Bill Simmons Joins the Show, Plus a 2026 NFL Draft Preview

Summary

Ringer Tailgate: Bill Simmons Joins the Show & 2026 NFL Draft Preview

Date: April 22, 2026
Hosts: Van Lathan, Joel Anderson, Tate Frazier
Special Guest: Bill Simmons

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Episode Summary

Overview

This episode of Ringer Tailgate is a lively, banter-heavy, and insight-rich preview of the 2026 NFL Draft, highlighted by Bill Simmons' first-ever appearance on the show. The hosts dig into their signature blend of sharp draft analysis and breezy chaos, debate the big board, dish on the importance of personality for franchise quarterbacks, and riff on everything from college football culture to the social complexities of passing the mic (and passes) in podcasting and beyond. They also discuss NIL, the state of college football, and close with the ultimate lighthearted "hottest head coach" ranking.

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Major Segments & Themes

1. Bill Simmons’ Guest Appearance & Team Dynamics

[00:50-10:32]

• Banter & Inside Jokes: Van ribbing Joel about his energy, LA office culture, and being "the golden child." Bill pokes fun at Joel's absence and his reluctance to move to LA.
  • “I try to hire Joel like five different times over the course of 14 years… now he has a chip on his shoulder.” — Bill Simmons [02:02]
• Live Show Etiquette & Invitations: Joel and Bill discuss what it means to be invited on stage, the rules for Rewatchables, and peer shows.
  • “If we’re doing a live show...what I would do is...‘Joel, could you please join us?’ That’s different from...‘can I come up on stage?’” — Van Lathan [07:44]
• The Value of Being Invited: Joel wrestles with wanting to be part of the crew and the awkward politics of being included.

2. NFL Draft Preview with Bill Simmons

[11:17-19:18]

• Bill’s “One Draft Take” (plus a few more):
  • Advocates drafting proven, can’t-miss players instead of overthinking positional value.
  • "Why can’t Arizona just take Caleb Downs? They don’t have enough good players.” — Bill Simmons [12:15]
  • Stresses importance of leadership and “coolness” in quarterbacks, expressing concern over Fernando Mendoza’s quirky personality.
  • "The quarterback has to be at least one of the three coolest guys on my team...it’s unusual to have a quarterback have such a funky personality.” — Bill Simmons [14:28]
• Downs Discussion: All hosts agree Caleb Downs is a surefire foundational player, with Van comparing him to Kyle Hamilton or Ed Reed.
  • “I would be as surprised if Downs didn’t turn out to be a multiple time All Pro than any player in recent memory.” — Van Lathan [13:19]
• Mendoza’s Personality: The group explores the pros and cons of leaders with “outsider” or “nerd” energy, referencing team culture and locker room dynamics.
  • "Even if he was a nerd, he was their nerd." — Van Lathan [15:30]

3. Joel’s Big Board 2.0 Deep Dive

[35:40-49:40]

• Joel’s Top 10:

  1. Caleb Downs
  2. Jeremiah Love
  3. Arvel Reese
  4. Sonny Styles
  5. Reuben Bain (dropped due to concerns)
  6. Fernando Mendoza
  7. Francis Mauigoa
  8. David Bailey
  9. Mansoor Delane
  10. Spencer Fano

• Reuben Bain’s Drop:

  • Discussion of media ethics and why certain off-field incidents aren’t widely reported.
  • "You can’t have historically short arms and this on your record." — Joel Anderson [40:03]
  • "If you’ve already got short arms, I’m willing to overlook that, but now I have other concerns..." — Joel Anderson [41:00]

• Edge vs. Defensive End Debate (Positional labels):

  • Consensus on labeling “edge” for versatility.
  • "Arvel Reese is an edge, Bailey is a pass rusher." — Joel Anderson [44:54]

4. Draft Class Vibe & Star Power

[29:18-35:40]

• Lack of Buzz Diagnosis:
  • No transcendent star (like Arch Manning in 2027 will be); transfer portal diminishes college player brands.
  • “You’re not sticking with a guy in one place for as long...” — Van Lathan [29:45]
• Ohio State’s Dominance:
  • Several top prospects, de facto “star” of this draft year.
• Medical Drama & Draft Stock:
  • LSU QB Nussmeier’s spinal cyst, issues with college medical programs.
  • "It took the NFL doctors to find it. Right." — Host [33:12]

5. Culture, Virality, & NIL Tangents

[56:04-63:39]

• Wide Receivers Class:
  • Carnell Tate is a likely top-10 pick, but Joel has hesitations: “I don’t see top-10 receiver, I see first-round prospect.”
  • Makai Lemon and Jordan Tyson are intriguing with various question marks.
• Tangents: Racial Slur Conversation:
  • Extended, nuanced conversation about who "has the pass," regional and generational nuances, and wild stories about hearing the n-word.
  • “[Puka Nakua] hit everyone. The N word. And then he was like, let me not leave out the brothers and sisters in the Jewish community...problem the whole time in the league.” — Van Lathan [62:22]
  • Joel recounts being called the n-word and his reaction at an IHOP in Shreveport [71:09–73:04].
  • "You stood up because that's dope...like Beansy did." — Van Lathan [73:18]
• Podcast Chemistry & Cuckout Theme:
  • Running joke about “cucking out” (ducking confrontation). Applied to everything from live shows to run-ins at IHOP and pitbulls in apartments.

6. Headlines & Quick Takes

[79:52–83:53]

• NIL & NFL Draft Decision Economics:
  • Ty Simpson and Riley Leonard’s cases: sometimes NIL in college > NFL rookie salaries.
  • "He was worth more to Notre Dame than to the Colts..." — Joel Anderson [83:19]
  • Brainstorming historical NIL: Reggie Bush and Tim Tebow would have been “through the roof.”
• CJ Carr Notre Dame Scrimmage:
  • Cautious optimism — "If it’d be a huge deal if he fails, it’s gotta be a huge deal if he succeeds.” — Van Lathan [85:53]
• Coach “Hotness” Rankings:
  • Lighthearted detour ranking “hottest” college football coaches, with Marcus Freeman and Bob Chesney leading the way.
• Coach Prime Dating Karrueche:
  • Hosts approve; Coach Prime “looks happy and healthy.”

7. Social Media & BlueSky Outage

[92:38–94:03]

• Blue Sky Outage Jokes:
  • Joel’s reputation as an elite blue-sky tweeter, switching back to Twitter when needed.
  • "I do my college football tweet rundown on Blue Sky...it brings back 2012, 2013 Twitter." — Joel Anderson [93:35]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I try to hire Joel like five different times over the course of 14 years. I think he's number one in the career rankings of most times I tried to bring somebody in." — Bill Simmons [02:02]
• "Why can’t Arizona just take Caleb Downs? They don’t have enough good players." — Bill Simmons [12:15]
• "The quarterback has to be at least one of the three coolest guys on my team...unusual to have a quarterback have such a funky personality.” — Bill Simmons [14:28]
• “If he was a nerd, he was their nerd. Like, they really … lit up for him.” — Van Lathan [15:30]
• "You can’t have historically short arms and this on your record." — Joel Anderson (on Reuben Bain drop) [40:03]
• "It's not like a star coming out of this draft that everyone is consumed with..." — Van Lathan [30:09]
• "People leave, transfer, lose buzz. Feels like you barely get to know these college players anymore." — Host [29:45]
• "If you're in LA, you're part of the team. If you're not in LA, you're not!" — Van (summarizing the podcast’s escalating loyalty banter)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:50–10:32 — Simmons banter, live show invitation debate, inclusion jokes
• 11:17–19:18 — Bill Simmons Draft takes: Mendoza, Downs, leadership & positional value
• 29:18–35:40 — Discussion: 2026 Draft buzz, medical drama, transfer portal impact
• 35:40–49:40 — Joel’s Big Board 2.0: Player rankings, Bain drop, positional talk
• 56:04–63:39 — Wide receiver class tiering, Puka Nakua & n-word “pass” culture
• 71:09–73:13 — Joel’s IHOP story, standing up to the n-word
• 79:52–83:53 — NIL/rookie contract math, Riley Leonard & Ty Simpson decisions
• 85:53–88:59 — Hot college football coaches ranking
• 92:38–94:03 — Blue Sky outage/old Twitter jokes

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Tone & Style

• Language: Candid, often irreverent, and peppered with inside jokes and “real talk”
• Dynamics: Warmly combative, competitive, brotherly with off-the-cuff group therapy energy
• Depth: Balances X’s and O’s football geekery with pop culture, life stories, and meta-podcasting commentary.

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Takeaways for Those Who Didn’t Listen

This episode weaves expert NFL draft breakdowns with refreshing banter and real-life stories on group dynamics, social media, and football culture. You get a clear-eyed look at top draft prospects and the factors (both stats and personalities) that shape how teams and fans see future stars. The show is especially recommended if you want a draft preview with side helpings of college football culture, locker room wisdom, and the kind of delirious group therapy only the best sports pods deliver.

Next week’s cliffhanger: Will Joel ever confront his “cuck” reputation? Will Publix or Walmart reign as the pod’s official grocer? Will Bill Simmons buy Joel lunch before inviting him on stage? Tune in next time on Ringer Tailgate.

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End of summary.

Transcript

[Host]

Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money. Whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings, there's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe [e-mail]. Welcome to Ringer Tailgate, the Wednesday edition of the show. Joel's getting his water fired up right now, so, you know it's going to be a very good show. We got an NFL draft preview, we got Joel's Big Board 2.0. But first and foremost, let's say what's up to our guys in the studio. We got Van Lathan there. We got a very special guest, Bill Simmons, first appearance on Ring or Tailgate. What's up, guys?

[Bill Simmons]

Honor to be here. You've had, you've had a lot of success with Bills and Billy's.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah. Guys gotta raise the roof.

[Joel Anderson]

We're gonna raise the roof.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, you gotta raise the roof.

[Bill Simmons]

Joe invented that.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah. You're not gonna raise the roof.

[Bill Simmons]

No.

[Joel Anderson]

Really?

[Bill Simmons]

You guys were doing it. I didn't want to step under there.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, no.

[Host]

Okay, first shot of Joel out of the gate. Oh, there we go.

[Joel Anderson]

There you go. There you go.

[Van Lathan]

Can I, can I be honest with you, Joe? Joel, I'm detecting for some reason, I

[Bill Simmons]

don't know why, some heat, a little

[Van Lathan]

bit of heat or nervousness or whatever. I don't know if you're, I'm not getting the Joel energy that I normally get.

[Host]

Jo, drink some water, Joe.

[Joel Anderson]

I wasn't, I, well, yeah, I was, I was. I'm surprised. I'm, it's good to see Bill. I, I, I'm gonna see you next week when I'm out in LA or it's two weeks from now. That's right. So. Right. Yeah. I just would have thought I would have had a chance to talk to Bill instead of having to talk to him on camera first. But I mean, I understand Van gets it mixed up because you probably, I mean, what was it supposed to be? A Bill's house today and then decide to go into the studio or what happened? Because I know you built. Van's always around. So tell me,

[Bill Simmons]

you know what's funny about this? I try to hire Joel like five different times over the course of 14 years. I don't think I've, I think he's number one in the career rankings of most times. I tried to bring somebody into the fold. Wait, and now he has a chip on his shoulder. I don't know. I don't understand. No, no.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

Work it out, Joel.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay. No, listen, no, Bill, I know. I'm grateful. I always say this is the best place I've ever worked. The most fun. See, Van, don't. You always trying to hype shit up. Stop.

[Van Lathan]

I'm not anything. I'm watching you suck out in real time.

[Host]

I feel like I'm back on Fine Bomb.

[Joel Anderson]

Hilarious to me.

[Van Lathan]

I'm watching.

[Joel Anderson]

No, this is not. This is.

[Van Lathan]

Hey, listen, you don't know what happened. Joe also cucked out with Paul. Fine Bomb. That's not you cuck out in real time.

[Joel Anderson]

I'm not. Let me finish. No. What I was saying. And so I. Because I did. I think it is important to mention the gratitude up top because the, The. The last time I talked to Bill, before we started talking about me coming here, I thought that I was never going to talk to Bill again.

[Host]

Okay.

[Joel Anderson]

I thought I was like, man, he might be mad at me, okay? So I am very grateful that when the time arose that Bill and I could still get a chance to work together and I could be over here. So I'm grateful for him. And I don't have any chips. Well, Joel. Yeah. And I don't have any chip on my shoulder about Bill. I. Now, would I like to be, you know, Van. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Would I like to be the chosen one? Yeah. Well, I like to be the golden child. Absolutely.

[Van Lathan]

Shut the up. Start the draft. Let's get a draft. I'm trying to tell you, don't live. And this is the funny thing.

[Joel Anderson]

See this. What does this have to do with anything? My. My dad. Because Houston, I don't understand.

[Van Lathan]

Yo. What Like I've.

[Joel Anderson]

I.

[Van Lathan]

Every time I talk to Joel, I talk to Joel sometimes. Me and Joel talking to Joel, like, man, tailgate really gonna go crazy. I'm the number one move to LA guy in the entire world. I think that everybody should be here. We should all be in the office five days a week, every day. You guys, I don't know, Kath, dinner, whatever. And Joel, you don't wanna move to la. You kinda gotta go. I don't wanna come to your party, but I still want you to invite me. But you don't wanna move to la, so you don't wanna be a part of it.

[Joel Anderson]

That's false. This is a conversation I would have liked to have had. Bill, when I'm in la.

[Van Lathan]

Oh my God, Jacoby. Me and Jacoby.

[Bill Simmons]

Honestly, Joel sounds like my mom.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh.

[Bill Simmons]

My mom is one of those people when we invite her to do stuff, she always says no. But then she gets Offended when we go.

