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Welcome Back to the COVID 3 podcast with your hosts Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, Danny Cannell, and Bud Elliott. It's your call for the best college football coverage, from Training Day to the national championship and everything in between. CBS Sports presents the COVID 3 podcast.
Chip Patterson
And welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Danny Cannell. That's Bud Elliott. I'm Chip Patterson coming to you live@YouTube.com 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 Dash is celebrating his birthday. Happy birthday, Dash. Jerry says cover three in coffee. Let's go. That's right. Coming to you a little bit early here on this Monday. Hope everyone's doing well. Thanks for rocking with us. A real fun show that we've got here today because there are a couple of topics. Like, it's not a. A laundry list of topics, but some things that we need to get into. And I, I don't want to waste any more time because this happened on Friday and it generated a lot of conversation and daggum it. I mean, Danny, Canal, when you give Dabo a prepare, like when Dabo showed up with the, the reading the paper. I mean, how many times have you. Have you. And I heard Dabo Sweeney give a press conference? And he always speaks from the heart and very rarely does he have prepared statements when Dabo Sweeney came out with the dates, the times, the text messages, the calls. Who. When we talk to the agent. Yes. A lengthy and bombastic press conference from Clemson's Dabo Sweeney alleging tampering from Ole Miss about linebacker Luke Forelli, who was committed to Clemson in class at Clemson, then flipped his commitment to Ole Miss. We've got a lot of different ways to peel this back, dk, but would you. What was sort of the, what's the starting point for you as. As we jump into this one? I love it.
Danny Cannell
I say good for Dabo. I mean, this is somebody who actually brought receipts. We've heard a lot of coaches say, oh, well, that, you know, my players been, you know, tampered with and they're trying to poach my players and. But they never bring any evidence to the table and they really don't give specifics. They just make these allegations without doing anything about it. So now Dabo gets up there, lays it out like an attorney to the court.
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
Danny Cannell
The problem is there's no judge. Like, there's no jury. It's just he's. I, I would love, I would love to see something actually happen, a consequence to Pete Golding, to Ole Miss. I would love to see the NCAA and come and bring the hammer down and say, we have to eradicate this. I even love the way Dabo had the levels of tampering when he's like, oh, level 101 is when they're just sliding into your DMs, you know, during the regular season. Level two is when you know you've got them signed to a contract. But level three is when you've got them signed to a contract and they're in school and they're still coming after your player. Like, I love the way he laid out everything, but I have zero faith that anything is going to happen from this. Like, that the NCAA is going to step in and be the enforcer. I just like, so I wish it would. And I think this is Dabo airing out some his grievances, but I don't think anything comes of it.
Bud Elliott
We. We also haven't seen the evidence that Dabo claims he has.
Chip Patterson
Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Because, like, like he didn't show.
Bud Elliott
Like, like there wasn't like, like they didn't pass out she to the media. Like, we don't know that Dabo is telling the truth on this.
Chip Patterson
Okay? Because there is a response that says cry more. Right? I mean, because that's. There's been one side of this that is been like, thank you, Dabo. And you know, maybe like a little too over the top on. Let's. We're not, we're not gonna throw him out here as some kind of civil rights leader of, of college reform. Right? You know, like, okay, like. But at the same time, there was there pro. I mean, obviously Ole Miss fans are like, I don't know, get your weight up. Why don't you match the offer? You know, like this. There's kind of that angle of it too. But are you hearing some of that angle too? Like it's a sort of calling Dabo out here. I mean, what's the, what's the sense that you're getting either from your own opinion or even like within the player personnel community?
Bud Elliott
I mean, like, like, I think Ole Miss fans are, are, are and it's fans. So they're going to have this response, but they're like, how do we know Dabo's not full of it, right? Like, he says that he's seen these text messages. Does he have them? Does he have him inform he can turn them in or do you just hear about him?
Chip Patterson
Well, I know what the evidence is. He was in class, right? The, the young man was at California. He was an outstanding young linebacker at Cal. He committed to be a Clemson Tiger for the 2026 season. He enrolled at Clemson. He was at Clemson. And then all of A sudden, he asked to enter the transfer portal and go to Ole Miss. I circle. Is it circumstantial, Esquire, in that. What we're supposed to say, like, there's a lot of circumstantial.
Bud Elliott
I'm more talking like, do they actually have the text from Golding or do they just hear what it said? Right. Okay, but did he forward those along or did Dabo just claim to, like, to know what it said?
Chip Patterson
But that. That's what I'm saying. Like, are you. Are you suggesting that. Because I, as a fan, I still think that's yucky.
Danny Cannell
Like, I don't care about whether you pass out.
Bud Elliott
Yeah. I think if you actually got it, you pass out screenshots to the media at the press conference. Okay, well, makes their stories better. It's going to spread on social media.
Chip Patterson
I don't.
Bud Elliott
I wonder if they got it.
Chip Patterson
I still think it's disgusting, the idea that this. This whole, like. Like, he's sitting in class and then he changes his mind.
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
Danny Cannell
That's the details, though, too, of, like, they couldn't track him down. And they had Tom Allen go to.
Chip Patterson
His house and that his agent was talking to Clemson but not aware that the player was talking to Ole Miss. Right.
Danny Cannell
I mean, some of the details were pretty salacious and wild, to Bud's point. I would like to see him, too. That was my initial reaction, was like, bring the receipts like you've told them. I would like to see them. I almost feel like Dabo. I don't want to get too much political in this, but I wonder if it's like, one of those things where he's been told there's weapons of mass destruction, but then you go look, and there aren't. Like, like, you. We went to war over that. Like, I. I do wonder if Dabo, like, was willing to go to war because we've got all this, and then, like, does it. Because I do believe Dabo thinks they have it. You know, like, now whether they have it or not is another story. And I won't. But it's my thing is, I don't even know if any of that matters.
Chip Patterson
Oh, yeah, yeah. That's.
