It's the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Keep the cuddles and lose the mess with Advantage Chewable. Just one tasty tablet kills fleas and ticks for a whole month. No mess, no stress. Just one tasty chew. Advantage Chewable. Flea and tick protection made easy. Find out more at advantagechewable.co.uk. Easy to love, easy to protect. Advantage Chewable. We've reached the final stretch of spring and there's still things that we want to know. Welcome on into Locked On Auburn. I'm Zach Blackerby. He's Daryl Dapprich Montgomery Radio Legend. We've got more hoops, portal chatter coming up as well as several things through over the last week or so. Are they important or are they interesting? We're now eight days away from 8A, which means we are very close to the end of spring. We waited forever. We blink and it's almost over. Going into it, there's all these things we wanted to know. There's all these things that we were on a quest to find out. We learned a lot or a lot of things were confirmed. There are still questions coming out of this, or I guess going into the final week of spring, that I thought we'd have a more firm picture on. I'll start with the running back situation. We knew it would be Cobb, but we still don't really have a firm picture. A lot of this has to do with the fact that we don't really get to see team, which is fine. We're not owed that. We heard about Omar Mabson scoring with the second team offense in the scrimmage. Omar's going second in drills, but I just can't shake that Bryson Washington is going to be a key part of this running back room. No, I agree. That was the first one that popped into my mind. I didn't even talk about this was who after Cobb. Well, there's two things that I feel like are unsettled. Number one, which you mentioned who after Cobb and then how many carries is Washington going to cut into Cobb's carries? Because I assumed when he came over that it was going to be a really equitable distribution. So those are the two biggest questions I have from the running back room. I think you nailed it there. Yeah. And then I guess as far as other things, I don't think there's a clear picture on defensive back. I don't think there's a clear picture with the edges. We feel good about Womack, but what is Chris Murray's upside look like in that room? Does that impact Womack? Does it impact other guys in that room like a JJ Falk or a Jared Smith? And some of that is Chris Murray coming in late. I mean, the amount of variables involved in that situation was pretty drastic, but not a certain amount. Not a super clear picture there either. It's interesting. The combination of how that's going to play out along the defensive front is what I'm feel like the picture has to be answered. Like, is Womack your edge or does Womack slide over to where Falk played last year and Murray's your edge? Or does Murray back up Womack as an edge? Autry, but what is his role? He was going to be counting on heavier this year. Gary and Smith, there are some un... You're saying a whole defensive front then. Yeah, well, I agree. I think Sigler is pretty locked in as far as... And Dallas Walker. And Dallas Walker. So yeah, there's some questions there. There is one that I'm going to mention that's going to seem so unimportant. It'll actually make you laugh and people are like, what? Who cares? I think it's important, but the punting battle to me has taken a turn. And somebody, people were like, who cares? Why is punter important? Well, we've seen it be extremely important in flipping field position, bad field position. You know, we just assumed it was going to be cock and then I'm hearing McGuire is pushing him. So that's a little intriguing to me. I'm interested in all facets of Auburn's, whether it's office, defense and special teams. And if you don't think special teams are important, just remember how many games it got us beat two years ago. Goodness gracious. Yeah. Whether it's the kicking game, whether it's the return game as far as when the field something would not do. Yeah. Amen. See, that doesn't seem that important. But remember the average start holding on every kick return. Auburn's average start was at the 15-yard line instead of the 30. You shank a punt out of bounds. You give the offense a tremendous... If you can boom one and flip the field with this defense, how much of a weapon would that be? It could change the outcome of the game. Change the outcome of the game. How about the inconsistency in field goal kicking a couple of years ago? And then McPherson, as he got stronger last year, he beat Arkansas. Him and Pleasant beat Arkansas. So it can win you games. And I just, you laugh, but I mean, he had the pick six and he had the kickoff return and he had the kickoff return. No, I'm not just because of the word. It's true. It's true. And so I just feel like anything can get you beat and anything can help you win a football game. So you focus on everything. And guess what? Goal is just that kind of guy. He will not leave one stone unturned. And if you don't think that he doesn't think that punting is important, he does because he's attention to detail. So that's why I brought that up. I find that intriguing that there's a battle there. Yeah. Now, I think the position group, I feel like we know the most about at this point. I'd say there's two. There's offensive line and wide receiver. Why does he just got a few questions? Just like the offensive line does, you know, what happens when Stanton Ramil comes back? Does he go to right tackle? Does Joe Simmons, you know, who's at which tackle? It'll be those two guys that tackle. But then, you know, obviously with receivers, okay, we've got a pretty good idea who the top three guys are. Jazz Nimrod