00:00:00
Speaker 1: Thank you. Hour number three, 5 o'clockers, you made it. Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ. KB and Smoke with you. Our Uptown Studios presented by Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort. Harrah's Casino Resort is WFNZ's official casino partner and sportsbook partner. We appreciate them very much. Don't forget, coming up in about 40 minutes or so, Jeff Taylor, WCCB Bayhackle Sports Sports Director. He and I will preview the night's action. in high school football as we once again this week bring to you the WCCB Bayhackle Sports High School Football Game of the Week simulcast live here on WFNZ. I'll be on the call alongside Reginald Walker Jr. live from a sold-out Huff High School in Cornelius. as the defending state champion Huff Huskies take on the defending state champion Providence Day Chargers. It's Deshaun Baker versus Chad Greer, two teams that haven't lost since 2024. We've got roughly 18 to 20 kids committed to Division I programs, 40 in total that have Division I offers. It is just going to be a star-studded, incredible, and very sticky and hot night at Huff High School today. but the game is live right here on FNZ. You can watch us, channel 18, WCCB, streaming live at bayhacklesports.com. We'll talk about it later, but right now, we talk college football. Week one started last night and rolls on into the weekend. Dari Noka, ESPN SEC Network Analyst, is with us on the FNZ hotline to talk all about it. Dari Noka, it's good to have you, brother.
00:01:43
Speaker 2: How you been?
00:01:45
Speaker 3: I'm good, man. It's good to talk to you. Hey, I got to tell you, though, you got to tell my boy, Reggie Walker. I said, what's up? We've worked, we worked together for years going back to Bristol, Connecticut, man. So it's good to hear his name come out of your mouth.
00:01:57
Speaker 1: His roots run deep up there, man. There's no doubt about that. Played at Penn State. He's a good dude. So we've got, we got a whale of a high school football game tonight, Dari. Football's all the way back, my man.
00:02:07
Speaker 3: No, it is, man. It really, really is. Fired up for tonight. Get to watch a little bit more. Great game last night, obviously, with Colorado, Georgia Tech. We've got Oklahoma coming up tonight. Southern Cal back home against Fresno. And then, of course, we really get rolling tomorrow. Great game Sunday in Nashville. Monday in Tallahassee. It seems like it's been a long offseason, but every offseason feels like a long offseason. So we're here. Doesn't feel like fall by any stretch, but we'll consider it fall when they're kicking the pigskin around like this.
00:02:38
Speaker 1: For sure. Since you mentioned it real quick, I got that game wrong last night. I just assumed that Brent Key's team was going to be the better team in the trenches. Clearly they really miss Haynes King, and what a win for Deion. What did you think about that win?
00:02:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was with you, Kyle. I actually expected Georgia Tech to win that by a couple of scores. And, you know, yeah, Haynes King certainly, I think, is part of it. And Buster Faulkner, the offensive coordinator, who's now at Florida, I think is another part of it. So you saw them really, really struggle. It was a game that was pretty ugly from both sides for a while. But, I thought the last six, seven minutes of it were pretty entertaining. And for Colorado to get the great block from former volunteer Boo Carter after Tech went, you know, so far down the field, put together a really nice drive. It's a huge win. I mean, that's a huge win for Colorado. I don't know that they're going to be any good, you know, when the season comes to a conclusion, if we're going to be looking at them in a bowl game or not or what. But that was big. And it was, at the same time, it was certainly a tough one for a Georgia Tech team that, coming off of a couple of really nice years under Brent Key.
00:03:41
Speaker 1: For sure. All right, I got a lot of fans already asking me, like my guy Brian, he said, ask him about Bama and ECU. So let's talk about that because our mutual friend Roman Harper and I were talking about this the other day. Roman played at Alabama. They got a lot of new pieces. He's not quite sure what to expect. I know they expect to win. and beat ECU. But, you know, ECU, as you well know, is a proud program. They've got a lot of turnover. So, you know, I expect Alabama to win this game, Dari, but I don't know what it's going to look like. What are your thoughts on Bama ECU?
00:04:10
Speaker 3: Well, I think they should win it rather handily, to be honest. I mean, ECU certainly is replacing some pieces, including their offensive coordinator, John David Baker, who's at Ole Miss now for Pete Golding. And, you know, Alabama, I think everybody's excited to see Keelan Russell. I mean, I think the intrigue with them kind of starts with the quarterback position, a rebuilt offensive line, and can they run the football any better than they did last year? I don't know how good they're going to be. I'm with you.
00:04:37
Speaker 2: They are.
00:04:38
Speaker 3: I've said many times this offseason that this is the most mysterious team from Alabama that I can ever remember. I feel like every year we know what they are. We know who they are. We know what they're about. We know who the keys are going to be. And we know what kind of style of play it's going to look like. And I just think there's so many question marks about them. But I certainly don't think tomorrow should be a big challenge because They should be considerably more talented than them. I do think Keelan Russell, by the end of this year, we're going to look at him and say he's probably a top three or top four quarterback in the SEC, and it'll start tomorrow for him.
00:05:15
Speaker 1: Dari Noka, ESPN, SEC Network host, anchor with us on the FNZ Hotline. You host a radio show in Oklahoma. You know a lot about the Sooners, right? Let's talk about them tonight. They've got UTEP, SEC Network Plus, 8 o'clock tonight. This is a game where Oklahoma should roll, but I've had people text in to say, what do we think about them? How good are they? How deep are they? John Mateer's back. Brent Venables gets a big contract extension. They're preseason top 10, so clearly this all comes with expectations, Dari, but how good are they?
00:05:45
Speaker 3: I think they're good. I really do. I think they're good. Defensively, they should be every bit as good as they were last year, and that's a top 5 to 10 defense nationally. With Ren Venables calling it, nobody really does that better than he does. That hasn't changed. They've got a lot of guys back, a lot of new additions. You'll see a guy tonight by the name of Cole Sullivan, who is a guy from Michigan that could have been an all-Big Ten type of linebacker this year. You'll see him playing some defensively. whether it's linebacker or cheetah, but they're loaded on defense. Offensively, you know, it hinges on John Mateer, and the thumb injury should be no longer. He feels healthy, he says, and they really did a good job in the portal of equipping him with some actual weapons. comes over from Texas, certainly not without some hatred from Texas fans. That's a big move going from Texas to Oklahoma. Trell Harris, ACC fans may remember him at Virginia. He was their leading receiver last year. He's a Sooner now. And then, you know, they really revamped their tight end room. Hayden Hanson, a huge target, big time blocking tight end as well from Florida. And a Rocky Beers who they got from Colorado State, who's more of a pass catching tight end, but certainly an effective one, a veteran of college football. So I think they knew the weakness was offensively. They knew the weakness was running the football. They've done a lot on the offensive line and at tight end and brought in a guy I think you'll see tonight by the name of Lloyd Avant, a running back from Colorado State who may very well end up being their top running back this season. So I think they think they did enough around Mateer to really give that offense a boost. And if that offense is a bit better or even considerably better, which I think most of us think it will be, they look like a playoff team again and maybe one that wins a game or two.
00:07:28
Speaker 1: All right, let's go to the early portion of tomorrow's schedule. 12.45 on the SEC Network. Shane Beamer in South Carolina hosting Kent State at Williams-Brice. Nice little ramp up to start the season, I think, for South Carolina with Kent State and Towson, certainly as opposed to what Shane Beamer opened with against Virginia Tech last year. But it's a massive year for Shane. He's brought in Kendall Bryles. They're trying to get the most out of Lenora Sellers. They do have some injuries to start the season, but again, Kent State, Towson in their first two games should give them some time to get healthy. The big question here, Dari, is in a make-or-break year for Shane Beamer, do you think he's got enough to surprise the rest of the conference?
00:08:05
Speaker 3: I think he does. If the offensive line comes together, you know, they're not going to have to carry his Pete tomorrow, which is certainly not going to hinder them against Kent state. It's not going to hinder them against housing if he's not able to go, but it's a, it's a, you know, this is a team brought in nine new offensive linemen. He is piecing it together because he knew he had to. I think that's always the biggest mystery, right? You look around this league, A & M is doing it to some degree. LSU is certainly doing it under Lane Kiffin. There's, plenty of Alabama is doing that. And now South Carolina has done the same thing that could go either way. If we watched, you know, if you watch Florida state last week, Kyle, that was an offensive line that was reason again, assembled through the portal, much like South Carolina says. And it was an offensive line that could, could not keep pressure off of Ashton Daniels. And that was against New Mexico state. And if, if, If I'm a fan of a team that has rebuilt through the Portland offensive line and you've got guys that have never, ever played a collegiate football game together, suddenly I'm a little bit concerned having watched that. Because Florida State had guys that were from quality programs and that had some starts under their belt. So South Carolina is going to start and end, I think, really, with the offensive line because if it's good and it protects, we know how good Lenora Sellers can be. I hate losing Jaden Sellers and Jaden Gibson. But that's the situation they're in, although I think they still have a deeper group of receivers than they have, at least over the last couple of years, with Sellers as quarterback.
00:09:36
Speaker 1: Dari Noka, SEC Network, with us here on a football Friday. Before I ask you about Clemson-LSU, the football game, let me ask you about LSU and former NFL training camp players returning to college, and it's seeming like the entire world is against them, yet they don't seem to care at all. What's happening? We got the judges ruling yesterday, Dari. We're going into a Saturday college game day week one tomorrow. I mean, we just had the college game. football playoff release a statement in support of conferences, you know, keeping former pros out of the league. So it seems again like it's Baton Rouge versus the world here, even though they're not the only ones bringing back these fifth year players. Where do you think we end up with this come like, you know, noon tomorrow when the game kicks off? What are we what are we doing? What are we talking about?
00:10:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, they are kind of the only ones that are really in this tangle with their conference. The SEC is not cool with it. I know this. Despite losing the ruling yesterday, the league is incredibly optimistic that Lane Kiffin is going to make what they determined to be the right decision. And the belief is that Lane will not roster these guys tonight. And he's got to have it done by tonight. So that's, I think, their belief. Now, you can't predict what Lane's going to do, but they also believe they have every right to give severe evidence repercussions if he does that. And make no mistake, the committee, playoff committee today coming out in support of the conferences is really, really significant. It wasn't an overly strong statement. It did not give any absolute punishments if teams do this, but it is exactly what these conferences feel they need to be able to enforce the rules that they feel they need to enforce. And if there's a chance at all that making this decision to play these guys could inhibit the their chances of making the college football playoff, then it would be incredibly ridiculous for Lane Kiffin to do it. And I think that's what the leagues were looking for, was some backing from the playoff. I was told last night, expect something tomorrow from somebody, and it's going to clarify things for you. and I think that might have been what that person was talking about. So I think it's significant news today from the playoff committee. I do not believe Lane Kiffin ends up rostering these guys. But he's Lane Kiffin, so who the hell really knows?