Danny Cannell
No. Like, even if he has receipts and he's got all this evidence and he gives it to the nta. I mean, Graham Neff said his quote was, we went to the NCAA and they were surprised that someone was willing to do this. So the NCAA is like, really? You want us to do something? Like, they were surprised. And even if they do, is this going to be one of those things that in two years, you know, we'll find out, hey, they looked into it. They did an investigation, and in two years, they give, you know, some slap on the wrist. Like, they typically take forever with their investigation. So I just.
Bud Elliott
He's gonna get more value out of the press conference than the investigation.
Danny Cannell
Yes.
Chip Patterson
Dabo is.
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
Danny Cannell
Yes.
Chip Patterson
Okay.
Bud Elliott
I mean, their. Their transfer class is rated outside the top 70. Right? Like, this is a great way to, like, you know, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. You know, look what's going on. Don't pay attention to the fact that, like, we didn't have a good transfer class.
Chip Patterson
So you've got a little bit of a cynical read on this. Am I picking up okay?
Bud Elliott
I do.
Danny Cannell
Yeah.
Bud Elliott
Not that I don't think it makes it. Like, I do kind of think that doing that, like, recruiting a guy who's actually already enrolled is in class is. Is very odd and probably against the rules.
Chip Patterson
I just think it's slimy. I mean, it seems like there are.
Danny Cannell
No rules, but this is only the ones we know about, you know, how much this happens. Probably worse, you know, and just. Yeah, you know this. But I think it's great that he put out the details. It's also the irony that it's dabo, and this is somebody who's fought against this and didn't want to embrace this, and now he does. I didn't get this sense, but I wonder if there's also some of this. That's probably to his own critics of Clemson people. There's like, see, you wanted me to get in this smut. Like, here we are.
Chip Patterson
Even some of those own, like, internal critics that I feel like he's always tried to battle. He's like, we don't have to deal with this when we just build it through high school with OKG's, our kind of guys and build it up like that. All right, well, then to advance, it does. Is this story big enough at this time of year? Which is also another piece of this to generate conversation, action, any kind of movement towards. Because Davo Sweeney, who at one time. And listen, everyone has the right to change their mind. And that is something that we all can do at one time. I'm not going to hold Dabo to. If y' all start paying players, I'm gonna take my ball and go home. Remember, he said that long, long time ago. We've. We've all moved past calling him to that. But I was getting the sense at the press conference that he was Even moving us towards the. Like, we need to make him employees. You know, like we. Dabo Sweeney, of all people, has made the employment call. Do you think this story starts to get us a little bit closer to those kind of machinations?
Bud Elliott
I don't. Because it's not Debo's call. Right.
Chip Patterson
It's like the. For the forces. And we're going to have spring meetings. We're going to like, this is. This is the. When things could potentially change in terms of pushing things through.
Bud Elliott
I still think they're very willing to put up with the nonsense if it means they're making so much more money than if they're employees. Like, I think that's the only thing that. That makes them really not want to make them employees is the amount of money they make by not having them not be employees.
Danny Cannell
So I don't think the people in.
Bud Elliott
Power care at all that Dabo Swinney has to put up with this. I don't. They're still working in the cash.
Danny Cannell
It's a business, but has stuck by that point. I thought the inflection point was going to be Demon Williams. And then it's like, well, maybe the inflection point is Darian Meza, and then maybe it's Luke Forelli. Like, maybe it's a coach getting out there. I don't know if there is an inflection point. I don't know if there is a breaking point to Bud's theory of what is happening is that the people that are actually deciding this are like, that headache is minor compared to the money that we're making. So, man, because of all these. I keep looking at all of me like, oh, this is going to be the one that just blows people's minds. And all the coaches are going. The coaches can do all they want because I guarantee you they would all get on board and say, sure. You mean you're hearing more coaches more than ever saying, we need to. We need to let them bargain. We need employees. We need that model. They're not the ones deciding, so they just kind of have to deal with it.
Chip Patterson
Since you brought it up, I had it maybe as something later. What can we get a little billable hour? This was actually mentioned in the. In the tailgate. We need a billable hours on Mensa versus Duke. What's. What's the latest read on what's going to happen there?
Bud Elliott
I still think he's gonna end up at Miami. I. I don't think it's very tenable for him to go back to Duke. Do You.
Chip Patterson
Oh, no, no, no, no. I think the Duke is gone. I've got this down to Miami or GoPro.
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
Danny Cannell
Okay. Why can't he go back to Duke?
Bud Elliott
I think, I think the way he played, it would leave a really bad taste in people's mouth.
Chip Patterson
Yeah.
Danny Cannell
Wasn't it the same with the mom Williams? Or worse than. It just wasn't.
Bud Elliott
The timing's a little bit different on that. You know, like Demon went back pretty fast.
Danny Cannell
Right.
Bud Elliott
Duke actually sued Darien. Like Washington never had to sue Demon. Like the timing of when it was in the portal. You know, the fact that Duke's having to go out like, like find a quarterback here, you know, late in the process.
Chip Patterson
Walker, was it.
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
Chip Patterson
From San Jose, who I think still needs to get a waiver to officially like get all that through. I'm. I could be wrong about that. But hey, I'll tell you what, it's not horrible, but you know, it's obviously not Darian Mensah. He's a good player, but. But not Darian Mensa. Yeah. On Friday we had even more, more suits and more motions filed here in the North Carolina courts on, on the Darian Mensah and the Duke case, including blaming a Microsoft Teams outage for why a message didn't go through. I mean it's, it's. I mean just, just really good hyper local stuff. But I'm, but I'm, I'm with you. I think eventually it lands there. But they are dealing with enrollment dates.
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
Chip Patterson
Potentially could proclute, preclude him from being able to be a part of Miami spring practice. So that's, that. That's my best read on that.
Bud Elliott
And Miami just went to the national title with the quarterback who was also not able to do spring practice. Oh. Because Beck was hurt.
Chip Patterson
Very good point. What'd you make of. You know, everybody talked about Indiana's old, old team. What'd you make of Muhammad Torre getting a sixth year? Wait, no, not 68th year of eligibility for Miami.
Bud Elliott
I mean, I don't think like just given some of the coverage stuff, I'm not really sure he's a pro or at least not like a high pick. So you know, good for him if he can get it and obviously good for Miami. Like I think they lose the saint. Right. So yeah, the fact like you don't have to lose both linebackers is pretty big.