at the slot, Jeremiah Koger to, you know, to the, you know, Jeremiah Koger and Keshon Singleton as, you know, your guys outside. And they'll sprinkle some guys in, you know, who those guys are. I think it's a little bit open to discussion. You got to assume Bryce Cain's a part of that. You got to assume like at this point with everything we've heard and seen with D'Shawn Spencer, the freshman, you know, is he a part of this? Christian Neptune, another guy who knows the system. But as a whole, like, I feel like we've got a pretty good picture of where most of the offense is going to be personnel wise. Yeah. Receiver's a great example. I think we pretty have a great idea. Like you mentioned, the first three. For me, it was always going to be the next three. Okay, so who comes in? Is it Duke Smith? Is it Spencer? Is it Cain? I think there's a lot of time left before you can determine that. I wouldn't write anybody off yet until the fall, but that is intriguing to me because you're not only going to play three wide receivers in this offense. I think five, six guys could get meaningful snaps. Who are those next three? And for me, the same thing when we're talking about pass catchers tied in. I think, you know, we know that it's Johnson is going to be your, but then after him, who emerges is the second time? And if they go into a two tied in set, who is another guy? That's another thing that I think is probably an unanswered question going into the fall. Yeah. Yeah. And one of those will come up in what we talk about in a second, but the, um, my belief in Arles boardingham is growing. Yeah. I think he's doing an accelerated rate. Um, and a little bit has to do with what he's doing is fine. He certainly looks the part and looks comfortable, but our other guys really taking advantage of opportunities. Um, I'm not sure. I'm not sure on that front lineback. You got to feel good about like how they use the markers. Riddick will be fast. We weren't going to learn that this spring anyway, especially with Riddick being limited. You know, he's wearing an orange jersey recovering from an injury from a year ago, but I, uh, I guess it's pleased. We're all pleased to hear how great Elijah Malendez has been up to this point. But yeah, the positions, I think, you know, just the biggest question as far as market share goes anywhere along the defensive front, RB two tied into. And then I guess corner as well. When you talk about linebackers, there's a recurring theme from people that we get information from that are at practice and that kind of thing about both toodle brothers really showing out one at linebacker, one of the defensive backfield. And that's really interesting when you talk about newcomers, one being a freshman, one being a transfer. So the hearing a lot of good things about toodle at linebacker and his brother, uh, who's playing some of the defensive backfield. Yeah, I think that's a sad Rick. I believe. Yes. Yes. So, you know, that's a, you always find pleasant surprises that come along. Which toodle do you think plays more this year? I just, I think, uh, and I'm sorry for getting the names confused with the linebacker because there is toodle. Because the defensive backfield to me, Zach, just seems so. Yeah, you just play so many more of them though. Like you play more than you do linebackers. That's a good point. Yeah. I thought I would have heard a little bit more from LaTrell to, you know, being a guy that's played some, but maybe he'll be a special teams guy in the secondary. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think he was ever brought in to like be a guy. Um, but yeah, the, yeah, Jack, I think it's pronounced literal from Arizona. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see how much he plays. But he's also been in Orange Jersey too. So, you know, how much can he really do? Uh, but yeah, no good point. Depth is certainly, certainly there. Um, a few things that happened at practice yesterday, Darrell, are they important? Are they interesting? That's next right here unlocked on Auburn. Today's show brought to you by our friends at Mazda. This is Mazda's Moving the Game Forward by Mazda. For those who know, there's more to the score. Who knows? Wow. For those who know, the score never tells the whole story. I mean, Kevin Overton has to be our guy that we're highlighting here. Winning the NIT, forcing overtime in dramatic fashion, and then a shot from the logo to, uh, to really kind of seal the deal after, you know, Auburn had an epic collapse. I mean, that's the part that doesn't show up in the stat sheet, right? Darrell is bringing this team back despite, you know, giving up this tremendous, tremendous lead and him kind of leading the charge and say, no, we're not losing this game. What's nice about it too, he did it on two fronts. I always felt like he was going to be a glue guy. And he was going to be your emotional leader, but man, did he produce from a statistic standpoint too. So his productivity was on the court with being leader and then also with his stats. The all new Mazda CX-5 moves the same way with more space to connect, a bold new design and more intuitive technology so you can stay connected to the road in every position you play. The all new Mazda CX-5, more to move every side of you. Today's show also brought to you by TurboTax. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot. Trying to book an appointment, that's not the most convenient. Sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers, emailing back and forth and wondering if they really get your situation. But this year, you're getting a major upgrade into it. TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. You can meet face-to-face with a real tax expert and your documents get uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot. And just like that, you're done. Your TurboTax expert works to get you every dollar you deserve while you get real-time notifications as you go about your day. It's a relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out knowing your taxes are being handled right. Head to TurboTax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment. Thank you so much for making Lockdown Auburn. You're first listen every single day. Some interesting stuff happening yesterday during the viewing window, Darrell. I want you to tell me if it's an important instance or just interesting and I'll share my thoughts as well. If you missed our recap yesterday, I sat down with Mike G and we kind of talked about what we saw. Tomorrow, Arno, the corner transfer was wearing number 66 yesterday. Normally, he's been number 14 and the coaching staff really seemed to be all over him during that viewing window. Would you say that's important or would you say it's interesting? Very important. Sam, I agree. Because it's something that we heard early and it's something we were concerned about and now it seems to be coming to fruition. And why in the world do you give somebody number 66 unless you're trying to make a statement? I mean, that's almost like public shaming, though. Yeah, I don't know exactly. I have to think on that for a little while on how I feel about that because I do not want to give my initial reaction to that without being thoughtful and purposeful and thinking about it. Because I don't know the whole story, but it exactly feels that way. And Kyle was saying that it has his name on it. So it wasn't like he just, like the training staff misplaced his jersey so they gave him one. It seems intentional, which that's the thing of the staff. Everything's intentional. I don't know. I think it's interesting. The meaning of it, I don't know, but I think whatever it is, I think it is important. Yeah, I do too. And I mean, nowhere in his sports career, athletic career would he have, you know, probably worn 66. So it's not a tribute to anything. I mean, you know what I'm saying? I mean, you just don't. Yeah, it's not like he played, you know, offensive guard in high school. Yeah, right. Or yeah, I mean, it's just there's, and if he was a three sport athlete, you don't wear 66 in basketball and baseball either. So true, you know, you do hockey. One of the greatest of all time or hockey, my friend nugget, little bonus you got for that who wore 66 and hockey. Mario Lemieux got it. Heard of him. All right. Is this important or is it interesting? Gavin Jenkins, the corner transfer from South Florida, consistently with the starting defensive back group. Oh, it's got to be important. Your starters are important. Who starts is important. Who takes the field first is not just interesting. It's important because you're trying to put the best 11 out there on both sides of the ball. And if you feel like he is one of them, that's important. Yeah, I'll say this one's interesting. I don't buy that he starts this season. I don't buy it. I think it's got to be, you know, Dre and then Ray Sean on the other side. I'm going to say that it's interesting. Could be important if he ends up starting. I'm just not buying that he ends up starting. You don't think, don't you think would be probably ahead of him to be a guest? Yeah. Yeah, I do. I do. Top four though. That's good. But I don't, I don't think he, I don't think he starts. All right. Is this important or interesting? Jonathan Eccles, tight end, dropping passes and multiple viewing windows this week. Interesting because I don't know if he's even allegedly you got two in front of him. So who cares? Right. Yeah, then the guy behind them dropped some dropped one during Tuesday's windows. They've your new some. So if you're counting on him to be tied in one, it's important. If you're counting on him to be tied in three or four, it's interesting. Yeah, I do think I agree with you. I think it's interesting. The, you know, he might have a different role than some of the other guys, you know, Arliss boarding him and him are similar. Boarding him seems to play a little bit larger than Eccles. I think Eccles is more like a receiver that boarding him is, but we've seen this and we've talked about it a ton. Like the tight end plays a good bit, but they're not a huge part of the passing game. They're just not. They're kind of checked out their pieces of the puzzle. Yeah. Use them from time to time, but they're not going to be 40 catches in a season type players. And so he might be the most athletic in the room. That doesn't mean you're the best tight end, especially if you do have inconsistent sketching and it could have just been too bad reps, right? He could have the best hands in the room and it was just unlucky, small sample size. We only get to see so little, but the coaches, I mean, they get after them when they drop them, like that's a big deal. And with this staff and that room kind of structured the way it is, I have a hard time seeing him beat out the two guys in front of them right now. I'm okay with the tight end not being such a big part of this offense from. It is. With a reception standpoint, but I would like to see it pay off more in the end zone. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like you get quantity, I'm sorry, quality over quantity. So I'd like to see some more touchdowns being caught by tight ends. I get that. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe a tight end has 18 catches on the season and four touchdowns or something like that. Yeah. Exactly. Gotcha. So we both said that one's interesting. Bryce in Washington, the Baylor running back transfer going last consistently and running back drills throughout spring. I'm saying this one is interesting. Interesting because I don't think it's going to last. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then, um, Auburn, so we, the context for this one, they've kind of moved around the offensive line with switching tackles, whether it's putting in another freshman, whatever it might be from Tuesday to Thursday. I think it's the same time that it's been the same offensive line group back to back viewing windows. So Auburn going with the same offensive line group back to back viewing windows. Would you say that's important or is it interesting? And of course that's Joe Simmons from left to right, Joe Simmons, Derek Blass, Col Best, Col Skinner and Wilson zero. I think it's important. And I think it's important because the continuity of your offensive line is one of the most important aspects of having this successful football team. And if you have that established and they're starting to, and they're being cohesive and there's not surprises there and they get to play together as a unit through the spring then into the fall, I think it's important. And I think it's really even more important because what is, what does that mean for Ramil and how he plugs into that? Yeah. Yeah. And like, does, does that mean Ramil's more likely to slot in at right tackle? Cause I think zero would be the one who would switch out for, I'm not Joe Simmons. I don't think it's a crazy thing to say at all. Because if they felt like Joe Simmons was the right tackle, I feel like Joe Simmons would be at right tackle. Yeah. Why make somebody change positions when they don't have to? Why move, why move two positions when you have to move one? Yeah. So does that, that's why I think it's important is not only the, the gel and the continuity. I agree with you there, but is that saying Joe's, we feel like Joe Simmons is the left tackle and Stan Ramil will slot in at right tackle then. Yeah. And we talked about this a couple of days ago. We don't know what Ramil's history is at right tackle and how he plays right tackle. Yeah. I mean, he has it in college. So that becomes even more important. Yep. Yep. All right. So there we go. We agreed on all those except for Gavin Jenkins with the first group. So there you go. We got some happenings in the portal. Good and bad. That's next right here. Unlocked on Auburn. Today's show brought to you by our friends at Indeed. Darryl, you hire people for your business and you trust only Indeed to help you find the qualified candidates for those job postings. Indeed, I do. And they have been, they have been very, very good to me and our company. You can spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all the boxes, less stress, less time, more results. Listers of this show can get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast mentioned Lockdown Auburn when they asked how you heard about it. Indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply. Final few minutes on today's edition of Lockdown Auburn. The basketball transfer portal is going crazy. And we got some, we'll start with the good news. Simon Walker saying he's coming back. The guard, the three point shooting extraordinaire. This is the guy that you've been pretty vocal about one wanting more time to let's get him back there. And Simon Walker is interesting because he's a guy that I think other systems have. I think other systems may value more. And so I was actually concerned about losing him. Of course, wanted him back, but I thought it would have made a ton of sense adding the disclaimer. Like there's a million reasons why a kid enters the portal probably could have gotten more money and more playing time somewhere else and he's choosing to come back. I'm pleasantly surprised by that. Cause that's it. He could get more playing time and probably a higher NIL value somewhere else, but yet he chooses to come back to Auburn. I love kids that have that in them. They want to be there. It matters to them. I think he's a really good shooter. I think in the right system, he can exhibit those skills. I think from now until next, you know, November, he needs to work on his defensive capabilities because I think that's what kept him from getting more minutes. If he can get that, or if Auburn changes a system based upon personnel where he's not exposed defensively, then I think he could be an asset off the bench. I mean, an instant offense kind of guy, the guy you thought maybe Bashir could be, but he's got the fact that he wants to come back, work on his game and be a part of this team is very encouraging to me. Yep. I agree. I agree. Um, after, after the, um, Elijah Freeman, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think he's got a lot of excitement in his team and note. You know, he said he's coming back and a lot of people kind of got on us. And I was careful with my verbiage when we talked about this last time. I said he's apparently coming back is now, you know, Justin Hokes in a Vaan three reporting that it may, it looks like he's going to go kind of test the waters and see what his market is, which is not surprising to us at all. what that looks like both as far as Auburn's fight to retain him, but also where Auburn looks moving forward at forward. Well there had been rumblings for a while that Tennessee was extremely interested in him. You know that's who he committed to Auburn over Tennessee. Tennessee thought they had him and you know because he's gonna test the waters doesn't mean that he won't come to Auburn or stay at Auburn that he goes out there test the waters and realizes that his value is similar at other places and so he's like I'll just go back to where is a known