Transcript
Speaker: Welcome in everybody to a special edition of Warm Weather Fans, the Sunbelt Podcast. It is time for the episode that we have teased the last couple weeks of finishing up our team preview episodes. ah We are going to be joined shortly by The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Phil Steele. You can find all of his work at philsteele .com. ah We heavily cite his ah college football yearly magazine as an influence and he was nice enough to join Matt and myself for a Q and &A and we had ah a listener submitted question that got answered as well that I added a little bit of context to. So thank you for everybody for listening and on to our interview with Phil Steele.
Speaker: All right, so we are joined by the man, the myth, the legend Phil Steele. ah We cite his work as part of his college football magazine all the time on our show. ah Once again, Mr. Steele, thanks for joining us today. ah We're obviously here to talk about Sunbelt. So I just want to start with kind of a broad question and and Matt and I's questions will get kind of more specific from there. But the first question I have is, how do you personally rank the Sunbelt amongst sort of the G5 conferences around the country. You know, I think when you look at the group of five conferences, they're all pretty close. As far as the top three goes, the Mountain West, the American and the Sunbelt are all very close. and And I'm pretty excited about the upcoming 12 team playoff. You know, they get to pick one. And I got to think it's going to come from one of those three conferences. So those three, in my mind, are ahead of the Mac and clearly ahead of CUSA right now.
Speaker: All right, perfect. ah So we sort of have two kinds of, it feels like groups of teams within the conference this year. It seems like we have coaches who are potentially on the hot seat and we have a bunch of new coaches that are now coming in to take over some previous vacancies for coaches that have moved on. um Is there a team with a new coach that you feel like is sort of primed to make that sort of, I guess, like Arkansas or not Arkansas, a Texas state like jump that they made last year where they went from a team that was kind of middling or or bad to an eight win football team? Is there a team that maybe you have an eye on that has a new head coach that could be in that sort of situation?
Speaker: Yeah, I think the one team I would look at might be South Alabama. I thought South a and Alabama underachieved last year. They really had the talent to do better than they did on the season ah in conference play. They were um plus 126 yards per game, yet only finished seven at six. They only have seven starters back, but their new head coach, Major Applewhite, doesn't have to learn the players, and the players don't have to learn new systems. He was there last year. as the offensive coordinator, in fact, the last three years. He's got a quarterback in Gio Lopez that I think looked pretty good and when he played last year. It might be a step up from what Carter Bradley did last season. I like the running back core. The receivers are talented. And I think South Alabama, after underachieving last year, has a chance of ah being but better than expected this year.
Speaker: Hey, Phil, it's Matt. um You know, on the same side of that coin, Georgia State is a team that started off really hot, you know, six and one, um or or five and one, excuse me, before dropping ah their last several games of the season. New coach, Del McGee, coming from Georgia, has a lot of experience at the top of college football. What are you kind of expecting um from from Georgia State heading into 2024? You know, ah my expectations are actually fairly low for Georgia State this year. It's a combination of schedule. They play a pretty tough schedule in the Sunbelt. And then the way that the transition happened. I mean, you know, two days in the spring practice, your head coach steps down. When does that happen? ah They had actually postponed spring practice a little bit. Del McGee stepped in. And in this era of the transfer portal,
Speaker: Once a coach step down, steps down, players can transfer, and a lot of players did transfer for Georgia State. So last year they were number 66 on my experience chart. This year they fall down to number 113 due to the transferred players. Now, McGee did bring in some quality players like Christian Vayer from ah Pitt, quarterback Zach Gibson from Georgia Tech. They got Wilkerson in from Colorado. So there is some talent there. But I think that the late change, the new coaching change, having to learn the players, the mass exodus that hit them, I think they're in for a tough season to share.
