Will Florida Gators running back Montrell Johnson play against the Miami Hurricanes?

what is going on everybody it is a Wednesday morning August 21st I'm Dylan Denmark Grant Marsh will be beside me in a second I start every show off that way I got to start off with a new show open uh entrance maybe if we get this Show sponsored one day we can start off with that uh hope everybody is doing well we are just a couple of days removed or uh couple of days before the start of college football you know college football is really the only sport left that really has a special like opening week like it feels special like LSU USC is going to feel special Florida Miami is going to feel special they don't they don't usually play every other sport rather be college or any professional League like it's always just kind of the same it's Jags Chiefs week one okay whatever it's you know the the MLB they'll go to Japan that kind of makes it feel special but it's kind of weird uh I hope that kind of stays that way and you know the way the NFL is kind of trending kind of didn't want to start off this way but it kind of just came to me I was listening to Chuck Oliver last night he was talking about this you know the NFL has kind of taking Christmas away from the NBA they've taking monther King day away from the NBA or they're probably going to in the future I hope that the NFL season because we know it's going to move to 18 games they don't take away Lor Day weekend away from college football they will oh yeah they will now it's going to happen probably the next I'll say 3 to 5 years just cuz they can yeah man if if you're right if there's a if there's a date or a time right now where you are speculating and hoping that and the Senate starts with I hope the NFL doesn't take away from this they just going to say yes and move on yeah yeah I mean I mean dude I don't think we're far away when you know it's all relative when I say far away I mean you know 10 10 to 15 years from now you're going to see I think you're going to see some version maybe not every week but somehow some way you're going to see the NFL on Friday nights oh because you know historically both college and the NFL always protected High School football by not creeping into Friday nights yeah now they don't care about that stuff man there's there's a college football there's there's a a somewhat you know it's not going to be Alabama Texas but there's there's a somewhat intriguing college football game every Friday night now it'll be it'll be an ACC you know Syracuse Virginia Tech or whatever and that I'm not saying that's box office material but it's a game that if you got nothing else to do on a Friday you'll sit down and watch and pay attention to and historically that was not the case because of high school football college don't care anymore the NFL is going to college when College opens those doors and says it's okay to not care then the NFL says so okay well I mean it's not like you know it's not like somebody's running college football and saying you can't do this you can't do that because the NFL answers to their TV networks and that's it and now you have more TV networks with Amazon Prime and peacock and you know they're you're trying to answer those guys Netflix is another one so it's you know it's going to happen eventually Graham the big news billion apier spoke late Monday night I don't know if you noticed he spoke at like 8830 I felt the occasion was kind of weird I think they had just scrimmage and he talked after the scrimmage I think that's what the occasion was was uh the big story that came out or not a big story the biggest thing that he said is talking about Montell Johnson you know everybody was kind of on on edge if he was going to play and bil na basically said he's doing fantastic he been able to do a couple of things we expected him to be able to participate in practice where that's modified at some point full speed we'll give you an update of that point and he later on and that quote said we have confidence Montreal is doing great and feel good about his return so if you felt 5050 when he initially got hurt a couple weeks ago and now that we're a week and a half away from the Miami game it feels pretty good that he's going to be playing in Miami next Saturday I agree I if you would asked me this I mean we talked about this on the podcast maybe a little over a week ago now maybe a week and a half or so both of us were kind of we didn't say outright then that you know we both believe Beyond The Shadow of Doubt he's not going to play but we both kind of alluded to like okay Tryon web time to step up Jaden ball time to step up um they're going to have to throw the ball probably a little bit more we even talked about does this mean DJ lagway might get get more more snaps than he would have originally to maybe help the Run game some I don't know if I think all those conversation points might be moved now because it looks like Montreal in my opinion I I would say now I think Montreal is going to play if I gun to my head I got a bet on it I think when you and I show up in the swamp at three at three o'clock on 3 or 3:30 3:30 at 3:30 on Saturday Joe Tes a tour on the call by yeah um number one's going to be in the ball game the first night for the Gator I believe now yeah uh when when you initially first got hurt my thought was you know if if it's something where he can risk his injury to be even more because we all agree that this is the biggest game of the season because it's obviously it's a first game and and what can happen if you win this game and what it can be moving forward with your confidence and all that and I was of the of the thought that if his knee is not right going into that game don't risk it to where you can make it worse and he could potentially blow his knee out and be done for the year it doesn't feel like that's situation feels like it was a tweak recovery is going good okay if if Billy says that he's able be able to full go practice next week then you're