NC State Football: Is CJ Bailey a Top 5 Quarterback? — Tuffy Talk Live

Dave Doeren said CJ Bailey could be one of the five best quarterbacks in the country. Ethan isn't buying it, and he brought the numbers.

Layton, Greg, and Ethan react to everything out of ACC Kickoff 2026 for NC State football: Doeren's "sick of being second" comment and the version of him nobody has seen before, Bailey's claim that he's the alpha leader this team needs, Isaiah Shirley's national community honor, and Dabo Swinney's argument that stopping tampering will take an act of Congress.

All three hosts lock in an X-factor for NC State to win the ACC title — on record, come back in December and hold them to it. Ethan's Stat Pack digs into how much offensive production is actually returning, and the number caught everyone off guard. Plus the UNC revenue figures that started a genuine argument on air, and the eligibility ruling that cost the Wolfpack an offensive tackle 40 days before kickoff.

This episode was originally recorded live on July 20, 2026.

New episodes every week. Follow the show so you never miss one.

Support Tuffy Talk on Patreon and get 12 members-only NC State breakdowns every month for just $5: patreon.com/c/tuffytalk

Find Tuffy Talk on all major podcast platforms — Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeart, and more. Search "Tuffy Talk" wherever you listen.

Follow us everywhere:
Twitter/X: @tuffytalknow
Greg "The Leg" Haas: @PackFanInNOVA
Ethan Barry: @ncstatestats

