Mike Lombardi’s Leave, Quotes from Media Days and the QB Battles to Watch
Ty Hildenbrandt [00:18]: Dan Rubenstein, welcome back, my great and good friend. Today is, effectively, a deep breath.
Dan Rubenstein [00:28]: Okay, good.
Ty Hildenbrandt [00:28]: We are taking a deep breath. We have been deep in the weeds. When it comes to all things preview content, go back and listen to the intro to 2026.
Ty Hildenbrandt [00:37]: All six G6 conferences were covered in a two-part podcast episode, or group of episodes, that we did a few weeks back. We're through the ACC, we're through the Big 12, and as luck would have it,
Ty Hildenbrandt [00:50]: maybe in our older and wiser years, we've learned a thing or two. We gave ourselves this episode, today's episode, to catch up on all things news because, in the past, we've never been able to do that.
Ty Hildenbrandt [01:01]: Once we get into preview mode, we're plowing on through. This year, a little bit different. We're giving ourselves one episode, one episode to catch up on things worth catching up on.
Ty Hildenbrandt [01:11]: So, welcome back.
Dan Rubenstein [01:13]: A.K.A., what's new with Pat Narduzzi, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt [01:17]: That's right.
Dan Rubenstein [01:18]: We needed a little bit more space to figure out what's new with Pat Narduzzi. This is a fun episode, as always. I like ketchup. I like—actually, I don't like the condiment ketchup, but I like to catch up.
Ty Hildenbrandt [01:30]: No, you're staunchly anti-catch-up, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein [01:32]: I'm anti-ketchup. Sugary paste for children. I am very excited for this show because we have had media day conversations.
Dan Rubenstein [01:40]: We've had some updated news. We still have some ongoing situations with quarterback battles coming up as fall camp is about to open here in the next few days, it seems, even with a kind of different schedule.
Dan Rubenstein [01:53]: The season seems to be starting later this year with just how Labor Day falls. But no, there's a lot in college football. The energy seems to be rising.
Dan Rubenstein [02:00]: And so I think it's a good moment to step up and have a conversation.
Ty Hildenbrandt [02:06]: It's not just the energy, Dan. I see the numbers starting to tilt up and to the right. Things are starting to move here.
Ty Hildenbrandt [02:13]: People are starting to catch wind of the fact that the season's about a month out or so. Welcome on. If you're new here, please hit follow or subscribe.
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Ty Hildenbrandt [03:01]: written by our good friend Tyler, who does a marvelous job. This week, he's talking about the University of Texas, Dan. University of Texas.
Ty Hildenbrandt [03:09]: Last week was LSU. He's been making his way through some of these setups that he finds most interesting going into the 2026 season. So, a lot in store.
Dan Rubenstein [03:18]: Oh, so not about the University of Texas tennis dynasty that has been very—I mean, maybe not a dynasty, but they've been strong lately.
Ty Hildenbrandt [03:25]: Is it a dynas— I was going to ask you, is it a dynasty?
Dan Rubenstein [03:25]: Eliot Spizzirri? No, I want to say TCU won the national championship a couple years ago. Virginia has been strong. Wake Forest has been quite strong. So a lot of ACC, I will say. The ACC represents itself as a tennis conference, first and foremost, quite well on the hard court.
Ty Hildenbrandt [03:42]: That's terrific. Well, no, he's not talking about that.
Dan Rubenstein [03:43]: Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [03:45]: He's talking about the football stuff that our audience would care about.
Dan Rubenstein [03:45]: Okay, got it.
Ty Hildenbrandt [03:49]: But, of course, free: SolidVerbal.com/newsletter.
Dan Rubenstein [03:54]: Does a great job.
Ty Hildenbrandt [03:55]: All right, so on today's episode, as we hinted at the top, we wanted to give ourselves an opportunity to touch base on some of the news and some of the quotes and some of the things that we are tracking here that have gone on since we last hit go on a non-preview episode. It's been a couple of weeks.
Ty Hildenbrandt [04:14]: There have been a few things that have bubbled up, but perhaps none more so than this one, Dan. Just as we were putting this together this morning, I kid you not. The stork that is the college football provider, creator, whatever—the stork dropped this story right in our laps.
Dan Rubenstein [04:34]: Provider, creator? Sure.
Ty Hildenbrandt [04:43]: Mike Lombardi has been placed on leave by North Carolina, reportedly stemming from an HR complaint filed by a former front office employee. Mike Lombardi, of course, is the GM, or at least was the GM for North Carolina.
Ty Hildenbrandt [05:01]: He was earning a base pay of $1.5 million per year to help construct that organization. He was the guy that Bill Belichick wanted to be the guy behind the roster construction efforts.
Ty Hildenbrandt [05:16]: This adds to, I think, the growing list of things that have been an unmitigated disaster since Bill Belichick got there. And perhaps none of us should be all that surprised that we had another North Carolina story bubble up here in the offseason or shortly before we officially get into the quote-unquote preseason.
Ty Hildenbrandt [05:34]: But Lord knows we had plenty of it last year with Belichick, his escapades, whatever we want to call it. And now this year we've got Mike Lombardi putting things, I guess, into a little bit more state of disarray, Dan.
Ty Hildenbrandt [05:48]: I did kind of dabble in the North Carolina message boards to see what the reaction was like.
Dan Rubenstein [05:54]: Oh, tell me.
Ty Hildenbrandt [05:56]: I saw our friend Andy Staples just tweeting out that he has never seen an announcement like this be met with such glee. I wanted to verify that.
Ty Hildenbrandt [06:04]: So I did a little bit of lurking on the message boards. Can confirm, even on Carolina message boards, there seemed to be a fair amount of grave dancing on this one. Didn't seem as though Mike Lombardi was all that much respected.
Dan Rubenstein [06:16]: A beloved figure in Chapel Hill.
Ty Hildenbrandt [06:17]: Yeah, no.
Dan Rubenstein [06:18]: Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [06:18]: We did—we were not seeing that when we took a quick look around the North Carolina message boards.
Dan Rubenstein [06:25]: Yeah, it seemed like the reaction to even his hiring way back when and his reputation in the NFL as sort of a hanger-on to the Bill Belichick eras in the NFL, that he was kind of a tax. Like, you want to hire Bill Belichick? Well, here's his hand-picked general manager, his front office representation.
