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2025 Sun Belt Football Previews: South Alabama Jaguars
50 Plays2 months ago
Brian and Zeke return this week to discuss the 2025 South Alabama Jaguars led by 2nd-year head coach Major Applewhite. After the late transfer of QB Gio Lopez, the Jags are looking to retool with Bishop Davenport and Zach Pyron, a Georgia Tech transfer. What does the offense look like this season?
Additionally, the Jags return an impact linebacker Blayne Myrick, but will USA be able to fix what was a leaky pass defense heading into 2025?
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Setup
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome everybody back to warm weather fans. This is Brian Stone talking to Zeke Palermo. Matt is still out this week, but we are here to talk about the South Alabama Jaguars.
00:00:27
Speaker
ah Zeke, I know I usually ask everybody how they're doing at the start. I just want to kind of give like a ah two cents
Gaming Frustrations with AI
00:00:34
Speaker
little thing. So I was playing the new college football game and I tried to play Road to Glory.
00:00:40
Speaker
I don't know why they decided that if you're running back that's on your team gets outside the tackles, their IQ drops like 50 points, but I've never seen so many running backs who will have just a clear lane to the end zone that will decide to cut it back inside five tacklers and just will your guy. You're just watching your running back going, okay, well, I can't, I can't call running plays in this game because they're going to, they're going basically steal a down from me.
00:01:09
Speaker
I told myself the yearly lie that I will not be buying college football or Madden. um That went out the window when I saw that they finally at least are trying to correctly name positions and not just give you a left outside linebacker.
00:01:26
Speaker
And it doesn't matter what that guy's skill set is. He will be on the left side of the formation. um They got rid of that this year. So I'm holding off for now. I'm playing a game called Rematch. which is like, yeah, rocky soy yeah it's like a rocket league, but with people, not cars. And I've been having a blast.
00:01:42
Speaker
Uh, but once I've done my mileage on that, um, I'm going to fold. i'm weak. i' I'm totally sworn off of Madden. Like 100%. I don't care. Literally every year it's some something thing to try to reel people in. and every It's like if the play if the the actual gameplay doesn't improve, then there's no point in me playing it.
00:02:04
Speaker
And it hasn't improved for well over a decade at this point. yeah um I think since they moved from the PS3, the gameplay has been the exact same or worse every year.
00:02:15
Speaker
um All right. So that was my little ah what grinds my gears segment ah spot sponsored by Home Depot.
South Alabama Jaguars' Quarterback Situation
00:02:23
Speaker
um So we are here to talk about the South Alabama Jaguars ah who are led by Major Applewhite.
00:02:31
Speaker
In his second season, um you know, they lose ah just straight off the top. They lose Gio Lopez ah to the portal late after spring practice. He transfers to go play for Bill Belichick at UNC, which is a big get for Belichick ah because i don't I don't know who else would have been starting at quarterback there for them.
00:02:55
Speaker
um But now you're sort of left in this weird position where you know Bishop Davenport's still on the roster, and he played sparingly last year and had a couple of good starts.
00:03:09
Speaker
um But at least on paper, you know Phil Steele talked to Applewhite as part of his ah preview magazine. and Applewhite, as of today, has listed Zach Pyron, the Georgia Tech transfer, as starting quarterback.
00:03:25
Speaker
I'm going to be totally honest, man. If I'm coaching a college football team, I don't know that Georgia Tech is the quarterback pipeline I would go to. um Just because if you can't beat out noted ah thrower of the football, Haynes King, who refuses to throw the football, it seems, ah that's not the school that I want to pluck signal callers from unless I'm running kind of a Navy-style triple-option offense.
00:03:53
Speaker
are
Georgia Tech Quarterbacks Critique
00:03:54
Speaker
Are you with me on that? I mean, hey, i it seems to be working. This is the best Georgia Tech team we've seen in a long, long time. and i mean Since Paul Johnson ran the triple option.
00:04:06
Speaker
I mean, we've we're both from Georgia, man. So, i you know, i've they've they're always going to hold a little bit of ah my heart just ah being a Georgia team. So, ah yeah, Haynes King, throw the ball, man. You're great runner. You'll make an excellent, excellent NFL tight end, an excellent NFL running back.