#NCState #GoPack #Wolfpack #TuffyTalk

Transcript

0:00

We don't need a mic on some big TV stage just passion the fans and a whole lot of faith So if you bleed red and you holler all night then brother you're exactly right This is Tuffy talk where the pack fans belong pouring out for the red and the white Sing along we'll break it all down yeah we'll call it straight This is our show Go pack go state Tuffy talk fired up and loud the Wolf Pack Nation We're a hell of a crowd to the final play Tuffy talk Let's roll today Welcome to another edition of the Tufty Talk live show We are so excited to be here and we are so excited to be back one week closer to the start of football season And may I start this off by saying four score and 14 years ago the coach descended upon Raleigh North Carolina with the goal of one pack one goal But let's be real 14 years later you think we're still sitting here Uh four score 14 years ago or 14 years later and 0 8 some titles Wow it's a long time show yeah that's a long time Fourteen years is a long time it's a very long time haha yeah so with that being said Wolf Pack nations you've been with us before you know the drill any questions comments here and actually too as well might help too as well to incentivize If I pop the uh chat box that right down there too below as well so make sure you get any questions comments concerns right down there in the chat We got a ton to get to today It's gonna be a lot of fun looking forward to it here But with that being said you know Greg uh like you you have right there We are a magical circular 40 days away until kickoff man is is the the juices flown a little bit more man they are I spent eight hours in my storage unit finishing it up getting it ready for for fall camp if you will for my fall camp uh looks great Uh it was it was painful but we got it done And I'm uh excited to have a storage unit that rivals anybody else's There you go I love that Yeah so with that being said I do want to jump into here again You know over this past week I believe was on Tuesday we had the ACC Kickoff for NC State particularly here And I want to kind of start off here with Ethan You know the title of the show here is talking about how Dorian made a comment saying uh how Dorn sick of being second to which a couple of say fans saying were Dorn you were never second Uh you know but I don't know that I don't know about you Ethan but I I kind of point back to I believe it was 2017 where it was NC State versus Clemson Adency State And basically the winner of it would essentially almost control its own destiny to make the AC championship at I believe they played Virginia that year close end up making it AC championship play Virginia some some coastal team squash the crap out of them and the rest is history So for me I kind of put it up again I get it nobody likes what's the word you know like mental victories more victories but I don't know I still say that year that you can make a case We were the second best team AC that year I don't think that's the only year that's happened I I think that's been the case multiple times especially um when you had the divisions I thought that I think 2018 too state went down to Clemson and Clemson was much no Clemson wasn't much better I think that was the Kelly Bryant here Um but clums you know Clemson was still head and shoulders above NC State but state was still the second best team And just because they were in the Atlantic they didn't make the ACC title game So I I think you can make the case that happened twice I would also point to 2023 where that may have been state's best shot to win the ACC title um while Dave Doran's been here And I mean look it was a throw away game against Louisville I think in September that ended up being the difference Nobody really thought state was any good State finished 9 and 3 6 and 2 and they had lost that game to Louisville So Louisville made it and state didn't So look you know do I get what he's trying to say Yes Do I agree with you Yes At the same time if you're Dave Dorn you gotta know like you know you're you're gonna ruffle some feathers with those comments both of oppose of opposing fanbases and people in states fanbase who don't like him Um but I I get what he was saying and I you know I don't necessarily think he was wrong Greg I know you got some comments on that Yeah obviously people are gonna play semantics on the words and break it down And you know at the end of the day Dave doesn't give a crap So there is that factor Um you know if you're trying to choose your words better maybe second fiddle would have been you know the the better way to to phrase that Um again like Ethan said I get where he's coming from you know second place like in numerical order No that really hasn't been a case But I get the you know the the gist behind the saying Um but yeah I think I think you know there's a couple things you can take away from his comments you know in his opening remarks from last week One it doesn't sound like he's ready to be done anytime soon at least in the next you know year or two where you know it kind of had had those feelings over the last few years that it may be winding down It sounds like he might have another five six seven years left in in the tank Um you know if you if you listen to last year he said and again some of this stuff is coach speak so you got to kind of take it with a grain of salt But he said last year was one of his best groups to ever coach And you know you don't say those and you know when you're winding down and you know I still think that he came to state with a purpose and you kind of alluded to it in your opening statement is his his mantra of one pack one goal and that's to win championships Well we have to win one before you can win championships And I think I think that's something he still really wants to do And you saw that you know when we go back and talk about Ellie Avent's legacy and the note ACC Championship is part of that you know um that was a really big thing about Kevin Keats and West Moore was winning ACC championships and both of those coaches did it Um I do think that he has a chip on his shoulder he being Dave Dorn And I don't think he's going to at least in the near future quit until he gets one No yeah no I he he he's definitely a guy that's fully dead setting and here's my thing too as well Greg and honestly this was my biggest take away from the entire AC kickoff I've never seen Dorn so like like you might as well not even had a tie on Like like he could have honestly showed up in honestly T-shirt and flip flops Like he couldn't give a crap less about what anybody thought like poor Annabelle Myers Like like who knows you know who's the head of communications for Institute Football Like like you know Lord knows what she could have dealt with that day And honestly like he wouldn't have even apologized one bit for it which I honestly I love Like I love the fact that that that he honestly has started his cross conversation You're gonna you're gonna ruin the day basically that you gave me a microphone today cause I I'm I'm about to let it let it be said And and obviously him coming out with the four score 14 years ago which I know Ethan how long do you think that he went into that press conference with that with that prepared or oh yeah he rehearsed that in the mirror for sure for sure you know what this rip you know what this reminds me of and it's kind of silly If anyone has seen the movie Office Space the day like he comes in after he's hypnotized and just comes in no carries in the world you know you know puts fish on his And this could be Dave Dorn in a nutshell cause he Dave loves fishing I can see him coming in putting a fish on his desk and scaling it up and ready to cook it And he just didn't seem like he gave no F's Like he just kicked down the door and said all right Dave 2.0 ready to ready and reporting for duty What he almost even kind of like he has he talked about two in terms of retention in the ACC and how basically him and Dabbo are two of the longest tenured coaches now in the ACC So it almost kind of like him saying that almost kind of like saying like you know I'm I I'm the senior guy here So so I I almost get this right now uh now that I've been here for now 14 years too as well uh which is again nothing to sneeze out here for sure and especially today state of college football for a coach to be at a school for 14 years here Uh but yeah you think I just wanna ask you finish chess Whitney Oh 100% that's peacocking What And I mean he pointed out some some some understandable stats you know talking about he has that state has the second most uh wins the second most conference wins since uh uh 2000 and player development player development you know putting players and and the prose and you know and rightfully so gotta give them all the roses here for that But Ethan did Was there any particular comment particularly that Coach Dorn said during ace to kick off that stood out to you Um I I mean I think you kind of grab like he definitely grabbed headlines um with that I the other one that you mentioned Layton was his favorite team to coach And you always kind of assume like alright your favorite team to coach is gonna be the best one Um you know not not always the case right And there's been so many teams that have been that have been close that have been really good and I don't like for me last year's team wasn't in that group They just they weren't Um I would look at the 21 team the 23 team that's so you know okay you know I feel like this team is they're fun for me as a fan Now obviously his job as a coach is different from what we're viewing but that stands out you know and it definitely um is interesting looking back because a lot of those guys left you know like a lot of those skill position guys left they decided to keep CJ Bailey when they didn't have to do that Um maybe they felt like they did I don't know But definitely and again we've heard those comments before I think we heard them during last season um those say but to me it's always like oh you love the great teams the 2017 team the 2018 that's easy though isn't it It's easy for sure And it you know I I've made this point before like you know teams that don't necessarily end up being the best that surprise you Sometimes those teams can be more fun versus the teams where you're like hey we expect this team to be good The 2017 team You expected them to be good you know like and it was like okay it almost was like eight or nine wins was a disappointment I've brought this up before many times the Celtics winning the championship in 2024 It wasn't enjoyable until the last the very end Like it was the least amount of fun I've ever had watching a team every night because it was almost like if