Mailbag! Best Players Who Did NOT Declare For The Draft + Fan Bases With Unrealistic Expectations

Summary

Cover 3 College Football Podcast — Mailbag! Best Players NOT Going to the Draft & Unrealistic Fan Bases

Date: February 5, 2026
Hosts: Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, Danny Kanell, Bud Elliott

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Overview

In this lively Mailbag episode, the Cover 3 crew tackles several listener questions, focusing on the best college players who didn’t declare for the NFL Draft and could have, alongside a robust discussion about which fan bases have unrealistic expectations heading into the 2026 season. There’s plenty of analysis about roster construction, NIL/portal impact, and how teams and fan bases handle changing fortunes. The crew brings sharp insight, playful banter, and data-backed opinions, making this a must-listen for any college football fan.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Recruiting, The Transfer Portal, and Star Power (03:51—09:15)

• Listener Question: Has high school recruiting changed due to the transfer portal?
  • Arch Manning Example: The group agrees that a big-name QB like Arch Manning would always command attention, portal or not.
  • Lesser-Hyped Recruits: Players not at major programs or with less high-profile recruitment—like Keyshawn Henderson—get less attention.
  • Impact of the Transfer Portal:
    • Top 20 QBs out of high school have a "30% chance of never being a P5 starter" (05:05, Tom).
    • Many end up as G5 backups; busts are rarely physical, more often mental or off-field issues.

Notable Quote:

“If you are a top-20 rated quarterback, you got about a 30% chance of never actually being a P5 starter. You also got like a 15% or 18% chance of making $15 million plus in your career.” — Tom Fornelli (05:05)

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2. Best Players Who Did NOT Declare for the NFL Draft ("Run It Back All-Stars") (10:05—22:41)

Roster Construction Trends

• Early NFL entry numbers have dropped, thanks to NIL and the portal. Bud says, “...what we have now is almost cut in half [from] what we had five, six, seven years ago, and how good that is for college football” (09:15, Chip).

Bud's "Run It Back All-Stars":

• Offense:

  • QBs: Arch Manning, Dante Moore
  • RBs: Justice Haynes, Mark Fletcher
  • WRs: Deuce Robinson, Trey Richardson, Eric Singleton
  • OL: Carter Smith, Trevor Goosby, Kaden Green, Bruce Mitchell, Austin Siereveld, PJ Williams
  • TE: Jamari Johnson

• Defense:

  • Edge: Damon Wilson, Mateo Uiagalelei
  • DT: Amarian Washington, Bear Alexander, AJ Holmes, Ahmad Moten
  • LB: Rasheen Biles, Kip Lewis
  • DBs: JVON Cole, Jamari Sharp, Kelly Jones, Bray Hubbard, Brendan Jordan

Discussion Highlights:

• NIL allows stars to stay in CFB, possibly improving their long-term prospects.
• Tom (13:30): “I think this offense is $25 million alone.”
• The SEC has only a few on this “All-Star” list; panel notes it’s likely coincidence.

Quote:

“This is like the national championship team favored by a ton…no college team would be competitive with this team.” — Bud Elliott (10:41)

Defense is Deep but Thinner at LB & DB:

• Bud: “With that defensive line, who the hell cares?” (18:12)
• Lack of Georgia players on the list hints at their youth and that many just weren’t eligible.

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3. Impact of NIL and Transfer Portal on CFB Quality (22:05—22:41)

• The consensus: Top-end college football talent is sticking around longer.
• Chip: “College football just continues to see the high end talent improve… the sport as a whole just continues to be able to be a lot better at the top…” (22:05)

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4. Fan Bases with Unrealistic Expectations (25:32—46:15)

Ole Miss Example:

• Henry (listener) worries the “new standard” at Ole Miss sets up disappointment.
• Hard Schedule Alert: “At Vandy, Missouri, at Texas, host Auburn, host Georgia, at Oklahoma with no byes is a pretty hard six game stretch.” — Tom Fornelli (27:39)
• If they go 7–5, it could feel disastrous despite the context.

How 1-score games distort perceptions:

• Bud: “They went 6–2 in one-score games… only won them by 2.8 points per game.” (27:50)
• Compare with Auburn, Arkansas, Penn State, FSU—all sunk by close losses.

Other Teams Discussed:

• Indiana: After last year's surprise title, is aiming for Big Ten title contention actually delusional? The consensus: NO, the expectations are realistic given the roster and coaching.
• Kentucky: New coach Will Stein has a tough task—making a bowl is realistic, despite media hype after a stellar portal class (32:09–34:49).
• Texas A&M: Lost key staff and players, tough road schedule, but maybe expectations are too lofty (35:04–36:14).
• Clemson: Only ranked in two of 11 way-too-early Top 25s; should not be in any, says Chip (36:49, 37:07).
• Louisville: Could be favored in all 12 games, but still vulnerable (“0–2 vs. Cal last two seasons” — Chip, 39:47).
• LSU: Should make the playoff with their roster, any less is a disappointment.
• Michigan: Fanbase might expect 10-2+, but hosts point out schedule is tough and 9-3 is more realistic.

Notable Quotes:

“Every year [for Ole Miss] they went 6–2 in one-score games…But they only won them by an average of 2.8 points per game.” — Bud Elliott (27:50)
“If LSU does not make the playoff…as far as like amount of talent wasted?...No, no.” — Tom Fornelli (45:10)

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5. Mr. Beast & the Billionaire NIL Donor Fantasy (48:36—56:43)

• Mr. Beast (YouTuber, Greenville NC resident) teases spending $100M on ECU football to chase a natty.
  • Panel riffs: This would become the story of the year/decade/era (48:59).
  • $100M at an American Conference school would utterly distort the playing field.
  • Tom: “If you had $100 million in the American, I am confident...literally anybody could head coach that team...to the American championship.” (53:14)
  • Speculates about funny consequences: Would coaches have to dress like pirates for YouTube?

Quote:

“Nothing would distill how insane things have gotten...if Mr. Beast went out and got 75 practice squatters and replaced ECU’s full football team to go win the national championship…” — Chip Patterson (50:01)

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6. Quick Fire: Super Bowl, Sam Darnold’s Legacy, and USC Quarterbacks (57:08—62:00)

• Picks for the NFL’s Big Game: Seattle favored, but uncertainty over QB play.
• Fun facts about Sam Darnold and his “all-time” status at USC (and his grandfather Dick Hammer, a true Renaissance man).

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Notable Quotes

• On NIL success:

  “This is the national championship team favored by a ton.” — Bud Elliott (10:41)

• On one-score games:

  “They won the overwhelming majority of them...but they only won by an average of 2.8 points per game.” — Bud Elliott (27:50)

• On Michigan expectations:

  “I think the fans are probably thinking 10–2 or better. And I’m leaning 9–3 or lower.” — Danny Kanell (41:02)

• On ECU’s billionaire fantasy:

  “If you had a hundred million dollars in the American, I am confident...anybody...could head coach that team.” — Tom Fornelli (53:14)

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|---------| | 03:51 | Listener mailbag: How transfer portal changed recruiting, focusing on QBs | | 10:05 | Run It Back All-Stars! Best players who didn’t declare for NFL Draft | | 13:30 | NIL “salary cap” talk — how much would this All-Star offense cost? | | 16:19 | Defense “Run It Back” All-Star selections and discussion | | 25:32 | Unrealistic CFB fan expectation mailbag (Ole Miss, Indiana, Kentucky, etc.) | | 35:04 | Texas A&M: Losses, staff turnover, schedule risk | | 36:45 | Clemson: Top 25 rankings and realistic season outlook | | 39:07 | Louisville’s schedule and playoff odds | | 41:00 | Michigan’s fanbase and expectation debate | | 48:36 | Mr. Beast, ECU football, the wild billionaire scenario | | 57:08 | NFL talk & Sam Darnold’s legacy and fun facts |

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Tone and Language

The conversation is lively, playful, and informed by deep data and inside knowledge. Quotes and discussion combine thoughtful analysis with classic Cover 3 fun and banter.