Speaker: And then, you know, staying on kind of that similar topic, let's talk about teams that, you know, performed really well last year. You know, obviously Troy winning back -to -back Sunbelt Conference Championships, Texas State kind of burst onto the scene under first year head coach G .J. Kenny. Is there a team that you're expecting to maybe take a step back and be considered a little bit of a disappointment? yeah I think that would go to Troy. and and Once again, it comes down to a coaching change and the experience level. You look at Troy last year, they were the last two years, i mean it's been great for Troy football. Double digit wins each season, a pair of Sunbelt titles. ah and you Troy has expectations every year. When I talked to Coach Parker and went over to the team with them, he said, Troy's got expectations to win the title every year. so
Speaker: You know, they they can't make excuses, but only two starters back on offense and only two starters back on defense. ah They lose their quarterback ah from last year. They, of course, lose Vidal at the running back spot, which is massive. They lose their top receiver from last year. Almost the entire defense is gone. So this is a Troy team that really is a skeleton of last year's squad. In fact, they're number 133 on my experience chart. which is the second least experienced team in the country now there's still talent there they'll stay till still take care of business in some games at home but i think a lot of folks are expecting troy and i believe they were second in the sunbelt preseason poll uh to contend once again for the west title but i think with all the players that they lost i think they're going to have uh to go back to maybe a rebuilding season this year we're getting to a bowl game is a solid thing
Speaker: Hey, Phil, we have a listener submit a question and i want I want to throw it to you, but I also i want to add a little bit of context because the question is pretty straightforward. But the question itself is sort of what's Georgia Southern's outlook for 2024? And sort of the context I want to add is I'm personally a Georgia Southern fan. I went there to go to college. ah It feels like the last two years You know, you have 2022, they bring in this new offense. Kyle Ventrese comes in, sets all sort of school records. And then last year it feels like their team is in a little bit of a holding pattern where, you know, they so they get that really hot start, similar to Georgia State. And then all of a sudden the wheels kind of fall off and they lose five in a row to end the season. So could you kind of give me your outlook on Georgia Southern this year?
Speaker: Yeah, and you know going back to Georgia Southern, you go back to two years ago, and when I looked at this team two years ago, I've seen a lot of teams go from the option to a pass ah offense. I've never seen one have that type of success. I was really amazed that Georgia Southern ah put up 466 yards per game that year, 33 points per game, and and kept it rolling offensively last year. Now, as you mentioned, at one point, once they beat Georgia State, didn't you have expectations of winning the Sunbelt title and then all of a sudden lose the last five games a very disappointing finish but it's a more experienced team this year they go from number ninety eight on my experience chart all the way up to number fifty five and I got to tell you when I talk to coach helton going over the squad with them this year I he feels that this team
Speaker: has a great shot at winning their division and and it's the best team he's put on the field in his three years. Naturally, the quarterback play is a question, but we've seen two quarterbacks step in first year in the in the team, do well. So I think a JC French, David Dallas or Dexter Williams will do well. They've got Jalen White and O .J. Arnold, a powerful backfield. They've got the receiving core with Burgess and Cook. um you know The offensive line, a little bit of a question mark. But um once again, Coach Helton was extremely strong on the, he feels they're extremely strong on the interior. The tackles are the only question. And defensively, I really like the front seven that they've got coming back. So I'm probably higher on Georgia Southern this year than a lot of folks. And maybe some of it came from the conversation with Coach Helton because
Speaker: I'm talking to coach out all the way back to his USC days but this is one of the years where he's been the most bullish on the team maybe they recapture that form like they had all the way up to through the Georgia state game last year. Yeah, I mean, I want to kind of get to another question, but it is tough when, you know, your quarterback has the most interceptions in the FBS, especially when you play kind of that air raid style of offense, trying to recover from, you know, your quarterback throwing, I think 16 or 17 interceptions last year. So right it's just ah it's just a ah huge thing to have to overcome, especially for the defense.
Speaker: Um, so another team that we, uh, kind of want to see the outlook on, uh, is Arkansas state. Um, a couple of years ago, you know, Butch Jones comes in, he sort of struggles in his first couple of years there, you know, they're, they're struggling to kind of nail down the quarterback position. And then all of a sudden, you know, you get to the UMass game and they discover, you know, freshman Jalen Rayner, uh, who is electric as a quarterback, you know, dual threat, all the kind of things you want. And it's kind of similar to Georgia Southern in that the big question mark or what's going to kind of help this team in the long run is the defensive side of the ball. So what do you expect Arkansas State to take another step defensively to kind of help the offense that they have out?
Speaker: Well absolutely in fact this is clearly butch jones is best team he's had in his four years here uh... you go back to last year uh... it was his third year at the program that's generally when coaches hit their stride they've got now got three recruiting classes under their belt uh... and they know the players players know the system and we saw that improvement last year as they got to a bowl game Came up a little short against northern Illinois with that on -site kick question mark at the end of it, but a six and seven season. Now, this year, when you look at them, last year, they were 113 in my experience chart. And this year, they jump all the way up to number five. And I mentioned the experience chart. And for more information, go to Phil Steel dot com. I did a blog two weeks ago, ah which talked about how teams that improve experience wise, you know, go from low to up to high, have a major jump. And I expect that at Arkansas State.