they don't win the championship none of it matters And it's just not a fun place to be mentally as a fan And so if your toes more robotic yeah yeah so I I definitely thought that stood out And you know we talked about those skill guys moving on you know what what what were a lot of those comments directed at Kevin Concepcion maybe Right um so uh I don't I don't know I just thought uh thought that probably stood out to me the most Yeah what about you Greg Uh besides obviously like you said the yeah you got Salty Dave now you got now you got now you got you know chess Dave like you know F's Dave yeah no F's Dave exactly anything else anything else turned out I just think again just some of the comments that he made previously I I'm just curious that maybe last year last year's team just kind of rejuvenated them like just kind of gave him a new a new a new sense a new fire if you will Um and you kind of alluded to it Ethan some of the knuckleheads that may have may or may not have been causing some of his stress And he just had guys that you know if you listen to some of the comments like what Isaiah Shirley said it just it feels different with these group of guys and that they they they bought in They listen I think you know I think CJ bringing in some of his dudes I think people are just focused And and maybe maybe this is what this team needs Maybe this is the iteration that gets it done I don't know time will tell Yeah well go ahead Ethan I I think you know assuming those comments were directed at Kevin Concepcion which I don't know I feel like it's a safe Assumption He's gone now he's in the pros right He's fine to me What I hope the lesson there is is you don't have to bring guys back right in 2020 2023 Felt like oh man you gotta bring back Kevin Concepcion You have to going into the 2024 season and then look at how that turned out for you It wasn't it wasn't a fun team He had that high expectations It wasn't a fun team It was a you know just a bad vibe all around obviously had you know the Mccall injury and all that thing But you know you you kept conception when you didn't have to And like the added the assuming that's the attitude that you're talking about I hope that's a reminder that it's like hey you don't have to get into a bidding war to keep all of your guys And maybe that's the lesson they feel like they Learned last year with Anderson and Rogers and Smothers where it's like hey maybe we don't necessarily wanna do that now Again this is a personality thing It's not it's not just what is it on the football field So I kind of hope that was the lesson you know that they Learned that year where it's like hey we don't we don't have to stretch ourselves so far for just one guy We can go out and replace them as you saw them do this year with the guys they lost last year And I think I think they did a good job replacing If again if it is Kevin Conception that kind of feels like the person right um again that's just conjure um but sometimes feels like it does it does especially some of the things that I'm familiar with Like it just feels like that's that's it Um and again I get it but at some point you know even if you're quote unquote productive you still can't deal with a lot of shenanigans because you've got you know a hundred other guys on this on the team that one person can deeply affect Yeah or here's my thing because here's my thing too as well I think that honestly like like you said Greg like how last year's team really kind of rejuvenated Dorn I mean cause keep in mind the two years ago it bait like I mean first of all let me take a step back at the kickoff He basically said out right I don't enjoy the NRL side I don't enjoy the the money discussions I don't enjoy that part He basically said that outright and I think to add to that point two years ago before the Grayson Mccall no Roger season Basically it was almost basically forced to say listen like you know if we're gonna compete for a C title we have to take we have to go to two elbows in to this NHL you know shenanigans we have to do it if we want to be competitive we got to go there And so I think that that year was a lot of okay we have a flood of resource stuff coming from NHL perspective I'm gonna go out there and get the best guys I can and put him on the football field And that's what he did He put the best talent but again the but the problem is that he lost the culture side He lost the locker room side And and that was extremely tested And thank god for CJ Bailey who was willing to step up to the task of of of saving what could have been a really really dark season Francie State Uh you know if you didn't at least step in at least you know win a few games and you know obviously ended cap it off with a with a great win against Carolina Uh but again to the point is I think that was honestly and this is a guy that's been coaching for decades now But I think that was a huge lesson for him which I think he's Learned a lot from since then So uh anyway though so uh before though uh again we will definitely talk a lot more about AC kickoff here in a little while But I wanna jump on over here as I wanna start talking about the season to come to Uh you know because the big question in the title is is This Orange Year here So and we got a lot to preview here so let's jump on over to to one of our segments we haven't brought back in a little while but our hot take countdown Alrighty so uh so for this segment here uh I actually kind of wanna put Ethan on the spot here for a second As I believe it was two weeks ago Greg we had talked about uh you and I had got on here for the Hot day hot day countdown and we talked about which players that we were planning our flag in in terms of a sleeper for this upcoming season that we you know wanted to kind of set in on I know for myself talked about John the paler Evans here You obviously talked a lot about Duke Scott and plan to flag in that he's gonna be our first thousand yard rusher since 2018 Reggie Gillespie Ethan I know I believe even before you came on toughie talk with you or you join me and we talked a little bit about it I gave you my Andre Evans hot take you gave it a 10 out of ten Hot hot hot and Fuego hot and you not that fluego hot I appreciate that Ethan If there's one player that's asleep right now that you would say that you would plant your flag is going to increase the stock for this upcoming season Who would that player be Popo Aguire linebacker transferring in from Miami I think there's a number of different ways you can go there Like I like the Andre Evans pick I do think it's a little bit It's definitely out of left field but for me Aguire is a guy who played at like I don't know maybe I value that too much Like did you play Where were you This guy played at Miami Now he got recruited over at Miami um which is why he moved on But that's fine Like it's it's okay You're not asking him to come in and be Peyton Wilson You're not expecting that But I I think you lost a lot with Caden Fordham with Sean Brown who obviously was hurt last year But um I think aguires in line like the roster that he's on and the rosters that he's going to be facing is not as talented as the roster that he was on last year and the rosters that they were facing down the stretch in the playoffs And so I think that's a guy who uh added late not as big of a name I think is Harvey Dyson as King Mac um but was added late So I think maybe slipped under the radar for some people But I I think he's a guy who's gonna come in BNC states best linebacker And potentially like I I don't know if he's gonna have the the the the biggest impact defensively Because I really value what head rushers bring to the table what cornerbacks bring to the table But in terms of productivity from a down to down basis Popo Choir is the guy I have my eye on I think he's in line for a really really big season Love that yeah I love that Pick here for sure even got Benjamin here in the chat saying I plan to flag JoJo Trader will lead the receivers and touchdowns this year And I do wanna ask you Greg here real quick on this here Uh and then we'll jump into the hot take piece here Uh but do you believe CJ's comment that he doesn't really have a guy for this upcoming season Did you believe did you believe that comment they made on the Ovi's Julio podcast No I mean you're always gonna have your dude that you can rely on And and know if it's third down and five I know who I can go get six yards for me Right um like last year kind of felt like that was either um Anderson or Jolie for him Um um Keenan Jackson seems to be a really good possession guy too But no I think I think he's got a and look I mean he did his dang this to talk every wide receiver up uh over the last couple of days during media availability Um I think I heard him say just about every receiver we have in that room So he he he wants to stay in good favor But if anything it should be the other way around The receivers need to stay in good favor with the quarterback so they get the ball thrown their way But now I think he's got a guy um he won't say it publicly nor should he cause he's the leader of the team But now I'm sure he's got a guy that he knows he can go to if he needs you know a crucial first down late in the ball game Yeah well would you say let him have a guy Um I think so I I it it sounds like I I do um I I I gosh Every year I tell myself I'm not gonna drink the damn Kool Aid and I feel like I'm guzzling it right now um because I I was like no I'm not gonna do it I'm not gonna do it then you start hearing you know you start getting sound bites and you're like oh gosh it's gonna happen and I don't know I think so I think Coach Roper and Doran this is this look If you don't then that's a fault on the coaching staff If you don't trust your guy in year 3 in the system and um you should you should remove all all restraints on the man and let him cook as the kids would say yeah agreed What do you think Ethan You don't think they will I I just don't know if there's gonna be enough consistency at the wide receiver position on a down to down basis to say this is gonna be a guy who's who's gonna put up 800 yards and seven touchdowns or whatever it is That's kind of my concern um with it And I also think they force feed guys two years ago They force said Kevin Conception It didn't work last year I thought they forced fed Justin Jolie I thought his you know his production on a down to down basis regressed year over year Uh and so I I thought it was just a little bit too much of if it's a big play we're going to Jolie Now Jolie was but so are the other guys You know so I don't necessarily It has to be hey we're going to player X in this position and so yeah my perspective maybe it's better for NC State But I agree I agree