good to go and you should be able to get your 15 20 carries and and stay down you know all three downs and catch the ball to the back feel with with no issue the number one thing man that I and weal again we talked about this a couple weeks ago let's assume that he does play okay and we don't know right now if if he does play we don't know right now if that means he's going to get the typical Lion Share that of the carries that he would in a game like this if he had never gotten injured versus maybe still because he did get injured and you're trying to get him back up to speed maybe even though he plays maybe you still give Tryon Webb or Jaden bar or Katy Daniels a couple extra carries or what have you even if that's true where I think I really need Montreal in a game like that considering the magnitude of the game considering they absolutely have to win and this game is not about bringing guys along getting guys experience no no no this game is this is this is they they got to treat this like the Super Bowl they got to win this game where I need montre I think more than anything is I need him on passing down situations where Miami might be sending one extra guy and I need a back that is going to know where to pick up the Blitz and make that block to help Merz get that extra second or two to get the ball down field to Eugene Wilson or um or Chim Ray DK or whoever that's the number one area of concern for me when I thought he potentially was not going to play is is pass br we we've seen Tryon web in a game and and he's been relatively effective carrying the ball he decent he was decent for a freshman last year Jaden ball looked really really strong in the spring game and heard even better reviews throughout Camp heard ktie Daniels has busted off a couple of big runs I have confidence that if those guys need to Tote The Rock and the line is giving them some holes they'll do okay it's pass Pro it's catching the ball and in in plays where they do run rout it's running the right route being in the right it's it's those little things that experience guys know better those are things that you only see when when you're live action even in scrimmage you you don't know what you have until the lights come on you don't know what you have until those guys show up there in front of 90,000 people and the thing about college that no other sport you know High School football and in the NFL there's no preseason there's no warm-up so your warm-up is the scrimmage that you know they've been having in practice like Billy said they ran 160 plays which is a lot plays for for any kind of team now gr me that's not all the stars you know you throw in your twos and your threes and you go but point being you you don't know what you have and you don't know what kind of scen situation and scenario that going to be thrown at you if you're a running back until you get those live bullets one thing that ner said and again I mean he's not going to throw his guys under the bus but one thing he said that kind of made me feel good was he thinks the offensive line has gotten a lot more depth uh gotten twos pretty much at every position right Kern he said he's gained like I think 20 25 lbs um and he's really confident what the offensive line can do and the depth that he can have at at every position not just you know just a couple of the Interior or just a couple of the tackles yeah you you just said Roger carne guy from Jacksonville here dudes like that I think are a classic example of the type of guys that are going to need to step up this year for Billy apier because while he has recruited well I think at the very top end that depth I do think has across the whole board across his entire roster now because I think everybody kind of understands that this is Billy's Best roster on paper that he's had since he's been in Florida top to bottom um it is that kind of second level of guy though that I think is the biggest question mark on this team I think they've done a good job of be it transfer portal be it guys that got some experience last year trial by fire and now should be ready to really step up the Jordan castells of the world those types of do Eugene Wilson types of guys that were true freshman last year played a lot of football and should now be ready to probably take on a little bit of a leadership role which is crazy to say as a sophomore but have played football should be able to but it's guys like Kerney it's those type guys that were either lowl four star or three star recruits that they need to have developed in their system by now that need to be if they got to be in a live game action they got to play they got to perform and that gets back to that stable of backs that is Tryon Webb fits that description Jaden ball fits that is Jaden ball a freshman I I forgot J so Jaden ball maybe a little bit but trayon Webb it fits that just he's got he's got to be ready if Montrell can't go or if he can't go as much as he would or just in general Montell needs an rb2 even if he's fully healthy he can't take every care yeah you need a blow every now and then those typ of guys I need to see have step Andy Jean Aiden misel I need to see some of those guys step up and be able to participate in the offense speaking speaking of Jean uh Jean who it was Jean frasers and it was somebody else he's uh they all got hurt to some extent expect those guys to miss some time uh there was somebody else I can't can't remember who it was uh there was but there's no that's the thing with you know college football starts next week that they got a game and there's going to be no injury report uh which is also going to be another thing that going to change it's more like the NFL yes get over it move on um and one other thing about the offensive line that Napier brought up was he said uh if there was one thing in particular that they've gotten better at is pass protection so that is a good thing that if for whatever reason they're not able to run the ball against Miami and if it's true that you've