Building the Beast: Shrine Bowl preview and CFP National Championship Game takeaways

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And that's what running's all about. Run your way at newbalance.com slash running. Idle money lies in your current account picking crumbs out of its belly button wondering, should I eat them? But when you start investing with Monzo, your money's always busy. It turns on regular investments, invests your spare change, and tops up your stocks and shares, ISA. It even helps you make sense of risk and return. Monzo, the bank that gets your money moving. You could get back less than you invest. Monzo current account required UK residents 18 plus T's and C's apply. Welcome to another episode of Building the Beast. I am your host Dave Hellman and the national championship is in the books. The Indiana Hoosiers beat the Miami Hurricanes to cap off an undefeated season. Dane Bruegler and myself talked through all the standouts, all the biggest impressions from just a phenomenal way to cap off the 2025 college football season, which also marks in earnest the beginning of the 2026 draft cycle. Special interview for y'all on this episode, Eric Galco, the director of football operations for the East West Shrine Bowl, was gracious enough to join us to talk all things Shrine Bowl, some of the biggest pieces of his roster for this year's game, players he's intrigued by, players he things could make an early impact in the NFL, best positions on the roster, all that good stuff. Great conversation with Eric coming up at the end of this episode. So it's a loaded one. First, our annual listener survey is live and you can participate by going to theathletic.com slash survey 26. Three lucky entries will win $100 worth of Amazon vouchers. So whether you're a longtime listener or a new one, we want your feedback. Go to theathletic.com slash survey 26. The link is also in our episode description. And with that, let's start the show. Well, Dane, if football season is going to end, at least it ends on a high note. And really, what else could you want from a national championship game than what we got on Monday night? The Indiana Hoosiers cap off a perfect 16 and 0 season. They down the Miami Hurricanes 27 to 21. But I'll just be honest, I thought Miami would hang and their defense gave them a shot to hang all through the playoffs. I don't know if I thought Miami would be driving to potentially win in the final minutes. It was that good of a game. And like I said, if this is our last college football until August, what a way to go out. What a way to cap this season off, man. I didn't disappoint. Just an instant classic. And I mean, I was shocked when I got the text from you saying this is a better team than the 2019 LSU squad. I never said that. I was shocked when I achieved that text. But no, seriously, I don't that LSU team was better on offense, but this might be the most impressive national championship team that I've seen in my lifetime. Not the best, but just the most impressive to do what they did over the last two years as a collective from a coaching staff perspective. And then to go through the regular season 12 and 0. And then you knock off Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon and Miami for straight to win the national title is just to me, it's as impressive as we've seen a performance from a team. And I say team because it's not just yeah, they had the Heisman winning quarterback, but the run game, the offensive line, the defense, the special teams, it all factored in at every point this season, especially this title game. So it was it was just a lot of fun to watch. And I mean, shoot, where do you want to start? Because there's you're right about this Miami defense hanging. They did not give Mendoza any time to throw the ball. The O line was hanging in there, but they were getting beat up. Even like Elijah Sarat, who's been such a big weapon for them all season. He had a pretty quiet game had that had that one drop that I think it was on third down. Omar Cooper made some plays. I think by the way, Omar Cooper, he deserves more love as like a top 40 guy is like, like if you're going to list the receivers in this draft, I think it's a pretty short list before you start making the argument that, okay, Cooper's next or like, you know, he belongs in this tier. And then Alec Pierce, I mean, Charlie Becker was awesome too. Like just make him plays those back shoulders. Somewhere like starting with the big 10 title game, Fernando Mendoza was like, man, if I just give this guy a shot, he's going to admit he's going to turn a 50 50 ball into an 80 20 ball. Like I felt like every big moment where Indiana had to have it for the last month and a half odds are it's a, it's a Charlie Becker ball. And I can't say I blame him. The only reason we really saw him this year was because Sarat got hurt for those couple of games. And so Becker had to step up and boy, did he enough to the point where Indiana was like, all right, we have to keep him out there. We cannot. All right. Sarat's back. Great. We cannot take Becker and remove him from this offense. And, you know, we saw that payoff in the big 10 title game against Ohio State. And by the way, he is not draft eligible for those listening and wondering. So we'll hold off on a deep dive on him, but Indiana probably doesn't win this title without him, which is crazy to say, to say, and then have to mention obviously that that fourth and five tremendous play call, the individual effort by Mendoza, just, just an awesome legendary type of play that it wasn't in the final minute. You know, it wasn't like the last play, but it was late enough in the fourth quarter where it just felt like this is a statement type of type of play that we're going to remember for a long time. So yeah, it's not shocking. It's not groundbreaking, but that's what's going to stick with me. And that's where I would have to start. And I said it before the game, it's not fair to anybody to compare the talent levels across eras. Like this is just a new time in college football where like comparing rosters is pointless, but this Indiana team, man, it was a little bit harder than I thought it would be if I'm being honest, but like the resolve that they had and that sequence where Kurt Signetti makes the call and he's like, we didn't come this far to come this far. We're, we're going, we're punching a touchdown in right here. Screw your field goal. And then for Fernando Mendoza, again, he's, he's a, he's kind of a, he's a goofy white guy. I mean, listen to his, listen to his interviews after the game. And I think, you know, people try to paint him that way. That dude has plenty of athleticism, plenty of grit. He's getting beat to hell by Ruben Bain and Akim Mezzador all night long. He gets hit behind like