Welcome in to the newest edition of the Just
In Time Sports Podcast. I am your owner and host,
Justin Jackson. In this week's episode, we'll
be discussing the NFL as we are officially into
the preseason. We will discuss the WNBA. We will,
and then we'll have our best for last, a little
college football talk. As always, we are weeks,
simply weeks away from the college football season.
Three weeks away from LSU's home opener, from
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get your whoopie takes. He gonna tell it to you
straight. Welcome into the show. Welcome into
the newest edition of the Justin Time Sports
Podcast. I am your owner and host, Justin Jackson.
I am excited to be back, guys. It's been a minute
since we did our last show. Job's kind of crazy
right now. You guys know I coach football. So
we're trying to get everything set up for the
new season. And it's just been a lot right now.
uh kind of coming out on one time but today had
an off day first time in a couple of weeks so
i made sure i wanted to get an episode out to
you guys very conveniently or very lucky for
me it coincided with the debut of shidua sanders
but before we get into that make sure that you
guys hit that subscribe button wherever you're
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so let's get into it so Last night was the debut
of Cleveland Browns rookie phenom quarterback
Shador Sanders. Now, I call him a phenom. Some
may scoff at me, whatever. He was the most popular
player in college football the last two seasons
for sure. He, along with his father, his father,
Dion, along with his brother in arms, Travis
Hunter. revitalized to a national stage the Colorado
football program. What they did for Jackson State
and HBCUs with the time of Jackson State was
incredible. If you disagree, you're just a hater
at this point. As far as this impact on college
football, what he did for the HBCU scene was
huge. The Celebration Bowl was around two, three,
four years before, or even more years before
Jackson State played in those back -to -back.
They lost them both, but played in those back
-to -back Celebration Bowls. They were easily
the highest rated and highest attended when Jackson
State was there with the ratings through the
roof. I mean, they played multiple games on ESPN
platforms during the time Deion, Travis, and
Shadur was there. Moved to Colorado. We know
what happens there. Travis with a Heisman. Shadur
brings home some weapons. Both jerseys are retired,
et cetera, right? So he comes in with all this
fanfare, and we go through his pre -draft process.
Now, many people wondered. if he got past Pittsburgh
in round one, how far would he fall? And we kind
of discussed it, not discussed it then, but I
kind of reiterate it now. The advantage to picking
a quarterback is the first round. The reason
why is you get that fifth year of team control.
Now, if he hits, he's probably never seen that
fifth year anyway, but it gives you five full
years with team control, very controlled money
to evaluate your quarterback. Like if he comes
in at 22, you technically don't have to pay him
until he's 27. right now if he hits you're paying
about the year three you're trying to get in
front of the market etc but if he's a guy that
you're like hey he's solid but he's not you know
top of the market good let's play this thing
out it could be he's 27 years old before he finally
gets his money right so that's always on the
table for first round pick quarterbacks after
that nfl gms sort of see the pick of need over
position So a first -round pick, you'll overdraft
quote -unquote a quarterback in the first round
because he's a quarterback. That fifth year weighs
that heavily. After that, he's another player.
So a quarterback can't help you. Like Shadur
Sanders, for instance, when you use him, he's
never playing special teams for the Browns or
anybody. He's not playing receiver. He's not
running a gunner. He's not long snapping. He's
doing nothing for the Cleveland Browns besides
playing quarterback or any other pro team. Right.
He's not doing anything else besides that before
that team, besides playing quarterback. He's
only ever played quarterback. He's a quarterback.
That's who he is. Right. Well, when he got past
Pittsburgh in the first round, he fell like a
missile. Now, when the Giants traded up, ultimately
go get Jackson Dart. Many people thought that
was the pick that he was going to end up when
Giants flew back in the first round. OK, he's
going to the Giants. He fell a few picks past.
People thought he might have fallen. But he goes
in the first round anyway. He doesn't, right?
He ends up falling to day three. Fifth round,
of course, Cleveland Brown picks him. Now, as
soon as the pick happens, you start hearing discourse
of, well, this is an Andrew Berry, Kevin Stefanski
pick, meaning the GM and the head coach. Or was
it Jimmy Haslam, who's the owner pick? It was
widely considered this is a Jimmy Haslam pick.
Correctly assumed, if it is Jimmy Haslam, who's
in the business of not only winning, but primarily
making money, this should do with Sanders' jersey.
I mean, it sold out as soon as it was available.
It was pre -order sold out. Like, I've never
heard of that in my life. It was pre -order sold
out. I mean, it was, it flew off the racks. Even
last night during the game on the road, you saw
a lot of white and brown and orange number 12s
in the crowd, which is Shador Sanders' number.
Ironically, it's also Travis Hunter's number.
But he said he picked it for Brady, but Travis
Hunter wearing 12, but that's neither here nor
there. Right? And so, Shadua comes to the game
and a lot of people were saying, okay, there's
a lot to lose here. There's a lot to gain here.
