LSU coach Lane Kiffin’s Tigers completed their first week of preseason practice. We break down the latest comments from Kiffin and quarterback Sam Leavitt’s first Baton Rouge media appearance. Brett McMurphy with on3.com gives a national perspective on the Tigers and their grueling nine-game Southeastern Conference schedule.
Here is the complete transcript of the show from YouTube. Tiger Rag apologizes for any AI generated mistakes:
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Get ready to talk Tigers with producer Case Kishnik and our host Todd Horn, Jeff Polalmo, and Glenn Gilbo.
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Tiger players and better people than they are players. This is Tiger Rag Radio and good evening everyone. Welcome to
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another edition of Tiger Rag Radio. We are a week into pre-season camp. I’m Jeff Polmo, news and sports director of
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Louisiana Radio Network along with the executive editor for Tiger Rag magazine, Todd Horn. Case Kishnik, LRN reporter
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and Tiger Rag reporter and our producer is with us tonight. And Gwen Gilbo is about ready to sweat as he is out over
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at LSU football ops as there is an evening practice and the media will be allotted to watch three periods which
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will last about 15 minutes. But uh we may hear from Glenn later on in the show. We will hear or we hope to hear
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from Brett Mcmurphy from on three national college football writer. We’ll get his take on not only big topics in the SEC but nationally. And there’s
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always a lot to talk about when it comes to college football, whether it’s college football playoff expansion, some new rules. By the way, I love the new uh
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the new change to targeting. Uh we’ll get into that here in a little bit later on. Uh we’ll join up with Sam Hutchkins. You know, last time we had Sam on.
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That’s when it it broke that Miss was suing a couple of LSU players and Prince Will Uman and Devin Harper. Uh, I was
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hoping maybe some more breaking news would happen right before we would get Sam on, but we got an hour for maybe something to occur, but hopefully we’ll
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get a update from Sam on where they are at with that lawsuit and how things are going in Oxford for them and preseason
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camp. And then Reed Darcy of the Advocate had an excellent piece on Kahan Booty, of course, the wide receiver for the New England Patriots, who has
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rehabilitated his life after a gambling problem. and he’s a better man for it.
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And Reed had a really good article on him. And we’ll have to talk to Reed as well about the LSU women’s basketball schedule that came out today. Very
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difficult stretch towards the end of the regular season and we’ll get Reed’s t uh we’ll get Reed’s thoughts on that. But
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uh Todd, we are here. It’s preseason camp. We’ve heard from Lane Keifin twice. We’ll hear from him again on Thursday. Looking forward to hearing
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from Blake Baker on Friday. We do get a chance to talk with the coordinators.
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Charlie Weiss will also speak with the media. But your big takeaway so far after what are we at? Four practices in
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the book. So maybe five five or six something like that. I think they look really good in shorts.
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Uh and shells.
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And shells. Yeah. I think and and what you said we’re at a week actually a week tomorrow.
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Yeah. This was the first practice cumulative about 30 minutes probably give or take a few. I really don’t know
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how you can surmise that much. I mean I do say that you can see that they’re a
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talented team right in terms of individual talent. And you can see that on paper too.
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You can see that on paper but you can certainly see it, you know, passes the eye test in in shorts and shells. Um but that’s about it. Yeah.
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And and you know, you mentioned they’re going to be able to hopefully view three three uh sessions tonight. You know,
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three rounds that that could last 15 minutes, it could last 10. It depends on how how long those rounds are.
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I you know, there has been some news that’s come out and case has been out there several times and and we’ll call
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on him to report it. We’ve got a lot of a lot of good sound. Yeah. Like you mentioned, Kean’s talked twice. Uh, we
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heard from Sam Levit for the first time, which was great.
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Yeah. And and we got some really good sound bites from that. I love Ty Benfield. I I you know, what I’ve seen of him on the field over the course of
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the last couple of months has really been impressive. I think he I think you know that I think LSU’s defense is going to be really good. Um, but I think the
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defensive backfield is going to be their strength. And I’ve thought that on paper and I think that there’s a there’s a
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case that can be made by case. Um that that that’s the case. Yeah. Um well, speaking of case, well, why don’t
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we ask him uh some of your observations, Case, of uh not only being out in practice, but also digesting what Lang
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Keifin and Sam Levit along with Todd Benfield and Brilen Moore have had to say so far here in the first few days of
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camp. Yeah, I mean I think you touched on the biggest takeaway for me from the, you know, brief experience that I’ve had
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watching the team. I wasn’t out there in the spring and so the these fall practices were my first time seeing these guys in person and Tai Benfield
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just looks like a guy. You know, he’s a head taller than everyone else in that safety room. He looks like almost an NFL
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ready player. And that really shows all you’re doing is looking at him standing there, you know, of course, but uh it really seems like all the reports
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coming out of the spring and everything that he’s going to be this big impact player and open up everything for you in the defense and in the secondary are true.
