It's the McShea Show presented by FanDuel. Football is in full action, and FanDuel's highest rated sportsbook is the place to bet it all. You probably know me for my NFL draft coverage, the mock drafts, the player rankings, all the buzz going on with the NFL draft each year. What you might not know is, I like to dabble in the action a little bit. The reason I love FanDuel, there are so many different ways to bet, like money lines, spreads, totals, parlays, playoff odds, and more. The app is safe, secure, and easy to use. When you win, you get paid instantly. Plus, look out for new offers every week. Visit fanduel. Com/mxe to download America's number one sportsbook. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit rg- help. Com to learn more about the resources and help lines available, and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 or older and present in select states. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler or visit rg-help. Com. Welcome into the McShay Show. My goodness, is it nice to be back? I've had 16 months to sit on the sideline, if you will. 16 months to sit back and study the landscape.

Sixteen months to consult with dozens of individuals that I trust and respect the most. Here we are, 16 months later, the right home, the right partners with Spotify and the Ringer, and the right people by my side, on and off the camera. It's the McShay Show. So it sounds like it's going to be all about me, right? But anybody that knows me, knows this show is about anything but me. I've missed the engagement. This show is about re-engaging. Instead of doing it at college campuses during weekends in the fall, we're going to do it right here three times a week, and we're going to do it year round. We're going to be at the Senior Bowl, at the Combine, at the NFL draft, providing full transparency every step of the way. We want to take you inside our process and take you inside the process of NFL scouting departments. We want to share what we're seeing on tape, and we want to share our conversations with decision makers. We're here to talk ball, to think and to laugh, and to have real conversations with the real people, and to finally do it without handcuffs. That's what I'm looking most forward to.

No time restraints, no features or flashy clips that we have to sell. No one in my ear to yell yelling about wrapping it up. Listen, if you love the game of football, college, NFL, NFL draft, you want more access. That's what we're here to do, sharing the access that I've worked hard to gain over the past two and a half decades with everyone who has taken the time out of their schedules to listen and to watch this show. And for those of you that do, I can't thank you enough. Also critical to this show is doing it with my guy who has been with me and at my side since the jump, Steve Mensch. When I started talking to Spotify and The Ringer about the McShay Show, the vision always included the big fella. You see him right there. Mensch. Let me give you a little background on this guy. He's a trim-down 6'4 now. He's a disgruntled former offensive lineman, a former teammate at University of Richmond, and a consummate pain, I promise, a consummate pain in my ass for the past 25 years, but a heart of gold. When people talk about loyalty in this industry, they're usually full of air.

But you're looking at true loyalty right here. 25 years behind the scenes, 25 years of grinding tape, offering insight, being a trusted confidante. In return, he's asked for nothing. A small salary that has never come close to matching his worth. That's all he's been given in return. But today, we start something fresh, something new, something exciting. So thank you for checking out our thing, and hopefully you're here to stay. We're going to build something fun here, so here we go. Coming up next on the McShea Show, we're talking 2025 NFL draft class, the quarterbacks. We also got our good friend David Pollack to talk college football, and specifically, the SEC. Mench, you good?

I'm good, man.

All right, let's go. All right, Mench, I want to start with this because this, to me, is the biggest standout from the weekend. When you get an opportunity like Quin Ewers and Carson Beck had, and you know that NFL scouts are going to put in this tape first. When you're a scout and you go back, or a personnel director or general manager, when the coaches get involved in the scouting process, you always go to the biggest games against the best opponents. And so if I'm going to scout Carson Beck, and I'm a coach coming in late, an offensive coordinator, a head coach, a GM, the first tape I'm going to put on is Quin Ewers versus George's defense, Carson Beck versus Texas defense, right? We all know that. First scouting lesson I ever got in this profession. I sat down to dinner with Gary Horton, who got me started in this business, an ex-NFL Scout, and Bill Belichick and Scott Pioly. We had dinner down in Foxborough at a horrible restaurant. It was a horrible meal, and I wouldn't talk about anything unless we talked about football, right? That's a true story. But I asked him, and I'm, I don't know, 23 at the time.

And I said, Coach, what's your biggest advice? One thing that I need to know in terms of evaluating talent. And he said, Scout the matchups. You've got to find the tape where it's apples to apples, guys that are going to play in the NFL. So again, for Beck, you want to see against this Texas defense. For yours, you want to see against this Georgia defense. And so what we had on Saturday was that Carson Beck and Quin Ewers had a unique opportunity to elevate their draft stock, to show everyone in the NFL what they could do against top competition, and they both failed the test, and it was tough to watch. Now, Quin Ewer got bench. We'll start with him. He got bench for a couple of series at the end of the first half. I went back, and I'll just go through my notes. I watched every single play from the Texas offense versus Georgia defense. The first That's the thing that I'll say, and keep this in mind, because I know that you think I'm an apologist when it comes to Quinn Ewer. Quinn Ewer's ran into an absolute buzzsaw. That defense was lathered up.

That Defense was focused. Kirby Smart had their attention from the first day of practice, the first minute of practice to the end of the week. And you could tell by the attention to detail, right? You could tell by the gap discipline. When they were running cat blitzes, the linebacker was dropping in in the perfect spot. They knew exactly where they had to be at every play. Does that excuse some of the things we saw from Quinn? Absolutely not. But it's context for you, right? So what I saw from Quinn, and these are my notes, he looked composed early. There were a couple of drops, made a couple of solid, accurate throws. Nothing special, but was hanging in there, was doing his job, was distributing the ball. A couple of drops, stuttered some drives. Then he got murdered on a blindside blitz by the defensive back, number 6, Daylen Everett. And I felt like from that point on, he wasn't the same. He didn't feel it. It was his job. He set the protection, right? And you're going to have to do that in the NFL. Set the protection. Know where the dangerous guy is coming from, no where trouble is coming from.

It was six. And again, the linebacker dropped in the perfect spot. There was nowhere to throw. The hot read wasn't backside. It was probably frontside. Bottom line, he drops back and get whacked. And I don't think he's taking bigger hits than that one. It's not the hit. It's not that he was starting to feel ghost or get worried about the physical pounding that he was taking. It wasn't that. I think you saw in him, and Sark saw this, Steve Sarkisian, the head coach who's done a brilliant job over his career developing quarterbacks, college, and in the NFL. He saw his quarterback, who he's relied on, come to trust in big games against the best defenses. Look at the Michigan performance early this year. Look at Alabama last year. Quin Ewers always steps up. He's always up to the challenge. He's always ready. Take a shot, Have a misread. That's fine. He'll pop back up, make the next play. He saw something in Quinn that he hadn't seen before. He saw that Quinn was rattled. He saw that the pressure was getting to him too fast. And then he saw, how did he see that? He saw it in the next couple of drives.

He saw Quinn start to bail out, starting to not trust his protection. You could see him start to float back in the pocket. And so he wasn't seeing the same guy. And so it wasn't about bringing in Arch and creating this controversy. It wasn't about Arch Manning saving the day. It was about bringing in a young quarterback and allowing him to utilize his mobility and maybe getting a little bit of a spark. But it was really more about getting Quinn on the sideline. Take a deep breath. The walls aren't crumbling around you. Watch the young quarterback for a couple of series. Let's get to halftime. Let's make some adjustments. When we come back out, you're still my guy. You've been my guy all along. You've hung in there. You've made great plays, big moments, and you're going to be our guy in the second half. But I need you to reset. And that's what he did. The interception that he had, again, to Everett, that number six, dude. Had a day. He's not a draft prospect. But talk about having a day, talking about being a dude. So Everett makes a great reaction play. That interception, it was a bad read by Quin Ewer's.