at the sticks, gets over the line to gain. And then like just will not be denied the end zone that right there. I mean, I was sold on Mendoza as the number one overall pick anyway, but that moment I was like, get this guy on my team. What a fricking warrior. Are you kidding me? And I think the other thing too is just this game, it really felt like everybody and, and for our purposes, like for the NFL purposes, everybody on both sides of the ball gave such a good accounting of themselves. Like it's not a situation where you're like, Oh, what happened with him? Where was his head at? Like, why didn't he play better on this stage? Like Mendoza, I know the stat, the stats are not impressive, but for the duress that he was under, I thought he was nails. When you already talked plenty about the Indiana receivers, the Miami pass rushers gave them a shot to win this game. They were outstanding. I fell in love with the Angelo Ponds all over again. I mean, I saw your tweet on Monday night, like, yeah, he's going to measure in every inch of five eight and I do not give a shit. I mean, I'm sure it'll affect his draft stock, but get that guy on my team. If a five eight corner is laying hits like that in the national championship game of college football, I just, I thought all of the principal parties to this game really just left it out all like left it on the field on the winning and losing side. And it was really fun. I've never used the word baller in a scouting report. It's just it's too ambiguous. It's kind of lazy, but you know it when you see it and Ponds is a baller. And like he was targeted six times in this game, gave up one catch for six yards, three PBU's, zero flags. There were a few borderline plays there where, you know, his aggressiveness and his physicality, you know, you could have argued maybe there was a penalty there, but they weren't, they weren't called just this is just a good football player. And so I'm not saying you completely overlooked the size and just draft them top 15, top 20. But there's a case to be made why he should be a top 50 type of player. And, you know, he played a lot of nickel in high school and in college, he's been mostly an outside guy, but he has the ingredients, the toughness and the physicality to play that nickel position. So the same way we talked about Mikey Sainter still as a prospect, you know, it's similar with this guy. He belongs somewhere in that second round. He's going to run fast. I mean, he was a 10, 400 meter guy, so he's going to run fast at the combine. So I'll be pretty surprised he doesn't get somewhere in that second round. And then I'm glad you mentioned just the toughness of Mendoza because that's something that it sticks with you when you watch him. The, and this goes back really all season, you know, the big 10 title game, Ohio State, the first play from scrimmage was him just getting knocked out by Kayden Curry. We, and he had to leave the field. We didn't know if we would see him again. He, he misses one play. That's it. And he's back out there and it is playing at a high level. So the, the toughness that he plays with, how, how unflappable he is, the poise, even though the, the, we knew what the Miami game plan was going to be in this, in this one. It wasn't hard to figure out. It's just pressure, pressure, pressure, whether it's simulated pressures, it's, we're going to move Mezador and Bain to different parts of that defensive line. Sometimes they were on the same side and it's like, all right, stop it. And, you know, the offensive line for the most part held up just enough, but he, Mendoza got hit plenty. So the toughness that he showed to bounce back every single play, pretty impressive. I completely forgot. He converted. Yeah. That was a, one of the Becker balls was a fourth down on the same drive where he scores the touchdown. So just clutch moment after clutch moment, Tom Brady and Mark Davis and John Spitek of the Las Vegas Raiders were all in attendance for that. I, I, nothing is for certain in this crazy world, but I would just be shocked if, if they don't already have his name in at least in pencil on the draft slip until, until future notice. So I, after the game, we had to do like a quick reaction on, on the athletic and the question that I had to answer was, is there any doubt about who's going to be the number one overall pick or who are the other contenders for the number one overall pick? And my answer was pretty simple and it's like, Mendoza is going to be the number one pick. Next question. Like this is, if it's not by the Raiders, if for whatever reason, the Raiders are not sold or they believe that Mendoza is not their guy, they're trading the pick because there will be plenty of other teams lining up with an offer to move up to number one to take the quarterback. And like, that's not to say Mendoza is perfect or, you know, I don't think he's on the same level as Joe Burrow and he was coming out. I don't, he's on the same level as Drake May and Caleb Williams as prospects when they were coming out, but he's going to be a starter in this league for a long time. And he's just, he's got all the ingredients that you want for someone that's going to be productive and win your football games. I agree with that. And yeah, thinking back over the last five or six years, Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, the 2024 guys, like certainly Mendoza is not like a rare, I don't even want to say the G word, I'm done with the word generational, but he's certainly not that. But I think, I think people get stuck in this mindset of, well, if he's not that, then he's not worth taking number one overall. And like for all of his, for all of his warts, and I know that he changed teams, but like Jared Goff has proven to be firmly worth the number one overall pick in the draft where he was taken. I mean, and so I think people get so hung up looking for Patrick Mahomes. And I understand why, but I think this game cemented my opinion that this guy is, he is very, very deserving of being the number one overall pick. It's not just because this is an underwhelming top 10 or an underwhelming quarterback class. Like he very much deserves to be drafted that highly and spoken of that way. And I think Monday night showed that off. And yeah, some somebody asked me before the game like, oh, would the Raiders trade away from Mendoza? And like I said, nothing is guaranteed, but I'm pretty confident they won't be able to talk themselves into doing that. Like I think he is a good enough prospect that whatever the haul is, it's probably not worth it. If you've, if this guy's got a shot to be your starter for six to 10 years. Yeah. And I received some pushback when I, maybe a week or two ago, I tweeted that if the Raiders believe he's going to be a top 15 quarterback in the