We're driven by this 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. Enaging 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, that's indeed.com/bluewire, terms and conditions applied. Need to hire? You need Indeed. 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 and 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.com/bsdevice and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Number two of our discussion today, Brian, is our superlatives discussion. We have, let's see, we got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 different "awards" to hand out. I will tell you this from the get-go. For whatever reason, when we do these types of shows and these types of awards and giving them out and everything, I look at it more as a head coach, maybe, where I try to spread the wealth a little bit, and I don't like to give the same person two awards, if that makes sense. Now, there are a lot of guys that could fit into these different categories, and maybe you gave out the same, you know, the same player, a couple of different awards. I actually crossed out a guy and moved him because I felt like he fit in this other spot better, you know, that kind of stuff. But this is the fun part of the show, not that the whole show is not fun, but this part right here. Because we haven't given each other answers. No, we have not shared. Because I wanted you to be able to take whatever direction you wanted to go. I don't care about having to go. If my best lineman is also my best player, I'm not going to pick someone else. Just hypothetically, let's say you have Riley Mills as your most outstanding player, but then you're not going to have him as your best lineman. You know what I mean? I did it. Like so. I spread it out. I'm willing to do it, but I'm not going to have it towards like of the non-MOP MVP honors. Those are the two that you, you know, I don't count as multiples. Like I'm not going to have a guy be the, you know, of the others I'm kind of with you on. Like I'm not going to have the top skill player be the top breakout. You know, just that's how much those things went. But sure. The last two I kind of improv and then then also events at the end of this, I did there was a super chat that kind of was that kind of ties into this before we jump into the other predictions. So perfect to those as well before we move on to our actual predictions. Perfect. Prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members. Prize picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps on prize picks, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in baby. Get in on the daily action with your friends and become part of the prize picks community today. Get in on all the excitement and win up to a hundred times your cash with the summer games on prize picks. With prize picks, you can turn $10 into $1,000 while watching team USA rack up the gold medals this summer. You can make prize picks lineups of players across basketball, soccer, tennis, golf and more in as little as 60 seconds. Just pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and you're locked in prize picks is available in more than 30 states across the country, including California, Texas and Georgia. I recently won big with a four player stat projection. I picked LeBron James to go under 17 and a half points and team USA's first game of the tournament. I picked Stefan 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 a hundred dollars. That's code Irish on prize picks for a deposit match of up to a hundred dollars. 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. That's indeed.com/bluewire, terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need indeed. So let's just jump into this thing and we'll just kind of go back and forth Brian and let's start with top role player and that could be someone who, it could be a starter but it also could be somebody who's in the rotation, it could be a defensive lineman for example, it could be a linebacker who's in the rotation, it could be a wide receiver who's not a technical starter but for all intents and purposes, a starter because you're in the top six. It could be one of the running backs for example. So lots of choices for this one for top role player. What say you, Brian Driscoll? So on offense, it was to darn price because as you said, yeah, we're going to offense and defense. Yeah. On offense for me, Vince, I look at it during price this way. I think he's going to basically kind of play starter minutes to a degree but he's not going to be the starter. He's going to be part of a rotation. He's not going to be the guy that gets all the pub. He's not going to either gets all the love pun intended but he's going to be a very good football player. And I thought about having him in my breakout category but there's some starters that I am projecting to the breakout category. That's why I went with him here. I think he's going to be a very under he's every he's going to be kind of like what Logan Diggs was two years ago where everybody loved Audrick so Logan just constantly got crapped on because he wasn't Audrick which is what his numbers were very good, you know, over 800 yard. He had over a thousand yards of total offense that year, a guy that had over a thousand yards is a sophomore running back was a guy that fans some fans were like, I don't care. Let him go. Okay. Well, I think he's pretty flipping good let that year, you know what I mean? And so that would be a role player because Audrey was, you had Audrey was there, Chris Tyree star of the year running back, but it was at the end of the day, it was, it was, you know, Logan played a very important role that season and every time Audrey was getting bench for fumbling, Logan stepped in and played well, sure. And so I think Jadarion's going to be a more explosive, better version of what Logan Diggs was in 2022. If that says anything about how good I think he's going to be this season for another day. Well, I didn't have an offensive guy written down. So I just now wrote one down and I initially, Jadarion prices that is a great, great answer for this because I think it is going to be a one A one B and choose who your A and B are going to be from a game to game basis. Like that, that's what I'll say to that. I went a different direction just because I want to talk about somebody else. And so I went with Jordan phase on. I don't think he's actually going to start because I think right now, they're trying to figure out kind of where they can get him on the field the most, right? Because they've got him at field. We know that what he can do in the slot, I think he's going to kind of be a bit of a Swiss army knife for this wide receiving core. And you know, he did break out, I guess, quote unquote, the last few games of the season and did some great things for Notre Dame, obviously got himself off of walk on status and became a scholarship player, all of those awesome things. And I still think he's going to be kind of the forgotten man from a defensive game plan standpoint because there's a lot of other names in this wide receiving core who I think we're probably going to get named first as guys that you need to game plan against. And I think that's going to give a great opportunity for number six to make some plays and to be a good one to be a guy. Do you factor in the potential that he also adds on special teams to this equation too? Like if he's a returner, that only factors into his impact because he's an offensive player. You kind of count that as some different. That's a very interesting piece of it because I do think he is going to end up being the punt returner. And I think he's going to be a very good punt returner. He only returned, I think two puns last year, and I think one went for 20 yards or something like that. I mean, you're more of the stat guy than I am, but I think that's what I remember. And I think he could be dynamic as a punt returner, right? We know what Harrison can do as a kick returner because it's a different skill set, right? I think Jordan Faison with his lacrosse background and what he has to do with his legs in a lacrosse game. I think that makes him perfectly suited for a punt return man as well. And so maybe he doesn't have it all the time, but I think he's going to be a dynamic punt returner. So that's definitely part of the equation for sure. Let's go to newcomer next fence and we're going to take newcomer in two different directions. We didn't do role player for defense. Oh my gosh, see, I'm the one that was wanting to do both and I completely forgot. Let's go defense. So you're you're. Oh, when you were just thinking we were going to do one, yeah, you had a defensive player, obviously. So who would that be? Well, and who it is? Probably not going to surprise you very much because I'm very high on what he's going to do this year. And it's