00:04:23
Speaker
But you got to release the ball at some point. or Or don't. Like, i don't I don't know. It hasn't hadn't really hurt, I guess, so far. But truly, I mean, Pyron – played very very sparingly last year for them but he looks like a haynes king clone where low compete completion percentage uh didn't really do a whole lot through the air 409 yards in starts for 115 yards so again ran for a hundred and fifteen yards
00:04:53
Speaker
so again I know a lot of people are maybe not high on Haynes King. The only reason I'm saying Haynes King is because this guy seems like Haynes King light, like diet Haynes. Yeah.
00:05:07
Speaker
um That's not the quarterback I would want to start my program with, frankly. Like I, I thought Davenport in his action last year looked like a more complete player than anybody that Georgia techs had at the quarterback position going back like years.
00:05:25
Speaker
So past Paul Johnson and everybody. So i don't know that I would give Pyron the job sight unseen the way that Applewhite seems to have a little bit.
00:05:37
Speaker
Yeah, I've looked. i didn't see a ton of news out of ah either South Camp. um Surely something will come. We still got about a month ah before we get to kick off. But you know i I haven't seen any news. um Looking up bishop Bishop Davenport on Twitter yields a lot of Catholic priests.
00:05:58
Speaker
Davenport, a big Catholic name, apparently. I'm not kidding. wish – I wish I was joking. It was a real Bishop. Yes, it was a real Bishop. Yes. lot of Bishop Davenport's on X. I'm not joking. um This is a room... I like Bishop Davenport.
00:06:14
Speaker
I do too. He played well against Ohio. um So I'd like to see him get a get a fair shot at this opportunity after Gio Lopez has left.
00:06:25
Speaker
um With that said, ah lack of experience scares me. It will always scare me. That is... always going to be at every position what scares me more than anything.
00:06:36
Speaker
um So it's not a terribly inspiring quarterback room, but between the two, I like Bishop Davenport. I hope that he wins the starting job and because I want to see more of him. He was exciting.
00:06:46
Speaker
Two starts, 606 passing yards, 167 rush. you know That's a guy that can move, but is actually... its Completed almost 61% of his passes. Yeah. um yeah you know, pyering 53.8%.
00:07:01
Speaker
That's not, that's not going to get it done at any level of football. Like again, unless you're, unless you're running a triple option, which last I checked, uh, South Alabama is not doing.
00:07:11
Speaker
So they, they've got to figure it out because, um, Yeah, the I don't know that Pyron is going to be ultimately be the answer for quarter at quarterback for them.
00:07:22
Speaker
um So let's break into we've talked about Pyron and Davenport. We'll see how that quarterback battle kind of shakes itself out. But at the running back spot, you lose fluff Bothwell, who was good, but I was really.
00:07:38
Speaker
confused because it seemed like a lot of his his high volume rushing games came against bad teams and then he dipped and i believe went to mississippi state uh was where he ended up it was an sec school but not like a great one um And so i went back last year ah toward the end of the season when we were recapping a lot of the the moves in the transfer portal that we had already seen.
00:08:07
Speaker
Bothwell, it felt like, and I'm not dispar trying to disparage him on the way out the door, but it did feel like there were a lot of games where he did like nothing. And then he would run for like 141 yards against ULM late in the season.
00:08:21
Speaker
And Teams were just like, I guess, awestruck by that. And we're like, I have to have this guy. So Kentrell Bullock comes back. ah He was right there with Bothwell for rushing totals last year. 831 yards on the ground, five and a half per carry, 153 yards receiving. So he does have a little bit of that kind of can show up on third downs and and pass protect and catch some passes out of the backfield.
00:08:49
Speaker
Listen, man, I'm going to be honest. I think the recipe for success on this offense is put Davenport in the game, make him your quarterback, Run the ball through Bullock and um this PJ Martin, who's slated at least to be the backup. Make make the the run game like last year the focus of the offense.
00:09:13
Speaker
And, you know, you return a little bit of production. I don't want to step on the the receiving core, but you return a little bit of production there, but not something that's going to make you go, wow, we we have to air it out a ton.
00:09:25
Speaker
So I think you want to ease either one of these quarterbacks in and make the the running back position kind of the focal point of the offense. Yeah. I mean,
South Alabama's Running Backs Strategy
00:09:34
Speaker
considering the fact that they lost an 800-yard rusher who had 13 touchdowns last year, this running back room is in a pretty good shape.