Speaker: You talked about Jalen Raynor. I like the fact that he went to the Manning Pass pass Academy. ah That's going to help him out. They've got cross -backed. All the top receivers are back. Defense, I really like Charlie Willakiss at the middle linebacker spot. And this is a much improved defense over last year, a much more experienced one. As well and so the schedule is the only question mark. They have to play both Texas State and Louisiana on the road That's why I didn't pick them to win the West because I think they're right up there with Texas State and Louisiana But they do play both on the road They also play Michigan and Iowa State on the road But they are my number nine most improved team and I think they're a threat in the Sunbelt In fact, I think in the West this year my top three teams are actually Texas State Louisiana and Arkansas State and
Speaker: Chatting with Phil still here on warm weather fans. Now, Phil, you know, talking about Arkansas State being one of your most improved teams, you also have the Louisiana Rage and Cajuns up there as your number three most improved team. Me being a Louisiana grad and covering the Cajuns on a daily basis. You know, i I'm going to be honest with you, I was a little low on the Cajuns coming in to your three under Michael Desermo until you and I spoke a couple of weeks ago. um I just want to kind of dive a little deeper into your thoughts about the Cajuns. Obviously the schedule is favorable and and they return a bunch of talent on on both sides of the ball. So there's no question about that. But I've noticed in the last two years, the Cajuns have lost games at home that they probably should have won. How much do you think that their experienced roster can maybe prevent that from happening in year three?
Speaker: Yeah, I think it's going to be huge. And as I just mentioned, I think coaches hit their stride to your three. So that's what I expect out of coach does them all this year. ah They've got two veteran quarterbacks and fields and Woolridge. You got to like that. ah The offensive line is, you know, and from left tackle, the the right guard, this is solid unit. The only question mark is probably right tackle, but You got four starters back. I think it's one of the best offensive lines in the Sunbelt Conference this year. ah In fact, ah they do make my top offensive line list for in the country as far as the top 50, and then you look at them defensively. you know The first year, they only had five starters back. The second year, they only had four starters back.
Speaker: This year they got eight starters on the defensive side of the ball. So it's a more veteran unit. And I just talked about it with Arkansas State. Last year, Louisiana was only number 108 on my experience chart, very low. This year they're number 17. And teams that make that kind of stride, 91 steps up in the experience chart, always have a much better record. Now they do play Wake Forest on the road. They play Texas State on the road, but they get Arkansas State at home. They get App State at home. I think the Coastal Carolina game on the roads winnable. I actually have him an underdog in only two games this year I've got one toss -up game. So I'm expecting big things from Louisiana and that that Texas State game could very well decide who wins the West and then Phil Looking at the Sunbelt Conference as a whole tons of new coaches tons of question marks about several programs Do you have any coaches that you feel like are on the hot seat and maybe coaching for their jobs this year? I
Speaker: Well, you know, I think you could go back to coach Desermo if, ah if all of a sudden Louisiana had a losing year this year, I think he would be on the hot seat, but I don't think that's going to happen. ah But other than that, I don't really, I mean, there's so many new coaches stepping in. it would be tough to get rid of anybody ricky ronnie is a ah veteran coach at old dominion is done an amazing job there get the most out of them. I guess the only other coach i would say might fit that category it might be charles huffett marshall cuz i like the talent marshall has at each year i thought six and seven was a little disappointing last year if they have a losing season this year he may be an inner on that list as well.
Speaker: So Matt and I kind of ah single out ah Huff and potentially even Will Hall at Southern Miss. Oh, Will Hall, sorry about that. Yeah, the no clearly Will Hall's on the hot seat list. I slipped my mind there because I think if he doesn't have a winning year this year, he's he's gone. ah I was a little surprised they brought him back. He'd be number one on my hot seat list. Sorry about that, guys. No, no, you're totally fine. So we always joke around that if a if a program has to come out with a a statement on Twitter saying, you know, we expect better, but the coach is coming back, that's pretty much like the, what do you call it, quote unquote, vote of confidence for a head coach in the NFL. ah So that that usually means, you know, they're on really thin ice. So we'll we'll kind of see how that all ah plays out.