Josh Burnham. He's he's not penciled in as the starter. He's penciled in as a backup and I just I love his motor. I love what he has done physically to his body to adapt being on the defensive line and being a contributor this year. I just think he's so twitchy coming off the ball. I just think he's going to be a dynamic player on the edge for Notre Dame this year. And I am super excited to see what Josh Burnham can do. I think he's going to be a guy that they're going to be putting out there in the big moments. I think that's when it's all said and done, I think you're going to see Burnham out there in the big moments. So I think he he's my role player of the year on the I went Jalen Sneed. Okay. And the reason I went Jalen Sneed is I don't think he's going to be a starter like his he's going to be a maybe the starting Rover, but like as we saw last year, the starting Rover's not in the top 11 in regards to snaps, right? I think Jalen Sneed is going to be a little bit of a do it all player for now. He's going to be a he's going to be in the rotation of linebacker, he'll start at times a Rover. He'll come in maybe at times and will, and he's going to be a third down pass rusher. He's going to do a little bit of everything for this defense. That is the very definition of a role player. Oh, yeah, for sure. So a lot of times people think role player, they think, well, not a guy that doesn't matter as much. For me, Vince, a role player is a coach role players are vital. No. Yeah. To your success. Oh, yeah. When I look at Jalen Sneed, I think he's going to be sort of a jack of all trades do a little bit of everything kind of guy. Now that he's a junior, he's been more motivated. He looks thick. He looks stronger. I don't know that he looks necessarily that much bigger, but he looks stronger than he did. And he's been more locked in so far than I've ever seen him. Now again, we're not even at a halfway full point of camp, right? But from what I've seen of Jalen Sneed, I think he's ready to give you something important this year. We have like a big national breakout season that I don't see, but we're going to look back and be like, he's going to be a, I'll put it this way. He's going to be a more play, a better playmaking version of Danny Spond. Remember in 2012, nobody really talked about Danny Spond, but if you go back and watch those games, he was so important to that 2012 defense as that, that what they call that, the dog or the, I think he was the dog. Yeah. Was the field side outside guy, and then the cat was the boundary. Like that was Shumbo. I believe it might have been the other one. Danny Spond never got loved, but he was so important to that team as a role player. And I think that's what Jalen Sneed's going to bring this year, right? And we've seen flashes of it in the past. I think you're going to, but that's all they're going to need him to do is in spurts. He's not, I don't see him being an every down player, but in spurts, I think the staff has finally figured out two events, how to use him, right? This is what he's good at. This is what he isn't good at. So let's make sure we're using him in areas where he's good at, right? And you weren't going to justify taking Marist or JD Bertrand off the field last year to find a role for Jaylen Sneed. He just weren't going to because he was going to put himself in some bad spots. You're going to be more willing to accept that this year, but I also don't think he's going to be as undisciplined as he was last year. And that's why he gets my pick. Cool. I like it. I dig it. Next category. Top newcomer. And we split this into two different parts. We've got top newcomer as a transfer and top newcomer as a freshman. Okay. We got, we got two different ways to go. So top newcomer as a transfer, what say you? This one's kind of easy for me. And I love the group of newcomers they have. I love Chris Mitchell. I think it was a huge pickup. I taught, I love what both cons is doing like I, every time I talk to a source and I just talk to another source yesterday that was at the most recent scrimmage. Okay. And I asked this person how the, how the team looked. And this is not a person that normally watches the offense. This is a person that watches the defense and I'm going to read you exactly the very first thing they said to me, receivers are legit. I've heard that from so many different people close to the program and, and you keep hearing that. So I, and a big part of that is the newcomers. I mean, yes, great houses having a great space on it's, but the speed between, you know, and Jaden Harrison, I didn't mention Jaden, he's another one that brings some juice to the table. I talk to another source recently that was at a practice and he was like, I don't know what they're going to do with this guy, but they got to figure something out to get this guy to football because he's just electric. And he doesn't look like a natural receiver, but man, when you get into, if you can eliminate all the stuff between the snap and him getting the ball and just focus on going to him, he's going to be electric. But I think Riley Leonard is at the end of the day, the guy that's easily the most impactful and most talented and best newcomer in the portal through the portal. That's a no brainer for me. I mean, he, he is, he's a guy that I believe has first run NFL draft pick potential. Now, will he get to that this year? Don't know. Sure. But he is a very talented quarterback. He's, he's bigger. We were talking about this some practice of the day. It was me, you and Steyer standing actually, like it, you really don't notice how much bigger he, how big he is until you actually see him up in person. Like, you know, he's tall and long, but I don't know, he's a big boy and he's very athletic. You know, that was the next thing that this person told me is Leonard's fast, you know, like, and, and he's improving as a passer. He's going to have really good weapons around him. I just think he's going to be, if he can say healthy, he's going to be a very dynamic player for another day, very dynamic player. That's a great answer. I have Riley Leonard in a different slot. And so, you know, my rules, I don't put him in multiple slots and that's just because I like to be different. So he won't be the best newcomer, but he's going to be one of, okay, make sense. No, it doesn't. It doesn't make sense. That's okay. That was called sarcasm. I thought I was learning Nick, but who is your pick, though, Vince? So I am in the same neighborhood as where you were. I have Chris Mitchell as my top newcomer. I think that, you know, he has number one receiver written all over him. I mean, I know that he hasn't done it at the Notre Dame level. I get all of that, but it's a receiver. Like, I don't think that that matters to me. I got into a party. He only played one game against a power five team last year and he dominated it. I mean, so what if it was on the road against an SEC team and he had six catches for 157 yards? Right. Exactly. Thank you. That's called sarcasm again. I'm not sure if it's coming through in the show, but that's, that's also called sarcasm. Yes. But I just think that he is going to be smooth. He is going to be consistent. And like I said, he's got number one receiver written all over him, which then allows for guys like Jaden Greathouse, Bo Collins, Jaden Harrison, Faison. It allows them to do some things because, you know, I think Chris Mitchell has all the potential to be that guy that gets bracketed, for example. And then you, of course, bring in the tight ends and what they can do athletically and in the past game, I just, I think he's going to be instrumental in the passing game. And of course, I know the guy who's throwing them the ball, but I'm sure he is very excited about the fact that he's got these guys that have these three guys that have come in and have just really opened up the wide receiver room and allowed it to allow them as a whole to be legit and be dogs, right? And so that's why I picked Chris Mitchell. I mean, honest events, I wouldn't have cared who you picked if you picked the receiver. Yeah. I mean, meaning like they're, they're all so good. Oh, I could have made a case for all three of them. Yes. They're all really good. They all bring something dynamic to the table. Like, you know, and I've said this before, like Chris Mitchell's my big concern. I'm not Chris Mitchell. Excuse me. Jane Harrison's my big concern if I'm looking at it from the standpoint of, you know, looking at a guy that, that is he really a receiver, right? Like, is he, does he really like have that kind of ability? Does he really have, you know, like, yes, he's a great return guy. And all these other kinds of things, but he's really kind of, you know, that type of player. I don't know the answer to that. But I do know, like I said before, once he gets the ball