The HD Experience
Hunter Dawkins, owner and publisher of The Gazebo Gazette, covers Mississippi high school and college sports like no one else. Join Hunter and his special guests as they bring the best in what's happening in sports on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The HD Experience
The HD Experience Episode 35: 24
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The HD Experience Episode 35: 24
HOST: Hunter Dawkins - Owner/Publisher of the award-winning newspaper - The Gazebo Gazette, Sports Correspondent SuperTalk Mississippi News, Gulfport High Radio Host G96.7, Member of the Football Writer Association of America (FWAA, Heisman Voter), Member of the Associated Press Sports & Editors (APSE)
PRODUCER: Jeff Clark - Award-Winning Journalist, Multimedia/Podcast Host, South Alabama Beat Writer, Director for the Harrison County Senior Services
GUESTS:
- D.J. Elkins - Pass Christian High School Softball Head Coach, 2025 & 2026 MHSAA 4A State Quarterfinals
- Heath Hinton - Editor, Big Gold Nation, Southern Miss Beat Reporter
- Caleb Salers - SuperTalk Mississippi News Reporter, Ole Miss Beat Writer
- Creg Stephenson - Al.com sportswriter, Associated Press sportswriter, Award Winning Journalist
- David Schultz - Host of Locked On SunBelt Podcast
- Joseph W. Gex II - St. Stanislaus Track & Field Coach, Sea Coast Echo/The Gazebo Gazette Sports Reporter, Ole Miss Beat Writer
Mississippi has three teams in the College Baseball Playoffs!
What happens next?!
Welcome to the HD Experience, your store for sports on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Here's your host, Hunter Dawkins.
SPEAKER_10Good afternoon. My name is Hunter Dawkins. I am the host of the HD Experience. This is the 35th episode of the 35th. Good afternoon. My name is Hunter Dawkins. I am the host of the HD Experience. This is the 35th episode of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Sports podcast. Sponsored by the Gazebo Gazette, Harrison County's Independent Newspaper, Beau Revage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Nine Toes Brewery Company in Pas Christian, O'Dwyer Realty Agent, Stephanie Makowitz, Joseph Kelly, Attorney at Law, Host Casual, and we're always in the U.S. Marine Inc. Studio. I'm here with the wonderful producer of the show and my good friend Jeff Clark. Jeff is a well-accomplished award-winning journalist, South Alabama beat writer, director of the Harrison County Senior Services. Jeff, how are you, my friend?
SPEAKER_05I'm well, Hunter. Uh we made it through the NFL draft.
SPEAKER_10Um got dropped at 13.
SPEAKER_05Went 13. Uh what's his name? Caden Proctor went 12, so Alabama had the 12 and 13th spot.
SPEAKER_10Now, Ty Simpson, I don't even think the Ty Simpsons coach, Sean McVeigh, even knew that he was gonna go to the Los Angeles Rams.
SPEAKER_05Right. Yeah, that's a lot uh to-do about that, but that's just Sean McVeigh. He's a serious football guy. I mean, he just, you know, he he he that that's his that's how he is in every interview. He's just matter-of-fact, you know. Uh, what's the topic today, sir?
SPEAKER_10The topic of the day is 24. And by me saying that, and I know this is my my favorite uh former Fox show with Kiefer Sutherland? With Kiefer Sutherland, that would be a negative on that.
SPEAKER_05Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_10That's a good thought. That's a good thought. But 24, after the recent this week's college football playoff meetings in, I believe it was in Destin. I'm not 100% sure about that. It was either in Destin, DC, wherever those guys decide they want to meet. Uh the new projected potential, and of course, it's not anything finalized yet, the new potential playoff seeds are 24. We're at 12 right now, and I didn't think that we would go much farther. I thought we'd give 16, you know, a little while. I mean, you know, we did with the BCS, we almost went 15 years using the computers in the BCS, but no, we jumped after a few years from 12 to 24. That's what the potential of it is possible, Jeff. What's your thoughts?
SPEAKER_05Oh man, uh, you know, this is your show. We don't have enough time for me to opine on this. You you you know my thoughts. Um, so what what what are we gonna do now? We're gonna make just winning irrelevant, strength of schedule. Uh, they've already made that irrelevant. So now you what are what are we looking at? You go seven and five, six and six, and you're in the playoffs, essentially.
SPEAKER_10Well, essentially, you know, that's gonna obviously rule based on strength of schedule, based on playoff, uh, based on teams that are potentially in the playoffs. You know, they might get uh what I recommended they should do getting a like a baseball RPI rankings or quad rankings is in basketball, but uh you know, little do they ever listen to you or me, regardless of anything. That's why we're where we are and there where they're at.
SPEAKER_05But that's I I you know it it's uh you know, I mean the SECs, if they're going to a nine-game SEC schedule, it's already gonna make that tougher. They're not looking at strength of schedule. People are, you know, like I don't know if Alabama and Ohio State, they're supposed to play some non uh non-conference games in the next few years. I don't know if that's gonna happen because why would you? Why would you waste one of your games playing the best team in the country when you can play, you know, whoever, uh, you know, Kentucky uh barbershop quartet, yeah, uh junior college or whatever. And I I I I don't know. I mean, it's like what are you gonna put like you're gonna put 10, uh 12 teams from the SEC in a 24 play? You know, I I don't get it, but whatever.
SPEAKER_10Well, and and of course, before we get going, but of our future guests will tell us too that um that it's definitely it's definitely gonna be hard for teams. And I think the reason they're doing this is to sort of get out of the power four uh or out of the uh out of the um outside of the power four. Your power four are gonna be more dominant, whereas opposed to the outside like this year with the American Conference and the Sunbelt Conference both sending in teams, they probably don't want to be like that, even though they want it to have to be a fair shot for everybody. I don't really think they want that because they've seen the results of those games, and that's just uh that's I mean how'd they do, right?
SPEAKER_05How did how did uh how did Tulane do in the playoffs? How did James Madison right?
SPEAKER_10James Madison came back, and now granted it was kind of a throwing away game all from the start, but James Madison made it a point closing closure game where they were within the point spread. So um did they win? Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_05Cool. Hey man, you know, let's talk about some high school uh sports. Nobody better to talk about that than our first guest, and I'll let you go ahead and get on with that.
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SPEAKER_10I would love to introduce the head softball coach of the Pascrashan Pirates, DJ Elkins. Coach, hey, how are you, my friend? I'm doing well. How about yourself? Coach, you have 26 wins right now. That's a lot of wins that Pascushan, that's a lot more than they've had in a long time. And it's because it's been a long time, they've had even over 20 wins. Tell me about this team. Where where are y'all at right now?
