Who Can Bounce Back? (Hour 3)

Alrighty, hour number three of our radio program, it is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. We are efforting to get Jeff Brom, the head football coach at Louisville as we will try to kick off our college football fix segment and we'll hope to do that coming up in a matter of moments. Well, we are in the end of the season. They did have nice victories up against Clemson and then also a big rivalry with Kentucky. They smashed Kentucky 41 to 14 and they beat Clemson 33 to 21 and their quarterback last year was Tyler Schuck. Who is now the second round pick and is expected to be the starting quarterback for the New Orleans Saints.

As you do have injuries to Haener and you know that also Derek Carr did go into retirement. So he's no longer going to be a part of that Saints organization. So hopefully we could connect with Jeff Brom coming up momentarily on the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network and Miller Moss. Now is their quarterback who was at USC got benched towards the end of the season. But now with the transfer portal, you will see Miller Moss under center for game number one as we are 100 days away actually from the Louisville football season from starting back up. So we're getting closer and closer right with Memorial Day weekend coming up this weekend.

Obviously, that's like the unofficial start of summer. So you get into that summer mode and you start to be thinking about college football. So let's get to a little college football fix right here on the Zach Gelb show. We miss college football.

We can't wait for the 2025 season. And we're counting down the days to kick off. Here is your college football fix only on the Zach Gelb show. Louisville was nine and four a year ago. We're 100 days away from their football season kicking on off against Easter Kentucky. We know Jeff Brom is their head football coach. He's entering his third season with the Cardinals as their head honcho also played his college ball there, and he's kind enough to join us right now as we preview Louisville coach Jeff Brom. Appreciate the time.

Thanks so much for doing this. How you been? Yes, sir. How are you guys doing? I'm doing fantastic. Hey, before we talk about this upcoming season, I want to hear a little bit about your quarterback last year, Tyler shock, who's now off to the NFL and got selected in the second round by the New Orleans Saints. I know you guys were with him for a year where he was your quarterback at Louisville through the transfer portal.

Just how do you kind of look back at the Tyler shock experience? I thought I did an outstanding job for us. He really came in. He was hungry, wanted to prove.

So I think, uh, you know, he'd handle some adversity along the way. He's been a starter. He didn't bend. She's been a star. He's been bent.

She's been injured. Just some things didn't go his way, and he wanted a chance to prove himself and improve his stock. And I think, uh, you know, we worked hard to try to get that done for him. And I thought he played some really good football. He's a good leader.

He worked hard. He could throw in the shotgun. He can throw in the center. He can throw in the move. He has more athleticism to think.

We didn't ask him to run the ball because we wanted to keep him healthy. So we're a little more of a pro style system for him. He fit in great. He did a tremendous job, and I think he'll have a great career.

How do you think that transition will be? Because he is 25. Like you said, he's had a lot of college football experience. Unfortunately, suffered a few injuries, but he's got all the tools, and that's why you saw him go in the second round. How will that transition, do you think, will be for him as he could be the week one starter for the Saints?

Well, that's the way it looks. I think if anybody can do it as Tyler, I think any time a young rookie starts, there's going to be some ups and downs and some bumps along the way. But I think this young man works hard. He's going to pick up the system. He's smart. He can do things, and he has, even for us, that he's going to be asked to do at the next level.

Or sometimes when you come in there out of college, you're not quite used to running things a certain way, and things get on you fast, and you're not used to handling the run game and protections and doing all those things and going through a progression the proper way. But he picked up things fast and did it well. And I just think that he's a big, strong quarterback with some athleticism. He's got a good arm. He's accurate, and I think he really wants to play well. I think in that system with Kellen Moore and what they're doing there for the Saints, even though maybe some things around them aren't quite at the level that they want, but I know they've got some really good players, and I know he'll step up and do his part.

Jeff Brom here with us. He's back home, obviously, his third season now with Louisville as their head coach. Your next quarterback up now is Miller Moss. We've seen a lot of him going back to his time at USC.

You get him in the transfer portal. Why do you think he's going to be the right fit for your program? Well, we really like Miller, and I think he's come into spring and done a good job. He has some similar characteristics. I think he's got one year left to play, which I like.

I like guys that want to come in and make a difference and go out with a bang and try to prove themselves. He played some good football in the past, but then once again, he had been benched as well. The season maybe didn't go quite the way they wanted, and a lot of the blame came on him, which is normal for a quarterback.

You get a lot of the credit when things are going good, a lot of the blame when it's not. He's got to bounce back, and I think he's hungry to prove himself. We're going to try to do all the things that he does best and that he's really good at and build the offense around him. I think we have some weapons that will help take some of the pressure off of him, but I think he's smart.

