Top Shelf Grumbling
Sports, Gambling, Grumbling
Just some fellas talking sports, betting, and all things in between.
Top Shelf Grumbling
TSG Ep. 57 - Do contracts mean anything? We think so - Pt. 3 SEC Overview
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The Don & Sir Producer grumble over the ridiculousness that is the discourse on whether contracts are real or not. News flash, They are. We also discuss Pt. 3 of our SEC Overview. Give us a listen! Also found wherever you get your podcasts! #SEC #olemissfootball
Welcome to the Top Shelf Grumbling Podcast today on the non wall. This episode is brought to our sponsors. Long help for all your long hair needs. Price cutters at best meat in town. Russell Motors goes to the office if it's got what you need. Put your block restaurant at Best Fiscuit and Best Breakfast 2025. Available wherever you get your podcast coming to you at Office Fitness Studio. Depending on where you meet your production, it's Top Shelf Grumbling. Alright guys, we're back here with another episode of Top Shelf Grumbling. This here is not a live episode.
SPEAKER_01Not live. They are not live.
SPEAKER_00We've had some technical difficulties to begin with so far. Tonight we're going to get into a little bit of grumbling to start off with.
SPEAKER_01Even Matt Muscana says pay the damn money. I mean in the grand scheme of things, a million dollars is a lot of money to somebody like us.
SPEAKER_00I think moreover, too, what what it is is that LSU said that they were not going to pay. But you know that they told those guys, oh man, don't worry about your buyout, we got that.
SPEAKER_01That's what my thing was uh Borke said, look. Absolutely zero chance that the players thought they m was any chance they would be on the hook for this. Yeah. You know, like you said, they they just you know that was like don't worry about your c don't worry about worry about the buyout. We'll uh take care of everything.
SPEAKER_00I mean I saw some words too that you know they're it's possible that they're running into a cap problem with the the revenue share and that they they already said, hey, we'll pay these guys so much money, we don't have a million dollars to pay your guys' buyouts, you know. Sorry, we thought that y'all we th we thought that y'all wouldn't you would win this lawsuit and that's what we we counted on.
SPEAKER_01Well, I kind of think they also thought that we might just not even worry about it. Yeah, we're not worried about it.
SPEAKER_00Like we're not gonna come after a million dollars.
SPEAKER_01I mean making us give us a million bucks. I mean and what's that deranged psycho LSU guy that's uh the AYS sports? Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Rafino, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Why is it see he's he needs to he's he needs to get like I said, what watch his videos with no sound.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01He's deranged.
SPEAKER_00I mean, literally deranged. He must not go back and watch his own stuff because it's it's horrifying. Like why do we not why do they think they don't have to pay the million dollars? Yeah. Well, it's because you got homer folks that just want to say homer things and rile up the fan base, uh, but even they don't believe what the words are coming out of their mouth. There's no way it was old Miss Yeah Well, I'm sure I'm we have it'd be we're poor because we're not paying the buyout for the LSU player that'd be this it'd be the complete opposite. Yeah. Um and saying Ole Miss looks desperate, oh they need that million dollars. It's like it it's our million dollars. You look desperate and poor when you aren't paying it, or you're not you're not stepping up for your players who you obviously are paying them more money than that that five hundred thousand dollars that they owe per per player is a lot less money than their total compensation package for NIL that they are getting at LSU.
SPEAKER_01So you got the money, pony and then you yeah, people are trying to compare. Well, what about Ferrelli, our linebacker week, O Miss got not the same thing. He never signed any RevShare any the Rev Share gr uh contracts or whatever are binding. The fine a financial aid contract is not binding.
SPEAKER_00It binds the it binds the school to the player, but not the player to the school, and that's you know that's you got LSU people.