SPEAKER_02Uh we are a we're still a young team, and I I've said this before, we're still a very young team. It's just those those girls that were, you know, they were even younger when they started playing. Um we still we still got a lot of growing to do. Uh, but with that said, like I still don't think we've maxed out what we can do on the field. We are still uh competing every day, they're still prep uh preparing every day. Um, and they're just a fun bunch to be around. So it's a really, really good deal to be around these girls. They're they're they're awesome, Hunter. Uh so you know, moving forward, we you know, we got West Lauderdale coming up. Uh that's gonna be a really, really tough test for us. Um if the girls go about preparation, uh their preparation like they have been the past two weeks for the playoff games. Um, I I I like I like our chances in terms of competing well and playing well.
SPEAKER_10Coach, I know you've not only coached pass high, but you've also been an assistant coach in other places. How does this pass high team, not only because you're you're the man coaching it, but how is this team compared with any of the other teams that you've coached?
SPEAKER_02Uh, you know, I was I was at Kaziesko for three years, uh, and then West Lauderdale for two, and then I've been at Pass for the la uh this is my fourth year. Um coming coming into Pass, uh you know, it was it was a different thing because uh yeah, you didn't have the girls that played all travel ball right then in the system. Um then coming up, you know, with this group I have now, they've all played travel ball, they've all played all their whole life, and so it was a different type of coaching. It was more of a um game strategy, uh preparation, uh getting in the weight room, kind of understanding, you know, the game and uh because they had the physical skills, whereas, you know, in previous places that I've been, that's th those girls played on the same travel ball team from the time they could uh you know pick up a bat. And so it's different because there's so much more stuff to do down on the coast that not everybody, you know, spends their summers playing travel ball and and all that stuff. So so it's a it was a different uh a different type of you know preparation going in. But you know, honor, this is one of my favorite this is probably the f uh the favorite place I've been. I mean it's beautiful down here. I love the school I work for, I love the girls I get to work with. Uh they are a fun bunch. And so this in comparison to that, this is a you know, especially you know, going transitioning from an assistant to a head coach, this is something that I've been working for a long time to kind of put my you know fingerprint on, and the girls have taken off and run with how I how I love to do things, and that's with a lot of energy, a lot of uh, you know, a lot of competitiveness and and a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_10Coach, what does this team need to do since you've coached the team? You've been a coach on the other team that you guys are playing against, a very successful team, a team that's won, I believe, multiple state championships, including two years ago winning the state championship. What does this team you have this year need to do to beat the 30-win team right now, West Lauderdale, which could looks to be a potential another state title in that yeah, 100 West Lauderdale, they they are have they have a great youth league program.
SPEAKER_02They're they're doing a phenomenal job with that. Um Coach Loper does a great job with his girls. Uh he you know, they're competitive, they're athletic, they run well, they play the game really well, they play hard. Um in order for us to you know what we need to do is to be who we are. Um and that's just you know, we we pitch it really well, regardless of who's on the mound. We we defend it, we we defend it well, and then we compete every single event. You know, I'm not saying we go out there and gotta have we gotta have a big 14-hit performance, score 12 runs, but we need to just compete and make sure we don't take any kind of at bat or or pitch that we may get uh for granted because um you know you know they're gonna be well well coached, they are going to uh play the game hard. So it's gonna take a lot of just us staying within ourselves and competing to the best that we can and hoping and you know and just preparing for us to have a chance um to to close out the game. I you know it's hard to really simulate that kind of situation that we're gonna be in this week. Uh so that's gonna be a new new deal, but I like the way you know we played Purvis, who had played in the sa in the state championship the last two years. Um for the past you know, they are the ones who put us out the last two years, and they've gone on to play West Lauderdale or at Awamba in the state championship, and that's a that's a situation we've been in when we've played a really good team. Coach, talk to me about Bristol. Uh Bristol is you know, you see all these accolades that she has, you know, just reached a 300 strikeout for the year, uh, 500 in her career, you know, she's hitting four like like 480 or something like that now, 35 RBIs. You see all that stuff, and you see what type of ball player he is, you see how hard she is. She like whatever, however good of a ball player she is, she is times 10 a great human being. Like she is a phenomenal teammate, she's a great student. Um, she's one of the nicest people I've been around. She's extremely hardworking and extremely humble and and and does not like the spotlight on herself. She wants it on everybody else around her because she is just one of those special talents that you know you catch lightning in a bottle with her. It's she's really, really special athletically and and softball-wise, and then she's a truly special human. She, you know, I love being around her. She makes us better by being around us, even if she does not pick up a ball or back, just because of the type of leader that she's grown into this year.
SPEAKER_10Do you think now I know she's a sophomore? Do you think by her senior year she's gonna have a lot of interest from outside?
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah, I do. Um, and and because I know how hard she's worked to get to where she is now, and you don't see that kind of drop off. You know, you're gonna see her work, you know, really, really hard for the rest of her life. She's gonna be successful in whatever she chooses to do. Um, what however she wants whatever life uh she wants to choose or what life path she wants to go down, she is going to be a successful human. And that's what makes me the most proud is that I got you know a team full of those type of kids. They're gonna be successful regardless of what they do, and it's because of how hard they work and and and how and how they go about everyday life, like how they treat people. So they are just great human beings. Bristol um definitely brings, you know, a whole new level with her uh talents-wise. But you know, she is a great human being, Hunter. I and I can't say how I can't say like I can't I can't imagine you know not having her out there because she is so good at being a good teammate and cheering for her, cheering for everybody else.
SPEAKER_10Coach, we wish y'all the best of luck and we hope to have y'all on again next week because we're gonna keep following you all the way to Jackson.
SPEAKER_02I appreciate that, Hunter. I appreciate that. Take care yourself.
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SPEAKER_10I would like to introduce one of my good friends, Heath Hinton, the editor, sports writer for Big Gold Nation. Additionally, Heath is the true insider on Southern Mist Athletics. Heath, talk to me about your thoughts of where the baseball team's at right now. I know they won the series, but it was kind of a walk-off homer for South Alabama today. Where do they stand, you think, as far as it goes right now?
SPEAKER_03Oh, I think they're in really good shape. Uh right now, I believe if if if my memory serves you correctly, they're at number six in the RPI discussion. So uh not a bad situation to be in, so to speak. Uh that'll get you a seed at host. Just gotta win out the next uh three weekends, just gotta play good baseball, uh, win two or three, maybe maybe a sweep or two. You'll be in hosting conversation, you'll be in good shape. And once the conference tourney starts, try to get one of the top two seeds, that way you can get a first round battle.
SPEAKER_10That was uh one of the things too. I I remember a couple years ago when Coastal uh when they played, they actually lost their two conference games, but they were seated so high, you know, that it literally just they almost just walked right in to the regional hosting spot. And I'm guessing, I you know, I'm not trying to put words in the mouth of Coach Ostrander, but I'm assuming he kind of wants to be in that same format, correct?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, yeah, of course they want to win the tournament. That's what they do. They, you know, they want to win the tournament. They won it two of the past three years, so of course they want to win it. But I mean, in the grand scheme of things, uh you wanna is winning the tournament, the kind of Sun Belt tournament, everything, or is it going for it in uh, you know, NCA regional super regional more important? I think right now with this team where they want to be, they believe a regional super regional, but the conference tournament is still important. This team is just now starting to come together, though, especially the back end of the lineup.
