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- [00:00]
Daniel
Foreign.
- [00:18]
Gerald Goodridge
Welcome in everyone to the Longhorn Republic, your source for Texas Longhorn news, sports and opinions with a bit of snark built. And we are members of the Dave Campbell's Texas Football Podcast Network and the College Football Huddle and you can find more about both those great organizations. Our social media bios if you like what we do, please leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It helps get the show out there. Share this with friends at any podcast platform you found us. You can also connect with us on social media at Longhorn Pod, on Twitter and Blue Sky, Facebook and Instagram the Longhorn Republic or shoot us an email longhornrepublicpodgmail.com My name is Gerald Goodridge. I'm your host this week like I am every week, and I'm joined by a man who's feeling swampy. And it's not just because he's in Houston, Kyle Carver. Kyle, how are you?
- [00:59]
Kyle Carver
104. Feels like 118 this week. It's swampy all over. But Gerald, I actually was thinking about, I don't know, you're a bit removed from these kids music streets. My daughter loves a dinosaur. Loves dinosaurs generally. A dinosaur song in particular says dinosaurs have great big feet that stomp, stomp, stomp. Second line. Dinosaurs have great big teeth that chomp, chomp, chomp. And it goes on with chomps and stomps for a while. And the whole time that we're talking about Florida, I have chomp, chomp, chomp so stuck in my head all week. So chompasaurus, chomp, chomp. But we're not talking dinosaurs. In fact, we're talking gators, which I think my Intro to Dinosaur class that I shared with like 15 to 20 football players when I was on campus told us that alligators and crocodiles are descendants, of course, of our original dinosaur ancestors, birds. Also, if you wonder where dinosaurs went, they became birds. Birds is the answer.
- [01:57]
Gerald Goodridge
Birds, gators and sharks never evolved. So that's a thing for another day. But we're not here to talk about any of that. We're here to talk. Continue our two preview week. We've got Florida today. If you didn't catch Mississippi State and our friend Landon on Tuesday on Wednesday, check us out there. And then we obviously again, Florida today. We're excited to have that. And then Kyle's we're going to close the show out with Bol our burn orange lenses and our Godzilla Tron. We've got a big Godzilla Tron for you this Week, we were to say six weeks away from college football kicking off in Austin. And so we are continuing our run through the Texas Longhorn schedule. Like we mentioned on the Tuesday show, we are doing a double preview week this week. We did infrastructure week last week with the offensive and defensive linemen. We've got Mississippi State already in your ear. Ear holes. And now we've got our friend Daniel from the Gator podcast here to help us preview the Florida Gators. Man. Daniel, how are you doing today?
- [02:52]
Daniel
I'm doing well. Got my annual wake up and begin your podcast for the season call from you guys. I'm glad to. Glad to be back.
- [03:00]
Kyle Carver
That means it's officially preseason. We moved from off season to preseason. We got to do. Do some previews. That's right. It's always a good time to have you on, man.
- [03:07]
Gerald Goodridge
We finished up talking season. SEC media days are in the rear view. We are officially getting going. So it's. It's a new era in Gainesville. Florida moved on from Billy Napier. Texas probably bought him a couple of extra weeks last, but a disappointing 4 and 8 campaign. Bringing in John Summerall from Tulane and Troy to reset kind of the program and culture and really get Florida back to being the Florida that I think we all expect them and want them to be for the sake of college football. So, you know, what's the vibe? What are the feelings around Summerall and how are Florida fans feeling about the hire?
- [03:48]
Daniel
Well, before we get quite the summer, I do want to say back to that bottom a few more weeks. Fun story about that. There is a UF staffer who had a burner account who after that game basically ripped the fan base with a tweet that read something to the effect of look at Sun Belt, Sun Belt, Billy and the boys now. And the thing is, it was very easy for people to figure out. It was Mr. Jacob La France who was part of the social media team, I believe, and that did not go well. And that secret account went away pretty quickly. But anyways, that's a little Florida Gator side that maybe you. You guys in Texas didn't hear about, but it's a funny thing that was tied to that game. Uh, but anyways, the vibes are doing really well in. In Gainesville. Basically. One way of putting it is that Summerall has come off as the right kind of psycho. If you think about Steve Spurrier. He had his own way of jabbing people, but really was visceral in certain ways. And then you think of Florida teams with Urban Meyer and. And Urban Meyer's a maniac in his own way. And then you've got John John Sumrall coming in and you know, he doesn't care, just comes in, says what he feels. Was on a Gator podcast back, I'd say I believe it was March. I'm listening to it and a lot of people were listening to it and he kind of took a veiled shot or maybe didn't mean to and it was just a complete accident, but kind of took a veiled shot at Billy Napier, which won him a lot of respect for some people where he talked about, hey, I'm all about each year we sit down and we say what's our personnel? And we do what's best on offense and defense for our personnel. Sometimes that's five DBs, sometimes that's four DBs on defense. He went through a bunch of technical things, but. But then he got to the offense, which of course your fans heard last year. How I felt about Billy Napier in the offense and I had been told by someone that Billy Napier would not have the control or at least have a lot less control. That turned out not to be the case. And of course floor goes 4 and 8. But anyways, he talked about, yeah, if we don't have two great tight ends, we're not going to run 12 personnel all the time. Which, spoiler alert, that's what Billy Napier loved to do with two, maybe not SEC level tight ends and kept doing it despite the fan saying, why don't we go to our talent at receiver? But neither here nor there. But there's things like that from summer. All that have really made the fan base love them. Also the hiring of Buster Faulkner from Georgia Tech and promising an explosive offense because if you think of Florida in the best years, when Florida's been successful, they've had explosive offenses and really great passing offenses. And one thing I've I was always wary about Billy Napier is his career average was finishing in the. I think the average is now in the 60s. His offense is finishing in the nation. Whereas Buster Faulkner, with Haynes King, who's not really known for his passing game or for running, still had a top 30 passing game at Georgia Tech last year and now he's coming to Florida. We don't necessarily expect that in year one, but we do expect, you know, a lot better offensive product. And so we'll see. We're happy about, you know, so the hiring and the dedication. I think even in media days he said Florida needs an explosive offense and things like that have really brought the fan base up on him. Granted, after the last decade there's still a wait and see. And, and I may be wrong, but I'm sure Texas after, you know, the decade they had before Sarkeesian was kind of still in that, you know, wait and see with Sarkeesian. And of course he's gone and overall done great things, I think, and you can tell me if I'm wrong. There's been times he's kind of done iffy things, but still better than where you were with Charlie Strong, which I hate to say as a Gator fan or you know, some of the other guys you had in the interim.
