June 5, 2024 ~ Shane, JC, Will Miles

Gator Nation are you ready for a LIVE Wednesday edition of PodUp with Matthews in the Morning?! Stay Tuned for a full show hosted by Florida Gators Football Hall of Fame QB ~ Shane Matthews. Our Good friend JC is with us today! Second half we’ll be joined by Will Miles from Read and Reaction! 🐊🎙️

[Music] he [Music] w w yeah yeah yeah [Applause] [Music] hi Siri I’m looking for a new podcast one that preferably is hosted by a UF Hall of Famer uh one that airs every weekday that would bring me everything I need to know about the Florida Gators including news analysis and opinions Siri is there such a show have you heard of pot up with Matthews in the morning on Facebook YouTube Twitter or any podcast platform oh my gosh why didn’t I think of that UF Hall of Famer Shane Matthews has a show every weekday I’m going to go check it out tomorrow thanks [Music] Siri good morning it’s a live Edition a hump day Edition it’s Wednesday it’s po up with Matthews in the morning from the crie prent security system Studios large enough to serve you small enough to care got a good show lined up today we’ll have JC in a minute we’ll have will miles from Reading reaction talk about his gator magazine uh that he has out I think he was on fine bomb Yesterday by the way uh if you missed it yesterday just a heartbreaking loss for the lady Gators uh in Extra Innings had opportunities to beat the dynasty but give Oklahoma credit man uh their lineup their players they uh they’re the best in the business and tremendous year for Tim Walton and his girls uh they’ll continue to be in Oklahoma City uh in the future let’s go to the Titan more Highline courtesy of comfort Temple we were joined by JC good morning JC what’s happening well QB you know when I was watching that game I kept saying to myself damn this is awesome they’re really they’re really you know facing the challenge they’re they’re in Oklahoma’s face and it’s great but they had to keep scoring you know when you play a team like Oklahoma it’s almost like you have to keep scoring and scoring and unfortunately the four hits three home runs of those four hits none of those home runs were of the three-run variety you know so right uh it listen man those girls have everything to be proud of it’s a young team I know we’re losing Skylar Wallace but the point is is that they’ve got a pitcher this girl’s got the heart of a lion and Keegan Rothrock threw more Innings I think in the last couple of days than just about anybody ever has uh for Florida and to face that lineup two days in a row has to wear on your QB because of just how devastating those girls are with Oklahoma they every single person in that lineup can hit it to the moon and um it’s hard to face that I mean it’s just tough and when they see Keegan for the second straight day you know they’re going to be better than maybe they were the first day and they certainly were tough but the Gators have everything to hold their heads High about and they were right there ready to play for a championship and I think you’re see that CH that happened as the years go by now Oklahoma’s going to get to play in in the SEC so yeah it’s um you know it’s it’s a couple plays here or there you know in the sixth inning we had their their their Ninth Place hitter uh like an 02 count and she fouled off a ball then she pulls one down the line for a double yeah and they end up tying up and then Skyler has first and third for us in the top of the seventh and rolls one over to the first baseman so look it it you know as you said Oklahoma is what Oklahoma is and you just hold your breath every time one of their damn Girls comes to B I swear because the girl that hit the home run that was a terrible pitch to swing at I know and she just flicked her bat and it gets out of the ballpark um but it was uh it was a great year and they’ll be back I mean it’s it’s not like that we they W I mean I guess you could say they weren’t expected to go I expect softball to go to the World Series every year um so 12 times I mean they’ve been 12 times QB and you know Oklahoma’s won this thing three times now and no no no three in a row they’ve won eight times that’s I’m sorry they have correct three in a row and they’re looking to go four in a row they’ll be F I mean Texas is going to give them all they want but I listen I think U I think the Gators you know just just the experience alone in this on this trip is going to work do a lot of great things Tim’s gonna get some players here and he’s got tremendous tremendous recruiting class coming in you only lose you technically lose two starters but you really only lose one Katie kler played really well down the stretch right fielder uh he he he kind of interchanged that position all year long uh Skyler Wallace is the best player in my opinion to ever play to ever put a get her uniform on she will be missed everybody else everybody else comes back yeah if you can keep them if you can keep them and not go they don’t go to the transfer Port well if you heard Skyler Wallace after the game she couldn’t have spoken High more highly of the school of the coaching staff of her experience at University and she is a great gator right I mean she’s going to go down as one of the great Gators so I I think um if she’s got anything to do with it she’s gonna tell her teammates you know win a championship here at Florida yeah it’s uh tremendous tremendous year uh some other news and notes the uh those those brilliant folks over at the Florida High School athletics Association decided to pass nil is now in High School athletics here in the State of Florida I don’t D what the other states are doing this is a disaster for any coach for players I’m telling you people can sit here and throw all the comments you want at me about the kids deserve to be paid the hell they don’t they do know let the parents give them an allowance that’s where they should get paid they should get paid J J JC corner St Financial group’s not going to pay players to go play bu at bu Holtz there’s a better chance of me buying a Maserati uh that is not happening the bottom line dude look mom and dad can pay the kids to rake the yard and to bag the leaves and to sweep out the garage okay that’s where they should get paid even if they and sometimes they don’t even get paid for that so I I think it’s an asinine situation they’re just making a a difficult situation worse I think for the people in charge and I don’t think the other states in America are going to adopt this policy although it would surprise me if some do and I just don’t know why we have to include high school kids now on the payroll it’s asking I mean look what happened what happened to what happened to like just you know the the whole transfer portal high school was was a disaster the last couple of years and then now this what happened to Growing Up playing ball regardless of the sport with your buddy For the Love of the Game and the love of your damn school so when you come back to your high school reunions you can enjoy it that is gone yeah I I talked to so many via text so many High School coaches