Drive9.23.26Hr1: Best of the Wes, Around Campus

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Steelers Nation Radio.

What's going on, Steelers Nation? It's The Drive on the Steelers Audio Network.

Good afternoon.

Wes Shuler, Matt Williamson with you here on this Wednesday for the next two hours.

Matt, I'm a little fired up on this Wednesday.

Oh, you are?

I think there's some fun stuff that we got planned here on the show today. I'm very excited for this weekend of football in general. Two big games for my two teams between the Mountaineers on Saturday and the Steelers on Sunday.

I know we'll get to it, but is it a good college football weekend?

It's a pretty good college football weekend. We will go around campus today as we like to do on Wednesdays. And we will finally, for the first time this season, catch up with our buddy Chris Halleck, who we'll certainly have plenty to discuss with from all the moving and shaking on the south side today. Matt, we do have another kind of update and data point in the Joey Porter Jr.

Saga.

Before we get there, though, two announcements to kick off the show today.

Big ones.

Two happy birthdays to kick off the show today.

Good friends of the show.

First of all. Big time dudes.

First of all, today is Mr.

TV. Tyler V's birthday, of course. Intrepid video producer, statistician, all around good dude. You see him on the sidelines. You hear us reference him here on the show.

Happy birthday.

33rd birthday. Oh, he makes us feel so young to Mr. TV today. All of you in the YouTube comments and in the Twitter mentions, make sure you're giving a given TV some birthday love today.

Love it.

Also Matt today, the late great Tunch Ilken would have turned 69 years old. You and I were talking about this. We lost him in 2021. He actually passed away just a couple of weeks before his 64th birthday and uh september 4th september 4th of 21 was the day that he passed away does not feel like it's been five years without tunch no really yeah but man uh happy birthday happy heavenly birthday to tunch and uh i got to imagine it's a big week for him and wolf as uh you know it's tunch's birthday wolf will officially go into the hall of honor on friday night.

Oh that is right yeah i imagine that's cool.

I imagine those two are having some fun this.

Week probably a cigar moment for the two of them oh yeah.

Absolutely absolutely so happy birthday to tunch happy birthday to TV. Wanted to make sure we just gave those important shout outs right off the jump here, Matt.

It's cool when you share a birthday with somebody else kind of in common like that. Absolutely.

Absolutely.

So we do have a kind of a latest update. Let's run through some news of the day here, Matt. And all that we know as of now is that Joey Porter Jr. was out there in the open period of practice today. that's not a lot to go off of.

No, I'm sure we'll bring it up to Chris. I'm sure he was there.

Yes, but he was out there and he was active during the, what is that, the first 20 or 30 minutes, the open portion of practice today when the media could observe.

Now, it does make it a little foggier than the good old days. Dale would come in here and be like, well, I watched him all practice. He hit the sled here.

He did this.

He can report it all. But I guess that's better news than bad news. It doesn't mean by any Set in stone that he's going to be locking up Jamar Chase on Sunday. We don't know that, but this is a step in the right direction. And from what I gathered, isn't that what Coach McCarthy said on Monday? Is they fully expected him Wednesday to do everything, get back involved?

And to the best of our knowledge, that's what happened.

We obviously, we're going to wait and see what that practice report looks like throughout the week. But it's a, you know, kind of a data point that we, hey, it's at least better than he wasn't out there at all today.

Those are our two options. And you'll take. Door number A. He'll take door A, not B.

Exactly right. So good call by you.

We'll see if our buddy Chris Halleck about an hour from now can lend a little more clarity or just a little more context around that. But we do know that he was out there in some capacity today.

I didn't get the impression just seeing a couple things on Twitter that he was like out there on a bike or off to the side.

No, that guy said, yeah, yeah.

Again, a couple of little clips that You know, the Chris Adamskis and Brian Backos and Mark Caballis and Jerry Goulart.

And they can take video down there for that portion.

Mike DeFabo, Chris Halleck, all those, you know, real reporter journalist types. They had some video of him running around and, you know, being jovial.

With a helmet on.

Helmet on, jovial with his teammates. So, again, there you have it. New data point. We'll see where that goes here throughout today and throughout the rest of the week. Matt, some news around the league as well as we get started here. Jackson Dart expected to have season-ending knee surgery. Crazy.

I mean, so I think people know I didn't love him coming out of school. I thought his rookie year was fine, but people got too excited about it. His style of play makes him easy to root for, and he's a really aggressive player. But watching week one, I was like, man, he looks so much better. And you're allowed to get better, an old Dale saying as well.

starting to drift away from that Ole Miss Lane Kiffin style of Mickey Mouse offense. And I thought he was really progressing the right way off one game tape in week one. But this is tragic. I mean, just in terms of.

It does stink. I'm not the biggest Jackson Dart fan in the world, but this stinks.

I mean, you draft the guy in the first round. I said this whenever the Steelers draft Kenny Pickett. I mean, everything about the organization has to be about getting that player to... elite status being your next Eli Manning or your next Ben or whoever. And this slows that down a very, very great deal. I hate talking medicine, as you know, or injuries, but by the sound of it, it, he should be absolutely fine. You know what I mean? Like, I guess there was not a lot of ton of damage.

There was three ligaments that had quote damage. They never said the word torn. It was not an ACL. You saw him on the sidelines looking like he was eager to get back in, you know, that game. So no one thinks that he won't be ready for next year or his good running skills will be compromised in any way, shape, or form. But in the meantime, I thought Jameis Winston looked horrible, and maybe he'll look a little better with some practice with the ones and all that, but he doesn't look like he throws the ball very well. You know Winston's– I've always kind of been a Winston fan.