Comes back in the second half after being jumpy in the pocket, and I thought he was settled down. You could see Quin... That's the Quin Ewer's we're used to seeing, more poised in the pocket, more purposeful in the pocket, if you will. Just trusting his reads, getting the ball out, And all of a sudden, the offense started to function. And they made it a game somewhat. It looked like, yeah, I see you nodding your head. You little smart ass. They made it interesting. And let's put it this way. The second half, the first 10 minutes of the second half, felt like what we expected to get throughout the game. Is that fair?

That's definitely fair. I agree with that.

So to me, I like to see him settle down. But I also can tell you this, that at no point in time during that game did he take over. They were still in the second half while he was playing better, more poised, more comfortable, learned his lesson, gained something from Sark sitting him down and then talking to him in the halftime, he still didn't do anything out of the ordinary. And so now I look into the league, and I look at Jaden Daniels, and I look at Caleb Williams, And more importantly, I look at guys like Josh Allen. Patrick Mahomes, obviously, is the standard. I look at, even last night on Monday night, Lamar Jackson, right? You look at the top guys in the league, you look at the rookies who are having success in the league, they have unique traits. They have the ability to create. They have the ability to make an offensive coordinator when the play design isn't there, when the defense is outschemed them. They have the ability to extend. And important for rookies, you're not going to have all the answers to the test. You're probably not going to have most of the answers until second, third year in the league.

So what we've seen now in the league is guys are able to win with their feet or have an elite talent with their arm, making decisions and processing. They're carrying teams when they have to. Early in their career, they're carrying them differently because they're young, they've got fresh legs, they're able to extend plays, or they just have a special talent. Later in their career, they adjust like Patrick Mahomes has adjusted, but they still extend plays when they have to be extended. Lamar Jackson has developed into a better passer, but his game is still very much predicated on his ability to extend and occasionally take off and run when he needs to. Josh Allen, the same. So when I look at Quinn and I try to put it in perspective of everything, my goodness, he's talented. Love his composure in big games for the most part outside of Saturday. Love his arm talent, right? Love all those things. But Two things stand out to me. This was the first true failed test for Quinn Ewers as a quarterback prospect. And it also starts to creep in your mind as an evaluator. And this is where I want to get your take on all this.

It creeps in your mind as an evaluator, okay, now he gets to the next level, and he's seeing this consistently, week in, week out. Can he overcome it? Can he still be special? That That was the big concern. We'll get to Carson Beck in a minute. But when I talk about failed test, it's not just he didn't perform well in this game. It's what am I taking away from this as an evaluator?

Right. I mean, one of the things it was, and I agree with a lot of what you said. One of the things was really alarming to me, though, was his inability to move around the pocket and create throwing windows and space for him to deliver the ball accurately. It jumped It came out to me when I watched the tape that he was just staying way too high in the pocket at times. He had space to move around. He had space to step up. He wasn't doing it. Then on top of that, and this is probably an even bigger concern as an evaluator, so that was one thing that jumped out as more of an issue than I thought it was in the beginning. But the bigger issue for me as an evaluator was he really wasn't processing fast enough or well enough. I mean, you look at the corner, blaze- You're surprising, right? Very surprising to me. We talked before the game. I thought He was going to show out. This is the thing where I thought Quin Ewer's was going to show why he's a top five quarterback prospect in the mix to be QB1, maybe.

It just didn't come to fruition. He wasn't seeing... George had a great game plan. You talk about declaring protections. When you have a guy like Jalen Walker, it really gives you the freedom to walk him up. Then, Oh, no. Jalen Walker and Michael Williams are on the same side of the line. We're going to declare the protection that side. Then Walker drops and you bring the corner from the other side. It's a tough thing to pick up. It's a tough thing to see. But I thought on that play, if he was decisive and he ripped... He had a guy.

He could have ripped the ball and gotten it out of his hands.

He just looked like he... If you go back and look at it, it looks almost like a little pump fake. I thought he was unsure. Again, he started well, and I wonder if that's what the plays that they had scripted. Was he comfortable with the plays that they had scripted? Then when they started to get off script, but I had concerns about the way he was processing. I I still have concerns about his eyes. I think he lingers too long on his first option. So the weaknesses were amplified. Then one that I didn't even think was that big of a concern started to really show up, which was the finding space within the pocket, which I've seen him do before, but he did not do well in that game.

Yeah. Carson Beck, let's flip it over, right? Right. Came into this year as the number one quarterback prospect. If you were to poll general managers, and more importantly, at that point in the process, Because if you were to poll the area scouts and guys who have been evaluating Carson the previous year, I think it wouldn't have been a landslide, but I think the majority would have said Carson Beck. I think even Pete Thamel did something early in the season, like the Carson Beck was like if he surveyed 12 or whatever the number was, scouts, that Carson Beck would have got the most votes or something like that. And I know he's done it more recently, I saw, and Shadr Sanders was the guy who got the most votes. Bottom line, Carson Beck came into the year with a lot of hype, and it was based, obviously, in some part, off of last year's tape and what you saw, but also because his size, his mobility, his arm talent, and what you would project would be the increased performance, elevating his performance this year. I got to tell you, man, I have not seen it, and I'm not just talking about this game, but I'll get into this I haven't seen it this year.

I know we're doing Quin Ewer versus Carson Beck, but keeping perspective on all this, and I've watched a lot of Shador Sanders tape. It's interesting because Shador is not as tall and long-legged, but Carson Beck is more agile, better footwork than Shador Sanders, more mobile than Shadr, but not nearly the pure passer. And to simplify things, if you're listening or watching this, if If you get a chance to just watch these guys, watch how little on average, big picture, not a single throw, but watch how little on average Shadr Sanders' receiver have to work to get the football. Then go watch Carson Beck, and I watch them back to back on Sunday, right? Because when I was done watching Texas, Georgia, I popped on the Arizona tape for Colorado, and we'll get into that in a minute. Watch how little Shador's receiver's have to work versus how much, how frequently, that Carson Beck's receiver have to work to catch the football. We talk about-It's super-Go ahead.

It's super important. People are like, Oh, he got on the ball, but it's yards after catch. I mean, it's a difference between a three-yard gain and maybe a 15-yard gain, maybe someone popping one and go. It could be the difference in a game. And you're right. I mean, the ball placement is very frustrating with Beck. And then he has the outright misses. I feel like a couple of throws every game, you're like, What was Was he seeing something or was it just an outright miss? There was a couple of times where there were a couple of throws in that game. I just didn't understand what was happening in terms of his decision making or the accuracy.

Yeah, there's a term in scouting, missing inside the strike zone. It's still a completion. It's still a strike, but you put it in a spot that the home run hitter can take you deep. And for a quarterback, it's a completion. But by throwing it behind him on a crossing route or a drag, you're taking away 5, 7, 25, 30 yards. Whatever it's going to be. And so I've seen both from Carson this year. And just in watching this game, my notes, right? Live arm. When I say live arm, watch the energy at the end of throws. That's a great indicator to me. It's not like, oh, from one hash to the other, and he was able to throw it on a rope. And yes, that's part of it. But if you really want to study just a nuance of evaluating quarterbacks and their true energy, their arm, watch late in the throw. Does it come in and it's landing the plane slowly? Are you landing a 777 nice and slowly? It took 35 minutes to descend. You get your first class passengers. You don't want to disrupt the drinks that they were able to keep while landing.