00:09:42
Speaker
You still have to replace 112 carries, Martin took 13 last year. and pj martin took thirteen last year Um, so, you know whether or not he can sustain that workload, uh, 10 times over is to be determined.
00:09:56
Speaker
Uh, Bishop Davenport is obviously going to be rushing the ball a lot. Gio Lopez took 82 carries last year. So, uh, I imagine he'll see similar splits. Um, Again, i just I come back to this idea that considering the fact that they lost an 800-plus yard rusher, Kentrell Bullock is exceptional.
00:10:14
Speaker
I mean, he was more ah a little more reliable, a little more consistent. ah He wasn't putting up the 143-yard games that Fluff Bothwell was putting up, but he also wasn't putting up the 15s.
00:10:28
Speaker
He wasn't putting up the 32s. um And I think that's going to serve this team well. And he has a three-down skill set, which I ah mentioned. you know yeah It's not a guy that you have to pull off the field on third down and say, all right, well, we got to get somebody else in there. I mean, to have 134 yards receiving doesn't – or 153 yards receiving, rather, doesn't seem like a lot on the surface, but that's more than a lot of running backs at Sunbelt schools are turning in. I mean, that's that's a first down – every game, right? I mean, that that's a first down and change every game. So that that's excellent.
00:11:04
Speaker
Excellent. Good to have. ah The problem is who else is going to be in that receiving room, right? Devin Voysen, you mentioned, comes back, ah but he is still not fully recovered from an ACL tear two years ago.
00:11:19
Speaker
um And this is a team that Something that's always enamored me about South Alabama is their insistence on having a super, super high-volume guy. ah Going back to 2021 when it was Jalen Tolbert who caught 82 passes.
00:11:35
Speaker
Jalen Lane. Jalen Lane. why yeah Lacey, was it? It wasn't Kyron Lacey. Oh, what was his name? Colin Lacey? Colin Lacey, yeah. Colin Lacey caught 91 patches. i mean, Pritchett last year caught 91 passes for them.
00:11:49
Speaker
So this is a team that loves to have that 80-plus receiving guy. And I don't anticipate that will change seeing that Applewhite was the OC here before he took the head coaching job.
00:12:01
Speaker
Their offensive coordinator here was the wide receivers coach last year. um So I don't anticipate that to change, but I struggle to look around that receiving room and point to the guy like, congrats, son, you're getting 90 catches this year.
00:12:16
Speaker
De facto a thousand yards. who Who's it going to be? Because again, voice-in has just not been the same since that ACL tear. Well, maybe it's Brendan Jenkins, the the transfer from Samford, ah who had, what was it, 581 yards and 10 starts last year at three touchdowns.
00:12:37
Speaker
I know that's an FCS program, but you know it's kind of probably similar systems catching. Yeah. Anthony eager didn't do a whole lot last season, 133 yards receiving.
00:12:50
Speaker
He had one start and appeared in 13 games. So he averaged 10 receiving yards per game last year, which is nothing to write home about. I don't know. I think the, I think it's either got to be Brendan Jenkins or they're going to have to find one of these bench pieces and, and elevate them. If voice in, like you said, is still not back to 100% with the yeah,
00:13:12
Speaker
um You know, I say this jokingly, but I wish Major Applewhite was the offensive coordinator of an NFL team because then I would know who to draft in fantasy because there was going to be one receiver that gets a ton of of touches and everybody else is just sort of a complimentary piece.
00:13:29
Speaker
So sorry, i nearly dropped my water. zi Zeke was so shocked by me saying i hoped he was an offensive coordinator for an NFL team. that you Well, no, we we talked ah off show. ah I was more worried not about the water spilling on my laptop, but falling on my grandfather's desk.
00:13:48
Speaker
Every time my mom comes up to visit, she says, what's with the cups there? Were they full? Yeah. I see a little ring.
00:13:56
Speaker
So that I, sorry, I, I, I had to save my own ass. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Volume has been the name of this game for, uh, South Al receivers for a while. Um, and it look, I, again, voice and did it before.
00:14:11
Speaker
Um, and he's been here a while Jenkins, uh, doing what he did last year, uh, and was pretty productive as a freshman as well. Um, in eight starts, 304 yards as a true freshman. So he's a guy with yardage under his belt.
