CFP Upon Further Review, Transfer Portal Recap with Cooper Petagna & More!

Summary

Cover 3 College Football Podcast

Episode: CFP Upon Further Review, Transfer Portal Recap with Cooper Petagna

Date: January 21, 2026
Hosts: Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, Danny Kanell, Bud Elliott
Guest: Cooper Petagna

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Overview

This episode dives deep into the aftermath of the College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship, reflects on Miami vs. Indiana’s title game, and delivers a comprehensive recap of the transfer portal with insights from recruiting analyst Cooper Petagna. The panel discusses transfer market trends, notable player moves—especially at quarterback and offensive line—and evaluates which programs nailed the offseason. Commentary is laced with insider anecdotes, legal takes on NIL/transfer issues, and forward-looking thoughts on roster management.

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I. National Championship Game: Indiana vs. Miami

Upon Further Review Segment
(Timestamp: 00:25–17:00)

Main Discussion Points

• Atmosphere and Intensity

  • Danny Kanell, who was on the field, describes it as “the most electric national championship game” he’s attended.

    “An hour before, I looked at my watch. 6:30, celebrities all over the place… the stands were 98% full.” (01:31 – Danny)

• Miami’s Narrow Margins and Indiana’s Execution

  • Cooper Patagna notes the clash of styles and Indiana’s slim win:

    “It was just like one or two plays here or there. That’s a different outcome in that game.” (02:21 – Cooper)

  • Indiana’s ball security and game management:

    “They haven’t lost a fumble since week one of the season. It’s like, in a 12-game stretch, that hasn’t been done since 2004.” (03:55 – Danny)

• Key Moments and Coaching Decisions

  • The hosts discuss game management miscues and learning moments, referencing Mario Cristobal’s decisions—both praised and critiqued.

    “I do think Mario has gotten better at some of this game management stuff…this will be teach tape.” (06:14 – Chip)

• Indiana’s “Storybook” Season

  • Hosts acknowledge Indiana’s season-long underdog story turning into dominance:

    “This is a team that I think is one of the best we’ve seen in the College Football Playoff era.” (02:59 – Cooper)

Notable Quotes

• “It was the most electric national championship game I’ve been to… stadium full, people rocking in anticipation.” (01:31 – Danny)
• “They had to RPO it… like 40 RPOs in the game… you couldn’t do traditional drop back stuff.” (03:37 – Chip)
• “They got bailed out big time with Indiana’s false start… that should’ve been an automatic jump off sides.” (06:14 – Chip)

Memorable Moments

• Danny’s anecdote about betting with his dad on Miami and the miscommunication over moneyline versus point spread. Light, humorous banter between the hosts (14:51–17:30).

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II. Mario Cristobal’s Coaching Arc

(Timestamp: 07:26–11:07)

• Cooper Petagna, as a former staffer under Cristobal, gives an insider evaluation:

  “He’s really good at getting the team up in big games… leans into the underdog role… when he can go out and be free, that’s when you get the best version of Miami.” (08:16 – Cooper)

• Cristobal’s shift to a more CEO-style approach with trusted coordinators:

  “For the first time, he’s got two guys in Heatherman and Shannon Dawson that he believes in, can be hands-off and maximize it.” (10:46 – Cooper)

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III. Transfer Portal: Major Headlines and Trends

(Timestamp: 19:35–66:37)

1. Legal Drama: The Darian Mensah (Duke QB) Saga

(Timestamp: 19:35–27:48)

• Background:
  • Mensah signed a two-year, $8M deal at Duke; after one year and an ACC title, he enters the portal on the last day.
  • Legal battle erupts over NIL/contract enforceability; Duke seeks injunction.
• Expert Read:

  “They can’t keep him from the portal… Duke will likely be entitled to get the $4 million back…” (23:26 – Chip)
  “If Miami pays him six and the four to cover Duke, he has to pay tax on 10!” (24:04 – Bud)

• Broader Implications:
  • Market disruption for QB talent; the ACC and other schools watching closely.
  • The trend is to pay big for proven QBs, sometimes at the expense of high school recruiting.

2. Quarterback Dominoes

(Timestamp: 27:48–36:56)

• Key Movements & Analysis

  • Levitt, Sorsby top the QB transfer rankings.
  • Each blue-chip program needed to “land the plane” on a transfer; LSU described as “most desperate.”
  • Miami pulls off a late coup with Mensah.
  • Raiola, Levitt, Sorsby, and Tennessee’s situation discussed as representative of the new “QB roulette.”

• Strategic Insights

  “Quarterback roulette is a dangerous game, but all contenders were able to land safely.” (30:46 – Cooper) “If you look at the semifinalists, all four had portal quarterbacks. It makes sense…” (32:44 – Danny)

3. Transfer Portal Position Value

(Timestamp: 38:01–42:15)

• Offensive Line Scarcity
  • “You look at O-line, there are too many teams that need to bolster… very few impact tackles.”

  “Jordan Seaton… bona fide dude with a first round ceiling… market scarcity drives the price up.” (38:51 & 40:58 – Cooper)

• Team Approaches:
  • Most are now searching for average-to-above-average starters, not just “names.”
  • Some teams, like Miami, LSU, Oregon, are able to pay above-market for high-value positions.

4. Production vs. Potential

(Timestamp: 45:53–50:28)

• Is High-End Talent Still Required?
  • Indiana’s title as a “production over potential” proof point.
  • The championship standard has shifted to include more cohesive, experienced units—not just freak athletes.

  “Indiana is the most connected team I’ve ever watched play… they suffocate you with execution and technique, not outlandish talent.” (47:26 – Cooper)

  • Blue-chip ratio exceptions now rely on elite QBs or development/program culture.

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IV. New Faces, Key Transfer Picks, and Team Winners

(Timestamp: 42:15–59:18)

Standout Programs

• Indiana

  • “Have elevated their profile; now a destination—a mix of JMU pipeline and new high-level talent.”
  • Adding: QB Josh Hoover, WR Nick Marsh, pass-rusher Toby Osinsomni, OL Joe Brunner, and others.
  • Strategic use of brand awareness post-title.

• Kentucky

  • Will Stein’s transformation on O-line and at QB: flipping Kenny Minchi, adding Nick Anderson, investing in OL improvements fast.

• Notre Dame

  • Efficient, quality-focused portal haul despite limited volume.
  • Adding: Tion Gray (DT), two five-star OSU transfers, and other high-upside defenders.

• Cal

  • “Sneaky good cycle,” capitalizing on PAC-12/Big Ten churn.
  • Added productive pieces at skill positions and in the trenches, e.g., QB Jaren Kiave, WR Chase Hendricks, RB Adam Muhammad.

Other Noteworthy Transfers

• Drew Messamaker (QB): “Advanced level passer, huge Group of Six year”—his handling and fit at Oklahoma State analyzed.
• Amarian Miller (WR): “Beautiful, smooth, sudden,” Arizona State gets a big playmaker.

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V. Market Trends, Roster-Building, and Realities

(Timestamp: 60:47–66:37)

• Spending by Position

  • “Know where the depth is in the market—receiver is deep, running back and tight end are scarce, top DBs and OL are extremely rare.” (61:34 – Cooper)
  • “The portal is not just swapping depth, it’s swapping above-average starters.”

• Evaluating Production and Potential

  • Programs need to dig into why certain high-upside backups (e.g., buried at Georgia, Oregon) are in the portal.

• Roster Size Increases

  • With rosters growing from 85 to 105, some portal additions are “body types,” not immediate impact guys.
  • “Free agency” style increasingly mirrors the NFL: impactful, but foundational team-building still relies on core development and scouting.

• 2026 Class Compared to 2025

  • Fewer programs made “transformational” moves—2025 had portal classes that vaulted programs into playoff spots (Miami, Oregon, Texas Tech, LSU).

