Rob Manfraud Strikes Again (Hour 4)

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You won't want to take your bird dogs off. We promise you. Time for your daily news brief.

We get you caught up on the rumors, reports, and reconnaissance from the day in sports. Alrighty, let's start it off with Patrick Sertan II. He gives his top three wide receivers in the NFL entering the season courtesy of our friends at the Pat McAfee Show. Top three receivers. Right now I'm gonna have to go with Devante Jettas and Tyreke. So Devante is just like impossible to stick with huh? His get off, his shake is just insane.

Is that real? Yeah, he's pretty good. Yeah, I can't fault that list. If I was going one, two, and three, I would go Devante one, Justin Jefferson two, and then Tyreke kill three.

How do we round out four and five though, Hickey? Who would be your fourth and fifth best wide receivers in the NFL right now? Jamar Chase is in the mix. I don't know if I got to think of the other off the top of my head, four or five, but I would think in the mix, at least in the conversation, Jamar Chase.

Let me throw out some names to you. Stephon Diggs? In the mix. Cooper Cupp? After last year, I will say still top 10.

I will hold off on top five right now. AJ Brown? No. I know I'm trying to think.

C.D. Lamb? Keenan Allen? No. Garrett Wilson? Not yet. Jalen Waddle? No. Probably is who we just said, right?

Chase and Diggs? Yeah. I can't crush you for that one. I think those are probably the first five that go right to the top of the cabeza and the tip of the tongue. DK Metcalf is good, but not top five. No, I wouldn't call him top five. I would say a rough year. Oh, deep.

Yeah, that's the thing. Deebo was great two years ago and last year did not have a good season. If I had to give you my five right now, I would go number one Devante Adams, number two Justin Jefferson, number three Tyree Kill.

Man, four and five here is tough. I would go Jamar Chase four Stephon Diggs five just because I'm concerned about what the heck is going on with Stephon Diggs right now, Hickey. I mean, outside of I would just flip two and three, I would put Tyree Kill two, Justin Jefferson three. Otherwise, we're all in agreement. I think the top five in terms of, again, order can change person to person.

I would say we got the top five right in terms of the five names inside the list. All right, let's go to a former teammate of Tyree Kill. That, of course, is Travis Kelce.

There were big questions last year. Can the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl? And can they get back to the big game without Tyree Kill? Well, what happens when Travis Kelce retires? This is Travis Kelce and when he might retire.

Till the wheels fall off, baby. I love, I love this game, man. I know I'm gonna miss it when I'm, uh, when I'm done playing, but I hear you on that and that's, that's a business decision I'm sure I'll have to make at some point in my life, but for right now, I'm in this building wanting to win football games. And that is music to the ears of Kansas City Chiefs fans and the Chiefs' Kingdom, Hickey, because don't get me wrong, we're all in agreement. We're all in agreement. We're all in agreement.

We're all in agreement. Don't get me wrong. We all know how great Patrick Mahomes is, but we won't have that question. Can Patrick Mahomes win a Super Bowl again until Travis Kelce walks away? Just because you wonder who's the next weapon that they're going to bring in, but you look at that wide receiving core, it's nothing fantastic this year. They lose Tyree Kill. I know Travis Kelce still is their preeminent weapon, but they were able to get right back to the big game and end up winning the Super Bowl. When you get rid of Travis Kelce, it's like, okay, who do you create as the next guy? I know Brady.

It was 20 years. And Brady, even though he had these great comebacks, he wasn't an MVP, like in that first wave of the dynasty. And you got to see Brady win Super Bowls with David Givens and David Patton being some of his better wide receivers, Troy Brown. Then they get a big study, even though they did not win with Randy Moss. And then after that, it was Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski.

You just wonder who are the different cast of characters that eventually they will add in. And you know Tyree Kill is now out of the fold, did not affect them. The connection between Mahomes and Travis Kelce is just unbeatable. It is ridiculous how good the two of those guys are. You just wonder in this eventual next chapter, and it's great to hear that Kelce is going to play until the wheels fall off because you know he loves the game. He's winning. He's dominating at a high level. You may as well get as many rings as you can.