00:14:24
Speaker
um, but I definitely worry. Maybe they break from tradition and just become more of a, ah like a, like a Louisiana type where it's like, we just have a bunch of guys that contribute and it doesn't really matter who it is on like a game, game to game basis.
00:14:43
Speaker
With that said, we don't have to talk about this very much, but they're not getting a lot of production out of the tight end position. Um, whereas Louisiana had Carter last year that they could really rely on to hit big plays or, you know, move the chains.
00:14:58
Speaker
Trent Thomas is not giving you that, even though he's got some good size to him, he's primarily a block, a blocker, uh, you know, had one catch in 13 games last season. So,
00:15:10
Speaker
you know, you got to get more production from somewhere. And like I said, maybe they do this thing where it's receiver by committee. They bring all these guys in and say, we just try to exploit matchups that we see on, on film and just try to put a guy in a right spot to, to make some plays for a given game.
00:15:27
Speaker
And then next week you go back to the drawing board and just kind of plug another piece in and go from there. um, Transitioning to the offensive line, they do return three starters, including um their center ah and second team all sunbelt left tackle Jordan Davis. 6'5", 306, so you know he can play, ah having gotten all-conference honors.
00:15:51
Speaker
You also bring back Kenton Gerardo, who started 13 games last year, and Malachi Jardim. chris Preciado who started 12 games at center as a junior ah now.
00:16:05
Speaker
But yeah, so the offensive line is going to kind of be similar to Old Dominion who we talked about earlier this week where you've got three guys that are sort of your your bedrock and then two guys that you're just sort of moving around hoping it all works out.
00:16:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and this was a good offensive line last year. Obviously, you've got a guy that made second team all Sunbelt, only allowed 17 sacks. I mean, the Russian game we've talked about was was very, very good. So it's not like this needed an overhaul.
00:16:36
Speaker
um like Old Dominion, who we talked about and earlier in the week, did. So I think they're in a good position. I think that bodes well for Bishop Davenport ah or really Zach Pyron, whoever gets the job, um giving him more time to to find the right call or you know improve his rush game ability, whether it be himself or other folks.
00:16:58
Speaker
I think that really bodes well for this team, and I'm i'm excited to see – ah how that benefits whatever inexperienced quarterback they pick. Yeah.
00:17:10
Speaker
So
Offensive Strategy with Major Applewhite
00:17:12
Speaker
that's sort of the offense in a nutshell. Um, you know, hopefully for their sake, uh, Applewhite can continue to kind of elevate these guys and, um,
00:17:22
Speaker
I don't know, man. I just feel like, not to beat a dead horse, but I feel like you're going to get more mileage as a quarterback out of Davenport as you are from Pyron, unless it feels like you're running a very specific system that they did not run with Gio Lopez.
00:17:38
Speaker
So... ah Yeah, so we'll see how that all
Challenges for South Alabama's Defense
00:17:42
Speaker
goes. um Defensively, you only return three defensive starters from last season for for a unit that was was pretty good. I mean, they only allowed 25 points per game.
00:17:53
Speaker
um You get two linebackers back and a safety, but everybody else is played either sparingly or is new to the team. I think Phil Steele phil steel does is doing this weird like tease thing in his section where he's like, wouldn't you like to know how I have them projected? And I'm like, just give me the number. like I don't care about all this. but ah but so yeah Anybody on the defensive side besides... Well, I guess I'll call out Blaine Myrick was second team Sunbelt ah middle linebacker last year, probably in the ah absence of Jason Henderson being injured, for who we mentioned on the Old Dominion episode.
00:18:35
Speaker
um Anybody else kind of stick out to you as a different difference maker on this defensive unit? Uh, it's tough because like you said, they, they were very, very good defensively, but they lost a lot, a lot of talent.
00:18:49
Speaker
Uh, you get Myrick back, who is your top tackler. Uh, you get Wesley Miller, who was like your fifth best tackler. Uh, Darius McKenzie also back as your seventy ah Third best tackler was 72. So you get some good help ah kind of in the second level, but this is a ah pretty young defense. As you look up and down, as who Phil Steele anticipates starting at different spots, especially in that front defensive line section, you've got two sophomores starting with Tyler Thomas and Steven Johnson, ah at least projected starters at this point who didn't do really anything. Tyler Thomas, two and a half sacks last year, which is ah good across three starts.
