Auburn, Alex Golesh in PRIME Position For Five Star QB Will Mencl

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up everybody? This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network, and if you haven't heard yet, we started a club and we would love for you to join. It's called the Everydayer Club, and one of the things that you get as a member is an ad-free version of the podcast that you're listening to right now. It works with whatever podcast app you already use, same episodes every day, just no ad. There's also a member's only group chat for fans of your team, plus a lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everydayer Club link in the show notes. The Auburn Tigers making a strong push for Will Menzel, the five star quarterback. You are Lockdown Auburn, your daily podcast on the Auburn Tigers, part of the Lockdown

1:01Podcast Network, your team every day. Yes, I'm Zach Blackerby. He is Kyle Rush, also known as the Charlie Five, what's the latest with Auburn's corner situation, especially Gullich's comments on Friday, I think that's interesting. DeShawn Womack is he the guy in the edge room, and if so, was that good for the Auburn Tigers? What are things off? Israel Abrams, who's the quarterback that we talked about the most on this show, that changed a little bit when Will Menzel entered the picture, but he picked Miami over the weekend. Now, I think it seems pretty clear, Kyle, that Auburn's quarterback in this class, priority number one, is Will Menzel, as we sit here and have this conversation, and just obviously a lot can change in recruiting these days quickly, but right now, it seems like Will Menzel is down to Auburn or Oregon, and we're talking about a five-star quarterback here. Yeah, and you get nervous any time you're in that conversation, as far as recruiting

2:02goes, when Oregon's on the other side, but I mean, honestly, it feels like Will Menzel's plan A, and I'm not really sure that there is a plan B. If there is, it could be a number of different people. I'm saying like not a clear cut plan B. You thought it might be, I'm losing his name, the kid from Serylain, but he committed Oklahoma, you know, so they like him, he's been for two visits, I guess now in this year already, all the way from Arizona, so. Brought his family, I think it was early last week when he was here for a few days, family seemed to love it, which is good. Yeah, and maybe this is a bigger conversation, and it could just be across the board, but I'm loving all the visits, and I'm loving all of the hype, and I'm loving everything around this talk, you know, about we're talking about the number one quarterback in the country on rivals, the number four overall, I'm sorry, no one quarterback, number four overall player. And rivals, and we're having a lot of these conversations about these guys, but like,

3:06number of committing. So is that a, is that just across the board thing for everybody, I haven't really looked around the SEC that much to see how everyone else is doing? Um, I just, especially with quarterbacks, you want to get that one over with early, and you don't want to carry it very, like carry it much longer, I guess. Yeah, and obviously goalish as approach to this is going to be different than the previous regime as it should, but the previous regime could recruit, right, at least early on when the effort was there and the NIL money was flowing, and they could sell a vision. And I think we can go back to Auburn selling a vision and goalish showing success at previous stops and all of that. But I do, it does feel like the early, like when freeze was here, they wanted a few wins, right? They wanted to kind of, you know, stake the flag in the ground and say, like, no, we're pushing. I'm a little surprised, goalish hasn't done that yet. And I don't really get the feeling that he's like, try to, I don't think he's reaching

4:08in order to do that, which is probably good long term, but I am a little surprised we haven't seen something like that yet. You know, you talked me off the ledge on that particular topic, like back whenever, you know, it was that period in between the higher and the portal opening when people were leaving. And you're like, man, I just wish we could get some wins, like get some small wins. And they're just not interested in that. And I think that's, that's fine. If it works, it's just something that we're not used to. And I got to keep telling myself that, you know, it's, this part of the year was fun with the last half, but the fall part was not. So is there, is there a, it actually mattered was dreadful? Yeah, exactly. So does those things have to correlate? You have to win in both, I guess, or do you just take your time, get who you want and move on?

5:09That's the, that's the only thing where I'm like a little nervous, but, but at the same time, you're, you're in the conversation with all these guys, which is great. He's more than his tail off. Right. The effort is so high. And just the way he's wired and the more we learn about him, you know, intentional seems to be a thing. And, you know, all of these relationships matter and look, goal is just excelled in the recruiting front everywhere. He's been compared to his peers. Now, he did well at Tennessee as an offensive coordinator in the SEC, obviously now the first time as a head coach in the SEC, but he knows what it takes. He saw it up close and personal with the success that I've all had while goalish was certainly there. And also like, it's not like, it's not like he doesn't have a million former head coaches on staff, too. Like these guys know what it takes. So I'm not as concerned about the lack of commitments yet. Now, you know, you lose Abrams to Miami and it kind of felt like it was trending that way. And Auburn seemed to pivot.

