much, but I do think there's a side of him that we haven't really seen, uh, all that much with Bill Belichick that he can be a very personable guy. And, you know, I've seen a lot of interviews with him where I was like, oh, wow, I didn't know Bill Belichick was like really funny like that.
Right. So I think he could be able to connect to the kids. Um, but I do also think, like you said, like, he's probably gonna have to adapt a little bit, um, to coaching 18, 19, 20 year olds and not the 30, 35 year olds he was coaching, um, in the NFL. So it's gonna be interesting. Like I said, it's gonna be a fascinating case study, um, watching the greatest coach in NFL history, arguably go down to the college ranks and see how that works, where, you know, a lot of the other times it was great college coaches move up to the NFL. We haven't really seen too many great NFL coaches move back down. Right. So we're the greatest.
You're right. When's the last time you saw the greatest move down to the college ranks, especially a place like North Carolina, which is more of a basketball school. It's not a powerhouse college football program, but here's the other problem though.
Half of being a college coach today is of course recruiting, not just youngsters out of high school, but now the transfer portal. I mean, can we really see Bill Belichick taking a week to travel the country to sit in living rooms, eating the food provided by parents to tell their kids why he's their best option to go play for him. I just have a hard time seeing a 70 plus year old guy doing that. It's grinding, right? Like you're literally not sitting in your office.
You're on the road, having to convince youngsters and their parents that you're the best choice. I, maybe he does it. Maybe he looks forward to doing it, but can you see Bill Belichick doing that? Yeah, that's, that's the one part, right?
It's a little weird for me, right? The fit where I'm like, okay, cause they can say he's an older guy, you know, you would think that, you know, he'd be heading into the Twilight of his career, Twilight of his life even. And now he's still going to be arguably, you know, traveling across the country, talking to his kids. I do think he'll delegate a lot. Um, I know he hired a lot of people he's worked with before, like Michael Amari is their new general manager down in North Carolina. I'm sure he'll be handling a lot of that as well, but, um, yeah, it's going to be, that's, that's the one weird fit, I think, in Bill Belichick, but maybe you'll run it like a pro style system, right? Where maybe like you've used the French portal, it's kind of like a free agency and like, Hey, this is running the way I did in New England and try to do it that way.
Right. So in a lot of ways, college football is becoming a very similar to the NFL with the transportal NIL booming the way it is. Um, it's becoming much more professional than ever before. So that actually, maybe it's the perfect time for Bill Belichick to get involved in college football because it is, um, getting more and more similar every year to the NFL game. Joined by Max Chadwick football analyst for PFF and the host of the PFF college football show here on the Rich Eisen show, Dan Schwartzman in for rich. All right, last question.
How do you view the transfer portal? Are you a big fan of the wild, wild West atmosphere it's kind of become? Um, it's interesting.
I don't know if I can say I'm a, like a massive fan of, or I dislike it. I just think it's a new age of college football. Um, I do, and I do like how players are able to play immediately. Uh, transferings, obviously coaches, they don't have to sit out a year if they leave their job for another one.
Right. So it makes sense that you allow players to do the same thing. I don't know if, you know, I mean, there's some players that, you know, transfer literally every single year of their career, right? There's some players who play at five schools in six years or whatever. Um, so that is a little, um, hard to keep up with as an analyst sometimes, honestly, but yeah, it's weird beat the schedule. I don't know how you could fix the schedule, but I don't love how there's some guys in the playoff right now that just aren't playing anymore because they're in the trench portal. Um, so that I don't love either, but I don't really know how you fix it considering these guys has to be enrolled in classes in January.