He's hungry, and I also think he'll perform well for us. And you know, you've got to hit the ground running with quarterbacks, especially when they only have a year left. And we've seen schools have a lot of success with the transfer portal at this position. We saw what you guys were able to do last year, Miami too.

And you look at schools like Oregon, and that's just become the norm for the sport. I know I sometimes call, Jeff Brom, the transfer portal, it's kind of like speed dating. You've got to make that quick decision. You hope that it works out. But how do you kind of build that trust with the quarterback?

Because we all know that it's the most important position, not only in football, but all sports. Well, I think you have to be invested in making sure that position succeeds. So you've got to really build the offense around what that young man does well. I think you've got to really, between now and the first game, spend a lot of time around him. You've got to get to know him. You've got to watch film with him. You've got to work out with him.

You've got to put him around your receivers and the leaders on your team. He's got to be a leader. And I just think a lot of time has to be spent doing that.

It's just not going to happen. And I think, you know, when you're trying to do it in less than a year, it just requires a lot of work. So I think, you know, for us, you pick and choose to take a little break here and there. But other than that, it's hard at work. And you're doing things daily to make sure that happens. And I just think if you're really invested doing that and the quarterback is around the coordinator, the head coach, the play caller, all those things, we can figure it out and we can figure out what he's willing to do that and make sure that we concentrate on those things.

Yeah. And also for him individually, right, when he was at USC, supposed to be a rock star. And then towards the end of the season, they benched him. Can you get a sense why that will not define him and why that moment will not be how people remember Miller Moss in college football? Well, I think everybody takes some lumps along the way. Say you're just going to go down an easy slide is just not normal for anybody.

So I think as long as you're able to handle that and learn from your mistakes and, you know, not blaming on someone else, and able to move on and prove and get better, you can get that done. And I know Miller has that same attitude, same attitude Tyler had when he came in. I think he just wants to say, hey, here's my one-year coach.

Take me and let's go try to win this thing and do the best we can. And he's really spent a lot of time working hard to learn things, learn them fast and get around our players, get around the coaches. And I just think he's going to invest his time as well as us.

And together we should be able to make a difference. And also, Halston, you got two good running backs and two young running backs too for a quarterback. Isaac Brown, what a year last year in his freshman season had over 1,100 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. And then Duke Watson is someone that's pretty damn good as well as he almost had 600 rushing yards for you. Just how about that one-two punch that your quarterback has in the backfield?

Well, those guys performed at a high level for two freshmen without question and really did a great job for us. And I think when you play the quarterback position, you can't ask the quarterback to throw the ball every play. You can't ask him to spread the field and just find ways to get completions when teams are playing the pass. So you have to be able to have a running game. You have to be able to have play-offs.

You have to do some things to throw the ball vertically. And you have to be able to mix all those things in so that you're an effective team that can score points and not turn the ball over. And your quarterback is very efficient.

So we work hard to do that. So yes, receiver play, tight end play is important. O-line play is important. But running backs are very important as well.

And I just think they help take a lot of pressure off the quarterback. And we definitely want to use those two. What do you challenge both of them now in your number two to take that next step? Well, we right off the bat talked about the sophomore slump and understanding that, yeah, you came in hungry, you performed well.

But I'm telling you, if you let up one bit, it's going to bite you in the rear end. So we've got to make sure that they continue to progress in the weight room, get stronger, learn pass protection, learn the nuances of all those things and improve their hands. Protect the football. Find ways to keep that same wiggle speed and explosive to the hole and run through tackles. I just think you have to work at it. You can't assume that they're going to perform at that level again.

You've got to really get back to the basics. You've got to identify some of the things that they need to do better and make sure you work on them daily and give them a plan so that they can find ways to improve and set goals for them where it's realistic. But it's also identifying some things that maybe weren't exposed truly, but yet they're not their strengths. And we've got to find a way to help them improve each and every day. A few more moments with Jeff Brom, obviously the head coach at Louisville, in their third season. Back with the program, and they're 100 days away from kicking off another season of Cardinals football. When you look at Duke Watson and then also your other running back with Isaac, is that like a 1-1A situation? Or how difficult is it to kind of divide up those carries? Well, I tell you, in my opinion, you need two or three running backs to get through a year.

That's a suggestion that you ask to do a lot. Carry the ball, be physical, pass protect. You can't ask those guys to play every play, so they fed off each other very well. You know, Isaac is really fast. He's got great wiggle. He can make a guy miss really, really well. Duke is kind of similar, but at the same time a little more downhill, but still can catch the football.