SPEAKER_10I noticed this weekend that they made a little bit of a change in the rotation. Talk to me about where it looked, it looked pretty good today, at least until later on in the game. But uh Sundstrom pitched today, and I believe uh Clark pitched yesterday and had a pretty good game. Uh, do you think the format they had today is gonna follow them pretty much for the rest of the year?
SPEAKER_03It might. Look, Clark, you know, Clark did struggle a little bit yesterday. Uh, and I think a lot of that was due to it being his second start, really not used to it yet, used to come out of the bulletpen, starting. That's two different things. So I think he'll get that turnaround. Sonny was great today. Uh, seven innings. I mean, gave up three hits, a couple of runs, but that loss wasn't on him. That loss was on on, let's be honest, Southern Miss not getting the hits. They not getting the hits from runners in scoring position. Uh they had guys on all day and just couldn't get them across the plate. They really hit the ball well this weekend, but in that third game, just couldn't get the time. The second game, they it seems like that third inning when they scored ten runs, they can do whatever they want to yesterday. They're a little different, but still uh it's still a good series win. I mean, you look at where they were three weeks ago and look at 'em now. They won six out of their last seven, going in the two lane this week. Gotta win that one for RPI's sake, but uh the teams seem to have turned the corner a little bit and they always play better at this time of the season, man. This is the time when Southern Miss usually uh turns that switch on.
SPEAKER_10Well, and that's another question too, Heath. I mean, it was the fact is that none of the teams they have left playing have very high RPIs. Matter of fact, I think most of them are below 80. Um, is a loss in any of those games going to affect their overall RPI rankings to to where they're out of a hosting scenario, or do you think as long as they win the series throughout uh it's gonna be pretty secure?
SPEAKER_03I think they've got to win the series, but I mean a couple of sweeps would do them well. But I think as long as they're playing the way they are right now with what they have left on the schedule, I think sweeping, you know, I think they can do that. Uh you don't want to lose three or four games in their last uh three series, but you you do wanna you wanna at least have one sweep in there. I think they're gonna be fine. I think with how well they played early in the season, with how high their RPI is right now, they're not gonna drop too far. I think right now maybe they have the most quad wins. Uh if I'm not mistaken, they have the most or second most quad one wins of anybody in the RPI right now. So I think they're pretty safe. If they just win series on the way out, they'll be fine.
SPEAKER_10Talk to me about 24, and I know that this is uh in a college football format, I know the potential talk, and it's not really gonna matter very much on Southern Miss until they get to back to a winning scenario. But do you think this playoff, potential 24 team playoff, is going to affect the Sunbelt in any way, or do you think it's just gonna have to be the Sun Belt's gonna have to have this good team coming out of the the boards to make it happen?
SPEAKER_03Uh man, I think that the power conferences won't do anything unless it values the power conferences. To be honest with you, they wouldn't agree to this unless they figured out a way to make it work for them. So for the Sun Belt, I think it's just really uh just play the best you can, get the best team out of there and uh go from there. Uh I don't know if it's gonna be an advantage for them or not, to be honest. We what 24 teams mean power conferences can add, you know, more more more teams from other conference. So I I don't know if it's gonna help, it's gonna make a bunch of a difference. Maybe it gets more people involved. But I'm not I'm not sure. They wouldn't have agreed to this if it wasn't going to benefit, you know, the SEC or the Big Ten or the ACC or the PAC or or the Big 12. They're not gonna do anything unless it benefits them. They're not in the uh they're not in the mood of giving out stuff, let me put it like that. So I don't know if it's gonna work work good for the Sunbelts or not. We'll just have to see.
SPEAKER_10Final question for you, my friend. What's what's Blake Anderson up to this summer?
SPEAKER_03Recruiting and figuring out how to take a team that is let's just be honest, it doesn't have many people coming back. I mean guys gonna be working through the summer. A lot of a lot of office work and a lot of work because it's gonna be tough, man. I don't envy it all.
SPEAKER_10We thank you, my friend. Tell everybody how they can contact you.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, man. Just go to uh on three big old nation, check us out, or at big old nation on Twitter and check us out there and uh come hang out and have fun, have a blast. We're always talking Southern Mist and uh having a good time doing so.
SPEAKER_09Do you all have any more discounts, or was that just early on in the year? That was early on in the year, but they're working on another one.
SPEAKER_03Check back with me in a couple of weeks. We might have another one going on.
SPEAKER_10We'll have you on again, my friend, and you take care of yourself.
SPEAKER_03Thank you, buddy. You have a blessed week. Have fun on the coast, man. It's time for some crawfish.
SPEAKER_09Bring some up here, why don't you? Absolutely. We'll we'll try to do my best. I'll do it. All right, Leonard. Be good, my buddy. All right, man.
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SPEAKER_10We will move to our next guest who doesn't really need any introduction from me as my good friend and super talk Mississippi news reporter, Caleb Saylors. Caleb covers all the Mississippi colleges along with all the news for the state's largest media syndicate, Supertalk News, on Supertalk.fm. And he has the statewide scoreboard show, Friday Night Football, to report the scores. How are you, my friend? Hunter, man.
SPEAKER_06Beautiful day here in Jackson, Mississippi. How about yourself?
SPEAKER_10Doing well, doing well. Did you happen to be up in Oxford yesterday for the double decker uh for the uh baseball series that they uh I think they swept the Rebels, correct?
SPEAKER_06No, the Rebels got one. They they lost the series, got got game one, and then got backdoored by Georgia. You know, Georgia's the best hitting team in the country, leaves the SEC in home runs by a mile, though Ole Miss did hit more home runs than Georgia over the weekend. But yeah, I mean, you know, it's one of those one of those series for Ole Miss where just winning one is kind of a moral victory there. I mean, Georgia is the number five team in the country and is on a tear right now. But yeah, Hunter, I I watched uh 25 innings of baseball, excuse me, 23 innings of baseball yesterday of Saturday. Uh Ole Miss got the win in nine uh in game one, and then game two went to 14 innings, and uh and I got to see some of the double decker festivities, didn't get to do as much as I wanted to because there was so much baseball. But yeah, Olmis ends up dropping it, uh, couldn't get the bats going in in the rubber match today, though. I thought the final score would be a lot higher. Georgia ended up winning five to one. It really was three to one. They got a couple of insurance runs late, but yeah, both teams had kind of emptied the clip pitching wise in the first two, especially with game two going 14 innings. But Georgia uh Wes Johnson's got some rubber arms in his pitching stable. I I don't know however else to put it. But yeah, you know, Olez would have liked to have gotten two this weekend, especially winning game one, but you know, it's baseball, and they'll they'll move on to Arkansas this coming weekend.
