Previewing Week One | Mizzou vs. Murray State | Before the Box Score

welcome back tiger fans to rocking radio's football podcast I'm n Edwards that's Nathan HZ this is before the box score it's game week less than 24 hours from now or certainly less than 24 hours from when you're hearing this your Missouri fighting football Tigers number 11 team in the nation and probably better are going to be going against the Murray State Racers at F field in real liveaction americ americ tackle football Nathan Hurst we made it we made it the long National nightmare has ended I can see clearly now the rain has gone it is we we're back we are so back cannot be more excited especially with the the promise this season brings uh we finally made it I know it's been a long dark night but the day has come less than 24 hours this time you and I are recording 8:33 on a Wednesday night 22 hours from now Missouri will be kicking off and they're going to keep score and the wins and losses are going to count believe it or not so uh now we've already had football spent last week I spent part of last week watching uh football being played in Dublin Ireland um and football being played in Reno Nevada and it was great love watching it uh really good really good match up surprisingly good games so you know one of those things where it's just like you never know right that's one of the best things about college football is it's you can roll the helmets out and you can still be surprised obviously Georgia Tech took down a top 10 ranked Florida state which is why Missouri next Monday assuming everything goes well will probably be a top 10 team in the nation uh but Georgia Tech is apparently rebuilt with Brent key uh University of Nevada at Reno which apparently did not care about its football team to the point where it does not spend all that much money uh feel it a team that that really was able to press an ACC team in SMU uh by name only for four full quarters so it's we are in that that stretch of college football right at the beginning where you're you feel like you had a good idea you feel like you had a good practice a good fall camp and then you get down the field and you see exactly what happened and with the amount of transfer portal movement every team is a new team every single year uh you know so we' we've talked about missou obviously all offseason we've talked about its opponents what is your confidence level Nathan Hurst we know what we think that could happen we know what we want to happen we we read the schedule but less than 24 hours away what what is your what are your Vibes right now The Vibes are good The Vibes are really good they're different than they were in let's say mid January the the I my confidence level in mid January was through the roof we're talking I guess perhaps pre Blake Baker uh departure um through the roof uh now they're at a high level um I I would I would say they've come down this a little bit not necessarily just because of Blake Baker but more kind of looking at the landscape of the SEC of college football becoming a little more acclimated with what other teams are going to be putting on the field that that are on the schedule this year they're still quite High though still quite High um and they could be better uh they could only you know they can grow depending on how these first few weeks go um there's a lot of room you know to move up I'm I'm not going in predicting 12-0 but I'm also not not predicting 8 and four or less either so we're we're in a good spot um I'm sure the coaches would would tell everyone that the team is looks good but can can get better and that's kind of where my where my confidence level is as well yeah Eli drinkwitz is doing his best to reign in expectations and really challenge his guys in his press conference he said that they were basically PL practicing blind because they knew nothing about Murray State onto his credit there is truth to that Jody Wright was a position coach at South Carolina this time last year uh Jimmy Ogle's an offensive coordinator who's been at kind of the lower levels for a very long time this Murray State team lost almost all of its receivers and they were they were bad at running the ball uh but so they had to import a bunch of receivers but they returned all their running backs it's you know the quarterback threw seven passes two years ago or maybe it's a transfer guy like it's just so much turnover with that team specifically dr's pointed out that he was going on to huddle and looking at film from high school to see what this guy look like now I think that's a little bit of an exaggeration but the point stands Murray State is a bit of an unknown and I could tell you that because I had to do research on it four months ago and really didn't pull up much and even then you know the local newspapers aren't really talking a whole lot about it other than the fact that they are traveling to Columbia there's not a lot of chatter about dep chart movement or starting quarterbacks it's kind of a a black hole of information now Missouri is Light Years better than Murray State they were a bad FCS team but you know there is some uncertainty and I guess Nathan Hurst does the uncertainty worry you at all no not not for this team um there's it's more of a what sort of bad is Murray State this year not will they be bad or will they be good it's what kind of flavor uh of of bad are they are they are they going to come out and not be able to run the ball just like they couldn't run the ball last year and maybe they could toss it around a little bit but you know eventually if you if you keep the big plays down you're G to get them off the field after two or three series uh each possession or is it going to be that their defense is just a complete Civ and you can put up as many points as you want against them I'm not sure I don't think anyone really knows um I I don't want to bash their program too much it's just they're not in a position where they're where they're going to be strong really in any specific area and that's that's no knock on their coaching staff they're brand new um they probably don't have any clue what they're going to be putting on the field either to be honest um and so everyone's gonna be learning Murray State fans are going to be learning missou fans are going to be learning Murray State coaches and players are going to be learning and the coaches uh missou are too so it might it might be a little bit of a of a a learning curve in the first quarter if they if they if they come out in five wide and uh they were the Tigers expecting that or if they come out in the flex bone for all we know you know it might take them a series or two to really kind of figure out what the racers are trying to do um but I I don't expect that to last too long or to result in too many too many uh negative possessions for the Tigers so missou has played Murray State before do you know how many times they've played him since 2000 at least once I remember once off the top of my I think I've been in in attendance for one of those two if not if not both but they all kind of all the FCS teams kind of run together to be honest minus that one Missouri State uh nasty business in 16 or 17 whatever that was which was a canary in the coold mine um but no that Missouri has played M state twice played him in 2006 this was a Chase Daniels uh you know hey hi I can throw the ball a lot uh his debut also 2013 uh now here's the thing about 2013 very uh similar situation which muray state was getting a hard reset uh across the board now Missouri was you know the 2023 Tigers basically where there's talent but no one thought much of them anyway Murray State comes in and actually hangs with the Tigers for for half uh one of the big uh the big embarrassing moments that I remember was Murray State's quarterback uh faking a handoff Cony eling comes crashing down he's going to get him pump fakes