Tennessee Football Transfer Portal + Signing Day Additions – Roster Management for Josh Heupel

hope everybody had a very Merry Christmas the first thing you get when you get back into your workflow is a little bit of Eric Kane a little bit of Boogie Bentley Boogie joins me here for the show we're going to talk Tennessee transfer portal Signing Day recap and uh complete overhaul in the defensive back room is it going to be better for Tennessee I think it will all that and more coming up right now on locked on balls you are locked on balls your daily podcast on the Tennessee Volunteers part of the locked on podcast Network your team every [Music] day hey what's up everybody happy Tuesday again Merry Christmas appreciate you guys for jumping back into the show with us hope that you had a very very Merry Christmas and uh the final week of the 2023 calendar year it starts right now all right so as I said in the code open got Boogie Bentley here we're going to talk about loads of things here on this episode of lockon I do want to give a quick shout out to our friends over at FanDuel you can go to fanduel.com lockon go ahead and get started the day FanDuel the official partner of the NFL all right Boogie um first of all how was your Christmas I would imagine it was it was fun with the family and getting to spend some time a little bit of time off of work but not not a whole lot yeah we don't take days off around here although we do take days off occasionally man uh Christmas is good man I I like to sit down watch Christmas vacation that's a tradition what a great movie you know Thanksgiving you put me on blast because I had chicken I had roasted chicken for Thanksgiving is biscuits and gravy is breakfast food is that acceptable for Christmas or do you have to go prime rib or ham or something like that no I like for breakfast food I mean biscuits and gravy is always acceptable doesn't matter what day of the year it is that's the way to go that's what we like like I was talking to my mom heading into Christmas weekend because I spent I spent Saturday with my with my parents Sunday we went and saw my wife's dad Christmas day on Monday we spent with my wife's mom and and then you know today I'm heading down to Orlando so it's been kind of action-packed here but I was I was talking to my mom heading into the weekend she's like yeah we're going to have this casserole and this casserole and this casserole I'm like is it just casserole day I mean that's what holidays are if feels like on Thanksgiving Christmas you know with the turkey not on the chicken but just tons of casseres but hey sign me up for it I I like cassero so yeah I'll eat anything all right brother well let's talk about these portal editions man it was a Thursday night Chris brzo went ahead and popped and you know he had been trending to Tennessee it was Tennessee it was Colorado Tennessee held off Colorado um he had informed you know other programs Colorado Washington that he was going to go to Tennessee and ultimately made his call on Thursday night and I think this is a huge get for Tennessee obviously playmaker uh two lane had like five touchdowns 700 receiving yards all that as a true freshman's got three years of Eligibility remaining he'll have to come in and prove it don't get me wrong but number one priority was tight end you got your tight end this is kind of that big fish if you will of the class and I think he's going to make some plays in this offense yeah I like it I'm trying to be cautious trying to be cautious cuz we all got excited last year about Dante Thorton and you know we've talked about it he was starting to come on before you know the injury towards the end of the year I like what I like about Chris Brazzle I like his you know you see 65 you think oh you know 50-50 ball guy right Red Zone threat that when you watch his tape from this past season all five touchdowns he's doing something different whether it's going across the middle he does have a nice 50/50 ball where he goes up and makes a play I think he can do a lot but of course the size is what jumps off the page at you Tennessee wanted to add an outside wide receiver with size I don't think they get much bigger than 65 uh question question of course we're pre-recording this Evan Stewart Texas A&M Tennessee trying to get him on campus in January think there's any any real steam there would you add another wide receiver and I know I'm not burying the lead where we're going here we're going to talk about the secondary and the needs that they have in that secondary for next season would you spend a portal spot on a guy like Evan Stewart number two ranked player in the the portal this offense it's going to be hard to stop if you added him to it as well you know I if if if he wanted to come and he agreed and everything was ready to go I mean if I'm Tennessee I'm taking him for sure and I understand that kind of creates some problems even without the possibility of Evan seart right now you're sitting here thinking well Brew comes back then that's one side you got Brad on the other where's Thorton going to be squirrel's going to be in the slot what about Chaz nrod he he came along he deserves to play you're already kind of running into a numbers thing and we know typically this offense only plays three receivers this past year that kind of forced the hand because of injuries and all that but nonetheless um if you if he wants to come you take him in my opinion now as I just did you look at that room if I'm Evan seart I'm sitting here saying okay well Brew you know Brew might be coming back thoron still there they just got brazzil you got squirrel Caleb W chz nrod played a lot last year you know do I