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6’3″, 210 lbs. One of the storylines at that other safety position is that we saw at least for a couple of drills,
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Jace Thomas running with the ones over Tomarcus Kulie. your thoughts on either of you guys. Your thoughts on that situation?
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Well, let me go first, Casey. I I I don’t think you can make anything out of that that much. I don’t think I think
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Demarcus Culie had a great season last year, relatively speaking, and I think that he has proven himself. I don’t think he’s going to lose Yeah.
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the job. I think in practice when you’re going through sessions like they’re going through that there’s going to be
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different players that get reps. And I I think you can take a step too far when you only see 10 minutes of total action
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and start to assume that that means somebody’s pressing somebody for for playing time. They may be pressing them for reps. Yeah.
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But playing time, you know, could be conditional on certain situations. Yeah, that was my kind of takeaway with it too is just, you know, the the next
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following days after there, there were reports of Jace Thomas kind of taking over that uh first team role. Now, Fahhem Delane’s getting run with the
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ones and everything. And it’s just kind of you’ve got a proven SEC starter into Marcus Kulie who was very good alongside
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AJ Holly last season. I don’t see a world where Kein comes in and tells Blake Baker, “No, yeah, you’re going to
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bench him for this guy. Uh, I think they’re trying to get some younger guys some reps because they know that there is a future after this season. Uh, and
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this is the time where you can kind of take a look. Keifin said that he had a lot of young guys that he liked in that room and this is just kind of your opportunity to actually get them seeing him play.
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And I think that’s very important and I think that’s true, but I also think that there is a conditional situational things that they’re preparing for right
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now. I think Lane Keifin and his coaching staff compared to especially what we’ve seen for the last four years
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is much more organized and purposeful with what they’re doing in these practices and in their whole season
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planning and I think that’s part of what you’re seeing right now.
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I will say you like what Jace Thomas potentially provides. Yeah, it’s not a
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knock against the kid at all. It’s great. I mean, he’s elevated himself over the course of a couple of months through what he did
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in offseason training and with team drills, you know, no coach allowed drills, what have you, to to warrant
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reps. That’s great for the kid and that’s great, but that does not mean it is completely jumping to conclusions
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to assume that he’s going to be pushing Tamarcus Kulie for the starting role right now. Now, that may happen,
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but I think right now it’s way too early to begin making that assumption based off of two reps.
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Now, Tammarcus did not grade out well with Pro Football Focus last year. So, there there may be more to it.
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Situational again, you know, I mean, I don’t know. We’re not out there. No. And and and now I’m I sound like a hypocrite because I’m sitting here going the
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opposite direction. We really don’t get to see that much to make any conclusions. And um you you have to piece together what
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the the narrative is and it’s so tight and controlled most of the time. And and that’s the thing is any 11 on 111 drills that they’re doing, Tamarcus
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Kulie could be out there with the ones in those, you know, from what we’ve seen, we know what we know. But I thought it was interesting. Benfield had
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an answer in his uh interview the other day where he was talking about the depth in the room and he mentioned how there
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are a lot of young guys that are great and there there’s a lot of young talent and it’s great that they have the opportunity to learn from guys like
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himself, Kulie, and Spears. And I just don’t think you list off those three like they’re the sure starters without that kind of having been the case.
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By the way, Desawn Spears, that dude has gotten bigger. His name is Deshawn.
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Deshawn Spears has gotten bigger. I mean, he he was impeded out to me as far as Okay. Cuz I I saw
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him at Denim Springs. You saw him at Denim Springs as well.
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And um even just seen him a little bit last season. Uh that is a kid that has certainly uh grown into his body for sure.
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And I think that’s very important especially considering he’s supposed to be the starter at Star, which is he’s going to need to be more physical. he’s
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going to need that size. My biggest concern with him, if you’ll recall last year and even the year before,
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uh I think it was the year or the spring before was his lack of physicality, but that will change and has changed uh with
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that increase in size. It’ll improve his physicality and I think, you know, even though they haven’t tackled yet, defensive tackle, let’s talk about that.
