2026-04-14 Spring Intel - QB Battles, Line Questions, and Offseason Buzz (raw)

Welcome to The Solid Verbal. The Solid Verbal. Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40! I've heard so many players say, "Well, I want to be happy." You want to be happy for a day? Eat a steak. It's that whoop, whoop. And now, Dan and Ty.

Dan Rubenstein, I believe congratulations are in order for you, because game one of the first grade flag football season is in the books. I had nothing to do with coaching it, but you wanted to do a deep dive.

Are we doing this like a live like we would do for week seven? You want to go through the flag football recap?

I don't have a lot of insight to add because I'm not exactly sure what was happening in that game. I have zero clue what was happening. I don't know the rules. I don't know the order of operations.

Were they running like a cheetah linebacker scheme, or was there a rover situation with the schematics? Very complicated zone blitzing.

No, there's no blitzing. There's no lines. There's no rushing the passer. So it was like kind of glorified seven-on-seven, I would say. Route trees, TBD. There was a lot of go routes and turn around at random points. But you know, it was a sunny day, it was warm, everybody had fun, so I can't actually complain. But it just took me a while watching. I was like, "All right, what is the modus operandi here? What are we looking at?"

Did you happen to see, this is going back like two or three weeks now, when they put some current and former NFL players up against professional flag football players? Did you see some of those highlights?

So I did see the highlights. I know Tom Brady was involved, right? Tom Brady was like, yeah, there were a bunch of very, very good NFL guys. Joe Burrow was out there like wrapping around, despite the fact that he hurt himself.

Yeah, I mean, and the existing flag guys who are on, I think it's going to be an Olympic sport, right? Correct, in LA. They dominated. It was like NFL Blitz versus guys playing a simulation version of a video game in Madden. Because there were some flag football players, pro flag football players out there, putting crazy moves on, doing duck-unders and finding ways to get through opposing defenses in a way that frankly was eye-opening for anyone who hasn't seen it before. And I count myself in that class.

Same. It was very apparent that there probably won't be any actual NFL talent on our Olympic roster in 2028 in LA.

Yeah, I somehow. Again, I'm very much pro-Olympic, and so I'm sort of pumped up about any sort of interesting Olympic evolutions in sports, but I can't imagine that, like, if Justin Jefferson were to break an ankle playing flag football, that Vikings fans would be like, "No, no, totally worth it, you know, for love of country," et cetera, et cetera.

No, I don't think that would go over super well. So I think you stick with the flag football players who are already better. So, yeah, good for them.

It would seem as so. Well, welcome back in, one and all. Hope you had a good weekend. Hope that spring is in the process of sprung wherever you are. Certainly, this weekend was nice here in Eastern PA. I know you had a nice one out there in Chicago, so the weather is starting to turn, which means spring football is afoot.

Yes. We thought on today's episode we would pay sweet homage, Dan, to some of those spring storylines, some of those spring tidbits that have come across the official desk of The Solid Verbal, both East and West. And we thought maybe we could talk a little bit about those items that are just right now doing it for us. You know, the things that are on the radar, that got the heart pumping a little bit more. That has really captured our imagination. Does that sound right to you?

Absolutely. And look, spring is, even though spring football, or at least spring football games, aren't what they were in terms of a tent pole event that's filling the stadium as coaches have become a little bit more paranoid about the transfer portal, although there's no official spring portal anymore.

No. Scouting is a little bit different, but even still, you get to see players perhaps that you wouldn't ordinarily see that much. And maybe down the line, you've made a note to tamper with somebody next year or something. But yes, it's a little bit different, and the actual structure of these games is a little bit different. And I don't know, it just takes on new context. But we've never had more people talking about these games, whether it's on like Substacks or podcasts or anything. So it seems like there's more and more information out about what's going on in the spring. I know some teams are more closed-lipped than others and the word gets out less and less. Like, I have some information about Oregon and what's been going on in the spring. They haven't played their spring game yet. But that's one of those teams where they return so much that you just hope that you don't see injury news on a certain level. And you're excited to see which freshmen or early enrollees or whatever are making impacts on the rotation. But yeah, it's different. But I feel like we've seen a lot more information than usual.

Yeah, I would agree with that as well. And I think especially because the calendar has been fine-tuned, if you want to call it that, over the last couple of years now, and certainly with them removing the spring transfer portal window, Nebraska is an example of a school that's sort of, I feel like the Matt Rhule flip-flopped a little bit with his approach to spring football. Just because there's no portal window, it doesn't mean guys can't still leave if they are really adamant about it. But yeah, it looks as though the next two weekends are going to be, in particular, very, very active with respect to spring football games. I'm looking at the list now. There's no way I could possibly read all of these off, but just know that each of the next two weekends are going to be very, very active in terms of spring football. In some cases, like if you're UCF or UCLA, it will bleed out into the first weekend of May. Washington has their spring game on a Friday night. So it's going to take a little bit longer to get through all of this, and I think we've been waiting to do a full spring recap until after we have all of the data and all of the readouts. But they have started. Spring practice is well underway at most places. And so that's where some of these headlines have popped up, Dan. Things that jump out to us for one reason or another, and we thought we might take some time here, take a knee out on the old practice field and talk through our feelings on some interesting spring storylines.

I have this from Guy Fieri: "I can't wait to see this." I don't, you know, maybe we could play that before each item.

Yeah. I don't even know what that's from, but I just found it in the board here and I thought, "Why not?"

Well, I imagine it's not from a Martin Scorsese movie. I imagine it's from something on the Food Network.

That is correct. So, although, would watch, would watch Guy Fieri in a Scorsese movie. I'm open to it.

What is this intrigue? Is this intel? Is this "you're ready to be hurt again," being seduced by something new about a team? What direction are we going with this?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Okay. All of the above. This is a combination of intel, with the intel that has provided the most intrigue, and in some cases, the art of the possible. And truly, what powers college football at this time of year. It's not unique to college football. This is the case for pretty much every sport when you're in the offseason, to start talking about what the next season might have. But the intel that has led me down the path of intrigue, that has me genuinely in most cases optimistic, in some cases, just very curious as to what happens next.