Dan Rubenstein [06:45]: I guess it's a million and a half a year tax or something like that. And then, when the first class or two in the portal and out of, you know, high school recruiting rankings, all that stuff was less than stellar. This year was improved.
Dan Rubenstein [07:00]: You're just like, we're paying this dude how much money and our roster looks like what exactly? And with last year and the quarterback situation and the offense being a disaster and making a change after year one, all the stuff behind the scenes with Bill Belichick and Jordan Hudson. When we use the term boring, this is what we kind of mean: that, like, you just want a program that goes about its business quietly, that fills its roster, that wins games, that, you know, doesn't have anything too bombastic about it, is growing, improving, and they still might grow, and they still might improve.
Dan Rubenstein [07:32]: And maybe North Carolina is better off without Mike Lombardi behind the scenes. But yeah, this is—we're a month out from the season and now they're suspending their general manager for, I suppose, conduct detrimental to the program of some kind, an HR complaint from a former employee. So yeah, this qualifies as not super boring, not what North Carolina needed ahead of the season.
Dan Rubenstein [07:56]: This is the start of tampering season, too. I don't know if I said that too loud, but you need your head tamperer.
Ty Hildenbrandt [08:01]: Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein [08:02]: And so, this is not great.
Ty Hildenbrandt [08:04]: I remember that there was definitely a pretty prominent shrug in the college football universe, when we all found out that Lombardi was going to be the guy, or that he was the guy that Belichick wanted to bring with him. So, to your point, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [08:20]: It's a hefty price to pay for a guy who apparently is now seemingly on the outs. We'll see what comes of this. But to your point, no, not a great way to start year two for Bill Belichick.
Dan Rubenstein [08:33]: No, not at all. We'll see what comes of this and what details emerge in the weeks to come.
Ty Hildenbrandt [08:38]: I did see a joke, and maybe this is not the right—
Dan Rubenstein [08:41]: It's too late now.
Ty Hildenbrandt [08:41]: —forum to voice the joke, but there was something floating around social media to the effect that maybe the biggest upset of the North Carolina season was that Mike Lombardi got the HR complaint before Bobby Petrino.
Dan Rubenstein [08:56]: Before Petrino or Belichick, I guess.
Ty Hildenbrandt [08:57]: Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein [08:58]: Um, yeah, that is an upset. I will also say, this is sort of related to nothing but Mike Lombardi. I don't know if this was—somebody on social media pointed out that their favorite thing about Mike Lombardi had nothing to do with football, but the fact that he follows at least 14 Sopranos fan accounts on Instagram or Twitter or something.
Dan Rubenstein [09:19]: He is deeply, deeply invested in the ongoing stories of all things Sopranos and clips and where-are-they-nows, which I guess is something. I don't know.
Ty Hildenbrandt [09:31]: GMs, they're just like us, Dan. They're just like us.
Dan Rubenstein [09:33]: They're not just like us. I'm not following 14 Sopranos accounts.
Ty Hildenbrandt [09:34]: Maybe not.
Dan Rubenstein [09:37]: But yeah, so that's North Carolina. What else do we have?
Ty Hildenbrandt [09:39]: Well, we had a bunch of media days go down.
Dan Rubenstein [09:42]: Yes.
Ty Hildenbrandt [09:43]: At the time of recording, I'm looking at quotes from ACC Media Days, SEC Media Days and Big 12 Media Days. I believe we don't have the Big Ten quotes that have surfaced yet, at least not as of
Ty Hildenbrandt [09:56]: the time of recording. But there's a whole hodgepodge of these that I jotted down in our note sheet. I know you've got a couple as well. We're not going to do a full-on quote draft
Ty Hildenbrandt [10:06]: because I think that's been, I don't know, perhaps a bit overdone over the years, especially since none of these quotes really mean anything.
Dan Rubenstein [10:08]: Well...
Ty Hildenbrandt [10:14]: But there were a couple of eyebrow-raising moments that we've seen over these last couple of weeks at Media Days. I thought maybe you could just reach into the bag here and grab out a couple of your favorites that we can talk to the public about.
Dan Rubenstein [10:27]: Well... okay. So what I've enjoyed is the alignment that the SEC has among some of its more prominent speakers. And in this case, maybe it's just Lane Kiffin and Sark, who obviously are intertwined in their time going back to being offensive assistants at USC.
Dan Rubenstein [10:45]: Obviously, Lane and Sark both went on to be head coaches, but they were co-coordinators and stuff in the mid-2000s. And they are absolutely aligned in their, like, justice for 9-3 teams in the playoff. I loved it. Look, I know they're asked questions, right?
Dan Rubenstein [11:03]: These are not necessarily situations in which they're beginning their press conferences by saying, you know, the committee is messed up because they can't recognize a 9-3 SEC team. And obviously, Sark has talked about, you know, if we didn't play Ohio State, we would have been 10-2 if we played some small team.
Ty Hildenbrandt [11:20]: Right, right, right, right.
Dan Rubenstein [11:20]: But I love the alignment as if there is some sort of 9-3 pact between these two dudes. Like, they're in the 9-3 Justice League, the Justice Three. And I appreciate that.
Dan Rubenstein [11:34]: I appreciate that they are sort of setting the table now to get in the heads of committee members that, you know, look—look how tough this conference is. And then you have Nick Saban, right?
Dan Rubenstein [11:49]: Nick Saban's doing the thing where he's trying to say, well, the SEC is still the best. And even though the Big Ten has won these national championships, that's just one good team.
Dan Rubenstein [11:58]: And the SEC top-to-bottom argument, which I enjoyed as, you know, a classic Pac-12 fan—that's what I was saying about the Pac-12. Nobody was listening then, and now that's Nick Saban's thing: that it's not about the top, it's about the depth, it's about one through seven.
Ty Hildenbrandt [12:12]: Wasn't he also saying that they—he was using “us” as if he's still part of the SEC?
Dan Rubenstein [12:19]: He was using “us.” He's—yes, he's no longer living in Tuscaloosa. I did see that.
Dan Rubenstein [12:24]: He is now a Florida resident, I believe. He mentioned that in talking about Jon Sumrall. So he's hoping for the best for Florida and the SEC as well.