NFL, you draft them. And people kind of push back like, oh, top 15 for a number one overall pick, like, you know, he should be a top five. Like that's just not how it works. If you make a list of the top 15 quarterbacks in the NFL right now, and if Mendoza ends up somewhere in like that 10 to 15 range, that's, that's what you want. That's exactly what you're looking for. Cause he's going to help you compete for the division, go to the playoffs. And then like, you know, we're, like we're seeing in the playoffs right now, once you get in, it's just about winning one game after another. And, you know, Mendoza has that in him to, to lead a team to that point. Yeah. I think just another example of the best quarterbacks in the NFL breaking people's brains about what is, what is a fair expectation. All right. Couple more things to talk about coming out of the national title game and Indiana and Miami will do that really quick on the other side of the spring. Tired of the, I know it's here somewhere moment. The new scan snap I X 2400 scanner means you'll never search for a receipt again. Our simplest scan snap experience yet, just press the blue button and instantly convert documents into digital files. You can find in seconds perfect for busy professionals who need organization without complexity with instant one touch scanning, 45 pages per minute speed and automatic data extraction. The I X 2400 saves your files exactly where you need them. No more missed expense claims or lost warranties. Just peace of mind, knowing everything important is safe and instantly accessible. Ready to stop wasting time hunting for paperwork? 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Unlimited 24 month light plan proof of switching required based on Ucchla speed test intelligence data to age 2025 all rights reserved subject to credit checks and terms. Like I said, Dane, a tough loss for Miami. They were right there at the end. Obviously, we haven't mentioned it. Carson Beck throws an interception with a chance to lead the Hurricanes down for the game winning touchdown in the final minutes. But even with the interception, this was such a good accounting of themselves by the Miami Hurricanes. What a run by them, first of all. And then again, I counted like upward of half a dozen guys playing in this game where I was like, yes, I put this player on my favorite team, please, that would be nice. Yeah, and we'll just start with Carson Beck. And he for the most part played a pretty clean game up until the end. And so much of the strategy was to lean on the run game, which credit the Indiana's defense for the way they stepped up for most of the game, shutting down and just a yard felt hard for Mark Fletcher and that Miami offense. But you look at Carson Beck, the last two years, there are, I think just, he's second in all of college football with 24 interceptions. So not a list you want to be on. And his experience, he's played 40 or he started 43 games in college. He's lost only six games, which is a pretty crazy resume to be what 37 and six over your three years as a starter. But in those six losses, he had a total of 14 turnovers, including last night and that game clinching interception by Indiana under a minute left. And so that's kind of what I think is going to limit him in the NFL. He has NFL size. He's accurate when he's in rhythm. He can buy a little bit of time, but the poise really breaks down when he's pressured. And they're just going to be a handful of throws every game that you want. He wants back. So I think that's, that's what kind of relegates him to backup status and maybe spot starter. But I mean, credit to, you know, it's a 16 game schedule for them. It's hard and but credit to Carson Beck for, you know, getting what three wins in the playoffs like that, that was not easy to do, especially against those opponents. I am really intrigued by where the Reuben Bayne discourse goes from here. Cause we've outlined it before. He was runaway top 10 pick early in the season, phenomenal year for Miami. I mean, this Miami pass for us is why they were within a minute of winning the national championship, in my opinion. And as we've gone through the season, we've talked about it, you know, not all NFL front offices are going to view him the same. Where does he play at the NFL level? What does that mean for his ceiling? I was, I continued to be so impressed by this guy. And like, if you tell me he's not going to be drafted in the top 10 pick, I believe you, but I don't know how much longer I'm willing to wait after that. I'm so impressed by the violence that he plays with. And he's, he's a well rounded player too. Like he was phenomenal against the run in this game. He's a better defender. In my opinion, yeah. I, I, like I said, I get it if he's not a slam dunk top 10 prospect, but I just have a hard time believing he's going to have to wait that long to hear his name called. Oh, I agree. I mean, and I think most of the discourse from Scouts and from others, like he was awesome against Notre Dame in the opener. And then from like game, and the 10 games after that opener, he had like, I think four sacks maybe. So like he was just, there were times, especially in the losses SMU, Louisville, you just didn't feel him out there. He wasn't making a big impact. And so I think that's where most of the discourse came from. But then once we got to the playoffs, it was like, okay, this guy is a one man wrecking crew. You could not slow him down. So I buzzed through the tape this morning from, from the national title game and the, the defensive line was just fantastic. Bane, most of his impactful plays came in the run game. He was dominant, just stacking the point, making stops. Mezzador was awesome, rushing the, rushing the quarterback. He had, I think four or five pressures where it was just tough to slow him down. Amon Moten, a defensive tackle, he had three or four big time plays that were just drive killers for Indiana. A few times he just undressed Pat Cougan at center. So we expected the Miami defensive line to play at a high level. They didn't disappoint. So we know Bane and Mezzador are going to be in this draft. They were both in my first run mock draft. It'll be interesting with Moten because he's a junior and I know talking to scouts, they expected him to go back the way this season ended. I don't know, we'll have to wait and see how that ends up. But yeah, the defense as a whole was flying around, hitting, playing hard. Chico B. Thomas had some big hits. The linebackers played well for the most part. So it was, it really felt like it was too really good, you know, the offense of the Indiana offense versus in Miami defense, it really felt like two really good units going, going to battle. And I guess this is worth saying if, if you're new to the draft process, maybe the, the championship game is like the first college football you watched this year. If you're wondering why we're not talking about Malachi Tony and Mark Fletcher, they're not expected to be part of this draft class. Malachi Tony had the season he had as a true freshman, which is just going to put all eyes on him for the foreseeable future. 