Super Sunday Signings

Super Bowl Sunday

00:16

Welcome to the blog dogs podcast. I'm Herschel Gurley here as always with my co host boss dog Howard people boss.

00:24

Welcome back everybody to Super Bowl Sunday big day go chiefs go Nicole. And have a great day everybody enjoy the Super Bowl and let's talk some football.

00:34

Yeah, coming to you on Super Bowl Sunday about two hours from kick. Boss and myself both have a lot of pups in the house. So we gotta we got to do it when we get the time folks. So we got a we got a pocket today and we're gonna roll with it even though it's Super Bowl Sunday, and since it's Super Bowl Sunday, and since being dogs fans we're gonna be written from a cold today. Let's Let's pick up where we left off last week trying to guess what his outfit was going to be. He just entered the stadium and he is dressed as a Air Force fighter pilot. I mean, the full outfit, the flight suit, he's got the helmet on with the visor, oxygen mask the whole deal. I mean, he might as well the maverick from Top Gun. He's essentially Pete Maverick. That's what it looks like. And the Instagram posts from him highlighted you know, everybody's calling the jet now. I don't remember that from UGA. Was that his nickname? uj. I don't remember that. I feel like I would remember that.

01:24

I don't remember that either. He looks awesome. He looks amazing.

01:28

His outfit.

01:29

I really hope that he sticks with this going into next season. Just every week this he comes into the new outfit. I really hope he sticks with he looks great.

01:37

I think yes, he looks fantastic. And I didn't think he could outdo himself from the divisional round and the conference championship. But this is excellent. I mean, slow clap from the blog the dogs podcast McCall because that is excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Plus, isn't Top Gun to releasing this summer?

01:55

Yes, yes, it is

01:55

cognizant of pop culture. I'm here for McColl I am here for it. So well done on that. I love that. Everybody check it out on his Instagram. Next thing I want to talk to you guys about is obviously one of the big events that happens during Super Bowl week is that they make the Hall of Fame announcements Hall of Fame selections. And we spoke last time about how last and I grew up playing football together and he was my center and play quarterback and folks if you follow the pro football and you remember Steve Hutchinson who was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend, by the way, congratulations Steve. Boss is a spitting image of Steve Hutchinson. I mean he's got that nice flow that good facial hair, just there doppelgangers, absolutely doppelgangers. If boss walked into Canton, come August, he could probably drink for free because people will be thinking that Steve had to walk into the bar. So do you want to congratulate your boy?

02:50

Your twin? Very much. So congratulations, Mr. Hutchinson. I wish that I had a third of the athletic talent that you I never saw it until, I don't know flipping through Madden one day, I think you and I were playing or maybe we are voting Thai as well. Maybe we were playing Madden. ca and our old college days. Were over like, Oh my God. And yeah, sure enough, it really was. It was kind of creepy. I mean, it's uncanny at first but and then the weirdest part was that it was like, okay, he was playing for the Vikings time I believe. And so then I was like, Okay, I want to see this guy play. And then, you know, Vikings aren't on where we are very much. But you saw him play first. And we're like, okay, I really need to see walks like me as well. And sure enough,

03:39

it was

03:40

it was very strange. very heartfelt. Congratulations. And that sort of bonus group there. Pretty much watch them any chance I could just because of that, you know, not became a fan. You know, even though we went to Michigan still fan. Congratulations. I can't wait to see the bus. Very looking forward to seeing my face. face.

