It's the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. just no ads. There's also a members only group chat for fans of your team. Plus a lot more. You can check it out by tapping the everyday or club link in the show notes. An Auburn radio host is ready to say that yes, Byron Brown has a legit chance to win the Heisman. You are locked on Auburn, your daily podcast on the Auburn Tigers. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Yes, welcome on in to Locked On Auburn, your daily Auburn Tigers podcast. I'm your host, Zach Blackerby, and thank you so much for making Locked On Auburn your first listen every single day. Ben Taylor of the Auburn Network family of stations. He hosts Auburn Opelika this morning on WANI. Hanging out with us, Ben Taylor. Do you think Byron Brown should be a Heisman Trophy contender this season? I think that Byron Brown will be a Heisman Trophy candidate with a legitimate shot at being in New York at the end of the season. Incredible. And it's got everything to do with, number one, his talent, what he's got coming back, his surroundings with the staff that is in place, as well as his weapons that he's going to have around him. And the opportunity to – people forget. I mean, he's going to be a year older than what he was last year as far as experience is concerned. He's already proven that he can play against the Floridas and the Miamis of the world. So now it's turning loose. Why not, Zach? Why do we always go into football season and ask, what if we did this? What if we did that? The talent is on the field. Why not say, why can't we be the team that puts somebody up as a front runner and a Heisman candidate and do that preseason? Why can't we get that love? And so, yeah, I got him with an opportunity to go to New York. If all the I's are dotted and the T's crossed by this staff and what Golis thinks of him and what the offensive staff thinks about him. I think that he's got a legit opportunity to move up there to the top of the, as far as the top of college football and have an opportunity to win it. That's something that Golis has talked about. He's been asked, like, what does it mean to have your quarterback and your center and a lot of these guys coming in? And he's had different words for it, but all of them are remarkably positive. Like the amount of relief he feels. He's talked about how he sleeps better at night, having all of these guys that have played together, been in the system with these coaches all coming with him. So they don't have to fully start over in the spring, which is huge, which is huge. There's going to be a lot of processes with install that they're going to be able to maybe not skip, but go through a little bit quicker and just make sure, you know, the other guys are, are acclimated. We talked about this on earlier in the week on locked on Auburn with Kyle. there's um you know at least on the offensive side of the football there's a guy that contributed in the offense at every room offensive line has two guys tied in has eckles obviously the receiver room is majority usf guys it seems and then you got davenport at running back and then obviously byron brown at quarterback and lachlan hewlett at quarterback so i mean that is just so entrenched on the offensive side of the ball, which is huge, which kind of plays into what you're talking about. When you look at our friends at FanDuel, their Heisman odds, they have Byron Brown as the 19th best odds to win the Heisman trophy a plus 4 So they saying take the odds baby I saying take the odds There's no chance. All he's got is around 15 to 14 slots to move up, and he's going to be in New York. And there's a couple of – you just mentioned the weapons he's got that he's bringing from South Florida with him. That's also with him having one running back in the room last year. He's got four to depend on this year. You know, it's like with him having one tight end to depend on last year. We got three or four that could possibly be out there this year that are coming from all walks of life. It seems like they're trying to shore up the offensive line, which hopefully by the end of spring, we'll have some names of who we think are the solid starters come coming into fall. You got your wide outs and then you got a defense is going to put you in a position to succeed. hopefully i just i like the odds of byron brown having an even better year from his experience that he's got with the tools he has around him along with the additional tools that auburn's providing to him that were here waiting on him when he showed up on campus yeah yeah so i do think the opportunity will be there if the offense looks like it did at south florida at auburn or if the offense looks like Alex Golish's offense when he was at Tennessee and Byron Brown is kind of the magician making it all happen, yeah, why not? Well, he's got a chance to, let's call it what it is. Let's just say this doesn't happen and Golish stayed at South Florida and Myron Brown stayed at South Florida with him. I was headed there. We're not going to give South