And then once you start to feel too much pain in the legs or the back or the arms or whatever, then you'll walk away. But right now, I don't think that is anywhere close to happening. You know, bare minimum, probably three more years for Travis Kelce. And that's great news for Chiefs fans, but it's going to be fascinating to see after Kelce who are the people that they bring in to replace a connection that is just ridiculous right now.

And that's why I think if you're Brett Veitch, you hear him. And yes, right, he's nowhere close to retirement, it sounds like, but you better start thinking now of how can I get whether it's a receiver or a tight end in here that can start to develop now. So then in three or four years, if when Travis Kelce does leave or retire, you can then have a replacement like you did with Tyreke when he left. Oh, here's Travis Kelce. He's still already here. We still have a great weapon and a great connection because if Kelce leaves sooner or later and you have this wide receiver room and this really skilled core, maybe some faces change, but the skill level is overall the same. It's going to be tough, tough for Patrick Holmes and the Chiefs to make some hay in the postseason.

Justin Herbert, who's entering year four, says he hasn't considered holding in in order to get a new contract. It's something that I really haven't thought a whole lot about. You know, I think the most, most of the offseason so far has been worried about, you know, getting my shoulder right, making sure that I'm the best quarterback that I can be for this team. It's something that you can address. You know, I'm not quite sure. I don't have any more updates for you at this time, but you know, like I've said earlier, I think, I think the world of the Chargers organization, you know, I've got complete faith in the front office.

So that's, that's something that you'll address at the time, but I don't have any updates right now. Herbert's from Oregon. He sounded like he was Canadian there, Hickey, going organization.

That's very hockey like. Same thing. That's very funny.

For a second. And obviously, you know, the story of Justin Herbert, I'm like, where the heck is he from? Oh yeah, he's from Oregon. He's from Eugene. Organization. Organization. I wonder if they say it like that out there in Oregon.

Maybe just the Canadian just bleeds down. I feel like the holding in concept applies to everybody but quarterbacks. If you're a leader of a team and usually the quarterback associated to be a leader, I know you got to go get your own, especially with how last year ended in that embarrassing playoff performance. I feel as if even if Justin Herbert wanted to hold any, couldn't just because that would just be a ridiculous distraction there. Oh, I mean, you're right.

Any quarterback. Cause it's like, it's different. Holding in is especially record, actually almost better because you're seen every day. So the media sees you, there's videos of you, the fans see you when you're holding out, you're not out of sight, out of mind, obviously, but you're not there when you're there and not practicing and almost kind of just, yeah, you're always the diva no matter what. It feels, if you're, it's weird for any other position. I get it.

It's fine. But when the quarterback salary, we all know Herbert's eventually going to get the deal where it's not that case for all these other positions, I could use the diva tag then for quarterback. I know that may not make sense, but if you're a running back, you may not get paid. If you're a tight end, you may not get paid.

If you're defensive back, you may not get paid, but when you're a quarterback, you are the frame of the franchise. So everyone knows you're eventually going to get paid. I think it's a bad look if you end up holding in Hickey. I guess what I'll say is, look, you got to do what you got to do, right?

To get the money you want and to make a statement and to try to show some leverage. I have any position I have no problem with even quarterback to kind of flex your leverage muscles any way you can put pressure on the team. And then you know this, if he does that and the charges are struggling early in the year, Hickey's going to say, well, he could have used those extra reps when he was holding in, could have used those reps on the field.

Boy, he could have used that chemistry, huh? Jonathan Taylor says it's frustrating to see the NFL undervalue the running back position. It's sad. It sucks because a lot of positions, a lot of positions do a lot for their team. Um, but specifically speaking for the running back position, um, I can just speak firsthand. We do do a lot and you just want, you just want to be treated fairly.

