"We Don't Duck Smoke" — NC State's VCU Drama Explained — Tuffy Talk Live

While the rest of the planet is glued to the World Cup, Layton, Greg, and Ethan are locked in on the Wolfpack. This week on Tuffy Talk, the crew breaks down VCU's coach calling out NC State for "ducking smoke" after the Wolfpack bought out their non-conference matchup — and unpacks the new game against UNC that's taking its place...

The crew also reacts to NC State basketball's newly revealed jersey numbers for Justin Gainey's first full roster, debates Matt Abel's comments about leaving for a "higher level" program at USC, celebrates LuJames Groover's first MLB home run with the Diamondbacks, and Ethan reveals his Top 10 highest-paid NC State athletes for the upcoming season — including a surprising name at center. 

Plus: Tweet of the Week, a Texas transfer portal addition for NC State baseball, and a major offensive line recruiting commitment. 

Support the show on Patreon for extra weekly breakdowns: patreon.com/c/tuffytalk 

Follow on Twitter/X: @tuffytalknow 

#NCState #Wolfpack #GoPack #TuffyTalk

Transcript

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On some big TV stages, passionate fans and a whole lot of faith. So if you bleed red and you holler all night, then brother, you're exactly right. This is tough talk where the black fans were long worn out for the red and the white. Sing along. We'll break it all down. Yeah, we'll call it straight. This is our show. Go pack. Go straight. Turkey talk. Fired up and loud. The Wolf Pack nation. Where a hell of a crowd. From the first pitch to the final. Play to the top. Let's roll today. All right, Wolf Pack Nation, while we are here at Rock North Carolina, and we are excited about what's to come. The rest of the world right now is locked into this World Cup for, uh, but, you know, again, for for fans like us, you got myself, Naismith, Greg Legg keeping Barry here as always. Uh, we're so, so excited here is that, you know, I don't know if you know Greg, but, uh, uh, what was it yesterday? Uh, Brazil pulled off a interesting win. Uh, over. Who was it? Well, today they played Japan today. Oh, today. Okay. That's where I get my days mixed up here. But, you know, we were supposed to go to Brazil, you know? But I just like that. Got them screwed up. But it's whatever. That's old news we've got. We've been there, done that, as always. We're so, so excited to be here. And we are ready to rock and roll here with the Puppy Talk live show. We got a huge, huge, amazing, amazing show playing that we are so, so stoked about here. But I want to kind of get a little bit of a check here. So Ethan, uh, you know, obviously for those that were tuning in last week and uh, you know, just wanted to kind of get a little bit of a, of a check up on you, man, you know, how's everything going for you, man? You know, hot outside last week. Now you're in a brand new spot. It's still hot. It's 84 degrees in the house currently. You can see you can see the doors open right there. Yeah. Excuse me. Um, guys supposed to be coming tomorrow for AC for you, buddy. I know, I appreciate it. It's been almost two weeks, I think, at this point. So really a week and a half of it just being 80 plus. Um, and, you know, it's no exaggeration when when you say it's literally cooler outside than it is inside. So, um, but yeah, hopefully this is the end of it. So, um. Yeah. Fingers crossed. Yeah. So with that being said, Wolfpack Nation, if you haven't already, make sure. First of all, do us a big favor. Hit that subscribe button if you haven't already. Is it really helps support us in the channel, but also really helps. Oh man. Ethan switching up cameras on me there threw me off there during my there. My promo there. Curveball. Yeah. Curveball there. Uh, so, uh, but yeah, if you haven't already, again, hit that subscribe button and do some big favor as well. Hit that like button to as well. So that way the YouTube algorithm will pick this show up. Get it out there in front of more NC state fans y'all. Make sure to give us a follow up talk now on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, and I'll make sure I'll check out our amazing Patreon to you as well. We'll be talking a little bit more about here later in the show. I want to kind of start off here, uh, kind of a little bit of a low hanging fruit for you here, Greg, uh, talking about the jersey number reveals for NC state men's basketball. Uh, it was released three days ago here. And I want to kind of ask, first of all, to you, Greg, like, you know, when you see that the the numbers are announced, like, is it where's the kind of excitement level like does does it, you know, like is it something of like, hey, like, you know, let me dial in or is it more of a, like a if you forget to check it, you know, okay. You know, I forgot to check it, you know, kind of deal. Like, you kind of see what kind of see what vibe I'm kind of getting out here. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. It's so different now. Like, you almost have to Study a whole new roster. Right. You only have one one returning player, and that's number two. Paul McNeil Jr. And the rest of them. You have to break out the program, break out the the the tweets and figure out okay, what is what does this team look like. So you're you know you have to learn new names and numbers every season. Thankfully, basketball has a much shorter roster than football or even baseball. And that, uh, that process is a little easier. But it does tell you that the season is on the horizon and, you know, it's, uh, it's something that can fill the dog days of summer that we're in right now. Yeah. Know for sure? Yeah. I mean, like, looking at the numbers, which, again, if you want to see them go to the Pac men's basketball Twitter page or. Well, you can you can swipe right on on the, on the Twitter post. Uh, I'm still I'm still sitting here trying to swipe Greg on on it, but it's not really working for me here. But, uh, yeah. So pretty much all the numbers except for two players are within 50. Sorry. 14 or lower here, and you even got, uh, Mr.. Uh uh, uh, Preston Meade as well with number zero here. Uh, but the big thing that kind of stands out here, especially with the some of these new players like, uh, RJ Keim, uh, Kyle Evans, even your, your Covic as well, is that it seems like the numbers that they got, Ethan, were the numbers that they had previously. Am I correct with that? Like, there's, you know, it doesn't seem like there's really any players here that I would say the numbers are unexpected. Yeah, I, I don't know how it works. I mean, I would guess that they just have a certain number of numbers in stock and that's, you know, that's what they get. I don't know if you guys know this and this rule might have changed, but at one point in time, you know where I'm going with this. Greg, man, we're just on the same wavelength, aren't we? Yeah. Um, basically it had to be a number under five. Yeah. Yeah. Both. Both both numbers have to be under five. The NBA I think, changed that rule. Um, basically to make it easier for the officials when they're telling the the scorer's table the foul. So my guess is they just have the same numbers in stock and pick one, and then they'll put the name on it. So, um, I think that's why you don't see a ton of turnover. You know, I and I did misspeak. I totally forgot about Mikey Wilkins because he was, you know, uh, uh, redshirted last year, but I think he's 21 of my memory. Is that correct? 21. Do you have it in front of you. Like Mikey Wilkins? Uh, that sounds right. 33. Oh, no. Not even close. Uh, but anyway, so we had two returning players. That was my my mistake. It's it's hard to remember when they don't play at all. Yeah. 21 Cha Hall. Got it. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, like, even Darius Adams. I believe he was 11 at Maryland last year too. So. But because that's that's my other kind of question, like what you're getting at, Ethan, is how do they. Because basically it's probably, you know, a pecking order basically, you know, basically a list of priority who gets first. I'm sorry, but again, when you only have two returning players, it's not hard to overlap your numbers. That was exactly what I was getting. I was like, how do you determine that? I mean, I guess it's off of, you know, seniority. And then from there it's basically who's in the starting lineup maybe, or like, who's making the most money? I don't know. You know, what it needs to be. They need to they need to bid. They need to say, hey dude. We'll return some of their initial money. Return some of their Nil money, put it back in the pot. Because then like in the pro sports, that's what that's how it works. You know, if a big if a significant player gets traded and wants a jersey number that's already taken, you pay the guy or you give them a gift or whatever it may be. Mhm. There was one of those today on uh on x, I saw some rookie wanted Jimmy Butler's number and he was like Jimmy. He's like yeah there's no number. And then I think two. Wouldn't it Shohei Ohtani go to the Dodgers three four years ago. Two years ago. Two years ago. Okay. They bought or he bought the family. Some kind of fancy luxury car. I don't remember what