SPEAKER_01They're saying it's gonna hurt old Mrs. Recruiting. No, it's not. Okay, you think, well, that just says you can't sign a contract and then leave, right? You know what I mean? This was like this was like a few days later. Yeah. Now nobody held a gun to these kids' heads and said, So you gotta sign this contract now. No, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00They willingly sign these contracts. They were not under arrest. Uh the usual willing, willingly sign contracts. And they just, you know, and also too, this would get back to uh representation uh and these kids being led by just whoever is close to them. Uncle Jim. Yeah, trying to get them just to, you know, to get the most amount of money. And and here's the thing you can you can think about uh a long contract in the NFL and and you know on down the line, but these folks are going to try to get right now money because they think, oh, this is the wild west, we better go get as much as we can. And I understand that really. Which is fine too, but if you don't, if you get some of those folks are getting sent out into the portal and then nobody's picking them up. They're saying, hey, you can go get, you know, you you can command this kind of amount of money.
SPEAKER_01I mean, so you've seen it a hundred times before that's happened.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, hey, I I got told to go in the portal, or I got, you know, advised to go in the portal, and then there's no home for me.
SPEAKER_01What was the uh the quarterback from Tennessee uh a couple years ago? He's at uh Oh, Nico, EMI. I'm a leaving or whatever they were calling him.
SPEAKER_00Nico I'm a lever.
SPEAKER_01He thought there was gonna be the big market for him and UCLA ended up picking him up, but it was like he took less money. Yeah, yeah. He thought he was gonna get all this m m uh a lot more money than what Tennessee was gonna was uh already paying him.
SPEAKER_00Or what he was pressing was pressing Tennessee to raise their offer for him to stay. He was just m you know trying to shop himself to to get some marketing.
SPEAKER_01I'm going to Chulane, okay. Go ahead. Go ahead, go ahead. Uh and he wasn't even that good. Still not that I mean he's a decent quarterback.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but he's just a flinger.
SPEAKER_01And he uh that that's a prime example of just I'm getting in the port, I'm gonna make all this money, and didn't even get in I don't think he didn't get near what he was getting at Tennessee, and he tried to say, then he tried to spin it, was like, oh that that proves my decision it wasn't about money.
SPEAKER_00Okay, well you just you just lost, and that's a good way to spin it. But no, um, you know, coming back to I hate it.
SPEAKER_01LSU has all this money, pay the money all this just different or whatever.
SPEAKER_00Pay the, you know, let's have it. You gotta you gotta pay up. It's uh it's a contract, um, and that's just kind of it. And then it would be it would be bad precedent for us not to try to go, you know, get the that money um because it shows we have no no backbone and we don't care, you can uh you can sign whatever. Sign a contract.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's not really a matter. I don't believe they're not gonna do anything to me. I mean anybody I hate that we're that we're even giving this lip service, but anybody that's not a deranged lunatic knows that you gotta pay the money. This is a cut this is a cut and dry case, a m a mile a mi a Mickey Mouse can win this case.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, it's uh it shouldn't be that that big of a of an issue when it comes down to it. I don't know like where the money's gonna come from or where they're gonna try to, you know, say, oh well LSU Now they may throw LSU under the bus and say, oh, they said that they were gonna you know pay this, but i if LSU, like I said, they said I'm not a party of the contract, then there's nothing that I don't care what you tell them at a recruiting visit or or you know on the phone or through an agent or through somebody's uncle, like you said, if they don't they don't r sign something that say they're gonna pay that, then they don't have to pay it. I mean it's up to the kids to pay it. So they're leaving them out you know high and dry as well, too.
SPEAKER_01And this is just talking season, five. I mean, August the sixth, can't you get here fast enough?
SPEAKER_00The lull, the quiet, the quiet before the storm.
SPEAKER_01Yes, fall practice, whatever you want to call it. Yes, August 6.
