1. Young QB’s To Watch Out For | Intro Pod

We're on the precipice of week one of college football. Week zero, practically here. It's so exciting. Summer is winding down. Spring is way back there in the rearview mirror, and we've got a lot to talk about.

We got a lot to cover. It's gonna be a long, fall. Thank you so much for listening, for watching. My name's Brandon Taylor. What do we love?

Are we gonna be talking about here? What's our favorite thing? It's college football, y'all. Wherever you are, have you maybe joining me, listening to me here, I sure do appreciate it. Right here on, all the podcast platforms, also on YouTube.

You can also join me at brandon t c f b on TikTok x and all those good things. But enough about that. Let's just talk about real quick about what this is before we get into some real college football. Well, I myself am a lifelong college football fan. And if you're watching this video, if you're watching on YouTube, you'll see a bunch of stuff behind me.

And that's just a fraction of the memorabilia items that I have that represent my fandom. Okay? But my fandom is not just with one team. My fandom is with the sport. I love the SEC, but I also love the Big Ten, the Big twelve, the ACC.

I love group of five teams. I I will watch college football no matter what it is, what time of the day or night. It's just it's ingrained in my blood. Okay? You may feel the exact same way, but what makes this and and what makes myself different than you out there other than I'm behind a microphone?

Nothing. But that's the beauty of this. This new podcast venture, want to bring, obviously, what everybody else brings. Coverage of the games, the players, the stories, the news, my opinions on things, who's gonna win the game. I do like getting into odds and betting things, although I'm not a gambler myself.

I like getting into all that. But what makes this different is that you, the listener, you, the viewer, are the eyes and ears out there in the field because I cannot cover all these college football teams. I am not a deeply devoted fan of every single college football team, but you are. There's somebody out there that's a fan of every team that I will ever mention. And you know more about your team than I do.

Right? So you're my eyes and ears out there. You are the all you're the reporters out in the field is what I'm trying to say here. And I will depend on you to be part of this because this works with all of us together. Okay?

And like I said, there's gonna be many ways for us to connect, to connect in the next days, months, and hopefully years. Obviously, like I said, at brendan t c f b, I'll have content there. I have content on YouTube. Obviously, all the podcasting platforms. And, we'll see how that goes.

There may be other things, other avenues of communication as well that we'll get into. But I would I really like it when I can communicate because I can learn, I can gauge fan interest on things, on coaches, on players, how they feel at any current time. And I have learned a lot, like, from from TikTok, for example. I've learned a lot, from people just asking questions, you know, because that's what I wanna know. I wanna know how people feel about their coach, for example.

Because we did a, coach hot seat gauge that, got some mixed reviews on TikTok. People agreed. Some people thought I was, pretty silly for some of my decisions. But look, if if I was perfect, there's no way to be perfect. If we're gonna be, you know, quite honest here.

No matter where I put your coach on a hot seat list, somebody's gonna be mad. I'll put the coach on the absolute hottest of hot seats. Oh, there's no way. There's no way he's gonna be there. Oh, he is our guy.

You put a guy on on on a seat that is as cold as Antarctica and everybody say, no. No. No. No way. Oh, we don't like him.

We want him out. So there's no way to please everybody. So what I'm gonna do instead of trying to guess and please everybody, I want to know how people feel. I don't wanna guess. And I I don't necessarily want to, alter my opinion based on how you feel because you're emotional about your team just like I'm emotional about things that I like.

But we can all learn together and that's what we want to do. That's what we all wanna do here. Because after all, it's college football y'all. That's what I'm talking about. As this, comes out, it'll be Friday, August 15, which does happen to be my birthday.

And the Michigan, scandal, Michigan allegations, the sanctions, if there are any that the NCAA is gonna dish out, will probably be out by the time this gets out to people and anyone might possibly hear this. So we'll cover that next week. But what I wanna do what what I do wanna talk about is my first topic here on the show is something a little easy. That's three quarterbacks that I'm looking forward to seeing in 2025. And now, these three quarterbacks have a lot in common.

They all three happen to be in the SEC. Oh, SEC homer. SEC homer. I I can hear it already. Okay.

I I get it. I get it. All three of these quarterbacks are entering their first year as the starters. They they've just been handed the reins of their prospective team. They all three were recruited by the team that they're currently at out of high school.

So in other words, they did not transfer in. They've been there their entire time. And I guess you could you could also add in they've all red shirted. So But, the the three, quarterbacks are as follows. Number one is Ty Simpson in Alabama.