SPEAKER_10Give me your thoughts and give me the olmus thoughts at least about the draft.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it was a really interesting draft, Hunter. Um, a couple of guys, I you know, one, uh Dejan Stribling, wide receiver, who who really came on uh toward the middle of the season, uh had a big game against Georgia when the olmus, the only loss other than the playoff loss to Miami. Uh, and then from there was one of the most reliable targets for Trinidad Chambless and had a huge sugar bowl. He was the first pick in the second round, which means, I mean, there were teams possibly looking at him as a first-round guy in a receiving room in the NFL draft this year that wasn't loaded with top-end talent like your Jamar Chase's, like your uh Justin Jefferson types, or your AJ Brown types, but a lot of depth, a lot of solid wide receivers. He stood out as one that franchises were all over. You know, Omis had a couple of guys that that didn't get drafted that kind of shocked me that didn't get drafted. Uh Daquan Wright, tight end, one of the better tight ends in the country, was one that kind of shocked me. I thought he would get drafted. Uh Harrison Wallace, the third, Trey Wallace. I thought he might get picked up late in the draft as well. But, you know, Omis had had Stribling drafted and had Jaden Williams, who was the right tackle all year, uh, picked up late. He was really not on my radar as a guy that was going to get picked up. I thought he would get he would sign somewhere uh in free agency, but he ends up getting picked in the seventh round.
SPEAKER_10Well, let me ask you the most important question, which you probably you and a number of Ole Miss fans are probably wondering. What's going on with Xavier Harris?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, Xavier Harris, I that thank you for bringing him up. A Canton native, who, you know, was solid for the Rebels defensive line this year. And another guy, again, another guy I thought would get drafted. I mean, he kept showing up on the draft board as best available player, best available player, best available player, and then ends up, you know, not getting drafted, which kind of you know doesn't make any sense to me, other than I I think there there might have been some motor issues with him, Hunter, you know, although it's kind of hard to gauge that because he played a million snaps last year, right? Like he would get winded in a game, but of course, he was you know having to do double duty as a defensive tackle with almost really not having a lot of depth or quality depth there. And so I think Xavier Harris will, I uh as of now, I haven't seen him sign uh UDFA deal. I'm sure he he's definitely gonna sign with somebody. And then um that that will that will work itself out. I think he is worthy of being on an NFL roster.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, you know, talk to me about with do you think something I've heard stuff you know on the the Twitter crazies and things about his personal past. Um and I don't know if there's something about like a DUI arrest or something happened.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I mean Xavier's gotten into some trouble with the law in Oxford, but that was two seasons ago, really didn't have anything public this past season. And I mean, you know, NFL franchises have not really shied away from you know taking guys with DUIs and such in the past. I mean, Georgia has had a million players drafted, had a bunch of guys drafted this year that have had some uh legal issues in the past. So that that might have gone into it, factored into it a little bit. I don't know. I think some of it is his motor, and if there are some questions about durability.
SPEAKER_10Talk to me now, Tilb. Now, of course, there were a number of undrafted free agents contracts, but that was a uh uh that was definitely an interest uh you know uh of what was going on, but let's talk about the overall theme of this show too, 24. Now, of course, as you know, what 24 with the college football playoff committee meeting last week, and there was potentially um potentially uh the the the shift from 12 teams to 24. Talk to me about where what's this gonna do? And this is looks like it could potentially happen a lot sooner than what we think. Uh just give me your your thoughts on that.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I think the the 2014 team college football playoff makes sense for the SEC specifically now that the SEC has adopted the nine-game conference schedule plus the one extra power four game. I mean, that puts a strain on a lot of these teams. I mean, you look at schedules across the board now, Hunter, and you're not seeing cupcakes anymore. Now, yes, you your old miss, the Mississippi States, the Alabama's, the Alburgs will still play, you know, an FCS squad or a lower level power six team just to get a win. But now that's only two games. Now 10 of those games are against conference foes and then another power four team. And so I think the SEC specifically needed assurance that, hey, if we're gonna do this, if we're gonna acquiesce to the demands of the Big Ten and some of these other conferences that play nine games in order to boost our RPI to get into the playoff, you better expand that playoff because the SEC's gonna be the one that gets the shaft when SEC teams are beating up on each other, whereas, you know, Penn State can beat up on Rutgers, Michigan can beat up on Rutgers or a bad Illinois team and not have to worry about the conference record getting hit. And so the I don't think the 2014 team college football playoff is good for the sport hunter. I don't think that's what was initially intended when moving to a playoff format. Now I know it'll make a lot of money, and that's what reigns supreme for Disney, ESPN, and the powers that be. But for the SEC, though, it does make sense now that a team like Ole Miss can go 9-3 and still get in the playoff and not have to worry about that third loss like in 2024, costing them a chance to get in.
SPEAKER_10Tell me if this is if this happens, will this be the elimination of the regular season, uh, the elimination of any championship games, any bowl games?
SPEAKER_06Really, where are we going with that? I mean, we're already seeing bowl games dropping left and right. I haven't kept a specific tally on how many of them, but we already know that there are multiple that that won't be played next year. Yeah, I think the bowl games have been, I'm not saying deemed irrelevant. Like people are still watching the Pop Tarts Bowl and dialed in, and people still enjoy bowl season. It's a staple of December and of you know the Christmas time of year. I do think the conference uh championship games might be in peril. I mean, you have Greg Byrne, the sitting athletics director at Alabama. You know, Alabama, the juggernaut of the SEC for so many years when Saban was there, outright saying, yeah, the SEC championship really serves no purpose. So, I mean, yes, Hunter, I really do think the inception of a 24-game playoff would just completely eliminate the conference championships. They're no longer needed. And why would a team show up and play in one?
SPEAKER_10Interesting, my friend. Interesting, my friend. Will you tell everybody how they get in touch with you?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, you guys can find me on X Caleb Saylors STM. Find me all other social media at my name, and then most importantly, supertalk.fm, where I'm covering everything from Ole Miss Athletics to high school athletics to state legislature and so on and so forth.
SPEAKER_10You take care, my friend. Thanks, Hunter. You're the best. Now we're on with one of the most outstanding sports writers of the business, my good friend Craig Stevenson, an AP writer for AL.com that covers South Alabama, Troy, Alabama, and Auburn. Pretty much all of the football throughout the state, at least. How are you, Craig?
SPEAKER_04Hey, Hunter. How's it going, man?