Well, okay, so where do you want to start? Who is the team?

Okay. I like the drum fill at the end there.

Yeah. Here, well, here. "I can't wait to see this." It was just the way I cut it, you know.

I know, I got it.

Quarterback battles, right?

Okay. Quarterback battles for me are, obviously, first and foremost, this time of year. And what I am finding across the board, and perhaps this should not come as a huge surprise to anybody, but the teams that seem to have their quarterback situation set overwhelmingly seem to be the teams we feel the best about going into 2026. Even in some cases where there's a high-profile transfer quarterback that has come over, that has produced at their previous stop, I still generally don't feel as good about those teams as I tend to with respect to like a Notre Dame or a Texas.

Right. Okay.

And that includes a school like Miami. Miami we could talk about in a little bit here. Darian Mensah, very productive. I think everybody feels very strongly that Darian Mensah is going to be one of the better quarterbacks in college football.

For sure.

But still, I have questions about Miami as a result of some turnover elsewhere. So we'll get into that. But the one that I want to start off with is Florida State.

Okay, let's talk Florida State.

Florida State's in a really unique situation this year, unique being that Mike Norvell is very much starting the year on the hot seat. That was the case last year as well. But it is very much the case going into 2026. And so what they do, mindful of the fact that this is going to be a make-or-break year for Norvell, they go out there and go 5-7. It's dunzo. He ain't coming back next year. It looks like this is going to be between Ashton Daniels, the Auburn transfer, formerly at Stanford before that, and Kevin Sperry. Seems as if that's a two-horse race. Guys are a little bit different. Ashton Daniels, a little bit more of a scrambler, a little bit bigger frame. Sperry is much more of a pass, you know, pocket passer, let's say.

Yes. Very different.

So I look at these two quarterbacks and I trace back the narrative going back to the start of the spring and really the start of even before the transfer portal. And it seems as though there was a real assumption on behalf of many that this was just going to be given to Ashton Daniels. Not that there wouldn't be a competition, but that Ashton Daniels was going to be the dude. Even the tone of voice that Mike Norvell took on when talking about his two quarterbacks seemed to imply that, well, Kevin Sperry's got a little bit, he's got some challenges he needs to overcome, right?

Yep.

The tone has shifted now. There's been a real tone shift where it feels as though Mike Norvell, who's now calling the plays, remember Gus Malzahn walked away, so this is Norvell's deal on offense. There's been a tone shift where it seems as though now he's being a little bit more measured in how he goes about talking about these two quarterbacks. Ashton Daniels may have a bit of an athleticism edge, but I think there has been plenty out there now about: is he going to turn the ball over? What's it going to look like? Is he going to turn the ball over? And then on the quarterback race as a whole, it seems as though this is now a wide-open race. And the intel that I've been able to ascertain now over the last, I don't know, week or so, seems to imply that they're going to go into fall camp not having a great idea for who the quarterback is. And when they kick things off, it might be the first that any of us knows who is going to be the day-one starter. It just seems like this is genuinely a neck-and-neck quarterback race at this point. And TBD on who is going to get that nod. I love these types of stories, Dan, because we go into spring camp thinking one thing. We come out genuinely perplexed. Of course, it's not going to do any favors for Florida State hopefuls out there, who I think would like to have things more set in stone and have an understanding for where the team is headed. But it to me feels like this is one of those races worth monitoring. Maybe not because Florida State's going to be in the College Football Playoff or anything crazy, but just because there's a lot riding on this, you know? And furthermore, in the scrimmages that they've had most recently, because they were rotating in so many young offensive linemen, it was really tough to gauge which quarterback is ahead of the other. So for my money, and maybe not because I'm optimistic here one way or another, I genuinely don't know which direction this goes. But I just think it's notable that this seems neck and neck and with so much riding on it for the coach and for the program as a whole. Worth monitoring, yes, right?

Definitely should be on the radar, yes.

Yes, so on the offensive line front, they bring in a ton of new names in the portal, which I never like. I never like that if a team has to go wholesale changes and are going to depend to a probably significant degree on portal names, either for starters or significant contributors along the offensive line. That smells like trouble, especially since last year this was an offensive line that allowed a ton of pressures, and you couple that with, you know, Florida State wasn't a bad team last year.

No, they couldn't finish games, they gave away games, they were terrible in the red zone on defense. But it was a matter of like in those close games, in those 50-50 moments, there were just too many turnovers on offense and too many interceptions specifically. And so Mike Norvell, to whatever extent, has a pretty good reputation as an offensive whisperer, and we'll see if that works out this year. But, you know, Ashton Daniels has starting experience both at Stanford and a little bit at Auburn. Had a really nice game against Vanderbilt last year, ran well against Alabama in the Iron Bowl. So obviously, the seasoning advantage rides with Ashton Daniels. But I never like it when we don't see a story in the spring where it's like, "Oh, yeah, this guy's just so very clearly the guy."

Well, and I would go a step further. I mean, clearly the Jordan Travis move worked out pretty well for Norvell. Jordan Travis transferred in, right? That was one of the early sort of building blocks of the entire Norvell operation. That worked out really well before he got hurt, obviously. Jordan Travis was a vocal leader on this team and got Florida State to a point where, obviously, they thought things might be different a couple of years down the line, right? Felt like things were building. But since Jordan Travis is gone, DJ Uiagalelei, that didn't work. He was a transfer. Thomas Castellanos, that didn't work last year. And now that we're going on, I guess, a third straight year post-Jordan Travis of a new transfer, if it is Ashton Daniels being the guy. Yeah. What has Norvell shown any of us at this point that we should be confident that his next pick as a transfer quarterback is going to be the guy? I haven't seen it.

No. I mean, not much. Not much is my answer just because it's not the last piece. There's still so much that needs to get better for Florida State just to finish games and finish drives. And yeah, this sort of seems like hope for the best and one of these guys stays clean and they're able to win some close games. It doesn't feel super promising to me. I mean, the schedule's got Alabama, Miami, and Florida on it. In between, you've got schools like SMU, which won't be an easy out. Louisville, a week before the Miami game, they also play Clemson. I mean, this is not what I would consider an easy schedule by any stretch, especially for a team that might have some quarterback questions going into it.