gotten better at that pass Pro then you you you should be able to feel confident going into year three have a returning quarterback have three have your five offensive linemen having a veteran running back that's been your program been with you for the last 3 four years whatever it's been you should feel confident in that I agree I think the offensive line for both teams are in in many ways going to make or break this football game on a31 partly because the way these teams specifically are built but partly just because that's football the offensive and defensive lines makeer bre we talked about this at na all about the trenches um I will say though man like like yes it's encouraging that Billy and AP are saying that the pass Pro looks good the Run blocking needs to look good too man like I I don't know I don't think Florida's good enough to beat Miami just by throwing the ball no you know 40 50 times they they are going to have to establish some type of Run game I mean throughout that game man I think especially early on like first two quarters Montell if assuming monel plays he's going to need to get going a little bit web is going to need to get going a little when they get the ball we can't be having a 2023 Jacksonville Jaguar scenario where they just get stuffed for one yard or net minus one yard or whatever every first and second now that ain't going to work man cuz I like the passing game I like Merz I like Wilson I like I like some of the guys they've gotten in the portal and and whatever I like DK Badger is going to take a little more time to get going Jackson they've got a passing game I feel confident in they don't have a passing game that's I think is so explosive that if they get behind the chains they're going to be able to make up for it no probably not I mean I mean probably not going to happen I mean I I got news for you Gator fans and I think most most of you watching are going to agree with me here as much as we like Merz like I'm saying if if if they're consistently getting in third and N third and 10 third and 11 that's going to be a problem and again Billy Napier just simply said the pass protection is looking good that doesn't mean the Run protection is looking bad per se but we're going to find out a lot I think by the end of the first quarter you and I are going to know what type of running game they're going to have for the day agreed um let's move on to the gator round table that you were part of uh what were you part of the production team that set up all the cameras in the audio um I was the production team it's a production team of one production of one Mr gram Marsh correct so the round table with Steve spur Shane Matthews Chris doring and Mr Dan hickin or I call him professor Dan hickin professor at University of North Florida uh you know they we've done this way the last couple what four five six years where you and those guys that go down to Gainesville and they just talk about the season and they talk about what they expect to come you said you have thoughts yeah and I'll throw it to you I had one major thought yeah it haven't been quite that long it's been 2021 was the first year okay so this was year four 21 22 23 2 this was year four I had one one kind of big takeaway that I've heard that I didn't really think about and then I did a little bit of research cam Ward playing in the swamp how how much of an effect that's going to have so Shane brought up when B knck went to the swamp and how much of an effect that was for him obviously because we remember Auburn he couldn't he couldn't deal with the crowd one thing B knck was a true freshman came straight out of high school and really that was his second true Road game his first home his first road game was at A&M and Auburn jumped on A&M early took the crowd out of it in 2019 then they came to the swamp and Graham I've been going to the game since 2006 I know what you're about to say and that was the loudest game that I've been to from beginning to end not not saying one specific play from beginning to end that was the loudest game that I've been to agreed I I understand how that can affect a freshman at a true as a as a guy that just came out of high school will it affect cam Ward I'm sure but this guy's played a lot of college football and granted it hasn't been at the loudest places the only loud place he's been at is Oregon and that's that's a crowd of 68,000 people yeah so how much of an effect that's going to have I I think people are buying in a little too much into it it has it plays a factor but I don't think it's plays as much of a factor as we think it is yeah the bow Knicks comparison is not a fair one in my opinion for a couple reasons a a is is one that you just said bonck was a true freshman C Ward just play college football that's that reason one that that's different a true freshman versus somebody that's had multiple years of playing and at least one season of playing under his belt in the power five level Now power four level this will be his fifth year by the way yeah so that's big difference there um just to get that out of the way that's that's huge right there second big difference I would say is Florida had a good defense back then 2019 Florida had a good defense uh CJ Henderson was what his career in the NFL is a different story but he was a first- round pick for a reason had Jonathan grard who still playing really well in the NFL KY elim wasn't on was he other 19 elim was a freshman yes was a freshman on that team um but you had dudes on that defense that was not a defense that basically handed Jaden Daniels the Heisman Trophy from last year how how the 2024 Florida defense will be remains to be seen but until I see some type of actual onfield performance I have reason to believe that whatever they'll be is going to be closer to what they were last year which was putrid than 2019 I'm not saying they're going to be as bad as last year but I don't I don't have enough reason yet to believe they're going to be 2019 level good on