SPEAKER_00Tuesday, August 6th. I'll I will say I will say for you know, we're talking just a little bit about NIL stuff, I you know, hate I hate to agree with Lane Kiffin, but the the incoming freshman and all that stuff has to be has to be capped. Um it's just like anything else. Your potential is is not near as much as what you're you're actually worth. Um and these five stars coming out, we and you can go through the list of five stars throughout the year like rookie, like rookie rookie contracts in NFL. Exactly. They can't be these you know astronomical contracts or these people who are actually uh you know spent time proving it, yeah, or getting paid less money. So um, you know, hopefully we're moving towards something something like that. I saw some tweet about uh Ted Cruz talking about this whole the whole bill. It's kind of ridiculous we got in con we got in Congress in here, but the NC NCAA is you know feckless and th they don't want even this to happen, so we had to get the government involved with that.
SPEAKER_01And nothing's happening either. Everybody's what's this is what needs this is what needs to happen, this is what needs to happen, and everybody's pointing and like Nick Sabin and lobbying and all this, and nothing literally nothing is happening. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You can g bet your bottom dollar that the uh that the goodness of the sport is not gonna be what they're uh worried about at all. At all. You had you had somebody was uh you want to say that.
SPEAKER_01Big Ten media days are going on. Yeah. Um and look, Kirk Signetti went today. What I what I have to grumble about have actually happened yesterday, but Kirk Signetti went today, you know, he took a little shot at the SEC, which you know he has earned that right. Okay.
SPEAKER_00And also, too, that He did it uh indirectly by talking about what they did, not what but you could tell it was towards the SEC.
SPEAKER_01And look, the big ten look, the SEC was rot walking around, we were walking around beating our chest for years. The Big Ten is kind of they're kind of they have caught up a lot. Now what the SEC still had more players drafted, I'm pretty sure, this past draft. Yeah. It's not some big guy like the Yankees that are trying to spin it, but um one thing too, they're saying, well, everybody now can pay players. That's why it's the playing fields legal. Like the Big Ten, well we we we we never paid or paid for a player before ever. Yeah, you don't think about it.
SPEAKER_00I mean, come on, my aching ass. USC and Reggie Bush out there. It's not just Ohio State. I mean, come everybody does Big Ten, but I mean Pac-12, it's another other conference system.
SPEAKER_01The Big Ten has caught up, but it's not for because everybody can pay players.
SPEAKER_00You go from paying uh zero players to Bryce Underwood twelve million dollars or whatever. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Um Signetty took his little shot today. Now he's a national championship coach. You know, he's earned that right. Yeah. But Burt Bielama, Bret Burt Bielema. Yesterday, this he's done ta he's done taking took, taking what are the hell you're supposed to say. Taken. He's done taking multiple shots now since he'd had a couple eight win seasons at Illinois at the SEC with our quarterback. And he said something like, they're still stuck in 2005. They they're acting like it's 25 years ago since the last time the SEC won it. It's been what, two years ago the SEC won it? I mean anyway.
SPEAKER_00I when we talked about this the last podcast as well, too. That I I do believe that the Big Ten uh spends more time on good quality defense and good quality football, offensive line play, you know, good solid sound football.
SPEAKER_01We have to stock your team just a little bit different because the weather of the last few games up there is colder and windier.
SPEAKER_00Well, and my what I'm saying is that the SEC, I think, has shifted towards more just absolute athletes. Uh we'll we'll piece together, I mean, you can see what Lane Kiffin did at Old Miss. We pieced together offensive lines every single year. There was never this, hey, we're gonna we're gonna go get the best guys in the country at the offensive line. We don't care. We're we've got guys, we're gonna get the ball out fast, plug and plug him way. You won't need it. But at the same time, you've got to have much better players to play that fast and go that fast. And if you don't, you'll fall behind these folks that are kind of trotting along, playing, you know, good solid football. Great defense, you know, good defense can can you know can mess up some of these plays if you're not if you're not in there.
SPEAKER_01Anyway, that's my that's my big ten is they've also started recruiting SEC speed too at some of these skill positions for years.
SPEAKER_00Transfers and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01Well they were they were also still stuck with running the ground and pound offense, too. It took them a while to start running the types of offense that you have to run in today's game to win.
SPEAKER_00I mean too cold to play fast up there.
