Today's Rapid Fire topics include:
* Does your enthusiasm for the Irish defensive line outweigh whatever concerns you have for the offensive line?
* We hear ND defensive coordinator Al Golden's thoughts on his approach to facing Texas A&M's offense, which has a new coordinator this season.
* Fill-in the blank...It’s BLANK that Riley Leonard and Kevin Bauman are on the college football comeback player of the year watch list.
* Bruce Feldman’s annual Freaks list is out. Irish defensive tackle Rylie Mills is No. 27 and wide receiver Beaux Collins is No. 36. This is the second time Mills has made the list. Which current guys on the roster could be there next year?
* Fill-in the blank...It’s BLANK that Florida International University has announced it will rename its football stadium as “Pitbull Stadium,” after entering a five-year deal with the musician.
* NBC wants Snoop Dogg to return for future Olympics coverage. Do you want more Snoop in your Olympics?
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That's indeed.com/bluewire. All that said, Vince, are you ready for rapid fire? I forgot about rapid fire. We've been here for a while, we've been here for a while, we've been rolling here tonight. So here's Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington talking about the depth we'll see in his position group and they all got a factor in. I was saying it's downstairs, the way college football is now. So you got to have, you can't wear guys out. A guy can't play 70 snaps a game for eight, nine games, they'll break down. So we're really intentional about developing that next layer and there can't be a drop off, you know, and the guys know that and I've been, we're transparent, you know, I tell them straight up, say, this is what the plan is, so we need all of you. So every day and they've come out with great enthusiasm. So again, that's Al Washington and my question to you, Vince, is does your enthusiasm for Notre Dame's defensive line outweigh whatever concerns you have for the offensive line? Ooh, I'm very enthusiastic about the defensive line. That is for sure and, but no, it does not outweigh my concerns for the offensive line. I think I have more questions about the offensive line, not necessarily concerns. You know what I mean? Like, I think it'll all get figured out and they'll be fine moving forward, but I have more answers about the defensive line than I do about the offensive line. So I'm going to say no to your question, but I am very excited about the defensive line. If I'm going to go just from a number standpoint, I have to say yes, because like I think that they're going to throw, there's basically going to be two lines out there that I think like each of them could potentially start, you know, so you're talking about eight guys right out the top. And so like if I'm going into Texas A&M with eight guys who I know could potentially be starters going up against the Aggies down there and all the Heat and everything else. And then I throw in a few extra guys to go along with it to throw another wave, Adam. I am just, my enthusiasm would be boundless for that. I think that this is going to be one of the best, especially from a total depth standpoint, I think this is going to be one of the best defensive lines, if not the defensive line that we've seen here at Notre Dame in a long time. So I have to say that my, do I have concerns for the offensive line? Yes, but I'm not like to the point where like it is so debilitating that I just think that this is going to be horrible out there, you know, when it comes to the offensive line. I think that it is still going to be good. I think that is going to be a work in progress when you lose a guy like Jagger saw after you already lost two NFL tackles. I think that that I think it is going to be a work in progress, but I don't think that it is going to be like patchwork and it is just just going to be hand-ringing on a week to week basis. I think that ultimately it'll gel and it'll be fine. So my enthusiasm for the defensive line does top whatever concerns I have for the offensive line. Okay. So Irish defensive coordinator, Al Golden, discussed what his defensive approach to take it on Texas A&M's offense could look like considering former Kansas State offensive coordinator. Colin Klein is now running the Aggies defense play a balance. The personnel is obviously the A&M film, Kansas State is more philosophy and then seeing where they go. You know, what does the old line coach like to do? What does the wide receiver coach like to do? What is the running back coach? And, you know, it's that confluence that comes together and the opening game. So this is the second year in a row, we didn't know what you're going to see. Everybody said, oh, you're going to see this from maybe we didn't see anything from Navy the first 15 plays that we thought we were going to see. So it is what it is. So how do you handle it? You manage your own variables, right? You keep your variables quiet and rely on your fundamentals, you know, and then hopefully have enough leadership to withstand anything that you could not have practice early and then just move forward. So Vince, how do you think having a new offensive coordinator on the other side impacts things going into week one? Oh, it definitely impacts things. It forces you to watch game film from teams that you're not playing. You know what I mean? I guarantee that they're watching Kansas State film and all of that. And then you've got to kind of figure out, okay, these are the schemes that they're going to run. But here's the personnel that they have and so how is that going to be different? Things of that nature. And so it is very tough and going into game one, you get a lot of that no matter what level you're on because so many things can change, especially at the college level, but you try to get as much data as you can without overdoing it. But you've got to watch film from