Or is it like a fighter plane where it's just like coming in? And so his arm, you see that energy at the end of throws. I already talked about the mobility, the footwork. I'm not saying it's perfect in terms of his mechanics. But what I am saying is he gets more depth than his drops. He gets back and he gets set. He marries his eyes to his feet a lot more than Shador Sanders does. And I did I did notice, and I've noticed this throughout the year, when he sees on a comeback route or an in-cutting route or a curl, when he sees a receiver coming back to him and he can see his Jersey, he's really accurate. But there's a high school quarterback here at Cohasset that's accurate on it. You know what I mean? She's pretty good. He is good. But you know what I mean? Those aren't the throws we're evaluating. It's part of the process. And then I go down further in my notes, making guys work. I keep saying that with him, and it keeps jumping out. The first drive, behind the wide receiver in the deep in route, that was an easy throw.

That's a throw he didn't normally make. Didn't make it. Fails to see that first interception, failed to see the linebacker dropping. Poor decision, not seeing the field however you want to chalk that up. Great play by the linebacker, by the way. He was going to cover his guy, read Beck's eyes, and cut back in, let his guy go free because he made a great play by the linebacker. That's going to happen. But still not the best decision, not seeing the entire field. Second interception, wide receiver is supposed to flatten. I'll give him this one if we're going to nitpick. Wide receiver was supposed to flatten his route. There was a miscommunication. You could see the ball was thrown when it came out of his hand. He didn't shame the receiver. He didn't make him look poor. But he very clearly, he did this with his hand, like a hand gesture. He was supposed to be And then the third interception, too high, he over throws the angle route. Again, making guys work in the fourth interception, controversial one. That's the one everyone's talking about bottles thrown. They called it one way. The refs came back after making the initial call and turned it over.

But ultimately, in this game, like I said with Quinuers, same goes for Carson Beck. Great opportunity against a really good Texas defense in a huge spot, in a huge spot to go out and play. And your defense is playing great. Just go out there. He has not played to the level of a top quarterback and what you would expect. When you think about Jaden Daniels a year ago, when you think about Caleb Williams, even though the offensive line protection was horrible and no run game, and he had to carry that team, I didn't see any truly special plays. And if that's the standard that we're talking about with all these guys, Patrick to Lamar to Josh, and all the way down to the rookies with Caleb and Jaden, I didn't see many special plays, and I didn't see, most alarming, the consistency with the ball placement. And it's been a problem all year long. And I'm not saying it wasn't last year. It was, but we expected some progression in this game. So Now you're looking at yours. You're looking at Beck and saying, this is a quarterback class with a lot of guys, right?

There's a lot of names, but I don't know. They're not in my first tier. Let's spin it forward. I mean, we're here. Let's spin it forward.

Can I just say that I hate that I'm agreeing with you right now. I mean, this feels weird. I want to push back. But I also think that what you're seeing is if anyone's watching the tape, I think everyone's seeing the same I mean, this is not stuff that you're going to throw on and start arguing about what is this throw and that. No, I think it's pretty obvious. I mean, if you start going back, and maybe we'll do this exercise a little bit later about where these guys would be in other classes, there's no comparison to at least the top three from last year. I would argue it goes deeper than that. When you're watching them on tape, you keep wanting that next step to happen, and it just hasn't happened.

Yeah, I think in the conversations I have with general managers, and more so this time of year, scouts and personnel directors. Excuse me. This is what it is in scouting circles, if you will. This is understood. The issue that I'm trying to make sure here we are in the very first podcast, it's important for us to talk about the real. That's the whole purpose of this. What's really being talked about in the league. What's really being talked about in the league is that Carson Beck came in as the media darling, whatever you want to say, and had a lot of hype of what he could develop into this year, and he's not developing into that. What's really being talked about is Quinn Ewer has had a great game against Michigan. He has a lot of talent. There was hope if he had a great game against Georgia and carved them up and did special things, then all of a sudden, he continues to rise. And I don't want anyone to mistake, he got injured. But prior to the injury, he was rising. I talked to actual NFL scouts who were like, The tape's better. There's more poison in the pocket.

There's more decisiveness. I like his game more. He's progressing. Positive So in the league, guys who make decisions, we're seeing that. And the reason why I wanted to make this the focus, when I come out and say, Carson Beck, Quin Ewer had a unique opportunity on Saturday, and both failed the test, they did. It was an opportunity for Carson Beck to put some of the tape from early in the season behind him and to step forward, and he didn't. It was an opportunity for Quin Ewer's coming back off the injury and one game played to continue to rise, continue to build on the momentum for Michigan, and he didn't do it. And So where are we now? That begs the question, where are we with the 2025 NFL draft quarterback class? For me, it's Kam Ward from Miami. For me, it's Shador Sanders. For me, we've got one of the all-time wild cards. I don't know what the hell to do with Jalen Millrow from Alabama, because the talent level is outrageous, but the inconsistency is frightening. To me, it's Gareth Nussmaier is the least talked about quarterback in this class. So when you start to go through it, let's get to Ward and let's get to Sanders.

But when you start to go through it, I could make a case that Kam Ward and Sanders are the tier. The second tier with the biggest wild card is Millrow. And then maybe ahead of Beck and yours is Gareth Nussmaier.

I had Sanders as my top quarterback coming in, and I had Beck right there with him.

And I feel like- Into the season, you mean?

Yes, into the season. And I felt like now it definitely feels like I was too high on Beck. After the Nebraska game, I think, I wanted to drop Sanders. And I think there's a danger of doing this with this class, especially because they're so tightly grouped. You're going to overreact week to week. Then every time I throw on Sanders tape, I like him. I just think he's accurate. He gets the ball out in time. I think he is. You said he's maybe the best pure thrower in this class. That doesn't mean he has the strongest arm, but he's just accurate, gets the ball out in time. I think that's one thing that's really interesting that I think we'll get into is the only quarterback that you've really mentioned that's going to scare you with their running ability is Milrow. We could talk about pocket mobility, and these guys could scramble for a first down. But in terms of a guy who's going to strike fear in you like a Jaden Daniels from last year, even I think, I don't know if any of these guys outside of Milrow would be as athletic as even a Drake May, in my opinion.

Maybe there's an argument to be made there. But Millrow is the only one you're looking at and saying this guy, when he tucks it- The scary runner.

Right.

But I think that puts him in a unique spot, even though he's an inconsistent passer. Again, I want to say I I like Sanders one and Ward two. I think you have those flip-flops. I think Ward could move into that number one role if he continues to play as well as he has. He's been super impressive, and I think he's the guy every year we're looking for that guy, like again, Jaden Daniels last year who really just jumps in their last year of college football. And it looks like Kam Ward is going to be that player this year, barring any a setback. So he, I think, has a good track to be the first overall. Right now, I still probably have Sanders a little bit ahead of him.

Yeah, I can see. They're one, two, however you want to put it, in my opinion. I think if you were to pull scouts and people who have done the tape so far, I think that would be the, I don't want to say consensus, but I do think it would be the vast majority would have those guys, Ward one, Sanders two, or Sanders one, Ward two.