it was exactly, but it was a, I think, like $100,000 plus vehicle. Um, yeah, but you'll see that. And maybe sometimes you'll see a donation to charity or something along those lines. I mean, I think the most famous one, honestly, is just because it's I mean, his face is everywhere now, and he's told the story a few different times to throw this guy under the bus. But Cam Newton, uh, um, talking about how, uh, how many. Yeah. Dave Clawson that's it. Yeah. Jimmy. Jimmy. Dave. Clawson. Jimmy. Clawson. Dave. See that? But, hey, hats off to Cam Newton because he wanted to make it so Jimmy Clawson was irrelevant not for asking for this, but he wanted $1 million for him for number one. And, uh, and he was like, heck no. Screw that. So anyway. Uh, but yeah. Nope. So again, just, you know, just like you said, Gregg, a little bit of filler there, but also to hey, listen, it's I think you're starting to get to the point now where you're starting to see what you're going to wear. Now you can start to talk about expectations for the upcoming season here, what the roster kind of getting a little bit of a bow feel on it here. But yeah. Uh, but speaking of though to talking about bows here a little bit here, maybe we're finally starting to put some bows here on this schedule too, as well. Uh, Ethan, uh, you know, I mean, you know, the big story, obviously, uh, you know, right now you got for this upcoming season, you got two rivalry games with uncW, zero home flaws for NC state, though. But somehow that's what we're working with for next season here. Uh, you know, the the man, Ethan, I and Greg, I mean, I know that you probably saw what I saw after it was announced that NC state backed out of the VCU game, which was, oh, man. Gainey. Oh, yeah. Into the. Weeds. That's right. Yeah, yeah. That's right. Well and well and we'll get to that as uh, as well. But I do want to talk about just specifically the UNC piece here. Uh, and then we'll talk about. Yeah. The the tweet of the week here as well. So make sure you stay tuned for that here. But uh but Greg I mean I'll ask you first here man. I mean, I I'm, you know, listen, I'm all for always having another opportunity to play Carolina, especially early in the season too as well. I feel like that these, you know, it's it's you know, I, I just think it's going to be big having one out of the gate, you know and and uh, you know kind of getting, getting that scratch, uh, you know, getting the opportunity here now. I mean, I know there's a lot of talk, and I know Ethan, you even kind of got into as well on Twitter about, well, which one is going to be tougher, VCU, Carolina, which a lot of that's to be determined because just like Greg said, there's you know, all these all these teams, all these new players, you know, who knows how they're going to turn out here. Um, but yeah, I mean, like, you know, what would you say, Greg? Uh, you know, what was the excitement level for the Carolina, you know, announcement? I think, uh, obviously when you play Carolina, the juices get flowing a little bit more, right? Those games just seem to matter and mean a little, a little extra. I do like the fact that there's potential to make money off of this game, from some of the things that I've heard and read where you can, you know, maybe get some sponsorship and kind of like how we did last year when we when the men played in Greensboro against, uh, uh, Ole Miss, where we had the opportunity to sell some ads and, you know, kind of bank a few extra dollars. Uh, I am curious to see how, like, the ticket arrangements go, if they kind of give it a 50/50. You know, are they doing allocations or is it straight up market? Um, I think that I would love to see like a, an arena, kind of like you do a bowl game where half of it's red and half of it's blue. I think that would look pretty cool. I think there's definitely some things that you could do to kind of give it some extra juice, if you will, to this game, but I will say that it does suck that we have to do this in order to get our two games, because the ACC is Incompetent and that they don't know how to create rivalries, if you will. But I'm glad that these guys came together, however it came about. Uh, I've also seen that maybe like the North Carolina congressional, like there was something maybe there. Um, I'm not sure exactly if that's true or I know that one point that was in the works, but maybe you guys have some some better insight on that. But I'm just glad it's happening twice. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I, I think the I, I think the state legislation is enforcing it and I, I guess from what I understand, um, I know James talked about this a little bit. Um, I don't think the legislation is approved, but it's just assuming that it's going to. And that's why they just went ahead and announced the game. So I think it's just a foregone conclusion. I don't know that either of these two teams would agree if they weren't forced to essentially. Um, but it's great. Like you said, Greg, it's it's great. It should happen And I wish that we've seen it happen in football. We've seen it happen a little bit here and there in baseball. Um, but yeah, it's great, I love it. I, uh, you know, it sucks like you said, that it's a non-conference game, but at the same time, it allows you to be creative. Like, the stakes are a little lower. Um, you know, which I for most of the last 20, 25 years. Yeah, for most of the last 20, 25 years. If you're NC state, that's a good thing. I don't know if it is anymore, but, um, yeah, I'm thrilled it's happening. Throw this on the schedule. Make sure it makes your schedule better. Oh, okay. Can you get. Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna. I think you and I are in the same, same mindset. Is it better with VCU crossed off in unk? No. Inserted in its place, if that's what it generally is going to be right now, that's the only thing we kind of have to base it off of because it just seems like the timing of it. But you're saying no. Huh? Is it better? Would be you. I don't know. I would start with this. Leighton, please. This is going to be. This is going to be a clip for you. Because I feel like people just have this confused. Why are we assuming that it was a one for one, right. That's my point. Because it was announced at the same time. To me, there's very like these games are very, very different. If you were if it was a one for one cancellation, you'd be canceling another Power Five game. You'd be canceling Ole Miss would would be most likely. Right. Like that's the most that's the most similar one for one trade essentially if that's what state wanted to happen, I don't think it did. So I why could you not have had both of these games like. That's right. Why can we talked about it last week. Yeah we talked about it last week. If you're going to buy one out, the VCU one made the more sense because it was going to most likely cost less. Um, but yeah, you're, you're you're spot on when you say power five to power or excuse me, power four to power four neutral court and neutral court. Uh, everything aligns basically the same. And the only argument you would make in that case is, I would assume that Carolina is going to be a better basketball team than Ole Miss this year. Um, oh, than Ole Miss. Yeah. Okay. I thought you were going to say VCU and no. No no. No no no no, I don't know that I would assume that. No no I would I think that's part of it here. Like have you guys looked at UNC roster. It's not the best. It's not vintage. It's not vintage like I, I don't know what we're expecting. So Ole Miss is 73rd currently on topic uncW is 53rd and VCU is 50th. I get it's preseason projections, I get it. But guess what? It was pretty accurate last year. It was within a couple of spots for NC state. Like to me, if you're within ten, even ten, 20 spots like that's pretty accurate. Um, I mean, you think about you're splitting, You're evaluating 350 teams within 20. Like to me. Pretty good. It's pretty solid. Pretty good. Um, so that's why I want the VCU game still on the schedules, because I am very confident out of those three games, the one I'm most confident in that it will be a quad one game, it's VCU. I agree, I'm not. I like uncW. Yeah, probably ends up a quad one game. I'm not like completely sold on it. Like there like there's certainly a, uh I wouldn't even say a possibility, but like a strong possibility. Like I would put it at like 30, 40% chance that uncW is just not not good next year. Um, well, and and one other thing too, as well. I saw a stat talking about how this is the first time, I believe, since like the 1930s, where this NC state, where NC state versus UNC basketball are going to go against each other with first year head coaches. I think that's okay. That's correct. And, well, I mean by which I mean. Coaches are first year. Yeah. Both having first. Correct. uncW hasn't had a lot of turnover. I mean they really have Roy Williams was there for how long. You know Dean Smith. They had a small one right between Dean Smith and um Roy because they had two between Doherty. Yeah. And uh. Oh boy. Uh, uh, he was on staff with Dean. Uh. 3.3.3 or Guthridge. Was it Guthridge or Guthrie? I don't whatever. You have to tell us all about