00:11:54
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. I just had a texter say, have you all met Lane Kiffin? And it's a fair question. He may do what Lane wants to do. Lane wants to win the game tomorrow night. They are 10-point favorites with Clemson coming to town. Last year, this was a 17-10 ball game. I don't know what to make of this one, Dari. I think we could be on the verge of something of a resurgent season for Clemson, but I could also see LSU running them off the field tomorrow night. What's your gut tell you?
00:12:17
Speaker 3: Honestly, with all this going on, I don't. I wish I could tell you. I honestly wish I could tell you. I don't see anybody running anybody off the field, but Again, LSU, same situation as South Carolina. Essentially rebuilt everything, including a quarterback making his first start in this league. Although I think Sam Levitt's going to be really good. But there's a lot. This is the highest credentialed game in LSU's home stadium history when you look at media slash celebrities. All of the hubbub about the roster. What's it going to look like? Who's on it? Who's off of it? And Dabo Sweeney and Clemson are just kind of sitting back there saying, It's kind of ridiculous what's going on out there, but, hey, maybe it benefits us. I think it's a close football game, probably another bit of a lower-scoring game, I think, like we saw last year between these two. What was that, 17-10? Yep. But I certainly give Clemson a chance. And I think LSU is a more talented football team, but it's a team that has had so many new pieces, including an entirely new coaching, almost an entirely new coaching staff, certainly on offense, that there could be some growing pains. And if there are, Clemson's good enough to take advantage.
00:13:23
Speaker 1: All right, before we get you out of here, Labor Day night– sorry, Sunday night, rather– Louisville Ole Miss number 24 versus number nine at Trinidad Chambliss and Company favored by six and a half right now I think I would lean Ole Miss but I'm a big Jeff Brom fan we don't know what he has in Lincoln Keenholz but he's a proven quarterback developer like I do like Louisville's chances here a little bit on a neutral site but I will acknowledge Ole Miss probably has a few more stallions on their side of the field what's your read on this Yeah, I'm looking.
00:13:52
Speaker 3: Forward to this one. We'll be up there for the SEC Network doing a pregame and a postgame show, Ben Watson and I, and I'm looking forward to getting up there and watching this thing. I think it could be the best game of the weekend in college football. But, yeah, I'm with you on Braum. They're so well coached. We know they can run the ball, too. I mean, they've got some horses back there. So they'll put pressure on Ole Miss' defense, and it's a defense that's had to replace two or three guys that Lane took with him. to LSU. But, you know, man, the way they play defensively under Pete Golding is really, really impressive always. This is one of those games I could also see a little bit lower scoring, but I give Ole Miss the edge because I've just got to believe Trinidad Chambliss is going to make a play or two that that there's no answer for, that kind of lifts them up over the top. Now, six and a half is a good number. I am not a betting person. I've tried it a few times, and that's the reason I'm not a betting person. I think it's a really good line that I'd probably stay away from, but I do like Ole Miss to win the game, but it could be close, low scoring, down to that fourth, maybe that final drive.
00:14:59
Speaker 1: I'd be remiss not to at least point out we have Baylor and Auburn tomorrow, 3.30 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. I think SEC Nation is going to be there tomorrow. DJ Lagway at Baylor. Alex Golish's first year at Auburn. How are we feeling about this one?
00:15:13
Speaker 3: I am big on Auburn this year. Auburn and Florida, those two teams, I think, make big rises from the bottom of the league up towards the top to the middle of the league. I think Auburn, you know, Byron Brown is going to be great in this league. I have no doubt. His build, his demeanor, his leadership, and the offense that he knows with Alex Golish. Don't lose sight of the fact that they brought five receivers over that he's familiar with from USF. His starting center came over from USF. So really, he's jumping into a different league, yes. And that's a big jump, but very familiar with what they want to do on offense. And I think it was enormous for Auburn to keep DJ Durkin as their defensive coordinator because that keeps stability on really what was their best side of the football last year. I think Auburn makes a big rise. And I think Auburn beats Baylor by at least a couple of touchdowns.
00:16:00
Speaker 1: Dari Noka, SEC Network host, anchor with us on the WFNZ Hotline. College football is back in earnest this weekend. Dari, you're the best. We appreciate you. Have fun this weekend. We'll talk to you soon.
00:16:11
Speaker 3: You do the same Kyle. Have a great call tonight, man. Thank you.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: Thank you, buddy. Dari Noka of the sec network here on a football Friday. Hit us up with your thoughts. 704-570-9610. A lot of texts coming in. Let's see. We have a big cat. Oh, big cat. Dan, look, one of the Clemson tiger fans insistent that they're going to be in this thing tomorrow night with a chance to win it. Smoke picked the tigers months ago. Well, that's not helpful. He picked Clemson months ago to win this game.
00:16:37
Speaker 4: Um, nice job catching yourself.
00:16:38
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Uh, I, I would love it. I just, I think that Lane Kiffin and LSU, they become the Death Star. He's Darth Vader of college football. You either love him or you hate him. Most people hate him.
00:16:54
Speaker 4: You can't even use the Death Star because at least in the Death Star in Star Wars, they were able to take over the galaxy and take over the Senate. Lane still hasn't won anything.
00:17:03
Speaker 3: Fine.
00:17:04
Speaker 4: Got it.
00:17:04
Speaker 1: But LSU as an entity, look, I mean, they just got, it seems like they have unlimited money. They've got this roster of villainous head coaches. They're just not well liked by anybody outside of the state of Louisiana. And I think that's the way they want it. So I think they're more than willing to lean into that role and they're comfortable with it. And you're going to be in that thick, swampy air tomorrow night. Now, you know, Clemson's from South Carolina, not Idaho. So the humidity is not going to tear them up. But there's just something about going into Baton Rouge at night. If you've never been there, you just got to experience it. The air is thick. The Cajuns are a little extra rowdy. That place is insanely loud.
00:17:39
Speaker 3: I don't know, man.
00:17:41
Speaker 4: But, man, if they win.
00:17:42
Speaker 1: If they win.
00:17:43
Speaker 4: That postgame interview by Dabo is about to be an all-timer.
00:17:48
Speaker 1: Like better than the win over Notre Dame a couple of years ago by Stock and Clemson.
00:17:52
Speaker 4: I was getting Notre Dame PTSA because I'm like, which one? Because to bring your own guts was also against Notre Dame.
00:17:59
Speaker 1: That's true.
00:18:00
Speaker 3: It was.
00:18:00
Speaker 1: You're right, though. It will be an epic post-game interview with Dabo tomorrow night if they win that game. Can you imagine the meltdown in Louisiana after all– It was a distraction. It's Lane's fault. All these distractions try to bring these former NFL training camp guys in. He wasn't focused, man.
00:18:16
Speaker 4: I told you all we needed to do was elevate Brad Baker, Paul.
00:18:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, occasion's the one that I don't really try because I can't do it justice.
00:18:22
Speaker 4: Unless it's Ed Orgeron.
00:18:24
Speaker 1: I just can only imagine the airwaves in Baton Rouge and across the state of Louisiana Monday if they lose this game.
00:18:30
Speaker 4: Well, WWL is going to have so many phone calls. In New Orleans, too.
00:18:34
Speaker 1: All right, 704-570-9610. Hit us up on the WFNZ text line. When we come back, we'll take more of your thoughts on college football's big weekend coming up, but also a little bit on the Panthers. Somebody asked me earlier, hey, KB, any Panthers news today? Not really, but a little bit. We'll talk about it. Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ. Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ on a football Friday. The final football Friday before that includes the Carolina Panthers and the regular season, which begins next Sunday against the Chicago Bears. And I do want to reiterate, Smoke, you can jump in on this as well. we've had a few people text in today including yesterday asking about jonathan brooks being held out of practice for uh general soreness and i said listen i've seen nothing about it being knee related and one guy yesterday was like but they did kb report that it was knee related a few other people chiming in today i want to be clear smoke my understanding is that a couple of fantasy football guys on twitter were the ones that started the whole jonathan brooks knee soreness rumor but that's it like the team itself has said nothing about that no reporters have said anything about that we had mike k on yesterday and he immediately jumped to well he hasn't played football in two years so he's just generally sore from taking a pounding and training camp in the preseason making no mention of the knee. Jonathan Brooks himself is on Twitter responding to Panthers fans, laughing that off. His girlfriend slash fiance also responding to people on Twitter saying that he's fine. So I think it's pretty clear at this point that there's no evidence of Jonathan Brooks dealing with knee issues on the same knee that's been twice repaired for a torn ACL.
00:20:24
Speaker 4: Look, Kyle, you bring a lot of great sources to this argument here. But FantasyPro4574 said that his knee is sore, so I think I got to go with that source, Kyle.
00:20:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, man.
00:20:35
Speaker 1: People got to chill out on that. I'm not saying that I know things. I'm saying that there's no information out there that's credible that would suggest that Jonathan Brooks is dealing with any knee soreness, just general soreness.
00:20:46
Speaker 4: It's like if you work out every single day, you don't have one off day. your body's going to be sore.
00:20:52
Speaker 1: Or if you don't work out for a couple of years and you work out for a couple of weeks, you're going to hit a wall. You might be sore and fatigued. So, I mean, I think it's just that. And they are in abundance of precaution, making sure that he is rested and ready to go for week one against Chicago. Because even though Chuba Hubbard is the lead back on this team for now, I expect Jonathan to get a lot of run. I think you're probably going to see Brooks get anywhere from eight to ten touches that first week, right? I mean, I would think so, at the very least. Is 8-10 maybe a little bit lofty? What do you think? I think 8-10 is right for him.
00:21:24
Speaker 4: I think it really comes down to how the game goes as well.
00:21:27
Speaker 1: Of course, yeah.
00:21:28
Speaker 4: I think 8-10 is probably a safe spot not to go too overboard, but also not to get no touches at all. I think they will go with Chuba as the main back. But I think that's one of those things where we'll see it kind of grow. Like the touches he'll get, let's say he stays healthy for the first five weeks, the touches he'll get in the week six game against Philly, or like the week seven, week eight game, I think you get up to like eight to 12 and then you get to 10 to 15. I think it just continues to rise. And I think that's what they want to happen too. They just don't want to overdo it with him. A, because of his injury history and also B, you don't want to run running backs into the ground. That's why we see so many teams now use two, three backs in the NFL on a weekly basis.
00:22:08
Speaker 3: Sure.
00:22:09
Speaker 1: And especially in week one where Listen, if this trend holds, and I don't think it's going to be 98 degrees next Sunday, but I still think there's some heat in our future forecast. I mean, it could be pretty warm next weekend. And I wouldn't hate it because I think that would make Chicago pretty uncomfortable. Using multiple backs, I think, is the right way to go here. And now that you've got A.J. Dillon on the roster and available and healthy and looking good, I think he's going to get some touches, certainly in short yardage situations next weekend. Texter here asking, is Chuba healthy? He is. Chuba Hubbard is, by all accounts, 100% healthy. And I was thinking about that, too. Chuba only ran for 511 yards last year. Missed a good bit of time. Only carried the ball 134 times last season. The year before that, in 2024, Chuba had 250 carries for nearly 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns.
