Why ESPN's Marty Smith is VERY high on Tennessee Vols football (RKW)

ESPN's Marty Smith is joining us talking some college football just a couple of days away Marty good morning how are you I would be so much better if my cell phone was functional in my own primary residence it is such the bane of my existence however I am if y'all saw me I'm like the dude holding the tin full up in the air you know trying to find a signal I mean my neighbors are probably wondering what the hell I'm doing but so grateful to spend time with you guys this morning thank you thank you for having me yes sir you are the old commercial of can you hear me now this morning is what I'm hearing rightly it's pathetic I just don't understand you sh if y'all would have seen the letters and the the four-letter words coming out of my mouth about five minutes ago I would actually you sound like us in the morning I love it I love it well hey Marty I know you are involved in some really cool stuff we'll talk about and and Game Change want to know more about this and and what uh you are doing as the college football season begins and talking about this morning but um hey I've got to ask you first this Tennessee football team has some high expectations going forward into week one on Saturday and niiki and malava and the hype you guys get to sit down with every coach at SEC media days you and and Ryan mcge do a terrific job do you get the sense that Josh hyp is believing in his team at a high level and and kind of buying this hype internally that a lot of us are talking about externally yes he does and you should have that expectation they have talent everywhere he's built tremendous depth and it's funny in the various markets around the conference and around the country there's so many coaches that have had to turn a culture whether That's Mike Elco down in College Station Billy Napier in Gainesville when Kirby showed up in Athens he had to do it and that's exactly the case for Josh obviously and he's done it they have great competitive stamina and great depth and so much talent and Nico Yama leava I'm still learning learning that one but um absolute stud I mean can just rip it and it was fun at media days talking to coach hypo about about Nico and how when you have somebody with that kind of god-given ability and they an artist truly there are certain athletes that have an artistic talent just from god-given ability but they need to work with system and so how do you cultivate and take that artistic talent turn it loose within the parameters and the structure of what you want to do schematically what's that challenge and you got to let them paint I mean you just do you got to let them paint and I think that young man is going to be a hell of a painter uh starting this year he was very good in the bowl game if I was a b fan man I would be as bullish as I've been in a very long time um really good defense coming back a lot of physicality and one of the greatest places to play in the world so I'd be very very bullish Marty Smith ESPN and Marty McGee Marty just real quick man Saturday mornings when I hear you and Ron McGee you hear me I absolutely love it in my truck I just need you to know that I make an appointment for that okay um but I also heard you guys ation this this past week with Nick Sabin and Greg sanki I think you guys did the SEC Championship and both of them to a t pretty much said you asked them how they want to see the college football Outlook in the next like five or 15 years however long it was and they said they wanted the essence to stay there and that's one thing I want to ask you about too like now that we got the nil somewhat figured out in a sense like we saw this past offseason with this summer coach hypo flipped a couple of guys that had bigger bags at other places and go get a five star out of the Carolinas and you know another uh five-star quarterback here at Nashville like recruiting to their point what Nick Sabin said like you still want to develop young men to be better than when you first got them on campus we seeing coach hyper somewhat do that and what what sanki and Coach Sabin wanteded I don't think there's any doubt let's just look at the quarterback position I mean henden hooker came over from Virginia Tech as a good player and Josh hypo made him an icon in Knoxville Tennessee right Joe Milton came over from the University of Michigan and was an unbelievably god- gifting talent but unpolished and now he's an NFL quarterback like he is a developmental coach but this is an era don't get it twisted where at the end of the year a lot of players the vast majority of players aren't walking into the coach's office going hey man what do I have to do developmentally to see the field next year it's how much am I going to make that's just where we are and that's not an indictment against the players that's the climate in which they're working and so to be able to do what coach hyp is doing is wonderful you want to develop them for the NFL because that's the ultimate goal for a lot of these young people but it's interesting I want to see I just look forward to the time when there are actually parameters and the portal scope where every everybody's working on the same level because that's not the case right now and as a result there have been some universities whether that's if you just look at the state level there are some states that have passed legislation that are tremendously beneficial to being able to pay high school players well obviously those high school players are going to be more apt to sign at those universities and so not every state has that opportunity so I look forward to that day but there's no question that Tennesseee is doing that and with and not just the development of the players but you look at the facilities you look at the infrastructure from the top down it's just really come a very long way in the last couple years and there's also one of the great X factors in college