Um, and not even treat it fairly. You just want to be, you know, appreciate it for what you bring to the team. He's right. And he'll get paid Hickey because the Colts have no other option here. I, and for most running backs, I don't feel confident that they're going to get paid.

But Taylor is, is that face of that team right now. They hope it's one day Anthony Richardson, but I can't sit here with any great amount of confidence to tell you that Anthony Richardson is going to be the stud quarterback in the NFL. And especially on offense skill position wise, they're paying nobody receiver, tight end, running back quarterback.

There's no ballooning salary. That's going to hurt the salary cap outside of Quinn and Nelson and Shaq Leonard. Who are the Colts actually paying? DeForest Buckner has got a big time deal. Ryan Kelly for centers and Braden Smith, her right tackles.

Now it's, they've been passed up cause it's now like two and three years, I think respectively since they got a lot of money invested into the offensive line and that line stunk last year, five guys getting paid above, let's say league average. Justin Fields says he and DJ Moore have already built good chemistry. I mean, it did come quickly. I didn't really expect anything cause it's different for each, each guy, but I feel like with DJ it's, you know, his body language is pretty easy to read.

And really early on we communicated on, you know, how we want, you know, each route train and stuff like that. And of course, you know, he's a lot of experience. He's been in the league for, you know, a good, a good period of time now. So, you know, he's, he's played a lot of football, so he knows, you know, um, different coverages really well. Um, that's one thing that I was kind of impressed about, like with the offense coming in and just, you know, understanding, seeing coverages really well on a choice routes and stuff like that. So, um, you know, he's been great and you know, the chemistry has definitely picked up. And we go from Justin Fields talking about his new wide receiver to Lamar Jackson, talking about his new wide receiver and Odell Beckham Jr. I think he looked pretty smooth. Uh, Chris routes, um, great hands as everybody knows, you know, he can catch the ball.

Uh, look pretty good out there. I hope Odell's able to stay healthy this year. Cause Odell is fun. I know it can be a pain sometimes and there's a lot of drama with Odell Beckham Jr. But what he displayed towards the end, well, it was only a half year in LA, but when he was showing in the Superbowl in LA, he caught that touchdown. Then he has the injury.

It just absolutely stinks. I don't think Odell is a great player anymore, Hickey, but I am rooting for him because I just want to see that connection between Lamar and Odell, two players that when you look back in the last 10 years of football, they're two of the more electrifying players and entertaining players. And if you could get Odell back to just being a good player with Lamar Jackson, in theory, that could be a fun connection. But once again, we got to see the health of Lamar and then also the health of Odell Beckham Jr. Ryan, forward to the H word is a big one. Both of them.

Let's go to Nicole Jokic. Remember he didn't want to go to the parade in Denver. Well, now he said he's happy that he did not go home to go ride the horses. You know that I told that, uh, I don't want to stay on parade, but I want to stay on parade. I love that guy. Uh, Mike Malone says the goal is to keep Bruce Brown and run it back. Hey, y'all tell me it's Bruce and being going anywhere.

Hell no. Wow. He was drunk. He was really drunk Kiki. You only learned about Mike Malone, his credit. He's not afraid to kind of chirp. He, when he's feeling it, he will let, you know, he's not into the coach speak.

Well, you know, what's funny about that. Don't get me wrong. Bruce Brown had a really good playoffs, but you're at the championship parade and that's like your big line. Oh, I'll get Bruce Brown back. I'll get him back.

I'll run it back. Like, it's just so funny, a good player, but he's not a great player in this league. You know, he kind of sounded like Kiki. You have any guesses? Uh, who he sounded like. I don't know. Play it again and just, I think it will come to you. Play that clip again. Hey, y'all tell me it's Bruce and be going anywhere.

He sounded like you walking out of the Rose bowl. Oh, come on. You know, Penn state is here. You know, they're coming back next year and we're going to go in the championship. No big deal. No big deal. We back. Me and Michael Malone, you know, Hey, when you're happy and celebrating, except you know what the difference is going to be.