00:23:02
Speaker 4: Also, a walk-off touchdown against Dakar. That's right.
00:23:06
Speaker 1: Do we think that Chuba Hubbard has another 1,000-yard season in him? Do we think he'll get the opportunity to do that?
00:23:14
Speaker 4: That's the question. I think it's more of the opportunity just depending on how much they split the carries because now if they split the carries the way we want them to, it's going to be similar to what we saw with Jace, Stu, and D'Angelo. The only reason that they were able to get 2,000-yard backs in 2009 was because D'Angelo got hurt in the back half of the year and they rode Jonathan Stewart's legs for the last three to four weeks, specifically in the massacre at the Meadowlands, the Sunday night game against the Vikings, and also the Week 17 game when they were going against the Saints backups. By the way, I did get the early report, because I remember we're now within 10 days of opening day or the season opener for Carolina. Yep. Brad Panovich last night gave out the 10-day forecast.
00:23:56
Speaker 1: Uh-oh.
00:23:58
Speaker 4: 66 low, high of 87.
00:24:00
Speaker 1: Oh, that sounds perfect.
00:24:02
Speaker 4: He did say underneath on the graphic hot, so it's one of those where it says 87, but I wonder how much of the humidity is going to you know, do people in because, because we're in North Carolina. It's not the heat all the time, Kyle.
00:24:15
Speaker 1: It's the humidity. That'll get you there. That's what I'm saying. You know, for that day, I'll sweat a little bit. If it makes Chicago uncomfortable, I'm okay with that.
00:24:23
Speaker 4: Hopefully it's not as bad as that 2019 opener against the Rams.
00:24:26
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:24:27
Speaker 1: Um, the bagel guys questioning my, um, my guess of Jonathan Brooks getting eight to 10 carries next weekend. He says only eight to 10.
00:24:35
Speaker 4: You said touches.
00:24:37
Speaker 1: When I say touchdowns, No, touches. Yeah, eight to ten touches. Yeah, eight to ten touches. You know, let's go on the high side. Let's say it's ten. Let's say he ends up with seven carries and three catches on the day. I mean, listen, if he's making plays, by all means, feed the beast. But this is still Chuba Hubbard as the lead back in this offense. They're not going to rush Jonathan. They're going to play him. Like, I'm not saying they're going to still have him wrapped up in bubble wrap, but this is still Chuba Hubbard's show in the backfield for now. and I think they're going to run Chuba a lot I mean if Chuba ends up getting 14 carries in that game I mean I'd imagine if you're throwing the ball out of the backfield it's more likely going to Jonathan Brooks but you know Chuba's a part of it too but if Chuba ends up with let's say 14 15 carries in that game catcher two I mean that's how realistic is it they're running the ball 35 40 times in week one if that's your question like is that realistic to you That they run the ball 35 times?
00:25:30
Speaker 4: Only if they're sitting on a lead.
00:25:31
Speaker 3: Right.
00:25:32
Speaker 1: So maybe if they jump out to an early lead and they can run the ball effectively and put together 7, 8, 11 play drives to keep Caleb Williams and company on the sideline, then yeah, keep on running the football. But if this is a back-and-forth game... you know, and it's, you know, a shootout style. And listen, I would sign up for that today because it likely means the offense is playing well, you know, then it's going to dictate probably fewer carries overall in this game. So I would say just based on what we know about Dave Canales the last couple of years, I don't know that they're running the ball more than 25 or 28 times in that game next Sunday. I'd love it if they could run it 35 to 40 times because it likely means to your point, they've got the lead and they are running it well. So I think Chuba is getting minimum 14, 15 carries next Sunday, seven or eight for Jonathan Brooks, you know, probably a combined 25 carries between those guys. Maybe Dylan gets two, three, four opportunities, short yardage. Maybe you get up to 30 carries in the game. But I still think that probably means that you're getting, you know, 30 to 33 pass attempts for Bryce Young against the Bears. And I think because of who you're playing, that's probably going to be necessary.
00:26:38
Speaker 4: That and, as you pointed, as we need to point out again.
00:26:41
Speaker 1: Unless this defense wants to go full top five lockdown, in which case I'm.
00:26:44
Speaker 4: All about it. Don't threaten me with a good time.
00:26:47
Speaker 3: Right?
00:26:48
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm all about that. But in my head right now, that's the way I see that playing out. Now, we had a different question come in from Terrence on the text line a couple of minutes ago asking about the wide receivers next week, specifically John Mechie and what we think John Mechie can provide this team. I don't know how much we see of Mechie in week one. Like, I think you'll see the field. Don't get me wrong.
00:27:11
Speaker 4: Kickoff return, I think, is the most you're going to see.
00:27:13
Speaker 1: That's exactly it. You're going to see Mechie, I think, if he makes an impact, it's probably going to be in special teams.
00:27:19
Speaker 4: And honestly, I think Jimmy Horn took the higher spot. So you'll see both of them out there. But I think Jimmy Horn is going to get more opportunities before John Mechie does.
00:27:27
Speaker 1: I do like that return tandem, though.
00:27:29
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:27:30
Speaker 1: I do like the idea of the tandem of Jimmy Horn Jr. and John Mechie. I thought Mechie made some great plays in training camp. I think he earned his spot on the roster. I believe that he made it. He's not there because he's Bryce Young's boy, as some people have suggested. I saw John Mechie make plenty of plays in training camp and in the preseason, in those preseason games. So I'm looking forward to seeing what he can contribute. But in terms of the hierarchy of touches and who's getting targets, is Jimmy Horn Jr. still getting more targets out there next week when he's on the field than John Mechie? What do we think about that?
00:28:08
Speaker 4: Probably, but it just also goes back to how many plays you have in a game.
00:28:11
Speaker 1: How many offensive reps does Jimmy Horn get?
00:28:13
Speaker 4: Right, and how many times are you going to go in 13 personnel?
00:28:16
Speaker 2: Right.
00:28:17
Speaker 4: Because this 13 personnel hurts guys like Jimmy Orton.
00:28:19
Speaker 1: Or even the 12 personnel. Because when you're in 12 personnel, you're most likely going to have T-Mac and Jalen Coker out there, I would think. And John Mechie is the understudy on the depth chart to Jalen Coker. So unless they're in a situation where they're trailing and they're running three and four wide and they're playing catch up and having to throw the ball all over the yard, in which case you're probably going to see Mechie get out there. If they're able to have success running the football in that 12 and 13 personnel, they're I think the offensive snaps probably come at a premium next week for both Mechie and Jimmy Horn Jr.
00:28:49
Speaker 4: It's one of those situations where a lot of those guys, when we get to the fourth or fifth wide receiver, we're talking about this is one of those where the opportunities slowly come to them, and most of it happens at least a quarter of the way for the year before they get their first real opportunity.
00:29:02
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:29:02
Speaker 1: A different texter here, Chad, hit us up and asked, how do we feel about the defensive line rotation, boys? We need to be able to stop the run this year.
00:29:10
Speaker 3: I like....
00:29:13
Speaker 1: What you've got up front to start the game.
00:29:15
Speaker 4: With Derrick and Bobby?
00:29:16
Speaker 1: With Derrick and Bobby and even Cam Jackson. Cam Jackson is so big and so strong that I feel like he's just going to get in the way enough, at the very least, eating up blocks to break open some free shots and some free opportunities at the quarterback for other guys. DB, Jalen Phillips, Prince Lee, even Pat Jones. You know, we're talking about the defensive line, not the edge rushers, but those guys are, of course, going to be up on the line of scrimmage. But staying with the defensive line rotation, Derek Brown, Bobby Brown, Cam Jackson, Aaron Hall, the Duke UDFA made it. They brought in T-Rod Edwards as well. Who's the six that I'm, there's somebody I'm missing here. Lee Hunter, Lee Hunter, the rookie. I don't know how much run he gets next week. Like, I think he'll probably get some opportunities, but, you know, he didn't splash in the preseason. I don't think they're at all displeased with him, but there's clearly a learning curve, I think, for Lee Hunter thus far. So, you know, you can feel good, I think, about Derek, Bobby, and Cam Jackson. I do wish that Turk Wharton was available.
00:30:19
Speaker 4: This is where the Turk Wharton injury, I think, really hurts the most is you don't have just straight up two lines that you can move on like we see in hockey. You can't have one line, which would probably be Derek and Bobby, and just completely put them out for a play or two and have Cam Jackson and Turk Wharton. You have to have a guy that is on the back end of the roster coming to be a part of that second line.
00:30:40
Speaker 1: Well, it's also about Todd Walsh, the defensive line coach for the Panthers. How does he handle the rotation? You know, you're not it's not a full hockey line change, right? You're not you're not bringing Derek and Bobby and Cam off the field and just swapping them with Lee Hunter, T-Rod Edwards and Aaron Hall. So you've got to make sure you're rotating those guys in to keep fresh legs, you know, without doing full fledged hockey line changes, because there will be a steep drop off. But speaking of that, you know, I wonder how much run T-Rod Edwards gets out there next week. Do we see him much along the defensive line at all? And then going to the outside, I think Jalen Phillips has already shown up looking like he's ready, looking like he can make an impact, be worth that $ 30 million a year price tag. Pat Jones is a big X factor to me. Pat Jones on the other side. You're going to get plenty of Princely, too. But Pat Jones on the other side, I think he played five games last year before he got hurt, and we didn't see him the rest of the season. Looks like he's in great shape. Sounds really motivated. Mountain of a man. They signed him in free agency because they believed in him the year before last. Can Pat Jones be an impact player for the Panthers off the edge? We got all next week to talk about it, but we are just now nine days away from Carolina Panthers football in Uptown. When we come back, tonight's a big high school football night here in the area. We've got the biggest game in the state just up the interstate, up 77 in Cornelius. The Huff Huskies defending state champions. Providence Day Chargers defending private school state champions. Chad Greer, Deshaun Baker. It's going to be a massive heavyweight showdown up off exit 28, and I can't wait to get there tonight. So make sure to be tuned in 7.30 tonight here on FNZ. We'll carry the simulcast of the TV broadcast over on WCCB Channel 18 and Bayhackle Sports. And when we return, the sports director of WCCB and Bayhackle Sports, Jeff Taylor, stops by to talk about it all here on Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ. Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ. It's a football Friday wrapping up the show. And again, a reminder, the football continues tonight here on WFNZ as we bring to you the WCCB Bayhackle Sports Game of the Week here simulcast on WFNZ. You can watch us on WCCB Channel 18, bayhacklesports.com. If you're out there running errands for the misses, you don't want to miss a thing. You can jump right over to 92.7 WFNZ. and keep track. It'll be myself and Reggie Walker tonight on the call. The biggest game in the state. I think it's arguable, maybe, but I don't think there's a bigger game in the state of North Carolina tonight than Huff and Providence Day up in Cornelius. It's sold out. We hope you'll join us tonight. Again, WCCB, Bayhackle Sports, bayhacklesports.com, or right here, WFNZ. And we have the sports director of WCCB, Bayhackle Sports as well. He's with us here in studio and will be every Friday leading into Friday night football. Jeff Taylor in studio with us on a football Friday. Jeff, what's going on, man?