6:10I don't know if the Auburn pivoted and then that's when Abrams to Miami, he'd love or if Abrams pivot into Miami, so then it calls Auburn to pivot. I don't know. And I've talked to a few folks and like, nobody really seems to have a firm like guests on that. It doesn't matter. I mean, it seems like they feel really good about Will Menzel. They have made Will Menzel priority number one. It's just, okay, like the other school is Oregon and that, you know, like, and I yell matters a lot like Oregon's a threat, 100% and Oregon can, can pitch a lot of things. But they've got a lot of young, highly rated guys that are on their roster already. Rayola is going to have multiple years left of eligibility by the time Will Menzel were to get there. If he does choose Oregon, I think they got a five star last year, too, and I was talking to Spencer McLaughlin about that. So the path to playing time is clearer at Auburn. Now, I was either guy immediately after Biormodel. I don't think so.

7:10I think you probably need to get another guy or two in there to, you know, kind of bridge the gap. But also these elite guys don't tend to think that way. They think they can go in and beat anyone, which is the right mindset that you need to have. Yeah. Or, or at least I need to be the guy. I need to see my path for year two. So I think that's what is going to be the big selling point for wherever he goes. And like you said, it's in again, anytime Oregon's on the other side, I was just, it makes you nervous. I was just looking at SEC commit counts as a whole. And they're lower. They're lower. I mean, you got Oklahoma's that the outlier with 20. But for the most part, it's like four, five, six. So Auburn's low, but it's not like, I mean, a good weekend, you know what I mean? And you're right there where everybody else is. And you got guys, you know, that could pop at any point in time, you know, you got George Lamont's at the tight end. You really like Carlos May, like you've got a bunch of guys in the hopper. You just hope, I don't know, hope is maybe the wrong word, but you'd like to start seeing

8:12some, some, some of those dudes start popping. Will mental being right at the top of the list. Is Will mental the most important Auburn recruit right now? Or is that dramatic? I mean, the position, I can see you are always makes it important. Yeah, and that's where I was going. I can see the argument for that just because of the importance of the position. And then like dudes want to play, they want to know who their quarterback is. And you got, I just don't want to go through another, I don't want to go through another dudes night situation where we're in October and like biting our nails and, and they've got us come all the leverage, you know, completely against the wall. So it's pretty important though, I would imagine. I mean, here's another thing you got to think about. What's the pathway to get out of portal quarterbacks? Okay, eventually you got to have some kind of plan to work a guy, you know, work a guy out of the high school ranks and then work another guy in behind him.

9:12It feels like this year is the year you go big on a big time quarterback because you can go, you got Byron Brown, then you go Band-Aid year and then boom, you know what I mean? And then, and that's the guy. So it feels like this is the year to really, really go all out and you got a really good one that really likes you that you were in on before he was a five star. So all the storylines are written for it to be, you know, a hopefully an Auburn victory in this one. You just got to close and then is that situation that's maybe a whole another conversation for a whole another show? Are we organized in that situation, the things that are completely out of even goalishes control, are we organizing up there to go make it happen? Right. And then also, I mean, you just kind of hinted at it like with the doose night situation. I mean, this isn't just an Auburn doose night thing. Five star quarterbacks don't stay. I mean, we just mentioned Oregon like with Ray Ola and like he was playing at the start

10:14of Nebraska to go be a backup as a five star. So, you know, how much do you invest in these five star quarterbacks? They're elite, but they're usually not elite for the school they pick out of high school. And so it's an important to get a top quarterback out of high school. Like, I know we all want to have these guys that stay and they've become Auburn legends and they're here for three or four years, but how realistic is that? In some positions, I think it's more realistic than others quarterbacks, probably not one of them. Israel Abrams could be on this team in two years. You know, Miami loves to go get the best portal quarterback available every single year. I mean, who knows what happens with with him in two years? It's just. Well, mental does pick Oregon and it's like, oh, you know, the other five star beat him out. And it's like, okay. Well, he enters the portal. It's like, hey, will you ready? Yeah. Like, you don't need to visit. You're ready to go. Okay. Great. Sweet. Awesome. And maybe from a cost effective standpoint, I'd be better for Auburn in the long run. It's so strange and so bizarre.