That guy actually is a champion. You're aware back and no big deal stuff is going to sound like Sam Ellinger when he said that about Texas. No, come on.

Why not? Come on. You just even said you like Michigan to win it all this year, Penn state to the big 10. I'm saying Penn state college world playoff.

Let's go. They're not making the college football playoff two teams in the big 10. Will you, will you beat either Ohio state or Michigan this year? The Ohio state game is on October 21st. That is in the horseshoe in the shoe and you have Michigan or November 11th.

That's at Penn state, but that's a noon kickoff. That should be a prime time game. Disgusting. Will you beat either? Yes. Will you beat Ohio state? Yes. Will you beat Michigan right now on June 15th? I will say no.

Okay. You know what? I can't believe I'm going to say this. Oh, kind of feel like a Ohio state and Michigan both go win those games. You're going to be set up for a letdown this year.

That's what's going to happen. My hopes legitimately have not been higher in a while, so I'm ready for heartbreak, but no heartbreak coming this year. You're like Sinatra singing high hopes, but I will say I keep on reading a lot about Penn state this year. They got like a bunch of like top 20 prospects in this upcoming NFL draft. They have a loaded team. They have a loaded team everywhere.

They have a great defense led by your guy, Manny Diaz. What a clown that guy is. Let's go.

Okay. Geez. Now everyone listening right now, you'll be rooting against Penn state this season because Hickey will be insufferable. You know, I want you guys to beat West Virginia, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern UMass start the year off six and Oh, and you don't actually hope you beat Ohio state. Then you'll have a letdown against Indiana beat Maryland and you'll get all ready for Michigan. The Michigan will beat you by 50.

That'd be fun. All right. That's the news. Brief set guilt show CBS sports radio. Come on back with Fozzie Whitaker.

Exceptional lease and finance offers today. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. All right.

And we continue. This is Zach Gelb show on CBS sports radio. I want to talk a little bit about the Texas Longhorns right now. So you welcome in one of their own and a man that's a part of the Texas Longhorn radio network.

And that of course is Fozzie Whitaker. Fozzie, appreciate the time as always. How you been?

I've been well, Zach, I appreciate you having me on the show, man. And I'm excited to see what this football season holds for this Texas football team. You know, I'm a little bit disappointed because I was expecting this epic QB battle with the way that we were hyping it up between Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning and very quickly. And I thought it was savvy to put the distraction away to just go, OK, Quinn Ewers is our guy.

But I was annoyed by it from a media standpoint. I will say there were a lot of expectations headed into spring ball. Obviously, it might have been the most hype surrounding spring ball that Texas has had in quite some time in regards to the quarterback position in a race that was to be had. I mean, whenever Quinn Ewers came, even as he transferred, the hype was there, but it wasn't nearly as much as what the battle would be between Arch Manning and Quinn Ewers. So Sark is savvy. You mentioned that he went on and put some of those rumors to rest from my opinion, from what I witnessed throughout spring ball and seeing him even throughout this offseason, working out and getting his mind and his body right.

He looks like he's a completely different person. And I'm talking about Quinn Ewers. He appears to have taken that next step forward and he looks poised and ready to be that next quarterback that Sark has in his lineage of quarterbacks that have been successful and ready to make the next step of hopefully being a prime time top tier quarterback and possibly a Heisman candidate when it's all said and done.

Yeah, I look at the first three games of the season. I'm not going to get all excited about Rice and Wyoming, but then you do have Alabama sandwich it in between. And I just wonder last year if Quinn Ewers was able to stay healthy, if they would have won that game, because that game was right there for the taking and unfortunately he got hurt. That's going to be the big fun one right out of the gate and Quinn Ewers could make a big statement in that game going to Tuscaloosa to play Alabama.

