Colin Cowherd (35:20)
Tomorrow. Lincoln Riley on the show. A lot of pressure on him. I'm watching some other reasonably notable talking heads talking about Lincoln Riley is. I think it's fair. Lincoln riley inherited Bob Stu's momentum and program and won 11 games a year. And there's no question he can coach. That's not the question. I've, I've watched every USC game of note over the last three years. He can coach, but the question is can you build a program that's different? That's a different, you know, that's the difference between being a good podcaster and, and building a podcast empire. Those are two different asks. So I know Lincoln Roddicken coach and I know he can recruit. But there is so much in developing a program. It is relationships, the staff you hire, developing players, recruiting players, you know, building a staff. Saban was unbelievable. Saban would lose an offensive coordinator. He just kept, I mean Jim McElwain, Dennuss Meyer, Jasar Deciffin, Bill O'. Brien. He just kept nailing the other side of the ball. So Lincoln can coach. The game plans are smart, his quarterbacks all work. The question becomes wow. And I, and I worry about it because I looked at the all first team Big Ten selections. Indiana had four, Iowa had four, USC had none. Now I do think they have three or four really good players that could make first team after the season. But those are, those are all fair questions about Lincoln running. Can he build his own program now in fairness. He won 11 games and a lot of big games at Oklahoma. So it's not like he took over for Bob stoops and won 11, 10, 9, 8. They were really, really good. I was bringing him on the show because he was so innovative offensively. All his quarterbacks became great transfer guys, guys in the program. And he also took over a mess at usc. I had somebody inside the program, not Lincoln Riley, tell me when they took it over, they felt they had 35 to 37 USC players. Over half the roster shouldn't have been at USC. It was a big lift. It was a. It wasn't a moderate lift. It was a big, big lift. And so, by the way, it feels like kind of the lift Dabo Sweeney had to make when he got to Clemson. They weren't very good. It took Dabo three full recruiting classes. Now the critics of Lincoln Rodney could say, well, he has the nil. That's fair. I said before he can coach, can he build his own program? Shovel in the ground? Four years later, they're a major playoff team. We'll see. I think they're about an eight or nine win team. A lot depends on the quarterback play. They finally have an offensive line that I like with like NFL bodies. So we'll see. So it's. We talked about this earlier today. I think Jaden Daniels is remarkable. He's the best rookie quarterback I've ever seen. That includes John Elway. I don't remember much about his rookie season. I remember more about the middle and end of his career. But he's the best rookie I've ever seen. Better than Andrew Locke and John Elway, who are both really good, really smart, really athletic, but made a lot of mistakes and threw a lot of picks. He doesn't do any of that. Part of the reason that Jaden Daniels has worked so successfully, he gets rid of the ball quickly. In fact, last year he get. He got rid of the ball second quickest in the league. And that's for a guy that could tuck it and run. That is discipline. That is cognitive ability. That kid could take off and run. He's like, no, I'm gonna get rid of the ball. So you're talking about a kid that is functioning above the shoulders. And this was what Mahomes does. Mahomes could take off and run every play. He does it about three times a game. So you're. Jaden's a guy that is just different. He is different with his legs, his arm and upstairs. I mean, he is functioning at a level upstairs that Just veterans don't do second quickest release. That is something for a rookie. That means he can see it and let go of it. And by the way, there's a lot of guys as rookies that can't even see it. They can't see the openings. He sees it and lets it rip. So. And it's funny because I was watching a podcast called Pivot. Bill Belichick was on it and he was talking about Brady and of all the great things Brady did. It's the two things last year that Jaden Daniels has already figured out. As a quarterback, we all know worst situation you can be in is long yardage. And so as long as the ball moves forward, you stay out of long yardage. And Tom did such a great job of not allowing negative plays to happen to our offense. Number two, as I've told Tom many times, Tom, we can't gain any yard until you get rid of the ball. Then of course he made, you know, great decisions under pressure and had a tremendous ability to see the field and understand situational football and make quick decisions under pressure. But isn't it interesting, the first two things he mentions are no pre snap penalties. We always went forward and we asked the goat to let, let go of the ball quickly, not to hold it. So again, Jaden Daniels, get that thing out of your hands. That's where Caleb Williams has to improve. I don't care about his total yards and his touchdowns. I don't care. Let go of the ball. He holds the ball. Some of that is hero ball. I want to make a play. Don't. It doesn't work. You can do a little bit of that. Cam did, Big Ben did. Your career will be short. So he just got. Now you can, you can blame the offensive line, but Matt Hasselbeck and others, including Greg Cosell came on the show and said, don't blame the O line for all of it. He's holding the ball too long. And so here's the other thing to remember. Our staff found this stat. If you go look at Caleb Williams numbers last year, J Mac, this is interesting. When he held the ball under two and a half seconds, his passer rating was 99. Over two and a half, it was 81. So meaning the best stuff, the fruit on the limb is on getting rid of the ball quickly. So you think to yourself, no, I'm going to hold it. Let the play develop. No, the play deteriorates, protection deteriorates. Take it. 1001, 1002. Let her rip. That's what Jaden Daniels did. It's what. Caleb didn't do it. And I understand the habit because in high school and college, Caleb's like, I'm all, hold it a beat and you win. Lamar Jackson had a little bit of that his rookie year. First two years I'm going to hold. Told it to be. No, no. That works in high school and college, and it works in the NFL a little, but you will take a beating. And Lamar, what did he do about year three in the league? He put on weight and he ran less. It's like you figured. Michael Vick told me. Yeah, I got hit by London Fletcher. I decided to get better in the pocket like that. That's just the. I think it was London Fletcher. That's just the reality of the position.
