The Lane Kiffin era of LSU football has not eOn3.com’s Chris Low weighs in on the SEC’s policy penalizing schools for signing players who signed professional contracts and discusses the version of Lane Kiffin LSU is getting. Reed Darcey with The Advocate gives some insight on Ukrainian center Kate Koval’s departure from the LSU women’s basketball program before the start of the school year.
Here is the complete transcript of the show from YouTube. Tiger Rag apologizes for any AI generated mistakes:
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Back here on Tiger Rag Radio. As we continue on with the show, Jeff Polmo along with the executive editor for Tiger Rag magazine, Todd Horn, and Case
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Kishnik is our producer. Reed Darcy will join us from The Advocate a little bit later on in the hour. Uh we are set to
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or we were scheduled to speak with Chris Low from onree.com.
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But, uh, Chris may be busy with obviously the the latest developments here. And again, if you’re just joining
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us, a little over an hour ago, the SEC issued a new policy regarding professionals returning to college athletics.
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And according to the new policy, previously declared for the NFL, NBA, or WNBA draft and did not appropriately
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withdraw, they are not eligible to play if they signed a contract with an NFL or other professional football league, NBA,
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GLeague, or WNBA or affiliate team. not allowed to play in college athletics according to the SEC, been listed on an
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NFL or other professional football league, NBA GLeague or WNBA or affiliate roster, not allowed to play. This
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impacts three particular players involved with LSU. The two football players that were involved in training
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camp earlier this month, Dacoin Wright, the tight end who was at Old Miss, who had spent time with both the Eagles and the Browns before he was finally waved.
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And I understand he cleared waivers today. Uh it’s usually a 48 hour period before you finally clear a waiver. So he
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is now eligible [laughter] or available or I don’t eligible is not the word, but he can now transfer to LSU if he wants.
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Whether he plays or not, I don’t know.
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Xavian Harris, the defensive tackle who was with the Saints, never practiced, had a foot injury, uh, but was on the
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Saints training camp roster and announced that he or it was announced that he committed to LSU and plan to
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sign. And of course, RJ Lewis, the former Big East player of the year from St. John’s, who did not play basketball
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at all last year, declared for the NBA draft, forgo the rest of his eligibility. uh he did
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not play uh last year as I mentioned and uh he was uh granted another year of eligibility by a judge yesterday. All
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right, we do have Chris on now here from on three.com. So Chris, I know we want to get into some actual football talk
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and not what’s happening in the courtroom, but um you’ve been reporting on this story all day as far as the SEC.
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You you had a tweet that went out about 4 hours ago that said one SEC president called it a mockery what was going on
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with former NFL players trying to return and expressly LSU bringing in transfers within the league. Uh as the meetings
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continued this week in Birmingham, 14 of the 16 schools strongly opposed and one undecided. LSU holding firm for now.
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From what we’ve heard, Chris, that it was eventually a 160 vote. So, I would imagine LSU eventually is behind this
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policy, but whether they actually follow it, I guess we we it still remains to be seen. What’s your take on this situation right now?
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Yeah, I’d say you’re right. I I think when you’re sitting in a room with your peers and you’re a chancellor or president, and you got 14 or 15 looking at you and saying, “No, this is not
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going to happen. We’re never going to go for this.” Well, you know, one against 15 is not good odds. And so,
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you know, whether they’re jumping up, whether LSU is jumping up and down about it and and uh and and hoping that this thing will pass, I’ I’d say not. But I
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think they also see sort of see the writing on the wall. And that’s just sort of where we are now. It’s a uh it’s a weird time in college athletics. And
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there’s there’s the loophole that sort of created all this with the 22 class not being grandfathered in when the NCAA
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went, you know, the five to five rule. I think that would have probably eliminated a lot of this, but not all of it. And I think when there’s there’s the
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ability to weaponize district courts and state courts now, which we’ve seen a lot of different schools do, and I think
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people wonder where that ends if you don’t sort of crack down and say, “Nope, we’re not going to allow this, which is
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essentially what the Big 10 did today, the SEC following suit. We are not going to accept players who are pro players,
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who’ve been in pro camps, who’ve signed contracts, who’ve been drafted, etc., back into playing sports in our
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league. Now, remember, too, there was a sort of separate issue in the SEC that wasn’t necessarily the case in the Big 10, which is the interconerence transfer
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rule that after that period in winter that you cannot transfer to another school within your conference, which
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which clearly LSU and Lane were trying to circumvent that by saying, “Well, these guys didn’t really transfer from another school.
