Ryan Seacrest (21:04)

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big Wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good with Mint you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment.

Stephen A. Smith (21:26)

Of $45 for three month plan equivalent.

Ryan Seacrest (21:28)

To $15 per month required intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra.

Stephen A. Smith (21:33)

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Ryan Seacrest (21:42)

Today show for all of it. When things are tough, we talk about it. When there's something to figure out, we dig into it. And when there's joy, we celebrate it.

Stephen A. Smith (21:52)

Because today is where it's all happening. We get the best start to every morning because we start it together. Watch the Today show with Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin, weekdays at 7am on NBC. Welcome back to the Stephen A. Smith Show. Now let's get to Round one of the NFL draft. As expected, Cam Ward went number one overall to the Tennessee Titans. And not too long after the pick was announced, news broke that the Jacksonville Jaguars traded with the Browns to acquire the second pick in acquiring Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter. Meanwhile, my Steelers are still looking for a quarterback after day one, and Shador Sanders is still on the board for round two. So joining me now to break it all down, break all down, the headlines we saw last night is the one and only Adam Schefter. What's up buddy? How you doing?

Ryan Seacrest (22:43)

Stephen A. Always great to be with you. Nice to see you.

Stephen A. Smith (22:46)

Shador Sanders didn't even get drafted in round one. Were you surprised by that?

Ryan Seacrest (22:52)

The longer this went on, the more it seemed like this was a possibility. It felt like the Giants weren't going to take him at 3, the Saints weren't going to take him at 9, and the one shot he had was 21 to Pittsburgh. And the Steelers talked about the idea of taking him, but there was nothing consensus within the organization. They needed help along their defensive line and they opted for the Oregon defensive lineman Derek Harmon. And so Shador Sanders was left sitting on the board watching other quarterbacks like Jackson DART Go number 25 to the new York Giants. So when you ask if we're surprised, I think the longer this went on, the closer we got to the draft, the more we all recognized that this was possible. And when the Steelers passed on him at 21, it became a reality.

Stephen A. Smith (23:40)

What about Jackson Dart? The Giants moving up to grab him? I didn't hear from anybody other than our very own Dan Orlovsky that Dart was going to be somebody that possibly would be taken ahead of Shador Sanders was. I mean, that didn't throw you for a loop at all.

Ryan Seacrest (23:56)

We talked about it in the pregame show on college game day. Pete Thammel pointed out that there was a possibility that Jackson Dart could go ahead of Shador. And look, the Giants and Saints and I believe the Cleveland Browns as well, all really like Jackson Dart. So much so that I think each of those teams would have taken Jackson Dart ahead of Shador Sanders. One of the three did, and I believe the other two are in the same category as well. And so Shador Sanders is still sitting there right now going into round two on Friday night. I really think we're at the point now the Steelers don't have a second round draft pick. Their next pick is number 83 in the third round. And you say, well, could he, would he, would he last till then? And it's hard to imagine that he would. But strange things have happened. And I also think that people are reacting like, oh my God, he didn't go in round one. And he is Mel Kuiper junior's top rated quarterback. Guess what? There have been a lot of quarterbacks over the years that have slipped into the second round that have gone on to have successful NFL careers. When Mel Kuiper first started ESPN his very first year, his third rated prospect in the entire board was Boomer Siason. Boomer Siason went into the second round and all he did in the National Football League was win mvp. Drew Brees fell into the second round, Jalen Hurts fell into the second round, and now Shedor Sanders has done the same.

Stephen A. Smith (25:19)

Adam Schefter, I always appreciate the knowledge that you drop, so help me with your perspective because I'll certainly take it from you verbatim. Covering this league the way that you have me covering the NBA and just overall sports over the last 30 years, certainly your talent and your skill is paramount. That's primary issue number one. We got. You've got to have the ability. But I've seen many executives sometimes make decisions because they didn't want to deal with potential headaches. Somebody that could have the ear of folks, somebody that could have the kind of influence and cachet that could disrupt whatever their vision was for their franchise. That brings me to Deion Sanders did that play. Did his presence, his aura, his cachet, and the fact that he's a relatively loquacious individual when he needs to be and he will speak up for himself, his son, etc. Did that play any role in your mind at all in the possibility of shadow falling out of the first round?