But what this kind of feels like is a setup.
It kind of feels like Cleveland is almost doing
the here. Golly. I mean, you want them so bad.
That's it, right? He's been the fourth string
quarterback on their depth chart the entire camp.
Behind Joe Flacco, behind Kenny Pickett, who
I don't understand, and behind Dylan Gabriel,
who's in his same draft class, right? He's been
the fourth string quarterback. He has not moved.
He has days gone days without getting any reps
in team at all. He's never had first team reps.
From what I can tell, he's never had second team
reps. He's always had third team reps at quarterback.
Then you toss him in this situation. Carolina
starting their starters. You really aren't starting
your starters, second and third stringers. He
really hadn't practiced, and there's no other
quarterback there besides Snoop Huntley. So he's
going to play. You know, not until it was like,
okay, he's going to play two series and come
out, and then Dylan Gaber's going to play a couple
series and come out, and then Kenny Pickett might
see one. Like, Joe Flacco's 40. He's not playing.
Kenny Pickett has a hamstring. Dylan Gaber has
a hamstring. So that leaves Shador Sanders and
recently signed within the last week or so, Tyler
Huntley. former pro bowler Snoop Huntley, but
Tyler Hunt nonetheless. Ultimately, Shador goes
out there and I said, I was listening to Nick
Wright's podcast and I thought of this thought,
but the thought was, what would be a good day
for Shador Sanders? If Shador Sanders finished
with this stat line, what would be considered
a great day? If you never saw the game, you wouldn't
say, what did Shador do tonight? what would be
the stat line where you said, okay, he had a
great night. Like, what is that number? What
do the numbers look like, right? And so I was
thinking about it, thinking about it on my way
to work, kind of racking my brain about it. And
I said, okay, I came up with a number. I said
20 of 27, about 200 yards, couple of touchdowns.
No, I didn't even say couple. I said one touchdown,
no turnovers. I said if he did that and, you
know, was sacked maybe once, if he did that,
I would consider that a great night. He's rarely
played with these guys. He's against Carolina
starters, at least for a little while. If he
goes 20 or 27, that's a high number, but I think
a bunch of short throws. 20 or 27, a couple hundred
yards, one touchdown, no turnovers, zero or one
sacks. I would consider that a great night. But
I didn't watch the game. So I turned the game
on. I didn't even know his numbers. He started
off, and I watched every throw after the first
drive. So he starts off a little rough. I'm like,
okay, not great, right? And you can almost kind
of feel it. Like if he has a couple more of these
rough three -and -out series, and he starts off,
you know, two of seven or two of eights or something
like that, like it's going to be a lot happening.
Anticipation is going to build, and he might
force a throw and force a play. We don't need
that to happen, right? He calms down. He starts
like 3 of 7, and then he only takes like a 7
of 11, you know, 80 -something yards, a couple
of touchdown passes. He's a lot better in the
second stretch. I thought he finishes ultimately,
before I get to my thoughts overall, he finishes
14 of 23, 138, two touchdowns, no turnovers.
I believe he's only sacked for one time. I thought
he did. everything he could do to win to manage
that game good job right clearly kevin stefanski
put you know it's like twice kevin stefanski
put him in a couple of spots where it was rough
he went fourth in one empty set um first read
was closed off sack i mean the pressure came
so fast couldn't get you a second read um you
know i thought that could have been helped out
coaching wise it was definitely felt like a challenge
to me uh to see what he could do I do think he
managed the game very well. He took check downs
when they were available. He scrambled for a
first down. He had his typical swagger. He has
a new first down celebration where he checked
the time on his watch. Then he threw up the watch
when he got in the end zone. I thought that was
great. I thought he, like I said, commanded the
huddle. The operation was smooth. They didn't
have false starts. They didn't have delay of
games. They didn't have holding penalties from
scrambling around trying to make a play. He didn't
do it. He didn't scrambling around one time.
He got out of it and he jogged out of bounds.
So instead of throwing out of bounds, he jogged
out. I probably threw it out. But he jogged out
of bounds. It's basically the same thing. It
was like a one yard loss. I thought that. The
team looked organized. Both touchdown throws
were high -level throws. One he was rolling to
his left, fitted between the man who was on,
which was the safety in the corner, trying to
close the gap, fitted right in between, corner
of the end zone, touchdown. And then another
one, he had pressure in his face, throws a 20
-ish yard dig, low hold it, receiver slides in,
again, touchdown. One thing I want to give him
credit for, and this is a skill I don't think
is talked about much, But the greats had it.
Look at your Tom Brady. Look at your Drew Brees.
Go look at Pitt, Patrick Mahomes, Peyton Manning.