  “Feels more like NFL free agency—supplemental, not the foundational piece unless you’re in a major rebuild.” (66:14 – Cooper)

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VI. Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Time | |----------------------------------|----------| | Opening & National Champ Recap | 00:25–17:00 | | Cristobal’s Coaching Evolution | 07:26–11:07 | | Bet Story (Humor) | 14:51–17:30 | | Transfer Portal Legal Drama | 19:35–27:48 | | QB Carousel & Team Strategy | 27:48–36:56 | | O-Line Market & Jordan Seaton | 38:01–42:15 | | Portal Winners (Teams & Players) | 42:15–59:18 | | Market Trends/Philosophy | 60:47–66:37 |

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VII. Notable Quotes

• “When he can go out there and be free and say, nobody’s given us a chance—that’s when you get the best version of Miami.” (08:16 – Cooper)
• “You can’t just load up the roster with all the traits and roll the balls out there… that’s going to get you an 8–4 season.” (51:00 – Bud)
• “Know where the depth is in the market… receiving is deep, linebacker is hard, O-line is impossible.” (61:34 – Cooper)
• “Feels more like free agency; supplemental, not foundational, unless you’re in a major rebuild.” (66:14 – Cooper)

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Summary Tone

The episode is conversational, direct, and data-rich, with the hosts and guest mixing sharp analysis with insider anecdotes and playful banter. Their opinions are frank, especially concerning transfer market dynamics, coaching trends, and the pragmatic trade-offs programs now face. The tone remains collegial and occasionally playful, particularly during storytelling interludes.

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For diehard CFB fans and newcomers alike, this episode offers a clear view of the new realities in college football: the balance of high-stakes roster management, talent acquisition, and the ever-evolving game within the game.

Transcript

[Chip Patterson]

Welcome Back to the COVID 3 podcast with your hosts, Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli.

[Danny Cannell]

Danny Cannell and Bud Elliott.

[Cooper Patagna]

It's your call for the best college.

[Chip Patterson]

Football coverage from national signing day to.

[Cooper Patagna]

The national championship and everything in between. CBS Sports presents the COVID 3 Podcast.

[Bud Elliott]

And welcome back to the COVID 3 Podcast here on CBS Sports. That is Cooper Patagna hanging out with us here on a Wednesday. That's Bud Elliott, that's Danny Cannell. I'm Chip Patterson coming to you [e-mail] cover3 and everywhere. Get your podcast on demand. Thanks for hanging out. Smash that subscribe, smash that like and come and join us in the chat aka the COVID 3 tailgate where we got questions recoup. Yeah, we're going to be asking about some of the biggest transfer portal headlines. We're talking the best fits, we're talking the players that you need to know, teams that did a good job of addressing their needs and so much more. Before we do that a little bit. I mean, we don't need to roll the the sounder here, but Danny obviously was on the field. Coop, we haven't gotten a chance to hear you as well, so almost like a miniature upon further review, dk, you were there. You got got a chance to talk to. I saw the Elijah Surratt interview was a lot of fun. A lot. Get to talk to some of the players. Takeaways from from Monday night's national championship game.

[Danny Cannell]

It was incredible. Shout out to Kirk Signetti, the best coach in the game, in tribute of him. I'm wearing the quarter zip with no shirt underneath, I must say. Feels kind of good. I don't know, like slipping around in here, but I mean, that's what you just need like the little coach's pen on a necklace underneath this. So I wore that in honor of him. It was the most electric national championship game I've been to, like pregame. An hour before the game, an hour before, I looked at my watch. 6:30 celebrities all over the place on the sideline, most of Miami royalty there. But the stands were 98% full. I mean it was a. Stadium was full of people rocking in anticipation. And I thought the game delivered as well. It was incredible. It was awesome.

[Chip Patterson]

Awesome.

[Cooper Patagna]

What you think it was the. I would say the clash of styles just coming off the game that Miami played against Ole Miss with the penalties and I just wondered like. But I heard you talking about it with block punt. I felt like Miami needed to be perfect and it was just like one or two plays here or there that that's a different outcome in that game. And that's not to take anything against Indiana. I mean, the way that they've been rolling, that was the type of game that I was hoping to see, you know, with Miami being able to have an opportunity to go ahead, take the lead there with less than a minute left. It was awesome. And I just storybook for Indiana everything that they've been through. And you know, to put the cherry on top of a season where I still think even people going into that national championship game not had some questions, but it was almost kind of like, oh, what a great story, right? And it went from a story to these guys just went 16, zero people beat Oregon twice. You know, this is a team that I think is one of the best teams that we've seen in, in the College Football Playoff era.

[Chip Patterson]

One thing on, on rewatch, I thought Mendoza did a great job of ball security. Like they had four or five clean swats at him and he didn't fumble a single time like that. That, that's like, especially some of those front side shots where he's like trying to like dodge multiple dudes. Like that's where you get some of those fumbles.

[Cooper Patagna]

And he just.

[Chip Patterson]

It's kind of an underrated thing. Like Indiana's margins were kind of slim too because they were so limited in what they could do from a play calling. Like they had to RPO it what they call 40 RPOs in the game. I mean just because like you really couldn't do any kind of traditional drop back stuff and like his ball handling was, was really good.

[Danny Cannell]

It makes sense that they didn't have a fumble since week one on the entire season. That's insanity. They have not lost a fumble since week one of the season. It's like in a 12 game stretch. It hasn't been done since 2004.

[Bud Elliott]

I don't care if you can hack into the cloud systems or whatever, but like that'll that don't change your, your ball security like that. That is something that they've obviously prioritized in a, in a very big way. Do you. Danny, we mentioned on Saturday night Miami might have been built as one of the best teams to beat Indiana. Would you agree with that notion?

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, absolutely. I was a little bit surprised at how well Indiana handled Miami's offensive line. You know, the defensive line I thought did their job. I thought they did harass Fernando Mendoza. His final stat line wasn't fantastic, but I thought him being black ran really hard. I was kind of surprised at that as Somebody who picked Miami to win. Like, I thought those would be the differences in the game. The other thing, I haven't had a chance to listen back to the instant reaction pod, but I did think Mario should have gone for it on the fourth down and two before halftime. You know, it's a long field goal. I know you want to try to get away points, and I just wondered if that was more conservative, Mario coming back to the forefront. You know, I thought they could have gone for it, you know, either giving them a closer field goal or taking a shot at the end zone and really been a little bit more aggressive. But I don't think that was the reason they lost. But at halftime, it really felt like the game was slipping away. So whatever Mario said at halftime, you have to give him a ton of credit. That team came out enthusiastic in the second half, and they get Lucas back. Maybe that was one thing that infused a lot of life in them, but that was the only thing. And then the. The personal pump protector just flapping a wing out there like it's scout team. Like, you're wearing a little, you know.

[Bud Elliott]

Like, hey, we're going off a kale camara.

[Danny Cannell]

But that's one that he's gonna have a long time to have to live with it. I mean, everyone's gonna talk about Carson Beck and the interception, but that's a tough pill to swallow if you let that guy just. It wasn't even, like, you got run over. You can excuse that. And guys are like, yeah, we get it. But if you just put out an arm and kind of just give it the old, you know, like, that's. That's a tough one to swallow for the rest of your life. That's brutal.

[Chip Patterson]

I do think Mario has gotten better at some of this game management stuff. Like against Ohio State, it was pretty clean, right? Against Ole Miss, I think it was good. We talked about, like, the timeout mismanagement in the first half against A. M, which almost bit them in the ass. I do think, like, this will be teach tape because they got bailed out big time with Indiana's false start there. Second one with a minute 39 left and one timeout should be an automatic jump off sides intentionally like that. That's a big leak not to do that there. And, like, weren't doing it. Like, I mean, the clock was winding down. Like, are you guys really not going to jump off sides here and make contact to give them the automatic first down? That way they really can't run out the clock. Second one, the. The odds that they run it out on you are extremely high.

[Bud Elliott]

So the off sides stops the clock.

[Chip Patterson]

Well, it gives them the new first down. So you don't get like essentially if you get two, if you get two, two shots or even three really, because they're probably going to go on fourth and one, right, to convert that. The new set of downs, when you add in like the time that runs off with additional play, then you're at like a minute 30 with no timeouts. That's neeni knee ball game. Right. So it, I know it's kind of counterintuitive, but you have to jump off sides there. Interesting.

[Bud Elliott]

Coop, didn't you work for Mario?

[Cooper Patagna]

I did, yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

Like give us, I mean as somebody who did like take. Take us through what you have seen in terms of. Because one of the things that I know that I've been sort of wrestling with is ranking coaches is a very, very difficult, like a losing proposition. Right. But last year, Marcus Freeman, the way that I felt about where he stood on my coach ranking ballot at the beginning of the season to where it stood at the end of the season, that changed that playoff run, you know, really changed the way that I saw him ranked against his peers. And Mario, the way that he rallied this team from the SMU loss and had them in the right like headspace. I think that's important coaching, but I'm, I'm way on the outside in terms of experience on this. What have you seen in terms of Mario Cristobal and sort of his coaching arc over the course of this season?

