Josh Booty, Former LSU Quarterback

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Need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family well. Rocket Candidates is at GELP Show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. And now joining us in studio, big time friend of show was actually with them last night watching the World Series a little Thursday night. Football may have had an old fashion or two and we saw someone potentially that's one of my idols growing up. And I say potentially, definitely one of my idols growing up. And I'm not talking about you, Josh Booty, but we will get into who that person was in just a second.

But friend of show Josh Booty, the former NFL college quarterback at LSU and did get drafted by the Marlins here with us. Josh, how you been? I've been great, man.

I appreciate the time you're giving me today. And of course, always fun hanging out with you in the city. We had a blast last night. This little cigar in a couple of old fashions doesn't get any better than that.

We did. And I walked in after the show and I sit down and they had these big, comfortable leather chairs. It's a cigar bar. Josh's ordering all this food left and right.

That's way out of my price range. And I'm probably not supposed to be in this establishment. And the next thing you know, I go, holy crap. A guy that I dressed up for is Halloween four times as a kid. Mike Piazza, who's been on the show twice. And Josh. Pepperoni Piazza.

Yeah. Who I've been around a few big time celebrities with Josh Booty. Josh jumps up like a fat kid in a candy store and is like, Mike, how you been?

Great to see you. And we had a little conversation with Mike Piazza. This guy, he was one of the all-time greats, of course, Hall of Fame type player, catcher, Dodger. You know, I grew up, him and Keros played together.

Eric Keros was a friend and we had the same agent. And I always kind of looked up to the guys that were five, 10 years older than I was. And he was one of my all-time faves. The guys like Don Mattingly, Will Clark, Mike Piazza.

I'm trying to think of some more. Terry Pendleton. You know, those were the guys that I idolized as a high school kid or a middle school kid. And probably much like you, you played Piazza for Halloween, you know. But when he walked in, when I was leaving the Marlins in 99, I think he was coming in at the same time. So I got to spend- For five days, yeah. For five days.

So I got to spend a few days with him. And I just remember how big of a presence he was in the locker room in a stud. And he is still jacked out of his mind. Yeah, he looks good. You know, he looks like he's lost some weight. He must be on that treadmill like Troy Aikman or something. He's staying lean and mean.

He looks good though. When Booty and Gelb go out together, we slobber over Mike Piazza. That's the definition of a big night out there on the town.

And Josh Booty in studio with us, who is the player through all your connections, right? College football, NFL, Major League Baseball, that when you finally met the person, whether it was in similar social circles or just being in the same locker room, that you said, holy crap, I got to pinch myself. I can't believe I'm there. Man, it was John Elway for me because he was my favorite quarterback growing up. I didn't miss a Bronco game. And of course we didn't have the NFL Sunday ticket back then. So it was like, I couldn't wait for the Broncos to be on against the Raiders or the Chargers.

And, you know, games like that were massive in my mind as a kid. And so when I got to meet him at a Super Bowl party, I guess, you know, when I was 20, 21 years old, along with my agent and all these guys, Steinberg, Lee Steinberg was an agent and a football agent that represented a lot of quarterbacks. They didn't represent Elway, but Elway showed up to one of the events and I was like, there he is. I mean, that's the guy that I idolized and watched probably every game that I could watch and every snap that I could watch of him playing quarterback. And that's what I always want to do is play quarterback at the NFL and be like John Elway.

So he was probably the one that I was a little tongue tied, you know, as a youngster coming up, getting the opportunity to say hello to John. Josh Booty here with us in studio. We'll talk about his new app, Bula, which has finally launched and is going to be a big time success coming up in a bit. Let me get your thoughts on the LSU program. Brian Kelly comes in. We know he's a very successful coach, but he got off to the wrong start with the whole family stuff and pretended as if he was a Southerner for his entire life, the cringey recruiting videos. But so far, I know ugly start against Florida State, but he's winning games and they're sitting at six and two with a big one this weekend against Bama. He is only one loss in the conference and that's to Tennessee. And of course, we know how good Tennessee has been playing, especially on offense, but I think he was able to right that ship after week one. We lose in the Superdome of all places, which is right down the street from Baton Rouge and New Orleans and Florida State had to come over from Tallahassee. It was almost like a home game for us and for us to not play well early in that game.