- [08:21]
Kyle Carver
You know, we started this podcast under Charlie Strong. We, we had lots to talk about. I'll just say that he's a very good man. There's no doubt about that. So it's interesting you talked about Buster Faulkner, right? The DJ Lagway, let's call it experiment is come to an end as Faulkner comes in and I'm very aware of his offense, as Gerald can attest, as I won multiple national championships in our online dynasty with Georgia Tech last year. But a Georgia Tech quarterback, Aaron Filo, as well as highly recruited red shirt, I believe freshman from Tramell Jones are the likeliest, I think, to take snaps. Do you have a read on who's going to be taking snaps against the Longhorns?
- [08:59]
Daniel
To be honest, I do not. And the reason is even John, John Sumrall, he's even said, I don't know who's gonna start. He lets his players decide is how he puts it. Now, I don't think that's the players sit there and vote, but it's basically how are you playing, how are you preparing? And he's not made any announcement. There's the thought that Aaron Filo being with Faulkner for years gives them a advantage. However, in the spring game, I feel that Tramell Jones looked better in the spring. But granted, one day of spring doesn't necessarily show every day of practice because we've all seen and I hate to bring up a good example, you know, Florida, Texas last year, Florida has an out of their mind game. Texas has a not so great game. Now, did that show exactly who everyone was on one day? No. And that's kind of why I don't want to fully judge it based on the spring game. But with that said, if I had to say based on what I saw and based on things we've seen in the past, I would probably lean Tramel Jones. Although I could see Philo getting the nod. The only Thing I want to see is whoever's whoever gets the nod. I hope that they do well, but if they don't, I want to be able to see a change at quarterback and not wait too long until it basically penalizes Florida or it's like you get to a point where you kill a kid's confidence. With that said, we're also Florida fans where we used to see Steve Spurrier even pull some of his best quarterbacks at time to sit them down and be like all right, here's what we're going to do. And also Steve spurs famous quote that Moses quarterbacks have gone on and said wherever. And that's it's not your fault, it's my fault for putting you in there. So we, we will definitely see how that works out and I'm hoping for great things for whoever is a starter.
- [10:55]
Gerald Goodridge
Steve Sarkeesian uses a similar with his assistant coaches. He says it's not, it's not your fault, it's my fault for hiring you to his assistant coaches quite often. So that's something that, you know, Spurrier is one of the all time great. So the quarterback has a lot of questions. We also again the passing game. Overall, Faulkner is a tight end heavy guy. He usually does like to run a lot of, you know, 12 personnel or two tight situations, but maybe that's not the personnel they have. We know Dallas Wilson is there with them. Like who do we expect to be on the receiving end of those balls regardless of who's in the backfield?
- [11:29]
Daniel
That's a great question. And I will say as of right now, I don't see as much 12 personnel coming out of Wester Falkner going back to what Sumrall said, you know, on that podcast about 12 personnel. If we don't have it, and currently not saying that Florida doesn't necessarily have good tight ends, but I'm not sure if they're at the point where we've got them got them where they're better than like you said. Dallas Wilson. Vernell Brown III was excellent for Florida last year. Eric Singleton coming in from Auburn, who also played at Georgia Tech under Faulkner and then also has some relationship with Philo because they were there at the same time. Bailey Stockton, who went to high school and played with Aaron Philo, also at Georgia Tech with Faulkner, has come over. And then you've got transfer Micah Mays who in the spring game caught 122 yards, I believe two touchdowns, including a beautiful 75 yard touchdown pass from Tramell Jones. So I think when I look at the talent. Definitely there's more talent there in the receiving room. I. And I believe I saw a breakdown where we threw the ball 77 times in the spring game as opposed to 40 runs. Now, I don't think it'll be quite that lopsided when we get to the season, but I think that was more Summerall trying to show the fans, hey, we're willing to air it out and I might be stealing your next question. But of course, Jaden Baugh, who many places rate the top, you know, one of the top three backs in the SEC with Lacy, with. With Hardy, and then Jaden Baugh is in there. I think Lacey and Hardy were media day first team and Ball was second team. I really think it just comes down to a few different things. Last year, Baugh had a great season, capped off by a big 266 yards against FSU to go over a thousand yards. First gator back in 10 years to get a thousand yards in a season and did it without a bowl game. And I think he's going to be as good as the passing game is. I know that's weird to say, but last year, for example, when we went to Kyle Field and this happened quite a few times is we start off Kyle Field throwing the ball all over the place. One of our tight ends who is returning Amir Jackson, catches a touchdown and Jaden Ball has a lot of success early in that game. Then A and M adjusts and basically does what the meta was. Was. Well, you know what, let's just force him to run. We'll put two deep safeties. Usually this is not getting beat by Billy Napier's offense and we'll hammer down on the run defense. And Jaden Baugh, you know, I think he started off with like 50 yards in the first half, ended up with 60, 70 yards. And there were several games where the similar thing happened where it collapsed where here. If we can get at least a decent passing game and force teams at least respect further down the field, I think that'll open up room for Jaden Baugh because teams can't just say they're not going to beat us deep. They're not going to challenge our backside so we can continue to stack the box. So I'm hoping for that. I'm hoping it gets a thousand yards and I'm sure to cap off on the. On the offense. You're going to ask about the offensive line, aren't you?