Because it you're if you certain have certain tendencies coach coaches on other teams and coordinators on their teams are gonna key on those things A it's third and four look for this play Like it got so predictable a couple years ago with certain packages Like if you saw Dante Daniels in information you know 90% was gonna be a run Like even I was picking up on that And I would look at somebody say this could be a run third and two it's gonna be a run Well I do say that cause Dante Daniels is in like now they did do a better job of getting him more involved in the passing game But you I still think to the point is you gotta spread the ball around it and keep defenses guessing cause that's that's how you're gonna be successful Yeah so with that being said to I wanna take just 30 seconds here And again we're gonna be starting our NC State football season preview episodes here soon with offense preview defense preview starting to do our season predictions to as well game by game predictions to But I want to get full back in here and start talk a little bit about X factors for the season here And you know we could always go for the layup of health I'm gonna challenge Greg and Ethan saying all right you know maybe let's go beyond just X factor Just we gotta stay healthy Cause as Dorn said there is a lot of light to that You can't control a lot of it It just kind of happens here But uh Greg do you have what is what is one X factor that you have for this season If this is truly going to be Doran's year and and he can finally get over the hump of being tired of second place I think it has to be somewhere on the defensive side after last year You know that seems to be the question marks on this team going in Um you know Coach Dorn talked about a little bit with last year with Elliot's situation And and the team did the best they could to rally around And you had you know nine injuries on the defensive side And look excuses aside injuries aside I I someone on the defense is gonna have to step up on this team I think I think there's gonna be enough offensive weapons And there's you know enough there where you can you can make some things work It's gonna be someone on the defensive side and uh I think you know I'm with I'm with Ethan like like how is this pass rush gonna look Um you gotta pressure the quarterback that something states not been super super successful over the last couple years Like yeah you have a couple guys with like four or five sacks but as a team as a whole you know has I think you know had some problems there Turnovers last year weren't as good as a couple years back Um but give me someone I I am I'm I'm with Ethan on the linebacker side but I'm gonna go in a different direction I'm gonna go Sterling Dixon I I think he's a guy that there's some hopes for um that they're really high on But I mean take any three of those linebackers cause again when state was most successful and I know this is a different defensive scheme and all of that But when when we had Drake Thomas Peyton Wilson Isaiah Moore this team was cooking and so get me back to some really good linebacker play And um for that reason I'm gonna take Sterling Dixon as an X factor Well and and for me Greg I'm actually gonna go not not to say player specific for an X factor I'm gonna go a little bit more schedule here actually and I'm gonna say the X factor is we gotta have for sure a winning record if not even 4 and 1 on the road I I I really am challenging us take a next step here in terms of on the road here I know Ethan I'm I'm I'm your shoes my thought you're gonna go different I mean I take those sports but in the game was 4 and 1 on the road We can just get our playoff tickets now well exactly when it home But yeah well and that's why I'm saying like like like 3 and 2 4 1 like like let's get there on the road just more because I so here's the thing game 1 on the road Virginia huge game to start right out the gate you gotta you know ideally start off 1 O but then you go to Vanderbilt which is you know a very hot program hot team not right now now in terms of how they'll look how they'll play without Diego Pavia Completely understand that But again they're gonna be feeling themselves by that point That's only week 3 uh Week 4 technically week 4 technically uh so you know but so they'll still be they'll be yeah cause it'll be week zero for us first First Virginia So it's week three yeah three anyway but uh so again they'll still be filming themselves so they're still gonna be playing some good ball probably that point at Nashville on SC Network And then you have to go to Stanford what your trip to California is never easy Um and then go to Tallahassee which who the heck knows what four states gonna be like They could be riding high feeling really good or they could be extremely just down to gutter But then you wrap up with a road trip to Carolina here So I mean it's definitely a challenging road schedule I think there's a lot of games here you could argue that have a lot of uh you know tied to it in terms of how the season goes and how it feels for state fans uh in terms of where we are in terms of competing for AC title Or like you said you think of picking for a potentially a playoff spot here when all is then done here But uh so yeah if I get piggyback off of that yeah so if you're gonna go X factor like that I'm gonna say X factor either 4 and 1 or 5 and 0 going into Louisville Um I think Louisville is the game where if if if you go 4 and 1 with that loss to to Vandy Cause now you now you're wanna know in conference play Um because here's the thing You're either gonna have to go undefeated or one loss to really give yourself a realistic opportunity And we'll talk about it in tweets of the week cause it could get funky Um if you have like two or three losses if you have three you're definitely out But if you you can have no more than two losses and then now you gotta play combos of losses and it gets very muddy But uh if you can go into that Louisville game 4 and 1 5 and 0 again with that one loss being to Vandy and you come out on the other side of that game with the win I think then we can really start to talk how this team's gonna look Um if they if they maintain that that level Because you're gonna find out really quick in getting in this season There's no dipping your toes in the water this year You're going to UVA week one ACC matchup Like like there's going to be some statements made in that first week Agree Ethan What's your X factor for the season or one of them CJ Bailey I I think it's really interesting the way that state decided to approach this roster by pretty much going all in on Bailey and saying here you're our guy You're compensated very nicely We talked about that last week if NC State was the highest bidder or not Regardless regardless of whether they were not I think we agree he was paid very very nicely You know like if you know if you were to rank like top 25 quarter highest paid players quarterbacks in the country like is he on that list Probably you think he's top 10 I I do like again if the number what we hear is true that's a big number I mean I get it You what do you think You think he's top 10 If not very close close I I wouldn't be surprised I mean you probably figure half of the SCC teams were probably at his number maybe more maybe two or three in the Big Ten and then one in the ACC Like who else is paying quarterbacks that kind of money outside of the you know I mean it would have been Sorsby but he isn't eligible So yeah that changes things But like you lost a lot you lost a lot with mothers you know Rogers and Anderson moving on You lost a lot and peak protecting him peak yeah peak and obviously Joe Lee going pro Sure yeah you know I'm kind of the belief that those guys made Bailey look better than Bailey made them look if that makes sense It's fair And you know I I talked about it kind of some last year Like I'm not sure this is the approach I would take with roster construction Like going all in on a quarterback and then you know nickel and diming the roster the west of the way I'm still I'm not sold that this is gonna work I'm not And we've talked about some of the concerns with Bailey Can he be more consistent Can he get out of his own way Can he stop things from snowballing You know can he throws Yeah things like that Be more aggressive throwing the ball down the field Yeah to me those are all real questions And if you know fixable yeah they're fixable He's very toolsy He's got a ton of upside like this but this roster is built for CJ Bailey to carry Carry is probably not the wrong word There are 22 players on the time but yeah like he's got to take the end again based off what we've seen the last two years it may happen but I'm not 100 sure that that's gonna happen And so you know if Bailey has three really bad games like he did last year you know what's it gonna look like And again those were against really good teams Those those really good teams aren't on the schedule this year So hopefully that helps But again what if there's still two or three bad games against teams that aren't on that level Like to me that's kind of that's kind of where it's at where it's like all right you're expecting Bailey to carry you here You know like let me ask you this From year one to year two he got better right Yes I did I mean I mean it's taking you a minute it's taking me a minute like he let he let me let the AC in QBR last year He LED AC in QBR last year Yeah so but are you fixated on stats or are you fixated on stats plus wins No I mean I mean I'm fixated on just the simple fact of I mean I just have a hard time I would have a hard time saying a quarterback who basically got thrown into the fire two years ago is just as good as the QB last year that LED the AC and QBR That's all I'm saying just just just that right there but sorry go ahead And so my thing with that would be you're right He got thrown into it in the middle of the season or not in the middle but beginning whatever right Grayson Mccall taken right Grayson Mccall had taken all those reps up to that point Very very impressed with what he did as a freshman under those circumstances God didn't see state to a bowl game Those skill guys were all very very young Smothers was a freshman Rogers was a freshman and a whole lot of freshmen didn't Yeah right And so I was really impressed But again statistically like you know the completion percentage went from 65 to 68% He went from 201 yards per game to 238 yards per game eight yards per attempt to 7.8 yards per attempt that went down Interceptions went from 3.3 to 2.3% so a little better touchdown percentage on you know percentage of throws that were touchdowns 5.6 to 6.3 Uh Sports Reference has his rating I don't know which rating they