109 catches, 1200 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Hurricanes as a true freshman. And then Mark Fletcher opted to return to school. So he's, I mean, Tony and Fletcher, I don't know for sure who's quarterbacking the Hurricanes in 2026. I last time I checked, they were making a run at Darian Mensa. Sure sounds that way. We'll see how all that goes, but whoever quarterbacks the Canes. I'm interested with Fletcher because I know he technically, and so just for people that don't understand the deadline for underclassmen, it was last week, except for the two teams in the NMI. It's extended for the teams playing in the title game. Yeah. Right. So, you know, by the time you listen to this, you know, there might be news on that front, but you know, Mark Fletcher, he is draft eligible. So there's a chance he could come out. We'll see. I mean, watching him, he looked like, I don't know, 75% of like a Derek Henry type. Like just, he could run off tackle. He could tilt the field, get downhill. If you're a safety, the last thing you want is Fletcher picking up speed and running right at you. So, you know, that he was such a big part of that offense. And yeah, it feels like he's one of the rare, bigger backs that's going to translate well to the NFL. Interesting night for Mark Fletcher. Obviously, I mean, he had a phenomenal game. He did, he did mix it up with some Indiana players after the final whistle. So, if he does decide to go pro, I'm sure that'll all be talking points with NFL decision makers, if he gets to that point. As of right now, he is supposed to be headed back to Miami, but you're right. We'll see how that ages moving forward. I think that's just about everything, but man, it is, I am curious too, because, you know, everybody's favorite thing to do. Dan, you know how this goes. As soon as the draft's over, everybody wants you to do a mock draft. And so obviously everybody's got to put out their way to early top 25s for next year. And I'm so fascinated where these teams go from here. Like I said, we'll see what Miami does about their quarterbacks, but I was looking through it this morning and I forgot because so much has happened. Kurt Signetti's got Josh Hoover coming from TCU to play quarterback forum in 2026, which if I was an Indiana fan, that would excite me a lot. I think Josh Hoover's got a lot of juice. So I don't think the Hoosiers are going anywhere, man. No. And I mean, the transfer portal and just the way things work now, Indiana was able to reload in a lot of key positions. Nick Marsh, the transfer from Michigan State, the wide receiver, really good player, few others. So yeah, I think there's a lot of unknown. Like Texas is going to be up there. We need to consider we hit on this last episode too, with just Arch Manning and Gooseby a left tackle, the running backs they brought in, the receivers they have, you know, the reload on defense of Texas would be up there, Ohio State will be up there. Who from the SEC, who else from the SEC, you know, Alabama has taken a little bit of stumble. What do they look like next year? LSU is going to have a brand new roster with obviously a new coaching staff. So what does that look like? There's going to be a lot of uncertainty with, you know, as we go into next college football season. But yeah, it's just kind of the new normal, I guess. But I think you're right, Indiana not going anywhere. They should be ranked as a top five team going into next year, even though they are going to lose a lot, which is not uncommon. I mean, we saw, you know, two years ago, Michigan won the national title and lost a lot of dudes and had double digit draft picks next year. Ohio State, same thing, won the national title last year. And then in the spring, double digit draft picks Indiana is following suit. They're going to have double digit draft picks this upcoming year, which is kind of crazy for this Hoosier program that has never been known as a producer of NFL talent, but a lot changed this year for that program. And so much has happened over the last week. I forgot Dante Moore officially stayed in school. We did the last show right before he opted to stay. We laid all of that out in the last episode. So if you want to go hear our Dante Moore thoughts, I don't think his decision really changes in that much, but Dante Moore staying for 2026. So there'll be plenty of hype around the Oregon Ducks, the Texas Longhorns as well, for all the reasons you just laid out. I think those, those two might be at the top of the heap when you're talking about preseason expectations and, and the hype that goes with them and all that good stuff. But that does it for the 2025 college football season, which it's a little sad, Dane, but not that sad because now it just means we can jump right into the 2026 draft cycle. There's not, there's just no time to even feel sadness because there's too much work to do, right? I mean, the Shrine game coming up here this week, then the senior bowl, and then a lot of combine prep. And so yeah, we're going to, we're going to be hitting the ground running here over the next few weeks. And you're going to be super busy with the super bowl going on, but yeah, we'll have it all covered. Speaking of busy, speaking of hitting the ground running, Eric Galco of the East West Shrine Bowl, I mean, he is in the process of getting his game together right after the national title game, and we're going to talk to him on the other side of this break. You already know Amazon for its selection, convenience and value. Now bring those same benefits to your business with Amazon business. 