SPEAKER_10Doing well. Talk to me first before we get going on to football. Let's talk about USA's South Alabama's baseball team really picking up a walk-off win over Southern. Do does this, you know, I know they're kind of low on the RPI ranking. Does this kind of help? Does this kind of pick it up for where they're going or what they need to do to get to the conference championship tournament? Uh, where are we at?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you know, it would have been really nice, obviously, to win that series. They lost a one-run game on Friday night, got hammered pretty good on Saturday, but then they win today with a late home run. Um, so they're able to get one out of three. They're 11-10 in the conference, so they still got a winning record in the conference. Three weeks left. Uh, they have Texas State and Troy on the road, and then Arkansas State at home to finish up. Um so, you know, I think if they can break even or finish 16 and 14 in the league, uh, then they gotta then they should at least be in the conference tournament, which is an improvement over last year. They didn't even make the conference tournament last year. They're they're alone in fifth place right now, and they play one team that's ahead of them and two that are behind them uh coming up. So, you know, if they can, like I said, if they can win two of those series, they'll be in pretty good shape uh to get into the tournament. In terms of the RPI, yeah, that's really working against them. I don't know that anything that it they have left is really going to help them a whole lot, but so they're probably gonna have to win the conference tournament to get into the to the NCAA tournament. But again, uh they're a much, much better team than they have been the last couple of years. They got two pretty good starting pitchers, and they hit the ball a whole lot better than they have in the past. What about Troy? Yeah, Troy's picked it up a little bit. They got a big uh series win against Marshall on the road, uh, which has you know been kept one of the more surprised teams in the league this year. Uh and you know, Troy is all about offense. They can really, really hit the ball. Um, you know, RPI-wise, I you know, I know South Alabama is at 75, Troy is at 59, so again, very fringy. They've actually got a losing record because they played a lot of really tough competition early, but they're in the same boat. They're gonna have to win the conference uh tournament to get in.
SPEAKER_10Outside of Ty Simpson, were there any other surprises in the NFL draft from any of the Alabama teams?
SPEAKER_04Um I thought Caden Proctor won a little bit earlier than I thought he would, but I still thought he was a first-round pick. So, you know, it's just a fit, a need situation there. You know, beyond that, most everybody went about where I thought. I thought Bernard was going to be a second-round pick, and he was a high second-round pick, and the other guys were mid to late round guys. Deontay Lawson not getting drafted was a little bit of a surprise. You know, he was a really good player at Alabama, although he had some injury issues, but he gets goes into a great situation up with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent, so maybe he's got a chance to make that team. But yeah, Simpson was the big news for sure. Obviously, a great, great fit for him uh to be drafted where he was, and a great situation to learn under Matthew Stafford and and uh Sean McVay, the head coach. But really kind of surprised that the Rams being kind of in a Super Bowl window right now didn't look to uh to pick up a receiver or a defensive player there. But again, for Ty Simpson, it's a great situation.
SPEAKER_10Talk to me about I knew you covered him for a little while. Uh Colin Lacey. Um he uh he was not drafted, which I'm not sure that was a surprise or all, but uh about his his chances and what uh if you think he's gonna be any bit of success in the league, maybe special teams or something like that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, he's gonna have to make the uh he got picked up by the Jets as an undrafted free agent. I thought he might have a chance to get drafted just because of the return skill set. You know, he had uh I think it's three kickoff returns and a punt return, or three punt returns and a kickoff return in his career for touchdowns uh between South Alabama and Louisville. Not super fast, though. I mean, I think that for somebody of his size, he's what, you know, 5'10, 190 pounds, you gotta really be able to burn it. And uh he's not that. I mean, he's pretty fast, but not super fast. So um, yeah, he's gonna have to make a team as a special teams guy, and uh he can help a team as a returner, certainly. So he's a guy that, you know, might have a chance to break his way into the league.
SPEAKER_10Now, I don't know if you've written a column about this yet, because obviously I haven't had the opportunity to check out anything, but um, give me your thoughts about the potential 24 team college football playoff.
SPEAKER_04I don't like it. I really don't. I hate it. Um, I just think it continues to water down uh the regular season and it makes the season longer, and I don't like it. You know, I they're already talking about playing week zero. So you're gonna have places in Mississippi and Alabama and Florida and Texas playing on August 25th or whatever, and you know, people passing out in the stands and all that sort of stuff, and then you know the playoff gets longer on the back end. We're almost uh what in you know, January twenty-fifth, I think is gonna be this coming up year's uh national championship game. And I I just don't Like it, man. It's too many. Uh, 16, I think, would be all right. 12, you know, is where we're at now is okay. Um, you know, 16 if you had eight first round games instead of four, and then you could get some of the top seeds to get that home game in the first round, which is what a lot of people want. I'd be all right with that. But anything anything larger than that, I don't care for. You know, there's been some discussion about possibly getting rid of the conference championship games, but I don't know how much appetite there is for that. There were definitely had to be some negotiation going on because those are big money makers, especially in the SEC, and the TV networks would kind of quote unquote have to make them whole uh, you know, to with more money to uh to get rid of those. And you know, I I don't know if we want to be in a situation to the SEC this year what we would have had like four co-champions or something like that. And I don't know if we really want that or not, but um anyway, I I uh I'm okay with where it is now.
SPEAKER_1016 I could deal with anything bigger than that, I I just think it's a ridiculous despite what Greg Sankey has to say about this, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, who do you think benefits from this?
SPEAKER_04From what? The uh conference, yeah. Oh, for sure, the bigger conferences, because now, you know, they're they're they're they're not gonna be able to exclude the group of five uh programs. They're gonna have to get at least one or it's gonna be lawsuits, man. Um, but if obviously if they expand, just like NCAA basketball tournament, if they expand those, you're not gonna get more smaller schools in. You're gonna get the fourth and fifth place team from the SEC in the Big Ten, which again, I'm not sure we need that. You know what you if you can't finish in the top four in your conference, I don't think you should be playing for the national championship.
SPEAKER_10Exactly. Exactly. Well, Craig, tell everybody how they get in touch with you.
SPEAKER_04Sure, AL.com slash sports, a.com slash USA, AL.com slash S E C, and then I'm on X at Craig Stevenson, C-R-E-G, S T E P N P H E N S O N. Thanks a lot for having me.
SPEAKER_10And you still uh have do you still have the radio show?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I still have the radio. I'm sorry, uh every afternoon from three to six on WNSP 105.5 Sound and Mobile app. You can pick it up anywhere in the world. We thank you, my friend. Thanks, man.
SPEAKER_10And now I would like to introduce one of the guys that is one of the hardest workers in this media world, David Schultz. David is the host of one of the best college football programs in the media, Locked on Sunbelt Podcast. David, how is the Sunbelt baseball looking outside of Southern Miss and Coastal Carolina?
SPEAKER_17Well, I guess it took a little bit of a hit uh this weekend. Arkansas State lost two at home. Texas State, uh, they lost two against Coastal Carolina, South Alabama lost two uh at home against Southern Miss. So what was four teams probably in uh the tournament bracket is probably down now down to two, uh, but still, you know, a few weeks left to go um in the regular season.
SPEAKER_10What's your number ultimate? I know I thought I've heard you talk about it before, but I'm not gonna assume that I know. What is your number of the RPI ranking that teams need to finish in to be considered for the tournament?