We played well in the fourth quarter, but everybody had question marks. Is this, you know, can Brian Kelly come into this kind of culture and narrative and create his own narrative, right? He's a, we know he's a great coach at Notre Dame. He's been great coach other places.

He's 10 win coach there almost every year, but can he do it in the South at LSU because it's a much different place. And South Louisiana, if you've never been there, listeners, it is a very different place and he's got to be able to recruit well, but what he's been able to do, I think is be a great game day play caller. And now Jaden, he's getting the most out of Jaden Daniels, the quarterback, the starter. And he's starting to develop into a guy that can throw the football a little bit. I think early on in the season, they didn't trust him to throw the football.

He's been able to do that the last few weeks. He had a great game against Mississippi State. He had a good game against Ole Miss. He just, Florida, he's starting to play.

Florida was his best game, actually. So he's starting to play well and kind of come into his own as a passer. And we've got great receivers on the outside.

They just weren't getting the ball early in the season. We dropped that game to Notre Dame and then we dropped one in the middle of the season to Tennessee, other than that, I think we're the highest ranked two loss team in the country at number 10 in the college football playoff rankings. So we're sitting there in the mix.

You know, if we beat Bama, if we happen to beat Bama this weekend, we could be in the SEC Championship if we're able to win throughout the rest of the season. So he's done a good job getting us to where we're at. And I think the best is yet to come for him down there.

So you would say that so far, even if it got off to that rocky start, Josh Booty, that he's now starting to earn the trust of that fan. I think he didn't panic. And I could tell when he was on the sideline. He shouldn't, he was at Notre Dame. Yeah, he's not gonna- It wasn't like he was coming no disrespect from like the raising cages or something. But I'm saying he didn't panic after that loss. Even the way he handled himself the next few weeks in the media, he was the same as he was the week before.

He didn't change anything, you know? And he was like, we're gonna learn the players. The players are gonna learn us. There's nine new staff members. There's a lot going on when you got a new staff come in.

And we lost a lot of guys to the transfer portal, you know? And we have to rebound a little bit. And he's been able to right the ship, man, after that first loss. So I got to give him some credit on how we've played thus far this year.

Six and two, we're sitting good. When do you start to think national championship? Because we've seen three coaches since the 2000s go to LSU and win national championships. For them, when you take a glance, you have Alabama in that conference. You have Georgia in that conference. How far away do you think Kelly is from really getting LSU back to that standard? I think we've got to play stingy defense. And we had an injury early on to a big defensive tackle that hurt us early, I think, in the season. And he would have been a big factor in this year's kind of run for maybe an SEC West chance, you know?

And Bama's so darn good, they cast a huge shadow over the entire conference and have for the last 10, 15 years. But I think he's got to get his guys in there. He's kind of a balanced pro style guy. He likes to use the tight ends. We've seen him at Notre Dame.

Those guys get drafted. I think he likes to run the football. He likes to have the big guys up front that can push people around. He's not afraid to play like the Patriots, kind of a balanced attack. And so LSU's got to get that, I guess, identity going with the people that we recruit or the players that we're recruiting. We've got a five-star guy that's red-shirting this year, Walker Howard, who's a fine player, I think, at the quarterback position. And he's Kelly's guy. So I think when he gets in that mix and then gets a little experience, I would say year three and year four when Walker's a redshirt sophomore and junior, we're going to be real good.

Josh Brody here with us. How does the game play out this weekend? Because you look at the Alabama team, struggled against Texas A&M. Quinn Ewers gets knocked out of the game against Texas.

They could only find a way to beat them by one point. Lost to Tennessee. Can you see upset alert here for your alma mater against Bama?

I think anything can happen Saturday night in Death Valley and Tiger Stadium. But I do think we start two freshmen on the offensive line. They got Elias Ricks back at corner, who was with us last year. Transfer portal guy to Bama.

So Saban stole him from our program. And that kind of frees that other corner, Kool-Aid. So they got Kool-Aid and Ricks on the corners. And now it kind of gives their safeties a chance to come and play downhill because Elias Ricks is such a one-on-one defensive corner. And he could cover one-on-one.