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Our simplest ScanSnap experience yet, just press the blue button and instantly convert documents into digital files you can find in seconds. Perfect for busy professionals who need organization without complexity. With instant one touch scanning, 45 pages per minute speed and automatic data extraction, the IX 2400 saves your files exactly where you need them. No more missed expense claims or lost warranties. Just peace of mind knowing everything important is safe and instantly accessible. Ready to stop wasting time hunting for paperwork? Visit scansnapit.com slash podcast and discover how simple document management can be. ScanSnap, the smarter way to work. Well, we've said forever that the NFL draft is a 365 day a year business, but as we were joined here by the director of football operations and player personnel of the East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, Eric, it feels more true than ever considering we're talking to you 12 hours after the conclusion of the final college football game of the year. And I'm sure you're one of the busiest guys in the industry trying to organize everything for the starter shrine bowl practice right now with with the latest guys coming off of their season on Monday night. Yeah, it was a great game to watch. And I think like most people this college season probably goes a bit longer than it needs to and hopefully a fixed schedule for the future too. But no doubt we've got, I think we had seven or eight guys that are playing that championship game coming to the shrine bowl this week as well too. So watching those guys perform their last college game was awesome to watch too. But now it's kind of fishing out the draft season and kicks off of the shrine bowl. So this is what is your fifth year doing this now, I think, right? Maybe feel old. I think it is my fifth year. That's crazy. I mean, I remember when you when you called me and told me that you were going to take over this role and all the ideas you had and just to make the better a better process for scouts, for teams, for the players, just give the listeners an idea of the shrine bowl and how it's evolved over the last five years since it's been under your leadership. Yeah. I mean, for one, we wanted to have the best players possible at the shrine bowl, right? The shrine bowl back when it just started over, this is the 101st year, the shrine bowl, which is crazy. The only bowl game old and the misses the Rose Bowl. So it has great history. And for much of the 100 years, it was the Creme de la Creme of the All-Star game of the off season of the NFL process. And I want to bring that back. And that starts with having great players and taking care of players is the focus, right? We have the NFL facility, the Dallas Cowboys facility, great resources, making sure our guys are taking care of and our interview process is great and have a great player experience. But one thing else I wanted to do is because of my background and working at the XFL and that kind of innovation, part of my career kind of translate over here as well. And being from the media and from the outside of NFL teams as well, is I wanted to have this event be more than just players practicing and playing in a game, right? So we have the hospital piece that we also have this year. Last year, we had our Wilson throwing session, which is kind of a pro day of sorts for NFL, the team. So I evaluate our quarterbacks. This year, we have a brand new analytics competition, not unlike the big data bowl as well for NFL teams to be at as well. So I love the fact that we've got great access to players, but also new things every year that teams are looking forward to besides just the players in the field too. So this year, we should have a new record number of draft picks. We've had a new number of record draft picks every year since I've been here, but I think we've got a better event overall this year. And I'm really excited about it. And of course, Jerry's facility at the Dallas Cowboys at the Star is pretty darn good too. I think off the top of my head, people would mention that Brock Purdy played in this game a few years ago. And obviously, when a shrine bowl guy goes on to a career like Brock's, that's, that's going to stand out. Is it Brock Purdy or is there, is there another moment over the last five years where you've kind of seen it click and some momentum start to build for, for getting a higher caliber of player, draftable caliber players and really seeing this jump onto the map more than maybe it was in the past. I think it's one of those things where it happens all at once over the course of a long period of time, right? And one of the cool things, which I always believe when we did this, you know, a couple of years ago, and I told the Shriners Children's Hospital, hey, if we're going to have a great event, it's got to start with our player experience is that every year players tell their teammates, hey, the shrine bowl was better than other All Star games. Hey, the shrine bowl took care of me. Hey, Eric took care of me and I do stuff before during an afternoon to help these guys as well. So that's been the big part of it. So certainly there are some guys, whether it's Ty Quam Thornton, who ended up being, you know, my first year was the top 50 picked from the shrine bowl, right? And then being a guy that we had that chose the shrine bowl, having more and more players choose the shrine bowl as our All Star game of choice, having NFL teams see great value right in our interview process. You know, we've got over 25, I think we're going to have about 27, 28 GMC or multiple head coaches, like they're here because of the talent, but also because they know that this week is really worthwhile. So I think for everybody, I always focus on the event because I can control the event. I can't always control what 21, 22 year old to do in the draft process. So I think for me, it's doing things hopefully knock on wood the right way and also having teammates and agents see that, hey, the shrine bowl is going to take care of our guys. You know, we've done this for four years. We've never had a player miss the NFL combine testing because of an injury at the shrine bowl. Like all of our guys leave the shrine bowl healthy. That's luck. Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself on this podcast, but I think also for sure it's how we take care of players. So what's been again, all of a sudden over five years, it's happened where players more and more seen the value of this compared to other officer events. One of the values of a setting like this is a chance to see a prospect in a different role, a different position. And you know, I think Luke Harold Perkins from LSU, one of the best pound for pound athletes in this draft class, you know, what's his role in the NFL and how is that going to play out this week or Brian Parker from Duke who was a college tackle, but at least in my opinion, I think his future is going to be inside and the NFL probably at center. So do you think we're going to see a chance to see some of these players in those different roles to give them a chance to shine and also give teams an opportunity to see them in a different position? Yeah, we're with all of our players before they get here because my job, I believe is player first to kind of NFL teams second close second, but players first because I want guys to be positions to be successful, right? I don't want a guy playing left tackle if he's never played there before and he's going to look bad in practice, but certainly some of these guys are versatile prospects and they know that and they want