11:15It is. It is. You're right. Like they, if they're not playing, I've always said a quarterbacks value is never higher than when he's on the field. So if he's going and he's not playing, that value drops significantly in my opinion. Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's like, whatever we pay do, it's like we didn't get out of it. We did not get out of it while we put into it. Yeah. It's just how it is. It's how it is. So interesting, fascinating. Well, mental five star quarterback from Arizona, Auburn, certainly making him. A pry already. The shot Womack in the edge room. Do we have enough answers yet? And how much like with the addition of Chris Murray, when he's ready to go, does that throw a wrench at everything? That's next. Right here. Unlocked on Auburn. I'm Clea Butler, host of Locked on Women's Basketball. And this is Mazda's Women's Basketball snapshot celebrating the work. No highlight reel can ever capture. The NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Elite 8 wrapped up with the Yukon Huskies, saying

12:17undefeated at 38 and 0 after a decisive win over Notre Dame, while the UCLA Bruins rally passed Duke behind a dominant second half performance. On the other side, the remaining one seeds in South Carolina and Texas will be determined after their matchups against TCU and Michigan respectively. Next up, the final four is set for Friday and Phoenix with the winners advancing to the national championship on Sunday. These moments are earned off the clock. Those long before the lights ever come on. The sweat, the fakes, the doubt, the scrapes, and coming back for more every time. Mazda puts that same drive into every detail. Winds define the moment, putting in the work, that defines you. There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. Welcome back in to locked on Auburn Zach Blackbeak-Hawrush here with you to Sean Womack seems to be the leader. Goulish can't stop talking about him. Auburn's social team posting videos of the guy left and right. I love it.

13:18Fun personality seems to be loved by his teammates. It seems to be getting better every day to quote Alex Goulish. He did finally mention Jared Smith's name Friday afternoon, which was good, which is something that you and I talked about going into spring. But it does seem like it's Womack's room right now, which is fine, but what happens when Chris Murray comes in and is able to go and who's more likely to get more snaps this season, the Sean Womack or Chris Murray, I think it's a fascinating conversation. It is. And then another fascinating conversation, I feel like, because I can't quite figure it out yet, is like, who's playing where? It feels like they're interchangeable like the guy on the ground versus guy standing up like in the in the scrimmage. It was Womack with hand in the ground and then Jared Smith coming off the edge. So has has Womack sort of solidified that Kendrick Falkroll is that is that what he's going

14:22to play? Well, he will he stand up and come off the edge. It's just there's a lot of guys that I guess they're like the same like a lot of same size guys that I just don't really know exactly how that whole room is going to play out. The only thing I do know I feel confident in is the Sean Womack is part of the plan because he is he is front and center and every drill. He's the one you like you just mentioned. He's the one you hear about from all these different scrimmage type periods. I don't know if the sense of urgency is ramped up with him or if he's just clearly the best guy out there. He's number one, it's his it's his room, whether it's the defensive in room or the edge room, whatever you want to call it. Maybe it's all the same room. He's the guy right now. Yeah. Yeah. When I watched the defensive front a lot during our last window. So I guess this was last week. And it was Womack, JJ Falk and Jaquois Wilkes all working together.

15:25And I'm like, okay, I think these are the edges. That seems more natural. That seems natural. Right. Yeah. And then everyone else was clumped together somewhere else. And I'm like, okay, those are the D ends. And but then you know, just talking to folks who were at the scrimmage Thursday and they let no Womack had his hand in the ground. He was a strong side end. I'm like, huh. All right. So I mean, does it really matter? I don't think so, but it is noteworthy. But then the question is, all right, well, if do they have Womack in at end more because they know Chris Murray's coming in and he's probably the favorite now to start against Baylor at edge, if, if goalish, let's them, if goalish, let's some earn that back in time. All right. You know, I don't even think about that potential like that part, that I guess scenario, but it very well could be that hey, Womack's good and we want to get him on the field like somewhere, but we just feel like Chris Murray's probably going to be the guy when

16:32he's back. So where can we get him on the field and like, it seems like maybe that, if that hand in the ground, strong side spot is, is where they can get him on the field and be successful, that might be the way to go. I think Murray's just at edge would be my guess. Yes. I agree. I think so too. It feels like Murray would just be at edge, and I think Wilps this year would just be at edge. And Jared Smith could do both. Agreed. Yeah. And also, we don't know the Phillips. I don't know. We don't know Nate Johnson. He must not be having good spring because I have not heard anything wrong. We don't know the situation that that formation was into. Is that a heavy? Is that a heavier strad against the run? Like, we don't, we don't know exactly like the situations of when they put that out there. Could that be a package they're working on? It's just, we just don't know. That's just what, that's just the information we were given.