I mean, he's fun to root for, and he's such a rollercoaster. but I feel like the peaks aren't going to be there now. He's just gotten to the point where he's old. Yeah. You know, now he's just going to.

Be, doesn't have the same athleticism.

Yeah. And he's probably just as aggressive as ever, which when you're the first overall pick, you get away with it more often than you do now, you know? And I just think the giant season is spin your wheels a little bit. You know, the whole key was developed art, build something with Harbaugh and half that's already gone.

Right.

And Hey, even if, Even if Arvel Reese and a lot of these other guys, that's great. But if you don't have the quarterback, that's the biggest piece of the equation.

And you're right. The Reese's and Malgoa's and those guys and neighbors, you hope that they're all flourish. And then you put the quarterback back in the mix. But this stinks.

No, it certainly does. And Matt, I've already seen a million people. Could the Giants be in the market for Mason Rudolph?

I've heard like Flacco and Mac Jones and that kind of stuff.

They just paid James Winston.

They did. For this reason.

So let's put the shoe on the other foot all right and I know we all hate saying this stuff but it's just a hypothetical say Aaron Rodgers were to go down for the season and the Steelers had just given Mason Rudolph a contract this offseason yeah we wouldn't be sitting here screaming go get back I mean maybe some people would but you you wouldn't as an organization oh we got to go get Mac Jones oh we got to go get Jameis Winston oh we got all right Tyson Bajet like They just.

Paid their backup.

I don't for this reason.

I don't think they're looking at Mason Rudolph or any other options around.

No, we were talking about it on earlier podcast today about Mac Jones and Flacco. And it's like, okay, you'd be better with either one of those guys. And the Flacco Harbaugh combination kind of makes a little sense. You know, they've worked with each other and had a lot of success together, but. The Bengals and Niners are maybe having the two best years in the league outside of Buffalo.

What if our guy goes down? I mean, I want my insurance player here, too. I'm not just giving away my good number, too, with the way people are dropping.

I just wanted to urge some caution with some Steelers fans that are suddenly giddy that maybe you can add to the draft capital. One man gathers what another man spills. I just, I think the Giants, Jameis is their guy. They brought him for this reason, as you mentioned. They knew, they know the style that Jackson Dart plays. They know that they need, even if it was just a week or two absence, you know, they knew that there was at least a somewhat decent of a chance that he wasn't going to play 17 games this year.

Oh, of course, right.

Even if he plays 15 or 16, that they would need somebody they could trust and rely on. And so if Jameis Winston looks like an absolute disaster for the next two or three weeks, then it becomes a different conversation.

That's what I was going to say.

If he.

If they're 0-4 and he's a disaster, then no. They paid him for this reason with this exact plan in mind.

Yes.

Matt, a couple other injury news and notables.

There's quite a few of them floating around.

There really is, and they're all kind of a bummer. Jonathan Brooks, Panthers running back, has to have surgery.

I was rooting for him. He had a hot start to the season.

He will be out, the team says, for at least six weeks.

Yeah, and I think everyone knows his story. He was the first running back taken that year. Has been injured ever since. Finally get good news in training camp and he's tearing up training camp and we all drafted him in fantasy. leagues and then.

There's some jk yeah we're like when this guy's been on the field he's been very.

Effective yeah he's got a lot of ability but i mean now it's all chuba the best ability is availability yeah and he's got that problem at.

Least that's what i've been told in the past matt So that's a bummer for him. That's a bummer for a Panthers offense that had looked good through the first two weeks of the season. And then last but certainly not least, Matt, because this one affects the Steelers on Sunday, the tight end of the Bengals, Andre Iliasovas.

Wide receiver, Yoshavash.

Wide receiver, sorry. I was so worried about pronouncing his last name correctly, I butchered his position instead. Yoshavash, say that one five times fast.

Expected to miss four to.

Six weeks due to thumb injury.

Very solid No. 3 receiver that, of course, would never challenge other guys. He made some plays against the Steelers last year. He does all the time. Yeah, so that's kind of a big deal. They've been playing a lot more extra tight end stuff. They might even be in the top of the league in 12 personnel because Eric Hall plays a lot. Gusecki's really a big slot receiver.

He is, yep.

They have Sample, who's more the blocker. So you wouldn't know it because the Bengals as a team are playing very, very well. But on offense, they're kind of searching a little bit. You know, like I was saying this today that We did a thing of most surprising in a good way teams. Did our six-pack for that. And Cincinnati was an easy one. You know, like, boy, they're better than we thought. And it was all defense, though. I mean, the defense is way better than they thought. The offense, I said, is usually it's an A or an A-.

Right now it's like a B. But if they become an A or A-, they could be a Super Bowl team.

I don't like to hear that.

No.

But I think you are correct.

I don't have much bad to say about the Bengals, by the way, these next couple days.

They are.

They're doing all right.

They're looking to go 3-0 for the first time since 2015.

Wow.

It's been that long. The start of the season in Cincinnati.

Yeah, no.

Andre Yoshavash expected to miss four to six weeks due to a thumb injury.

That requires surgery.

Okay.

It was funny.

We have kind of like a radio booth, group chat. Rob, Max, myself, Missy, and then Quinlan, our producer.

Yeah.

And Missy sent that news earlier. And Rob responded, glad I don't have to worry about pronouncing that name this Sunday.