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For Listeners Who Missed It

This episode covers the biggest open questions and storylines heading into 2026: player retention thanks to NIL, roster-building trends, programs trying to navigate rapid change, and how hope (or delusion) lives on in every fanbase. The “Run It Back All-Stars” provide a star-studded snapshot of CFB talent, and the Mr. Beast bit is a hilarious-yet-possible look at the future of NIL chaos. Panelists end with some sports nostalgia and NFL predictions, rounding out another essential week in college football podcasting.

Transcript

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[Tom Fornelli]

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 national Signing Day to the national championship and everything in between. CBS Sports presents the COVID 3PO and.

[Chip Patterson]

Welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Fenelli, 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 Covered three tailgate where Joel and Raymond and Tallagate Talladega Junkie and Casey and Ryan and Jerry all have great questions that we will be including in today's mailbag episode. Additionally, we've got some from the big old bag of mail, some leftovers from yesterday, and a little bit of fun with the topic that we've been discussing and hitting around here with the best players who did not go to the NFL draft and could have gone to the NFL draft. Buds actually put together a full run it back All Stars team. But I'm going to begin with just a real simple one to get us going here. On a listener interaction Thursday, Jerry said has and this with national signing day on Wednesday and we discussed that on Monday and Wednesday as well. But Jerry says has high school recruiting changed due to the portal? Does Arch Manning get the same attention in 2026 as he got four years ago?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yes.

[Chip Patterson]

And yes because it's Arch Manning he.

[Danny Cannell]

Would get it 2036 and 2046 and 2056 when we're probably talking about, you know, Archibald manning who in 2046 the last name does carry a ton of attention. So. Yes.

[Chip Patterson]

But I do not think Keyshawn Henderson in this class got that kind of attention.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. And I think part of it is he went to Houston early and didn't really waiver, at least not publicly. And Houston's not a not a fan base that is going to drive traffic. You know like Jared Curtis got a lot more coverage because obviously flipped from.

[Chip Patterson]

UGA to Bandy Bryce Underwood because it was an LSU to Michigan.

[Tom Fornelli]

Right. Got a lot of Larry Ellison thing.

[Chip Patterson]

Obviously I don't know what you're talking about. So we will always be treating our top quarterbacks as such. We even as the value of a national signing day, even as high school recruiting has changed, the thought is if you are the alpha or if you are the top dog in the class, like if his name is Arch Miller because of who he was as a prospect, the schools that were involved, we think we're always going to be talking about the top quarterbacks that way. Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

And look, I think schools know the deal and increasingly fans probably know the deal. Like if you are a top 20 rated quarterback, you got about 30 chance of never actually being a P5 starter. You also got like a 15 or 18 chance of making 15 million plus in your career and giving the team that signed you a really fat three year window to go do something special. Which is why they go do it. Right. I mean for the most part even if you hit on on like what's your average expected playing time for one of these top portal QBs year and a half.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

Almost nobody's getting three. So it's like a year or maybe two years. So that's why you still keep recruiting these guys out of high school. You know, the potential bust factor. But like very few of these guys are like serious bus. You know, like if you, I guess if you define bust is like never becoming a P5 starter. But like, you know, if you stick around and you're like a really high end backup, obviously they're not going to keep paying you the same rate. But I was looking at this the other day. You know, you were actually more likely to end up as a G5 backup than you are a G5 starter if you're a top 20 quarterback, basically meaning like if you bust like the bus bust, it's almost never physical. It's like something mental. Right. Either like laziness in many cases actually like serious mental health stuff or criminal stuff that, that crops up that, you know, obviously if there was serious criminal stuff that you knew about, the kid wouldn't be in the top 20 coming in high school. So like it was stuff that's unforeseen or had not yet occurred. I guess I thought that was weird.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like I would not have expected that, but I was, I was kind of just playing around with some model stuff.

[Chip Patterson]

Well, all right. So Rashada started for Arizona State. So you would say that, you know, he had a time even as he's new to kind of work his way down the ladder. Malachi Nelson still, I mean he was the UTEP starter. Isn't he at utep? No, he's committed to Syracuse.

[Bud Elliott]

No, he's Syracuse now.

[Tom Fornelli]

Oh, shoot.

[Bud Elliott]

Okay.

[Chip Patterson]

Where. I mean, I, I still think that's Steve Angelli, you know, better be. Yeah. Fran Brown says he's quote dominating rehab. He won't do any live reps in spring practice. Yeah, won't do any live reps in spring practice. But should be good to go by the summer. So my, my thought there is Malachi Nelson. I guess to your point, he's, he's going to go be a backup at Syracuse. Give me about P5 backup. A P4 backup, but still just a backup.

[Bud Elliott]

Syracuse is making sure not a situation next year if Steve Angelli gets hurt that they were in this year where they were. I don't even remember the kids that they were starting in his place.

[Chip Patterson]

The fourth stringer former lacrosse player did not feel the dynamic downfield passing by the time they went to him late in the year. Yes, they also took a Mario Dom, Conference USA championship winning quarterback of Mariom from Kennesaw State.

[Tom Fornelli]

There you go.

[Chip Patterson]

So to your point frame. Brown's gonna learn, learned, learned some lessons from this past season. Gonna make sure that doesn't happen again.

[Tom Fornelli]

I haven't looked at their schedule yet, but like, they were definitely super, super duper lucky in 24, both in terms of like ball bounces and in terms like the schedule being an absolute cakewalk and then remember, like it totally flipped on him is like, hey, unlucky as far as injuries. Also preseason, we knew the schedule was going to be really hard and it was so. But they, maybe they'll balance out a little bit.

[Chip Patterson]

They beat Clemson. They, they lost by double digits but were competitive against Tennessee in the opener. It's just after Angeli, the, the offense just didn't. I. They did not score more than 18 points over the final seven games of the season in a seven game losing streak.

[Tom Fornelli]

I thought Tennessee like dog walked them.

[Chip Patterson]

It's 45, 26.

[Tom Fornelli]

Didn't we bet first half in this? And it was like, it was a, like we cruised maybe for the first time. I, I gotta like, my memory on this is like that was garbage time points. I'm sorry.

[Chip Patterson]

Sure. But I mean you, that still means you were competitive against an SEC opponent.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. I mean, right. They didn't lose by 50.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. They didn't go out there and just totally lay an egg and look, 17, nothing first quarter.

[Tom Fornelli]

Okay, that, that's, that, that's what I remember thinking. Like, all right, this is a walk, right?