00:33:45
Speaker 4: Love high school football, man.
00:33:46
Speaker 1: It's awesome, right?
00:33:47
Speaker 2: Well, football season as a whole.
00:33:49
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:33:49
Speaker 2: Our football, my family, we all love football. It's just, it's that time of the year. And we could lose the heat. If Mother Nature, I don't know what Mother Nature, what football's done to Mother Nature the last couple weeks.
00:33:59
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:33:59
Speaker 2: But with the storms and now the heat. But hey, it's go time. And you mentioned it when we think about this game. I know when... During the summer, we put together a big calendar, and we put every game up so we can see week-to-week what's coming up. And we saw this one. We circled that as a game of the year, maybe.
00:34:17
Speaker 1: Defending state champions, juggernauts clashing. I mean, you call it what you want to. They don't get any bigger than this. 40 Division I future players on the field tonight?
00:34:26
Speaker 2: Yes, it's 40 that could see the field. And when you think about that, that is just— and it speaks to the programs— And it speaks to the coaches. We look at Coach Greer at Providence today and we know what he's all about. And then we see what Deshaun Baker's done at Huff and how he's built that program and won the first state championship last year in 8A. So you've got the two state champions from last year coming together. And you don't get that a whole lot in a lot of states where you get that private school playing a public school when you talk about two champs. So it doesn't get any better.
00:34:55
Speaker 1: No, I want to start, though, with you and WCCB and Bayhackle, your commitment to high school sports. I mean, it's evident for anybody who watches you and follows with your work, but we're all here in Charlotte. Everybody's reporting on the Panthers and the Hornets and Charlotte FC and NASCAR and things like that. But it was clear to me a couple of years ago that your focus and something that you guys do well and you prioritize is high school sports.
00:35:19
Speaker 2: It's just something that.
00:35:23
Speaker 2: And if I kind of tell a personal story, I was actually, I did TV back in the late 90s, early 2000s. And then we moved to Charlotte and I got out of TV and became a youth pastor for actually 16 years, working with middle school and high school kids. And I would always tell the kids this, you were created to tell a story. And if you don't tell your story, nobody will. And when we think about high school, what I love about high school is just the purity of sports still. granted there's some yeah you could get some sketchy stuff going down but you know i'm getting at sure and so i think for us at bayhackle sports we decided while you mentioned yeah the panthers nascar the horn it's all of that high school there's just something genuine about it and and it's really almost a lot of times not about the x's and o's it's about the stories that these kids can tell and the coaches can tell so i think we made that commitment to go hey while everybody's kind of going this route let's go the other way and let's really kind of just concentrate on high school and and The cool part about it is as it's evolved over the last couple years, being able to do things, create new shows. We have one varsity spotlight on Thursday nights where not only do we talk football, but we show volleyball highlights. We show soccer highlights. We interview the girl volleyball players. I went out Wednesday night and drove around the Queen City for three hours covering, you know, volleyball games. And to see those kids' faces light up because you're there is pretty cool.
00:36:42
Speaker 1: It's awesome. Jeff Taylor, WCCB Bayhackle Sports Sports Director in studio with us here on a Football Friday. So what do you think about this game tonight? Huff and Providence Day, and you've got one side's won 16 straight games. Both are defending state champions. Like I said, sold out. It's going to be an incredible atmosphere.
00:37:01
Speaker 2: I think a couple of things. When I think about Providence Day, yeah, they haven't lost since the championship game of 24.
00:37:06
Speaker 3: Right.
00:37:06
Speaker 2: So still undefeated. You know, Huff coming off their championship season. I think when I look at this ball game, I think it's going to come down to two things. I think, number one, can Providence Day run the football? Huff's defense may be historic. It is just their front seven.
00:37:24
Speaker 4: It's crazy.
00:37:25
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, Cole Cater, who's the quarterback for Providence today, new to really getting the starting job this year.
00:37:32
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:37:33
Speaker 2: You know, and you go out and you blast Myers Park. You go out and you beat Rollsville.
00:37:38
Speaker 4: That's great.
00:37:39
Speaker 2: Now you're seeing a different beast in Huff. Can they get it? I think they need to get their running game going just to give him, you know, the chance of throwing the football. If not, it could be a long night in terms of that. To me, I want to say that Huff, I think, brings a little more to the table. And I wouldn't be surprised to see them win by double digits.
00:38:01
Speaker 1: Oh, listen, I just think last year, before they even won the state championship, Deshaun Baker was telling people, we have the best defense in the state, and then they went out and allowed a school record 93 points during the entire season.
00:38:12
Speaker 3: Right.
00:38:13
Speaker 1: So that defense is largely back, and they are incredible, and I can't wait to get a look at them tonight.
00:38:18
Speaker 2: But, you know, and here's the deal with Providence today, and I go back to it a little more time, you know, the one thing that's kind of new for Coach Greer, they've got 10 starters that came back on the defensive side of the ball, and then they had a kid transfer in. So, and I think all 10 of those have division one prospects, you know, they're talking to people. So the defensive side of the ball, but listen, Ethan Royal, you know, that kid, you know, what he did last year in the championship game, accounting for almost every touchdown. I think he did account for every touchdown, you know, last week they go and, um, he has five touchdowns on the night. I think four, I think four, uh, passing one running. Um, The ball in the hands of Ethan Royal and then Cole Cater, I think there's a little more pressure on Cole to get the job done tonight in that scenario and in that game.
00:39:08
Speaker 1: Another big game tonight. Mallard Creek playing host to Buford out of Georgia. That's another heavyweight matchup. Not an in-state bout here, but that's a really, really big game with a lot of talented players.
00:39:18
Speaker 2: The thing I love about that is Coach Tinsley will play anybody at any time, anywhere. And, you know, listen, that's a team but right now we're talking about right at the beginning of the year they probably flying under the radar but now you're two and oh um but when you talk about buford coming to town now the interesting part was they had the number one player in the nation jalen brewster defensive tackle i think he'd signed for tech uh texas tech he's still not eligible to play right so you know but that's neither here nor there i think the gist with mallard creek is it's going to boil down to kaylee napier at the quarterback and how he could play um They actually went to Norfolk last week and beat Maury in Norfolk, the Hampton Roads area, and they were a three-time state champion. And they handled them. So I think, you know, it's an interesting ballgame. I just think Kaylee Napier brings a different— while Mallard Creek has always been the running-type team, this opens the door for some passing. But they got their work cut out for them. Buford's tough, but, you know— That's why we play the games.
00:40:17
Speaker 1: No doubt. Any other games on the schedule tonight you've highlighted you're most looking forward to that you'll be keeping an eye on throughout the evening?
00:40:23
Speaker 2: I think I'm going to actually back up one night and go back to last night real quick and talk about Chambers.
00:40:28
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
00:40:29
Speaker 2: Captain Mutherland. I mean, he's got that team, you know, undefeated now at 3-0. And he's starting to build a culture. Jamore Nichols transferred in there. It's kind of taken over the QB spot. Done great things. So I think, you know, granted they beat Corvian, who was 2A, and they're 7A. But what he's done so far early season, that's impressive. You know, I think when I look at some interesting storylines, too, and we talked about it a little bit last week when I was with Colin or whatever, school ambassador Christian. They're a year or two of football. They just got back from Ireland where they played before UNC and TCU. And they beat a team out of Texas, Grapevine Faith, and beat them handily. Ambassador Christian, they played a night at Johnson C. Smith University against Independence out of Beckley, West Virginia.
00:41:17
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
00:41:18
Speaker 1: I know the program.
00:41:18
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:41:19
Speaker 2: And so it's kind of cool to see what they're getting a chance to do. We had Coach Pogue on our show last night, and their starting quarterback, David Echeverria, I think is how you say his name. What an athlete. He was impressive over in Ireland. So kind of cool to see them. Providence Myers Park. You talk about Providence Myers Park, two teams that are trying to find their way both with new head coaches. You know, I think there's just as we sit there and figure out what games we're going to go to on a Friday night. The cool part about the Queen City is you can almost go to every game and it's awesome, awesome talent.
00:41:56
Speaker 1: The talent here has been good for a long time, but it just keeps getting better and better and deeper. And it's why I get so excited about Friday nights around here. Jeff Taylor, WCCB Bayhackle Sports in studio with us here on a football Friday. He'll be a regular Friday nights leading into our broadcast here on FNZ, the simulcast of the WCCB Bayhackle Sports game of the week at the high school level. I'll give it to you as we wrap things up. Where can they find the game tonight for anybody who wants to tune in, be a part of the action? Where can they find it? How would you direct?
00:42:23
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
00:42:23
Speaker 2: It'll be shown on WCCB. starting at 7.30, of course, with a kickoff. We will live stream it on bayhacklesports.com. And, of course, like I said, Radio Wise, FNZ. And let me just say we love the relationship.
00:42:36
Speaker 1: We're excited.
00:42:37
Speaker 2: We're so excited about it. And there's just something about, you know, I was driving back from my game last week and turned it on for Olympic Palisades. And it was, I think, Kendall Lewis and Reggie. And we love Reggie Walker. But we're excited, you know, the relationship– hearing you be able to do the games is awesome. So I think it's just taking everything up a notch, and we're so excited.
00:43:00
Speaker 1: We're pumped about it. I'm going back to my roots on Friday nights, and I'm really excited about it. And I think folks out there are really going to enjoy it. Tonight we've got Huff and Providence Day from Huff High School. It's a sold-out crowd, 40-plus D1 players on the field, defending state champions.
00:43:13
Speaker 4: Sold out. It's going to be crazy.
00:43:14
Speaker 1: It just doesn't get much better than this. Jeff, look forward to the weekly conversation and the relationship.
00:43:18
Speaker 4: Appreciate you, man. It's go time.
00:43:20
Speaker 1: That'll do it for us here on a football Friday. Don't forget, we've got instant replay coming up your way top of the hour. 7.30 tonight, though. Kickoff between Huff and Providence Day. Join me and Reggie Walker right here for the WCCB Bayhackle Sports High School Football Game of the Week simulcast right here on WFNZ. We look forward to chatting with you. We go tipping our caps courtesy of our friends at Neogenics, where they help heal joint pain naturally with no surgery, no medication, no downtime. Go to neogenicstemcells.com. I'll do it for both of us. Tip of the cap to all the high school football players in the area tonight as we enter week three. Stay hydrated. It is hot out there. We'll talk to you at 730. For Smoke, I'm KB. Sports Radio, 92.7 WFNZ.
00:44:01
Speaker 4: You're going to be dead in 100 years anyway.