- [15:11]
Kyle Carver
I. I will.
- [15:11]
Daniel
Just.
- [15:12]
Kyle Carver
Just because Gerald and I don't like to skip the trenches. We love the, the Big Fellas and Jaden Ball, I do include him in the Big Fellas. I call him his, his knight name. His medieval name is Jaden Ball the Untamperable. We, we not we. Sorry. Some schools out there may or may not have tried to tamper to get him to leave and he remained faithful. So good on you guys. But in addition to the passing game predicting success, obviously offensive line is probably the strongest indicator of what an offense and what a running game is going to do. How do you feel about the offensive line knowing that Texas is bringing one of the better edges, edge rooms I would say in general in the country and a really good front seven. How do you feel about the, the Florida offensive line this year?
- [15:54]
Daniel
Well, to be honest, it's a giant question mark. I do love the hiring of Phil Trotwine, former Florida all American as the offensive line coach. Comes over from Penn State where he put many guys, many that were much lower recruiting ranking than what you he'll get at Florida putting them in the NFL and putting them in the high rounds. Brought over some guys from Penn State with them. The question is, does it gel early? I think it was best said by John Summerall at media days. To paraphrase, hey, we're gonna get our butts kicked if it does not improve. Now that could be a call out challenge. That could be, you know, he's downplaying a little bit personally after losing guys like for your starter at left tackle. And of course I'm gonna blank right now on his name. And then Jake Slaughter, All American center. We're already, we already have holes. Austin Barber. I knew I'd come to it as soon as I moved on. So you lose guys like that, of course you're gonna have to try and replace. Now the good news is one of the guys we brought over, Harrison Moore, looks like he's going to be playing at center plate, center and guard for Georgia Tech. So many people say one of the biggest guys, at least in college football on that line is your center knowing where to call out the blocks and whatnot. So that is a benefit for us. The question is what's it going to be like him transferring to the SEC from the ACC and then where the other guys gonna look like spring? They talked about we improve their, we improved their fundamentals a lot. And for me, I don't care what school it is just by improving fundamentals that can really improve a player's game if they're doing it wrong. And then one last thing I will say about that line is last year's line and years before that did not have that great of a strength coach. We had hired a strength coach a few years ago who within a few weeks got hired off to Boston College. When Bill o' Brien went there, he had a relationship with Bill o' Brien said, all right, guys, peace. And we're like, hey, you're that guy's assistant strength coach. You know what? You're promoted. Didn't really work out well. But now we have Rusty Witt, who is just like John Sumrall, insane in all the best ways. When I found out we were hiring him, went and watched his stuff. Former Army Ranger, went, watched interviews he did at Tulane. Because it's one thing to look at someone's interviews when they're at your school and you're like, yeah, but it's also interesting to look and see. And I'm like, okay, a good strength and conditioning program, or at least a better one than what we had with essentially an assistant running it for two years. I think that's going to help. But at the end of the day, you talk about bringing some of the best edges. We're going to see how that is. We know how it looked last time we were in Austin. I expect it to be better. I don't expect a 42 to 0 score to be on the board and a quote about keeping the coach and a tight shot on Scott Strickland. Not to say that's a meme in Florida Gators land, but. But I don't expect that to be happening in Austin this year.
- [19:32]
Gerald Goodridge
So let's, let's dial in on the other side of the ball. Brad White comes over from Kentucky. A lot of experience from a unit the year a year ago that's honestly pretty good. Like, the defense was solid. I mean, you know, if the offense is able to put together like a couple of 21 or 28 point games, like Florida goes from 4 and 8 to like 8 and 4 if you look at the, if you look at the numbers. So, you know, they return a lot of production from last year. They also got a couple of key transfers and like, what do we expect from that unit, especially as the offense tries to figure out what the heck it's doing with the all new personnel.