SPEAKER_01But kind of back on uh Bert, it's just agonizing. He's trying to take a victory lap over the SEC because he's had, like I said, a couple eight win seasons. He was eleven and tw eleven and twenty-nine in SEC play when he was the head coach at Arkansas. And he I mean these all these coaches have egos, but I mean, zero self-awareness like, oh, yeah, the SEC's not He got ran out of the SEC. Yeah. And I've never I've never been a I'm I don't have have nothing against Birch, you know. He's alright, but it's just I don't know, shut up.
SPEAKER_00You kind of uh you got in like Shut up, you Yankee putts. You you like went, you know, like oh and oh and three at the Ryder Cup, but you're on the European team and you won and you're over there just like shooting champagne in people's faces and stuff.
SPEAKER_01It's just like Yeah, he did, he did uh beat Ole Miss a couple times out of those eleven wins. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Two I know of. Oh yeah. Well Bert's always had a he had a good running game out in Wisconsin, wasn't he where he came from? Yeah, we came from Wisconsin. Wisconsin. Anyway, Bert Belema. Um yeah, sit down, sit up.
SPEAKER_01Sit down, Bert. Sit down, Bert. Um well this is our uh tonight we're gonna do our Be part three part three of the SEC preview kind of preview. We we've done a couple other little I guess you'd say preview kind of tight deals where you pick the kind of pick the record and but we're kind of doing uh Yeah, going just an overview of all sixteen teams.
SPEAKER_00Uh we've if you've missed other episodes, go back and watch uh part one and two.
SPEAKER_01We had a live episode last week, um, but we're getting back in gonna go back and uh get back into mode here pretty soon the next I say probably spring practice week, August the sixth is probably when we'll start doing our two shows a week. Then of course we're gonna have uh we've already talked about doing live.
SPEAKER_00We're gonna do two live shows on live shows on Saturday as well. I'm probably gonna go live from the beach that weekend because I'm uh in in honor of me uh going on vacation, I wore my oyster oyster shirt. I'm gonna go down to the beach for a week. Absolutely. I'll be down uh be down there seven through the about the fourteenth or so the whole damn week.
SPEAKER_01So Anywho, anyway, let's talk about little South Carolina. Um I've never understood all the hype on what's the damn quarterback's name. He's d he looks apart. I mean, he's athletic, but I just he makes a couple of big plays here and there. I literally have I do not get people talking to him for the highs. I mean, it's yeah. I said the same thing last year and got some hate on it, but I mean I stand by it. I wouldn't want him on my team for nothing.
SPEAKER_00No, in pressure situations he doesn't look like he uh he knows exactly what to do with the ball and he relies on his athleticism a whole lot too. So I don't know. Um they're gonna be, you know, and it's so funny. Uh they didn't ask Shane Beamer like any hard questions whatsoever at at meeting. He's on the hot seat. He's definitely on the hot seat, but he's just acting like, you know, if I just blindly go in there and he's dancing and doing TikTok videos and all these things.
SPEAKER_01No, he's had uh he's had a a couple decent seasons, had a couple not so decent.
SPEAKER_00I think I think he's an okay coach. He made a couple bonehead uh coaching decisions last year that cost them some games, I believe.
SPEAKER_01Remember the AM game, he was like I thought it was a I thought it was fake. They were up like thirty to nothing at halftime or something. You just And he was like celebrating to the fans as he's going to ha the locker room at halftime.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you you you just can't. You gotta keep your head down. Yeah, and I don't know. That they didn't ask him about it. Frank Bamer would have never done that. How are you gonna fix this? How are you gonna fix that? There were no real tough questions at SEC Media Days. It was just kind of a oh, the coaches are here, let's uh, you know.
SPEAKER_01He's I I've got him going eight and four. Yeah. They have a I what I consider a very easy schedule. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh as easy as you get in the SEC.