want to go there where it's kind of crowded where I probably would still play but where it's kind of crowded or do I want to go somewhere else I think those are the the questions that you know steuart's got to ask himself but I mean if he wants to come you take him because as you mentioned defensive back I mean Tennessee is down to having no corners right now and really at wide receiver this past year Tennessee was down to an injury away from probably playing Jack jansi and you know out there at wide receiver because they didn't have a whole lot of bodies so if I'm coaching staff I'm taking them for sure um but I just I at this point and again pre-recording I don't think that's going to happen but we'll see if he gets if he comes and visits on on campus in January then it's it's very real so many conversations about young guys right man the VA Quest theme talking about playing young guys on defense people are getting tired of y'all talking about it but it's the reality of college football in 2023 you have roster management like again I'm not not burying the lead we're going to talk about this class of 24 coming up in just a little bit people people want to talk about how it's not good enough you know there there is a bigger picture here for Tennessee football for Josh hpel than just a class of 24 it's roster management to me bringing back your offensive line bringing back most of your defensive line that was more important than going out and getting some of these guys in the class of 24 and I get it it's a balance but the bottom line is you said it you get Evan Stewart you take Evan Stewart and you let the chips fall where they may if if somebody doesn't like it and they transfer out so be it you got to you got to get Talent when you got a guy like Evan Stewart you get him on campus you sign him you let him go play and if somebody transfers then you know so be it so be it let's let's talk in hypotheticals here Stuart's not a part of this mix right now um I asked Austin price on the B Quest podcast today the same question um and knowing that brd's got to come in he's got to I mean again he he bowled out and I think that it's going to translate but he did do it at T Lane I mean this is obviously a different stage he hasn't practiced one time with Tennessee yet um but having said all that let's do what we do and let's forecast kind of who's that odd man out say Bru back in the rotation as well I mean who are your three receivers and and kind of how do you evaluate that position group moving forward because it it's a good thing but you do have a lot of experience now all of a sudden and only three spots and you're adding two studs as true freshman right with Mike Matthews and brillan Staley and I'm not expecting that they come in and they make a splash right out of the gate but when you look at the overall picture you're talking about a kid with three years of Eligibility here that you just added you know the big question about Brew is if he does come back is he the same guy and I hate to say that you know you know hopefully he is hopefully he comes back and he h uh he heals up and he's healthy and he's the same player that he was before the injury but that's the number one question for me and then on the opposite side I think braz is going to be the guy that takes that opposite outside spot agree how does Dante Thornton feel about that I transferred in they played me at slot didn't really you know come through or translate to to anything on the field you move me to the outside I get comfortable I start to show you what I can do and then you bring in a guy from tane that's going to start over top of me you know somebody is going to not like it somebody's going to be in the portal next year is that Chaz Nimrod is it Caleb web I feel like they're two young guys with talent but I think there's more Talent there I I just you're going to lose somebody and it's again it's the conversation of college football in 2023 why didn't Tennessee add a backup quarterback in the portal cuz who wants to come sit behind Nico when you got Jake merklinger waiting to take over it's impossible to have three legitimate scholarship quarterbacks in college football this time year and everybody on the GQ says but Old Miss ker but Old Miss but Old Miss but Old Miss did it yes I recognize that that is the outlier okay that doesn't happen and I promise you Spencer Sanders did not come in to be the backup quarterback to Jackson Dart that was not the case if Tennessee were to get a transfer portal quarterback right now he would be coming in to not compete and I hear you I'm old school football as well what ever happened to compe and I get it but the fact of the matter is if Tennessee were to get a transfer quarter transfer portal quarterback right now they would be coming in to backup Nico that would be their job from day one they would know it so who wants to come in and do that you know what I'm saying or or even be be in a competition for the backup to niiko with Jake Merkin you know what I'm saying so the outlier is old mess I recognize that but Spencer Sanders did not come in to back up Jackson Dart he came in to compete he lost the job and it is what it is now yeah I think Tennessee's lucky they're blessed to have Gaston Moore I think he is the perfect fit to be kind of that middle guy you know this past year to have Nico that full year to develop and grow you had Joe as your starter you had you know and I know Nico was qb2 this year but you had him there right and the same thing for next season if he I'm assuming he's going to be back you're going to have Nico starting and then you've got time to let Jake merklinger truly develop into too but man I I like