[Chip Patterson]

Okay, let's jump into it. We have been talking loosely, especially around the NFL draft deadline, especially as teams are starting to get their roster set for 20, 26. Like, oh man, would an all star team. What would an all star team look like of all the players who came back? Bud, you have referenced often the number of early entries that we had, what, even five, six, seven years ago versus what we have now. It's almost been cut in half and, and how good that is for. For college football and the stars that we have. You took some time. You got in the lab, you crunched the numbers and the data and, and you've put together a full, a full run it back All Stars team. So I'll, I'll let you sort of walk us through this. I know we got graphics and everything. I'm fired up. I hope you're watching on YouTube.com cover three. We'll guide you through this now.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, Mikey, let's roll the offense first. So like, we know that the number of underclassmen who are declaring for the draft has been cut More than in half over the past couple of years due to nil the portal, etc. I think that's actually a really good thing both for the sport and the players. We could talk about all the negative stuff. You guys be able to go to the NBA and come back, which I, I think is a little insane to be honest. But this does allow guys to not make bad long term decisions based on really short term need for their families, you know, and I think there are a lot of examples of that. We used to write about this explanation. Some people like, oh, this guy's a dumbass for going pro. I'm like, if his mom's getting evicted, if he can stick on a practice squad, that, that really changes his family's life. Now it's like, hey, I can actually get a degree and I can make some real money and if I'm smart with it, I'm actually really set, you know, for, for quite a while, assuming I go out and get, get a decent job if the NFL doesn't work out. But I mean this is like, this is the national championship team favorite by a ton. I don't know what this roster would cost, but like no team would be like, no, no college team would be competitive with this team like in any way, shape or form. So for our listeners at home, quarterbacks, take your pick. Arch Manning or Dante Moore. Running backs, just Hayes and Mark Fletcher. Receivers, Deuce Robinson, Trey Richardson, Eric Singleton. Tight end, Jamari Johnson. Actually a lot of good tight ends came back, so really that was a hard pick right there. Offensive line, Carter Smith, Trevor Goosby, Kaden Green. Bruce Mitchell. The BYU center, Austin Sarah Rald from, from Ohio State and PJ Williams from smu.

[Chip Patterson]

Is this the best offense in the country?

[Tom Fornelli]

By far?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay. I would take Ohio State's wide receivers.

[Bud Elliott]

Well, they are losing Carnell Tate. They are losing Max Clear. I mean they do have Jeremiah Smith and they'll still be good there, but I don't know, I mean between Robinson, Richardson and Singleton, I feel like you've got a pretty good trio.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

I mean if, if 10 or 11 players in your starting offense are top 100 picks.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think.

[Tom Fornelli]

You could also.

[Bud Elliott]

Do Arch and Dante alternate series.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, like, I don't know, you're not going to be able to pressure this very much without blitzing. And Arch and Dante will both hit one of these three guys who are open. Like if you're.

[Chip Patterson]

I would think, well, the offensive line is bananas. Like that's, yeah. No one, no one is Getting into the backfield against this one. Also a fun little note here. You're, you're not. Jamal Haynes is out of eligibility. Justice Haynes, no relation, is transferring in from Michigan. So that's a big pickup for Georgia Tech as they reload. That's why you see Justice Haynes there. A couple other transfers there, including Eric Singleton that might have flown under the radar for some. He is now going to be after Georgia Tech and Auburn. He is a huge part of the outlook for that Florida offense as well. So a few other transfers here, but yeah, Justice Haynes, not Jamal Haynes. Either way, outstanding back. And when you combine it with Mark Fletcher, that's, that's, that's pretty dynamic.

[Tom Fornelli]

I think this offense is 25 million alone.

[Chip Patterson]

Did you just run the math on that?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, just based on what I either like have heard these guys are making or like what I know similar players make.

[Bud Elliott]

How much of that 25 is tied up in your quarterback spot?

[Tom Fornelli]

Because that feels like one quarterback.

[Bud Elliott]

Okay.

[Tom Fornelli]

I, I, I think if you, if you want to carry these two QBs, then make it 31.

[Bud Elliott]

That's bad cat management.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Any Ryan. Ryan, our friend Ryan points this one out. Only four from the sec. Anything to read into there?

[Tom Fornelli]

Lance Heard the, the tackle who went from Tennessee to Kentucky I guess if you want to trying to think. I don't know if I'm reading to that too much necessarily.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean Goosebie and Green, those are, those guys are going to be like all preseason all Americans. So yeah, the from the sec, outside.

[Danny Cannell]

Of the two quarterbacks, who do you think would have been first rounders? Anybody. And that's probably why they came back.

[Chip Patterson]

Good call.

[Tom Fornelli]

Maybe some guys who I don't think Goosby because this is a fairly good tackle draft from what I've been listening to. If Deuce had had run an insane time like I know his dad thinks he will maybe back half of the first round with the size but he would have needed like to really rip like rip one off at the combine.

[Danny Cannell]

Right. And I do think that's sort of the line that you look for for what makes sense to come back at collegiate numbers versus bouncing for the NFL. And the quarterbacks are so skewed because they're making so much money. But both Arch and Dante would have made more as first rounders. But I think for everybody else, I think that's kind of the simple equation. If I'm a first rounder, I'm going. If I'm a second rounder, which is great for college football, I'm a second rounder I'm going to come back, squeeze out one more year of guaranteed money before I either try to be a first rounder or go in the same position. And you take the risk that you drop some.

[Tom Fornelli]

And also of this list, only 1, 2, 3. Only 3 transferred this off season from.

[Chip Patterson]

The offense side, correct?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

Yep. I, I actually feel like the tackles would have had the best chance to be drafted in the first round.

[Tom Fornelli]

I mean, Texas wanted PJ for sure.

[Bud Elliott]

Because I mean like outside of Maui, Noah Fanel, Proctor, I don't know how many surefire first round picks there are at tackle in this class. I mean, there will be because teams are going to draft tackles. So it's like I would say of those guys, the tackles like Goosebie, I do wonder if they had entered the draft, if they might have been able to get into the first.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yep.

[Chip Patterson]

Should be interesting. You want to take us to the defensive side?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, let's hit defense here. Oh, yeah, by the way, well, I'll say this a second. Sorry. So let's read this off here for the listeners at home and we'll get into discussion. All right. Edge players. Damon Wilson, obviously transferring from Missouri to Miami. And then young concrete Mateo, Young, DJ's little brother, he came back on interior defensive lineman. I really almost went two Oregon guys with Amari and Bear, but I think AG AJ Holmes is really good for Texas Tech. Also Ahmad Moten. So you, you could have had this, this like five man D line group BE3 Oregon to Miami. And like after putting this together, it really made me think shit like, does Oregon have the top quarterback prospect in the draft? And look up all these. This feels a little Ohio Statey. Right? Like how they got the thing to run back two years ago.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Tom Fornelli]

All right, so linebacker was kind of slim pickings, honestly. Rasheen Biles, who transfers from, from Pitt to Texas. And then Kip Lewis, the, the Oklahoma backer corners, okay. I think JVON Cole and Jamari Sharp, obviously the guy made some nice plays for Indiana down the stretch. Kelly Jones, obviously good player. Bray, Bray Hubbard, I think. Highest rated safety on pff. And then Brendan Jordan, dude makes a lot of plays. Obviously Texas Tech there. So this is an insanely good defense too. Like, I think you can argue maybe somebody could field a better defense than this. Like, I think the offense is kind of unquestioned just given the O line.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Tom Fornelli]

But this is like, yeah, this is a crazy good defense. And like, I think this makes our sport so much better.

[Chip Patterson]

Secondary, our weakest point here.

[Tom Fornelli]

Probably. Or backer, I guess.

[Bud Elliott]

But with that defensive line, who the hell cares?

[Chip Patterson]

Who cares? We've got Damon Wilson, Mateo, Amari Washington, and A.J. holmes.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, exactly.

[Chip Patterson]

Who else was on the defensive side? Who else did you look at in terms of thinking about adding or what was the debate?

[Tom Fornelli]

Shoot, defense was actually kind of harder, and I wonder if that's because offensive skill in this year's class and quarterbacks lack. So one of those guys, like, hey, like, because of the lack of offense in this draft, defense might get pushed up. You know, there's a couple guys. I was like, all right, he's got to be back. And then they left. And so I was found. I found myself, like, paring this down a lot more on defense than I thought I had to. But, like, I think this is still. I think it's still a really good look. I'm a little surprised I didn't have any Georgia guys on here to. To be honest. Like, that's something. I know they were young, but maybe the fact that there's very few of any draft eligible guys who Georgia retained speaks to how young that defense truly was last year.