[Host]

That's right.

[Bill Simmons]

You're always saying no, and you're mad that I didn't invite you.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, no, here's the thing. No, because Van is making up. I've never. That's not true. I would love to move to LA in a work and like. But look, I have just lived in this house for one year. It was one of the hardest years of my life. Have you ever moved across? I'm sure Bill has. I had to move across the country with two small children, one of them who is crazy. You know what I'm saying? And so I just finally got all my shit set up over here, and everybody's talking about moving to la, which is great. My. My wife loves California. She's a California girl. I love California. I would love to be in the office with y'. All. But I just got here a year ago.

[Bill Simmons]

Plus, we saved UCLA football.

[Van Lathan]

We said, perfect.

[Host]

That's right.

[Joel Anderson]

I want to go to. I want to see my boy Nico. I want to go see usc, man. I like hanging out over there.

[Van Lathan]

And, yeah, we went.

[Joel Anderson]

I remember y' all went. That's last time y' all hung out, basically. And Cam Johnson, you keep bringing this one time up. That's the only time y'.

[Van Lathan]

All. Multiple times.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, you don't play golf is your problem. If you play golf, you and Tay would hang out all the time.

[Host]

Well, I'll play golf.

[Bill Simmons]

Hate is like, who play. Who could play golf with me? That's his friend.

[Joel Anderson]

Really? I'm surprised. Do golf. I'm surprised at that, actually.

[Van Lathan]

I play a little golf, but I keep hearing about how good Tate is to golf. Can we get. Can we get one draft take from Bill before he gets out of here, though? Let me get it. Like, can we do one draft Buzz take with Bill? He cares about the NFL. Take. Can we do that?

[Host]

Yeah, Bill. I mean, look, I think Joel's upset he didn't get it. Invited to the Rewatchables in San Francisco. That's what it really boils down.

[Joel Anderson]

I didn't get ups. I did not get up San Francisco. I am a little bit. Hold on, hold on.

[Van Lathan]

Wait, wait, wait. You gotta let me cook here for 10 seconds. Joel wanted to be flown out to the Watchables. This is in San Francisco. Even though he's never.

[Joel Anderson]

No, no. Okay, Bill, now let me. Now let me explain what the fuck

[Van Lathan]

was saying.

[Joel Anderson]

Wait, okay, Bill, is it a rule that to be on a Rewatchables live show that you always have had to have been on Rewatchables Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

We haven't tested you out on rewatchables yet, Joel. Right, well, we have to do a rewatchable.

[Joel Anderson]

You don't have to do that. What if you in the rewatchables came to D.C. to do something, right? I don't know. Y' all would do all the Presidents, man, right? And I'm in D.C. y' all wouldn't let me come on stage just because I had never been on the show before.

[Van Lathan]

And you've never been on the pod.

[Bill Simmons]

We don't know.

[Van Lathan]

He can answer that. But let me tell you, if me and Rachel are doing a live show, if we're doing a live show and it's a higher learning live show and it's in D.C. and. And you come to the live show and you just want to come up on the stage, we're not going to let you do that. We got a show to do.

[Joel Anderson]

Are you serious?

[Van Lathan]

You wouldn't.

[Joel Anderson]

Dawn. Are you. Are you kidding me? You have a higher learning show in dc. I'm in dc. You would not let me on stage because I'd never been on the show.

[Host]

If you've never been on the show, why would you go on a show?

[Van Lathan]

Listen to me.

[Bill Simmons]

That's crazy.

[Van Lathan]

Guys. Guys, that's crazy. If we were doing a higher learning show in dc, what I would do is I would say, joel, could you please join us for the higher learning show? That's different than us doing the show and you coming to the show and just going, yo, can I come on the stage? No. Oh, no, we're not gonna do that.

[Joel Anderson]

We're not set up for that.

[Van Lathan]

We don't have an extra ch. The whole nine. I would ask you to do the show. What are you.

[Joel Anderson]

Were you at a car table?

[Van Lathan]

What are you.

[Joel Anderson]

What's happening? You couldn't afford another chair?

[Bill Simmons]

He thinks it's like a comedy comedy store where he's like, can I come up and do a set?

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

No, it's like a week.

[Host]

Joel's got a type 5.

[Van Lathan]

But wait.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay. I mean, I understand rewatchables a little bit more because that is a very hot. That is a. A very popular podcast. I don't know. You know? Yeah. Me showing up on there may or may not. You know what I'm saying? Whatever. Higher learning is, which is show I'm a fan of. And listen.

[Host]

Also a popular podcast.

[Joel Anderson]

Very popular podcast, but not a rewatchable popular podcast. Also. There's nothing this is about. Your show is about Black Dog.

[Van Lathan]

I'm black.

[Joel Anderson]

Well, you wouldn't have me on fucking stage to talk about Butch Ware. I mean, I could come on to talk about Rogan Martin. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. That's offensive.

[Van Lathan]

Gators, gators, gators, gators. Watch me kill Joel before we move on.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, man.

[Van Lathan]

Joe, have you ever been in a position where you've been doing a live show on a stage with someone, and somebody in the audience of that live show who might be another podcaster has attempted to interrupt or get on the stage and make themselves a part of the. Of the podcast? Has that ever happened to you, Joel?

[Joel Anderson]

I don't know why you're making this out to be like. It's the episode of Martin where he runs in and interrupts a Jodeci show. What I'm talking about is I'm in dc. No, what I'm saying, I'm in dc. You'd be like, hey, Joel, we're putting together the live show. Would you like to come on? I would definitely do that.

[Van Lathan]

I just said that.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay, well, in fact, what are we arguing about? That's all I'm saying. Okay, you're arguing now.

[Bill Simmons]

Now the argument seems to be Joel thinks he can invite himself. Van saying, you actually get invited.

[Van Lathan]

You get invited. You're saying that by coming to the podcast, you should be able to come on stage. What I'm saying is if we were doing a show in dc, I would definitely say, oh, you know who. You know who's brilliant and in dc?

[Joel Anderson]

Joel Anderson.

[Van Lathan]

Let's bring him on so he can say something and piss the whole fucking crowd off. Right?

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Host]

No, that's great.

[Van Lathan]

And so then I would bring you on the show, and then that's what would happen. Oh, if you just came to the show and go. And you go, hey, man, at the 15 minute mark of the show, I'm gonna come on the stage. No, you can't do that.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay, so we've. We've misunderstood each other as a family. But anyway, so, Bill. No, what I would want is. I would. I would expect to get invited. Okay? That's the thing.

[Bill Simmons]

Outrage is that Joel and House haven't had food in D.C. i don't know how that has. That is my fault that I haven't heard.

[Joel Anderson]

Boom.

[Van Lathan]

He's the mayor of the dmv, by the way. Just let you know. Yeah, Joel and Heifetz have a lot in common. Not. Excuse me, Not Joel. I'm not heifers. Joel and House have a lot in common. I'm aware Joel and House have a lot in common.

[Bill Simmons]

They would definitely like each other.

[Van Lathan]

Definitely like each other. Check Instagram. That's all I'm gonna say.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay, man.

[Van Lathan]

You know what, Van?

[Joel Anderson]

I mean, let's do we. I mean, similar taste. I have respect.

[Van Lathan]

Similar taste. A fellow traveler. A fellow traveler.

[Host]

Joy to sip some water.

[Van Lathan]

Nervous. He's nervous.

[Joel Anderson]

All right.

[Bill Simmons]

Do you want my one draft?

[Joel Anderson]

Give us, give us the one draft

[Bill Simmons]

I have. I'll give you a couple small ones.

[Van Lathan]

Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Mendoza, as the leader of my team and the coolest guy on my team and, and the guy that has the car keys, the every interview makes me nervous and makes me doubt it. I just don't think you should give interviews anymore. That's my first take. Reese versus Bailey. One guy is two years younger than the other and nobody can decide who's better. Why not just take the two years younger guy who has less mileage on him? That's it. Does that seem too easy or am I nuts? And then here's the. Here's my big thing with the draft. Every year we look at the draft and we know who are going to be the kick ass guys that will be like awesome starters. Like this year it's like downs. Everyone's like, downs is gonna be really good.

[Van Lathan]

Can't miss. No.

[Bill Simmons]

No question. He'll be awesome. It's like, well, what's he gonna be like? Is he like Kyle Hamilton? Is he like Ed Reed Wood? He'll just be one of those guys. He's gonna be a multi all pro. He'll be a foundational defensive piece. And then, then he'll go like 10th. It's like. And then when we do the draft over, it's like, all right, here's a redraft from four years ago. It's like coming in third, Caleb downs. And it's like, why can't we just. Why can't Arizona just take Caleb downs? They don't have enough good players. So that. That's the part I always get. I feel like people always overthink this.

[Van Lathan]

Isn't it positional importance though? It is.

[Bill Simmons]

But I think when somebody has a chance to be like one of the best players of their decade at a position, doesn't that change? Yeah. Cause styles is a little bit like that too. It's like, all right, you don't want to take a linebacker fifth, but if he's a generational linebacker, that's. That should change it, right?

[Van Lathan]

I mean, for me, like the question is, at the end of the day, how valuable was Ed Reed? How valuable was Khalil Mack? How valuable was any of those guys?

[Bill Simmons]

Kyle Hamilton, he went 14th.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah. How valuable were those guys? Those guys were like difference makers and culture changers at their position. So, yeah, I mean, Downs, I would be. I would be as surprised if Downs didn't turn out to be a multiple time, like 7, 8 time all pro, 5, 6, 7 time all probably than any player in the draft in recent memory. I'll be that surprised if he missed, barring injury, of course. Bar injury, of course.

[Bill Simmons]

Do you have any down stats?

[Joel Anderson]

Me? Yeah. Okay. I can barely see y'. All, but so, but, but.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

No.

[Joel Anderson]

Well, I. Downs is number one on the Joel big board, 2.0.

[Host]

Oh, my goodness.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah. So I didn't know that existed. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Oh, man, you know what? I did say that way before we got to it, man. But you know what? Whatever. You know, people are going to come for the information, not necessarily how it's presented. What I wanted to ask you, Bill, is. Is that. So you said that about Fernando Mendoza. See, I'm under the impression that he thinks that shit is cool. That he's just like, oh, people are really into me, man, and my, like, chipper personality and people just think I'm a little corny. But I'm not afraid to be corny in public. I think he's leaning into that because he thinks people like that and that he's getting a lot of good feedback from it. You actually think it is. It makes you think less of him.

[Bill Simmons]

It makes me more concerned because I feel like the quarterback has to be at least one of the three coolest guys on my team. Right.

[Joel Anderson]

That's tough.

[Bill Simmons]

Russell Wilson's a good example.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Hertz, I think, is both cool and uncool because he's so cool that nobody can actually knows if he has a pulse.

[Van Lathan]

But he's cool as shit.

[Bill Simmons]

But he's like. Yeah, you know, he's smooth When. When the going gets tough, you trust, like, he's going to have that. So I think Mendoza probably has that. That if there's, like, real adversity, maybe you'll feel okay because he's been in some big spots. But it's just. It's unusual to have a quarterback have such a funky personality.

[Van Lathan]

I'll tell you this, though. He was the entire culture at Indiana, consummate leader. They lined up behind him. They broke themselves playing hard for him. And after. And even cuz, you know, sometimes he does sound like a Muppet. Like after the game, we gotta go there, we gotta get it, do it. Yeah, but when you saw his guys next to him.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, when you.

[Van Lathan]

When you saw his guys next to him, man, it seemed like they. Like that, man, like that fired. That. They fired them up. He was. If he was a nerd, he was their nerd. Yeah, it seemed like they. They really with it.

[Joel Anderson]

I'm. I'm. I don't want to say too much about this person because I don't want to give away their name or whatever, but I had a friend who was a virgin till he was, like, 27 years old. Okay? I love that motherfucker, man. He was so cool. Like, you know, I'm saying, like, we like people. Like, we rallied around his decency and how nice he was and, like, how almost sort of naive to the world he was. He was just like, oh, man. Like, they don't even make people like you anymore, bro. Like, it really makes you want to protect them and. And see them succeed. And I could kind of see that happening with Fernando Mendoza. But, I mean, I like the vers. People like Tim Tebow. That was the thing. I like people despite. He played people like him. Like, even people that just cross him in. In. In the regular day of life or whatever, like, they're like, oh, man, Tim Tebow was cool. I really liked meeting him. He remembered my name immediately. That kind of. Like, he just has a knack for that. And so I just wonder if, like, maybe at least in the locker room, those guys would be like, man, that dude probably a virgin, but I would fucking kill for him.

[Van Lathan]

So Joel's friend, who was a virgin, he probably found out that he was a virgin after tussling with him in room 227.

[Joel Anderson]

You know what, man? Hey, bro,

[Van Lathan]

I don't know if you've. Have you heard the legend of 227? No. Oh, Bill. So at Moncrief hall, room 227, I

[Joel Anderson]

don't think you should be the person.

[Van Lathan]

In 1997, there was an underground wrestling league.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay?

[Bill Simmons]

That's where Joel was in.

[Host]

Like, not like pro wrestling, like, high school. Tussling.

[Van Lathan]

He's gonna make it, like, tussling.

[Host]

Low man wins. Wrestling.

[Van Lathan]

Low man wins. And Joel said sometimes he would just be shirtless in his dorm.

[Joel Anderson]

N dog, you went the holy. You didn't rough house. Did you rough house with your homies in college?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I don't remember the. The shirts off with the.

[Joel Anderson]

We didn't do those shirts off. We. We had those shirts off, man. We did not do any shirts off. Like, maybe it happened by accident, but it was Never. No. Like I showed.