[Cooper Patagna]

Yeah, that's a great question. I'm not, I'm not shocked that they made this deep playoff run. You know, I thought they'd get past Texas A and M. And the reason for that was when we were at Oregon and really if you've been following Mario throughout his career, I felt more comfortable in the big time games than I did going up against Cal or Oregon State out on the west coast, you know, and I always felt like Mario was really good getting the team up in terms of playing the underdog role. So when you have this team that gets in the playoffs, needed some help, they're a 10 seed, and then they have this road of treachery between Texas A and M, Ohio State, they got to run the table. Ole Miss playing three of, you know, the hottest teams in, in college football. I knew from a personnel standpoint they had what it, it it took to get to where they got in the national championship. And I think he just leaned into his DNA. He said, I'M going to ride my horses. And my horses are Francis Malanoa, Markel Bell on the ALB offensive line. I'm going to ride Bane and Macedor in this front seven. And they, they spent a lot of money in the offseason on the back end. And I think he coaches looser when he knows everybody's discounting his team and his program and he feels confident in his personnel. I think it's a little bit different when you see those games against Louisville or SMU and you pencil them in, not with Sharpie, but you say, hey, this is a game these guys should win. My personal opinion, I think that's where Mario gets a little bit tight. And we talk about it all the time. These, these teams, they emulate their head coach. So when he can go out there and be free and be himself and say, nobody's given us a chance, that's when you get the best version of Miami. And I think we've seen that. So, you know, Danny mentioned it coming out of half and what they're about and getting that quick three and out and that really kind of, you know, I think swung the momentum on Miami's favor, especially in the second half. But it says a lot about his culture, his DNA, what he's about. And I, you know, the thing about both of these teams, which I enjoyed, was just the juggernaut matchup in the trenches. Indiana doesn't give you an inch. I mean, these are the guys that just execute in unison. And then Miami between Bane and Mezador, two guys that have shown they're capable of taking over and flipping games throughout the season. That's what Miami wants to be about. That's what Mario wants to be about. And I'll say this. Mario is always about talent. He's always about talent. I think for the first time in his career, he's got two guys in Heatherman and Shannon Dawson that he believes in, that he can be hands off and just go and maximize it, and he's going to worry about the rest. Which, to Bud's point, can I clean up, clock management, be the CEO and culturally get these guys buy into my message. And I think you saw the, the best part of Mario's coaching job throughout his career over the last couple weeks.

[Chip Patterson]

Can I screen share real quick? Because the, the stuff from, from Huddle IQ with, with Beck's past play, I think is pretty interesting here. Check this out. Can you guys see this? If Mikey can. Can put that on screen. So like we were talking about, like, how they really never Got them out of that two deep look. We're never really able to like, like hit them on the play action stuff. So purple here, you know, if I can zoom in on this a little more. So zoom in a little more for, for people back. Anyway, you guys can see this for the most part, like purple's incomplete. Red is an interception. Light green is. Is completed. I mean, if you're listening at home, like they didn't complete a single ball more than 20 yards between the hashes. I, I do kind of wonder if the tight end not being in there for them. What's his name, the guy who got hurting.

[Bud Elliott]

Elijah Lofton.

[Cooper Patagna]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

I wonder if that hurt them more than we talked about both in, in pre and post game. But also like Indiana, they tackled so well, I think because they never really like were able to. They've threatened them over the top, you know, or really outside the numbers very much. Honestly, like One of those two balls that went for more than 15 was the, the crazy scramble. I think you only had one pass completed for more than 15 yards in the air like inside of structure. So, you know, Indiana's keeping everything in front of them. Man, whatever they had like to. To figure out if it was play action or not, they were on that because like they never got caught in that. It was, it was I. Even when Miami went pistol, like the more downhill looks, they just never bit. It was wild. And I think that allows you to tackle well if you got, you know, all those guys with eyes on the ball.

[Bud Elliott]

I mean it. I think they also just tackle well. Oh yeah, they are the 160 national champions. You know, they've. They've done a pretty good job about it throughout the whole season. It's that. That was remarkable. There were so many plays where it just felt like if Malachi Tony could get his shoe loose, it was going to be 40 yards extra on top of like what he had gotten. But it did a good job of wrapping up just awesome, awesome stuff. Danny Star watch who's. Yeah, I saw we had a DJ Khaled interview, you know.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, Mark Cuban, let's go. Tom Brady was there. Noah was Noah, our producer. You guys know Noah, he was just scrambling to get everybody just pulling him in mid Interview for Tom Brady was trying to get him. Couldn't get it. He was trying to get Ed Reed. Couldn't get it. Try to get Michael Irvin, but he got snatched up by Stephen A. Smith. Like it was everybody who's anybody was there, especially from the Miami contingent You know, that was the one thing before the game. It's like, I know Indiana had the heavier fan base and more participation, but the star power was definitely. Was Miami centric down there? Being a home game, being all the locals that came out, it was pretty cool. It was definitely had that place to be sort of vibe. I did say to DJ Khaled, I was like, yeah. I was like, miami's all always been the place for, you know, the place of entertainment. Hurricanes have always been cool, whether it was going back to Luther Campbell. And he's like, shout out, my guy Luke. And I was like, or Vanilla Ice. And it was just kind of crickets. It was like, that was not embraced as much as Uncle Luke. Yeah. But I remember I thought Vanilla Ice was one of the first ones to wear the Miami gear and his ice ice, baby. But he didn't appreciate the. He didn't give him as quite as much a shout out. But everybody was super cool. Everybody was super fun.

[Bud Elliott]

Oh, you don't understand. Theirs is like, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Mine's like, Danny, story time. You got a little story you want to share with the people this. And so I'm. I'm. I'm frothing. I'm excited to hear.

[Danny Cannell]

So you guys know, like, we all like to put a little something on the game every once in a while. You know, I'm. I like to partake a little bit somewhat. I was pretty heavy on the Miami Hurricanes. Thought they had a chance to win. I give it out here. So a week ago. I usually do dinner with my parents on Sunday nights. And my dad comes up, we're talking about the game at the table, and I'm like. He's like, what's the spread? I'm like, seven and a half. And he's like, oh. He's like, man. He's like, I think Miami can win. I'm like, me too. I'm like, dad, we're on the same page. So he pulls me over after dinner. He goes, don't tell your mom this. Don't tell anybody.

[Bud Elliott]

You're an adult.

[Danny Cannell]

That's how things work in our family. And I do the same thing with my wife. Some things are better left unsaid. So he goes, I got a thousand bucks. I want you to put it on Miami. And I was like, really? I was like, is he like, this is my first bet. He's never bet anywhere. I was like, yes. I'm like, I'll match it. I'm like, I'm in with you. And he's like, all right. So I call him, and he's like, I'll fire put in the bet for him. And then on Tuesday, I'm like, dad, I'm like. And I told him, I was like. He's like, what do I get if we win? And I said, well, it's plus 250 right now, so you get 2500 bucks if it wins. He goes, whoa. He goes, really? He goes, oh, man. So I call him on, like, Tuesday, and he's checking. He's like. And I was like, dad, it's up to eight and a half. He's like, oh, man. I said. He said, what does that mean? I said, well, the money line is now up to plus 270, so if you had a thousand, you'd get 2700. It's an extra 200 bucks. So I'm like, but it's not that big a deal. I'm like, plus, like, we're still good. And he's like, all right, all right. So he's watching the game, and of course it goes down. And I'm like, oh, man, my dad's going to be so out on gambling now. So I call him yesterday, and he goes, do you have my money ready for me? And I'm like, well, we lost. And he goes, well, we had seven and a half points. He's like, I thought we had seven and a half points. And I was like, oh, no. I said, dad, I didn't under. There was a little miscommunication because I thought. He said, I think Miami's gonna win. He didn't say, miami's gonna cover. So I said, dad, I said, you know any good sports book? I said, if that, you know, as a bookie, as your bookie. I said, I feel like you get a free bet on this first one. He's like, nah. He said, but he, he thought he won. I was like, no. I said, no, I want him this first experience to be good. I mean, maybe we saved him from losing everything and becoming a degenerate. Like that bet. Maybe he would have just said, well, keep it on the Rams to win the Super Bowl. I don't know. But at this case, I think that's probably his first and only bet that he'll ever make, Especially since it went down like that.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, it's crazy. If you hit up FanDuel Sportsbook, play your game, and you're like, oh, I, I, I made a mistake. They don't refund it, you know, or.