Ryan Seacrest (26:21)

Well, probably did. I mean, again, I don't want to blame DeAndre. That's not what we're doing. But I think when a team is drafting Shador, it recognizes what would come along with that. And you'd have a very famous, very accomplished father that would come along. And we wrote this in our ESPN Draft intel column that ran on ESPN plus last week. I said, short of Mike Tomlinson, there aren't many coaches around the league that might be comfortable drafting Shador. And knowing that if and when their seat gets warm, people in that city could be calling for his job and calling for Shador's dad to replace him. Like that definitely could happen in time. I don't think Mike Tomlin would care about that, but I think there might be other coaches who would. And beyond that, I just feel like for whatever reason, Shedeur didn't have the best interview process. There are some teams that did like him. There were more that didn't. For whatever reason. It's strange to me because again, he does have the support. And when you watch him, you see how talented he is. And the bottom line, Stephen A. Is the facts speak for themselves. Every team had a chance to pick him in round one. Nobody did. We're back at it again Friday night. More teams will have another chance to draft him. And so that's the great part about the NFL draft. You got to put your cards on the table. You see where teams stand on certain individuals and right now you're seeing where teams stand on Shador Sanders.

Stephen A. Smith (28:00)

His collegiate teammate didn't have that problem. Travis Hunter, Jacksonville Jaguars moving up to the number two spot, making a deal with the Cleveland Browns that ultimately landed them. Travis Hunter. You broke that story. Can you talk about that? Travis Hunter and what they told you or why they told you they like this kid so much?

Ryan Seacrest (28:21)

Oddly enough, I think we could first lean into what the general manager, the Cleveland Browns, said about him. Despite the fact that he traded away the draft pick, he called Travis Hunter a unicorn. He compared him to Shohei Ohtani.

Stephen A. Smith (28:34)

Wow.

Ryan Seacrest (28:34)

A two way player. And I think those are some of the things that the Jacksonville Jaguars were drawn to. In the end, they saw what they felt was like the best player in this draft. They saw somebody that they thought could come in and play wide receiver at a high level for them. They're going to onboard him as a wide receiver. They're going to have him play defense. I think they're going to do everything they can to get the value out of the number two pick in this draft. And they felt like they were getting a star player, a dynamic presence, a great personality. You saw him last night dancing on the stage once he was selected. They loved everything about him. So much so that they were willing to give up their second round draft pick today and their first round draft pick next year, which is quite a lot. But Jacksonville would tell you, hey, there's no price that's too great for a star that has been compared to Shohei Ohtani and that's why they paid up and they're going to play him on both sides of the football.

Stephen A. Smith (29:36)

How are the Jacksonville Jaguars feeling about Trevor Lawrence right now? They're $55 million quarterback.

Ryan Seacrest (29:41)

Well, Stephen, what I would tell you is they have a new head coach, Liam cone, who they brought in to elevate Trevor Lawrence. They have a new general manager, James Gladstone, the youngest general manager who pulled off that trade on Thursday night. That's a huge swing to take. Think about that. The first trade of draft picks in the 2025 NFL Draft comes from the youngest GM in the league and somebody who's making his first draft day trade. And that was a doozy. There aren't too many people that start that big, but he comes from the Rams, don't think he cares about taking big swings, not as concerned about keeping the draft picks. And I think that they feel like he can help elevate Trevor Lawrence. And so that's the idea and the thinking gear. They're giving Trevor Lawrence a restart, a reboot with a new head coach who has worked in elevating the play of quarterbacks. They're giving him a new GM who obviously thinks differently and aggressively than a lot of other GMs. And they're hoping that between the new head coach, the new gm, new assistant coaches and the changing culture, that Trevor Lawrence can turn out to be the quarterback that many thought the Jaguars were getting when they selected him with the number one overall pick.

Stephen A. Smith (30:49)

That would be crazy. The new GM is 34 years old, so it's going to be really interesting to see how that works out for them. Switching to the Cleveland Browns. They're on the other side of this deal. They passed up on a Travis Hunter to make this deal move down to fifth in the draft ultimately got a first round pick for next year, sort of recouping some of the losses that they have to, you know, they have to suffer from the Deshaun Watson trade, wouldn't you say? Adam Schefter, isn't that how you would break it down?