00:19:27
Speaker
It's actually very good across three starts. But then Steven Johnson played one game ah at McNeese. So the i I worry about their ability to replace what they lost. Jaden Voysen, right? ah Who...
00:19:42
Speaker
you know, nepotism or not. I mean, it clearly wasn't 53 tackles, uh, three and a half tackles for loss, five breakups, five picks, uh, on a team that picked off a lot of balls last season, uh, go down the line with Darius web brother of the Damian web. Um,
00:19:57
Speaker
Another little ne butt nepotism move, but actually, again, like another good guy in his own right. So ah it's tough because I don't love the, I don't think they replenished what they lost, ah especially in the back end.
00:20:11
Speaker
um Like Chris Wallace isn't a guy that overwhelms me playing like your nickel type guy. ah Your safeties don't really do it for me outside of obviously Wesley Miller. Yeah.
00:20:24
Speaker
ah The concern is just lack of experience in youth, especially really, really up front. That group really struggled to get pressure last season.
00:20:36
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Phil Steele calls out that he thinks that the ah the front seven is going to take a step back as well. And with the the losses that you mentioned on the back the back end as well, that's not a huge, and you know,
00:20:52
Speaker
shot of confidence for this defense that seems to kind of just be starting over with brand new pieces. So even if they're good, I would be shocked if they came out straight out the gate and were like smoking teams on defense. Like I, I don't, I think they might be one of those units that starts out rough and gets better throughout the season, but yeah,
00:21:14
Speaker
The idea that you're going to take two linebackers who played big minutes for you last year and a, and a strong safety and are just going to, to reload ah with those guys missing that you mentioned is just, that that seems like a tough ah ask ah for someone who's just kind of looking over this team and trying to make a call.
00:21:34
Speaker
Um, yeah, Yeah, I mean, Steven Johnson at nose tackle 337. ah He's going to eat up some blocks. Plus, he's playing in more... i guess this seems more like a three four uh so he's gonna eat a lot of tackles up and uh just kind of occupy space with a lot of these uh three four units that we mentioned i i do appreciate uh that they have a guy on their roster named achilles woods however that seems to be like tempting fate a little bit to me um because
00:22:09
Speaker
You know, given the the the legend of Achilles, ah that seems like a problem. um And especially with the Achilles injuries that we've been seeing with a lot of prominent ah athletes, namely in the NBA, seems like a ah strange proposition.
00:22:24
Speaker
um All right. So before we recorded, before we started recording, you and I were talking about this. You
Predicting South Alabama's Win Total
00:22:33
Speaker
usually i I clue you in on what the the win totals are for a given team so that we can talk about them and and kind of say, hey, do we think this is high or low?
00:22:45
Speaker
We're going to play a game. where I want you to go through this schedule and tell me how many wins that you see on the schedule. And I will tell you what the win total is according to the draft King sports book.
00:22:58
Speaker
And a lot of other sports books kind of have similar numbers. So this isn't like a one-off thing that seems strange. Yeah, so they open the season on August 30th. ah They host Morgan State and FCS school.
00:23:12
Speaker
ah Feel
Analysis of 2023 Schedule and Betting Lines
00:23:13
Speaker
pretty comfortable penciling that one in. ah Then the next week on September 6th, you host Tulane. ah Not the Tulane we used to know, but still a very, very dominant Tulane team.
00:23:24
Speaker
That feels like a loss to me. Then you go at Auburn. ah Pretty comfortable calling that one a loss as well. ah Then you start conference play really early in week four ah by hosting Coastal Carolina.
00:23:37
Speaker
um I've got the Jaguars there. i you know I'd like to see a line there because that feels like that could be an interesting game that will probably also... that might be the first conference game of the year, throughout the Sunbelt.
00:23:51
Speaker
So, um, so that, I mean, that'll be one that we're obviously all watching. Um, but I, I think South Al takes that one. So I've got them at two. then you go at North Texas. Uh, I like South Al there. Definitely. You go at Troy. That one's a little tough. That's a rivalry game. Uh, I, and we anticipate Troy to kind of continue their plateau from where they once were, uh, both summer all, um,
00:24:17
Speaker
I think troy Troy also coming off of a buy before that game too. Right. ah That's a rivalry game. I think that one's Troy, but you can call that one close to a coin flip. Then you get your first buy after playing six games. So week seven, you get a buy October eleventh ah Then on a Tuesday, October 14th, so it's actually a kind of a shorter buy.