Absolutely, I 100% agree with you on that. We call it the what if game 2.0 because it was the kind of reminiscent of the national championship whenever I played back in 2009 against Alabama. Yet again, Colt McCoy goes down in the first quarter and we're getting ready to put some points on the board and mount up a good offensive drive and it kind of ends and dashes our hopes as we know it. And then here comes the birth of the legacy and the dynasty of Nick Saban for the next 12-13 years just making run after run in the college football playoffs and the BCS national championship appearances. So that hopefully we don't experience the what if game 3.0 this upcoming season but Quinn Ewers looked like if he would have been on the same pace that he had at the first quarter where he put up 134 yards against that really good Alabama defense then he has an opportunity to make a name for himself and that would be the game that would allow him to start getting on the watch of all of those national pundits in relation to getting all the media hype around him. I mean he already has that this offseason with the offense that Texas is heralding with the receiver help and the tight end help and the kind of running back by committee approach but Quinn Ewers definitely has the tools to be successful and if they can go down in Tuscaloosa and play the way that they did throughout the course of the last game and finish it out in the fourth quarter that would put Texas on the map in a large way against a very good Alabama team led by Nick Saban. Fozzie Whitaker here with us we know what the expectations once were for Quinn Ewers and he won this job so it says a lot especially with the hype surrounding Arch Manning. I know this is still going to be a question throughout the season it's going to depend on how well Quinn Ewers does play but how long of a leash do you think it is for Quinn Ewers?

I think he has some grace and a little bit of leeway with Coach Sark. What Coach Sark really loves to do is once he names that starter he wants to ride with that guy and if that starter has some struggling moments he lets them struggle just for a little bit before he allows for somebody else to switch it out and we saw a little bit of that play out whenever Casey Thompson and Hudson Carr were going back and forth battling it out in Steve Sarkeesian's first year as the head coach and so I think Quinn Ewers is the guy he gave him the keys already last year once he got back healthy he came back again even after Hudson Carr showed and played his best game in the Texas uniform he went back to Quinn Ewers who was the unsound starter at the beginning of the season and said hey this is still your job go out and prove it to everybody so I think Quinn Ewers still has that leash although Arch Manning is right there kind of nipping at his heels but honestly I think Malik Mercy is going to be that second string quarterback throughout the course of this season I know he only flashed a little bit in the spring game if you were able to see some of that but this guy has all of the physical tools that you are looking for in a Steve Sarkeesian type of quarterback this guy can throw it has a very big strong arm was able to throw a beautiful ball to Jontay Cook in the spring game that was a 75 yard bomb for a touchdown and he just was able to play lights out I think he actually in my opinion had the best spring game out of all three of the quarterbacks between Quinn Ewers, Arch Manning and himself from just a performance standpoint but all three of those guys I think it's going to make for a healthy competition throughout the quarterback room and they're going to push each other but I think it's Quinn Ewers' job throughout the course of the season barring any injury. Which is fascinating just the point about Murphy because if Quinn Ewers is in a position hopefully it's not for your case where he gets benched it's just like I think a lot of fans would expect that it would be Arch that would be the next man up but that's not what you're saying yeah I don't think so and the reason why I say that is because every time like we have hinted at it as like media members and as on the Longhorn network we've kind of like said you know is Arch basically number two Steve Sarkeesian goes out of his way to say hey don't forget about the guy from California that I hand-picked and recruited myself and he made sure that Malik Mercy is always brought up in the conversation each time a quarterback battle is talked about and Malik Murphy is he was coming off an injury last season so he didn't get to play and not a lot of people saw him in practice and then he started off spring ball actually still recovering from a separate injury and so he had a late start in spring ball so he's still kind of a bit of an unknown until you saw what he was able to do from a production standpoint in spring game but it's Steve Sarkeesian's MO to say hey it is not just two quarterbacks in that room that are competing for a spot to be able to showcase their abilities on the on the big stage but Malik Murphy is always in there and has been a big force and a driving factor of what this quarterback room can be here in 2023. So where is Arch Manning at right now like it seems like he has a lot of work to do or is that just you know reading too much into it? I wouldn't say he has a lot of work to do I think he's just a first year guy still trying to figure out the process of what it means to to come into this type of situation it's not very often that you see a number one quarterback coming to a situation where they're following behind another number one quarterback that's on the roster right now so it's a little different as far as navigating those types of waters but I think this is the perfect opportunity for him to learn in the biggest way from Quinn Ewers who is in year two as a starting quarterback and under Steve Sarkeesian's offense to be able to develop and understand okay this is where the playbook can go this is the identity that coach is looking for from his starting quarterback this is where I could see myself evolving too and maybe even surpassing once I get the opportunity to take the torch whenever my time comes so I think it's just more of a learning opportunity we saw what Quinn Ewers was his first year as a redshirt freshman out there and a first-time starter he didn't necessarily look his best throughout the course of the entire season and I think Steve Sarkeesian doesn't want to put a guy out there if they're not completely ready and if you can allow them time to basically use this as a redshirt year learn some of the offense get an idea of what the offense looks like build some chemistry with some of the guys that you will be playing with in the future then it could make for a better transition whenever it's Arch Manning's time to be able to take the helm as a starting quarterback. And I also wonder Fosse Whitaker if this was kind of by design with the Manning family because a lot of people when they heard that Quinn Ewers was going to Texas it was or Arch Bader was going to Texas was like hold on Quinn Ewers is already there so I wonder if the Manning family kind of looked at it maybe it's not the worst thing in the world for the plan to be to sit for a year before you then go play the the two other years before you're eligible for the draft.