I love me some Jake merklinger I like that competitive fire you know who wants to come to Tennessee when Nico's the quarterback Jake merklinger says I'll come compete I don't freaking care I'm a competitor I'm a fighter sign me up so I'm excited about that kid you know we'll talk about the signing class in segment three but I mean I I've done Signing Day stuff all week long and Jake M merklinger name is never one of the first mentioned and you know he quarterback of the class and he's a good player I mean you look across the recruiting Services he's a top 10 quarterback wherever you look um he plays competitive High School football in the state of Georgia he's a really really good player so I think uh I think Tennessee he was their pick in this class and they went all in on him and they got him and so um and again you know they're they picked out George McIntyre they're going to go all in from him and we'll see if he pick Tennessee over Alabama in January when he's locked to make a decision so it's uh it's always evolving always moving that's recruiting and roster management here in college football we'll come back speaking on that note defensive back room who's going to play defensive back in the bowl game and what's that room going to look like in 2024 that and a whole lot more coming up next right here on lockon vaults as we continue on here on this show after Christmas December the 26th you want to say about our friends over at eBay Motors passion Drive patience what brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive today eBay Motors has everything you need to 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your first listen so got Boogie Bentley from talk inv balls here today let's talk the defensive backfield first and foremost how excited Ed are you to see truly a lot of these young guys jayen McCulla is going to play in the bow game Gabe Judy L is going to play in the bow game but you're going to see a lot of Gibson going to see a lot of Thomas G to see ton some more hopefully you'll see some JN Slaughter GNA see a lot of those youth the AA theme yeah youth in the secondary how excited are you to see that in the Citrus Bowl I'm ready man I'm I'm ready to see a Changing of the Guard so to speak you know it's kind it's kind of funny these guys that we spend all year complaining about and saying they I say we I'm us all all of us Tennessee fans into a pot Together We complain about them they're not good enough they're too slow not enough athletes in the back guess what they hit the transfer portal now all of a sudden everybody's saying why are they leaving where are you going you're not evolved for life look I think I man I said it this week on my show 2024 I think it is crunch time for Josh eel I think it may be the defining season of whether Josh iel is going to really be that dude at Tennessee or or not and we're going to find out and I think you know there's a little narrative floating around on the radio from a certain person that that said Tennessee didn't capitalize on the class of 20 in in 22 when they won 11 games they didn't do enough in recruiting but I I argue that by saying there was a kind of an NCAA investigation going on that was impacting the recruiting the negative recruiting and and so I think next year is is huge for Tennessee it's it's time to to wipe the Slate clean you know the passing defense was horrible last year 10th in the SEC I think 80th something like that in in the country and it was it was significantly improved from 2022 yeah yeah but the difference between 2022 to 2023 I said I think that they can take another step they and people are saying Boogie why do you think that why do you think that it's the same dudes and I said yeah it's the same dudes and hopefully they develop and they grow and they get better and they improve guess what didn't really improve that much wipe the Slate clean let's get some Ricky Gibson out there let's see what Jordan Matthews looks like in 2024 can Christian Conor do something uh there's a certain freshman coming in by the name of AB bu Carter is he impressing people in Bowl practice already that's the word on the street can he come in and start as a true freshman I don't know I'm excited about the McCoy transfer from Oregon State the kid from MTSU I'm not ready to push the chips in yet I got to see it to believe it guess what I said the same thing about Mallen castles he made me look like a fool I will gladly be a fool if if jacobe Thomas is that guy bowl game's going to be interesting though man they they are going to be depleted look you had will Brooks out there a walk-on out there at Star against Vanderbilt now how many guys have transferred out since then it's going to be a skeleton crew but guess what I was not very good on offense I think they're going to be all right yeah I'm excited um so Tennessee now has 11 players who have left for the trans or I guess 10 players who left for the transfer portal seven from the defensive backfield um with with Wesley Walker going in on on Friday and um so yeah I mean you look Kamal Haden despite what he's tweeting he does not have any eligibility left trust me we all went and triple and quadruple checked when he was tweeting all that and everybody UT is like no he has no eligibility but I mean we could wish right CU he was playing so well but Kamal Haden's out Slaughter transfer Gabe Judy Lai I believe is gonna not be on this team next year G to go ahead and you try the NFL or whatever um Warren Bell gone Brandon Turnage gone you know even deshun Rucker's gone at safety Wesley Walker's gone Mulla graduating um Jack lutel gone at Star tamary M McDonald gone I mean it's truly a complete reset so for