And what's interesting about him, he's 22 years old. He's a red shirt junior. Coming in to, lead the team after Jalen Milrow, left for the draft. Now, there are some other talent on the team. They've got a five star on the team.

There's a a a pretty decent quarterback room there at Alabama. But that was Jalen Milrow's team. I think Ty Simpson has some promise. Obviously, we don't have much when it comes to, like, real crucial gameplay. All all these quarterbacks have some stats, but luckily, that's not something that we can harp on here.

And I think that's a good thing because we can't say, you know, Ty Simpson, he had the he he threw this mean touchdowns. This was his completion percentage. Did this, did that. But this guy did this and did that. So we're not, like, basing everything on us, like, statistical analytical type thing.

And I think that that can be good, especially when we're talking about young quarterbacks like this, but it's also a lot harder. Ty Simpson, I think, has the ability to excel past what Jalen Milrow was. Now you may say, well, if if he was that great, he would have beat Jalen Milrow out. No. Not necessarily.

Jalen Milrow that that was Jalen Milrow Milrow's team. Like, there was nothing that Ty Sampson could have done. Well, I guess I guess you you could never say nothing could have been done, but that was Jaylen Milrow's team and the the team decided that. The team rallied around Jalen and that's how it is. And sometimes it goes beyond coaching.

And that's kinda how it is there, but it's fine. Ty Simpson, he's a kid that grew up loving Alabama. Loving the Crimson Tidy. He wanted to go to school there. He he got recruited.

He did go to school there and he was just waiting for his shot. He's like what you would call an old school quarterback in a sense that he's not there for all the the the flashiness, all the the money, and just just searching for the bag if you wanna say. And I don't always wanna harp on the NIL thing like, you know, whether it's good or bad. I think players should have the ability to be paid. I I think there's a better way to do everything, but I don't wanna beat that, you know, like beat a dead horse here because that's been done the past two, three, four years.

Ever since the NIL thing, the transfer portal started going wild. So, we'll talk about all that on a different day. But for Ty Simpson, like I said, he has a great chance of doing some some good things this year for the Crimson Tide. Katelyn DeBoer, really looking to, you know, push for that playoff because I think Alabama fans are expecting a little bit more. And I think Alabama fans are excited and they should be.

Now we'll get into, some tests, some some real first tests that these quarterbacks are gonna face. But my second quarterback on the list is is Austin Simmons from Ole Miss. He's 19 years old, a red shirt sophomore. This kid is intelligent. He's 19 years old.

He already has his bachelor's degree. He reclassified he was actually supposed to be in the class of '25, basically. But instead, he he reclassified to 2023, and has hit the ground running, obviously, with his academics. A dual sport athlete. He played baseball.

He was a pitcher. And in the games that he had played, did actually fairly well. He could've chose either Avenue, but obviously, I I think there was there was no shot that football was the decision that he had to make. And he made that decision and I know Mike Bianco, Ole Miss baseball coach, I know he's He hates to lose a good pitcher, but I know he understands. And for Simmons, he's coming in to replace Jackson Dart and he has pretty big shoes to fill.

Our sample size for Austin Simmons is what everybody's been talking about and that's that one drive versus Georgia last season where he literally picked up the team that was laying on the ground there, after that first drive where Jackson Dart got, got slightly, you know, kinda minor minor injury there, turned the ball over. Austin Simmons picked the team up and pushed them on down the field. They scored, they got back in the game, ended up putting it to Georgia last season. But he played in some other games, you know, he threw some other passes, he got some touchdowns in garbage time versus some lesser opponents. And so we really don't have much of a sample size for him as well other than what he did at that crucial moment.

We'll see. Just like with Ty Simpson and this other quarterback I'm about to mention, how do they handle pressure early? Because there are some tough tests early, they could get rattled here. But before we get to that, my third quarterback, who else? Arch Manning, Texas, 21 years old, red shirt sophomore, obviously, continuing the Manning legacy there.

He's another kid that he he wanted to go to Texas. He he chose to to go to Texas on his own there. No pushing by his uncles, by his dad, Cooper, or anybody else. He he made that decision on his own, to go to Texas for whatever reason. And that's perfectly fine, but he decided that, you know, I'm gonna sit back and I'm gonna wait my turn as well.

And he has. But the thing that really makes him different than the other two quarterbacks is his NIL valuation that on three currently has it, $6,800,000. So he's making a lot of money to sit on the bench. And honestly, I wouldn't mind that at all. I mean, I would sit on the bench.