But put it in perspective for me, where are these guys historically? It's easy to talk about this class right now, but again, looking at last year's class, and we We've talked about the Kenny Picket class. Is it maybe watered down or is weak, if that's the right word, as that class was? Historically, how do you feel about the group?

I think if Kam Ward continues to play at the level that he's been playing and avoids... I've talked about it on other shows. I talked about it with Rosillo. One scout that I talked to that I trust in September, okay, was saying, Listen, it was coming off that Florida game, the best tape of his career, Kam against Florida, right? And he said, I love the tape. I absolutely love it. That's what he can be if he continues to hit the arc the way he's hitting it. But let's just make sure, McShea, I remember him saying, make sure, McShea, let it breathe a little bit because Kam has done this before. Go back to Washington State, unbelievable september's. Competitions, not at the level. And we're not talking about SEC defenses, but in the Pac-12, when they got into week after week against better competition. It was one great performance, one terrible performance, up and down. So yeah, I'm excited, and I get it. Everyone's talking about them on TV and stuff and on Twitter and all. But just don't get too carried away because history has shown that there's a potential for there to be some peaks and valleys, some spikes.

So now that we're seeing... It's funny because I do think the overall performance has been consistently much better than what that scout was projecting or concerned about. But there's still moments, man. He ripped that 42 or 48-yard back of the end zone throw. It's going to be, I can already hear the producers at ESPN getting ready for the draft, put that in his draft package. That's going to be one of the throws that we see over and over again, right? And the game, I studied the tape. For the most Most part was outstanding, but there's still like, he missed a deep out route, a comeback route to the left side, missed that throw, overshot the receiver into the boundary. He had multiple misses in that game that should have been easier throws. And he also... Also a couple of forces, also a couple of decisions where you're like, he's getting away with it here. And Mahomes, we said the same shit, right? I promise you, you and I You and I sat in hotel rooms with Kevin Weidl and GMs and personnel guys coming in and out and watching tape. And I can remember having these conversations like, the brilliance is there, but his feet are a mess, and the decisions are all over the place.

What are we getting? And Brett Veatch turned out the general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs turned out to be the smartest guy in the room. Like, yeah, great. You can have those bad throws. Put together all the clip reels you want. But this dude is special. He does things that are different. And so Kam Ward is not Patrick Mahomes. Everyone relax. But I'm saying he does special things. And again, what's the standard? What's working in the NFL when we're evaluating? What makes him unique? It's the ability to make that 42-yard throw when rolling out. It's the ability to extend plays. It's the confidence he has in his arm. It's the ability to rip a throw when you're like, Oh, okay. Okay. And so So that's why... And then Shadr. Let's get to Shadr real quickly. And I've watched three tapes, I think three tapes so far. I just got done. I told you, right when I got done with Texas, Georgia, I put on the Arizona tape. My notes, I'll give you a summary. I've got a full page worth of crap here.

Right.

Best pure passer in the class. Touch, anticipation, timing, leading receiver, ball placement, best in the class. Super smart. Touch and placement on red zone fades is next level. As a former quarterback, and I did it at a terrible level and all that, but some of the hardest throws are when you're the 12-yard line, and you're trying to get that ball up and down and put it in a spot, it's so easy to throw it on a line. It's so easy to overthrow it. But that touch always tells me who's got it, who doesn't, in terms of ball placement and just natural ability to place the ball. That second-quarter countdown versus Arizona, one of many examples you'll see. But if you want to watch one play to show that touch and ability to drop it in, that's an unbelievable... I think they actually called it... I was watching the game tape, not watching it in the broadcast. I think they called it incomplete at first, and then I looked at the scoreboard the next play. They weren't on offense anymore, and it went from 14 to 21. So even the refs didn't believe that he was able to fit it in that spot, And then I'll leave you with this note on Shador.

I kept saying, and I had a bunch of notes, but I summarize it at the end. If he develops more urgency in his drops and more consistency, tying his feet to his eyes, his ball placement will continue to get even better. And so while it's a negative now, it's the same stuff we saw with Mahomes, and I go through five or six other guys, but lackadaisical, no urgency, nonchalant with his feet, drifting back, throwing bodies perpendicular or parallel, I should say, to the line of scrimmage. So when he gets to the league and that stuff is drilled into him, we saw it with Caleb this year. Caleb's playing a little different brand of football than he was, running around making everything backyard, USA. So if he has this level of accuracy now, it's promising he can even take it to another level in the NFL. But dude's not mobile. No. He extends, but he's not going to take off running the football. Those are my notes. And I feel good. We've covered Ward and Sanders. I believe they're in the top two. Milrow is going to be... We got plenty of time to do this, but Millrow, to me, is the absolute wild card.

Everyone's, Oh, he's a first round, but QB1. All the show is Greeny. The next day, Sunday morning countdown, QB1 after his big performance against Georgia, which, by the way, was A half of football, really.

Still impressive, yeah.

Un unbelievably impressive. Right. Let me ask you this question. I know quarterbacks get into slumps versus certain defenses. They're missing some throws in one game that they normally don't make. I don't know that I've seen a quarterback get into a slump as a runner. I think about that, right? Like, runners run. Runners run. Right. I think that's- J. Daniels, if it's not open, takes off and runs. Four, three speed, go ahead, catch up with me. Dudes who can run, run. J. Lynn, sometimes, some games, that first half of Georgia, if it wasn't there, full Speed ahead. Aggressive. It's mine. Come and get me. I didn't see that this past week against Tennessee. It gets to see, right?

That was strange. It was very strange to me. And I thought there was a couple of opportunities to go. And I almost felt like coaching staff was mixing in designed quarterback runs to get him to go. Because I don't know. I'd be interested to go back and look at that. I don't have those numbers in front of me. Of all his carries, how many were designed and how many were off some a passing action? How much was it a scramble. Because I felt there was times like, Use your greatest strength, man.

Go.

That's not a criticism. You have this unbelievable ability to scramble and make plays. And I just felt like he got away from it. I don't know if it was a slump against a defense or whatever, but it was interesting that he wasn't as aggressive with his legs. I do want to say really quickly, you know that the only thing people are taking away from this conversation is that you think came towards Patrick Mahomes, right?

Yeah, I know. I'm used to it, though.

There's no way they're going back and actually listening to me.

Well, let me... You were explaining- Shut up, Mensch. This is a good way for us. You were shot. This is a good way for us to wrap up this conversation because it's a question you asked, and this will hopefully take it out of the mind of people that I'm comparing the two. Let's put it into just recent historical perspective. The jumping off point for me, the conversation I'm willing to have, and we don't need to have it today. We've got, I don't know, eight months until the draft. But the jumping off point for me with Ward and/or Sanders as being the top two quarterbacks in this class, or whoever you have, one or two. In comparison to the 2024 class, it's number three. They're behind Jaden, they're behind Caleb. And I've said it over and over again last year, Caleb has To me, traits that are unique, and I would give him a slightly higher grade than Jaden, but I said it 50 times last year. Jaden's tape in 2020, during the 2023 season for the 2024 draft was better than Caleb's, and it wasn't really close. So I had almost identical grades on those two quarterbacks a year ago.

And to sum it up, the grades I had on Jaden Daniels and Caleb Williams will be, I can promise you right now, there's nothing that can change, will be higher than the grades we wind up giving to Cam Ward and to Shador Sanders.

Finally, something I can get after you about. You think that you would take either of these guys ahead of Drake May?

I said that's a conversation we can have for the next eight months.

I can't wait.