Go look at Josh Allen, Jared Goff, Lamar Jackson,
Burroughs. Really good at this as well. Those
elite level guys. Jaden Daniels showed that he
could do it a little bit too. I mean, he missed
a couple opportunities. But when a team gives
you a turnover, what is your touchdown percentage
on the back of it? Jaden Daniels, not Jaden Daniels,
excuse me. a muff punt in the red zone, and he
got an interception. Both of those drives led
to touchdown drives. Both of those turnovers
led to touchdown drives. That's huge because
flipping, you go into a game, I'll just tell
you from my experience, you go into a game thinking,
some people go into a game and think, okay, if
everything goes our way, we'll win by a couple
touchdowns, right? But, you know, everything
going your way changes the slim. So on and so
forth. But you kind of go in with the mindset
of, okay, they can really only score about 21
-24 on us. Whatever. You go in, a turnover, especially
a turnover down the field, kind of gets treated
like a punt, almost. And for him to go down and
score a touchdown, and then he got the short
field and scored a touchdown, that's big. That's
big from a coaching perspective of when we make
the other team make a mistake. We capitalize
on that mistake. That's what coaches preach all
the time. Capitalizing on our opponent's mistakes.
Football is going to come down to 70, 80 plays.
Five or six are going to decide the game. Mistake
by somebody, capitalized on by somebody else,
that's going to decide the game. Most of football
is a three -yard run into a cloud of dust or
a four -yard pass. You know what I'm saying?
Most of it, both sides accomplish their goal.
Then there's five, from five to seven or eight
plays where... one side screws up and the other
side takes advantage of it or doesn't. And that's
when the difference in the game arises. And I
think that he, and I know for a fact, I don't
think, I know that he took very high level advantage
of that, especially when, like I said, two turnovers
with two touchdown drives. That's huge. That's
major. Where a quarterback can lead his offense
down the field after a turnover, putting points
on the board. It's humongous for any quarterback.
But I thought he looked really, really good.
I'm pretty sure he's not going to play next week.
Dylan Gabriel, I can almost guarantee he's going
to be healthy for next week. Conspiracy theory
or not. I think that Gabriel is going to be healthy
next week. What he did do, he did two things.
One, he showed that he should have been a higher
draft pick. First overall, maybe not. First round,
absolutely. Definitely higher than Tyler Shaw
and Jackson Dart, who Jackson Dart showed himself
pretty well. I'm recording this around 5 -ish
on Saturday. Jackson Dart showed himself pretty
well as well. I didn't watch it as intently as
I watched the Shador game. I had an appointment.
However, from what I did pop in on and even seeing
a couple of the highlights, he secured himself
very well. He showed himself very well as well.
I think Shador was better. I think he always
was. But Dart showed himself well. Obviously,
Sadur shouldn't have been the fifth -round pick.
He should have been higher than Dylan Gabriel.
He should have been higher than Tyler Shaw. I
agree. I think he should have been higher than
Jackson Dart. I think he should have been the
number two overall pick. I think it should have
been Cam Ward than him. I mean, that's just a
fact of life. However, I'm excited to see what
he's able to do in Cleveland. I think, again,
he either quitted himself. He either showed himself,
not acquitted himself, he either showed himself
to be the guy in Cleveland in the future or,
you know, a team like the Rams. I point to the
Rams a lot. There's no succession plan in Los
Angeles. Jim McRapolo is not the succession plan.
Neither is Stetson Bennett. There needs to be
a succession plan in Los Angeles. Matt Stafford
is a bad back. Sean McVay calling, and Sean McVay
and Les Snead calling the Cleveland Browns, saying,
hey, you're drafting him for a fifth. We'll take
him from you for a third. And sticking Shador
in L .A. with the opportunity to learn from Max
Stafford and learn from Jimmy G, and then next
year it's all the Shador Sanders show. You know,
I think that's an opportunity there for sure.
I would look at it if I'm Deion and I'm Shador's
agent. I call the Rams, hey, what would you think
about bringing Shadur in? Especially if Cleveland's
not going to give him a real chance of starting
this season. All right, and then I guess we're
going to do some quick -ish hitters in the NFL.
My New England Patriots look like a completely
different organization from the Gerard Mayo year
to the Mike Vrabel day. Obviously, congratulations
to Tom Brady for getting his statue unveiled
in front of the Foxborough Faithful. And then
the open kickoff of the game happens, and Trayvon
Henderson hits his head on the goalpost from
100 yards out. The offensive line looked mean
and nasty. Will Campbell had several big pancake
blocks. Drake May looked calmed and composed,
which is the report we've been getting all week
out of joint practices. Even the Will Campbell
stuff, he's been reported as incredibly nasty
on the blocks. which is, I mean, the ultimate
compliment for alignment is to be nasty. And
he was incredibly physical on the blocks. Trayvon
Henderson looked electric. We had some moments
there. Prosperity on the offensive side of the
ball. Also had a turnover from Drake May. Trying
to do a little bit too much. I hope it's not
a trend that we deal with in the future. But
all in all, a good day for New England. They
just look like a professional football team.