I guess it depends what angle you come from, yeah.

So unfortunate news for Cincinnati.

It doesn't sound like it's spelled. It's I-O-V, a bunch of vowels, yeah.

Again, I was so worried about butchering his last name, a name that I've said a few times over the last few years that I called him a tight end accidentally. I was gripping the football so tight there. But yeah, that's a bummer for Cincinnati.

Hey, uh.

Good news for the Steelers in that regard. Is there down a viable weapon for Sunday?

Yeah, he's a good player.

But that's something that we'll talk about and reference a little bit more, I would imagine, especially starting tomorrow when we'll dig into Matt's stats and really start to preview Steelers and Bengals. Of course, a big one, Lumen Sunday, 1 o'clock at Accresure Stadium. Matt, let's get to our first break of the day here.

Real quick, there's a couple other little– Will Johnson, the real promising second-year corner. He could be out a really long stretch. And Kelvin Banks, the left tackle for the Saints, is another first-round guy I like a lot too.

I think we mentioned that briefly yesterday.

Might have, but those are two promising young guys. They're not quarterbacks, but they're still foundational pieces of those teams. They could be out for a while. Man, it's not great.

It's always tough.

We know in the National Football League, it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when you're going to have injuries, but some some big ones, certainly through the first two weeks of the NFL season. Matt, when we return on the other side, I've got a best of the West for you. Three reasons, OK, for optimism for the Pittsburgh Steelers heading into week three here.

Like it.

I figured the last two days, you know, we were a little pessimistic. We were a little down in the dumps. That's what happens when you lose a game by three scores.

Cheer everybody up.

But let's go to the other side of the equation and some reasons for optimism here. Three reasons for optimism as we head towards week three on Sunday. We'll do that when we return. Wes Shuler, Matt Williamson. It is The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

And now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean, crisp. There's nothing better than the clean, crisp... Uh, what if we just got out of here and grabbed some Bud Lights? But man, we're on air for four more hours.

I'll figure it out.

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Stock up now.

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Bruh.

You're tuned to The Drive on your 24-7 home of the black and gold.

Steelers Nation Radio.

Matt, it's a relatively new season here on The Drive.

Yep.

And we've got a lot of loyal listeners.

That have been a decade deep in this thing since you and Dale started it.

But I think we always pick up a lot of new listeners.

Along the way as well.

I think so. Yeah, especially this time of year.

And so with that, just a quick little briefing that occasionally we do this thing called Best of the West. And typically we do it on a Wednesday because there's a nice little alliteration there.

West Wednesday.

Best of the West Wednesday.

Yep, yep.

It's nothing fancy, though.

It's usually just a list or power rankings or something like that, and we just slap a fancy title on it.

Sometimes it's your favorite candy.

During the off-season, we've gotten into some weird ones. I think one time I did my top five favorite vacation destinations in the middle of June.

Stadiums, things like that.

Yeah, we've done that before, too. Best stadium food, favorite stadiums. You know, I think we did like.

June's a different time, folks, if you're new around here. Yes.

Our show is... It's yin.

And yang, about six months each a year in terms of some of the content that we go through. But Matt, real simple one for you. Best of the West today. I've got three reasons for optimism for you. Heading into week three... And really just forward the rest of the season.

Okay.

I'm all ears. That sounds great.

You and I both, we talked about it at nauseam the last two days. It was bad and it was ugly. I don't even know if there was much good. There was some good. There always is, but a lot of bad and ugly Sunday in new England. And it's early in the season and we all freak out and the sky is falling and all those things. But I think it's a long grind here. It's a new coaching staff.

It's a lot of new pieces that, And there are certainly, even off the back of a very disappointing performance like we saw Sunday in New England, reasons for optimism.

I've got three of them for you.

Okay.

The first, and this one's very low-hanging fruit, but it's the Pittsburgh Steelers defense.

Oh, yeah.

I think what we've seen through the first two weeks has been very encouraging. I think Patrick Graham, as he gets in more in-game situations with these guys, is only going to learn them better.

I'm still.

really gets his hands dirty with them too. And starts to know what makes them tick on game day. And you know, right.

Many camp and OTAs are great.

They're great.

Training camp is great. Preseason's great, but there's.

Been, it's elementary school.

Nothing that has taught Patrick Graham more about his guys than the 120 minutes that he's seen them play the last two Sundays. And as that, as those data points continue, he gets more and more familiar with their strengths, their weaknesses, how to deploy them, how to use them. They get more familiar with his scheme and what he's asking them to do and the language that they're all speaking together.

I think it's been a good start for the defense. and it's only going to improve.

It's going to be, I think, a pretty linear, like, hey, this weekend you got a really difficult offense. They're going to make some plays. But I think for the most part, I expect there to be some real linear progression for this defense for the next 16 weeks.

Yeah, and there are some younger guys like Benton and Harmon and even the depth dudes like Sawyer and those type of dudes.

Wyatt Black.

Definitely are getting better and better as well. And the true vets, the Ramsey, especially Watt, Hayward, don't look like they're going backwards. You know, and the guys in their prime, the Highsmiths and those type of dudes seem like they're right where you'd think they'd be.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wilson is playing some of his best football that we've seen in a Steelers uniform.

I think you should be very optimistic about the Steelers' defense.

As we talked about, they've got to cut back on those explosive plays.

Yeah, there was too many last week.

And even more so, you can give up a 14-yard run occasionally. It's going to happen. You can give up a 22-yard pass occasionally.