Their efficiency rating went from 1:44 to a 1: 34:15

50 Like his running numbers were pretty much in line I expected a bigger jump yeah no big leaps I expected a bigger leap because he it was his off season He was the guy and again maybe it'll come but like again if I'm looking at what happened from year one to year two am I sure that that leap is gonna come from year two to year three Like that's kind of where my my questions are So this this is where then again if you're taking that the schedule was much it was definitely harder like like you played Duke you played Georgia Tech you played um Miami you played Notre Dame Those are four quality teams from last year that you're not playing this year again as it stands today on 20 July right cause again you know things change people He's like you're not in the military right now July 20th yeah sorry Touche sir Um but there's always a team that sneaks up right during the season that you're like oh did not see that one coming Um and so that might that team may end up on state schedule But as of today like with the schedule lightened a little maybe that's what again That's that's not the greatest like raw raw speed but it would count right like but it would count correct it would count right like we talked about it I believe was it eight of those interceptions we talked about this a few weeks ago Eight of yeah what against dude nine interceptions came in three games right so if you sit here and say all right well you're not playing teams like that so we're gonna go ahead and knock your interceptions from nine down to two Hey that improvements there right We're not like we're not gonna be sitting there after the season saying oh well then someone else's problem after that somebody else's It's not even that but like if you win the games who cares Yeah you know if you get to 10 wins if you get to the ACC title game so you know if that's the improvement being the teams that you're playing are worse Hey I'll take it You know I'm not gonna sit here and say and that certainly could happen and then you combine like hey what if he does take a leap and your schedule is easier you know then you really got something so double bonus yeah exactly yeah so with that so with that being said Wolfpack Nation so we locked in our X factors there So make sure to hold us accountable as season goes especially in December once we get to the postseason two as well definitely remind us to as well of how these X factors turned out And if they turned out like fine wine or like or like like week old egg moldy cheese yeah moldy cheese even that too as well So with that being said well factation let's jump on over to one of my other favorite uh my other favorite new segments here which Ethan statpack Big thanks to our amazing sponsor Apple CPR Trains for sponsoring our segment Ethan Stat Pack are you looking to get CPR certified for your business school church team or organization Apple CPR Trains makes it easy by bringing the training directly to you off Wolf CPR Trains is an American Red Cross license training provider offering adult and pediatric first aid CPR and AED certification courses You prefer hybrid learning or fully instructor LED They customize a train to fit your group's needs including adult only or pediatric only certifications With successful completion participants receive an official American Red Cross certification valid for two years and meeting OSHA standards Convenient professional and tailor to your schedule Alpha Wolf CPR train helps you stay prepared every second matters To learn more and schedule your class today visit Alpha Wolf CPR dot square dot site today With that being said Mr Ethan will hand over to you Thirteen hundred and fifty one yards are returning for NC State yards from scrimmage which surprised me I didn't expect that number to be so high I don't know where you guys expected but we spend so much time talking about you know this is what NC State has lost And so 13 13 hundred and fifty one yards out of 5 thousand So 5 thousand um total yards last year was like 5,085 I think So percentage basis 26.5 of uh your your scrimmage yards are returning and I didn't I I apologize to any players that I'm leaving out here I didn't really get into the weeds of like Preston Douglass 20 yards so apologies Preston I did not include those Um I included uh three no I'm sorry four of your top 10 uh scrimmage do we get to play along It's our back do we get to what play along like like names like who are we who are we Yeah so okay so who do you who are the top 10 I I I was gonna have you guys guess how many but I just told you four who do you think they are Well go ahead I'll you take one and I'll take one go ahead late I'll give you the easy one Well so so sorry I I was doing all the admin stuff back here So top 10 jeez top 10 scrimmage yards from last year top 10 scrimmage yards for last year Give us a name offensive production Hollywood's mothers no returning no coming back oh returning sorry okay uh sorry akin and Jackson No he took one that I wasn't able to go with but at least Jackson was Jackson was eighth Yeah obviously the the one you're returning the most is CJ Bailey Well no no no so this does not include passing yards it's just rush Oh see that if you would have LED by that Mark well from from scrimmage yards So I should have clarified but good news Greg CJ Bailey he did run he ran a few did run He was ninth at 211 yards so there are still two guys Yeah so then it would be Duke who surprisingly was second that caught me by surprise I don't know what you guys surprised me No because of his Georgia Tech game and his Memphis game But still I mean he had more yards than Terrell Anderson He had a lot more yards than Justin Jolie Obviously no Rogers Wesley Grimes those guys I had kind of forgotten that again from Strewell Tribal He does 580 yards on the ground last year 132 in the air you know 9 9 yards per catch for a running back is pretty good but yeah 713 total yards was second on the team last year obviously behind the smothers There's one more guy in the top 10 who's back I know she honestly I was like I was honestly blinking after that So so this one this one is tough but when you get it you're gonna be like okay is this a technicality Are you going Teddy Hoffman Is this a technicality No I did not include Hoffman Okay okay yeah that's a good one Greg I actually that totally was a good yeah Hoffman Hoffman was seventh 345 but I did not include him wide receiver Nope running back tight nope tight end It's gotta be a tight end Then what the hell What Well well it's not running back It's not oh yeah good call good call What is it well Wilson well Wilson 145 oh yeah LED obviously LED the team with with 10 touchdowns Yeah so not a technicality right We included CJ Bailey for his running yards Yeah you know kind of little bit of a curveball there right and you don't think of that and I think it's interesting like I think NC State had to invest in him to get him back right I think that is a guy who likely could have had options going to other schools probably invested on a level Yeah yeah I think he was taken care of well And you know in terms of a per play like he's going to be paid very very handsomely He only had 43 running plays last year which isn't you know that's it's not really a lot Um and so I I I don't know I I thought that was really interesting So yeah four of your top 10 skill guys are back And this is kind of what I was talking about with Bailey It's like alright you know you had your turn where you had NFL guys around you right Smothers Jolie Peak Terrellius We expect those guys to be in the NFL at some point Obviously Jolie already is I don't know with these guys you know we haven't seen him yet I don't expect it but you know now it's Bailey's turn to kind of elevate these guys And it's a lot of new faces faces that he's familiar with but yeah 26 uh so there's your stat laden truth Uh oh I lost it but it was one thousand hundred ninety one Yeah 13 yards returning twenty six percent of the production from last year is bad It's great a lot not a lot Yeah it's great staff there So let's move on over to uh to another uh uh favorite of mine which is our tweets of the week y'all Uh once I can find it and we go alright let me get us switched over here Uh once I can read it there we go Alrighty so first one here uh from Brian Murphy uh coming out with a tweet that has been on crazy in terms of on the debate stage here amongst the X universe here talking about basically picking off in piggyback off of Matt Brown's tweet Uh and basically listing the royalties licensing advertisements and corporate sponsorship revenue between UNC NC State over the last three years Uh obviously listing UNC talking about from 24 25 they made 23.9 million and then back a year further was 14 million back a year further 16.4 million Those same three years forensic state he has listed as 2.4 million here Francie State 2.5 million the year before and then 2.3 million the year before that So at least real quick go ahead quick Yeah just um he I put this together earlier today Um about four hours ago he even questioned his own uh reporting here And he there was another tweet that followed up says I do wonder if there is some reporting difference in how each school gets to this number Um so and and I think where you were gonna go is this seems awful awful low Even smaller schools were were showing bigger numbers than state Um the original tweet was referencing$5 million in the schools that were above and below and the ones that are below like around this number are not at states level um for sports prestige if you will for a lack of a better way to describe it

Yeah I mean basically what the question I was about to ask Greg and I know I mean it's 9: 45:26