in his hands, he's electric. Just dynamic. If you'd have called both columns, I'd have been like, cool, man, I get it. I think both could end up being the best of all of the receivers for a host of reasons including it. But I want to point something out real quick about your pick of Chris Mitchell. Last year, Arkansas, who's not a great SEC team as was pointed on the chat, faced off against Luther Burden, that he faced off against against the kid that got drafted, Ricky Pearsall from Florida got drafted, I think in second or third round last year, also played against Alabama last season and they had drafted receiver, played against Ole Miss, who had Trey Harris and Jordan Watkins, right guys that are going to be high draft picks, played against Texas A&M and that group of receivers Evan Stewart, who everybody raves about, played against LSU with Malik neighbors and Brian Thomas last season and so all those SEC teams, there's only three receivers that went over a hundred yards against Arkansas. Malik neighbors, Brian Thomas, Chris Mitchell, that's it, right, that's the list. And Mitchell or Thomas had five catches for 133 yards, Malik neighbors had eight catches for 130 yards, Chris Mitchell had six catches for 157 yards. So I just thought it was kind of smart to point that out or hey that, you know, there's some other really good receivers that played against them with much better quarterbacks and much better supporting casts to take the pressure off of Chris Mitchell and nobody did what Chris Mitchell did against them last year. Had the most yards that Arkansas gave up the entire year, despite them playing two first round, hold on, is it three first round picks at receiver? Well three eventually because they also played against Luther Burden, who had six catches for 55 yards against Arkansas. Theo Wies had one catch for 15 yards, Ricky Pearson, who I believe was a second or third round pick had five catches for 55 yards against Arkansas. So like yeah, you got to show you can do it week after week after week. But the guy's pretty flippin' good, exactly. And there's a reason we've seen it, I mean, we've seen it, I'm not gonna lie to you because I didn't want to disappoint a lot of the people out there who know, who love my affinity for special teams. Mitch Jeter was in the neighborhood of being picked for this spot, I'm not gonna lie. Well, I mean, you could kind of go there, I mean, oh I know, I had a whole argument ready to go. Newcomer. You're talking about newcomer? Right. He's for a punter, a new transfer kicker, and a new transfer into a turn game. And that's the other thing about, about, uh, Rendell's, I didn't know if he was classified as a transfer or as a freshman. I assume he went to college in Australia, but I'm not. Yes, he did. He didn't. I don't know that he played football there because it's like they have a nice thing. But yeah, by the way, I was wrong, Ricky Pearson was a first round pick of the Niners. The Chaddis. Oh, okay. So they played against three first round picks at receipt. There you go. And none of them had as many yards against Arkansas, right? That's Chris Mitchell did. I think, I think, uh, Mitch Jeter is going to lower the, you know, the heart rates of a lot of people out there, just because he's so consistent, you know, he's, he's so consistent. And what, you know, like that's huge for Notre Dame, to be honest with you, if they ever come into a position where a field goal is going to make a difference in a game, I feel very good about Notre Dame's chances to kick that field goal and to go between the Umbrights. Yes. 100%. He was right there for me. I'm not going to lie. 100%. 100%. So, you know, Vince went, went newcomer special teams. I would go with Mitch Jeter as well. Yes. And the transfer portal. And that's saying you've got an all American coming back at kick return or coming in as a kick returner. It's just to your point, you're going to have a much bigger impact as a place kicker than you was a return man. Right. You're just, you're going to score more points. You're going to be in more clutch moments. All those kinds of things. Right. So yeah, I would go there with him. How about newcomer in the freshman class or on the transfer newcomer on defense. Oh, we're going both sides of the ball. Yeah. I didn't even do both sides. We're doing for any of that. It's fine. My rant, my long things be looking ahead and thinking about it. I got you. It's like it's say that we need to do offense in one defense. It's all good, brother. So our options are fairly limited defensively, right? It's either. Well, there's there's Rod and heard, Rod, heard and Clark are open. It's pretty hard. Yeah. No, I forgot about R.J. Open. Pretty good ones. So I think R.J. Open is going to be really, really good at his spot. I think just because he comes in with more experience, you know, at that position. But I'm still going to go with Rod heard. I feel very good about what I've seen from Rod heard in practice. I feel good about the experience that he has coming in. I think that he is going to play off of Xavier Watts very, very well. And I also think, and this might be a point that is not obvious on the field per se. I think he's going to be a very, very good example for a Don Shuler. I think having him as a veteran presence there kind of take some pressure off of a Don Shuler. He doesn't have to be the starter. He doesn't have to be the man next to an all American. He can just be himself, right? And so I think that trickle down effect is actually going to be also very, very important as well. So I'm going to go with Rod heard here. I did too. That's my pick for all the things you said. I think it's a smart pick, a smart pick. I mean, like, I like R.J. Open. He's going to be very good. Jordan Clarkson will be very steady for them. I hope. But I think Rod heard has a chance to be an impact player. I do. Of the three, he gives me the most. I think he's going to be an impact player vibes. But I would rank it this way heard, open Clark is the is the ranking. I would give the three. I would too. I was predicting that the who's going to have the biggest impact of the of the transfers. Me too. And what would you do offensively? I would probably go Leonard. I'd probably go Leonard Collins Mitchell Harrison. You would probably go Leonard. Yeah. Right. Let's just take away. Oh, you're your thing. Leonard Mitchell Collins Harrison Harrison. Yeah. Just strictly offensively. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Let's go freshman Vince. Who's your pick for the most impactful freshman on offense for Notre Dame? So this is a. This is not as difficult as it may sound because you're like, okay, well, which freshman are actually going to be, you know, impactful offensively this season? You know, which one? Is it Mike Gilbert? Is it one of the running backs? You know, could you see a tight end get in there? Right? Like, you know, that's definitely a possibility. If what we're seeing in practice is a is a possibility. I went into the backfield, Brian, and I had a hard time between which guy and he is Williams or key dream young. I was going to go with especially after your visual of the past blocking, but I am going to go with key dream young here. I think he has the best opportunity to be that to find a niche someplace in that whatever that eight man starting rotation that he's got, you know, that coach McCullough has, you know, he tries to fit different guys in there. So I'm going to go with key dream young, although Mike Gilbert was a very, very close second for me because I think maybe about halfway through the season, he could break into or expand that wide receiver rotation because I think they're going to start with six. I feel very confident about the six, but I think he's at seven and knocking on the door pretty loudly. And you know, it's like any coach, right in a big game, your rotation shrinks, right? I think in A and M, I think that rotation is smaller, you know, I don't think they're going to necessarily, you know, give him that opportunity against A and M. But then the consecutive games after that is where he could start to find maybe a little bit of a niche, you know, getting in there. But, you know, and I don't know how much key dream young is actually going to be on the field necessarily against Texas A and M, to be honest with you. But to pick a freshman, he's the one I went with. I don't know that any of the freshmen are going to see much time against. Exactly. And again, saying them, I just, I don't know. I went with Mike Gilbert just because, yeah, I get that. I had a hard time with this one because part of me wanted to go with one of the running backs as you, as you went with part of me wanted to go with projecting that, that there's going to be an injury that's going to force Kirby Lambert into the lineup, you know, like a Joe alt type