00:24:39
Speaker
i can't fathom why you would want to do that. ah You host Arkansas State, who is also off of a short buy. So that'll be kind of funky, both teams with only 11 days rest.
00:24:50
Speaker
Yeah. between games as opposed to the 14 you'd want. Uh, I like Arkansas state there. ah then you go at Georgia state, uh, on a Thursday.
00:25:02
Speaker
So you get, uh, kind of two days of rest back playing that on October 23rd. Uh, I do like South Al at Georgia state there homecoming November 1st hosting Louisiana. That's a loss for me. Uh, you get a late buy on November 8th before playing ULM November 15th.
00:25:20
Speaker
Uh, that's a win. You go November 22nd, Southern Miss, that's a loss. And then Texas State at Texas State, that's a loss. ah you South Isle has never won in San Marcos.
00:25:32
Speaker
So as I go through their schedule, I've got Montana State. I've got tentatively coastal, ah North Texas. Georgia State, ULM, 1, 2, 3, 4. I've got 5. I think that Troy could possibly be a 6th win.
00:25:51
Speaker
I'm going to guess that their over-under is 5.5. Zeke, this is going to blow your socks off. Their win total is 7.5. And want add as well. and i want to add this as well because we're not going to do the guessing game for any other team, because this was the one team that really stood out to me that I was like, where the hell is this coming from?
00:26:14
Speaker
Not only is it seven and a half, it is tied for a conference high in wins with James Madison, Louisiana, and Georgia Southern.
00:26:26
Speaker
So Vegas has them at the same amount of wins as James Madison, Georgia Southern, and Louisiana. That's really tough because that allows you five wins or five losses, right?
00:26:39
Speaker
And as you look at their schedule, Tulane... No, no, no, no, no. So, no, think about it this way. It's over under seven and a half. So that allows eight but you four. Yeah.
00:26:50
Speaker
And I've got the four right here. That's Tulane, Auburn, Southern Miss, and Louisiana right there. yeah So that questionable coastal game, that questionable Troy game, um you know who knows what Texas State might do. yeah like That's a losable.
00:27:08
Speaker
That's scary. Okay. Okay. Well, OK, so I will say similar to to how it was when we talked about the the line on the ah the win total for Old Dominion.
00:27:21
Speaker
The over is plus 140. So if anybody feels confident about South Alabama winning at least eight games, go ahead and throw 100 bucks on it. You win 140 out agree with you.
00:27:32
Speaker
um i agree with you I don't see eight wins on this schedule. Like, especially again, i don't know if these books have just set a line like early and didn't adjust for what happened in the spring.
00:27:48
Speaker
But to me, losing Gio Lopez is enough to take you down to like six and a half, six, five and a half, something like that. Like, frankly, you are starting over at the quarterback spot.
00:28:00
Speaker
And if Gio Lopez is on this team, I can kind of make the argument with the amount of turnover they're going to have on the defensive side of the ball. I just, I have a hard time believing that, you know, I'm looking at their averages on offense and it's like, they have averaged more than 30 points per game every season since 2022, unless Bishop Davenport, um,
00:28:28
Speaker
comes out and just blows our socks off, I have a hard time seeing them scoring 34 points a game again like they did last year. i just don't... I don't see it in the cards.
00:28:39
Speaker
like I would love to to for them to just show up and and be back to the South Alabama team that they were in, what was it, 2020... 2022? twenty twenty two when they When they won 10 games and were like a hair away from going to the Sunbelt title game as the West representative.
00:28:56
Speaker
I just... that There has been something missing. There was something missing before ah their previous head coach, Kane Womack, moved on. And they have not been able to replicate that success. So that season, as the further we get away from it, feels more like a an aberration and less like, hey, we should be doing this every year.
00:29:20
Speaker
Right. So that is my kind of highest level question about South Al. ah This is only year two of Major Applewhite, and he was with the program for several years. So, you know, he still has at least two years of leash in my eyes.
