George Clooney and Brad Pitt's new movie, Wolfs, is on Apple TV Plus, September 27th. That's where I want you to be now. So if you want to see George Clooney and Brad Pitt, go to Apple TV Plus. You got to start the story there? Or if you want to see Brad Pitt and George Clooney, go to Apple TV Plus. I am enjoying the show. And if you want to see their new movie, Wolfs. You can't do it, win help yet. I can do it. Do it. Definitely go to Apple TV Plus. The minute is cool. Okay, fine, it's very cool. Wolfs, streaming September 27th on Apple TV Plus. We did our. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping Kroger for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouth-watering meals. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices. Plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week, and up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with points. So you can get big flavors and big savings. Kroger, fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply. Carter Carl's our old friend is with us to talk a little bit of Texas A&M. He covers the Aggies for Gig 'em 24/7. He feels Carter like we've been talking about this game forever at this point. High profile season openers. I don't know about you, but around here, we're all just ready for this game to get going. Oh man, 100%. I mean, I looked at this game when I took this job February 23, because not only do I cover A&M, but I used to cover Notre Dame. So he called it my journalistic Super Bowl, so good to see all my old pals from Notre Dame, and yeah, it's gonna be fun. Does Texas A&M, I don't think they have Florida State on the schedule any time in the near future, another one of your stops over the last couple of years? Yeah, no Florida State. I haven't met any other sport that I can think of. But yeah, upcoming opponents are Notre Dame, and then I think after that, it's Arizona State for a home and home. So I don't, I unfortunately know. I'm sure you'll get to see Brian Kelly at some point down the road as well. You've got that in your future, right? Well, let me just kind of start with this. We talked back, I guess, what's it been? Like early summer, late spring, something like that. We talked a little bit about kind of where Texas A&M was coming out of spring practice and into the summer. What, what maybe was the biggest question that Mike Elko and the Aggies answered coming out of full training camp? Yeah, a couple things on the offensive side. I think Connor Wigman's health was kind of the question, because in the spring, they're coming off of that foot surgery. He wasn't himself, he wasn't 100%. He was still on the field practicing, really did an admirable job just being out there, even though he couldn't quite plant that foot. And so that was kind of a big question. It will be 100%. And I think he got 100% probably in May or June. So no problems there looked a lot more like himself in preseason camp. On the defensive side, I think maybe the question was how much better is the secondary going to be? And, you know, a lot of new faces in the group, 10 newcomers, seven of whom are transfers. And this group last season really struggled. And so can this be a strength? Can it be at least not a weakness? And I think that they've had a lot of good competition in that group. I think if you ask them, who would the starters be against Notre Dame? I think they may not even know the answer to that question yet. But from a depth perspective, there have been a lot of different guys pushed for the starting jobs there. Headline by Bryce Anderson making the move from nickel to safety. I think he'll be the best player in that secondary. In a cornerback, you got guys like Will Lee, who started at Kansas State and has that experience. You got Des Ricks, who was a former five-star recruit, transferred from Alabama. At nickel, you've gotten to experience the guy there in Tyreke Chappelle, who's making the move there from Field Cornerback. And so, yeah, I think last year, really a struggle there. And I think this year, I don't think it's an elite group. I don't think it's full of all SEC guys, but it's not a glaring weakness. It's not going to be a group that gets exposed a lot, especially with the defensive line helping them up front with the pass rush. Sounds at least, because I think from up here with our perspective, since there are so many unknowns, their secondary is probably the thing that we've looked at where this is the potential weakness, especially with that defense. So, it sounds like you're at least somewhat confident in their ability to be competent anyway, to not be as bad as they were last year. Yeah, at least average, right? I mean, I think that's kind of the bar for this team, is don't be getting burned constantly like you were last year when you played really good passing attacks. And I think having what I think could very well be the best defensive line in the country is a big piece of that formula. I think it's going to make that group better. I think people were overselling or underselling just how big of a loss McKinley-Jackson, Walter Nolan, and Ezra and Cooper were in the sense of stopping the run. I actually think we might see a little bit of a flip where this team was really good last year with, you know, stopping the run and that sort of thing, but they weren't good in the back end. This year, their coverage might be pretty decent, but stopping the run might have some issues. Replacing those three guys, you know, up front, you're moving a smaller guy and Shamar Turner about 300 pounds from defensive end to detackle. Albert Regis projects the start. It'll be his first time as a full-time starter and then replacing Ezra and Cooper consensus all-American at linebacker last year. I still don't know if they know who will be their replacement there a weak side linebacker. So, you know, I'm not going to say that they're going to be better at defending the past than the run. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying so much of the focus on the secondary, and I think there also should be focus on, hey, up front in the middle and replacing Ezra and Cooper, that will be a challenge too, I think, for this unit. But overall, tons of confidence with the defense. It all starts with that pass rush that they've got and adding a guy like Nick Sporten leading the Big Ten in sacks and I think he's got a good chance to lead the SEC in sacks of season. Yeah, I mean, I think there's no doubt like when you look at defensive lineman who will be on the field Saturday night, Sporten is probably like the guy at the top of the list. And I'm talking about for both teams, you know, like he is probably the best talent that's going to be on the field. And, you know, especially with everything that's happened with Notre Dame's offensive line, I think there's no doubt like we're kind of looking at this like on both sides of the ball, like defensive line should be a strength for both teams. I am curious though, to get like Notre Dame is going to go 10 or 11 deep. And in a game that, you know, like we were talking about the heat and all that kind of stuff before, you know, we started up this interview and that's what I think people on both sides have been talking about. How deep is the Texas A&M defensive line? You know, like what's their ability to rotate? How deep do you expect that rotation to be in this game? 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. 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They got a guy in the transfer portal, Rodos Johnson from Wisconsin, who I think will be a good contributor there at defensive tackle. You've got a number of guys you could point to a defensive end. They've got the UCF Transfer Joss Salaskar, who has some good experience. You got some guys who were entering their third year, who were from that big 2022 class like Malik Silla, who could get a little bit more time. I just think DJ Hicks is another guy to mention. I think if he's not a starter, he could be a really solid backup for this team. Former five star recruit in the 23 class got a lot of playing time as a true freshman last year. People thought he'd be the starter, but it sounds like Albert Regis has kind of beat him out there. We'll see, obviously, when it comes to this Saturday. But yeah, I think they've got the potential to go 10 or 11 deep just like Notre Dame. And yeah, I think that up front, you're always wanting to rotate on the defensive line. And they've got the flexibility to do it. What we've heard a lot is third and long is going to be a down where you're going to see a lot of creativity from this front. You're going to see all different kinds of alignments and pressures. And we know anything about Mike Elko. He likes to be creative on third down. And I think that that's the down to watch where you could see a guy like Cassius Howe drop into coverage. Or you could see five defensive linemen. And you could see a ton of talented pass-rushers coming for Riley Leonard. So defense align, not a big worry as far as depth or talent and pass rush. It's just stopping the run that will be the challenge for them after replacing a few guys. Yeah. And I think that Notre Dame is looking at this, or at least some Notre Dame fans like, is Notre Dame going to effectively be able to run the football considering the newness, the inexperience. Six combined starts on the offensive line. I think that that I think that there is a lot more concern than anyone probably would have been guessing even a month ago. But I'm curious, like, again, like your take, flip it to the other side of the ball from the Texas A&M perspective. What about A&M's offensive line? What is that a concern at all? Is it, you know, especially going up against Notre Dame's defensive line with all the experience and, you know, again, depth that the Irish are going to be able to throw at him? Yeah, it's funny. It feels like both teams have very similar strengths and weaknesses because, you know, both feel very good about their defense. Both feel pretty good about their defense line. It's the offense that has questions, the offensive line questions. Yeah, I think A&M feels fantastic about the left side of their offensive line. They got a three-year starter at left tackle in Trey Zoom, really started to come into his own last year. And I think he could be a draft pick in 2025. Chase Bisonis making the move from right guard to left guard or right tackle to left guard. I think he's going to be the perfect fit there. He's somebody that's a freaking away room that, you know, a couple of years from now, if he's a high draft pick, would not be surprised. So I think they feel great about their left side. It's the center and right tackle that's kind of got