17:33Yeah. Third down situation where, you know, you put whoever you believe your two best rushers are on the field and you just go see what happened. Yeah. I'm with you. Context definitely matters there. I think you would agree. We've been hearing a ton about JJ Falk, like potentially, and seeing it too, potentially moving into that number one, you know, past rusher role. I mean, obviously we're still talking about without Chris Murray being out there. So, yeah, that, that whole thing is interesting. Again, like you, you always say, is it important or interesting? I think it's interesting. And we'll have to have more context added before we really know what it means. But the one thing we do know, the Sean Womack is the guy, he's the guy on that room. So between the guys that we think will be relevant in key downs, the Sean Womack, Jared Smith and JJ Falk and Chris Murray are those before you would say are most relevant in that room. I don't want to put your quesadillas in there yet, but I do think he plays this year.

18:37We okay with those four. Yeah, I'm good with those four. Okay. We had to pick the two from those four. Once again, to Sean Womack, Jared Smith, JJ Falk and Chris Murray, which two play the most snaps in 2026, throwing out injury and all that, of course. We can't predict that. But like, let's assume they all play, they're all healthy, which two of those four play the most total snaps this season. Feels like it's got to be Womack and Murray. I'm with you. I think. I'm with you. Murray does, I mean, he looks good. He's in, I mean, he was about to compete for pro day. So it's not like he's just been slapping around. Yeah. I do like the goalish on Friday talked about the difference of being in pro day, combined shape versus being in football shape. True. True. It's other ease in the back. It's from a safety standpoint. It's like he's on a football shape yet. He's in shape. But not in a football shape yet. Because you're focused on, okay, how quick kind of run my 40, how quick can I do my shuttle? How many bench presses can I do and all that stuff?

19:38It's just different types of workout and preparation. So I thought that was insightful and a thoughtful approach to that as well. Other things he said on Friday, not high on Shamar Arno. How does that impact the depth of the corner room? That's next, right here, unlocked on Auburn. Today's show brought to you by our friends at Fandall. Fandall is America's number one sports book. The tournaments are behind us. It's all done. It's all done. But we can bet on Auburn basketball's odds to win the national championship in 2027 plus 8,000 odds for Auburn to win at all in basketball in 2027, never too early, baby. And then Auburn, of course, a seven and a half point favorite against the Baylor Bears to open the season. Can you imagine firing down a Auburn national championship bet when you don't even know

20:38the roster? Just a dinner. I love it. I love it. Head over to Fandall.com to get started once again that is Fandall play your game. All right. Find a few minutes on today's edition of locked on Auburn. If you want this show without ads on audio, you can head over to locked on Auburn dot supercast.com. You can sign up there. You get an ad free audio feed as well as access to an exclusive discord. Be sure to tag me and suggest topics and things you want to talk about. You can do all that there. That link is in the episode description down below whether you're watching or listing. Kyle, the corner back room when when Goliath was asked about it on Friday, you know, he talks highly of, you know, Dre Andre Jordan, Jr. Talked highly of Ray Sean Pleasant. Talked highly. The first guy you mentioned actually was Blake would be, which is great. And then, you know, we talked about Gavin Jenkins, who's younger and kind of learning how to use his frame, which you saw him, I think it was two weeks ago where he was like the starting

21:41corner with, you know, for a few, for a few minutes there during some reps at the drills. And then I'm like, is he gonna say Shimano like is he making a point not to? And then like he gets to him and he didn't let off like he told us when he thought like when he's good, he's really good. And when he's bad, he's really bad, essentially, I'm paraphrasing, but that's, that's what he was saying. And then talked about his maturity and like we've got to, he's got to be consistent. I mean, I was like, he's, I think he's got a publicly calling him out, if I'm being honest with you. I think that was, I think that was the messaging that he wanted to get out is like, Shamar can be great, but he's not great enough. Right. So I wonder, I wonder what the pecking order truly looks like. I would guess it's Andre Jordan, Jr. and Ration on Pleasant right now, then Blake would be is that third corner. But I think there's two takeaways from that. I think you go two different ways with what he said. I think one you could say, hmm, okay, they're going to really push Shimano and say, okay,