It's going to happen. You can't give up 30-yarders, 40-yarders, 60-yarders.

Huge chunks.

Huge chunks. Offenses are built in the NFL to get explosives now. It's going to happen. But you've got to keep a lid on those explosives. They can't be back-breaking.

Explosives and that was actually an issue for the stealer defense last year but not the raiders defense last year raiders were very good eliminating explosives dealers let up too many.

And i have a feeling that was probably a big onus for patrick graham and company this i bet i bet of you think that patriots offense hit some explosives here comes one to town that can really hit.

Some explosives a different beast yeah you.

Better be on your p's and q's reason number two matt and i don't know this one might be low-hanging fruit as well but i've thought about it a lot since Sunday and the offensive line has to get better.

I fully expect it to.

It just has to. Faltanu is going to play better. McCormick is going to play better. I think Frazier's been okay. I think he'll be great. And then they're going to figure out the right side of that offensive line, whether it's Hoffman, whether it's Ihanachor. It's taken longer than we all want, but I think that we should have maybe expected that at the beginning of the year. This offensive line is, you know, I think by the time we get to October, going to look much different than it does currently.

I just think this is going to be a slow burn. You know, we'll talk Bengals a lot, but their defensive front all of a sudden is really nasty. I mean, especially led by Lawrence. Like you said, Frazier, we know he'll be great. I'll settle for good this week. You know what I mean? For him. I mean, considering his specific test. But Moffay and Howe and all these guys are playing really, really well, generating a ton of pressure.

They're stopping the run with light boxes. So this is going to be the stiffest test by far. I mean, those interior guys for Patriots are really good, but they don't have the edge guys like Cincy does. So could it get worse before it gets better?

Maybe.

Maybe. I mean, the matchup's tougher. But I'll be... surprised and highly disappointed if every two weeks or so we don't say something like oh the offensive line's starting to trend the right direction yeah this was a little better than beginning of the year you know and by november i'm hoping that it's a good group and i again i expect that it.

Is a real test this weekend which is funny to say against cincinnati because it's been the opposite.

Right you think well you're fine just get right this is your get.

Right week for the offense uh This is not your father's Cincinnati Bengals defense. But at the same time, sometimes I think that that's better when you're struggling a little bit. Because if you can go out there and you can put in a solid performance, you can bounce back against this defense. Against the way they're playing, yeah.

I think that would bode very well for the future.

Yeah, yeah. A step in the right direction this week would be very telling.

I'm with you on that. So that's reason number two for me, Matt. And then reason number three of why I am, after a couple days of being down in the dumps, starting to feel more optimistic about this team moving forward, Mike McCarthy.

Okay.

And here's what I mean by that.

I have an angle on this. I'm wondering if it's the same.

Folks, there is no denying that the Steelers' offense has been broken through two weeks. There's no denying that the Steelers offense for the last few years has left a lot to be desired.

Sure.

I don't know if I would completely use that term that it was a broken offense last year, but no, they were, they were okay.

Yeah.

And, but a lot of the years before Aaron Rogers got there after Ben Roethlisberger, it was a broken offense that was sputtering and spinning its wheels and not really doing much. It would maybe have one or two really good weeks of season. And then it would come right back down to earth and struggle again. And I realize a lot of people, that's the one thing we didn't expect to be saying this year, right? Because you brought Aaron Rogers back. You brought in Mike McCarthy. You added a second quality running back. You added a Michael Pittman Jr., a quality wide receiver. You added even more to that offensive line. I think we all thought, Matt, that it would be opposite, that the offense would start ascending and

the defense is getting a little bit older and maybe they wouldn't be able to pull their weight like they have at times in the past. I understand through the first two weeks- It's been a struggle. I mean, you've scored just 16 points in 120 minutes of football, but I tell you what, Mike McCarthy, one touchdown. But if, if, if there are of all the kind of head coaches that you could pick in the NFL to come in and fix this offense throughout the course of this season, Mike McCarthy would be on that short list. It's what he does. He's an offensive guy. It's again, it's not going to happen overnight, but I think Mike McCarthy is going to get this offense moving in the right direction.

I'm not saying they're going to be a top 10 unit.

I'm not saying that they're going to be scoring 28 points a game and, and, and lighten up scoreboards. And you're going to want all these guys in fantasy football, and they're going to have a bunch of pro bowlers and all pros, but it's going to be noticeably better than it has been through the first time.

I definitely don't think it's going to be when the season said and done finishing the thirties. I mean like a bottom three in the NFL.

I just can't, with this head coach and this quarterback, and I know that they're not the same people they were in 2018 and in 2013 when they won the Super Bowl, but it is going to get better. It has to get better from here.

I was kind of, my angle was similar, but my angle was more like the Patrick Graham learning his personnel in real time angle of play calling.

That too, I should have probably mentioned that too.

Just because we know, and you folks can be critical, and McCarthy should have played these guys in the preseason and all that. Again, that's fine, but maybe Mason McCormick's out for the year if you did that, or Darnell Washington or whatever. Anyway, that's water under bridge. But I do think Aaron Rodgers got some heat for his comments the other day. We need to do a better job of telling the coaches how to call plays or whatever he said, giving them more information so they can set up plays better. That is a two-way street. I know that the Rodgers and McCarthy worked together. but he hasn't worked with this group, and it's been some time, and the world has changed, and it's only been two days,

or two games, that I think that they will get a better vibe of how to better use Metcalf. Here's an example, and I think there's a spot to be critical of play calling for this reason. A lot of second and longs thus far, they've called runs, which the analytic folks will tell you, It's almost like a wasted play.