He can make guys miss. I mean, both young men don't weigh a lot, so they've just got to have that speed and loosen up, and they do. But they feed off each other, and they know that they need each other to spell each other.

They need each other in case one's a little nicked up one week, which happened multiple times. And in that fact, we've got to have three running backs, in my opinion. And I think we have another one in Keewon Brown that can step in and give us good carries as well. Hey, flipping it to the other side of the ball, I know you had to replace a lot in your secondary, but how do you think the defense has rounded in to form this early on? Well, that's a big emphasis this year with that question.

I think we'll have some new players. At times we performed well, and at other times we did not. I think if we look at our weakness, which we've identified it, we were not very good against the pass, and not consistently good against the pass. We had a couple moments here and there, so we've got to be better at doing that. I think defending the pass is very important in today's age. You can't allow the quarterback to feel comfortable, to have success, to get in the rhythm.

We've got to find ways to take that away. So we've worked hard at that, and that's coaching-wise as well, trying to figure out a better plan of attack to make sure that we're putting our guys in the best position to succeed. But I think our young guys, even though there's not as much experience as we'd like to have, will step up and perform well. You look back at these first two years of you being back home now as the head coach of your alma mater. Year one, you guys made the ACC championship game. You also beat Notre Dame in the regular season. Year two, towards the end of the year, you had a nice victory up against Clemson. You guys smothered Kentucky, which I know is so important for you guys as well.

Just how do you kind of look back and kind of reflect on what these last two years have really meant to you? Well, we definitely have had some good moments, and that's great. We've proven that we can play at a high level when we want to. I think it's a matter of being consistent every week in doing that. That's got to be the goal moving forward, is making sure that we don't have slip-ups throughout the year, making sure that we're consistent throughout the game, being really good at the small things. I think we have the capability and potential to be extremely good, but you've got to do it every day.

You've got to work at it. You've got to make sure our guys understand what it's going to really take. You can't have those subtle moments that are costly that can cost you the game, which we've had in the past. We've just got to work hard to get that done.

Like everything, the difference in winning and losing is so small, you've got to really hone in on the details. I think we've really concentrated and made sure that, hey, let's make sure these are the things that we have not been as good at. Let's figure out ways to get better, because I think if we do, it'll pay off and it'll help us get more wins. And you know, right, it's a 12-team playoff format for now. Last year we saw two teams from the ACC get in, in Clemson and SMU. Do you feel like you guys are knocking on the door for a college football playoff berth? Well, without question, that's our goal. Like I said, we've had some good wins against very, very good teams. We're a very capable team as well.

We've had some close wins as well that we could easily have lost. I just think you've got to continue to press forward. We've got to continue to step up to the challenge. But without question, that's our goal and we want to get to that point.

Two more and then I'll get you out of here. Jeff Brom here with us, the head football coach at Louisville. You know, you look at the playoff right now, it feels like it's going to inevitably expand to 14. It came out today that they're going to do away with the automatic conference champions getting the top four seeds and then getting a bye. How about the change to the playoff system and the thought of it also going from 12 to 14? Well, I think everyone loved the playoff system. I think the more teams you can get in that playoff, it's better for the fans. It gives everyone a chance to find a way to get to the end. It gives everyone a chance during the regular season to know that they're still out to play for. So, I'm excited about it.

I think in my opinion, the best teams across the country should go to playoff and the best team will prove that they can win and prove it on the field. So, we're excited about it. We like the direction it's going and we're hopeful to hopefully get in that. Yeah, and 16 I meant to say. I think it's about to go to 16 is what has been the kind of the speculation maybe as soon as 2026.

Just the NIL landscape and the transfer portal. And everyone has these ideas and, right, we need more rules here and it's the Wild West right now. I know that you've got to focus on what you've got to do and the system is the system right now.

But how about the current system of college football right now? Well, I think we all can identify some things that need to be changed and we're hoping that that will happen. I think people are working hard to find a way to get that done. Now, when and how, I don't know for sure exactly on those details, but I think we all want to fix the enforcement part, the tampering part, try to level this playing field a little bit NIL wise so that it's more realistic across the board. And, you know, to me as close as you can make it to the NFL where there's a salary cap, there's equality in a little bit amongst teams. It's going to make it more fun for the fans, the more fun that every team will have a chance. So we're hopeful that we get to that point.

But I do think a lot of people are working hard to figure out a way to get that done. He's Coach Jeff Brom. Coach, appreciate the time as always. Thanks so much for doing this.