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That’s been one of the big storylines as well with uh both Richard Anderson and Duce Geralds again with the team drills
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even though it’s not team on team it’s just the defensive team out there those two guys as your starters or with the
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first team both true freshman meanwhile two guys that you brought in on the transfer portal uh Steph Green and then
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along with Malik Blackton from Auburn and then you got Dominic McKinley who was a previous five-star recruit who’s entering his third season.
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Defensive tackle is a position that sees serious rotation throughout the entire game.
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And and to me, this is a little different than what we were just talking about with with Jace Thomas at safety
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because these two guys are top-notch five-star recruits. It’s still hard for a freshman
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to play at that position, right? But the narrative that follows it from Kein is him talking about how him and Ed Ozon have never seen a room like
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this stocked with so much so much young talent, you know, together or separate.
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You know, that was in his I think we probably have that clip. We’ll probably play it. But that that’s to me they’re
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saying a little the narrative is a little bit different there. It’s like these guys are like almost
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transformational type of players and I think Duce Gerald’s Lamar Brown and Richard Anderson are
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going to see significant playing time this year. Now, I’m not saying they’re going to start and I’m not saying that they’re going to uh dominate the playing
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time, but I think they’re going to have significant playing time.
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Any concern about the size of Duce Gerald, 61, 280 pounds? last year who who was one of the names we kept hearing
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about all the time last year was Bernard Gooden.
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Bernard Gooden and then when the season came along, how many times did you hear Bernard Gooden’s name?
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Okay, so so again, we’re they’re only in shorts. There’s no, we don’t see any real team action,
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but from what you hear about him is that he handles his skill and his techniques
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are technique is so good that he overcomes that size disadvantage.
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Um, now I don’t know how you understand that whenever you’re seeing five minutes of action in against predominantly uh blocking dummies in blocks.
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Yeah, I don’t understand. I really I I don’t I don’t know. I I I don’t I mean I’ve played football my whole life. I don’t get it.
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I I would imagine though leverage is a big part. And this is a kid in Georgia. I thought this statistic is pretty cool. And I don’t know covering high schools.
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Trust me, the sack stat is a little elusive, right? Or it could be it could be fudged one way or the other. But he is the all-time sachs leader in Georgia
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prep football history. Wow. So, he is a kid that certainly I I think this news regarding Richard Anderson and Duce
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Geralds and you want to throw in Lamar Brown and then Trenton Henderson who Lane Keifin threw in there as well. I think this is terrific news for 2027 and
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2028. I just hope Malik Blockton and Steph Green and I want to see Dominic I wanted to see Dominic McKinley become
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the dominant player that people thought when they signed this kid. Remember, they signed him in the late February signing period, and we have yet to see it.
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We’re going to have to see it from McKinley and those other veterans that that transferred in, Blockton, and uh
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Green, you’re going to have to see it from them because they need the depth and and these players, these, you know, Anderson
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Brown even and uh uh Henderson.
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Henderson. Yeah. uh and Duce Geralds that they could have an impact, but they’re not going to be able to play a veteran role. They’re just not.
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Let’s take our first break, Todd. We’ll uh we’ll hear a little bit from Lane Keifin and some players. A lot to get to. Brett Mc Murphy also joining us later on in Tiger Rag Radio. Stay tuned.
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Much more coming up.
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I’m Richard Fontno, president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation. My brother and I grow rice, soybeans, and raised crawfish on our farm in Evangeline Parish. For a fourth
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generation farmer like myself, Louisiana Farm Bureau is as much a part of my life as checking traps or harvesting rice.
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Visit lafarmbureau.org. The Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, the voice of Louisiana agriculture. Tiger Rag Radio is back on the air.
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Back here on Tiger Rag Radio, Jeff Palmo along with Todd Horn and Case Kishnik.
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We were just talking about the LSU defensive line. Let’s hear from LSU center Brillin Moore who breaks down some of these young bucks on that D line.
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Man, those guys are going to be crazy talented. Their future is so bright. I mean, I’ve played in the ACC, played against good Clemson teams, played in
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the SEC. Those freshman are developed more than some of the players I played in their fourth year. Deuce is extremely
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talented pass rusher. His bag is endless. And then when it comes to Rich, he is a powerful dude. Can eat up double teams, could just cause chaos in the
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back field. And then Lamar’s kind of a switch up. You know, he’s a edge rusher, but he could also move into three tech.
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You know, he has that power. So, he could work finesse and he could just go right through you. So, that group is set for the next couple years for sure.
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They certainly are. Uh let’s hear a little bit from Lane Keifin where he was asked about have he ever had this talented group or these many talented
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freshman at one time along the defensive line.