You're kind of giving away a down.

The defense will take third and five.

Yeah, like, okay, you're going to get four here on third and nine? Third and five, every defense will play in third and five. That's great. And then the other thing I've noticed recently, too, is contrary to popular belief, their third down situation, there's been 25 third downs or something like that. They're only averaging... Their average third down is like third and six. It's like 5.8 or 6.2 or something like that. I don't have it in front of me. But it's right around third and six, which sounds like very long. But compared to the rest of the league and most... There's a lot of third... And that includes, what, a fourth or a third and a 50 or whatever.

Remember?

Third and 42 or something like that? But all in all, they have not been in awful third down situations.

So.

And I'm sure that crosses mind by calling runs on second and long. Thus, you get from second and 10 to third and four.

Which is much more manageable, obviously.

Much more manageable. But still, the numbers don't tell you. You're still kind of thrown away a down.

The defense will still take it.

But what I've noticed, too, is then you get to third and manageable. But the short of it is their third down distance to go isn't near the top of the league in terms of worst. It's actually in the top third in terms of. manageable okay manageableness yeah it's not as dastardly or as steep a hill as people thought it was but they throw a lot of deep balls in that situation which is a highly inefficient play too we know that as a team they have not come i think rogers has thrown 9 20 plus yard passes and he's 0 for 9 okay they were 0 for 6 in the first game now there's a metcalf drop in there sure there's a pass interference that should have got called and.

Things like that too that should have been called yeah So.

They've taken a lot of those shots on third and manageable, but just aren't real high success rate play calls. You know what I mean? Yeah. So the success rate stuff, and I don't think all of a sudden McCarthy forgot how to get first downs in terms of play calling.

No.

I think it's just kind of working through it with new people.

I'm glad that you added that to everything that I said because that's– Certainly, you look at it for Patrick Graham of like it's been a good start and I think it's only going to get better from here.

Yeah.

For McCarthy, it's been a rough start in the offense and Angelico and everybody involved. But it's got to get... And.

It's probably true for a lot of teams that have new coaches. And I think there's 22 new offensive play callers this year.

That's a lot.

I bet those teams aren't as good as the ones at the other 10. Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a lot. And you've... you've rightly laid out how there's a handful of coaches in this league that know what it takes to get their teams ready to win games. Mike McCarthy's one of those, particularly on the offensive side of the football. Again, I'm not saying that this offense is going to look like a Mona Lisa by November, but it's going to become serviceable sooner rather than later.

I'm not even saying that it's going to happen right away this Sunday against Cincinnati, but sooner rather than later, this offense is not going to be an albatross around this team's neck. Right.

If we were doing... Titans radio or whatever, be like, we may be a bottom five offense. Yeah. It's where we are right now.

Struggles.

We still got a young quarterback.

Everything's new around here. Our number one receiver is a rookie. You know, like we might just be a bottom five offense. I'm taking door number two that this is not a bottom five offense.

Yes.

I'm not taking the door that says it's a top five offense. No.

But it cannot be in the basement.

And I think I'm pretty confident that it will not be in the basement.

Stewart's first opponent in Atlanta is probably like, yeah, we're the worst offensive league. We've had probably the worst quarterback we've had before.

Yeah.

One of those things does not look like the other.

And even though the results have not been there, I am optimistic that that sooner rather than later they will be. So those are my best of the West. Three reasons for optimism as we head forward to week three here and really just beyond.

I like it.

Matt, one more segment to go here in the first hour.

You ready to go around campus?

Yeah, I'm psyched for this one.

I'm fired up too. Let's do it. We'll talk some quarterbacks. We'll talk some college football when we return.

Euler and Williamson.

It's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio. on the Steelers Audio Network.

And now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean, crisp... There's nothing better than the clean, crisp... Uh, what if we just got out of here and grabbed some Bud Lights? But man, we're on air for four more hours.

I'll figure it out.

Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean, crisp taste of Bud Light.

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I've been thinking about this.

I should really get some generic, like, you know, collegiate pep band music.

Yeah.

That's a good idea for.

This around campus segment, you know, some drum line and some, some brass and all that stuff that makes college campus buzzing on a Saturday, Matt, let's go around campus here. And I tell you what, it's been an exciting start to the season from a quarterback perspective.

Yeah. You're on more than me. Take it away. I can't wait to dig in.

So I was discussing this with TV.

TV and I had a little birthday celebration for him, pre-production meeting over lunch. And, you know, last year, Matt, I think there were like 15 names on this around campus quarterbacks list.

Yeah, and that seemed like a lot.

And it was a lot. And at this.

Point we're talking about Aller and Klubnick.

And some of these guys that are obviously still on this list, you know, Chambliss.

Yeah, Arch.

Sam Leavitt and Arch and a lot of these guys, Sellers. Um, who, who that guy's been my boy for a couple of years, but I might be selling.

On rough waters right now.

Um, so what I, what TV and I kind of decided earlier, and I like this is instead of every week, me trying to give a little blurb on 15 different quarterbacks and.

Bang, bang, bang, bang. He was 12 of 13 or 12 of 22.

Why I, what I want to start doing going forward is highlight every week, a couple of the best.

Okay.

Guys whose stock is continuing to point up.

Yeah.