defense um those are the main two things now and here's another thing it's the first game so it might be somewhat the same Auburn that year that was kind of a weird year in 2019 where they didn't have a bunch of great home games the home schedule wasn't great that year in terms of for the fans so Florida really showed out for that game yeah and it was the homecoming so the alumni shows up more for the homecoming game than any other game right it felt like Florida's Super Bowl That season in a lot of way Florida state was bad with tagert if I'm not mistaken I'm trying to think of that home schedule cuz LSU was in home at home in 19 but i get I get your point yeah so that's not the case this year obviously I mean every home game except sford is is we we went through this last episode is must is must watch so a couple reasons that it's not that that's not a fair comparison now what is true is it is cam cam Ward's first game ever for Miami against a hostile crowd that like I agree with you that I think it's being a little bit overblown on Gator fans but it does matter it does matter um I would venture to believe that at some point in this game it's going to give Miami some some type of communication issues maybe maybe it causes an extra delay game or something maybe it causes a FAL start a couple of fall starts maybe it causes a receiver to think they're running One play but they run another run the wrong route maybe that results in an interception who who knows we we know what what crowd noise does but the swamp will be there it'll be rocking it'll be crazy it will matter how much it will matter I think remains to be seen and I agree with you that it's a little bit overblown so what else what else did you take away from the round table uh the number one takeaway that I had and cuz you you've listened to it now obviously and I want I want to know if you agree with me on this I think that it is very obvious that coach sper he he understands who he is he knows that it's probably him and Tim TBO that have the voices that carry the most magnitude with the University of Florida right yes if they say something it gets picked those are the two people that if they say anything Gator related it explodes in Gator Nation right like no no two voices carry more weight than those two guys okay spur understands that and he's extremely media trained he's like been coaching for how long and was a player before that he's extremely media trained so he fully understands the weight of what he says so because of that he's careful about what he says and I know spur and being careful what he says don't aren't typically he's always known for being outspoken but I think right now within the program and knowing kind of where he stands right now and what he should and shouldn't say he just kind of has a good finger on the pulse about that so he's careful with his words a little bit I think about Coach Napier I thought with a little bit of his body language and facial expressions and some of the things he kind of said to sort of dance around it I think it's obvious that coach spur is not a big fan of billion aier that was my takeaway do you agree or disagree uh I didn't now I mean now that you say that I'm kind of thinking different um I mean and those three I will say like Shane Matthews is optimistic about the program things that they'll do well same with Chris doring very high and Coach wasn't as along with them two like as highly optim mytic I think he said they'll go six and six what was it that something the sprayer said in the off season I wish I knew you were going to bring this up it was something he said back in like April or May and he had like a big quote that everybody picked up on it and it had to do with Napier and not liking where the program was like where the program's at and and he doesn't do this well he basically said something very negative and it it it went all over their ways do do you remember like the headline that he said something yeah I remember him saying something I okay it was something along those lines and I can't remember exactly specifically what it was um maybe if you want to go back on our YouTube archives and go back to um it was around it was around April or Mak because it was after Spring ball if I'm not mistaken and everybody was talking about this and he basically was like naer is not this b n is not that all right I got the quote okay what is it um he said it on the on the time by the way uh that's right he did spur qu this is Spur's quote talking to the Times Union about the program in general quote there's a feeling around there's a feeling around the Gators of what the heck are we doing there's a lot of questions that I don't have the answers to about organization just because you hire the most people doesn't mean you're going to win all these extra people I question how much that really helps Billy is a good guy who works his tail off I like Billy good family man but we do wish the organization was a little bit more tidy yeah so that was that was the quot I was referring to and again and that was what what was the day on that that was March 4th okay so it was a while ago again that was he never he didn't say anything that damning in the round table but even that okay again I I we we all know that sper is outspoken I I I've well aware of that I'm just saying that right now with kind of Spur's role as being an ambassador to the university kind of being back in Gainesville like that's his role right now I don't think is to necessarily be super critical guy right well I mean if you give him a mic at a round table and the the round table is 35 minutes it wasn't just him it was all all four guys were speaking together spor usually going to say something that we all take and go okay like we have an opinion on this or we should have an he didn't do that right at the round table he kind of just he kind of just like you said just had a ho just I wouldn't say danced around but he just he just talk he talked but he didn't say anything well