So, um, yeah, it's a very weird thing and comfortable right now. I do think it's a good thing at the end of the day, but, um, there is, there are some tweaks, I think the need to be made to the transport board gets, you know, as close to perfect as possible. It's amazing though, Max, how some coaches really are just not very good at it. You know, Dabo Sweeney's had issues. And then you have guys like Hugh Freese at Auburn and you have, uh, you know, Brian Kelly at LSU that seemingly have mastered the art of the transfer portal, right? They're bringing in talent left and right every day. It's like, oh, this big name is transferred to Auburn. This big name is transferred to LSU. Some guys just seem to have, and maybe they pay better, you know, cause these days NIL, but are you amazed at, uh, the, the roster shakeup, you know, the shakeups of some of these massive schools at LSU and then obviously Auburn now where they're just every year and especially those two schools are just bringing in all this talent, right? I mean, Brian Kelly's mastered this.
Yeah. It's become, like I said, how I try to compare it for some people is like, Hey, imagine like requested, for example, and I know they're doing a little bit better now bringing transfers, but like Clemson knows like, all right, imagine like an NFL team that only drafted players and did not find any free agents. Like imagine just how bad that would be. That's what Clemson was kind of trying to do by just bringing high school recruits and not ever bringing in transfers. But I think it's important. I think, I think honestly, the portal is as important as high school recruiting nowadays. Honestly, you're seeing teams like Indiana and Florida state last year be transformed overnight because of transfers.
Right? So, um, I think that it certainly is very important. And honestly, the transport is important, but in terms of recruiting players from other schools to join your program, but also you're seeing more and more now you're seeing schools have to recruit their own players to stay there as well. Like you're seeing more reports now of top players agreeing to a new deal to stay at the university that are currently at, right? So not only do these coaches have to recruit players from other programs, they have to recruit their own players even after they got them to come in through high school.
Right? So it has never been harder, I think, to be a college football coach than right now with all the responsibilities that you have being an X's nose guy, being a guy who recruits high school recruits, being a guy who brings in transfers, and being guys who convinces your own players to stay at your school as well. So it has never been harder to be a college football coach. That's why I'm fascinated to see what Bill Belichick does. But yeah, it has become the Wild West of college football.
Absolutely. I will never forgive Indiana. They stole my quarterback from my Ohio Bobcats and Travis Roark. So let's, let's not talk about them.
Right? And Wisconsin stole our kicker the year before that. So, and Alabama stole our best college basketball player.
We're just getting robbed left and right, by the way, at Ohio in terms of both the basketball and the football portal. Max Chadwick, football analyst for PFF and the host of the PFF college football show. Max, appreciate it. Again, Merry Christmas to you and the family. Thanks, Dave.
Appreciate you. Awesome stuff there. I mean, this transfer, it is unbelievable.
This portal is insane. Guys are moving left and right. You know, you go to sleep one night, you wake up the next day and you have a new quarterback. You go to like the headlines on, you know, ESPN.com and you look at the college football tab and it's top tight end transfers here. Top quarterback transfers there. This guy is transferring this. This guy enters the portal.
It's incredible. Everybody's entering this darn portal. The thing about it that bothers me real quick is I understand if you've been there like three years or something and maybe you've kind of lost some standing in the, you know, in terms of play time and where you are on the roster and at that point maybe a change in scenery is what you need. But if you're a freshman and you go to a school and maybe you are struggling a bit and you've lost your starting role or this or that, rather than just work harder to get yourself to be a starter, now the easy out is, well, I'm just going to transfer somewhere, right? Like, let me look around the country and see who needs a quarterback. I don't want to compete. I want to play.
I understand that. But what are we teaching kids today, Art? This is like you win the participation trophy in, you know, high school or popcorn or football. Like, isn't it about motivating yourself to be better? And sometimes you need that little shove to be better. And when there's competition at your position, because although you were the best player in your high school or your best league or even your best state, when you go to a big-time program like Alabama or a place like that, everybody around you was the best player in their high school, their league or their state.
So, isn't that the motivation to push you rather than to kind of give up and say, yeah, you know what, I didn't play a lot this year. I'm just going to go somewhere else. Yeah. And on the other side, like Miller Moss for USC, he was there like three or four years. Yeah.
And then starting this year, lost his job and then he transfers. Exactly. That's the crazy thing to me.
It's craziness. Okay. Things haven't worked out for you.
I get it. So, maybe you need to try harder. Maybe you need to work hard in the weight room.