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They went from Old Miss to the NFL. Now they’re coming back.” And and some of the people I talked to were especially upset about that. That no, we we can’t
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do that. And for one of the quotes was, “Hey, if we don’t stand firm against this, then it’s over for us. We’re never ever going to be able to enforce anything.” I sort of agree with that.
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Now, I also agree that this was a lot of this could have been avoided. Maybe not the transfer thing, but the players
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coming back from pros, you know, had most of these kids been told before they declared for the draft that they were going to get fifth year because a lot of them probably wouldn’t have declared.
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I I agree. Hey, Chris, we really don’t want to keep talking about this. We want to talk about Lane Keifin, and you’ve covered him for years, but I do have one
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question. What What’s the difference between the NFL money, the NBA money, and the SEC’s money in the school? Is
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there a difference in the money that they’re getting that makes one a pro and one not a pro or what’s the deal?
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Well, actually, I think if you come back to school, some of the money that’s being paid now in NIL, uh, let’s take Zeaquin Wright or Zen
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Harris as examples, they’re going to make would make more money coming back to play college ball than they would as a rookie, you know, in training camp, that
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kind of thing. So now, you know, neither one of those those both those kids got cut, but yeah, I think you stand to make
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everybody I’ve talked to [clears throat] if if uh if Harris and Wright would have been eligible, will they still be eligible? Looks like now they’re not
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going to be that they could have stood to make I don’t know four or $500,000 each. Man, that that’s doesn’t seem fair, huh?
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Yeah. And and I money. So, it’s there’s a lot of money there at stake, which is you look at what quarterbacks are making. My colleague Pete Nikos did a
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story today on what upper tier quarterbacks are making in college football and just about every one of them are
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over three million. And then you at the upper tier like Levit, Trend Shamblas, uh Darian Mensah, you’re talking about five, six approaching seven million.
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That’s crazy. Well, let let’s talk about Lane Keven. Um you’ve covered him for years. Uh, you’ve been through a lot of
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different versions of Lane Keifin. And is the guy that LSU hired fundamentally different from the guy who was at
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Tennessee or USC? Or is he basically the same guy who finally figured out how to harness it all? Or is he just unleashing it differently now?
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Well, he’s a lot older and Lane would tell you that he remember he was 34, 33 when he was in Tennessee and sort of
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a bull in a china shop. I think he still is, but he’s I think he’s been able to reign in some of the things that um were
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undoing and he’ll tell you in his personal life. He’s sober now and that’s made a big part big made a big difference for him. Uh I still think
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Lane is one of those guys and I don’t mean this in a good way or bad way. He’s wanted to do whatever it takes to win at the highest level. And you’ve sort of
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seen this with this recent deal. Not that he’s the only coach who would try to bring back pro players, but uh he’s a thousand% committed to winning and
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winning big. And he’s going to blow hot and cold. He’s going to be one of those guys that, as I said in the piece they did on him, and he’s 60, you know, he’s
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very much an acquired taste. Some people never acquire that taste. Uh but you know he he has a way of rallying teams
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uh and rallying players. Almost all the guys that I have talked to that played for him at Tennessee, they played for
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him at Florida Atlantic, at Old Miss, now they haven’t played a game yet at LSU, they like playing for him.
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They enjoy his swag. They enjoy the way he goes at it. Um and I think that’s the thing he has sort of done consistently.
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And you know, you you have guys who coach with him, some of them swear by him, some of them swear at him, but he is unabashedly
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who he is, and that’s never going to change.
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What What do you think it is that that Lane understands about modern college football better than most of the other coaches?
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You know, he’s always been a step ahead.
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you know, the way he was, you know, playing fast, doing some of those things. Uh, pushing the envelope, uh, I
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think react, not reacting, but anticipating, uh, the game itself where it’s where it’s headed, sort of off off the field,
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on the field. Uh, he’s always been uh I think look, he’s looked at players and the way he develops players uh, and the
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way he relates to players. I think he’s probably the fact that he’s been, you know, he’s not young anymore, but he’s younger than a lot of coaches, but I
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think being closer to their ages in some respects and I think his dad, you know, Lane’s dad was a huge influence on him.
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Monty, I know he misses Monty a lot and Monty was one of those guys that um everybody loved Monty. Okay, not everybody loves
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Lane, right? But everybody loved Monty and Monty was just one of those guys that uh you gravitated to. The players
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loved him. And I think down deep Lane listened to Monty uh a lot more than maybe any of us ever realized. I think
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now that Monty’s gone, uh he’s he’s told me, in fact, he’s thought a lot about some of the things that Monty told him and taught him and the way Monty, you
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know, treated people. Um, and I think that’s one of the things that Lane has probably been criticized a lot about that he doesn’t always treat people the way he should.