And I don't think Ashton Daniels is a bad quarterback. I don't know if they got the most out of him at Auburn for plenty of other Auburn reasons.

Well, they didn't start him.

Didn't start him.

Didn't start him, right? So his story is complex as well. And I don't want to write off the fact that he could come in and be very good there, but we're deep into spring at this point, and it doesn't seem like there's a clear frontrunner. If anything, it seems like it's neck and neck. So that's the first thing that jumps out to me.

Next team.

Next team. "I can't wait to see this." Let's stick with the quarterback quandaries a little bit. Let's talk about Arizona State.

Oh, an interesting one.

Yeah. It's a four-way quarterback race right now. If you followed the spring game at all, all four quarterbacks got equal time. There was only one interception, but they credited the defense because it was a tipped pass. But quarterbacks, for the most part, all four of them looked relatively clean. Cutter Boley is the transfer from Kentucky. It is assumed that Cutter Boley is going to be the guy, but he's been pushed by Jake Fette, who is their true freshman. Cam Dyer is another name that's been around college football for a bit. Back from an ACL, he showed flashes throughout the course of spring practice. And also Mikey Keene.

Still there.

Mikey Keene still playing. Can't count him out. Actually, in the early part of spring practice, he impressed. I haven't heard much about him since then, but the takeaway from the spring scrimmage, anyway, is that all four quarterbacks were clean.

Right.

What I would call out here, though, is Cutter Boley, who, as I mentioned, was assumed to be the starter, definitely had a bout with interceptions early on in spring practice. And Jake Fette has come in and has been very consistent. If you read what any of the beat guys say, if you listen to any of the Arizona State podcasts, Fette has been very, very consistent. He has shown mobility. He's shown really good touch. It just seems as if he gets it. To the extent that Kenny Dillingham has gone out there publicly and praised what he has seen.

Yep.

So if we were to take anything away from that, I think there is a real question as to whether or not Cutter Boley separated himself enough via spring or if this is going to go into the fall. My hunch is it's going into the fall. My guess is Cutter Boley has not looked incredible this spring.

He hasn't. We're talking about a four-way battle. I'm being a little bit generous here with how I describe it.

Yeah, you're being diplomatic. It does not sound like he has been, like, the authoritative guy, like, "Oh, he's everything as promised." And I, you know, I don't know what the enthusiasm was in Lexington to have him back, but he was brought in with fanfare, with, you know, SEC starting experience, has made a bunch of big throws, has had good games against tough teams. I cannot believe Mikey Keene is still Mikey Keene: UCF, Fresno State, Michigan, ASU, has gone from a school touching the Atlantic Ocean, touching the Pacific Ocean, touching Canada, and now touching Mexico. Just all bases covered in this great land. He is the human embodiment of modern conference realignment.

Correct. He is Lewis and Clark, and Mikey.

So look, obviously, if he were to get the nod, veteran experience, clearly not the long-term answer that Kenny Dillingham would shoot for.

I wouldn't say short-term answer either, right?

I would assume no, but again, in the early part of spring anyway, it looked as if he was okay. My hunch is that it's still probably Cutter Boley, given the fact that, as we've mentioned here a few times on the show, Kenny Dillingham initially recruited him. This is going back to his days at Oregon, right? So he liked Cutter Boley. He obviously went out there and brought him down. There was some talk about where are they going to go now after Sam Leavitt. Dylan Raiola's name came up a little bit, but Cutter Boley was eventually the dude. And he's got some years of eligibility ahead of him as well. So presumably he is still the guy. But I think that is another situation worth watching, if only because there's a guy coming back from an ACL who showed some real flashes in spring in Cam Dyer, and Jake Fette, the true freshman, has been really, really solid. Very consistent and publicly praised by the coach.

Yeah. And so I don't think it's a done deal. What the ASU quarterback, whoever wins that job, what the ASU guy has around him and will have to contend with, should have a couple of at least really promising receivers to throw to in Omarion Miller and Reed Harris.

I love Omarion Miller.

I like Omar.

Yep. Obviously, losing Raleek Brown to Texas is a big loss in terms of his emergence last season. The offensive line was not particularly good last year, but it was also no real Sam Leavitt for a big chunk of the season. So it's hard to really look at what ASU was and wasn't on offense last year.

So look, I would argue Kenny Dillingham as a guy with a reputation for quarterback development is ahead of Mike Norvell, even though obviously they were together. But with what Kenny Dillingham has done at ASU and what he did in his short time at Oregon, there's every reason to think ASU, whoever this guy is, if healthy, will have an opportunity to be his best self in this offense.

Yeah, I mean, the offense is kind of a portal gamble on many different fronts. You mentioned the line. I mean, the biggest question mark on the team is, I think, the offensive line. They don't have much back, if anything, but zero returning starters, I want to say, I saw on the offensive line. So that's going to be a question. And I was going through some coach quotes here before we hit go. Like, Kenny Dillingham has made some comments to the effect of like, "Ah, this team doesn't look," does it look like they're where I want it to be in terms of physicality? You know, just maybe a more diplomatic way of saying that they kind of look soft at this point, which, it's early at spring and there's a long way to go here. But there's a reason to chart this one as well on the quarterback front because I think it's going to get interesting. They do have Texas A&M on September 12th. Texas A&M. Figure it out. Figure it out.