00:44:03
Speaker 3: Live dangerously.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Hour number three, 5 o'clockers, you made it. Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ. KB and Smoke with you. Our Uptown Studios presented by Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort. Harrah's Casino Resort is WFNZ's official casino partner and sportsbook partner. We appreciate them very much. Don't forget, coming up in about 40 minutes or so, Jeff Taylor, WCCB Bayhackle Sports Sports Director. He and I will preview the night's action. in high school football as we once again this week bring to you the WCCB Bayhackle Sports High School Football Game of the Week simulcast live here on WFNZ. I'll be on the call alongside Reginald Walker Jr. live from a sold-out Huff High School in Cornelius. as the defending state champion Huff Huskies take on the defending state champion Providence Day Chargers. It's Deshaun Baker versus Chad Greer, two teams that haven't lost since 2024. We've got roughly 18 to 20 kids committed to Division I programs, 40 in total that have Division I offers. It is just going to be a star-studded, incredible, and very sticky and hot night at Huff High School today. but the game is live right here on FNZ. You can watch us, channel 18, WCCB, streaming live at bayhacklesports.com. We'll talk about it later, but right now, we talk college football. Week one started last night and rolls on into the weekend. Dari Noka, ESPN SEC Network Analyst, is with us on the FNZ hotline to talk all about it. Dari Noka, it's good to have you, brother.
00:01:43
Speaker 2: How you been?
00:01:45
Speaker 3: I'm good, man. It's good to talk to you. Hey, I got to tell you, though, you got to tell my boy, Reggie Walker. I said, what's up? We've worked, we worked together for years going back to Bristol, Connecticut, man. So it's good to hear his name come out of your mouth.
00:01:57
Speaker 1: His roots run deep up there, man. There's no doubt about that. Played at Penn State. He's a good dude. So we've got, we got a whale of a high school football game tonight, Dari. Football's all the way back, my man.
00:02:07
Speaker 3: No, it is, man. It really, really is. Fired up for tonight. Get to watch a little bit more. Great game last night, obviously, with Colorado, Georgia Tech. We've got Oklahoma coming up tonight. Southern Cal back home against Fresno. And then, of course, we really get rolling tomorrow. Great game Sunday in Nashville. Monday in Tallahassee. It seems like it's been a long offseason, but every offseason feels like a long offseason. So we're here. Doesn't feel like fall by any stretch, but we'll consider it fall when they're kicking the pigskin around like this.
00:02:38
Speaker 1: For sure. Since you mentioned it real quick, I got that game wrong last night. I just assumed that Brent Key's team was going to be the better team in the trenches. Clearly they really miss Haynes King, and what a win for Deion. What did you think about that win?
00:02:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was with you, Kyle. I actually expected Georgia Tech to win that by a couple of scores. And, you know, yeah, Haynes King certainly, I think, is part of it. And Buster Faulkner, the offensive coordinator, who's now at Florida, I think is another part of it. So you saw them really, really struggle. It was a game that was pretty ugly from both sides for a while. But, I thought the last six, seven minutes of it were pretty entertaining. And for Colorado to get the great block from former volunteer Boo Carter after Tech went, you know, so far down the field, put together a really nice drive. It's a huge win. I mean, that's a huge win for Colorado. I don't know that they're going to be any good, you know, when the season comes to a conclusion, if we're going to be looking at them in a bowl game or not or what. But that was big. And it was, at the same time, it was certainly a tough one for a Georgia Tech team that, coming off of a couple of really nice years under Brent Key.
00:03:41
Speaker 1: For sure. All right, I got a lot of fans already asking me, like my guy Brian, he said, ask him about Bama and ECU. So let's talk about that because our mutual friend Roman Harper and I were talking about this the other day. Roman played at Alabama. They got a lot of new pieces. He's not quite sure what to expect. I know they expect to win. and beat ECU. But, you know, ECU, as you well know, is a proud program. They've got a lot of turnover. So, you know, I expect Alabama to win this game, Dari, but I don't know what it's going to look like. What are your thoughts on Bama ECU?
00:04:10
Speaker 3: Well, I think they should win it rather handily, to be honest. I mean, ECU certainly is replacing some pieces, including their offensive coordinator, John David Baker, who's at Ole Miss now for Pete Golding. And, you know, Alabama, I think everybody's excited to see Keelan Russell. I mean, I think the intrigue with them kind of starts with the quarterback position, a rebuilt offensive line, and can they run the football any better than they did last year? I don't know how good they're going to be. I'm with you.
00:04:37
Speaker 2: They are.
00:04:38
Speaker 3: I've said many times this offseason that this is the most mysterious team from Alabama that I can ever remember. I feel like every year we know what they are. We know who they are. We know what they're about. We know who the keys are going to be. And we know what kind of style of play it's going to look like. And I just think there's so many question marks about them. But I certainly don't think tomorrow should be a big challenge because They should be considerably more talented than them. I do think Keelan Russell, by the end of this year, we're going to look at him and say he's probably a top three or top four quarterback in the SEC, and it'll start tomorrow for him.
00:05:15
Speaker 1: Dari Noka, ESPN, SEC Network host, anchor with us on the FNZ Hotline. You host a radio show in Oklahoma. You know a lot about the Sooners, right? Let's talk about them tonight. They've got UTEP, SEC Network Plus, 8 o'clock tonight. This is a game where Oklahoma should roll, but I've had people text in to say, what do we think about them? How good are they? How deep are they? John Mateer's back. Brent Venables gets a big contract extension. They're preseason top 10, so clearly this all comes with expectations, Dari, but how good are they?
00:05:45
Speaker 3: I think they're good. I really do. I think they're good. Defensively, they should be every bit as good as they were last year, and that's a top 5 to 10 defense nationally. With Ren Venables calling it, nobody really does that better than he does. That hasn't changed. They've got a lot of guys back, a lot of new additions. You'll see a guy tonight by the name of Cole Sullivan, who is a guy from Michigan that could have been an all-Big Ten type of linebacker this year. You'll see him playing some defensively. whether it's linebacker or cheetah, but they're loaded on defense. Offensively, you know, it hinges on John Mateer, and the thumb injury should be no longer. He feels healthy, he says, and they really did a good job in the portal of equipping him with some actual weapons. comes over from Texas, certainly not without some hatred from Texas fans. That's a big move going from Texas to Oklahoma. Trell Harris, ACC fans may remember him at Virginia. He was their leading receiver last year. He's a Sooner now. And then, you know, they really revamped their tight end room. Hayden Hanson, a huge target, big time blocking tight end as well from Florida. And a Rocky Beers who they got from Colorado State, who's more of a pass catching tight end, but certainly an effective one, a veteran of college football. So I think they knew the weakness was offensively. They knew the weakness was running the football. They've done a lot on the offensive line and at tight end and brought in a guy I think you'll see tonight by the name of Lloyd Avant, a running back from Colorado State who may very well end up being their top running back this season. So I think they think they did enough around Mateer to really give that offense a boost. And if that offense is a bit better or even considerably better, which I think most of us think it will be, they look like a playoff team again and maybe one that wins a game or two.
00:07:28
Speaker 1: All right, let's go to the early portion of tomorrow's schedule. 12.45 on the SEC Network. Shane Beamer in South Carolina hosting Kent State at Williams-Brice. Nice little ramp up to start the season, I think, for South Carolina with Kent State and Towson, certainly as opposed to what Shane Beamer opened with against Virginia Tech last year. But it's a massive year for Shane. He's brought in Kendall Bryles. They're trying to get the most out of Lenora Sellers. They do have some injuries to start the season, but again, Kent State, Towson in their first two games should give them some time to get healthy. The big question here, Dari, is in a make-or-break year for Shane Beamer, do you think he's got enough to surprise the rest of the conference?
00:08:05
Speaker 3: I think he does. If the offensive line comes together, you know, they're not going to have to carry his Pete tomorrow, which is certainly not going to hinder them against Kent state. It's not going to hinder them against housing if he's not able to go, but it's a, it's a, you know, this is a team brought in nine new offensive linemen. He is piecing it together because he knew he had to. I think that's always the biggest mystery, right? You look around this league, A & M is doing it to some degree. LSU is certainly doing it under Lane Kiffin. There's, plenty of Alabama is doing that. And now South Carolina has done the same thing that could go either way. If we watched, you know, if you watch Florida state last week, Kyle, that was an offensive line that was reason again, assembled through the portal, much like South Carolina says. And it was an offensive line that could, could not keep pressure off of Ashton Daniels. And that was against New Mexico state. And if, if, If I'm a fan of a team that has rebuilt through the Portland offensive line and you've got guys that have never, ever played a collegiate football game together, suddenly I'm a little bit concerned having watched that. Because Florida State had guys that were from quality programs and that had some starts under their belt. So South Carolina is going to start and end, I think, really, with the offensive line because if it's good and it protects, we know how good Lenora Sellers can be. I hate losing Jaden Sellers and Jaden Gibson. But that's the situation they're in, although I think they still have a deeper group of receivers than they have, at least over the last couple of years, with Sellers as quarterback.
00:09:36
Speaker 1: Dari Noka, SEC Network, with us here on a football Friday. Before I ask you about Clemson-LSU, the football game, let me ask you about LSU and former NFL training camp players returning to college, and it's seeming like the entire world is against them, yet they don't seem to care at all. What's happening? We got the judges ruling yesterday, Dari. We're going into a Saturday college game day week one tomorrow. I mean, we just had the college game. football playoff release a statement in support of conferences, you know, keeping former pros out of the league. So it seems again like it's Baton Rouge versus the world here, even though they're not the only ones bringing back these fifth year players. Where do you think we end up with this come like, you know, noon tomorrow when the game kicks off? What are we what are we doing? What are we talking about?
00:10:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, they are kind of the only ones that are really in this tangle with their conference. The SEC is not cool with it. I know this. Despite losing the ruling yesterday, the league is incredibly optimistic that Lane Kiffin is going to make what they determined to be the right decision. And the belief is that Lane will not roster these guys tonight. And he's got to have it done by tonight. So that's, I think, their belief. Now, you can't predict what Lane's going to do, but they also believe they have every right to give severe evidence repercussions if he does that. And make no mistake, the committee, playoff committee today coming out in support of the conferences is really, really significant. It wasn't an overly strong statement. It did not give any absolute punishments if teams do this, but it is exactly what these conferences feel they need to be able to enforce the rules that they feel they need to enforce. And if there's a chance at all that making this decision to play these guys could inhibit the their chances of making the college football playoff, then it would be incredibly ridiculous for Lane Kiffin to do it. And I think that's what the leagues were looking for, was some backing from the playoff. I was told last night, expect something tomorrow from somebody, and it's going to clarify things for you. and I think that might have been what that person was talking about. So I think it's significant news today from the playoff committee. I do not believe Lane Kiffin ends up rostering these guys. But he's Lane Kiffin, so who the hell really knows?