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Um, and but I think he’s just he’s he’s matured. He’s matured in a lot of ways, but as I said, you know, he’s still not for everybody. There’s a lot of people
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that don’t trust him. A lot of people think that he’s, you know, just way way too narcissistic. And if you can do something for him, uh, then you’re good.
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But he uh he also has people that u have remained pretty tight in his circle. And then you look at guys that came with him
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from Old Miss. You Kevin Smith’s been with him going all the way back to Florida Atlantic. Charlie Weiss has been with him. Charlie Weiss Jr. all the way
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back to Florida Atlantic. Charlie miss would have loved to have kept Charlie.
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And I know that was a hard decision for him, but he went with Lane. So, you know, there’s always two sides to every story. And I think we hear with Lane, we
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hear wildly on one side of who he is or what he isn’t, and we hear wildly on the other side of who he is or what he
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isn’t. I’ve known him for gosh, I guess going on 18 years now, and I’ve seen all the sides. And I’ll say
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this, uh, and I believe this sincerely, I think Lane will win big at LSU.
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I don’t know if he’s going to do it right away, but I also think this, I’m going to write something about this next week. I think there’s more pressure on him to
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win big right away. And when I say win big, win a championship or certainly make a deep run for a championship in
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his first year more so than any other first year coach I can remember in college football history. He will be expected to win immediately.
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Do do you think that motivates him to work constantly, work harder? I mean, he’s got a tremendous work ethic and
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he’s exhibiting it here. Or has that always been the way he’s been or or has he just increased that work tendency?
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Well, he’s always been fishly competitive.
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Uh, but I think he probably works smarter now and u I don’t I don’t think it motivates him anymore.
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[clears throat]
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Think he’s always been motivated. He’s always wanted to be a guy that um he’ll tell you, you know, I used to think about going somewhere and they build
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statues for me, that kind of thing. But more than anything, I think Lane wants to to do what he hasn’t done, and that’s, you know, win a national
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championship as a head coach, you know, win a conference championship. Now, I think they did win one there when he was at uh at Florida Atlantic, you know, but
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he’s he’s sort of been swimming. They swam in his waters a little bit at Old Miss and did things he never done. So, he’s got the vehicle now at LSU.
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Yeah. Why is that? What is it about LSU that’s institutionally better than stronger than Miss?
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Well, I think that the talented state year in year out. Uh I think the brand is a bigger brand nationally. I think
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you can go out get which we’ve seen there. You can go out and get a Patrick Peterson in South Florida. You can go in Houston and get great football players.
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Uh they’ve exhibited that. you know, you’ve had three coaches there, three different coaches, um, over the last what, 22 years and won national titles.
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Uh, so many coaches that I talked to, some of whom have coached there, some of who coached against LSU, tell me very
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simply that there’s not a place in America year in and year out that you can recruit championship caliber athletes to as consistently as you can
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LSU. And I think when you’re spending $50 million on the roster, an investment that LSU now has made and essentially giving Lane cart blanch to do what he wants to do.
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you know, if you ask me, and I thought this even before, in fact, when I was talking to Wayne last year when he was trying to decide what he was going to
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do, uh, not that he needs my advice, but I felt like and have felt like even before he got involved that LSU, if it wasn’t
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the best job in America, it was certainly one of the top two or three.
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Chris, thanks a lot, man, for your perspective on Lane and what’s going on in college athletics. I know it’s a busy night, so we’re going to let you get back at it. We really appreciate it.
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We’ll talk again here maybe right around LSU miss game.
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All right. I hope you guys get some work out of Gilbo somewhere down [laughter] the road.
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We’ll try. We’ll try. He’s all right.
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Thanks a lot. We appreciate it. Chris Low of on.com. We’ll take a break. When we come back, more of Tiger Rag Radio right after this.
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I’m Richard [snorts] Fontno, president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation.
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Visit lafarmbureau.org. The Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, the voice of Louisiana agriculture.
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We now return to Tiger Rag Radio.
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Back here on Tiger Rag Radio, Jeff Warmo [music] along with the executive editor for Tiger Rag magazine, Todd Horn. Got a question for you, Todd. And I’ve heard a
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lot of people say, and Chris just talked about it as well, that the NCAA should have just did a blanket waiver for the
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high school class of 2022 and and grandfathered them in in the five for five.