I wouldn't I I would never touch the field if you give me that kind of money. I know we all would. And it's silly to say that because this guy has a lot of potential. I know he does. I know he's got speed.

We do have a small sample size of him as well. He did have to come in for the injured Quinn Ewers last season. And then when Quinn Ewers recovered, he politely handed the reins back. And, you know, I've heard a lot of people just like the same thing about Ty Simpson. The thing with Archmanning, well, if he was so good, he would have took in the starting spot over Quinn Ewers.

And I think that's that's an emotional take. That's not at all realistic. I I think Quinn Ewers, just like Jalen Millrow, that was his team. Quinn Ewers, you know, as long as he was at Texas, that was going to be his team as well. And I I think it's better that it was that way, for the team's sake, for just continuity really, honestly.

But what is special about what all these three players have done is one of the things I started out by saying just a moment ago. They were recruited out of high school. They all went to the high the college that they were recruited to, that they originally picked. And they've been in these systems, learning these systems, becoming ingrained in these systems for the time that they've been there. And so now they should be ready as can be, you know, now that they have the chance to put the team on their back.

Now, you know, getting put in a garbage time, getting one drive in a crucial game, you know, practicing, scrimmaging, all those things. It is not going to equal out or be anywhere the equivalent of, facing a big time opponent whether that is home or away. And I want to look at the, the first tests really for these three quarterbacks. And for Ty Simpson, that starts at week one at Florida State. They have to go to Tallahassee.

Now, I know the thing about the Seminoles, they, know, had that great season in 2023 that ended unfortunately. They missed the playoffs and that all happened. That's way behind us. 2024, they fell off a cliff. 2025, I think they're more of a promising team.

I've seen them as possibly being a bold team. Regardless, you have to go to, Doak Campbell Stadium there in Tallahassee. That's not gonna be an easy place to play regardless. And I I have no doubt in my mind Alabama's gonna come out with a victory. But still that, you know, that's this isn't a Mercer that they're playing.

Okay? You know, this is a this is a tough start. But I think he's gonna be just fine. His real tough first test is going to be week five where they have to go to to Georgia and have to play the Bulldogs. And that is going to be a heck of an environment, just a heck of a game.

And, will he be ready by then? I think so. He's got a good team around him. But what Ty Simpson does here in week five, against Georgia is gonna set the tone for the rest of the year. And that's that.

Moving on to Austin Simmons. His first test is in week two at Kentucky. Now, if you remember, Kentucky beat Ole Miss last year. And I know that's, you know, it could be relevant. It could be irrelevant to the point I'm trying to make here.

But the fact is, this is like, this is a game that won't be overlooked. And I don't care how much Lane Kiffin or the Rebels are are trying to pretend like, okay, they're they're looking at, the other matchups. They've got their first game is Georgia State, so that's not gonna be a real test. But then you gotta go to Kentucky in week two and, how, you know, he could he could mess up, you know. He could throw three picks or he could put the team on his back and, like, lead a great victory there early in the season.

And I know that game's not the same as a Georgia or going to Georgia or going to Oklahoma, two games that they have later in the year. But still week two SEC matchup is gonna get pushed into SEC play early in the year and that could be, that could be interesting there, for the young kid. The 19 year old. The next test, week five. They've got LSU at home.

Now this is LSU with, Garrett Nussmeier. If if he if he's healthy, if he's a 100% regardless, Garrett Nussmeier, one of the best quarterbacks in the country. But Austin Simmons isn't playing against Garrett Nussmeier. He's playing against that LSU defense. And is that LSU defense gonna be improved?

Are are there gonna be any setbacks? They've got Perkins. Are they gonna be average? Are they gonna be above average? All I know is LSU is a very talented team.

And Brian Kelly, people have had gripes that, you know, he can hold a good team back. And since he's been at LSU, he's held back some great players. That is what I've been hearing from LSU fans. Don't shoot the messenger here. Okay?

Ole Miss, LSU, always tough. LSU, won that game literally on the last play last season, in overtime, down in Baton Rouge. Tough game. Toss-up for me. I don't really know.

But if Austin Simmons, that's just the same thing with Ty Simpson. You're gonna learn a lot about Austin Simmons in week five and Ty Simpson in week five as they travel to Georgia and as, as Ole Miss at home, versus LSU. Now on to Arch Manning. Week one. Oh, boy.