Ryan Seacrest (31:16)

Well, Stephen A. They have not had a top 50 pick in the pre three previous drafts. So when they selected Mason Graham from my University of Michigan in Thursday nights or first round, that was the first time in four years that they've had a top 50 pick and they're making up for it now because now going into tonight's draft they have two of the top four selections in the second round picks, 33 and 36. And they already have the Jacksonville Jaguars first round draft pick in 2026. So they're on the board with two first round picks next year. And that's why I know a lot of people are saying quarterback tonight for the Browns. They might go that route, they could certainly. But they also could opt to pick two really strong players and say we're punting on quarterback in what we consider to be a weak quarterback draft class. And we will revisit this topic a year from now when we have double once that is an option going into the draft tonight and we'll see how the Browns react to it.

Stephen A. Smith (32:20)

What's the NFL feeling about the draft that the Giants had last night? Carter and then obviously moving up to draft dart? How are people feeling about the Giants right now?

Ryan Seacrest (32:29)

Well, I think most talent evaluators felt there were two blue chip prospects in this draft, Travis Hunter and Abdiel Carter. Jacksonville got one, the New York Giants got the other and Abdiel Carter, who has been compared to Micah Parsons who wore number 11 at Penn State, plays like him, looks like him and if Micah Parsons, a version of that showed up on the Giants roster, that would be great. Jackson Dart, the quarterback they move up and Stephen A. I'm just telling you, I think that they jumped in front of the Browns. The Browns were happy to sit and wait and they jumped in front of the Saints who definitely wanted Jackson Dart. The Saints weren't scheduled to pick again to number 40. Saints weren't willing to use their number nine overall selection on Jackson Dart, but clearly there was something of an arms race to try to get the Jackson dart and the Giants won that. And the great part about that is that they did it without having to give up a first round draft pick next year. So if Jackson Dart comes in this year and they feel like he's a total bust which isn't going to be the case. They could always use their first round pick on a quarterback next year if that's what they want. That's not their plan, trust me. But all they had to do is trade, I believe was a couple of third round picks to move up to that spot. Whereas the Atlanta Falcons, one slot in front of them, wound up trading a first round draft pick for next year to go get draft James Pierce, the defensive lineman. Giants didn't have to give up the future one, the Falcons did, the Giants didn't. And the Giants moved up for a quarterback and the Falcons a pass rusher. So again, what they gave up in return they felt was more than worth it to get the quarterback that at least a few teams wanted.

Stephen A. Smith (34:09)

Here, there's a couple of minutes left with you, Adam Schefter. Very few things surprise you one can imagine because you're the ultimate insider. You know what the hell is going on better than anybody in the National Football League. Anything shock you last night?

Ryan Seacrest (34:22)

Well, that trade that came down was such a huge trade. It was one of the biggest on the clock trades that we've seen in NFL history. There have been only two teams that had top five picks traded. One was the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta falcons. In the 80s when the Vikings traded their pick to go get Chris Dolman and the Falcons got Bill Froh. And the other time it happened was when the Chicago Bears traded up with the 49ers to go get Mitch Trubisky, famously in a draft where they drafted Mitch Trubisky ahead of Patrick Mahomes. That was the size and scope of this trade last night and was a trade that I think you look at. You say both teams win here because the Jaguars get a certifiable star in Travis Hunter and the Browns come away with so much draft equity for a team that hasn't had any draft equity in recent years and a chance to remake their roster. I, I was surprised that we saw two teams last night that were willing to part ways with their first round draft pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. For the record, if I ever were part of a front office, and I never will be, but if I ever were, I would never trade a future one unless I was some super bowl champion in some great position, I would hold on to those picks like my life depended on it. And we saw the Falcons, who haven't won a playoff game in any recent season, trade their one next year. And we saw the Jaguars, who haven't had recent playoff success, trade their one Next year, we'll just wait to see how that works out for the Cleveland Browns and LA Rams who hold those future picks in 2026.