it, Greg. Uh, anyway. I don't know if you guys are even born now. I gotta go check this out. Oh my gosh. Um, well. And what one other thing too, as well, though, before I get off this unk thing, because it was also something that was talked about a lot. Which I wouldn't say it's a really grind my gears thing, but yeah, I won't necessarily jump there. Well, you know what? Here. Give me a second. I want to jump there. So let's jump there real quick to to. You know, really, really grinds my gears here. You know what really grinds my gears. All right. So real quick. So you know everybody's talking about this whole Matt Abel thing. And I went on Instagram Live and you know they asked the question, you know, there was a comment in the question or, you know, a question in the comment section. Sorry, I got my words backwards there that said, uh, you know, why did you go to USC? You know. Uh, you know, which is your rival. And he basically made a comment saying higher level, which here's my thing. I'm sitting here like, yeah, everybody's like, you're like, what? How could he say that? I'm like, well, what are you expecting to say? Like, you know, like I mean, you know, hey, listen, you know, it's a rivalry. Like, listen, I'm all about stirring the pot. Greg, listen, I, I, I'm, I am not away at all from stirring that pot right there. So. Hey, good for him. You know, if it stirs, if it stirs a couple of fans pots, you know, whatever. Like, you know, I for me, Greg, and obviously, maybe you're a little bit different here, but I'm just like, you know, Paul said, hey, listen, it was under, well, weight, you know? Like, I'm. Hey, you know, I'm, I'm not going to say what like, you know, you know don't you disrespect. Well no you can disrespect that head coach. That's okay. You can disrespect that head coach. That's okay. But Greg. What what's your what's your $0.02 on it? Don't care. Yeah. No. Exactly. I mean that was more like $0.01. Greg. Yeah, yeah. See, so we're actually not that far off. Greg. And the only reason I'm entertaining it right now, because you've asked me the question, but other than that, I hadn't even gave you. The other one over there, shaking your head on it. No, it's just I don't care. Like, that's why I'm shaking my head like it doesn't matter. It's no offense. He's a 2020 year old kid that doesn't know crap about life, doesn't know about anything. Gotta go spouting off at his mouth like that's what they do. They talk like that's all it is. And at the end of the day, go prove it. Go go beat, go beat NC state. If you've got some kind of grudge, go go go. Make it happen on the court. Other than that, he's just talking for clicks, because that's what. That's what this generation is. It's all about me. And look at me and look what I'm going to say on me. Um, I mean, they call it Instagram like it's insta reaction, right? Like, who gives a crap? I don't. Even anything to add to that. Uh, I mean, I, I don't care. It's on either. I mean, it is, you know, kids like, I hate to be the old guy kids these days, but. Um, I'm not the old guy for once. Right? Uh, to me, it's like The prestige in a video game, you know, like, it takes years to change. Is what he's saying right now true? No, I mean, in the last two years, it's been a better. Well, three years now, I guess Penn State was in the Final Four, right? Um, state's been a better program, right? Like they went to the Final Four. They won an ACC title. Uh, this year they were state and you and see were essentially awash. So I mean, we have three fire coaches in the last five years. Yeah, yeah. So State and Unk have been on the same level three years. The last three years, I would say. And it just takes years to kind of change that perception. So I would say he's probably like he's he's at a higher prestige school which hey that that matters to some kids. But you know, the reality of the situation I'm sure he's getting paid more. He was not going to get paid or get the role that he wanted at NC state. That was decided long, long ago. And I think it's you know, I don't want to call him NC state's leftovers, but. It kind of is. It kind of is like and and it's hard because it's kind of hard because like it's. Always going to be between McNeil and Abel. Right. Like that was that was really the I don't. I don't I don't think there was a debate I don't think that was. I don't either, I don't either. But if you're going to make one that was. The pick. One. Correct. It wasn't. And that was also the one where dollars for dollars that seemed like the most comparable comp. Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah. And, you know, you're projecting Paul McNeal to be in the same role that he had last year. Maybe a few more shots. Right. So that's a much easier projection to make. I think you feel better about that. But what like what is unk asking Matt able to do? And again, this goes back to the concerns with unk, where it's like Matt Abel was the sixth, maybe the fifth best player. I mean, we you know, during the year I wanted him playing over Holloman. So maybe he was the fifth best player. But now unk needs him to be like two, three, four. Like, yeah, they need him to be better in a bigger role than he was at NC state while being better. That's kind of why I have question about unk. So again good for Abel. Like he got a raise. He's got a better role. What does that tell you about the program that he's going to. Yeah I, I agree. Like at the end of the day he's got an opportunity that he was solely looking for. That wasn't going to happen at NC state. Uh, and that you saw glimpses of it last year, but. And I don't know, I'm a I don't know why I'm even talking about this because I told you I didn't care. But, um. I think talking about his role in transition agency is different than him saying, yeah, I'm at a higher level. No. Yeah, that's 100%. I, I think he will take a step. And that's, you know, I don't want to spend another 30s to say that exact statement like he will get better. Um, just because I think to your point, the volume that he's going to be asked to handle the ball. I think the offense is going to run a lot through him. And because of all of that, I think just organically it will, it will it will show more on the stat sheet. Well, I mean, Greg, let's I mean, I mean, you would sure hope that that working with a coach who, who made Nikola Jokic the player he is and the guy that made LeBron James into the second grass second grade that's not greatest player of all time I mean, you know, like, for sure he's going to get better if you're working with that coach, right. Because without without him, those two guys would be nothing, right? Just just just dirt. It would seem that way. Uh, I. It was painted that way. I yeah. I'm not I mean, it's easy. It's easy to talk crap, but the man does have an NBA championship ring. Uh, his credentials speak louder than, you know. Uh, 99.9% of NC state's fan base. Uh, but I get it. It's fun to talk a little smack because that is, quote unquote your rival, but I it will be interesting to see if he does develop like that at the end of the day, is what I am curious about. Like he was probably going to be a second round draft pick this year. Do you think so? I do. I, I don't know, I, I just think, you know, I don't eat them. What do you think? I just think he would I think he would have gotten drafted. But his money numbers are going to be better in college. And that's that's the deciding factor why these guys are going back to college for guaranteed money. Whereas a two, you know, if you're getting drafted in the second round, you're most likely a two way kind of guy. Or actually, is their contract guaranteed? I don't even follow NBA that that it depends. But a lot of them are two way. A lot of the second rounders are two way. So yeah I don't I don't know if he would have gotten drafted or not. I mean yeah, he probably takes a step forward. But if you're NC state, would you have been willing to take the bet on Matt Abel being your second best player last year? Next? This year? I should say no to me. NC state told you their answer is no. I mean, and you know, yeah, it was with Will Wade, but I, I, I don't want to be the bad guy and say something good about Will Wade, but like I trust Wade's roster evaluation. And so I think the fact that he said, hey, I'm like, this is not something I want to do, like anything. What are you saying, my man? That that tells. Me. What are you saying? Hey, you know, we'll see how it goes for you and see. We'll see. Yeah. We'll see. That's right. Yeah. So, uh. And and do like. Like if, if, if this was, uh, Ram's talk, we could even talk about even Henry Visser, you know, turned down $5 million, uh, this coming year to. If we're going to do that, if we're going to do that. Right. Yeah. No, if we ain't doing that. That's not going to happen. No we ain't. We're. Let's jump on over to to Pac Pro of the week, y'all. Pac Pro of the week. Mr. James Gruver gotta give a shout out to the man. Uh, 388 foot homer to left field. First MLB home run. Uh, you know, so definitely put put put put a little star in the chat. Let us know in the chat. If you were, uh, if you saw the clip of, uh, or even saw him live, I hit that home run. That was a great hit for sure. And