last night man I’m telling you they’re losing their minds I’ll tell well I have a feet on some of these dudes that are a little older just gonna they’re just gonna say the hell with it I’m done with it well this this thing right here has made the world a lot smaller QB and when I was in high school when you were in high school we didn’t hardly even know some of the kids at our cross town rival ghs we didn’t even know them unless we were playing against them on the field of play we didn’t have this connectivity and this communication and I think it’s just adding the FL fuel to the fire for getting kids more included on whatever it is that high schools create and I didn’t know they create a lot of money either and somehow now we’re going to have boosters come in and just throw checks at my 16-year-old hey JY uh little Shane come on over in your car that Dad bought you and come pick up this check for $10,000 I mean think about that is that Mak sense at all hey Robbie tell your friend I got a check for him it’s in give him this uh Allan says uh what image and likeness are they selling at high school so basically what you do now JC is a financial planner corner Stone Financial Group if JC wants to do a commercial or if JC just wants to write a check for player x uh to endorse his product I guess I mean I don’t know it it’s are you gonna are you gonna buy something that a 15-y old softball player tries to sell you yeah like some you know like some cups like cups and you know magazines and you know they sell the gift C the little discount gift cards and all this I mean it’s it’s it’s a disaster I don’t know how to say it uh Daryl says on the Titan text line High School sports has gone to a Hell in a hand basket with an i being improved by the your kid is grown our kids are grown QB I could not imagine Sam little Sam say Hey Dad I made more money than you did this [Laughter] week not having that this is from uh 904 he says last night Prov that buddy was right an elite team doesn’t fall like that maybe next year oh who said that whatever I 904 he’s clueless they’re as Elite as they get I think he’s just I think he’s pulling your leg right there Q yeah maybe he is look man I texted Tim last night said hey man great effort from the ladies you’ll be back and I agree I believe that I think yeah they go they go back all the time yeah Tony says more coaches High School coaches going to leave Florida well I believe they passed it in georia I think there’s only like three or four states that don’t do it but if you’re not getting paid very well here and you have to put up with it there’s no reason to hang around so uh anyway silat concrete build foundations for Generations you stand on it we stand by it do what I did not I did not know this was a common thing in America that the high schools are not yeah there’s a lot of other states that are doing it huh well then I guess that’s the way it works uh but I mean it just it’s it’s comical absolutely comical yeah I guess the kids like it though but I mean honestly here’s what I have to say whoever pays any player they need to check themselves out they got they yeah that I no there are so many better things I can do with my discretionary dollars than pay some kid to play high school sports I can’t I can’t imagine writing a check to some 17 or 16 year old kid to go perform on the diamond I I could not even that doesn’t even come into my realm of thinking it just or or if you’re you know if you if you have a barbecue place in town do you let the kid do a commercial for you and you say Hey you can eat here for free all year I don’t know maybe listen Maybe in some of these small communities like cordale Georgia and wherever you know where the the the high school quarterback that we see on Friday night is the star of T he’s the he’s the bell of the ball everywhere he goes in that town and if I got him on a local television spot and he wanted to espouse my car dealership or restaurant maybe that would help me I but it’s man that yeah but but but here’s the thing here here’s what’s crazy you’re using commercials here gain is not a great not a huge town but I mean it’s bigger than some of these little Madison Madison floridas and places but you could have a commercial of some high school athlete as you said doing that down there at Gainesville forward people G be like who is that guy yeah that’s that’s right I don’t know who that kid is yeah all right Chris from Cottondale on the Titan Mar text line says I want to commend JC on not playing a part in this n crap nil crap with Cornerstone Financial always knew we would end up seeing things through the same set of eyes there is hope for him yet look I told you two weeks ago Chris really has grown on me lately especially what he said about saving dumping him on the gator dumping me on the gator Nation quit and I love that that made me laugh for about an hour so I’m back on the Chris bandwagon now I like Chris I do listen I the thing is is that um you really have to be careful with where you spend your discretionary dollars if if you’re budgeting things some people don’t even have budgets they just throw money around and I just can’t see this being something that really takes off and runs I just can’t now the guys who are getting paid who do deserve to get paid who have worked all their lives to get paid like New York Yankees right now uh they have a pitcher named Luis heel who had Tommy John surgery he is back six Innings one hit pitch uh a ball last side against Minnesota Twins the Yankees will end up playing the Phillies if they stay healthy in the World Series and it’ll be the most watched World Series we’ve had in the last 20 years because of the population Center in the Northeast even though many of those folks are migrating to the southeast but the but the Phillies and Yankees right now and the Orioles my God look at the Orioles they are playing great baseball and tonight if you’re looking at baseball Paul schemes for the Pirates pitches against the LA Dodgers in Pittsburgh the Pirates beat the Dodgers last night they are four games under 500 but the fans are into it and Paul skem is a big hit in Pittsburgh he is the first draft pick from Louisiana state that strikes everybody out so he’s pitching tonight there’s your baseball wrap up for tonight Comfort Heating and airs looking for enthusiastic motivated Comfort specials to join their team $1,000 sign on bonus after 90 days awesome benefits and the opportunity to grow with the winning team apply today at comfort.com Comfort temp Heating and Air Comfort is our business peace of mind is our promise maybe some of those high school kids uh should go work for Comfort to well you know for a high school kid to end up playing for the St Louis Cardinals or the Texas Rangers is GNA take more than a big fat bank account he’s gonna have to work at his game and be a yeah Special player and it’s well how many players playing the majors maybe 550 or 60600 maybe and majority of them are from the Dominican yeah and many of them come from foreign countries uh QB so what do you think do you like um you know we’ve got the Gators