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But there’s also the point that that could have created even more chaos. How?
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Because I looked it up today. There are 205,000 and I’m just talking division one athletes. 205,000.
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So if you let’s just say you divide that by five, right? So that that would be like one
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class if I’m thinking and I go by five just because there’s some red shirts in there. And that that means there are then the potential. I’m not saying it
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would be this many 40,000 athletes trying to play another year when you
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have because of the house settlement roster caps there’s revenue share
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you have an incoming high school class you would have players being cut left
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and right supply and demand supply and demand but but don’t forget they did increase the roster size for
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But what about but okay that’s fine for football but what about some of these other sports?
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Well yeah baseball reduced to theirs um and basketball stayed pretty much the same. So there’s really that’s really
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not a factor in those other sports. But yeah, it is it it would it would create it a a huge amount of of players without
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work, so to speak. And actually, it’s it is work because they’re getting comp, you know, compensated at every level, right?
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Where when they’re playing when they’re on the roster, if they make a roster, which is what I asked Chris, too, and
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you know, he took it to another level, which was great. His answer was great, but well, why is when I look at this SEC
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statement from tonight, they’re they’re pro is
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I don’t get it. They’re they’re saying you can’t go pro unless you want to play pro ball for us. [snorts] What’s the difference?
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I know what you’re saying, right? But it’s a different it is different in when you’re in the NFL and the NBA. You’re in a league. You’re in a
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professional league where they have rules. [laughter] This is still some sort of I and and if
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you if you start blurring the lines between college athletics and professional who’s going to do that?
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Well, that’s what they’re doing right now. Oh, they’re blurring the lines. They’re blurring the lines badly. What blurs the the money?
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Exactly. the fact they don’t have to go to school anymore.
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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I you know, so my frustration level is is that no one
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and I I’m glad to see the SEC took a take a stand because if Greg Seni issued that statement yesterday, the
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statement that he issued yesterday regarding, hey, we can’t we can’t have this anymore and then they didn’t follow through if anything, I think that would have been pretty disappointing. Now, we
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have to wait and see what exactly happens. Based on some of the tweets that I’ve been seeing from Ross Dinger, who’s been uh talking with the attorneys
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um involved in these various TTRO, they’re they’re lawyered up and they’re ready to go to battle. Shocking.
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Yeah. So, but it’s just uh it’s brutal. It it’s brutal. And um
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what’s the difference between college sports and pro sports? It’s just a perception like amateurism or what? It’s not amateurism anymore.
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It’s not amateurism. So, what are they protecting?
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But you’re you’re representing a university tradition.
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The the players don’t even go to this class anymore.
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Well, but you’re wearing LSU on your jersey, so you’re representing the university. I’m not saying whether they’re going to school, but they’re representing the university.
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Remember when you used to have to go to school?
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I know. [laughter] I know. I know. I know. Um, I’m really interested to hear what Reed Darcy has to say. He’s going
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to be our next guest. Um, this is a very interesting story and we’ll get his uh take on it and he did a great article
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last week uh where Kim Moi was pretty open about the conversation she had with Kate Kovville who’s from the Ukraine that she was bringing in a player from
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Russia and trying to get Kate to she was trying to play United Nations in a way here
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and it doesn’t seem like Kate was willing to go along with it which is a prerogative but we don’t know we don’t know that. We don’t know that.
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I mean that that seems like it, right?
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But the way Kate was the quotes that Reed had, Kim was trying to be a a peacemaker here in a sense and it didn’t
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quite work out. All right, we’ll take a break and we’ll get Reed’s thoughts on this and we’ll continue. More coming up here on Tiger Rag Radio.
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The East Baton [music] Rouge Parish Library believes that supporting the education of students is good for us all.
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Tiger Rag Radio is back.
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All right, back here. on Tiger Rag Radio. Jeff Palmo along with the executive editor for Tiger Rag magazine, Todd Horn, Case Kishnik, our producer
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tonight. You know, lost in all this TTRO madness and Jaden Daniels gate jersey number and all that kind of stuff. A
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very interesting story was developing with the LSU women’s basketball program and Reed Darcy had an excellent article
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last week where coach Kim Moy um and good for her for really opening up to uh Reed Darcy about the the situation that
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she had on her team. Many of us are familiar with center Kate Koval, a junior from Ukraine who joined the Tigers as a transfer in 2025. She
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started 17 games last year, was expected to have a significant role on this season’s team, but uh in an effort to
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continue to get better, which is what we see with Lane Kein and bringing back NFL players, all these coaches, they’re here
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to win. So, I get it. Uh Kim Moy was adding 17-year-old Anna Manava, I believe I’m pronouncing her name
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correctly. Uh they they really feel good. They really think that this girl is going to be an outstanding player for the LSU women’s basketball program. But
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of course, uh, anybody that’s been following world politics for the last few years, or even if you were just halfway paying attention, um, you know
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that there is a military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. And what makes the story even a little more
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interesting is that Kate Koval’s dad is um in the Ukrainian army. And it was Russia who invaded Ukraine back in 2022.