again, just just great to see, uh, you know, just another player once again, like, you know, we talked about him getting called up and now Greg, him taking the next step in this first MLB homer, which you know, is, I don't know, kind of a way of passage right now with MLB. Just you know, everybody right now like you gotta gotta you gotta get your home run to really be discussed. And, uh, now he's finally got it. And I think, you know, as long as the Diamondbacks continue to, you know, leave him be and let him feel his groove here, I expect many more home runs to come. Uh, yeah. I mean, he look, I, I, I love I love Geno. He definitely has been struggling uh, with the Diamondbacks a little bit. He did get this home run against the Cardinals last week. Uh, the Diamondbacks as a as a whole, have just got swept by my rays. Hey, by the way, uh, Ethan, congrats on your Sox getting a sweep through this weekend over the Yankees. I'm sure you feel a little better about life. First ray of light we've had in three months. Sorry, I just I didn't want I just wanted to give you a little something, though. Hey. It's fine. Hey. It's something. We'll take it. It is something. Sorry. Uh, but no, judge, I, I I hope Geno sticks right now. He's not he's not in, like, an everyday player and and so it's kind of, you know, just hard to stay in a, you know, a good, a good mindset. And uh, but yeah I mean he's a rookie. He's learning the learning the big leagues and uh, I, I hope that he, I hope he get some more opportunities. And I think that's just what he needs is he just needs more reps, more reps, more reps. Um, just hope that the that the Diamondbacks can get that for him. Um, sometimes when you know you're not just catching fire, you're going to set the bench. And and right now he just needs reps at any level. And that's that's my biggest concern is he's not getting the everyday reps at the big, big league club. And so. Right. I'm, I'm worried because I'm, I got tickets to go see him in a couple of weeks when they come to the net. So I'm, I'm hoping I'm still with them. Yeah. Yeah that'll be fun. I hope so I hope so I hope he sticks. I do. Um, I don't remember the circumstances of him getting called up. I don't know if it was like it was an injury or. It was. It was the. First. Yeah. When they collided, it was like a a collision play. Um, I think it was the first baseman in the picture on a on a comeback or something to that effect, but yeah. Oh no. Yeah. It was a no. I know what it was. It was a bad throw. And the base runner in the first baseman kind of hit hit hit, hit each other. Um, okay. How long guys. Back out do we know? No, he's back in the lineup. Oh, I think he just came back not too long ago. Um, so, yeah, I, I have a sneaking suspicion that I, I, I hope I'm wrong. I, I want Geno to stick. I think he's got, you know, we've talked about it at nauseam that he's got the talent. He just needs the opportunity. Yeah. Uh, so also to as well. I want to give a shout out to Mr., uh, Kadir Copeland to as well, uh, getting signed in a two way contract with the Houston Rockets. Uh, you know, so I don't know, Ethan, like, you know, you know, obviously of of three of us, you're probably obviously the one that follows NBA the most here. Uh, what do you foresee for Kadir Copeland? Do you see him eventually being able to make an NBA roster? Uh, I mean, it's going to be a grind for him. You know, two way is a good place to start. And you, you know, play well in summer league. And and then you hope to kind of get a look at some point over the course of a season which on a two way you will, um, you know, there's a limited. Yeah, there's a limited number of games that you can, you can come up for. Um, I, I think his style of play, I think, can catch somebody's eye with his size and his ability to, to get to the rim and his ability to create. I also kind of feel like some of the stuff that you don't like about his game feels fixable, right? Like Deron Williams, for example, didn't sign a contract at least, which is wild. Yeah, no he has. I was surprised by that too. But like Darian Williams shortcomings, like, I don't know that they're fixable. Like, he's you know, his. Shortcomings is is he's too short and he doesn't really fit. You know he's not a power like he's not athletic. Yeah. Like that's tough. I mean guards in the NBA are six six. Like you can get away with being the six six. But you. Gotta. Be careful. But he's you gotta be quick. And he, you know, he's just not. So. Uh, and he doesn't shoot at a high clip either for a guard. Right? Right. But for me, with Copeland, like it's shooting, it's touch, it's finishing around the rim. It's things like that. I think as athleticism will play I think his defensive ability, his intensity. I mean, how can you not love his intensity, especially if you're a guy who's coming in and saying, hey, I may only get five minutes. Well, that intensity is going to stick out. It absolutely is. You know. Some merchandise for. Sure. He would sell some merchandise. I mean, look, maybe he gets a look and then goes from there. Um, but, I mean, you got to start there. It's a long road just to kind of get that first look and say, hey, I'm on the radar. At this point. It's an opportunity. Now you got to go take advantage of it. It just boils down to that, you know, you can't squander an opportunity because you don't know how many you're going to get, right? No, absolutely. Um, so with that being said, Wolfpack Nation, we're going to jump on over to our to one of our other segments called Ethan's Stat Pack, y'all. And, uh, let's jump into it. Big thanks to Alpha Wolf CPR trainings for sponsoring our segment, Ethan Stat Pack. Are you looking to get CPR certified for your business, school, church, team, or organization? Alpha will CPR trainings makes it easy by bringing the training directly to you. Alpha CPR trainings is an American Red cross licensed training provider offering adult and pediatric first aid, CPR and AED certification courses. Whether you prefer hybrid learning or a full instructor like class, they customize the train to fit your group's needs, including adult only or pediatric only certifications. With successful completion, participants also receive an official American Red cross certification valid for two years and meeting OSHA standards. Convenient, professional, and tailored to your schedule. Helpful CPR trainings helps you stay prepared when every second matters. To learn more and schedule your class, visit Alpha CPR. Today. So with that being said, Mr. Ethan, what you got for us here this week? So I wanted to touch on Robert Jerkovic, um, a guy who I think is kind of slid under the radar. Um, you know, coming from overseas, like, how much do people really know about him? First thing that stands out 37% career three point shooter. Now that includes in his first season, uh, he shot, uh, 19%. So and it was, you know, it was limited volume the last two years, 43% and 42%. That's going to play. Right? Like, uh, when you talk about what he's giving you, um, as a potential rebounder, you know, his per 36 minutes, I know, uh, NC state likes, um, kind of the under the hood numbers that he brings to the table. But his per 36 numbers, which is kind of how you extrapolate for role players. Right. You're looking at eight rebounds a game. Uh, you're looking at one block of game. Uh, only four fouls, uh, per 36 minutes. Again, that's that's important. I know people are always like, oh, our bigs are going to get in foul trouble. Well, that's that's the number that, uh, I think should make you feel encouraged. A guy that knows how to defend referees are different. Right? But yeah, I mean, that's what stands out about him. It's his shooting, uh, 43% last year. 42%. those. Those are the numbers that I'm looking at. And as a guy, I've talked about it with Emily. I wonder if that spot couldn't be up for grabs. I really wonder if J-Lo couldn't get beaten out for that starting four. I he just doesn't check a ton of boxes. I think that you look at the other guys in the rotation that you project in the starting lineup, they check multiple boxes. And it's not that y'all was a bad player or or anything like that, but I just wonder if there's going to be a surprise player. That would be the spot that I would look at it. And for me, Robert Jerkovic is that kind of guy. I think he, uh, when you look at what NC state was doing in the backup big market, I think they paid for this guy. I don't think this was just a free oh, we're going to take a flier on Robert Jerkovic. But again, a shooter who fits it like that fits in with everything else you're trying to do. He's been a better shooter than YOLO at four again, over 40% two years in a row in professional basketball. Yeah. Like that's that catches my eye again. Strong rebounder. Knows how to defend without fouling. I think you could see him get some minutes at the five. Um I think Djokovic is a guy. And I think part of it is people are scarred. Maybe, um, from seeing international players. Not it feels like every time we hype him up. Right. Oh, this, you know, this, this international guy, he's going to be good. And I think maybe that's scarred some people. Um, but I think Djokovic checks those boxes and I, I look