00:11:54
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. I just had a texter say, have you all met Lane Kiffin? And it's a fair question. He may do what Lane wants to do. Lane wants to win the game tomorrow night. They are 10-point favorites with Clemson coming to town. Last year, this was a 17-10 ball game. I don't know what to make of this one, Dari. I think we could be on the verge of something of a resurgent season for Clemson, but I could also see LSU running them off the field tomorrow night. What's your gut tell you?
00:12:17
Speaker 3: Honestly, with all this going on, I don't. I wish I could tell you. I honestly wish I could tell you. I don't see anybody running anybody off the field, but Again, LSU, same situation as South Carolina. Essentially rebuilt everything, including a quarterback making his first start in this league. Although I think Sam Levitt's going to be really good. But there's a lot. This is the highest credentialed game in LSU's home stadium history when you look at media slash celebrities. All of the hubbub about the roster. What's it going to look like? Who's on it? Who's off of it? And Dabo Sweeney and Clemson are just kind of sitting back there saying, It's kind of ridiculous what's going on out there, but, hey, maybe it benefits us. I think it's a close football game, probably another bit of a lower-scoring game, I think, like we saw last year between these two. What was that, 17-10? Yep. But I certainly give Clemson a chance. And I think LSU is a more talented football team, but it's a team that has had so many new pieces, including an entirely new coaching, almost an entirely new coaching staff, certainly on offense, that there could be some growing pains. And if there are, Clemson's good enough to take advantage.
00:13:23
Speaker 1: All right, before we get you out of here, Labor Day night– sorry, Sunday night, rather– Louisville Ole Miss number 24 versus number nine at Trinidad Chambliss and Company favored by six and a half right now I think I would lean Ole Miss but I'm a big Jeff Brom fan we don't know what he has in Lincoln Keenholz but he's a proven quarterback developer like I do like Louisville's chances here a little bit on a neutral site but I will acknowledge Ole Miss probably has a few more stallions on their side of the field what's your read on this Yeah, I'm looking.
00:13:52
Speaker 3: Forward to this one. We'll be up there for the SEC Network doing a pregame and a postgame show, Ben Watson and I, and I'm looking forward to getting up there and watching this thing. I think it could be the best game of the weekend in college football. But, yeah, I'm with you on Braum. They're so well coached. We know they can run the ball, too. I mean, they've got some horses back there. So they'll put pressure on Ole Miss' defense, and it's a defense that's had to replace two or three guys that Lane took with him. to LSU. But, you know, man, the way they play defensively under Pete Golding is really, really impressive always. This is one of those games I could also see a little bit lower scoring, but I give Ole Miss the edge because I've just got to believe Trinidad Chambliss is going to make a play or two that that there's no answer for, that kind of lifts them up over the top. Now, six and a half is a good number. I am not a betting person. I've tried it a few times, and that's the reason I'm not a betting person. I think it's a really good line that I'd probably stay away from, but I do like Ole Miss to win the game, but it could be close, low scoring, down to that fourth, maybe that final drive.
00:14:59
Speaker 1: I'd be remiss not to at least point out we have Baylor and Auburn tomorrow, 3.30 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. I think SEC Nation is going to be there tomorrow. DJ Lagway at Baylor. Alex Golish's first year at Auburn. How are we feeling about this one?
00:15:13
Speaker 3: I am big on Auburn this year. Auburn and Florida, those two teams, I think, make big rises from the bottom of the league up towards the top to the middle of the league. I think Auburn, you know, Byron Brown is going to be great in this league. I have no doubt. His build, his demeanor, his leadership, and the offense that he knows with Alex Golish. Don't lose sight of the fact that they brought five receivers over that he's familiar with from USF. His starting center came over from USF. So really, he's jumping into a different league, yes. And that's a big jump, but very familiar with what they want to do on offense. And I think it was enormous for Auburn to keep DJ Durkin as their defensive coordinator because that keeps stability on really what was their best side of the football last year. I think Auburn makes a big rise. And I think Auburn beats Baylor by at least a couple of touchdowns.
00:16:00
Speaker 1: Dari Noka, SEC Network host, anchor with us on the WFNZ Hotline. College football is back in earnest this weekend. Dari, you're the best. We appreciate you. Have fun this weekend. We'll talk to you soon.
00:16:11
Speaker 3: You do the same Kyle. Have a great call tonight, man. Thank you.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: Thank you, buddy. Dari Noka of the sec network here on a football Friday. Hit us up with your thoughts. 704-570-9610. A lot of texts coming in. Let's see. We have a big cat. Oh, big cat. Dan, look, one of the Clemson tiger fans insistent that they're going to be in this thing tomorrow night with a chance to win it. Smoke picked the tigers months ago. Well, that's not helpful. He picked Clemson months ago to win this game.
00:16:37
Speaker 4: Um, nice job catching yourself.
00:16:38
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Uh, I, I would love it. I just, I think that Lane Kiffin and LSU, they become the Death Star. He's Darth Vader of college football. You either love him or you hate him. Most people hate him.
00:16:54
Speaker 4: You can't even use the Death Star because at least in the Death Star in Star Wars, they were able to take over the galaxy and take over the Senate. Lane still hasn't won anything.
00:17:03
Speaker 3: Fine.
00:17:04
Speaker 4: Got it.
00:17:04
Speaker 1: But LSU as an entity, look, I mean, they just got, it seems like they have unlimited money. They've got this roster of villainous head coaches. They're just not well liked by anybody outside of the state of Louisiana. And I think that's the way they want it. So I think they're more than willing to lean into that role and they're comfortable with it. And you're going to be in that thick, swampy air tomorrow night. Now, you know, Clemson's from South Carolina, not Idaho. So the humidity is not going to tear them up. But there's just something about going into Baton Rouge at night. If you've never been there, you just got to experience it. The air is thick. The Cajuns are a little extra rowdy. That place is insanely loud.
00:17:39
Speaker 3: I don't know, man.
00:17:41
Speaker 4: But, man, if they win.
00:17:42
Speaker 1: If they win.
00:17:43
Speaker 4: That postgame interview by Dabo is about to be an all-timer.
00:17:48
Speaker 1: Like better than the win over Notre Dame a couple of years ago by Stock and Clemson.
00:17:52
Speaker 4: I was getting Notre Dame PTSA because I'm like, which one? Because to bring your own guts was also against Notre Dame.
00:17:59
Speaker 1: That's true.
00:18:00
Speaker 3: It was.
00:18:00
Speaker 1: You're right, though. It will be an epic post-game interview with Dabo tomorrow night if they win that game. Can you imagine the meltdown in Louisiana after all– It was a distraction. It's Lane's fault. All these distractions try to bring these former NFL training camp guys in. He wasn't focused, man.
00:18:16
Speaker 4: I told you all we needed to do was elevate Brad Baker, Paul.
00:18:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, occasion's the one that I don't really try because I can't do it justice.
00:18:22
Speaker 4: Unless it's Ed Orgeron.
00:18:24
Speaker 1: I just can only imagine the airwaves in Baton Rouge and across the state of Louisiana Monday if they lose this game.
00:18:30
Speaker 4: Well, WWL is going to have so many phone calls. In New Orleans, too.
00:18:34
Speaker 1: All right, 704-570-9610. Hit us up on the WFNZ text line. When we come back, we'll take more of your thoughts on college football's big weekend coming up, but also a little bit on the Panthers. Somebody asked me earlier, hey, KB, any Panthers news today? Not really, but a little bit. We'll talk about it. Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ. Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ on a football Friday. The final football Friday before that includes the Carolina Panthers and the regular season, which begins next Sunday against the Chicago Bears. And I do want to reiterate, Smoke, you can jump in on this as well. we've had a few people text in today including yesterday asking about jonathan brooks being held out of practice for uh general soreness and i said listen i've seen nothing about it being knee related and one guy yesterday was like but they did kb report that it was knee related a few other people chiming in today i want to be clear smoke my understanding is that a couple of fantasy football guys on twitter were the ones that started the whole jonathan brooks knee soreness rumor but that's it like the team itself has said nothing about that no reporters have said anything about that we had mike k on yesterday and he immediately jumped to well he hasn't played football in two years so he's just generally sore from taking a pounding and training camp in the preseason making no mention of the knee. Jonathan Brooks himself is on Twitter responding to Panthers fans, laughing that off. His girlfriend slash fiance also responding to people on Twitter saying that he's fine. So I think it's pretty clear at this point that there's no evidence of Jonathan Brooks dealing with knee issues on the same knee that's been twice repaired for a torn ACL.
00:20:24
Speaker 4: Look, Kyle, you bring a lot of great sources to this argument here. But FantasyPro4574 said that his knee is sore, so I think I got to go with that source, Kyle.
00:20:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, man.
00:20:35
Speaker 1: People got to chill out on that. I'm not saying that I know things. I'm saying that there's no information out there that's credible that would suggest that Jonathan Brooks is dealing with any knee soreness, just general soreness.
00:20:46
Speaker 4: It's like if you work out every single day, you don't have one off day. your body's going to be sore.
00:20:52
Speaker 1: Or if you don't work out for a couple of years and you work out for a couple of weeks, you're going to hit a wall. You might be sore and fatigued. So, I mean, I think it's just that. And they are in abundance of precaution, making sure that he is rested and ready to go for week one against Chicago. Because even though Chuba Hubbard is the lead back on this team for now, I expect Jonathan to get a lot of run. I think you're probably going to see Brooks get anywhere from eight to ten touches that first week, right? I mean, I would think so, at the very least. Is 8-10 maybe a little bit lofty? What do you think? I think 8-10 is right for him.
00:21:24
Speaker 4: I think it really comes down to how the game goes as well.
00:21:27
Speaker 1: Of course, yeah.
00:21:28
Speaker 4: I think 8-10 is probably a safe spot not to go too overboard, but also not to get no touches at all. I think they will go with Chuba as the main back. But I think that's one of those things where we'll see it kind of grow. Like the touches he'll get, let's say he stays healthy for the first five weeks, the touches he'll get in the week six game against Philly, or like the week seven, week eight game, I think you get up to like eight to 12 and then you get to 10 to 15. I think it just continues to rise. And I think that's what they want to happen too. They just don't want to overdo it with him. A, because of his injury history and also B, you don't want to run running backs into the ground. That's why we see so many teams now use two, three backs in the NFL on a weekly basis.
00:22:08
Speaker 3: Sure.
00:22:09
Speaker 1: And especially in week one where Listen, if this trend holds, and I don't think it's going to be 98 degrees next Sunday, but I still think there's some heat in our future forecast. I mean, it could be pretty warm next weekend. And I wouldn't hate it because I think that would make Chicago pretty uncomfortable. Using multiple backs, I think, is the right way to go here. And now that you've got A.J. Dillon on the roster and available and healthy and looking good, I think he's going to get some touches, certainly in short yardage situations next weekend. Texter here asking, is Chuba healthy? He is. Chuba Hubbard is, by all accounts, 100% healthy. And I was thinking about that, too. Chuba only ran for 511 yards last year. Missed a good bit of time. Only carried the ball 134 times last season. The year before that, in 2024, Chuba had 250 carries for nearly 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns.