22 it's not past 10 yet but we really go past anyway so I'm gonna say it but basically my question was gonna be is this bullshit like you know flat out right Like you like like it to me it just it just like no like I get it It's you and C I get it but 7 to 10 times more than NC State Like yeah and and and honestly I I have some um some context here ironically I was at the new rally House that was opened up over in Cary not too long ago And if anyone that doesn't know what Rally Houses it's a company that sells college apparel pro apparel And I was talking and I was talking to I don't know if she was a manager or whatever but she seemed to have a lot of information That store had way too much blue in it for my for my liking And I was like oh this place is like so Carolina heavy and even Duke heavy compared to state And she was just talking about the licensing And we've talked about this before especially with the whole slobbering Wolf debacle from last fall um about you know getting gear with certain things And and state has been known in their trademark and licensing department that they're kind of stingy on what what they share out for for whatever reason good bad or indifferent But she did share that um state charges about 40 in in profit so you know they get the first 40 of anything Rally House sells So anyone that questions why a damn hoodie is 80 90 bucks Um everyone has to get their cut in it and so that's part of the reason why you see these ridiculous prices on gear Um ironically she said that wasn't even the worst Duke requires 75 profit and they don't put their license on anything Um but anyway just some context there Yeah anything you would add I don't know this is this is bad Youtubing on my part but it's hard to react without being able to ask follow up questions Yeah like he's like it's just kind of like okay like what's what's the where we plan this for you yeah right you know you look at the list and it's like again there's a bunch of like state is just like not even like mid majors like below that correct Clearly there's something else you know not something else that play but like maybe Brian Murphy can do a follow up and do his job No offense Brian Murphy you do pretty good work but this seems kind of lazy We love you Brian All right he is good I will give him that like he is good but to be this with this like I would have waited on this Sorry Ethan I'm still in your moment but this kind of grinds my gear No he's I mean he's just aggregating Matt Brown's correct correct And if I had seen it I you know like I like sure like it's interesting content But yeah and he did follow up and said he kind of questioned it Right so like he is I think he I think he will kind of unpeel the layers here but guess what guess what happened today Blue Corgan had a press conference This would have been a perfect opportunity to do some follow up and ask these questions I'm just saying uh huh yeah so with that being said speaking of the Greg picking up the temperature here a little bit Here let's pick up the temperature a little bit more here talking about UT Martin transfer Jalen Hampton offensive tackle transfer that committed back in February that was ruled and eligible by the NCAA because of the NCAA medical hardship waiver that he put in that was declined I Greg since since you're already going a little heated here Anyway you know I'm gonna let you run with this one a little bit more here man cause I'm sitting here saying again NCAA stands for no clue at all It's just like you know again like like just just do the easy things Listen like like you know it it just I don't know To me this was just a lay up of an opportunity here like incidentally just take the ball lay it up on the basket and move on here Like just just say yes and let's bring on here but go ahead This is exactly why we have five and five now This is the this is one of the things where we're gonna get we're gonna get rid of all this right And the crazy thing is is had he not participated in spring ball then he could have used that semester in the fall and been fine Again doesn't really make a lot of sense But if he had said you know what And and and and and here I'm gonna maybe blame state here If they knew he only had one semester of eligibility why did we let him potentially burn it in the spring That would be a question that I would have um yeah but it sucks either way it sucks This guy's this kid's career is gonna be done when you can give them one more semester and just let it be done Like just look we're gonna let all the shit since you already dropped the bullshit I'll just say the shit Um we could have just been done with it let it fly and then boom you start a new one January or whenever that new rule goes into effect at what semester but it sucks Yeah yeah yeah you're exactly right Greg Like where was the again we don't we don't know behind the scenes what was going on here But and they thought I thought this was an easy it was gonna happen You know what I mean Like could be right And you have the same thing with Katron Evans going on right now where they're having to appeal an ineligible ruling But like just a quick glance at his UT Martin Page red shirted in 21 Okay So he played in 22 played 22 at a west uh community college which I thought those years didn't count against you But again I'm still confused about the rules they do I thought you got one for a year or am I making this up I had I mean maybe I don't know again I don't know who knows But he didn't play in 2023 at Charlotte but he was on the roster and then 24 and 25 like you know like you said like where's the context there And like can you really blame the NCAA for like again You of course you can blame the NCAA but like always blame it college in 2021 Like okay I get it It's 20 26 like let's move on and we had a five and five though guys it is five and five exactly it is five and five yeah but still 20 25 like 21 22 23 24 25 that would still be five Yeah so this is sick you know so um yeah like like you said it sucks for him but I'm with you Greg we're like and again we don't know what NCC was doing or wasn't doing but like where is the hey what's going Like like maybe we keep this the baby we keep the semester in our back pocket just in case we need it Like like I get it you wanna get out in spring ball but in the grand scheme of things he could have came in in the fall and and been fine Like you could have gave him a workout program Say hey go do this Come back in the fall Like I don't know Not a guy you not a guy you expect to start But I think some nice depth that you had on the offensive line correct Yeah and so definitely a heart goes out for sure for Jill Hampton as that's I don't know I've I haven't seen this before Like I haven't seen a situation like this go down before So to see it like you said like you know building up all the excitement for your final year of college football and it to be the rug to be pulled out like this only 40 days away from the start of football season is terrible to say the least So but speaking of though in terms of talking about ACC here who came out with their new tiebreaker policy here uh which so that updated tiebreaking procedure is built on three guideline principles Head to head results will always matter most No team will be overly rewarded or penalized based on the number of conferences conference games it played And when head to head competition cannot separate tied teams the team with the strongest overall body of work will earn the opportunity to what does that mean Championship exactly That that's what I was about to say Greg can you can you can you say this in English here What the heck are these guidelines here I don't I don't understand exactly what is trying to be accomplished here This means this means whoever is ranked higher probably I have a feeling right whoever's ranked higher in the CFP playoff is going to get the nod because they want to protect that asset Yeah I I think you know the ACC champion not making the playoff and rightfully So I think in Duke last year like I like I'm totally cool with an 8 and 5 Duke team not getting in but it's an all time low point yeah right it's an all time low point for this conference like from a especially from a football like it just it it it doesn't get worse than that you cannot let that happen as a conference And I if I recall correctly there are some talk like leading up to the game like change the rules and get Miami in You know and so yeah this is a no brainer now it's extremely subjective but yeah it will go to the highest ranked team because you you can't let that happen again Now I do think there is a trade off where Duke winning allowed Miami Like I think there was a a little given take with the committee where they said hey we're gonna leave your conference champion out but we will put Miami in versus had Virginia one I think Virginia may Virginia definitely gets in and potentially do they leave Miami out I think maybe that's the way that would have played out But yeah this is a you know if push comes to shove and we're in a situation like we were last year we are going to put in the highest ranked team right And it's okay head to head first So you know I mean you have to do that but then after that it's pretty much we're going to the high strength team if there's a tiebreaker if there's a tiebreak right so if they're both 6 and 2 or 7 and 1 and that's the other thing right what's based the number No 2 bullet here But you're gonna have some teams play eight conference games and others play 9 right And and so if you have a 6 and 2 team right or 6 and 2 team versus the 6 and 3 team the 6 and 2 team is gonna get in yeah or 7 and 1 yeah again based on body work So it's 6 and 2 could get in over 7 and one Well if there's no no no no so if there's one 71 tiebreaker procedures yeah yeah but so you're saying seven and one is better than six and two right because again once but see one Okay well what if you did 7 and 2 I don't know There's a there's a combo where I think a team that plays less games could make it in over a team that plays more games with loss with the winning percentage Yeah so a 7 and 1 team would get over a 7 and would get in over a 7 and 2 team So the tiebreaker you can only be tied with teams that played the same number of games this year Yeah but if you had seven and one and six and two so seven and two that plays nine and six and two that plays eight that's a time team gets in no no see They said they aren't going to it doesn't matter So are they gonna base it off one percentage Cause that's not what it says here Cause it says no team will overly be rewarded or penalized based on the number of conference games it's played Again you know I just assumed it was based on winning percentage Is it not I guess I shouldn't assume with the ACC That's my that's my point here Greg I can summarize this very easily for everybody here if my if we are in last last year situation once again we are putting this in place that way we have