They look like they know what the hell they're
doing for the first time since the latter years
of Belichick. They know what they got going on
and they know what they want to do, which is
what Vrabel pretty much said. He's going to hang
his hat on his know -how, knowing what he wants
to do, how he wants to get it done, so on and
so forth. So kudos to the Patriots for just looking
better, man. I couldn't take another unserious
year, as I called it, where we just looked silly.
We looked like we didn't know what we were doing.
Like, I mean, you know, and then reports come
out, dry mayo. teams on the plane back from a
loss and instead of watching film with the coaches
he is in the back playing card with the players
like no it was a bad idea right and so I'm glad
that Mike very well is in to fix it to ensure
we don't have that problem again the Indianapolis
Colts man it must suck to be a Colts fan so they
go into the game with a plan of kind of equally
evaluating um kind of equally evaluating both
Daniel Jones and um both Daniel Jones and Anthony
Richardson right kind of evaluating both guys
and Anthony Richardson would get started game
one play for about I think it's a quarter and
a half or two quarter of a set time And then
the other quarterback would get like a half a
quarter, and then they'd flip the rules in the
second game. Well, Anthony Richardson gets P
-laid early and dislocates his finger, which
means Daniel Jones comes in in this game. Now,
could they easily just flip it? Would Anthony
Richardson get the start in this game? Sure.
But Daniel Jones ended up getting kind of a wide
array of snaps that he wasn't supposed to get.
And I think further complicates the... Colts
quarterback plan, because if you're going to
stick with your plan, then Daniel Jones is going
to get considerably more preseason in -game snaps
than Anthony Richardson, unless you're going
to play them both in game three. And if you decide
to flip it to where, okay, Daniel ended up getting
most of that game, and so I guess we'll go with
Anthony. You know, he just look at his pinky
on his throwing finger. How healthy is he going
to be to even properly show you his competitive
level against Daniel Jones? I mean, it is complicated
in Indianapolis right now. So, I am definitely
rooting for them to figure that quarterback situation
out. I think Daniel Jones is the guy. I really
do. I've seen enough of Anthony Richardson. I
mean, I don't love Daniel Jones, but come on
now, it's Anthony Richardson. I think Daniel
Jones is considerably better than Anthony Richardson,
and I do think that wholeheartedly. And then
last team we're going to really discuss here
is the Cincinnati Bengals. They are the Bengals.
They are the Bengals once again. Offense, Zach
Taylor, he went out with the strategy of we're
going to play the starters. We're tired of the
slow starts. We're going to play the starters.
We're tired of us starting 0 -1, 0 -2, 0 -3,
and having to dig our way out of it. So they
played their starters. In their preseason game,
and then they played a team in the Philadelphia
Eagles who played no starters, no Jalen Hurst,
no Saquon Barkley, no anything. And Joe Burrow,
Joe Burrow, 9 of 10, 123, two touchdowns, never
sacked, 157 .5 rating out of 158 .3. Jamar Chase,
four catches, 77 yards on a touchdown. You know,
doing him, right? And the defense was just awful.
Like, Tanner McKee, who is no one's starting
quarterback, I think, absolutely ripped them
to shreds. Like, the defense was terrible. I
think it was missing Shamar Stewart. I don't
think Shamar Stewart's playing yet. And, of course,
it's missing Trey Hendrickson. But, my God, like,
you have to have the ability to create some pressure.
I mean, they were absolutely, I mean, Tanner
McKee was just sitting back there. He got tush
pushed at one point. I mean, like, he was looking
like Jalen Hurts out there. And that was all
Eagles backups. The Cincinnati Bungles could
not have bungled their defense any more than
they already did. Because it is an absolute nightmare
of a unit. And that was the Eagles backups. Cincinnati
is, like I said, they got issues, and they're
mainly defensive. They just sold the Shamar Stewart
contract. Now moving on to our contract portion.
The Trey Henderson thing is still floating out
there. I'm sure he got a ball out of seeing that
unit get kicked around like that. Probably thinking
he could help them, which, I mean, he led the
league in sacks last year, so I'm sure he could
most definitely help them. I mean, it was a disaster
of a defensive performance. Micah Parsons and
Jerry Jones continues to be in a standoff with
Jerry Jones stating that he bought the Cowboys
on a handshake deal. You'll iron out the details
later. He's saying that him and Micah shook hands
in March about the general framework of a deal.
They just hadn't got all the intricacies and
the words and the bonus structure, whatever,
locked in, but the salary range was set. I mean,
Jerry's thinking like in the business world.
I said, I'm going to pay, I'm going to buy this
company for $300 to $400 million. You shake my
hand and say, all right, cool. We just got to
iron out what end of the range we're on, you
know, when's money to do, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera. But the general framework of the contract
is done. And that's when Jerry, you know, thought
he shook hands with Micah on something very similar.