00:23:02
Speaker 4: Also, a walk-off touchdown against Dakar. That's right.
00:23:06
Speaker 1: Do we think that Chuba Hubbard has another 1,000-yard season in him? Do we think he'll get the opportunity to do that?
00:23:14
Speaker 4: That's the question. I think it's more of the opportunity just depending on how much they split the carries because now if they split the carries the way we want them to, it's going to be similar to what we saw with Jace, Stu, and D'Angelo. The only reason that they were able to get 2,000-yard backs in 2009 was because D'Angelo got hurt in the back half of the year and they rode Jonathan Stewart's legs for the last three to four weeks, specifically in the massacre at the Meadowlands, the Sunday night game against the Vikings, and also the Week 17 game when they were going against the Saints backups. By the way, I did get the early report, because I remember we're now within 10 days of opening day or the season opener for Carolina. Yep. Brad Panovich last night gave out the 10-day forecast.
00:23:56
Speaker 1: Uh-oh.
00:23:58
Speaker 4: 66 low, high of 87.
00:24:00
Speaker 1: Oh, that sounds perfect.
00:24:02
Speaker 4: He did say underneath on the graphic hot, so it's one of those where it says 87, but I wonder how much of the humidity is going to you know, do people in because, because we're in North Carolina. It's not the heat all the time, Kyle.
00:24:15
Speaker 1: It's the humidity. That'll get you there. That's what I'm saying. You know, for that day, I'll sweat a little bit. If it makes Chicago uncomfortable, I'm okay with that.
00:24:23
Speaker 4: Hopefully it's not as bad as that 2019 opener against the Rams.
00:24:26
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:24:27
Speaker 1: Um, the bagel guys questioning my, um, my guess of Jonathan Brooks getting eight to 10 carries next weekend. He says only eight to 10.
00:24:35
Speaker 4: You said touches.
00:24:37
Speaker 1: When I say touchdowns, No, touches. Yeah, eight to ten touches. Yeah, eight to ten touches. You know, let's go on the high side. Let's say it's ten. Let's say he ends up with seven carries and three catches on the day. I mean, listen, if he's making plays, by all means, feed the beast. But this is still Chuba Hubbard as the lead back in this offense. They're not going to rush Jonathan. They're going to play him. Like, I'm not saying they're going to still have him wrapped up in bubble wrap, but this is still Chuba Hubbard's show in the backfield for now. and I think they're going to run Chuba a lot I mean if Chuba ends up getting 14 carries in that game I mean I'd imagine if you're throwing the ball out of the backfield it's more likely going to Jonathan Brooks but you know Chuba's a part of it too but if Chuba ends up with let's say 14 15 carries in that game catcher two I mean that's how realistic is it they're running the ball 35 40 times in week one if that's your question like is that realistic to you That they run the ball 35 times?
00:25:30
Speaker 4: Only if they're sitting on a lead.
00:25:31
Speaker 3: Right.
00:25:32
Speaker 1: So maybe if they jump out to an early lead and they can run the ball effectively and put together 7, 8, 11 play drives to keep Caleb Williams and company on the sideline, then yeah, keep on running the football. But if this is a back-and-forth game... you know, and it's, you know, a shootout style. And listen, I would sign up for that today because it likely means the offense is playing well, you know, then it's going to dictate probably fewer carries overall in this game. So I would say just based on what we know about Dave Canales the last couple of years, I don't know that they're running the ball more than 25 or 28 times in that game next Sunday. I'd love it if they could run it 35 to 40 times because it likely means to your point, they've got the lead and they are running it well. So I think Chuba is getting minimum 14, 15 carries next Sunday, seven or eight for Jonathan Brooks, you know, probably a combined 25 carries between those guys. Maybe Dylan gets two, three, four opportunities, short yardage. Maybe you get up to 30 carries in the game. But I still think that probably means that you're getting, you know, 30 to 33 pass attempts for Bryce Young against the Bears. And I think because of who you're playing, that's probably going to be necessary.
00:26:38
Speaker 4: That and, as you pointed, as we need to point out again.
00:26:41
Speaker 1: Unless this defense wants to go full top five lockdown, in which case I'm.
00:26:44
Speaker 4: All about it. Don't threaten me with a good time.
00:26:47
Speaker 3: Right?
00:26:48
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm all about that. But in my head right now, that's the way I see that playing out. Now, we had a different question come in from Terrence on the text line a couple of minutes ago asking about the wide receivers next week, specifically John Mechie and what we think John Mechie can provide this team. I don't know how much we see of Mechie in week one. Like, I think you'll see the field. Don't get me wrong.
00:27:11
Speaker 4: Kickoff return, I think, is the most you're going to see.
00:27:13
Speaker 1: That's exactly it. You're going to see Mechie, I think, if he makes an impact, it's probably going to be in special teams.
00:27:19
Speaker 4: And honestly, I think Jimmy Horn took the higher spot. So you'll see both of them out there. But I think Jimmy Horn is going to get more opportunities before John Mechie does.
00:27:27
Speaker 1: I do like that return tandem, though.
00:27:29
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:27:30
Speaker 1: I do like the idea of the tandem of Jimmy Horn Jr. and John Mechie. I thought Mechie made some great plays in training camp. I think he earned his spot on the roster. I believe that he made it. He's not there because he's Bryce Young's boy, as some people have suggested. I saw John Mechie make plenty of plays in training camp and in the preseason, in those preseason games. So I'm looking forward to seeing what he can contribute. But in terms of the hierarchy of touches and who's getting targets, is Jimmy Horn Jr. still getting more targets out there next week when he's on the field than John Mechie? What do we think about that?
00:28:08
Speaker 4: Probably, but it just also goes back to how many plays you have in a game.
00:28:11
Speaker 1: How many offensive reps does Jimmy Horn get?
00:28:13
Speaker 4: Right, and how many times are you going to go in 13 personnel?
00:28:16
Speaker 2: Right.
00:28:17
Speaker 4: Because this 13 personnel hurts guys like Jimmy Orton.
00:28:19
Speaker 1: Or even the 12 personnel. Because when you're in 12 personnel, you're most likely going to have T-Mac and Jalen Coker out there, I would think. And John Mechie is the understudy on the depth chart to Jalen Coker. So unless they're in a situation where they're trailing and they're running three and four wide and they're playing catch up and having to throw the ball all over the yard, in which case you're probably going to see Mechie get out there. If they're able to have success running the football in that 12 and 13 personnel, they're I think the offensive snaps probably come at a premium next week for both Mechie and Jimmy Horn Jr.
00:28:49
Speaker 4: It's one of those situations where a lot of those guys, when we get to the fourth or fifth wide receiver, we're talking about this is one of those where the opportunities slowly come to them, and most of it happens at least a quarter of the way for the year before they get their first real opportunity.
00:29:02
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:29:02
Speaker 1: A different texter here, Chad, hit us up and asked, how do we feel about the defensive line rotation, boys? We need to be able to stop the run this year.
00:29:10
Speaker 3: I like....
00:29:13
Speaker 1: What you've got up front to start the game.
00:29:15
Speaker 4: With Derrick and Bobby?
00:29:16
Speaker 1: With Derrick and Bobby and even Cam Jackson. Cam Jackson is so big and so strong that I feel like he's just going to get in the way enough, at the very least, eating up blocks to break open some free shots and some free opportunities at the quarterback for other guys. DB, Jalen Phillips, Prince Lee, even Pat Jones. You know, we're talking about the defensive line, not the edge rushers, but those guys are, of course, going to be up on the line of scrimmage. But staying with the defensive line rotation, Derek Brown, Bobby Brown, Cam Jackson, Aaron Hall, the Duke UDFA made it. They brought in T-Rod Edwards as well. Who's the six that I'm, there's somebody I'm missing here. Lee Hunter, Lee Hunter, the rookie. I don't know how much run he gets next week. Like, I think he'll probably get some opportunities, but, you know, he didn't splash in the preseason. I don't think they're at all displeased with him, but there's clearly a learning curve, I think, for Lee Hunter thus far. So, you know, you can feel good, I think, about Derek, Bobby, and Cam Jackson. I do wish that Turk Wharton was available.
00:30:19
Speaker 4: This is where the Turk Wharton injury, I think, really hurts the most is you don't have just straight up two lines that you can move on like we see in hockey. You can't have one line, which would probably be Derek and Bobby, and just completely put them out for a play or two and have Cam Jackson and Turk Wharton. You have to have a guy that is on the back end of the roster coming to be a part of that second line.
00:30:40
Speaker 1: Well, it's also about Todd Walsh, the defensive line coach for the Panthers. How does he handle the rotation? You know, you're not it's not a full hockey line change, right? You're not you're not bringing Derek and Bobby and Cam off the field and just swapping them with Lee Hunter, T-Rod Edwards and Aaron Hall. So you've got to make sure you're rotating those guys in to keep fresh legs, you know, without doing full fledged hockey line changes, because there will be a steep drop off. But speaking of that, you know, I wonder how much run T-Rod Edwards gets out there next week. Do we see him much along the defensive line at all? And then going to the outside, I think Jalen Phillips has already shown up looking like he's ready, looking like he can make an impact, be worth that $ 30 million a year price tag. Pat Jones is a big X factor to me. Pat Jones on the other side. You're going to get plenty of Princely, too. But Pat Jones on the other side, I think he played five games last year before he got hurt, and we didn't see him the rest of the season. Looks like he's in great shape. Sounds really motivated. Mountain of a man. They signed him in free agency because they believed in him the year before last. Can Pat Jones be an impact player for the Panthers off the edge? We got all next week to talk about it, but we are just now nine days away from Carolina Panthers football in Uptown. When we come back, tonight's a big high school football night here in the area. We've got the biggest game in the state just up the interstate, up 77 in Cornelius. The Huff Huskies defending state champions. Providence Day Chargers defending private school state champions. Chad Greer, Deshaun Baker. It's going to be a massive heavyweight showdown up off exit 28, and I can't wait to get there tonight. So make sure to be tuned in 7.30 tonight here on FNZ. We'll carry the simulcast of the TV broadcast over on WCCB Channel 18 and Bayhackle Sports. And when we return, the sports director of WCCB and Bayhackle Sports, Jeff Taylor, stops by to talk about it all here on Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ. Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ. It's a football Friday wrapping up the show. And again, a reminder, the football continues tonight here on WFNZ as we bring to you the WCCB Bayhackle Sports Game of the Week here simulcast on WFNZ. You can watch us on WCCB Channel 18, bayhacklesports.com. If you're out there running errands for the misses, you don't want to miss a thing. You can jump right over to 92.7 WFNZ. and keep track. It'll be myself and Reggie Walker tonight on the call. The biggest game in the state. I think it's arguable, maybe, but I don't think there's a bigger game in the state of North Carolina tonight than Huff and Providence Day up in Cornelius. It's sold out. We hope you'll join us tonight. Again, WCCB, Bayhackle Sports, bayhacklesports.com, or right here, WFNZ. And we have the sports director of WCCB, Bayhackle Sports as well. He's with us here in studio and will be every Friday leading into Friday night football. Jeff Taylor in studio with us on a football Friday. Jeff, what's going on, man?