One other quarterback battle here on, "I can't wait to see this." Please. The Florida quarterback situation is kind of weird. So we had assumed, and we even did, I think, an episode here not too long ago about Aaron Philo, mentioned why Aaron Philo was interesting and an under-the-radar guy to keep trap, keep tabs on, keep track of given the connection between him and Buster Faulkner, who is now the new offensive coordinator, coming down also from Georgia Tech to hopefully reboot things at Florida. Tramell Jones Jr. has looked really good thus far this spring. And you could make the case that he sort of won the spring game. He looked really solid through, two touchdowns, no interceptions. He definitely has a bit of an edge in terms of athleticism. Aaron Philo probably has the edge just in terms of an extra year under his belt, he obviously knows the offense a little bit better given that connection with Faulkner. But I think this is worth monitoring. I think if you read between the lines, based on what I can tell listening to our friend Gator Dave and reading others around the Florida world, it seems as though Jon Sumrall is still sort of, I'm interpreting, sort of leaning towards Aaron Philo, but has definitely given the impression that this is a close race between these two guys, or closer than many would have expected. Because Tramell Jones looked good. He connected on like a 75-yard touchdown pass in their spring scrimmage, which was, I believe, this past weekend. It should not be assumed that it's a done deal at this point. It's going to just go to Philo. It just seems like this is going to be something that we're not going to find out until fall camp. Philo did have two picks in that scrimmage. Sumrall kind of waved it off. You know, it's like, he threw behind him a little bit. He's not where he wants to be, and it's not a big deal. So I don't think we should read too deep into that. But Tramell Jones Jr. is giving it his all. And we should not just assume it's going to be Philo's job.

Yes. The interesting thing will be to what extent either of these guys will be used as a runner in Buster Faulkner's offense at Florida. Last year's Georgia Tech offense was actually pretty balanced in terms of what they were successful in doing. They were a better rushing team than passing team. The big deal will be, if you're looking specifically at what Georgia Tech struggled with last year, which I think is kind of a fool's errand, honestly, because it's just a new team, new situation, new, you know, different players and stuff like that. But with the offense, they did struggle in the red zone some last year. So maybe that's something that they're looking at with these guys. I'm sure it is something that they're looking at with how they perform in those high-leverage moments. The only difference between these two to me is, well, a difference is Tramell Jones is not big.

No.

I think he's like 5'11", 6' tall, something like that. He's not especially big. And so I wonder, you know, to what extent the offense is being looked at with quarterbacks running and maybe not running in the way that Haynes King was able to take advantage of.

Yeah. And you know, like the Faulkner system, you don't need a quarterback who is like CJ Carr. They're not necessarily looking for a quarterback who's out there as a fully finished product. I think you can get by just fine in this system without that, which works to their advantage given circumstances. I don't know how deep we can read into what we saw in the spring game. Dallas Wilson's out. Everyone right now is dealing with injuries and keeping guys out, in some cases, on a pitch count, so that there aren't further concerns down the line with respect to health. But this one to me was, I put it on my list. I'm interested in this just because I kind of didn't expect it. I was assuming that it was going to be Philo. I think the assumption should still be that it's going to be Philo. But Tramell Jones Jr. has given it his all. He really has. He's looked good.

By the way, what I do like when you talk about quarterback competitions is I do like watching a spring game, even if you don't know how the teams are broken up, you don't know what the offensive lines are, because that's like, this is everywhere where you'll see a sentence or you'll hear somebody talk about the offensive line. We're like, "Well, we don't really have a good read on the offensive line because they're mixing and matching and trying this guy out at right tackle and this guy out at left guard." So you're not actually necessarily seeing if there were a game tomorrow what the offensive line would actually look like. But what I do like seeing is what the reports are out of the A-Day game, the Alabama spring game, where basically there is this unified opinion: like, "Oh, yeah, Keelon Russell's better."

Well, hold on, hold on. "I can't wait to see this." So, give me the, I didn't read enough on the A-Day game, 'cause I've been nose-down looking at some of these other races. I know you flagged the Alabama one. Very high-profile quarterback battle. Keelon Russell, Austin Mack. Austin Mack is a bit, much bigger dude, came with DeBoer from Washington. And I went so far as to say, was it last year, before last year, "Oh, Milroe"? I recall saying that I wouldn't be surprised if they turned it over to Austin Mack because it didn't feel like Milroe was a great fit for what DeBoer wanted to do. Now they found a way to do it. Or Ty Simpson that year. Or Ty Simpson, right? Like, it was. I've been waiting. This is a long way of saying, I've been waiting to see what Austin Mack could do on center stage when he gets his time. But is it going to be Austin Mack or is it going to be Keelon Russell? Because Keelon Russell is very, very good as well.

Okay, Austin Mack was a little bit dinged up. He didn't throw as many passes as Keelon Russell, I don't believe. The other big thing is just, so it's not Ryan Williams anymore, it's Ryan Coleman-Williams. Ryan Coleman-Williams, RCW. Get that in your lexicon. I think it's Cederian Morgan, the big new true freshman receiver who's come in. He turned heads. And so there's obviously offensive line questions, linebacker questions for Alabama. The secondary looks like it's in an incredible spot. You know, new full-time guys along the defensive line. But if they're able, I mean, look, the big question to Alabama is: what is the running game going to look like? But obviously, when you have a new quarterback, that's always going to be at the top of the mountain in terms of questions. And it looked like Keelon Russell, the speed with which he operated and got the ball out and improvised, it just looked like you're like, "Oh, you can see a super high ceiling why this kid was a five-star coming out of high school." And it just looked like, "Oh, yeah, that guy's a starting quarterback at a major place." And so I think that's what sort of popped to people who watched this game, myself included.

So we think he's the favorite. Is that what you're saying?

I think so. But look, if Austin Mack's injury was very real and he wasn't able to show off what he has grown into, look, maybe it'll continue into the fall in earnest. But it looked like Keelon Russell just had the appearance of being the guy more than Austin Mack, who did make a couple of really nice throws, to be sure. I'm very curious about this line.

Yeah. The line to me is definitely 1B in terms of questions going into the season. The quarterback, we all know that the quarterback race is going to be the main headline about Alabama this offseason. But is the offensive line going to function well enough to support a better run game? Because now, turning this thing over to a much greener quarterback, you've got to have a run game. It can't be one-dimensional this year and expect to get back to the playoff. I just don't see it.

Okay. Next team. "I can't wait to see this." Let's talk about Notre Dame, baby.