And that frees the whole defensive secondary up. And they didn't have that against Hendon Hooker in Tennessee when they played several weeks ago. So I think with our inexperience on the offensive line and Will Anderson in that group that they have on the defensive front at Alabama, it's going to be real tough for us to win. So I would think that Bama would win by 10 or 14 in the lines 13. So I would think, you know, 14 points, Bama is going to win this game. It's also always amazing, Josh Booty, how we talk about Alabama. They have a few close games, then they lose the game.

And it's up. This is not the same Alabama, the dynasties ending. And they always find a way. Is there a legit concern with how good Georgia is, how great Tennessee is, that maybe, just maybe, Alabama's actually going to miss the playoff this year? Yeah, I think Saban is always worried about someone nipping on his heels. But now he got real teams that are really nipping on his heels when Georgia was able to overcome last year's loss and avenge itself in the national championship. And no former Saban assistant had ever beat him.

Last year, he lost to Kirby Smart and Jimbo Fisher. So that kind of set a precedence, too, is, you know, we're not as scared of Bama as we normally have been in the past. So I think Saban's got a little of that fear in his system, going, we have to work harder.

We got to work even smarter. And I think he's assessed probably the situation after that Tennessee game and said, man, I got to get guys in the right position for us to win the games. We've got to coach it up better.

And so I promise you, he's dug his heels in. And they're going to be a different football team the rest of the way. I hope we can play with them Saturday. I think we've got the athletes to stay with them. We get the ball on time to the receivers. We've got a chance.

If we don't, we won't have a chance. You look at the quarterback, Bryce Young. He's phenomenal. Jameer Gibbs is a great running back. But the difference with this Bama team, in my opinion, is they don't have the studs at wide receivers. You're used to seeing four, like, first or second round draft picks just for the quarterback to throw the ball to. That's where I think they get really hurt this year. And it's crazy, you know, play the small violin for Alabama and not having the greatest talent in the world. But that's what makes them vulnerable this year.

It's evident. I think Burton came over from Georgia to wide out to transfer to Bama. And Saban was lucky to get him. But Jameer Gibbs is the leading receiver on the team with a little over 300 yards receiving.

So they don't have that deep play threat. They got two freshmen. A guy named Bond is going to be a big time player. But he's a freshman. They got two freshmen, maybe three, I think, that are really going to contribute maybe down the stretch here. And so they're going to be relying on young receivers. And that's not something that Bama has ever really had to do. Last year, I don't think they'd lose to Georgia if they don't lose the two receivers, Williams and Meetsie III. I think they win the national championship.

Those guys are now gone. They've got all these young players. Some of them are going to have to step up and at least one of them to kind of help Burton and Gibbs. I think Bryce Young can distribute the ball to the guys. They just got to be able to step up and make plays in big time moments, because there's going to be some big moments the rest of the way for them.

And you look at Ohio State, they have wide receiver after wide receiver. That's not the case this year for Bryce Young in the normal Alabama standard. That's why I've been more impressed with Bryce Young. And if I was picking between Bryce Young or CJ Stroud in the NFL draft, I would go with Bryce Young. How about yourself?

I'm the same way. And not to take anything away from CJ Stroud. I think he's a fine player. He's playing with Ferraris all over the place at wide out.

You mentioned Bryce Young doesn't have that luxury. And he's just making plays. He has to do a lot of stuff outside the box to make things happen, because receivers aren't deadly weapons for him this year. And so he is. It's fun to watch him, because he's cool, calm, and collected. And he's got Gibbs back there.

And that one-two punch is pretty darn good. But now they got to get some of these wide receivers in the mix. And I like what you said about him having to step up.

It's interesting to watch. And hopefully, he'll get some of those younger players. That's where leadership kicks in, is to bring those guys along. And now it's the second half. The end of their first year as freshmen, and playing that position. And they're rotating them in and out, trying to find a guy that can really step up.

But if one does, then Bryce is going to be thrilled with that, because he needs it. Let's get to Tennessee and Georgia. It's the game of the weekend.

Tennessee, let's start with them. How do you kind of view what they've been doing this year? Because Hendon Hooker was good last year.