elely bites goes into the air the quarterback goes right around him and tosses it to a running back who is wide open in the flat and the running back walks in I'm at a Missouri bar in St Louis and someone says well there goes the season which you know drunk fans what are you gonna do but they they hunt with them because there was just not a lot on tape and Missouri was still kind of figuring out okay we're all back are we good what can we do uh so there's always some hiccups some anxieties you know some some breaking in points in the first game you know doesn't doesn't mean anything and I think you know from a from a tactics standpoint from a scheme standpoint I think any college football team can bamboozle you can wow you can surprise you two or three drives I would point to Georgia 2021 sorry 2022 21 or 22 when Tyler mon came out and just ran with his ass on fire and George is like this is so annoying what are we supposed to do not that they couldn't stop it it's just they didn't anticipate it and then you know drive three drive four it was just we're better than you and shut it down that's just kind of the nature of college football so no I'm not super worried about Murray State you shouldn't either but do anticipate maybe some some funky happenings maybe some head scratching decision making or outcomes of plays don't worry about it it's the first game of the year these sorts of things happen now we've got a death chart we're going to go through it because we've been projecting this baby for nine months now we finally have one uh as the first week of game week and we're going to dive into it we're going to take a look at it couple surprises here and there I'm mostly interested in the conversation around the three deep rather than the two but we'll go through it let's start with quarterbacks Nathan Hurst there's not really a whole lot of surprise here quarterback number One's Gonna Be Brady cook that always going to be the case that's been the case basically since Conor basac left uh and then his backup is Drew Pine which again we all kind of anticipated especially with Sam Horn missing the season with an injury that he sustained in baseball and aen Glover being you know a first year freshman who's still trying to figure out where dos is so any big takeaways from from quarterback here no I mean that's exactly what we what we knew is going to be the the second that Drew Pine announced he was transferring here um the only real surprise there is looking at at their uh stats there Drew Pine 511 I had thought he was a little bigger than that so he's he's smaller dude than I expected um just looking I don't think I ever looked at his at his height and weight 511 196 so maybe he can put on a few pounds as the backup this year um but otherwise it's pretty pretty chalk I mean maybe he does maybe he doesn't for the past five years in 2020 he was 6'1 181 2021 he was 51200 uh 2022 he was 5112 200 those were at Notre Dame he then transferred to Arizona state grew an inch magically became 6 foot 194 and then transfers back to the world where we actually keep accurate Heights he went back to 511 196 so that's kind of who he is uh nothing against short quarterbacks right short kinges can do wonders uh kler Murray's not a big guy Patrick Mahomes is not a super big guy you the way that moderate offenses are set up you don't need to be some hulking 66 quarterback to see where the line and throw it um but to your point yeah a little bit more uh aerodynamic compared to the uh you know 62 212 Brady cook uh or hell even the uh 642 21 Sam Horn the 631 197 aen Glover so you know that's okay but just keep in mind assuming nothing changes which that's what a silly thing to say in modern college football but assuming nothing changes this schedule gets run back almost exactly the same next year and unless Matt zers is him version two or Aiden Glover makes a leap or Sam Horn isn't injured and interested in playing you know football Drew pin is going to be your starting quarterback I mean we're not going to really learn anything about him this year but that's that was the move right that's why he's here so what are the odds that we see Drew Pine in this game uh I they're they're high he's gonna play um now how much is that two series at the end of the fourth quarter or is that coming in after giving cook a a one series after the start of the second half which is what I hope it is is the case and then getting them out of there um that remains to be seen if history is any guide which is probably the best predictor of future uh of future action would be that he only gets in for a couple series but let's hope we we're we're we're up by a lot and uh there's no excuse not to that's the thing that's the thing Eli drinkwitz in one of his breast conferences this week he said that games are for or practices are for practicing and games are for winning and boy if there was ever a phrase that I've been you know stretching for over the past four years that was it I have been harping on this staff since they came here why aren't you playing your young guys why aren't you getting them out there and having them see liveaction snaps at the positions that they will be playing in the future and there's your answer Eli drinkwitz is not going to put them out there until the game is won and he plays a conserva enough Style on offense and does not really run up the score that you know he does not he does not feel comfortable putting them out there unless it's you know New Mexico State 22 and you're up by 30 with you know a whole an entire quarter left so I don't know I don't know if Missouri is going to be in a position where they're up 30 at any point that's not really what they do so my hot take is that we're not going to see Drew Pine at all and I would strongly suggest that we do I this you know when you talk about a season like this we we've been talking all offseason about how everything just seems to align a great way to deline it to derail it is for an injury to to a key contributor like quarterback or anybody so I I certainly hope that we see the young guys just for everybody's mental health and uh mental health of the fans and the physical health of the players yeah well I mean one thing that's different this year than previous years is obviously the stakes are way higher um and I'm wondering if that changes the thinking at all knowing that knowing that what is on the table for this team potentially if they reach their reach the ceiling that we think can think that they have um is very different than the beginning of last year or 2023 for or 2022 excuse me for that matter so in those de you know development years which is he prob I'm sure how he thought of them in some ways he may have really wanted to keep his starters out there because he felt like they needed the development but if anyone's arguing that Luther buron or uh or Brady cook are going to benefit by running more plays against Murray State in the fourth quarter you know I they're that that's just silly so yeah you know who knows what he's gonna do we're gonna we'll find out in less than 24 hours but my hope is this he sees the stakes he sees what could be lost versus what could be gained uh and make some educated decisions there but yeah you also have a lot of you're a bunch of old dudes on this offense man yeah they're all gonna be gone next year the experience is there they they're not going to get any better because they're playing uh 15 extra snaps against Murray State in the second quarter or a second half absolutely not but then again I've been saying that for four years and here we are still complaining about it anyway that's quarterback let's jump to running back uh this R was really chalk it's I think it's exactly how we anticipated it Nate NOS your we've talked about that for the couple weeks now Marcus Carol is your two followed by Jamal Roberts the St Mary's product out of St Louis