getting ready to go to Clemson uh this is kind of like a thing for o suin who came from Clemson I think he coached nine years at Clemson before he came to Florida years and years and years ago and I tell you man it’s you know a lot of the what I think six of the top eight seeds Advanced and and uh and here’s Florida playing Clemson I I I really think there’s a chance they can win this oh there’s a chance J that’s why that’s why you play the game play the game they they took it to Oklahoma State and I I think uh something has clicked and and hopefully we’ll see that continue I guess the game’s on Saturday at two o’clock on the ESPN yeah sat Saturday Sunday Monday series okay uh we’ll talk about that on Friday for sure but uh I do you think Texas has a chance to beat Oklahoma in the softball or you think it’s just another one for Oklahoma um well you know the only reason that Texas was the one SE because they they they they hit they won two out of three against Oklahoma in one of the late series uh I’ve watched them both a lot I don’t know how Texas can beat you I really don’t I don’t either I don’t either maybe yeah this is kind of what Oklahoma needed was to be tested by a team like Florida to put them behind see if they could come back and they did but look the Gators were right there they that inning the sixth inning you talk about where they had two Runners on with one out and they had the best hitters coming up um Reagan was up and Skyler was up and uh they just couldn’t push across an insurance run there and um I had a bad feeling going into the bottom or the yeah the bottom half of that inning so yeah Tropical Smoothie live a healthier lifestyle with our Bowl flavorful smoothies and our amazing food Tropical Smoothie when you eat better you feel better we got JC on the Titan more hotline courtesy of comfort tent we’ll have will miles for reading reaction talking about his gator magazine uh he was on fine bomb yesterday so get your questions ready for will uh it’s like a 70 page Magazine on on the mighty wow 70 Pages dude that’s a lot that’s a it’s not like you know Lindy’s and all that’s about 70 pages I think but you got M you got every team there is you got a little section for the cheerleaders you got all these stat could you do could you imagine doing a 70 page magazine on the mighty Gators well buddy’s got some competition buddy buddy get that Gatorade going baby I don’t think Gatorade has a magazine Jason gator bait gator bait Buddy’s um this is a text from 90 904 said they had chance to apply pressure in the seventh and eighth and didn’t come through Elite teams rise to the occasion I me look that’s right okay enough of that the thing is is that you just kind of had that feeling that that the gator has had to keep scoring to to win this game and and you know look the that their picture is really good I mean she’s been great but Florida hit her but they only got four hits and that’s that was well I mean they faced a very good pitcher as well Allen and Atlanta on the Titan Amore Tex and I says guys my understanding is that the gator Collective paid DJ lagway last year while he was in high school I think it was probably not the gator Collective it was the other Florida Victoria I’m certainly not going to contribute to it but that’s ain’t this ain’t going away well that’s different well uh that that’s that was you know there are a lot of players I believe and not 100% sure about this that once they commit or whatever they’re getting paid by the collectives even though I don’t know how that works so let’s that that doesn’t have anything to do with uh car dealer or Restaurant X saying hey let’s pay you instead of going to the high school you’re supposed to be at we’re gonna pay you to come play tailback over here and let you do a commercial that’s the problem y yep that is the problem and that’s wrong um but this this thing with the uh with the 20 million that everybody’s now supposed to pay the the athletes you know in a way we talk about how the smaller schools could be going away because of the budgetary concerns and so forth and so forth you know the thing is is that this difficult decisions will have to be made and some of that 20 million can be going to some of those non-revenue Sports while nil covers the football issues the problem is though you can if you have a a defic problem you you you also have a spending problem so maybe the lacrosse team they don’t lose their program but maybe they don’t go on that tournament trip to Maryland or something or maybe the Maui invitation instead of sending the basketball team to Hawaii for a week well us if I’m not mistaken I I believe Maui pays for all pay to go but but a lot of these things that cost a lot of money can be taken out of the uh out of the system and not have to sacrifice but here’s the problem JC even even Mike Morgan mentioned this the other day yeah that South Carolina for example women’s basketball your national champs they lost like three or four million dollars I mean what are you gonna do not play your no play your schedule well again a decisions that people may not like may have to be made but it’s better than cancelling or or doing away with a certain program specifically the women’s programs with title n that don’t have much revenue and I I I think spending is where you have to you have to address the spending issues that these departments I mean what did Florida have in Revenue $190 million Alabama had $200 million in Revenue if you’re telling me that you can’t run an athletic department even though 10% of that has to go to the to the uh athletes in some form or fashion then I think you got a spending problem and I think there’s some things you can do without having to cancel programs or or Sports uh the lacrosse I mean I don’t want to see the lacrosse team and the softball team and these other teams go go away that’s that’s that’s not good for the school the school is vibrant when there are great sport programs sporting programs at that are taking place on campus you know you want to go to a campus where they have multiple sporting programs where they have softball where they have track where they have lacrosse where they have a golf where they have all these things you want to go to those schools you don’t want to go to school that’s cutting back those programs but what you can do within those programs is maybe make some cuts to try to preserve so that your budget and that your Revenue issue doesn’t become an earnings issue um and that’s that’s I think the best way that I can put it you know add add living here I just think that you don’t have to cancel some of these programs if you look at the spend expenditures of some of the other things that you’re throwing the money at I I think all right we gotta switch gears here before we get you out here JC we gotta do our PE gear on Gator nation’s number one choice for dentistry in Port Charlotte and surrounding areas go visit them at Peachland dental.com it are it’s the memorial Jack tournament up in Ohio the week before everybody be playing all the big boys are playing in this tournament I don’t think there’s