Okay. Um, there is not a quarterback derby going on at Notre Dame. At least I certainly hope not. If there is, that means there's an injury. But CJ Carr has been great out there so far. He's been taunting defenders. There's a clip of him running into the end zone, pointing at defenders. I believe there's been some commentary from some of the coaching staff that CJ is definitely more of a vocal leader this time around, sort of picking some fights and bringing an intensity that they like. They all like intensity in the spring, as you know.

Of course.

But the three position groups in particular that I think are notable for Notre Dame on the offensive side of the football: running back, offensive line, and wide receiver. Those three things are what I am most interested in going into the fall. What are they going to do at running back, right? We're doing this about a week and a half before the NFL draft. We're going to see both Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price get picked. I mean, Love's going in the top 10. Jadarian Price probably in the first three rounds. We will have a draft show, maybe more draft shows than usual, upcoming here over the next week and a half. So stay tuned for that. But it's a big hole for Notre Dame because so much of what they did offensively was built around the ground game. On top of it now, in the spring, Aneyas Williams nicked up, Kedren Young working his way back from injuries, some freshmen who are not yet on campus, which has really opened things up for Nolan James Jr., who has been out there and really impressive so far at the running back position. I don't know if it's enough to sort of differentiate himself into the point where he's going to be like RB1. But there's probably a conversation to be had about where his role is on the depth chart now, given what he has shown so far this spring. So this is maybe more of like addition by subtraction, in a sense, or at least clarification by subtraction, because some of the other names that I was looking at are not really an active part of the spring thus far, or as active, but Nolan James Jr. is a name worth tracking here if you're a Notre Dame fan or if you've got Notre Dame on your schedule. Nolan James Jr., remember that name.

Yeah, I mean, who is going to be the guy to tote the rock against Navy and Rice and Purdue and Boston College? It's, you know, Michigan State. What a question. He is going to be running behind a line that also looks to me to be upgraded in a sense.

That's probably right. Yeah. Will Black is going to slide in at left tackle. And Anthonie Knapp, who has been the left tackle for each of the last two seasons, started there as a true freshman after there were some injuries. Stayed there last year. Now he's going to be moving to the inside as Will Black assumes his role as left tackle. Everybody is going crazy for Will Black. They're talking him up like he's going to be a franchise left tackle. You know, everything you would want to hear as a fan, and you got to temper some of this and take it with a grain of salt because you got a lot of like team guys talking about it. There is some homerism that sneaks in here. You know, like this is true for all these teams. But I do like the commentary that you get from members of the defense that play up against the likes of Will Black or really anybody along the offensive line. And overwhelmingly, everybody's been like, "This dude's awesome. He's going to be really, really good," which is what you like to hear when you've got a team like Notre Dame that has loved to play a very physical brand of a rushing offense, something that you love to hear, of course, when you've got what appears to be a quarterback of the future, or at least for the immediate future, in CJ Carr. Will Black is, I think, going to be a pretty nice addition to this offensive line in 2026. So I'm excited about that.

Yeah. Yeah, there's the good news if you're a Notre Dame fan. Aside from me being pithy about the schedule, there was no obvious place that Notre Dame was bad either on the roster or in terms of how they played their games. Now, maybe you can look at it like, okay, they didn't perform well against the best two teams they played, and that's fine. But that's the good news, even with the roster questions. If the offensive line and the defensive front look like they're going to be at a good place, you're talking about the margins where, you know, if it's an injury to a presumed starter or whatever, and you're looking at young guys, Notre Dame is in a great place. They're in a great place. And each of the last two seasons going into the year, there were real questions about the offensive line, right? Charles Jagusah has not been healthy for what feels like forever. He's got high upside, but the guy can't stay on the field. He was hurt the entirety of their national championship run two years ago when they got to that game, then ended up playing through the playoffs because of other injuries along the line, was hurt, didn't really play much of a factor at all since. So it's interesting to see how this line develops. But Will Black is a name that I've been watching certainly when they recruited him as a five-star, and now he's going to step in at left tackle. Moving Anthonie Knapp to the inside at guard, I think, is the right move as well. So they're in a situation where they've got an embarrassment of riches up front, which I like.

Yeah, I don't have a ton.

Okay, sorry, continue.

The only other thing I was going to mention is that Jaden Greathouse is still not healthy out wide, which is a bummer for him. And I was a huge Jaden Greathouse believer. And I was hoping we would see more out of him last year, but just could not get healthy. And now, what's happened? He had nine targets and four catches last season. I mean, he was just, he was not a presence at all. He was hurt the whole year.

Yep.

And so Notre Dame is not going to stand by idly and just give the job to Greathouse whenever he's good and healthy. They went out in the portal. They brought two guys over from Ohio State. They've also recruited well at that position. They're going to have a very, I don't want to say a deep receiver room, they're going to be deep with options at receiver. And so some of what we have seen now in the spring is some of these younger guys pop in. The name to watch is Bubba Frazier. Bubba Frazier was not the highest-ranked recruit that they brought in this class. He's certainly not the biggest guy. I think he's like 5'10". But everyone out there has been complaining about trying to cover this guy.

Right, right.

This includes some of Notre Dame's secondary, which should be a really good secondary, one of the best in the country. Everyone is going crazy for Bubba Frazier and his ability to sort of make people miss and how difficult he is to cover. The understanding of the offense, he seems like he could be a plug-and-play guy who, you know, we've got a long way to go here before the season starts, but they're certainly not short on options out wide to try and fill out that receiver room, and that's a name that's been popping.

Okay. So he's going to be potentially a problem.

A problem. A problem. A problem.

Anyway, I'll drone on too long about Notre Dame. What do you got for me? "I can't wait to see this."