what one quote I remember specifically that he said was doring and Shane both kind of agreed that they kind of have a seven and five general ex yeah six and six 75 they they both said what we've said that it's not necessarily the exact record it's more how it looks aesthetic and what's going on and all and we we agree there but they both did sort of generally agree that like seven and five 6 and six range was was sort of what they were expecting and what what they felt like they would be able to call a good season at the end of the year and spur was like I really wish it be more like eight or n and the reason I think he's saying that is I think look man when Steve sprayer came to Florida as a coach a big big big role that he had and a huge reason that he built the program into what it was was he came in immediately and all the excuses Florida had had in the past all the reasoning for why they're not doing X Y and Z and we're not doing that Georgia had had their number back then right and spurger is the one that came in and said at the time man we play in a stadium called the Gator Bowl the game is in Jacksonville Florida it's a shorter bus ride for us we're showing up in Jacksonville and we're expecting to beat them we're expecting to win those games when we play them and spur your owned Georgia his whole time there and part of what made spurger such a successful coach was that type of mentality spur went into every game thinking he's going to beat the other team's ass right regardless of talent who's on the field whatever he always felt like I have such a good game plan and I am so ready to go that I am going to beat you into submission every single time and I this is just again this is my takeaway this is conjecture he didn't say this specifically my takeaway from editing the podcast and then watching it was spurrier's kind of facial expression sort of what he would say to stuff makes me think that right now this program has a lot of excuses for stuff has a lot of reasons Billy Napier hasn't achieved as much as I think a lot of Gator fans would like to inspirate with excuses man yeah I think he's a little old school in that sense I mean if you go back and you look at their records I mean I just pulled up their their records in the '90s it was all 9 and2 10 and2 their bad year was 9 and4 92 and they made the first ever SEC title game against Alabama through that pick six man Steve sper had more Championship wins than home losses yeah in his career Florida I think Florida went dude that is that is stupid man what was it that is ridiculous how many years they went at home without a loss it was like they lost to Auburn they lost to Auburn in like 91 or 92 and then they went all the way to like 99 I think it was cuz 99 they had four losses I think they went that long if I'm not mistaken like Shane Matthews didn't lose a game at home I think that's I yeah he's never he's never lost a home game didn't lose a home game uh and and you think of the 9596 95 went undefeated 96 only lost to Florida State on the road like that was a big thing also to I don't know you know back then I don't know how big your staff was I don't know how much and and another thing sper wasn't a big recruiter sper can't that way he recruited in the 90s and again like we weren't alive we weren't around then I mean always hear the story about James Bates when uh a recruit came in and he said he want to wear number 44 and James B was walking by he goes B you still wearing 44 he goes yep he goes oh he ain't wearing 44 and that kid left went to for State like that's not how you recruit today yeah you can't do that so part of it is you know him being a little old school and being being in his ways and knowing that that's what worked for him I mean a lot of the stuff that he did in the 90s you can't do today like it won't it and it wouldn't work today either I don't disagree but I also don't know that Steve spury would be the exact same coach right exactly I think he would being as great of a coach he as he is I think he he would understand that and he'd evolve and and figure it out I think something else with sper though is where it might be old school but I think he's right is the the mentality of it and look you can draw a lot of parallels to the mentality that Steve Spurrier instilled in his program back when he came and the quote unquote unrealistic expectations that Gator fans have now so Spur's not with the excuses man that that might be the the thing that I should have run with more than he doesn't like Billy Napier and I don't mean to say he hates Billy Napier or thinks he sucks that's that's not what I'm trying to say I just think that it was clear he was a good bit more pessimistic than the other two were between doring and Matthews doring and Matthews were clearly pretty optimistic on the upcoming team felt like they were going to make big strides felt like they were going to be a lot better than people were saying they were and spor you could tell was a little bit like H I'm not sure and not only I'm not sure but is just being better than the super low bar that's been set for this team good enough that was a big thing for him as well in my opinion the way I kind of digested what he was saying I it was just a little bit refreshing to me that arguably the the heaviest voice in Gator nation is not with the excuses because the excuses are getting a little bit old in my opinion I don't know if you feel the same way I understand patience when do Pat when does patience turn into making excuses for the guy I think that'd be after this year if this year's not not good enough I think it's I think it's the first couple weeks I mean yeah I mean after the first season I you're not supposed to compare you know like you know when we graduate college and we get jobs you know we always look at like what the rest of our alumni does and what everybody we went to school with and we compare our jobs like everybody it's just human nature you're not supposed to because then you know I'm