SPEAKER_01Yes. They see they eight and four might not be good enough. He shouldn't you shouldn't be fired after eight and four season. But I don't know, they're the natives are restless. I mean they might it'll be fifty-fifty. You know what also, you know, they work the back channels and all that stuff. But depends on who is available. Like if there's some like big guy that they think they could they they think they might could get or something, then yeah. Uh they I think they eight and four they'd probably still fire a.
SPEAKER_00Uh we fo found out uh last season if you uh if you want to fire your coach and get a new one, you can do that.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Everybody everybody's got something they can come up with. So USC eight and four uh is is what we think they're gonna do. Absolutely. So uh moving on to our next team, uh we do Florida or Georgia. I'm gonna do Georgia.
SPEAKER_01This is kind of this is a short and sweet one. Kirby wins. Got a veteran QB, a veteran corps coming back. Um They lost some uh defensive players to the NFL. Yeah, but they always they always relax. I'm not worried about their defense, really. I mean, no, they they were they wasn't as good last year on defense. The back end. I mean, they've always got pretty much. The portal is makes it tougher on your defenses too. Like you said, the back end. Yeah. Um they they they got a they got an easy ass schedule. I'm just gonna say it. Georgia does. Ten and two at the absolute worst. Yawn, move on. That'll be a three-seed in the playoff at worst, I feel like. Unless like Gunnar Stockton or somebody gets something gets hurt, you know.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, they probably got another five-star basketball.
SPEAKER_01They probably do. Um next, Florida. I just, you know, I kind of like Love John, love John Summerall. He would have he's very, very close to being. If things would have played out a little different, I think he would have been old missus coach.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh, he's a great guy. He's he's a good follow on Twitter too. Absolutely. They're making fun of him for having a pedicure. I was like, I mean, who didn't want somebody to rub on your feet?
SPEAKER_01And I mean I didn't have a problem with that.
SPEAKER_00It took me 39 years to to get a pedicure, and that was the best thing I've had done in a long time.
SPEAKER_01Um Rawls won at two different places. People kind of forget, you know, he was at Troy for a couple years and gave and gave Ole Miss a run for their money uh when he was at Troy. It was it was still a game in the fourth quarter. That was a game I'm pretty sure that it was uh we were in a lightning delay, it was hot as hell that day. We were in a lightning delay. Yeah. And there wasn't a cloud in the sky. And they were like, well, lightning delay made the fans leave the stadium anyway.
SPEAKER_00Um Heat Lightning.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um they kind of have a favorable schedule. I'm giving them first year eight and four, nine and three. I'm gonna go eight and four. Eight and four, yeah. I think there's gonna be a lot of eight and four, nine and three.
SPEAKER_00The nine game schedule now. There's gonna be a lot of beating up on each other. And somebody said, you know, there's a there's a whole ten. You can change you can basically take the whole win-loss percentage and change it by a whole win or a whole a whole game, uh, either way with this this you know, extra game. Because I mean people are gonna there's gonna be some game where you shouldn't lose and you've you know you're at the end of the season and somebody's hot and you're not or you're not gonna be able to get it. So you're banged up or yeah, trying to get trying to get your uh players up for nine SEC games is gonna be a very interesting. I think that's gonna come down to a lot of coaching and uh you know and preparation.
SPEAKER_01Didn't have to do that.
SPEAKER_00No, didn't have to, no.
SPEAKER_01But we did. No. They were how many more losses are you adding to SEC teams?
SPEAKER_00It I mean, yeah. And you know, maybe it'll separate some people. I don't know. And maybe there needs to be some separation since we're gonna be able to do it. We may be coming back.
SPEAKER_01We may be coming back and you know, like, damn, we should that was that was a good idea. We were wrong.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I it's it's they did it for money, let's just be honest. That's why they did it, was for an extra SEC game and extra SEC money. Um, because some of those games were just were throwaways there at the end of the season, too, that weren't weren't generating any revenue. We've done a couple of times.
SPEAKER_01This is all about Saban always played uh and Auburn started doing it. Saban would always play like Georgia Southern or uh Presbyterian or somebody like that the week before the last game next to the last game of the year, whenever they were getting ready to play Auburn.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Glorified by week, really, basically tune-up game. I mean got one more team left in their thing here tonight. Oklahoma, for some reason I had a lot more wrote down on them than the rest of these.