of thing. Andrew Gilmore in the chat projects a potential injury. And he so that's why he went with Anthony Knapp, right? So like, you know, wow, you know, so like, like, I thought about going that route. Not with Kirby, but at the end of the day, I'm just going, okay, if all things, if there's no injuries to anyone, what happens? Because like, if there's one injury at running back, immediately one of those freshmen becomes, you know, like the easy pick, right? Well, I'm not projecting that because I don't know who it's going to be. Sure. Mike Gilbert was my pick just because I think he's going to eventually force himself into the rotation. I watched that kid play and I'm just like, God, you got to find a way to get that guy in the field. Like Cam Williams has that has the potential to be a star, but Cam is still very much learning the position. Yep. Micah looks like a veteran. Like Micah and Jaden Greathouse go through drills and run routes like their juniors and seniors in college. They're very advanced players. And I think that's going to help Micah, like, I don't anticipate him being the best freshman overall from this team, but I think he'll be the best freshman in year one from this team. After that, I kind of lean towards Kydron as my next pick with me is really close behind. Yep. And if there's an injury like Andrew Gilmore's talking about, then I do think we could see a freshman maybe because, like, honestly, if one of the two tackles goes down, you almost are forced to put a freshman in. And if it's an injury that's going to cost multiple games. So I'm going to go there. I just think Micah Gilbert, it's easier to get a sixth receiver into a game than it is a third or a fourth running back with some consistency. That's kind of the way I looked at it because I think the first two running backs are going to eat up a lot more of the touches this year than the number three running back had last year. Sure. I agree. That's important as well. And that's the thing. It's like, I probably would have been more confident in the Kydron young pick if the past blocking didn't occur the other day that you were watching. But I mean, it was, again, it's like, I get it. Practice nine. Oh, I totally get it. Yeah. In this whole spring. Right. It'll be, yeah, it'll be interesting. But I do agree with that fact that the two top guys could steal some of those third guy reps in there completely agree with that. Yeah. Completely. I could see a scenario where, so like in my head vents, I'm also going with guys that are making an impact in meaningful downs. I could see a scenario, one of the backup running back rushes for like 400 or so yards, but a lot of it's like in junk time. You coming in the fourth quarter and rip off a couple of big runs and things like that as well. So I think, I think Mike is going to, you guys can have the biggest impact on day one. But I had a tough time with this one because I really struggled with him and Kydron and Ennius. And I, of course, I wanted to go with Gerbie because that was more wishful thinking. Yeah. Than anything. 100%. Yes. I agree with that completely. I don't see that being the case because I just don't see. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Some of you in the chat asked about what happened to Cam Williams. Nothing's happened. And he's just raw and he's at a position where they're, I think, a little bit more established. You've got, you know, he's at Z, there's Chris Mitchell. You've got Jordan Faison there. You've got KK Smith there. It's just a little bit more established and less injury history there. Whereas with Micah, also that this was a small, small factor, because like I said, I try to keep injury out. But I look at him like it's Jayden Thomas, Bo Collins and him, Jayden can kind of move all over, but Jayden and Bo have both had injury problems in their entire careers. You know, so that could, that could open up some things a little bit as well. But I just think Micah Gilbert just has really impressed me with what he's shown so far. What about your freshmen on defense Vince? Who's your pick there? This one, to me, is even tougher because I think there's a couple of freshmen that are going to play a lot this year. There's two of them in particular. To me, this one was easy. To me, this one was easy. Be perfectly honest with you. And it's KVA, Kingston, Villyam, Asa. And I understand where you're coming from. Maybe that was my pick, by the way, as well, but defensive line. There's a chance. Bryce Young's gonna play. Yeah. And maybe one of those, one of the corner steps up and has to be in that rotation, right? Or potentially. Right. Right. So I see where you're coming from. I think right now. And I also think about potentially the impact of Sean Savilano. Sure. Maybe earning like a short yard goal line role where he has some impactful minutes. And he's an injury away from stepping into the nose as well. So like those are the four that I can, the four that I considered. Yes. I got that. I get that. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like it came down to me between Bryce Young and KVA. Here's the reason I went with KVA. I think he's going to get more early opportunities. And I think Bryce is ascending. Don't get me wrong. But there's so much talent on the defensive line right now. I'm still very curious to see where he kind of fits in in that rotation, what that looks like, things like that. And we talked about, you know, freshmen on the offensive side, probably not seeing a lot of playing time. If any at Texas A&M, KVA and Bryce Young, I think are gonna play and they're gonna play in that first game. KVA for sure, Bryce Young will see how it looks and what, you know, where he lands on the depth chart. But KVA is going to play. And I think that he has really rocketed up the depth chart. We'll see what that rotation looks like too. Well, I don't know that I would say he's necessarily rocketed up it. He just kind of stepped on campus. And he was a two because of some of the depth issues where he plays, but he was going to be there anyway. Yeah. Exactly. He was going to earn that anyway. Like I looked at it like this fence. I went with the same pick you did. King civilian, awesome. And the reason why is I think Bryce Young is going to play a lot this year. I think Kingston is immediately day one, like game one, Texas A&M, the number two Mike and maybe the third overall linebacker off the bench, potentially like Michael or Will. I could see a scenario where eventually he's doing that. He's going to make an impact in my opinion. But it was closer for me because I don't think either I'm going to play a million snaps barring injury because again, I'm trying to keep injuries out of it as much as I can into a little small, tiny factor with Mike Gilbert. But overall, I'm not trying to project injuries on this particular one. And just kind of going with what we know. I think Kingston plays more and playing linebacker allows him to have more of an every down impact than Bryce. But I could also see scenario events where by the third or fourth game of the year, Bryce Young's part of their nickel package over the guard and he's just, you know what I mean? And he's, you know, he's go having an Aaron Lynch type of rookie season where he's five sacks. Sure. It was a little tougher for me between those two. Then there's some separation and Leonard Moore was kind of my next thought. But I don't know that they would go to a fourth corner that early if, you know, right now I think it'd probably be the three. But you know, but he's the guy that I could see force his way into the rotation and all of a sudden you're like, wow, Leonard Moore had three picks this year and, you know, ended up being a really important backup kind of thing. So those were really my main one, 7-0 afterthought, but still at least considered it. First three. And I think Kingston is at the top of the list for me, just as more of an effective every down player and more of a, he's a two where Bryce is a three right now. That's a factor on us. Why not? And I did not take into account special teams. A lot of people in chatter taking special teams. And I don't think it's as much of a no-brainer on special teams because I could very much see Bryce Young being a Isaiah Foske type of guy as a member of his first year in the rotation. We didn't play a whole lot and they put him on special teams and he's long and athletic and all that. I could see Bryce blocking a kick. I think both of those guys can make an impact on special teams. But I would agree that if you're going to count special teams, Kingston's probably going to be more of a every unit starter type of guy than Bryce Young might just make an impact on one of them. One of them. It's kind of where I'm at. So that would be my pick as the top newcomer on defense. So we've had, what, two, three so far