Florida a look as far as a Heisman candidate is concerned. We've seen guys put up numbers at Fresno State. We've seen guys put up numbers at Appalachian State. We've seen guys at smaller programs, and they don't get a look at as far as Heisman is concerned. He's at Auburn University now. And I don't know what some of these – you've seen some national pod guys and stuff like that going, does Auburn really think too much of themselves? Yeah. Yeah. When you look at the most watched college football games this past year, Auburn was in there at like five, six, or seven as far as what people are watching. So, yeah, he's going to – a lot of eyes are going to be on him. That's all you did there. A lot of eyes are going to be on him as far as being able to put his name out there for people to see. So I think he has a huge opportunity to make a statement and prove a lot of people wrong that may think that we're just going to see another Auburn program with another stagnant offense with another same old, same old that we've seen. And I just don't know with his staff that that's what we're going to get. I think we're going to do something different. Yeah, so what exactly would that even look like if he does become, you know, if he does have a legitimate shot of winning the Heisman? Let's jump into that in just a moment. Right here on Locked on Auburn. Today's show brought to you by our friends at FanDuel. FanDuel is America's number one sportsbook. I think we just mentioned our line for the day. Byron Brown, plus 4,000 odds to win the Heisman Trophy. for what it's worth. There's two guys at the top. CJ Carr at Notre Dame is plus 800 and Trinidad Chambliss at Ole Miss is plus 800 to win the Heisman Trophy. Arch Manning right behind him at plus 950. Also, FanDuel, they're giving you the chance to turn going to the NBA Finals live and in person into reality with their NBA sweepstakes. All you have to do is use your profit boost on any NBA future, and you'll be automatically entered for a chance to win that. 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That's hipebl.ai for a free estimate. Ben Taylor, host of Auburn Opelago this morning, hanging out with us today. If Byron Brown is in the Heisman Trophy conversation, even in November, I'm not even saying if he goes to New York, but even if it's in November, they've shown, and this is part of what you were saying about smaller schools, like you have to be on a successful team unless you're Baylor and RG3. You've got to be on a successful team that's winning, that's playing in these relevant games down the stretch, because that's really when your Heisman Trophy campaign picks up and explodes. And so if Byron Brown is in this conversation, you're saying it's totally a possibility, and I'm with you. I'm with you. You look at some of these toss-up games early in Auburn's schedule, and you got to say, okay, well, he probably had to have some moments in these games or just lead Auburn to dominating wins in these games. Baylor, obviously. Florida. Vanderbilt. What about when LSU comes to Jordan-Hare Stadium? I think there's several of these where if this happens, Auburn will need to win those games with Byron Brown. No, I completely agree. The winning's got to come, unless you're Travis Hunter and you play for Colorado and it doesn't really matter. Travis Hunter's another one. Good call. Good call. But that dude played both sides of the football and returned punts when needed and returned kickoffs. So that's a little different. That's a whole different thing. And I don't think we're going to have Byron Brown returning kickoffs for us. I doubt he's out there playing free safety and trying to be a ball hawk. No, he'd be an edge anyway if he was on defense. So I don't foresee that happening. So when you look at it, you mentioned the teams. Let's just look at overall picture then, Zach. What is it going to take? Is it going to take nine wins to put him in that conversation? Is it going to take ten wins to put him in that conversation? because I think the numbers can be put up with the weapons that he has around him. Does Auburn do that thing where they shoot themselves in the foot and lose heartbreakers four or five times, and then that puts them in a hole so you don't get to that nine or ten? But I think you get a total of nine wins. I think you're going to be considered if the numbers are what you need them to be because nine wins could also get you in talks of being a bubble team in the playoffs. Ten wins probably gets you in. So, and in that case, and I think that's why Chambliss is being looked at right now. And who knows what the status of that even is before it's all said and done with. But Archmandy – It's supposedly good to go. That's what everybody says until it gets selection committee time and they may decide, you know what, they cheated all year by playing him, so we're not going to let him be in the playoffs. I don't think that's going to happen, but that'd be a great way to make an example out of somebody. Are you actually talking about Ole Miss right now or