[Bill Simmons]

Craziest thing we did in college was we played high li for real.

[Joel Anderson]

We had.

[Van Lathan]

I've never known anyone who's actually played that.

[Joel Anderson]

It wasn't off the chain. Wow.

[Bill Simmons]

It was a golf ball. We had these hard metal doors and you whip the ball in the golf against the door and you just had to get out of the way and if the ball hit, you lost.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, ghetto highlight.

[Bill Simmons]

And we played this for hours until one of our friends, we actually thought he got hit in the head and died. But yeah. So I'm down with Joel doing where.

[Van Lathan]

Last thing I'll say about this before you get to the big board.

[Joel Anderson]

Thank you. Is.

[Van Lathan]

You know, I am. I am like over the idea that. Cause in the 90s, there were some times where we got away from. It was less quarterback centric game. Remember Dan Big Daddy Wilkinson went number one and all of that.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Van Lathan]

You do not have to have an elite tier quarterback lead your draft every single year. You don't have to reach for a quarterback if that quarterback is not there.

[Bill Simmons]

I think he seems like a legitimate choice, but Tate, like at number one. Mendoza.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I mean, see, I. I personally wouldn't do it, but. But Tate, the personality, like him versus Darren Peterson. I think I'd rather bet on the kind of goofy Mendoza type than Darren Peterson who just, wow, seems like Kawhi 2.0. Like really, really, really odd. Right.

[Host]

As a teammate, you'd rather the guy that wants to be a leader and be involved with everybody, shake their hands, go around the locker room, be friends with everybody, than the guy that's sitting in the corner, that's super talented, that feels a little bit standoffish. I think that's a fair point. I mean, I think Mendoza will endear himself to the people.

[Van Lathan]

Kawhi Lender is a multiple time NBA champion and finals mvp. Just let you guys know.

[Joel Anderson]

Strange guy.

[Van Lathan]

Strange guy.

[Joel Anderson]

I think the thing is, is that if that guy isn't the best player in the locker room, they need to be cool as shit though, bro. You know what I mean? Like if so Darren Peterson, obviously, like if you're going to. In the NBA locker room, I just think it's really tough to not be. If those dudes don't think you're cool, they just don't think you can handle yourself and that you kind of off. Like you got to be Kawhi good or it's probably not going to work out for you.

[Host]

Right.

[Bill Simmons]

You have to be at that level. Yeah, I agree.

[Van Lathan]

All right.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm going to go. This is really fun.

[Van Lathan]

Thank you, man.

[Bill Simmons]

I can get my smooth. The other Billy.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, Bring Bill. Bring the Duke in. Let's get a postmort on Bill's appearance with the Duke. Joe roll raise. A rule for the motherfucking girls, man.

[Bill Simmons]

I'll see you in L. A. I'm

[Joel Anderson]

looking forward to it, man. I really am.

[Host]

I hope you guys get lunch.

[Joel Anderson]

I hope so. I want to do all that.

[Host]

All right, there you have it, Bill Simmons. Thanks, Dan, for coming on the show. All right, let's get into the show. Let's talk the 20, 26 NFL Draft, and let's get to it right now. Let's do it.

[Billy Gill]

How do you think that went, Joel?

[Joel Anderson]

I really. To be honest, I don't know. I don't feel like I got to get my off, man. And that's my boss, like, you, you know, it was a joke. I. I don't know how, you know, Bill said that I had a chip on my shoulder.

[Van Lathan]

I don't.

[Joel Anderson]

I don't want him. I hope he didn't walk away. Still feeling that way, but I can't be sure.

[Billy Gill]

He could probably hear you still, though.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, can.

[Host]

He did say shirts got ripped off, maybe by accident. So I don't know if that's.

[Joel Anderson]

I mean, if you don't. If you around. I mean. I mean, dog, you better fight before. All right.

[Van Lathan]

Yo. This is so disappointing.

[Joel Anderson]

That's why. That's why. Fernando's daddy call you a clown?

[Host]

Oh, yeah. Can we talk about that? We were talking about Mendoza. Billy Gill, you have a little insight here on Fernando Mendoza and where he. Where his mental state is right now. Can you give us an update?

[Billy Gill]

Fernando Mendoza's dad called me a clown on Instagram today.

[Host]

So three clown emojis.

[Joel Anderson]

How does it feel?

[Billy Gill]

Wow.

[Van Lathan]

What happened? I missed it.

[Billy Gill]

So about a week ago, I was on the ringer NFL show, and I did. We were talking about how, like, there's no character issues and there's no real concerns about Fernando Mendoza. So then I went out on a thing saying that I thought that there may be character issues with him because he transferred from one high school, the high school that I went to, to our rival high school because he wasn't getting playing time. And it was clearly in jest, but that entire high school seems to have no sense of humor. And I just killed by them for a week now. And today, Fernando Mendoza's dad, two days before his son becomes the number one pick in the NFL draft, in which he's going to make $50 million guaranteed is spending his time by commenting on Instagram posts calling me a clown. So I'm gonna be honest with you. I was joking before, but now I'm kind of wondering, you know, if that slight criticism that clearly was a joke is getting under the Mendoza family skin. Are we worried a little bit about, like, real NFL criticism and what happens

[Host]

and pressure of being the number one pick?

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, this. All. This all rests on the premise on if what you said was funny. What if it was? We didn't think it was funny.

[Billy Gill]

What do you mean?

[Joel Anderson]

Well, he didn't think that was funny. That maybe he had a point that

[Van Lathan]

you were calling this for no reason. We supposed to be. Now, hold on for a second,

[Joel Anderson]

Joel,

[Host]

what would you do if he responded to you like that? You would be.

[Van Lathan]

Yes.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Joel Anderson]

You know, a lot of people have been calling me clown on the Internet. I can't respond to all of them. Every now and again, I find somebody that I will respond to, but I can't do it to everybody.

[Billy Gill]

So, Joel, this is actually, I, I think you can help me on this because you have the most experience out of everyone. How should I respond to the fact that this guy called me three clown emojis? Like, what. What is the appropriate action? Because as a, you know, level headed adult, you know, jokingly insulted a 22 year old, you know, right before the biggest week of his life. I can understand why it is that he might be upset, but I also think, you know what, this is something to not engage in and just kind of like let it go. It was clearly a joke. He didn't find it funny. Whatever. Right? Like, yeah, what's the point of a back and forth? But I feel like you would give me different advice on this front.

[Joel Anderson]

I'm trying to think about what I would do because I probably, I probably would spend about a good half hour thinking about what I was going to do.

[Host]

Half hour.

[Billy Gill]

You want to, you want to check?

[Joel Anderson]

I mean, I just, I would come. I would come back to it every now and again. Yeah, because they're just like. I was like, do I really want him? Do I really want to let him get away with calling me a crap clown? That's kind of the thing, is it?

[Host]

Or no Joe question.

[Joel Anderson]

Maybe I would just say something simple like, do you not understand sarcasm? Like, is that. I said y'. All, your, your family appears to be smart that you sent a child. He was going to be a Yale.

[Billy Gill]

He's a doctor, too?

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, he's a doctor. I thought y' all was Smart. You can't understand sarcasm. Seriously, like, that's probably what I would say. Something like that.

[Billy Gill]

All right, if you want us, I'll set a timer on my phone. We could check it in 30 minutes, see if you change. Like, what if I just. I just hearted it? Oh, good.

[Joel Anderson]

That's good. That's good. Let him know you're good.

[Van Lathan]

Let him know I like that.

[Billy Gill]

Let him know I saw it.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Billy Gill]

I mean, then also, like, if he has then a second thought about it, now it's harder for him to delete that comment because someone has acknowledged that it exists. So what if he gave a little heart?

[Joel Anderson]

What if he thinks that heart is. But your understanding that what you said was some clown, though, like, he's just like.

[Host]

Yeah, it works either way, Joe.

[Billy Gill]

Well, I. I don't care. I don't care much. Like, he's a doctor. I don't even know what he practices, but I've never come across him.

[Joel Anderson]

Here's.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, my God.

[Billy Gill]

No, I'm just saying, here's the difficult thing is, like, we live in the same home, hometown. So, like, there, you know, there's a chance that we cross.

[Van Lathan]

There's a chance that you could tell him to meet him. Meet you at Publix.

[Billy Gill]

No, no, no.

[Joel Anderson]

On site.

[Van Lathan]

You're not doing that.

[Billy Gill]

No, no. First of all, Publix is way too expensive. You know what I mean?

[Joel Anderson]

Like.

[Host]

Like groceries. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Billy Gill]

Publix is out here not to, you know, besmirch any companies. I don't know if there's an show, but their prices are outrageous. Like, you're paying twice as much there as some other places sometimes. Oh, man, I'm not looking to fight them. I'm just saying we live in the same hometown. There's, you know, we may have some mutual acquaintances, whatever. There's a chance.

[Host]

Yeah. Might run into each other.

[Billy Gill]

We cross paths and. I'm not looking for a fight. I was just joking around. I don't want to make things uncomfortable for anyone.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, it's funny, though, that he think. I mean, yeah, you. You're right. You guys are probably going to be in the same room at some point. You know what I'm saying?

[Host]

I don't know about that.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, no, I mean, it makes sense. Y' all are both up there in the upper echelon of South Florida society. You know, y'. All. Y' all immediately. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

[Van Lathan]

Fernando Mendoza's dad is an ER pediatric doctor.

[Billy Gill]

Yeah, exactly.

[Van Lathan]

What's all about, bro? Come on, man. We Gotta, man shout out to raise the roof for y' all pediatric doctors.

[Joel Anderson]

All right.

[Van Lathan]

Like, that's like, yeah, we gotta raise the roof. So I was looking up what kind of doctor he was, and legitimately, he could not be more of a noble doctor in the ER and a pediatric doctor. That also according to Robert Barry on

[Host]

Twitter, and took time out of his day. That doesn't mean to call Billy a clown.

[Billy Gill]

That seems like bad judgment, honestly.

[Host]

Yeah, I think.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, it seems like he might not understand humor, but maybe he, again, understands humor and said, I think that was funny. Here's some card emojis.

[Host]

I think Joel was siding with Mr. Mendoza.

[Joel Anderson]

Shocker, I understand.

[Van Lathan]

Is legitimately the man. He works at the Nicholas Children's Hospital. This guy's like a saint.

[Billy Gill]

You know what? So my. My daughter fell one time and got stitches. I wonder if he was the doctor that stitched her up, because that's where we went to get the stitches. Maybe he remembered me from that day and he said, you know what? Save this girl's life. And here he is about my son.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah. Oh, God.

[Van Lathan]

That's why he shouldn't be beefing on Twitter, because you never know, right? You never know. If not. No, not. Not raise a roof for the health of Billy's kids. They never gonna have to go to the pediatric doctor. Raise the roof.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, yeah. No, that's right. That's what's up.

[Van Lathan]

But, like, if. If you a doctor and you getting it popping on Twitter, you never know if you going to be in a situation where you have to help out one of the babies or the kiddies or somebody or something like that. He shouldn't be popping it on Twitter like that.

[Host]

Yeah. When does the oath come into play there? Maybe some.

[Billy Gill]

It's going way too far.

[Host]

Maybe.

[Joel Anderson]

Maybe he thinks he's not going to be a doctor anymore, you know, saying his son's about to be in the league. He might be like, I ain't got to do that no more.

[Host]

Yeah, he can go to Publix now. He's gonna have.

[Joel Anderson]

I never thought of Publix as being that expensive. You know, they have Publix in Tampa and Atlanta. And what are the other grocery stores?

[Billy Gill]

I mean, it depends what you. I mean, if I'm gonna be honest, you know what I'll do sometimes. So if it's something that's, like, pre. Like, let's say I want to buy Oreos, for example.

[Host]

Right?

[Billy Gill]

Some people be like, I don't know. Like, I don't want to do this. That there's like these Walmart grocery stores and like a Target. If you're buying things in boxes, it's not like I'm buying cold cuts or something. Like get those absolutely anywhere. They're exactly the same. And if it's half the price, why would I be going to a Publix up?

[Joel Anderson]

I never thought of it as being that expensive. You kind of my head up because when I was in Tampa, I mean they had Publix everywhere. That was the grocery store.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Joel Anderson]

I don't know what else, I guess. You know what though? I went. I shopped at Walmart a lot more when I lived in the South. You know what I'm saying? It's a lot more part of your life.

[Van Lathan]

My. What are we talking about right now?

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, yeah.

[Billy Gill]

Strap week.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Host]

Joel's trying to give himself some more time to think about what he would respond to Mr. Mendoza. So I think that's fair.

[Joel Anderson]

I got that already.

[Host]

Before we get into Joel's Big Board 2.0 just wanted to do this one big reaction. NFL Draft Buzz. It does feel like it's a little lackluster this year. Not a lot of talk about the draft. I've had multiple people ask me when the draft is. It is happening in two days. Van do you have a diagnosis as to why the draft is not getting decided? Discussed as much.

[Van Lathan]

There's a lot going on. I mean, I don't think there's any real reason. There's not like a clear cut star that's in the draft number one. And there's. There's a lot going on. Also, I would say this, that I don't know how the transfer portal era is going to affect the overall stardom of the college football player. You're not sticking with a guy in one place for as long of a time. Look, could be different, could be whatever. But I think all the moving around and stuff like that, it might have an effect on the brand of the guy coming out of college, you know? You know what I mean? Like Mendoza's a brand new player. Where he's at. A lot of these guys are transferring, stuff like that. Whatever. Whatever. But that's probably just. But really there's not like a. It's not like there's not like a star coming out of the draft that everybody is like consumed with. And that's probably the main thing, you know.