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So let’s bring in Reed Darcy who uh wrote that article last week. And of course the latest development in it is that Kate Koval uh told Kim Moi over the
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weekend that she is going to leave the program. She will not play basketball this season. If she continues to play basketball, she’ll have to wait until
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the transfer portal window opens in April. So it was a very tough decision for Kate. Uh Reed, thanks for joining us
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tonight. Let’s first of all go back to your conversation with Kim.
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How did did Kim feel like she I I think your last line of that story, it didn’t seem like Kate Koval was
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really convinced what that this could be maybe a good thing that we have two
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players from two countries that don’t like each other, but they’re going to be on this team and they’re going to bond and they’re going to win. It didn’t seem
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like when you got to the end of your story last week that maybe Kate Koval saw it that way. I guess what’s your perspective on it?
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Yeah, I think we can say that now that she has officially um told Kim Moi and that LSU has officially announced that
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she is no longer going to be on the team this year. Um, I I think Kim Loki had that perspective on it that she hoped
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25 minutes, 19 seconds
that this could turn into an inspiring story, an uplifting story, a feel-good story where um, two players who were on
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opposite sides of this longstanding international conflict, a really uh, deadly war for the last few years could
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25 minutes, 37 seconds
get along and they could be teammates. I think Kim re really wanted to or at least she hoped that um it would turn
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into a positive story for her team, but but uh now obviously they won’t get the chance. It’s important to point out that
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we have not heard from Kate Koval throughout this process. You know, I reached out to her agents, her
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representatives, and then they declined um to talk as have they declined to talk to other media outlets I’ve seen. So, we
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don’t exactly know what Kate Koval is thinking and feeling right now. We can only project what we think she might be
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thinking and feeling. So, it’s important to point that out. Um, I just think that Kim Mulki, to her credit, was was very open and honest about what she hoped to
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accomplish here by by signing um the Russian player named it’s pronounced Anna Maniva, by the way.
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Okay. Ana Maniva. Ana Man. to her to her credit, she she was very very upfront and open and honest. Um and I don’t
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think that she um really expected that it would blow up um this quickly, if that makes sense. Yeah.
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But but Reed, like you said, I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer here or anything, but we don’t know Kate Koval’s reasons at all. Like you said, I mean,
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there there could be extenduating circumstances. There could be all kinds of things that we can’t imagine that entered into her specific decision-making process.
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Correct.
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Yeah, correct. I mean, we we don’t we don’t know. I mean, we can presume that it had something to do with the fact that um if she wanted to play this
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season, she would have to share a locker room with a player from Russia. We can make that assumption. Now, I know when I sat down with Kim Bulki, um she said
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that most of the team was not on campus yet. It was last Monday, so it would have been a week before LSU started um
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classes for the semester and the players had would spend all of that week, all of last week kind of trickling in to get ready for the semester to start. So,
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Kate Kogall was not yet on campus. The only players who were on campus were the international ones, Anaman and Noah Morrow, the one from Spain. Um, so my my
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assumption here is that once Kate Koval got into town, got into Baton Rouge from wherever she was spending um her off seasonason, her summer, just the weeks
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leading up to the school year, I’d assume that she just decided to sit down with Kimi and let her know what she had
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um what she had decided to do. I I think what’s important to point out here is that the fact that LSU was at least trying to sign a Russian player or
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recruiting a Russian player, it wasn’t really a secret. this thing was kind of the subject of online rumors, right?
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[clears throat]
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Really since April when you think about it and we just never were able to confirm it until LSU um announced it once Anamiva got on campus a couple
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weeks ago. So, she’s known that this was kind of in the works for a while and so she’s had a lot of time, I think, to
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come to this decision and um I suppose you can say it’s unfortunate timing for LSU, but um I don’t I don’t think
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there’s really any kind of good time for something like this to happen, the player [clears throat] leaving the team right before the season starts.
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So, you know, Koval wasn’t some into the bench player either. I mean, she was expected and projected to be LSU’s
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starting center this year. Um, so how significance of a basketball loss is this?