- [20:09]
Daniel
Yeah, that is a great question. I'll get this part out of the way. The defensive tackle, slash nose, tackle position, that's the biggest question for Florida is the interior of the defensive line. We do return several guys, including Jamari Lyons, who missed all last season with a knee Injury so hopefully getting him back. He's a redshirt senior that'll help get us some more depth. We have Brendan Bett who last year was great at times and other times he was spitting on USF players to get them a 15 yard penalty to help move them down to kick the game winning field goal so and had one or two other controversial penalties. But with that said, you know it is hoping that things like the better strength and conditioning will help that out. The question is more so the depth and we will see how that works out. Now granted going back to summer and talking about personnel maybe we see more of a 33 at times a 335 to kind of mask some of that. Yeah some of that depth issue or that's what I assume a defensive minded coach and a guy like Brad White who's known for playing different formations at Kentucky based on what he had and also this is Brad White's probably most talented defense as far as like recruiting rankings and stuff he's ever had. So I'm very curious to see how it turns out. Now moving from the interior of the defensive line to the outside. Cameron James, senior had a pretty, pretty good year last year at defensive end. Jaden woods or not redshirt true freshman last year did well also on that untamperable list as many schools tried to get get him to come over. Dude is a beast. Really hoping the two of them do well. Also true freshman KJ Ford had a great spot spring look great in the spring game. And then one name on the outside that I haven't seen too many people really talking about outside of Gainesville is LJ McRae, former top 10 recruit in the nation on the defensive line. Barely played last year, foot injury, missed pretty much the entire season and didn't really play in the spring but should be ready for fall camp last that I heard. So if I miss something and some Gator fans are watching, sorry. But he should be ready for the season, good to go. And if he shows the talent that you know lives up to the recruiting ranking that's just another guy who's going to be dangerous on this defensive line. And again James did well last year. Jaden woods, you know you guys talked about an overall solid defense last year. Now you've got guys, you know a guy stepping up from true freshman to sophomore and going to a Brad White who has experience who might be able to take them to the next level. And I'm, I don't want to take all your questions so what do you have next no, you're good.
- [23:27]
Kyle Carver
I mean just, just you tell us like why don't you speed run through our next two levels here, give us your take. I know Cormani McLean's a guy who played against us last year. He's a big time recruitment in the secondary. There's some names I recognize looking at the depth chart there. You feel good about basically linebacker and defensive back, both three. If you get a three, three, five positions there or any, any areas that are question marks in those groups.
- [23:55]
Daniel
Well, definitely starting at the linebacker. Miles Graham, Jaden Robinson, Aaron Chiles, multi year players. Graham true junior, true junior as well for Aaron Chiles. They've played all three years. Jaden Robinson is a true senior, has played a lot of football for the Gators. So if there's one area on defense I feel the best about, it's definitely that linebacker room, whether they run two or three linebackers. And then you also have some sophomores behind them such as Ty Jackson. And so now I don't really think we'll see too much beyond the main three, barring injury. But you never know. And with that moving to the defensive backfield and the reason why I say you never know is last year Florida's defensive backfield ended up at times only having one starter playing due to injuries. It was crazy. And as I go through I'll talk about Cormani McLean, of course. One time one of the top recruits in the nation goes to Colorado, basically becomes a pariah. Billy Napier takes them on as a walk on player. He earns a scholarship at Florida, hopefully continues to build on that talent because if he does, the sky is the limit. There are times he show he's shown great flashes, times it's been kind of questionable. And then Bryce Thornton at safety, he's a guy who's played and or started all four years at Florida, may have some speed issues, but what he lacks in speed he definitely can bring the hit and definitely brings experience which you can't undersell experience in the sec, that's for sure. Free safety. We're going to either see DJ Coleman or Cam Dooley, both transfers. Both I thought looked pretty good in the spring game at times. At one corner back we'll either see Javari Flowers, who played quite a bit as a true freshman last year, or Ben Hanks iii. His dad was a Gator player back in the early 90s and he had some time last year where he ended up having to play due to injuries but didn't get more than four games so he was able to Keep that red shirt. Dijon Johnson currently is injured. May or may not.
- [26:26]
Gerald Goodridge
Great name.
- [26:27]
Daniel
Yeah. May or may not be back in time for the beginning of the season, but when he's played he's looked really good at Nichols. Staff has been high on Kanye Clark who's a transfer over from ucla. We'll see how it works out with the turnover in the secondary where last year we saw so many different combinations to injuries and you're looking at potentially starting two transfers. I'm hoping it works out well, but I can't tell you when they'll all gel. And I almost went through without giving shout outs to Laganza Hayward, who last year I thought looked phenomenal coming in as a true freshman and playing some of the safety spots. And then Alphonso Allen who was a walk on who came in last year and I believe it was a Mississippi State game. He comes in and everyone's like who is this guy playing? Who's this guy starting? And honestly was possibly the best player on the defense for Florida going or in that game and that's not or that's including the defensive tackle who sealed the game with interception when Jeff Levy had one of his head scratching moments there at the end of the game. But we both benefited from this last year, right?
- [27:48]
Kyle Carver
Not enough guys named Alfonso is my main takeaway from that in.
- [27:51]
Daniel
But, but yes, there you go.
- [27:54]
Gerald Goodridge
So let's, let's kind of put a button on, on the football piece of it. So when we let's say we're sitting here in in December or January and we we say that Florida had a successful season, Daniel, what does that mean to you?