[Chip Patterson]

Because KJ Was a sophomore. Like, a true sophomore.

[Bud Elliott]

Right?

[Tom Fornelli]

That's what I have him as. The chat's telling me he should be on here, but I don't think so.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't think so.

[Tom Fornelli]

I think he's. I think he's going to his true junior year, which means he's not eligible for this list.

[Chip Patterson]

Right? That's what that. That would. That's what I had on the top of my mind, too.

[Tom Fornelli]

But, yeah, basically, like, I looked. I. I looked and I just filtered by snap count and then high school class year, and then tried to, like, also filter by age to make sure I wasn't missing anybody, and then went through and crossed off everybody who declared early. And then I texted Mike Renner. I was like, hey, is there anybody. Like, is there anybody who has a master list of everybody who's actually in the draft? And he's like, no, that's what makes this stuff such a pain in the butt. I was like, okay. So then I asked Gemini to cross reference all these names with any news articles in the past, like, two, three weeks with, you know, and then it. I walked away for a little bit, and it came back, and then it didn't actually work. So then I used GPT, and that actually did work. So, yeah, it was probably just too big of an ask because there's, like, a lot of guys who played a certain number of snaps.

[Chip Patterson]

Right. Also in college football, and I. I Don't think this happened with this group, but we, we do have players with the same name.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yes.

[Chip Patterson]

Like college football is a. Yeah, I see you shaking your head, but college football cassette wide enough net that you, you will have players. A safety at Boise, you know, might, might very well might have the exact same first and last name. And, and I don't know if the Robots have all figured that out quite yet.

[Tom Fornelli]

Xavier McLeod for Georgia. That's not a bad one right there. Yeah. So Jackson James, fan of Ohio State. I don't think he's the level of the two guys I had on the list, but like he'd be on the second team, I think.

[Chip Patterson]

Would you take George's defense over this defense?

[Tom Fornelli]

No, because I know just, I think the D line sets us apart.

[Chip Patterson]

Tom Danny Agree.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

When we're thinking, just off the top of your head, when you're trying to think about who, who would come to mind as the, the defenses that you would at least check or put into that conversation for next season.

[Tom Fornelli]

I still think Oklahoma is going to be good. I still think Texas is going to be good.

[Chip Patterson]

Notre Dame.

[Bud Elliott]

Notre Dame will be good.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. I don't know if Notre Dame and this pissed off Irish fans last time we talked about this. I, I don't know if they have like enough freaks up front to, to where I would take them over this defense, but I think they'll be in the conversation for one of the better ones in the country for sure.

[Bud Elliott]

I think Notre Dame has a better secondary than this defense.

[Chip Patterson]

I agree.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, I, I could see that.

[Chip Patterson]

This is again, I think the, the big headline takeaway here as we've been able to sort of loosely touch on and then really drive home is that college football just continues to see the, the high end talent improve. Well, there are a lot of headaches that have come with the way that roster construction and you know, nil and transfer portal, it has created a lot of headaches for a lot of people. But the sport as a whole just continues to be able to be a lot better at the top when you've got guys like this that otherwise, as you mentioned, Bud, are not headed off, you know, to the NFL a little bit early.

[Tom Fornelli]

Quantrell in the chat actually makes a really good point that this may be a different question at the end of the year for notice. Some of these young guys Georgia signed are really, oh, George, high upside guys. I don't know if they're, I don't know if they're going to be that on August 30th but, you know, come January, let's find out.

[Chip Patterson]

Hey, don't forget, Speaking of calendar, August 30th is week zero because we got a September 5th starting point and there's.

[Tom Fornelli]

15 days at one point between what? The quarters in the semis.

[Chip Patterson]

We love it. Yep. Get out your sundials. We're reworking the calendar, baby.

[Tom Fornelli]

Ridiculous.

[Chip Patterson]

Let's go.

[Bud Elliott]

All right.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like, selfishly, I don't hate that because, like, you can actually go cover Under Armour and, and, and the Navy Bowl.

[Chip Patterson]

That is incredibly selfish for you. That is not.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, that is like 0% of people care about that. But like, personally like that, that actually is helpful.

[Danny Cannell]

But I took the selfish angle the other day. I was like, I love talking about college football all the way till almost February. Like, we get to talk about games. Like, I took it from that angle, too.

[Bud Elliott]

We're talking about college football right now, Danny.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, we talk college football year round, guys. That is true.

[Chip Patterson]

That's right. And subscribe to the COVID 3 podcast. We'll keep you locked and loaded, all from national signing day, the national championship game, and everything in between. And coming up on the other side, what? Is there a fan base that has unrealistic expectations for the 2026 season? All that and more. Next.

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[Tom Fornelli]

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[Bud Elliott]

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[Chip Patterson]

Back here on the COVID 3 podcast yesterday saw a comment from our friend Henry in the tailgate. Grabbed it so that we could bring it into this show for a little bit more of an expansive conversation, Henry said. Is there a fan base that has very unrealistic expectations for the upcoming year? Then Henry adds, as an Ole Miss fan, I am scared of the new, quote, standard of the program and how a great historic team might be, quote, disappointing. So if you want to address the the Ole Miss side of this, that is obviously fine. But I'm also curious, as we cast a wider net, is there a fan base that you think is going into 2026 with unrealistic expectations on the Ole.

[Tom Fornelli]

Miss point before we pivot off to two other nominations? That's a hard schedule. Yeah, like I don't know that. They're favored over Louisville to open the.

[Chip Patterson]

Year and they spent two years getting the easy draw because the SEC ran back the same opponents in 2024 and 2025.

[Tom Fornelli]

Right.

[Chip Patterson]

You did not cash it in all the way in 2024 because of the losses to Florida and Kentucky. You did cash it in and you know, a credit to Ole Miss for that. But yeah, they it's time, time to pay the piper on, on the schedule rotation.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like going to the Swamp the week after you had that emotional like you know, huge game hosting LSU in Oxford when Florida still has some athletes. We'll see how the quarterback works out. That's not easy, you know, and then you got to have like a couple in a row. Where I mean, do I think Vandy is going to be as good this year as they were last year? No, no I don't. But like I don't think they're going to fall off a cliff necessarily. And in Missouri should still be a decent football team like those two you kind of have to show up for or you could lose. And then you have to go to Texas and then Auburn and then Georgia and then at Oklahoma like that at Vandy, Missouri at Texas, host Auburn, host Georgia at Oklahoma with no buys is a pretty hard six game stretch.

[Chip Patterson]

And based on the success, you know, coming from Henry's question, if they go 7 and 5, they're going to feel like it's a disaster.

[Tom Fornelli]

Correct.

[Bud Elliott]

And another factor to consider with Ole Miss and this is something that we should consider with a lot of teams every year they went six and two and one score games. They were in a lot of close games and they won the overwhelming Majority of them. But they only won them by an average of 2.8 points per game.

[Tom Fornelli]

So you know who.

[Chip Patterson]

Hey, hey. But you know who went one in five and one score games?

[Bud Elliott]

I do.

[Chip Patterson]

You do? Yeah, the Florida State Seminoles.

[Tom Fornelli]

Wait, I thought we were owing 4.

[Chip Patterson]

I. Listen, we'll fact check it. All I see is just a trender. This is just a trend arrow pointing up and telling.

[Bud Elliott]

You know, who went one in five. This is who I thought you were talking about Penn State.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, that's it. Okay.

[Bud Elliott]

Auburn was 0 and 6.

[Chip Patterson]

That's a.

[Bud Elliott]

Was Arkansas.