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It’s huge. I I’ I’d say it’s pretty significant. Uh, Kate Koval is is 6’5 and she’s really strong and she’s really
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skilled and all of last year, keep in mind, she was only a sophomore. She really really improved as the year rolled along to the point where in the
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NCAA tournament in the second round at when LSU beat Texas Tech big, she she played one of the best games of her career. Now, the numbers in in the box
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score don’t exactly show that, but she did a very very good job of protecting the rim and making sure Texas Tech didn’t score really anything in the
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paint or around the rim. And so, that’s kind of all that we we saw throughout the season. She was just slowly working toward and making progress and and just
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um slowly improving to the point where she could she could really control a game on the defensive end before and that was always what her potential was.
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um you you could absolutely see her take a step forward this year going into her junior year. Um she would she’s would
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have started at center for LSU. Um she would have been the leader um in the front court. She would have been the tallest, strongest, most physical uh
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player in the front court, most experienced certainly player for LSU.
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And now they don’t have her and they don’t really have a way to replace um any of the things that she would have
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provided. They really have to seems like to me they’re going to have to figure out uh p how to piece it together with what they have on the roster which is a
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collection of some some talent some versatility but not a whole lot of proven uh experience especially at the
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SEC level. So it’s going to be quite a challenge I think for for LSU and for Kim Multi to do it um this year without Koval their anchor really in the middle.
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Uh hi Reed this is Case. Um, the other thing that Koval of course uh supplies is the the rebounding in the paint there.
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And with that, LSU’s leading rebounder last season, Amaya Joiner, was named in the TTRO in Baton Rouge to return for a
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fifth season of Batt of College basketball, excuse me. Is there any avenue, She’s already entered the transfer portal. Is there any any avenue
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for her to come back to play for Multi this season?
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Uh there was and I think there technically still is, but she’s committed to Louisville as of this morning, I believe. So, um it seems like
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she’s headed elsewhere. Seems like she kind of wants to head elsewhere. She went into the portal last Thursday, so that would be two days before LSU found
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out that Cobalt was leaving. Maybe had the timing worked out a different way, maybe they could have brought her back, but um it certainly seems like she is
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headed elsewhere, which um which means that LSU would not be able to bring her back.
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So Reed, I have two questions probably relatively quickly as far as a replacement. Manava, I’m probably mispronouncing that already. She’s only
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17 years old. She is 6’5 if I’m not mistaken and and she’s already been playing in the Russian professional leagues. So, she kind of fits with the
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type of player as well as she’s getting in all sports right now. Um, having a professional league background, but it’s not in the United States, so she
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shouldn’t be under the SEC’s uh watchful eye as far as that goes. But is is there a sign that she could develop and
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32 minutes, 21 seconds
contribute immediately even though she’s only 17? Yeah, there’s a sign. I think LSU thinks she can play right away. I
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think they really like her. They they like what they see now and they think she can become a really really impactful player in the future. And what they see
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in her, I think, is her vision. That’s really what um the quality of hers that stands out for Kim Liy and Bob Starky
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and the rest of that staff. They they put on her film and they saw her competing in a professional league as a 16, 17 year old. really making some
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impressive passes um around the paint to her teammates, setting up teammates for for open shots and and that that I think
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showed them that she is maybe a little bit ahead of some 17-year-olds, some teenagers, um maybe ones that you would
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find in the US. And and on top of that, she has um she has a lot she has got a great touch, good feel around the rim.
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You can tell her footwork um is kind of uh it looks pretty good. I think she’s a decent athlete. She’s got good feet,
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33 minutes, 24 seconds
good hands. But again, if you if you watch any of her highlights or if you watch any of her films, the little of it that’s available out there, it it’s just
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hard to see how the level of competition she was playing in Russia translates to
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the SEC, in college basketball in the US. It’s It’s almost impossible to figure out how she’s going to do when she’s dropped into this new environment.
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So, I I guess we’ll find out once we actually see her play and practice for LSU. We could get a clue then.
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And and the last question for me, Reed, the Koval thing is is done. The door’s shut. There’s no way she could possibly
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come back or is there a chance that this could reverse itself?
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It it seems done to me. Um that that statement didn’t really seem like there was any wiggle room there. Um, and I
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believe I read front office sports I believe had a report um citing an LSU spokesperson I believe that she had she
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was also deciding to withdraw from the university as well. So um it seems like her decision is pretty final.
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Interesting story. Well uh thanks a lot Reed. Good stuff. Good coverage on it and we appreciate your time tonight. We’ll chat again here down the road.