All right, let's get to some- I can't believe you just said that. Hey, it's a teaser, man. We got to be back here on Thursday, so there's got to be some- Can we just shoot it now?

Can we just go now? Because I can't wait to have that one.

There's got to be meat left on the bone. All right, let's get to some college football talk. We got a special guest with David Pollet coming up. Can't wait. Let's go. The McShea Show is brought to you by FanDuel. Keep your college football season going with a win on FanDuel, because right now, new customers can kick off the season with 300 bucks in bonus bets. Just place any five-dollar bet, and you'll get 300 in bonus bets if you win. Use your bets on spreads, live bets, over-unders, and so much more. Just visit fanduel. Com/fan-duel. Com/fan-duel. Com. To download America's number one sportsbook. Must be 21 or older and present in select states, or 18 and older and present in DC. First online, real money wager only. Five dollar first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets, which expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook. Fanduel. Com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler or visit rg-help. Com. All right, Mensch. We didn't just pick our first guest ever out of a hat, right? I mean, this was intentional. We've talked about this for months now. We wanted to get David Pollack on. And David, I've worked for over a decade with at ESPN.

I'll say this about him. First of all, everyone knows he's a lunatic. He studies tape as much, if not more, than anybody out there. And I trust him. I think that's critical. When you sit on a set at ESPN or wherever you are, you want to know the guy to the right or to your left, he's done the work. And David has always done the work. We've had unbelievable football conversations over the years. But I also trust him as a friend and as a person. Person. And that's another reason why I wanted to bring him on this very first show. Tough times in my life, health and personal stuff. David was always there, texting, calling. He's a special person to me. And David, I'm glad to have you on this very first show. Thanks for joining this train wreck.

This is fantastic. I'm glad you got this thing up and going. I've never been so complimented and insult it as being called a lunatic in my life. So this is exactly what you're going to get from the Todd McShea show. No, I'm happy for you, man. I know it'll be great. And, Minch, good to meet you. I don't know what the flip is on your hat, Minch.

It's Bad Birdy, man.

Is that a chick? What is that?

That's the Bad Birdy. It's a golf company.

Bad Birdy. Okay, well, I can give you a lot of bad golf, too. I'm good at that.

I promise you. I can't imagine there's anyone less patient to play golf with than Pollock. All right, so let's start with this. Pollock, you got a new podcast that's up. David Pollock College Football. Please go out and check this out. If there's one guy I would rely on and trust and appreciate the content that's coming from, it would be the David Pollock College Football podcast. That's on YouTube, and it's anywhere that you can get your podcast. So make sure to go check that out. All right, with all this put aside, one thing I know, Man, about Pollet, if you walk into a room, whether it's a game day set or a studio, he always comes in hot. So my very first question was always going to be this. What are you hot on right now, bud?

Oh, man. I think last week, Georgia, Texas, we got some good stuff to be hot on. I've never... This is good. I'm glad you gave me the floor. First of all, I'll give you a couple of things. One, targeting is out of control, and it's stupid, and it needs to be... Listen, if we can make a Dan Lanning rule one week into a season and change it from a Saturday to a Monday, the targeting rule needs to change. This is screwing up college football. If there's malice, if there's intent, so be it. Here's another thing, too. How about this? I want offensive targeting. If you're going to kick me out all the time because I lower my head, well, and it's player safety, well, then kick out offensive players that lower their head that make me target them on some calls. So that's been driving me nuts all season. And then what the heck happened in Austin? Todd, have you ever seen refs come together Okay, make a call, walk it off, pass interference, and then come back and be like, Yeah, I was just kidding. To me, that's the equivalent, Todd, of going technical foul on you, shoot a free throw.

He shot one. Oh, wait a minute. Take that point off the board. Forget that crap. We're going to change our call. And when you throw on top of that, we're throwing all kinds of stuff on the field without some reaction to it and some personal foul, some fine, like sportsman, unsportsman-like. Don't give them a flag, but warn them. So I appreciate you letting me do that. I didn't know I was going to be able to get that off my chat. I feel better already. Are you my therapist? Is the Todd McShea show my therapist?

I think it may be a portion of what we do here. I can honestly God sense it through the screen, the stress level is starting to lower because of that. And listen, I'm with you, and I don't want to spend a ton of time on it, but referees always get together. I understand the back judge may see past interference, but the side judge winds up seeing the ball was batted, it batted at the line of scrimage. It was tipped by a finger. And so they get together, they confer, and they make a decision based off of all the information. But I can't ever remember seeing... They come together, they make a decision, and then they go revisit without replay. You know what I mean? So that was fascinating. Here's the thing, and again, I don't want to spend a ton of time on it, but I I don't know that they got it wrong necessarily, but I've never seen the mechanics like that. And then you throw on the fact that bottles are being thrown on the field. It was a terrible look for the SEC and for college football. I'll leave it there. So let me ask you this.

Let's get into that game, right? And Mention and I have talked a little bit about it. The quarterback play is what we're going to focus on. Everyone's going to focus on in the media. But my goodness, man, 11 13, 6.

97.

Talk about dudes jumping off the tape. Jalen Walker, the versatility he has, the ability to play off the ball, to play on the edge, the three sacs, a fumble recovery in on so many plays. Mikhel Williams, two sacs in that game. And then the one player, Dylan Everett, number 6. I didn't know. He's not a draft eligible prospect yet, so I'm not focused on him as much, but holy smokes did he jump off the tape. Blitzing off the edge, coming in for the sack. He had the interception, another fumble recovery. He is another dude on that defense. So I want to get your opinion And I know, obviously, your ties to Georgia. I know your tape study. I know your love and appreciation for great defensive play. Everyone talked this week about Kirby Smart and his ability to get them all lathered up and not disrespect card. I think the thing that you know is, yeah, that helps maybe in the first few plays of the game. But where it really helps is on the practice field, getting these young men's attention and getting them to play with the gap discipline, getting the linebackers to be in their drops in the perfect spot, having all 11 working together.

That's where the respect card and all that really plays out on the field, but it starts in practice during the week. So I'm just curious to get your thoughts on Georgia, what they showed defensively and what your thoughts are coming out of that game.

Well, first of all, Georgia was one of the last ranked, lower third of college football in Sacks. They haven't pressured the quarterback great. They haven't turned the ball over. That's just not something that they've done a good job. Here's what I'll say about the back in the corner thing. It matters because I can just tell you, as a coach now, a high school football coach, it's really easy to coach when you're the underdog. It's really easy to coach when you're told you can't do this. It's a lot harder to get people to focus. This is That's how I picked Georgia. Texas had all the pats on the back, and they're told they're going in the right direction. The two good teams that they played this year was Oklahoma and Michigan. And if you've watched their quarterback play, it's very ungood. Okay, that's the nicest way I can say it. It's ungood. And so I think you had a good situation. Well, here's what I'll say. It doesn't make you a better football player, but if you play with more aggressiveness and more anger and more passion, that makes you a much better football player, and you get people on the ground better.

And so I think physically, they were more than up for the challenge. When you back a proud program into a corner and tell them they aren't good enough, they haven't done this, and Kirby ain't been able to do that in a long time. No pun intended with the dog, but you back a wild dog in a corner that's proud, it's going to bite. And they came out and bit. And here's the thing, they're going to get better, too. Jordan Hall is still not back on that defensive line, who's another really good player. '97, Warren Brunson comes back and you see his ability to rush the passer. Christian Miller is a sophomore that's getting reps. Mikael Williams, Jalen Walker. By the way, number 10, Harris coming off the end. He's a sophomore. When I saw him at practice this summer, Todd, I was like, oh, a little twitchy. He's got a He's got a little pop to him. I like that. I like seeing guys that can come off the edge. So listen, best game for Georgia. But I do think I want to see them against Florida in a couple of weeks when it's a mobile quarterback because that presents a different challenge of its own.