Okay, thank you. Have a good day. You got it. There he is. Jeff Brom joining us for the first college football fix of the season as we are 100 days away from seeing Louisville return to the gridiron. We will take a break. We'll come on back and we're circling right back to the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks with the crazy heroics from last night. And we'll also turn the page to a game number two tonight as we will try to see Oklahoma City either take a 2-0 lead or this series will be tied up at one apiece.

Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb's show on the Infinity Sports Network. You will hear from Shaq in just a second as we will play that cup one more time from inside the NBA about the pressure that's on Anthony Edwards last night. But one of those moments where you won't forget game one of the Easter Conference Finals for a while.

Now if the Pacers go on to win this series, which is very possible, that is a victory where if you look at it the other way for the Knicks, it's bad now, don't get me wrong. Like 14 points, 245 to go. You have that lead. You're home.

Your building's rocking. You think it's night-night time, right? You think it's like Steph Curry, like good night. That game was over. And to see how it ended, where then you had to go to overtime after blowing that lead, and then you had a little bit of a lead in overtime and you still couldn't slam the door shut, and at the end Brunson airballs and then Katt gets an opportunity and that one wasn't close either, which if one of those falls you end up tying the game, that's just as bad as it gets for one loss.

But that's the thing. It's one loss. Where if you look at the NCAA tournament this year when you saw Duke just choke it up against Houston with a seven-point lead with about 1.30 to play, that was it for Duke.

That was the season. It was over. For the Knicks, you have opportunities here to get four more victories, and that's what you got to kind of do. If you're a Knicks fan or maybe more so for the players, you got to flush that today. You got to feel the pain a little bit today, but you got to flush it and you got to go win game two because if you don't win game two and then you go back to Indiana, you know, at worse, you know, if you're a Pacers fan, you're probably going to split on your home court at worse.

I got to think they're going to at least win one in games three and four. So if that's the case and the Pacers go back to Indiana after tomorrow and they're up 2-0, well, they're going to be coming back to New York, I would think, in a 3-1 situation because I don't think the Knicks are going to get swept in this series. So tomorrow night really becomes a series where it doesn't mean that if the Knicks win that game, they're going to go on to win the series, but if the Knicks win that one and they get game two with how they were the better team for the most of game one, you're able to survive and you're able to take that loss and kind of really flush it with the victory coming up in game two. It's very similar with the Celtics. Like, look at the Celtics.

The Boston Celtics, when they played the Knicks, game one, they lost the game, they had no business losing. And they did the same thing again in game two. And that's going to be the interesting part to watch tomorrow night in game two and Madison Square Garden. If the Knicks do have a ten-point lead and it's late, how tight are they going to get? You know, how tight are they going to get in that game? Because Boston had the same thing happen to them from game one to game two. But I still can't believe that. Like, that's one of those losses that today you sit there and you go, how did that happen?

And sure, you can talk about Neesmith, you can talk about Halliburton and how awesome both those players are. But the open looks for three. I think it was a 12-point game or a 13-point game with five minutes to go. And I know, right, we told you 14 with 245. And Brunson comes back in with his fifth foul, and that team just didn't look the same.

And what are you going to do? Like, not put Brunson back in the game? Of course you're going to put Brunson back in the game.

I think it's second-guessing. Oh, people are just saying, oh, you should have kept Brunson out, the team was flowing, the team was going, why would you try to fix something that's not broken? Because Brunson's your best player. I look back at that, the two things to me that stand out the most, it's the free throws for the Knicks. They missed too many. And then also it's the three-point defense. And we had Danny Green on about an hour ago, and Danny talked about the pace of the game. The pace of the game, even though it wasn't by design, in terms of that's how the Pacers drew it up. Again, the Pacers want to get into the 120s, the 130s, right? They want to get into the 120s.

They want to get into the 117, the 118 range. But they weren't expecting to be down with having to be that way by 14 points with 245 to go. But that's what they were down by. And as the game did go on and you had the Pacers just look like they were the more conditioned team and they were getting to their spots and the Pacers were wide open for three, well, why were the Pacers wide open for three?

It's either a lack of effort or the players are sucking wind on the New York Knicks and they can't find a way to get to their spots on defense. I know I didn't love the challenge last night from Tibbs. It was a bad challenge looking back at it.

Very ticky tack. And it was contact both ways. But Brunson initiated the contact first. Not having this challenge at the end of the game was big.

It was. And the Pacers had their challenge in overtime. The Knicks did not. The Pacers won.

I think they had one challenge and they won it. And the Knicks did it. And there was a big goaltending at the end, you know, in overtime that it went from, I think it was a five-point game in Knicks league to then a two-point game where the goaltending was not called and then the Pacers took it the other way and I believe they had a corner three. So that perimeter defense needs to be better, which was an issue at times up against the Celtics, really in Game 3.