maybe something else is happening? Maybe a little bit of both. Could be a little bit of both. We'll see which one comes first. All right. Football would also be a way to prove that. Hey, if one came before the other, we may see a change. Who knows? But, you know, and you mentioned Arch Manning probably being in there at the number three slot. I think that Sark is going to try to do what he can to make that happen. He does have an extra weapon that he got from Auburn that may help that cause a little bit. However, I like our weapon. I like Singleton that we got on the outside. Numbers a little bit better than what we saw to Cam Coleman last year at Auburn So I think that there an opportunity with that nine or ten wins that yes he can be in that conversation at the end of the season regardless of who they come against Because he does need a big shiny moment that quote Heisman moment Opportunity was – Yeah, like at Tuscaloosa in the regular season, like something like that would be great. If he does something – I mean, we've seen it with Cam in LSU. Something crazy always happens at LSU games. Something wild happens in that game, LSU. early on it could possibly happen and we saw just for some plays he had last year Zach whether it be running the ball or even some of the throws he made he had some moments that were shown as far as highlights that if he were at Texas or if he were at Penn State or Michigan with those same plays last year he probably gets a little bit more love than what he gets at South Florida yeah that's probably true that's probably true I think that has a lot and listen when you're at Auburn you're on television every game, whether it be SEC Network or whether it be a national broadcast, somewhere like the ABC CBS. Right. You're going to get the love and you're going to get the eye seeing you. And if he stands out, and especially if he has a knockout game where, say, Auburn's picked to lose by six and a half and Auburn wins by 15, and it's all offense that does it, that could really shine bright. Yeah, and he's going to have the opportunity. Like, I think Auburn at Baylor, that that stage will be set for something you know if if he if they run all over him and by around has four touchdowns or something i think that'd be a prime opportunity and then just two weeks i guess it's two weeks later where when when auburn hosts florida yep i mean all the storylines in that game are going to be unbelievable so i think he'll have two opportunities pretty early to put himself on the map as far as you know post usf then going to like vandy i think auburn will beat vandy at home but then like going to knoxville that's going to be huge especially if he's tied to golish golish getting kind of you know revenge not revenge but you know getting one up on the guy who you know he followed his coattails up to tennessee right with hyphal so yeah i mean the storylines will be there early for him to get a chance at it 100 the maturity is what i like out out of Brown because one thing that a lot of people haven't discussed is when he was at South Florida, he was having to go on the road to play in front of those big crowds. He hasn't had an opportunity to have a Jordan hair atmosphere behind him. Yeah. Have, you know, who in the midst of sucking have sold out stadiums these last years. And now he has that on his side. And he clearly has played in raucous atmospheres on the road already with. So he shouldn't be a affected by that very much as far as going on the road, because he's already done it at a smaller school, and now he's got more weapons to do it with. I like that. That's a good take. It's a good take. I hadn't really thought about that, but yeah, I think you're all over that. Ben Taylor, how can people check out everything you've got going on? AUnetwork.com, easiest way to find me. Click on the WANI logo. We do sports each and every morning after 7 with people like Zach Blackerby, as well as some of you know Charlie Five, who loves to rub people the wrong way, including myself. Yes. And so he's the best at it. We would love for you guys to come join me. AUNetwork.com, WANL logo. Click on that. Please like the video. Please subscribe. We'll see you next time. This has been Locked on Auburn. You can just move through life or you can find the things that move you. It's your choice. Choose joy. Choose the road. Choose your shot. Take it. Choose to get in there. Choose your calling. Choose your path. just choose. We craft cars for those who choose to do more than simply move. You know who you are. Mazda, move and be moved. I'll wake up. Meet the energy shot that tastes just like birthday cake. Confetti craze, extra strength, five-hour energy, tastes like a rich, buttery, vanilla birthday cake. Frosting and all. Light the candles, make a wish, and get ready to celebrate with every sip. Feel unstoppable energized with as much caffeine as your favorite 12-ounce fancy coffee, but with zero sugar for zero sugar crashes. For more information and to get the party started, visit 5hourenergy.com or visit Amazon today.