Micah says, well, no, I can't do that. My agent
can do that, though. And so that's where we're
at. Both sides are digging in. Micah's holding
in. Jerry is not budging. Micah did give up his
leverage, however. So a few years ago, Chris
Jones famously sat in a skybox with his agent
when the Chiefs lost their week one game. The
Chiefs tend to come back to the negotiating table
and kind of pretty much giving Chris whatever
he wanted. And then Chris came back. Well, that
is allowed to happen if you never report the
camp. So if you eat the 50 grand a day and you
eat the game checks up to week eight, you can
rejoin the team. But you rejoin the team, no
harm, no foul, basically, besides the financial
stuff. And your contract doesn't toll and you'll
be ready to go. If you ever show up and then
decide to leave, it's basically like going AWOL
in the military. Like, it is... Like, it's serious
if you ever decide to do that. I mean, I can't
think of another reference right now, but it's
like walking out on your desk, like no call,
no showing your job. Like, it is high -level,
high -level screw -up in the United States. I
mean, they can void your contract. They can do
all kinds of stuff to you if you ever show up
and then leave. They have the right to do a lot
of stuff per our CBA. It ain't scary, Terry.
Not much has changed there. There was a small
update where they were saying that it's not the
money. It's the structure and the details of
like a DK Metcalf contract that Terry McLaurin
is after. Not necessarily the raw dollar amount.
But up next, we're going to talk about the WNBA
and what's going down. Welcome back. into the
show and now we're gonna move on to the w um
as we got a couple of games tonight we have the
cbs game actually sky and fever um kind of a
disappointing game as angel reese not played
in several games with a back injury uh many people
myself included think she's shutting it down
for unrivaled in a couple of months I would never,
I would never rival, you know, I would, you know,
not openly accuse her of quitting on the team.
However, the season's lost for Chicago, right?
And so certain moves to get draft position, there's
no lottery in the W. It's a straight draft. So
right now, Connecticut has the number one overall
pick. And then there's Dallas and then there's
Chicago. They're fighting for number one because
there's a five game gap. to washington and so
on and so forth so they're so they are fighting
for number one number one overall pick in chicago
could be a flaw well no it won't be i would say
uh i'm gonna say a flage johnson angel reese
um reunion but no that's that's not gonna happen
for a bevy of reasons um i mean they don't like
each other so that was i didn't have a lottery
but it would help you It would help you for sure.
Lauren Betts does not need to be a Chicago Sky,
right? She's great, but there are strengthers
that are big. AZ Phug, I can almost guarantee
is going to find her way into Dallas. Olivia
Miles would be interesting in Chicago. Tania
Lawson, like I said, Flage Johnson. Chloe Kism
will help you either. So I think they're going
to be looking at a Flage Johnson. They got to
mend the fence with Angel or Tania Latson. She's
an absolute bucket. I think that is who they'll
look at. Either Olivia Miles, who kind of runs
that point, kind of a do -it -all guard, or they
go with Tania Latson, who is an absolute bucket.
She puts the ball in the hole. Not the world's
best three -point shooter. But as far as just
raw scoring, I mean, she puts the ball in the
hole. She's going to go to South Carolina this
year. So she puts the ball in the hole. She led
the D1 in scoring last year. She's a flat -out
scorer. But regardless, but I want to talk about,
I don't want to talk about Scott. I mean, I'm
a Scott fan because of Angel Reese. I also love
the Aces, Angel Wilson and so on. We'll talk
about them. But I want to discuss the Indiana
Fever. The NFL are falling apart. It's been a
very, very strange Kaitlin Clark season. She
had a groin injury or something that was bothering
her, a groin injury before the All -Star break.
She came back and went out with it again. And
then she missed the All -Star game and hasn't
played since All -Star weekend. with this growing
injury. And then last night, or last night, yesterday,
a couple days ago, within the past couple days,
in the same game, they lose Sidney Colson to
a 20 ACL and Ari McDonald to a broken right foot.
Both are for the season. So the Indiana Fever
have lost three of their top four guards. for
a considerable amount of time. Like I said, injuries,
not injuries, excuse me. Kaitlyn Clark's having
an incredibly strange season. She was never injured
at Iowa. Like, she played every game at Iowa.
She was never injured. There was no injury history
of her in college, in high school. And then you
get to the W, she wasn't injured her rookie year.
And then now, she has this growing thing. She
cannot play on it. Whatever it is, she is not
able to push through it. I mean, of course, it's
affecting the team. I mean, they are used to
being Caitlyn centric and she is not there. And
now when they'll be even more Caitlyn centric,
Sidney Colson, Ari McDonald has been two of the
people along with Kelsey Mitchell. That's been
really kind of closing that gap. And now Sid
and Ari are gone. I mean, so absolutely brutal.
What's happening in Indiana right now, injury
wise. Hopefully, Caitlyn can come back soon.
They're going to need to get very Caitlyn, Kelsey,
and Aaliyah Boston -centric to have any shot
to do any damage in the playoffs. They're going
to need Caitlyn to come back soon in order for
that to happen. The MVP, I'm sorry, Aja Wilson.