And then also, you got to make your free throws. But overall, like you look at the Knicks, you saw what Jalen Brunson was able to do. You saw what Carl Anthony Towns was able to do, what 43 and 35 have those numbers right. And then Mikhail Bridges and O.J.

Annanobi both gave you 16 points each. So it's one of those situations where, if I would have told you those would have been the numbers last night, and I would have told you, hey, the New York Knicks would have had a playoff game at home where Carl Anthony Towns would have finished the game with 35 and Jalen Brunson would have had 43 and O.J. would have had 16 and Mikhail Bridges would have had 16. You would think that the Knicks would have won the game. But the Pacers had 15 threes and more importantly, Neesmith couldn't miss at the end of the game.

And Halliburton, if the game's in the balance, just like how people call Jalen Brunson the most clutch player in the league, well, Tyrese Halliburton is a killer. And we've now seen multiple moments through the postseason and you go through the numbers and I still can't get over these numbers. And it just kind of encapsulates just the craziness and how ridiculous the night is. The Pacers have three wins this postseason out of the four and 1,702, which was the record, three of those wins out of the four is what teams were trailing by seven plus in the final 50 seconds of the fourth quarter or OT in the playoffs since the 1996-1997 season. And also, since 1998 in the NBA playoffs, teams going into last night were zero, 1,414 went down by nine plus in the final minute of the fourth quarter. And then Ravel also had, because like which stat do you want going into last night, 994 and zero record before the Knicks lost tonight of a team up by at least 14 going into the final, 245 of playoff games since 1997, now 994 and one.

I always find it funny how they get these stats, like 994 and zero, how they're able to compute the teams that were up at least 14 with 245 to go in the history of the playoffs since 1997. So game two becomes massive tomorrow, all the pressure's on the Knicks and if they tie the series up at one apiece, you survive game one, still the series isn't won, but then you have a brand new series and the Pacers go up 2-0, I don't see how the Knicks are going to get to four. But I do think the Knicks will win tomorrow. Now, on the flip side, you got game two tonight between the Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder were awesome in the second half and we saw what Shay Gilders Alexander did and it's going to be curious to see what the whistle is tonight in this one, because everyone's bitching.

I think it's so overblown. Oh, you know, Shay Gilders Alexander, he draws all these calls, like, welcome to the NBA, folks. Even if he took away all of his made free throws, they still would have won the game the other night. So to me, the officiating's overblown, but now it becomes a story, so we'll see how the officiating is. But I think the biggest interest tonight outside of the officiating, actually it's bigger than the officiating, is really what you're going to get from Anthony Edwards and that game is in the balance late. And is Anthony Edwards going to have a big performance and he's going to be able to tie up this series at one apiece. Because of the Thunder, they're better than the Timberwolves.

If the Thunder win tonight and they go up to, I just don't see a road, even though the Timberwolves haven't lost the game yet on their home court and people say, that's not when you really feel the pressure, until that happens, I just would not see a way for the Timberwolves to then get four victories up against a team that, quite frankly, the Thunder are just better then. But here's Shaq and then we'll get to an ACK update. Here's Shaq, he says the pressure's on Anthony Edwards in game two after his offer in the fourth quarter back in game number one.

Growing up as a fan, you see in moments like this where players take over. I've seen Steph do it. You've seen Hakeem do it. I've seen you do it.

I've seen Magic do it. I need Amp to take over. I don't want to hear the defense, special defense. I need him to step up. We're talking about him being the new face of the league.

These are the things that we have to go through. I need to see him figure it out. Him passing the ball in the fourth quarter, I don't like to see that. Because on the other side, Shaq, when he went two for 11 in the first half, what did he do in the second half? He took over the game. He figured out he took over the game. So I'm going to need Mr. Ant Edwards to step up. I don't care what type of defense they throw. I'll tell you, Shaq's fair. Whenever you get to big men, and I know Ant's not one, or face of the league kind of talk, Shaq puts a lot of pressure on those guys to step up. And it's definitely warranted with the terrible game one performance that Anthony Edwards had in the fourth quarter. We'll go back to the college football talk and NFL talk next.

Josh Booty, former LSU quarterback, also got drafted by the Marlins. He's going to join us here for a segment in studio when we do return. Update time first. Here's Shaq. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. Alrighty, one more segment to play on a Thursday.