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Thanks a lot. Good work as always.
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All right. Thank you guys. Have a good night. All right. Reed Darcy from The Advocate.
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We’ll be back after this here on Tiger Rag Radio. We’re back to Tiger Rag Radio.
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34 minutes, 56 seconds
All right, back here on Tiger Rag Radio.
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34 minutes, 58 seconds
Let’s talk some football, not courtroom here for the last couple of segments. We heard from some more players today. Uh I
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know Case was going through a lot of that earlier today. We do have some sound bites queued up, ready to be heard from Trey Wilson. And um first of all
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though, Dylan Jones spoke. Dylan Jones is still considered between him and Harlon Barry, starter A, starter B. Both of them probably split in time.
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35 minutes, 25 seconds
But what about what about Kaden Durham’s 270 yards breakaway touchdown runs during Saturday scrimmage? And Kaden
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Durham is actually faster than Harlem Barry.
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Mhm. I I I think a lot of people forget that.
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I I think you’re going to see a rotation here with all four of these guys and Stacy Gage being the other one, too.
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I I don’t doubt it. I mean, and I think they each bring something unique to it.
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I mean, obviously Dylan Jones is a bigger guy, right, by a substantial margin. And he also not
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only runs hard, which and different than the other, at least Durham and and Barry, but but I think he’s also a a
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36 minutes, 8 seconds
better blocker, you know, and I think that’s what sets him apart the most. A big physical. All right. Well, I think that was Case.
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So, you found the cut. All right. Well, here here’s the cut from Dylan Jones from what he had to say today.
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Being a big physical back and then getting here, I’ve been able to I would say the strength staff got me faster.
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Being out there just being able to play with speed really helped out my game a lot and just decision- making able to make a cut, hit the hole.
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Very interested to see what this kid could do because when you look at it, you know, he was one of the top running backs in his high school class. Didn’t
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put up big numbers at Wisconsin. Uh gets hurt, has the turf toe injury, commits to here, goes through spring ball
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immediately, uh makes his mark. coaches are impressed with it. Able to shoot up the depth chart to where he surpasses a
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37 minutes
couple of guys that already have played in Kaden Durham’s case two season, Harlon Barry’s case, one season.
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37 minutes, 8 seconds
I’m eager to see what he does in a game.
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Yeah. Again, I think like what we were just talking about before we listened to the clip and he kind of addressed it and I didn’t know that, but his his size
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that he feels like he’s faster now and he’s playing around speed, which he thinks motivates him. But again, the
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37 minutes, 25 seconds
fact that this is a a multi-dimensional offense that runs fast uh at a at a quick pace most of the time and blocking
37:34
37 minutes, 34 seconds
is so important. You know, Kaden Durham and Harlem Barry both struggled as pass protectors in the old regime.
37:44
37 minutes, 44 seconds
So, that may be a deficiency that they’re still trying to overcome. Let’s go ahead and take our final break.
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37 minutes, 49 seconds
Then we’ll hear a little bit from Trey Wilson, who could be one of the top wide receivers for LSU this season. That’s what you’re expecting anyways from a guy
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37 minutes, 56 seconds
that was a five-star prospect that has battled injuries the last couple of seasons. We’ll hear from him when we come back on Tiger Rag Radio.
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38 minutes, 4 seconds
This is Tiger Rag Radio. [music] Back here on Tiger Rag Radio. It’s been a very spirited show as new policy
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38 minutes, 13 seconds
instituted by the Southeastern Conference. And now we wait for another wave of lawsuits potentially to happen.
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38 minutes, 19 seconds
I I love this uh quote from uh Ryan Down that Ross Dinger of Yahoo Sports got um regarding the new policy for the SEC.
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38 minutes, 29 seconds
And then we’re going to get to the Trey Wilson. I just wanted to get this in here, Todd. I know. Yeah, I figured.
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38 minutes, 33 seconds
Listen, I I I know you’re sick of hearing about it, but um Ryan Townson saying regarding the SEC policy that says that anyone
38:42
38 minutes, 42 seconds
that’s been in the NFL or signed a professional contract can’t play. Uh says uh that the NCAA should be held in
38:49
38 minutes, 49 seconds
contempt of court for permitting conferences under its purview to blatantly violate court orders. And he plans to file such a motion.
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38 minutes, 58 seconds
Yeah, that’s interesting. again.
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Meanwhile, uh I’m looking here on Twitter and uh Brett Favre just committed to LSU.
39:05
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Okay. All right. [clears throat] All right. Uh Trey Wilson is on LSU’s team.