Speaker: So, yeah, ah going back to Southern Miss for a minute, when I talked to Coach Hall, he understands he's out in ice. In fact, at the end of the conversation, I said, how do you feel about the year? He said, Phil, with the talent we have on offense and defense, if I don't have a winning season, they'll probably move on for me. Well, that's as that's as straightforward as it gets. of So so one one team that ah we wanted to single out, and it's because they were, tech it's Texas State, but they were very interesting last year in how they kind of made that jump.
Speaker: um You know, GJ Kenny did a great job bringing in, you know, TJ Finley the quarterback position is male body at the running back position. um But then they had sort of a a quarterback um musical chairs so to speak this off season with. you know, Finley transfers out. They bring in Jaden Delora. He transfers out before I think even spring practice began. And now they have, you know, reigning Sunbelt Player of the Year, Jordan McLeod, coming over from James Madison. Where do you kind of see their ceiling overall? I mean, is it do do you think they're they're easily in contention to compete for the Sunbelt title this year with that that quarterback move?
Speaker: ah Yeah, not just the quarterback move, but the I mean last year they were practically a brand new team. It was almost an incarnate word coming in, especially on the offensive line. ah This year they got nine starters back on offense, nine on defense, Mahdi back at running back is dangerous. they got their top receiver back and joey hobert you mentioned jordan mccloud the reigning sunbelt player of the year he's back the offensive lines of veteran group defensively looks so much better i like caleb colp i think he's an NFL prospect at strong safety ben bell up front of the defensive end another n NFL prospect so this is a much more veteran unit in the west they get both Arkansas state and Louisiana at home
Speaker: You look at their road games this year, ULM winnable, Old Dominion winnable. I think Troy will be a tough test on a Thursday night. Troy's always tough to beat at home, but they're capable there. They knock off Arizona State early, and I think they've got that potential to do it, ah UTSA early. I think they've got a great shot at qualifying for the playoff this year, so um I'm pretty bullish on Texas State. We're going to learn a lot about them weeks two and three, but if they beat UTSA, way which is at home, Arizona State, how are they hosting Arizona State? If they beat them at home, all of a sudden you're looking at a team that of the group of five might have the best shot of making a playoff this year.
Speaker: For sure. um So and another another team we wanted to get to um is Appalachian State. They are easily you know the clear favorite in the East Division at the very least. um So they have been good under Sean Clark, but it feels like that they haven't quite achieved you know what they had when Scott Satterfield was there. You know you got one year of Eli Drinkwitz. What did last year kind of show you about him as a coach? Because personally, I think it showed that he was finally able to kind of break out with his own recruits and win that way, whereas before it may have been talent that was kind of left over from previous coaching staffs.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree with you 100%. In fact, last year when they yeah missed out on bowl game coming off 2022, you know, talking to Coach Clark, Coach Clark said, you know what, Phil, if anybody is should be the head coach of App State right now in this predicament, it's me. I can handle it. And, you know, last year they came out and went 9 -5. I had a nice bowl win over Miami of Ohio. And I think this is best team yet. You look at Joey Aguirre. at the quarterback spot, ah one of the best quarterbacks in the Sun Belt, really dynamic last year, 33 touchdown passes, just 10 interceptions. ah The running back court looks solid led by Kane Roberts, the receiving court, very dangerous with the three of the top four back. Defensively, they got Nate Johnson at that outside linebacker position. I think he's an NFL prospect, so a lot of talent on hand for App State this year. Now, ah
Speaker: You know, they got to play Clemson early, East Carolina early. Those are not easy games. East Carolina is vastly approved over last year. So they may even open up one and two. But I think once they get to Sunbelt play, they have the talent to get there. Not an easy Sunbelt schedule. They draw Louisiana ah coming out of the West, which is not good. They do play Georgia Southern on the road, but I'm i'm pretty bullish that this is going to be Sean Clark's best App State team yet. Bill, looking at the Sunbelt Conference as a whole, um if I had to put you on the spot and ask you who has the best offensive unit, defensive unit, and special teams unit, what would be your answers for those three?
Speaker: Uh, offensively, I'm going to go with Texas state. Uh, I like what they put up last year. Uh, and you know, they've got to practically, you know, they bring in McLeod to replace the quarterback and, uh, they're really solid. So I'm going to have to go with them offensively. They share defensively. Um, I might ah not really, I'm going to have to take a look and see where I had these guys rank, but I would put half state up there. They've got a really good D and special teams. That should be pretty easy. I've got Louisiana. There's my number one special teams this year.