03:57

I feel like you gotta go to camp with the kids. Like, look, dad's in the Hall of Fame. It's really uncanny. I feel like I've met the dude because he he just looks just like my boys. Anyways, it just cracked me up. So and actually funny side script on that. Boss texts me yesterday and goes, I made the Hall of Fame. And I'm thinking he's talking like he made our high school Hall of Fame. And he made like, our high school Hall of Fame. And, like, this is awesome. He's like, now that now that Steve Hutchinson made half of it. Oh, God. Yeah. So yeah, it was a you know, just a little inside baseball there. But it made me laugh. So congratulations, Steve. We're pumped for you and blog dog podcast, real big fans of you. So big announcement this week? Well, a lot of big announcements this week. I think the biggest one just from an anticipation perspective, because I think we're all hurting for dogs football right now is Georgia football. Twitter announced this week, the spring practice schedules kicking off on March 17. And g day is going to be on April 18, which I think we had speculated last week but just to kind of see it on the calendar makes it feel like maybe the long dry winters. Not going to be As bad as we thought it would be. So, March 17. I mean, that's, that's really, what, six, seven weeks away, and we got some football to kind of tune into what are some of the things you're most interested to see. And I think outside the obvious of have seen him what Jamie Newman is going to be or seeing what Todd monken offense is going to look like. I think everybody's looking forward to those two things are anticipating those two things. What are some outside stories maybe people aren't generally talking about that you're looking at as it comes to spring practice in GTA?

05:30

Well, I think the biggest thing that is going to be the offensive line, there's going to be a couple of big pieces that are coming in. Hopefully, everything looks like they're gonna be coming in in summer. You know, how's the offensive line for the people that are that are on campus? How's that shape up? I think that's the biggest storyline of of the spring, because who's gonna be the left tackle? Everybody's talking about potentially Brock Jones starting as a left tackle. I don't see that if he ends up signing, which all those points of that I don't see him coming in starting at left tackle. I think it's somewhat currently already on campus. So I think that's the biggest storyline. And spring is who's you're starting left tackle on that first line at

06:08

ga?

06:08

Also you have a bunch of spaces in there who's left guard who's right tackle I think right tackle if soldier doesn't move over to left is pretty much set. But I think that's your biggest storylines, how the off lunch. Hey, gotta protect Newman Newman's a great storyline, but you got to protect. Same thing with you know, all the running backs you have to open up holes for so I think how that plays out is a bigger storyline than anything else, you know, that we're gonna see, of course, the linemen don't get much they're not flashy. So then we want to talk about the linemen, but that's much more important as the overall outcome of the offense is how the line looks.

06:41

Yeah, I agree with that. I think that that's the big one, right? Yeah. Outside of the obvious ones with with the new offense, and well, we say new offense, we just assume it's going to be new, I think it will obviously be new, newer than what we're used to anyways. So I think that's obvious. I think the Jamie Newman thing everybody's gonna want to see how he how he looks. I'm interested to see how Carson Beck plays just feel like he had an up and down senior year. So maybe the the height isn't as big on him as it was maybe a year ago. So I'm interested to see how he comes in and looks with that college be to your point with the O line, it'll be interesting to see them go best on best against our defensive line against our front seven, see how things shake out, see them go full speed? I think the defense seems pretty set. Right? So you know, maybe we get to look at tyreke Stevenson a little bit more, maybe we get to check out the back end some more. But you know, nine out of 11 starters returning right? So I know a ton of uncertainty there. It'll be interesting to see how another opportunity in the weight room, you know, another semester to grow? How the Kobe Dean looks, how Trayvon Walker looks how, you know, these guys that have had some time to marinate the system, Nolan Smith, how they come out and look. So I'm, I'm excited to see that as well. You know, the other one is the kicking game, right? I mean, hot rods out. So it'll be interesting to see what things look like from kickoffs, what things look like field goals, all those types of things. So those are some things worth following. But just excited to have something on the schedule to kind of count down to and look forward to even though it's not a real game per se weekend after the Masters just football, football. I'll take it.