to show it, right? For Harold Perkins, the question frame is going to be, you know, are you a tweener? Are you a neither? Or are you a both is what I always say, right? So tweener being between two spots and neither being play both in college can't do it. I think Harold's going to show that he can play off ball linebacker in coverage and not on seven drills in the run fits, but also as an edge rusher off the edge and you'll see him in one on ones and online D line. You'll see him play linebacker and matchup coverage all week long as well too. I think I'm Harold Perkins and a couple guys on our roster. These were guys that were in first mock first round mock draft before the season in their college career. These guys didn't get worse situations may have changed in their college defense or offense. I think Harold's one of those guys that he may leave the shrine but we can the NFL combine being we can Harold Perkins in the top 50. Like we got to go do that, right? So I think he's a guy that'll do a lot of those different things. And then Brian Parker, he'll play some roles inside. Certainly he'll play some center this week as well as Garters. Well, NFL teams want to see him play really all five positions and talking to Brian, he's super confident he can do it. I really appreciate you asking about Perkins Dayne. So I don't look like a Homer. Thank you. Eric, one thing that really made my eyebrows perk up while I was getting ready to talk to you is you were making practice film available from these practices, which is incredible by the way, just like thinking about where things have come since Dana and I started doing this. I mean, it's night and day doesn't even do it justice. So my question for you, I get it if you don't want to play favorites, but if I'm flipping on practice tape, which of these units, which of these groups is like a one, like where should I start? Which are you most excited about? I think all my D-Line is always everyone's favorite. I feel this really tangible there. And I think as a cross this whole draft class, really, I think our roster reflects what the whole draft class looks like where the detackle and edge rush are especially are going to be loaded across this class. And one guy talk NFL teams, I'll give my cup of NFL teams at this, not my opinion that they're really excited to see is Malachi Lawrence of UCF. A lot of our edge rushers, I believe every single one of them was a first wave NFL combine invite. Maybe one was going to be a second wave guy, but that means NFL teams like 20 plus, so this guy's a draft, this guy wanted the combine. The Malachi Lawrence is the one that really since mid season, I started having not just area scouts as they can attest like directors and assistant GMs who shouldn't be watching all these players in season are like, do you know Malachi Lawrence? We've got these kinds of grades on him. And he's, he's the one guy that's edgier, by spec, most of our edge rushers should be drafted at somewhere on day three and the draft process will determine that. But he's the one that if you told me he bumps up quite a bit his grade from the shrine ball week, I would not be surprised at all. NFL teams are excited about him. He's long, he's athletic, he produced this year, he finishes in the back really, really high level. He's got that wingspan to finish when he generates pressure. I think NFL teams think this guy could rise up to be a starting level player in the NFL, but definitely our edge rushers in defensive line per NFL teams per the NFL combine are probably our strongest group as a whole. Man, there's a lot of reasons I'm excited to get down to Frisco. And Rudy's breakfast tacos are up there, but maybe the only thing higher is to see Darryl Jackson up close sticking with the defensive line. This guy is six, five, three, 40, 11 inch hands over 35 inch arms. He might be the best player or the highest drafted prospect from this game this year. Who else are we talking about as potential top 50, top 75, top 100 guys that will be on the field this week? Yeah, I think, you know, I think maybe, you know, where they get drafted, I think to Montclay born will be one of, if not the highest, I should be the highest senior running back drafting this year's draft class. I think he could go fairly early in the top 100 picks. Jack Endres at tight end will be the top tight end. He all start game comfortably. He's going to be a guy that I think could rise to be one of the best three or four tight ends in this draft class. But I think to Monta, K-part, Darryl Jackson are two guys that against somewhere to Harold Perkins, you can Google their name and first round mock drafts the last couple of years, those guys were both in there. I think both those guys have immense talent that maybe the season and the defensive scheme or whatever it was, didn't always highlight those guys, but those are two guys K-part, Darryl Jackson, I mentioned Jack Endres, Harold Perkins, all those guys, they have a great chance to be not only top 100 picks, that may already be kind of in the works and a good chance to be, but to your point, those top 50 picks. And I think this year across the draft class, especially at the tackle, it's a really strong group in the junior class that may be coming out in the senior class, and certainly for the Shrine Bowl week all week long too, those two guys have a chance to kind of reassert themselves as the top 50 picks, top, maybe the first round level talents that they have been in their college career. Dan and I, as you might guess, have talked a lot about Dante Morin, Kenyan Sadiq on this show. I do feel like Oregon's receivers have gone under discussed. And again, my eyebrows went up when I saw Malik Benson on your roster. What can you tell me about him? And maybe, I mean, you got a ton of very intriguing receivers on this roster. Just overall, what do you think of the group? Yeah, not trying to use the NFL combine to validate how good a scout we are, but all of our receivers are first wave combat invites as well to Malik Benson being one of them. And he's a guy from West Coast Scouts that was like, Hey, they use a lot of receivers at Oregon, they had some turnover, they use the tight ends and a lot of running backs. But oftentimes a lot of West Coast Scouts were excited about Malik Benson because he was a transfer. So the West Coast Scouts certainly know who he was coming into the year too, too much, other than kind of doing summer visits. And he had a time of Florida State that maybe didn't go as well as his talent could indicate. But he's a guy that through Oregon offense trusted quite a bit. Dante Mor trust quieted that on the perimeter as well too, and really good feedback from NFL teams on him as well. And he's had a long season at Oregon and I said, Hey, you should want to come to the