[Danny Cannell]

Sure they would. Sure they would. So, yeah, he was. He was on the right side and. But he wasn't. I was like, dad, I was like, how did you think you were going to make 2,500 bucks off a thousand? He's like, I don't know. I thought we were gonna win.

[Chip Patterson]

It's like, ah.

[Bud Elliott]

Oh, my God. Hey, listen.

[Danny Cannell]

Now he also. He owes me a thousand because I floated it for him. So what do I do?

[Chip Patterson]

I go back.

[Bud Elliott]

No, no, no, no.

[Cooper Patagna]

You.

[Bud Elliott]

You got.

[Cooper Patagna]

You.

[Bud Elliott]

You look. No, no, no. You gotta eat that.

[Danny Cannell]

I'll eat it.

[Cooper Patagna]

I feel like, man, you can eat it.

[Bud Elliott]

Okay. I love that Dr. Canel.

[Cooper Patagna]

It's awesome.

[Bud Elliott]

I. I know. He's all. He always tracks your picks. Now the question is, he does.

[Danny Cannell]

And he watched our top 25 show where we were 20 games over.500. So he's thinking, these guys give nothing but winners. We've got to teach him what a money line is.

[Bud Elliott]

He's gonna be like, don't tell your mother, but I tried to use the credit card to deposit. Now everything's locked. All right, good stuff. All right, well, obviously Cooper, protagonist is here and among. Like, he's just a college football expert, but also he has really been digging into the transfer portal, and that is one thing that we are excited to break down with him. So coming up on the other side, we go into the transfer portal, starting with maybe a little billable hours to all that and more.

[Cooper Patagna]

Next, the French dip from Firehouse Subs is here for a limited time. Piled high with premium roast beef, caramelized.

[Danny Cannell]

Onions, and melty cheese on a freshly.

[Cooper Patagna]

Toasted garlic butter roll, Every French dip is served with warm, savory au jus for dipping. This melty French dip is only at Firehouse Subs for a limited time. So head to your nearest Firehouse subs or order on the app and try the French dip before it's gone. Limited time at participating Firehouse Subs restaurants while supplies last.

[Bud Elliott]

Back here on the COVID 3 podcast. Yes, the transfer portal has officially closed in terms of entering your name. So we've got some big story lines but other notes to get to and, well. So, Mikey, can we go into the portal? All right, so obviously one of the big headlines on the last day that you could enter your name into the transfer portal was the Duke quarterback Darian Mensah, who helped the Blue Devils win the ACC championship this year. You know, initially there was some thought he might go pro. He decides he's going to come back. He signed a two year deal prior to arriving in Durham, and now he would like to play somewhere else. Coop, from the sort of like inside the industry side of this, what are, what is the discussion around the Darian Mensa saga?

[Chip Patterson]

So I was. Oh, oh, sorry.

[Cooper Patagna]

Go ahead.

[Bud Elliott]

My bad.

[Cooper Patagna]

Well, yeah, no, but I'm interested to get your take on it too. I, I think teams are watching it carefully, but I think they, they. There's like an expected outcome here that Darian Mensah obviously is going to be able to enter his name into the portal. And we saw that relatively quickly with a judge in North Carolina denying Duke's request or restraining order. I don't want to get into the legal side, but you could probably add some context into that. But obviously a lot of teams watching it for Duke, I mean it's, it's tough, man. This guy, as you alluded to, signed a two year deal, $8 million, four years per, and is now entering the transfer portal a year after you won the ACC championship. And for Manny Diaz, I mean this was a guy, this is a guy you're hitching your wagon to. You pluck him from tool lane and on the 14th day of a two week portal window, the last day he enters the portal and is more than likely going to join a team that is in your conference and just play for a national championship. And then on top of this, he's out the door. And the market for Duke at the quarterback position is, it's completely bare, quite honestly, just in terms of finding a quarterback that is like a winnable plus quarterback and above average starter in that conference is going to be really difficult for Manny Diaz. And that's coming off a banner year where Duke is expected to take the next step and Darien Mitzvah obviously going to be a huge piece of that. So I think teams are obviously looking at the Mensah situation, the Damond Williams situation, the way that these contracts are written and how enforceable they actually are. But you know, for Miami, where he'll more than likely be going, it's a, it's an 11th hour bailout. And for Duke it puts him in a absolutely dire situation going forward.

[Bud Elliott]

Bud, what's the Bill Belauer's legal read on this? Because I, the way that I understood the. Well, first of all, on the just entertainment side, the fact that a judge had to recuse himself because he's a Duke men's basketball season ticket holder, I mean just, you know, the odds, the odds of a judge and in Durham county either doing undergrad or law school at Duke is very, very high. So we were already dealing with shooting fish in a barrel with that one. But, you know, I believe the contract had him still at duke University through December 31, 2026. Now, obviously, they're trying to undo all of that. How. What are the arguments and what's your read here?

[Chip Patterson]

So if you, if you read this and you look at the contract with Mensa, it makes sense why their, their restraining order got denied. They can't keep him from the Portal, the way I read it. And of course, we'll see how this plays out.

[Cooper Patagna]

Is it.

[Chip Patterson]

They're likely going to be entitled to get the 4 million back for Mensa because that is the amount that they basically said they think is nil is worth. So I don't, I don't see how he gets out of it without, you know, reimbursing Duke for 4 million. Other than that, I'm not really sure what else they're going to be able to recover here. The alleged tampering stuff inside the ACC with another ACC school is a really interesting question for the conference. You know, it probably does something.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah. Spring meetings, this is going to be like, very much like one of the topics that goes down.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, exactly. Right. You know, it makes you wonder, like, how would not Sanki, but like, how would a mike slide handle this, you know, a decade ago. Right. But I, I don't know what the ACC is really going to do about that. I, I think Duke will get their 4 million. They're not able to prevent him from going to the Portal, at least based on my read of this. I did see somebody. I want to credit them, and I just totally forgot who it was on Twitter, but basically said like, hey, if Miami pays him six and the four to cover Duke, like, he's, He's. He has to pay the tax bill on 10. Right. Which is not fun, clearly. So I think Duke will get their 4 million. Obviously, like, they'd rather have Mensa than 4 million given what's available in Portal, as Coop just talked about. But I think that's probably pretty clean on it. But we'll see how this plays out.

[Danny Cannell]

I Talked to Michael McCann. You know, Michael McCann with Sportico. He's like a law professor. Was asking him just about. He kind of was in agreement. The one thing that I've read and was kind of asking him about was his nil rights. Like, does Duke have to. Like, they might own those and that could prevent him from making money off his name, image and likeness as a Miami hurricane. Is that a possibility of where they could hold this up or. And Then if you're Miami, you're like, fine, who cares? We'll just pay them. We don't need like.

[Cooper Patagna]

But it.

[Bud Elliott]

Pay him out of repair, you know.

[Danny Cannell]

But it could make things complicated because the rev share, it's going to take up a lot of money from there, you know, like, I don't know. Have you seen that, bud? Have you. Do you think that's an issue at all?

[Chip Patterson]

So, like with the Williams piece, that, that is clearly an issue that kept him at Washington. Right? Because if LSU had poached him, that 4 million would have come off LSU's cap number for the following year. Right? So let's, let's assume that LSU just, let's just call it. I know they don't spend 20 in rev share on football, but let's just say they do just to keep the math clean. Right? So their cap would have been knocked down to effectively 16 because the 4 million that LSU would have owed Washington under the House settlement because the, the money was a rev share offset. Right. They would have been down to 16, which would made it untenable for LSU. Like, certainly they could probably find a way to get around that with it with nil or other measures. But it is a pain in the ass to do that and it kind of, kind of handcuffs you a little bit for the following year. This looks like nil. So I'm not really sure that this come off Miami's cap as far as like Duke being entitled to whatever he makes at Miami. They seem to like, pretty well stipulate in here that his nil is worth about 4 million. So I'm not sure that a judge is going to be like, yeah, well, Miami paid him more, so it's actually worth a lot more than y' all already stipulated to. Right. That's why I think it's somewhat clean. But we'll see, like there, there could be some twists and turns in this.