I mean, we can talk about, I mean, very briefly, we can talk about Oregon because they just returned so many guys. I mean, their questions are about coordinators, I guess. They promote two guys in Chris Hampton and Drew Mehringer. Oregon's going to be just fine. They're deep with good receivers, I think, in a way that Notre Dame isn't necessarily because they just return, you know, Dakorien Moore and Evan Stewart and Jeremiah McClellan from last year. Kenyon Sadiq is gone, but Jamari Johnson steps in and I think they basically have the same amount of yards last season. They both are over 500 yards. So they're in a great position at tight end. The big question with Oregon is basically going to be where the offensive line ends up. And so replacing both tackles and a guard. They have options. They brought in a transfer from Yale. They're mixing and matching all over the place. They had a scrimmage. The defense seemed to be well ahead, allegedly, which is normal for the spring, especially with mix-and-match offensive lines. Strength of the defense up front: there's they return all four starting defensive linemen, or however you're going to qualify, an edge player and then three defensive linemen. And the secondary, even with bringing in Koi Perich from Minnesota, who seems to be as advertised, their corners should just be, I think, a huge strength. It could be one of the best corner duos in the country. Brandon Finney and Ify Obidegwu. They're in a great place. You know, Evan Stewart's health is a question. I think this is the first spring that he's actually played at Oregon.

Right.

And so we'll see in their spring game at the end of the month. But to me, it's just the intel, the quote-unquote intel with Oregon is what their offensive line looks like, who's playing where in the spring game and bleeding into fall camp. You know, they have options. They're, you know, they have a five-star freshman coming in. I don't know. Incoming offensive linemen, I think, are both built like basically angry vending machines. So I think they'll be rotation pieces. I don't think they're going to start right away, and we can sort of transition to Miami if you want, to talk about a freshman tackle coming in.

I'll talk about it. But, yeah, I mean, it's Dante Moore. It's, you know, they go four or five deep at running back with Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill back. They're in a really advantaged position. And aside from offensive line, I don't see any real open questions about Oregon spring-wise.

I am rooting like hell for Evan Stewart.

Okay. I'm rooting like hell for them. I mean, not if they play Notre Dame or Penn State, but otherwise, I mean, he has just not been able to stay on the field for Oregon and showed a lot of promise, was obviously a very highly touted recruit coming out of high school. Popped against Ohio State a couple of years ago in the regular season.

Yeah. I mean, showed that he can be an explosive vertical threat, very slippery after the catch. I mean, he has so much of what you want out of a receiver, but the guy's got to stay healthy. So seeing him out there in the spring, and I know wanting to play on, what is it, the 25th, their spring game, is paramount for him. So I'm curious to see if he's able to play a factor this year for Oregon. That would obviously make Dante Moore a lot more dangerous as a passer.

Yeah. And it's obviously a great position because you bring in like UAB's best receiver in Iverson Hooks, and like not necessarily a depth piece, but they're just going to be deep in the secondary, bringing in, you know, guys on both sides of the ball, speed-wise and depth-wise along the defensive line. So, no, they should be in a nice position.

You know, that's been the story on Evan Stewart, right? Like, otherworldly talent, can you stay on the field? All right, you mentioned Miami. Where's my thing? "I can't wait to see this."

So I can't wait to see this, actually.

Good.

I'm, you know, I whiffed on Miami last year pretty bad when we did our preview. They didn't win the ACC.

They didn't win the ACC, so I guess I was right about that.

But my thought was that they were going to be slower on offense, if only because it was definitely a shift in personnel going from the likes of Cam Ward to Carson Beck. Those are two very different quarterbacks, Dan.

What I could not have accounted for and certainly did not account for is how good they'd be along the offensive line. I should have known. I think I willfully chose to ignore it because they played Notre Dame in week one. And nobody knew about Malachi Toney as a true freshman. Malachi Toney was incredible. Is a constant threat. So coming into this season now, I'm trying to be a little bit more balanced with respect to Miami. I have nothing but the highest praise for Darian Mensah. Maybe not with respect to how he got to Miami and his business acumen. But in terms of him on the field, there's not a whole lot to doubt there. He's somewhere in between Cam Ward and Carson Beck. He's clearly an accurate passer who knows how to process. He'll do just fine in the Shannon Dawson system. And Malachi Toney is back for a true sophomore campaign. We know the deal with him. He is a menace out there. But what I'm looking at is this offensive line now, because pretty much the entire offensive line is new. And how that group comes together, I think, is going to really determine how high Miami goes this season. They've got all the other pieces. But along the offensive line, certainly along the defensive line, they're losing a lot as well. That is going to be, I think, first and foremost the question for the Canes going into this season. So thus far, Jackson Cantwell, who was, what was his deal? I'm trying to remember the deal with Jackson Cantwell coming out of high school. He was like, committed to Miami and then not committed to Miami. What am I trying to remember here about Jackson?

No, no, no. I mean, he was just a huge name. He was down to, I want to say, Miami, Georgia, and Georgia.

Yeah. I mean, I don't know if you're conflating him with, I think it was Jared Curtis, who was committed to Georgia, decommitted, looked like he was going to Oregon. Recommitted to Georgia and then committed to Vanderbilt because he's from Nashville. Jackson Cantwell was just sort of down between those schools and looked good for all three at a certain point, but obviously with Mario Cristobal and Alex Mirabal's track record with offensive linemen ended up there. There were like, there were stories about just how much Miami offered, and maybe that's what I'm thinking of. I don't, listen, there's a look, every, a million recruiting stories every year now that revolve around the money and the offers and stuff like that. So I'm getting them mixed up a little bit. But anyway, Cantwell, in the offensive line world, and there were a number of really big and well-thought-of offensive linemen coming into the 2026 class, that Cantwell is the, like, "Oh, this guy's, looks like and has the brain and body and maturity, like, oh, this is just like an NFL player," right? That he is ready to play immediately and just understands the nuances of the position and is just, you know, built for success almost immediately. So he, everybody's looking at him as like he is going to slide into a tackle spot almost immediately. And the way that, you know, with Mirabal and Cristobal, Penei Sewell was able to do it at Oregon. From day one, Penei Sewell started at left tackle. Only had him for two years because he sat out 2020. That thought of in that same way, that it was like an effortless transition. And it seems as though that's going to be the case here again for Jackson Cantwell because he is a true freshman and he's been damn impressive so far.