some questions, you know. They had very poor center play last year in Bryce Foster, who went on to transfer to Kansas. And so that was the spot where they needed a new guy. And Mark Naboo was kind of the guy you thought would fill in that spot. Certainly had a little bit of experience playing their last year. But then they bring in a transfer from Utah. I'm going to butcher his name, calling you Faew is what I believe it is. And, you know, he had some experience at Utah, started the last five games of the season. But he only started because the starter got hurt. So he was the back up there. Is he good enough to start in the SEC? I don't know. I think Naboo is probably the better option there. However, it all kind of goes down to what A&M does at right tackle. Because you thought that Ruben fathering would be the surefire answer there. They kind of been moving it around, tinkering throughout preseason camp. Their projected starter at right guard, our Majeried Adams, a transfer from Kansas. He played right guard. He played right tackle. They kind of moved him around. And when he was at right tackle, they moved to Buddha right guard and had the Utah transfer at center. So kind of all depends what they do at right tackle. And I think that's why that side is more of a question for A&M. Whereas the left side, it's submitted. You have two guys there who could be draft picks very soon. And two guys there that can really anchor that side of the defense or the offensive line. So yeah, really the right side for A&M. So right side slash in the middle, at least a little bit of questions. And again, when you look at the matchup with Notre Dame, that's where Notre Dame has a ton of experience with Howard Cross and Riley Mills and those kind of guys. So I'm just kind of talking this out loud for Notre Dame fans to think about where some of these matchups are and stuff like that. And then of course, on top of this is you've got Colin Klein coming in as offensive coordinator. I don't know what were you guys able to see much live stuff during camp? Like what was that like? How much of his offense were you actually kind of able to see in person, get a feel for what it might look like beyond just what you've seen from his Kansas State days, obviously. Yeah, not a whole lot. I think the thing that people have been talking about sort of the emphasis has been expanding the running game, having a lot of different ways to run the football and being created with that and making it just more of an emphasis overall. I think that's something that when you look at Colin Klein's time at Kansas State, running the football was their bread and butter. It was one of the best Russian attacks in college football. Now, do they have the O-line and the running backs to do that? I don't know. They're certainly not as good as what Kansas State had the last couple of years. And then you also see him run the quarterback a lot at Kansas State with Will Howard and Avery Johnson. Well, at A&M, Connor Wigman, not really a run first guy, but definitely mobile. So that's one of the aspects we haven't been able to see in practice since the quarterbacks aren't live. But if you look at him, he's gained a little bit of a weight, and you just kind of get the sense that A&M may run the quarterback a little this season, which, you know, after all the injuries they had the last few years, some people might say, "I don't know about that." But I think they think of, "Hey, if we can just add one extra element in the offense, and while keeping this guy safe, why not do it?" Because I think you look at this offense and there's not a ton of star power at the skill positions. Not a lot of proven guys, no one who's had a 1,000-yard receiving season, no one who's had a 1,000-yard rushing season. So I think that this is not going to be an offense that is highly explosive and throwing the ball all around the field and having a 40-yard gain after a 40-yard gain. I think you're going to see more of an offense that methodically moves the ball down the field, you know, stays ahead of the chains and doesn't get into third and long, has more of a third manageable, tries to limit turnovers, tries to limit penalties, and just tries to be that efficient third-down offense that has these long extended drives to give their defense a rest and kind of grind out these games. You know, we saw Notre Dame kind of had a similar style a few years ago with Ian Bush being the plus game manager for them. I think that might be the plan here. Maybe if you look back at some of the A&M teams in 2020 and 2021, that's kind of what they did. They weren't this explosive offense. They methodically drove it down the field and then their defense took care of the rest and, you know, the offense took care of the football. So I think that's going to be what you kind of see. Hunter Wigman so far, he's only thrown two career interceptions through eight starts versus 16 touchdowns. So he's somebody that's not careless with the football and and can do that sort of offensive style. So I think that's what you'll probably see from them. Well, and I guess, you know, like he's he's someone who like feels like he's there's a lot. I realize he was a highly regarded recruit and all that kind of stuff, a five-star recruit going down there. But you know, as you mentioned, he doesn't have a whole lot of game experience. The