But they played inspired, they played great, and they showed the talent that they have. Now they got to continue to put those together.

I'm sure Munch wants to jump in on this in a sec. But I've said from the start, this show is going to be about transparency. There's no faking it. We were actually doing a test run on a Saturday night. Munch and I were doing a test run. We're going to have a Saturday night show where we're an instant reaction to what we saw in college football. So we were doing an instant reaction off of Tennessee, Alabama. I go downstairs, start watching the game. It's already 17:00. So I didn't see real-time what happened. Wake up the next morning on Sunday, pop in the tape. I know the Quinuers got bench in the game, right? But I'm studying the tape, and I first went in a Georgia offense versus Texas defense, and I see the mistakes, the mist throws. There was one miscommunication, Carson Beck, but I see the three interceptions, and I'm like, Wait, Quinn got benched and not Carson? I'm not saying he should have been benched, but I'm saying, just based off of what I'm watching, if you were to tell me after the fact one of these quarterbacks got benched, I'd be like, Well, it'd be probably the guy who threw three picks and was making receiver's work for it.

Here's my question. I want to go bigger picture with you. And I don't want to leave it as open-ended as how good is Georgia. But can Georgia... I mean, the standard is the standard, right? Mike Tomlin, the standard is a national championship football team. Can Georgia, with Carson Beck, playing at the level he's playing right now, make it to the top?

I think they can make it to the payoff. I don't think it's going to be good enough to beat Dylan Gabriel. I don't think it's going to be good enough to beat Ohio State. I don't think it'll be good enough to beat Nico if he continues to... 24 point second half, obviously, kicked it in gear. It's not all Carson Beck. Carson Beck has more picks this year than he did last year. The run game has been pretty obsolete. They're down their two best offensive linemen. Their center comes back this week, made a big difference in the run game. Tate Ratlidge, hopefully, comes back for the Florida game, will make a huge difference in the run game. Obviously, a guy that you're studying like crazy, probably a first-round draft pick or second-round draft pick with Tate Ratlidge. So I think that the receiver problem is real. They drop balls at the third-highest rate. They don't make contested catches. Guys coming over the middle with some Alligator arms. The tight-end position has been a superior strength for years. Delt is MIA. He has less than eight catches on the season. Which is bizarre for a Georgia.

The tight end has always been such a big factor.

And you know what? If you want to boil down to it and what you see and what you watch on tape, Carson Beck don't trust Delt.

He doesn't. Yeah.

We can boil down this week, and again, we're going to spit it straight. That's what we're going to do. And you can tell there's definitely not a level of truff. Bowers, that ball was getting force-fed. Mcconkey, that ball was getting force-fed. And so it's just interesting. And Lucky was the guy they ran a screen with this week. Lucky is the guy they're targeting more because you can tell Beck trusts him more. I think Beck will continue to get better. I've seen some pocket stuff from him that I really like. But Kolby being gone, Rara Thomas being gone. This is a receiver group that maybe there's some young guys that we don't know about yet that steps up, but if they don't get better at that receiver spot, I absolutely can't win it.

Is it hard to recruit receivers in Georgia? You look around the landscape, Texas, LSU, Alabama. We can get into Alabama. It's different this year than it has been in previous years. Ohio State, obviously, is the standard. Because of the offense they run and I guess the philosophy of Kirby Smart and this team, is it Is it more difficult to get elite receivers and to keep them there at Georgia than you would think for a program that recruits as well as any program out there?

Well, if we don't think negative recruiting exists, you're wrong. And so the negative recruiting against Georgia is, who do they have at wide receiver? They're not putting guys in the league left and right. And Alabama had that run of just stupidness. Yeah, Judy and Rugs and Monte Smith and Waddle, Jamison Williams. It's incredible. And I think Georgia hasn't put that together. And so I think Kirby demands you be a great blocker. You will not go on the field unless you're an elite blocker. And that's been a struggle. But you even got guys like George Pickens who you're starting to see have great success. He was really good at Georgia. A. D. Mitchell was good, but went to Texas. And so I think you've seen some of that as well. But they definitely, as well as they've recruited everywhere across the field, the receiver position, where are the guys that come in and pop right away? I mean, Jeremiah Smith didn't take long, bro. Hey, take your high school uniform off. Okay, I got a new one for you right here. You just finished. Go catch one hit of catches. Got it. I have millions.

There's definitely an area, dude, that you can be critical and say, they've got to continue to get better at that spot.

And honestly, Todd, I think that's why they've gone so much in the portal. They go in that position in the portal more than anybody. I mean, way more than anybody to bring in guys and facilitate needs because they haven't developed that spot, and it hasn't been a big strength for them in the recent years.

Well, let's use that to transition Tennessee, Alabama. The biggest takeaway from that game is, Tennessee doesn't have a Jalen Hyatt. And when they had it rolling with Henden Hooker, they had the Hyatt. And it's not really about a bunch of big plays or getting 9, 10 catches from a Jalen Hyatt type. It's about running the football, spreading you out, getting a lot of those short receptions and after catch. But then when you take the shot, it's got to be a higher percentage than what it has been. And Nico's to blame for that. You can't overthrow the deep ball as many times as he has the past four weeks. The system doesn't work when you do that. But also, I don't see the dudes. And then at Alabama, you've got the best... I mean, him and Jeremiah Smith, Ryan Williams and Jeremiah Smith, two absolute phenoms at wide receiver. But when you're a true freshman is getting nine targets in the first quarter, It tells you you got a great player, but it also tells you we don't trust a whole lot else at the wide receiver position. I just mentioned the rugs and the Judy's and the Jamieson-Williams and Devante Smiths and Waddles and all those guys that they've had.

It's almost like they missed a recruiting cycle. So with all that as backdrop, looking forward for Alabama and Tennessee, how legitimate are they? And the lack of weapons in-depth, does that jump out to you like it does to me?

Yeah, I think the thing about Tennessee is I think Tennessee's box is so elite defensively. It reminds me of Georgia a couple of years ago, and it might not be the upper echelon player, but the depth is better. So many guys along that defensive line that they're rotating in, and they're not just space heaters, and they're not just big clotters. They're twitchy guys that penetrate, that make plays, and it's like hockey shifts, and they rotate in. And I think we've seen. They've been shut out the last three games at half, Tennessee's offense, Tennessee's team. In every game, they're very much in it. And it's because they are so dang good on the defensive side of the football. So I think that will keep them in every game. I think Hypewell is adjusting his style a little bit. And Samson, by the way, is killing it. I mean, he's on pace to shatter Tennessee's single-season, countdown record next week. I think he already has 17. It's 18 on the season. I mean, he's going to murder it. And 100 in the second half. And I thought I saw some things with Tennessee in the second half.