Maybe some whose, whose arrow is starting to get a little worse, starting to point downward. And Matt, in terms of stock up, I always know a college football quarterback, folks out there listening, had a big Saturday if Matt texts me about him. Because Matt's a college casual football observer.

Yeah, there's a lot I miss.

There's a lot that he misses, but he notices, too, when things go well. And Matt was texting me Saturday night about Trinidad-Chamberlain, texting me and TV. Yeah.

And, buddy, I tell you what, I think the whole country.

was hip to what Trinidad was doing on Saturday night. An unbelievable performance in that unbelievable cauldron atmosphere there at Ole Miss as they take down LSU in the Lane-Kiffin Bowl. And Matt, I think we both are starting to warm up the chamber list a little bit as a legit NFL prospect.

Yeah, and who knows? So subject to change. But let's say the Steelers pick 20. You know, they often do. I don't think he's there.

I don't either.

I don't think it's a foregone conclusion because he is 24 years old and he is six one, you know, which means he's probably, which means.

He's probably he's five, one, one, seven. I mean, he is verified. Oh, that's right. He's an eighth of an inch below six feet.

Yes.

So he's basically, he's basically six feet. Right.

So he's, he's, he doesn't have the kind of prototypical frame. And Matt and I talk a lot of times about, but you must be this tall to ride this ride. But he might be an exception.

If someone asked me on Twitter, would you swap the Steelers' first-round pick for Chambliss right now? I'm like, oh, sign me up.

Sign me up.

No doubt. But of course, Twitter's not a real space, and everyone likes to tell you you're dumb. He's too small, he's too short, and he's too old. I don't care at all about old.

Tyler Shuck is old.

He's flying out there right now.

Now, the old argument to me isn't, oh, I'm only going to get 13 years out of this guy, not 16. It's he should be better than those around him because he is more experienced. Kenny Pickett, you know, like his last year. This is, this is not really the case anymore.

Right.

Kenny Pickett was average for, for four years.

Right.

And he threw 13 touchdowns a year for four years and then through almost 50 his senior year.

Yeah.

And that's not Trinidad.

Trinidad won a national championship in D2 and then went to Ole Miss and had success under Lane Kiffin. And now he's having success in a new system with a new coaching staff. So he's done it at three different data points.

Throughout his career. Now, the short thing is never going away. But the problem with short quarterbacks is usually not seeing or attempting middle of the field passes. At the college level, that's not a problem for this guy. He throws over the middle. And has as much success there as pretty much anyone out there. He does that well. He's not bashful about it. He sees fine. And he lets the ball fly. What I'm curious about is more body composition.

I mean, weight, bulk. Bryce Young's too small for me. You know what I mean?

Yes.

Short I can live with. Russell Wilson's build for a shorter dude. I'm okay with, I'm more worried about the pound.

Yeah.

Yeah. He's wider. He's kind of got that Sidney Crosby build, you.

Know what I mean?

Like thickness. Yeah, exactly. And Chambliss looks that way to me, just watching on Saturdays that he does not look like a dainty fella, you know, I, but he throws the anticipation. He's got guts. He's a leader.

I mean, they've got to go after that emotional win at home. One of the great scenes that we've ever, that you'll ever see in a college football game. Now they have to go on the road to the swamp to a ranked undefeated Florida team. Okay.

I'm very excited to see how he responds.

Who would you guess is favored in that one? Probably Ole Miss.

I think Ole Miss is– is Florida favored? TV?

Really?

That's a good question.

I know it's an awful place to play.

I can find out here real quick. Florida is favored by three.

Wow. Okay.

Wow. 330 Saturday, No. 21 Florida hosts Ole Miss. I'm very intrigued.

What time you say it was?

330.

Oh, good. To see how he bounces back. this week. Well, not bounces back, but.

How he keeps the momentum going.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

McShay's mentioned him as like a top five pick already. That was before last week.

I don't know how he couldn't be if he continues doing what he's been doing. Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, and, uh, and it's early in the season.

But I am, for going into this year, if you would have told me Steelers could take Chambliss at 20, I would have thought, yeah, there's a really, you know, he'll get drafted.

In that Jackson dart range. I'm not sure if I said yes or no in the offseason to that question.

Now he's a top 10 pick.

Now I do it in a heartbeat.

The draft is next week.

I'm trading my first round pick for him in a heartbeat right now from the Steelers. Matt, another guy we need to talk about. I mentioned McShay. He does that podcast with Steve Mensch. And they basically, I listened to the Monday one, or it's Sunday, you know, recapping the Saturday games before, wasn't any good new NFL stuff to listen to. They think, and I wonder if you agree, he's been the best quarterback in college, not a prospect, the best quarterback in college football this year.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yes.

Like you, we could talk, we could talk about Mensa who we're going to talk about here in, in, in just a second because he's been outstanding.

And, But Miami.

Has played the little sisters of the poor. They played Stanford. They played, I think, FAU.

They played Wake Forest. They played Central Michigan this week.

But the Mets have started out 24 for 24 on Friday night against Wake Forest.

The degree of difficulty is not the same.

The degree of difficulty is not the same as what Chambliss has dealt with, playing a really good Louisville team in a neutral site game, and then obviously an LSU team that could win the national championship still this past Saturday. But Mensah's been on fire for Miami. I'm excited to see when that schedule finally toughens up. But he has done what you would expect him to do against inferior competition.

He has looked like the varsity quarterback out there against the second team.

Yeah.

And it's just.

Absolutely lightened it up. And his arm talent is undeniable.