- [28:11]
Daniel
There are a few, few things I'd say to that. And another Gator podcaster had posed the other day a question very similar and one thing I'd say is one that Florida showed after 16 years that they are generally serious about a passing game again. And what I and the reason why I say that is yes, we did have part of a year in 2019 and in 2020 we had a great year with Kyle Trask. But there's lots of debate whether that was Brian Johnson who then went to the Eagles. His impact because the next year Dan Mullen's scheme went back to what it was before and Florida didn't do well. But the reason why I bring that up is Florida high schools. You're going to see a lot of wide open offenses and things that Florida really hasn't done much in the last 16 years. So by seeing that you're going to see what leads to the next section of what's successful and that's recruiting. If players see an offense that they want to play in as opposed to, okay, they're just going to do two tight ends and hope for the best. Well, if I'm a receiver, I might go to Bama or Ohio State or somewhere where they're going 3, 4 wide. Where Florida could keep more talent in state, I'm sure in Texas you know that keeping in state talent is very important. And that's something that Florida has not done well in the last 10 or so years, is consistently keeping the top guys in Florida. So that's why I'm saying that's my key to number one which leads number two to recruiting. Now, the of course most people want the objective. What record would we be happy with? Well, to be Honest, I think 8 and 4 is the floor for that record. And I'll say this, that breaks down to Florida winning. It's three non conference games which are fau, Campbell and yeah, go Campbells and fsu. And FSU is a complete dumpster fire. So Florida should win those three games. Going five and four in the sec. It's not really what you want as a Florida fan, but in a year one, especially after what you've been through five and four, going over.500 in the SEC, I think that's good. And you get some of the teams like you get Vanity at home after they've lost Pavia, so they. I doubt they'll be quite the heights that they've had in recent years. You get South Carolina at home, you're for better or worse. I would rather be playing them. But you're avoiding Tennessee, you're avoiding lsu. As I saw someone the other day, if you would have told us 10 years ago, Florida would be facing Texas for the third straight year, but they're not playing Tennessee or LSU. You'd be like, what? What's going on here? But a schedule that sets up pretty nicely. Ole Miss is probably still dangerous at home, but I would say without Lane Kiffin, are they going to be as dangerous in that whole setup that he had once. Now it's fully in the hands of oh, why you can tell my mind's out of it. Anyways, you know, point is, Florida's schedule sets up nicely. You go to Missouri, which again, Missouri is a good team, but it's still a more winnable game than, you know, some of the teams you could be facing. You know, I said Tennessee, lsu, Alabama, you know, you get Oklahoma at home, again, a dangerous team. You go to Austin, which is dangerous, but there are opportunities there. And if the team last year, and I hate to, I'm not trying to pick on you guys, I, I swear. But if the team last year could put it together and beat Texas, there's no reason to believe that maybe they can't beat Oklahoma at home to help get, get to that, get to that win total. So we'll see. I've told people my nightmare scenario. It'd be a dream scenario, but nightmare scenario, and I've not said this on my podcast yet, so if people come in and watch, they'll be like, oh my gosh, my niece, who's a double Gator, went to undergrad and med school at UF is getting married. What would be the first weekend of playoff games? So if Florida somehow goes nine and three in a nine game SEC schedule, that might be something where Florida actually gets into the playoffs. And here I am going to a wedding. I'm praying if that does happen, and it would be just my luck. I went to every single Billy Napier game home and away. Florida gets something good and now I'm missing it for a wedding. But, but with that said, I do think floor is more likely to go 8 and 4, possibly 7 and 5 and 7 and 5 would not be like a major disappointment. But we're also not looking at going to a bowl and possibly having a losing season like we did in year one of Billy Napier. But I would say 8 and 4 as far as that. And then as far as defense, just not sometimes looking totally lost, which as solid as we were last year, there were times last, last year as well, like final drives for the most part against USF Mississippi State, where it's like, we just can't stop this team or we're gonna spit on the opposing player and give them 15 yards instead of getting a stop. Not that that still bothers me or anything.
- [33:44]
Kyle Carver
I can hear that. I'll tell you, 9 and 3 doesn't unnecessarily guarantee you a playoff spot, as we've seen. So don't, don't worry about that. Texas last year. And also if you happen to beat ou, no one's too upset about that. We're going to go to our closing segment here, shooting from the hip, and I'm going to start it. You remember how we do this? We have a little fun. We kind of rapid fire. So first thing that comes to your mind, I'm going to start it. One of the, my favorite Internet memes of a few years is Marco Rubio an alum of the University of Florida, suits up in whatever position is deemed necessary of him in the government or otherwise, while sitting on the couch. If he had to suit up this year for the University of Florida football team, where would you put him?
- [34:22]
Daniel
I put him at fullback because I'm pretty sure I could be wrong. But I'm pretty sure his son Anthony is still on the team and I'm going to double check because why not be his son's running back? And yes, Anthony I do believe is on the team this year and he's actually scored a touchdown for UFP for There you go.
- [34:49]
Gerald Goodridge
Let's think through the the history. We talked about this. We've done this with with other guests before. Vinnie Fiorello is the one of the founders of the seminal 2000 SCA band less than Jake. He's a Florida alum. So which Less Than Jake album name would you use to describe the 2026 Florida season? Oh, Borders and Boundaries. See the Light or Silver Linings?
- [35:16]
Daniel
We'll go see the light.
- [35:18]
Kyle Carver
I like it. Love it. Silver Linings conveys a certain message. So I I'm glad you avoided that trap there. Florida is a lore heavy university. You've told some of that lore on this podcast in previous appearances. But the question, the way we want to ask it this time, a lot like Texas, there's a lot of traditions to love. Some that maybe you don't love. What is one piece of University of Florida lore that you actually think is overrated?