The third down, Todd, with almost two minutes left in the third quarter when Nico goes right and throws a beam down the right side, right in stride, the slot fade, countdown, which was a nice catch. So the scary part about them is their defense will keep them in every game. If Nico hits two or three more of those plays, their touch downs and their big plays, and then all of a sudden, that opens up for the other side. And another thing, too, about Nico and those deep shots, I think it's interesting because I'm a defensive guy, so I tend to look at things on the defensive side. And while those shots are clearly over thrown, Todd. And like you said, listen, you can't catch an over thrown ball. Like an under thrown ball, the receiver has a chance to come back to it. The DB also comes into play and has a chance to make a play.

Pass interference.

Yeah, at least you got something that can happen. So I feel like that can be fixed. Now, he doesn't have to go Russell Wilson on us and throw moon shots, but a little more air underneath those balls. And those are big plays. But defensively, those aren't high percentage. So I'm going to run with you and make you make those plays consistently, repeatedly. And listen, I just think if Tennessee and Nico and they start hitting those, man, with that defense this year. Todd, you ain't never studied a Tennessee defense and been like, whoa, let me write 55. Hold on, 55. Okay. 20. Hold on, 21.

Hold on. You go back to John Henderson in those days. It's been a long, long time. I don't know if it was ever this deep. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. How about Dylan Samson, too? He had to fumble, right? 282 carries, I think it was. Someone gave the stat during the broadcast. I think it was Mekana, 282 carries coming into the game. Fumbles once, right? And then we get to deep in the first half, and he only has five carries. And I'm like, shoot, are you really punishing this dude for one phone? And then Molly McGrath comes on the broadcast. He's like, no, he's in the tent. He's not-He better be in the freaking tent.

Exactly. I was like, Honestly, I got like, You better be in the tent, or you I got to be fired because Nico is throwing the ball to the other team, and we take him out then.

I was like, All right. Molly, thank you. Thank you. I needed it. And then he winds up with only, I think it was eight carries for 35 yards in the first half, right? And then the medicine kicks in or whatever it was in the second half, and he finished... Second half, 18, 134, and two touch stats. This offense runs through Samson. There's no question about that. All right, with all this is backdrop, though. I'm interested to do this, and let's get you involved here, too. But I want to start with your thoughts on it. Here we are about what the halfboy point or whatever you want to call it in the college football season. Let's go through the power rankings, and this is the thing that we always talked about during our years together. Forget the records right now. Forget what the committee should put in, the strength of records, strength of schedule, all that. Forget all of that. David Pollack, as of today, you're looking at the SEC. Which are the best teams? Whether we go five, six, seven, however deep you want to go, the best teams, the teams as a coach, you wouldn't want as a coach, you wouldn't want to play, the teams that you're convinced, when it's all said and done, these are the best football teams in the SEC.

And I'll let you take it from there.

All right. Well, I want you all to jump in with this, too. I want you all to think because this is awesome. I mean, this is a fun experiment, especially when you got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, six, seven, eight, nine teams that are ranked in the SEC. So that's pretty nuts. But here's the thing. I got to start with Georgia because they played two top 10 teams and handled two top 10 teams, and both away from home. And Listen, the first half against Alabama- Clemson's a damn good team, we've come to find out. Yes, they're really good. And Alabama's the second half. I think Georgia showed you that they screwed around. They should have done better. And Alabama kicked them in the face to start the game. But I didn't leave the game thinking Georgia's terrible, or Georgia couldn't beat Alabama. So I'll start with Georgia. I'll go to Texas next. Now, Texas is hard because... And again, this is why, if I'm a coach, I schedule really good opponents to start the season. Because I think Texas just got hit in the face with some problems that they didn't even know they had. And Clemson, you play Clemson week one, if you're Georgia, and you realize, Oh, it's a little bit harder than I thought.

Oh, I need to do this better in the second half. Because remember, the first half was awful for Georgia. Second half was really, really good. So I think you see the advantage of having something that you've scheduled early that really challenge you or having something on your schedule, which you can't always control year to year. And then third, I'm going to go Tennessee. First of all, let's be clear, too, to everybody, because everybody has this at home on their Bingo card, I'm sure. A&m and LSU are the only undefeated teams in the SEC. I'm sure you all knew that. Everybody knew that A&M is in first in the SEC. So that's crazy. But I would go next to Tennessee.

To Tennessee over LSU?

Yeah, I go Tennessee. I go Tennessee because of their defense. Tennessee's schedule sets up really nice for them, except for going on the road to Georgia. They got the feather in the cap that they just had against Bama. But I Todd, you know and I know Nico's talent is unreal, and it's good. I think he's going to continue to see these things that he's seen for the first time that people are throwing at him, that he starts to put in the back of his Rolodex and he's like, Bam, I got it. Okay, I get that. I understand. I feel confident he's going to continue to improve, so I go Tennessee 3. Any differences there, boys?

Go ahead, Mensch. What do you think?

I mean, the Aggies got to feel disrespected, right? I mean, The only 4-0 team in the conference. And look, the schedule's tough, right? I mean, they have LSU and Texas left.

Both those games are home now. No, the schedule's not tough, Minch. What's that? It's not. It's not tough because if you notice with A&M, there's First of all, they have a loss. Let's not forget that. It wasn't in conference, but it was a Notre Dame. That was a pretty convincing loss.

Every opening weekend, still an opening weekend, a team develops, right? Are they better now than they were then?

Yes. I guess Georgia didn't Clemson week one. They played Clemson.

I love this.

I'm with you, Minch. I think A&M is really good. But are you putting them at one or two, Minch?

No, this is the thing. Ultimately, I'm playing like the devil's advocate, but I got to go with you in the end because I don't think they're going to beat LSU and Texas, even with those games at home. I think that game, South Carolina has had some duds. I don't want to play South Carolina at South Carolina. No, I don't either, man. That's an unranked team that you're looking at. You might look at that, just look at it on paper and be like, Eh, he'll probably get that one. I don't know, man.

And they got to go at South Carolina, which is everybody knows. And I know some teams are probably... Some people are like, Wait a minute, South Carolina is not any good. No, go play at that place. They are absolutely.

With that defensive front?

And that defensive front with that crowd, exactly, Todd, because the crowd is a beautiful blessing for a defensive lineman.

Yeah. So A&M looks good right now on paper, but I'm with you when you start to dig into it a little bit. They got a lot left to prove.

Todd, I got something for you, Todd. I want you to react to this. Mr. Draft Guru, Mr. Todd McShay's top whatever players. I'm going to make a statement, God, and I 100% believe this, and I want to know what the draft expert says about this. Doug Nussmaier is the best quarterback in the SEC and the top quarterback in this class.

Top quarterback in this class. I'm not there. You came to the wrong place if you were looking for a fight, though. I love Nussmaier. I think he's the most underrated quarterback in the 2025 class. I love the way he hangs in the pocket. I love the way he anticipates throws. I think he's making NFL throws every single week, and he does it with no conscience. To me, if you're not going to be the most mobile guy and can't create and all those things, you better feel it, rip it, and anticipate it. And he does it every single week. He's one of those guys. I'm like, Shh, let's wait. Let's let everyone... Kam Ward.

See, that's the difference in me and you, homie. I ain't shushing. I'm saying it. Like, right now, we're It's on the fence right here.

I'm not on the fence. I'm just saying I just love how everyone's overlooking him. And we just started this show today, Mr. Pollard, but I'm glad you brought it up, and you ruined the surprise for me. But I love Nussmaier. I I love him.

Just saying, you want some serve with that Waffle? I'll get you some serve with that Waffle, guy.