You're talking about Mensah now.

I'm talking about Mensah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Again, check in the boxes. You should destroy the bad teams. He's destroying the bad teams.

And he's got Central Michigan again this weekend. I would expect that to continue.

This reminds me of an Aaron Schatz football outsiders thing. Like, over history, the good teams destroy the bad teams. You know, like the Super Bowl caliber teams, when Miami comes, they do like what the Niners did to them. They don't just happen to edge them out and get the W. They destroy them.

They put that game away by halftime.

And that's what Mensah's done against, you know, it leaves no doubt.

Leaves no doubt.

You do think Chambliss is having the best year of any quarterback in college football. I do.

I think those two and Kamario Taylor are at the top.

But of the draft eligibles.

Of the draft eligibles, yes. I think CJ Carr for Notre Dame's been impressive. He deserves a shout here, too. He's really making me pay attention. Another one, though. I really want to see it when the when the uptick in competition starts sure but CJ Carr from Notre Dame has been outstanding okay but right now it's it's tough to argue against Chambliss when you go with kind of grading on a curve two of the yeah yeah he's played against two ranked teams in three games you know and has has been the reason his team has won.

In the fashion in which he's won it yeah he He.

Drove them down the field to score a touchdown and beat Louisville in that season opener in Nashville. Drove his team down the field, scored a touchdown to win the game against LSU. He's been doing the thing. But Mensah has been crazy impressive. His numbers are like video game numbers right now. If you're in a college football fantasy league, Mensah's probably been the quarterback to have.

But again, he's dominated the stiffs. He's not as mobile as Chambliss, though, right?

Not as mobile. I mean, few are mobile as Chambliss.

Yeah, Chambliss can really scoot.

But he's not a Statue of Liberty back there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he's over the threshold in terms of mobility.

Uh, mentioned CJ car, Matt, he is in the top 10 nationally and EPA per drop back. I knew you would like that stat, that stat pool.

Yeah.

I want to see him against an uptick in competition, but he played really well. I guess Michigan state is they're not what Sparty was 10, 15 years ago. They're trying to build back to that, but it's still a big.

It's still a big time.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, and he played, he played pretty well against.

Uh, they handled them pretty easily against Sparty.

Yeah.

And to, uh, much to Mike pursuit is chagrin.

Yeah.

Uh, Camario Taylor's another one. He's only 19. He's not draft eligible. Uh, But if you're not familiar with this insane quarterback.

From Mississippi State. This is a wild guy.

I really, I really encourage you to do so because he could be the number one overall pick in the 2028 draft.

Whenever he comes out.

He's 19 years old and he has been that good.

He is like dragging Mississippi State back to prominence.

He's a Mississippi kid.

I've heard many people say that. I haven't watched any of them, but they all say like anyone can tell you, whoa, the talent is in. Really, really off the charts.

His stock has risen the most, I think, of anybody in these first three weeks of the season. Josh Hoover from Indiana has been really good, too. He's another one. He's number two nationally in EPA per drop back. Um, he's the, you know, the, the transfer from TCU that we talked about a little bit heading into the season. Um, he, uh, plays Friday night, Indiana. I forget who they have on, on this Friday night, Northwestern or something. Again, they've kind of beaten up on some bad teams.

Yeah.

Their schedule has blown people away.

Josh Hoover starting to climb up some of these lists. I've really liked what we've seen from Jada Meava, the USC quarterback that we talked about, um, you know, a little bit last year and he returned to USC, um, Big showdown against Oregon and Dante Moore this week.

Oh, good.

There's a lot of games. I'll give you them here in just a minute, but there's a lot of games to watch.

Even just from a quarterback draft perspective.

Just from a quarterback draft perspective. Drew Mestemaker, Oklahoma State quarterback.

He's talking to the town now.

My goodness. Put on an absolute show against Oregon. Had some incredible throws. Remember, Oklahoma State, man, they had won one FBS game the last two years. Like, they had finished dead last in the Big 12 two years in a row. I think they had three wins over those two seasons. They won one game last year, Matt. They went to Oregon last year and lost 69 to 3.

And then with a brand new coaching staff and a brand new roster, you know how that works. And then they beat Oregon at home the next week. I tried to look this up, but I think that might be the biggest turnaround in college football history of losing a game by that many points and then beating them the following year.

Wow.

Now that used to hold a lot more weight when it was the same rosters year after year, but still still, What they've done there at Oklahoma State after losing to Tulsa and really struggling week one, they've figured it out. Mestemaker has been outstanding. He was 20 of 22 last week, over 300 yards, five touchdowns. And Matt, I'll get to see him Saturday night with my own two eyes.

Yeah, I'm psyched to hear about it.

Under the lights in Morgantown.

Again, this is like a parable of Jim Brown or whatever, but he has some Josh Allen vibes.

Yes, he does. Yeah.

I mean, like in terms of style of play and weight loss.

He had a 75, 77-yard touchdown run against Oregon in that game two weeks ago. So not just light it up with his arm. He can make you pay with his legs too. One more name that I wanted to mention to you, Matt, that we haven't talked about yet that has been brought to my attention, that I'm following this guy the rest of the year. I mentioned Louisville to you when we were talking.

They're having a good year.

They're having a good year. Lincoln Keinholtz, the quarterback for Louisville. Man, he's impressive. Man, he's a big body type. You know, it's funny. You know this, but a lot of the Steelers video guys like TV. You know, they like to listen to the show as well, too. I got on the plane to fly to New England on Saturday, and they're all like, you've got to talk about Lincoln Kineholz from.