00:33:45
Speaker 4: Love high school football, man.
00:33:46
Speaker 1: It's awesome, right?
00:33:47
Speaker 2: Well, football season as a whole.
00:33:49
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:33:49
Speaker 2: Our football, my family, we all love football. It's just, it's that time of the year. And we could lose the heat. If Mother Nature, I don't know what Mother Nature, what football's done to Mother Nature the last couple weeks.
00:33:59
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:33:59
Speaker 2: But with the storms and now the heat. But hey, it's go time. And you mentioned it when we think about this game. I know when... During the summer, we put together a big calendar, and we put every game up so we can see week-to-week what's coming up. And we saw this one. We circled that as a game of the year, maybe.
00:34:17
Speaker 1: Defending state champions, juggernauts clashing. I mean, you call it what you want to. They don't get any bigger than this. 40 Division I future players on the field tonight?
00:34:26
Speaker 2: Yes, it's 40 that could see the field. And when you think about that, that is just— and it speaks to the programs— And it speaks to the coaches. We look at Coach Greer at Providence today and we know what he's all about. And then we see what Deshaun Baker's done at Huff and how he's built that program and won the first state championship last year in 8A. So you've got the two state champions from last year coming together. And you don't get that a whole lot in a lot of states where you get that private school playing a public school when you talk about two champs. So it doesn't get any better.
00:34:55
Speaker 1: No, I want to start, though, with you and WCCB and Bayhackle, your commitment to high school sports. I mean, it's evident for anybody who watches you and follows with your work, but we're all here in Charlotte. Everybody's reporting on the Panthers and the Hornets and Charlotte FC and NASCAR and things like that. But it was clear to me a couple of years ago that your focus and something that you guys do well and you prioritize is high school sports.
00:35:19
Speaker 2: It's just something that.
00:35:23
Speaker 2: And if I kind of tell a personal story, I was actually, I did TV back in the late 90s, early 2000s. And then we moved to Charlotte and I got out of TV and became a youth pastor for actually 16 years, working with middle school and high school kids. And I would always tell the kids this, you were created to tell a story. And if you don't tell your story, nobody will. And when we think about high school, what I love about high school is just the purity of sports still. granted there's some yeah you could get some sketchy stuff going down but you know i'm getting at sure and so i think for us at bayhackle sports we decided while you mentioned yeah the panthers nascar the horn it's all of that high school there's just something genuine about it and and it's really almost a lot of times not about the x's and o's it's about the stories that these kids can tell and the coaches can tell so i think we made that commitment to go hey while everybody's kind of going this route let's go the other way and let's really kind of just concentrate on high school and and The cool part about it is as it's evolved over the last couple years, being able to do things, create new shows. We have one varsity spotlight on Thursday nights where not only do we talk football, but we show volleyball highlights. We show soccer highlights. We interview the girl volleyball players. I went out Wednesday night and drove around the Queen City for three hours covering, you know, volleyball games. And to see those kids' faces light up because you're there is pretty cool.
00:36:42
Speaker 1: It's awesome. Jeff Taylor, WCCB Bayhackle Sports Sports Director in studio with us here on a Football Friday. So what do you think about this game tonight? Huff and Providence Day, and you've got one side's won 16 straight games. Both are defending state champions. Like I said, sold out. It's going to be an incredible atmosphere.
00:37:01
Speaker 2: I think a couple of things. When I think about Providence Day, yeah, they haven't lost since the championship game of 24.
00:37:06
Speaker 3: Right.
00:37:06
Speaker 2: So still undefeated. You know, Huff coming off their championship season. I think when I look at this ball game, I think it's going to come down to two things. I think, number one, can Providence Day run the football? Huff's defense may be historic. It is just their front seven.
00:37:24
Speaker 4: It's crazy.
00:37:25
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, Cole Cater, who's the quarterback for Providence today, new to really getting the starting job this year.
00:37:32
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:37:33
Speaker 2: You know, and you go out and you blast Myers Park. You go out and you beat Rollsville.
00:37:38
Speaker 4: That's great.
00:37:39
Speaker 2: Now you're seeing a different beast in Huff. Can they get it? I think they need to get their running game going just to give him, you know, the chance of throwing the football. If not, it could be a long night in terms of that. To me, I want to say that Huff, I think, brings a little more to the table. And I wouldn't be surprised to see them win by double digits.
00:38:01
Speaker 1: Oh, listen, I just think last year, before they even won the state championship, Deshaun Baker was telling people, we have the best defense in the state, and then they went out and allowed a school record 93 points during the entire season.
00:38:12
Speaker 3: Right.
00:38:13
Speaker 1: So that defense is largely back, and they are incredible, and I can't wait to get a look at them tonight.
00:38:18
Speaker 2: But, you know, and here's the deal with Providence today, and I go back to it a little more time, you know, the one thing that's kind of new for Coach Greer, they've got 10 starters that came back on the defensive side of the ball, and then they had a kid transfer in. So, and I think all 10 of those have division one prospects, you know, they're talking to people. So the defensive side of the ball, but listen, Ethan Royal, you know, that kid, you know, what he did last year in the championship game, accounting for almost every touchdown. I think he did account for every touchdown, you know, last week they go and, um, he has five touchdowns on the night. I think four, I think four, uh, passing one running. Um, The ball in the hands of Ethan Royal and then Cole Cater, I think there's a little more pressure on Cole to get the job done tonight in that scenario and in that game.
00:39:08
Speaker 1: Another big game tonight. Mallard Creek playing host to Buford out of Georgia. That's another heavyweight matchup. Not an in-state bout here, but that's a really, really big game with a lot of talented players.
00:39:18
Speaker 2: The thing I love about that is Coach Tinsley will play anybody at any time, anywhere. And, you know, listen, that's a team but right now we're talking about right at the beginning of the year they probably flying under the radar but now you're two and oh um but when you talk about buford coming to town now the interesting part was they had the number one player in the nation jalen brewster defensive tackle i think he'd signed for tech uh texas tech he's still not eligible to play right so you know but that's neither here nor there i think the gist with mallard creek is it's going to boil down to kaylee napier at the quarterback and how he could play um They actually went to Norfolk last week and beat Maury in Norfolk, the Hampton Roads area, and they were a three-time state champion. And they handled them. So I think, you know, it's an interesting ballgame. I just think Kaylee Napier brings a different— while Mallard Creek has always been the running-type team, this opens the door for some passing. But they got their work cut out for them. Buford's tough, but, you know— That's why we play the games.
00:40:17
Speaker 1: No doubt. Any other games on the schedule tonight you've highlighted you're most looking forward to that you'll be keeping an eye on throughout the evening?
00:40:23
Speaker 2: I think I'm going to actually back up one night and go back to last night real quick and talk about Chambers.
00:40:28
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
00:40:29
Speaker 2: Captain Mutherland. I mean, he's got that team, you know, undefeated now at 3-0. And he's starting to build a culture. Jamore Nichols transferred in there. It's kind of taken over the QB spot. Done great things. So I think, you know, granted they beat Corvian, who was 2A, and they're 7A. But what he's done so far early season, that's impressive. You know, I think when I look at some interesting storylines, too, and we talked about it a little bit last week when I was with Colin or whatever, school ambassador Christian. They're a year or two of football. They just got back from Ireland where they played before UNC and TCU. And they beat a team out of Texas, Grapevine Faith, and beat them handily. Ambassador Christian, they played a night at Johnson C. Smith University against Independence out of Beckley, West Virginia.
00:41:17
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
00:41:18
Speaker 1: I know the program.
00:41:18
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:41:19
Speaker 2: And so it's kind of cool to see what they're getting a chance to do. We had Coach Pogue on our show last night, and their starting quarterback, David Echeverria, I think is how you say his name. What an athlete. He was impressive over in Ireland. So kind of cool to see them. Providence Myers Park. You talk about Providence Myers Park, two teams that are trying to find their way both with new head coaches. You know, I think there's just as we sit there and figure out what games we're going to go to on a Friday night. The cool part about the Queen City is you can almost go to every game and it's awesome, awesome talent.
00:41:56
Speaker 1: The talent here has been good for a long time, but it just keeps getting better and better and deeper. And it's why I get so excited about Friday nights around here. Jeff Taylor, WCCB Bayhackle Sports in studio with us here on a football Friday. He'll be a regular Friday nights leading into our broadcast here on FNZ, the simulcast of the WCCB Bayhackle Sports game of the week at the high school level. I'll give it to you as we wrap things up. Where can they find the game tonight for anybody who wants to tune in, be a part of the action? Where can they find it? How would you direct?
00:42:23
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
00:42:23
Speaker 2: It'll be shown on WCCB. starting at 7.30, of course, with a kickoff. We will live stream it on bayhacklesports.com. And, of course, like I said, Radio Wise, FNZ. And let me just say we love the relationship.
00:42:36
Speaker 1: We're excited.
00:42:37
Speaker 2: We're so excited about it. And there's just something about, you know, I was driving back from my game last week and turned it on for Olympic Palisades. And it was, I think, Kendall Lewis and Reggie. And we love Reggie Walker. But we're excited, you know, the relationship– hearing you be able to do the games is awesome. So I think it's just taking everything up a notch, and we're so excited.
00:43:00
Speaker 1: We're pumped about it. I'm going back to my roots on Friday nights, and I'm really excited about it. And I think folks out there are really going to enjoy it. Tonight we've got Huff and Providence Day from Huff High School. It's a sold-out crowd, 40-plus D1 players on the field, defending state champions.
00:43:13
Speaker 4: Sold out. It's going to be crazy.
00:43:14
Speaker 1: It just doesn't get much better than this. Jeff, look forward to the weekly conversation and the relationship.
00:43:18
Speaker 4: Appreciate you, man. It's go time.
00:43:20
Speaker 1: That'll do it for us here on a football Friday. Don't forget, we've got instant replay coming up your way top of the hour. 7.30 tonight, though. Kickoff between Huff and Providence Day. Join me and Reggie Walker right here for the WCCB Bayhackle Sports High School Football Game of the Week simulcast right here on WFNZ. We look forward to chatting with you. We go tipping our caps courtesy of our friends at Neogenics, where they help heal joint pain naturally with no surgery, no medication, no downtime. Go to neogenicstemcells.com. I'll do it for both of us. Tip of the cap to all the high school football players in the area tonight as we enter week three. Stay hydrated. It is hot out there. We'll talk to you at 730. For Smoke, I'm KB. Sports Radio, 92.7 WFNZ.
00:44:01
Speaker 4: You're going to be dead in 100 years anyway.
00:44:03
Speaker 3: Live dangerously.