some kind of justification for putting Miami in That's basically well whoever that team is But yes well but just just just you know the big brand of the ACC if we need to swoop in as the savior ACC and make sure that blue blood gets in now this gives us opportunity because there is so much gray wording here It's not even funny Like just like you said Greg what the like to start this tweet off what the heck does all this mean So what the heck all this means means what do you what does that mean Means gray area It means opportunity for the ACC to be that savior So I don't that that's why I take away here go ahead So AI says it is winning percentage Yeah I was just doing it myself haha So when there's nothing in the article from the ACC in this tweet that right specifies right our percentage is not in this entire tweet here So but oh well I it says so what who what AI are you using Just out of curiosity not to get too far I just googled it Yeah okay so I did chat GPT and it says so a 7 2 record does not automatically beat a 6 and 2 record under the 2026 rules that the deciding factors and then they have some other but so it's not an automatic I don't know maybe cause I head to head maybe cause maybe head to head will Trump that if they 6 and 2 and 7 2 I don't know Stay tuned I guess is the is the long long winded answer of it Hopefully it doesn't get to that no so wanna give a shout out to our one of our very own and represent us actually in Charlotte in Charlotte Isaiah Shirley uh who's been named an AFCA Good Works Team nominee as one of the nation's top community leaders And hey I do got to give us a little bit of pat on the back here Greg is when Isaiah was committed into state we had him here on the show And he took one of my one of my things from another tweet that was coming up but go ahead nope go ahead go ahead Well I mean you at least run with it here well no I wanted you to bring up the work I bring up the tweet and we'll come back to this real quick of all the all the guys Okay okay I see what you're doing I see what you're talking about Yeah yeah yeah all right it's coming right at you Yeah so for us this is pretty cool I think we had For anyone that's listening and not got the the video this is the the group photo of the of the crew that represented the pack down in Charlotte You have Isaiah Shirley CJ Bailey and Duke Scott and of course Coach Dorn The cool thing is is we interviewed all three of those guys the year they came in as freshman And I thought that was just really cool now to see them grow in their maturation process you know representing um this team And you know these are the guys that honestly when we spoke to them as freshman I thought man these guys could could definitely lead this club in a few years And you're seeing that come come full circle But but then back to your point on Isaiah though like if nothing else he is the guy that you want representing your university um you know scholar athlete good good ball player does a tremendous amount of work in the community His story is amazing Um and if you're interested go back into our archives and find that interview And um just you know all like Duke was so mature Isaiah was so was so um mature And then of course CJ being a quarterback he's naturally mature because he has to lead a ball club so really cool stuff Yeah so huge shout out here Ethan Anything to add here talking about Isaiah for wrap up tweet No Greg Greg summed it up Well great guys great ambassadors of the university in the program Yeah so with that being several pack nation we're gonna jump back here to the main side here and want to talk a little bit here to wrap up the show As Greg I know you had a couple more tweets to get to Yeah it was a lot yeah ran over here a little bit here on time here Uh I did wanna talk about a couple other quotes here that I took away here from AC kickoff One quote in particular CJ Bailey said was and I quote I was winging it my first year which I kind of take that with a little bit of brain salt in the fact you're a true freshman you're coming in basically told Grayson Mccall's starting quarterback period Like there's there's no competition Like it's Grayson Mccall's your starting quarterback here So you know I don't think there was obviously a lot of expectations for him going into the year saying alright you better you know like you you gotta be ready you gotta be up and ready to go Like you know it was probably pretty much said that you like you you're gonna take this year and develop and learn get used to the offense and then be ready for next year to compete here So enjoy the clipboard enjoy the clipboard Exactly So so Ethan I mean like do you take do you take that quote as verbatim I was completely just like I don't know he's open I'll throw it that way Or do you think that he probably had an idea but just didn't have all like the reps from the offseason to have full confidence of every single play he was running I I I mean I think there's an element of both right like we know how challenging the quarterback position is particularly mentally And look you can have all the traits right but if it doesn't click for you mentally you know it's not gonna work And so I do think like yeah an 18 year old like they doesn't play many true freshmen you know like Jalen McLendon wasn't able to earn it Devon Leary took Devon Leary to go back a little ways Yeah um I mean even Russell Wilson right I mean you have to go back to to Phillip Rivers right um who who started as a freshman so um yeah I I I think it makes sense I do think there's an element of like as a freshman you're just going out there and playing And there's also an element of you don't know what you don't know right like you don't know all the negatives you're you're going out there a little more you know on one side is negative because you don't you don't have a great grasp of the playbook but on the other side you're just playing you're not thinking you you don't have time to think you know and so yeah I I 100 get what he's saying And again that's what we were talking about earlier Like that's kind of why I did wonder if there would be I I I shouldn't say I wonder I thought there would be a bigger step forward from CJ Bailey Year 1 to Year 2 and again not to say won't happen Year 2 to Year 3 but you know you expect that to grow you expect that part of the game to get easier for you especially you know you still still very young 19 20 years old 20 I guess probably by now Yeah yeah no and you know again I think that also too I mean like kind of building off it though like I think that for him I definitely have a lot of belief in the fact of that he has a better understanding of where he truly needs to be and from a leadership perspective to help a team be successful In the fact that you know like one other quote that he mentioned and Greg I'll let you speak on this He he said and I quote what we need is an alpha leader And that's what I am right now Now with that being said keep in mind that you were not given No 1 Jersey now can a quarterback I mean quarterback hasn't been given the No 1 Jersey yet So you know I don't know if it's necessary you know if if that kind of plays into it here at all But the fact that Duke Scott who was there who got the No 1 Jersey and was even said multiple times during the whole AC kickoff process talking about you know Duke Scott whatever leader he is at such a young age for CJ still come out say listen you know we still need an alpha leader we still need leadership And I am that person right now I think it says a lot in terms of from a conference perspective you know that they they you you feel extremely confident The locker room is gonna be in good hands the culture is gonna stay strong and is gonna be strong at the start of the season and more than likely throughout the season Yeah I look the quarterback is gonna be a natural is gonna be a leader of the team in any shape of form Like that's just how it goes that's comes with the territory Um you know you have different types of leaders You have the rah rah get in your face type of leader a verbal kind of guy You have a service leader where they just go out and lead by example Uh so so we don't know what necessarily what type of leaders these are but they are leaders right And you know you even heard Isaiah Shirley when he was on the podium saying that he's taking more of a leadership role with it being his fourth year in the program Um I I think that I I don't I don't CJ doesn't come off in the in the in the few times that I've had interactions with him and again you know it's not necessarily in the locker room which is completely different in everything He doesn't seem like a an aggressive leader if you will Um there's no doubt that he demands respect and and he has a presence but it it just seems that he's probably one of those leaders that goes out and puts in the work you know does the film study people just see what he's doing and then he know he tells the boys let's go you know um it getting just feels like that from the outside Um but I definitely think that all three of the men that were representing the pact last week in Charlotte are leaders Um I don't think they would have been there in that position speaking uh to that group of media members if they weren't leaders in some regard And so yeah I I do think that that CJ and Duke and like they will be great leaders this year for this team And you'll learn pretty quick once you start finding out who's captains and all of that right Because again those captains typically have those leadership traits as well True now a quote which Ethan I I you know we I'll I'll I'll leave this to you first here so you've obviously uh mentions DJ Bailey's name a lot even just in this live show itself here So I wanna ask you about one other quote that uh Coach Lauren said which I know for me personally I got sent to me by probably four different people including my own wife Even uh where Coach Dorn said CJ Bailey could be one of the best quarterbacks in the country to which everybody was like oh my gosh like what the heck is he saying Which to me Ethan again not that he said that could be I know he said he said could be he didn't say is going to be the best quarterback or is or is He said could be So Ethan with all the concern you still have could CJ Bailey be the best quarterback in the country this upcoming season Well I don't know about the best but you know could be one of the best Yeah like the tools are there like I don't think that's really real quick to find one of the best like top five that was his quote Okay haha um yeah well I mean if he's top 10 top 15 that's one of the best As with as many teams that play football I mean that's you know top 5% you know that's one of the best again I don't know what that number I mean that's top 20 25 of powerful teams you know like and it's hard like you know JKS that Kyle like I think a lot of people tell you he's better than CJ Bailey but his you know what he's got around him is probably