Dan Rubenstein [12:31]: But yes, Nick Saban, and look, they're asking him questions. He is not sort of announcing a press conference in a hotel ballroom. But I appreciate the efforts, the alignment all around.
Dan Rubenstein [12:43]: And these are obviously, you know, Sark and Lane Kiffin, two Nick Saban-connected coaches as well. Nick Saban is now sort of on his own, even though he's employed by ESPN, he's on his own kind of public relations tour representing the SEC. PubNick relations?
Ty Hildenbrandt [13:01]: Um, you could do better.
Dan Rubenstein [13:03]: I don't think I can. That's the thing. Anyway, I'll workshop.
Ty Hildenbrandt [13:08]: PubNick relations. It's not bad. It's... sure.
Dan Rubenstein [13:11]: I didn't hate Justice Threague. I didn't hate that. But in any case, Nick Saban is sort of on his pulpit talking about how, like, well, it's just one Big Ten team a year.
Dan Rubenstein [13:21]: I mean, what are we talking about here? And you're just like, this is a co-host of GameDay? Okay.
Dan Rubenstein [13:27]: All right. Yeah, the Nick Saban weird retirement tour continues apace.
Ty Hildenbrandt [13:33]: There were a bunch of really interesting quotes that came out of SEC Media Days. And I'm not going to act as if I took all of them seriously. I certainly did not. But I thought you had an interesting range of comments that were offered by SEC coaches. You had the Mike Elko wing of things, where when he was asked about combating the complacency at Texas A&M, even though they did have something of a breakthrough, I think, last year, quote, “I show them our trophy case, and it's empty.”
Dan Rubenstein [13:58]: Definitely.
Ty Hildenbrandt [14:01]: Which is a very Mike Elko thing to say, very, very lunch-pail, blue-collar type quote from Mike Elko.
Dan Rubenstein [14:06]: Of course.
Ty Hildenbrandt [14:08]: And frankly, it's sort of on point, I think a lot of people who write into us about Texas A&M like to point that out, particularly the Texas fans who write in about Texas A&M like to point out that the trophy case is empty.
Dan Rubenstein [14:14]: Right. Mm-hmm.
Ty Hildenbrandt [14:21]: So Elko, look, if I were a Texas A&M fan, I would appreciate hearing that. I thought that was pitch-perfect.
Dan Rubenstein [14:29]: Well... it's a hard truth, I suppose, to hear if you're a Texas A&M fan.
Ty Hildenbrandt [14:33]: It doesn't make you feel good, but at the same time, sometimes what you need to say is not the thing that makes you feel good.
Dan Rubenstein [14:38]: Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [14:39]: So I thought that was good.
Dan Rubenstein [14:41]: No, it's—I mean, it's sort of also implying that Mike Elko is doing everything he can to light a fire under these dudes to prove that they belong. They do have the breakthrough, they make the playoff last season, and now they have nothing to show for it in terms of tangible hardware. So that should keep you fired up.
Ty Hildenbrandt [14:59]: We also had the very overconfident wing of things, which I think was represented by Will Stein.
Dan Rubenstein [15:05]: I love this.
Ty Hildenbrandt [15:06]: New coach at Kentucky. I'm paraphrasing a bit here, but he was asked by the media why this season will be different, why they like their chances. Quote, “I think because of me, to be honest,” end quote.
Dan Rubenstein [15:19]: Well... look, he can't go up there and say, we got way better players than we had here last year. Like, you can't say that. You can't say
Dan Rubenstein [15:26]: the coaches last year were bad, or the past few years were bad. And so he's sort of absorbing it all. And yes, it comes off as sort of bombastic and confident, but I don't know, man.
Dan Rubenstein [15:39]: We're living in, like, the Curt Cignetti era. And so if he wants to come and sort of introduce himself to the SEC and college football universe by answering, “We're going to be better, and things are going to be different because of me.” It does sound confident, but it's like it's planting his accountability flag, right?
Dan Rubenstein [15:59]: That he is telling everybody the buck stops with him immediately and that they're going to be different and better because of him. And if they're not different and better, well, we have the quote on record. Who's responsible for what Kentucky is going to be moving forward?
Ty Hildenbrandt [16:12]: I struggled a little bit in my head, trying to power rank which coach I thought deserved the mantle for my favorite collection of quotes at Media Days. I was stuck between Lane Kiffin and Jon Sumrall.
Ty Hildenbrandt [16:26]: I think Jon Sumrall is the winner, but some other winners came from Lane Kiffin. You talked about some of the other things that he mentioned. Quote, “We're all going to die.”
Dan Rubenstein [16:37]: That's just facts. Fact-check true.
Ty Hildenbrandt [16:39]: We are. You'll never guess what the question was about. It was about Ole Miss recruiting. He went on this tangent in which he cited a Hulk Hogan documentary that made him reconsider how much attention he is giving to criticism. Also, to give this more context, he said that growing up, there were only two people he thought would never die, being Hulk Hogan and his dad. You know, obviously, things have changed.
Dan Rubenstein [17:01]: Ah, Monte, yeah. Legend.
Ty Hildenbrandt [17:03]: And that's how he got to “we're all gonna die.” So, perhaps a bit introspective there from Lane.
Ty Hildenbrandt [17:09]: He also, I thought, tried to call out the fact that he basically flubbed the process of leaving for Ole Miss. It's not a new thing in the Lane Kiffin universe for him to flub leaving one place to go to another. But he did say here that he wishes he would have gone in
Ty Hildenbrandt [17:26]: and, when he met with Keith Carter, he just said, “I've made the decision to go,” instead of sort of dragging it out in the manner that he did. Lane also went on to talk a little bit more about recruiting. Speaking about the current NIL system, he said, “It's not a real cap. It's not a hard cap.”
Ty Hildenbrandt [17:43]: Basically called out the system, said it's fake, said the quiet part out loud.
Dan Rubenstein [17:43]: Correct.
Ty Hildenbrandt [17:46]: We all kind of know this, but Lane never disappoints when it comes to giving you a quote.
Dan Rubenstein [17:52]: No, I appreciate that both he and Pete Golding talked about how, I guess, Pete Golding bought a house that Lane Kiffin owned, and Lane Kiffin said he was going to monitor Pete via his Ring doorbell camera and how much he is or isn't recruiting. And I enjoyed all of that.