[Chip Patterson]

Well, all right. So Auburn being Auburn's record I think was user error. Arkansas might have been more structural and functional. I could, I could see, you can see one of those flipping just a little bit more. We included this in the headline before the show. And so it's very interesting that one thing that has come up a lot. So where's Joey? Joey said Indiana's fan base will become delusional. Sincerely, an IU alum, Ryan also added, will Indiana fans have unrealistic expectations?

[Danny Cannell]

Oh, I don't, I don't think so. Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

What are the expectations for Indiana fans?

[Danny Cannell]

I don't think they're thinking we're gonna repeat. I think that's the only thing that would be unrealistic. I think they should expect to compete for the Big Ten championship and I think they will. You know, like, I don't think that's unrealistic.

[Bud Elliott]

I mean if, if you look at Indiana schedule like I'll, I'll read it for you. It's very, very tough. North Texas Howard in Western Kentucky to open the year non conference.

[Danny Cannell]

So another typical dodging the ACC cowards.

[Bud Elliott]

Another real minefield of non conference components. They open at home with Northwestern in Big Ten and then they're on the road for Rutgers in Nebraska. And then it gets tough. They've got Ohio State coming to Bloomington and the week after that they're on the road for Michigan. Then they get Minnesota at home, then they finally get a buy. So they've got to play a lot of games without a buy. So that could be a problem for them if they start getting banged up after the buy. They've got USC at home, then they're on the road for Washington, then they're Purdue. Like that's a 9 and 3 schedule. To me at is like a realistic expectation. Like I would bet that their win total is going to be somewhere in that eight and a half, nine and a half range.

[Chip Patterson]

I think that they are a top tier Big Ten team. It is a realistic expectation to compete for the Big Ten championship. You are disappointed if you lose your key games against other Big Ten title contenders and thus don't make it back to Indianapolis. But I don't think it's delusional at all to look, I mean, looking at the roster and looking at the rest of the Big Ten, I just don't have that many teams. I'm ready to slot ahead of the Indiana Hoosiers Eve and like throw in all of the Kurt Signetti magic that you want to, you know, in terms of your X factor. But I don't think it's, I don't think it's ridiculous repeating as 16, 0 national championships. Yes, unrealistic. But being a playoff team Big Ten title contender is realistic.

[Tom Fornelli]

I mean, their expectation in their first three, in their final three is 6, 0 or 5 and 1. Right. Like, I, I don't, I don't think Michigan State has particularly crushed the portal, to be honest. So I'm not really expecting fits to hit the ground running there. You know, Nebraska, I guess we'll see at Rutgers. Like that's a game I now expect Indiana to win even though it's on the road. This Oregon at ucla, Northwestern at Iowa, at Ohio State. And I'm reading off Penn State schedule.

[Bud Elliott]

Like, sorry, I was gonna say, I was like, I don't see the place.

[Chip Patterson]

How is this?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, I, I, I fat figured this. Sorry, guys.

[Chip Patterson]

And that. And that one was on the Bud Bot server.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, exactly.

[Danny Cannell]

I had a couple, but I don't know. I, and my instant thought was Kirk Signetti just made life a lot harder on new coaches who are expected to turn things around. Right away I thought of Will Stein to Kentucky because I think there's a lot of enthusiasm around that hire. You bring in Kenny Mitchie. They've spent on a class that's top. I think it's 11 or 12 in the country. There's a ton of excitement. But if you look at their schedule and I'm sure we would have done this again, this is where you kind of talk yourself into it. Like, we probably did this with Indiana when we didn't even really pay attention because their schedule was pretty tough and we looked at some of those early ones, that, that's a loss. But they play Bama and Texas A and M in the first three or four weeks of the season. That, that and it doesn't get any easier from them. I like Will Stein. I think it's going to be an uphill battle. And this is where I don't know if the fan base has unrealistic expectations, but I think like making a bowl game this year would be a great season for Will Stein. And I don't know if Kentucky fans are going to have that same thought process going into this season.

[Tom Fornelli]

Is there more focus on Will Stein and what he's going to do? Because Kentucky basketball is kind of maybe not crushing this year.

[Chip Patterson]

No, I think it's a media, not a media creation, but I do just think there's a lot of people that are enthused by the new blood after that long Mark Stoops tenure, the success in the portal cycle and you know, Kenny Minchi. Yes. But to your point, Danny, a lot of portal editions that I think everybody on the outside was like nodding, you know, like, oh, okay, I like that, I like that. And just the fact that after your results had kind of dropped off a cliff, the to see it start to turn around, you're just going to be real quick to buy in. I don't, I don't know if those the closest to the program. I mean Kentucky fans are not pivoting off of the way, paying attention to basketball right now because of a top 12 portal class. I mean it's. Well, we'll see as things get going and I like that they have early season tests so we can see where they're at. But I think that you're just seeing that a, A, a program that had seen a drop off, a tenure that had become stale, it just gets some new spark and so people just rush to it. They're like, ah, this, these look like smart decisions. But the problem is there's only but so many wins in a conference, you know, like who, who. To your point, look at the schedule. Who's losing to Kentucky to allow for this big jump up for Kentucky.

[Danny Cannell]

Right?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. Like you might have needed those portal additions just to avoid the disastrous first.

[Bud Elliott]

Season.

[Chip Patterson]

Because of what you had left over. Okay. Who else do we want to add to, to the conversation?

[Bud Elliott]

I don't know what their expectations truly are, but knowing based on what kind of season they just had and where you're seeing them in like the way Too early top 25s, Texas A and M. I think that you lose Colin Klein, obviously he has left for Kansas State and I think he was a big part of that offense. But I also think, and we saw last year your schedule played a pretty decent role in some of your results. We saw it when they had to face tougher teams at the end of the year. They came up short and you look at again, I'll go back to records in one score games. They were four and one. They played in five of them. And you look at their schedule. They got Arizona State coming to Texas A and M. And knock on, we'll see what Arizona State looks like. The Kentucky team. Danny just mentioned you're at lsu. You're going on the road for Missouri, you're going on the road for Alabama, you're going on the road for South Carolina, you're going on the road for Oklahoma. And then you also have home games against Tennessee and Texas. So like your November is at South Carolina, Tennessee at Oklahoma, Texas. That's a tough stretch.

[Chip Patterson]

A lot of players lost off that team too.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah. And you lose a lot of people from your team, especially like on defense. But you also lose Concepcion at receiver.

[Tom Fornelli]

So I'll give you a team that, that would have had a lot of players on the preseason run it back team for this year. It didn't have any on it for this coming year. And that's Clemson at lsu, at Cal, host Miami, host Rena Tech at FSU at Q, host Georgia Tech at Duke. South Carolina also face unc.

[Chip Patterson]

But I don't think Clemson's.

[Tom Fornelli]

I think that's a bowl team, but I don't know that's a bowl team.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't think they're a top four team in the accident.

[Tom Fornelli]

Well, so I have 11 of the preseason top 25 polls. Athletic, Athlon, Bleacher, CBS, ESPN, Fox on 3, PFF, Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, USA Today and Yahoo. They're only ranked in two of the top 25 polls.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't think they should be in any of them.

[Tom Fornelli]

I agree.

[Bud Elliott]

Right.

[Chip Patterson]

It's gonna be a young team. They've still recruited well. But it's just, you're. You're asking, you're asking that new blood to be able to come in and reverse what's been two to three seasons of underperformance.

