Cole Cubelic, SEC Network Analyst

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Peloton app available through free tier or paid subscription starting at $12.99 per month. We miss college football. Bennett takes the snap and the shotgun, throws for the corner, Brock Bowers one on one, caught, touchdown.

He ate him alive, falls down into the end zone. Six more for Georgia. We can't wait for the 2023 season. Caleb Williams throws the fade in the corner.

Touchdown Trojans. And we're counting down the days to kick off. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? We said no. Are we there yet?

What's wrong with your ears? Here is your college football fix only on the Zach Gelb Show. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio.

Let's tap into the SEC and we welcome in Cole Kublik right now. Cole, appreciate the time as always. How are you? Doing great, Zach. Always good to be with you.

Well, thanks so much for jumping on board with us. Cole, of course, is an analyst for ESPN, the SEC Network, and you can listen to him each and every morning along with Greg McElroy on Mac and Cube on Jocks FM. I got to start you off with Nick Saban. I know he told the recruit the other day that he's going to coach until he's dead.

We'll see how much longer that is going to be and if that's actually going to be true. But when you look at Alabama for this upcoming year, Cole, what are your expectations for them after the season they just had a year ago and a lot of turnover on the roster? I think my expectations, Zach, are a little bit higher than some other folks and I understand that we look at quarterback and you ask the question, why would Tyler Buckner transfer there? There are some people that'll just say, oh well, it's Tommy Reese. They were together at Notre Dame.

But if you recall, Tommy Reese came a little bit later and also had a part in bringing in Sam Hartman, which was going to push him to the bench. So, I don't think it was just because those two knew one another and I speak from experience with talking to Bill O'Brien and Lane Kiffin and Brian Daybal after taking over as offensive coordinator in Alabama. You don't just run your system. You run Alabama's system. The terminology, the verbiage, it all stays the same.

Now, you call it your way. Nick Saban gives you the freedom to do that but it doesn't change with a new offensive coordinator. So, Tommy Reese has to learn that system.

So, that's not a big advantage for Buckner. But when you look around that football team, Zach, it's interesting because certain people will say, oh yeah, Ohio State, they can go in a national title. Or they'll say, oh Georgia definitely can go in a national title.

People will say Tennessee could be in the mix and those teams all have new or newer quarterbacks. They're going to be taking over and just because Alabama has a new quarterback, if you went in the SEC, I think they have the best guard in the SEC. I think they have the best edge defender in the SEC. I think they have the best interior defensive lineman in the SEC.

I think they have the best corner in the SEC. Now, I think collectively at running back they're solid. I think at wide receiver collectively they're pretty good. Collectively at tight end they're pretty good and they have talent in a lot of other spots on that football team.

So, they're still going to have a lot of dudes. I think they're going to play a little bit more complimentary football. I think Kevin Steele is a good hire because he's not as aggressive as Pete Golding and that will lead to that football being a little bit more complimentary. I actually think getting away from being overly reliant on individual players, which I do believe they became the last couple of years, Bryce Young, Will Anderson, maybe at other times like a Devonta Smith, is going to help this Alabama team maybe exceed people's expectations.

You talk about a changing quarterback. You know Carson Beck is going to be starting for Georgia and he'll be taking over for Stetson Bennett who won two national championships. How likely do you think it is that Georgia repeats this upcoming year? Very likely because number one, I don't think the pool of teams that can actually win a national championship is very big this year. I think the pool of teams that can get to the playoffs is pretty big.

I would go 13, 14, 15 with that number but actually get there and win it. I don't think that number is very big and Georgia is one of those teams that they're going to have the best receiver core that Kirby Smarts had top to bottom. That's not even including the tight ends which you throw in Brock Bowers who's the unicorn do everything on offense. The offensive line is still going to be one of the best in college football.

Stacy Searles does a great job with that group. Defensively, I think Dumas Johnson is set to have a breakout year at linebacker. They're not what they've been up front but they're still going to be on par with the best defensive lines in college football.

They just might not be clearing away that much better than everybody else up front like they have been the last couple of seasons. I think guys like Mike Hill Williams could have breakout years up there at edge defender and do some nice things. They're pretty good on the back end as well. I think they got the best safety in the SEC.