Ty Hildenbrandt [18:10]: Well, and Pete Golding also said that he persuaded Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy to stay at Ole Miss and not follow Lane to LSU.
Dan Rubenstein [18:10]: But yes.
Ty Hildenbrandt [18:21]: “They wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire.” That was apparently the killer line that he cited.
Dan Rubenstein [18:29]: I mean, they're not wrong. They don't. Those are no lies told. Good job by Pete Golding. Good recruiting job to get those two, get that backfield back. And yeah, that's what you're getting from Lane Kiffin.
Ty Hildenbrandt [18:43]: And then there were three things, not to cut you off here, I'm excited to talk about Jon Sumrall. There were three Sumrall bits that really jumped out to me. The first was him saying, “There's the Power Two, and then there's a couple behind that, and the American's right there.” What I took from that is he is basically putting the Big Ten and the SEC at the very top.
Dan Rubenstein [19:05]: Of course. Yeah. I mean, I'm saying, of course, that's what he is doing. Yes, I don't know if, you know, to what degree I agree, but yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [19:12]: Right, kind of lumping in the Big 12 and the ACC with the G6, which definitely kicked up a little bit of dust around the internet.
Dan Rubenstein [19:17]: Yeah. Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [19:21]: Then there was a situation where a reporter had their phone go off.
Dan Rubenstein [19:26]: Yeah, it was an alarm, I think, that went off, and the reporter was not even there, right? I think the reporter was not there. The phone was left behind.
Dan Rubenstein [19:34]: I think I saw this. And another reporter had to turn off the alarm. Something like that.
Dan Rubenstein [19:38]: Continue, though. You're right.
Ty Hildenbrandt [19:40]: Sumrall sort of launched into this little thing where he's like, “You'd be kicked out of our team meeting. You're lucky I'm not going to throw this freaking podium right now.”
Dan Rubenstein [19:46]: Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [19:49]: He did clarify later that he was just joking, as they often do. I watched the quote. He did not seem—unless his joking face is different than ours.
Dan Rubenstein [19:54]: No.
Ty Hildenbrandt [19:58]: He did not seem like he was joking that much there. That dude was locked in, as I've said before, and I probably will say many times again. You could convince me that Jon Sumrall goes to a bar, drinks a little too much, and bites the head off a live bird.
Ty Hildenbrandt [20:12]: He just seems like he's got that intensity streak in him. I do not for one second believe he was actually joking about this. If nothing else, it gave us something we could talk about in this episode.
Ty Hildenbrandt [20:22]: So, for that, we are appreciative.
Dan Rubenstein [20:24]: A Will Muschamp for a new generation of Florida fans.
Ty Hildenbrandt [20:26]: And then the other Sumrall thing, much in the same vein as when Brian Kelly started doing yoga, the softer Brian Kelly years ago.
Dan Rubenstein [20:29]: Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [20:37]: This wasn't a Media Days thing, but did you happen to see the quote from Jon Sumrall's wife to a sports reporter?
Dan Rubenstein [20:46]: Oh, pedicures?
Ty Hildenbrandt [20:47]: Every two weeks, he goes for the pedicure, Dan.
Dan Rubenstein [20:50]: What do I say on this show, Ty? You're only as comfortable as your feet. Now, I do it in reference to comfortable socks, comfortable footwear, but listen, if that literally and figuratively grounds you, getting a pedicure and taking care of your feet, you can speak to this, the feet stuff, more than most of us, I think. Can't you?
Ty Hildenbrandt [21:09]: Oh man, I've got all sorts of feet stuff going on, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein [21:09]: But—oh, I'm not talking about that, Ty.
Ty Hildenbrandt [21:13]: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Dan Rubenstein [21:13]: I just—you have thoughts on others' feet that I just—you have basically, you've written... Okay, manifesto is too strong a word, but you have a Google document that I cannot even begin to explain to people.
Ty Hildenbrandt [21:21]: Subtle. I do not have any Google document. No, I do not. I definitely do not.
Dan Rubenstein [21:29]: He's protesting way too hard, guys. Listen, good for Jon Sumrall. But the first quote, when I watched that—and I agree with you—that made me think the Jon Sumrall era at Florida
Dan Rubenstein [21:43]: is going to be A-plus or F-minus, with very little in between. There is that, like, seeming screw loose, and I really hope for the benefit of Florida fans that it's in a good way. But yeah, this seems like more of a wild-card situation.
Dan Rubenstein [22:03]: And look, we're reading too much into a single quote and a single moment, and the highest-pressure moment that he's had as the Florida coach to date. But yeah, this is supposed to be a lighthearted moment where you're just like, yeah, we're really excited about a lot of these guys that are coming in and competing.
Dan Rubenstein [22:22]: Um, yeah, I don't know. Maybe I misheard it or miswatched it, but yeah, like, there's an intensity to Jon Sumrall that is very apparent.
Ty Hildenbrandt [22:29]: Oh, yeah. What did Will Leitch used to say about Ron Zook? That he pisses intensity?
Dan Rubenstein [22:35]: Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [22:35]: We might have a little bit of that going on here with Sumrall.
Dan Rubenstein [22:37]: Florida coach.
Ty Hildenbrandt [22:38]: Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein [22:38]: Yes, there's something about Gainesville. It just does it to you. By the way, the other thought I had about Will Stein and that quote. The problem now is, anytime Kentucky does something terrible, you can sort of say, “Why the hell would Kentucky run the ball on third-and-25?” and attach a picture of Will Stein saying, “Because of me.”
Ty Hildenbrandt [22:59]: Yeah, where is it at here? I have the sound now.
Dan Rubenstein [23:05]: Exactly. There you go. Shout out Tim Robinson.
Dan Rubenstein [23:08]: So, you know, that's the downside. I saw some Ryan Silverfield stuff about how he's just, like, 5-1 against the other new coaches in the SEC.
Dan Rubenstein [23:17]: And he's sort of under the radar right now, which I think is how he'd like it.
Ty Hildenbrandt [23:23]: Some other quotes here for Raoul Koshmippel, not just to dwell on the SEC.
Dan Rubenstein [23:27]: Please, there we go.
Ty Hildenbrandt [23:28]: Nard Dog Pat Narduzzi, quote, “This conference”—he's referring to the ACC—“this conference is better. It's better than the Big Ten. It's got more skill,” end quote.