- [35:40]
Daniel
I don't know if it's necessarily lore, but can I say something?
- [35:43]
Kyle Carver
Tradition just drives me. Yeah, let's hear it.
- [35:46]
Daniel
That comes it comes to mind when you're like something that's overrated. First off, if you haven't been I do love singing. Won't back down after the third quarter if you get to see it at night. Just awesome. However, what I hate, and I've actually said this before, is for some reason there's a lot of people that think there's an ooh ah during that song and like just kills it and feels so dumb. And of course my brother doesn't. I want to just smack him every time he does next to me. But it is what is either that or something Florida fans do. And it started back during the Jimmy Mac era, Jim McIlwain, where they hold up their hands on third down and move their fingers like they have money. The problem is on third down, you know, an important down. A lot of people, as I've described on my podcast, hands go up Mouth goes shut. So this is what you get. Trying to intimidate fans all of a sudden. The last few years on third down.
- [36:48]
Kyle Carver
Interesting.
- [36:50]
Daniel
So if you had to do. If I had to say something. I can't say any specific lore here are traditions I think are ridiculous.
- [37:00]
Gerald Goodridge
Last one before we let you go. We do this to everybody. We did it to you last year, I believe. Say one nice thing about Miami.
- [37:05]
Daniel
Say one nice thing about Miami. Their stadium can sure host some World Cup.
- [37:11]
Kyle Carver
There you go.
- [37:13]
Daniel
Oh, wait, it's not their stadium. Their campus is in a nice part of town.
- [37:18]
Kyle Carver
There we go.
- [37:20]
Gerald Goodridge
I love it. I love it, man. Daniel, thank you so much for giving us some of your time today, man. If folks want more of what you got to offer, where can they find you on the Internet?
- [37:28]
Daniel
Yeah, you can find me on X at Gator podcast. Also the podcast Gator Truth. It's available anywhere you get your podcast. You can find us at gator truth on YouTube as well. I do five games a week that I pick usually the morning of and sometimes I'm in crazy places like last year one. One time I was in Kings island up in Mason. That's a amusement park for those not familiar. Another time I was next to a road in New Orleans and you just never know where that can come from. Home games. I'm usually by the baseball stadium, but that is what it is. But also just trying to have some fun videos up there and it's always fun interacting with you guys. Thank you for having me again. Usually once I see that Longhorn Republic, it's oh, this is my wake up call. It's time to get ready for the season. Let's do this.
- [38:28]
Gerald Goodridge
Love it.
- [38:29]
Kyle Carver
Thanks for coming on. Always, always a pleasure. All right, Gerald, nice talking Florida Gators. Now we're going to take a look at the world through some burnt orange lenses. Excited? I got to drop a rocks for jocks reference in our intro shout out to again all the football players who attended that class with me. Was a good class.
- [38:48]
Gerald Goodridge
I slept through so much of that class.
- [38:50]
Kyle Carver
Learned something we had the advantage of knowing geology from our our previous profession as tour guide to Texas largest and most spectacular underground attraction. But Gerald, we need to talk about things burnt orange. And we will do so starting with a bit of volleyball news for horns win gold. It's always good to win gold at the, you know, Norcaika, which we all know is the North Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation Norcaca Women's U21 Pan American Cup. Gerald, how hyped. Besides the World cup is Norcaca U21 Pan Am, your number two cup of the summer.
- [39:28]
Gerald Goodridge
It is definitely one of the cups of the summer. I mean, it's always good to see Texas players competing on the national stage. You know, winning, winning world championships. It's always good, especially in a season where we expect Texas to hopefully bring some gold to Austin. Abby Vanderwaal, Taylor Harvey and then two incoming freshmen, Genevieve Paris and Henley Anderson again getting championship game experience in a year where we hope Texas hoists a trophy. Feels good.
- [39:55]
Kyle Carver
Yeah, it was nice to see the the top high school setter set to the top high school outside hitter and do it in a gold medal fashion. So bring that straight to Austin, keeping it volleyball. Incoming beach volleyball trio also earning some medals at the AVP Juniors National Championships. In fact, Ella Grimes beat Bella Schenberg for the golden gold medal match. Ella with her partner winning gold, defeating Bella and her partner in the championship for a gold silver finish.
- [40:27]
Gerald Goodridge
Let's get Ella Bella on campus and win some gold here in Austin. I, I was trying to decide if I went with a Ella Bella or a Grime Schenberg because Grime Scherfenberg feels very much like a car crash billboard law office. So I couldn't decide which one I
- [40:44]
Kyle Carver
want to go to.
- [40:45]
Gerald Goodridge
But Leon Y's also got a gold in that one. So Texas well represented on the metal stand.
- [40:49]
Kyle Carver
Yeah, the 18U competition grime Schenberg does actually sound like a really good German wine, which if you haven't had German wines, they're a sneaky one. But I like Ella Bell. I think that's what we're going to do for the season. You heard it here first. Speaking of folks who you didn't hear it here first, you probably heard it elsewhere. But folks who won't be plying their Trade on the 40 next year. Two Longhorn relief pitchers signed professional contracts in addition to the six drafted. We saw Hayden LeFou making his way to the Tampa Bay Rays and Cal Higgins going to the Philadelphia Phillies.