Maybe the best tandem of safeties in the SEC. Listen, they're battle tested. They've been there. They've done it. They know what it takes. They know what it's like and that schedule is not rough at all. I absolutely think they can get there. I absolutely think they can win it again. I would have Georgia as my favorite to win it right now even though I understand the three-peat and how difficult it is.

I don't think many people thought that they could repeat in the manner in which they did either. So yeah, I'd have Georgia right there in the mix. I don't think Carson's back is going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting early. So by the time they get to the SEC championship game in the college football playoffs, I don't think that'll be any sort of a rookie quarterback or new quarterback or anything like that. Cole Kublick, if Georgia doesn't three-peat, who's the team that you're most confident in in the entire college football landscape to be hoisting that national championship trophy? Alabama because you look at who they're going to play.

You talk about being tested. You know, they're going to play against a high power Tennessee offense again. They're going to play.

You're going to play Texas in week three, which is a team that I think is going to be a lot better than people imagine and I think too just from a coaching perspective having been there knowing how to manage things and like I said a little bit earlier, where they're going to be best at in the SEC. They are the dominant player off the edge, dominant player in the middle at defense. They have a linebacker I think they could bust out this year in Deontay Lawson.

Young hadn't played a ton. Has a chance to be really good. I just think collectively at more positions, they're better than a lot of other teams. Does Ohio State have a great group of wide receivers?

Absolutely. We'll know how their quarterback situation is going to look. They have my favorite tight end coming back in college football and Cade Stover. Love the kid.

He's an absolute animal. I want that defensive line to be consistent week in week out. I want to see those corners be consistent week in week out. Yeah, you got one guy who can take over a game. We've seen it up front, but I want to see that consistently week in week out and physically, can you get some of that mojo back to where you can match up with Michigan late in the season?

I don't know. Last two years hadn't really looked like it. I think Michigan would maybe be next in line, but they need to become a little bit more explosive. I mean, Jim Harbaugh put Pete George up there for a reason. He knows what the standard is. He knows the teams they're going to have to go up against when it comes to actually winning a national title and they got the physicality part down, but I think they need to get a little bit more athletic, a little bit more explosive.

He's been recruiting and portaling in that direction. Just don't know if he's on par with where it needs to be to go beat one of those teams yet, but they will probably be next in line. I want to throw two more teams at you, Cole Kubelik. We know Tennessee's going to have Joe Milton and they've lost a lot. When you look at Hendon Hooker and also Jalen Hyatt, we all seen the throw that Milton had at the Manning Academy and then LSU, you're number two for Brian Kelly in year one. It was very successful getting the SEC championship game. Your expectations for LSU in Tennessee this season or what?

I'll start with LSU because their expectation would not be too far behind Alabama. I think they would be right there in the mix to go in a national championship this year. You've got an experienced quarterback and everybody around him is comfortable with how that offense is going to be managed. They know how to utilize his legs now. They know he's comfortable going a little bit faster.

It took them a while to figure that out. It took them four or five games to get the offensive lines straightened out. And now they're going to have better depth at that spot. Mason Taylor back at tight end. I think the best receiver core in the country after Ohio state is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, collectively. I mean, they got freaking robots at wide receiver.

When you see these guys, like they physically don't look like they should be able to do the things that they're capable of doing. And upfront, Mason Smith comes back at the tackle. McKay Wingo was at D tackle last year, vastly underrated. And you got a linebacker in Harold Perkins that can take over games. So Matt has got a lot to work with on that side of the ball.

Brian Kelly did an amazing job. Want to see them follow through with a year two with what they did year one won't sneak up on anybody as far as Tennessee's concerned. I think there'll be fine. I don't think they're going to push for a spot in the playoff because defensively they weren't very good last year. And they lost a couple of key pieces. Now they could be a little more stout upfront with Amari Thomas back and a couple of other defenders.

I think they could be a little bit better there. Um, Jalen McCuttle back at linebacker. I just don't know if they have the bodies defensively to go out and get stops against a laundry list of offenses that are going to be really good on that schedule. And I think Joe Milton will be a good college quarterback. Is he going to be as consistent as Hendon hooker?