Chip Patterson
Yep, 100%. Coming up on the other side, a big time portal addition to a star studded portal class. Let's take a step back and let's see what Lane's got coming to Baton Rouge and more next.
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Chip Patterson
Back Here on the COVID 3 podcast we mentioned that the big prized offensive line prospect in this portal cycle was going to be Jordan Seaton. Coming from Colorado. Pro size, pro skills, lot of experience. He was visiting everybody. Anybody who's everybody was trying to add him to their squad. He ultimately commits to Lane Kiffin and lsu, which means when you take a step back and you look at this class and you've got Sam Levitt coming in as the quarterback, one of the top quarterbacks in the cycle. When you've got Jordan Seaton, when you've got Prince will man me Ellen, when you've got even Houston Longstreet to be the future of your quarterback position? Trey Wilson and so much more. The Tigers seem to be picking the very best at many positions. Bud, what do you make? Not what do you make, but how do we start to look at the LSU Lane Kiffin Portal class in terms of the work they've done in of terms and what it can do for the Tigers in 2026?
Bud Elliott
I mean if if Levitt is healthy this is going to be a really good team. I had them in my preseason top 10 like the the two early top 25 were only ranked 10 teams and I Do think this is going to be a really good football team. You know, I think they're going to have better culture than Brian Kelly did. I like a lot of the pieces that they've added. I also think like some of the freshmen they signed, I think those are immediate contributors. Like based on what I saw, like Richard Anderson is like not super tall, but he's like listed 340, probably 360. And I was shocked at Under Armour at how fast he played all the time. Like the motor on a guy who's built like that and the fact that he didn't look gassed and that's just not like, I think we've all seen those guys occasionally that like you're like, okay, that's a two down guy. Like he's gonna have to come out, maybe get 15 snaps, but like just great hustle, like playing hard in an all star event, like all out for a guy who, you know, does need to lose some weight probably. But like just for that size, like I think he's going to play and immediately be good for them at lsu. Like, like, I don't think a lot of SC teams can block him one on one consistently and like really should help them against the run. So like with this portal class and a couple of these young guys they brought in the freshman class, I think they're gonna be very good if Levitt's healthy, which I think is why you bring in Longstreet, partially because like you would have some doubts about that.
Danny Cannell
Yeah, they better be. They better be good this year. I think Jordan Seaton might be one of the bigger pieces though. Think about last year. I mean, Garrett Nussmeier was really good the year before and then Wyatt, all of a sudden his play go in the tank because he was getting killed. They couldn't run the ball and they couldn't protect. So I think this and a couple of the other offensive linemen that they signed brought a couple from Ole Miss with them. You're bringing these pieces in. I think this is a huge part of the equation for what Lane's trying to build. You know, he knows the importance of keeping his quarterback healthy and getting a run game going. So I think Seaton is, you know, the best left tackle in the class. He's a kid that's got pro potential. Bud, you correct me if I'm wrong, but just from watching him at Colorado, he stepped in from the get go and played pretty well. And he's got two years of experience under his belt. Grant, it'll be A big step up. Some of the competition he's going to play against, but I think it's a huge piece for Lane Kiffin.
Chip Patterson
Investment is matching expectations in battle.
Danny Cannell
Yes, they have a. They have a class that's huge, but it's also quality, you know, quantity and quality. Like, so you're getting all these pieces in together.
Chip Patterson
So, yeah, win all of these battles. That means that it's like, okay, if.
Danny Cannell
You were willing to. If you were willing. I'm sure this was a part of the negotiation because we all looked at it from the standpoint of what's his salary going to be, what's his buyout, what's the total value? You. I'm sure a part of it was, I want to be able to get the best players, and I need x, I need 30 million, 35 million a year to go get them. And now he's got him.
Chip Patterson
I have never been tried to demand authority when it comes to roster. Roster numbers with the, the money involved. But I do like to recklessly speculate. You think LSU's got the most expensive roster for 20, 26?
Danny Cannell
Yes.
Bud Elliott
I don't know.
Chip Patterson
Running, right. What?
Bud Elliott
I, I don't know what they had to pay to retain.
Chip Patterson
Okay.
Bud Elliott
That, that's where I would kind of wonder, you know, is that where a.
Chip Patterson
Like Georgia could be sneaky high because of the pay to retain?
Bud Elliott
Yeah. I don't think Georgia is paying what else he's paying, but I was thinking more like a Texas, you know, Ohio State. Right.
Chip Patterson
Like.
Bud Elliott
Like some of those guys. Yep.
Chip Patterson
Playoff or bust, right?
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
Chip Patterson
Yeah.
Bud Elliott
And look, if you're lsu, the SEC looks very gettable. You know, LSU just made the semis. Is Bama, like, ascending?
Chip Patterson
Ole Miss just made the semis. Yeah.
Bud Elliott
Excuse me. Yeah, Ole Miss made the semis. You know, like, like, I, I think Florida is going to be really good, but, like, they also could flop, you know? Is A and M better next year? I. I don't think so. I think they're kind of neutral. Right. So it looks winnable. Like, if Texas really gets their act together. Sure. Like, Oklahoma should be good again. Maybe Arnold takes a big step up, but the defense does lose a lot of important pieces. What if you're lsu, you're like, why can't we be the best team in sec? Oh, yeah, yeah.
Chip Patterson
Yeah. I just think that that's the expectation, like, that you. You've done all this. You've brought in Lane Kiffin, you've put together this roster. It's go time. I mean, there's, there's Absolutely no excuse for 8 and 4.
Danny Cannell
I think it's the same expectation that you had at Texas Tech, who was the biggest spender last year. And they were, hey, and I remember Sean Jaraja, we're talking to him, and he was very in touch with the pulse of Lubbock. And he's like, the expectation is you win the conference and you make the playoff. And they did. Yeah, I think that is. I don't know if you care about winning the sec. I'm sure they do, but their expectation is, at the very least, we're in the College Football Playoff. And if they are not, I think that's where it's, you know, I mean, you're not going to do anything because Lane's locked up for the foreseeable future, but there's going to be some upset LSU fans if you don't make the College Football Playoff.