shrine bowl and still practice. He said, absolutely. He wants to kind of compete with our great DB room alongside our great receivers and solidify himself as one of the better senior receivers in this draft class. So no doubt he was trusted at Oregon and a loaded receiver room. And again, for a guy that transferred, he's got Southeast Scouts and know who he is and liked the film from this time in Florida State. He's got West Coast Scouts like the film was well. And I think when he leaves the shrine bowl, those 25, 26 GMs that are here will like him too. I'm glad you mentioned Jack Endres. But this entire tight end class overall in this draft is pretty deep. And I think that's reflected on your roster. You know, guys like Jaren Kanek from Oklahoma, who, you know, we're talking about day three, but with what he brings on special teams and what he brings as a sub package player, like he's going to play in the league for a long time. Hopefully Riley Nowakowski, Indiana national champion, we see him there. To me, to me, tight end is one of the deepest positions this year. What do you think about this position and who are guys that are going to shine? Yeah, it was easily the hardest position for us to decide kind of where the tier line was. And there were guys that are coming to the shrine bowl, some guys that we, you know, are not playing any all star games, guys like Eli Stowers, who's from Denton, Texas, hoping to have him come to the shrine bowl too. But I think he kind of knew no all star games, the best path for him. But all of our guys, I'm really except for all different reasons. Jaren Kanek is a guy that's a first year tight end, played some H back for Oklahoma, was a big part of their offense as a receiver, is by being the first year of doing it. He's going to test all that position. I know some teams are excited to see him doing some H back stuff at the shrine bowl as well to Bowers Sharp. Again, Oklahoma was a great player there, goes to LSU, offense is a great fit for him. The NFL team really like with Bowers Sharp brings, Seydou Treore is going to be an international pathway program player. NFL team see him as kind of a bonus practice squad guy if need be, but he's going to test really well at the shrine bowl with zebra data that we have tracking as well as the NFL combine. But we didn't mention I think two guys is down Bentley and Eli Rariden from Utah, no name respectfully. I think those two guys are the two that have more top under grades than a fell team. Maybe people think right now and even a strong tight end class, those are two guys in very different ways, Bentley and more of that move tight end, Rariden that traditional wide NFL teams like a lot, but you know that day across the board, again, I'd be shocked if all of our tight ends not only were drafted, but all the top five rounds. And I think it felt to you to this tight end class is very, very deep. I really love the cross section that you got of quarterbacks, because I just think there's a, there's a different reason to be interested in all of these guys, like Kate Clubnick, I think would obviously be the major headliner to somebody that follows the draft, but on down the line from what Haynes King did for Georgia Tech, Mark Grinowski at Iowa, Barron Morton probably looking for a chance to put a better impression on tape after his exit from the playoffs. Just there's, there's a lot of quarterbacks that are interesting for a lot of different reasons. What, what's your thought on them? And also, I assume a game like this sells itself, but what, what are those conversations like when you're, when you're trying to get a quarterback to come show off in Frisco? Yeah, I love talking about quarterbacks because they always are really thoughtful about what this event we're just going to look like for them and what matters, right? They ask great questions. And I think for, for Kate Clubnick, it's about reminding NFL teams why he was a first overall pick projected guy coming in the year for some people or at least a top two round guy for NFL teams. And I'm sure as you guys will know, this quarterback class is searching for that QB three in this year's class. And I think Kate will leave the shrine bowl having a good argument for as well too, because again, these guys, I always tell people, these guys don't get worse situations change, maybe a bad season, but he's not a lesser player because of, you know, a season that happened this year as well. I think Kate actually had a pretty tough season as well and played tough, I should say, in the way he performed throughout the kind of adversity of the season. But beyond him, Mark Ranaos, he and Haynes King both give me kind of a sense of a little bit of what Brock Purdy offered when he talked to NFL teams with a lot of things. He'll tell you is that Brock was a guy that if he was going to be your third quarterback, he was going to get your team ready for game week and be a great guy in that room. If he was the backup, he'll help your starter get ready. But if he had to play a couple snaps, he'd be ready. If he's your starter, it's not going to be too big for him. Both Haynes King and Mark Ranaos, he started 40 plus games in college. Haynes King, you know, was, I think he won a couple of awards this year as a leader in a quarterback. Like those two guys are going to be great in any quarterback or many role, but they are not going to be scared of that moment as well too. And they've been training here in Frisco. I saw him for the other day. They both look outstanding. One guy you didn't mention, who I know a lot of NFL teams are really excited about is Joe Fagnano from UConn. He's one of the four or five guys on this roster that we knew about and we liked. But again, I'm getting directors calling me, Hey, is this guy from UConn on your radar? And, you know, he's a six year player at UConn. He had injury history. It's why he's kind of a six year player at UConn is because he got banged up across his time at Maine and then at UConn. But it reminds a lot of NFL teams of Aiden O'Connell and at my opinion, one of the best, if not the best, play progress, maybe outside of Franam Mendoza, play progressor in this entire draft class. That's really his secret power as well too. So I expect not only K Baron Morden, Haynes King, Mark Rnowski, Fagnano all to be drafted by the NFL teams. We'll see these guys as quality backups they can trust and guys that can start from them if they need to be as well. All those guys should have a great chance to improve with the Schreinball this week. It's a good show because watching Skyler Bell, the receiver from UConn who's just fantastic, you can't help but also notice the quarterback. But okay, last one for me. You think about last year and Craig Woodson and what he's doing for the Patriots this year and Krosky