She just scored 29 points on her 29th birthday.
Why did I bring Asia Wilson up? The Minnesota
Lynx star, who many consider the best player
in the world, Nafisa Collier, have been surviving
without her. They've won four straight games,
eight and two of their last two. They have been
surviving relatively without her. In juxtaposition
to that, someone who's been gaining ground in
the standings, actually tied currently with Indiana
for fifth, is the Las Vegas Aces, led by Aja
Wilson, who have turned a corner. They are 7
-3 in their last 10. Aja Wilson's playing a lot
more dominant basketball. Jackie Young is picking
it up. They're still not getting a turn out of
Jewel Lloyd right now. They've pretty much...
I mean, if I can tell you, they benched her.
I mean, they have just made it where she's just,
I mean, she's just not relevant on the team right
now. Chelsea Gray is the point guard herself.
She's absolutely balling. But I'm just looking
at Jewel Lloyd. She's still getting 28 minutes
a night. But she's 11 points a game right now.
But I'm looking at Asia Wilson. She's 30 minutes
a night. 21 .8 points per game leads the team.
9 .2 rebounds a game leads the team. 1 .6 steals
a game leads the team. 2 .2 blocks a game leads
the team. And she's not even fouling the most.
That's currently Jackie Young. Actually, Melissa
Smith is the current foul champion. And then
when it comes down to assists, she is third on
the team in assists. I mean, so she is one -womaning
the Las Vegas Aces. back into playoffs. I mean,
they're in the playoffs, right, back and trying
to get that first -round host. She's absolutely
playing out of her mind right now. But credit
to her teammates, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray,
Jewel Lloyd is still playing solid basketball,
and Melissa Smith is beyond being that down -and
-low bully that they were looking for. So credit
to her teammates, but I think Aja Wilson right
now is playing her way into another MVP award.
I came into this year, a lot of Nafisa Collier
being the best player on the planet. I kind of
conceded it a few weeks ago. I gave in. I said,
okay, all right. She's the best woman on the
planet. It is what it is, right? And then when
Nafisa went out and her team has been kind of
playing well without her, and I'm just looking
at what Aja Wilson is doing every night, every
night, every night. every night every night just
watching her play the way she is playing she
is the best player on the planet like and it's
To me, it's a big three and everyone else. It's
Brianna Stewart, it's Nafisa Collier, and it's
Aja Wilson. And then there's everybody else.
There's a gap. Like Candace Parker got in a lot
of controversial trouble for her tiers. Her S
tier is 10 ,000 % accurate. It's the big three
and everybody else. It's Fi, it's Aja, and it's
Stewie, and it's everyone else. And so absolutely.
Kudos to Asia for just saying, no, we're going
to get the top four seed. I'm going to be in
the MVP race. You just gave the crown of best
player away. I don't think I did anything to
lose it. And so absolutely spectacular season
by her so far. I mean, what she's doing with
the Las Vegas Aces is just tremendous. I mean,
you understand. I mean, at one point people were
trying to trade Jewel Lloyd again. Like, she
had lost her value. I mean, that is how far Jewel
had come down. I mean, Jewel was a 27 -point
game scorer at night. She's down to 11. Obviously,
when you play with a really good team, you're
not going to get as many shots, right? But what
Asia is doing is flat -out spectacular right
now. I'm just looking at it. I mean, she's playing
a few less minutes than when she played last
year. Some of her numbers are a little down.
She's a little less efficient than she was last
year. But she is absolutely balling right now.
I think she, again, I hold on to the fact she's
the best player on the planet. Other people may
disagree with me. Again, if you tell me, it's
one of those situations where in the NBA, and
I hate putting men and women in basketball conversations,
but in the NBA, if you tell me your GOAT is either
LeBron, Michael Jordan, or Kareem Abdul -Jabbar,
I may disagree with you, but I won't argue. They're
all very valid goats. And currently in the women's
game, if you tell me the best player on the planet
is Asia Wilson, Brianna Stewart, or Nafisa Collier,
I'm not going to argue you. I may disagree, but
I'm not going to argue the point because those
are easily the three best players in women's
basketball currently. Asia Wilson's balling out
of her mind. In the close of the WNBA, shout
out to Alyssa Thomas, the most versatile WNBA
player of all time. becoming the first player
to ever go back -to -back -to -back triple -doubles
in a game. So she's a triple -double queen by
far, but she's the first player ever to have
a triple -double in three consecutive games.
Congratulations to her. She kind of does workman
triple -doubles. You know, they're not really,
you know, 30, 10, and 10s. They're more of 11,
10, and 10s, or they're, you know, 10, 12, and
11s. But triple -double, triple -double, and
she's the first woman ever to get three in a
row. But now we are shifting into our best for
last, which is going to be talking about college
football. Welcome back into the show and welcome
to Best for Last, which is going to be a quick
round the country of college football. Now, there's
a lot of weight, in my opinion, on this college
football season. A lot of it. There's a lot of
programs. This has to be the year for a lot of
guys, for a lot of people in college football
right now. Arch Manning arrives. at the University
of Texas for two years, we've heard a lot about
Arch Manning, right? A ton about Arch Manning.