Bud Elliott
They also have a really a go do it right now.
Chip Patterson
Schedule with, like, the who's rotated in and off.
Bud Elliott
Well, look at their road games. I mean, they're. They're at Arkansas, at Tennessee, at Auburn, at Kentucky, at Ole Miss. You're favorite in all five, right?
Chip Patterson
Yeah. Wait, repeat those one more time.
Bud Elliott
So at Arkansas, at Tennessee. Yes. At Auburn, at Ole Miss, at Kentucky.
Chip Patterson
Yes, yes, yes.
Bud Elliott
They're probably the only. Probably the only SEC team that I really like their odds to get a buy that has five SEC road games. Because remember, now we got to start. Start thinking about the sec, like, we do the big, the Big Ten.
Chip Patterson
Right.
Bud Elliott
Who has. Who has the five roadies? Who has the four roadies in conference play. Yep.
Danny Cannell
We. It's interesting because you said a couple times, if Sam Levitt's healthy, it sounds like there's been more concern with Sam Levitt's injury healing process than has been known about. Like, one of the reasons Demond Williams became attractive, like, because I. Matt Moscana, you know, from the, you know, lsu. So we had him on the radio this morning. He was saying, because I asked him, was Levitt Lane's first choice? You know, was he the number one target?
Chip Patterson
Great question. It's like you do this for a living or something. Right.
Danny Cannell
But also, I don't know if we'll ever know. Like, in Lane would never tell you. But, like, with all the speculation, when Demond Williams entered the portal was, oh, and it do not tag. It's. He's going to lsu. And remember Levitz at the basketball game, he was more the mind that Levitt's injury concern was one that had him interested in. In demand Williams like once he became available. So I don't know. I mean, I, I think they wanted Sorsby Levitt and Damon Williams, like were their top three. So they got one of the top guys. But I thought it was interesting that Demon Williams. Was it locked up, was it not? You know, maybe we'll never know. But I just thought that was interesting. Like was Demond Williams is. Because then he had to chase down Levitt to Tennessee. He went to Knoxville to chase him down and secure him. So thought it was interesting.
Chip Patterson
What do you think, bud?
Bud Elliott
Yeah, I think it's really important to caveat all LSU talk with if Levitt's healthy and right.
Danny Cannell
Yeah. Which was very similar to the questions we had about Carson Beck in Miami.
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
Danny Cannell
Yeah. And it's like, like, and I had questions. I was. I don't know how good he's going to be. And it'll be the same thing with lsu. Like, if he, like, is he going to be okay for spring? You know, but we've seen a quarterback who didn't do spring and he was fine.
Chip Patterson
I don't want to be right when I said that. I get nervous about feet things, but 100% it's a. It's a little bit of a wild situation. Coming up on the other side, the Charles Bdiaco situation in basketball. Could we see that in football? Plus is no news. Good news for the College Football Playoff expansion and more.
Bud Elliott
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Bud Elliott
Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California. And for delivery.
Chip Patterson
Back here on the COVID 3 podcast. I mean, you know, great, great comment from JC in the tailgate not playing spring ball. While it might have worked for Carson Beck, making it in the national championship game kind of hurt DJ Lagway. You know, in terms of getting on the same page, there's. This can go lots of different ways. Also, in the tailgate, before we got started, we appreciate Jerry jumping in there. He said, could we see a player who went through the draft but didn't make a roster return to college football similar to what has happened in basketball. Of course, he is referencing Charles Beadiaco at Alabama. Baylor has a player from the G League that he has added as well. I don't know. It's an interesting topic. Danny, what do you think?
Danny Cannell
I mean, I think if you're a college football coach, you've got to be curious to see how this all unfolds. I'll be curious too, as to what Bud knows legally, like what the options here. But is it different? Because I. And by the way, I have always maintained that you should be able to enter the draft and if you don't sign, you should be able to come back to college. But that's not how the football rules work. You declare for the NFL draft and doesn't, you can go undrafted, you are screwed historically from coming back to college football. But is basketball different? Is there a difference in eligibility if you declare? You know, because if it's not, if it's the same, then I absolutely think you'd see somebody try to challenge this. Now, you'd have to have a time up where you were younger and you had eligibility and you had the five year window. But I'm sure that if, I mean, maybe the coaches don't look into it, but if I'm an agent and I've got a client who was a sixth or seventh round pick, maybe shoot wherever you were drafted and if you got stashed on the practice squad and you weren't panning out, you know, I would absolutely look into it. Like, why wouldn't you? You'd be crazy not to.
Chip Patterson
Our colleague Ben Denucci, just stepping right back in for another year with the Pitt Panthers.
Danny Cannell
Right, right. But I mean, is there a younger guy? Is there somebody who's in that window? I was trying to find an example. There was an offensive lineman for Texas who came out Cameron Williams. He was drafted by the Eagles in the sixth round. I don't think he took a snap. You know, would he be able to go back to Texas if it's in that five year window? Because like there's been a lot of like Kyle McCord, you know, wanted to stay another year at Syracuse, got denied by the ncaa. So he's kind of, he had run his course with the five years of eligibility. He'd already played a lot. You've got those guys. But is there something where if you've only played three years of college football and you had that window and it didn't work out, could that be the, the person that could be eligible to.