Stephen A. Smith (35:52)

Speaking to the end of the NFL analysts and knowing the game the way that you do, who's the biggest winner of Round one thus far in your estimation? Is it simply Jacksonville and Travis Hunter is just somebody else?

Ryan Seacrest (36:02)

Well, Stephen, it doesn't really matter what I say as the winner right now, because we could go into any year and anoint some winner and all of a sudden some player turns into some star that we never saw coming. It's a fun exercise. I mean, it's always going to be about quarterbacks. So really, if Cam Ward turns out to be a star, then the Titans won the draft. If he doesn't, then they failed. If Jackson Dart turns out to be the quarterback, then the Giants get A. And if they don't, no one's keeping their jobs.

Stephen A. Smith (36:29)

So I mean, it.

Ryan Seacrest (36:30)

It's grades. To me, it's like giving a student a grade on the first day of school before they completed their first homework assignment, return paper. It doesn't mean anything. Like you got to take some tests before we're giving him a grade.

Stephen A. Smith (36:40)

Totally fair. Shador Sanders, Cleveland or New Orleans going to pick him up in the second round of your estimation? You think that's, you think that's likely?

Ryan Seacrest (36:48)

Not expecting New Orleans, and I don't feel overly confident on Cleveland, but I don't know that for sure. We'd have to see again, you get to certain spots in the draft where if Shador is the best player on your board, even if you didn't think you were going to take him, you go ahead and pick him. I Stephen A. I just got a feeling that, like I said to you, I'm not going to be surprised if he winds up on a team that we just never connected to him, whoever that is, unless, and this is hard to imagine unless he falls to number 83 in the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round.

Stephen A. Smith (37:23)

Last question. I love that I saw Ashton Genty, this running back, extraordinary, out of Boise State, landing with the Raiders. One of the things that I love about what I saw this week as they were talking about him, you brought up Saquon Bark. People brought up Saquon Barkley. I remember. I brought up Derrick Henry. I remember a few years ago, back in 2023, to be exact, when you had Austin Ecklund, these guys rallying the running backs to sort of make a case because they were being devalued just by their birth certificate alone. You collected enough dust. Excuse me, we ain't giving you a long term contract. We don't know if you'll be able to last. And you heard guys like Mel Kuiper Jr. And others never draft a running back in the first round, etc. Etc. To see him go in the first round it's like hope that running backs and being more appreciated with what Saquon Barkley did for the Eagles last year, with what Henry did for the Ravens last year, you just sort of find yourself hoping that the running backs there's going to be an elevated level of appreciation for them. What do you think about that? Is that possible?

Ryan Seacrest (38:16)

Well, I think it's interesting that there was an elevated level of appreciation. We saw the Eagles reward Saquon Barkley and redo his contra after one year. They're Ravens have talked to Derrick Henry about a new deal. We're here in Green Bay where Josh Jacobs came to Green Bay and had a huge impact on the packers roster and we are heading into rounds two and three in a draft where the strongest position in this draft was running back. And we're going to see a slew of running backs taken tonight and on Saturday that can come in and make a difference for teams. But you're going to get a bunch of running backs tonight that teams are counting on. This was considered the big press conference or the big draft for these running backs. Again, people texting me at press conferences, sorry, big draft for running backs and that's the strength of this draft. Stephen A.

Stephen A. Smith (39:06)

The best in the business. The one and only Adam Schefter live from the NFL Draft. Man, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule. I know how busy you are. I really appreciate it man. Thank you so much.

Ryan Seacrest (39:14)

I appreciate you Stephen. I thank you for having me.

Stephen A. Smith (39:16)

All the best. Talk to you soon. When only Adam Schefter. There's nobody better when it comes to the NFL. Nobody better. Coming up, Candace Owens was once a big supporter of President Donald Trump. Now she's speaking out against him. What's up with that? I'll get into that and more next right here on the Stephen A. Smith Show. Don't go away.

Ryan Seacrest (39:39)

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra.

Stephen A. Smith (40:07)

See full terms@mintmobile.com every morning brings a fresh new energy. This is today. And no matter what, we come to.

Ryan Seacrest (40:16)

The Today show for all of it. When things are tough, we talk about it. When there's something to figure out, we dig into it. And when there's joy, we celebrate it.