This is Zach Gelb Show on the Infinity Sports Network. We'll give you a little break right now from the NBA. I'm sure if you're a Knicks fan, you don't really want to talk NBA today with what happened last night at Madison Square Garden. If you're listening to us in Indianapolis, you're clearly all fired up about the Pacers taking that 1-0 series lead, and we'll see what happens tonight as you do have the Minnesota Timberwolves with Ant-Man.

We'll see if he shows up and has a pulse in the fourth quarter going up against the MVP and Jay Gilges Alexander. But now joining us in studio, friend of the show, has a bit of it for a while, but I did see him last night out and about in New York City after I was walking out of Madison Square Garden. We did link up for a bit. I'm going to go do dinner tonight.

That's the former LSU quarterback and also was drafted by the Marlins, and that is our pal Josh Booty. Josh, appreciate the time. How you been?

Awesome, man. It's always good to be here. You and I always have fun when we're out on the town, and nothing ever good happens after midnight, though, in New York, especially after Nick's loss. But a fun, fun night last night, and also glad to be back. Dude, it's awesome to be sitting here with you again. It's been a year or so. Yeah, I know. It's been a while.

So let's do this. Let's start with LSU because now you're going into another year of Brian Kelly. They've had good quarterback play. We saw Jayden Daniels win a Heisman Trophy.

Nussmeier was there last year. A lot of people are very optimistic on Nussmeier as a quarterback. What do you see being a former LSU Tiger?

I like him now. He's experienced. He's got a full year under his belt. Of course, he's a fifth-year senior type of guy as well, which helps.

He was a backup to Jayden Daniels. He learned a lot, and now he's been in Brian Kelly's system for three or four years, which is huge. And I think just knowing what a head coach wants out of you as a player is huge.

That relationship's always big. I know when I played at LSU, I tried to get as close as I could to Nick Saban. He was my head coach there, and I knew if I could build that relationship up, then it would mean more on Saturdays, and we got to spend a lot of time together. Brian Kelly now has been there several seasons, and Nussmeier's got six or seven receivers this year that are capable NFL guys, and you'll see a lot of them get drafted in the next few years. So I think that's going to be the highlight of the LSU season this year is some electricity in the air with him throwing the football to all these speedy receivers. I think they got seven guys run 4-4 or better. It's like a track team. It's going to be like a track meet watching LSU. I don't know how we're going to stop people if we're going to do that on the defensive side of the ball.

Yes, but I think offensively we'll score points, and if Nuss stays healthy, he's going to deliver good fastballs to the right people. It'll be fun to watch. And you look at the SEC right now, it's open. Georgia, it's still going to be great, but I don't think they're dominant as, okay, they're definitely going to win the SEC and definitely win the championship. There's some questions about Alabama. Ole Miss, you got Lane Kiffin, so you're always going to be able to put up points, but you take a glance.

South Carolina should be a fun team, but Texas, that's where it really all starts because they got to the championship game last year in the SEC, and now it's okay. All the hype about Arch Manning, finally you get to unbox that and see what he looks like as a starting quarterback. Yeah, you've got the marquee player at that position. We all know the Manning family and their history. What is he going to do through the air is a big question. Like, Quinn Ewers could throw the football to the right guy. He could get it to guys downfield, and he didn't have the strongest arm in the world, but Manning hadn't had to do that yet. He was inserted into games to run the football and do a little wrinkle stuff, but can he do it down in, down out, throw the football? We know his uncles could, but can he do it in the SEC this year as a first-time starter or a full-time starter?

I think that's the big question, Mark, is if they get down, can he lead them, throwing the football in big games? Like, they're going to win the games that they should win. It's those Georgia games, the Bama games, you know, the games against good teams. South Carolina's going to be good. A&M is going to have a real good team. I think they're an up-and-coming program. LSU, of course, is going to be nasty, and Ole Miss has got the big lefty now, quarterback that's really going to help Lane with Jackson Dart being here in New York, now with the Giants, but I think it's a wide open.

Like you said, Georgia, there's question marks there. Can they come back and do some amazing things and take back the conference? They lost a little bit of that luster, and so it's going to be fun, man. I think it's a wide open deal. I think LSU is going to have a chance to have a great year. I think Florida is going to be really good with DJ Lagway.

I love him. I think he might be the best player in the conference, and then the quarterback at South Carolina might be the second-best player in the conference. So I think South Carolina and Florida are two teams that we should be thinking about a little bit. Yeah, you know, it's a great point because I think the most intriguing player in college football this year goes without being said, right? It's Arch Manning. But then you look at the quarterbacks, like you've heard so much about Lagway. You saw him obviously a little bit last year. Lenora Sellers, man, that ceiling for him at South Carolina, they were rolling at the end of the year.