[Bud Elliott]

Well, Darian Minsa obviously was one of the top quarterbacks before he arrived at Duke, and then he is, as Coop mentioned, just a bailout because Miami, looking at what was available in the transfer portal, it was going to be very difficult to replicate anything close to the success of 2025 without getting better at the most important position. The billable hours remain undefeated. Court cases, we'll trade them back and forth. But yeah, it does seem as though we know our end result. We just don't know how we're going to get there. But speaking of quarterbacks, Cooper, how. What, what were some. How did the quarterback dominoes fall from your seat. You know what. What was really interesting to you about the different players, where they landed and sort of how all one impacted another?

[Cooper Patagna]

Well, I think you had the two at the top that were very clear. There was Levitt, and then there was Sourceby. And we have Levitt ranked number one and Swordsby right there at number two. I think you could have gone either way. I think that was a total kind of flavor pick. But the two teams that were obviously attached to Soursby, who, as Chris Hummer put it, controlled the market, he was the first domino in the transfer portal that everybody was waiting for to drop. Sourceby was a pretty interesting cat just in terms of what he brings to the table. His upside? I think he'd probably be a guy that very confidently would go in in day two, early day two of the NFL draft, if he were to come out just with his skill set. But once Sworesby comes off the board, LSU needed a quarterback. You still had a big question mark at Oregon before Dante Moore made a decision. And then you had Oregon as well. And then there was Tennessee. You still trying to figure out kind of what they're doing. Are they going to roll forward with George McIntyre and Fazen Brandon, or they're going to bring in another veteran arm like they did last year with Joey Aguilar and then with Ty Simpson declaring for the NFL draft and sticking that kind of. It made this interesting from the fact that you're like, all right, one of these blue bloods is going to be left without one of those major options, right? And the way that it played out, obviously Swordsby going to Tech. I think there was one point where Miami felt pretty confident that they were going to get Sam Levin, and a day later, he ended up in Baton Rouge. Because if you remember the way that this played out, the day that the Demond Williams news came out that he was entering the transfer portal, Sam Levitt was sitting courtside at a women's basketball game with Lane Kiffin. And then he leaves, takes a visit to Tennessee and then goes to Miami. And it just. It all. It all kind of gets wonky and the demand goes back to Seattle. So, yeah, the way that it played out, like, to me, LSU was the most desperate team. They absolutely had to have one of these top guys. Whether it was Sourceby or whether it was Levitt, they obviously got it done with him. And then they. They end up getting Longstreet. I think Raiola is kind of the guy that gets lost in the shuffle a little bit. And here's what I Think about a raiola. Okay? You can think whatever you want on the player. I think the way people feel about the person, they kind of get that a little bit confused with what the player's been able to do through his first two years. And I get it. It hasn't been exponential production, but this is a guy that, if you put in the right ecosystem and environment, I think he can excel. So, yeah, a lot of moving parts. And quite honestly, I didn't know what Miami was going to be able to do and what rabbit that they were going to be able to pull out of the hat, but they were able to successfully do that with Darian Mensah. So ultimately, at the end of the day, the, the guys that are playing quarterback roulette, I mean, it's a dangerous game, but all the contenders were able to. To really kind of land safely.

[Chip Patterson]

Last thing on the mensah piece, the 4 million, I think, is what men's damages to Duke might be. I'm not sure that that precludes Duke from pursuing like a tortoise interference thing against Miami or anybody associated with Miami. What is up, like, like suing Miami or, or its associates for interfering.

[Bud Elliott]

But that would not prevent Darian Mensah from wearing the Miami uniform for the Twins. Correct.

[Danny Cannell]

But.

[Chip Patterson]

But the, the check that they might get off that might be bigger than just the 4 million.

[Bud Elliott]

Money's not real. And Miami, you were talking about private schools. Money's not real. Danny, what'd you make of the. The quarterback dominoes? I don't know.

[Danny Cannell]

I didn't think there was one that I fell in love with this year. I mean, but last year everyone loved Mater and it didn't work out that great for Oklahoma like I thought he was. I loved Cam Ward. I thought he delivered. You know, I think they all come with red flags. I think it kind of comes back to, like, I like Mensa maybe better than a lot of these guys that are ranked ahead of him. You know, I think he's really talented and you've seen two good years of play both at Tulane and Duke and those, you know, especially at Duke. I mean, I know the season didn't unfold the way because of the losses, but he was pretty good. Sorsby kind of dropped off a little bit towards the end of the season when the competition got better. He, you know, struggled a little bit more against the top tier competition. Sam Levitt's coming off of surgery. You know, his play tapered off a little bit this year, but on all these programs, they're Going to, they're probably going to have better surrounding talent than they had at some of these places. So I think it's like Bud said, if you look at the returns on investment from these schools that did go to the portal and you know, for the semifinalists, all four of them had a transfer portal quarterback, it makes sense why you would go that route.

[Chip Patterson]

Do you guys think Miami and some of the schools like Miami might be on to something here as far as being willing to just pay like crazy for a proven commodity, a quarterback and not throwing money at high schoolers? Like Emory Williams didn't get a bag, obviously like Coleman, I'm sure got something decent the, the high school kid they signed. But like Miami has not really been doing the pay big money to high school quarterbacks thing, you know, And I just wonder if it makes sense at that position to just like pay the premium to get the certainty.

[Cooper Patagna]

I think the answer to that question has everything to do with timeline of your program. Once you establish the standard of what people expect year in and year out, then obviously it's going to be a little bit of a different game. You look at Texas Tech, furthest they've ever been in the College Football Playoff era, that's what people expect now, right? So they go out and they get swords. But you look at LSU and Lane Kiffin, is he going to tie himself to a young quarterback that really hadn't played a lot? I mean, Austin Simmons got injured and then the pivot to Trinidad, shameless. And they never looked back. Right? That's the expectation that he's going to be attached to one of the most pro ready type of players in the country. You look at Miami, it suits Miami and listen, I love Mario Cristobal. You go back all the way back to his days at Oregon in terms of quarterback development, it's the surefire guys that were ready. We had Tyler Schuck there and we ended up going with a guy, Anthony Brown, right, who had a cup of coffee in the league. So even Indiana, right, when it comes up with Alberto Mendoza, who's got some similarities to his brother, and it's like, yeah, yeah, we, we like him, he could be good. But when there's Josh Hoover sitting out there, we have a proven commodity that we could go with that meets our timeline of championship expectations. So I don't think there's a handful of teams that can do this. You look at Ole Miss and what they've been able to do. But even with Pete Golding, who's now a first time head coach, he's got to go to a very young, talented and inexperienced Deuce Knight. Right? So I, I think what we saw with these teams out there, it's Oregon, it's lsu, it's Miami, now it's Indiana. Because of what Signetti's done with, with Curtis Rourke and Fernando Mendoza in the last two years, there's about like five or six teams every year that can go out, pay above market value and say, hey, we expect to contend for a national championship. And that starts with the quarterback position. And I think that's how you're going to see those guys kind of go. Like even, you know, outside of, like even the Bryce Underwoods of the world, I think teams would rather go with the proven commodity, I was going to say.

[Bud Elliott]

So what programs have the luxury of not needing to do that? What programs can sit back and try to rely on their own high school evaluation development and not necessarily face those same pressures?

[Cooper Patagna]

I, I think the majority of them out there, right, I just named five or six that, that actually can do it. I think everybody else is kind of in that boat where they kind of have to play the bridge game. Hey, maybe we get a guy in here for a year. We like a guy like, I mean, Hassan Longstreet was a five star. He's sitting behind Jaden Maeva. The guy leaves after one year and he's gonna go sit at lsu. Like, these guys are not viewed the same. You almost have to be ready to play. I mean, I go back and I look at it that DJ Lagway played early, Underwood obviously played early, Riola played early. You either have to have the physical makeup and the intangibles to be able to contribute early at those type of places, or you got to be ready to sit and develop and be able to take your, your lumps, if you want to call them that. And a guy like Julian saying, who knows that he's in the, in the right place to develop. So, yeah, I, I really only think it's a handful of programs, five or six around the country that can go out and attract the biggest quarterback names in the portal. And everybody else has kind of got to figure out what they want to do, how they want to stagger it. Is there one guy that we can live with bridge? Why we have the other guys sitting for a year, right? Like Deuce Knight, you know, sat for a year behind Jackson Arnold in Ashton Daniels, and then, and then he's gone poof. Right. So, yeah, I only really think it's a handful of programs that are able to pull this off is that like.