[Tom Fornelli]

And this is where I'd like to like truth serum. The other Clemson coaches and be like, all right, Xena, is this a dabo loyalty waited your turn thing, or do y' all actually think he can play? Because I did not love him as a recruit and in the one spring game we got to watch also was not blown away. So maybe they've seen a lot in practice to where they decided to go with him. I'm guessing he's at least okay at practice because like even the loyalty thing from dabo, like you wouldn't if he's awful in practice, I Don't think. You just do the loyalty thing and do that to the right. Like you have some duty to the other guys in your team to at least feel the competitive quarterback.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

But like, how much better is he now than he was as a recruit or, you know, in what we saw in that spring game. I don't know.

[Chip Patterson]

See, John in the tailgate says Louisville thinks they're playoff contenders.

[Tom Fornelli]

They should.

[Bud Elliott]

They might be in the acc.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. How much did they spend on that receiver? How much they spend on that receiver room? Well, 4 million.

[Bud Elliott]

You're.

[Chip Patterson]

And you're. You're rebooting. You're rebooting quarterback again. You get Isaac Brown back. Remember, there was that. You know, is Isaac Brown going to jump in the portal, nagged by injuries through the season. Full. Full. If he can get fully healthy and back to where he was as a promising freshman. Yeah, I. They. They needed. With all the production that was gone at wide receiver or that was leaving at wide receiver to be able to. To reload. I. I think Louisville. Sure. I. I guess Louisville's a playoff contender because Louisville's in the ACC championship conversation.

[Tom Fornelli]

Because they're favored in all 12 games. Right? I mean, like, I think they're favored over Ole Miss slightly. Like not. Not by more than a field goal, I wouldn't think. But I think they're a little bit better team than Ole Miss. Is Villanova SMU at home, Wake at home at NC State, FSU at home on a Friday night at Q Stanford, at Georgia Tech at North Carolina, host PIT at Kentucky.

[Bud Elliott]

Jesus Christ.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like, right. Like this is not a walk. But I think it's. Lock it up. If.

[Bud Elliott]

If they beat Ole Miss, are they going undefeated?

[Tom Fornelli]

This is what I'm saying. Yeah. I think there is a chance Louisville's favored in all 12 games.

[Chip Patterson]

That might be fine. But this. This Louisville team is 0 and 2 against Cal in the last two seasons. Okay. They. They are capable of doing wondrous things on the football field.

[Bud Elliott]

I mean, a lot of this does depend on Lincoln Keenholtz.

[Tom Fornelli]

We don't.

[Bud Elliott]

We don't know who he is yet, so. But still, I. I have a certain amount of faith in a Jeff Bromp quarterback to be able to keep things going. And you just look at this schedule.

[Chip Patterson]

My God, I was so disappointed with Miller Moss this season.

[Tom Fornelli]

What are the odds they get to the AC championship game? Like more than 50.

[Chip Patterson]

50.

[Bud Elliott]

What do they are. Let's see. What do you think we have them listed yet?

[Chip Patterson]

Not for. I did not see conference title.

[Tom Fornelli]

Odds not appearance. Maybe Conference winner.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

I think SMU with Kevin Jennings back and what they were able to retain is going to be right there in that conversation. Louisville, you know that it's, it's. Who joins Miami, in my opinion. So you, you don't get to four without mentioning Louisville. But.

[Danny Cannell]

What do you think Michigan's expectations are? Their fan base?

[Bud Elliott]

Oh, good question. Slightly high.

[Danny Cannell]

Because I think they might be a little unrealistic too. I think if they think we're going to compete for the Big Ten again, I think they could compete for a playoff spot. But I mean, I'm not sold on Bryce Underwood and I, I love the Kyle Whittingham higher. I think it was the best option available. But I also just wonder where he is. I mean, he was ready to ride off in the sunset and retire. I think he'll be enthusiastic coming in there. But the schedule's not that easy. They do have Oklahoma early coming to town. That will not be an easy out. They could win that game. But the rest of the schedule is not. I mean, they have Iowa at home in that first five weeks. Penn State at home, Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State. Like, they do play a lot of the better teams. Like, I think if you're. I think the fans are probably thinking 10 or 2 or better. And I'm leaning 9 or 3 or lower.

[Chip Patterson]

If I remember off the top of my head, we just mentioned it with Indiana. But I want to say it's like Indiana, Penn State and Oregon all have Ohio State and Michigan in back to back weeks. There's multiple notable Big Ten teams that have to play both of those rivals in back to back weeks.

[Danny Cannell]

No one defeated. Right.

[Chip Patterson]

Can. Yeah. Because no team will go undefeated. That's right. Danny, if can Michigan nab either a look ahead or a hangover spot from one of those teams to log a big win that could swing a 9 and 3 to a 10 and 2. I mean, perhaps change their postseason outlook.

[Bud Elliott]

You're getting Oklahoma in September at home, but you're getting Oklahoma, who should be a pretty good team again. Iowa comes to town in September. I don't know what, I don't know what I was going to look like next year, honestly. But then you get your buy and then off of your buy, you're playing Penn State, Indiana and back to back weeks and then you get to Rutgers, Michigan State, but then you have to go on the road in November to Oregon and then you come home for ucla and then the week after that you're on the road for Ohio State again. Like that's Going to be a tough schedule to go nine and three against. You're literally facing Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State within a month time.

[Chip Patterson]

Yep.

[Tom Fornelli]

The only counter to this is that I think where you get your two toughest games being that they're both on the road, I think if you flipped Oregon and Ohio State and they were both in Ann Arbor, I still think you're losing both those games. So if you have to play them and you're trying to go 10 and 2, I think it's easier to go 10 and 2 like this because you get the slightly more winnable home games. Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Penn State at home.

[Chip Patterson]

Other quick ones. Go ahead.

[Bud Elliott]

Lsu, are there. Are they a little too high on the lane in the portal right now?

[Chip Patterson]

I think LSU is a playoff team and I think if they're not a playoff team and it's a massive disappointment, as long as the expectation is make the playoff, then I think that's realistic. Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

Because I was worried at first when their class was coming in that they were getting all like, they got the quarterback, they were getting all the skill position guys, but they still hadn't really addressed the offensive line. And that was their problem last year. But then they bring in Seaton, they got the. Who's the guard that they brought in.

[Tom Fornelli]

They brought in a guard.

[Bud Elliott]

A guard from Ole Miss. He was at Ole Miss last year.

[Tom Fornelli]

Oh, I know you're talking about.

[Bud Elliott]

Anyways, they had, they have addressed the offensive line. So I do think that there is reason. I mean, LSU fans might be screaming national title and there might be a little out of whatever there, but I do think that LSU's got a pretty high floor next year.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. And when you've got Longstreet as your Levitt Insurance, you know you're going to be, you're going to be able to help out with that. Quantrell, Nebraska has had unrealistic expectations since 1995. If I was to cut through it, I don't know if I don't think they've got unrealistic expectations.

[Bud Elliott]

They don't have unrealistic. They're. They're focused on basketball right now. That's where their unrealistic expectations are.

[Chip Patterson]

Rink. The. The idea that rink mast is going to lead them to a Final Four appearance.

[Tom Fornelli]

If LSU does not make the playoff. Is there any team that is close that has not made the playoff in the last five years as far as like amount of talent wasted?

[Chip Patterson]

No, no.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like who would be even be in, in the conversation for second place here that hasn't made the playoff in the last five years. Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

When was the last time FSU made the playoffs?

[Tom Fornelli]

2014.

[Chip Patterson]

And I still don't think they compare.

[Tom Fornelli]

To the LSU last five years. Not even close.

[Bud Elliott]

Trying to think, just thinking of like teams usc. If USC misses Florida, Florida, I would.

[Chip Patterson]

Still take LSU in the debate. Yeah, I think that Florida is.