worse So is he going to be quote unquote better Like and so to me that's kind of where it's you know kind of tough I think you know I look at guys who to me are definitely better than him you got Darien mental He's the only one in the ACC who's definitively better Again a lot of people put JKs in that category I do think that would be fair Arch Manning um Dante Moore Oregon Oh great come on Julian saying just saying I take I'm not taking I'm not I'm not sold on you're taking CJ Bailey over Archman no no but I'm not saying that Arch Manning is definitely better than okay CJ Okay I do think arch got like a lot of heat early on and then got a lot better when people need attention So he did um Dante Moore at Oregon I'm trying to think um well I mean I got one and it's close to home here It's gonna be close to home here Lenore Sellers or CJ Bailey from South Carolina Lenore Sellers from South Carolina or CJ Bailey hmm they're pretty close they're pretty close That's what I'm saying sellers maybe sellers to me sellers has a little more raw talent and two extremely talented players Correct but I think Bailey is a little more like okay the production is actually fine for sellers Yeah so are you telling me he could be top 10 in the AC in the in the country I could see that top 5 to me feels like a stretch Like I don't think you'll see him on any Heisman lists but yeah top 10 to 12 like yeah I could see him there again the physical talent is there if he puts it together and takes a big step forward Yeah I expect like this is a guy who could take a big step forward that again I expected to see last year or thought we would see it Could he get to 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns Yeah yeah yeah and sorry I didn't mean to cut you off Ethan but CJ has gotten a little bit of national love He's been mentioned on some on some national you know podcast and in those types of things So people are watching people are looking um and so I don't think Doran's comments are too far out of line And again top 10 top 15 that's that's one of the top quarterbacks in the country is again you know there's 50 programs 65 programs that play power for football getting public mass hard so don't quote me but if he's if there's 50 and he's top 10 that's you know top top tier of of the percentage Yeah yeah and I think he's gonna get a lot of love from draft guys too like that he's very very toolsy you know he's very toolsy Yeah plus he's tall but he's got he's all yeah he's got all the measurables question for instance Can you get it to translate And if it does yeah I think he's gonna get a lot of buzz a lot of hype headed into the draft I would not bet I'll be surprised to see him in the draft next year Yeah yeah I I I agree If he has the year that people are projecting I could definitely see a scenario where he's top three rounds Um and if he tests out well he could even jump from there But uh yeah he's got the tangibles look if he could if he can cut down the interceptions like by a third So he's those six interceptions this year Um maybe he gets some of those running touchdowns back from Will Wilson um and has some positive willy though I don't think you will I don't think you will Yeah I don't I I agree with that statement I'm just saying um and and maybe you get a couple more running yards where you know he instead of throwing the ball away he runs for three yards or four yards in a cloud of dust like give me something um and and and and shows that match that maturity um that it takes that step right and again Dave Dorn said could be so he leaves the door open haha in either direction Yeah now another quote I'm actually gonna pull up here which is not necessary relatency state here but definitely brought a lot of eyes to it Here was James Franklin in his press conference saying and I quote we won the offseason to which he has a what I'm sitting here like that is just such a James Franklin quote like we won the off season And so I don't know I'm sitting here saying that he Learned nothing during his time in Penn State Like stop with this I don't like again we won the off season Nobody cares nobody cares What does that mean Like who's not gonna say that Like even you got freaking Bill Belichick saying oh we have a night and day you know Ross like you know we have a night and day culture even though you lost 60 You have 60 new players but you know you have new night and day culture It's again just it just same old crap So but now another quote though which is not by NC State which I did wanna bring up here cause it was it definitely hit me watching It was talking it was Dabbo Sweeney talking about the Luke Farrelli situation uh which for those are unaware of the situation Basically uh was a guy transferred into Clemson was enrolled in classes started workouts rented an apartment even bought a car before flipping to Ole Miss Uh in his commitment and AC kickoff to us DABOs when he said and I quote we're probably gonna need some congressional help uh to stop tampering and even called it rampant across college football and stated even further saying that the NCAA NCAA owes me an update I did my part ask the NCAA for an update here So Greg I mean you know I I I listen I I how do we cause I in my opinion I do agree in in in terms of that's definitely one of the most man like he he he went all the way down to even saying this dude even bought a car in Clemson South Carolina and yet he still flipped to Ole Miss here Yeah yeah he bought a car He got at least a car from a friend named John Doe Anyway but you know Ethan still like like how do we address this Like you know what are your thoughts on this And can this ever honestly be addressed with this current day and age No I don't think you can get rid of it 100% And if I'm if I'm Dabbo Sweeney here you better be playing by the rules because if I'm somebody else and I thought they were playing they were tampering after you called somebody else out man you're gonna be hearing from me so be careful with those stones and glass houses That's right Yeah that's the one you're thinking about That's exactly what I was thinking of So this was a I I I remember the story when it happened I don't remember all the exact details I wanna say he was originally committed to Ole Miss if I'm not mistaken and then Orchard was free transferring from Ole Miss I don't remember the specifics but yeah look well the agent I was gonna say agents and other people are involved like this This is not going to go away It's not gonna go away And people you know schools budgets change and they don't get somebody or they get somebody else and then they say recruited over So no they get recruited over Yeah so no I don't think and again I think the NCAA has said hey you have this transfer period that's your time to transfer outside of that sorry I I think that's probably the best thing you can do Because as far as tampering and he should know like Dabbo should know this He sounds like a big crybaby crying about this Not that he's wrong but it's like like come on man No but he he better have some strong receipts right Because again we talked about it like no university should get caught up in this when you have third party agents acting as your representation There's no need for a school to go directly to a kid Again if you work through agents it looks more on the up and up and um look is it a mess Absolutely is this what these kids wanted Absolutely So with the good comes the bad and you know the coaches you know the coaches are saying hey I'm all for players getting paid and this and that well you've introduced all of this and and look you let the NCAA just open Pandora's box let it go with limited guardrails on the situation and now you're trying to reign it back and it's gonna be really hard because whatever Congress decides to do with this and the and save college athletics with the with the realignment of what they're trying to do there All of this stuff is gonna get challenged in courts It's gonna it's gonna take long time to work its way out if it even works its way out if look if we can even get Congress to agree on this we can't agree on the most simplest things You think they're gonna work through this like give me a break like good luck Look and I don't say that there should not be some reforms because what's happening is we as the fans get stuck with the Bill in our lap right And and we shouldn't be required to to foot even more of these bills cause we're already having to pay sir charges and tickets for stadium renovations We're having to pay this for facilities like at some time daddy's checkbooks gotta tap out Yeah that's fair It's a fair comment here So uh uh with that being said Wolf Pack Nation will wrap it up there Uh but again really appreciate everybody tuning in here Uh uh you know definitely really love this show If you enjoyed this show first and foremost always remember that we are live here post every Monday night eight thirty PM So make sure to not mix miss out on any of these live shows And to do that do a big big favor hit that subscribe button If that subscribe button is lit up for you right now that means you haven't hit it yet Make sure to smash it right now It's free to do really help support channel and your notify whenever we go live with any new content Greg go ahead but Layton what if they miss it How can they get to the replay Well every we we post it as it's own separate video is that what you're handing out here to that You can get it on Spotify you can get it on yeah podcast I Heart Radio Do I have to do these plugs for you Like hey listen you know I'm just a beauty in the face of this organization Listen grab the words we'll work on this later but hey I appreciate I appreciate the effort here Greg here for sure but yes definitely with the Spotify make sure to go if you're listening to us on Spotify do us a big big favor leave us a five star view but also as well just like Greg said if you're like you know wanna drive down the road you wanna be safe and don't have the video up you still listen to us right there Whatever you listen to your podcast are we encouraging people not to be safe here What are you doing We don't have any money as it is we're gonna get sued Well no I'm saying don't watch video while you're driving so listen to us through Spotify that's what I'm saying here you go exactly yeah and also caster whatever whatever your platform is yeah you got it boss 2 as well Make sure check out Amazing Patreon to as well where our man Ethan helps us come out with 12 members only videos per month for only$5 a month aim to get access to our members only rumor chat to as well So any insides that were that we're hearing will make sure to share directly through that rumor chat so we get a rumor Chat 12 members only videos per month only$5 a month amazing value Go click click the link down description below and sign up here today But with that being said Wolf Pack Nation we will see you all soon And we appreciate y'all and look Altoon and as always go pack