[Host]

Yeah. Because Mendoza is the face of it and everyone kind of knows that he's going to go number one. So that obviously there's not much, you know, anxiety, whatever you Want to call it excitement around the idea of who's going to go number one. We know who's going to go number one. Joel, any thoughts on why we're not talking about this as much?

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, yeah. I mean, it is one of those years where, you know, Eric Fisher gets drafted number one. I mean, 2013. Yeah, right. I mean, now, again, Mendoza is going to be the number one pick, but, you know, beyond him, not a lot of these guys are celebrities. But the thing is, next year when it's Arch Manning, it's. We're not going to feel this way. When it's Archman and Dante Moore, Trinidad Chambliss, then the draft will be full of all these stars again. And then, you know, then. Then we'll. This will just be a blip. A blip. Like, you know.

[Host]

I will say, though, last year during the draft, when Cam Ward was the foregone conclusion to go number one, everyone kept saying, well, next year we're going to have Arch Manning, we're going to have Nuss Meyer, we're going to have Kade Club Nick, we're going to have Drew Aller, we're going to have all these different guys. The draft's going to be amazing. And we get to the draft and it's sort of a similar setup as we saw last year. So maybe it's a symptom of a larger problem.

[Joel Anderson]

Do you know who the star of the draft was last year?

[Host]

Cam Ward.

[Joel Anderson]

Shador Sanders.

[Host]

Oh, that's true.

[Joel Anderson]

You know, but.

[Van Lathan]

But. But there was a ton of buzz, though. You can't say there wasn't buzz. There's a lot of talk about where Shador would go, how he would, you know, how the NFL process was treating him, how he would treat the process. I'll say this, that's true, what you just said, Tate, but a lot of it's true because the guys just didn't play. It's not that the players weren't there and that people were wrong to expect that some of these guys would take a leap. Turns out that Nussmeier has assist on his spine.

[Host]

That's a crazy story that affected him.

[Van Lathan]

I am blown away by that revelation. Blown away by the fact that we're just learning this now, that it doesn't seem like it was addressed by the LSU medical staff. There was no talk about it. Everyone could watch him and tell that something was wrong with him. Like, you could tell that. That he wasn't right. But he just played through it the whole time. Everyone told us he was fine, whatever so there are some weirder things that happened this season that stopped this from being the draft that we thought that it was going to be.

[Host]

Yeah. Manning was supposed to be a revelation. Kate Clubnik was supposed to take a leap. Right. There's a lot of things that went into play there.

[Joel Anderson]

That's right.

[Van Lathan]

Wait, wait.

[Joel Anderson]

I just could real quick, as an aside here, I mean, LSU has millions of dollars and they spent millions of dollars to send Brian Kelly away. Now that you mention it this way, Van, it is fairly shocking that this is a recent revelation and that's something that they are with if they.

[Host]

It took the NFL doctors to find it. Right.

[Joel Anderson]

They're supposed to be going through an entire process. Right. I mean, this. They've got the money and the means to do that shit. So I don't understand how it got missed.

[Van Lathan]

Honestly, I could make a, a different argument that between this and a lot of what happened with Greg Brooks, that we need to take a long look. Lsu, should I say, needs to take a long look at what's going on down there in terms of the health of the players, the care of the players and how things are going for the players. Right. I'm not going to get into the entire Greg Brooks situation because you know, that young man's journey, what he's been through, how his family has rallied and everything that's happened with him. Just one of the harrowing, most heartbreaking stories that I've ever seen. Not just in LSU football history, but in college football history. But you know, what does it mean to have a cyst on your spine? Like, well, to have assist, like, how bad can that go? Is that something you should even be playing on? Like, what can happen? Like, how do you get all the way through a season where, where we keep hearing from our head coach that he's okay and then he's, he ends up playing with this. Now we know that like two or three weeks of treatment or whatever it's going to be and he's essentially fixed.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

That it's something that they're saying does not, in fact shouldn't affect his long term play. But like, what the fuck? Yeah, like that's not something that they saw or could deal with or whatever. You lose Garrett for the first three weeks, you lose him against Louisiana Tech, a couple other people like that he's back and his draft stock and all of this stuff that he's trying to do as a football player is better situated because the medical team was able to get on top of this. I was outraged reading that Story. It doesn't make any sense.

[Host]

Yeah. And the implication always kind of felt like, from Brian Kelly, at least that it was like the yips or like he was just misreading things in. In live time.

[Van Lathan]

They said he had an oblique injury.

[Host]

Yeah, no oblique injury, obviously. Yep. So strange, strange story all around. One other thing as far as, like, stars of the draft, I feel like Ohio State is the star of this draft. If you look at it, a lot of the big boards, right? Four guys in the top 10. And I guess if they have four players go in the top 10, I mean, potentially you could have four guys go in the top six or seven. I guess that would make Ohio State the star of the story, which would be good for us, for college football fans to have a team to point to, and that'd be a headliner. But other than that, a little bit of a dud. And that leads us to a real star on the show. Joel. Let's get to the big board, 2.0. A lot of people have like 5.0, 6.0, 7.0. Joel's got 2.0.

[Joel Anderson]

I don't really, you know, I don't need to put out a lot of false information or waste time, you know, trying to get clicks. You know, you want to do it when you want. When you do it, you want it to have impact. Right. So you.

[Van Lathan]

Billy has a diss. Billy, mark that down.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

You dissed every single person that's on their fourth or fifth mock. That's it. Really? Am I tripping or is that a dis?

[Joel Anderson]

I don't think so. I don't think that's a diss.

[Billy Gill]

I think Joel's right here. I think Jules is trying to be as efficient as possible.

[Host]

All right. Bill told us to be nicer.

[Joel Anderson]

That's not, that's not a thing that.

[Billy Gill]

It was a mandate, A pre off air mandate.

[Joel Anderson]

It was not straight. Although there were a lot of people talking about that. I was just like, I'm fine.

[Billy Gill]

You were, you were also late today, so you didn't hear it. So.

[Van Lathan]

I was not late.

[Joel Anderson]

I was on time.

[Billy Gill]

What?

[Joel Anderson]

I was on time. But when I clicked on, I saw Bill and Van talking clearly and doing another podcast and I was like, oh, shit. And so I clicked right out because I was. I was confused about what was happening.

[Host]

You thought you were interrupting?

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, yeah, I thought I was interrupting. I clicked on at 3:30.

[Host]

Well, let's not interrupt you, Joel, Big Board 2.0. What do you have on the big board? And to give people a Little bit of an update. McShay has a big board out final. Big board. The fantasy slash draft guys as well. So, Joel, you get. You got direct competition in the building. But yeah, we got it pulled up right now. Look at Joel's big board.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, Deontay does some stuff too, you know, saying shout out to Deontay Lee. So, yeah, man, I mean, look, you know, you know, I. I'm going to read out the big board for people, just so you know, because some people are listening to this and I watched it on YouTube. So number one on the big boy, Caleb Downs. I love him. Just everything he could do, everything. He popped off the screen as a freshman at Bama and he gets the same kind of love from Nick Saban that Van gets from Bill. You know what I'm saying? It's just like. It's like, oh, bro, like if Nick Saban likes you, you know that you good. You know what I'm saying? So that's how I know that Caleb Downs is special. Number two, Jeremiah Love. Nobody talks about Todd Gurley anymore. Why can't. Why can't he. Todd Gurley, who's only 30 years old, by the way, which is insane. Tough. Yeah, tough. Why can't Jeremiah Love be Todd Gurley? Man, you know, my big concern, though is they'll go to a team that sucks like the Titans. Number three, Arvel Reese. Number four, Sonny Styles. Number five, Reuben Bain. Okay, so I had.

[Host]

Who was number one before you've dropped it down to number five.

[Joel Anderson]

He was number one. Okay, so real quick to catch everybody up. Last week it was discovered Ali Connolly and his substack, the read optional reported that Reuben Bane had been involved as a driver in an accident where one of the passengers died. Okay. And he was. They didn't give.

[Host]

I would say he rehashed the story that was sort of known.

[Joel Anderson]

But see, that's the thing. I didn't know how many people knew that story.

[Host]

And then if they knew it, Miami people did.

[Joel Anderson]

Why did. Why was it not reported then?

[Host]

I mean.

[Joel Anderson]

I mean, I just. People in the media and see, this is the thing. There were people that work in media. Who says where? Everybody else knew. Well, God damn it. No, they didn't. I didn't know. There were a whole bunch of people that didn't know. And I just. And if you knew and your job as an insider, you're supposed to be giving information to your audience, why the fudge did you keep that private? You just like.

[Host]

I think we can mark this down as another dis.

[Joel Anderson]

Jerry Jones knew, so everything's all good. You know, I'm saying we don't need to stop that little circle here. It just doesn't make any sense to me. And again, I. I just. It's fine if you don't want to report it and you want to be an insider, great. You'll get to go to have a steak at St. Elmo's in Indianapolis. Fantastic for you. But if somebody wants to come into the business and they're just like, hey, one of the top 10 prospects in this draft, maybe the best defensive player in the country, was actually in an accident two years ago where somebody died, and nobody has ever reported it. And he reports that for people. I think, like, I don't think you all get to talk shit about him. I just think that, like, hey, man, you know what? He had the nuts to do it, you know, so. So anyway, people were.

[Van Lathan]

A lot of people were all in his face about it.

[Billy Gill]

Yeah.

[Host]

McShay, our teammate, not happy about it. But I. I heard from my sources that McShay was doing that, Joel, because he heard that you had Reuben Bay, number one on your big board, so he was trying to stick his neck out.

[Joel Anderson]

Ah, you know what? Hey, look, he was defending you. Preserve it. I appreciate that, if that's what he was doing. I think. I think Todd was wrong on that, but, you know, we can agree to disagree. The thing about Ruben Bane, though, you can't have historically short arms and this on your record. But it's not just that. In 2025, he was cited again for reckless driving. I just. Look, I'm not saying it means he's a bad person. I don't think. I don't know. You know, if he just.

[Van Lathan]

What is the concern for you drafting them if you're a team? Tell us what was in your mind dropping him? Is it a character concern?

[Host]

You still haven't top five. You didn't drop him that far.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, I know, but is that gonna. Is that gonna reflect. But you're. You're taking him from being what you would say is a franchise cornerstone to, I guess he's a little franchise cornerstone, but 1 to 5, there's a clear set of, I guess, priorities there for you as a drafter, as a big board maker. What changed for you?

[Joel Anderson]

Well, I just. I think that you can't. You should be as careful behind the wheel as anybody that has ever existed. You know, I just can't believe that after something that. I mean, and we haven't heard him talk about it, he doesn't have to talk about it if you don't want to. That should have been as traumatic as anything else. It should have been like, okay, I'm going. I'm going to drive 15 miles an hour from here on out. But now, not just that. In Ali Connolly's report, he says that NFL teams are saying, we don't think he's been upfront about this. We feel like there's more. There's more to this story that the other shoe is going to drop, suggesting that either he hasn't been fully truthful about this particular incident or just about other stuff. So that's just kind of like. Again, I think Ruben Bane is a fantastic football player, which is why I had a number one. But I feel like if you got that, you. If you already got short arms, I'm well willing to. Look, I'm willing to overlook that shit. I was like, well, he managed to throw out despite that, but now I got some concerns that, hey, man, you know, he may not take this as seriously, his future as I would prefer for a guy that is the top of my draft board. So I just dropped him a few spots.

[Host]

He'll still be in four spots for character concerns. Fair.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Got you.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah. Okay. Number six, Fernando Mendoza. Number seven. I learned how to pronounce his name. This Francis. Maui Noah. Like that. All right. Number eight, David Bailey. Okay.

[Host]

Who's mocked to go number two to the Jets.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah. Some people, you know, some people think it'll be Arvel Reese. Some people think it'll be David Bailey.

[Host]

I think. I'm pretty sure it's David Bailey.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, I. So. And I don't. I think Bill said this, and it's true. He's. Arvel Reese is two years younger to two years. I mean, so it's just like. So I got somebody with. Who really popped in his one year. He's an athletic marvel, but I'm going to go with the guy who's two years older. It just doesn't make a lot of sense. Suggest me the Arvale might have even more to tap into at the next level.

[Host]

It feels like the Jazz are just going for the safer option.

[Van Lathan]

Who was the. In Khalil Mack's career, who was the. His contemporary he was always compared to was Von Miller.

[Joel Anderson]

That sounds about right.

[Host]

A little bit younger than.

[Van Lathan]

But yeah, he's a little bit younger than Vaughn. But who was. Who was at the time, the. The guy was always compared to Khalil Mack? I can't remember because I look at Bailey as more of the Khalil Mack type of mold.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

You know what I mean? Like a guy who has all of it. Consummate professional, but is going to be solidly elite for a long, long time. Solidly elite for a long, long time. The player is going to jump into my goddamn brain. It was always Khalil Mack versus whomever else it's gonna.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, was it Sean Merriman? No, no, it couldn't have been. Hell no. That. Okay, well, hold on, man.

[Billy Gill]

I don't even.

[Host]

They play in the NFL at this.

[Joel Anderson]

Why that's so different than. Than whoever we just said.

[Van Lathan]

Anyway, been out the lead for a while, bro.

[Joel Anderson]

All right. I mean, he was. He dated Tila Tequila, man.

[Host]

Yeah, that. That's how. You know, it's been a long time since relevancy, but yeah, David, about my age. I did want to ask you this, Joel. In your big board, do you put defensive end or do you put edge rusher? Because it seems like we've turned the.

[Billy Gill]

The.

[Host]

The way that we kind of label these guys as, you know, defensive end used to be the. The, you know, label you go. Now it's edge rusher. How do you feel on that?