at his three point shooting 43%, 42% two years in a row. Um, to me, that's a guy who's going to be able to to carve out a big role and potentially push YOLO, uh, for those those starting minutes at the four. Well, here's my thing, Greg, you know, to and to to I'll ask you this to build off Ethan here. Uh, I feel like of all the stats, though, that are kind of harder to debate when it comes to transferring from, let's say, the Sunbelt to the ACC or transferring from Europe to the United States is shooting percentage because at the end of the day, like, you know, the the the hoop is is ten feet high. You know, it's it's, you know, you know, you know, probably about if not exactly the same distance away. And so then day if you're able to make 40% of your baskets in a basketball game against other competition, uh, I mean, that's, that's, that's, that's a sad I would say is, is probably going to have a high likelihood of having the ability to transfer to the ACC or to the United States, NC state here. Yeah. The only there is a slight difference. The international court is a little bit different shaped. So the arc is a little different in the corners, but everything else is pretty much the same. It's only a slight like 7/10 or seven inches or something. Not minimal at the end of the day. I, I am excited to see, uh, Ethan, you are so right. We have hyped up some international guys in the past. Um, and it's, it's the great unknown because it's a little harder to find tape on these guys from an average fan. I do think that, um, you know, looking at his numbers, the Leakey planet was pretty solid. Um, I think we're only going to get one year out of him from what it sounds like. Um, he's 24 already. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So whatever. I mean, that's not as old as some of these other guys that were coming back. Um, the G League players and. Uh. But, I mean, if you think about it, like, he would be 25. Like, I don't know. At some point, you gotta age out. Would he even want to play more? You know. So no. And I think the other thing you look at with Rick and the roster projections. I again, I don't know how much stock I, I put into the individual projections, but it has Djokovic estate's fourth best player now. It also has Darius Adams third, which I, I don't I don't necessarily agree with that. But I think that kind of tells you like Djokovic, has the kind of profile that could translate in. And Layton, you made a great point. Like you can trust the three point shooting to translate, right? Shooting a basketball is shooting. A. Shooting. Yeah. Right now with Mousa. Sonja okay. Well, it's a completely different role. He's a defensive guy. You're not looking for offense from him. That's the kind of thing. But when we're talking just shooting. Yeah. You you know, you expect that to translate especially as a catch and shoot guy. Yeah I was going to say if you if you give him an open look it's just shooting the ball. You know the only thing is, is the basketball probably looks different. Right. But again, it's still a basketball. Um. That's right. Yeah. Exactly. I, I am excited uh, that something that I the one you know, if you were going to talk a stat pack and maybe pull this up for next week is we talk about three point shooting as a whole for this team. I think this is something that can like it's the way that basketball has shifted. It shifted from an inside game to an outside game. I think that this team has the potential to shoot in the probably 36 to 38, 39% range. Um, I think that has the ability. And then, you know, depending on volume. And we brought in the, the, the offensive coach, I guess, or coordinator, whatever, they don't really call coordinators and, and basketball. But the guy from Georgia, I think this is going to be a really good offense. And then I think you talked about it on something even last week that I heard you with, with James. And, you know, you were talking about Gaines calling card being the defense. I think that this team is going to surprise some folks. I really do. Um, and it's going to be a fairly it'll there'll be 2 or 3 teams that will be there. But I think state could be in that next tier much like they were last year. Yeah. When you say state could surprise people. What do you think general expectations are right now. Well, full disclosure, I listened to yours and James, uh, podcast about expectations, and and I. Know about us, though. I'm asking. No no no no no I'm not I'm. No I'm not. And where I was going with this was where the CBS guy had had state ranked. Yeah, yeah. Um, I do think that state could finish in the, you know, and you're talking one game. One game can make a difference between fifth and ninth. Right. So I, I do expect a bunch in there somewhere. But I don't think it's out of the question for state to finish five six, seven somewhere in that, in that uh, in that range. And I think to some of the points that you guys are making yesterday, I think that that would be, uh, exceeding expectations. Like I thought the expectations all along from last year's team was state finishes top three four. And you know, that was it. And then when they finished where they finished around ninth it just it wasn't was it ninth seventh I can't remember my. My mind is old, but. Yeah. Um, but for many, that's not. And I think if state finishes seventh to this team, I think that would be above expectation. But again, I just think because there's just not the buzz of with all the name recognition that that we had from last year's squad. Well, what I honestly I honestly think to as well that. I know I got a little sore on my throat. Well, I'm sorry, I've been just sitting here in the back while you and clicking back forth here. Yeah, exactly. Now, um, so because here's my thing to I don't know if it's been done on purpose either, but I kind of love it. How the fact that how Gagne has kind of been a complete like back seat coach really, ever since he really got here in the fact of like, you know, he's not like all in your faces. You know, he's done a couple of you on three, you know, recruiting things like that. But he's not going out there and making these crazy statements saying, oh, you're one. You better watch out, man. Like, you know, pecs coming, like, you know, kind of dead. Reckoning and all that and. Dead reckoning, all that jazz, but even like, even less. And even I feel like if you were to put like, you know, put them on a scale of first year head coaches, like, you know, he's, you know, not really going out there making all these big promises and big statements, you know, kind of deal. It's not his personality too. Right. Exactly. Yeah. That's that's that was the difference. Right. And I think yeah. Um, you know, you talk about course correcting, you know, in the, in the, in the government, in the military, it's like you go one way and that doesn't work. But we don't come back to a middle, we go extreme opposite. And and so at some point it's going to all kind of level set. And I think that's where we're at with Gainey. Um, you know, you've kind of gone in multiple directions and I, I just think that this is this is going to be, you know, as the young kids like to say, let them cook, right. Like, just give them some time. Yeah. I don't know if I did that right, but. Uh, yeah. Yeah. I am excited. I'm excited for that for this team. But it's, you know, we and we talked about it earlier with the with the roster, with the with the jersey numbers and the names. And it's just we got to learn this and give them time and you know, let it, let it, let it let it come together and marinate. Yeah. So I want to jump into though here a little bit here is uh, Ethan put out a sweet video on our Patreon. If you haven't already, make sure go check out our Patreon a links down description and it's down in the comments section two as well. Go check out our Patreon! Only $5 a month. You get access to three members only videos per week, plus also two access to our members only room or chat to as well. So, uh, basically, you know, about 12 videos a month. Uh, plus our members only chat for only $5 a month. It's an amazing deal, a ton of value there. And you get specific access to this video specifically. And so we won't we won't necessarily break down all the details here. Anything we won't ask you to to redo the whole video right here on the live show here today. But uh, the video was specifically talking about your educated guess on who the top ten highest paid um NC state uh players will be going into this upcoming season here. So football, basketball, maybe even some cross country. Who knows. You know here. Yeah, I did consider some other players. Yeah, yeah. So um, so when first of all, I want to ask you. And so, so so, you know, when you were putting this list together, was there one name particular after kind of thinking on it that was like, hmm, okay, maybe this this player is, is the maybe one of the bigger shocks on on this list that state fans may not think about because because you know, shocker here CJ Bailey and Paul McNeil are on this list somewhere. Ooh. Whoa. Clickbait there. Yeah. Those, uh, those are pretty easy, right? Um. Biggest surprise. Um, I think I would go. I don't know. Do you guys have a