commodity. So I don't blame him for if he does put his name in the portal you know to see if he can get whatever he can get this is the only time you can get it that's why I knew that his agent was probably gonna have a heart attack when he said I'm locked in but that doesn't mean that Auburn wouldn't match or you know or if he goes and says the number is X and this school is gonna give me X and Auburn says we'll give you that to stay. Yeah that's the game the back and forth in negotiation so if he does it then Auburn will take that money that's allocated and go get a three or a four to replace him. It's such an interchangeable fluid situation right now. Yeah no the next few days are gonna be crazy. Hoke also reporting that Sway seems to like Auburn and so we'll see you know I think if you feel like Freeman is gonna leave and test the market I do think it makes Sway a little bit more important. It does because he could play the four then and they may think Auburn may think okay Sway and the way he played down the stretch is our likely candidate to play the four and it wasn't Jovic it was Sway that we thought. What do you think the NIL valuation from Freeman to Sway is how different do you think it is? From a market standpoint I know that's an impossible question. I say Freeman's slightly higher because of upside? Yeah he's slightly higher I was gonna say about $500,000 higher. I don't think that's slightly. Well when you talk about what Jovic's supposedly getting I mean let's just throw out numbers let's say Freeman's worth 1.75 and Sway's worth 1.25. You know that's pretty substantial. I mean when you're talking about 12 million. Well you're talking about but you're talking about one of the two being a starter not both perhaps but one of the two because you've nailed it. I think if one goes then you up the ante on the other one and to keep them locked in so I mean ideally you'd like to keep both. Yeah I think I'd rather keep Sway. I'd rather keep Freeman. Yeah I get it. Just diversitility. I get it. No I think Freeman can play the three and the four. Three and the four Sway's kind of locked in at the four. Offensively. Defensively that's not true. Correct. Yeah okay. Cool and so then you know we're still kind of hearing different things about the HOD. We'll see what happens with the HOD and then of course. I heard the meeting went well. Right. And it's not about money. It's about fit and how he's going to be used and how he's going to be showcased. That's what we're hearing. Yeah and I don't know if Auburn will have a great answer for that or not. I would if I was Auburn I'd say do you like to play the one or do you like to play the two. And if you said I feel more comfortable coming off ball screens and roaming the baseline of the perimeter and having open spaces then I'd go out and get a point guard and I'd slide him to the two. How he wants to be used instead of maybe getting collapsed on at the one and getting trapped handling the ball. That's what happened to him. But that being said he also missed a lot of wide open looks. So they were doing something right to get him open right. So you know that's the first thing I would say do you mind sliding to the two. Do you like playing off the ball. If there's no I want to be the primary ball handler. I want the offense to roll through me at the one. Then you take that consideration and maybe you go out and get a three and Overton plays the two. There's a lot of variations and variables on that. Yeah those are some tough because that decision impacts like so many roster spots. It does. It really does. Not only from a available NIL standpoint but from where people play position wise. I also think I'm guessing but I would guess a like a top 10 percent point guard in the portal will cost more than a top 10 percent shooting guard in the portal. Yes. That's why I wonder if that should impact any decisions at all. That's why Bruce Pearl was so smart when he went out and got a Denver Jones because Denver Jones was listed as a two at FIU. But he was really a combo guard that we found out could play the one when they slid him over when Aiden left and JP Pagese couldn't handle the position. Right. Remember Pagese was brought in to be point guard one. Joe was like the coveted guard. Yes. Yes. And Jones was brought in to be the off guard. So you look for combo guards that can do both for that reason. Yeah. Yeah. So starting to come together somewhat we'll know a lot more probably over the weekend. And then Jovic obviously the news that he's committed UCLA. Yeah. Which is very surprising to me because UCLA's NIL money is not in the stratosphere that Arkansas, Kentucky, some of these other schools are. But they must value him as a starter right away. Yes. We'll pay this money. Do you think you got the two million from him? I think so. Or to happen that quick I think so too. And I think that they've got him penciled in as their starter as a starter because they lost. And he's there. We will build our messaging and our roster around you. Yeah. Good for Philip. Good for Philip. Wish him nothing but the best. Darryl Dapper. Check out people. Check out everything you've got going on with you wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube locked on Auburn Wednesdays and Fridays Sunday nights, 8 p.m. live barcast with you and Kyle Rush. And I know we'll talk about this more, but we'll be doing some special things for A day. That's right. That's right. We'll get all that ironed out next week. Please like the video. Please subscribe if you're tuned in on audio. Please subscribe and leave us a review. We'll see you next time. This has been locked on Auburn. 5 sides. Google is a trademark of Google LLC. Sequences shortened and simulated.