me it's like there's a lot of opportunity I'm excited we've seen Tennessee's defensive backfield be a weakness the last you know couple years even though statistically they've gotten better but it's been a weakness I'm just excited to see new Personnel you know quicker athleticism if not then it truly is coaching maybe it's a little bit of coaching in players I mean it's always a little bit of everything but um I'm just excited to see an influx of uh just new guys but I think it helps an awful lot that you're bringing back a veteran front seven still got James Pierce still got all those guys minus uh minus Tyler Baron you get Keenan peely back in the middle to go along with a nice little group of young linebackers you lot and those front seven guys are only going to help the safety because they're only going to help the secondary because they're experienced what do you think hypo's game plan is I think everything he does is calculated obviously and we can't see behind the curtain we don't know what their plan is but you got seven guys on the way out the door you've added a corner and a safety do you think are there some more targets out there that maybe we're not aware of of are they banking on some of this young Talent you know the three corners that that I mentioned are going to be going into their second season at Tennessee or do you think you know they're going to be looking in the spring and I know that they're going to every guy that enters the portal they're going to take a look at but to me I feel like the fall is when the big guys are there and then the spring is kind of guys that that can't cut it right they know they've been they've been passed by on the depth chart so they're looking to move somewhere else where they can play I don't think you're going to get a guy like gerod McCoy in the spring cycle maybe you do I mean Tennessee added some pretty pretty big targets get last year in the in the the portal after the fall yeah you know we'll see what AJ Harris does does AJ Harris the quarterback from Georgia does he he's young guy does he visit in January I think that'd be a name to kind of watch um but honestly I don't think that they're going to be adding much more in the defensive back field right I mean you want you want Gibson and and Matthews and some of these young quarterbacks to play you want JN Slaughter to play at safety I mean at least that's what they're saying so you got to bring in some bodies to compete got to bring some bodies for death purposes and again I think McCoy's I think McCoy's going to be a starter I like McCoy you know from Morgan State I think he's going to be a player but even if he's not he's a great dep dep piece you know jacobe Thomas I'm like you no we'll see do I Envision him starting next year right now no but I've never seen him practice I've never heard the coaches talk about him and evaluate him after practice even if he's not starting he's a guy that you need in the room just because of death purposes so no we'll see but I mean AJ Harris is a name to look forward to and and then after spring practice when that window open opens back up like you said once they've seen they've evaluated say okay well we have a need right now let's go get a body you know maybe maybe that'll turn out to going to get another defensive back so we'll see what happens but um I'm excited about it man I mean I I like Tam Mar McDonald I thought he was a great story um I liked um Deno Slaughter I don't think Deno Slaughter was ever healthy this year at all his foot bothered him all year long but I thought he was a player I was happy to see Brandon Turnage and Warren and Deshawn Rucker go just to just see if they can play somewhere but I mean the the ones that left like the slaughter and McDonald it's like okay well these guys have made some plays for you but probably going looking for a new opportunity and maybe na image likess as well but either way I just think it's good to see a fresh batch of players back there it's a great opportunity for Tennessee yeah I'm right there with like M McDonald man that's that's one most of the guys I'm like all right let's move on right like you said Warren barell Brandon turn is a guy that man I just keep on that's a guy I just kept waiting kept waiting for him to come out and do something and i' say I I bring up the same game every time I talk about the kid but when Theo Jackson got hurt and he stepped right into at the star and he was the defensive player of the week that week and then he never did anything at Tennessee again after that week uh but yeah I'm with you man I'm I'm ready for a youth movement and and let's ride with some of these young guys we know they've got the athleticism they got the skill something I like about the guys they have targeted in the portal they're Playmakers right it's they go make plays there's a difference between being in coverage and breaking up a pass and that's something that you see with a lot of these guys like McCoy like Thomas they break up passes I like to see that uh let's make some plays on the back end let's let's lock up I think this Tim Bank defense thrives when you play Man Press coverage and and get after the quarterback and let let's see if if some changes in the secondary allows them to do that then then then we can criticize Tim Banks and and let's not let's not forget here your your secondary is only as good as your as your front and when Tennessee was getting after the quarterback back and Mak things making things difficult early in the season that secondary wasn't that bad right I mean it really wasn't when you think about it when you're not getting to the quarterback with your front four it makes it harder and