[Joel Anderson]

I kind of. I. I prefer edge because, I mean, sometimes, like Arville Reese, the thing that makes him great is that, yes, he could be a fantastic pass rusher having his hand in the dirt, but he can do so many other things. Dropping into coverage, playing in space. He's a good tackler. So that's why I just say edge, you know?

[Host]

Okay.

[Joel Anderson]

Because Russia specifies, like, one particular job that you've got, which is an important job, and if you excel at it, you'll make a lot of money. But I think that Arvell Reese is a little bit more than that. So, for instance, like, I think of Reese as an edge and Bailey as a pass rusher, you know.

[Host]

So you differentiate them even though they're both listed as edge rushers?

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, I mean, I think Bailey's a little bit different. I mean, I think Bailey is. Is obviously really good. He was the highest graded defensive player in college football last year according to. Pff.

[Host]

14 and a half sacks last year.

[Van Lathan]

Which player do you feel like is more versatile?

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, Arvel Reese. I was talking to somebody about Arvel, and they were saying that he was sort of like the. The chess piece that Ohio State deployed all last year. Like, he was like. He called him the queen. You know, I don't. I don't play chess, so I don't know how significant that is, but it sounded like a big Deal. And so that's. I mean, yeah, Arvel is just. Got a lot of versatility, got a lot of athleticism. Much younger. I would. I mean, you know, I. I have him over David Bailey, but not by that much. But I think there is a difference.

[Host]

So if you're doing a start, bench, cut of those edge rushers, right, you know, Arvel Reese, David Bailey, and Ruben Bane.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, my God.

[Host]

Because those are the top 10 guys.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, well, no, start, start, Arvell, bench, Rubin cut David.

[Host]

Okay. And there's a chance that David Bailey goes before both of those guys.

[Joel Anderson]

I know. I mean, that's. I mean, I think we're undervaluing David

[Van Lathan]

Bailey a little bit here, man.

[Joel Anderson]

You might be right.

[Van Lathan]

I think there's a little bit of. Of undervalued. I mean, David Bailey is also just like, just incredibly reliable. Like all.

[Host]

All feels like a grown up on the line. Yeah.

[Joel Anderson]

You can just plug him up there.

[Van Lathan]

Like, you can orient a defense around him. David Bailey is a. He's going to be a linchpin for somebody for a long time.

[Joel Anderson]

I just wonder if I said that about David Bailey in November, which you all would have said about me if I said, man, you know, Texas text David Bailey, one of the best players in man sets that edge. He's just really versatile. Y' all be like, man, that's the Big 12. You know, he don't play nobody. BYU. Oh, man, this was manufactured right here. Yeah.

[Host]

We never said this. You've created.

[Van Lathan]

Somebody said that. But, you know, but, you know, you know, the funny thing is about it, though, you didn't say it.

[Joel Anderson]

So I did. I said Texas Tech's defense was great. And it was. It was a championship level defense.

[Van Lathan]

Did they say it?

[Host]

We're gonna need Billy to go dig that up.

[Joel Anderson]

Next. Texas Tech defense not lose against Oregon, okay? They won. They won their matchup. The Texas Tech defense, they were great. Yeah, but you know, y' all don't.

[Van Lathan]

Y'.

[Joel Anderson]

All. Y' all sleep on Big 12 football, and now you're acting like y' all don't.

[Host]

Yeah, we're trying to support. We're trying to. We're trying to see what's going on. All right, how many. How many more players on the big board?

[Joel Anderson]

Glad y' all came, huh?

[Host]

How many more players on the big board? We got seven.

[Joel Anderson]

I think we. No, I got. So we had eight. We were. David Bailey, number nine, Mansoor Delaney. Solid corner out of lsu. Van knows him. I just kind of think also just. He's just to have been so Businesslike to have thrived Virginia Tech and just come to LSU and do everything that everybody expected of him. Right? Like that just. That just says something to me that's like, that he's a professional to me, you know? And then I moved in Spencer Fano over Sadiq, man, I just am thinking about it a little bit more, you know, grinding a little more tape, you know,

[Host]

I think we need to have a tailgate tape session with. Yeah, that's what I think.

[Joel Anderson]

Grinding some tight. You know what I'm saying? Spencer Fano, man, a big dude, very athletic. When you.

[Host]

Utah.

[Joel Anderson]

When Utah. Utah's quarterback, who I really like, could not pass. And when Utah needed to get busy, they went behind Spencer Fano, man. Yeah. Damn. Pierre, man. Yeah.

[Host]

Good player.

[Joel Anderson]

Devin Damp. Very good player.

[Host]

Yeah. But interesting. So just to do some cross reference here, I got McShay's big board. He's got Jeremiah Love at number one. And it seems to. It seems that a lot of people think that Jeremiah Love is one of the few blue chippers that are out there. So he's got him at number one, Sunny Styles at two, Reese at three, Mendoza, four, Bailey five. Then he's got your number one guy, Caleb Downs at six, Carnell Tate, who didn't. You did not mention there. At number seven, Mansoor Delaine. Jamar McCoy, another quarterback from Tennessee.

[Joel Anderson]

I mean, that's a. I. I really disagree. I mean, again, I joined McCoy, didn't play last year. Yeah, he's recovering from a knee injury. That is a real big leap of faith to have him in your top 10. But I mean, obviously this is.

[Host]

This is the big board, though, again, just like your big board. This is.

[Joel Anderson]

I didn't grind out where they're getting drafted, and I wasn't grinding 2024 tape. So, you know.

[Host]

Okay, so you kept it strictly 2025. And then Reuben Bain, he's got at number 10 right now. So that's the. You know, do a little cross reference there between the two. I did want to talk about Mansour Delane just a little bit, Van. Just because he's in your LSU backyard. Was there any moment last year that you had that you were like, yeah, this is the guy. Or were you shocked to see him go? Because a lot of times with the draft stuff, like you have guys on your team, you're like, man, he's a top 10 pick. Damn, that's crazy. Did you expect him to be in this conversation?

[Van Lathan]

Absolutely.

[Host]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

He was very quietly. Because of some of the problems that I wouldn't say that the LSU defense was a problem. But I would say that there weren't a lot of bright spots on the field for the entire course of the year. We couldn't maintain any type of consistency as a, as a program last year. But one of the bright spots was not just him, but AJ Hy on the backside of the defense at safety. Delaine was unbelievable last year. You could not be productive against him. He was locking down everything and he tested out really well. So I was not surprised at all that if you grind at the tape, like Joel said. Also, you know, he, he, the way he tested out in his workouts that, that he was drafted. He ran three, eight. He went. Excuse me. He ran four three. He ran four, three. On top of everything else that the tape said on the field, he, I can't really. He was really phenomenal this year. Like really phenomenal on the outside for lsu.

[Joel Anderson]

What are we going to do about Harold Perkins, Dog? What do you think? What do you think Harold Perkins future is as a football player?

[Van Lathan]

You know, man, it's like with Perk, you saw what Perk can do. If you need him to make athletic plays, he can make athletic plays on the field that other players just simply can't make. And the question is, how do you take that combination of skills and make them into an every down defensive superstar? And that's something for the coach, but it's not quite evident. Right. Perk is a tweener. He's a little like small to be at edge or backer, but too big to be like in, at your nickel or something like that. So it's almost like you gotta invent something for him. During his time at lsu, they tried him at different places. They tried them at more, I guess, tradition in more traditional linebacker roles. It did not seem like he flourished there. The fan base also didn't have very much patience for it because what you really want to do with him is put him in a position where you can go, c ball, get ball. Harold Perkins. But in the NFL, like who really exists in that role that has some of maybe the physical limitations that Perk has in terms of size. I can't think of anyone.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

So. And covering in space is not something that's going to be second nature to him. So like what it is, like what do you do? Like, like, like what do you do? I do think that somebody will figure it out, but it might take him a little while to, to like get his body right, change up a little bit, maybe you add a little weight, sacrifice some of Your explosiveness and try to figure out how you fit in on the defense somewhere.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, no, you. I was just kidding. I was just thinking about him. He's on Htown Shout out because you know who reminded me of this? Devin Hester when he was at Miami, like, he was so fast and such a good athlete and they really wanted him succeed, so they tried to make him a receiver, tried to, you know, run the ball out of the backfield, all that other shit. And they're just like, man, that's just not his gift, you know, So, I mean, he was able to excel at kick return. And I was just thinking, I was like, man, it's just too bad. This is something on special teams that's so important, you know, like a gunner or whatever, so that he could. Because he could be in the league because he's a great athlete. But it's just like. Yeah, to your point, I just like, where, where does he fit? And no team is going to spend that much time trying to do that with Harold Perkins because you try to figure out sonny Styles. He's 6, 5, 2, 44. Like, he's a little too tall to be a linebacker, but, you know, not quite big enough to be a defensive end or edge or whatever. Well, I guess he is sort of, but it's not like 270, 280.

[Van Lathan]

He's got, he got. He could be an edge.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, maybe he could be an edge, but he's like light in the ass, relatively. You know what I mean? Like, he's not 270, 280. Right.

[Van Lathan]

And so.

[Joel Anderson]

But you do that, you make those accommodations to try to find a role for him on the field because that's fucking Sonny Styles. I don't know if Harold Perkins has that. And I just want, I hope, I hope he doesn't fall through the cracks. I hope he gets a chance to excel at this next in the league. But it just.

[Van Lathan]

With, with Sonny Styles, there is another player, a couple other players like, like a Max Crosby that you could compare him to. What is Max Crosby go? Was max Crosby like 260, 250. Like, like there are players like that that you can see being successful and they're archetypes in the league already.

[Joel Anderson]

6 5, 2, 55.

[Van Lathan]

6 5, 2, 5 5. So about the same thing.

[Joel Anderson]

That's basically about. Yeah, basically, yeah.

[Host]

They got Styles, listen, at 244.

[Van Lathan]

244. So he's a little bit more slight than that. But you could see, you could see a player like that. Actually, there's a. There's a example of somebody with those physical gifts that can play their way into NFL superstardom. Where Harold Perkins. I guess the question would be, where is the 6 1, 220 pound, 225 pound edge guy, linebacker, who doesn't like, who's not like, where. Where is that guy existing now? Like, what. What can Harold's body. He ran, I think like 4, 3, 4, 4 at his combine. 4, probably at 4, 4. So he could probably add a little size, right? Slow him down maybe a little bit. But like, where. Where is he gonna play? Like, what is the archetype for Harold Perkins right now?

[Joel Anderson]

It's just crazy because Harold Perkins was a really good high school running back. And I remember when he went to lsu.

[Van Lathan]

Fantastic.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, yeah. When he went to lsu, I was okay. Like, he found his fit and he's going to get bigger or whatever. You know, I'm thinking by the end of his college career, he's going to be like 240, 245, and he would have figured it out. But I, but, but I remember maybe after like his sophomore year, I'm like, man, I wonder if Harold Parker should have played running back. I just said just. It just encouraged me. I was like, I wonder if he should have given it a shot at running back because he's got a lot

[Van Lathan]

of people that want him to try it.

[Joel Anderson]

That's Jeremiah Love. Like, he's jer. He's Jeremiah Love sized.

[Host]

Yeah, we've seen safeties get moved to running back before, you know what I mean? Like, sometimes those positions get flip flopped every once in a while. I do want to talk about wide receivers because I do think this class of wide receivers is pretty fascinating. We have, I think, four or five guys that will end up being in the first round. We'll see if they get pushed back because people kind of reach for linemen and, you know, edge rushers, kind of those premier positions. But right now, Carnell Tate is pretty much a lock to go in the top 10. You got Makai Lemon from USC, Jordan Tyson from Arizona State, Omar Cooper Jr. From Indiana, who obviously had some big moments this year. Then you get into the Denzel Boston, Casey Conception, who has been kind of a draft darling, a lot of people falling in love with his story. And then Chris Brazil, who has had some insane moments and catches and highlights during his time at Tennessee. So of those receivers, Joel, you've been crunching the tape. You know, obviously take Carnell Tate, maybe put him in his own territory, but which one of those guys Kind of stands out to you.

[Joel Anderson]

Well, no, it's interesting you say that about Carnell Tate, because I know that everything says that he's going to be a productive NFL starter. Maybe not a star, but a productive NFL starter. Like, he's, he's ready to go. But I just. And I know that this is ignorant, so forgive me for it, but I'm thinking the best receiver on your team has always been Jeremiah Smith, you know, and like, not. And not just that, like, he's drawing the most defensive attention every time. And again, Carnell Tate, catch radius, contested catch rate, all elite. Like, everything says that he's really good.

[Van Lathan]

Right.

[Joel Anderson]

But I just. It just worked. I don't. You know, we'll see. Every question. Yeah, go ahead.

[Van Lathan]

About this ridiculously weird take on the 2019 LSU team. Who was the best? Who's the best receiver?

[Joel Anderson]

I mean, probably Terrace Marshall. No, I'm just joking. Jamar Chase.

[Van Lathan]

Okay. Hey, Terrence Marshall could have been.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah,

[Van Lathan]

I think my point is, I think if you would have asked anyone that watched the season, they would have said that Jamar Chase was the clear number one and that Justin Jefferson was one A or really capable number two. If you watch a lot of the games, it all. A lot of times it depended on the way the defense was playing things. The guys kind of had different roles. Chase was a little bit more of an over the top guy. They could use strength to win one on ones.

[Host]

It seemed like Burrow also trusted him the most, you know, on a.

[Van Lathan]

On a 50. 50 for sure. Right. But. Or on a. Even on the back shoulder. But, you know, Justin Jefferson is a route master. So what I'm saying, though is using

[Joel Anderson]

that they don't run post digs in high school. They don't run post digs in the league. That's Justin Jefferson talking to people. They don't do that. I'm serious. They don't run a post dig in high school, bro. You know, he really getting the.