[Bud Elliott]

But I think these are the only other teams you could.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Lsu, Florida and usc. Florida still searching for its first College Football playoff appearance at all. Same with usc.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay. Let's, let's, let's keep it rocking and. Oh, actually gotta hit a break coming up on the other side. Don't know how many Mr. Beast fans we got out there, but ECU football sure would, would like to open their doors and, and welcome in the the celebrity. We'll explain all that and more next. Back here on the COVID 3 podcast. So there has, you know, in this modern world, there is the dream of the billionaire coming in to just. It is, it is the Cody Campbell, right? I mean is it fair to say Cody Campbell sort of our touchstone here in terms of a reference, a single billionaire who could stroke a check and, and change your program's football outlook. And the very popular YouTuber Mr. Beast valued in multiple billions of dollars. He's a Greenville, North Carolina resident and it's always sort of been tossed around ECU football that, you know, we just need Mr. Beast to come in. Then a repost on Instagram from Mr. Beast himself teases should he spend $100 million backing ECU football in pursuit of a national championship. Now, I thought this was going to be a continuation of just the, the fun what if until a couple other things hit my desk. Reports of potential meetings set to take place between the East Carolina University administration and one Mr. Beast. And then also I don't know if you caught this Yesterday at his national signing day press conference, UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor, as he's. Jeff Traylor's been on the forefront of like, listen y', all, we just need somebody coming here and cut a check. You know, he is, he is out there on Front street kind of the way that our good friend Kenny Dillingham did a little while back. You know, if you're a billionaire in the area, we, we can, you can come and change this. And Jeff trailer said sounds like ECU's already on top of it. But yeah, if you want to come, we'll open up our doors. 24 7, 365 access. You can do a reality show anything you want.

[Bud Elliott]

Is Mr. Beast his government name.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like, like, did he legally change his name?

[Bud Elliott]

I don't know.

[Tom Fornelli]

It's just like, I'm pretty sure he was born.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Do, do you think $100 million from Mr. Beast would change ECU? Obviously it would change ECU football, but would. This would be one of the biggest stories of the year, right?

[Tom Fornelli]

It would be the story of the year, yeah. I mean, like, if you think LSU is paying between 36 and 41 million for its roster this year, which is. That's the range that I would bet you're talking like 2 1/2 x that for team in the American Conference.

[Chip Patterson]

Would anyone step in the. Is it possible for anybody to step in the way here? Because here's the other piece because you.

[Tom Fornelli]

Know how the story goes. Nuts, Chip, how go back like rewind about 50 minutes in this show and said, hey, who's going to be the team to pluck a bunch of guys off NFL practice squad rosters? They don't wait. They don't wait till the 2027 season. They do it right now. And you go get a bunch of guys who are not on the 52 mans of the NFL and then you build the best team in college football.

[Bud Elliott]

Okay, so what if then this is.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like not only the story of the year, it's the story of the decade.

[Chip Patterson]

Of the, of the era. Of this era. Nothing, nothing would distill how insane things have gotten then if Mr. Beast went out. And by the way, I don't know if you've checked out any of his content, but like, this would be in line of like, I'm gonna go get 75 practice squatters, replace ECU's full entire football team, and we're gonna go win.

[Tom Fornelli]

The national championship this weekend.

[Bud Elliott]

All right? Mr. Beast puts $100 million into East Carolina's roster, including players from the NFL. But then he hires Ryan Silverfield. Will that team win? The American.

[Chip Patterson]

Brian Silverfield's had a spending advantage for like six years in the American.

[Bud Elliott]

That's the challenge.

[Chip Patterson]

My friend.

[Tom Fornelli]

Hey, look, who knows that Ryan Silverfield can't win in the underdog role? Like, we knew he didn't win when he had the massive resources edge. I mean, he won some games, but didn't actually win the league. Maybe he's like a secretly an underdog coach.

[Chip Patterson]

Maybe, maybe.

[Tom Fornelli]

I thought he actually made a really good GM hire. By the way, like, Crowley, who they hired was at Exos for Midwest. I thought they're really like, they're sharp there. And then he was at Central Michigan. And they had a lot of guys like that. They found Portal out, like, you know, and then he did a pretty good job in Arizona. Like, that's. That's a good GM hire for Arkansas. Like, so you take this totally off script, but, like, you can't. Like, you kind of need like, in, like, the, you know, Goliath or David strategy. Like, Arkansas is more by SEC standards, like a David school. You need to kind of think outside the box a little bit. So I like that fit there.

[Chip Patterson]

The full outside the box, to your point, bud, is to basically build a G League team.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

To go out there and to get professionals. 75 temporary restraining orders filed in Pitt County, North Carolina, to allow a professional team to take the field in Doughty Ficklin Stadium in Greenville to go out there and win a national championship.

[Tom Fornelli]

This is how you get congressional action, by the way. Because do you know who would absolutely hate this? In addition to, like, every P5 school in the country? The president, all 32 NFL teams.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh.

[Tom Fornelli]

Because they'd be like, we got a good thing going here where we get to pay these practice squad players. Not very much. Right. We don't really love y' all paying these guys 5x what they make on the practice squad.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. If so the. If it came together, it would lead to the most anticipated portal window too. Like, so we joke about putting it together for 20, 26, but if we found out about the commitment and maybe it does start with some facilities. Right. Maybe it does start with staffing. Maybe it like, oh, sorry, Coach Harrell, you better coach your ass off this fall because we can. We can go shopping for somebody else. But then when the portal opens, to think that ECU is just sitting out there with a Mr. Beast bankroll.

[Tom Fornelli]

I assume Mr. Beast would coach the team right over the content. For the content. And also if you got 100 million, I. If you had a hundred million dollars in the American, I am confident. I. Chip, Tom, Mikey, anybody in the CBS Sports offices could head coach that team. As long as you're not just an absolute dick and, like, have the players quit on you like you. You would coach your way to the American championship because you'd have a good enough coaching staff around you to do it. It's like a Mr.

[Bud Elliott]

Beast does this. Mr.

[Tom Fornelli]

Beast needs to be the head coach.

[Chip Patterson]

Too, because that's what I thought about in terms of the csc. Because he runs his own media empire, he would make the legitimate argument that he is create. Using all of this for content and by doing so, creating value. Because of his massive audience that he is compensating the town. I mean, the guy gives millions of dollars if you can, like, live in a grocery store for a weekend or, you know, other challenges of. Of that nature. I'm not going to be able to reference one video or another. Like, could.

[Bud Elliott]

Could people watch that?

[Chip Patterson]

Could 30 children beat one tennis star in pickleball? You know, like, yeah, there. There's. Oh, Tom, Tom, I need to send you down. I need to send you down the rabbit hole. It.

[Bud Elliott]

No, I'm good, bro. I'm good.

[Tom Fornelli]

You can you.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. ECU football games live streamed on the channel. You know, I. That you can make. I mean, loose, but you could make arguments in terms of being able to put that money towards actual, you know, content, and that is your name, image and likeness that is being used for promotion of. Of the sport.

[Tom Fornelli]

I mean, look, if you can have like mid St. Like, like mid Grandparry, Grand Prairie Farm Credit Union State, like all of a sudden 4x their marketing budget and just happens to sign all the players to nil deals, like, this is much more legitimate than that. And you're gonna have the views to back it up from, like.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

[Tom Fornelli]

Do you think he would make the coaching staff dress as pirates? Like, how do you like. Because you're gonna have to YouTube ify this thing a little bit. Like, they're the ECU Pirates. They have to probably coach in pirate gear. Like, is he wearing an eye patch when he talks to the ref?

[Chip Patterson]

Chuck in the tailgate just hit a home run. I cannot believe I haven't thought of it. He just renames the school to Beast Carolina. Yes.

[Tom Fornelli]

Oh, my God. We need to. We need to get him on. It's the number one college ball. Like, I pick his brain about this on air.