Stephen A. Smith (40:27)

Because today is where it's all happening. We get the best start to every morning because we start it together. Watch the Today show with Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin, weekdays at 7am on NBC. Welcome back to the Stephen A. Smith Show. Now it's time for me to get into some political talk due to a headline that I just saw yesterday that I found very, very interesting. Far right conservative Candace Owens is speaking out against one of her favorite people in the world, supposedly Mr. President Donald Trump himself, and accusing the administration of fighting against free speech right here in the United States of America. The comments are a reference to Harvard University, who is suing the Trump administration for threatening to withhold federal funding if the school did not comply with its list of White House demands. As a result, lawyers for the university sued the administration earlier this week. In the suit, university lawyer claimed the Trump administration is unlawfully using billions of dollars in federal funding as, quote, leverage to gain control of academic decision making at Harvard, end quote. They also allege that the funding freeze violates the First Amendment and flouts federal law. And that is essentially what Owens is saying as well. Take a listen to her thoughts from her podcast yesterday.

C (41:49)

I never thought that I would see a day where I would be rooting for a university above Donald J. Trump and his administration. But I don't recognize this administration right now. I don't recognize what's happening. I have a theory. I do. We were kicking around some theories earlier, me and the team, and we were going, what? How could Trump be such a free speech enthusiast and being allowing these things to happen, going after college universities, trying to suppress speech while pretending that you're not suppressing speech while pretending that you're fighting dei. It's so messy. It's so obvious. Everyone knows what you're doing. People who are still trying to grift, I suppose, are not willing to challenge you on this, which is ridiculous because when you are out of office, we are gonna have to live with these consequences. Our children are going to have grow up in this America. Okay, so when you threaten our speech, it's not worth it. So that we can have pom poms and go hurrah for a couple of years, then go, okay, well, yeah, now it kind of stinks because, oh, we're getting arrested for wrong. Think that David Friedman. Yeah, arrest them. Arrest Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. Get them. I love it. And if you think it's going to stop with college campuses, you're out of your mind. So you better buck up and root for Harvard University in this fight.

Stephen A. Smith (43:06)

See, it's moments like this that when the show is over and I go home and I have an opportunity to look at some content and then I see the comments that come in my direction, one of the things that grates my last damn nerves is when everybody's acting like, oh, I'm flip flopping or I'm timid or I'm scared to take a position. No, ladies and gentlemen, there's something to be said about exercising common sense, not living on the fringes or the extreme, and deducing that both sides can actually make sense. Because that's what we're going to do here. First off, to stop the presses and disappoint some of y'all, Candace Owens is not totally wrong. The President of the United States knows that Harvard receives billions of dollars in funding. He knows this, that last year, in fiscal year 2024, Harvard got $686 million in taxpayer dollars for fiscal year 2024. Now this is an institution with an endowment exceeding $53.2 billion. And so when you hear stuff like the president is trying to impose his will on the country's oldest university, accusing it of engaging in anti Semitism along with other things, wanting them to eradicate DEI programs, how far fetched is it to deduce that he's trying to control speech, he's trying to control what institutions of higher learning are actually teaching and disseminating to the masses. How far fetched is it to say that the present President of the United States of America, the 47th president, who campaigned on a lot of this stuff, is keeping his word yet again, albeit to the chagrin of millions of tens of millions of American citizens throughout the United States of America, it's not far fetched. And when Candace Owens sit up there and says, be alert, be alarmed, because if they get away with this, if you're not rooting for Harvard on this and the federal government and the Trump administration is successful in muzzling or dictating, dare I say, the kind of education that a university like Harvard is allowed to impart upon its student body. If they get away with that, one could easily argue it does interfere with free speech. Remember, Harvard University just sued the federal government this past Monday after Trump threatened to pull $9 billion in federal funding unless the school agreed to a set of demands that included broad changes to its admissions, its discipline, and its management policies. I'm reading from the story right here. The Trump administration says its actions, which include a threat to revoke Harvard's tax exempt status, are a response to unchecked antisemitism on campus. Remember, just a few weeks ago or a few days ago, Trump threw out two tweets. One, he said, perhaps Harvard should lose its tax exempt status and be taxed as a political entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological and terrorist inspired, supporting sickness. Remember, tax exempt status is totally contingent on acting in the public interest. Before that, Trump had said this about Harvard. Harvard is an anti semitic far left institution, as are numerous others, with students being accepted from all over the world that want to rip our country apart. The place is a liberal mess. Allowing a certain group of crazed lunatics to enter and exit the classroom and spew fake anger and hate. It is truly horrific. Now, since our filings began, they act like they are, quote, all American apple pie, end quote. Harvard is a threat to democracy with a lawyer who represents me, who should therefore be forced to resign immediately or be fired. He's not that good anyway. And I hope that my very big and beautiful company, now run by my sons, get rid of him asap. There's a word other than anger and hate to bring into this equation, and the word to bring into this equation is liberal. Why? Because Trump, although one would argue he's not necessarily a conservative, in the same breath, to me he is. Because you ran with the gop, you won representing that ideological body. And on top of it all, you've put three conservatives on the Supreme Court, basically registering the 6:3 majority. So again, you are conservative. Why does that liberal. Why was the word liberal throw me aback a little bit? I'd love to hear if Trump feels the way that Hillsdale College runs its operations as a conservative institution. How about Liberty University in Virginia? Hillsdale is in Michigan, by the way. How about Grove City College in Pennsylvania? How about Texas A and M University, a large public university with a strong military tradition and conservative student base? That's Texas A and M. How about Brigham Young University? That's just naming a few. Patrick Henry College of Virginia, University of Dallas in Texas, Pepperdine University. These are institutions that some would say are conservative. I'm saying it shouldn't matter. If you feel that way about liberal institutions, why are you not feeling the same way about conservative institutions? If you felt that way about both on either side of the ideological bar, then there's no argument. The problem is it only seems to be one side that's problematic.