[Van Lathan]

What I, What I'm saying is, obviously, you know, Tate's number one is like this freakish combination of athletic gifts that, like, just doesn't come around that much. So it's not a complete one to one, but there are number twos in college football that go on to be insanely productive. You can make a. Maybe, maybe make an argument like, especially before last year, that Justin Jefferson has had just as good of, as, if not better a career as the guy that he shared the field with as his number one. So Carnell Tate has everything that he needs.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, no, you know, Jackson, Smith and Jigba played with Chris Olave. You know what I'm saying?

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah. Look, I'm not.

[Van Lathan]

There's more. There's more. I could do more. I can go.

[Joel Anderson]

I just. I just don't. I don't. When I see Carnell Tate, I don't see top 10 receiver prospect. I see him a first round prospect.

[Host]

So if he's not. If he's not the number one, is he still the number one receiver on the board in Joel's mind?

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Host]

Or is it Makai Lemon? I mean, I've seen Jordan Tyson getting a lot.

[Van Lathan]

Jordan Tyson?

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah. I don't. You know, the thing about Jordan Tyson and you, again, if you have a hard time staying healthy in college, it's just real hard for me to say

[Host]

one out of everybody.

[Joel Anderson]

That's really. That's really tough. You know, maybe he. He has all the right gifts. He's. He excelled. I mean, Dion, he. I mean, he left Colorado and Deion is like, you know, riding for him hard through this drive process. So I'm just like, okay, like, he clearly has something, but I just, you know, being hurt all the time in college, I just wouldn't bet on that changing in the league, that's all.

[Host]

Yeah. But right now, who's the other one? Well, the four that are in the first round, at least by most projections, you know, Makai Lemon is ahead of Jordan Tyson. And then you got Omar Cooper Jr. From Indiana.

[Joel Anderson]

I like Mai Lemon just doesn't have ideal size, but I really, really like Ma.

[Host]

Yeah, I think of those three obvious.

[Van Lathan]

One, does Tate's 40 speed bother you?

[Joel Anderson]

It. Not really. I mean, puka nakua ran a 4. 6. You know what I mean? So I think you can excel.

[Host]

And what did Tate run like a. You ran like a 4. 5, right?

[Joel Anderson]

He ran a 4.

[Van Lathan]

5.45. Yeah.

[Host]

Okay.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

And.

[Joel Anderson]

Which was slower than people would have liked it, especially now. But I don't. I'm just never one of those people that over determines for the 40. Like, it usually confirms what I think, but if you have really good tape like Tate does, then I don't. It didn't bother me too much.

[Van Lathan]

Got open, made catches.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Ran a what, four six. Run a four six. Damn.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, man. It's tough.

[Host]

They're faster in pads, though. I. I don't know how to explain it. I feel like those 40 times are so overrated. Especially when you see guys, he gets

[Van Lathan]

open and he catches the ball.

[Host]

And also different quickness and speed.

[Van Lathan]

See, he's Also in rehab right now. Puka is.

[Host]

I think he just got out, right? Yeah, he got out.

[Joel Anderson]

Wait, what kind of rehab? Oh, oh, the other kind of rehab.

[Host]

Yeah, he was going ham.

[Van Lathan]

You know how sometimes it's so funny? Racist rehab is so funny to me. It's like, what did he.

[Host]

Oh, I didn't know he was in racist rehab.

[Van Lathan]

Well, he's a rehab for a great many things. But he also. He said something anti Semitic.

[Joel Anderson]

I remember that.

[Host]

I haven't kept up with the Puka Naku. I just know he was like partying hard.

[Van Lathan]

So a girl said that. Because he said the N word. Because I think he said the N word at one point too, Right?

[Host]

Damn.

[Van Lathan]

Puka hit everyone. Puka, the N word. And then he was like, let me not leave out brothers and sisters in the Jewish community. So then he was accused of having bit someone and then saying the N word.

[Joel Anderson]

Damn.

[Host]

Antonio Brown. Yeah, yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Going crazy, right? That four, six, right to the adl.

[Joel Anderson]

He got the pronounced forehead of somebody that got problems, man.

[Host]

Taking shots.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah. I'm looking at his forehead and I'm like, mass is a problem.

[Van Lathan]

Let me see.

[Joel Anderson]

He looks like an MMA fighter.

[Van Lathan]

He looks like crew dog. What?

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, bro.

[Van Lathan]

He got the Bond villain forehead.

[Joel Anderson]

Your dog is crazy.

[Van Lathan]

How about I never notice this? Hey, bring up Puka Nakua's forehead. He gonna be a problem the whole time in the league. Yeah, he got the. He got the bomb villain, the. The flat forehead joint.

[Joel Anderson]

It's crazy, man.

[Host]

I mean, he always gets up and he gets wrecked.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, yeah, man.

[Host]

Oh, man.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah. You know, the thing about using the N word, though, as a Samoan, they be doing that, you know.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Host]

Especially at byu.

[Van Lathan]

Especially at byu. Tough.

[Joel Anderson]

They.

[Van Lathan]

I feel like some of the. Some of the Samoans that I know out here in la, sometimes you have to have conversations with them about it. You'd be like, hey, bro. You know, because it's.

[Joel Anderson]

It's weird.

[Van Lathan]

Like, you're not. You're not a. You know, I was saying, like, I get, you know, like, you're not, you know, like, don't, don't. I'm not. You know. You know what's funny? So in Louisiana, these rules are just like a lot more defined because we don't have the diversity.

[Joel Anderson]

That's right.

[Van Lathan]

Right.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

So there are clear inward passes and non inward passes. You don't have to worry about it. You have to worry about it. Like what you know, you share. But now you go to New York, you got Puerto Ricans around, Dominicans, some of them are Black. Some of them are not. They saying that. They not saying it. Then you come to la, you got the Samoans and stuff, and some of them be banging sets. They be cuts and bloods.

[Joel Anderson]

That's right, man. Texas, Texas, Mexicans, Hondurans, they be on that hard. You know what I'm saying?

[Van Lathan]

Going anywhere. And so Puka, I think Puka. Puka from California. Puka probably is. Puka probably learned about the whole. Yeah, the whole N word situation. Where is he from? Where's Puka from?

[Joel Anderson]

Utah. Oh, wait, he was born in Vegas, but he grew up in Provo, Utah, man.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, okay. So, no, you're not from California at all. He get. That's. That's an er.

[Joel Anderson]

But wait, but them Utah. But the Samoans in Utah be on that, though, bro. Like, I mean that. I mean, they bang and everything.

[Van Lathan]

Samoans, the only that are in Utah. Samoans might be the.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, dog.

[Joel Anderson]

They really might be for, bro. Yeah, so that's what I'm saying.

[Van Lathan]

Samoans could be out there looking at the BYU and Utah, like college football teams, you know, It's a lot of Samoans. Samoans might be the niggas of Utah.

[Joel Anderson]

They might be. I'm saying, man. I mean, in that case, Joe, do

[Van Lathan]

you give Puka a pass?

[Host]

Yeah, there you go. Joel, that's a good question.

[Joel Anderson]

I'll tell you about the time I gave a white boy a pass.

[Host]

See, that was always a farce. Anytime people said they got the pass, it's like, you don't have the pass.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay, listen.

[Van Lathan]

Wanted to hear a story. More than the story that is about to be told. Silence from Van Lathen. Joel Anderson, proceed.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay, it's not. I mean, you're gonna be disappointed. But anyway, one time I was out with my homie, man. And I'm not gonna say who it is because he's important personnel. Anyway, it was a weekend night. We were just looking for some weed. And so he. He knew where to go get some weed. So we went to. I'd never been out on this side. He was west side of Houston, man, out near West Oaks mall, like Highway 6. And is that what. Where I was at in Beltway 8. So we way out there, dog. There's a part of town I'm not familiar with. It's dark late at night, and we go into this house, man. And the first thing I noticed this is like three pit bulls just running around loose in this apartment, dog. I was like. Like, what the fuck? And it was this white guy pops up, and he was the he was the dealer, man. And so he. But then. So he just starts saying, yeah, what's up, niggas? You know what I'm saying? But just like, just saying it, and he said it was so much confidence and so much familiarity. I was. And this is not my house. I'd never been to this house before. That man had three pit bulls and presumably whatever else going on in there. I was just like, yo, told my homie. I was like, if this is your boy, dog, he must be able to. I mean, he must be able to say it. Like, he said it. Like he knew that he could say it and nothing was gonna happen. And he was right, you know? So I don't know who that white boy is. He sold me weed one time in 2004. But I remember I walked. When we walked out of that house, and I told my dude, I was like, bro, don't ever put me in no situation like this shit again, dog. Don't. Don't ever. That like that. Well, I said, what would happen if we got attacked in that? What would we tell people about what had going on? This is when also weed seemed more taboo, you know what I'm saying? 2004, 2005.

[Van Lathan]

You know who I want to hear from on this?

[Joel Anderson]

Who?

[Van Lathan]

The whole. The audience knows. Pop on.

[Host]

There he is. Oh, yeah.

[Van Lathan]

I want to hear from Billy.

[Host]

You've been on Joel's side so far today.

[Billy Gill]

Yeah, I mean, I got the mandate that was support Joel, so I'm here to support. The only thing I was confused about a little bit was you didn't want to tell us the name of the person because it was an important person. So then I was like, who's this drug dealer that's an important person, has

[Host]

four pit bulls running around their living room?

[Joel Anderson]

No, no, my homeboy is sort of an important person.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Joel Anderson]

I don't want to say who it was.

[Billy Gill]

What sort of an important person mean?

[Joel Anderson]

He has a job where you just don't want to be affiliated with that kind of.

[Van Lathan]

What does that mean?

[Host]

Yeah, what does he do?

[Billy Gill]

What kind of job? Yeah,

[Host]

don't narrow the search, Joel.

[Joel Anderson]

Say it enough, Doctor. I knew him when I knew. I knew. He's been my homeboy. We grew up in Texas together. You know what I'm saying? Shout him out. That's my dog. You know what I mean?

[Host]

Here's the deal.

[Joel Anderson]

No.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, here's the deal.

[Joel Anderson]

You know, he is.

[Van Lathan]

This is the deal that we'll make before I talk about this story. If we figure out who he is, we get to say his name on

[Joel Anderson]

the podcast, my friend.

[Van Lathan]

You could tell us who he is. Yeah, your friend. You could tell us who he is, and we can just bleep it. But if we.

[Joel Anderson]

If.

[Van Lathan]

If we figure out who he is, we get to say his name on the podcast.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

You down with that?

[Joel Anderson]

I. I guess I could.

[Host]

I wouldn't take that deal.

[Billy Gill]

Seems like a bad deal.

[Host]

No, but, you know, it's a bad deal.

[Billy Gill]

Joel, we found Moncrief hall in five minutes.

[Host]

Yeah, you may have already said his name.

[Joel Anderson]

I mean. And I mean, the thing is, is that van keep also making that seem so much more homoerotic than it was, but it was not. It was just not. I mean, it just. It was just dudes letting off steam, man. You know what I'm saying? You gotta. Okay. You ain't never.

[Van Lathan]

Like.

[Joel Anderson]

You've never. So you've never watched, walked in a room and be like, I'm the best in here, dog. Somebody prove me different. You know what I mean? You ain't never walked in a room like that. Okay.

[Van Lathan]

All right, let me ask you this. So would you consider. Would you consider what happened when the white boy said to your face. Would you. Would you consider that to be. Would you consider that to be a.

[Billy Gill]

Out?

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah,

[Host]

that was the first one.

[Joel Anderson]

I will. I. I will cop the cuck it out there.

[Host]

That was your first fine bomb.

[Joel Anderson]

You know, it's funny, because I don't consider that the first time by a white person because I never. I. I count. Being called a to my face by a white person is happening my first weekend in Shreveport. Not that time, because I just. I get. I've just totally in my mind. That guy is allowed to use it. There's just no question about it. He gets. He got to say that day. So, yeah, I cucked out. Whatever homeboy's name is, man. I cucked out.

[Van Lathan]

I. I was.

[Joel Anderson]

It didn't seem worth raising a fuss.

[Host]

You also were. It was a transaction that was happening. So you were like,

[Joel Anderson]

I'm scared of pit bulls, man. For real.

[Host]

What?

[Van Lathan]

I'm scared of pit bulls, too, but

[Billy Gill]

the customer's always right.

[Joel Anderson]

Joel, you ain't never ran from a pit bull before, have you run from a pit bull before? Anybody in this?

[Host]

I never had to run from one. I've actually had some sweet pills.

[Joel Anderson]

Had to run from a pit bull

[Van Lathan]

before, I think some sweet. Some of them. Some of them are nice. So then let me ask you this. What was the time where you got called a nigga to your face? In Shreveport.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, do you really want to talk about this?

[Van Lathan]

Yes.