[Bud Elliott]

They'll make us fight to the. The death.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I know. I'm very nervous about where he would. Where this thing would go.

[Bud Elliott]

Strikes me like, there's like a Hunger Games vibe going on here.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, so. Absolutely. But then he also shows up on Halloween and passes out iPhones to students just like with a truckload of.

[Bud Elliott]

You know, that's what kids need. Phones to watch me on YouTube already pre downloaded.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, like. Like that YouTube album.

[Bud Elliott]

Oh, God. Oh. Oh, God. That was. And you couldn't take that album off either.

[Chip Patterson]

And I. If we did get him on because. Because He's a true YouTube star. I mean, the algo would love us forever.

[Bud Elliott]

True. Let's do it.

[Chip Patterson]

There we go. Mr. Beast. Open invitation. We will not participate. We do not agree to participate in your games. But a 15 to 20 minute vodka. Absolutely. We'll sign up for that. Real. Just a couple minutes left. We are red blooded Americans. We are football fans. Who you got? Sunday.

[Bud Elliott]

Seahawks.

[Chip Patterson]

Big.

[Bud Elliott]

It could be. Could be. Although, I mean, New England's defense is very good. It wants to pr. I mean, it's. It's weird because I do think Seattle's the better team, but it's also. I'm picking Sam Darnold in a huge game and Sam Darnold has played well so far in the postseason, but it's. Yeah, I don't know.

[Tom Fornelli]

It's scary.

[Bud Elliott]

If it is a blowout, Seattle wins. If New England wins, it's close.

[Tom Fornelli]

I. I think Seattle too, but, man, like, I can't rule out Drake. Mage is playing. Playing an insane game.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

Out of nowhere. Like, I think he's got that kind of ability.

[Bud Elliott]

He's also got that turnover in him.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. Yeah. Are you Seattle, Chip?

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, if Drake May wins a Super bowl, every. I think every one of his brothers got a national championship ring. Like, two of them in basketball, one of them in baseball. You know, if he gets to come back and they always have picked on him. If he gets to come back to the table with a Super bowl ring, be pretty sweet.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah. But doesn't have that ACC title, though, Chip, so.

[Chip Patterson]

Hey, he. He won a Coastal Division title. Mac Brown will. Mac Brown will point out he did win a Coastal Division title. Mac Brown's been doing a ton of interviews, wearing Texas gear to talk about Drake May and how awesome he is. Tom, if you don't know about the Mac Brown. Petty. Like Petty.

[Bud Elliott]

Oh, I know.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. It's awesome. It's. It's. It's been. It's been fantastic. Along the way, I am. I have also found myself rooting for Sam Darnold to not turn into a pumpkin. I was. I was having a conversation, some back and forth with our friend Ryan Abraham. I did not fully wrap my head around how Sam Darnold is beloved by USC fans because we don't. He didn't. He doesn't have the Heisman Trophy. Right. He doesn't have the national Championship. But because he won that Rose bowl and he won a Pac 12 title, and I'm sorry to just, you know, fire a straight shot out here, but he did it with Clay Helton as the head coach and not a super team around him. And it had been so long since USC had had that kind of success. Ryan described him as an all time USC great. He is the first USC quarterback to even start in a Super bowl, which is kind of a crazy. Yeah, which is a crazy factoid. I, I, Whether he wins it or not, I just would love. If he doesn't turn into this bust, I would love for him to play well and for that story of him just as a someone who is truly beloved by USC fans, to be able to show out on the big, biggest stage that football has.

[Tom Fornelli]

You guys know about his grandpa, right?

[Chip Patterson]

Tell me.

[Tom Fornelli]

His great grandpa was like an Olympian, I think, national champion and also the Marlboro Man. Yeah, like, somebody told me this at elite 11. Renaissance man, Sam Darnold, grandfather.

[Bud Elliott]

Did he smoke while winning in the Olympics?

[Chip Patterson]

Was he badass?

[Tom Fornelli]

Oh, and his name was Dick Hammer.

[Bud Elliott]

Just got like, oh, is he related to the, the whole Hammer family? Like Armie Hammer and all those guys?

[Tom Fornelli]

I don't know. All right. Final Four for USC basketball in 1954. U.S. olympic volleyball team, 1964, captain with Los Angeles County Fire Department was the Marlboro man and appeared as a firefighter in the TV show Emergency. Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Amazing.

[Bud Elliott]

Speaking of legends, you'll never guess how he died. Lung cancer at 69. Yep.

[Chip Patterson]

Hey, made it 69.

[Tom Fornelli]

Tom, you'll appreciate this too, since you're a White Sox fan. I was trying to show the boys the Bo Jackson sports century and I can't find it on YouTube in HD. So if anybody happens to find that in HD, I'll make sure to check the comments on this episode. Drop it in there, or hit me on Twitter or whatever, because they were like, this is cool, but like, what's wrong with the tv? And I was like, yeah, like, it's like not only not HD, it's like the really bad upload quality on YouTube of an episode of something from the 1990s.

[Bud Elliott]

So did you go back to, like, watch a broadcast from like 10 years ago on YouTube and you're sitting there like, what the hell? How did we even see this?

[Tom Fornelli]

We, we are watching Pro Stars, the old cartoon with Bo Gretzky and Michael Tremendous.

[Chip Patterson]

That's culture, dude. Yeah, solid parenting. So, yeah, take to your. Whether you are gathering, you know, at a Super bowl party or just with your friends and family, just remember to hit them at an opportune time. You guys know what? Sam Darnold's granddad's name is Dick Hammer. And the legend of Dick Hammer will occupy the next 10 minutes.

[Tom Fornelli]

I would strongly suggest searching in incognito mode. If you search by his name. Actually, that's.

[Chip Patterson]

No, you, you. This is the other piece. Search Sam Darnold grandfather.

[Tom Fornelli]

Right.

[Chip Patterson]

Don't search Dick Hammer.

[Bud Elliott]

That's what I did.

[Chip Patterson]

That's a search. Search Sam Darnold grandfather Dick Hammer. I hope everybody enjoys the, the big game as, as they do say over there on, on this weekend between the Seahawks and the Patriots. Should be a good time. We are going to be back with you on Monday where among some of the other tasks we're going to get back into, get back into our yearbook phase. And what I mean by that was we had a lot of fun last year basically on the show trying to debate what the biggest sort of stories of the season were. You know, if we were to construct a yearbook, if we were building a book, what would the chapters be to tell the story of the 2025 college football season? No brain. There's some no brainers in there. Indiana Slash, Kurt Signet, you know, everything. There would be a piece of that. But we want to tell the whole story. So whether it's the top 10, top 12, we'll try to narrow it to something that would be a little bit realistic for something that would be leather bound for your library. But we want the biggest stories of 2025. We want you to come and hang out and do it with us live. So come and hang out. YouTube.com cover three Monday, 11am Eastern time. And you can follow him on Twitter at Tom for now, you can follow him@bud elliot3. You can follow me at Chip underscore Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

[Bud Elliott]

Do you think Caleb Downs has a relative named Dick?

[Chip Patterson]

I'm back. I'm really back.

[Tom Fornelli]

School Spirits returns.

[Sponsor Voice]

Why am I here?

[Tom Fornelli]

Not dead right.

[Chip Patterson]

Disruption on this campus will not be.

[Bud Elliott]

I look crazy.

[Chip Patterson]

It's because that's how I feel.

[Sponsor Voice]

I don't know how to live in two worlds.

[Tom Fornelli]

Secrets lurk. There are others beneath the surface.

[Chip Patterson]

They're not like us. We need to get out of here now.

[Tom Fornelli]

School Spirits new season now streaming only on Paramount plus.