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I talked to Ed about that. I was kind of thinking all the places over the years we’ve been and even when we’ve been together or separate and neither of us
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has had that, you know, it’s really and really unique to have nowadays because now they’re more spread out usually where before you could take more
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numbers, you know, and so maybe then you hit on some and got that. But it’s it’s really exciting. All of them have a chance to play. Those three specifically
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are playing a lot. It’s really exciting in an age that Yeah, certainly is exciting. Um we’ll see how well it translates to those guys
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um being able to go through some what will likely be some tough growing pains in 2027 2026, but obviously the future
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looks bright for 2027 28. Uh let’s hear a little bit case before we have to go to a break again. Uh Sam Levit, here’s Lane Kein’s take on Sam.
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Sam’s had a great week. Had a great practice today. Taking care of the ball, really throwing the ball really accurate and on time and um extremely pleased
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with his week and how he looks. We have high standards how how we want things and what we want them to look like. It was probably unrealistic what I was expecting him to look like when he can’t
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move and he’s just throwing without really having his weight to be able to push into. So, now that he’s healthy, he’s he’s had a great week. We’re really excited about him
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and he should be and what we’ve been able to see is that he throws a really nice deep ball but with no pressure on
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him and really no defender defending the wide receiver. So it’s it looks pretty but the one thing that is really good
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about that is that he is stepping into the ball and there there is no impediment from the injury and that is
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important. Uh, what about him thinking that Louisiana was fake?
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I can see that. I I thought Oregon was fake. So, how about that? I could touch on that. Do we have that clip, Case?
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The people are great in Louisiana. The passion, you know, just walking down the street is pretty incredible. Just, you know, the way that they love the state and put on for the state, you know, it
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just makes you want to be here even more. People around the facility just showing so much love to Baton Rouge and the entire area. You know, it’s just been a blessing being out here. You
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know, I’m from Oregon, so Louisiana kind of felt almost fake to me in a way. I didn’t think of I didn’t think it was a real place, but after being out here,
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you know, I just love the trees and I’ve always wanted to be in the south. The humidity obviously was something I had to get used to, but I love it now. I love the way it makes my skin feel and,
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you know, everything like that. So, it’s been it’s been amazing.
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So, let me get this straight. Because Louisiana has trees, it is now suddenly an authentic place that is real. And
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because it’s so humid, it makes his skin feel like olive oil. Yeah. Yeah.
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Well, he’s a he’s he’s a character.
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That’s the first time he’s ever spoken to the LSU media uh beat reporters. Now, he did what? He had a like a week before he did something with the women’s group.
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Yeah. NIL women’s clinic. But yeah, I came away impressed with the guy. I I love the story. I know it was
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just a kind of a quick story about him taking the receivers to Dallas and we had heard about that, right?
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Uh but he kind of gave a little bit more uh intel on or detail. Um but I I I found it interesting is that he said he
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fell in love with the place, but yet if you do a little revisionist history, he did leave LSU and go visit a couple other places.
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That was a complicated 24 hours too.
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Yes. because all of a sudden it seemed like De Man Williams was going to be the guy coming to LSU and then Lane had to
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go to Knoxville and patch things up. And I I know they pressed him a little bit and trying to get more of the backstory.
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To me, it would be a fascinating backstory and maybe one day it’ll all come out on what went down with that.
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But I don’t know if it was maybe it was love at first sight and then there was a little bit of a rift and then there was
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a there was a makeup and it and so far it’s been it’s been a nice relationship.
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So the way I remember it okay that and I have a somewhat viv vivid memory of that weekend. I remember Lane Keifin and and
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and Levit being at the LSU basketball game Whit Weeks with Whit Weeks and everything was reportedly going swimmingly and then
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that’s when the Deont Williams story broke. Yeah.
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And all of a sudden it’s like Levit’s leaving. Yes. And we didn’t expect Levit to leave, right?
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And that was like I felt like LSU would not close the deal. Well, and if it wasn’t a sure thing, Lane would have
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never gone up to Knoxville. He had a fence to mend, right, when he went up there. He didn’t go up there just cuz he wanted to see his old home.
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And the thing about that was he met him at the airport when he was getting ready to get on a plane. So, it wasn’t like it was like, I’m invited to come see you,
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let’s talk. It was like, okay, that’s when his flight is. We’ll see him at the gate. Yeah, but he’s here now and uh he
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does he’s healthy and I’m eager to see what he can do. Let’s take a break.
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Brett McMury from On Three will join us when we come back here on Tiger Rag Radio.