Dan Rubenstein [23:37]: Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [23:38]: Okay.
Dan Rubenstein [23:40]: What do you think about that quote?
Ty Hildenbrandt [23:41]: It's got more skill.
Dan Rubenstein [23:44]: The conference is better. And he talked about how ACC teams, when they play in bowl games, when they play non-conference, that they always have a winning record. Here's my only issue.
Dan Rubenstein [23:55]: Everybody's entitled to their own opinion. If you feel like the ACC, top to bottom, or the top, or the top and middle, whatever, is stronger than the Big Ten, that's your opinion. I'm not sure
Dan Rubenstein [24:03]: I believe it. I think Miami acquitted itself super well last year. But if you're Pat Narduzzi, have your opinion.
Dan Rubenstein [24:12]: Puff your chest out. State your opinion. Also, Pitt lost to a 4-8 West Virginia team last year.
Dan Rubenstein [24:20]: Yes? Fact check true?
Ty Hildenbrandt [24:21]: Correct. That is correct, yes.
Dan Rubenstein [24:23]: Also, the Pitt Panthers, your beloved Pitt Panthers, Ty.
Ty Hildenbrandt [24:27]: Love the Good Panthers.
Dan Rubenstein [24:29]: Nearly beat ECU in a bowl game this past year? I want to say they came very close in the last few years to beating Western Michigan, yes? So Pitt is right there as an ACC representative handling its business outside of the conference in recent years.
Dan Rubenstein [24:47]: So I happen to not agree with that perspective, but I'm not sure he was the best messenger for that specific thought. I don't know. But I love him regardless.
Ty Hildenbrandt [24:59]: There was also that clip floating around the internet of him correcting whoever put the uniform on...
Dan Rubenstein [25:06]: Oh, that was great.
Ty Hildenbrandt [25:07]: ...on the Pitt mannequin. Did you see that?
Dan Rubenstein [25:08]: Yes.
Ty Hildenbrandt [25:09]: They had the strap for the shoulder pads over the arm instead of under the arm.
Dan Rubenstein [25:12]: Under, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [25:13]: And he sort of took the time to correct it. He was being lighthearted when he did it, but...
Dan Rubenstein [25:17]: Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [25:18]: Another guy who's very intense in his own right and increasingly more quotable, I think, as he gets older, which clearly we appreciate here on this show. Do I think it's better than the Big Ten? No, I don't.
Dan Rubenstein [25:30]: I don't think it's a conversation. I don't think the ACC has a lot to stand on, and that's fine. And not all conferences are created equal, but yeah, there are some pretty good teams in the ACC, and it's a very exciting conference to watch.
Ty Hildenbrandt [25:45]: I think there are more good teams in the Big Ten.
Dan Rubenstein [25:47]: You think there are more good teams in the ACC? Oh, okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt [25:51]: There are more good teams in the Big Ten than the ACC. The ACC, I think the floor has risen, but I still don't think... Yeah, I hope so, too.
Ty Hildenbrandt [25:59]: I decided we don't need to spend more time talking about this. I think you and I are both in agreement here. Nard Dog.
Ty Hildenbrandt [26:06]: I believe at one point, either in the Big 12 preview or just along the way as we were talking about things, you did mention the Julian Lewis quote from Colorado, quote: “I'm actually looking at defenses now. Last year, we weren't really looking at defenses that much.”
Dan Rubenstein [26:20]: Yeah. I also noted that Brennan Marion, new Colorado offensive coordinator: “Offensive line-wise, we're better than we were at Texas,” which to be fair, Texas had a long stretch of not having offensive linemen drafted. Things have been corrected in Austin with regard to offensive line talent.
Dan Rubenstein [26:41]: “We're bigger, we're more physical. This will be the best offensive line that I've ever had.” Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt [26:48]: That's a very popular coach thing to do, by the way.
Dan Rubenstein [26:51]: Well... usually it's even like this is the most versatile offense, this is the most athletic group on offense.
Ty Hildenbrandt [26:55]: Athletic is the one that they go to, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein [26:57]: That's a classic Kyle Whittingham thing. Like, yeah, we lose three of our four guys in the secondary, but this might be the most athletic group I've ever been a part of.
Dan Rubenstein [27:04]: Why does he say that? Because he's kind of only seen them run sprints. Wow, these guys seem fast.
Dan Rubenstein [27:11]: But yeah, and I think we have our concerns about the Colorado offensive line. We'll see. We'll see.
Dan Rubenstein [27:16]: Brennan Marion very, very high on the Colorado offensive line that he believes them to be the best offensive line he's ever coached.
Ty Hildenbrandt [27:24]: Any other quotes jump out to you? I don't have that many more. I know there were some from like Eli Drinkwitz.
Ty Hildenbrandt [27:31]: I had the one here from Rhett Lashlee saying that Duke should have been in the playoff instead of a team from the Sun Belt, which, of course, is what an ACC representative is going to say. The big one here that I think garnered some headlines. It seems like it's sort of been washed over after a couple of days through the news cycle.
Ty Hildenbrandt [27:50]: But Greg Sankey was asked about some conversations around the Big Two, in this case, the Big Ten and the SEC, separating out from the NCAA. And Sankey just said, quote, “They're real,” that there are real conversations going on right now.
Ty Hildenbrandt [28:06]: This, I guess, set against the backdrop of Congress trying to get some legislation through, it seems pretty bearish at the moment that any new legislation is going to be passed before the end of the year to throw the NCAA or whoever a lifeline here and give some real clarity as to what's allowable, what isn't. So it doesn't surprise me to hear that Sankey would say that these are real. I'm curious to hear what Tony Petitti has to say at Big Ten Media Days, because I'm certain he'll be asked something very, very similar. But this should come as a surprise to nobody who follows college football, who follows the show, because it feels like a lot has been building towards that.
Ty Hildenbrandt [28:46]: Whether or not they're using this as some sort of leverage play to try and light a fire—I don't even know who they'd be lighting a fire under at this point, but didn't really catch me that off guard. It's just always a little bit jarring to hear somebody of Sankey's position say that.
Dan Rubenstein [29:03]: It's fine. I don't think there's anything wrong with what they're saying, that there is some sort of need for a centralized agreement with how the sport operates. The problem is also, Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti have outsized influence over how the sport is centralized.