The big matchup versus Ohio State. I'm so excited to to to see this game. I cannot wait for this game. This this man. This is what's so great about this game.

Is that the first week I know we have week zero, but when we get to the week one, the the true start of the college football season, We get a matchup like Texas at Ohio State. Chef's kiss. That's all I'm gonna say. Real tough test there. And and then they have to go to Florida in week six.

But a couple great matchups, man. I mean, Texas and Ohio State, these are two you you've got Texas that is fit like a glove into the SEC, and you got Ohio State, the defending national champions. It's gonna be fun to watch. I'm getting excited. I'm getting chills just thinking about it.

But, you know, we I I talked about these three quarterbacks, but, you know, there's there's plenty of other quarterbacks in the country inside the SEC and outside the SEC that you could talk about, all the big guys. You know, like, what what's Jackson Arnold at Auburn gonna do the the transfer from Oklahoma? That's gonna be interesting to watch. Does Hugh Freeze does Hugh Freeze bring in another quarterback that ends up being a bust? You know, he he didn't do so well with Peyton Thorne last year.

What about John Meteor at Oklahoma? He has plenty of potential. Plenty, plenty of potential. That's great. And then he gets past these gambling accusations.

I think he does. I think he gets through unscathed. I think it's a bunch of baloney to begin with. He has a chance to make some make some movement there at Oklahoma as they're struggling to fit in the SEC. What about Carson Beck though there at Miami?

You know, does this change of scenery, help him to improve? You know, he he made a great decision for going the draft because his draft stock dropped. He has a real chance to to put himself back into the, you know, second round conversation, maybe first. I I don't know. There's gonna be so there's gonna be some other pretty darn good quarterbacks in this class, upcoming draft class.

But but I think he can play himself into a higher spot, maybe second round. I don't know. Crazier things have happened. No doubt. What about DJ Lagway?

Does his calf injury hold him back? Florida can win games. They can absolutely win games if he's healthy. Florida's over under is seven and a half wins. And if he's healthy throughout the season, just healthy enough, they go over that.

Then you have the big names like Drew Aller there at Penn State. You got Garrett Nussmeier that I mentioned just a little bit earlier at LSU. Two players that are are gonna make a difference for their teams this season. Drew Allen and Penn State, man. They have a lot of incredible amount of hype.

Man. We're gonna be some fun matchups in the big 10 to see that we're gonna circle this, this year as well. But So we kinda move on from that. I wanna talk about another thing as we look at some early lines and I mentioned at the top of the show here that I want to talk about some lines. Some over unders, some spreads, things like that.

Now, I'm not a gambler myself and, but I do not disparage anybody that is. Obviously, if you got a problem, you need to, you know, seek the the appropriate, folks to help you with that as always. But I like to look at these lines, I like to look at these spreads and I like to to pick them myself. It's fun. But they're really the only game worthy of week week zero here on the the line list And we gotta come up with a pretty good name, pretty cool name for this.

So I just don't wanna cut lines, spreads, odds. I wanna come up with something cool. That's a work in progress. But for week zero, it's Iowa State and Kansas State. Kansas State currently three and a half point favorite.

The total of 49 and a half. I'll give you my opinion on that next week as we go through the full, full spread, full, if you wanna say gambling or sports betting takes, that'll be next week. But looking ahead, just to a couple games here for week one, Texas and Ohio State. Currently, Ohio State's a two and a half point favorite. Clemson is a four and a half point favorite over LSU, and Notre Dame is a two and a half point favorite over Miami.

Three great games there in week one. We'll get to those, after week zero when we get to week one game week, and the full slate of the odds and the spreads and all those great things. And like I said, that's something I really wanna dive into, doing picks, making picks and all those things. And we'll see at the end of the year if we should be doing that anymore or if I should've been betting my own money or if it's good that I left it in my wallet. Well, I wanna thank you again for joining me today on the episode.

What is it? It's college football y'all. My name is Brandon Taylor. As always, follow on all the socials. It's at brandon t c f b, and you can search YouTube, brandon t t f b.

You'll find me there. So thank you for joining us. I hope to see you again next time, next episode, as we get inch as we inch closer and closer. We're almost there, folks. Week zero is gonna be here, and then we'll be in full swing and we will not stop till January, and football will be around till mid February.

It's a wonderful time of the year. It's an exciting time of the year, and I hope you'll stay here with me through it all. Brandon Taylor again, college football, y'all. We'll see you on the next episode. Peace, love.

Thank you so much. We'll see you next time.