Bud Elliott
Play the NCAA has been winning these eligibility cases in federal court. Like not all the time, but they're winning more than they lose at a noticeable clip. And I wonder if this does all come to a head because I like at the state court level, which is where Betty Ako or Benioco? Betty Ako. Bettyaka. Okay. Like some of the schools seem to be winning at the State court level. So I wonder eventually we. We do, like, see this, you know, go up to a little higher level in the federal system to where we kind of render some of the state stuff moot, right? And, like, we get an actual ruling on this that, hey, like, once you declare for the professional draft, the issue is, like, if you're a judge and you're not truly in the weeds of this, what's the difference between playing in the NBA and college? Like, they're both getting paid millions of dollars. Like, if you're a judge, you're like, all right, that's paid for play. That's paid for play. You'll say it's not. But, like, look. Look at the Supreme Court, what they said. It really, you know, pretty much is you just. Guys just don't want to pay insurance, so it's nil. But, like, we know the deal here. So, like, there's kind of a blurring of the lines there, you know? But I wonder. I do think they are winning because they can argue that, like, the collegiality of this is actually an important feature for their business of college sports. You know, it's why, like, you still have to go to class, right? Like, could somebody sue and say, I don't really want to go class. I just want to play, you know, for. For Georgia, right? And they'd probably say no. Like, actually, we do think it's. It's a feature, not a bug, that you have to go to class, like, for the business model, right? Because it. Fans have a lot of attachment to their experience at the school. They at least want to believe that the kid is actually going to class.
Danny Cannell
Whether or not it's all he is.
Chip Patterson
A student that, like, my. My son is a student at Georgia and who else is a student at Georgia? You know, the. The offensive lineman who's. Yeah. Part of this.
Bud Elliott
And I think that's true, by the way.
Chip Patterson
What.
Bud Elliott
Like, these universities crank out, you know, six to 8,000 new potential fans every year. Fans of their school, fans of players who are playing for their school, right? So I do think, like, that is an argument that makes a lot of sense and could hold up, you know, So I don't know, like, would you see a guy. Here's one for you. Like, what if you had a guy who was juco, right? Or an international prospect, like, one of those guys from, like, the NFL Europe development Program, they come over and maybe they. Maybe they declare, don't get drafted, they go to ufl. Could you go UFL back to college if you Never actually played in CIA, Right.
Danny Cannell
And weren't drafted.
Bud Elliott
Right.
Danny Cannell
Like maybe weren't even drafted.
Bud Elliott
The other thing is, like, you see so few guys make bad decisions that actually like result in them going undrafted now.
Danny Cannell
Right.
Bud Elliott
It's almost all guys who flunked out and almost nobody flunks out anymore because it's online classes and you can cook them, you know. So I mean, go look at the list of guys who declared early. It's like 40 of what it used to be. And I think a lot of that is like a lot of guys used to have to declare because they were really hard up for it financially. You know, like their house is going to get foreclosed on, they can't pay the light bill back home. Like they have to just go and take a chance at some kind of check. So they're making like a bad long term business decision to avoid, you know, like their family not being homeless, which is ultimately like the right decision financially to make, you know, to get out and try to make some kind of check. But now like that guy makes 400,000, you know, in college because it's a great value for his school. He doesn't have to go try to chase a practice squad.
Chip Patterson
Check. I live fact check of some information that I passed along as well. Because of course, if we see a player, because somebody said what even is academic eligibility anymore? And I, and I said if you see a player who is academically ineligible, that is more than likely on the player because it is everything is set up for them to be able to remain eligible, correct?
Bud Elliott
Yes, exactly.
Danny Cannell
Yeah. Like if you are not academically ineligible.
Chip Patterson
Like that's a red flag. Absolutely it's a red flag. Because it is like that is it. We have given you everything. We have given you the online classes, we have given you the assistance we have given you. Like that is. That is you choosing to not complete the very bare minimum of tests, which if we're talking about a high performance which is required to be at the top of college football, the NFL, anywhere else, that is just a player who's just choosing not to be able to participate. So that's. Is academic eligibility even a thing anymore? Yes, it is. It's just they've. They basically hacked the system between online classes, study halls and everything else. The. I sympathize and I always am worried when coaches all get on the same talking point. But I do sympathize with the coach who's like, I could be better by bringing in all, you know, if I could just go to the this is the college basketball side. I could just go to the G League, bring in all these guys, and guess what? Then I'd have a better team. But then I'm doing no. No development. Am I head in the sand for sympathizing with the coaches who are. Who are sitting there stressed out, saying, what am I to do here when I'm trying to run a program and I'm trying to bring in young players and bring them up? Because anytime that we've got, whether it is NFL Europe or whether it is juco or whether it is G League or you pull them off the street, I mean, that is a spot that is playing time. Those are reps from younger players. I. I don't like that part of it. Is that a. Is that a fair. Am I too Pollyanna about that?
Bud Elliott
No. And Calipari talked about this over the weekend, right? He's like, I. I'm still going to recruit high school players because, you know, like, I want to see them develop, I want to see them change their family's lives, et cetera. Like, dude, you're paid all that money to win, right? Like, if you want to do the high school thing, that's a choice on you, right? If you want to do the college thing, it's a choice on you. Now, if I'm like, a lower level or like a mid major, I definitely want to, like, pitch myself as, hey, we are developmental, right? Like, you come here, we will make you better. We will learn to play the game the right way. And, you know, if you don't go in NBA right away, like, you're going to get, you know, up and out of here. Now, can you win games like that at the mid major level with a bunch of super young guys who are raw? I. I don't know. But if you do hit on a bunch of them, like, that's a recipe to go on a nice run in the tournament.
Chip Patterson
What do you think, dk? The spirit of it all?
Danny Cannell
Oh, I mean, there is no spirit of, like, it's just like, it's gone.
Bud Elliott
Right?
Danny Cannell
I mean, we've gone so far past the spirit of the game when. When I played and I don't want to be that guy. And I've come a long way and been way more willing to evolve. So I just kind of look at it and like, yeah, I think you could crush some of these coaches. You could get on Nate Oats and be like, well, I can't believe he's doing this. But at the same time, there's millions of dollars at stake for these coaches.
Chip Patterson
Yeah, yeah.
Danny Cannell
You know, like, so I get that. But I would. To your question.
Chip Patterson
Yes.
Danny Cannell
I would appreciate the coach that says, you know what, I still want to have players that I want to develop. And whether it's high school or the transfer portal, if it's young player that's talented from a mid major or something like that, you want to pull them up. I appreciate that. But I don't think. Clearly, this isn't to the point yet where if you're. That's your mindset. It's not like Dabo was at Clemson when he was just refusing to take advantage of the system. I think there's still plenty of opportunity to still have the spirit of college basketball, college athletics, take advantage, pay the players without having to, you know, go to the G league to find your next guy mid season.