Dan Rubenstein [29:22]: And so at the moment, things are trying to—or things are being discussed in Washington. And the bill I don't think is going to be voted on until next month as we record this in late July at the earliest, so August at the earliest. And there's supposed to be new language written in that the SEC and the Big Ten will take less issue with because they feel like the current language in the Protect College Sports Act
Dan Rubenstein [29:48]: —is that what it's called, right?—is unfairly targeting the SEC and the Big Ten for their outsized influence and power. So we'll see how that language changes to appease anybody.
Dan Rubenstein [30:04]: But he's not wrong that everybody wants to be playing under rules that they can all agree on. It's that Greg Sankey is putting his thumb on the scale. Tony Petitti is putting his thumb on the scale.
Dan Rubenstein [30:16]: And they're hoping to have outsize power over how power and rules and regulations are concentrated. But I understand the frustration with the NCAA. I don't think the SEC breaking away and doing its own thing is good for anybody, but here we are.
Ty Hildenbrandt [30:32]: Well, at some point we're going to have a conversation about this, and it's going to be a little bit more real. It feels like so much has headed in that direction over the last five years or so that we'd simply be putting our head in the sand to not go there. He spoke about it publicly.
Ty Hildenbrandt [30:49]: It's not the first time. As you mentioned, Tony Petitti, I'm sure, is going to be prompted with a similar question and probably give a very similar answer. Whether that's some sort of leverage play to try and get
Ty Hildenbrandt [30:59]: the Big 12, the ACC and others to go along with whatever they say, whether it's intended for an audience of government leaders and officials, you'd have to ask them specifically. Maybe the answer is all of the above, but I tend to agree. I certainly know what our audience has said over the years.
Ty Hildenbrandt [31:17]: And I think it would be a huge bummer if we found ourselves in a situation where we've got two of the conferences splitting off and doing their own thing.
Dan Rubenstein [31:23]: But we have what? We have Big Ten Media Days this week. So we'll see what, if anything, comes out of that.
Ty Hildenbrandt [31:30]: The only other thing that I've jotted down here, Dan, is a handful of the quarterback battles that we are watching as fall camp in many places is set to open. So, if you've gone through, if you've listened to the ACC and the Big 12 previews that we've put out there, we've covered a fair amount of these already.
Ty Hildenbrandt [31:52]: At the time of recording, I don't think we have gotten any great clarity on some of the ones that we have jotted down. I think we can make an assumption where some of these programs are going to go when it comes to QB1, but some of them have not been named official starters, and so that leaves a little bit of room for speculation.
Ty Hildenbrandt [32:11]: And at least it leaves us wondering where they could go next. Of these here that you were looking at, I'm assuming on the same document if you've got it open?
Dan Rubenstein [32:18]: Yeah, I do.
Ty Hildenbrandt [32:19]: Which of these potential quarterback battles are you watching most closely? Which do you find the most interesting? We don't need to name them all because we've got 15 or 20 of these on the list, but which, to you, are of most interest?
Dan Rubenstein [32:35]: The Tennessee one is pretty fascinating. I think the word is that—I think Faizon Brandon is ahead of George MacIntyre. The freshman is ahead of the more experienced hand in George MacIntyre.
Dan Rubenstein [32:46]: But just with the amount of success and developmental success that Tennessee and Josh Heupel have largely had, even when quarterback play wasn't incredible, like with Nico early on in his career, they made the playoff. He didn't take enough away to keep Tennessee out of the playoff, and there were other reasons Tennessee was able to secure that spot. But there's every reason to believe that quarterback development will continue in Knoxville.
Dan Rubenstein [33:13]: So I don't think there are huge expectations right now. We'll obviously get into this more when we do the Tennessee preview.
Dan Rubenstein [33:19]: But with the new defensive coordinator and the investments they've made at some positions, I'm interested to see what a freshman can do if thrust into that position. Because, as you remember, Nico was—he redshirted his actual true freshman year.
Ty Hildenbrandt [33:33]: That's right.
Dan Rubenstein [33:33]: So this would be new for Tennessee. And so immense physical talent, obviously, within Faizon Brandon. But that, to me, is probably the most interesting: seeing what a freshman can or can't do thrust into a major conference.
Ty Hildenbrandt [33:48]: I'm really interested in Arkansas, and I'm not sure how much of a battle it is.
Dan Rubenstein [33:51]: Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [33:53]: Officially, if you kind of read the tea leaves and look at the depth chart, it's KJ Jackson against AJ Hill. I think it's going to be KJ Jackson.
Ty Hildenbrandt [34:04]: But the reason that I say I'm interested in this one, first off, these guys are both pretty big, like 6-foot-4, 225, 230, somewhere in that neighborhood. So two big kids. What's funny though is, as you know, we have been keeping tabs on beat writers, team podcasts, things of that nature, just to try and get a feel for what the vibe is around a program.
Ty Hildenbrandt [34:27]: Arkansas is in a unique position this year because Arkansas has been pretty bad and obviously made the coaching change, going to Ryan Silverfield. And so I think both of us have been interested to see how that is taking shape and which direction that might go. KJ Jackson appears to be QB1.
Ty Hildenbrandt [34:44]: He's the projected leader as we're going into fall camp. But I have definitely taken note of the sentiment around those who report on Arkansas, where it kind of feels like a big old shrug.
Ty Hildenbrandt [34:58]: Either a big old shrug as to whether it's going to work or a big old shrug about what happens if it doesn't. It feels as if there's potentially a lot riding on KJ Jackson. And I know that, at least based on some of the spring reporting, they like the fact that he wasn't forcing throws, that he's got enough arm talent where he's throwing into tight windows, that he's able to sort of move about the pocket and extend drives.
Ty Hildenbrandt [35:23]: But there's also this other side of that conversation where it's like this guy is definitely not a proven anything. And given that Ryan Silverfield's offenses tend to put a lot on the quarterback to make checks and that sort of thing, it's kind of a big old shrug. Like either this is going to work really well or it's not going to work at all.
Ty Hildenbrandt [35:42]: And this could be a really interesting first season under Silverfield. You know, wherever you stand on Silverfield, this is one in particular, not that quarterback is ever not a high-leverage position, but I think in particular with the rebuild that Ryan Silverfield is trying to launch in Fayetteville, if the KJ Jackson thing doesn't work, that's like a really long conversation about what happens next.