It's now how could DJ Lagway and Lenora Sellers put it together, and can you find a little bit of that middle ground? Like you look at Jalen Milro, for example. He had high moments, but then he had a lot of low moments, and there was no, okay, just have an average game and keep your team and manage the game in some of those moments.

So, Lagway and Sellers, man, those are two exciting players. I think the consistency is key, right, through the pass game, understanding what you're wanting to do as an offensive player at that position, getting the ball to the right guys. You don't have to necessarily take over the game through the air because they run the ball so well, too. They're like Cam Newton-ish, you know, in that regard. So I think the balance of those offenses are going to be key. The play callers for both those teams, it's going to be key for those guys to have big seasons.

I think both of those guys could be Heisman contenders at the end of the season. My son's at Clemson. They played South Carolina last year.

He said Sellers is the best player they saw all year, and that was a consistent theme in the locker room, too, with all the players is that guy is one heck of a beast. So I think you just, you know, when you can do that much on the ground with your legs like Cam Newton did at Auburn back in the day, in the SEC, you've got to stay healthy, too. It's going to be fun to watch those guys try to take on the conference. So your son obviously is at Clemson, and then they play LSU week one, your school. Have you thought about that?

That's got to be a little difficult to put the interest. Yeah, I usually don't wear, like, LSU colors. Anyways, when I go to games, I don't wear some, you know, our colors are crazy, the Mardi Gras colors. Well, you got the Nike. You got the Nike Laker colors on today, the purple and gold.

I do got my Mardi Gras shoes on. I'll be rooting for him. I can promise you that. I hope Clemson can get it done, but I love LSU, and when he, you know, they play at LSU next year, so it's a home-and-home deal. Clemson, LSU, you know, who's the real Death Valley? That's what they're talking about. Where's the real Death Valley? Is it Clemson or Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge?

So that's going to be a fun part of, like, you know, the storyline's going to be who has the real Death Valley. And we were just, Josh Booty's in studio with us for a few more minutes before we get an out of here on a Thursday. We were talking about this yesterday. You look at Clemson. Joe Klack came out with his list of the best quarterbacks in college football entering this season, and there's a lot of guys that are untapped potential, and he goes, all right, Cape Club, Nick's number one. He had 36 touchdowns a year ago.

I'm curious that we're talking about Clemson at the end of the year, because we talk about how open college football is right now, and it's one of those things where Clemson, right, for a while, they were Alabama's biggest threat, and they, you know, had the two national championship game victories, and the last few years, they've still been able to win the ACC, but now it's can you get back into being that true bonafide national championship. Yeah, I think Dabo's brought in a couple, several key pieces, especially at receiver, to help Club Nick kind of get to the next level and to let their offense get back to the level that they were at when Deshaun Watson was there when Lawrence was there playing at a super high level offensively. I know Dabo's a, he's a receiver guy. He played receiver himself, so he's taken a real liking to try to get that back to where they were dominant, and I think the conference, of course, is not as strong as the SEC, so Club Nick's numbers are probably going to be a little bit better than most SEC quarterback numbers because he plays in a conference where their defenses aren't quite as good week in and week out, but Club Nick's got a lot of experience now.

He won two big state titles in Texas as a high school player at Westlake. I mean, he's as experienced as any kid could be in that position, and he had a great game against Texas that they lost last year on the road in the playoffs, so he's, you know, they should be pretty darn good with all the talent they got. I'll tell you, the kid that I'm curious about, and we already talked about, right, Arch and Lenora Sellers and DJ Lagway, it's the Arizona State quarterback, Sam Leavitt, you know, because he had the safety blanket last year of Cam.

Now Cam's longer there. You still get your receiver back, though, in Jordan Tyson, but Leavitt, that kid's got confidence. He's got an aura to him. I like him.

I do, too. He's got Baker Mayfield kind of written all over him, and my, you know, that's my kind of comparison off the top of the cuff here, so I think he just, you know, he runs. He throws well on the run. Last year he got into some trouble, you know, into some pressure situations, and he completed some balls downfield on the run, kind of like Burrow did for us in 2019 when he had such an amazing run and we won the national championship at LSU, is Leavitt's able to make those plays outside the pocket, and that's when the play breaks down and the play's not there, what are you going to do with the football?

And that's what Bruce Arians used to tell us all the time when I was in Cleveland with him playing for the Browns and backing up Tim Couch there for several years was, what do we do with the football when the play's not there? But Leavitt is good at doing some things outside of kind of the realm of, you know, the normal offensive stuff that should happen. He breaks out.