Chip Patterson
Yeah. And to be fair, like, I'm not, I'm not ready to vilify NATO, Scott Drew or anybody else, like, for their individual motivations for, you know, going. I think that I'm, I'm more curious about the overall sort of like big picture direction of this, which.
Danny Cannell
Right.
Chip Patterson
You know, maybe to all our point earlier, even with the transfer portal and Clemson and Dabo is. Yeah. This is just like the super messy transition period.
Danny Cannell
Right.
Chip Patterson
We get to wherever we end up.
Danny Cannell
I do think we, like, if we go to this, like we're talking about, do we go where the players, employees and do we let them bargain? What does all that look like? Like, could we be in, could we be in an era where if you can, like what if you do need a player and you can get them from the XFL or UFL or from a practice squad in the NFL like it is. I've always, like, we're, we've always been minor league football. Now it's just more official, like it's minor league, professional NFL. And if that's the way everything has gone and everything tells you we're going that way, how far away are we from being able to pull somebody from a practice squad in the NFL? You know, if your quarterback goes down and you, you are thin and you need somebody and you are a chance to win. And I would argue too that it might make the sport better, you know, as opposed to seeing teams fall apart because they don't have somebody on the rock, they don't have a quality backup, if they could go get one, you know, because I look at the transfer portal, I did not love that trend. But look at all four teams in the Final four had transfer quarterbacks the Heisman Trophy winners have been transfers. Like it's allowed high level play to really, you know, the quality of play in the field I think has been better than it's ever been that people.
Chip Patterson
Love and people are loving the games.
Danny Cannell
Right. Like I don't love a lot of the stuff that's taken place, but it's hard to argue that it's not getting a great product and getting a lot of investment and interest from fans.
Bud Elliott
Like so in 2019 we had 103 guys go pro early.
Danny Cannell
Right.
Bud Elliott
This year we've had 42. So like there's a lot of upperclassmen, well underclassmen technically, but like, like there's a lot of non seniors who are good players who are deciding to stay in school for a final year. Right. And then like you factor in guys who are technically graduates but have remaining eligibility. 32 in 2019, 21 this year. Right. So like put that together 135 to 63, you know, like you're getting like three starting lineups of at least decent to good college ball teams. Not turning pro early.
Chip Patterson
And the numbers game also makes it less likely that this becomes as prevalent in football as in basketball.
Bud Elliott
I agree. Also I do think if you had the collective bargaining piece, like the reason why Maurice Claret lost is because the, the, the NFL like PA had bargained with the NFL about the, about like the entrance requirements, right? Yes. We agree as a union that you need to be three years removed from high school. Because we think this is you know, like a really like, you know, collision sport, not a contact sport. Like there are certain physical requirements you probably need to have and like that's kind of why he lost. I don't know. Like if you're a union, are you cool with guys bouncing back like guys who might be really high priced guys? Probably not. Right. Like unions tend to protect their members to the exclusion of non members.
Chip Patterson
I'll ask the former players union member, what do you think?
Danny Cannell
Yeah, I think, I think Bud's right on that one. But it's so like I also think you should be able to go pro after your freshman year if you want.
Chip Patterson
Yeah.
Danny Cannell
You know, like who's to prevent you? Like I thought that was a long time. This was pre DK evolution with paying the players.
Chip Patterson
Yeah.
Danny Cannell
Was if you don't want to pay them, let them go to the NFL where they can. Like they'd stop complaining about not getting paid. Go try to play the place where you can go get paid. But that's too far removed. Past that point if you're the NFL.
Bud Elliott
Union, it's pretty easy to see why they would agree. Like the NFL doesn't want 18 year olds because they'd like these guys to develop in college for three years. They're better players, they're much more marketable. Right. Like if you had the NFL draft off 18 year olds, it would look like national signing day, which pales a comparison to the popularity of the NFL draft. Right. And if you're the union, the only people voting on behalf of the union are people who are already in the union so that like there's no benefit to them of bringing in more people. Right, Exactly.
Chip Patterson
Yeah. Was it.
Bud Elliott
Well, not more. Your union numbers wouldn't change, just your demographic, would sha would. Would. You know, I was just thinking about.
Chip Patterson
Changing your like your starting jobs. Like you're just, you're bringing in like more younger people. I mean, isn't, isn't that the whole difficulty whenever there's any of these labor disputes at professional sports? Right.
Bud Elliott
Like kids in the, like guys in the NFL don't want to see Jeremiah Smith coming in as a 19 year.
Chip Patterson
Old because there's a wide receiver who's not going to be on the field.
Bud Elliott
Exactly.
Commercial Voice 1
Right.
Chip Patterson
Because Jeremiah Smith's going to come take.
Bud Elliott
His spot From a, like a work, like a workplace culture thing. I don't know how many professional and Danny, like you can speak to this. How many like 18, 19 year old year olds do you want one of those locker rooms? Those guys are absolute idiots and knuckleheads, like just not like dumb like people, but just like the way there's an immaturity factor there, you know, Whereas I think most guys in the locker room are going to have like families, kids, they treat it as a job, you know.
Danny Cannell
Still some knuckleheads that are 23, 24, 25 too. I mean that's kind of the way it is any, any locker room, any workplace. Right. Could you imagine?
Bud Elliott
All right, think about the, like without naming names, think about the guys who were knuckleheads at 23, 24 and imagine they had the same amount of money at 18, 19. Right? Yeah. Okay.
Danny Cannell
Yeah.
Chip Patterson
You got any old players union stories, dk?
Danny Cannell
Yeah, I mean I remember the reason I wanted to do it because you got a free trip to Hawaii where the players meetings were. Yeah, when I was elected by the team. Because I like I was my seventh or eighth year in the league and it was, I was a veteran in the locker room, so I got to do it. But I do remember Gene Upshaw was the President of the players association. And you had to vote on his salary at the time was really high. Yeah, it was, it was kind of weird. And he, he got pretty aggressive with the, with the players. He's like, oh, you guys don't want me. Look at all I've done for you guys. Like it was like. And because there was only a couple players that spoke up that really like were like, wait a second. You know, we're looking at the line items. He got a little bit uncomfortable but he kind of just powered it through. Was there tough?