Speaker: And then I want to kind of get your thoughts on the changes in college football. Obviously, realignment, Texas and Oklahoma joined the SEC this year. Ohio State and Oregon are the the kind of the key members of the Big Ten along with Michigan, um which by the way, USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington being in the same conference as Rutgers. It's a little odd, but you know, it is what it is. And then most recently, the the change in scholarships going from 85 to 105. I just kind of want to get your thoughts on the changes in college football and more in depth. How does it affect G5 schools like the Sunbelt Conference?
Speaker: Yeah, well, the one thing that I've noticed recently that it has affected the group of five schools is, you know, and we're talking to the coaches, they realize that they're probably landing better recruits right now because the big boys are all concentrating on the portal. And that means a lot of these guys that would have signed with the big guys, the Power Four teams as freshmen Are s slipping through the cracks and coming down to the group of five so that's a good thing the negative thing is. Once the coaches develop a player becomes all conference somebody's going to go and buy him and take them away from your team and and they all realize that so it's ah you know almost every head coach i talked to understands that that's the current game as far as the conference alignments go.
Speaker: I actually like the fact the Sunbelt still got divisions. It's so much easier to forecast six teams than it is an 18 -team conference like the Big Ten because, you know, there's 18 teams, there's only what, nine possible outcomes? So you got to predict a lot of ties, and and I'm not wild about that. And as far as the scholarship thing goes, we'll see how that shakes out this year. I hope it doesn't hurt the walk -on programs at a lot of schools because I really like the stories with the walk -ons.
Speaker: Bill, so one one last question for you here, not really necessarily Sunbelt related, but more personal to you. What is your favorite part about creating the magazine that you work on each year? um That's pretty easy. I mean, there is so much work involved in this. We spent seven months putting this thing together. It goes through a three write through process, first write through, second write through, and then the third after I talked to the coaches. But clearly my favorite part of writing the magazine is talking to the head coaches because I this year i talked to over a hundred twenty of the hundred and thirty four head coaches and on the average the calls last um i would say about an hour piece on the average of some last two hours. There's some that only last maybe forty minutes but i say i were on the average and just the fact that i'm granted that type of access to the head coaches ah is something that i i really enjoy.
Speaker: So as we wrap up here, Phil, let people know where they can find you on social media and where they can purchase, you know, your magazine either ah digitally or in print. I appreciate that. You know, the magazine is 352 pages. You get two full pages on every team. And I give you the same amount of coverage on Louisiana or Georgia Southern that I do on Alabama or Texas. Two full pages. ah It's like getting 134 media guides rolled into one. Now, looking for a brick and mortar store, there's only two of them that have the magazine this year. That's Barnes and Noble. and books a million so if you're out and about don't go to your Walmart your grocery stores Barnes and Noble books a million and Are the only two places you can buy them out or you go to Phil steel calm and a Phil steel calm if you buy the magazine there the hard copy we're gonna charge a shipping charge across the ship things but
Speaker: we give you the digital magazine absolutely free in the digital magazines updated all the way through the start of september so barnes a noble books a million or phil steel dot com. And you can follow me on twitter or access it's called ah it's at phil steel zero four two that's at phil steel with any zero four two. All right. Well, thank you so much to Phil Steele for joining us today. ah Look forward to reading the magazine, you know, as it gets updated. And yeah, you're you're a huge help you know to our podcast when we're doing Sunbelt previews as well. So thank you so much. Hey, great talking football with you, Matt and Brian. Appreciate you having me on today. Have a great weekend. We appreciate you.
Speaker: Thank you so much once again to the legend Phil Steele for joining us ah for an interview discussing everything at the Sunbelt Conference. As always, you can find his work at philsteele .com. ah Feel free to email the show, ah this show, any questions you may have.
Speaker: warmweatherfansatgmail .com. We will answer questions if we receive them on the show at the beginning of each episode, so feel free to send those over. You can either email them or send them through Twitter. We are at warmweatherfans on Twitter, X, whatever it is. ah You can follow me personally at WatchTheStone. You can also find Matt at MigasMatt. on X and our third co -host at Zeke Palermo on X. We will be back later this week to preview South Alabama and Coastal Carolina. This has been another episode of Warm Weather Fan's The Sunbelt Podcast.