that were the same top, you know, you went different role player. Did you go with Jadarion on your top role player on offense? Faison. Faison. Okay. So we agreed on the two defensive newcomers. That's the one we've agreed on so far. Good. Okay. Good stuff. Top lineman is next on the list, Brian. So defensively, let's start on the defensive side of the ball. Who's your top lineman? Riley Mills. I'm, I just, look, I'll be short and simple. You guys know how much I think of Riley Mills as a talent. Well you guys also know that I very much have said he's got to show it on an every down base. Sure. I just think he is. Like for me, I just think he's poised for a dominant year. I think he's going to be their best in their best in their best overall defensive lineman. I just numbers wise, impact wise, how teams at the game plan for them. I think by the time we get to Florida State, Florida State's biggest concern is how do we block 99? I think that's going to be the, that's going to be how it goes. Now they're both going to be very good, but I'm just, I just have a feeling this is the breakout for Riley Mills. So that's my pick there. And I had the same pick. So I'm, I'm right with you. I, I, he's got all the potential in the world. I think he came back for a reason. I think he's on a mission. And I think he is absolutely going to break out this year. I'm, I'm very excited to see what Riley Mills does. So yeah, that was my pick as well offensively. I have a feeling we're going to be the same here as well, but I will let you pick your offensive lineman of the year. This might have been a little tougher if Jagasol didn't get hurt, agreed. And I still don't think it's a no brainer because I think Ashton Craig could be in this conversation as well. But I'm going Billy Shrouthe and just what we saw from in the spring, what we've seen from him so far in fall camp, he's just physically way better than anybody else that's in the starting lineup right now. Just combination of athleticism power. He's got experience. I'm going with him. My number two would probably be Ashton Craig. Me too. I look, I have never hid my love for Ashton Craig. I think he's going to be very, very good. I love his athleticism. Things be a really, really good center. I really, really do but Billy Shrouthe is just Billy Shrouthe like I couldn't, I couldn't in good conscience not pick Billy Shrouthe here even though I love Ashton Craig and what I think he's going to do and it would have been, it would have been a projection pick, but I just can't go past Billy Shrouthe. He's the pick. Hey Vince, that was the Cam Hart fan club calling. I can do it. And they're very concerned about recent infatuation with Ashton Craig and they're wondering if maybe you're kind of fading away from that if like, you know, Cam's now at the NFL and you've now, you know, turned your back on him a little bit, but I mean, I have to focus on Notre Dame, but I'm still waiting for my Cam Hart Chargers jersey so that I can rock that on Sundays. But now you can be right. You know, here's my sleeper for top lineman. You want to hear? You want to hear my sleeper pick? Okay. Rocco Spindler. Okay. Now I'm not going there now, but, but if he does enough, because I think, I think Joe Rudolph wants to start Pat Coogan. That's what I think he will. I will agree. Completely agree. If Rocco does enough to force Joe Rudolph to start him, I think Rocco could be in line for a really good spot. Because he'd almost have to do more. Yeah. He has to be markedly better than, than Coogan to start, I think right now. I mean, it has to be obvious to everybody. That's the position that I think that he's in, and you're right, if he does end up winning that battle because of that, then I think there's a really good chance that he has a breakout year. Yeah, I could see that. I'm hoping that the end of the year, the answer is actually Tosh Baker. That's what I'm hoping. Well, that would be fantastic. That would, I mean, you want to talk about solidifying a line that would definitely do it. Yes. Top skill player is our next one. And I will say quarterback does not count in this one. Did you have a quarterback on yours? Okay. You can keep a quarterback on yours, Vince. I was trying to save you from not having a QB because I thought you'd have a QB on a later one. Well, I had a QB, you can, you can go with that. So I was going to say my, my difficulty here was trying to stick to my own rule and not having more than one person, you know, or more than one award for one person, right? And so I just bit the bullet and I, I, because originally I didn't have an offensive player here. Okay. I only had a defensive player. Would it help you to not, to stick to your own rule? If I do say you can't have a quarterback here because then you could have the quarterback for something later? It would, but then I don't know who else I would go with because I've got other skilled players. You can kick it off and I think you're going to be on board with me. Okay. Hit me. My top skill player this year is going to be, is going to be in skill players running back receiver tight end. That's how I've, in Notre Dame's offense, I view those as skill players. Fair enough. It's, it's Jeremiah Love. Okay. Like that, that, that's, that's my top skill player just because he's going to do everything for Notre Dame. He's going to be a top rusher. He's going to be a pass catcher. He's going to be a home run weapon. I just think he is going to be, and in my head, I'm not counting quarterback as a skill player in this conversation just because we have that guy in some other areas. But you know, in, in, he is a skilled player, the quarterback would be, I'm just going to Jeremiah Love. I just think he's going to be, he's going to be just a really impactful difference maker type of guy. I've got Jeremiah later for a different award. So I'm not going to picture Jeremiah Love. I'm not sure who I'm going to go with here. I had Riley Leonard written down because I, I assume he was going to be a skilled player and go with it. Yeah. I did go with it. I didn't tell you it couldn't be beforehand. So you, you know, look, Riley Leonard is going to be the catalyst for whether this offense is what we think the offense could be. I mean, and I know that's obvious because he's the quarterback and I get that, but it still doesn't make it not true. You know what I mean? He will be the reason that the run game is effective early on, okay, because they're still trying to figure out offensive line and how that's going to go. He is going to be the reason that the all, that the passing game is what it is. Okay. Now, are there other quarterbacks that can throw and do some, yes, there are, but he's the best combination that they have and he's dynamic in both, in my opinion. And so he's the top skill player for me and, and yeah, that's why I went with him. So, you know, just breaking rules. It's what I do. That's all good, man. It's all good. How about defense? Yeah. This one was a no-brainer. I went with Benjamin Morrison. I mean, he, this is the one spot where I, where I put him, he had to be a top of the hill guy because he is a top of the hill guy. Like Ben Morrison, you know, maybe he didn't, he's not going to have the stats and all of these different. It doesn't matter. His stat is going to be don't throw in my direction or you're going to regret it. Like that's his stat and he's still going to be that dude in the secondary. And so he is my top skill guy for that spot. Same. I, I just think he's going to be excellent. Even if he misses the opener and I don't anticipate him missing the opener. I don't either. I think Benjamin's poised for just a monster season. I really do. He's a very focused young man. Like I don't think he cares about like all the press clippings. I think he's just locked in on being the best player he can be. Yeah. And, and this was a, this was not as easy as I thought because you have Xavier Watts who's a diet player. Oh, yeah. And, and I kind of, and I count linebackers in this conversation as well. So I thought about Jack Keiser thought about going in, you know, but the end of the day, I just, I just think Benjamin Morse is going to be their best football player. I think Benjamin Morse and could be their best football player period like entire team. He could end up being your best player. Correct. And so he certainly is the best, the best skill player for me. So that, that, that one wasn't an easy one for me as well. Breakout player. Now we've talked about breakout players in the past and we always talked about how we have the different levels of breakout players and things like that. And this one is going to be the top level of breakout player. Okay. So it's going to be somebody that, you know, could have contributed last year, but it's going to break out as one of the better players on the team, get