SPEAKER_00We got a good team.
SPEAKER_01Good team. Uh good uh Venables is a good defense, uh defensive coach. I mean, also, what has Clemson done since he left? Yeah. Not much. Not on defense for sure. Um and he look he he kind of bid his time. He had several opportunities to jump ship and leave Clemson and go to get a uh head coaching job. He kind of waited. Turned down some pretty good jobs. I really can't remember what all they were off the top of my head, but wasn't he in Oklahoma?
SPEAKER_00Oklahoma, Oklahoma. Oklahoma for a while, though, before he was promoted. Oh, he venables? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01No, he was at Clemson first.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01I for some reason I thought he was Clemson's DC for forever.
SPEAKER_00He was there for a long time.
SPEAKER_01And everybody was like, well, he like he it was it got to the point to where like he had turned down a few jobs, and everybody was like, well, kind of like, okay, well, he's just gonna be a defensive coordinator. But anyway, he finally took a took one. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And he He seems like a genuine dude.
SPEAKER_01He's they've kind of I'm not sure Oklahoma fans have really like embraced him fully yet. They just they're still kind of like, eh, I don't know about this.
SPEAKER_00He's not exactly car charismatic, although they did they tanned him up real good for the SEC media days. Yeah, I saw that. Somebody said, God dang, Brent, where'd you been you must have been playing golf all day or something like that? I don't know. They sure did tan him up. Maybe they're trying to get him a little more homo charisma for the Oklahoma fans.
SPEAKER_01John Mateer. Yeah. What version of him do you get the um pre-injury? He was a he was white one of the Heisman high one of, if not the Heisman front runners, midway point, round the midway point. Yeah. Got hurt, messed like his finger, throwing hand up, came back way too early, had a couple dud weeks. Like they they scored they had a couple like like they they didn't score anything.
SPEAKER_0014 point games and seven-point games, yeah. And what I saw something about him like adjusting his throwing motion or changing his delivery or something like that. I don't know, over the offseason. I saw some little you know, snippet of a video.
SPEAKER_01Uh but I'm kind of thinking you're gonna get the better version of the. I don't know why, just a hunch. Uh, because you just tell he came back too early. I mean, that's and you know, he and look and now towards the last couple of games, he kind of got it back a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um He also did say though at SEC Media Days, and they asked him about reading defensive coverages. He said, Well, we don't really have time to do that. We just kind of throw to somebody who's open. So Red flag. Throw the grass, we'll run to grass. I think he's a gunslinger. Yeah, I think they used the word gunslinger.
SPEAKER_01What was it longer used to say? Phil Longa. Run to grass.
SPEAKER_00Run to grass, yeah. Run to grass.
SPEAKER_01Don't even run play. Just go out there and look at backyard football. What could go wrong here?
SPEAKER_00You know what to do. Go ahead. You know what to do.
SPEAKER_01Um They got a kind of a backloaded schedule. See, I kind of think they're gonna start off like 7-0. Yeah. You know, be flying high. And I think that'll carry them. I think they go 10-2, 11-1. Kind of, I mean, I think they're gonna be they got a good defense. And I mean always got a good defense. Yep. Um, there we go. 11-1, Oklahoma.
SPEAKER_0011-1, Oklahoma. Well, there you go. That's our our four teams for tonight that we're breaking down. We got anything else for this episode this evening, brother?
SPEAKER_01I don't believe I do. Kind of a short one, it seems like.
SPEAKER_00Short and sweet. Good God. Let's see. Thank y'all for watching Top Shelf Grumlin uh again tonight. Y'all go check out Ole Miss365.com. And uh, if you want to sponsor this podcast, let us know. We sponsor this podcast episode again this evening.
SPEAKER_01And she's gonna come up here in a couple days, maybe. Adios, hottie totty.