more difficult for guys on the secondary and um you know Tennessee has to take more chances and running more zero coverage man coverage and bringing guys from the second third layer hey when we come back we'll take a look at the signing class for Tennessee last week class of 2024 I want to hear some of Boogie favorites in that class that's coming up next right here on lock down BS all right final segment here on this Tuesday show and we are just a couple days away I meant to say this last segment but on that secondary couple days away from playing Iowa in the Citrus Bowl what a great first game for the Ricky Gibsons and you know John Slaughter if you get back there and Jordan Matthews because Deacon Hill is and he'll look like an All-American maybe against Tennessee he is not a good quarterback that offense is not very good the passing attack is not a threat it's a good first game for some young defensive backs to maybe kind of work them work their way in yeah I mean they're dead last across the board in almost everything total offense passing they're terrible their offense is terrible they do play good defense though so we'll see what this Tennessee offense does I want to see Joe Milton go out on a high note I know there's all the speculation is he going to opt out and I I I love watching the conversations on the GQ well if he's going to opt out why would you say anything just let him prepare for him and then roll Nico out Joe's going to play you keep teasing me other people keep teasing me hold on wait and see and I'm like really is Nico going to play now you raising eyebrows at me now you got me thinking something else you got me derailed here I have thought this entire process that Joe is going to play and again we're we're getting ahead of the week I'm right now when you're watching the show I'm in the car going to Orlando I mean we're we're working a couple days ahead here at the holiday season to to get the work out there so at the time of this recording I still think Joe Milton's going to going to play um my opinion why would you be going through practice the last two weeks if you're not going to play you know but from things I'm hearing and people I've talked to again I will not be shocked whatsoever if Joe Milton ends up not playing this game and it truly is the ni show I'm not saying that's going to happen but it won't shock me I think that there's still a lot of dialogue going along with Joe Milton and his camp and coaches about kind of what the the the best move for him would be because I mean he's about to go throughout the draft process and Reese's senior ball and all that so you know we'll see what happens I think it'd be super exciting obviously from a numbers perspective you would you and I would love that for sure but we'll see at the time of this recording I still think Joe millan's going to be the quarterback in this ball game but um we will see I won't be shocked um Signing Day man so talking about some of the defensive back field and how they have a numbers crunch if you will because of all the departures you know Caleb Beasley is going to be in that rotation I feel like I mean at cornerback bu Carter you know how quickly can he see he see the field at Star or or a safe uh you know Dre Farooq you know Marcus gory some of those young defensive backs a part of this class of 2024 what did you make of this class obviously um you know for me it was a lot of momentum in spring and summer you didn't finish the way you need to this this staff is not like it can't recruit but there's so much room for improvement and it could be so much better but I mean overall there's a lot of pieces in this class that I like man I think there's a couple players that are really going to turn into something and I think there's a couple project players that down the line if they stay patient don't leave and develop and all that I think could end up being players like Jesse Perry you know Carson jenel um my favorite Jeremiah's herd I think is going to be a stud in 2026 wherever he's playing hopefully it's in Tennessee uh there's a lot about this class that I like what do you like about this class yeah I'm I'm with you it's easy to sit back from a numbers game and go 13th in the country eighth in the conference is not good enough and then just go you know run with that negative narrative but you know one thing that I've talked about a lot with this class is the percentage of Blue Chip Prospect right you don't have to sign a ton of guys you got guys that can contribute guys that are blue chippers I'm with you I like this class I like a lot of the players in this class I think there's a lot of guys here you know Gage gther is a guy that when he committed everybody's saying he's underrated and as the season continues to play out you see him play as a senior number one player out of the state of Colorado he's a guy you know that everybody was excited about I think Glenn ellerby you you got to give him some praise for this class of 24 you know Gage ganther if your evaluation right that's a good Prospect and then you add two guys on the inside in satte and Anderson and then oh boy the Wild Card Bennett Warren coming in at that offensive tackle position that was a big one guys that excite me of course you mentioned bu Carter obviously I seeing Marcus gory in person seeing him play he's going to be a special player his length it doesn't look real like he he he he has some serious length on him be interesting to see what they do with him is it corner is it safety watching him play Corner down there at Bradley oh man he is a g he can play The Run he can play the pass so he excites me brailen Staley I can run every player of the I just like