a cut in this one um I’ll let you pick first should I write down Scotty Sheffer do you want me to let you have him this time no I don’t want him oh well if you don’t want him give I love Scotty but I’ll let you have him I’ll take him all right Scotty sheffler I’m gonna go with Vic hlin yeah he won it last year that’s that’s going out onm there that’s yes he did um he had a great year last year Victor hoplin then he went and changed his swing and fired as coach I mean does it make any sense try to help me make it make sense I’m gonna go with again another guy that that’s this is not really going out on the limb but he’s playing fantastic Golf and he had his biggest win of his life just recently and that’s the X-Man I think the X right on this is the kind of course he can really really survive on I he’s so accurate I like I like his game all right I’m gonna go with the youngster from Texas Tech okay ludig obber oh my God that was who I was gonna pick next he’s right under Xander that’s how that’s why you did that okay well then I’m gonna go right below that and give me will zot Taurus who hits it a mile and is ready to win something let me give him uh my pick um zalot Torres okay let me um you know who played really well last week he was in I think top three three and I’m going to go with the young but one of the youngest on tour if not the youngest J young yeah did hor win this one year yeah I think a long time ago so I got Tom Kim you got so JC and the Peachland dental picks has Sheffer Scher Xander shocker and zalatoris the de listen and I go Vic hin oberg Tom Kim okay got my roster is made up of Big 12 players except for Tom Kim it is although I got a Texas Longhorn on there myself um and and watch out for Rory man this guy I’m telling you that divorce is doing wonders for his game it’s it is I really believe that um all right JC go go work on your nil for all the young athletes in town forget it forget it maybe you can get some kids from Williston to come play at your Alma moer all right so all right we got to take a time out we’re gonna get to somebody that knows more about the Gators than we do we’re gonna have Will Miles who wrote a magazine Mighty Gat I’m gonna have to watch this y yep all right that’s JC join us on the Titan tomorrow hotline take a quick timeout come back we we joined by Will Miles uh you’re watching and listening pot up Matthews in the morning from the crime prevention security system stud Studios we’ll be right back we want to take this moment to thank our sponsors who keep the show going and pay the bills our premium sponsors are are Prim prevention security systems large enough to serve you small enough care Titan MRI gel only locally owned and operating MRI facility meldon law the only official injury and accident 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but appreciate you having me on and and allowing us to talk about our our magazine that we’re putting out yeah you know I was joking with JC 70 pages of just of the mighty Gators that’s a that’s a lot of material right there but uh first of all before we jump into it we’ll talk about it at the end twoo let everybody know how they can get the magazine yeah so you can get it at two places you can go to readen reaction.com slmag that’s readen reaction.com or if you go on to Amazon and under books you just search Gators it should pop right up you can buy a hard copy off of Amazon we also have a digital copy over at the mag over at the website if you’d rather just get it a PDF very cool very cool all right uh I want to start first uh just your thoughts because I did did a lot of deep Research into this team um and I know it was a topic on Paul F bomb show and it’s what I’ve been saying for years we have stunk playing defense tackling human beings on the football field the last few years I’m talking like three four five years we’ve been awful are we gonna be I think we’re going to be much improved with some of the additions they made yeah I I think the transfer portal obviously has changed the way college football teams are designed and the guys that Billy Napier and his staff have targeted through the transfer portal the guys like ASA Turner the guys like DJ Douglas the guys like Tri quz Bridges who they’ve all had play at safety at least when you look at the spring game and then Jordan Castell coming into his sophomore season made some mistakes as a true freshman no doubt but really flashed at times as well and if you look at the SEC over the last four or five years defenses that Excel excel at the safety position and the corner position so Deon Moore has been the best corner that Florida’s had when he’s been able to stay on the field Jason Marshall has been about average when you look at Pro Football Focus rankings so if you get the level of play from those guys they’ve already put on tape and they can play the whole season and then you’ve got all that help on the back end at the safety position I think the defense can’t help but be better because you’re going to limit explosive plays when you do that when you have good safety play and Florida actually at a success rate um from a success rate perspective was was better than they’ve been the last three years the problem is every time they had an unsuccessful play it was explosive and it went for a touchdown and all of a sudden you’re down seven nothing against Utah after the first play of the game they actually played pretty well the rest of that Utah game the problem is when you’re down seven nothing after one play obviously that puts your offense in a hole and you get the one turnover for Merch coming out of the second half and all of a sudden that game’s Out Of Reach yeah um so like you said I think the addition at the safety position they got some veterans that they picked up in the portal you mentioned dein Moore I mean he’s an NFL guy I think Jason Marshall Jr is the NFL gu guy too but for those guys to play well we’ve got to rush the passer we got to get after with not so much sacks but we have to affect the quarterback and we haven’t done that recently do you think LJ McCrae is the guy that will get that done so I think McCrae is gonna probably be a situational pass rusher that’s what you’re looking for from a five-star guy who comes in you expect him to make an early impact if you look at l a couple of years ago with Harold Perkins um sort of a hybrid linebacker defensive end type of guy that they used by the time the end of the season came around offensive lines and offensive coaches had to game plan for Perkins if they get that kind of impact at of LJ McCrae you’ll be really happy I think the other thing is is you’ve got you’ve got Justice Boone coming back and Boon showed some flashes a couple years ago and he’s somebody that Florida was really going to rely on last year pretty heavily and when he went down there was a significant lack of depth on the defensive line and then up front you got Joey slackman coming in the transfer from Penn and how that’s going to transfer from the ivy league to the SEC is something everybody’s curious about but he’s somebody who dominated at the ivy