[Bud Elliott]

The Tennessee situation, You know that Faison, Brandon's probably going to go out there and be your starter at some point and you've just got to figure it out to try to keep the boat floating until then.

[Cooper Patagna]

100%, you know, faze and Brandon is probably not ready to play this year and given what happened last year with Tennessee, it puts them in a really difficult position where they would have been probably best suited to go the Joey Aguilar route and go get a guy like Bo Prabula. And this is really kind of difficult for, for Tennessee. Right. And kind of what does this look like? Because you're either going to have to play a guy in George McIntyre, which there was some mixed reviews on coming out of high school and or a guy like Faison, Brandon who's not ready to play and then you have a Tennessee fan base that's experienced a high level of success and they're ready to get back there. But over the last two years, one due to circumstance and the other one due to probably just not being aggressive enough in the portal is going to leave you with two very inexperienced quarterbacks where the rest of the roster says you're 9 and 310 and 2 team in the SEC. But the quarterback play development timeline doesn't.

[Bud Elliott]

Match it that we have talked on this two parter here, we've talked on this show that it seems to us like the offensive line is just not overflowing with talent in the transfer portal. There are too many teams that need to. It's like every message board says, okay, we'll just bolster our offensive line in the portal. Okay, well there's too many teams that need to bolster their offensive line than there are quality offensive linemen who can play at the highest levels of the sport right now, but one of them is Jordan Seaton. So what's your read on Jordan Seaton's outlook as he's, you know, you've got the player evaluation on him, but he does certainly seem like one of the very few, you know, one of the stars of this portal class that you can expect is going to be worth every penny.

[Cooper Patagna]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean I've been doing. This is my second year doing the Portal. Right. And the guy that we had last year ranked as the number one offensive tackle was Isaiah World, who is a mixed bag. Right. I mean he had everything that you wanted. He played a lot of games in Nevada. But the question was how is he going to hold up at Oregon. And obviously he has his warts that showed up against Indiana late in the playoffs. Jordan Se is a different breed. Okay? This is a guy that we had ranked as a five star coming out. We have him ranked as the number one offensive tackle and as a five star in the transfer portal. He started 22 games in two years. He was as impact ready as any offensive tackle that we've had in the last couple cycles outside of Proctor and Maanoa. He's right up there in that conversation. So he is a plug and play bonafide dude with a guy that absolutely has a first round ceiling. And you're putting them at, you know, one of the most premium positions in the game, right? Protecting those investments. Like, and here are the teams attached to them. They're the same teams that were attached to the quarterbacks, right? It was Miami, it's Oregon, it's lsu. Those, those are the teams. Those are three teams right now that are vying for it and they're all trying to protect their guy. Miami with Mensa, LSU with Levitt, and Oregon with Dante Moore. Think about how much capital they have invested in those guys that they all see as potential day one or day two NFL draft picks. And they go as they go. So, you know, and you look at Nussmeier last year for lsu, he has a young, inexperienced offensive line. Tyree Adams on the left tackle, or, excuse me, at the left tackle spot it. All the expectations going in that season. And because I couldn't run the ball and because they couldn't protect him, that thing just derails whatever expectation that you had. So that piece, not only the left tackle, but that offensive line, it's incredibly important, as simple as that sounds, to be able to piece it together if you have one or two pieces left. He is absolutely worth the value of probably, I would imagine, Bud, you probably have a better feel on this, but I, I would imagine north of $3.5 million at this point.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, it's just the market scarcity drives the price up. You know, there aren't that many guys in the portal like Coop said that that had that like upside plus proven production, you know.

[Cooper Patagna]

All right, so real, real quick, let me just add to that, because you guys know these names, right? Like the guy that we have ranked as the number two offensive tackle, Carious Kern, who had to play as a freshman at lsu. And guess what? Some of it was good, a lot of it was bad, right? The other guys behind him, the tackle from Wake Forest that's going to Texas, obviously Texas, Steve Sarkeesian, they're Investing outside of Goosby. And then behind that, Lance Heard, who was a former five star that's done some, some good things. He wants to play left tackle. He's probably a right tackle, right? So none of these guys, to Danny's point, even talking about the quarterback, none of these guys are perfect. And then after that, there's a, there's a steep drop off. So it's really trying to just maximize. What I've seen teams doing is the value, especially lsu outside of Seaton, it's like, let's get some big bodies with some Power 4 experience and some functional athleticism. And then we're really just going to have to scheme around it. Right. Which is what Lane Kiffin's done at Ole Miss for the last handful of years. It's possible, but it's not ideal.

[Bud Elliott]

Before we hit another break and start to get into some of the team centric stuff, Cooper, take us through some of the other names. If those, those of you who have not been following all the moving pieces, what are some of the other names that, that fans need to know in terms of new faces, new places for the 2026 season?

[Cooper Patagna]

Yeah, I think a guy that I want to talk about is, is Drew Messamaker. You know, he's sitting there at number three and a lot of people are like, oh, you know, you got the names that top, you got Levy, you got Ssby. I love Drew Mester Maker. I love everything he's about. He obviously kind of took his lumps this season, but he played exceptionally well. And I get it, it was at the group of six level. But Danny, you could probably. I'd love to get your opinion on this, but for a kid not to start one game in high school and to come out and have the year that he had and then to see the, the type of advanced level passer that he is and the intangibles that he plays with, the, the pocket awareness, the ability to extend plays, the timing, the anticipation, the ball placement. It's like, whoa. You know, that guy is way ahead of schedule. So. I love Drew Messmaker. I love everything he's about. I think he's the guy that kind of gets glossed over. But, you know, we saw it with Matier and Arbuckle last year. What continuity can do for a system. Him staying with Eric Morris along with Caleb Hawkins, the running back who had a great year, along with Wyatt Young, one of their young guys at the, at the receiver position. Oklahoma State's done some really interesting things, and I'll say this, North Texas included in the Power four is one of the best scouting operations, at least just from studying the. The guys that have jumped in the portal. There's Power 4 talent littered all over that roster from last year. They've done a tremendous job. So I expect Oklahoma State to really kind of bounce back a lot quicker than. Than people think. And then one other guy that I want to give some love to is Amarian Miller, who's going to Arizona State from Colorado. And this kid, you know, just really kind of put it all together, had over 700 yards receiving, 18 yards per reception. He's six, three, he's 210 pounds. He's beautiful, he's smooth, he's sudden. And then you pair him with a guy like Reed Harris from Boston College, who is another big physical body. Those are two teams, two names to know, because Jordan Tyson's out of there, right? Sam Levitt's out of there. Cutter Bowley comes in. Arizona State has done some, you know, like, Dillingham's been screaming at the clouds. I need more money. I think he finally got some, and he's putting it to good use.

[Bud Elliott]

Was it John Rom? Come on, John.

[Cooper Patagna]

It might have been Rambo, might have been Rob.

[Bud Elliott]

Danny, what do you make of mess.

[Danny Cannell]

To make love mess to maker. I mean, he was a buy on day trading Danny, probably in late October when we saw him lighting it up there at North Texas. His story's been documented. It's pretty insane, I would say. Like, I played at single A. I mean, Bud probably knows the high school I played at. I mean, I virtually had no experience. I mean, I was the tallest guy on the team, the biggest guy on the team. We played against other. Like, we had 23 guys on my team. I do think this is one of those ones where it's about the potential. But you've already got this guy who stepped in right away, and you could just see a natural ability to throw the football. And he led the country in passing yards. Like, it's not like they're asking him to be a game manager. They were throwing it all over the yard. And just like you said, Cooper, I love the fact, and I think that's been a trend that we've seen is coaches following quarterbacks, following coaches to different places. So you have continuity in the system. He's already got a really good firm grasp of those concepts. So even though he hasn't played a ton, I would expect him to make a pretty smooth transition into the Big 12.

[Chip Patterson]

You mentioned the production. I wanted to ask before we flip the teams, like, if you look at the power ratings, like the. The national champion this year, which Indiana obviously, like, it's tremendous what they did. Like 2020 Bama, 2019 LSU or. Or those Georgia teams would. Would be like well over a touchdown over them. I think, according to a lot like the. It takes less talent to win the whole damn thing now than it used to be. I mean, like the national champions five years ago, like, that roster in the next two drafts was producing like 25, 27 draft picks. Like, Indiana is not going to have 25 draft picks this draft and next draft off the roster that won the national title. Like, does that make us lean in to production more and potential less? If you don't need quite as much like freak talent to win the whole thing.