Chip Patterson
That's. I, I don't think I knew. I mean it doesn't, it makes sense, you know, like yeah, yeah, you have.
Danny Cannell
To approve your president's salary. You know, players are supposed to have a voice. I just remember none of the stuff that I was trying to like I wanted longer medical benefits as opposed to just five years after your play. Like why don't we get lifetime like Major League Baseball? And it was, there was never great, great solutions to that or desire which.
Chip Patterson
Yeah, everybody. Were there a couple people there just getting the trip to Hawaii?
Danny Cannell
Oh yeah. That was a lot of them.
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
Chip Patterson
Are we all voting thumbs up on this one?
Danny Cannell
Can we go play golf now? We got a golf tea time at noon because they did the meetings really early. It was like 7am Hawaii time, you know, so you'd go out there and then we were done by 10:30. 11.
Chip Patterson
Great call by Garrett. The tailgate very similar to the College Football playoff meetings. You know.
Danny Cannell
Exactly. Showing up to enjoy or, or the conference commissioners when they're trying to decide the future of college football and they just have a lot of different meetings at the finer four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, whatever hotels they're at.
Bud Elliott
I make my best decisions on Amelia Island.
Chip Patterson
So yeah, I mean honestly, just Asheville in July, you know, when it's just like really hot everywhere else and it's just beautiful up there and if you. And get some golf in, that'd be nice too. Speaking of the conference commissioners I mentioned maybe no news is good news. We're going to stay at 12 teams for the College Football Playoff. And I don't see Ryan in the tailgate today, but he was very hot and bothered that while we did continue to talk about the Notre Dame memorandum of understanding, we did not also include and fair to Ryan that the auto bids are to power four conference champions. It's not even the highest ranked. So while we could talk about the ACC trying to fix its tiebreaker to prevent the situation of a five loss team in the College Football Playoff. We would not be wondering if the ACC would be left out. No. The future of the College Football Playoff, starting right now, is that the ACC championship, the Big 12 champion, the Big 10 champion, and the SEC champion, no matter what your record is, whatever the conference tiebreakers were, they got you there. If you hoist the conference championship trophy in those four conferences, you go to the College Football Playoff. One spot remaining for the highest ranked team from the group of six. Welcome back, pack 12. We'll do some refresher on that this summer. And yes, as we mentioned that time, Notre Dame inside the top 12. So we're staying at 12. We do have some slightly different bid guidelines. DK. I mean, we talked about this a lot, but this. I think I'm cool with it. Right.
Danny Cannell
Yeah, I. If you cannot decide and you don't have a great plan that everybody get on board with, then why would you rush into something? And as somebody who kind of was gaining my, you know, I'm. I was more okay with 16. I'm okay with 24 if we get there, but I am perfectly content with 12 because I do think it provides a lot of drama. It keeps the regular season even though I still think going to 16 would probably make it even more intriguing for some of the teams that would be involved. I do feel like 12 is a pretty sweet spot that we found and I get the teams got left out, but I think that's kind of what makes it special. I do. And that's sort of the anti expansion crowd that Tom would be on here, you know, saying. Nodding his head, saying, yeah, but although I think Texas could have gotten hot, made a run similar to Miami, Notre Dame could have made a run had they been in. It's part of the allure of college football that you can be so close and yet you can be left out.
Chip Patterson
Notre Dame would have been in and.
Danny Cannell
Miami would have been out. Right.
Chip Patterson
Miami would have been out and Duke would have been in and James Madison would have been out.
Danny Cannell
Yeah.
Bud Elliott
So, like, if you look at this, the major flaws about which we were complaining for the 12 team so far have nothing to do with the number 12. Right. It has to do with the wonky way in which they awarded buys in year one, which they fixed quickly.
Chip Patterson
Yep.
Bud Elliott
And the ACC's tiebreaker being all jacked up this year, which again, has nothing to do with the 12 team format. Like, the games have largely been pretty entertaining, like, certainly more so than a lot of the old BCS championship games. And like, I think it's better than if you like, still had all these bowl games going on, right. Given like we were starting to see like a major opt out trend for those even, even among, you know, the big Bulls think, you know, McCaffrey and you know, Fournette and guys like that, you know, opted out a long time ago. So like let these like, let this format just kind of simmer for a little bit. Let's see. Like there's probably gonna be more things we have to complain about it, but also it's pretty good. And I think if you're Greg Sankey, you're probably pretty pissed off that you agreed to go to nine and you're still stuck at 12 teams and not 16. But also like, I mean your voice is not as loud in that room now that the Big Ten is beating up on you. Right.
Chip Patterson
We've, we've got a little bit of ACC boys domination here today. But I am glad because the, the will the ACC be left out was at least like mentioned what, in early November?
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
Chip Patterson
You know, you're all of a sudden like, oh. And so I'm glad we don't, we don't have to play any of this. It's the five highest ranked but we haven't specified and so who will see? So it's like, no, it is very clear cut right now. These four conferences, they are special. They're being deemed as special. They get automatic bids into this thing and then we'll see who ends up getting the fifth automatic bid. Seven qualifiers obviously for the rest of them. I'm, I'm very, very okay with, with where we landed on this one.
Bud Elliott
And like, look, we actually keep the drama of the bid thief now with this.
Danny Cannell
You know, I almost wish they would have said two years, you know, like, because we're going to be right back in the situation December 1st. You know, I'll bet they'll back it up again to try to buy some extra time. But what changes? What's that?
Bud Elliott
Like, what if they are that far apart? Like, if you read the Dellinger piece, it doesn't seem like they're anywhere close on agreeing on this. Right.
Chip Patterson
Right.
Danny Cannell
So maybe we do get another year after this one.
Bud Elliott
Or a couple.
Danny Cannell
Right?