00:29:37
Speaker
Who knows what administration thinks, but, you know, I think most reasonable folks would give him at least two more seasons to really see this play out. Um, I'm starting to get a bit of fatigue from South Al post 2022 because that year, I mean, they were a 10 to six loss to Troy away from the Sunbelt championship game that Troy did win over Coastal pretty convincingly.
00:30:01
Speaker
blew Blew their doors off. Yeah, yeah. ah So, ah you know, who knows how South Al performs in that game, but, that you know, they, but since then it's two, seven and six really, really,
00:30:12
Speaker
underwhelming seven and six seasons. And so we talked with Ricky Ronnie and old dominion in the episode earlier this week, how it is a, you know, crap or get off the pot situation there.
00:30:24
Speaker
Um, from a program perspective, not necessarily with major Applewhite. I, as a fan, I'm starting to get that level of fatigue with South out. You guys need to corner. I understand that Carter Bradley is now like three seasons in the rear view.
00:30:38
Speaker
Um, And I recognize that Gio Lopez, who was going to, you know, more than sufficiently replaced Carter Bradley at quarterback is also in the rear view. And we're look talking about the big lesson of today is we don't know who's going to step up defensively or in the receiver room.
00:30:58
Speaker
But I'm starting to get that fatigue, and I'm starting to, all right, South Al, are we doing this again? Are we doing another 6-6 with an unimpressive bowl win over Western Michigan? is Is that what we're destined to do for the rest of time?
00:31:11
Speaker
ah Let's do something, man. I'd like to see it. I like South Al. I thought I liked them with Kane Womack, but they've they've got to turn a corner at some point.
00:31:24
Speaker
Well, I mean, it's think about it this way. Either they have to turn a corner or they have to go down into the ravine because this is not...
00:31:36
Speaker
I felt like last year they should have been better than what their final record was. I felt like they had some pieces. Actually, the last two years, Kay Womack's final season is is one of the most baffling ah things I had seen in a long time because i I remember we talked about it. It was like, hey, they've got 18 starters out of their 22 positions are returning. And then they just kind of were...
00:32:02
Speaker
bad in Carter Bradley's final season. and And so you uncover Gio Lopez, who's a piece that that was a good quarterback for them. um I think you were a little higher on him than I was, but I felt like he was a good kind of steadying force for the offense.
00:32:21
Speaker
Now you lose him late. So now you're you're basically taking what is a either a running quarterback from a non-traditional style offense at Georgia Tech um and putting him in what has been a spread under Major Applewhite.
00:32:39
Speaker
And you're you're basically either asking a Tiger to change his stripes, or you are going to put Bishop Davenport in, which I feel like is the better move long-term. So... What is the ceiling on Davenport will be interesting because I felt like the times that he has been in, he played well in the bowl game, but I feel like he's had some ups and downs as well.
00:32:59
Speaker
um So I don't know, but it just feels like a weird mishmash of, of hey, we're cobbling together a roster thanks to like some timely transfers. We've got a guy, a receiver back off of an injury that he hasn't really recovered.
00:33:16
Speaker
um We got a, we got a left tackle that's going to anchor the offensive line, but the other pieces like who knows, who knows what the ultimate result is like, because you can't just say because they returned three guys that the offensive line is going to be good.
00:33:30
Speaker
And then defensively outside of the linebacker spot, like you don't have a lot to hang your hat on to say ah we're going to get guaranteed production. So I don't know, man, this is, i I think this has a ah bigger shot of going bad quick than it does of them winning eight-plus games, making a Sunbelt title game berth over Louisiana or Texas State or Southern Miss, who feel better equipped as of today to make that sort of run.
00:33:58
Speaker
They're going to really have to uncover a lot of like impact players. And until i I see those guys suit up on so Saturdays, I just... it's it's hard for me to project that onto them.
00:34:11
Speaker
As you look across the conference, I think South Al probably has the largest ceiling to floor gap. I think Texas state might be in that conversation.
00:34:25
Speaker
Um, Georgia Southern might also be in that conversation because that's a team that could very easily make it to the conference championship game or very easily go seven and five.
00:34:36
Speaker
Um, which is a, Oh, I mean, Clay's going to win six games at minimum. now now will the Now, if the win total is seven and a half like it is the last time I looked, and he wins six, then yeah, that's big time disappointing. Because the East, in theory, is supposed to be a two-horse race with them and JMU.