Merritt, what he did for the commanders this year as a rookie. Who's going to be maybe one or two guys that are going to be probably day three picks but come in and help their team from day one? And obviously I know it's opportunity dependent and have to land in the right place. But who are a few of the day three players this year that you think could make a pretty immediate impact with where they end up next year? Yeah, I'll say my pick for this year is Jacory Krosky Merritt because that's a tough ask. I used to get the question of who's this year's Brock Purdy. I think people have kind of realized that Brock's going to be a one-on-one, but Krosky Merritt may be the same. But for Krosky Merritt, I'll say Chris Hilton of LSU. This is a guy that myself, NFL teams have been following for many years at LSU so much so that even after a season of just what 10-11 catches, got a first wave comment and invite no doubt NFL teams want to see him at the combine. And in Minneapolis, if you told me the over-line was 4.30, I'm taking the under. Like he's going to fly at the combine, but he didn't get a chance to showcase his ability as a receiver this year at LSU's offense because they had a lot of guys and just didn't work out for him in that offense. But I think he's going to come to the shrine pool and remind NFL teams why they were so bullish the last couple of years on him. So again, on LK Merritt, he played this season, but I think for Chris Hilton, the draft process to get a really defined who is the prospect. And I think he'll go before the seventh round like Krosky Merritt did, but could have a similar impact where a team gets this guy in the sixth, seventh round and by week one of NFL training camp, he's projected to be in the rotation. And then for Craig Woodson, I'll go to DB as well. And a guy who's kind of a DB linebacker, hybrid, one of these guys will see a couple of different spots. Cole was new ski of Texas Tech, had a great college career at North Dakota State where he played linebacker, then he played safety, goes to Texas Tech defense, fits in nicely, benefited greatly. He'll even tell you from an awesome pass rush in that defense where he can kind of be a little more free safety and move around a little bit, but truly a versatile player. He's going to test well on showcase. He has that range, but I think he might be a guy that will still end up being an early day three pick like like Greg Woodson, maybe a late day two guy. But I think he'll fit in NFL defense right away and be kind of this linebacker safety, play some nickel matchup as well too and be a real chess piece for a defense right away as a rookie as well. So those are my two picks. I think for the Cross, Kymar and Craig Woodson award, we'll give it to Chris Hilton and Cole was news keeper for the event. Love it. Let the let the record show that y'all are bringing up the LSU players, not me. But since we're talking about it, Xavier and Thomas, who will also who's also on your roster, he is a player. So LSU, a lot more talent than their record might indicate. Last one for me, Eric, before we get you out of here, I know you're busy. And that's that's my question really, like I alluded to at the beginning, I mean, it is a process putting this together. And I'm sure the transfer portal doesn't help with that as guys decide if they're going to pursue eligibility or stay in school and you're juggling if guys from the national championship game are going to make it down and what they're going to do. When does this week, I assume it never slows down, but does it get to a point of better manageability at any point this week? And when does that happen? You know, hey, it's a lot going on. I love it. I joke and I joke, but I mean what I say is that I got a chance to work with and help 130 players every year navigate the draft process. I joke that I get 130 clients if I'm an agent every year as well too. And I still talk to many players from my first dribble all the time too. So it's stressful. It's a lot. But like these guys come to the shrine, bowl, they see that they're nervous, they're excited, all the kind of intermotions to you. And I get to play this really cool role of being kind of the doorway to the NFL for these guys. What's stressful is it gets sometimes, I'm very thankful to have NFL personnel relying on us at the shrine, bowl to kind of help them in the draft process, help these players. I would say the coolest part when things kind of slow down is in the back end of the week for us when, you know, practice our Monday practice going to be a walkthrough and really Monday and Tuesday. These players will relax a little bit, feel more comfortable, feel more confident, but also get a chance to meet our patients, our patient ambassadors from around the country for Shiner Children's. You know, a lot of these players don't always appreciate before the event and during the event that just their presence and being here and the attention that it draws from media like you guys or fans that come to the game with their families really does so much good work, not just for raising money and awareness for Shiner Children's, but really empowering these patients all around the country to say like, that's my game. I'm a football fan. I'm watching it from my home or a hospital bed or whatever else and saying, Hey, like these players representing me out there and these players got a chance to relax a little bit and see that. It just kind of brings this moment full circle that this is an all star game. These guys are being celebrated for their college career. It's not just a job interview, but a chance to reflect and appreciate what they've gone through in college, what their success means and being here and how they can really be celebrated a little bit too. So it's always fun the back end of the week when these guys are are looser, they know me, we're joking around, whatever else, but they also see that, Hey, the the shrine bowl is for a purpose bigger than just them or any of us as well, too. And they kind of realize that their their presence and their ability as players is going to have a big impact beyond the football field too. So that's always the best part and kind of how it becomes full circle for us. It's going to be a fun week and a very rewarding one for a lot of different reasons. I'm sure Eric, we really appreciate the time, man. And have have a great one. I hope it I hope it goes fantastic and we'll talk to you soon. Appreciate you guys. Thank you. See you in a few days. See you. Sir. All right. That's all we got for today. Thanks again to Eric Galco for jumping on with us. We will be back next week talking senior bowl as the all star game circuit continues plus whatever else jumps up until then. We appreciate it so much. 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