football and basketball specifically across all sports but specifically those too with all the television revenue is look at the University that are the most consistently Elite what do they have they have unification and a direct Vision that is Unified from the absolute top of the University presidents and chancellors all the way through the athletic director to the coaching and player level and the University of Tennessee has that now from uh Dy Plowman all the way through Danny White down to hyp Rick Barnes whom vello whomever that is and you can tell throughout the whole athletic department did I lose them are y there got back we got you back we got I just went on this whole di we got about 99% of it Marty you're good jeez I was gonna be so angry no doubt um Marty I I loved that you you were saying Nico y malava painting a picture and let him paint and I'm thinking Bob Ross in my head he's the first one that comes to mind um in terms of other quarterbacks in the SEC who maybe we haven't heard as much about uh that could help you know paint a picture for their offense who in your travels and who you know you've talked to over the past couple of months could that be well you've heard of a lot of them um I spent 30 minutes yesterday in Athens Georgia with Carson Beck uh who in the the eyes of many analysts is the best returning quarterback in the country and what an amazing journey I can't wait for you guys to see that conversation uh it'll be on SEC Nation uh on SEC network Saturday and potentially college game day don't know that yet but you look at what guys do and we don't we as analysts and reporters and hosts and people who are immersed in the game unfortunately in a lot of cases we look at people as a players as assets we forget the human element and the human element is they go they go through a lot of stuff and Carson Beck's Journey when steton Bennett beat him out for the quarterback job and then went on to win two national championships in this era where there's no patience the value of patience in his journey is immeasurable and now I mean he's he's the guy the expectations are Paramount on him I love Conor Wegman down at Texas A&M I think he's a great player Jackson Dart is a great player Jaylen milroe is a great player and and I can't wait to see what happens for Jaylen milro under kayin dor who has had such a great impact on Michael penck over the past many years all the way back to Indiana and so there's a lot of really good quarterbacks in the league and look you have to have them I spent 30 minutes on the phone last night with Billy Nate because we have the Miami at Florida game Saturday and Billy was going on and on about Graham Merz he's like I got a dude I got a dude behind behind Center and so there's a lot of great quarterbacks in the league and look if you want to win the league if you want to be competitive you have to uh up there Brady cook up there for for Eli drinkwitz in Columbia Missouri just really good players who have tenure and a lot of time and experience behind them Marty Smith of ESPN Our Guest Marty we know you've got a busy schedule this morning and through the rest of the week as you get ready for the season wanted to ask you uh about game change what you're involved in uh gogame change.com uh explain to us just kind of the the thought process around this and kind of a new cool um way for people to to get involved with their athletic departments well first of all thank you for asking and having me on I I really appreciate your time all of you thank you for that go Game Change is a really Game Change is a cool thing you go to gogame change.com you input whatever credit or debit card you so choose you pick the school you love and I know y'all the asking us do you want to round up when you're paying your bill that goes to Myriad different charities right well that's basically what this is but it automatically draws that uh difference of change and immediately goes to the athletic department you chose the school you chose goes directly to the athletic department and then the athletic department chooses how to disperse that money within the department you go to gogame change.com input the school you love and the card and then that money is automatically donated to the athletic department it is a charitable donation so it is a tax write off and all of us now like a lot of people listening to y'all show love Tennessee they got a lot of money CU a lot of money's coming from us at ESPN for the tele the grant of rights for TV right but there's also a lot of people who might love Belmont there's a lot of people who might love Middle Tennessee they don't have that same opportunity I went to Radford University right Big South Conference very low division one and I've worried what are we going to do forget how are we going to compete how are we going to sustain and this is a really cool way for alumni or fans of those universities to contribute to the athletic departments that are now all sort of in this era of trying to figure out a great way to bolster themselves financially gogame change.com Implement your credit or debit card pick your school and you're off and running I just thought it was a really cool initiative and I'm grateful to be involved so thank you guys for asking that's cool Marty I'm signing up and going to Washington State I'm I'm giving them some of my money as I'm rounding up all right go cou I love it Marty Smith has been our guest Marty really appreciate the time as as the season goes on if this Tennessee team lives up to the hype we may be reaching back out to you as the season progresses we really appreciate it anytime anytime I I appreciate y'all spirit so much I love your town and just grateful for your time thank you so much thanks Marty there's Marty Smith of ESPN uh talking about college football and uh cool way for people to get involved with their college football programs uh we will wrap up hour three of the show coming up next