experience he has, the numbers have looked pretty good. Is the is is the hype, I guess, around Wigman justified at this point? Or in your mind, does he still kind of have something to prove, you know, as you know, like you talked about the injury, even, you know, beyond the injury, like is there is there more that he has to prove, especially in a, you know, kind of a high profile, high exposure game like he's going to play this Saturday night? Night. Hey, Irish Breakdown listeners, it's Urban Meyer. This fall, the game changes. Join me, Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and broadcaster Rob Stone as we bring you a new perspective on football and culture every week. We will be joined by the biggest name in sports and talk about everything inside and outside of the lines. Let us guide you through a new era of college football. Watch triple option on YouTube or listen on Apple podcast, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping Kroger for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouthwatering meals. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week and up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with points. So you can get big flavors and big savings Kroger fresh for everyone. Fuel restrictions apply. I think it's a little bit of both, right? Like I think is the hype warranted. I think it is because when he has played, he's been very impressive and he's, you know, checked off all the boxes you want to see. It certainly has the pedigree as a five star recruit. And drafts are all about projections and projecting where you think a guy will be. So the thought is not hey today, would he be drafted first in the first round? It's hey after having a big season, he'd be drafted first. So I think it makes sense. At the same time though, you're totally right, he does have to prove it. He's got to do it across a full season. You know, as a true freshman, he didn't begin the season as the starter. I think that was probably a mistake on Jimbo Fisher's part. And I think, you know, kind of wiggling a little bit that but I think he probably thinks that he should have been the starter. And you know, they bring him in and what does he do? He has an incredible game against Ole Miss and he has an incredible game against LSU and leads them to a top five win and Kyle Field and spoiling LSU's playoff hopes. And then last year, before he went down with the injury, now didn't do very good against Auburn but every other game he had to, you know, look pretty good. And from a metric standpoint, from a PFF standpoint, he graded as one of the better quarterbacks in the country up to that point. The sample size is certainly the thing you could point to. Hey, it's only been eight starts. Like, let's see him through a whole season. Let's see him versus all of the top defenses. Not like Miami had this super elite defense, New Mexico didn't, right? So that's one thing. I think what you like about the guy is he takes care of the football, he avoids sacks, he extends plays with his feet. You know, one of the most pressured quarterbacks in the country when he played last year. And yet the guy barely got sacked. He didn't go down, he extended plays through his receivers open. Maybe the next step for him, not just staying healthy, but maybe, you know, having more of a deep ball and better timing with his deep ball is sort of the thing that I've looked at last year where there were times where he throw a little bit late. There'd be times where, you know, he didn't quite get it on time. And certainly missing the spring and, and, and we're not missing, but being limited in the spring, I think could maybe hinder your progress and your, maybe makes it a little bit more rusty for you. So that will be the thing is, can he be on the right page of this receivers and, and build that chemistry with them where, you know, on those deeper passes where the windows so thin, he's delivering it at the right time. He's got the arm strength, got all the skills. It's just a matter of doing it game after game and, and being consistent with it. Well, I saw the comments you had a week or so ago about the timing with his receivers. And I know you said, you know, small sample size, what, what you guys had been able to see, but is that especially on the offense, like, is, is that maybe that one of the bigger questions that they have, exactly what they're going to, to get out of that group of receivers that they've got? Yeah, I think really all the skill positions for A&M, there's a question mark. And, you know, with receivers, the two questions are one, it is a group that has dropped a lot of passes in camp. And even last season, you know, guys like Joe Day Walker had issues with drops, Sire Sound from Louisiana Tech had issues with it. And then I think, you know, do they have a number one receiver? Mike Elko said on Monday, they do, and that would be Noah Thomas. And he certainly has all the makings. He's six foot six. He can come down with all the 50-50 balls. He has pretty good chemistry with Connor Wigman from the games we've seen of them together. But he's had injury issues. Ever since high school, it's been a problem for him staying on the field. He played quite a few games last year, but he was hurt the entire season, broke his pinky toe, free season camp, had an abdominal injury that he was dealing with