08:21

Yeah, exactly. And special teams is something that in the spring, I don't think we're gonna really see much up because zirkel can't come in until August because the theory is, is that he's going to blue shirt. So technically, he's not in there right now, because he's not on scholarship yet. So he can't come in until August when classes start really. He can come in a month early as he's a football player, but he can't come in until fall practice starts. So we're not gonna really know what the will know what the punting game is gonna look like but we really pretty much already know what that is with Marta. We're not going to know what our field goal kicking situation looks like, which honestly, terrifies me this is going to remind me of Rodriguez freshman year going into the season how I felt that year. Like I'm that nervous again. I mean, I remember our conversation back then. We were both like even going into his second year. We were both kind of like, yeah, this this doesn't feel good. I think that was 17 was the year I think was his sophomore year from a regretfully we were both just kind of Yeah. Because I mean, we brought in that year I believe David Marvin was a graduate transfer to push rodrygo. And then Rodrigo won the jobs Paul camp, if I remember right, it was that year. And that's right. Yeah, I mean, he just took a stranglehold on it. Another thing that is really interesting, the people who didn't get playing time this year, the people who redshirted like the Nashville trio. And like Bill Norton, those guys all on the defensive line, you know, seeing how they've developed for years, if they're going to do anything, you know, they're really going to push playing time this year. Otherwise, you know, they may be candidates for the transfer portal if they don't get, you know, a shot in the rotation this year because people who have kids are just impatient these days. So, you know, I think we had five people registered from our first class last year, like I met Michel mkhaya tongue. Bill Norton are the three that popped in my head right away. I know there was a couple more, just seeing how they've developed after a year in the weight room, you're in the nutrition, you're in the system. I'm really curious to see how they look after a year. Yeah,

10:15

I think all those things are gonna be interesting. I mean, it's the great thing too, is a lot of that could obviously change to over the summer, but at least it's a sneak peek at what's going to come kind of pivoting off of that, you know, seeing the new offense or seeing the the evolved offense that Todd monken is going to bring in Seth Emerson wrote an article in the athletic today featuring Todd monken, and how he was selected or what the process look like for him to be selected as as offensive coordinator at Georgia. And let me just start this by saying that if you don't have the athletic, I encourage you to get it. Just to read Seth stuff. He's fantastic. The work he does is great. The podcast that he does, the damn good podcast is also great. So we're a little biased, we love his work. But I would advocate for you to, to sign up for and this is not any type of ad just it's great content. So to sign up for but I do want to read you some snippets of it last, just so we can comment on a little bit. A lot. I don't read the first snippet, but in the opening set talks about how Todd monken nearing the end of the Browns season, was having a conversation on the plane with one of his fellow coaches, on the way home from one of their games, I think it was a loss. And they were talking about different things about the season and whatnot. And then the conversation pivoted to Georgia. And they were talking about Georgia and the opportunities there. And then Seth Emerson kind of dropped Sony that the guy he was talking to is john Lilly, former Titans coach at UGA, which I totally forgotten that he was in the brown staff. And when monken asked him about the job, john Lee said you can win a national championship there. And so I just thought that was a really interesting connection that I hadn't really put together. So that was an interesting piece. The other piece of it was I think everybody's pretty aware of his brother, you know, at army and the success that he's had there. But I also didn't know that mungkin and Kirby smart share a similar history of coming from dads that were high school coaches. So I'm gonna read you this this snippet here, because I don't want to give the whole thing away. But this is what it says family history shows why Kirby smart and Todd monken might have bonded both of the sons of high school coaches. But Mankins family takes it to another level. His father and four uncles were all coaches, and four of them are in the Illinois, high school coaches Hall of Fame. That's pretty impressive, right? I misspoke earlier. Jeff monken that his brothers, his cousin, sorry about that. But so yeah, just I thought that was very interesting. And the whole article is great. But those were kind of the two highlight pieces for me about it just seems like it's gonna be an interesting fit and feels like it could be a good fit.