Yeah absolutely that that Manning household I mean they're a little intelligent in that household they know football quite well and they probably understand the importance of what it means sometimes to even take a year to get acclimated and adjusted to a system. I mean we got to remember this was a guy that was supposed to graduate last month so he's still technically very fresh whenever you're talking about his appearance he obviously graduated early and was able to enroll at Texas but he's still just a senior just graduating senior in high school from age perspective so he still has some a maturation process that he has to undergo spring ball was very good for him to be able to start that process a little bit earlier and then getting into summer workouts right now and getting those those reps with some of those receivers getting that throwing time on their own having the opportunity to just be himself with his teammates is it's going to take them a long way and I think like I said having a guy like Quinn Ewers who's already done it for a season and has progressed and taken the next step to transforming his body to be more of a in my opinion more of a complete quarterback for what Quinn uh for what Steve Sarkeesian is looking for it's a mold and and kind of a way or blueprint to show Arch Manning hey whenever I'm done if everything goes according to plan I'm going to play this year and then I'll be out of here and then it's between you and Malik Murphy and whoever wins that you know that's your job to lose but my goal is to show you how it's done get out of here and hand the keys off to somebody that's going to do it just as well as I did or take it up to another level. Fosse Whitaker I feel like this has become a punch line every time we ask this question is Texas back but where is your confidence level heading into this season that will be saying Texas is back and they'll end up winning the Big 12 this year? Man that is a interesting statement right that's gotten some people in trouble quite a few times over the past decade we've been uh with some false hopes and pretensions around uh what Texas is perceived to be but I think what gives me hope about Texas I wouldn't say that they're technically back until they prove it just because like we talked about over the past decade it they haven't shown it yet.