Maybe you need to study film more. Maybe you need to just sit down with the coaches and say, hey, how does the game slow down for me? Or not throw another pick. Right. Or figure out why you threw the pick and work harder. Look, you look at Arch Manning at Texas.
Okay. He hasn't transferred and there were reasons why maybe he should have transferred. He could have probably gone to other schools and started immediately rather than have to fend, you know, to have to compete against Quinn Ewers. But he hasn't and probably he's going to make him a better player that he's earning this.
That's the one part of the portal I don't like. I do like what Max said which is the fact that kids can transfer and play right away because it's true. Coaches can leave tomorrow and go coach another team the next day.
It's not fair that they don't have to sit out any time frame. They don't have to wait a year like a colleague like in the previous way it worked where if you transferred you had to sit out a year. I like that but it definitely has to be a bit more regulated when you talk about it. A lot more regulated. A lot more regulated. Yeah. A lot more regulated and I wonder why if you know that's the reason why the Nick Saban's of the world guys like that said I've had enough.
I'm gonna toss it in. I'm not coaching anymore. Saban can still coach. There's no question he's still gonna coach but I wonder if he just said to himself I don't want to deal with this nonsense. Because it's getting crazy.
It's getting insane. It is and and the the calendar and and Lane Kiffin talked about it. How's it guys can transfer before the bowl game? But then again coaches can leave.
My Ohio Bobcats lost their head coach to Charlotte before their bowl game. Maybe there has to be more regulations. The NCAA of course has no backbones. That's not gonna happen but maybe that's exactly what needs to happen. Maybe the U.S. government should regulate it.
Some oh yeah because they do a great job of regulating anything. All right Bill Belichick in North Carolina. I do want to talk about the day what an average day would be like for Belichick in college.
It's not just about x's and o's. It's about the recruiting as well and will youngsters today deal with the way he coaches the way he acts. That's next. Dan Schwartzman on a Thursday in for Rich right here on the Rich Eisen Show. This episode is brought to you by Bleacher Report. How do you follow sports from college football to the NBA. Bleacher Report brings you the latest news live scores and epic highlights from your favorite leagues teams and athletes all in one app. Dive into exclusive shows hosted by your favorite athletes and original Bleacher Report series with breaking news rumors and predictions all season long.
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Dan Schwartzman in for Rich. Days away from New Year's. I was talking to a friend of mine just talking about how it's 2025. Years just fly by. Sorry my daughter she's 14 just turned 14 last month. Enjoy your youth. She's like oh I want to do this. I'm like dude just enjoy your youth.
Like what are you gonna rush for? Trust me once you hit like 2021 it just flies by. Talking to a friend of mine his birthday's this weekend and he's just like I'm gonna be 34 and I'm 46. He's like I'm gonna be 34. Like did the 20s just go by quick and the 30s just going by quicker?
Yes absolutely. Right? Time is just flying. Like I'm thinking to myself I got less than four years before I'm 50.
That's insane. Yeah me too. Me too. Aren't you in your 50s ready? No. Close?
Don't tell anyone. You're close right? Now you're there already.
You're there already. I can't confirm or deny anything. Yeah that means you are. If you weren't you'd be like no I'm not.
Definitely. I'm not gonna confirm nor deny means you are. Well we know Bill Belichick is in his 70s. Apparently he's very youthful. He's got a girlfriend who's like 24 or something. He can't confirm or deny that either. Yeah what is she 27?
24? They've seen him in public a lot lately so there's no denying it anymore. That's good for him whatever. If that's what he likes great I think it's kind of weird but that's just me.
If you can afford it why not? I don't want to be called grandpa let's put it that way. Okay but it's so strange to think of Bill Belichick going to the college ranks and it's not the x's and o's I'm worried about.
It's not. Bill Belichick's an all-time great. He might be the greatest coach ever.
He might. People forget by the way he was a great defensive coordinator prior to becoming a head coach. He was the defensive coordinator under Bill Parcells and won a couple of Super Bowls with the Giants.