surprise? That was on that one. Mhm. No. Um I don't know. Like I, I follow it pretty closely and I, I don't know. I, I don't know. I know I'm good. Well I mean I mean for me, uh, for me I would say Brian Nelson. Brian Nelson wasn't a name I was expecting to be on this list. Not not. Necessarily a. Player, though. I mean. Well, yeah, no solid player. But just like, you know, if I were to put this list together, it would be one I would have to remind me. Brian Nelson. Oh, yeah. Well, I. Know I did have to pull. The. He's not a house. To make sure I didn't forget anybody. Yeah, he's not a household name, but he should be. Yeah. And the state family in the state. Right. Fan family, if you will. I, I think the biggest surprise for me would be Teague Anderson. I, I, I, I had him pretty high up on the list, to be honest. But I think when you look at positional value of what tackles are going through, going for like, you know, he's not as big of a name as a Duke Scott or Keenan Jackson or even some of the defensive guys that they landed King Mac Pope. He protects. The quarterback. That's the thing. Protects the quarterback. Yeah. And he protects that investment. Yeah. And I think, you know, keeping him out of the portal. Um, he had a good year for you. Uh, last year. I don't think he came cheap. I just, I, I don't know, like, if you were to talk, like, biggest names or most commonly known names on the football team, it's apparently this is a discussion we have to have because there's so much turnover now. Like, I don't think he would be in the top five. Obviously you would have C.J. Bailey then. But I disagree. Keenan Jackson like to me Spike Soles is a bigger name. Yeah. But he's but he's it's it's about like it's couple things, right? It's position of value. It's. Yeah. It's. What can you get to replace him? Um. It's it again. If you follow if you follow it, it it makes sense. But again to your point people that I don't I wouldn't even say casual fans, but fans as a whole normally can't name the starting offensive lineman, right? True. Yeah. True. And and and so with that based off of that, then yeah, it probably would come as a surprise to folks. But again, if you're in the weeds and, you know, up on Twitter, IPS, pack power, whatever, if you're in those chat forums and it's, it's not it's not uncommon to be like yeah that makes sense. Mhm. Yeah. Well because here's my thing too as well. Because like I kind of think like looking at your list Ethan, I kind of look at as it reminded me about, I think it was like 8 to 10 years ago. Something like that was a while ago. But, uh, when Shannon Sharpe and, uh, uh, what's his name? The the annoying, the Stephen A Smith, Skip Bayless, Skip Bayless when they used those two together and ESPN came out with this list of like the top 100 players and it had like Aaron Donald and JJ was number one. Number two. Escape Bayless saying well that's it. Crazy like like the quarterback is by far the most important player on the field. How is the top 30 not just all quarterbacks. And like Shannon Sharpe was saying what we all were saying which was all Miller. Well yeah. No like like like no. This list is basically saying like Aaron Donald and J.J. Watt are just that much better than every other defensive end defensive tackle that you can get, that they're just that much more valuable because of how much of a position advantage you would get in those two guys. And I don't know, like, like, do you feel like anything that that kind of metaphor about, you know, the value, do you think that that kind of ties into it all about a list, all of kind of like, you know, when you're putting this list together about, you know, who are the most valuable players probably are. What are you saying? Valuable as in dollar wise, right. Not as a as an importance to the team. Yeah. In terms of like dollars because like, you know, like looking at this list like there's some guys on this top ten list that are making, you know, two, three, four, five, you know, even maybe I don't know necessarily how high it's going for these top names. Up for five. Yeah. So you know so like when you're kind of putting this list together, do you kind of see it in that kind of same aspect of like these guys are so much more valuable than every other player that is on NC state, NC state's athletics roster next year, that they're worth that level of money? Uh, yeah. I mean, to me, that's the way you have to build rosters, making sure you're valuing certain positions more. You know, I would. To really get into the weeds of it. And I'll try not to go on too long, so cut me off if I do. But, you know, in baseball the the big stat is war, right? Wins above replacement, and your war is artificially boosted by the position that you play. Right? So center field or shortstop catcher, those are the three toughest defensive positions. So your war is higher just by playing those positions right. And so I would take that and apply it to certainly football. Basketball is a little tougher. Only five positions. They're more so interchangeable. I think that's harder to do. But to me, that's why Kyle Evans was so high on the list was because of how tough it is to land centers. And I think like when you look at where on trees. Right. And if you look at where, like Kyle Evans lands on the list like that, that's one that kind of surprised me. But I sat there and I was like, okay. I was like, centers I think are costing more than guards. And I think he was just as productive as Preston Ned Mead. So yeah. Kyle Evans is the head of Ed Mead. Right. And so same thing for football. I talk to you about it on there. To me it's quarterback and then it's getting after the quarterback. So those are your tackles and your pass rushers. And then it's your wide receivers your wide receivers and your corners who match up with each other. So if NC state is not taking that and taking those things into consideration, then I would be, I would be. I don't know what the word is. Shocked. Disappointed. Concerned. Yeah. Disappointed. Yeah. That's probably better. Yeah. Yeah. Like that. Absolutely. You know you you can't pay a a running back. And this is the discussion you had with Hollywood Smothers can't pay a running back the same as in Hollywood. Smothers is great, but you can't pay him as much as you would pay a left tackle, for example. Right. Well, you can if you're Ohio State, Texas A&M, Texas, the big boys, NC state. But you're still paying your quarterback more though I agreed. But when when the rumor is that Ohio State has a $40 million roster, it. Yeah, you can throw your money around. You can absorb it. Yeah. Correct. You have to be a. Little bit you can waste a million bucks. Yeah, absolutely. You can you can take fliers. State. State can't. No. Yeah. No 100%. Right. Yeah. Wolfpack nation. So you know and and you know Ethan is there any other kind of big points at all from your list that you want to throw out here? Uh, just to kind of, uh, tease a little bit? No, it was it was fun. It was fun. I enjoyed doing it. I'm thinking about going back and doing last year. Obviously we have a little bit more information on that at this point. Um, that's fair, but yeah, it was. Last year versus production. What do you mean. Like last year's value equal to production? Like, did we did we get good value for that based off of production. Like that would be that would be a fun mental gymnastics exercise. Yeah. Basically what Greg is saying, Ethan, is that like, you start with with Whittier Copeland number one, you. And then you just work your way down kind of deal. Yeah. I think he would definitely be high on that list. Yeah. Surplus value. Is that what you're the. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. I'm. I'm not good at public. Yeah. Cartier Copeland is definitely number one on that list. There's no question about. Yeah. I don't even think it's even up for debate. Yeah. Yeah that's a good one I like that I've got a I've got a tape some stuff because I'll, I won't be around next week. So I gotta tape some stuff so, so we can get that out. But yeah I like that idea. Top surplus values last year. Okay. Yeah. So with that being said Wolfpack Nation, let's jump on over to one of my personal favorites here, which is uh tweets of the week. Let's jump. Into it. Our first one here. Gotta give a shout out to our man Donovan Philip man again named uh, by the men's sports. Best college athlete nominee. Uh, which I mean, that's quite the honor here, Greg, because I don't know about you, but I don't see many, uh, men's soccer players getting thrown out as, uh, you know, the ESPN's men's sports college. Best college athlete nominee. That's, uh, that's quite the honor, to say the least. And then that's that shows you, honestly, how dominant Donovan Philip was. Uh, in, in in men's soccer or in collegiate this past season. Absolutely. He, he did win the Hermann and and so when you're, you know, he he voted the the top player in your sport and, and you're up for a multi-sport award. Uh, it does make sense. But to your point, soccer normally doesn't get the love as football and basketball, even baseball. Um, and so the fact that he's, you know, in the same breath as these other athletes, um, you know, it's Fernando Mendoza, which he probably will end up winning the award just because. Football. American football, if you will, is reigns king. Um, Cameron Boozer is the other one. And then I'm not even trying to say the other name, but he's a Penn State wrestler. Mitchell means brick mason. Brick, brick, I guess. Um, that's the other. The other finalist of four. Finalist. You can go and vote. Um, we'll make sure we tweet that out as well. But this is a fan vote, and we can try to get our guy, uh, over the hump and get him an SP, though. Uh, again, Fernando Mendoza, I think is going to just win this because, I mean, Indiana's alumni association is the biggest in the country. And if they're out voting, we don't really stand a chance. But let's get out and vote and see if we can get him an SP. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, uh, you know, Ethan here, I, I'm, you know, how I if you were to make a A ranking of like. And maybe that's probably something we should do during this offseason here in terms of like pulling like the top ten moments from this past, uh, collegiate C or past NC state athletic season here. Like the semifinals match up, especially with it being in Cary. Like, that one's going to be hard to beat, man. Like, I know, Greg. You were there for it, man. So, uh, I know Ethan, I, I feel like that moment's gotta be pretty high on the list. And again, Donovan Philip has a lot to do with that. As well, as they didn't end up winning. But coming back in the final two, you know, tying it with three minutes left, um, would certainly be up there. Yeah. I mean, when you talk about it like state didn't really win at a high level like you would default to football, basketball, baseball, they didn't really win anything. I, you know, maybe you throw the Georgia Tech game out there I guess for sure. Um, but yeah, it's right there at the top of the list in terms of moments of the year. I mean. We had cross-country. National championship. Yeah. So I would make that my moment. Anytime you want a national championship, I think. Yeah. So, uh, also to though I want to give a highlight. One other tweet here, uh, which we had already kind of hinted that a little bit here earlier, but uh, when talking about, uh, NC state buying out the return game of his home and home series with VCU for $190,000. Uh, VCU coach coming out here with a quote saying, we don't duck smoke, other people will clearly duck smoke. Uh, uh, Greg, do you think that he practiced that quote in the mirror, uh, the night before he said this? Um, obviously this is just I feel like it's coach speak, you know, getting his fan base riled up. You know, you it's at the end of the day, Justin Gainey doesn't give a damn. He's got his birthday. He's got his bank account. He's got his team. He doesn't care. Like let people talk. Um, again, we've already made our bones about it, I think. And I know Ethan would agree that we should keep this game, but I also understand some of the reasoning. Why? Um, yeah. Just let them talk again. Same thing about the Matt Abel thing earlier, I don't care. Like it's sports. I mean, egos and and all of this are going to get in people's way. And it's, it's it's about who can voice themselves the loudest. And there's something else I was going to say. But

we're not after dark yet. Yeah. After dark. Greg, it's 930. Yeah, we gotta go. 10: 57:55

00.

Oh, ten. Yeah, we gotta hit 10: 58:02

00. There you go. After dark. That's that's kind of the standard we've set here, Ethan. Which, you know, since we've had you on, we haven't really gone long enough to get to that point yet, so, uh, but, yeah, I mean, like, you know, same thing. Anything you kind of add here to this. No, I mean, hard to. Hard to disagree with them, I guess. You know, like I think state is, you know, state didn't want to play the game for whatever reason. Like that's kind of the perception you have to deal with. And state has their reasons I'm sure. And uh. But would you say it ducking I mean, would you call it ducking at the end of the day? I think in a professional, professional setting, it's surprising to see that. I would say. Yeah, but, you know, I think that's something you say behind closed doors. Agreed. Um, great. That's a great point. So I don't like I don't know what the reason is like. I would love to get, you know, some truth serum to Justin Gainey and know why. You know, where they worried about a loss? Where they. I don't know, like, as long as they're still by games on the by home games on the schedule, I'm going to complain about this one. But again, like, like to me, especially with your NC state, like, is there really that opponent that you're trying to get away from kind of deal. Like. I mean, this is a very usable game. Like if you're if. You're losing game, but but like it's not a game I'm going to I'm like, oh my gosh. Well all right this one's going to be awesome to lose by 40. Let me get the heck out of here. Kind of deal like this. Are you worried? Are you worried about the perception of potentially losing to VCU? Like, if you lose to VCU? Like, for example, state played VCU. I think it was the third or fourth game of the year. You know, people are already kind of lukewarm, like the, you know, hype certainly isn't at the same level. If you lose an early season game to VCU, who people are just going to look at the the name on the front of the jersey and say, oh, you lost to VCU. You know, like, are you worried about the PR aspect of it? I don't know, like, I, I wouldn't be, but. The PR aspect or the fan aspect. The sky is falling after game four. Yeah, both. Yeah yeah. Yeah. So also do you want to highlight two of our very own Johnson and Anderson Nance uh, playing for the Stars and Stripes. And I actually saw a video clip here today actually Greg of, uh, Red Johnson. Uh, give it a nice whoop. Yeah. Or what? Uh, you know, to to the, uh, catcher here today and, uh, getting in for a run here. But, I mean, Greg, I'll kind of let you speak on. This is definitely up your wheelhouse here, and even it is up to you. Yours, too, as well. But, you know, obviously, for me, baseball is always going to go to Greg here first here, man, which. I'm sure even knows this stuff too. Oh, he knows his stuff here. But I learn from you, Greg. I, I see Greg, I think baseball, I don't know. You know, just so. Yeah. I think this is, uh, from what I've seen. Uh, Red's had a nice camp. So for anyone that doesn't understand what's going on here, uh, this is the Stars and Stripes. The the collegiate. Uh, it's basically like the under 18 or the. You know, if you follow the World Baseball Classic, this is the essentially the college version. So there's two teams, Stars and Stripes, uh, made up of mostly, uh, freshmen and sophomores, and that they compete. This is like a training camp. And then they'll select a team that will go overseas and compete for the collegiate world title, if you will. There'll be a couple games in Taiwan. They'll play Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. It's like a it's like a World Series, if you will. Will. And uh, so yeah, both of these guys are up for that honor. Uh, last year we had both, uh, Jacob Duden and Ryan Maroney represent team USA, and, uh. Yeah. So Red's had a really good camp so far, and, uh. And Nance is minimal. He was, uh, very effective. Yeah. Anything that add to that? No, I mean, it's just a big honor, right? Like, these are the best players in the country, and, uh, kind of tells you how these guys are are perceived. So, um. Yeah. And I don't think that's a surprise to us. A little surprise. Mikey Ryan didn't get invited. To be honest, I, I know, um, you know, kind of quietly, I think the perception on him was lower than than what his results ended up being. So I'm a little surprised. I think if he doesn't get injured. Yeah that injury. But I was surprised at how little ACC representation there is as a conference that's perceived as well as it is. I believe there was only nine guys invited to this to this camp. But, uh, yeah, I think I think it does have a really good chance of making this team. Uh, this is Nance's second opportunity or second go around at it. Uh, it would be great that if he could make it this go around. But if Rhett doesn't make it this year, um, and he has the same type of year that he had last this past season, uh, my guess is he'll be right back there next season as well. Agreed. So staying in the NC state baseball wheelhouse here. Got another, uh, portal edition here, uh, from Texas outfielder Maddox Mansoor, which, by the way, is a I think if it's got to be a top ten collegiate baseball name for sure. I love that name. It's nickname. Uh, N.C. state, uh, the athletic freshman outfielder joins the Wolfpack after starting 14 games and appearing in 36 for the horns in 2026 here. Uh, Ethan, I know on our Patreon, which again go down. Go check out the link in the description below. Uh, you did a video breaking down Maddox and, uh, giving us your thoughts on him. So give us the quick highlights here. Uh, in terms of, uh, what you thought of, uh, this this portal commitment for coach Chris Hart. Well, I mean, he's had 60 at bats last year for Texas, which was a loaded team. Loaded outfield in particular. Um, those 60 at bats were not very good. Um, they