[Cooper Patagna]

Are you talking about in terms of the. The portal rankings?

[Chip Patterson]

Well, like Porter rankings, but also, like, if you're a school, right, you don't necessarily need to shoot the moon quite as much.

[Bud Elliott]

Talked about that. Like, I want guys that have gone out and played and gotten yards and tackles. I mean, they've. They've prioritized production with their transfer portal pickups.

[Danny Cannell]

I think he even said production over potential. Yeah, I think he's used that phrase.

[Chip Patterson]

Cuban talked about that. That's what he pitched him on. Because Cuban didn't like the speculative nature of some of this stuff. Like, there's a speculative nature as far as, like, how do they fit what we do, right. And finding market efficiencies. That I'm just wondering, like, you know, if you're a team, are you a little bit less concerned with building the super team now just because it takes less talent to win it.

[Cooper Patagna]

If you watch the Indiana Oregon game, I almost feel like it kind of shows up on tape, you know, like, in Indiana, to me is going to take like an entire off season of just picking them apart and kind of figuring out, all right, like, how did this all come together in unison? And everybody deserves credit from talent identification evaluation, schematic fit from the cerebral intangible part. Like, that's the most connected team I've ever witnessed, I've ever watched play. Like, they. They just move in in unison every time you watch them. Every single unit, every single one of those guys feels like you have a coach on the field. There's no missteps. There's no wasted motion. They all play fast, and that's what's interesting about them. And I go back to the Indiana, Oregon, because you look at Oregon, they're the definition of how you would put a Team together from a height, weight, speed standpoint, they are the, they are the potential team. There's everything you want, right? You got everything on the lengthy corners on the outside, the instinctive safeties. The backers are obviously guys that have played a lot of football. Isaiah World, you know, defensive front, right. But Indiana is a team that's just, to me, to Bud's point, like they, they don't give you anything. They suffocate you with execution and technique. They're incredibly well coached and they put all that out there. My question is, outside of Signetti, who is the only example of us seeing this is, or is it a little dangerous to think that this can just be. Replicate it like that?

[Chip Patterson]

Totally.

[Cooper Patagna]

Right. And I'm going to find that interesting because what I think is going to happen, it's a copycat league and you're going to see the pendulum, pendulum swing a little bit and people are going to say, oh, look at what Indiana did. We can rely more on production, which I think there's obviously a case there for that. But to be able to do what Indiana has done, like, this is one of the best coaching jobs I think I've ever seen and obviously I'm a younger in my football career, but to think that this is something that can just be ripped off and done by anybody. I think I'd be a little bit cautious to that, but I do, I can see an injection of thinking of like, hey, we don't, we don't need. Not everything needs to be a traits play right? Like just get on base, hit the single, hit the double. Know where we can find value both financially, from a team standpoint, from a depth standpoint. Let's build this thing out 1 to 105 and let's make sure every single one of these guys kind of has a redeeming quality and a vision for their role.

[Danny Cannell]

It's also been the one thing too Bud that's bucked the blue chip ratio. And you've said this all the time. There's been an outlier quarterback and so they still did have that.

[Chip Patterson]

That was the number one overall pick, right?

[Danny Cannell]

Like he's got like, yeah, if you want to build a bunch of, you know, average Joes and really good veteran guys, you better hope you have a player like that. I think that clearly was a big reason why Indiana had to say success doesn't take away from what Indiana's built. But it also helped to have Mendoza back there playing as well as he did.

[Bud Elliott]

But in terms of a reflection of where we are at in college sports. I'll give a point to the passer, to Isaac Trotter, one of our great college basketball writers. He pointed out that it was sort of. If you were to look at the, the, the 2020 this past season, the Florida Gators just won a men's basketball national championship without a top 100 prospect on the roster. That three guard lineup were all transfer portal additions and they had some bigs that were in house guys, but not the like tippy top guys that Florida had to fight Duke and Kentucky over. Then you pair that up with Indiana winning a national championship without any five stars. And Isaac's takeaway was identification, evaluation and development. And like development to me is not only helping a player get to their, you know, highest peak potential, but also getting them all to buy into each other for the no wasted motion for all moving together to being connected. So it's a, it is an important time right now. You can't just load up the roster with all the traits and roll the balls out there because that's going to get you an 8 and 4 season is kind of what it feels like. If you want to win championships right now and be able to succeed at the highest level, you've got to be able to have the right pieces and be able to get them all on the same page.

[Cooper Patagna]

Chip, real quick, I think the last thing on Indiana, all the, all the timelines for all of these guys and major players, I mean you go Eliza Surrat, you talk about Mendoza, you talk about Pat Coogan, d' Angelo Pons, all these guys are in the same timeline. They're all veteran players. Right. When you talk about the guys at Oregon, you know, world pregnant, all those guys would be going out. But Dante Moore was a guy that's really kind of a first year starter coming off of a, you know, a tough season as a freshman at ucla. There's, there's mixing parts of it that I think that's important. Like that experience has to gel together in terms of the timeline. I think Indiana got that part right. Like these were the guys. Not only are they all cohesive on both sides of the ball, but they're, they're at the peak of their development and that's what they got right as well. And I don't know how intentional that was. I mean they get credit for it, but it obviously worked out and that's obviously a big, big takeaway from like a roster construction standpoint.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, I mean you've got black pawns, Kamara, like seven guys that were all part of the JMU 11 and 2 team that made the jump to the FBS a couple years ago. So their connectiveness obviously and especially with the JMU coaches was, was well established. Coming up on the other side, we turn our attention to some of the teams that made waves. And your questions how many discounts does USA Auto Insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi vehicle discount Safe driver discount New vehicle discount Storage discount How many discounts.

[Chip Patterson]

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[Bud Elliott]

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[Cooper Patagna]

Well, we should probably just stick with it, right? Because we've been talking about Indiana. Indiana is one of those teams and this is, this is kind of the funny point, right? We talked about the guys that they brought over from jmu and this goes back to the quarterback conversation with now your brand is elevated so it gets you into a different conversation, right? And that's where Indiana is right now. Quarterback with Josh Hoover, who they're able to take. You think about Nick Marsh on the outside, who they they were able to bring in as well. Toby Osinsomni, the pass rusher from Kansas State, who I think's got a really big upside. Joe Brunner they bring over from Wisconsin, an all conference guy over there. Brock shot is an interesting one, right? Just for what he stands for. He didn't play at Miami, but this was a really talented kid that chose Miami out of high school that was from Indiana, who gets the first crack at him once he hits the portal. Indiana, right. That's where the value is. Josh Burnham comes over from Notre Dame. They've done a really good just in terms of elevating their profile. AJ Harris was a guy that I think a lot of people thought had the potential to be a top 100 pick at Penn State. He didn't have a great season. A lot of this in terms of roster building also comes down to how do you maximize distressed assets? And that's where A.J. harris would fit. That was a guy that has all the potential in the world. He's a former five star. He didn't play well this past season. Indiana's got a lot of confidence in their, their development and their player development. Obviously, plug them in, see if you can get them right. And now you can get value back into that guy and he can rebuild his draft stock. So Indiana's done a very, like, pointed job. I always talk about, like, brand awareness is so important for coaching staffs and front offices to understand where you fit on the food chain and the hierarchy. And Indiana now understands, coming off a national championship that, like, hey, we can go in head to head with the big boys now. We are now a destination spot. And yeah, it was great to bring in these guys from jmu. We're going to continue to do our due diligence on that side of it, but if we can go get established players in our conference that we've scouted, we're going to do that as well. I think other teams that have stood out, like Will Stein in Kentucky, I was so excited about this hire because, you know, just the offensive prowess, the guys that he had developed at the quarterback position. I think the biggest question mark I had was like, is this guy, you know, gonna have a little shot of the Dan Lanning in him? Is he going to be foaming at the mouth from like a, a talent ID standpoint? And the first thing they do is they ruffle some feathers and they flip Kenny Minchi from Nebraska. I love that move. And looking at the market, they had to have it, right. Yeah. And then Lance heard they get from Tennessee. They probably overpay for him, but I understand it. You got to do that at Kentucky. Tegra, Shabola, they get from Ohio State distressed asset Nick Anderson, who, who didn't play well, didn't fit the billing of one of the top ranked portal guys last year for lsu. They bring him over. So they've done some really nice things, especially on the offensive line, getting that unit up to snuff and where it needs to be in the sec. And they just feel like a team that. It's like they, they know they kind of got to do things different. They have an understanding of where they need to overpay and they have an understanding of where they can kind of find value. So Indiana, Kentucky, and then the other one I got to give like this one to me is like, okay, they only have seven commits, but every guy they've taken I love Notre Dame. And this is a team that's got that quarterback on that timeline that everybody thinks is special. And you got that coach that you're talking about that's like, this is the year, right? So. So what do we need? Okay, they go out, they get Tion Gray from Oregon. This kid is 66, 330 pounds, nose tackle, red shirt freshman year, played less than 250 snaps. But this dude has all the makings of a top 50 pick, right? Where do you get your beef from? That's our Quincy Porter. And then they also bring over my and Graham, two former five stars from Ohio State. Both those guys have a lot of ability that's unproven. They're giving CJ Carr the weapons that they need. Francis Braywu is another guy to add on the defensive line. And then they swing back and they grab Keon Keely, who goes from playing in a 3, 4 to now playing in an even front as, you know, playing in a three point stance as a five technique, which I think should really breathe some more life into his career. And guess what? He showed up in the second half of the season and they're getting him in a good spot. And then DJ McKinney they get from Colorado, who needs to put it together. But I mean, he's beautiful. 62180, fluid, can move, got everything you want. So I look at Notre Dame and I'm like, hell yeah. You know, I can see it. So those three teams to me, definitely, definitely stand out for sure.