this class Payton Lewis at running back he's got speed a lot of speed a lot of athleticism in this class I think for some people you know you look you missed out on Kai Bates what if you what if you got Kai Bates what if you got cam Michael you know what if you got some of these just a just a couple of more prospects down the stretch and you're going from a class that I'm excited about to all right now we're looking top five class you know and I I think I don't it's so hard to talk about and spec late because what is it is it nil to people come here and show interest in Tennessee and then they they end up always the bridesma never the bride is it is it a bidding war you know and it's easy man it's so easy to jump on the internet go on Facebook jump on a message board they they got paid more you don't know that we never truly know so can this staff not close are they being used for nil or do they look at the grand scheme of things say we got x amount of money we got to spend it here let's bring our offensive line back let's bring our defensive line back let's add some portal pieces and let's freaking go out and win an SEC Championship in 2024 I think again there's a big difference between recruiting and roster management it's a different game in 2023 you know I'm a I'm not a football coach and and I think coach Floyd down there at Bradley Central did did pretty well without me you know giving my opinions but like you know we had Bradley Central a couple times this year on robery Thursday and I'm like why is Marcus gory not playing offense like when you have a sec powerfi division one athlete like you play them all the time so same thing with like Clinton High School deal marble who's going and and playing for Purdue as a like like as a defensive back you know it took him half the year for them to start throwing on the football on offense it's like hey power five player get them the football you know play them wherever and at this High School level but um I wanted to see Marcus gory Marcus gory I think I texted you or maybe I told you the next week man he was on kickoff team for Bradley Central and he was he was incredible I'm like man I'm going to see that I mean that's going to be you know he's going to be doing that for Tennessee next year he'll definitely be on the kickoff golf team and special teams contributor early and all that so I like all that and then to your point about you know what is it is it truly a bidding war every time I think it's been pretty well documented that um you know with the Jordan Sean case that he turned down significant money to not not to not pick Tennessee so like you're right No One Ever Knows What it truly is every single Prospect is different so it's easy to say oh well you're not willing to pay ain't got no money broke all this type of stuff it's truly different for everyone and plus like the whole juice Wells thing we've talked about this like I would love to have juice Wells I'd love to cover this team with juice Wells but if juice Wells is coming in saying I want this amount of money Tennessee is like good luck man we are not going to we're not going to make that much of an investment in a wide receiver who's going to be here one year it just doesn't make business sense so again I just think everything's different yeah and you see people talk about again Old Miss Lane kein wants to win he's spending all this money and we prais hyp in the culture right we talk about oh the culture and how he's changed everything at Tennessee we had Jamal Wallace on the show last week he came on for about 30 minutes hearing him talk about the culture hearing jamod McCoy talk about sitting down to eat on a visit he didn't even know hyp was the head coach and hyp sits down and he's like man this you know just just cool dude he's like that that the culture is different and and we can praise that and sing those songs and dances and then we get mad if he doesn't offer every guy that enters the portal that has five stars beside their name you know and it's I know it's cliche you got to trust the coaching staff you do got to trust the coaching staff right ultimately the one that's going to make the decisions and I think he's doing a pretty dang good job through three seasons at Tennessee give me a sleeper I'll give you mine I've been saying it uh a couple shows last week my audience is probably tired of hearing it sleeper for me in this class and no one's talking about who I think is going to be a stud Kellen Lindstrom from Missouri already good size 6'6 240 he'll play that you know that Tyler Baron defensive end role in this offense in my opinion He's listed as an edge I don't think he's going to be a Leo really really good run stopper good at taking on blocks I think Helen Lindstrom is going to be a sleeper for me I bet I can guess you're sleeper because I know you like this guy let me see if I'm right though who's your sleeper I don't know I don't you're putting me on the spot I've already praised my sleeper like if you can go if you can go Lindstrom then I can I can I can go with the guy that I've been praising the whole time look you go watch Bradley Central play who are you going to leave talking about who who's everybody leaving talking about yeah I left going Marcus gory is a freaking stud man that's my guy and look buo was electric I mean he was so good he has a nose for the football on defense if he's got the ball in his hands he's electric somebody asked me at a high school basketball game last night they said you think bu can start as a freshman I was like I don't know it'll be interesting we'll see he's going to be I keep answering that question I say yeah punt returner he'll start I promise exactly