SPEAKER_17I like it to be to get an at-large berth. I liked it to be in the top 40. If I can be closer to 30 than 40, that'd be great. But if you can be 35, I think anybody in the Sunbelt uh would get in. So uh the Cajuns, you know, are 48, uh, but they have work to do just to get into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Arkansas State fell to 46. Uh Texas State is like 36 or 37. Uh, and those are the the three teams that could get in with an at large berth. Um remember at the end of the season, Hunter, uh the Cajuns host Coastal Carolina. So their RPI would probably go up as long as they could win one ball game, and and uh winning two would be tough because Coastal Carolina doesn't lose series, but you never know what happens. The Cajuns could find themselves, though, on the right side of 40 before that. So long way to go. A few more weekends, we'll see where they are.
SPEAKER_10Okay. David, talk to me about uh what happens to the Sunbelt if the in big what's the impact if the college football playoff committee in college football moves to 24 teams?
SPEAKER_17Well, I think the impact is gonna be uh tremendous. Then the new Sunbelt team is gonna get it in automatically, right? I mean, that's they're gonna get everybody, they're gonna get in the the teams from the power force schools that shouldn't make it, but you know, the group of five schools are gonna be well represented, I would think. Um, and I think that would be great. I think the Sunbelt would absolutely get in if um if it's 24 on a on a somewhat regular basis. And we have to have to look at all those details. Um, but I think the more teams in the playoffs the better. I think 24 seems to be a lot. I would I would like it as 16, uh, but I think if you're at 24, I think the Sunbelt's gonna find themselves in the playoffs almost every year.
SPEAKER_10Does the NIL now have a bigger impact than it did before if they move up to 24?
SPEAKER_17I mean, I I guess so. I I'm not sure how much Sunbelt NIL there really is. I mean, some schools may have some uh I mean we just saw Arkansas of all of all schools shut down their tennis program, right? Uh you know, you can go look in Iowa State, uh, they're another power force school. You know, they're not as well funded as one would think. I mean, this is Hunter, somewhere along the way, it's unfortunately gonna come down to like you know, football, men's and women's basketball, and baseball and softball. And that may be about it. Um we gotta figure this all out. And with the NIL, I'm just not sure how much money there is, sunbelt wise for NIL. There's a little bit, right? Luke Wilson, but this he went to ACC. Luke Wilson from uh App State was offered, I think, $300,000 at App State, and I think he went to my Orange, and I'm figuring Sycuse offered him somewhere between $500 and a million dollars.
SPEAKER_10Sure, sure. Is there gonna be any real impact on in your mind under the bowl season? I mean, is there gonna be an elimination of the ball?
SPEAKER_17Oh, yeah, they're gonna eliminate some bowls. The bulls are gonna go by the wayside. If you um if you're gonna have, you know, 48 teams not go to the bowls, yeah, right. Um, you're gonna eliminate some of those bulls, right? They may still call it, you know, the orange bowl, the cotton bowl, the fiesta bowl, where those playoff games are, but some of those lesser bowls are gonna are gonna go away. Yep.
SPEAKER_10Talk to me about La Tech. Are they official? Is it an official movement yet?
SPEAKER_17I believe it is official. They they came to an agreement. I didn't say anything about the judge signing off on it. They had uh they went and uh they gave in federal papers, federal documents that were submitted last Monday. Um, but then I thought uh Ross Dellinger from Yahoo Sports and and on three, he said that LaTeX is is into the Sunbelt. And so it it's if it's not official, it's it's basically official. But yeah, I think they're in. Yep.
SPEAKER_10So in that and under those terms, would the schedule the sunbelt released be the most accurate? Are they are they holding on to that?
SPEAKER_17I would think so. Yeah, there's no reason for the sunbelt to change their schedule. We're waiting for Conference USA to change theirs. But over on a lockdown sunbelt, we don't really care all that much about that.
SPEAKER_10Exactly, exactly. Well, David, it's always good to have you. Tell us how uh anybody can reach you.
SPEAKER_17You can follow me on uh what, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. All at SchultzCast, S-C-H-U-L-T-C-Y. Also, those accounts also have Lockdown Sunbelt, so that is big. You want to subscribe over on YouTube, that's a big deal. That's a big help. And also don't forget about the uh audio podcasts uh on uh Apple and Spotify for Lockdown Sunbelt.
SPEAKER_10Well, quick question before you go, David, we're gonna see you in Montgomery.
SPEAKER_17Uh, probably not. No, we're hopefully gonna get down to uh New Orleans for Sunbelt meeting days, but probably not gonna be at Montgomery for uh the Sunbelt Conference tournament. No.
SPEAKER_10Sounds good, my friend. You take care of yourself.
SPEAKER_17Thanks, honor.
SPEAKER_10I would like to introduce my final guest, one of my good friends and former teacher, Joe Jex, the head track and field coach at St. Stanislaw's College Prep in Bay St. Louis. Additionally, Coach Jex is a sports writer with a Gazebo Gazette and the Seacoast Echo, and finally above all, he is an old miss beat reporter. Coach, how are the coasts doing teams doing this so far this season? After, I believe, the state South State championship this week.
SPEAKER_07Uh hey, Hunter. Yeah, everything's going well. Uh, it was the South State Championships uh this past weekend, and um several several teams have done fairly well throughout the coast. Um, namely locally, it's Pas Christian. They swept boys and girls 4A uh South State uh titles. Uh that was that was that meet was held at Columbia High School, and then OLA took third in the Class 3A uh South State Championship, which was held at Biloxi. Uh now there's some been there have been other um individual performances that are certainly noteworthy and outstanding, but team-wise, that seems to be uh that seems to be the ones that are hot on the trail of a state championship.
SPEAKER_10Talk to me about um if you who do you think, I mean, I guess my bigger question would be, do you think pass has the a good, pretty good close opportunity to win the state, or do you think it's gonna just the individuals? Just talk to me about what your thoughts are. Not only them, but with you guys at Stan Slaus and at OLA. What uh if you there, who's got the talent, the most opportunity to provide for for the track teams which I guess is in Pearl this Saturday.
SPEAKER_07Oh, that's correct. That that's correct. It is in Pearl High School or at Pearl High School um this this weekend. Um there they host it three different days Friday, Saturday, and Monday. Uh St. Stannis Lawson OLA will be running on Monday, and um Pass Christian will be running on Friday um at Pearl High School. But uh getting back to the chances, uh for Pass Christian High School, um, I think they I think both squads, boys and girls, uh have a chance at a state title, but it's how much help they're going to receive from other teams to chop each other up. Because coming out of the north, you have Corinth High School, Shannon High School, and Senatobia High School, which all have very comparable times, if not better times in particular races than Pascus Chan does. Pascal Chan separates themselves in the field events for the boys. Um, for the girls, they have um they probably have a harder time trying to win a state championship as a team because those three teams, Cenatobia, Corinth, and Shannon, all have uh numerous entries across the board. And it's just a matter of it's just a matter of those three teams from the north um being slightly better than than the girls' team at Pas Christian. But the boys team certainly um certainly has has a shot, uh, probably as strong of a shot as they've had in years uh at Pas Chris Chan, but they still have to, they still have to fight that three-headed monster coming out of the north. As far as OLA and Stannislaus are concerned, uh St. Stannislaus's discus throwers, um, Sal Ricardi uh should win the class 3A discus um without question. Uh the other three entries that that St. Stannislaus have uh are all are all medal worthy uh when it comes to the state championships. It just depends on it just depends on you know how how well they run their races. Um for OLA. OLA came in third um at the 3A South State uh girls division over in Biloxi. And they what they have is very similar to what St. Stanislaus had last year in 3A. Uh they have they have a solid number of entries. The entries that they have are very good. They just don't have depth of entries. They have a single entry in in an event, whereas other teams may have two event, two entries in one event. And that that's where they'll run into run into difficulty is the depth situation. But the entries that OLA are are in, um they are extremely solid. Uh another one to look for on the go along the Gulf Coast is Sean Fairley out of West Harrison. Uh he is he has thrown 196 feet this year in the discus, and um he is he is poised to become the first uh high school discus thrower to uh surpass the 200 foot mark. And he'll be he'll be doing everything he can to reach that that that certain level there uh at the state meet coming up.