not doing as good as this person and it's not healthy yeah but for Billy Napier he takes over Florida and doesn't do well and then you look at Brian Kelly what he did at LSU and Flores at LSU and then you look at what USC did with Lincoln Riley with Caleb Williams and he flourishes in year one and those are two programs that weren't good under the previous regimes with Ed orz Ron and I think Klay hel it was at USC I mean LSU was all you can read all kind of stories about not just what was happening on the field but what's happening at practice and and what was happening just all over the program if you have the guy and again football is a lot more than just calling ex to NOS it's how to run a program it's building a staff it's building a culture and everybody that says all the right things to that okay well you've had two entire years now to to do what you want and billiona here unlike M norell down the road and Brian Kelly and and a lot of other coaches lot a lot of those guys they use the transfer portal and they hit with a lot of guys so they had holes on their team and they filled them that hasn't been the case with NP Napier rolled a lot with the true freshman okay you want to do that that's fine but damn it those guys got to perform this year like and it's put up or shut up and you can't say well this and that this is your team man and and I hate the notion of well you got you got to give two years before your guys getting I'm I'm with Matt Hayes when he says all the time when you take over that program day one those are your guys now granted a lot of those guys you know the poison or the rat poison a lot of the guys from the previous regime you can get those guys out put you get your guys in and then you roll yeah I think the that that whole concept that Matt said and you know this that whole concept came from Urban when he took over at Florida he he was one of the first people to ever say that you know when I took over these are my guys and it's true it is I will say that was easy for urban to say when Ron Zook was bringing in top five class after top five Urban inherited a really really strong roster and back then those guys weren't going to leave because urban urban was not pro Urban was not proven at the time people thought he ran a gimmicky offense and was a gimmicky spread that wasn't going to work in the big bad secc and then obviously they got their guys in and that's That's All She Wrote we know we know the story I think at the time it was a little bit easy for urban to say like I said because of the classes and the talent ronuk had on it's a little bit it's easier to say that when Dallas Baker is there and Chris leak is there well and that defense and that ridiculous Marcus SM Reggie Nelson and Earl Everett yeah so but fast forward nowadays because of the transfer portal that sentiment is 100% true because if if Dion can show up to Colorado and completely overhaul the entire roster with transfer portal basically and flip it to where pretty much every dude on that roster is someone he brought in and Billy Napier could have done the same thing what was stopping him if everybody's rat poison and if these Dan Mullen guys don't give any effort and they don't try and blah blah blah then why was Prince Li me on the team last year right if he's so bad then then why why don't you go get another portal guy instead and it's not like I mean we saw this with the highest States quarterback mcord a couple years ago they were like yeah we kind of don't want you to come back next year you're not going to be the starter and they sat down with him at the end of the year like you do in the NFL and then he went on I mean if Billy you know didn't want some of these guys he very easily could have done that at the end of the season or when he got the job cut him loose and then you know get whoever you want from the portal or or in high school RI Ricky peaw was a great portal guy they got right um Osiris Torrance year one which Osiris Torrance came with him from Louisiana but why why haven't we seen another transfer lineman that's come in and really really why haven't we seen an extra receiver opposite Ricky peaw why haven't we seen that transfer Corner that think of all the transfer guys that came in last year who did well yeah had Camron Jackson from Memphis didn't didn't really produce much um there's somebody else at the top of my mind transfers I came in because all those guys you named M perol Montel Johnson Osiris Torrance all those guys came in two years ago yeah they didn't come in this the last year so I mean Merz I guess that is true Merz did so you know you had a year and it didn't work you know and it's not a guarantee you know people think that you know you give these guys at the portal and they're going to come in play right away it doesn't it doesn't really work like that this year you have Badger from Wisconsin you have uh a couple guys from Arizona State um Wisconsin and you know you hope those guys do yes so you hope those guys do well but I mean none of that really matters man it it's it's all about the production what you do now it doesn't matter how you get them it's all about wins and losses at the end of the day um I want to get to something that Shane Matthew said the round table Shane normally says the most spicy things he says the most clippable material if you will um Shane and he's done this since since we've started the round table a couple years back Shane is pretty much always the most optimistic one about the program yes and some of it has to do with him being optimistic about this program a lot of his reasoning a lot of times though is pessimism about other teames they're playing and I agree with some of it disagree with with some of it he was really he was really big on the cam W thing coming in he's never played in an environment like like the swamp and he's going to struggle Shane was really big on that he was big on a lot of the teams they lost to last year are not the same teams new quarterbacks new coaches