league level and the question is going to be maybe not even early on but as he gets sort of his feet wet in the SEC can he become an impact player up the middle because you know better than I do when you when when the quarterback can’t step up when the defensive line can push back into the quarterback all of a sudden now it gives the defensive ends an opportunity to get there that’s and mo most of the time you look at the tape the turnover s don’t always come from a guy coming around the edge a lot of times they come because the quarterback can’t step into the throw doesn’t get it to the receiver and a and a corner and safety is able to step in front take it the other way yeah you bring up a great Point um yeah there’s nothing worse as a quarterback is pressure in your face in the A and B gaps uh you know when you get a guy rushing hard or if a guy whiffs on the outside you can usually feel that guy and you can avoid him stepping up or or roll out but when they come right up in the middle uh in your face that’s that’s the worst thing for a quarterback we have a text on the Titan more text line this is from Jack and Savannah he says will do you like our linebackers this year I like them much better than I did last year um I think obviously the the health of Shamar James is gonna be the critical component um he goes down you know injured before the Georgia game tried to give it a go in the Georgia game and couldn’t really do it and from that point on Florida’s defense just sort of fell off a cliff uh pup Howard coming in as a transfer from South Carolina is a big deal but also just drick Wingo played pretty well in spurts last year um and but this one all comes down to Shamar James and then obviously if you get any sort of contribution from guys like miles Graham and Aaron Charles um to sort of bring some depth to that position I that would be my main concern there is just there’s not an enormous amount of depth but there is a lot of talent in that room and if James can stay healthy I think the linebackers will play pretty well yeah we we need better play out of that position and I I do like those guys the the guys that transferred in I love miles Graham um I’ve said on my show he’s the best high school player I’ve seen in person since Derk Henry um I think he’s that good of a player so uh Greg’s question uh for you on Facebook live brought to you by Mel and law will what are your concerns with our line play on both sides of the ball yeah I me I think I already sort of alluded to it but it’s the pressure up the middle if you look at guys like Banks Caleb Banks and and uh Cameron Jackson last year they were solid but they weren’t necessarily getting that push up the middle um that’s where it starts with the pass rush but it’s also where it starts with the with the running game right if you can prevent that pulling Guard from getting around the formation and getting on a linebacker now the linebacker’s freed up to make the play and especially if you think about the Kentucky game last year where guys were just untouched before they got to a safety um one of the ways you make sure that a guy isn’t untouched before he gets to the safety is getting penetration and creating some havoc and making the running back Dodge somebody before before he’s able to hit the hole and so you know there specifically is where I think slackman or you know guys like Dez Watson and Jackson and Banks and and and Jabari Lions those are the guys who are going to have to make some disruptive plays in the back field set the offense back to Second and 12 second and 13 on a running play rather than second and six because it’s just so much easier for an offensive coordinator to make a play call on second and six and keep the defense on its heels no doubt um we talked about the Personnel but from a coaching standpoint there have been some additions uh to the staff uh especially with Rob Roberts who’s an old guy been around the league kind of a mentor um that can help on that defensive side of the ball do you like the coaches that Billy uh added to the program yeah I mean I’ll tell you from a recruiting perspective and also from just an energy perspective Will Harris really looks to have added something in that defensive back field um you know I know everybody was really excited about about the original coaches we had there but you know it really looks like Harris is bringing something to the fold I think Roberts is going to be interesting I mean obviously you know there’s the old addage that when you have two quarterbacks you don’t really have one and and I do wonder about that when it comes to the defensive staff when you got two defensive coordinators um do do you really have someone who’s leading that room that’s going to be the challenge right because I think everybody understands that Austin Armstrong has a lot of potential but also did not see the results that they wanted to see last year and he has he has a reputation for being Ultra Ultra aggressive you can see that when you look at his Blitz rates he was up over 30% um in his time at Southern Miss and and UF U Patrick Tony was the same way the interesting thing is Ron Roberts when he was back at Louisiana ran defenses very similar to Patrick Tony and Austin Armstrong but then he spent a three-year sabatical there at Baylor and Baylor runs a very different offense or very different defense than Florida does or Ron Roberts did before then when you look at what happened at Auburn last year with Roberts he didn’t go all the way back to what he had been doing when he was at Louisiana so I think if you see more middle of the field open coverage more two deep safeties less blitzing keeping things in front of you next year that’ll be sort of the sign that Ron Roberts’s influence is starting to to take hold a little bit in terms of H his and Armstrong’s Dynamic yeah I’m a big fan of keeping the ball in front of you because in today’s football it’s hard to drive the ball 70 yards without something bad happening whether it’s a holding call or you get a a legal procedure and you’re now you know you’re first and 15 just quit given up the big plays and you have a chance uh let’s switch over to the other side of the ball uh I thought offensively where we as explosive as I think Gator fans won’t probably not but we were good enough to win a bunch of damn games last year on that side of the ball uh just talk about the addition some guys have moved around on the offensive line yeah I mean I think obviously that’s where it starts for Billy Napier he wants to be able to run that zone scheme where you’re where you’re running play action being able to leak the quarterback out the backside we saw multiple times last year where Merz would give a uh would have a play action fake and all of a sudden there was somebody right in his face the additions of Brendan kinshaw Dixon and Devon Manuel through the transfer portal those are two tackles you’ve got Austin Barber at tackle as well so now you’ve got three guys who’ve played real tackle football have been a tackle and been successful a tackle in in real college football and that allows you