R freshman he is third string Then followed up by the El Paso Wonder divorce Jones who was in his second year and then Kanan Lacy baby freshman Kanan Lacy uh is going to be your fifth option if this is to be believed thoughts on this yeah it's chalk and that's what we we knew was going to be the case after it was clear that Nate Noel was uh kind of distancing himself as the main guy we knew Marcus car was always Marcus Carroll was always going to get reps he was always going to get onto the field um so having him that or designation is fine I I it's clear that Nate Noel is the starter but um and if you look throughout and we'll talk about it more in other position groups but all the transfers that they spent any significant nil to get here are an ore whether or not they're truly a a truly a 1A 1B starter remains to be seen uh but um he's you know he's an ore a lot of the other big transfer are transfers are ores as well so that's a I think it's just the way the gamees play these days yeah we talked about short King Drew Pine running back ruins the the the kingdom of short Kings Nate Noel 58 Marcus Carrol 5'9 uh divorce Jones 5'9 Kanan Lacy 5'9 which again you know we talk about not trusting High School measurements I'm pretty sure Kanan Lacy was listed at 5'11 when coming out of high school that ain't the case uh also along those lines too Austin dindy he is it continues to be a bit of a curveball that they took him out of the safety group and put him in the running backs because he is six foot two 211 tallest and he almost heaviest uh if you're looking for your Cody Shader Marcus Carrol is doing gonna be doing his damnest to remind you of Cody Sher because he is almost the exact height weight 59 216 where's number nine so he's got like a little slanty number down his chest it's going to be similar he also pumps his arms you know kind of like the Muscle Hamster did a lot of violent eloe pumping like he's going to remind you of that but also his style is very similar too but Nate Noel is going to be your Speedster he's the guy that's going to be taking the uh first snap is what Eli drink W said we'll see how the carries get dled out over the year but seems like he got two good options a little bit thunder lightning plus you have Jamaal Roberts who is a do everything guy who's also 6 foot to 11 so we will see get to the wide receivers again you are not get be any surprised at all as who's starting it is exactly who you think it's going to be Luther buron in the slot mookie Cooper and then Theo Weis on the outside really the question was always going to be who's behind them and again it was nothing really surprising maai Miller's behind lther Burton uh you had Maris Johnson behind Theo whis okay the big one I think is behind mookie Cooper you have Josh Manning and Courtney Crutchfield uh Josh Manning in his second year Courtney Crutchfield in his first uh and then behind that you had the walk-on Logan Mony behind Maris Johnson and then the President James Madison is the fourth he's Or List behind Theo whis and of course our friend Daniel blood is third behind Luther birt and imai Miller uh which of these receivers are you really looking forward to the most either the secondy year returners or any other freshman um I mean we we know what to expect out of the three starters and I'm of course looking forward to seeing all three of those guys play but I'm really interested in seeing Josh Manning get on the field and mcki Miller as well but we've seen him a little bit too I'm I'm just really looking forward to seeing Josh Manning um obviously Speedy Johnson as well is always a treat to watch run down the field um but from what we've heard out of Camp um I wouldn't be shocked if by closer to halfway to through the season Manning's taking a lot of reps from mukie Cooper uh in that other outside other outside position so very very excited to see see what he can do yep and again you cannot trust High School Courtney crushi was listening at 62210 what is he in at Missouri 6 foot one88 um no I I I am actually excited the most because obviously the freshmen are very intriguing what can a healthy maai Miller do for us because he was not healthy for most of last year uh he caught that touchdown against Middle Tennessee and then kind of disappeared uh for no fault of his own other than just his body betrayed him he was so effective as a fr I can't I think every catch he had was converting to key third down uh and we saw a little bit of that last year and not that was absolutely needed but I want to see him get back in the rotation there's just so my God there's so many talented targets here you I don't know how you Dole these out uh which is why we go back to sit L buron and we and Cooper and let the young boys get some targets against Murray State please because I want to keep them happy want to see what we can do here um I I'm excited for a healthy maai Miller I I think that's that's an effective weapon and I want to see him on there I'm also really curious what the Freshman can do obviously you got a block to get the rock um and I doubt that we see much of the Freshman but I like to see him and I really for all the talk that Josh Manning's had I mean he sounds like the second coming of Jeremy mcklin so I would love to see him do more than just you know run a little option rout before the snap and then sit on the sideline so and interesting on that we get to tight end and no surprises Brett Norfleet uh who came on strong to close out the year he is your listed as your top tight end Jordan Harris who is the every inch of blocking tight end that you could possibly imagine he is also going to be uh your second tight end and then Tyler Stevens the guy who played last year uh he is also an option uh just you know he's came back for his his graduate year so he took that and He's listed as or starter probably a solid third if I had to guess thoughts on the tight end group yeah I it's just how you take it line up uh Stevens is a nice depth piece I mean he if he's GNA be your third tight end you're gonna be happy with that um he's not doesn't have the best hands in the world though for to be fair I'm not sure we've even seen Jordan Harris get a pass through in his way so we don't don't really know what uh what his hands are like either but that's fine we don't need either of those guys to catch the ball because Brett Norfleet is a monster and could take all those all those catches that that that position needs so if both Harris and Stevens can block um they're they're good I mean Harris is gonna has surpassed Stevens even though Stevens has played a lot of football for the tigers um I think Harris just has another level of ath athleticism that Stevens doesn't really bring so nice to have a third guy that you can throw out there if you have to but I think we'll see North feton Harris 98% of the time yeah Stevens Stevens will be on the field for special teams I'm sure he'll be one of the extra point blockers and that you know that kind of thing yeah but yeah it's a it's a pretty solid unit compared to how it was a couple years ago where you just throw a dart at the tight end room and whoever it hits you're like congratulations and sorry because that probably hurt um you're on the field now you're not going to get the ball thrown to you uh hopefully you don't commit penalties so pretty much uh both North Fleet and Stevens lost an inch over the offseason northfleet win from 67 to 66 Stevens win from 66 to 65 however uh you want to talk about consistency as far as your uh dieting and nutrition plan goes lights out in Missouri they're all listed somewhere between 250 and 255 you did it uh the curious case then is Jude James who is the Freshman that came to us from uh Francis H High School in St Charles he he's a he's an athlete he can kind of he could play safety he could play tight end maybe you could Flex him into a running back or a receiver