Yeah. He's been really, really good for Miami in the early goings, and there's no reason to expect that he's not going to be the starting left tackle week one.

It is kind of amazing with Miami, not to interrupt, but to briefly interrupt. They're like, yeah, Darian Mensah, good quarterback, right? The back half of his year was sort of uneven and not as impressive for Duke last year. Still won the ACC. Brings over his best receiver in Cooper Barkate, the Harvard to Duke to now to Miami transfer. Mark Fletcher's back. And so, if you're going to give Mario and Alex Mirabal the benefit of the doubt, that's me doing my best Jesse Palmer impression, with like, "Over-" noticing you have to go to coordinate-

And Alex Mirabal offensively.

Several times.

That's right.

Yeah. Yeah. Defense is loaded, right?

So that if they're able to figure that out, and by all indications, Darian Mensah is as advertised, he should have the opportunity to practice against, even without the defensive linemen who are gone in Mesidor and Rueben Bain, on all three levels there's a ton of experience and a ton of talent. And I haven't even mentioned Malachi Toney as you did. Miami should be in an amazing place. I mean, they should.

I mean, it's, they have to replace like 22 sacks, I want to say, walking out the door with Bain and Mesidor, both of whom are going to be drafted in about a week and a half as well. So they're losing a lot. And that's not even counting the totality of the pressures that they added to the tally sheet in 2025. But I think they'll be fine. Damon Wilson, right, comes over from Mizzou. That's a pretty big add that figures to be kind of like the primary replacement. I don't think he's closing that gap on his own, but there's enough there to feel good about Miami and their pass rush and what they'll be along the defensive line. But offensive line for me is really the question. And we tend to assume a lot when we're talking about a crystal-ball team. And I don't see any reason to doubt that coming into the season. But there's just, there's plenty of new on this roster, and what the line looks like to me is of particular interest, which is why I jotted it down on my list here. So far, so good.

Another all-time spring quote season of like, "We've, yes, you know, we lost a bunch of dudes, but we've never had a team that's felt this deep at receiver or at, you know, linebacker." I've been seeing the notion, yeah, they've been talking that up about their receiver room. Like, "Well, it's, you know, we have questions, but it's never felt like it's this, never been." And like, "There's a lot of unfinished business out there, Ty. There's a lot. Oregon Ducks unfinished." There's a lot. Like the way that season ended last year, take your pick for this team or that team. You know, just it left a sour taste in our mouth. And then you have, of course, I've seen this a couple different places, but I saw, I want to say Sark at Texas is like, "There's just a different feel this year. I don't know what to tell you. There's just a different feel."

Yep. Yep. Vibes is vibe season, man.

Oh, it's vibe season.

It is vibe season. Let me give you some rapid-fire ones, okay?

Please, please. "I can't wait to see this."

You give, you some rapid-fire ones. Did you see Colorado walking out of the tunnel this week? Man, talk about vibes. It's not fully fair, I don't think. Brendan Marion called it clickbait. He called it clickbait. He said it wasn't fair. But I mean, coming out of the tunnel, they looked like a high school team. These guys were not bigger than me.

Right. Bigger than you. Speak for yourself.

It did not present as if, "Yeah, these guys are going to be able to go toe-to-toe with like BYU."

Right.

And take them. Like, it did not feel very encouraging, at least on the eye test.

I'm with you. I also noticed the crowd for the spring game, which again, spring game context is very different than it used to be. But there was a lot of excitement for Coach Prime's first year, second year, whatever. Folsom Field, it kind of looked like a White Sox game in mid-August. The vibes were not as electric as they were these last couple years in Boulder, but we'll see.

I'm interested in Jaden Craig, the Harvard transfer at TCU. I have been detecting reports around his arm strength.

Okay.

I.e., under-throwing passes, i.e., if your arm isn't super strong, you need to do a little bit better in the anticipation department and throwing guys open instead of waiting for them to come open.

Sure.

We have seen some issues around that to the extent where some in the TCU world have talked about that they need to tweak the offense if he's the unquestioned starter.

Right. Right.

So if we can't throw downfield the way we might like, are we playing a little bit more pickleball? Is it a shorter field than some would expect? I don't know if that's true. I don't know if that's fair. We certainly know that Jaden Craig is a little bit more of a runner. He's a bigger guy than the likes of Josh Hoover. And for what it's worth, he didn't really turn the ball over nearly as much as Josh Hoover did. So maybe there's an upgrade, and maybe it all comes out in the wash. He was an Ivy League quarterback, to be sure. So different than throwing into like the Texas Tech defense.

I'm with you. I'm just pointing out some of why this makes it interesting to me.

Right. And this makes it interesting to me to see what Jaden Craig looks like in the Big 12.

Yeah, I mean, look, Josh Hoover last season completed 65% of his passes, did, you know, I think Sonny Dykes was very clear about his thoughts about the turnovers that Josh Hoover was involved with, and then, you know, the back and forth with he and Kurt Cignetti. But I don't love to see that kind of thing in spring where it's like, "Oh, he doesn't really have much of an arm."

No.

And maybe that's being overblown in spring, and maybe he, but I'm just, not an ideal first impression.

I haven't seen it phrased as he doesn't have much of an arm.

Okay.

But I have seen a lot of like indirect reference to the arm strength.

Allusions?

Yeah. Yeah. People talking about underthrows pretty consistently in the early part of spring, anyway. So just watch that. Just watch.

Okay. Um, Oklahoma State, man. It seems like the vibes are good in Stillwater.

Great. Okay. Vibes are great everywhere.

Of course. But vibes are really good at, I'm going to stay right. First of all, I don't know if the vibes are great everywhere. We've gone through what? The Ashton Daniels, Kevin Sperry quarterback competition. The vibes are good. Everything I read about Florida.

No, no, no. Vibes are great. Vibes are, everyone's feeling great.

But Oklahoma State, you would understand why quarterback vibes are significantly higher than where they were last couple of years.