- [41:24]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah, so in addition to the six players that Texas got drafted, I mean, we knew these folks were gone. So not much to say there other than best of luck and hook them forever.
- [41:34]
Kyle Carver
Texas SMRs are both relief pitchers, so Texas has a full stacked bullpen. We'll see. Wouldn't have minded having Hayden, but you know, go, go pursue your dream and Major League Baseball team. Why don't you go, go make that money, son. We'll talk a little golf here, Joe. We have a couple different stories. We'll start in the professional ranks. I just like to update this because it needs to be said. Scotty Scheffler is having like six shots away from an all timer season. But instead he added yet another runner up at the 3M this past weekend. And the interesting thing is who he finished runner up to. Jackson. Jackson Koivan from Auburn, who was a thorn in the college golf side for many years. Happy to see him forego his senior year. And he just went and found another Longhorn to terrorize as I believe the like 10th youngest tour winner of all time. Scotty just, just can't get over that hump. And again he's having a really incredible season. By all Metrics he's top 10 and everything. But is is, you know, some records you don't want to have your name on. Right?
- [42:37]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah, I mean the second PGA player ever to have five runner up finishes in a season. Sucks to have that. I mean granted I would also kill to. He's probably, I mean he's probably in the five figures at this point. Yeah. So like I would definitely take those tournament checks.
- [42:59]
Kyle Carver
I won't tease my, my burnt orange or excuse me, my Godzillatron, but yes, the, the money won at golf tournaments is, is of consequence. But yeah, 11 top five finishes and just 17 starts. It is a really good season for Scotty. He just sets the bar like he should have. Six wins and it's, you know, almost there. A player who does have wins. Former Longhorn. I hate to say that sentence. Tommy Morrison, who has graduated and moved on and joined the Korn ferry, earned his first professional win at the Evans Scholar Invitational. Big win for big, Big Tom.
- [43:35]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah, you know, a three shot win for him in just his fourth pro start. So like moving toward getting that, getting, getting his name among all these Longhorns that we expect to see doing big things on the PGA. Four top 10 finishes in each of his last four starts. Other names you're probably familiar with. Luke Potter finished fourth. Cole Ham retired for 17th at Christian. Moth Moss at 34th.
- [43:59]
Kyle Carver
Speaking of Moss, he was named the 2026 Gary Player International Golfer of the Year. Former Longhorn selected to receive the award that honors the top international collegiate golfer.
- [44:10]
Gerald Goodridge
A South African native. Got his final holes in Austin this past spring. Six individual and program history to claim four all American titles. So again, Christian Moss, one of them. Christian Moss, one of those guys that you can't tell the story of Texas golf without.
- [44:25]
Kyle Carver
I thought you're doing a Barcelona thing there. Kristen Moss. Christian Moss. I don't do a good South African Accent. I'll workshop it. But yes, kudos to him keeping it golf women's golf. Charlotte Naughton who we talked about when she committed wins European Ladies Amateur Championship. She's an incoming freshman who's already doing big things. 15 speaking of big things at the amateur level, 15 from rowing compete at the U23 World Championships which run which ran from the 23rd to the 26th in Dweesburg. Everyone's trying to get to Duisburg, Germany. Everyone knows that. So seven different countries represented. Gerald, who were you rooting for?
- [45:05]
Gerald Goodridge
The US is usually what I go for in international competitions. Kyle. I felt like that was a setup. Barbados is not competing at this so other than that, fair enough. Usually my two options.
- [45:15]
Kyle Carver
Fair enough. We had four representing your your beloved Stars and Stripes. Three for Germany, three for Australia, two for Great Britain and a couple others individually representing their country. A cool one in this was Texas associate head coach Gia Dunan was also coached the USSW4 at that event as well. And then Gerald. A bit of whimsy to close out this section. Hook Em was nominated for the 2026 Mascot hall of Fame. Some people don't realize this. While Bevo is old and and we know the true story if you ever want to hear it, of how he got that name of course. But Hookum, the mascot version, the. The human inside of. Of a costume is not that that ancient. It is a more recent tradition but it is very much a part of the Longhorn sports fabric at this point. So big honor. The voting. The online voting we missed. This has closed so you can't go and support it now we just wait. When I check the site earlier it was not announced the actual class but among the 11 nominees. We'll see if Hookham was able to pull through.
- [46:15]
Gerald Goodridge
Eleven nominees in that again Cosmo the Tiger and Mrs. Met. Who Mrs. Met has become an Internet favorite for various reasons. Feel free to google that. I also again Kyle and I both know very well a former Hook Em so it'd be great to see them in the. In the hall of Fame.
- [46:34]
Kyle Carver
Yeah, I know a few. I think. I think one of my. I think I wrote a Daily Texan article back in the day about the many faces of Hook Em because I. I knew a few of the people who were who donned the mascot head shout outs to you know who you are. You listen to this. You better listen to this. All four or five of you. Gerald, let's. Let's keep this on track and get this thing home. Godzilla. Tron. What have you Been watching on your giant screen?