national recognition, you know, that kind of stuff. Not saying they're going to go out and win a national award, but national recognition, like when they talk about Notre Dame, they're going to talk about these guys. And so that, that's kind of the, the threshold here. So since you went first last time, I'll, I'll lead off here. Just to kind of go back and forth. So my breakout player offensively is somebody that you've already talked about for all the same reasons. It's Jeremiah Love. I think he's going to be, he is going to be on the mind and the lips of national people. And it's not going to take long. I hit his skill set is amazing. And he is going to help this offense. He is going to, at times, bail out the offense, I think. And he is also at times going to put the offense on his shoulders. Like he has the ability to do all of that and, you know, pass game, run game, all of it. I'm a huge Jeremiah Love fan and I think he is going to carry the torch for this offense at times. I'm going same class, different position. Okay. I'm going Jaden Greathouse. Nice. And also partly why I'm not predicting any of the other receivers for anything else, right? Just because I think he's going to become the guy. Now the role player thinks a different conversation, but like, I just, for sure, look, I've been on this kick for a while, I'm going to be on it until I get proven wrong or proven right. I just think Jaden Greathouse is going to be their best receiver this year. And he also has always just struck me as a guy that's always going to be at his best in the biggest moments, right? And I just think that's going to help him a lot this year too. He may not lead the team in catches. He may not lead the team in receptions, but he's going to be their best receiver. And he's a guy that caught 16, 18 passes last year. So I think he's going to see a huge jump in production and he's just going to be their best receiver. I just, I just, I just, I need to see that he's not, you know, and from him in the spring was just like it was over that he was their best receiver. Now again, we didn't see it. They didn't have both columns in the spring and Jaden Thomas was banged up in the spring in Jordan phase. I was playing lacrosse. I get all that. They didn't have Chris Mitchell there and, and K K and those other guys and I just felt Jaden great house was clearly their best receiver. Now the thing that's encouraged me, there's two things that have encouraged me to go hand in hand. Number one is Jaden has built on his spring so far in fall camp from what we see. Okay. Number two, he's not so significantly their best guy now as he was in the spring because Chris Mitchell's getting more comfortable and because Bo Collins arrived and because Jordan phase on there. It's not as obvious it was and Jaden Thomas just had a really good fall camp. Yeah. Agreed. Yeah. So like a lot of the things that made it like he was so much better everybody else Thomas was injured. Chris Mitchell was kind of still feeling his way into the offense. No Bo Collins and no phase on and he was so clearly their best receiver. He hasn't taken a step back at all. It's just overall the rest of the room is elevated in fall camp. So that's a good thing, but I still think at the end of the day, he's their best. He's their best, he's their best receiver and will be the breakout for Notre Dame. You could, it's kind of like you Vince, like it's like, okay, skill player. If I'm my top skill players, Jeremiah Love, how's he not? Cause I don't know that Jeremiah Love breaking out is going to surprise as many people as Jaden Craighouse. I think it's almost assumed by people that Jaden Fair and my love is going to break out. That's fair. So that's kind of why I went this direction. Defensively, I'll let you lead this one off. Who do you think is going to be the breakout player on defense? This is the one award, the one superlative that I could not go with just one guy. And so I'm going with one position sort of, but I'm not going with one guy. Look, man, it's, there's going to be sort of a, a, you know, almost like a law firm type of situation, right, like B and B, you know what I mean, uh, trial attorneys, it's going to be B and B. It's buba car and Burnham. I just think their addition to this lineup is going to have such an impact on this football team. If those two kids are, or, and they're almost going to be somewhat indistinguishable from another because of that impact that I think they're going to have. Okay. Josh is going to be more of the all around guy. I think buba car is going to be the flashy pass rusher, but they're going to be two guys that make a ton of plays on the defensive line. And adding them to the line compared to what it was last year is going to be something that to me elevates this overall defensive line to where it's just going to be special. It's going to be elite. And, and I think it's, it's almost sort of a, it needs to be them as well, in my opinion, just for, for how I view this season because that's the one thing that was lacking from this football team last year was that really dynamic edge rusher. You know, like, like, yes, Javante Jean Baptiste did some really nice things and he was good in the biggest moments, but he wasn't a guy that struck fear into your hearts. Right. I think buba car and burn them have a chance to be even more dynamic and impactful as pass rushers. And if they bring that, well, I mean, I, I have these two kids, you know, in my season projections, combining for 10 sacks at night as a duo, not each one individually, but as a duo, I think they're going to add 10 plus sacks of this, this defensive line. And I think that's going to be huge. There's a lot of bees that are important on this defensive situation events. I mean, burn them, buba car, patello, Bowen, you know, like it's just a, you know, it's great. It's a great name to have. Right. Benjamin, you know, just a lot of bees, a lot of bees, Bryce, you know, there's a lot to go, man. It's going to let you go. It's a lot of bees, a lot of bees. So my defensive breakout player is Christian Gray. I think that he's going to take a major step this year. And because of everything I said about Benjamin Morrison and how they're going to avoid him, I think Christian Gray's going to have an opportunity to really make a splash. Problem is Vince. He has no bee in his name. I know. I'm going to have to reach out to Shondra and ask if his middle name starts with a bee. I bet you it says on his, like on his thing, I'm going to have to look now as they usually have their middle names, like under the personal, but anyway. So bottom line is, I think Christian Gray is set up beautifully to make an impact this year and become just an absolute breakout player. He's going to make some plays that I think are, I mean, he did, he's has. He already has made plays that you're just like, okay, wow. And now he's going to get more of an opportunity to make even more of those plays. Yeah. I'm excited about what Christian Gray is going to be able to do. I'm actually texting his mom right now. To find out what his middle name is. Yes. To find out what his middle name is. It starts with a bee. I'm done. I'm out. I'm out. It's to me. It might be a little. That's a good pick, Vince. It was a very good pick, like a very good pick. And unlike the others, he's a, he's more, he's got a better shot to start, in my opinion. True. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. We're going to get into our big ones now. So most outstanding on offense, am I going to start? Yeah. I can if you want. Now usually you're like, okay, here's where we're going. And I'm like waiting on you to like, okay, lead into it. So most outstanding and most valuable are two different things to me. And one of my biggest pet peeves is when people don't confuse valuable, like, you know, when they talk about like, Oh, the NFL MVP, and it's like, this guy had this many yards and this many stats. That's outstanding. That's most outstanding. This is most valuable. Valuable means you take this guy off the team. Who is the most valuable? Correct. Combined with dominant. I mean, there needs to be a level of dominance, but, but most valuable. Yep. And, and so, I feel very good about my pet peeves. I think Pat Mahomes is a better quarterback than, than Josh Allen, but I think Josh, Kansas City could win a lot more games without Pat Mahomes and Buffalo could win without Josh Allen. Right. So that, that's the debate right there. Okay. And, and so for me, my most outstanding is, is very obvious. It's Riley Leonard. I think he's going to be their best offensive football player. I think his ability to dominate the run, dominate the past, how teams have to defend him. He's just going to be an impact player. And it was, it was not necessarily an easy pick because of Jeremiah Love and Jane Greathouse and Chris