and it's it's new for these teams as well and I get that and he also said something interesting interesting that's that we all know but I think it was just interesting to hear he was like look there's not a single guy in Florida's locker room right now that's training every day showing up to practice offseason whatever there's not a single player or coach that thinks they're going to lose any game they show up and play those guys all when whenever it's it's kickoff time for each game they're rolling in thinking they're going to win well and another thing he said too kind of pigy back in what we just said like he he goes those guys want to be Gators like they want to be part of the program yeah that was kind of another thing that I kind of took away from that as well from what Shane said so that doesn't mean they're going to win those games just because you think you are I mean you will but I think that gets back a little bit to Spur's point about like I'm kind of tired of the excuses man like it ain't like the football team it a like the players are showing up thinking yeah you know six and six be fine for us they're not thinking that they're think shock the world man let's be Georgia let's go and they're not going to do that but you get what I'm saying the confidence this team has had from Nate Pier to gr merch when you talk with fine bomb or even as see media days like their confidence has been through the roof now I'm not you know confidence is you know obviously when to hav it doesn't mean anything once you get into the season but that's something that that says that they have a lot of Buy in and they believe in what Billy Napier is doing and that's that is the beginning point when you get into the offseason once you start in January you got to believe in the coach and you got to believe in the staff and your way your your strength and conditioning and it has to start there so that at least is a good point and I can't remember that you know everybody has coach speaking you know every time you go to Media days in the offseason and every time Napier talks to the podium but this year it felt different I don't know if it's because I'm just saying this because I it's at the top of my mind now and I don't really remember the last two years but the confidence is through the roof with a lot of these guys well I think the number the number one because we we you and I have gone back and forth we've had a lot of optimistic conversations about this team a lot of pessimistic conversations one thing that I don't know that I brought up maybe enough in my opinion this in this podcast that is probably my number one reason for optimism with this team is I touched on a little bit a minute ago this is the first year where I don't feel like they're playing Just children out there at a lot of positions just like true freshman playing really important positions there's not much there's not nearly nearly as much of that this year you for the most part everybody playing on both sides of the ball that's going to be starting playing big snaps are guys that have played some college football before for at least three years for the most part with the exception of probably LJ McCrae who's a who's a five star for a reason I mean you know if everything goes according to plan that guy's going to be a first round draft pick in in three years so you know please get him his nap but for the most part like last year I mean you had Miguel Mitchell and Jordan Castell starting a safety for the vast majority of the season and they're true freshman I mean that safety is an incredibly important important position to not give up 50 60 70 yard explosive plays and you've got guys that were playing high school ball last year now you've got ASA Turner who's a sixth year who's played a ton of college football not in Gainesville but he's played a ton of college football and you have Jordan Castell who's got a full season under his belt now a lot of these guys if they're still here and played a street freshman last year they've gotten all that experience or Billy Napier this year did do better in the portal in my opinion getting guys that have played some ball getting guys that so now now I think they're they've just elevated the level of experience across the board and that's going to make a big difference in my opinion yeah I agree um and I mean that's kind of probably a reaction to what he saw last year with playing a lot of true freshman you know college football coaches are football coaches are General the most stubborn people and once they figure out that they're wrong they usually overdo it and go to the opposite side so you played a lot of true freshman didn't didn't really work last year okay now we're going to get some experience and I know my job's online well I think if in he would never say this publicly but maybe intrinsically he was thinking this and I would I wouldn't think this is a terrible idea if Billy Napier's kind of thought process process maybe subconsciously in the back of his mind was like okay first couple years like expectations aren't going to be quite as high as they're going to be once they get into a year three year four so what I need to do in these first couple of years is the recruits I feel really good about five stars four stars what have you I need to get them on the field and get them reps a so they don't transfer and B so they get college football experience and by by this time they can really be really really good contributors for me that I can get behind and and then you supplement it with with portal guys for the positions don't work out and whatever um La last thing because I we want to wrap up here about the round table just in general when when you listen to it and then it wrapped up did you leave it feeling better worse the same kind of the same about the season overall I mean I kind of felt that we're a six and six team at best 7-5 eight and four if I mean everything goes our way if like the bar roll is all way and I think that's what