SPEAKER_10Coach, now before we get talking about what the the theme of this episode is, uh I know you you are pretty good with this putting the point scenarios together. Now track and field as a team comes down to a point scenario. What's the difference? Uh finishing first and uh believe the eighth, don't they have eight? The top eight of the state are going to be you know running or throwing or doing whatever for the events, each event, what's the difference in point totals at least? Uh how would you work on putting together the most points in wherever what event you're you're strong in?
SPEAKER_07Well, um it does come down to a point system. And there there are there, including the state championship weekend coming up, there are four postseason track meets um for class 4A, 3A, 2A, and 1A. And it starts at the division level. So you have your division meet first, and the top four finishers in each event uh move on to the super region, where the top four finishers advance to the south state, and then the top four finishers advance to state. Same thing with the north part of the state, same exact scenario. So you have the top eight uh advancing to the state championships, four from the south, four from the north. And it's it's a it's a final race or a final jumping event or a final throwing event um at every event. And every place, as long as they finish properly in the race, or as long as they record a legal throw or jump, uh the points are broken down 10 points, eight points, six, five, four, three, two, one. So even eighth place gets a point. So that's the key. If you have multiple entries in um in an event, in an individual event, then technically you can come in first, second, and third, which is 24 points in that one event. Um, so that's where depth comes in. That's where Past Christian girls are going to have a problem. That's where OLA girls might have a problem. Um with Past Christian boys, they are they are showing some depth in various events, which could come out um positive on their behalf. So the the whole idea is to get multiple entries into an event to where you even if you're not the number one, even if you're not the top finisher, your two events might very well equal more than the first place finisher. So yeah.
SPEAKER_10Coach, let's talk about the college football playoff committee in their meeting this last week where they discussed the likelihood of potentially having 24 college football playoff teams instead of 12 as they have right now. Uh who's benefiting from this? Uh now I know obviously the power conferences are the favorable, but in the whole picture, who's really benefiting from this?
SPEAKER_07Well, I mean, first and foremost, the Big Ten's going to benefit from this uh outside of the SEC. Here's the catch. The SEC now has to play a nine-game conference schedule. Had they had they really known that the playoff expansion talk would would boost to 24 almost immediately, I can guarantee you those ADs and those presidents of those particular schools would not have voted for a nine-game schedule. But here we are, uh not not three months removed from the national championship game, and we're talking about a 2014 playoff format. That will benefit the Big Ten. The Big Ten is the recipient of the last three national championships, and their conference, top to bottom, is not as salty as the Southeastern Conference, where you beat each other up every Saturday and Sunday. Excuse me, every Saturday. Then so it's going to benefit the Big Ten and it will benefit um possibly the um the group of five. It will certainly benefit Notre Dame. Uh, that's who's really gonna benefit. Your Southeastern Conference is not gonna really benefit from this because of the nine-game schedule. And then if they take the top 24 teams, you're gonna have more Big Ten teams, I believe, ranked in the top 25 than you would have Southeastern Conference teams because those South those SEC teams are gonna beat themselves up week in and week out. So it's gonna benefit the Big Ten, it's gonna benefit the group of five, but it will not benefit the SEC.
SPEAKER_10Is this gonna be the elimination of the conference championship games and the bowl seasons?
SPEAKER_07I think the bowls will suffer greatly because now you have a 2014 playoff. Uh, so those a lot of those games, a lot of those first and second round games are gonna be played on campuses where there's no bowl recipients whatsoever. So the bowl, the bowl format is really gonna suffer. Um, outside of that, the conference championship game, those conference championship games, I mean, really could be in the area of an $80 million annual paycheck. So they'll probably try to figure out a way to keep the conference championship games in place because of the hefty pay pay um payout that is coming with that. Um maybe not so much from the group of five, but I think your conference championship game with the SEC and the Big Ten and the Big 12, um, ACC, I think those those will remain as long as they can can work that out. Um, but I think the bull, I think the bowl format, if they go to 24 teams, is a gone pecan.
SPEAKER_10What do you think about like, for instance, the ACC championship game where Virginia was practically given the the opportunity uh to be in the playoffs if they didn't lose and they lose to a five five-loss team at Duke? And do you think that scenario could happen in any of the power four conferences again? Or do you think this this increase of 24 teams is going to kind of eliminate that?
SPEAKER_07I think the increase to 24 teams eliminates that. And we have to we have to let's take a look at let's take a look at this whole 2014 format and who within the last week really got involved. And that's a presidential committee uh from the White House got involved with putting their feelings out there about it. Where is DC located? DC's located right there in Virginia. So you have all that going on from looking from the outside in from a political standpoint. I think that if there's a 2014 format, I think that situation is eliminated because then Virginia would have been picked up regardless if we had a 2014 format. It didn't matter if they lose win or lose.
SPEAKER_10Coach, we wish you the best of luck this upcoming weekend. And we uh how do how does everybody get in touch with you if they need?
SPEAKER_07Uh they can certainly reach me at my email, jjecks2 at aol.com, and um feel free to feel free to send me your thoughts, questions, or opinions. We thank you, coach. All right, thank you very much, Hunter. Have a good one.
SPEAKER_01The following is a paid advertisement by O'Dwyer Realty Agent Stephanie Mankowitz. Call Stephanie today at 228 563 0471 for all your Realty needs.
SPEAKER_10And here we are talking about realty. Again, with our Adwyer Realtor Agent sponsor, Stephanie Mankowitz. Let's talk about the tips this week from Stephanie about what realtors should be doing for you.