Dan Rubenstein [36:05]: Yeah. And obviously, Ryan Silverfield has had some quarterback success. Most recently, was it Seth Henigan was there forever and was certainly of quality for Memphis.
Dan Rubenstein [36:15]: Won a ton of games. Last year was Brandon Lewis at Memphis, and he was okay. He was fine.
Dan Rubenstein [36:20]: He was decent, but he was not really changing the complexion in a big way of Memphis' biggest games. So he doesn't have that reputation as a coach, Ryan Silverfield, at least not yet.
Dan Rubenstein [36:31]: But also, there's kind of no pressure right now. Now, there's more pressure than usual because, you know, obviously, Arkansas is investing a ton in athletics and what they've invested in basketball, and now what they've invested in at coordinator. So there is an expectation that like this should be at the very least a perennial bowl team.
Dan Rubenstein [36:47]: And so we just can't see an Arkansas team that is stringing together seasons where they're not going to a bowl. The SEC is difficult. I get all that.
Dan Rubenstein [36:57]: But Arkansas seems to be trying to do everything it can to improve very quickly. So if behind the scenes they're doing that, there is going to be more pressure than usual on Ryan Silverfield.
Ty Hildenbrandt [37:07]: Yeah, and by the way, AJ Hill, sort of the challenger, did come over from Memphis. He is more familiar with the system. And there's a lot to like there.
Ty Hildenbrandt [37:16]: Also, the arm strength, also a big guy, but maybe not as mechanically sound as KJ Jackson. So there are some questions there on the Arkansas side that I think make that rebuild particularly interesting. Not to make this too much about the SEC, but the highest-profile quarterback battle, if you want to call it that, on this entire list is what's going on at Alabama.
Ty Hildenbrandt [37:36]: Keelon Russell, Austin Mack. I think it's going to be Keelon Russell. Yes?
Dan Rubenstein [37:39]: Yeah, that's what it seems to be, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [37:41]: Everything that I've read, everything that we've been told here is Keelon Russell is probably the dude. Austin Mack came down from Washington. Of course, with Kalen DeBoer, when he made the move, Keelon Russell was a five-star everything, incredible quarterback prospect.
Ty Hildenbrandt [37:58]: Probably gives them a little bit more in terms of mobility and, you know, obviously is pretty wise beyond his ears. So we'll see where they go on that front.
Ty Hildenbrandt [38:08]: I would expect it's going to be Russell, but have not seen a formal announcement at the time of recording.
Dan Rubenstein [38:13]: Yeah, and hopefully for Kalen DeBoer's sake, because this will be what? His fourth quarterback in as many years, right? Penix to Milroe to Ty Simpson, and now it will either be Austin Mack, who's obviously more familiar with the DeBoer system coming over from Washington, or Keelon Russell, who has been there.
Dan Rubenstein [38:33]: Yeah, I think when you know the upside of what the Kalen DeBoer offense can mean for a quarterback and what Keelon Russell's skill set appears to be, there's a lot of intrigue there. I know Kalen DeBoer talked a little bit about the very dramatic need to figure out how to run the ball at SEC Media Days.
Dan Rubenstein [38:52]: So, I mean, it's not music to any Alabama fans' ears because everybody already knows that that's like the central offensive issue, I guess, beyond naming a quarterback. But, yeah, saying the right things.
Ty Hildenbrandt [39:04]: Saying the right things, and we'll get to this, I'm sure, in more depth when we talk about the SEC and specifically Alabama. But they definitely made it a concerted effort to go out there, make the line better, change who is running the offensive line, all that sort of stuff. They know they need to run the ball, and it would be helpful with a new quarterback stepping in if they could give them a little bit more balance than what we've seen.
Dan Rubenstein [39:24]: Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [39:27]: Just some other ones here, real quick, that I'll rifle through just to give them some air. I'm sure we'll be talking about Anthony Colandrea versus TJ Lateef at Nebraska over the course of our next couple episodes, even though Colandrea is sort of like the clear favorite.
Ty Hildenbrandt [39:44]: This is one of the big questions as they enter fall camp. Sort of, I don't know, interesting to chart from our perspective. We've got Iowa between Jeremy Hecklinski and Hank Brown.
Ty Hildenbrandt [39:57]: I think when we talked about this a couple months or weeks ago, I said it felt like Hank Brown to me, more so than Hecklinski. But obviously, they are going into a period now where they can settle that.
Ty Hildenbrandt [40:10]: I did see a quote that this could even continue into the first couple of weeks of the season, which I'm not crazy about, but if you pick the right guy, it all kind of comes out in the wash.
Dan Rubenstein [40:19]: Yeah, two different sizes and I guess games to their abilities, whatever that means in the Iowa system, which has definitely gotten better these past couple of seasons. But yeah, as we've talked about, Hank Brown, the more prototypical, large-bodied quarterback and Jeremy Hecklinski, smaller, more improvisational and more—well, I guess, with more of a ceiling for playmaking and figuring it out on the fly.
Ty Hildenbrandt [40:44]: Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein [40:45]: So, yeah, I think, you know, best quarterback's going to win. But, yeah, it's a true battle, it seems.
Ty Hildenbrandt [40:49]: Only other one here that I'll mention, even though we've got a list of several others. Clemson's kind of interesting too. You know, we, I think, are under the assumption that it's going to be Christopher Vizzina, but even though he seems to be in the lead for QB1, there has been this lingering question about Tait Reynolds.
Ty Hildenbrandt [41:11]: When we did our episode a couple of months back with Andy Staples, our Sark Tank episode, we talked about Clemson. He brought up Tait Reynolds about how maybe that could change some of the calculus for him if he's trying to figure out how Clemson finishes this year. I think it's going to be Vizzina.
Ty Hildenbrandt [41:26]: It wouldn't surprise me if we saw a little bit of Tait Reynolds, but Vizzina to me at this point seems like he's the dude.
Dan Rubenstein [41:33]: Well, it seems—yeah, it was an interesting quote a couple of weeks ago. I think it was Chad Morris talking about it saying, like, yeah, Dabo said it, and we agree, Chris Vizzina—Christopher Vizzina—is the guy. He's going to start fall camp as the number one.