21:56
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Now, back to Tiger Rag Radio.
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Back here on Tiger Rag Radio, Jeff along with Todd Horn and Case Kishnik. Let’s bring in our first guest of tonight, Brett Mcury from On Three. He’s their
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national college football writer, one of them. Anyways, Brett, thanks a lot for joining us here. How you doing tonight?
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Uh good evening, guys. Good to talk to you.
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Ah, it’s great having you on. It’s been a while. Uh Lane Kein getting ready for his uh first season here at LSU. What’s
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your uh anticipation with what Lane can do in year one in Baton Rouge?
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Uh you got the national title parade route already lined up. Is that is that uh selling tickets yet to that?
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Yeah, there there’s some people that might be thinking that, but uh I don’t think anybody in this room is thinking that. Yeah.
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Uh yeah, I don’t I don’t think so either. I mean, it’s it’s going to be fascinating. I mean, it’s going to be um you know, to steal it phrase from NBC,
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much TV. Um, you know, obviously, you know, you guys how know how polarizing
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Lane is and um, you know, that everyone’s, uh, got uh, you know, September 19th circled. Uh, you know, it’ll be it’ll be an interesting season.
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I think overall it’ll it’ll be it’ll be a a tougher season for not only LSU, but I
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think for the entire SEC. And I know you guys heard, you know, you probably done a lot on the coaches belly aching about
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the nineame schedule. Um, but I do think that’ll have a that’ll have a big impact on the entire conference, including LSU.
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And so, how will they will they be able to avoid getting dinged up um in the win loss column like everybody else? Can
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they stay healthy? I don’t know. Because you look at the Vegas win totals, there’s only two teams at nine and a half. That’s Texas and Georgia. And then
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you got LSU in there at eight and a half with Alabama and Texas A&M. So all I know of this guys is I if I’m a nine and three team um the college football
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playoff selection committee has not given me any indication they’re going to put a three loss at large team in the playoffs. So I wouldn’t want to count on them doing that.
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Yeah.
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I just I just don’t know how how many SEC teams are going to get to 10 wins. Like you know certainly we’ll find out.
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But if there’s not a lot of chaos everywhere in the Big 12, in the ACC, in the Big 10, um, you know, again, the
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only thing we can go by is past history and what they’ve shown us is they consider one thing, and that’s the fewest number of losses.
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Yeah, that it’s it’s kind of crazy to go to those nine game that nine game schedule with half the league on the road for five games and then that be a
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penalty against you at the end of the season potentially. Um, but Brett, when you when you talk to to coaches and and
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people around college football, especially in the SEC, but just around college football in general, what what are they saying about Kein uh
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about what he’s assembled at LSU? And and is there any type of genuine belief that that LSU could to be a playoff team?
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Yeah, I think so. I mean, look, you can, you know, you guys know this. you guys are, you know, um, you know, aren’t
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rookies. So, if you can, if you want to write a story, if you want to push a narrative, you can find people that, you know, yes, LSU is definitely a playoff
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team. They’re a national title contender. And you can find people that are saying, “No, he’s going to be lucky to go six and six.” Um, I’m personally,
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I’m somewhere in the middle. I think I think I hate to say ceiling because you know you guys will clip this and then
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I’ll get very buried on Twitter, but I’ll say I think nine’s the ceiling in the regular season for for LSU.
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I just think that um and it’s nothing against Lane, it’s nothing against LSU.
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I just think the additional conference game is going to impact everybody. Yeah.
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and also and also something that nobody has experienced and that is the pressure that’s going to be on this team on a
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day-to-day basis because now Lane Keifin’s your coach the expectations are I mean you heck the last three or four
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coaches except for Brian Kelly of course won a national championship so you know the expectation is not to win the SEC
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it’s to win a national championship and if it’s not in year one well then okay we’ll give you a we’ll give you a honeymoon season and you better do it in
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year two. Um I just don’t know how much that will wear on um on LSU and then you
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know the schedule you know there’s there’s weak spots there’s tough spots I mean you know having to play&m after the you know game
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of the millennium at all miss that’s that’s going to be hard to get back up for.