He's even better this year. And Josh Hypell, when they brought that UCF regime over to Tennessee with the AD and then hiring Hypell, wasn't all that positive. And he shot a lot of people up pretty quickly. He has.

There's been some cases like that in the past. At SC, Pete Carroll wasn't the first guy that they wanted. He ran the gamut on the whole league for a while.

He was Sabinesque for a decade. And I think Hypell's got some really interesting things going there. Hendon Hooker gives him a lot of experience at the quarterback position.

He's a big strong arm guy, probably a first rounder, mid first round guy. He may play after play in those big moments against BAM. And I know that was a home game. Now he gets to go on the road and try to do it and defend their undefeated season on the road in Athens.

That is no easy task. And I'm telling you, they're going to be able to run the ball. They're going to have to get themselves in good down and distance situations. They can't get penalties that hurt them. He's got to have the receiver make plays like he did against Bama.

They're going to have to do some of the same things that they've done. They're throwing for 353 yards a game passing. So they're spreading it all over the field and doing some awesome things offensively. I kind of worry about the defense. Can they shut Georgia down enough to win this game on the road?

They're eight and a half point underdogs or eight point underdogs. This is going to be a tough one for Tennessee because Georgia's sitting there waiting in the wings at home. When we start to look at the college football playoff picture, who do you think are going to be the four teams at the end of the year? Oh, that's a great question. I think the four best teams in the, I don't know if TCU is as good as Clemson, but I would love to see them match up.

I think they're kind of on the outside. Sonny Dougs has done a really good job. Dougins play them all, and the wide receiver is going to be a stud in the NFL, Johnson. Big time guy. Bulletnikov, maybe, this year.

I mean, he's having a heck of a year, and they're doing some great things. I think Ohio State probably beats Michigan. They're going to be at home. So I'm trying to kind of play this out in my head. I think Bama wins this week, and then they're going to represent us in the West. I think Georgia beats Tennessee. Tennessee's kind of on the outside looking at it.

So then here's the question. If Georgia beats Tennessee and you get that Georgia Bama SEC title game once again, who do you pick to win that? Because then that sets up all chaos, depending on the results of that. I like Bama, and I do like Bama. So then you have Bama in the playoff, then I guess the committee would go Georgia. And Tennessee might get left out, depending on how this game ends up. If Georgia wins it by field goal, that's different than if they won by 21. Can you get three SEC teams in the college football playoff this year? I would like to see it, but I'm an SEC homer. You know what I mean?

You're talking to the wrong dude, you know what I'm saying? But I do think Tennessee, Georgia, and Bama strength to schedule in the way they're playing football are better than Clemson. I think they're probably all three better than TCU, but they might be unblemished. And then Ohio State is a team that, or Michigan, if Michigan can win that game on the road is going to be a monumental win, and they'll jump right in it.

I promise you the winner of that game's in it. This is what I think's going to happen. You'll have two SEC teams in. You'll have the winner of Ohio State Michigan in, and then that last spot, I don't think Clemson is that good, but if they're undefeated, how are they going to leave Clemson out? Exactly. And they started the year higher.

You know what I'm saying? They didn't have to vault as far as TCU. That's why I was hoping Clemson was going to lose the That's why I was hoping TCU might have better wins, though. And so that's going to be a huge debate if they can run this table. I don't know if they're going to run the table. I think they've got probably the hardest road except for the SEC teams, right? So it'll be fun to watch what TCU and how they respond the rest of the way or try to clean the clean house on the season and go undefeated.

Let's talk jobs. I know you're very big on Connor Wigman, and he got in last week and played very well. It feels as if Jimbo gets another year, but next year that seed is on fire to start off.

Big time. And I think they'll do well, though, next year because Connor is such a great player, and it will be a huge asset to them. And they've got some young receivers that can really play as well. So they'll come on as well. He's recruiting. And they have the unlimited funds, too.

The unlimited funds, he's recruiting his butt off. They're getting those players in there. And I think the younger players will see opportunity.

Even the high school seniors see opportunity. We can go help A&M kind of jump that hurdle, that last hurdle that they got to get over. And so Jimbo is going to be able to get those guys in. Like you said, those NIL deals at Texas A&M are nice, and there's some big money down there in College Station. So I think that Connor Wigman and Jimbo, they're going to have to play this thing right.