I mean, he was given a Heisman Trophy in the
National Championship game on signing day. I
mean, you know what I'm saying? We've heard a
lot about Arch Manning and what he's going to
do, even to the point where people were conspiracy
-theoring that teams were tanking for the right
to get him. In next year's draft, which his grandfather,
Archie, has already stated that he's not coming
out next year. He's not coming out this year.
He will be at Texas in 2026. I saw a tweet, somebody
on Twitter, stated that, oh, we're going to suck.
He was a Saints fan. We're going to suck next
year too, buddy. We can do this all day. People
are like, all right, cool. We'll just suck for
two years. Not a problem. You know what I'm saying?
Archie has already said that Arch will be at
Texas in next year. I tend to believe him. I
have no reason not to. Everything about Arch's
career, especially in college, from him refusing
to be in the NCAA game until he was given more
money, and him not being a legacy at Tennessee
or Ole Miss, performing his own path at Texas,
so on and so forth. Everything about his collegiate
career has been meticulously planned out. I mean,
they didn't fight for money from the EA. They
fought for ratings. His ratings was low. and
it was the rumor and then they said we're not
gonna be in the game and then they came out and
like you know fought to get uh arch in the game
and you know up i mean they did his own special
promo shoot and then his ratings were upped and
all kind of stuff like you know like it was a
thing they've been very meticulous well he arrives
all the meticulousness is gone he's had he had
a couple of spot moments in games when you was
hurt um What's his name? Steve Spurrier had a
hilarious quote saying if Archie was that good,
why didn't he start over a seventh -round pick
in Quinn Ewers? To which I say, touche. You know
what I'm saying? He was clearly the guy. If he
was a runaway Heisman candidate and he's going
to win a national championship, why not do that
his sophomore year instead of his junior? Why
not? Why repay? Why re -up Quinn Ewers' money
and deal and up his pay if the guy behind him
was that much better? to which i say touche right
like fair like you know what i'm saying like
if he's the guy why wait why not you know what
i'm saying why not just go for it if it's him
if he if it's undoubtedly him why not just go
for it um which makes all the sense in the world
um and so you know he arrives now LSU, I'm a
huge LSU fan. There's a lot riding on Brian Kelly
this season. This is the best roster, and I've
said it before and I'll say it again, this is
the best roster on OSU's campus since 2007. Yes,
I know everybody's going to go, what about 2019?
Great, spectacular. Offensively, yes. Derrick
Singley, sure. But as far as that second unit,
because remember, we've seen the second unit
the following years. The reason why Ed Ogeron
got fired, outside of organizational dysfunction,
The roster behind them weren't that great. This
roster has great twos and threes. Like, this
roster's loaded. Patrick Payton, like, is trying
to figure out how to play in the SEC. And he
was a starter on the national championship level
Florida State team. Like, so it's just the depth.
Several teams' number one receivers are on us
right now. Of course, you got Garrett Nussmeyer.
You got three number one backs. I mean, the offensive
line needs a reshuffling, sure. But as far as
just talent, this team is loaded. Brian Kelly
fails with this roster. And by fail, I mean he's
not on the playoff team. If he's not on the playoff
team with this roster, you're looking at somebody
else coming in. And the rumor is it's Nick Saban.
There's a lot of pressure on LSU right now. I
think they get it done. I think they win the
national championship this year. But there's
a lot of pressure in Baton Rouge right now on
Brian Kelly. Especially if the legend of Saban
truly is existing again. And he's mentioned coaching
football several times, unprompted. If the rumor
is true and Saban is right around the corner,
lurking in the shadows, that he may have another
four or five years. If he comes back, he doesn't
have long. It's not a 10 -year thing. It's like
Belichick with North Carolina. I think Belichick
with North Carolina is four to five years, max.
I think if Saban comes back, let's say Brian
Kelly goes 9 -3, 10 -3, whatever, and we're a
Peach Bowl team, I think Brian Kelly gets fired,
especially if Nick Saban expresses genuine interest.
And all of a sudden, the legend of Saban is on
your heels. Well, that's a problem, right? So
you're going to get fired if Nick Saban's available,
right? You can't have that if you're Brian Kelly.
Georgia. Georgia is not used to not being in
that final weekend, especially lately in the
Kirby Smart era. Gunnar Stockton is the quarterback
now. That's a lot of NFL high -level talent to
follow. everything with NFL first round, second
round pick besides quarterback. Those couple
teams were loaded in Athens. There was a lot
of pressure there. Not necessarily on Kirby Smart
as far as job security, but like you set a standard,
right? So now you have to meet that standard.
Oregon. Oregon is now in the pressure cooker
because they've got talent now. And Dan Lanning's
on a lot of chit -chat and a lot of, you know.