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Yeah. Um, you know, in the closing stretch, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee in consecutive weeks, uh, you know, certainly two- one’s the worst you got
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to do in that that threesome and at Arkansas shouldn’t be a problem. But, um, yeah, I mean, I don’t know. I mean,
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I think Lane’s Lane did a tremendous job at Old Miss. Um, last year, of course, things got wonky at the end, um, when he
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left and wanted to coach and all that stuff, which I won’t get into. Um the year before though it really I think was a disappointment and it sounds weird
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saying that they l excuse me Miss was 10 and three and yeah that’s a how can I say it’s a disappointment. Well their
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three the three final losses were all as favorites for miss and uh one of those LSU upset miss is about a fuel gold
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underdog and then miss lost as two touchdown favorites to both Kentucky and Florida
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and those smell like bad fish. So, he can certainly cannot do that at LSU. Um,
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so will we see the 2024 version of Lane Keifin? Are we going to see the 2025 season of Lane Keifin? And
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that’s, you know, that’s that’s an unknown. Um, certainly LSU did great in the portal. Um, you know, there’s a
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there’s a ton of excitement. Um, but you know, Lane handles a spotlight well, but how will the team and the the surrounding
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um, you know, key contributors in Baton Rouge handle that spotlight as well? I think that will probably play a big part on how successful this season is.
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Well, you know, I think the I think we can all agree probably that Sam Levit is going to be a a wild card, if you will,
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in in how LSU performs. What’s the national perception of him right now at LSU?
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Um, I I think, you know, everyone expects him to to do well. It’s, you know, somebody did the, you know, the
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the cliche an anonymous coaches quotes and said, “Oh, what do you think about Sam Levit?” You know, and some guys are like, “Oh, he’s the greatest thing
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ever.” And then others are like, “Uh, vastly overrated.” So, um, I mean, look, he’s in a different place. Um, you know, his numbers last year were not great.
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Obviously, he had some injuries. Um, 10 touchdowns, three interceptions, and only seven games. Um, the year before,
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uh, but a little bit better, but he was a freshman. 24 TD, six interceptions.
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Um, was a key component in Arizona State winning the Big 12 and nearly um, not could have, but absolutely a
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thousand% should have beat Texas in that quarterfinal playoff game. Um but Sam Levit doesn’t play defensive back unfortunately for Arizona State. So um
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look, I I think he’ll be fine. Um no indication he’s not 100% ready to go.
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And um you know, it’s a it’s a different offense and having Lane as a you know, the guy directing the offense or the
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main guy drawing up the drawing up the plays. um whether he’s doing that full-time or not anymore um you know
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certainly is going to play to the strengths of the quarterback and I think I think Sam should have a should have a monster year in a season with you know
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I’m sure you guys have noticed this there are just there’s so many talented quarterbacks all over the country like everyone’s like who do you like in the Heisman I’m
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like ask me in like late November because whoever you tell me right now absolutely has a chance to win it and I
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can name 10 other guys that has the same same chance.
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So Brett, real quick, because I know Jeff wants to ask you something. We’re getting close here, but speaking of the talented quarterbacks, Trinidad Chambers at Old Miss, is he going to be uh
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adversely impacted by losing Charlie Weiss and Lane Keifin. Is that is that going to hurt him more than we think? Possibly.
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Um we’ll certainly find out right off the bat. They’ve got Louisville and Nashville. I I mean it could. You know, you’ve got the you know, again, you’ve
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got the chip on the shoulder. let’s prove him wrong type deal. Um, you know, it’s it’s impossible to say. I
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I there, you know, coaching now every everybody’s I think, you know, like even as recent as 10 years ago, you could see
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like huge disparities in coaches, you know, and how good coaches were and different things that they do. But now, you know, everything’s everything’s
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shared so much and everybody can see everything instantly, you know, that it’s it’s really hard to have a huge gap
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coaching wise. So, basically, it’s, you know, the old saying, it’s not the X’s and O’s, it’s the Jimmies and the Joe’s.
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And I think Miss has a lot of really good Joe’s um with him and Lacy. So, I expect I I expect Chamblas to to have a
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solid year. You mentioned the Texas A&M game right behind the uh the game of the Millennium and the Old Miss and and I
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think LSU fans forget that that because we’re kind of accustomed to seeing Texas A&M on the schedule in October and November and you you forget that game’s
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coming up in late September, but the feeling is they lost a lot from last year’s college football playoff team.
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How do you see the Aggies and what they could potentially do this season?
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Well, you know, Marcel Reed has to be consistent obviously. um you know the the the advantage if there is an
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advantage even though they’re going they’re coming to to Baton Rouge um you know&m’s coming off Kentucky which shouldn’t be an issue and then they’ve
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got Arkansas the next week. So um they’ve got Arizona State in week two.