were quite bad, I would say. Um, and he, you know, he had a little bit of opportunity to, to get a starting job and run with it. I want to say it was like late April or early May. He had basically two weeks where he started every game and it just didn't go well. So, um, yeah. So, you know, some concerns. But again, where does he where does he slot in if he ends up being your fourth or fifth outfielder. You know. Okay, cool. You know, that's fine. Um, if you play tomorrow, he's probably starting for you. Which I would not. I would not love. At this point in time. But again, talented guy who certainly could go out, get better and and and earn a role. But, um, yeah, I mean, right now, based off of the 60 plate appearances at Texas, you know, a lot of times you can find something to point to and say, hey, I like this. There really wasn't that with Mansoor and his in his At-Bats at Texas. But again, he was at Texas and at 60 at bats and, you know, like, not not an easy not an easy spot to be in. Yeah. Greg, any quick comments here on on this kit. No. He's a guy that you're hoping that he can kind of find his groove and that, you know, he learned a few things and then, you know, just get better. At the end of the day he just he had an opportunity there, like Ethan said. Just didn't work out for him. This is an opportunity to get a fresh start. Um, he's a Georgia kid, so a little bit closer back to home. Um, you know, you don't you don't know what you know. It's a big it's a big transition going from high school to college and then especially in the SEC. Um, and again, I, I, I trust heart and and the rest of the staff in evaluating talent. Um, but yeah, I think, I think there is upside here. You just got to tap into it. Yeah. No, definitely. You know, hoping that Chris can, you know, pull off his usual magic. What you saw with with a lot of guys have come into the program previously. But like you know, Mack is probably the, the the the, you know, Cinderella child, you know, kind of of of of that Chris Hart magic there. So um, but other also big commitment to as well and uh, over I think three days ago uh by Bryson uh hurt here three star interior offensive lineman from Gainesville, Georgia ready to three star on 24 over seven of the number 57. Uh, inside and inside. Offensive linemen in the class. Uh, had offers from Arkansas, uh, Auburn, West Virginia, Colorado, uh. Visit NC State on June 5th. Uh, so about a month ago and, uh, sorry, about three weeks ago, maybe not quite a month ago, but, uh, I'm telling you, Greg, uh, this is seaming. This is a heavy offensive lineman recruiting class for coach TJ here. I mean, do you see this as a, you know, again, we always talk about recruiting high school recruiting as being kind of like the guys that you want, the guys that you want to develop that you see a high high potential there. Uh, from where they currently are ranked right now, uh, you know, this kind of seem a little bit of an all in approach here for coach TJ. Well, I just think that's what coach TJ does. He builds great relationships. You've seen it over the last couple of years with uh not only the prep kids coming in but the transfer portal's. Teague was one of those guys where you know they brought in from I believe it was Florida or Utah State or something. I can't remember where it was, but um, he just he just goes out and can get guys and, and and people just naturally gravitate to his persona and his, his, you know, bigger than life, you know, kind of, um, aura, if you will. And it's just not surprising. Um, and then it's just see what he can what can he do with the talent once he gets it on campus and he's done a nice job? You know, you were talking about the top ten kind of, um, paid athletes and and spike was on that list. And the fact that we were able to retain him and Teague Anderson again, that's that's all about Jarrett to Jay and his relationships with these guys. Mhm. Yeah 100%. Uh Ethan, do you have any other kind of approach here really. Or do you think Greg kind of hit on the head? No, Greg I mean, Greg hit it on the head. Um, I would just. Every year it feels like Tuesday is just bringing in five high school guys and three portal guys and just constantly working, constantly trying to find guys, and it sticks out. I think that's the right approach in this era. You know, keep taking guys, keep finding players, keep taking guys. He's won a few big time recruitments. I think he's one of them. Had some really, really nice offers. Um, and yeah I had TJ, I, him and Locklear to me stand out as, as the recruiters at their position with the number of guys they take, I just they're heavy on high schoolers, heavy in the portal I love it. Yeah, absolutely. And they're coming from the oh sorry. I was going to say the end of production coming from those those positions right there. It's one thing to be able to recruit a guy and then recruit a guy and then develop them into, you know, a star. Yeah. So also to as well, I want to give a big shout out to, uh, Savage Wolves and one Pac Nil for throwing a once again a spectacular phenomenal a plus elite event for the football celebration. Uh, raised, I believe, about $430,000, I believe. Uh, more than that, actually. Um, yeah. Yeah. No final total numbers come out. But I was told by one of our our good people that got some knowledge. Uh, between 6 and 700,000. Wow. They didn't have they that that number you saw was the live auction number and money raised at the end in itself. But then you had this other items that were up for bids and that those figures just hadn't come out yet. So. But good, good good good good numbers and more than last year. Um, which is, which is which is which is positive. It's encouraging that we don't have that donor fatigue, um, that some programs have. Yeah. But again, like, you know, for, for me, it just it just speaks to Greg, like, you know, we always talk about all the time like, you know, what's, you know, the benefit do I get, you know, being a part of these nil collectives, uh, you know, and and this is definitely one of them. And like, you know, just looking at all the different highlights. And you had Philip Rivers, as you see here on the tweet of the week here that got interviewed by Jeff Gravel. Uh, Jericho Cowdrey was at the event. So I mean, I mean imagine if you're if you're a diehard NC state fan and you see Jericho Cowdrey and then Philip Rivers, man like you can't help but get extremely heavy on this. Yeah. You had others. Uh, Peyton was there. Yeah. Uh, Naim Haynes was there, um, some other some guys that blow before your guys's time, but still legends in their own right. Uh, yeah, I think it's important. Right. It's again, it's not for everyone. It's these. These events sometimes aren't cheap to attend, but they are affordable events and the the auctions that they do and the giveaways and, um, just, you know, there's ways to get involved and just keep we got to keep plugging. If you want to continue. And we talked about it like the number the dollars raised doesn't guarantee success, but it definitely doesn't hurt. And and I get it. Some people still haven't bought into it. But it is. It is the way. Mhm. Yeah. Now, uh, Ethan, uh, have you had an opportunity to attend any of these football celebrations. I haven't, not yet but yeah. Yeah I mean they're obviously crucial. State does one PAC does a great job putting them on. And um you know getting getting some big names out there. Pretty big deal to get Philip Rivers out there, you know. Yeah. Um, second. Time. That he's attended. Yeah, yeah. And a little bit different now with Gunnar committed. Right. But, um, still, you know, to get him out there and, um, certainly that's a great way to engage with the fan base. And yeah, I know state does a great job with it. Uh, one Pac. I'm sorry. It's, you know, not not run by the Defense Department. Yeah, yeah. Pac set slash slash savage. I heard the line was longer to meet Gunnar than it was Philip. Was Gunnar there? Yeah, he was there. Oh, okay. Okay. What about the line division? No, I'm just I, by the way, that is. I am kidding for anyone listening still right now, that was like. Was he there. Though? He was. Gunner was there. Oh, okay. People were. People were making their acquaintances. Oh, sure. Absolutely. I mean, listen, man, I mean, it's you can't help it. But, you know, that's the thing is, like, you know, lick your lips a little bit thinking of man Gunner Rivers running, running the NC state offense like oh my gosh that's that's going to be sick. But but hey I know hey man. But can't help a little bit man. We still got CJ Bailey in this season guys. Let's go. Oh for sure. No I I ain't overstepping I but just you know hey it's it's it's a thought Greg. It's a thought here but I get it. Yeah. It's hard not to get excited right. No 100% 100%. So with that being said Wolfpack Nation, we appreciate everybody tuning in here with us once again. Always look forward every single week uh, to to talking all things NC state here once I can get the layout right here. But anyway, with that being said, well, in fact, if you haven't already, make sure you hit that subscribe button. And if you haven't already, it's it's free to do. 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