13:07

Well, I think that just from a personality standpoint, the opinion of people in college football is that kirby is a difficult person to work for, because he's such a hard worker, and he expects that from people under him. So if you have people who come with that mentality anyway, obviously, it's much easier. And it sounds like just from what you were describing, like the type of family that Todd come from, that he already has that instilled in him based off of just his pedigree. So I think that boat row Well, just their working relationship. Also, it seems like he because he has that pedigree. And because of the success he's had at the NFL and the college level, he also has the clout to tell Kirby, this is the way we need to do things. Not let Kirby say no, I want things done. x monken can't say no things need to be done. Why, and that things will be done. Why? Because that's his area of expertise. And I feel that just because of that background, that that he has the lack of better term gravitas. And because he has the background and did maybe Cheney, or definitely Kohli did not have any success when he came to UGA was, you know, back when he really had breezes quarterback, which was 15 years ago, and then Kobe had never really had success as OC So, you know, he didn't have that background. The phone won't be like, Look, here's the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. And then you know, you talk about the pedigree he has obviously, yeah, that's huge as well and that if they share that same type of bond, then that's always something hopefully they don't but if things go sideways You know, at some point, they can always

15:02

go back to that. Another interesting connection with mungkin, which took you down a wormhole last time but just go with me on this. Do you know who worked with him when he was with the Jaguars?

15:15

What was he with the Jaguars?

15:17

I don't know off top my head I I think pre bucks. So 1516 1415 somewhere in there

15:24

now had, I'd have to know exactly what they have a guess. But no,

15:28

he was the he was the defensive coordinator for the Jags at the time. The only person I

15:33

can think of with UGA connections in Jacksonville is Doug marone. But I think he's an offensive line coach.

15:37

Right.

15:39

So Mel Tucker,

15:41

really got he was the coordinator there.

15:44

Mel Tucker was the D coordinator in Jacksonville. When Todd monken was there. I think it may have been a while back it may have been pre pre mungkin going Oklahoma State I think he was coaching the quarterbacks with the Jags.

15:58

I think that was like, oh, seven ish.

16:00

Yeah, I think it was a while back. Because I think it was before Mel made the transition back into the college game. So anyways, just an interesting nugget there. But go ahead and read that article. It's It's great. I love stuff like that feature pieces. Like I think it gives some real insight into to what's coming with him and what the the Genesis story is for him in Georgia. So it's a good read from a roster perspective. Couple announcements this week. Let's start with the first one day john edwards announces that he's committed to the dogs to bring another running back into the fold, which I would assume I mean, we don't know this, but I would assume just to kind of piggyback off of our conversation on the last episode. That would seem to indicate the Zachary Evans storyline with Georgia is probably over Is that what you think also,

16:45

I expected it was over before Edwards announced I was really under the impression that Georgia wasn't gonna take another back in this class, I thought they were gonna go with two in the next class, which they still may, especially if they lose to, you know, after this year, which is always possible because Zeus and cook will both be juniors. But I don't know enough about AdWords because AdWords has always kind of been. I mean, he's definitely a highly rated player. It's not like he's a slouch or anything like that. It's just always been all the talk has been about Evan's, Evan's Evan's. So that's been mostly my focus on it. So all the people that, that I've talked to you that do talk about Edwards, it's just kind of like, nobody really wants to talk about him because they are so focused on. So it's one of those things that like, I really haven't done enough research on him, so I can't really give it you know, educated opinion other than his ranking. The only thing a little snippet I have heard about is that he got coached in all star game by camera coach, same brush props, I think, in Georgia.

17:51

Yeah. The old Hoover high school coach.

17:54

Yeah, he got compared very favorably to Nick Chubb who props also coach and an all Stargate. That's his only connection is that he coached them in one All Star game one. But he compares very favorably to Nick Chubb. And this was before this was before they he announced his you know, commitment to Georgia, it was just happen to be this argument. This was after his junior year. This wasn't that this season, this was after his junior season. So it had nothing to do with going to the dogs or anything like that. There was no connection there. It was just that they both went were, you know, Georgia kids and stuff like that. And in this particular All Star game, that's really the only thing I know about it. So, hey, and that I've learned that from another podcast, so it's not like this is first hand knowledge to myself. What everything I did read is that Dell never stopped recruiting this kid, even while they were recruiting Evans, they never Dell never stopped recruiting this kid, even though it seemed old, Georgia backed off everyone else. Like even with all the tactics be taught. And the kid that went to my Amy cheney even when there was talk of possibly him and shot Clayton and Jimmy or gives all these other guys that you know, everybody else was talking about. Dell never