uh they put him at tight end and here's my qu this this is a curious one H I'm not I'm trying to figure out what they're doing with him he is listed at 62222 not 6'4 not 65 not 6 250 not 255 62 222 that is a you know that's a that's a couple cookies over a wide receiver and He's listed as a tight end are we going to get Michael agnu part duh or is this a guy who needs to grow into the tight in role uh or is this just we're stashing you here until we figure out where to play you that's probably the lad there um I'm sure they look at his frame and think they can put more weight on him to get him to be a tight end uh my guess is they they tried him at at safety to and like uh maybe the athleticism is not where where we want it for that position where else can we find a spot for this guy um tight end is is a is a thought I wouldn't be shocked if they try to turn him into some kind of an outside pass rusher at some point um depending on how much weight he can put on sure uh it you know it's clear he's gonna he's gonna red shirt this year I mean didn't make the the two deep but I'd imagine Whit haers in that same boat minus uh minus any kind of major injuries in that room um both those guys will will spend a year get bigger get stronger uh I'm sure they they're they're playing just to reevaluate him come spring and see see what what they got yeah and like Hayer was a offensive lineman in high school if I remember correctly he's list He's listed at 66 256 so he's already got the size now a lot of that's probably just baby weight they need to cut that build it back up but uh also we're not really expecting him to do much I just it's really interesting because you know Ryan horse camp was about 62 240 uh and then Max wizner 63 and neither of those guys could really see the field consistently has a tight end and then you have North Fleet at 66 you know Harris at 6'4 Stevens at 66 like it kind of feels like that's what they're looking for hay for obviously 66 like they want get kind of the bigger uh passing Target and then you've got you know got you James here so yeah I I don't know I'm really curious to see what they want to do with him if it's you know throw on 40 pounds and become you know Daniel Parker Jr cool you know just to block your ass off tight end that's great um I just it's curious that's all that's I'm thinking and drinks used kind of an HB at some points in the past not as much last year sometimes um so I could see him fitting in there too if he's not going to be a big Target downfield but can put on 25 pounds and you know steamroll some dudes in the Run game that that could be a pretty a pretty nice fit for him if if it works out absolutely so moving to the offensive line again no surprises here we have beaten this thing to death I think our last iteration was is actually the thing that popped up on the dep chart here so going left to right starting left tackle Marcus Bryant the transfer from SMU left guard Kaden green the transfer from Oklahoma center Conor toson our erant snap booy coming back for a fourth year uh on the Right Guard Camron Johnson former transfer from Houston seconde starter at the right guard position and then of course your right tackle uh potential NFL injury we'll see Arman mimu out of out of the Missouri now here's the interesting part because we knew Javin Richardson was kind of your swing tackle he was definitely the sixth best guy uh he gave Marcus Bryan a run for his money he is listed as Marcus Bryan's backup at left tackle you have Logan rer as the backup left guard the former blue chipper out of Raymore uh then you have Tristan Wilson who is going to be your backup center he is a seconde player you have Curtis pigler my goodness I mean he's a third-year player I know that but he is uh 643 37 the the Alabama product from Demopolis high school and then of course the hulking Mitch Walters Mitchell Walters 68331 as your right tackle uh that is your your twoo deep obviously things can change year to year but mostly we see six maybe seven guys see the field based off of name and what you've heard through practice is this the year where we see more than six or seven guys taking Snaps at the offensive line position not because of injury issues uh yeah I mean I would if you hadn't qualified it there I would have said I hope not um yeah still probably know um the one spot I could see them trying to rotate someone in uh would be at at the center spot just because that's such a hard position to replace if there is you know just with communication and stuff so I can see them trying to get Tristan Wilson in there um you know get a few a few snaps in there for them otherwise you know unless it's a blowout and they just pulled the entire first string we're going to see see the first string guys um pretty much the whole time I'd have to think um I I do find it interesting I me I as far as the backups go we knew jav Richardson was gonna be the backup left tackle I think he probably would be the backup right tackle too um but they weren't gonna put his name in twice uh so they'll give the nod to Mitchell Walters who you know's been around a long time he's been a longstanding backup guy um I would I would think if something would to happen God for to Arman minbu it' probably be Richardson slotting in there um guards are kind of interesting I I could also see Tristan Wilson being a being a guard too if we needed it in a pinch I'm not quite sure if if he wouldn't replace uh Camron Johnson at Right Guard over pagler IFH you know if it had to be done yeah I mean you watched Wilson's tape at at Lebanon High School and it this was a man who had Joy hitting other men like it it brought him happiness there was such a ferocity in how he hit dudes and I get that that's high school I get that's Lebanon Missouri but like I was so excited when I was like oh man this could be Missouri's Next Guard but you also have a Logan rer who's like 340 pounds you have a a Curtis pagler who's 340 pounds yeah that's pretty good to put as a guard right just just a whole bunch of meat coming at you and you know for Tristan Wilson he still has that ferocity that's not going anywhere uh but you want a little bit more speed a little bit more agility from your Center uh so it does make a lot of sense to to get him reps there if they can get him out there obviously Drake heis Meer is listed as an or starter he has been the backup center for four years um so like he's he's got it down uh I don't know if he's GNA come back next year or not but that's you know you would like to have some options at Center because like to your point it is it is tough uh and kind of your lighter FAS guys slide in there a little bit better so uh really curious to see if we ever do see him uh and so that leaves kind of the other what's what's your third streen and these are the guys that you're just probably not going to see we're probably not going to see Brandon soless he is a red shirt freshman this year you're not going to see Ryan Jo he's the Freshman out of Washington Missouri you're not gonna see ton Chandler who's the Freshman out of Neva Neva R5 high school and you're not gonna see Caleb pyram who is 18 and 337 pounds just throw throwing that out there uh that's that's that's a candidate for the gun club to cut that and build it back up but you're those guys we not going to see if you can't make the too deep you're a freshman offensive lineman it's not going to happen so that is it we'll see how much we see these guys outside of injury time um but it sounds I mean I've said it before I think this is probably the most talented offensive line it's a question of how they play well together has that has your opinion of that changed since we've since we haven't seen anything or do you still feel pretty highly about this offens one no I'm still I'm still very high on this line if it all comes together now it's much more than five individual people