[Joel Anderson]

All right. All right, man. All right. Let me see how I can say this story. All right? First weekend, I start working at the Shreveport Times, all right? And some of the co workers that were there, they were like, yo. They were like, yo, we're going to go out and bowl this weekend. Do you want to come with us? I was like, hell, yeah. You know, I'm just. A new place. I'm just trying to learn people. And. And really, the thing was, I went because one of the girls was really cute. Okay. And so anyway, we go to. Oh, man, I hope my wife doesn't hear this story. I mean, because she does not. She does not like me saying anything about this shit. But anyway, so we. We went. We played bowling, and I was just much. I was amazed. I will say it was one of my most charming nights ever as a human being. Like, I was just rolling. I wasn't even high. Like, I was just. I was on my shit, man. And so we left the bowling alley. It's late. The other co workers left, but the cute girl decided. She said, well, do you want to go to IHOP at the, you know, over there on the Louisiana Boardwalk in Bossier City? I said, yeah, hell, yeah, let's go. So we went, got in there was sitting in the waiting area, and, like, four drunk white guys are coming in, and they're like. One of them was like, I'll fight any in here. You know, all this kind of. And he's kind of, you know, doing all that. And at first, I didn't hear him. I'm like, what are you saying? And then he said it again, and I stood up. Okay. And then that's when the IHOP person came in. It's like, no, you guys got. You can't come in here. You can get out of here with all that stuff, whatever. So. So that's what happened. I remember. I remember one young brother came in, and I'll never forget this. He's like 16 years old, and him and his boys came in, and I. He was like, what happened? And I was like, yo, he was out here saying. And he's like, man, I would have kicked him in his neck. I just never get him saying that.

[Host]

So, anyway, kick him in the neck.

[Joel Anderson]

I would kick him in his neck. I was like, that's funny, dog. Anyway, good night. Remember? A very memorable night. But you.

[Van Lathan]

But in that situation, you stood up.

[Billy Gill]

Yeah.

[Joel Anderson]

You stood up. I stood up. Yeah. Respect, Dope.

[Van Lathan]

Stood up because that. Because that's dope because remember in the Sopranos, I won't lay down. I'll step up. That's what you did. Like Beansy did.

[Host]

Yeah,

[Joel Anderson]

Sopranos. But yeah.

[Host]

Oh, yeah. What? Joe, you would love the Sopranos.

[Joel Anderson]

You think so? Yeah, I should give it a shot. You're right.

[Host]

It's. It's when I'm done.

[Joel Anderson]

I mean, grind tape season. So whenever this is over, I, I get to that. I got a lot of things on my list.

[Host]

You're kind of the tape last draft. Take that. You have like, what's something that you're like, there's the player. There's a. There's something out there that you're like. This is what I'm keeping my eye on as we get to the NFL draft on Thursday.

[Joel Anderson]

Well, I mean, there's two things. One, I hope Jeremiah Love goes to a team. I wish it was like a typical year for a running back where they went lower in the draft.

[Host]

It sounds like Arizona. I mean, the scuttlebutt that I'm getting is Arizona at 3.

[Joel Anderson]

I just, man, I love running backs so much, man. I just, I think the NFL is so cool when there's good running backs. I was, you know, dreamed of being a running back myself and I would just hate for him to get buried behind a bad offensive line. Like, you know, watching Ashton Genti last year, he was solid, but it was sort of disappointing. Well, I was just like you. What did you expect him to do?

[Host]

You know, they also tried to change a lot about what he was doing,

[Joel Anderson]

man with the stance. I was like, leave a man alone. Like leave him alone. He's fine. Anyway, that's why Chip Kelly didn't last very long. Right. Anyway, so yeah, man. So yeah, that's my, my top line thing because you had written on our sheet here, Tate hidden gem. And I want to give a shout out to Bud Clark, safety out of tcu, had four. It's this year. Ran a four, four one at the combine. He did everything right. He's a six year senior. He was one of the standouts at the Senior Bowl. Everybody talked about how dope he was and how good he was and how professional he was. I'm going to miss him at tcu, but I think he's going to be a fantastic pro. Like, I think he's just, you know, he's not ideal size, which is probably why he's not going as high, you know, as his play and his record would probably demand. But I think he's going to be do really well, in the league.

[Host]

Okay, I like it. Tcu Shout hidden gym. Van, any last thoughts on the draft? Any hidden gems?

[Billy Gill]

Anybody else?

[Van Lathan]

I can't wait.

[Host]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

I can't wait. This is going to be the last year of the LSU draft drought. We're coming back, baby.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, yeah. Sam. Sam levitt.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Joel Anderson]

Jordan se.

[Host]

$40 million coming back with a vengeance. You love to see.

[Van Lathan]

I think that the. I think that the second N word. I think that the. I think that the second N word story kind of sucked. The first one was dope, though.

[Billy Gill]

Yeah.

[Host]

The first one was better.

[Joel Anderson]

Wait, wait, which was better?

[Van Lathan]

The first one was better. The first in War story.

[Host]

More in. Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Tate, have you ever called anyone the N word before?

[Host]

My basketball teams would always try to give me the pass, and I'm like, I'm good, man. This is.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, they tried to make you say it?

[Host]

Oh, yeah. They're like. They're like, what's on?

[Van Lathan]

I know what the mascot of your basketball team was. The Coons.

[Host]

Vikings. They just wanted. They wanted to see it. You know, they. Wait. When you're the one white. When you're the one white.

[Joel Anderson]

Understood. That's the. That's a younger generation thing, man. Because, I mean, I just. I can't. I can't understand kids being like, yeah, man, go ahead and say it, bro.

[Host]

I mean, it's always a trap, though, you know? Like, you just gotta see what happened. I never heard a white person say the N word. So I went to private school and middle school, and then they were saying it all the time, and I was like, damn, they need to go to public school.

[Joel Anderson]

White people need to talk more about this because. Because really, I'm really always curious about how much is being said. And probably your van. And van obsesses over this, obviously. Like, he's talked about how many times a person said the N word or not.

[Host]

It was like Malibu when I went to private school.

[Van Lathan]

Hold on for a second. The essence. When they were saying it. Hold on. Wait a second now. When they were saying it, did you stand in the gap for us?

[Host]

Yeah, I was just like, y', all, wow.

[Joel Anderson]

Hold on. Because listening to Jeezy is one thing.

[Van Lathan]

When they were saying it, did you stand up? Hey, yo, yo. Did you stand up and say.

[Host]

I said, cut it out, guys. All right, guys.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Billy Gill]

See, I'm gonna.

[Joel Anderson]

Look, I'm gonna. I'm gonna try to keep the chemistry to go. So then every time. Been sitting around, start calling women have you stand up and be like, man, you know, don't call Don't. Don't do that. You can.

[Van Lathan]

I'll be real.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Imma be all the way real.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay. Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

No, yeah.

[Joel Anderson]

But.

[Van Lathan]

But I will say that, like, for whatever reason. I know people not gonna believe me, but for whatever reason, in my crew in, like, Louisiana, we did not call women like that. Like, nobody was. Now, hoes is different. Like, everybody. Yeah, but everybody was kind of a hoe, right? Like, women would call men hoes and stuff like that. Hoes was different. Hoes was different. Hollering at hoes, People would say stuff like that. All of that stuff. That's one thing.

[Joel Anderson]

Hoes with so many things.

[Van Lathan]

Hoes was so many things. But, like, to call a woman, to refer to a woman.

[Joel Anderson]

That's right.

[Van Lathan]

As a bitch.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, it's a sorry dog.

[Van Lathan]

Like that. Like that. We wasn't doing no ton of that where I was from. Like, is that a West coast thing?

[Joel Anderson]

Is that what the west coast dudes were doing in the 90s?

[Van Lathan]

I honestly don't know.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

I honestly don't know where I'm from. I can't remember. Man, y' all is doing. Nah. No, like, no. No, not at all. Yeah, not at all.

[Joel Anderson]

It's a little bit too out of the norm. It's like when people would use the slur for gay folks, and I was just like, yo, what the is wrong with you? Like, what I don't understand. Like, where is this coming?

[Host]

Just really out of pocket.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, this is out of pocket. Like, why are you even using that? Yeah, wait a second.

[Van Lathan]

So you stood up at that time.

[Joel Anderson]

What time?

[Van Lathan]

So someone says that word and you stand up, but someone says the N word and you let it slide.

[Joel Anderson]

I stood up that time that I was actually caught the N word. The other. I told you, I don't consider that as being called the N word. He was using. He was using the term as a term of endearment in the way that I use it, and I was just like, I. He has a comfort with this word that I'm just not going to dispute tonight.

[Host]

Yeah, Tough.

[Joel Anderson]

You know what I'm saying? It's tough.

[Host]

The draft, we wrapped it up. I. I think we're all excited for the draft, and we'll react to the draft next week once we have the. It's hard to. I hate to predict things. I like to react to things. So, I mean, trying to predict what's going to happen in the draft just feels like a futile journey. So, you know, let's get to some headlines of the week. There's Some fascinating stuff that came out. First up, Ty Simpson says he considers staying in college for six and a half million dollars an offer that he got from the Miami Hurricanes. And he was talked out of going to Miami by his old coach, Nick Saban. Was this good advice from Nick Saban?

[Van Lathan]

Van no, that's what I'm saying.

[Host]

I'm like, that's a great offer.

[Van Lathan]

In no way, shape or form, like, not in any way. For everything that I've said about college football, about what's happening with the money and all of that stuff. He should have went to Miami, played one year, but with a team that's got a lot of talent, it's going to have to do some retooling. Of course he should have done it. Six and a half million. He should have done it.

[Host]

Yeah, good deal. It's like Quinn, yours, when he went to, you know, go. I think he got drafted in the fifth round. He got $4 million offer from Bill Belichick, turned it down. I mean, now it might have been worse for him, but again, you get $4 million better than not making much money there. So six and a half million guaranteed sounds pretty good, Joel.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah. I mean, one more year being an important football player. 6.5 million in Miami, you know, he. So first of all, you're going to have a good line. You're going to have a lot of talent, bro. Yeah, you would just. You're gonna have six and a half million dollars in Miami, bro. Like, I mean, I don't know where

[Host]

you put 2 million in the trust.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, I don't, I don't know he's gonna go in the NFL now. He's probably going to be a late first round pick. Possibly. But you know, the other thing about Todd Simpson's oldest man, he's 23. I think he's 23.

[Host]

23. But Carson Beck's 24. So one year later, you're Carson Beck's age.

[Joel Anderson]

Carson Beck ain't gonna be a first round draft pick.

[Host]

Well, he's going to be his third, probably third round.

[Van Lathan]

That is the only thing. The only thing is, don't you just want to go ahead and start your journey as an NFL player?

[Joel Anderson]

You know, see if you can get that second contract as an interview.

[Host]

Oh, here we go. Oh, Billy's got thoughts.

[Joel Anderson]

All right, Go look at it now.

[Billy Gill]

Can I ask you guys a question? So I was thinking about this earlier too. So he gets a six and a half for one year, right? If he's a second round draft pick, I think he Gets eight to ten over like four years.

[Van Lathan]

Right.

[Billy Gill]

But if he goes to Miami, he goes into the draft next year, he's what, number quarterback? Because right now he's the second best quarterback. But if he goes into a class with Trinidad Chambliss, Arch Manning, like, where does Dante Moore.

[Van Lathan]

Really, really good point.

[Billy Gill]

And how far down does he fall in the draft if he doesn't kind of prove himself?

[Host]

That's true. Because he's probably gonna go 30 this draft. He'll probably end up going in the back door of the first round.

[Billy Gill]

It could just be an opportunity thing where he knows he's not going to go that high next year. So let me just get into the league and get more money, guaranteed over more time.

[Host]

Also, way less pressure. Right? Like, if you go to Miami, they pay you this money. They're like, we expect to be competing for national championships. If you're not good, everyone's like, it's your fault Carson Beck was even good here. So I, I see the vision. Maybe Nick Saban was right.

[Joel Anderson]

I mean, I think, I don't. I don't think that he could make a bad decision under these circumstances. But it sounds more fun, admittedly, to go to Miami on six and a half million.

[Host]

It's also just more fun to be in college.

[Joel Anderson]

Like, oh, man, well, he's not even going to have to go to class, really, man. You know?

[Host]

And that leads us to our next headline. Riley Leonard, former Notre Dame quarterback and Duke quarterback back in the day, he said, quote, I'm definitely making way less with the Colts in, quote, Joel, that kind of confirms that maybe it's better to get the money in college.

[Joel Anderson]

I mean, look, man, I mean, he was worth more to Notre Dame than he is to the Colts, you know, And Notre Dame is one of the biggest. And I would argue that in terms of, like, branding around the world or around the country, Notre Dame is a bigger brand than the Indianapolis coast. Right. It's the largest Catholic university in the world. So, yeah, like you want. He definitely made a good decision going to Notre Dame. And. Yeah, I mean, but this is why I think that older guys sticking around and playing in college football is a good thing. We're getting older, better players. And if they're making more money than

[Host]

they do in the NFL.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah. Who are making more money than they do in the NFL. Yeah. And I mean, that's, that's why I always just think it's sort of a crime, the Vince Youngs, the Johnny Manziels, the Andrew Lux, that they didn't get an opportunity to cash in a Reggie Bush, get to. To tap into all the money that they could have made in college.

[Host]

We were talking about that we should go back at some point in the off season and just try to figure out nil valuations for all Tim Tebow.

[Joel Anderson]

Man, imagine what Tim Tebow would have made.

[Van Lathan]

People through the roof.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Push through the roof.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Host]

That's like $20 million.

[Van Lathan]

Adrian Peterson through the roof. But you know who else, though, though? You know else, though? A couple of guys that didn't pan out as much as you thought they would have. Jimmy Clawson and Matt Barkley, guys like that.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Would have been just like ridiculously overpaid. They were so sought after.

[Joel Anderson]

Yep. Yeah.

[Host]

Yeah. I feel like Jimmy Clawson would have made like, yeah, $10 million to go back to Notre Dame or something.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, yeah. Chris Sims would have got. I mean, just. Yeah, just every or major Applewhite would have been. He would have had the opportunity to be a millionaire as a player. Yeah, I mean, back.

[Host]

I mean, what was Cam Newton go to Auburn, you know what I mean? Like it was250,000. Or at least that was what everyone said it was. It's probably closer to like 10 million.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, no, no. Nobody was bigger than Ricky Williams, bro. Like, I remember being in Texas when he was down there. He was a. Yeah, see me. All right. Yeah, but, but no, I mean, yeah, Ricky Williams would have been a millionaire. You would have been a millionaire many times over in college. But you know, again, it's just different times.