I don't know, but I know he's going to have extra ability. They're going to be able to run in between the tackles more. Uh, they may take more shots down the field, which they already took a ton. Uh, not offensive on might not be as good don't outright was great last year.

Like really good. The two best linemen are gone and you got a transfer coming in from Miami. They're excited about transfer from Texas that could help, but I still think that the line's going to be as good as it was last year. So, and, and people have another year of seeing that offense on tape.

I'll be interested to see some of the adjustments made. Cause when you watch the Bama game, you watch the Kentucky game. I mean, it's two, three plays in which Tennessee just kind of got their number. Do teams go back adjust and maybe try to find a little more success this year with what they weren't able to do a year ago?

I don't know. I think they're going to be scary. I think they can get any team on their schedule any week. I just don't know if they're going to have the consistency to go out there and win 10, 11 games again this year.

Cole Kublick. Will this be Jimbo Fisher's final season with A&M? No, they're too talented for that. And Bobby Petrino, number one is not coming into this situation to have some sort of back and forth, some sort of maybe if, and, or, but Bobby Petrino has just enough in effort in him to go out there and call plays and not be told about how he's going to call plays or who's going to call plays or anything like that.

Like that's just, that's not going to take place. So I think Bobby's going to run it. I think it's going to be his offense. I don't think there's going to be any back and forth.

I don't think there's going to be, if there's a plus. And I think when you look at that team, a, a, a very good wide receiver court should have a really good offensive line. It's a group that has a lot of returning starters back. They've got some good film out there.

They've got some bad film out there. They need to take a step this year and try to become dominant because I don't think they're as good at running back because they weren't last year with a chain. I think a decent group of tight ends, but I mean, they got receivers that can burn you. They have defensive linemen that could take over a game. I don't love the second and third level of the defense, but I do believe that you talk talent top to bottom outside of Georgia, Alabama, LSU, AMS right there with those teams, maybe just a smidge behind. And if they, the only concern, honestly, Zach is, is there a culture problem?

I don't know the answer to that question. I'm not, I'm not pointing a finger saying that there is, but some of the things that happened last year would allude some people to believe that if there's not, then they have the ability to be able to go out there and win a bunch of games this year. So I don't think this is last year. I think it will be a solid season. Is it going to be 12 and Oh, probably not, but it's not going to be five or six wins.

I know you got to bounce. Last thing I'll ask you Hugh freeze with your alma mater at Auburn. Do you think long-term that will be a successful hire?

Yes, there was already more alignment within the administration and the top end of the boosters and the people that run the collective and the fan base than I've seen in my lifetime. And people will say, well, what about Tommy? He's there forever. This and that they got on a jet and went to Louisville and try to hire Bobby Petrino. You say, what about Gus Malzahn? He won SEC championships, played for national championships. He did this.

He did that. Well, they gave him an extension that one side of the boosters didn't want him to get. So the other faction basically said, we're pulling out, we're done. We're not going to do anything anymore.

This is the most alignment. And I realized it's early that I have seen from everybody involved in Auburn athletics, as long as I've been alive. And I think that coach freeze has already shown recruiting what he's doing in high school recruiting. He's going to be able to make a difference. Zach, you realize half of that team starters this year are going to be players that he and his staff got out of the portal. I mean, he went and got the best quarterback on the roster, the best tackle on the roster, the best center on the roster, the best tight end on the roster, the two best receivers on the roster, the best nose guard on the roster to the best linebackers on the roster, the best edge roster on the roster.

I mean, he did that in one off season through the portal. So that's one big hurdle. And I realized the next big hurdle is organizing it, motivating it, getting it all on the same page and executing things on the field against opponents that are also pretty good.

But I don't think anybody expected them to be where they are from a talent perspective right now. He's always must listen at ESPN, SEC Network and each and every morning Mac and Cube on Jocks FM. He's of course, is Cole Kublick. Cole, always great to catch up with you. Thank you. Thanks, Zach. I appreciate you having me.