and five individual talents they've got to work together as a as a cohesive unit we know we know 2013's offensive line could do that uh better than just about any that that I've ever seen at missou but this these five individual players I think all have greater Talent so we'll have to see how they coales but the potential is still very much there yeah I agree so then we get to the interesting part right because defense is a lot more substitution based there's a lot more you know you have starters you have guys you're going to take more snaps but it requires it takes a village to play defense right it requires you know more than just your starting 11 to get it done so this is where second and third stram really do matter uh and this is where a third stramer in preseason can impress during the games and work his way up into you know more reps and and and become more re second teamer so this stuff is really important here let's start with the defensive line uh your first defense uh your Edge rusher the Michigan State transfer Zion Yun not a surprise however he is an or starter with uh what was his last Georgia Tech uh with uh Georgia Tech South Florida transfer Eddie Kelly they are listed as or starters at one defensive end spot uh the other defensive end is Johnny Walker Jr we knew he was going to start Joe Moore who saw snaps last year here is where I get excited because we knew we had a Williams Wier on staff right we knew he's on the team we know he's here Jaylen Brown gets the nod as the first name as third defensive end and then on top of that jakai lane the Troy product is is listed as third on the other side look Nathan Hurst we know Williams wner is gonna play I'm not saying it's going to be a lot I think you all need need to be like prepared to be disappointed with like eight snaps from Williams this game but I'm very excited that Jaylen Brown is listed as third first and that jakai lane is finally starting to creep on there what are your thoughts on the edge rushers yeah I mean the fact that brown even made the list in the first place is very exciting uh I kind of had written him H you know as a red shirt this kid's Got Talent he's going to develop come back in a couple years and and we'll we'll we'll see him on the field but the the fact that he he got in there as the as the number three guy I mean that means he's going to play as a true freshman that's a big deal um that's definitely a big deal so I I'm excited about that jakai Lang we'll see you know he's also number three on the other side um I'm glad he made the list I I think they wouldn't have put it someone's name on this list if they weren't going to play or at least had the opportunity uh to play at some point in time and now jakai already red once so it's not like they're going to gain anything by not playing him if they uh if they wanted to or needed to but it's nice to see him on there um and it shows that maybe the coaches think they have a little more depth than we might have thought since the darus Smith injury the unfortunate injury there I mean this sorry you no I I was just gonna say to your point this might be a injury promotion right like it might it could very well be that they did not want him out there and that's fine however he is out there and Johnny Walker and Joe Moore will not be on this team next year so and again thingss you cannot expect thingss to stay the same that's silly but arguing that if they did jakai Lane will be your starter next year on The Edge kind of makes you feel like the red shirt freshman you know you getting his first snaps now with the potential Runway to to be a starter I don't know I'm that makes me excited yeah it's better it's better to be excited than to be scared if they they would not have put him on there If he if it was a reason to be scared they probably would have just dropped Wier down to the other end and had three on each side so there's a reason he's on the list yeah is one of these The Joker I know that they talked about that in the offseason we have not really heard much about it it's like a play side versus weak side but like I don't know they didn't designate it as a position so like are we just I mean based on what we saw it does this says very little but based on what we saw at the spring game it was Johnny Walker and and dar Smith that were playing that joker position so it would make me think that that one that Johnny Walker's spot is that spot but it also kind of seems reading the te leaves like the Joker is not going to be an every down kind of thing it's going to be based on the position know the your field position and down and distance and uh does Cory baton you know have itch in his butt or not you know what what what as far as when they call plays that have a joker or not so yeah it it'll be interesting to see when now we actually see a real game when and how they use those defensive ends do they line up off the off the ball often or not you know that is a lot to remain to be seen there not that they're going to really they're going to really want to show their hand too much in this game I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we we saw no joker in this game uh just to hold that one close to the best till Boston College or vanderbel and I mean even if they did the guy's not going to raise his hand said hey I'm a joker right now he look at me like no one's that's not going to happen so we're we're not going to know is is basically the takeaway there but I'm just I don't know I was curious I was what I was wondering if they were going to designate it as an actual position and they haven't so that's fine uh moving into the interior now we heard a lot of excellent things about Mr Maris gril uh the former fourstar from St Charles High School all that and then we get the Florida transfer Chris mlen as one starting defense a tackle uh Christian Williams who's been here for quite some time he's going to be your other starting tackle behind Chris mlen you have Jaylen Marshall from Kansas or Sam Williams uh the the the player that we won in exchange for letting Wake Forest win the bowl game uh and then behind Christian Williams you have the former St Louis Prospect the former New Mexico State standout staling web backing up Christian Williams and then Mars Graal an or second guy with Sterling web I am choosing to look at this as a good thing that Maris Grossi with all the the hubub around him uh they were all very impressed and he is an or starter and that that tells me that Sterling web's really freaking good what do you think about that it's interesting I I what stuck out to me was Jaylen Marshall being right pretty high up on L higher up even than Maris graio yeah uh which is potentially exciting we we've talked about this many times in the offseason but one of those two guys needs to stay Step Up um we're we're assuming that Sterling web is good and is going to play that's three guys that we can count on one of those between Jaylen Marshall Rocky scal and if you want to throw Sam Williams in there you can sure one of those three players needs to be a solid contributor on this team if we can get both of them or two of them two out of three even better um but one of those guys if this defense is going to be anywhere near as successful as they have been need to be able to play significant snaps and be productive while they do so know one of the things that I've been interested in watching as as Eli drinkwitz you know sinks his teeth into this program is the evolution of the defensive line you know when he was trying out defensive lines in 2020 2021 they were very light uh he he valued a lot of speed uh and quickness on the interior uh the guys would be you know 290 295 I think jayen Jernigan was playing at 287 last year from what I understand from the from the um at least from the roster the official roster but as he continued to portal people in and bring in his kind of