[Host]

Yeah, it's crazy. I feel like we should do that at some point. That would be fun. Next up, speaking of Notre Dame, CJ Carr apparently put on a scrimmage performance for the ages. He had a lot of tweets, obviously, a lot of Notre Dame media around covering one of the biggest programs, but they were all coming out saying how incredible he looked, saying that it looked like he already knew the plays that the defense was drumming up. Van, I wanted to get your thoughts on how much you read into a scrimmage performance and should this be as hyped as it is is.

[Van Lathan]

Look, he's a quarterback that people are putting a lot of expectation and thought into, and the only thing he could do was go out and play well. So if you play well, play well. I know that sounds like almost non take, but what, what are you supposed to make of it? Like it's a story if he plays bad. It's got to be a story if he plays well, if he goes out There and he's throwing against, you know, other action and he, he, he can't make the reads, he can't make the throws. It's going to be a huge deal. If he's going out there and he's throwing on air and he's. The ball spraying is going to be a huge deal. So by that metric, if it's going to be a huge deal if he fails, it's got to be a huge deal if he succeeds. You know how much Notre Dame is able to orient his, their offense around him this year? We'll see. But I mean, if I was an Irish fan, I would like, be over the moon that you have a quarterback that people are raving about.

[Host]

What do you think about Marcus Freeman doing the magazine spread?

[Van Lathan]

Hey, that's what I mean. Look, Marcus is like, like Marcus is. Is he the top sexy coach of college football? Yeah.

[Billy Gill]

Wow.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Host]

Joel. Joe, I think you're the expert here. Your thoughts?

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, Joe.

[Joel Anderson]

I don't know why I'm the expert. Let me look. Hold on. I was looking at it.

[Van Lathan]

Who is this?

[Joel Anderson]

It depends on who does his haircut.

[Host]

It's a lot of hairline questions more than anything, but I don't think that matters. He's still.

[Van Lathan]

Is he the hottest, though? Is he the hottest? This. Who's the hottest coach in college football? Joe, give me your top. Your top three.

[Joel Anderson]

I don't have a top. Give me your top three first and then I'll do mine.

[Host]

Well, you got Freeman. Yeah, he's up there.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

Freeman gotta be in there.

[Joel Anderson]

Freeman gotta be in there. I'm trying to think. I don't. I kind of don't remember what dudes be looking like, you know, Bob Chesney is a much spryer.

[Host]

Bob Chesney. There we go. Let's put him in the top three.

[Van Lathan]

Bob Chesney is in there. Bob Chesney is in there. Oh, yeah, Bob Chesney. Look at Bob Chesney.

[Joel Anderson]

Got Bob Chelsea doing his thing, man.

[Host]

Yeah, he's a good looking guy.

[Van Lathan]

Bob Chesney in there. So Joel. Okay, that's. That's a good call from Joel. He like him. Bob Chesney. Try to think of some of the. The bigger code you guys get. Y' all give any love to Lane Kiffin? Does he make the list?

[Host]

I feel like. I feel like Lincoln Riley and Lane Kiffin want to be on the list. You know what I mean? They want to be on the list.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah. I feel like I know that.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, they do. I don't feel like they quite on the list though, for what we talking about. If we talking about Freeman and the Chesney situation. Hey, what about the, the, the, the young man from Arizona State?

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, no.

[Host]

Kenny Dilly.

[Joel Anderson]

He's young. He's young. You like him.

[Host]

I feel like coach, I feel like Coach prime would want to be good on the list also.

[Van Lathan]

I think coach, that's a legacy.

[Joel Anderson]

He's a very handsome dude.

[Van Lathan]

He is handsome man. Handsome, handsome man. That's, that's a legacy, though. That's a legacy. In terms of that, I feel like there's somebody else that we miss.

[Joel Anderson]

We, we, we over.

[Host]

Let's reach out to the tailgaters out there. Let us know who, who the right.

[Van Lathan]

Ryan Day, like, Ryan Day is a hot boy.

[Billy Gill]

Oh, Billy Nipple ring gone but not forgotten. Sharon Moore would have been on the list probably, right?

[Joel Anderson]

No,

[Host]

Joel.

[Van Lathan]

What about.

[Host]

I think Joel's scared. He could tussle with him.

[Joel Anderson]

Hold on, man.

[Host]

He's got good feet. He's offensive lineman.

[Van Lathan]

I don't know, bro. I don't know, man. I'm not sure.

[Joel Anderson]

No, I don't think so. I, you know, I'm not sure. He got a line up in beard like a white, like he got a white wife. You know what I'm saying? He just does. That's why Marcus Freeman's problem is, you know,

[Van Lathan]

that's what his problem is.

[Joel Anderson]

A black woman would get that line straight a little better than what he got. They just, because they just don't know. They don't care.

[Host]

He's got the Jalen Brown going on a little bit.

[Van Lathan]

Look, I went to ranker.com and I'm gonna be honest with you. We got to get our bona fides. Bona fides. Should I say we got two of the top three? We got Marcus Freeman and number three is Bob Chesney.

[Joel Anderson]

Damn.

[Van Lathan]

Okay, we got two of the top three. Some of these other guys are not head coaches. We only count head coaches. Six, though. Before we get off this, before we get off this, can I interest you guys in Dan Lanning?

[Host]

Nah, I, I, I, I wouldn't have saw. I didn't think that one. I mean, it came to mind as like a coach that could be in the mix.

[Joel Anderson]

But, but he's top six.

[Host]

Who's number two? Who's number two? Coordinator.

[Van Lathan]

Number six is a guy named Vic Soto, who is the linebackers coach at

[Host]

at Cal who made this list, by the way?

[Joel Anderson]

Really?

[Van Lathan]

This is ranker. You never go to ranker before.

[Host]

I, I, okay, I got you.

[Joel Anderson]

What do you think about Crystal Ball.

[Van Lathan]

I mean, if you into like a big bear to.

[Joel Anderson]

You know, he looks like a. A. A handsome sheriff. You know what I'm saying?

[Host]

What?

[Joel Anderson]

He looks like a handsome sheriff, like

[Billy Gill]

in some chaps and stuff.

[Joel Anderson]

Chaps? Is that what sheriffs wearing in Florida? In Miami Dade?

[Billy Gill]

Some spurs for sure.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay, you guys, really.

[Billy Gill]

I mean, if you console Crystal Ball,

[Joel Anderson]

we're gonna have to.

[Billy Gill]

You don't think you. You think you could tussle with Crystal Ball?

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, of course not. Okay. He's a former lineman dog. Come on.

[Host]

All right, so the top three is Freeman, Lanning, and Chesney.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, Freeman landing. Chesney, Freeman. Freeman seems like he's number one with a bullet, though.

[Host]

I feel like he's number one and then there's like a huge drop off,

[Van Lathan]

like a huge gap.

[Host]

Yeah, he's doing all right. No wonder he's doing magazine shoots. Love to see that. We mentioned Coach Prime. I wanted to get your thoughts on this, Joel, and I wanted just to hear you say her name again. Coach prime looking healthy and happy with Karrueche.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah, man. Karrueche.

[Host]

Say it. Say it how you say it.

[Joel Anderson]

Karuchi. That's how I say it.

[Host]

No, you said. You said like karate chop.

[Joel Anderson]

I didn't say it like you did. Like a high end Karuchi. Good for me, good for him.

[Van Lathan]

Karrueche is gorgeous. Like, he looks happy. I'm happy for the health and happiness and success of Coach Prom, man. Yeah, man.

[Joel Anderson]

Good for him, man.

[Host]

I thought that was good to see. And like you said, he's supporting Jordan Tyson. It seems like he's in a good headspace. So we're pulling for you here on Ringer Tailgate. We got to get Coach prime on the show. Let him have a spaced event, you know?

[Joel Anderson]

You got it. You got his sunglasses. So, I mean, so we should be in there.

[Host]

Yeah, we got to reach out. I don't know.

[Billy Gill]

I don't.

[Host]

I don't think. I don't think I can pull the interview. But we'll reach out to Alison. We'll see what can happen. Next story. Blue sky experience major outage. Dozens of users were impacted, Joel.

[Van Lathan]

Also all the users.

[Joel Anderson]

What.

[Host]

What was your day like when Blue sky went down?

[Joel Anderson]

You know, I don't spend as much time on Blue sky as y' all think. I'm actually, you know what I.

[Van Lathan]

You turned your back on.

[Host]

So you're not one of the Joe.

[Van Lathan]

You ain't, bro. No, like you came on here talking about.

[Joel Anderson]

No, I still am on There I still go on Blue Sky.

[Van Lathan]

You turned your back. You turned your back.

[Joel Anderson]

I haven't turned my back on.

[Host]

You were skating everywhere in the fall.

[Joel Anderson]

I'm skating everywhere.

[Van Lathan]

And now you don't with me anymore. You back on Twitter, arguing with people.

[Joel Anderson]

I'm not on Twitter as much as you think I'm on. I'm on Blue sky on Twitter about as much as I used to be. Most of it for work. And then it's just like, well, there's some people on Twitter that I still recognize, and I don't see them on Blue Sky. So I interact with them. I really like Blue Sky. And when I do my Saturday college football tweet rundown, I do it.

[Host]

It's gonna be on Blue Sky.

[Joel Anderson]

That is the home. But, you know, it's kind of bringing back a feeling. 2012, 2013, 2014, Twitter, you know what I mean?

[Host]

I'm with it. People say what they want on threads. It's not.

[Van Lathan]

People go crazy. I got dissed on threads. People be dissing me on threads. I like that.

[Joel Anderson]

Do you?

[Host]

Van runs to the smoke, which we appreciate. So do you.

[Joel Anderson]

I mean. Yeah, I don't run from the smoke. Yeah, that's not.

[Host]

That's not a. I mean, unless it's Paul.

[Joel Anderson]

Not my problem.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Unless it's Fine ball or. Dude, that's at the work.

[Joel Anderson]

Like, say, do you want to have a problem with me?

[Host]

I'm just having fun.

[Joel Anderson]

Okay. All right.

[Host]

I'm just having fun. We had a great start today. Bill said he we wanted you to have lunch with him. I mean, did he say that?

[Billy Gill]

Yeah, no, before he got on, then he said he didn't like to be waiting, so. Yeah, I think he rescinded the invitation. Can I ask you a question also?

[Joel Anderson]

We gotta hurry up. This is going much longer than expected and.

[Host]

All right, we'll wrap it. We'll wrap it up right here. You got a babysitter? You got a babysitter.

[Joel Anderson]

Yeah.

[Host]

So, Billy. Billy, go ahead.

[Billy Gill]

So you have this reputation, Joel being a cuck. I think that has been established on the show. So my question is, like, with the situation with Paul and all of that, like, you had an opportunity to come in here and watch Van and Bill do a show on your set, and you chose not to. You left. You didn't want to watch that time.

[Joel Anderson]

I didn't. Okay. First of all, too far. Second of all, I did not. Oh, man. They screaming. Look at it. I got. I'm getting text messages anyway. No, I'm not professionally.

[Host]

I mean, of Course, yeah.

[Joel Anderson]

When I clicked on that link, they would. I saw Bill talking. I didn't see anybody else. I'm like, oh, I'm on this link. Bill's talking. They must be recording. So that's why I got. I hopped out of the link because I was like, well, I don't want to be. I don't know how the zooms work. You know what I'm saying? So I didn't know if you guys were actively recording something, and it would mean that if I said something, it would mess it up or whatever. So I clicked out, you know?

[Host]

But no, you did say something, though.

[Joel Anderson]

You guys are going to have to decide if either I fight all the time or if I don't fight all the time. You guys are going to have to.

[Van Lathan]

No, no, no, no.

[Joel Anderson]

You guys are going to have to settle this narrative.

[Van Lathan]

We can't even get into this because I'm looking at.

[Joel Anderson]

Oh, oh, no.

[Van Lathan]

Look at the menu of. Of Publix. But next. Next.

[Joel Anderson]

Next.

[Van Lathan]

Next show, we'll get into this. T. Put a pin in this. Yeah, next show, we get into this because there's an answer here.

[Joel Anderson]

We.

[Van Lathan]

Because we'll go another 45 minutes. I know you don't want that. I'm looking at the chicken salad sandwich at Publix. Oh, D. But, like.

[Joel Anderson]

But the turkey is. Is really good.

[Van Lathan]

This public looks good. It's public. Is it crazy?

[Joel Anderson]

This.

[Van Lathan]

They got a whole menu at public

[Joel Anderson]

Sandwich is very popular. It's very popular in that part of the country. I didn't know. I didn't realize it was a very expensive one. You know what I'm saying? Oh, Ben. Fried chicken's really good, too. That. That grocery store smells really good when you walk in there.

[Host]

Well, I like this as kind of a cliffhanger. We need more cliffhangers on ringer tailgate for the next episode. Keep people hooked in. So we'll come back next week. We'll kind of go through this whole thing with Joel. We'll identify what's going on here. Shout out to everybody for tuning into the show. Thanks to Bill Simmons for coming on the show. His first ringer tailgate experience. Joel's got to go deal with the babysitter. We hope everybody has a great week, and we will see you all next week. Must be 21 or older in president. Select states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas Star Casino. Or 18 and older in President D.C. kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800- GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET. Call 1-887-897-777 or visit ccpg.orgchatinconnectic or visit mdgamblinghelp.org In Maryland, hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050. For 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE&Y, or text HOPE&Y in New York. For Louisiana, call 1-877-770-7867.