Yeah, and just in general, you know, it was time for a change of scenery at Oklahoma State. And, you know, Gundy was great there for a long time, but clearly it had slipped off. It was not good the last couple of years. So this was time. This was the right move for the Pokes to make. And I bring this up because obviously there's a lot of hype around what the offense can be. It's an Eric Morris team. The guy's a quarterback whisperer. Obviously, Drew Mestemaker was incredible last year. Brings over Caleb Hawkins. They've got like this trio of guys at the skill positions that they're going to feel great about on offense. And there's no reason to think they're not going to be able to put up points. But actually, defensively, yeah, I have been surprised at what I have been reading about what they look like along the defensive line and how they feel about their pass rush coming into this season. And it's interesting to follow, if only because it's been a minute since Oklahoma State had a defense worth talking about. And if the defense comes in, and if at least along the defensive line, if they are better at getting quarterback pressures than people expect, what does that mean for the Pokes this year in year one under Eric Morris? Now, might it be a function of an offensive line that's still finding its way? Yeah, it could be the case. There was a lot here without pads. Also, that's worth noting. Okay, so you got to take this stuff with a grain of salt, but so much of what we do this time of year is try to read vibes, try to get a sense for how the people who are team experts feel about what they're seeing. I've been surprised at the level of optimism around what they could be along the defensive front. And so it's just worth monitoring because the Big 12 is wide open. I happen to think Oklahoma State's going to be better than people expect. I'm constantly testing that theory based on what I read and what I've seen recently based on their defensive line. And, I don't know, just feels overwhelmingly positive.

Well, the good news for Eric Morris and the good news for Oklahoma State is anything competent and competitive will be an upgrade over where Oklahoma State has been for the most part these past couple of seasons. There is zero pressure on this Oklahoma State even program, but defense specifically. And I know they spent in the portal. Obviously, Drew Mestemaker didn't go to Stillwater out of the goodness of his heart, but if Oklahoma State is fielding a competitive team, I think the defensive coordinator just came with Eric Morris from North —

Yeah, Skyler Cassity.

So Skyler Cassity is the highest-paid assistant on staff.

Yeah. And his proof is in the pudding. I mean, he improved the North Texas defense from 114th all the way up to 64th nationally in one season. And in terms of a pass defense, they were really up there. So he did a really, really good job. The problem is that what he's inheriting is pretty grim. You know, I mean, they gave up 33 points a game, something like that, a year ago, well over 400 yards. So he's got work to do. Their pass defense, especially, was really, really bad last—

Well, like, what does it matter, though, if it's an entirely new?

It doesn't. It doesn't. But I'm saying this is the starting point.

And this is why I have a hard time. This is why I have a hard time truly understanding: is it just the vibes are good because it was so bad last year and it can't get any worse?

Totally.

Or are the vibes good because what people are seeing is genuinely good stuff? I don't know. I'm not at practice. I'm just trying to read the tea leaves as best I can. But I thought that was notable because Oklahoma State's team. I like this here, if only because of the offense, but when I start seeing things about defense and optimism there, it's like, okay, this is something I need to flag in my notebook. Should be noted. This is a, what is it, Skyler Cassity, you'd say?

Skyler Cassity, yeah. North Texas' run defense last year was God-awful. It was bad. It's not good. So, different teams had a good pass defense, obviously, had the number-one passing offense, not Skyler Cassity, in the country. So, there's a lot that, like, it seems that even with the good vibes on defense, if Oklahoma State's going to win games, you might be seeing some 38-33s. And look, for what it's worth, and it's just the preseason, but for what it's worth, our friend Bill Connelly had them projected on defense at like number 52.

Okay.

Which is not great.

Okay. They'll take it. Huge jump forward compared to where they were a year ago. You would take that if you're a Pokes fan. I'm just saying.

Heartbeat.

Yeah. Throwing it out there. All right. Why don't we leave it there? So, look, again, we say this all the time. We're not team experts, though we play one on the podcast from time to time. These are some things that jumped out to me, to Dan. But if there are any things that jump out to you, we would love to hear about it. And certainly, if there's anything that we missed in talking about these teams based on the limited intel we have here from spring, hit us up, solidverbal@gmail.com, open-door policy. Let us know what's going on in your world. And what we got right, what we got wrong, what maybe we should be paying a little bit more attention to. We'd love to hear from you. If not via email, anywhere out on social media. Comments are always welcome. Leave it on Spotify, on YouTube, wherever it is you find the show. Certainly, if you made it this far, hit follow or subscribe. We'd love to have you with us all throughout the offseason.

Definitely. As I said now, with the draft coming up, we've done a draft show the last couple of years. We'll do that again, talk through just how some of these college stars that we follow so closely project into the NFL, and then maybe we'll do something a little bit different as well, to sort of react to how some of these guys went in the draft and how they might project again moving forward to the next level. It is one of those weird points of intersect in the college football calendar where you watch, even if you're not an NFL fan, you tend to watch just because you're interested to see where some of these stars go, some of these guys that we've been following for the last two, three to four years. So, um, or seven years in some cases. Like, no, the interesting nature of like the trickle down from scheme and roster building and the trickle up from like, "This is what's happening in college. And so, if you really want to get the best out of this dude, you should incorporate this way of using him into your scheme." And I just read a bunch on, just from like a football dork perspective, how Mike Macdonald has like weaponized the pass rush and overloading fronts, and just that you're going to see that kind of stuff in college because it's a new idea. Everybody copies everybody. And so, if a school has the ability to throw different kinds of players along the defensive line or showing different things to force an offensive line's hand, it's all interesting. So I'm very excited for it.

And again, these guys are all coming out of college, and we have seen this time and again, the scheme to see in college, the best of them anyway, given the personnel moving up, that stuff tends to find its way, filter ever so slightly into the NFL and some of the snakes that you see on Sundays. So it's all connected here in the Verballer Hood, and we appreciate having everybody stop on by and download and support the show. Verballers.com is where you can go if you want to sign up, get ad-free episodes, bonus perks, and the like. We will be back a little bit later on this week, but we hope to hear from you before then. For that guy over there, Dan. For myself, Ty. We'll catch you all on Thursday. Say solid. Peace.