Mitchell and, and all these other players. But when I just think about who is the most dominant football player they have, I think it's Riley Leonard. I think for this season, I think that's who it's going to be. If he's healthy, and for all season, I think he's going to be a big time player for another name. And I don't even mean most valuable. I mean most outstanding. He's going to be their most dominant football player, it's my opinion. Well I'm, I picked a guy who is going to be catching passes from Riley Leonard and it is now a repeat of somebody that you already had, it's Jane Greathouse. I'm on board with Jane Greathouse being a dude, to be honest with you. And I do think that Chris Mitchell is going to get a lot of attention, which I think is going to allow Jane Greathouse to absolutely just dominate. I mean, he, he is going to have a year and you're right. He was clearly the best receiver that they had in the spring and now that they've added some pieces and some parts and things like that that, you know, the gap has closed. But I still think he's going to be dominant. I really, I really do. And even if they decide that he's the guy that they need to bracket and double, I think Mike Dembrock is going to be smart about moving him around and getting some advantageous matchups to allow Jane Greathouse to continue his dominance regardless of whatever a defense wants to do to him, I still think he's going to be that guy. And so he's my most outstanding for offense. Now, and the reason I don't have him as my MVP is because I do think that they are super deep at wide receiver and they, I'm not saying they could replace him. That's different. I'm saying that they could, it won't be like a, like a grand game. They're going to still be really good if they, yes. There's not a single receiver they could lose that just correct states them the way that it was the case in the past, which is why I put him at most outstanding and I don't have him as MVP. If that makes sense. Yeah, right. I'll agree. Yeah. So that's my offensive guy. That's outstanding on the defense. I did go with Howard Cross the third here. I don't have him anywhere else. And I also understand that the logic portion of the program doesn't make sense here since I have, I mean, Riley Mills as my most outstanding lineman. I get it. I don't logic and I don't usually run into the same bar together. But so Howard Cross the third, I think, you know, kind of for the same reason that Riley Mills is going to have a good year. Look, Howard Cross came back for a reason, right? He's got some unfinished business that he wants to take care of. He's motivated. He's got a chip on his shoulder. There's certain things that he wants to do. I think I don't know that he could have a better season than he had last year. I don't, I don't know if that's possible, right? Because his stature is going to prevent him from maybe being that, you know, that top interior lineman picked in the draft and some things like that. That's all out of his control, right? But I think if he stacks two really good seasons, two elite seasons on top of each other, then I think some teams are going to not ignore that, but be like, oh, well, you know what? This wasn't a one year fluke. This is something that he can do on a regular basis. And so I think that he is going to kind of elevate himself in that way. And so I think he has some things to prove. And so I, that's why I have Howard Cross here. Quick interjection, sadly, sad to report that Christian Gore's middle name does not start with a B. Oh, I really thought, I really thought three, yeah, it's close, it starts with an A does not start with B. All right. So, so unfortunately, there's not, I mean, eat Christian and then his middle name and then great. There's no bees in there. So I'm, I'm going to talk to his mom and we're going to legally get an additional middle name thrown in there for the purposes of this season. So no being Christian Gray, he's the one outlier to that conversation, but it's my most outstanding guys are as Riley Leonard or Riley Mills. I went all Riley's on most outstanding and going Riley on both sides of the ball. So I went Riley there on offense, Riley Mills on defense for the same reason it's all about before. I just think he's going to be a huge force. And you know, again, I, I, I just think it comes down to, I think Benjamin Morrison is could end up being their most best overall player, most dominant player, best player. But I think you can avoid him and I think teams are going to avoid him like the plague this season, which is going to limit his imp, his direct impact. Sure. The thing about a guy like Riley Leonard is he can not only be impacted by how teams have to defend him and how that helps his teammates, but then he is going to have a chance to make more plays. Right. And, and that's why I went with him as most outstanding. It's just because I just don't know that Benjamin, like when I talk about best skill player, I can just talk about just dominance at your position and they couldn't catch any balls on him and that kind of stuff. And you just avoided him the whole game. Like, why didn't Benjamin give up any throws this game? Because they never threw at him. They're, they're going to have games like that, I think this year. But I just feel like Riley Mills is just poised for a big time season, but you could easily have picked Benjamin Morrison in this conversation as well. Oh, absolutely. Most outstanding. And I actually don't have Howard Cross on any of these, which to me is not because I'm underrating Howard Cross. It's just, that's how good I think this defense is going to be. And he doesn't apply for a lot of these, but it also comes down to because of the impact that I, or the breakout that I'm anticipating from Riley Mills, sure, I think that's kind of where he is. So I'm going, I'm going Riley Mills, and I just think both of these two guys, part of the reason I went with them two Vince is a little bit of projection because I started to think about like, who playing at their highest level has the biggest impact on this team? And it came down to those two, Riley Leonard and Riley Mills. I just think those two guys, if they play to their potential, have a bigger impact on success week after week than anybody else. A dominant three technique and a dominant quarterback are, I mean, two recipes to a championship that a team needs, not saying Notre Dame, just in general that a team needs for most, for most teams. And that's why part, also partly why I want those two guys as well, to be honest with you. Final award to give out MVP, most valuable player, you kind of laid out your criteria for the difference between outstanding and valuable, I completely agree. I'm very, very secure in my decision, but do you want to lead off the MVP? Go ahead. Go ahead. I, from an MVP standpoint, most valuable to the team, this is where I went with Riley Leonard. And for everything that I said before, when I was talking about Riley Leonard, he's going to be such an integral part in the run game, especially early on. I think he's going to be, obviously, he's an integral part in the past game. He's the one throwing the ball, you know, he, and he's just dynamic. He's a dynamic athlete. I think he's a dynamic personality within the team, which I think is a huge part of it. I think he is super valuable to this team, which is an interesting thing to say when he's only been here since January, but I feel like he's already made his mark with this team. And I would, and I'm not going to be in any way surprised if he's got to see on his, you know, his jersey as a captain. I think he is an absolutely valuable piece of this offense and this team. So not just, I think it transcends offense and defense. I think he's a leader on this team. He's super laid back. I just, I think he's an easy guy to follow. I feel really good about him in this role. Now they've got a lot of talent in the quarterback room. We've talked about this, but we've also talked about the fact that if Riley Leonard goes down, then so do the expectations of the team to a degree, depending on, you know, who is inserted. And so that's why I think he's most valuable to the team. I think his absence directly affects the win losses for this team. So Riley Leonard is my MVP. I don't disagree with any of you just said, but I think he's brilliant. I went somewhere else though, partly because I didn't necessarily want to have the same guy for most outstanding and most valuable. Totally get that. And mine is Mitchell Evans. And here's why I'm going to 11. I like that. I wanted to find a spot for him in this. And I couldn't. Here's why I go with Mitchell Evans because is he going to be their most dynamic? No. Is he going to necessarily be their best skill guy that you look at the NFL draft and he was taking higher than anybody else? No. Is