to take a guy like Damen George and shift him to the inside and if you can make George a road grader all of a sudden you can use the skills that he has maybe a little bit better than than you could last year at the tackle position obviously everybody remembers the play where he was getting driven back into max Brown in the Florida State game but you know consistently tackle was a position for Florida so to me it’s not just about George being able to move to the inside it’s that you now have confident tackles hopefully able to give gr Merz a little bit more time so that Florida can go down field more often yeah and uh you know a lot of people were upset when etn left to go to the transfer portal now at Georgia it didn’t bother me one bit I think he’s a really good football player he struggles in pass protection I think everybody knows that but the damn running back room I think is loaded yeah I mean I think I think Montell Johnson there’s not much of a drop off from Trevor etn to Montell Johnson and and I think that was sort of the statement all last year is etn is special from his ability to make big plays and make guys miss in the hole Montreal Johnson once you get going once you get him going is going to punish the defense and last year because the offensive line struggled you could see that differentiation because etm might make the guy Miss in the hole and Johnson might get tackled before he could really get going so if the changes on the offensive line allow Johnson to get going I you know I it’s been a while since Florida’s had a guy rush for a thousand yards but Johnson’s one of those guys who you can see maybe stepping into that sort of role the question is going to be you know guys like Kanan Daniels and Jaden ball have really you know really sort of blossomed in their senior years in high school showed some stuff during the spring game as well um and and Dan M or Dan mull Billy Napier has indicated that he is not averse to putting a true freshman back there he did it with etn a couple years ago against Utah in the opening game so I would not be surprised to see a lot of a lot of Reps for those true freshmen especially early on as they try to keep Montell Johnson fresh yeah I like them uh Tony’s question for you on Facebook live brought you by metal law he’s not an offensive line guy but should Barber be at guard or tackle in your opinion I mean I think you put him at tackle you I mean you cross Train everybody right you want your five best offensive linemen out there uh but Barber played tackle in the SEC successfully now for the last two years um was nicked up a little bit last year so I think there were some times maybe where you weren’t getting the absolute highest level of play then the nice part is if if he gets nicked up this year you’ll have somebody that you can put in to give him a give him a breather give him a week off um give him the ability to sort of heal they didn’t have that last year and I think I think one of the things that becomes underrated when you talk about an SEC schedule and this is always the argument I make with my friends who have teams in the in the ACC it’s not the quarterback and the running back you got to worry about in terms of keeping healthy it’s the guys on the interior defensive line and the guys on the offensive line that as they go down that starts an attrition cycle where you just don’t have the ability to do the same things you were doing week one or week two so um I think there’s going to be a rotation obviously but Barber is a tackle and I think that’s where he’s going to stay yeah I agree Rhode Island Gator on YouTube brought to you by Quality Plumbing says he just bought the magazine on Amazon he’s looking forward to it awesome thanks so much and Smoky Gator says I mean we’re still talking about Damen George that means it’s it is still trash look I think jamen George correct me if I’m wrong here will he was highly touted went to Alabama Alabama wanted to play guard but he wanted to be a tackle so he went to the transfer portal and obviously we had some connections to him so he comes here we put him a tackle and he struggles well he’s going to guard now which is his position that he needs to be playing so he could have a pretty good year wouldn’t you agree yeah I mean I I think it’s a different skill set that’s necessary on the outside at tackle than on the inside you need a foot quickness that’s necessary in order to make sure that you don’t get off balance and obviously we saw last year that that quickness is not necessarily there with Damien George but when you switch from from tackle to guard it’s just a completely different set of skills that are necessary there and you can’t teach size you can’t teach how big that guy is and honestly just getting in the way sometimes is a valuable thing and I will say that his experience at tackle will help when they want him to pull so you think about the athleticism that’s necessary to be a pulling guard and Be an Effective pulling guard sometimes you’ll see a guard sort of trip over trip over one of his other offensive linemen or not able to get all the way around into the hole George should be able to do those sorts of things because of he’s he’s athletic enough to play tackle he’s not athletic enough to be an elite tackle in the SEC you move him inside I think all of a sudden some of those shortcomings get hidden and you’re going to be more pleased with with his play this year than than you were last year certainly yeah and they’re they’re very excited about Jake Slaughter at Center correct they should be he played really well last year I mean Kingsley okan was never really healthy and Slaughter came in the Utah game struggled a little bit but beyond there I mean you look at like all of the analytics and it’s hard on the offensive line but I like Pro Football Focus for that sort of stuff because they look they have somebody looking at each player on an individual play grading did they did they do a good job did they do a bad job he was well above average at at the center position last year on the Pro Football Focus rankings which to me suggests that he’s doing his job on a regular basis and you could start to see that as the season progressed in fact when they brought Egen back in the offensive line started to struggle a little bit um and then when he went out with another injury Slaughter came back in and it looked like things started to congeal so I’m excited to see what Slaughter brings this year is your body hurting go to QC kinetics for longl lasting relief no surgery drugs or downtime schedu a free consultation at QC kinetics we got Will Miles here on the Titan Tom our hotline courtesy a comfortemp talking about his magazine reading reaction all right let’s let’s let’s switch to the dudes that score some touchdowns on the outside um we all know like well last before the season started I saw Trey Wilson Andy Jean and myel I was like these three guys have an opportunity to be like I quy and redell I really thought that now they play in a different type of system but I thought they’re skill set was very similar to those guys we saw