where they were last. I mean, that's that's a absolute must. And so it just adds another layer of stuff that you got to do. And I think really, even the first three weeks of the season, you kind of continue to see that like that's that's the way it's been the last couple of years, it seems like where you're just like they're kind of holding things back. They know Notre Dame is coming up on the schedule or holding back. They're not going to show you everything. And it becomes you kind of have to adjust on the fly on the sideline, but that was something that Al Golden talked about when he was hired was as a linebacker coach in the NFL. It's not just game to game like it's it's series to series. You're calling guys over and you're making constant adjustments over there on the sidelines. And I think that he's done a really good job of it because I think that, you know, they're especially in these openers like this, like he said, Navy hit him with some stuff because remember, they had a new coach and everything last year and they were kind of throwing, throwing, you know, everything but the kitchen sink Adam early on last year. And so that there'll be some adjustment because now the athletes are a little bit bigger and a little bit better. I do think it's interesting that in a like in a parallel universe, Colin Klein could be the Notre Dame offensive coordinator right now. Not terribly parallel. I mean, it was a very close thing happening, you know, I do wonder because of that, because like whatever background and, you know, that Marcus Freeman was doing when he was thinking about an offensive coordinator, like does he at least have some some Colin Klein material cataloged, maybe that they spent some time looking at. Oh, I'm sure like when he was evaluating, okay, this is what this guy does as an offensive coordinator. Absolutely. And it adds more to your prep because not only do you have to watch film of the scheme that Colin Klein had at Kansas State, but you also have to watch film of Texas A&M for personnel. So it doubles kind of what you have to do, but that's why you have analysts like that is their job is to break down that film and figure out, you know, that kind of stuff. And then how golden comes in and makes the ultimate decisions, obviously. Prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members. 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I picked LeBron James to go under 17 and a half points and team USA's first game of the tournament. I picked Stephen Curry to go under two and a half three pointers. I picked Kevin Durant to go over 13 and a half points and I threw in Dansby Swanson to have over half of an RBI. Bing bang boom baby, that's a victory, it's just that easy. Download the prize picks app today and use code IRISH for a first deposit match up to $100. That's code IRISH on prize picks for a deposit match of up to $100. Pick more, pick less, it's that easy. We're driven by the search for better but when it comes to hiring the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all, don't search match with indeed. Indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors according to indeed data and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast. Ditch the busy work, use indeed for scheduling, screening and messaging so you can connect with candidates faster. Leveraging over 140 million qualifications and preferences every day, Indeed's matching engine is constantly learning from your preferences so the more you use indeed the better it gets. Join more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide that use indeed to hire great talent fast. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsor job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com/bluewire. Just go to indeed.com/bluewire right now and support our show by saying that you heard about Indeed on this podcast. It's indeed.com/bluewire, terms and conditions applied. Need to hire? You need Indeed. Fill in the blank. It's blank that Riley Leonard and Kevin Baumann are on the college football comeback player of the year watch list. It's interesting because I wouldn't have thought about either one of those guys being on that list. I mean we've been waiting for Kevin Baumann to come back for like three years it feels like and I'm not even sure he's even going to be back at all so believe it when I see it kind of a situation. We know Riley Leonard is going to be back. We know Riley Leonard is going to be back and I'm cool with him being on the list I suppose because he basically had a season ending injury last year for all intents and purposes and you know what he's able to do at Notre Dame will appear to be a major comeback if he does what he thinks he's going to do. So I'm cool with it. I'm down with that. I think the most interesting thing to me is apparently they've been given this award out for six years. It's been around since 2018 and I didn't know it existed. So I'm so used to the NFL version I guess as opposed to the college version. Exactly. But you're right about Kevin Baumann because of the man you talk about a guy who's had bad luck he just used and hopefully it goes well for him this year. And I don't know anything as far as like how they're going to do the roster management and everything. But I believe they're at least one player over the limit at the moment and he's like a prime example of somebody who might retire due to injury. You know what I mean? And again I don't know anything. I don't know what their plan is or whatever. But if they have to get down he's got to be a finalist for one of those you know retirement due to injury spots. So very true back that he's on that list is kind of nuts. Good point. I would think that if Riley Leonard has anywhere near the kind of year that we think that he's going to have though that he would be like a runaway winner of this thing when it's all said and done. Good call. But the profile that he's