guys uh from the high school ranks you saw that SEC heft start taking over then two to my point Chris mcleen is 64 325 Jaylen Marshall is 633 330 Sam Williams is 63 299 get a donut get to 300 Maris grosio 64 325 even fresh freshman Justin bodford out of Plantation Florida St Thomas aquinus 6' 307 right SEC is a line of scrimmage League you gotta have some got to have some butts on these guys and it seems like the strength and training programs got the butts on him I mean you're liest guy is uh Sterling Webb who's 61 290 and then Christian lams who's 6'2 to 295 uh you know Christian was playing at 314 last year so he kind of seems like he slimmed down a little bit but you need need you need bulk you need to take up space uh at least at one of those tackle positions and that was something that really struggled in 2021 when Mizumi was getting its ass blown off at the line so this is SEC heft now you just got to pair it with the SEC speed how do you feel about the potential of a good uh fourman rotation like we've had the past couple years I mean it it remains to be seen I I think they have the chance am I confident that this a fourman solid rotation similar to previous years is going to coales not yet I'm G to have to see it on the field first but as you said with the size of a Jaylen Marshall 330 or a gracial 325 you're big those guys are big enough that they don't have to do a whole lot other than just not move um and it's hard to move a 330 pound man so that helped makes me feel a little bit better seeing the size of these guys that if they could just sit in one spot and be lazy and don't don't move then they're going to be they're they're automatically going to be doing something good uh just be in the way um now if they could give us a little more than that that would be great but if if they can at worst case just be in the way and be hard to move then then we're getting something out of them obviously inflation hits everybody you can't escape it it affects all all facets of life that's just that's just part of it do you remember Josh Augusta of course who who wouldn't remember that that fine gentleman so for for our listeners who might be a little bit younger than us Josh Augusta I think he was from Peoria Illinois he was a freshman defensive tackle on the 2013 football team he really came into his own in 2014 where he earned the nickname Big Bear uh because he was just the biggest freaking dude on the team Hurst do you remember how big big bear was do you know his height and weight I don't remember his height but he he if he wasn't 360 he was 250 pounds the guy was closer to 400 than he was to 300 pounds yeah yeah well also the finest short yardage back that maou has ever had yeah so Josh gusta his final playing weight was 335 pounds and that's after slimming down significantly yeah or or 10 pounds heavier than Chris mclen five pounds heavier than Jaylen Marshall uh 10 pounds heavier than Maris graio my point is 10 years of football price of the bag goes up big goes up and I know Josh Augusta was lugging around 370 pounds in his butt uh he was 335 when he was an effective player and he was still called big bear and now that's just that's the going rate for defensive tackles now which is uh how long till we see a 400lb player oh I guess we've already seen it that Florida Gator defensive linean he played at four 415 I think last year big wi was a monster wasn't very good but he was a monster he just God I could hear the farts as he tried to run like it it was man I I love that watching that guy though and and big wiggle might be my favorite nickname of all time uh for a guy that size but anyway way we'll move away from the line let's go to linebacker obviously it's a position that has been deemphasized over the years as defenses have evolved it's less about playing the run and sticking your nose in the line and more about playing passing Lanes more about getting out in space and tackling still a very important position it's way more Havoc focused now cinamon blitzes so you need to have speed you need to have strength you have a good NOS for what's happening in the play and guess what the theme of the night it's the exact guys that you thought it was going to be Dr new starting on the weak side Chuck Hicks starting on the inside both of those guys Havoc flavor gentlemen now the interesting part if you want to find it interesting is to her Point as he mentioned earlier if you already transfer you got the or designation and lo and behold khil Jacobs is an ore stared with Tristan new on the outside and of course Cory flag the Miami import is an or starter on the inside with Chuck Hicks outside of that you have brayan Little John and Nick Rodriguez backing up Tristan new as the year two as your three and four and then the fourstar Michigan transfer Jeremiah Beasley and the Arkansas Product Brian Huff as the three4 on the inside Hurst we're going to see all four linebackers you have to have four linebackers what are the chances the Freshman get on the field at any point this year uh I special teams yeah absolutely they not they're not going to see the field uh on defense um barring major injuries uh I I think it's interesting we're definitely going to see all four I'm wondering in this position specifically how much they gave the top billing mean Chuck kicks Tristan news based on the fact that they're returning players versus we got our transfers in we're not going to put them on top of you but we're going to give them an ore I would not be shocked Maybe not today or Thursday or this first game first couple weeks I would not be shocked if a khil Jacobs starts to creep into being the a more uh playing more than a Tristan Newsome I think H Hicks will probably take the bulk of the snaps over Cory flag uh given the fact that he's a he's a team captain and he just has that much more experience but um I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that really they're just kind of giving the nod to the returning guys but but these a couple of these transfers might actually surpass them at some point in the season in terms of overall snaps they're all going to play they're all going to see the field we've seen that new can be very productive on a fairly limited snap count so yeah maybe they can see that we could send both these guys 50-50 and keep them both very rested very energetic send them running after the quarterback over and over and over again and and create as much Havoc as we possibly can I could be completely wrong it could be trist new 95% of the time and it's the opposite and they gave Jacobs the uh the orb because they they're paying him some nil money and they you know want to show off to their TR potential transfers that you'll get on the field if you come here we'll see we'll see but I'm very interested in in seeing what the actual snap count totals play out here yeah it could be very even now Chuck hick is 25 he should be playing for his second NFL contract and he's not he's playing he's paying a mortgage and he's got grandkids by this point pretty much I mean because of the two red shirts two medical red shirts this is seventh year one two three four five six yeah in the co year so 25 we have seen that playing older guys really pays off so I think having a 25-year old linebacker out there you are I mean just from a physical standpoint that is your Peak physicality for a male 25 you know 26 from from an athlete standpoint like it's not going to get much better than that obviously Cory flag is not you know 19 he is he's 24 23 24 so I mean yeah so like you know he's right there too but Hicks has been here a while he knows the system uh hot shoulders on YouTube wasn't there a guy from Baylor a few years ago that was 61400 I think he was a tight end I think he's talking about lacoin McGowen who is it's like 66 405 I think who was a tight end and there's nothing tight about that end I can promise you that