all season. And I mean, that guy was nowhere close to being healthy. So it was kind of hard to judge him on that, you know, on that scale. But they feel like he's the number one receiver. If there's anybody to really show up, I think he'd be him. Johnny Walker's another guy who at the end of last season, he really started to take over as the number two receiver behind an eye of Smith. Evan Stewart kind of faded in the background while Johnny had probably three or 400 yards in the last six games and really started to take a step forward transferred from Grand Valley State. So last year was quite a bit of a transition for him. And so year two, can he take an even bigger step? I think he can, but I don't know if he's the number one receiver, whereas I think no of Thomas would be that guy for them. Hmm. Interesting. A lot of talk, of course, about the Mike Elko, Riley Leonard connection in this game. And I'm curious, again, from someone who sits there, like, what impact you think that ultimately has in this game? Yeah, it's funny. Mike Elko's we asked about him and he was like, yeah, it's interesting. It's weird. I don't want to do it. You can tell the mutual respect between those two is high. And you could argue that without, without each other, they wouldn't be where they are right now. Yeah, true. Elko, Riley Leonard had a big reason in him having the success he did at Duke and getting this job. And with Elko, certainly had a big impact on Riley Leonard doing what he did. Yeah, I think, you know, it's interesting. You could look at it, you know, Riley Leonard's going to know more about Mike Elko's defense than most college quarterbacks that Elko will face. But Elko is going to know more about Leonard than the most coaches that that Leonard will face. So both of them have their kind of own advantages. You know, I tend to think that Elko will have the advantage because, you know, he's the coach. He's the one pulling the scheme. He's the one who's, who's, you know, knows his strengths and weaknesses. Whereas Leonard, you know, you think about it, right? When you're practicing during the season, you're not really going against your defense. You're going against the scout team defense that's sort of emulating what the opponent is going to be. So I don't know if it's totally fair to say like, Oh, Riley Leonard went against Elko's defense every week, because really he's going against Louisville's defense. He's going against Florida's defense. So I think that might be the one key distinction to make. And it's why I think Elko has the advantage over him. Now, is it a sizable advantage? I don't know. I tend to think, though, that I'd also think another advantage that Elko could have is that he played Notre Dame last year. He saw what Mitch 11s can do. He saw what Jim Greathouse can do. You know, he got to see this team up close. Now, some of those guys are gone, but a lot of the key guys on defense are back. And so I think that could be another added benefit for him. So if you boil this thing down, do you think it's which quarterback plays better, which offensive line plays better, or, or something else that this game comes down to Saturday? Yeah, the trenches will, will definitely be a, play a big role in things. I think it might just be which offense does better, because we know both defenses are phenomenal. I think with Notre Dame, their offense looking better would look like their offensive line being better than people think and being, not looking like a team that has only six combined starts among their starting offensive line. That's how they win the games. That it looks better than anticipated. A&M, I think it comes down to their skill positions, are that can they, can one of their receivers get 100 yards and really show up? Can Levion Moss have a really impactful day on the ground, and, you know, if it's wet conditions, can he have, you know, almost 100 yards on the ground? And then certainly, A&M's defense a line, play a big role. You know, if your defense line gets five sacks in the game, it really doesn't matter what, what anyone else just does, you know, take it over, up front, nothing else really matters. And, and that could certainly be in play for this, this Aggie defense a line. So I think it could all start with them, for sure. Carter Carl's from Gigum 24/7 covering Texas A&M football down there in college station. Like he mentioned, he used to cover Notre Dame football recruiting back in the day. Not too, not in the, in the not too distant past, what about four or five years ago? It's been something like that. Does that sound right? Yep. Not long ago, enough to where I remember covering Jack Kaiser, I remember covering Riley Mills and Howard Cross, you know, like I covered a lot of those guys on that team. So I mean, I'm trying to get together with Jack's dad actually this weekend. So, you know, still have some relationships over there. And, and it's going to be great to see some, some people from Notre Dame. It helps when Notre Dame has guys who have been here for eight years and feels like, you know, Jack Kaiser, you might be older than I am. My goodness. I know. I know. If he grew that beard out, you know, like yours, that's all we get to this point. All right. Well, enjoy the game Saturday, Carter. Appreciate you doing this. Thanks a lot. Yes, sir. Thank you, Sean. [Music] [Music] [Music]