He came at Colorado. He came at several schools.
Of course, they put it out. I mean, so like if
you're going to be big, bad bully on the block,
you've got to be big, bad bully on the block
at all times. Right. You're going to be the man.
You're going to talk the noise. If you're going
to do all that other stuff, you've got to be
big, bad bully on the block at all times. And
now it's Oregon's turn to be that guy. The Big
Ten's got. Talent. The Big Ten's loaded. I'm
going to speak about another team in the Big
Ten shortly. Axis go to a Big Ten situation.
Penn State. This has got to be Penn State's year.
This is the best Penn State team they've ever
had in Happy Valley under James Franklin. This
has to be James Franklin's time to win the big
one at Penn State. He's got to win it this year.
He's got his team. He's got his program. He's
got the backing. He's got the support. He's got
the quarterback. He's got the roster. This has
to be his year at Penn State. Because they share
a conference with the defending national champion
in Ohio State. Hulu's a quarterback. That's it.
Jeremiah Smith is back. Caleb Downs is back.
Most of that team returns from last season. Emeka
Abuka's gone short. But most of that team returns
from last season. Ohio State is right there with...
um anybody in the country the big 10 has three
title contenders in it and clemson dabbo dude
you are i mean and you're right there right and
you got k club nick you've got your roster you
don't believe in the portal you got a portal
kid now like you don't believe in the portal
you believe in building through your freshman
where your team is up there now right you're
in the acc there's no threats None. Not a singular
threat should be you in the ACC. North Carolina
might give you some problems, but there shouldn't
be really any real threats to you in the ACC,
not this year at least. This is your chance to
roll through the ACC, get that playoff spot,
and get in the playoff with Clemson with Cade
Plutnik and Davo Sweeney because Kalen DeBoer,
his leash ain't that long in Tuscaloosa. And
of course, Dabo Sweeney has the infamous or famous,
depending on who you ask, Bama clause in his
contract where his buyout plummets if it's Alabama.
And so Kalen DeBoer slips up again this year
and the recruiting class ain't that great. And
he loses the fan base there if LSU does what
they're supposed to do. Auburn's reportedly really
good. And, of course, Texas should be a national
contender. And Texas A &M has a roster. And Georgia
should be back. And if Alabama's the fifth, sixth
team in the SEC, it's going to be a phone call
made to Clemson, South Carolina, to Dabo Sweeney
to see if he wants to come turn around the Alabama
program. Now, they're going to tell him he's
got to be able to use the portal because we're
losing kids to the portal and not keeping them.
You know what I'm saying? We're not getting them
back, that sort of thing. That's going to be
interesting. So you see there's a lot of weight
this college football season on a lot of different
programs. We didn't even mention Iowa 9 on the
passing game. We didn't mention Mario Cristobal
in Miami post -Cam War. We didn't mention Lincoln
Riley at USC. We didn't mention the new regime
at UCLA. We didn't mention Coach Brown at Syracuse
having his best roster there. We didn't mention
Coach Prime. Bless that he recovered from bladder
cancer. But we didn't mention Coach Prime in
the post -Travis Hunter, Shador Sanders era.
You know what I'm saying? We didn't mention a
lot of guys who also are carrying pressure on
them as well. We didn't mention Matt Ruhle. Now,
you know, it's another year of Dylan Rayola at
Nebraska. So there's a lot happening around the
country we didn't even get to. And it tells you
how much pressure is going on around the country.
It's a huge year in college football. Could not
be more excited. Straight seeding in the playoff,
which is going to be, thank God. The teams are
still in how they were in, but straight seeding.
Like, Boise State ended up with a bye last year.
And it's like, what the heck? Like, you know
what I'm saying? So, straight seeding in the
playoff. So, once the 12 teams are decided, it's
straight seeding. However you finish is how you
get seeded. I'm good with that. I'm good with
that because I want the conference to still mean
something as far as, you know, top four conference
champions plus the biggest group of five or the
highest ranked group of five champion and then
seven at largest. Once those seven teams are
decided, then you straight seed them from those
12. That's how the seeds get decided. So I'm
okay with that, right? I'm good with that. But
ultimately, I cannot wait for the college football
season. It is three weeks. I'm recording this
on August 9th. It's an instant release show.
I love those. So it's three weeks away from LSU
at Clemson. So two of the teams I mentioned are
going to play each other week one. We're going
to get some answers week one. Texas, who I mentioned,
and Ohio State, who I mentioned, are going to
play each other week one. So we're going to get
some answers in three weeks on four of these
teams. I cannot wait. I cannot wait. I'm over
the moon for it, actually. But it's been a great
show. Great show. So happy to have been back
in the recording chair, back on the microphone
talking to you guys. I hope you guys have enjoyed
this episode. Again, it's an instant release
show. So I'm about to quick add some stuff and
then it will be out to you guys for your consumption.
But this is your owner and host, Justin Jackson,
signing out.