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39 minutes, 10 seconds
He has not played professionally. He got off to a great start at Florida.
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39 minutes, 15 seconds
Remember, he was a freshman all-American for the Gator after he was one of the top wide receiver prospects in the class of 2023. A five-star recruit according
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39 minutes, 23 seconds
to onree.com. caught 61 passes. Had a team high six touchdowns, 538 yards.
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39 minutes, 30 seconds
Only played four games in 2024 because of injuries. Only played eight games last year once again because of injury.
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39 minutes, 37 seconds
So, he comes here to LSU. Has the potential to really be one of the top wide receivers. In the highlight films that you see that LSU puts out or even
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39 minutes, 45 seconds
some of the great folks that are out there uh showing some of the video, Tiger Bait and all that sort of stuff, Wilson does flash on there quite a bit.
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39 minutes, 54 seconds
Uh let’s hear a little bit. Let’s just go ahead. Uh since we’re running out of time here, Case, just play the three cuts that you have back to back to back
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40 minutes, 1 second
and then we’ll comment after that. Bring Oh, that it’s off. Okay. All right.
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40 minutes, 5 seconds
Well, we thought we had it. Um best lay plans. But Trey Wilson should be a big part of uh this team, right, Todd?
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40 minutes, 13 seconds
Yeah, I think he should. I mean, his expectations, like you said, he’s had injuries over the last few years. Uh but he he’s an exceptional exceptional route
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40 minutes, 22 seconds
runner and he runs uh really good in the seams and uh I I guess if he can learn
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40 minutes, 29 seconds
to catch the ball [laughter] um that he’ll be an exceptional weapon both uh as a receiver and possibly a special teams play.
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40 minutes, 37 seconds
All right, I believe we do have the sound. Here we go. He done taught me a lot off the field and on the field and he done kind of brought a new perspective to me as far as playing
40:45
40 minutes, 45 seconds
receiver and being able to see and have a different feeling different holes that I may not be looking at him but I know he see the same thing I be seeing so it’s just great chemistry that’s
40:54
40 minutes, 54 seconds
building between me and him and the rest of the receivers for sure frustrating but you know injuries a part of the game and one thing I think that comes from it is that you don’t let it happen again so
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41 minutes, 2 seconds
always being able to grow my mind in that aspect as far as taking care of the body and learning new things about the body all the time So yeah, it’s
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41 minutes, 9 seconds
unfortunate, but guys time it so got to go with it. Just bunch of guys going and do what they love every day. We done grab guys across the whole country that
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41 minutes, 17 seconds
can go out there and ball, make plays, and everybody brings their own type of talent and skill to the team and it’s going to be a fun show to watch for sure.
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41 minutes, 24 seconds
So there in the first soundbite talking about his connection with Sam Levit, talking about the injuries and the sound bite there, and then he’s one of nine guys they brought in through the
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41 minutes, 33 seconds
transfer portal as far as wide receivers. And uh he is certainly among the top tier there along with Jackson Harris, Winnie Watkins, Jace Brown,
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41 minutes, 42 seconds
those are your four. Uh Malik Elie, right? Um am I he he’s in there as well.
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41 minutes, 49 seconds
So Watkins, Watkins, I said Winnie Watkins. I’m sorry. Yeah. I got lost. Yeah. Yeah.
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41 minutes, 55 seconds
It’s hard to keep up with hard. And we’re going to get familiar with them here soon.
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41 minutes, 59 seconds
And at least their most of their names are English or close to [laughter] Well, on that note, we’re going to wrap
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42 minutes, 7 seconds
up the show. Uh, again, it’s a very interesting show. Always love it when uh news breaks minutes before the show happens. That’s the second time that’s
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42 minutes, 15 seconds
happened this summer. We had the situation of the I think it was the lawsuit, right? The the lawsuits against uh Princewell Uman Ellen and Devin
42:24
42 minutes, 24 seconds
Harper. And that’s still out there too, Todd. So, you still a lot to chew on here.
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42 minutes, 28 seconds
More legal stuff. Yay. [laughter] All right, for Case Kishnik, Todd Horn, I’m Jeff Bla. For the latest in LSU sports, check out tiger.com. All kinds
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42 minutes, 37 seconds
of stuff there. And if you missed any of the show, go to YouTube or anywhere you get your favorite podcast. Have a great night, everyone.
42:44
42 minutes, 44 seconds
Tiger is everywhere online at tiger.com.
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42 minutes, 48 seconds
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/tiger [music] magazine or follow us on Twitter at tiger_reg.
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