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So basically their entire focus for the first month I’m sure um is is the game at LSU. Um, you know, Mike Elco is one
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of the best um defensive minds out there and um, you know, they were, you know, good enough last year to get in the
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playoff. They just, man, their offense just uh, yeah, I won’t use profanity, but you know what they did? Um,
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well, that’s that’s the polite way of putting it. Um, you know, can they can they correct that? I mean, I think&m would prefer to get into these, you
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know, Colin Klein’s gone. He’s no longer offensive coordinator. So, you got a new guy and an offensive coordinator. So, you know, are they going to be more of a
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a slower tempo type team that plays into the strength of their defense? We’ll have to find out. And certainly, I’m
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guessing LSU is going to want to go, you know, uptempo as much as they can um within reason. So, it’s it’s a clash of styles there. But, you know, look, it’s
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just anytime you’ve you know, that’s the thing. I keep mentioning the nine game schedule, but yeah, you can’t every team cannot play their A
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game every week, right? It’s it’s it’s not going to happen.
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The key is being able to beat teams with your B or even your C game. And those are the teams that will stay alive for the playoff can get to the national
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title game. Um or you’re Indiana and you don’t play anybody for 10 weeks and then you play all your games in the back end and do it
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that way. But um that’s not the case in the SEC. But I mean, look, I think Texas and Georgia are the top two teams in the
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SEC. I just think Texas’s schedule is so dang hard. Um, of the nine of the teams that are basically power rated as the
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nine best teams in the SEC, Texas plays six of the other eight. That’s more than anybody. And oh, by the way, they also
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got Ohio State. So, I think talent-wise, they’re the most talented team. I don’t think they can survive that schedule.
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Yeah. So that’s why I like Georgia to win it. But I mean, we’ll see. It’s, you know, that’s why they play the games, I guess.
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And that’s why we love the sport so much. Brett, thanks a lot. We appreciate it, man. Thanks, guys.
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Brett McMury from On Three. Good stuff from him. And I agree. It, you know, you want to sit here and analyze everything left and right. And it all comes back
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down to that ninth game and just how difficult that will be. And for LSU, you know, going to Auburn, that could be a
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really tough game. Todd, it’s a tough place to play regardless of Yeah.
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of where they are in their program’s right status and and actually, you know, they’re they’ve got a great quarterback coming in. Now, he’s not a great
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power five or power four quarterback, but he has a history of making good offensive decisions and being able to perform and he’s used to his coaching staff.
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Yeah.
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So, it it it is going to be a challenge at Auburn.
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Let’s take a break. We’ll talk a little recruiting when we come back here on Tiger Brag Radio.
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Let’s go. We now return to Tiger Rag Radio.
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Back here on Tiger Rag Radio, Jeff Blurmo along with Tiger Rag editor, executive editor Todd Horn. The editor Glenn Gilbo is over at the Ponderosa
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where LSU is practicing tonight. I kind of like this morning, evening, morning.
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It’s good for the team and it saves injuries.
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I understand it. I get it. I get it. I get it. you go, but I can’t talk about it because there’s a competitive disadvantage if we talk about it.
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That’s fine. Uh, but I get the sense you work hard Monday morning, gives you extra time off till Tuesday night, then you have a walk through Wednesday. I
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mean, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out what they’re doing. Oh, did I did I leak it off? Oh my gosh, George is listening and now they’re going to do
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this. Oh my goodness. Uh anyways, uh Lane Keven’s also a really good recruiter and Case uh when LSU lines up
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against Clemson in the season opener, some of the top recruits in the class of 27 and 28. Now granted, it is the
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marquee game of the week. So if you’re a recruit and you want to take in a great game on Labor Day weekend, LSU would be
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the place to go or place to be. And so, uh, you got an article up at tiger.com
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or Tiger Rag does that lists the players that are going to be there. Again, it’s about 30 of them from
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both the classes of 27 and 28 that will be in Tiger Stadium for the Lane Keifin debut.
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Yeah, I mean there’s going to be a slew of guys, especially from that 2028 class, but the name everyone’s going to be talking about is of course still Eastn Royal, the wide receiver out of
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New Orleans, the fivestar who’s currently committed to Texas and has been for months. But that conversation is not going to end as LSU keeps trying
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to flip the instate five-star, one of the top receivers, if not the top receiver in the 2027 class. He’s coming
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to that game. He’ll also be back in LSU for another game later in the season.
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He’ll be visiting Texas for the following week at uh when they host Ohio State and he’s still in contention with Florida uh to to be a Gator potentially.
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Some experts have logged predictions that he’s going to flip to LSU, but it’s still kind of up in the air.