19:04

stop recruiting at work there was also supposedly some great issues with him at some point, but I don't think you take

19:12

you know, uh, back in this point with you have so few spots unless you know, the kids make great. I love the pickup I can't wait to really delve into you know, his huddled film and like kind of like, look at it. really see what he's all about. We turned away Evans, I really didn't think we were gonna get another back and then we take another back. It's kind of like, Okay, well, we don't typically take back slightly. So we're taking it back. There's a reason for cake. I'm really excited about it because I want to get in there and see what he's all about.

19:37

Yeah, from everything I had heard and read. It seemed a lot of the smoke on him was Florida State. I mean, I just didn't seem like he was a guy that was was in the pipeline for ga I mean, I was pretty surprised when the announcement came through this week. I think the positives that you look at with the kid are pretty big kid. I think he's 511 almost six foot 200 pounds and that's before coming to college and getting in the weight room and getting into strength conditioning program. So you got to feel like physically big ceiling there doesn't seem to be like a burner. I don't think the 40 times are there anything but straight line runner perspective seems like he's he's pretty powerful, played all four years at the varsity level at the highest classification and state of Georgia. So there's something to be said for that. I heard somebody talk about him this week, and I can't remember who it was. But they said they had seen him at a camp want to Auburn's camps maybe after his sophomore year, junior year, and the guy said he was talking to a couple people there was like, Hey, is this like a kid? ahlborn his red shirt and then he's just working out or what? And the other guy was like, Uh, no, he's he's a high school kid. So I think that kind of speaks to what what he is physically and what he probably can be physically. So that's exciting. The other thing that I've had read about him what the numbers seem to indicate is that he's has the potential to be a three down back, I mean, obviously can run the football but also a good pass catcher, which in the mungkin system, I think is going to be valuable, and they said he's not afraid to block people. So that's always fantastic to have a guy versatile enough that you can keep on the field for every down that you need him. So I'm excited to see I mean, I'm kind of with you. This one kind of caught me by surprise, so I wasn't super prepared or super knowledgeable about him, but I've tried to dive in as much as possible on him and everything seems exciting as it pertains to that so hey, we were pumped to have him go dogs day john, we're happy to welcome you into the fold. It's transitioning that into another edition that was announced today. And that's the commitment from Ladd McConkey three star kid but stock seems to be rising I think there was a bad either with Tennessee or that was his first choice grew up with Tennessee Volunteers fan but keep him in Georgia Georgia kid keep him in Georgia and looks like he'll be kind of a slot guy somebody they can move around good speed shifting this real good athlete so you know another weapon for for Todd Mankins offense.

22:00

Yeah, so about him I actually have done a little bit more research on because with Edwards it kind of seemed like that ship had sailed so I didn't really pay much attention to him anymore. But with lead he visited a couple weeks ago it seemed like and then there was a lot of smoke there that you know, he got a full offer it wasn't like sugar or anything like that. You know, there was a real chance that he was gonna accept so I did start looking at his bill he's very quick he is a slot guy. He's not the biggest guy in the world. He's definitely gonna need to put on some weight. I don't know though his film doesn't have a whole lot of like returning in it so I don't know if that but he reminds me so much of what the Patriots do like the type of stuff he does is what the Patriots do with like your Wes Welker, your Julian Edelman, I'm not saying that type of player, but the type of stuff he does is what they do. He finds the soft spots zones, he's able to stop on a diamond breakout and get that half step on people. He's just able to do that. Yeah, I'm excited about it. I don't think he's going to get a whole lot of playing time this year because he does need to put on some weight because like I say he's only 170 pounds. But I think he definitely I mean as far as the college game goes, he reminds me of a faster hunter Renfro. That's just the type of player he reminds me of. I think he could be that for us. And that's what I'm hoping for from him.