Trey Wilson he’s phenomenal will Andy Jean get playing time can he stay healthy and I think Aiden maelle can be a guy that can take the top end off a defense yeah I mean so I would have said yes but they keep bringing in these guys to the transfer portal so they brought in Elijah Badger from Arizona State they brought in Shamir DK from Wisconsin he’s obviously guy to Grandam merch connection um and part of that is is look I mean Billy Napier doesn’t have time to wait for guys to develop at this point it’s time to it’s time to put up some wins there in Gainesville and so if he thinks he can get marginally better at a certain position by bringing in a senior to to take a spot I think he’s going to do that I think we’ve seen that both on the offensive line those guys are Juniors have two years of Eligibility and then DK and Badger have one year of Eligibility you’re right though miselle has a different skill set than Trey Wilson Andy Jee has a different skill set than miselle and so the fact that those guys should fit together pretty well as an entity is is true now what I would say is I don’t think people should get all that disappointed in miselle and Jean last year in fact in last year’s magazine I wrote a I wrote a piece about wide receivers and freshman wide receivers like even Elite freshman wide receivers tend to top out about 35 40 catches they’re usually not the best receiver on the team if you look at Percy Harvin he did a lot on the ground but only caught I think like 32 or 33 passes that true freshman season so we were really treated to an abnormal true freshman season from Trey Wilson which suggests how special he is and I think the fact that he was able to jump forward like that makes is is is unfair to compare myelle and Jean to that so just progression to 25 30 catches from one of those guys this year would be a huge deal especially for miselle because he’s he’s a downfield threat so if he’s catching 20 balls you’re probably getting 15 17 yards per catch and all of a sudden now he’s a big part of the offense yeah for sure um 31 Ember on YouTube brought to you by qualy pal said is there a book or pdf version of this magazine you go over that yep there’s both so yeah yeah you can get both 31 inur if you want all right let’s talk about the quarterbacks obviously Graham Merz uh when I saw him in the fall I didn’t see him in the spring I was not here but I saw him in the fall I was like this guy is a legit quarterback uh he’s a Steve sper type quarterback in my opinion very smart accurate knows where to go with the football and had a tremendous year I think they need to use him more personally um you know people talk about us not I mean we’re very conservative we need to take more shots but now you have the DJ lagway you know I’ve been in a situation where you got these first round quarterbacks they want to throw them in for a series maybe the third series of a game sometimes that’s a good thing sometimes it’s a bad thing how do you see this playing out well I mean I think because lagu is the backup quarterback he’s they’re gonna try to get him some time early just because you need to you need to get your Fe get his feet wet in case something happens to Graham Merz you know obviously you don’t want him you don’t want him getting his first college football throw on the road at Texas or something um later on in the season so they’re going to try to find some spots but obviously there’s Samford earlier there’s early in the season there’s UCF early in the season those are probably the spots where you try to find um find an opportunity to get him in there I think merch one of the things that that merch really brings is a maturity to be able to handle a guy like DJ lagway coming in I mean if you think about um the the 2006 Gators where you had to have Chris leak being mature enough to handle Tim TBO coming into that fold and having having you know certain a TBO package and and honestly leak getting booed when when he came back on the field when TBO came off um those are the kinds of things that you set up when you’ve got a guy like lagway in there with everybody really excited about it but I don’t think there’s any doubt that Graham Merz is the starter I think Billy napers made that very clear and I think MTZ with a couple of adjustments to what he’s a what he did last year is is going to be a very good player for Florida the question is how big of a step can he take because I think he overperformed expectations last year but I also think they’re definitely holes that he’s going to need to fill in 2024 in order to take the gator offense to where it needs to be and the question will be can he do that especially with the pressure of having a five-star kid behind him that everybody wants to see play yeah I think he if they’ll let him go play when I say let him go play as open it up and let him make decisions uh I think they can have a really big year on off offense all right real quick a few more minutes with Will Miles here special teams boy we had some blunders last year that really cost us we had a bunch of people here asking questions do you think special teams the issues will be fixed um this is again sort of like the defensive coordinator they brought in another they brought in a special team a new special teams coach but they’ve got two guys now who who are coaching special teams and they need to make sure that there’s one voice in the room and that they’re driving things forward that way I I think the big catastrophe type of stuff is going to be gone the question to me is going to be can they can they fix the little things around the edges that are critical so Florida last year was dead last in the SEC in starting field position on its offensive drives and it was by like two yards I mean they were they were like starting 77 yards from a touchdown every time they touch the ball which is hard to do considering that a fair catch puts you at to 25 so just making better decisions in terms of whether you return a kickoff not getting a holding penalty on the kickoffs like those are the things that we don’t look at and think of as dysfunctional within special teams those are the things I’d be looking for if I’m a fan are we getting the are we getting the hold on the punt return where we got a 15 yard punt return it would have been an enemy territory but instead now we’re starting at our own 27 because there was something way behind the play um you know the two number threes on the field obviously get all get a lot of the attention the leaping penalty against Kentucky gets a lot of attention those are all individual players making mistakes that and and in the number case the staff making mistakes that are fixable and likely unlikely to be repeated the things that can be repeated are are the holding penalties and the the offsides on on Fourth and two on Fourth and two when you give somebody a first down those sorts of things are the things that I hope stop and and honestly that’s why they have a new coach in so I don’t have a ton of confidence like I Can’t Tell You by looking at the profiles of the coaches coming in that they’re going