floppy end is what we'll call that um yeah he was that was a big dude that was a big freaking dude um did not have a cool nickname but I think think I saw him catching passes which was always very funny to see you know a circus bear catch a football um but yeah good point HUD shoulders uh you are you are right on that all right moving from linebackers we'll go into the defensive secondary again the position that's causing me heartburn uh for most of the offseason let's start with start with Corner um so looking at what we have on the death truck that was released again not a huge surprise on one end you do get dren Norwood as your starter like a lock iron locked starter drayen Norwood uh behind him you have Marcus Clark who transferred to missou from Miami a couple years ago uh so he's in his last year and then you have the former safety former receiver current Corner jaryan Wayne out of Parkway West or sorry the Parkway North uh and then Cameron Keys The Freshman who everyone has been raving about but will probably just be a special teamer he is kind of listed as the or with jaryan Wayne on the other side this was the real question is it going to be torana Pride the Clemson transfer the former St Louis product is he going to get the starting position or is it going to be the rocketing young man from uh Illinois the lawn jumper Nick Delo who everybody's talking about and so far it's toor Ono Pride listed first as an or with Nick Delo now behind those two Shamar mcneel and then jiren cinah the Freshman I still don't feel good about this I just there's too many questions about everybody what's your take on this I think there's a lot of there's a lot of n guys in that room that can play is it the top end is not going to be what it we we've enjoyed the last couple years which if you look at the history of maou football the last couple years have been a far outlier for our uh cornerback production and and skill so this might bring us a little bit back to the norm of what we're used to uh seeing quarterbacks in this program but there are several guys on this list that I think are will be per are perfectly serviceable uh Norwood has proven that he might even be a little better than serviceable uh one of Pride or Delo I think are going to be fine and Demarcus Clark is serviceable um beyond that I you know we you gotta have probably one more player that that can step up but you know jaryan Wayne great athlete maybe he can put it together um could could be the other guy I'm not as worried about it as you I don't think I at the same time they're they're not going to be outstanding they're not going to be outstanding but if as long as they can be fine as long as they can be serviceable I think I think they'll be okay well we could we could be looking back two years from now and say yeah we replace two NFL Corners with another two NFL Corners how about that like drinkwitz did such a great job you know you you know you we could do that we could also say boy what what could have been if R straw stuck around another year uh for this run with this schedule um because the other guys couldn't hack it you just you just you don't know and when you're looking for runs to the playoff runs for a national championship maybe a run for an SEC Championship whatever you need to know you need to know these things they need to be proven they need to be consistent they need to be guaranteed we just do not have that so I I I love that you're more optimistic than me obviously negative Nate over here uh but like I just yeah not feeling great and I'm not gonna feel great until we probably after textas say him or no because I only feel bad yeah I'll feel great after Texas A&M that's that's where I'm gonna stand if we're five and0 after Texas A&M you'll feel great okay I feel better I feel feel better all right well I'll be with you there look winning winning sues all ailments we know this um all right so let's get into the rest of the secondary with the safeties again if it's a returning starter they're probably listed as the starter so here we are Joseph Charleston uh he is listed as the strong safety this year he is an or starter with Traves Johnson almost exactly as it was last year uh dalen Carnell returns as a starter for safety Sydney Williams is a solid number two behind dalen Carnell and then of course our favorite uh vehicle Speedster Philip Rocha is listed as third uh sorry Tran greo is listed as third under behind Joseph Charleston and travez John uh travez Johnson there we go at the free safety position you have Marvin Burks Jr from St Louis and now he saw some snaps last year not a lot but then behind him is Caleb flag who yeah Caleb flag brother of the other flag that we've already mentioned on this here program uh he is Cory flag fl's brother both from Houston Texas just Caleb has played at Houston Baptist Baptist no Houston Christian Houston Christian houon Christian used to be Houston Baptist name hon Christian whatever the religious Houston School uh he he's been there for the past two years he walked onto missou this year when his brother came on he is listed as the backup to Marvin Burks so you're sitting here going okay how does a walk-on do that well number one he could be really good we don't know um but I know Jackson Hancock was was thought highly of kind of coming out of high school but you know he's not ready so that's really all you have though I mean it's a lot but you're playing you have three safety positions which means at a minimum you need six guys and if one of them ain't ready then you're looking to the walk-on Bunch so I think the other flag could be just as capable as his brother uh he's played in 21 games at Houston Christian he's logged 101 tackles three tackles for loss uh one sack 11 passes broken up and two interceptions in his two years for the Huskies I don't know what Houston Christian is um so I mean he's he played starter minutes for an FCS team and did well this isn't like just pulling you or me off the street um but that to me that's the biggest story walkon gets to be second you know second straight safety what are what are your takeaways from this group it kind of seems like he was a very pleasant surprise for the coaches coming into the fall he was kind of a toss in oh we got Cory flag yeah we'll give your brother a a walk- on spot sure why not it hurts nothing um and it turns out that he actually can play so the the one question it gives me is I really like seeing Marvin Burks Jr as the starter having earned that spot I'm not 100% sure that he earned it because he's really really good and not just because he beat out the walk-on yeah but I'm gonna I'm GNA air on the side of positivity and say Burks is really good he's got that spot locked down and flag is a is is a capable backup if needed um I also love that Tron dreco is up there as well and is I think he's gonna see the field whether it's on special teams or or on the defense I could see him being able to fill in uh in burk's spot as well um you know if if needed to um or trz Johnson for that matter any I think either of those guys could be a perfectly capable you know uh backup in Brooks they're they're not the exact same position but they're because they don't really have a true strong safety with their star star safety they're interchangeable enough that they could kind of switch in and out yeah much much like to your theory on Javin Richardson being the backup for both tackles but only listed at one I think yeah Sydney Williams Traves Johnson trz Johnson probably more than the actual like backup you know yeah yeah Williams really has only played in the Box last year anytime he was on the field it was in the box so I'd be kind of surprised if we saw him drop back too deep yeah yeah so there you go uh well I guess you know okay Blake Craig is listed as your kicker um Luke Bower the hero of Kentucky is listed as your punter uh he did bring