and I didn't say that last night I'm like yeah he's going to be the returner and because he is so electric he can score anytime he's got the football in his hands he's a stud but Marcus gory is a gamer man I love physicality you know we we talk about the corner position and man get up in somebody's face get them off their route be physical he's that dude he is that dude needs to put on some weight obviously uh but you know if you can go Lindstrom gory technically ranked uh rated a little bit lower than Lindstrom so I'm going with Marcus Gory for my that's a good one yeah I thought and again this one I don't even really think we can classify as a sleeper because he's highly rated I mean but like in terms of this class I guess just someone nobody's talking about if you're talking wide receiver you're talking Mike Matthews five-star but the other wide receiver in this class who by the way is got a you know an industry ranking of 114th which is a pretty good player brayan Staley I think he's going to be a good player for sure the top prospect or one of the top prospects from the state of South Carolina you know me and Matt Ray did Trail tidbits throughout the throughout the football season every single week in vquest and you know we would get his stats every week and I mean the dude's just putting up numbers every single week man and um I like his ability to play both the slot the outside I think Mike Matthews is going to be a slot I think Staley could be more outside but nonetheless Staley was who I thought you'd go with because I know that you've had I believe you had his dad on your show right he his dad's usually in the chat brillan brayan came on when he committed and did an interview with us good kid good family again we talk about culture brayan Staley he fits the culture man uh his dad's a good dude I love his you see his dad tweeted out where Tennessee put the billboard up in South Carolina I love it man I love it he he's EV all he is ready go like you said you know you look up his stats I just signed on to Twitter and it's it's a highlight reel every single Saturday morning when you wake up after his game on Friday night well technically you can't sign on Twitter right now or the time this recording you can't so some dude in North Carolina can probably tweeting stuff out saying go tar Hills who knows I don't know maybe it's one of those Colorado fans they're chasing me around the internet and they just yell sco Buffs and I'm like what what what does sco Buffs even mean I've never seen a team a group of fans well they're not fans they don't they don't even know who coached Colorado prior to Dion Sanders but they yell SC Buffs they talk about winning championships they went 4 and8 in their recruiting class is like 50th in the country get a life man you know how much I hate Georgia fans I think Colorado fans may possibly be worse all right that's my post Christmas rant I'm going to be a better person in 2024 time of this recording at the time of this recording Jordan Sean still is not signed on on that Friday afternoon so um at the time of this recording five players is all that Dion signed for his class A 2024 recruiting class I mean how is that even possible makes no sense they're going to win a championship though apparently makes no sense at on the map they can't tell me Kaner they can't tell me what's uh what's coming up this week with you guys over at talking vaults I know you're having some issues at the time with some social media but you guys are still going Live on YouTube and getting ready for the Citrus Bowl I guess yeah we're going to be live Wednesday night this coming up on Tuesday we'll be live Wednesday night 7:00 p.m. eastern time supposed to have benett Warren fourar our offensive tackle on the show to kick things off and then we're going to talk about this bowl game Tennessee Iowa uh coming up right around the corner Friday morning I'm not set of time yet just be watching we'll go live Friday morning we have not even talked I've got to figure out when we're going to get you on I got to get my schedule with h what's going on down there in Orlando and as soon as I get that schedule I'll let you know when which show I can join but I'll I'll join one of those shows for sure we're going to do a New Year's Eve live stream fan call-in show on Sunday night and then of course postgame show tailg show all that good stuff on Jam anary the 1st Boogie appreciate it as always man thanks so much enjoy it ma'am all right that is Boogie Bentley the voice of the common fan Talk invols network go give them a subscription on YouTube and uh follow talk and Bs on Twitter not boogie Bentley right now because we hope he gets that back but right now that is an imposter it is not boogie Bentley all right appreciate you guys for being here and we'll come back on tomorrow's show again working ahead here in the early week because uh some travel in the holiday season but I'll tell you this on tomorrow's show and I've already already put it on social media right now I want you guys to engage find me on Twitter DMS comment section on YouTube who qualifies as a vfl I think it's a really great conversation to have because my opinion is probably different from your opinion what the players say is what I respect because they went through it and they did it but I want to know what qualifies is the vfl we're going to talk about this on tomorrow show cuz I think it's a really great conversation let me know what you think fill up the comment section tweet me _ caner lockon balls follow me on Instagram and we'll be back tomorrow as Tennessee continues to get ready for Iowa in the Citrus Bowl appreciate you guys this is lock on [Music] balls