SPEAKER_14Thank you, Hunter. As always, it's a pleasure to review realtor topics and uh hopefully it helps people, right? So, what should we do we be doing for you, the buyer or the seller? First thing I would say is, and it's in the actual disclosure everybody signs when they work with an agent, is ensure all parties are represented fairly and honestly. It's called fair and honest dealings. And if I'm helping you or anyone out before I can even show you a house, you know, you sign that disclosure. And it's not even a contract, it protects you as a person. And I'm supposed to explain that for him to you and say, hey, before we do anything real estate, I am licensed, I am liable, I am here to help you, give you fair and honest dealings, get the most I can for your house, confidentiality. I'm not gonna, if you're a seller, I'm not gonna tell people your bottom line. That's a secret. So, um, so we'll start with that. The first thing is that we are fair. And sometimes realtors get a bad rap, and sometimes there's realtors that have caused that. But uh I know I'm one of the realtors that considers myself pretty by the book and just trying to solve the problem. I just want to be a part of the solution, right? So if you're selling a puppy or Avon, whatever it is, there's liabilities when you're selling a house times three times ten. Okay. All right, well, I would say uh another thing we do, we we make sure that uh the people who maybe they were they've never sold a home before or they've never bought a home before. We make sure that we weed through the shaky buyers or the sellers, buyers that maybe aren't a good idea to deal with, we can see problems coming before they start when a realtor's been doing this 10 years. And if it is a buyer, we're also looking for sellers that might be a problem. You know, if we're putting in a really healthy offer and it's like full price or near full price, and then we hear there's a multiple offer situation, it doesn't mean you panic. You know, sometimes you leave your offer right where it is, even though there's other offers. So we're making we're weeding through the shakiness and the things that come up that seem unpredictable. And one of the other unpredictable things, like for sellers, is you know, they get an offer and it's got 10 contingencies on it, and the price looks great, and they say they're cash, but there's all these contingencies, so um, you know, you're not you're not really aware how much we help you until you actually deal with a good realtor. That's one thing I would say, and and we want to help them determine the value that's correct if they're selling.
SPEAKER_10What are some of the things that determine the value?
SPEAKER_14Oh, okay, that's a good one. Let's start with location. You know the old saying, location, location, location. All right. Uh let's start with what are things selling for around you? If you're in a nice neighborhood and and you think your house is a castle, we all kind of feel like that when we love our home. Doesn't mean it's worth three times what the market says. Uh so people will hear realtors say, Well, the market says your house is worth this. And some sellers don't want to accept that. No, no, it's it's got to be worth more. I've got a double granite countertop, I've got a fountain that shoots out gold in the backyard, and I've got three kittens with it. So I think I should get a hundred thousand more. And we have to rein people in and say, I love your kittens, I love your granite. And the last year in your neighborhood, people have paid this amount. And though, and that's where we start thinking like an appraiser. So we're like, okay, wait, we can go out two miles and look at the last sales in the last year within two miles of this property, and we can see what people have been paying. And we also look at the square footage, and that's really important, Hunter, because if your house is two thousand square feet and you saw one sell for a million and it had three thousand square feet, and you're like, Well, mine's worth that too. You're a thousand square feet smaller, so I can't even count that house as a comparable sale, right? When we determine the value, it is the critical, probably the most critical thing we do as your listing agent, because that price is the first thing they see, just like the pictures. And if we priced you so high that you seem ridiculous, they're not coming. And then guess who you don't like? Me, the realtor. You don't like me anymore. So I'm kind of an upfront realtor. I think a lot of us are after we've been in a while. And we say, look, in all honesty, right now, this is what the market says your house is worth. Other things we're gonna help you with is um determining what is the inside of the house worth. Um, appraisals are gonna change next year uh across the country, and there will be different data inputs into determining what your house is worth. So we're gonna be on top of that. Um, and so if you're trying to sell on your own, you know, we can be really helpful and deal with all these unexpected things that happen when you try to uh sell on your own. Um you know, we've talked about sellers a lot, so okay, I'm just gonna put this out there. If you're thinking of selling on your own, that some of the things we're doing for you, the seller, to make it easier is photos, professional photos. We pay for those. A lot of our photographers have drones. We're taking the calls because it's our number on the sign. So if it's a looky loo, it's not an ideal buyer. We've got our radar out there, so we're taking that hassle, you know, out of it.
SPEAKER_10If you are thinking about selling on your own, maybe ask Steph. If you would like to talk to Stephanie to help determine your next steps, call today at 228-563-0471, or call her at the office and ask for Steph at 228-452-4242. Steph has the latest information to help you get through the process with reasonable expectations. Again, that's 228-563-0471 to speak directly with Stephanie. And we gratefully appreciate you listening to this podcast. Thank you again, Jeff. This is a good show, and uh, we had a lot of good guests, a lot of good discussions about just one issue, but it was a good discussion.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it was great. It was a lot of a lot of opinions, a lot of uh a lot of really great information about a very uh touchy subject.
SPEAKER_10We gratefully appreciate you listening to this podcast, and we thank you again, Jeff. It was a great show, and it's only gonna get better. And I think we had a great discussion. Uh, it was a lot of good guests, and we talked a lot about a specific theme that uh, you know, we're just gonna try to make sure we'll we'll put things out there when it happens.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean it was a great show, great guest, as always. Um, you know, like I like to say at the end of every show, we're on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, iHeart Podcast, all the stuff. So check us out, subscribe, like, follow us, uh, do the deal.
SPEAKER_10And you know, and Jeff, as you had uh talked with, we had talked a little bit off the show earlier. We're going to try the next uh you know, hopefully it'd be next weekend, but uh we're gonna try to get where we can uh have a show live and we can uh we can be able to talk at the nine toes brewery. Uh we've got another couple of places that are interested, but I know the Nine Toes Brewering Company and Pastor Shannon who's one of our advertisers, was very interested in having us on there. And I've got to get get off myself and get get some things done and we can take care of that.
SPEAKER_05So yeah, man, uh it'll it'll be good. We won't be we'll be doing it live from there, of course, then it'll go into uh all the normal podcast spots um shortly thereafter. And I do want to uh acknowledge our sponsors. You know, the HD experience is proudly sponsored by the Gazebo Gazette, Boeer Vodge Resort and Casino, Nine Toes Brewery Company Brewery Company, Joseph Kelly, Attorney at Law, Coast Casual, O'Drier Realty Agent, Stephanie Mankowitz, and we are always recording in the U.S. Marine Inc. studio.
SPEAKER_10And Jeff, that's very, very thankful that. I mean, uh, I definitely don't remember to do that all the time. You know, I guess I have to just get on the on the right frame, but uh that is important. It's important to have the guests or important to have the sponsors and to make everything uh keep going in the right direction. And uh, you know, make sure you follow us on the gazeboazette.com where the podcast will be posted next week, as well as on facebook.com backslash the real gazebo gazette or on X at Gazebo Gazette is the handle. And just as Jeff said, the HD Experience is available on all podcasts, including Apple, Spotify, iHeart, and Amazon Music under the HD Experience tag. When you get on there, ladies and gentlemen, make sure you you download and make sure you give us reviews, tell us how we're doing. If you got any questions for us, please feel free to let us know. And we appreciate everybody listening, signing out. This is Hunter Dawkins, the host of the HD Experience. Get you all the fit.