they mostly thought they stay really healthy all year yeah you stay healthy you get turn you know the fumbles go your way a little bit you get a couple calls here a couple of those tipped uh catches from Pier sa that fall right in Eugene Wilson's lap against South Carolina you get you get a couple more of those right yeah you get a couple of those um but yeah I mean I didn't feel I definitely didn't feel worse um after the conversation I agree I think I think this whole offseason I've been if 10 10 is like I'm really really optimistic I think they're GNA Shock the World exceed a bunch of expectations knock off some big teams they shouldn't beat and make a big bowl game and we're going to feel amazing and one is I think Billy Napier is not gonna be the coach by the Georgia game I've been about a five most of the offseason it bumped me up to like a six six and a half I I'm I'm the same yeah I'm I'm about the same with you and especially because last thing Shane is like super close to the program so his optimism I I kind of take with a grain of salt sometimes nothing he knows we he's talking about Shane's really intelligent but when you're really close to him you're just naturally going to be more optimistic about it most people are a mile wide he's in he's a mile deep in the program right spur we've already talked about kind of his feelings on it doring was the guy that I think encouraged me the most because doring doring is a gator obviously and he wants them to succeed and doring is somewhat close to the program with doing SEC network stuff and living in Gainesville and whatever but doring is not like at practice every day and doran's a little bit more removed and he feels pretty confident in things so that that that made me optimistic yeah I'd agree I'm you know going into the offseason I didn't feel good about really anything and now I don't know if it's because the season's about to start or you kind of just you know take a chill and it's natural you know every football season but look man here's the beauty of it you feel good about going going to the year here's the beauty of it we're going to know I'd say probably after probably about after they walk off the field against like UCF we're going to know if everything we're saying right now is a bunch of lies or if we were I I think it'll be before then I think after a we'll know what kind of team this is I mean in some ways we're going to know by halftime the Miami game you know what I mean yeah yeah yeah I will see I'm I am so over talking it feels like this buildup is just forever like I I I'm I'm big I'm a stickler on time and I know you're not this man you know he's about to marry a Hispanic and you know anything about Hispanics they're late to everything taking over from that but I mean it feels like time is just sitting still until we get here to August 31st man that that's how August feels for me every year I think the the way the way the calendar goes for me we've talked about this before like during most of the summer like during like June when it's dead and July when it's like I don't think much about it I don't think much about like football coming or whatever I'm kind of like okay you know a summer like enjoy enjoy some vacation time enjoy some some time off like chilling like I don't really think much about it but once August starts and the Gators and the Jaguars are in training camp and Jaguars are playing preseason games and we hear about this guy popping off in a practice this guy popping off in a scrimmage and you know this team has named their has named their starter you know stuff like that when that stuff starts happening it's when I totally agree with you it's when the talking season gets too heavy and the playing season just takes forever to get here yes that's why I'm like oh my God man I'm was ready for games at least we have a game Saturday for the state Georgia Tech I might watch the other couple games that are on that day and cuz this probably last podcast for that game prediction what do you think yes uh Florida state they're uh the line keeps moving between 11 and 13 I think they cover um I think fsu's better if the offensive line is what the people that saw them when they practiced at Jacksonville a week or two ago um I think Florida State handles I think they do George te does hang with them first half but Florida State's just better um I don't think they cover I I would take the points with George attack if I I might end up betting on it I'm not sure um when it's about to kick off I probably yeah about say a minute before go yep yep yep but uh I do think Florida State wins they are they are better they're a better team and Norville is a good coach he'll have his guys ready and all that I just think Georgia Tech finished the season really strong last year Brank is a good coach I think the way that game turns out is Florida State's going to end up winning by like seven by like a touchdown or so maybe like 31 24 24 17 something like that um and they're going to win but I think all Florida State fans and players and what have you by the end of the game are going to be like like that was that was a little bit closer than I wanted to for Comfort all right it when that's ideally how I mean ideally I want George Tech to win but but ideally I want you know it's first it's first game that means anything I want some type of drama I really don't want it to be third quarter games over yeah I don't want a three touchdown uh lead by one team if it's short Tech I'll take it but uh yeah I'm with you I want some drama and you know we can talk about it Sunday and finally talk about Florida Miami we're trying to get two guests next week we're we're probably going to it's probably going to happen since we know the two pretty well um and uh yeah we'll see yall Monday it's uh it's going to be Tim TBO and Urban Meyer no we're just kidding I was thought you going to say Miami Legend like Ray Lewis or something yeah Timbo Timbo and Ed Reed joining Denmark and March next week peace