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So, the game he’s going to be back at LSU later in the season, do we know who they were going to be playing in that game?
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That is a great question. Um I think it’s the Texas game. You are correct. Why not? They are. And if I was him, just why not, you know, if they’re
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going to keep inviting me to games, what the heck? What what else to what better?
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I might as well just soak it all in, right?
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Yeah. I wrote a column a couple weeks ago. I actually think that it would be uh you know, he could be he could play at Royal, whatever they call that field at Texas. Yeah.
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Or he could become royalty at LSU. Ah. Oh, that was good. That’s good.
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That’s very good. Who Who else is going to be there? Uh some other top names, case couple of guys from the 2028 class to look out for. Uh two of the top three
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defensive linemen. Uh Prince Chay out of Georgia, the number two guy in the class. It’ll be his first trip to LSU.
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Uh Tyson Swan from Maryland. He’s the number three guy. He’s already kind of in contention with Alabama, Auburn, and Florida. So that’s another big SEC
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recruiting battle there. Uh on the offensive side of the ball, Maddox Davis is a four-star receiver, a top 45 national prospect that uh Kein has been recruiting since his time at Old Miss.
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He fits in really well to this Keif and Weiss offense and that’s going to be one of their top targets in the 2028 class.
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Um, also on offense, number three interior offensive lineman in the 2028 class uh after LSU missed out on the Lake Charles fivestar Albert Simeon.
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He’s a guy that this coaching staff could want to target to kind of supplement that interior.
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What about Knox Keifin class of 2028? Is he said he’s not going to play for He’s not gonna play for Lane. But you know what I did say? You know what’s interesting?
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Um, you know, Payton Houston and um, Pop Houston. Yeah, the name.
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Yeah, you said Payton Houston, but everybody else. When he said Pton, I’m like, I like that name pop.
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I love the name. I think it’s pop like my dad or something.
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But anyway, he’s going to be at every game.
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Well, for LSU, I could see that recruiting.
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Well, yeah, that that’s that’s how it’s done nowadays. So, I mean, Russell Shepard kind of started that back in the
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day. He was uh he was one of the first guys to commit to whatever year class that was, and he was in charge of trying to
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Lamar Brown kind of kind of took over that role last year, even after Kelly was have like an alpha dog out there that’s trying to corral all these guys.
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Russell Shepard is selling portaotties right now, isn’t he? That’s fine. Whatever, man. I mean, he’s doing really well. Yeah, that’s great. It’s great. That’s what it is.
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Yeah, it is. You’re right. It is. That’s what it is. All right, let’s take a break. More coming up here on Tiger Rag Radio right after this.
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Tiger Rag Radio is back. Hey, we’re wrapping up hour number one.
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A couple of uh rule changes for college football this season. Uh let’s get to the one that’s maybe not as um interesting. Uh offensive pass
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interference will only be 10 yards instead of 15 yards. They would rather have the personal foul penalties be 15.
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Now, granted, defensive pass interference would still be either spotted the ball or 15 yards, whichever is the, you know, the correct ruling.
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I I I just don’t I don’t get that. I I don’t get it. Yeah.
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I mean, I get they want personal foul penalties to be 15 yards and everything else to be five or 10, but I think if you interfere
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as an offensive receiver, you should get penalized the same as if you would if you were a defensive receiver. I do love college football’s defensive penalty or
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defensive pass interference rule much more than the NFL. I can’t stand the NFL one where you can throw it 20 yards
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short and then the receiver tries to run back and the defender has no chance to get out of the receivers’s way because the quarterback’s got a you know can’t throw the ball 35 yards.
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Um, so anyways, but the other rule is that no longer will a player who gets hit with targeting in the second half of a game gets penalized for targeting.
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Will they have to miss the first half of the next game? Can we call this the Devin White rule, Todd?
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Well, I mean, that’s the most prominent thought that came to my mind when I first heard about 2018.
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I kind of doubt Michigan thought about it that way.
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2018 Devin White hits Nick Fitzgerald. It’s certainly some helmetto helmet contact, but whether targeting
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very very questionable. And this is why when we talk about all these other things about the SEC doing this and
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doing that, this is where I say the SEC, they’re just a bunch of bean counters.
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all these power conferences are because if they had a backbone, they had two weeks to re to nullify that
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rule or or nullify Devin White’s first half suspension and they were too much of a coward to do it.
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Well, and that’s part of the now there’s a new appeals process in in this rule too now and and they can wipe it away whereas before they couldn’t.
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All right. Uh first hour in the books.
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