he going to lead the team and catches? Probably not. Is he going to lead the team in yards? Probably not. He's going to lead the team in touchdowns. Probably not. But I don't know if there's another skill player that can have a greater impact on everything around him than Mitchell Evans. And what I mean by that is, you know, Mike Denbrock set some very good tight ends over the years. I don't know that he's had one that is potentially as good as what Mitchell Evans can be. And if Mitchell Evans is able to step up and be as good as he was last year for an entire season, you know, even if he misses the first couple of games, but then comes back and he's healthy, if they have him for the second half of the year and the postseason and he's playing like he was last year before he got hurt, that has such an impact on this football team. It's harder to defend the run game. It's harder to defend the read zone because now you could potentially have situations where Mitchell Evans is to the right and they're running read zone where but where Riley's running to the left. And it's kind of like you're now middle of your field is worried about all that stuff. It impacts how you defend the running backs in the past game. Like, can you really put your best safety slash linebacker slash nickel on Jaden Greathouse or Jeremiah Love if if Mitchell Evans is ripping you up, you know, it impacts your outside receivers, you know, third and seven, your safeties are peeking a little bit down more into the box to defend number 88 and oh, shoot, we didn't give enough help to number 10 running that post right over top or number five or number one or number 11 or number six or number 83. You get what I'm saying? I think Mitchell Evans is that guy that is just going to be he's like that final glue piece. He's not their most talented. He's not their most outstanding. He's very good and he is talented, don't get me wrong, but he's not so much head and shoulders above everyone. It's like Michael Mayer was partly because the roster around him is better than it was when Michael Mayer was here two years ago. It's just overall, I think he brings something that and honestly, as much as I love the next two tight ends, I don't think they impact the game this year as much as the way Mitchell can. You know, like if you take Jeremiah Love away from the backfield, he's, you know, most outstanding or break out or wherever you want to put him, he's going to be dynamic. But if if they lose him and it's Jadarion Price and Kedron Young and Aeneas Williams and Devin Ford, you're still pretty flipping good at running back. You said it at receiver. If you lose Chris Mitchell, you still have Jordan Faison and K K Smith and Cam Williams. If you lose Jaden Gray now, she still have Jaden Harrison can easily move Jordan Faison into the slide can move Jaden Thomas over to the slot. You have a lot of guys can play slot if you lose Jaden Thomas in the boundary, you've got Bo Collins and Michael Gilbert, if you lose, Bo Collins, you still have Jaden Thomas, Michael Gilbert, you know, quarterback and tight end of the two positions where I think you have a guy at that position that can just do things that nobody else on the roster can do at that position and impact the game in a way that nobody else can do at that position. That's just kind of why I went with Mitchell Evans there. If he's healthy and productive, he has an impact on this offense that makes Notre Dame incredibly difficult to depend because of what they have around him, and that's kind of where I look at it. I dig it. You know, his ability to just think about how he was against Ohio State last year, just some of the place he made against Ohio State and how dominant he was, and you take him off Notre Dame's team last year, they don't beat Duke because they're not in position for it to even be a game. It's a point one point game on that final drive anyway. He was their offense against Duke last year. And he, you know, his numbers against Louisville ended up being pretty good Vince, even though they had a 30 plus yard game taken away from him, or he smoked the defense for a 30 yard game. It got called back because because you had a penalty on Blake Fisher, his numbers would have been even better at that point in time. And I just look at him and I think if he's going off, he has such an incredible impact on the entire team that I just don't know that anybody outside of Riley Leonard brings a more impactful nature to it as far as value. And that's kind of why I went with him. And again, you could have easily gone Riley Leonard, but to your point, I didn't want to have the same guy. Well, I get it as after I get done saying, there's a difference between most and same most valuable. And then I'm like, okay, who was your MVP and your MOP? And for both of them, it's like the same dude, it's like, okay, dude, maybe you should shut up. So that's all good. That's going to do it for part two of our we didn't do defense MVP is most valuable for the whole team. And that's why we're going offense and defense did not have a defensive one. So well, I'll answer mine. And I think you're going to agree with mine, okay, Xavier Watts. And there's a lot of reasons why is he an outstanding player? Yes, I would have gone is he a guy that can impact the game and can he impact the past game and the run game? Absolutely. Is he a leader on the defense? Absolutely. But here's the other thing, you talk about value, nobody on the second this at the safety position can do what he does. I think Benjamin Morrison might be their best defensive player. I think him and Christian Gray are very similar players. He's just a year older. And if you lose Benjamin, that would suck. But you're not going to be crushed because you do have a Christian Gray that you can slide in that spot. Right. When you lose Xavier Watts, the safety position takes a huge, huge step back. And then when you do have them, the impact he has on your defense as a whole is huge because the way he played the game last year, it just it changes how you attack Notre Dame. 100%. It does. And he'll force you into mistakes to someone else because you don't want to throw at him. You know, you know, you know, I can maybe fit that ball in there. But man, Xavier Watts is right over there. I don't know if I want to, if I want to do that because he'll not only pick passes off, but what is he also showed last year, if you make any kind of mistake, slightly sail a ball against a tight end USC, right, ball gets tipped Clemson. He's there to pick it off and do damage with it. And that's the thing is he doesn't just pick passes off. He picks them off and goes with them. And he goes back to his old receiver days, you know what I'm saying? So that's the thing I look at with Xavier Watts and say that kid, that kid brings value. But the other thing is too is if there's one player on the entire defense, Xavier Watts last year at 137 yards on, on, on interception return yards last season, by the way. And he also had, well, they didn't count it, but he also had those return yards against USC that they didn't count that he returned that one for a touchdown. Oh, yeah. So if there's one player on defense, as you could say, you can least afford to lose where you're just there's a big drop off between one and two, it's, it's field safety, it's Xavier Watts. And that's the definition of MVP, like that's, that's why I picked Riley Leonard for offense and that's why I would have picked and I guess did pick Xavier Watts for defense completely agree with you. You take him out of the mix and you, you, that's a giant hole. That's a giant hole. Right. And it's not saying anything negative about the guys that are on the depth chart or whatever, but he's an established, all American, best defensive player in the country. You lose him. That's massive. Well, and they're just not in the depth chart is not in a position where you can afford to lose him. Right. Exactly. I mean, what you do is you move either a Don or Rod herd over there and those two start and that's fine. But now your depth chart behind it is just not as good, agreed. And that's a, that's a huge, huge, huge difference to me. So that is my prediction for who the most valuable player will be this year is Xavier. Beautiful. Beautiful. That is going to do it for part two of our show today, the superlatives, right? So make you, make sure you check that out if you missed it. We do have another section coming up. So make sure you stay tuned. But in the meantime, make sure you hit the like button, the subscribe button, hit that notification bell, share with your family and friends and of course, jump on the boards, that I was break down.com, all these good stuff over there and you'll never know about it. If you're not a member, so boards, that I was breakdown.com. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]