C (49:45)

Now.

Stephen A. Smith (49:45)

That's Stephen A. On this side. Let me go to this side and bring this point up, because we like to be fair on this show. When we've seen some of the actions taking place on some of these campuses, it has looked like anger and hate. There's no way around that. When we think about speech, we don't talk much about the Israeli Palestinian conflict. We don't talk much about when Hamas or members of Hamas stormed into Israel and kidnapped and ultimately murdered hundreds, if not thousands of people. We don't talk about that. Nor have we talked about the fact that even though you want to go after any terrorist organization because no terrorist organization is a good organization, the flip side to it is that you have a lot of people out there lamenting the fact that innocent women and children are being harmed, if not killed, in the Gaza Strip and beyond. And that's where some of the protesters on these college campuses come from. I'm not taking a side. I don't know enough. I didn't bring that up for that reason. I brought it up because that's what folks on the right are saying. And they're accusing some of our prestigious universities, like Harvard, like Columbia and others in the United States of America of fostering thoughts of anti Semitism, building tents on campuses, blocking students from getting their education, pointing out Zionists when they see them, and impeding the ability to learn peacefully. Now, when the right brings that up, what do you say? I don't know. I'm simply saying that's the reason we got to watch the outcome of this case. Because if Trump wins this case, even though he's highlighting liberal institutions.

Ryan Seacrest (52:01)

Which will.

Stephen A. Smith (52:02)