- [46:53]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah. So I finished the audiobook for the Devils, which is Joe Abercrombie's kind of foray outside of his first law world. Really enjoyed it. Very funny. One of my. As somebody who's trying to write their own kind of fantasy situation, I lament the fact that I will never write anything as clever as Joe Abercrombie. The man is just incredible. The way that he does these little subtle word plays and things. It's just really, really fun. Fun. It's, it's not as he kind of is one of the modern masters of the grim dark stuff, but this is not the grim dark. It's, it's, it's more realist, not realistic. It has real world stakes and real world consequences and outcomes. But it's more optimistic than a lot of his other things and a little more hopeful. So I really enjoyed it. And then my wife and I actually, this afternoon as we're recording it went and finally got a chance to see the Odyssey. We're near an imac screen, so we took the opportunity to do that. Plus it's a AMC and we got half off Tuesday, so it felt like the right thing to do at the right time. But we saw the Odyssey and it was, I think everything we, I expected it to be based on the Internet's reaction. It was good. Christopher Nolan is a, is a master of what he does. I think there's nobody that makes a blockbuster better than him at this point. He makes a blockbuster with substance, which I really, really appreciate. I was having a conversation with my wife. I can't decide if Christopher Nolan makes dumb movies for smart people or smart movies for dumb people. But either way, I am the target audience for it. Like it was a good adaptation. I think them not doing the generic British accent for anything ancient or, you know, Greek or whatever was a smart decision. And I think honestly going the modern vernacular made it better. I think it would have been distracting hearing Ben Affleck or hearing Matt Damon try to do Homer's pros. I think it would have been awkward. So turned out, I thought it turned out really well. It was good. Didn't feel like three hours.
- [48:45]
Daniel
Okay, sure.
- [48:46]
Kyle Carver
I, I, we, we tried to, we had a date night with a babysitter. We were about to book tickets and realized, you know, we were leaving at 8 after bedtime. Let's call it an 8:30 showing and wouldn't get done close to midnight. And neither of us had confidence we could stay awake. It's a great film. That's Just, it's, you know, so it's, it's a tough sell.
- [49:03]
Gerald Goodridge
So we'll have to get it for that very reason.
- [49:05]
Kyle Carver
Yeah.
- [49:05]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah.
- [49:05]
Kyle Carver
So that's, that's. Yeah, that's what we're looking at.
- [49:07]
Daniel
I would love to see it.
- [49:08]
Kyle Carver
Also, you went Abercrombie and then. I've been trying to make a joke here that landed.
- [49:14]
Gerald Goodridge
I was.
- [49:14]
Kyle Carver
The closest I got to was Agamemnon and Fitch. I just, I couldn't, I couldn't tie those together for you. But I am excited. As someone who loved the. Don't. Did you know this movie is based on a book, if you will, so who loved that as a teen and got very into Greek mythology and literature and AP English and nerded out for a while back then. I've been very excited for, for this. But yeah, we'll have to find a time to see it. What I have seen, Gerald, to wrap this one up, is a little show called the Hawk. Gerald, are you familiar with the Hawk on Netflix?
- [49:50]
Gerald Goodridge
I am familiar.
- [49:51]
Kyle Carver
Okay. Because my social media, it lines up very much with. I don't get like that much on Instagram or, or anything, but if I log on, like, you could tell what they're pushing me. Makes its way to the top. And Will Ferrell on Hot Ones or Will Ferrell and various things. It's like Will Ferrell doing sports. You need to see this. As a Talladega Knights and, and, and, and fan of, of his works over the years, I'll even go back to sports. Cheerleading and sports. Craig the Spartan spirit leader. If Will Ferrell does sports, I'm gonna watch it. So I haven't watched the whole thing. I think I'm two, maybe three episodes into the Hawk on Netflix and it's awesome. It's so dumb, but it's like, it's, it's good. It's got heart. It's really a not bad hang. You know, there's, there's some familiar faces in there. And he's tremendous. He basically, just the short of it that you learn very quickly, is a former world number one and elite PGA golfer who has three majors and is going for the. The fourth to have the, the full grand slam and basically chokes it away. And when you see him, he's years removed and playing on the very corn fairy tour that the Longhorns are dominating from our earlier update. But it's about him, you know, living in his tour bus and trying to hold on to glory and also find his way back. And it's like, feel good in a little bit of ways, but it's not quite Ted Lasso Y but it's ridiculous. Like there's some very, there's some good cheap laughs. It's good. It's easy. My wife who loves Will Ferrell, which always cracks me up but like loves Will Ferrell was the one who recommended it. So it's a very, very easy sell. I thought it was going to be a Kyle show when I saw it publicized to me, but it is very much becoming us show and I am enjoying the hawk. I've been always enjoying Will Ferrell on my, on my screen.
- [51:36]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah, I mean it is on the, it's on the list of many things I need to watch. It feels like it's going to be a good background watch. I'll probably have to check it out. I've got some travel coming up next two weeks. That'll be a good way to do it. That's all I've got for you this week, Kyle. Where can the good folks find you on the Internet?
- [51:52]
Kyle Carver
Oh, you can follow me on Twitter and Blue sky Kyle Corbin. You can also follow the Texas Spree Gamer at Texas Spree Gamer.
- [51:57]
Gerald Goodridge
Follow me on Twitter and BlueSkyh. Get Ridge Fall show both those spots at Longhorn Pod, Facebook and Instagram the Longhorn Republic. Or shoot us an email longhorned public pod gmail.com we'll be back next week with more previews. Be more balanced week. We'll have an opponent preview and a position group preview. Back to the linebackers next week. Thank you so much for tuning in. Until next time, hook them, Florida Gators.
- [52:20]
Kyle Carver
Chomp, chomp dinosaurs. Chomp, chomp.