He was there with Lawrence Taylor. I mean Bill Belichick was a legendary defensive coordinator before he became quite possibly the greatest head coach in the history of football. But half of the job of being a college football coach is x's and o's. That's just half the job unlike the NFL where that's pretty much the job. Player personnel even that's not going to be as much on you if you have a good general manager that has power. But college player personnel is you x's and o's is you.
You have to delegate recruiting. You want that top 10 recruit that top 50 recruit most likely you have to be the one that shows up on their doorstep sits down their living room with mom and dad and eats their food and sells the school and yourself. Like how does Bill Belichick sell North Carolina which by the way is a basketball school. North Carolina is not a football school. When you think of UNC Tar Heels you're not thinking of football you're thinking of basketball.
It's always going to be that. It's always going to be a basketball school. They might have football success a couple years here and there with Mac Brown but it's not a football school. Belichick might change that for a little bit who knows maybe for a couple of years they'll have some success and there'll be a football school but it does always revert back to being a football school. The biggest rivalry for North Carolina sports is not a football game against Duke it's the basketball against its neighbor Duke. That's the big game always hoops.
Not basketball not football not the pigskin. But I just have a tough time thinking of Bill Belichick as a guy that's going to sit there in a living room and talk to a kid and his parents about why they should play for him some 16 year old kid or 17 year old kid. Yes you could have assistant coaches do it you have recruiting coordinators do it. Mike Lombardi is going to be the general manager of the program so he's going to be doing a lot of it but Belichick at some point's got to do it as well he's going to get on the phone have to call people. To me it's a little demeaning right not that I think it's a demeaning thing to be a college football coach making millions of dollars but when you're Bill Belichick and you have that many rings as a defensive coordinator and also as a head coach when you have the reputation that he has and you got to call up some 17 year old kids and say hey I hope you stick with your commitment to our school I know you committed to Mac Brown in that regime but I'm the new guy in town I really want you to stay it's kind of demeaning a little bit. Don't you think? It's not how I envisioned Bill Belichick in his golden coaching years having to sit there in his office making those phone calls or having to take the private corporate jet to uh I don't know Iowa to recruit some quarterback like yeah he had Tom Brady all those years his sales pitch should just be I'm Bill Belichick need I say more right here's the damn rings kid you want to come here and wear one you want to pet the ring or kiss the ring I made Tom Brady I made Tom can make you. Mo Lewis the Jets made Tom Brady when he took out Drew Bledsoe on the sideline let's not forget I'll tell you what I talked to a former New York Giant who said that a few weeks before that they had played the Patriots and the assistant coaches were telling the assistant coaches on the Giants that they're gonna be looking for new jobs they're done next thing you know Bledsoe's out with that serious injury when he got hit Brady comes in people forget Bledsoe came back in that postseason run when they won a Super Bowl but uh the rest is history yeah before that and it was the tuck rule right there yeah right there right Brady goes on to be the greatest Belichick goes on to be potentially the greatest and from the highs of that to now being on the recruiting trail just is hard for me to stomach can you see that art Belichick showing up from the airport this little uh bag over his shoulder with all like the brochures and stuff from the school knocking on the door of some you know little house somewhere in the midwest or wherever in the south and saying hey I'm uh Bill Belichick from North Carolina I'm gonna do this and that for your son we're gonna make sure he eats well we're gonna make sure he goes to class we're gonna make sure that the road is paid for him to go to the NFL it's kind of weird right it's it's it's like you don't expect Bill Belichick to be doing that like you know there's a rarefied air around the guy and the last thing I envisioned is him having to sell himself in a program and if the kid says no and Belichick says we're off to Cincinnati right I just can't I can't see him doing it it makes no sense to me but he's gonna have to do that if he wants to have some success five games on the NBA schedule yesterday on Christmas day Luka Doncic a big injury LeBron James is not aging a lot of NBA talk coming up next hour three The Rich Eisen Show Dan Schwartzman in for Rich and then you create your own leverage there's no substitute for hard work and getting over my world with Jeff Jarrett wherever you listen