00:34:55
Speaker
Yeah. And... and So, I mean, the c for we'll get into it when we talk about Georgia Southern. I believe that's next week um if I have my scheduling right.
00:35:07
Speaker
But it feels right now with Clay that the ceiling is eight and the floor is six. And it's like, that's not much of ah of a gap to me. So does anyone else then in your eye, because I think, like I said, I think South Alabama probably has the highest variance potential in the conference.
00:35:23
Speaker
Who else is in that conversation or is it just the Jags?
00:35:29
Speaker
I mean, I think Southern Miss is in there. Like, yeah you've got a ah good bit of pieces coming over and you've got Braylon Braxton, but that there's a real outcome here where it's like,
00:35:42
Speaker
we didn't bring everybody over from Marshall last year. Like yeah we don't, we don't have an AJ Turner. We don't have a Mike green all of a sudden, you know, maybe, this maybe this time the receiver by committee stuff that they were doing last year, you know, with the lack of an AJ Turner running the ball, maybe that doesn't work out.
00:36:00
Speaker
There's a, there's a lot of outcomes there. Now the over under a four and a half for Southern Miss, I feel like it's ridiculous because I feel like they will win five games at minimum, but yeah, they they have a floor of we could win five games or we could make a push for the the the title game in the West.
00:36:18
Speaker
And like that is a hell of a floor ceiling combo that I don't even feel like really South Alabama has the ceiling to to make a push for the title game. Yeah, why they probably don't. they will be They will be happy to win seven games in the regular season with a chance at eight in a bowl game.
00:36:34
Speaker
I think that's where you're Yeah, I think you're right on that. I think you're pretty dead on on that. So with that said, as we sort of wrap up here, do we have, you have any last minute thoughts? And
Audience Engagement and Call for Experts
00:36:46
Speaker
if not, go ahead and we'll do the socials.
00:36:49
Speaker
Yeah, man. um nothing Nothing really else here. um You can find me on Twitter at Zeke Palermo, Z-E-K-E-P-A-L-E-R-M-O. That's where I'm always going to be.
00:37:02
Speaker
ah You can also find the show at Warm Weather Fans on Twitter or X, also on TikTok. ah You can also email the show warmweatherfans at gmail.com. We want to hear from you. We gave a similar call to action earlier in the week with Old Dominion.
00:37:17
Speaker
ah We want to hear what you guys think. We want we need more experts to to guest on this show about some of these teams that um Brian, Matt, or I do not follow as intently as the teams that we support.
00:37:30
Speaker
um We asked very, very aggressively for an old dominion person to solve, solve that Rubik's cube, please, please, please. please Um, but, uh, you know, if you listen to the show, we, we want to talk Sunbelt, so please let us know what you think and where we're wrong and, you know, preferably where we're right as well.
00:37:54
Speaker
Yeah, so as always, you can find me on X, Twitter, whatever, at WatchTheStone. um As Zeke said, feel free to email us, warmweatherfans at gmail.com. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
00:38:05
Speaker
ah We are up over, I believe, 135 subscribers last time I checked. where We're doing work in that department. so we appreciate everybody that, that tunes in, watches our content.
00:38:17
Speaker
Um, we will obviously continue this through the regular season. We'll be breaking down every team all in one instead of individual teams as we do here. So Zeke, I actually looked before we sign off next week's episodes are James Madison and Arkansas state.
00:38:34
Speaker
I know you were a big red wolves, uh, lover slash Butch Jones believer. So that'll be an, you, you have to make a point to be on that one. Cause, I will be ah in Boston next week with my family, but I will make sure that I'm able to give my Butch Jones some love.
00:38:55
Speaker
And actually, you know what? i will I will also put a tweet out midway through this coming week. I want everybody to send in their top five quarterbacks in the conference as of today.
00:39:06
Speaker
I want everybody's take. ah We will read you know responses on the show because... I think I'd have to sit down and come, come up with my last two, but I think my three are pretty set in stone and I would be kind of looking for an additional two to tack onto that list, but I will put out a tweet.
00:39:27
Speaker
Maybe it is Sunday, June 20th when we we're recording this, frankly, I think I'll put the tweet out on Monday and just see what people have to say and see how responsive people are. But Yeah, so we, again, we will be back ah next week with two episodes on JMU and Arkansas State.
00:39:44
Speaker
This has been Other Fans.