Chip Patterson
Yeah. So like let's, let's let this through. Let's let a couple rotations and. But I'm glad you mentioned this because I was doing, I was a, I was a little bit under the weather a couple days ago and I was having one of those like awake in the middle of the night, not feeling good, can't fall Asleep, your mind's just running through whatever. And I started running through calculations because this is healthy and normal of like how many college football games would be, quote, unquote, good games. And I was like, this year's bracket gave us so many good games, especially compared to last year's bracket. And just that we've got improvement, you know. So I'm with you here. I think that we're, we're starting to move towards a pretty solid future. I'm happy that we are still sticking with 12 teams. Little bit of time left here. It's, it's not exactly a full coaching carousel and nothing's been made official, but reports indicate that Ryan Day has identified a new offensive coordinator. We're going to be keeping the Ohio State mini NFL operation going. Arthur Smith has been reportedly tabbed as the top candidate for the job. Danny, what do you think? What does Arthur Smith at Ohio State do for you?
Danny Cannell
I thought it was interesting because I don't think anybody would have predicted this, but I think it does make sense considering the success, as you mentioned. Matt Patricia, NFL background comes in there. The defense has a historic season. Previous to that, they had Chip Kelly, you know, had NFL experience. Now he had a lot of head coaching, you know, he had college experience as well. So it does make it a little bit unique. But I think this shows you really. It used to be there used to be a delineation, like college offensive schemes were different than the NFL and the NFL was kind of above it and they looked down on college systems. There is more continuity, trading of ideas, stealing of concepts, copying whatever you want to call it between college and pro. So from that aspect, yeah, I don't know. I don't know if there's any relationship, it's such a relational business, but I haven't seen any ties to Arthur Smith. But I think he's a guy who's pretty well respected as an offensive mind. You know, you come in there and he's going to have great weapons to work with, you know, so I would expect Ohio State to be fine. But if they miss out on a Big Ten championship or they get beat in the first round again, there's going to be a lot of scrutiny and a lot of criticism on Arthur Smith for sure.
Chip Patterson
What's his, like, what is the book on Arthur Smith like in terms of what, where, what. What is he sort of like penciled in and known for?
Danny Cannell
I think he's known for being sort of a forward thinking offensive mind, you know, who's going to, you know, try to Move guys around, use some of those concepts, use motions to try to give your quarterback tips and help him in that process.
Bud Elliott
Judging off NFL Twitter, they're like, this guy's pass game sucks. And the run game stuff is really good.
Chip Patterson
Okay.
Bud Elliott
Which makes me think like, okay, I wonder if Ryan Day wants more run game stuff and can marry his past game stuff with it. Right? Like, if so, like, that's pretty cool. Also, his dad is Fred Smith of FedEx RIP so I mean, are you able to get a little nil action out of this? Like, what, what are you paying Arthur Smith and what, what are arts people paying you? I thought about that immediately. I was like, that's genius. That's what they're playing for.
Chip Patterson
It used to be you bring Ed Manning on as a coach so you can get Danny Manning to come to the team. Yeah, we just get the, the heir to the FedEx throne to be able to just see if we can, you know, get a little express express shipping on this nil. I don't know. I don't know if that's a part of it. I'll tell you, he's a Tar Heel and I don't know if that's a change North Carolina's fortunes. That team still went 4 and 8 this year.
Danny Cannell
So the.
Bud Elliott
Did an Arkansas fan. The chat is saying Arkansas Fan 18 1.8 billion. Was that like a Powerball thing or something?
Danny Cannell
Is that true? I, I just remember the Alabama fan who was asked, you know, by the TV station, what would you do if you won the lottery? And she's like, I would buy out Kaylin DeBoer's contract and get rid of them.
Chip Patterson
I was, I, I was thinking about, first of all, as with all situations, it's, it's Ryan Day. How much of it's Ryan Day? How much of it's the offensive coordinator? And then number two is it. What in the, in the like, good run game. You know, like, that's Chip Kelly, right?
Danny Cannell
Yeah.
Chip Patterson
You know, like there it, there might be some, some of the spirit of Chip Kelly with this hire that, that I see with Arthur Smith and could be a. Something interesting to watch as of course I imagine that the Buckeyes are going to enter, enter the 2026 season with a big old chip on their shoulder, given the fact that they were 12, 0 and they finished loss loss and bring back a lot of pieces as they go into the season. So will be interesting again, not made official just yet. Arthur Smith reportedly set to be the next offensive coordinator at Ohio State. Well, I appreciate everybody for joining us a little bit early here on a Monday. We will be back at 11am on Wednesday at YouTube.com cover3 and you can follow him on Twitter at Danny Canelo. You can follow him@bud elliot3. Follow me at Chip Underscore Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.
Bud Elliott
See y'.
Chip Patterson
All.
Danny Cannell
See ya.
Bud Elliott
Stay safe out there, guys.
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Unbelievable.
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What a shot.
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It's where legends are made. UFC on Paramount Plus. Every fight one subscription streaming this January.
Episode: "Dabo Swinney vs. Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin’s Portal Haul & More!"
Date: January 26, 2026
Hosts: Chip Patterson, Danny Kanell, Bud Elliott
This episode dives deep into two of college football’s hottest offseason stories:
Additionally, the crew break down emerging eligibility loopholes, the changing landscape of the College Football Playoff, transfer quarterback trends, the spirit of "developmental" college sports, and speculate on Ohio State’s new offensive coordinator hire.
The conversation is opinionated, lively, and at times skeptical—capturing both the chaos and the intrigue of the current college football landscape.
[02:56 – 13:57]
[18:03 – 27:17]
[27:59 – 38:01]
[36:31 – 40:39]
[46:27 – 51:11]
[52:57 – End]
The hosts are candid—occasionally skeptical, often humorous, and always opinionated. The underlying takeaway: college football’s landscape is more chaotic (and entertaining) than ever, fueled by shifting transfer rules, NIL, and changing expectations for players and coaches.
End quote:
"I didn’t love a lot of the stuff that's taken place, but it's hard to argue it's not getting a great product and getting a lot of investment and interest from fans."
—Danny Kanell [40:39]
For in-depth, rapid-fire, and unfiltered takes on all these topics, check out the full episode!