But if they do, they can be a team that can be really reckoned with next year, with Connor getting the experience late this year, helping him for next year. Wrapping up with Josh Booty, who gets the Auburn job? You feeling Deon, you feeling Lane Kiffin? Is it Freeze?

Who is it? Yeah, I think Hugh Freeze is a great coach, man. I really do. And he needs an opportunity, again, to go to the top with what he's trying to get accomplished and try to win a national championship. That's not going to happen at Liberty, even though he's done a wonderful job. I think Lane Kiffin could get more money at Auburn because they got deeper pockets, a bigger school, bigger program, bigger, longer, traditional power. Auburn's got that.

Deon would be an unbelievable pick for them just from a marketing standpoint. And he does love football. He would be able to get recruits left and right.

But Lane's doing a great job with that. And Hugh Freeze knows how to coach at a high level. So any three of those dudes are awesome for Auburn. Auburn needs somebody that can come in and kind of revamp and get everybody fired back up, kind of like SC with Lincoln Riley. Now they're on fire.

Everybody's all juiced, and the marketing engine's going. That's what's got to happen at Auburn because they've fallen off the wagon so far. But I would like to see Deon there. It would be fun to see him take over a college program to see kind of how the NIL and the marketing and all the transfer kids that he could probably bring in there that would love to play for a guy like Prime. Does Urban Meyer ever coach again, or does he just sit on the TV set at Fox? I was texted with Urban's best friend yesterday. And I'm actually headed to Atlanta tomorrow to hang with Carr, who's Urban's best friend, and one of my great friends. And I sent him a little picture of Urban and Auburn pull over.

And they said, is this time to call everybody? I think Nebraska more likely for going to be realistic. And I was laughing, and he was laughing. He's like, heck, there's no chance in hell he's going to Auburn. He's a Florida gator, my buddy is.

So anyways, I don't know. I think Urban's enjoying the Fox gig, man. He loves it, and he does such a good job on TV. So I like him there, man.

I don't know if he's going to ever coach again. OK, before we let you run, I have the Bula hat. I know everything about Bula, but tell us about the fine work that you're doing with the new app.

Man, I appreciate it. Yeah, Bula Challenge app on the Apple and Android. You can download it today. We launched last week.

We've been at this thing a year and a half. It's a social gambling app. So it's peer-to-peer challenge. Dare, wager your friends.

On the blockchain, no social app has ever been on the blockchain in today's world, like TikTok and Snapchat and Instagram story. We're like that, but it's with a verdict. So it's a call-to-action app where you can challenge, dare, wager your friends anytime, anything, anywhere. And it's a lot of fun. Talk trash. It's like Dude Perfect jackass and handicapping all rolled into one. There's no sports book.

There's no Vig. It's mono and mono peer-to-peer, whether it's playing video games or horsing around in the backyard or at the bar or we're talking football and betting football. You could do whatever you want on this thing and memorialize a challenge, dare, wager, in about 10 seconds for the whole world to see. So it's kind of next-level social.

Now I'm going to show the hat hair just real quickly. But how'd you guys come up with the logo? The logo's pretty neat. Yeah, my brother came up with it. Bula means wishing you luck or wishing you life. It's a Fijian term. And we used to say Bula, when we were young. If you couldn't handle your business, it's like, dude, you're full of Bula.

And it was an easy way of saying bullshit. But the character is an island character. We wanted an arcade-ish character because we're going to be big into e-gaming and all kinds of stuff. So it's a fun brand look with the Fijian character. We even named him Koa. So if you ever see the Fijian character for Bula, his name's Koa.

How about that? The more you learn each and every day when you get involved with Bula. Josh Booty, appreciate the time. Great to see you, my friend. Man, thanks for having me.

Always fun being with you, brother. Is there something really absurd that skeaves you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball? A fear you can't shake? I'm going to leak ocular fluid on my cheeks.

It's going to go into my mouth, and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I want to talk about it. Join me, Larry Mullins, on my new podcast, Your Weirdest Fears.

Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey and I'll see you in the next video. Bye-bye. See you next time. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye-bye.