That's why I love this, dude. All right, so just circling back. I think Georgia, Texas. I think LSU, Tennessee is right there in the same clump. After that, I would go Alabama, O'Miss, and Alabama, A&M, O'Miss, South Carolina. But I think they're almost like tears, right? I'm going to go Georgia, Texas, one, two. Then- No, was Nourri? What's that?

No, Missouri in there?

No.

I'm fine with that. Miracle come back against Auburn. A&m's boot is still in their anus from what they did to them. I mean, absolutely destroyed them. So I'm good with But I know.

So first tier is Georgia, Texas. Second tier, LSU, Tennessee. Third tier, Bama, Ole Miss, A&M. And I don't know if there's a fourth tier, but South Carolina is right behind them. And then I'll let your boys in right behind South Carolina.

You know what would be fun, by the way? What would be really fun is to go, who's the worst teams in the SEC? Who's the worst team? Because I think you got a realistic debate between Mississippi State, Auburn, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. And here's the shock factor for me. It ain't Florida. I think coming into the season, we were all like, Florida this, Florida that. I'd love to give Florida some love. Florida And Lagway is a guy we're going to talk more about in the future because he's got some serious tools, but they're fighting their tail off. Could have beat Tennessee, by the way. Should have gone for two and at least let it ride. Come on now. I disagree with that call, but I think it's interesting, the bottom, too, because it's like, I don't know, but those teams have really struggled this season, and we're not accustomed. Kentucky is usually a really good football team. I mean, Auburn is usually very competitive. They might lose close games, but not all of them.

They're losing all of And it sure isn't Vandy. Who would have guessed that coming into the year? I mean, every year, it's Vandy. We're clumping them in. It's not Vandy.

Is Pavia the second best quarterback in the SEC?

I would say he's played probably the second best. Yeah, you could make an argument for that.

Nussmaillard? Nussmaillard's one.

Nussmaillard's played the best of all the SEC quarter.

Nussmaillard's one to me by far.

I think yours has played really well the vast majority. I think Sark was, and people disagree, I think Sark was brilliant, and he did the right thing. Now, it makes it tricky because the backup is a legend, and it has the last name that he has. But watching the take, it wasn't that you were sucked. It's that the pressure started to get to him. And that last drive, he made a couple of mistakes where it's like, he may need... Let's get Quinn on the sideline. Give him a deep breath. Let's talk to him a little bit, and then let's bring him back out.

Todd, who's your greatest The first draft person you've ever seen at the quarterback spot? Who's the most highly rated guy?

Coming out like Andrew luck to me. Okay.

Just give me Andrew luck, Dan Moreno, whoever. And you put him behind that line who was getting absolutely wasted. They wouldn't have had success.

And by the way, Kelvin Banks, top 15 pick at tackle for Texas. Cameron Williams, inexperienced, but supremely talented. Jake Majors, the center, is going to be a draft Their guards are... So the fact that Georgia did that to their offensive line makes it even more impressive to me. I know Munch is a former offensive linemen. He studies those guys up front, and I know he thinks that that Texas offensive line is overrated, and He was vindicated on Saturday. But it's still... I mean, you can't deny that.

Munch, talk to me, brother. Mince, talk to me about what I'm doing in this.

Let me say two things. One, the correct answer on the worst team in the SEC is Oklahoma. I mean, I think that they're the worst team in the SEC. That was the team that I would go with. I mean, they are going They are going backwards. And two, you guys are being way too easy on yours. You could say that there was a lot of that stuff going on, but he did not have a great game. And the one thing that was really alarming, I think we'll get into this a little bit later on, is how he was not sensing, feeling pressure and moving around the pocket. He's a mobile guy. He just didn't know. He was putting his guys in tough spots by not stepping up when he had room to step up. You can say whatever you want about the other stuff, and you're right. But I thought you were It's a tough game for him.

Minch, so first of all, we already got beef, and I just started this show with you. Let's go. Minch, I didn't say that. I didn't say yours played great.

I was waiting on this.

I was a big chef then. All right.

I'm going to have to make sure. I'm so thick and tired of watching Quin Eres float backwards, Todd, and not set his feet. Set your feet for God's sake.

Step up.

He's got so much talent, and it's undeniable, the arm angles. I'm with Todd. I understand that. And he has played... Turn on the Michigan tape. That is an elite defense that he carved up. And he carved them, carved them up and stepping up into the pocket throwing. Now, Georgia did a really good job like disguising, stemming, bringing double A gap pressure, cornerback blitz, pressuring them off the edge. I was interested, Todd. I was like, why would they spy Quinn? They spied Quinn because they don't want them to step up and have a clean throwing view. And I think that's the whole case with that. But yeah, I love the talent. And he is that guy, man, that Todd, you go on the driving range and you watch him and it's just like, bomb, bomb.

This is the perfect analogy.

I mean, just stroking the ball and you're like, That is so good. But then the mechanics during the game, man, it drives me a little bit batty. And he's been really good this year so far, but this past week, obviously, still coming back from the abdomen, too, and getting reps and getting back accustomed to it.

This has been awesome, man. This is why you're here. This is why I'm going to be bugging you more often than you want. And you think that they meant, you think this is his real passion? Obviously, family and faith are his real passions. But when you talk about football, this is his second passion behind the North O'Choni. Is that right? O'cony? O'cony Titans, baby. North O'Coney Titans. Tell me about what you're doing, man, because this is like friends of the show. We've got to know. I know how passionate you are. I know Traveling with you game day for years and being out on the road, coaching the youth, coaching young players, coaching high school. Tell me about what you're doing with the Titans and why it's so important to you.

Man, I started a little bit before I got canned from ESPN and my mom would be pissed. You got to let go. I'm like, Mama, they told me not to come back. So I got whatever you want to say, Mama, they said you don't work here no more. I think I started a couple of years and I volunteered when I could, but now, dude, I get to be there full-time. It's just unbelievable. I get 100 plus kids that I get to get into their life, Todd, and I get to pour into them and coach them. We got a fantasy football league together, and we feed them, and we do all the things together. It's an awesome opportunity. It's a gift. It's a blessing, and we're really good. My D-line is dirty, bro. We ain't big. We're like 215 across the board, which is not large, but we will strike you with facing hands. We will disengage. We will hunt the football. So we definitely got a good squad. We played East Side last game, and it was 40 to 35, three touch downs in the last five minutes, which, by the way, it's the first time, Todd, I left the game and I felt like we lost because we gave up 40 points, for gosh's sakes.

I mean, 35. I'm like, What the heck are we doing? But they had a bunch of D1 kids, man, and they made life really, really hard. It's super fun. What did you say? I didn't hear you.

I said, Don't make excuses.

No excuses. Hey, kid going to Georgia, kid going to tech, kid going to Tennessee. I'm like, Man, I've become a lot worse coach when you go to get those dudes.

Well, they're lucky to have you, man. They are. And we're lucky to have you here on this show, our very first show. And we appreciate your time. I can't wait to catch back up with you. And remember, everyone, you got to check out his podcast, the David Pollet College Football Show. It's on YouTube and everywhere that you get podcasts. It's an absolute must watch. And Pollack, you'll be back soon. I appreciate you, brother. It was fun. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. For Kansas, in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino. Or 18 plus and present in DC. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler or visit rg-help. Com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg. Org/chat in Connecticut, or visit mdgamblinghelp. Org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelpma. Org or call 1-800-327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts, or call 1-877-8-Hope-N-Y, or text Hope-N-Y in New York.