Orion Phillips from Murray State of all places actually to you know to be that other punter but you know God Eli Drinkin loves nothing more than punt battles and Bower might be listed as the starter but I guarantee you we see Bower and Phillips take punt uh all year basically because he loves punting competition so can Phillips throw a 40 40 yard dime down the field that's the question no but can Luke Bower grow a lush blonde Mane like our Australian friend I so far he cannot maybe we can combine powers can can can Orion donate some hair we get some like hair plugs in there or something man L Bower going super saian I can't wait to see what that looks like you know uh that would be incredible um oh okay I guess there's a little story here you want to talk about punt returner kick returner real quick um or we could talk lawn Snapper Brett LeBlanc is gonna be the lawn Snapper for uh punting and Trey Flint will be the lawn Snapper for field goals um Luther buron is listed as your first team punt returner and Nathan Hurst I don't believe that I don't believe it at all what are your thoughts I think he's going to come out against merate as the as the first pun return that we see I think they're gonna give him the opportunity to catch the ball in the air off of punts and try to return it um because if they want him to be any kind of Heisman candidate at all he's going to have to do that a lot and well now after two weeks and he's and we don't see don't see much out of that then I could see them saying all right we we know we we tried we're gonna we're going to switch it up a little bit we'll get Daniel Blood on the field uh this might be the only way we can really get him on the field but at least he'll feel like he's contributing something along those lines but I think they're gonna give him a shot and if he's gonna Pat his stats against anybody it's going to be against Murray State or against Buffalo if he can get get a punt return for a touch against one of those teams you know just to pad those stats down the road at the end of the year no one's going to care who he return the punt return for a touchdown against as long as he's got one or two on his resume so they're going to try now comes Boston col and we're still watching the ball bounce behind him for 20 yards then I think they'll probably U change it up a little bit so we we'll see we'll see but I think they're at least gonna try yeah I mean if you're a receiver you got to do a lot I get that um boy just return punts for Heisman reasons that's it would be cool to get a Heisman I just don't think that's what I do in the video game is I put my I understand they're gonna try too I understand if you get hurt though you just turn it off and try again I just uh let's let's settle for the blueit call let's settle for having our best player carry us through the playoff without getting his head decapitated while trying to feel the punt I don't disagree I I for the record do not want him returning punts yeah the the bang for your buck you get is not worth not worth it yeah we've got other capable guys is i' I'd be fine with Fair catching every single punt all season long as long as we are assuring that we catch it I would much rather take our chances with our offense on the field than you know risk anything injury or muff punt or anything so which is why theis is listed as a punt returner catch the ball son catch it and sit down just catch it uh do you have Speedy Johnson as a kick returner which I I feel like he did that last year too is that correct later in the year I think he got he got some run there I like it a lot I he can catch the ball and run in one straight line really fast and if they can get any kind of a blocking Lane set up for him you know let him go so I like it I like the idea I like Josh Manning back there too get him another way to get get him on the field just like Daniel blood uh get get those guys contributing and used to the ball in their hands with 60,000 people screaming yep I I'm in favor of receivers maybe not Luther Burton but yeah there's just too much talent there to not have them sit which is why I didn't believe in Burton I don't like it let's get some other guys out there so they can see the field 100% on board with that so we just went through the entire death chart it took us about an hour to do it because spoiler alert I'm not worried about Murray State and those are famous last words I know we talked about a little bit at the beginning it's just Eli drinkwitz is going to have their their minds right I have no doubt about that but boy you could really just give your Dame and probably still win um you don't want to do that you don't want to win close against an FCS team uh and there's enough different parts strangeness newness new season uh that wild things can happen but I I trust Eli dris to be a good pitch man I trust Eli drink to give a hell of a speech and I trust Eli drink was to create a culture of accountability and uh I mean he's been talking about it since the the postgame press conference in the cotton bow about this year you know the biggest weakness is is your own self right it's it's a new year it's somebody different you last year was last year you weren't there um so I I feel confident about this I I do think it's going to be Plucky for about a quarter and then put them to bed um who's going to score the first touchdown of the 2024 season Nathan Hurst uh Nate noell they're GNA move down move down the field relatively methodically maybe on play eight of the drive seven yard run touchdown Tigers my money is on Nate as well just to offer a counter second play of the game deep ball Luther buron cook I for it I would love it start start P start padding those stats man get up there get them to 200 yards three touchdowns in the first half and get them out take a nap take a nap take a little nap yep uh Thursday night game I still love it I know it's a pain in the butt for anybody who works especially in Columbia I know we're in this weird situation where they're telling faculty to treat it like a holiday but everybody else has to treat it like a normal day also it's going to be hot as balls out there please uh consume HT H2O as well as adult beverages the last thing we need is heat exhaustion or passing out for anybody uh but by all accounts should be a great night to watch some football Sun's going to go down it's going to be rockus you're going to see the first game of a potentially transformative year for our favorite football program it's a sellout which uh is the first time we've sold out a FCS game I have to think yeah I mean unless maybe 2008 did we sell out that FCS game but I I I doubt we did I don't know I I don't care I like it it's the first one you know I like it uh so yeah we'll uh it's less than 24 hours away we will do our postgame show this weekend I know it's a Labor Day weekend a lot of travels out there going be able to enjoy the extended weekend enjoy football all throughout the weekend it's going to be great we will still get that show out to you hopefully we're not talking about anything uh drastic hope it was just a very boring game where you put up 50 and went to bed uh but that is going to be our promise to you to get a show out before the weekend is over Nathan Hurst parying thoughts before we leave I'm just ready for it my body is ready my mind is ready taking work off tomorrow taking work off Friday to recover we're gonna we're gonna make it happen it's it's here let's do it let's do it that's the show for today as always we appreciate the downloads and the subscriptions you can leave a comment or read us because we love all types of feedback from you all you can follow us on Twitter at Matt n Edwards He's at burst Hurst of course you can follow the rocking FL ship at rockim nation and our podcasting Outlet at rockim Radio we appreciate tuning in this time we'll do better next time and until then m zou