to fix it it’s something they’re going to have to prove they’re going to have to show the fan base that hey we’ve got this stuff under control because thus far through two years in the Billy apier era it has not been under control at all well a couple of those things are are e are very correctable when I’m when I’m not even one of the coaches and on the air knowing we have too many dudes or not enough dudes those things have got to be fixed and they better be fixed this year uh Christopher on YouTube brought you by quality PL says ask Will who will be the most impactful transfer player this year I think it’s Elijah B and I don’t even think it’s close um you know the loss of Ricky peol obviously is a huge deal Badger allows Trey Wilson to stay in the slot one of the things you saw in the spring game is Wilson played outside a little bit more than he did during the regular season but the thing is they had Wilson in formations last year where he was he was the running back and Montell Johnson was a fullback essentially as a lead blocker and when you are able to do that now all of a sudden you get an opportunity to get Wilson locked up on a linebacker because the defense doesn’t have a nickel in the the defense has got three linebackers and somebody’s got to cover Trey Wilson the only way that works is if Badger is a threat on the outside so to me that’s the threat now look it might be myelle it might be Jean it might be somebody else but if Badger can can replicate what he did at Arizona State the last two years that’s going to allow them to get a bunch of mismatches with Trey Wilson inside and Wilson will have a huge year but Badger will be one of the reasons why he’s able to do it Bobby on the Titan R text line from Memphis says will give us your prediction of the Gator football record so it’s interesting we do a win loss or toss feature and I think we had two wins and or I had two wins and two losses and the rest were all toss-ups I haven’t finished in six and six I don’t think that this is the schedule is the thing that keeps me from thinking that they’re going to be eight and four nine and three um the reality is is it’s just hard they got Georgia then they got Texas who’s essentially coming off of two by weeks because they have Vanderbilt and then they have a bye so that stretch right there and then you got obviously the Old Miss and the Florida state coming up after that too it’s it’s it’s rough now early on they might really be able to get some momentum that Miami team you know I don’t think that Ward is really that much of an upgrade compared to compared to Van dijk I think obviously UCF has to replace their quarterback though KJ Jefferson gave Florida nightmares last year so we’ll see what happens there and Tennessee with with Nico there at quarterback you know you talk about having a package for DJ lagway well you know this is they it’s a brand new starter there at Tennessee and Florida has hasn’t exactly struggled against the vaults so there there’s a world where Florida’s already at six games before they come into that Georgia game but obviously there’s also a world where the Kentucky game is is really difficult because it has been for the last four or five years so I have them at six and six but I think if you asked me am I leaning more towards more wins or less I’d say more I’m more optimistic than that but uh but the schedule’s really tough it is and uh you know I look at the schedule and and there’s two teams on there that I just think they’re better than we are and that’s Georgia and Texas um you know and I know the back end is very difficult when you got Old Miss but I want to see how old Miss plays when you put so many new players together and things if they if they just have some issues how does that locker room turn out you know and you know Jackson Dart is injured when he comes to the swamp I like our chances uh I don’t think Florida State I think they lost way too many good players and their quarterback to me stinks so um I’m very optimistic I think we I think we have to start the season five and0 though I really do um I wanted to ask you last thing before we get you out of here this Miami game to me is critical you have to win this game do you agree oh yeah yeah I mean from a from an instate perspective from a recruiting perspective and and look Mario crystal ball is not in exactly is not in a much different situation Billy Napier is in terms of sort of underperforming they were seven and six last year in an inferior conference um cam Ward last year had a QB rating of 145 and Tyler van dijk’s quarterback rating was 146 last year so it’s not as though you’ve got a guy who’s coming in it’s like a clear upgrade at quarterback and like you mentioned you’re expecting a lot out of Graham Merz if Florida’s offense is dynamic then this should be a pretty easy win over Miami like I don’t I I think I’m much more bullish on the Gators for this Miami game than I think other people are and then that really does set you up obviously with Texas stanem and and new coach Mississippi State struggling UCF with the new quarterback and then Tennessee like I mentioned with a true freshman there there’s there’s an opportunity to be going into that Kentucky game six and0 and and if they’ve done that with Road Wiss against Tennessee and Mississippi State and opening up against Miami then great now the problem is all the noise that pops up if you end up losing to Miami right I mean the noise in the system just gets pretty loud and and considering the the to Florida the last couple years in many ways that noise is actually legitimate and that’s where you start getting into I think the merch lagway stuff right where merch may be playing great but if Florida’s not winning games people are going to say well play for next year we want to make sure he’s ready for next year that sort of stuff we saw that back in 2021 with uh with Dan Mullen where you had Emory Jones in there playing decently but every time Anthony Richardson came in it was just an explosive play after explosive play after explosive play and fans wanted to see Richardson play and he kept getting held back back and I think in many ways that frustration is what then led to some of the frustrations with the defense later on in the year which then led to the firings that came down the road yep for sure well great stuff as always my man uh let everybody know one more time how they can get the magazine and how they can follow you on Twitter yep awesome thanks so much so you can go to read and reaction.com magag or you go to Amazon just search Gators under the books feature and you’ll find it there or reading reaction you can find it there as well and you can find me on Twitter Will Miles sec and appreciate you having me on Shane absolutely we appreciate your time my man have a a good week and we’ll talk to you soon all right thanks that’s Will Miles who does a tremendous job covering the Gators make sure you go get your magazine want toe appreciate him and JC join us on the Titan more Highline courtesy a comfort temp have a great day folks and we’ll see you tomorrow take care [Music]