Yeah you don't want to be like Sam Ellinger. Yeah until you show it to me then then I will know for a fact what Texas really is all about but what I can say is that Steve Sarkeesian he's in his first three years as the head coach has led unbelievable recruiting classes this is some of the best recruiting that Texas has done and it hasn't been the same way as previous top five and top 10 recruiting classes in the past decade because Steve Sarkeesian has built this team from the trenches and we all know the SEC transition is looming a year from now whenever they get ready to go there in 24 and where the game is won and lost typically in the SEC and whenever you get to the playoffs and whenever you get to national championship and bowl game uh uh postseason type games where you are most dominant at if you're dominant in the trenches that allows you to control the game and it makes it that much easier for you to have success on the offensive or the defensive side of the ball so what gives me more hope about this team is the way Steve Sarkeesian has recruited I mean you had 14 old linemen in the past two seasons and a lot of these guys are top tier linemen that are huge massive like they come off the bus and this is the best offensive line I've ever seen Texas has since the 2005 and 2004 kind of football season where Texas goes on to win the national championship and the team prior that played Michigan in the Rose Bowl those two offensive linemen looked really good and a lot of those guys played NFL for a very long time has not looked like that ever since and now what I'm seeing is Steve Sarkeesian finding a mold as to getting that offensive line back to some of that prowess getting some dominance in there and creating identity for what Texas can be up front and same way with the defensive line they've recruited at a high level on the defensive side of the ball Texas has been known for putting defensive ends in the NFL but even some of the defensive tackles they've had some success with I'm starting to see that come back to where Texas is so I think this is the best start and the best looking Texas team to get them back on the right track to say hey Texas is back but I will I will say it whenever they prove it to me about winning a big 12 championship and hopefully playing in the CFP. Last thing I'll ask you Fosse Whitaker who is the team in the big 12 if I was to tell you okay Texas is not going to win it this year who's the team that you look at you go okay it's going to be then then in the big 12. Boy that is a good question Zach I mean if you look at last season as a perfect example I mean TCU was I think predicted to finish seventh yeah no one had them it was crazy their own coach didn't even think that was going to happen last year right that like I don't know how you even prepare for that and they didn't even win the big 12 Kansas state was the one that won the big 12 so it's it's like because they didn't get the ball to Max Duggan I could not believe that play calling by Sonny Dykes oh I we had him on a few weeks ago I said to him I love what you did last year Sonny Dykes but hand the ball off to Max Duggan you guys would own the big 12 he goes you're probably right Max Duggan was not going to be denied if he had that last opportunity I could tell you that for sure but it's it's very weird to kind of predict even the year before Oklahoma State and Baylor neither one of those teams were kind of the the front runners or the preseason favorites to be able to win the big 12 title so it it's hard to say because I really like Kansas now okay I don't know if they would actually be able to play for a big 12 title but they have a lot of pieces coming back and a lot of production their offense looks really good you got Devin Neal you got Jalen Daniels you got Daniel Hyshaw coming back you got Mason Fairchild you got Arnold and other receivers the defense is the issue for them if they can shore up their defense they have an opportunity to really create an identity for themselves in the big 12 race to be able to make some noise that allows them to move the needle just a little bit and I and I may be putting a little too much faith in them because they haven't necessarily proven in the past two decades of kind of being a big 12 power yet but there's some faith in what I'm seeing Lance Leipold do out in Lawrence and if I had to maybe say one more team I think Joey McGuire's team out in Lubbock Texas Tech they've they've been a good coach a lot of preseason hype um he's early on in his coaching tenure but I love what he is doing he brings a lot of energy to it and this was a team similar to Kansas that had a lot of offense it wasn't necessarily because they struggled that much on offense but the identity that they had on defense they couldn't necessarily stop anybody if they if they can find ways to take the ball away limit some of the yardage that they gave up in 2022 then they can make some big headwinds uh they they won eight games a season ago they can make some big headwinds and finding their foothold in the big 12 and possibly using that momentum to take over as a power for years to come whenever Oklahoma and Texas leave for the SEC. Well I was the other team I was gonna say Oklahoma I can't wait to see what they do this year Fosse Whitaker because last year was not good and Brent Venables we were all saying for years can't wait to see what he's going to do when he finally leaves Clemson and last year did not go their way. Yeah and I think it's kind of a footprint in a of what Texas did I mean Steve Sarkeesian is so eerily similar those two coaches having similar first years Steve Sarkeesian's first year Texas goes