[Chip Patterson]

Is there a team that surprised you with like, like when you sat down and kind of like look where all the chips fell, it was like, oh, this is like sneaky good. Like maybe not a team that is, you know, top five, but like, yeah, cow.

[Cooper Patagna]

I mean, Luke boys, you know, I had a cup of coffee with him at Alabama. He's a total like maniacal recruiting psycho. He falls into that, that tree, you know, and he played a cow. But the job that they've done, man, and you think about like Jaren Kiave, Saga Pulatelli, great story as a freshman. I think a year later we could just be talking about him as like unanimous, one of the best quarterbacks in the country, right? If he, if he takes that step, he's got that level of talent, what they're able to do. They bring in Chase Hendricks from Ohio guy. It's super productive. Had over 1000 yard season. They bring in Ian Strong, big X receiver from Rutgers. They bring in some beef on the defensive line with Jericho Johnson, Kingston Lopa like Oregon's had a lot of guys leave and Cal's kind of been the benefactor of just these Tracy guys that were depth pieces and have unmaterialized potential. And Tosh Lupo is just saying you can get on the field here, right? And Adam Muhammad, the running back from Washington as a kid that I want to talk about a little bit because, you know, he was, he was in a situation where he was the number two back up there in Seattle. But I think this kid is, is legit. So Cal to me has always done a really good job in the portal. Knowing the type of limitations that they've had. I think they brought Tosh Lupoi in there to kind of break through that glass ceiling, and they're doing that. Louisville and, and Arizona State would be the other two that are doing pretty good jobs as well.

[Bud Elliott]

Muhammad got a little bit of run like Coleman was banged up a little at the back end of the season, but because Coleman's a warrior, he was playing through it. But when Muhammad got in, I liked him. That's a, that's a good playmaker in the backfield for sure. So, you know, building up, building out that Cal offense in a, in a big way. What about sort of big picture trends? You know, let's. Like how as you're sitting back and you, you're watching how things have changed and how things have shifted. You know, if you were still, you know, in, in one year old positions or if you got picked up as a consultant, if, if Cooper Patagna Consultants Inc. You know, was. Was contracted by a power conference school, what would be some of the messages that you would send to a, to a personnel department about the way that things are changing right now in college football from what you're seeing with the transfer portal?

[Cooper Patagna]

Yeah, that's a great question. I think it's about where you spend your money and knowing where the depth is in the market and receiver, you know, like, I look at it from like draftable grades and I think that's something we haven't done a good enough job on, like educating what goes into the transfer portal formula in terms of, hey, there's a little bit of NFL projection. There's the projected production, there's the level of comp, there's the timeline of kind of the, the peak performance there. But understanding the depth of the market is very important in terms of the amount of money that you're spending. Right. We talked about it with Jordan Seaton. But when you're trying to play Moneyball and understanding where you can get value like receivers in incredibly deep position. Linebacker is very difficult to come by. Right. Tight ends are also very difficult to come by. Running back is very scarce this year. The safety market has fluctuated from, from this year to last year. And then interior defensive line, big bodies are just very difficult to find. Somebody asked me the other day, is the portal just like swapping depth pieces? And it's. I wouldn't say that. I would say that the trade route really is. Is like above average starters. That's what you're seeing the majority of, kind of what's being swapped, but also understanding value as well. It's like, I think we talk about production, but like Prince William Ellen was a really talented kid that we had ranked in the top 250 coming out, goes to Nebraska, plays 203 snaps as a, as a redshirt freshman or sophomore, has a sack and a half. And he's all like, when you're watching him on tape, his production versus the impact that he's having even in those limited snaps is as well. And you're like, that guy's got boom, potential. Goes to Ole Miss, has nine sacks, has an all conference year, and now he's the number one edge, right. Damon Wilson, we had as a, as a five star, you know, didn't play a ton, was a rotational piece, goes to Missouri, has a great year. If he came out this year, probably round two pick. There's still part of that where I think people can get infatuated with either side of it. You can get infatuated with the potential or you can get infatuated with the production and the marriages between the both. And I think understanding the variables that go into it, understanding what, why isn't. Well, this guy's not playing and I have a lot of snap. Well, who's he have in front of him if he's in, you know, if he's an edge defender at Georgia and he's behind Mikel Williams and Gabe Harris and all these type of guys, maybe that tells a story a little bit, right? Or why is Tion Gray in the transfer portal while he's behind, you know, Barry Alexander, Amari Washington and like, that's a very difficult lineup to crack, right? So I think digging deeper and the depth of all this, I think that's. That's really important and I wish I had more, but.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, no, no, like, that's, that's the thing is I just, I don't think the average college football fan realizes how complex this gets in terms of trying to manage all of these moving pieces all at the same time and really understanding something beyond like, you know, 24, 7 Sports does an excellent job, an excellent job with creating the score. But there's so much more context than just the A class ranking. A class rating. And, and a lot of that, I think, has to do with the players that are already on the roster and sort of understanding what the value is going to be there.

[Cooper Patagna]

My last point on this, I'm glad you brought it up, is the roster goes from 85 to 105. And there's some of these schools you look at where the player doesn't match the brand, and you're kind of like, what is this? Why are they taking this guy? But, you know, I mean, you're increasing the roster size by 23 and a half percent. So, you know, some of these guys that they end up taking, that don't have a lot of production that have played at either the FCS or D2 level, you just, you know, you realize, hey, those guys are, are just kind of bodies serving a purpose for a different, different reason in that capacity. So, last thing I will say, last year felt to me between lsu, which that obviously didn't materialize, Texas Tech, Miami and Oregon. I looked at those four classes and was like, those four classes squarely put these guys in the CFP and three out of the four made it there. And I look at these classes and I'm like, outside of lsu, which is just mass quantity and probably the best quality, I'm not looking at anything and saying like, yeah, definitively, that puts you. That's ratcheting you up a step, if that makes sense.

[Bud Elliott]

Like, nobody leveled up, nobody changed it.

[Cooper Patagna]

Feel. It feels more like free agency. Like, it fit, like. And I get it's free agency, but it feels more like NFL free agency, where it feels supplemental and not the foundational roster building piece, really, outside of lsu, Penn State, Oklahoma State, that all went through coaching changes, right? So I think that's kind of the thing that that sticks out.

[Bud Elliott]

Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Cooper, as always. You can follow him at Cooper Patagna on Twitter. He is college football expert for us here at CBS Sports, offering a lot of expertise for 247 as well. You can follow him on Twitter at Cooper Patagnik, follow him at Danny Canal. You follow him at Bud Elliot there. You can follow me at Chip Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

[Chip Patterson]

See y'. All.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Cooper Patagna]

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