23:20

Yeah, you know, I think the great thing like you said very shifty think will work really well in small spaces. He's an all purpose guy. So can't can run I think he threw the football in high school. I mean, might even play quarterback in high school. Thank you to play quarterback in high school, actually. But he has returned kicks he played defense. So you just love guys like that. Or an athlete you ran track in high school played basketball, I think he got time somewhere like 10 810, eight, five and 100. So a lot of speed there. And, you know, some room to grow. I mean, 170 pounds now but they'll put some weight on him and, and he can continue to develop and work within the system. And you know, you scheme some things for him and get him in space. And I mean, Hey, man, another weapon, you just want as many weapons as possible. It's just exciting to have another weapon in the fold. And happy to have him out. I think he is the seventh player of the 23 in the class currently, that is from the state of Georgia. So a third of the class essentially from the state of Georgia, which is always fantastic. I know Kirby is talk from the start about trying to put a fence around Georgia. So love to see that love to see some beef from the numbers in Georgia. So I think that's great, too.

24:33

It is great. He definitely said that when he came to Georgia, then he proceeded to make Georgia a countrywide brand. So he gets to pick and choose who he wants from the state and then people within the states tend to kind of say, Well, he said he wanted to put a border on say that he seems to let the best players from the state go but then he chooses players from across the country who fit his needs. Better, and picks players who he feels are better for the university. And he's building pipelines elsewhere to bring in. So he still was Phoebe, like you said, a third of the class. I mean, there's so much talent in the state of Georgia, you're not going to everyone. It's just not possible. And depending on where you are in the state, you're closer. In certain parts of the states. You're closer to Auburn than you are to UGA. You just are I mean, actually, Edwards. I've read somewhere that Edwards is actually closer to Tallahassee than he is to UGA. So I think that it just some parts of the state it just works out that way with other big schools.

25:35

Right, right. Well, since it is Super Bowl Sunday, I want you to give me pick who you got today, give me a score to

25:40

I'm gonna go with the chiefs. And as good as the niners defenses, I think it's gonna be a little bit more high score than right, thanks, I got the Chiefs 3428. And I don't think it's gonna be as close as that I think, the 40 on our score late to make the score closer.

25:58

Yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat as you I'm going to take the Chiefs to I just think I'm gonna go with what the trend was in college this year and and pick a dynamic offense over a suffocating defense. So I'm going to go with the chiefs. Also, I also agree with you, I think it's going to be more high scoring than then maybe has been indicated. I just, I don't think anybody can contain that offense. And I think they are humming right now. The thing that they cannot do is get down early if San Francisco gets up, and can grind the clock and run the football and that kind of plays right into what they want to do. So I think Kansas City needs to come out early and be aggressive. I think Andy needs to call a couple shots for guys maybe get the jet some early. be so awesome. If he hit a monster game and pulled out one of those random Super Bowl MVP deals where it's like, it's not the guy everybody thinks it is. But I'll be rooting for the jet. So hope he has an awesome game he already won the pregame with with the Get up that he brought in. So hopefully he continues and has a fantastic days like that. I think we're both on board with the Chiefs there. It's just hope it's good game. I think that's probably going to be it for this week. We will come back at you midweek next week, either on Sunday or the day after signing day and just evaluate the final product there. See where everything rolls, see if there's any surprises on Wednesday or see if everything kind of goes as we expect it will but we appreciate you listening as always. Please go and follow us on social media, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram blog, dogs podcast, on Facebook, its blog, the dogs on Twitter and Instagram. That's a wg for a blog and dogs to give us a follow there. Go on iTunes, Google Play Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts. Go ahead and give us some good rankings review us help us get up and those cues so more people can hear us more people can talk dogs with us. So thank you for listening. Go dog.

27:43

Go dogs