Louisville, the Louisville quarterback.

He's an Ohio State transfer, so he was a high-pedigree recruit, was just kind of sick of sitting behind Julian Sayen. And he has, man, he's turbocharged that Louisville offense. He's on my radar now.

What style?

I mean, good athlete, good size. Yeah, some Joe Burrow, Josh Allen type vibes there. Big body, will use his legs, has an arm. Again, he's just really kind of exploded onto the scene here.

And he's draft eligible.

I believe he is draft eligible.

Okay.

I believe.

There's always one or two that you don't talk about in the preseason. There's so much murkiness.

I know.

There always is.

Doesn't mean they're going to come out, but they can at least.

Exactly right.

Sellers have struggled a little, though, huh?

Two guys that I don't think have covered themselves in glory, Sellers and Arch Manning.

Really?

Arch was very good in that fourth quarter against Ohio State.

I was going to say, he kind of had a Heisman moment, though.

Other than that, he really struggled this weekend against University of Texas San Antonio.

Or was it UTSA? No, it was UTSA, not UTEP. I always get them confused.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He doesn't have to come out either.

Part of that might have been just you got to hang over from that big Ohio State win and you're overlooking that opponent.

It's still not a good look.

If you're the dude.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, I want to see you beat up on those bad teams.

I want to see you put up big numbers.

First overall pick.

Yeah.

I don't want hangovers.

Not that I'm completely out on Arch, but it hasn't been the kind of guns blazing start to the season. I'd say the same thing about Dante Moore, the Oregon quarterback.

They were considered one and two. They were considered one and.

Two, and not that their stock has plummeted, but they have not been what we thought they would be to start the season.

I get the feeling they just haven't cemented that they're one and two. Yes. By any stretch.

And then, yeah, Lenora Sellers, he really struggled, had some bad turnovers against Mississippi State, got totally outshined by Kamario Taylor. I'm just wondering if it's another year where it's a disaster for him and for that program, and if he maybe does end up transferring somewhere else after this year and staying in college for one more year, because I think he can as well.

It was McShay and Mensch, I think, saying, I think the best thing for this guy is stop the loyalty. be the next guy to go to LSU or Ohio state or whatever. And, you know, get yourself in a better situation.

You know, I, I said to you at the beginning of the year that my tier one guys, before we saw a game of college.

Do you remember that?

I did a tier one, tier three of all these prospects. My tier one guys were Dante Moore, Arch Manning, and Lenore Sellers.

And they're the three that.

Idiot doesn't know anything diddly swat about football. Cause those are the three that have struggled, but maybe that's also like, they're the ones that are really under a microscope.

Yeah.

Matt, a couple games for you to keep an eye on and for everyone this weekend.

If you want noon on Saturday, No. 1 Texas in Knoxville to take on No. 14 Tennessee. Let's see how Arch can perform there in front of a hostile crowd. Great environment, 100,000 strong there.

Peyton's old stomping grounds. Yeah, good call.

His uncle's old stomping grounds. Good call there. So that's the noon game that I'm really going to be keeping an eye on. You at 3.30 have Georgia and Oklahoma. John Mateer has struggled to start.

He's not doing great.

No, he's not.

Can he bounce back?

Gunner Stockton, the Georgia quarterback that we've mentioned a few times, he's had a good start to the season. Can he start to rise up on a lot of these quarterback conversations with a good performance against Oklahoma? That one's at 330.

Huge program.

Huge.

Also, Ole Miss and Florida, as we mentioned.

Nice.

To see Trinidad in that swamp environment that's going to be rocking between two ranked teams. That's a 330 game as well that I'll be keeping an eye on as I'm poking around Morgantown. We'll have the TV set up at the tailgate, as we always do. Lenora Sellers goes in South Carolina, go to Alabama on Saturday night.

I've heard good things about the Bama quarterback, too, by the way. Yes.

I don't know if he's draft eligible.

I don't think he is. I don't think he is. But yeah.

But Bama's a 12 and a half point favorite. Can sellers.

Could be another long day for.

Gamecocks, huh?

Yeah.

Can things start to come together for him?

Uh matt of course seven o'clock mestermaker and oklahoma state in morgantown to take on the mountaineers all of a sudden michael hawkins a pretty intriguing quarterback uh for west virginia as well is that a great start to the season there's.

Most expected mestermaker to do a year at oklahoma state and then come back yes if he keeps us up.

I think he's gone yeah right right and maybe sellers is the one who ends up coming back yeah we thought he would be gone Dude, the slate Saturday is unbelievable. You also Saturday night have Texas A & M and Marcel Reed against LSU looking to bounce back and Sam Levitt.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then Dante Moore and Oregon.

Those Kentucky Wildcats did a number on A & M. They sure did.

And then Oregon looking to bounce back to their sluggish start to the season against USC. That's right.

Meava and Dante Moore once again. Those two put on a show.

Is that like a 10 o'clock Eastern start?

7.30.

Oh, okay.

So the night slate is unbelievable. You've got Missouri and Mississippi State.

I mean, it's a great slate of college football across the board, but a lot of games.

Matt, to keep an eye on the quarterbacks.

Good stuff. Real good stuff.

Can't wait for it. Hour in the books. Another hour to go. I'm just living for Saturday, baby. We'll talk to our buddy Chris hallock to kick off hour number two when we return it is the drive steelers nation radio on the steelers audio network

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