Dan Rubenstein [41:46]: You're like, oh, he's not the guy for the season. So it seems there's some degree of competition, even though Vizzina's been sort of named ahead of him. So we'll see.
Dan Rubenstein [41:56]: I don't know. It was not like, oh, yeah, he's our no-brainer starter. It wasn't that.
Ty Hildenbrandt [42:00]: No, no. And any time you pick up that tone, you have to mention it.
Dan Rubenstein [42:04]: But that's all. But also, we should say though, not to sort of keep this going, there is a certain amount of politicking that's needed with not having backup quarterbacks transfer, right?
Dan Rubenstein [42:17]: To keep everybody happy and feeling like they're engaged in the quarterback battle in the quarterback room. Because that is, as we've talked about, that's the sort of secret sauce, like having the stability and figuring out how to keep them. You know, your backup quarterback is likely going to leave no matter what, if there's not a clear path to starting
Dan Rubenstein [42:34]: next year. And you don't even know if there's a clear path to starting next year until the portal closes. So that's why this is that season of like, oh, yeah, we got a lot of, we gotta, we'll see.
Dan Rubenstein [42:45]: This is an open competition.
Ty Hildenbrandt [42:46]: Tampering season, baby, you called it.
Dan Rubenstein [42:48]: I know, but what I'm saying is this is also like open competition quote-unquote season because coaches are doing everything and coordinators are doing everything they can to keep players engaged and thinking that there's a path to them playing.
Ty Hildenbrandt [43:03]: solidverbal@gmail.com is always the email address. If you've got anything you'd like to add to our conversation here:
Ty Hildenbrandt [43:11]: any news that jumped out to you, any thoughts we got right, got wrong, or need a little bit more texture, you can always write in and let us know your thoughts. We've got a bunch of people writing in as we've gone through our previews thus far. Appreciate the feedback, truly.
Ty Hildenbrandt [43:27]: Like, hit us up. Let us know where we're right, where we're wrong, what we need to do a better job talking about. We can only give about ten minutes or so to some of these big national sides.
Ty Hildenbrandt [43:41]: Just—I've got World Cup on the brain.
Dan Rubenstein [43:41]: Sides, you're so European, Ty. I got it.
Ty Hildenbrandt [43:45]: We can only give so much time to all these teams; otherwise, we're going to be here forever. So, clearly, we can't cover it to the level or the depth that some of you might expect as fans of specific teams, as we like to say, you'll always know your team better than us. But we do our part here to just make sure that the Verballerhood has the broad strokes of what to expect this season. So with that as sort of the framework, that is how we'll proceed through our next two power conferences. Next up is going to be the Big Ten.
Dan Rubenstein [44:13]: Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [44:14]: After that, we'll be the SEC. The Sunday before Week 0 kicks off is when we'll do our official prediction special, which is sort of our annual opportunity to make ourselves look like a bunch of clowns. So we'll do that. We'll take that on the chin.
Dan Rubenstein [44:31]: Plant a flag. Yep.
Ty Hildenbrandt [44:32]: We'll plant our flag about a month out, though. We'll be here before you know it.
Dan Rubenstein [44:38]: What I'm keeping track of, Ty, is it's not just about the people contacting us to tell us, “You're not high enough on our team, on my team, because you were concerned about their offensive line. You were concerned about quarterback. You were concerned about the secondary.”
Dan Rubenstein [44:53]: But because they brought in XYZ, because the track record of this assistant, because they were only so good last year, but they're going to be way better this year. Everybody can't have a 9-3 floor. Okay, that's just—the math doesn't work out.
Dan Rubenstein [45:09]: So you have to figure out what you like better than what you don't like in various places within a conference. The other thing is, and I'm sure mathematically we're probably not super sound, but we try to be.
Dan Rubenstein [45:19]: The other thing is, I try to keep score of the people who are telling us that we're not as high as we should be on their team, but also the other people telling us we are far too high on other teams that they believe to be overrated.
Ty Hildenbrandt [45:32]: Yes, correct.
Dan Rubenstein [45:34]: So, I want to keep track of like the underrated versus overrated emails and see where everybody lands because we're getting a bunch in the email inbox and in the YouTube comments and whatever Spotify comments, wherever else people have opinions. I appreciate that, that it's not just the like, you're not giving us enough love.
Dan Rubenstein [45:52]: It's just like, how dare you be high on Oklahoma State, Ty? How dare you, sir? Look at what Drew Mestemaker did, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Dan Rubenstein [46:00]: Look at what they didn't do on the defensive side. So I'm good with all of it, but that it just sort of speaks to the emotion around all of this.
Ty Hildenbrandt [46:08]: One more time, solidverbal@gmail.com. If you want to hit us up, if you've yet to do so, follow or subscribe, leave us a star rating or review wherever you can, all that stuff
Ty Hildenbrandt [46:16]: really goes a long way. Verballers.com is our Patreon where you can directly support the team, and
Ty Hildenbrandt [46:24]: SolidVerbal.com/newsletter if you want to sign up for the free Tuesday newsletter. We'll send them out more as the season gets a little bit closer.
Ty Hildenbrandt [46:31]: But for now, we're still going once a week to give you something of a primer as the 2026 college football season gets a little bit closer.
Dan Rubenstein [46:39]: Yes, absolutely. No, I'm excited for these last two conferences. Check out the previous conferences that we did. There's just going to be a lot of, like, “I hope this backup defensive lineman group works out and is a great rotation piece. I hope they're deeper than where they...” There's just—there are so many new names everywhere that you just—you keep your fingers crossed if you're rooting for a team, if you have a specific team. Nobody feels good on July 27, and also everybody feels good. Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt [47:12]: Everybody feels good. All right. Why don't we leave it there?
Ty Hildenbrandt [47:15]: Thank you to one and all for downloading, for listening, for supporting what we do. On our next episode, we're going to kick things into gear with Big Ten Part 1, talk through contender tiers, storylines, the high-level stuff that you need to really wet your beak and get into Big Ten country.
Ty Hildenbrandt [47:30]: For that guy over there, David Rubenstein, for myself over here, Ty Hildenbrandt. Catch you all next episode. In the meantime, stay solid.
Dan Rubenstein [47:36]: Peace.