Guy runs free. He hits him, dude, and I like his competitive nature. He'll run with the football, too, and that gives him a one-two punch at that position, you know, and then that probably took a lot of pressure off of Scataboo last year, just the threat of Leavitt doing a lot of stuff outside the pocket. Let's get to the quarterbacks that were just drafted.

Josh Booty here with us for a few more moments. Jackson Dart, you know, in the first round. I watched Jackson Dart in college. I just thought he was a product of Lane Kiffin. You know, what do you make of his projection as an NFL quarterback? You know, he was super highly regarded coming out of high school, Elite 11-type guy, MVP-type guy.

Like, he was the top guy, so let's not forget that, you know, he's been kind of groomed for this position. You know, this is a large stage position now in New York, and I think him having the experience he did playing under Lane Kiffin, who was an NFL coach, you know, the things that Kiff was able to teach him, the things he learned even at SC and, you know, before he transferred over to Ole Miss to play for Lane, I think, you know, those are going to be valuable things, a lot of throws. He made a lot of throws in college, and that experience is going to hold key, and I think he's a tough competitor. You know, sometimes he should have probably gotten down, he got banged up, you know, and he got hurt and was able, was knocked out of some games. He's aggressive.

He's aggressive, but I like that nature. Josh Allen has that. He's been able to sustain it. If Jackson Dart starts doing that in the NFL, can he sustain it?

I don't know. That's just, history will have to tell, but maybe he's got to be smart with the football. Yeah, Gruden was like, you got to go down, like two or three yards early in the game.

He told him I saw that. It's good QB camp there by Gruden now with Barstool Sports. How about the whole Chador situation?

Oh, goodness. Because, like, I want to see Chador play this year. That would be a lot of fun if we get to see him play in Cleveland. Yeah, I like Chador.

You know, I love Prime. His dad, of course, he was a guy I played against and respected and thought the world of forever, and I talk to Deion every now and then on text. And, you know, Chador, the only thing about Chador is he's played for his dad his whole life, so he's never had to go outside the box to play for anybody else, so I think that's something that we got to keep an eye on. I think also Dylan Gabriel is a capable player that was drafted ahead of him, and, of course, my nephew was at Oklahoma the last few seasons, General Booty, and was backing up Dylan Gabriel, and he absolutely loves Dylan. He said he worked so hard even in the offseason to prep for games.

I mean, he understands what he's going to do. He's a leading passer, I think, in college football history, so Chador jumping over Dylan is not going to be the easiest thing in the world. Those guys are going to go head to head, and that's how it should be. It's pro football, right? And I think both of them are capable. But Chador probably has better athleticism overall because he's bigger and stronger, but Dylan is so dang crafty, and he's kind of like a Steve Young guy. You know, so we'll see.

I think that's a fun deal to watch over the course of the next few seasons is those two kind of guys going at it. I know you played at Bethpage Black the other day, as you were telling me last night, but you're also telling me what? You're making your own golf course now?

Well, I'm a part... Yeah, I wish I was making it. I'm a part of Madison Capital Group out of Charlotte, North Carolina, and we're building the premier new golf course in Florida called High Grove. I'm wearing the logo today on my shirt, but Ryan Hanks, the founder of Madison, that was his vision to create an unbelievable golf course. He's, you know, like a hoopy match play club.

Apogee, which he's a member at, Calusa Pines in Florida. This is going to be right up there with all the big boys, a stay-and-play type place where, you know, members only, private club. I'm going to need some access. I'm going to need a tee time.

You know, a nice discounted right there, Josh. All right, set it up. I'll take you. Come on.

You play with me. Well, Laura, a lot of transfusions, and you'll see a lot of shank shots, so that's pretty much what you're going to get out of me. I love it. But anyway, I appreciate you coming on in. Thanks for doing this. Thank you, man, for having me. It's always fun, brother.

Yeah, all right. That is Josh Booty right here on the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network, and that will do it for our Thursday program. Coming up tomorrow, going to be a lot of NBA again as we're going to have to get you set for Knicks and Pacers, game number two. We'll see if the Knicks are going to have it in them to flush what happened last night and find a way to even up that series at one apiece, and you got a similar situation tonight.

Obviously, you don't look at it as a big choke job by the Timberwolves in game one, but they did not show up, and they were nonexistent, especially in that fourth quarter, so a lot of pressure on Anthony Edwards tonight. Ryan Botcher, Stu Kovacs, thanks as always. Act Big thanks as well, and a big thanks to each and every one of you for listening to the program today. We'll talk tomorrow at 3 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific, right here on the Infinity Sports Network. We out. Bye-bye. Peace!