going to have. So Notre Dame. Nope. Never mind. Here. Here. Bruce Feldman put out his annual freaks list. An Irish defensive tackle Riley Mills is number 27 wide receiver. Both Collins is number 36 on the list. This is the second time Mills has made the list by the way so my question is which current guys on Notre Dame's roster might we maybe see on Bruce Feldman's freaks list next year? This is a really tough one because I don't like you're going to have to help me with what the criteria to be on the freaks list is. You know what I mean? Like what what's the criteria? Just hang on just a second. So I'm trying to I'm going to pull it up. Yeah. No, I hear you. And I'm going to tell you if it kind of okay the freaks list started in 2025. I mean basically it's like athletic testing and all that kind of stuff is is what goes into it. I was hoping that he kind of spelled out the criteria. It's like I need to I need to scroll here and and find what are these guys so I can give you an example of the stuff that's fine I got a couple answers for you. So okay so like here's here's what he says about Riley Mills for example Irish have a lot of talent on their defense and Mills and another freaky. So Mills has a vertical jump and impressive 32 inches he weighs 290 pounds and it goes on he squats for 580 pounds. He benches about the same as he used to 445 pounds. So it's a lot of that stuff it's yeah it's a combination like vertical jump 38 and a half inches and broad jumped 10 to and a half so it's like a lot of that kind of stuff that goes into it you know the vertical jumps how much you can lift all those different kind of things they kind of go into it. The first two guys I thought about because I wanted to stay younger obviously since this is a future freaks list you know nomination. So I stayed in the freshman class and the two guys that came to mind for me were KVA and Bryce Young like I feel like they could probably test pretty well and so I don't know what I don't again I'm not a recruit Nick so I don't know what all their testing numbers have been while they were in high school. But I feel like with their physical stature with the speed which they operate that their position that those are the two guys that I would pick in the younger class. Bryce Young is a really good one KVA is one of the first guys who came to mind Jeremiah Love is another one okay for me I can again like not knowing what all because like they obviously you know like vertical jumps and broad jumps and all these different things it's like it's not like Notre Dame is giving us that kind of information you know and like even how much they bench and squat and all that kind of stuff but Bruce Feldman gets it because he puts this out and it's in you know everyone's interest you know to have a guy you know to show up on these different lists. Giovanni Jean Baptiste was actually on last year's for Notre Dame as well. I think Bryce Young is a really good one KVA is a really good one like it was a DK mentioning Cam Williams and Gilbert like I was a little bit surprised that Collins showed up on this thing let alone as high as he was on this thing but apparently he tests really well also let me see if I can scroll and find his numbers here real quick. The former Clemson wide receiver put up some dazzling numbers in the training room this off season vertical jump of forty one and a half inches and a broad jump of ten feet eleven and a half so almost eleven foot broad jump oh Collins has so obviously that means explosiveness and obviously this stuff also tracks well when you're talking about your director of football performance Lauren Lando for these guys to have these kind of numbers so I think that I wouldn't be shocked to see a guy like Great House next year third year in a college program you know is athletic and dynamic as he is already I wouldn't be shocked to see him potentially on this list next year either this episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday ticket on YouTube TV I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines but they could be even better with NFL Sunday ticket in YouTube TV you get the most live NFL games all in one place every game every Sunday and you can even watch up to four different games at once with multi view one of my favorite inventions of this decade it's exactly what you need to catch all the action make your Sundays more magical and also YouTube TV is great I got it this year it's awesome sign up now at YouTube dot com slash BS device and content restrictions apply local national games on YouTube TV and NFL Sunday ticket for out of market games excludes digital only games filling the blank it's blank that Florida International University has announced it will rename its football stadium pit bull stadium after entering into a five year naming rights deal with the musician of the same name that both crazy but I'm cool with it because schools got to figure out a way to make money man so that they can compete and if that you know they stadiums have been selling naming rights forever in a day right and so pit bull wants to put his name on a stadium and he's got the money to back it up then so be it like okay cool I can't be worse than guaranteed rate field right exactly that's the thing there's some of these stadiums are have horrible names like horrible names you know and that very same field used to be called US cellular field and they named it the cell yeah like okay you know what I mean so it could have been a heck of a lot worse I mean literally every field at my kids high school has a sponsor so I mean that's true they're doing it at all levels man I'm telling you I was just I was pretty shocked to see that that pit bull is going to throw out 1.2 million dollars a year to put his name on Florida International's football stadium he clearly has too much money I mean that's right I mean you got that kind of money really it's not even something that's