Be alarming and concerning in and of itself because we know he's going to favor the right over the left. He's going to leave some other institutions alone while he bothers others, it's problematic because there's a bigger, grander issue here. If he wins the case, then guess what? He's showing an ability to impede upon one's right to the First Amendment, which is free speech. And if he could pull that off, what can he do to anybody that opens their mouth and dissents in any way that this is that is displeasing to him. What will he do then? We don't know. But it's scary. It is scary. My thing is, we also have to be mindful that when somebody brings up the fact that Harvard received $686 million in taxpayer money for fiscal year 2024, when they ask the question on the right, why does an institution with an endowment of over $53 billion, which is the largest in this country, why do they need taxpayers pay a dollar's close to 700 million of our money? That is a legitimate question. I'm not saying I know the answer. I'm not saying that it doesn't benefit our society, considering the students and the quality of the students that emanate from places like Harvard and Columbia and come out into American society and make a contribution to this country. I'm simply saying it's a legitimate question. This is not Stephen A. Casting the spurges are casting judgment. You have some folks on the right that believe some of these universities are engaging in anti Semitism and beyond, which is what Trump articulated. You got Candace Owens, a renowned Trump supporter, unapologetically so suddenly going against the administration because she says they're impeding on free speech. Which side do you roll on and why? You want me to give y'all a piece of advice on this subject? Bump the individuals. Don't think about Donald Trump. Don't think about Candace Owens. Think about the issue. Think about the potential policy, not the people. Because if you really, really think about what has ailed our society, that's really what it comes down to. We don't like him or her. We love him or her. And that's what the issue is. And a lot of times our emotions are dictated by people we do or don't like as opposed to the actual policy and issues that will affect lives far extended beyond ourselves. This is one of those times. Candace Owens is bringing up the issue of free speech. And Donald Trump, who she has supported for years, is challenging Harvard's right to do whatever it wants as an institution of higher learning, which, by the way, is a private institution. Who's right, who's wrong? The courts will decide. And if the courts decide that Donald Trump is right, Candace Owens is arguing that the courts will be giving him the right to impede on free speech, not just for institutions of higher learning, but for American citizens all over this nation. Is she right or is he right? Inquiring minds would love to hear what you think. That's why you gotta watch this. I know I am. Oh, I Know I am. Before we go, I want to quickly extend my well wishes to the family of Gilbert Arenas, former NBA star. Gilbert's son Elijah had been placed in a medically induced coma after he was involved in a serious car crash in the Los Angeles area early Thursday morning. As of this afternoon, he's now out of that coma. Elijah, by the way, is a five star recruit who committed to play for USC this fall. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, Elijah was driving a Tesla cybertruck that crashed into a tree and fire hydrant and a fire ensued. Reports say it appears arena suffered no major bodily injuries, but he inhaled a lot of smoke from the burning cybertruck and putting a smoke inhalation victim in an induced coma is actually protocol. But again, he's out of that coma and on the road to recovery. I've gotten to know Gilbert Arenas. I was a guest on Gil's Arenas podcast. I know he was a star player in the NBA. I remember when he went into LA one time and dropped 60. The brother was a scoring machine, former All Star. He could really, really ball. I'm hearing a lot of special, special things about Elijah. I'm hearing this brother can really, really play. This young kid is something special. And so, thank God. Whether he could play or not is not the point in terms of him surviving this ordeal. Thank God he did and he was able to escape from that car safe and sound before the truck became completely inflamed. Thank the good Lord that he survived and he's going to be able to recover and recuperate and ultimately play basketball again. I saw that cybertruck. I'm one of those guys, young kids driving that thing. I don't understand that. That's a big, that's a big ride. It takes a lot to control that thing. You need to be an experienced driver to drive something like that. But that's neither here nor there. I'm just thankful that he's okay and that he's going to be able to resume his aspirations and continue to pursue those things. And I've grown to become very fond of Gilbert Arenas. And Gil's arena is a tremendous podcast with, with Swaggy P and Kenyon Martin and Rashad McCants and all of those guys. They do a hell of a job. Let's give props what props is due. They're different, little bit wild at times, but they know their basketball and they do a lot to promote the game. A game that I love and has been largely responsible for what I've achieved in my career. But more so than anything else. Gilbert Arenas is doing special things and his son seems destined to do special things. And it would have broken all of our hearts if anything catastrophic and fatal had happened to him. So thank God he's okay. Young fella, learn from this. Be careful behind that wheel and make sure you do everything to keep yourself safe and prioritize your safety in the future. That goes for all of y'all out there. Life is just beginning for y'all. Be very, very careful about everything that you do and how you do it. You never know what it can cost you. Thank God it didn't cost him much and he's okay and he's going to be able to resume everything. All right, that's it for this edition of Stephen A. Smith Show. I got to get on out of here because I got to get to LA to cover the NBA playoffs yet again for NBA Countdown over the weekend on ABC and espn. Until next time, y'all enjoy your week and be safe. God bless. Looking forward to talking to you on Monday. Until then, peace and love. Oh tasty high note oh hi. Don't mind me. I'm practicing my new baritone sax.

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