five and seven Brent Venables first year Oklahoma goes six and seven but they both had horrendous defenses like all-time worst defenses in the history of their schools I mean Texas was giving up 400 yards per game 200 on the ground 200 in a year and that looked almost identical to what Oklahoma did the following year which was this past season and that is not typical of what Brent Venables is known for not typical of what he brings to the table and definitely not typical of what Oklahoma has been uh in the big 12 and their first losing season and I don't know how long they hadn't had a losing season in forever and so having that on their stain obviously they they got a lot to prove about themselves had a phenomenal recruiting class this past season as they've always been a top 10 recruiting team as well and I think they have a similar bounce back to what Texas did in year number two where Texas went five and seven year once Steve Sarkeesian finds a way to get them going and then in a regular season they finish eight and four with if they had a little bit of help could have had a chance to have an appearance in a big 12 championship game and then they end up losing to Washington and Alamo Bowl so finish eight and five but I could see a jump like that happening for Oklahoma in year number two especially with Dylan Gabriel being at the quarterback veteran guy savvy a person that I picked as the preseason player of the year season ago I think he's going to have a great season and find a way to get that Oklahoma team headed in the right direction with some more wins on the on the board for them under Brent Venables in year number two. Fauzi Whitaker good deal appreciate the time we'll be talking to you throughout the college football season thank you. Yes sir I appreciate it Zach man you have a good one. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. I will say I'm incredibly biased against the commissioner of major league baseball Rob Manfred I do not like him I think he is an incompetent commissioner outside of the pitch clock the pitch clock will give him credit for I have not heard these comments yet I've only read about them so let's see if they sound as bad as they do read here is Rob Manfred saying a new stadium is never going to be built in Oakland and that's why the A's are leaving and I hear from them you know I I feel sorry for the fans in Oakland I do not like this outcome I understand why they feel the way they do I think that the real question is what is it that Oakland was prepared to do there is no Oakland offer okay I mean they never got to the point where they had a plan to build a stadium at any site and it's not just John Fisher you don't build a stadium based on the club activity alone the community has to provide support and you know at some point you come to the realization it's just not going to happen can he just be honest can he just say they want to move to Las Vegas because being in a Las Vegas market for the sport is more attractive than being in Oakland we've seen the Raiders leave and go to Las Vegas all right it happens and we've seen right hockey have a team in Vegas we've seen the NFL now have a team in Vegas it's that's just the way the sport is trending and you want to be involved in a Vegas market that's what this is hickey they don't want to be in Oakland they want to be in Las Vegas they want to be in Las Vegas so if you're going to do that just be honest they tanked it right and they did this on purpose so yeah this is they are getting everything they wanted this is exactly what they wanted to do they wanted to go to Vegas but they didn't want to just uproot the team they want an excuse and so they just go to the roster blamed on no one showing up blame it on no stadium and now here we are and those fans won't support the team so if you already lose those fans like what are you gonna do win over like 10 percent of the fans still out of the 100 that are from Oakland you know from the Oakland area to maybe go follow you and still watch you when you go to Las Vegas it's just tell the truth here and I think people would respect them more not they would like the decision more but you would respect it more if you would just be honest and here is Rob Manfred giving his reaction to the A's fans that did this reverse boycott the other night when they got about almost 30,000 fans in the stadium when night in and night out it's usually only 8,000 that show up to still show you it's not the lack of fan support why this team would be moving and they could still fill the building they just hate the owner's guts you know I mean it was great it's great to see what is this year you know almost an average major league baseball crowd in the facility for one night that's a great thing oh he's so sarcastic there he's such a douche he real hickey he's the worst he's a terrible public speaker and I know he has to carry the water for all the owners because that's what he's paid to do and the first answer okay he's never going to tell you the truth but to poke the bear there when it's not necessary and to poke the victims here that's just ridiculous oh yeah they got an average crowd oh give me a break give me a break he just took a dump on him that's that's terrible that's a low blow that's why I can't stand that guy's guts because he did it during the pandemic too did the same thing spat on all of our faces we were just trying to watch something on television guy's a clown rob manfred weak phony gutless just a joke all right that will do it for the zack gilb show on cbs sports radio on this thursday thursday big thanks to arimirov fozzie whitaker hot ticket each and everybody we out bye-bye peace