going to stick I would rather give 5.5 million dollars which I believe is going to be the total gift and have like a building named after me that's actually going to last like it's over after five years that's true no more just naming rights yeah I could sell it to the highest bidder the next time around here's five mill name the engineering building after me yeah or whatever like are they going to play pit bull songs you know like yeah they're going to play timber you know when you know when you're walking or like walking in the gate have like the locker room named after you or the you know the strength in you know strength and conditioning building yeah the football building you know that kind of a thing and then it actually will remain there for a long time the only problem I have with with naming rights is it goes away you know that's true that's true I mean it gives you a little cachet though I guess if I guess if you're I guess yeah I mean that's kind of cool like yeah yeah yeah like is pit bull going to be hanging around I mean he you know he lives down there in that area he does I didn't realize he was connected to them but hey I didn't either and I wonder like I wonder if he shopped this idea around to like multiple Florida schools good question like where the connection came from like yeah yeah like the pit bull swamp you do the pit bull swamp that would be kind of fun the small pit pit bull field yeah exactly you know do the aim higher is this the best he could do right like did he want it to be hard rock stadium you know or the hurricanes play but it's like well you have to shell out five million a year if you write pit bull like right it's not going to happen so we started off the show talking about Olympics which made a lot of people happy we will finish up don't get the ire man NBC wants Snoop Dogg to return for future Olympics coverage do you buy or sell more Snoop Dogg in your Olympics a huge buy for me I've actually really enjoyed watching Snoop do his thing at the Olympics been amazed at how entertaining it is actually I know I I love first of all I love the fact he has his own Olympic pin if you've seen that mm-hmm things freaking awesome and he is extremely knowledgeable about a host of sports yeah I give him a lot of credit for that you know what I mean and and like off the not off the wall but like you know off the beaten path type sports like he's learning about these and he's he can speak intelligently about many of these sports and he's hanging out with the families and you know parents yeah like I dig it man I dig Snoop at the Olympics I do well and I saw I do I absolutely do as well again I've been amazed at how you know I thought it was just gonna be like okay you've got Snoop Dogg in your coverage how good is this actually right but it's just like he's been a little bit of like where's Waldo he's just he's all in around you know event to event and you know like you said he's hanging out with the families he's you know and not just like interviewing the families he's literally just hanging out with them with bombs and dads watching their kids perform he's like chilling with uh with Caleb Dressel's wife and their new baby and he like gave the baby a nickname and everything and they interviewed Caleb Dressel and he's like no he goes our kid really enjoyed hanging with Snoop like he was totally like calm and cool and collected when he was around he's not usually like that around strangers he was like that around Snoop you know like I just I feel like maybe NBC hired him in the first place to kind of be what you just said you know what I mean just like a you know it's kind of a thing but he is like all in yeah like I think they're getting way more than they even bargain for if you if you want to put it that way you know well you know in the next summer Olympics are going to be in Los Angeles so it's just a natural fit he's a California guy who works those like my question is do they bring him in to do winter Olympics in two years you know like when he go to the slopes or you know to the ice rink sort of whatever happens he probably would you probably I think he needs to be a staple him and Mike Tareco you guys are now the NBC staples for the Olympics yep it's been a lot of fun it's been a lot of fun and it's all winding down now we've only got a couple days left in the Olympics but he's he's really added to the entertainment value like when they do the time it doesn't even have to be studio stuff but he bounces in the studio every now and then too I have to say I have actually really enjoyed just getting up in the morning and just flipping on the Olympics and it's just the live and they're just bouncing around between all the different stuff and it's been great I've really it's kind of revived this summer like during the day part like I've really enjoyed it for sure all right well that's going to do it for today's show Vince I appreciate you jumping in kind of on some late notice again tonight no problem pitching in helping out always wrong I did not Jesse'll get me back full faith but that will happen I'm sure you guys will get each other back and just I saw Joe you know because I said on the boards because people have asked before well who's hosting the show so we know you know sort of where to direct the question so I put something on the board saying Vince is hosting you know you know Vince is co-hosting tonight so playing your questions accordingly and and Joe basically said I was telling people to dumb the questions down Wow because you were hosting that was that was before you shut down his arrowhead stadium show Joe no he's not local because he said he lives three hours away from error oh he's an old mom I'm safe but come on Joe it was low all right smash that like button before you leave again we appreciate you being here have a good one we will talk to you later on abdation's voice. 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