22:44we need you to be the guy. We're going to make sure you're the guy. We're going to do everything it takes to get you to that next level. Are we not mentioning Gavin Jenkins enough? Hmm, I think, I think there's a good argument for both. Right. I think they need any time you, anytime you invest heavily in someone, you need them to work out. I mean, especially at Auburn, like, we're super competitive in the N.I. space, but like, you just don't have endless money. Like, you just don't have a ton of money to have a bunch of misses, you know, and especially when you let two guys kind of walk in your, your replacing them, you want the guys that you replace them with to hit. So I think there's, there's that aspect of it. And then there's just that that's who goal is she is aspect of it, where it's like, I'm going to demand, I mean, that's been the, the messaging, I'm going to demand excellence every single day. I'm not going to ask for it. I'm going to demand it. And it's not like you can be good on Tuesday and then average on Thursday, we're going

23:46to demand it every single day. And you and I have had the conversation like, where the heck is it? Where is aren't like, where is Shamar like we, we, we were standing beside each other. And the first thing you said to him, he was like, I looked everywhere and I didn't see Shamar and we had to like really go lock in to try to, try to find him. And that seems to be the story line around him and hopefully he's got all the, the physical tools in the world and I'm sure that from a talent aspect that he can turn it, he can turn it on and be that guy, but can you do it over and over again? It definitely feels like he's being challenged. And I think as far as the Gavin Jenkins thing, we kind of started driving that train a little bit last week. And I wouldn't be, I mean, you said, but it would be the, maybe the third guy, like it wouldn't shock me if it was actually, you know, Gavin Jenkins.

24:46So get ready because you're going to see a lot of him this year. You think so? You're at that boy. Like you think Gavin Jenkins is high enough in the pecking order where he plays. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Now, where he's going to find a role somewhere like he's just outside of special teams. Special teams will be big and, but I mean, Ray, Sean Pleasant, is he going to be able to do both? Is he going to be your guy that do special teams and do corner? I just, if he's that first guy off the bench, I mean, that, I just feel like that guy plays, even if it's just a handful of snaps here or there, I think he's going to be, I think he's going to be pretty good. Yeah. I mean, if you're a top four corner in the pecking order, you play, but the question is, is he or do we see, do we see Blake would be and do we see tomorrow know ahead of him? I mean, I think that's the big, I think that's a big question. I don't think it's a question right now. I think he's definitely in that top four now, what currently eight practices into spring

25:50or whatever now, what happens by the end of spring and through summer and all that is another story, but like it feels like right now he's comfortably in that top four. Yeah. I wonder if there's even a little bit of like with Shamar, like the, that D recruitment process that we kind of hear about where, but this is a little different through the lens of, oh, I just got paid. I'm one of their, like, I'm a pretty highly paid defender based off of the people that we've talked to. Yeah. I've got the job, they're paying me to be a starting corner. I'm getting starting SEC corner money. And then it's like, oh, I might be the fifth guy in this room right now. And so then it's up to him of like, do you pout or do you respond, which is I think kind of what goal is he's penting out there? Exactly. That's the, that's the, that story still has to be written. How do you respond? Right. I like that. Hey, I like just open, call it out, challenge, put it out there, you know, put the business

26:52out there and see how they respond. Again, you want your bigger money guys to work out, but I don't think for one second they're going to put a guy out there if they don't think he's going to help them win, right? It's got to, but you got to earn it. But also in the same sense, I'm agreeing with what you're saying, but to add to it, you know, in goalish, Darryl asks this question to him on Friday where, okay, there's no, there's no spring portals like what you got is what you got and you're looking at that, well, we can't go get another corner. What's our best bet is our best bet to think that Gavin Jenkins takes a step forward and just his floor rises or do you look and say, okay, well, tomorrow knows incredible. When he's on and do we figure out a way to coach him to be consistent and the truth is they're going to try to do both and they're going to do the same thing with Blake would be, they're going to do the same thing with all of these guys. But, you know, a full spring and a full summer and a full fall, what does that look like for each individual player and that that's what's going to come down to, which is, you know,

27:56I guess good. I guess good. We'll see what happens. I don't, I don't love a starting corner returning kicks. I just, I philosophically don't love it, but racial unpleasant is good. And to be honest with you, like, he's a good returner, but I'd rather him, like, if he's a, if he's corner two opposite Andre Jordan, Jr., I think there's other guys that can return the rock. That's, that's just kind of my view on it. No, I'm with you. And usually they were on the field. That means the other team scored when they're kicking off. So you're on the field and then you got to go out there for a kickoff return. Yeah. I'm with you. I don't, it's a more ideal if you don't have to lean that way. I hope we get to see some of that. We get two practices this week. So I hope we get to see maybe something a little different, see some special team stuff. That'd be nice. Or, I mean, we should see it on a day too, right? Sure. Sure. All right. How can people check out everything you've got going on? Absolutely. Go to the barnalburn.com sign up for our message board today, the barn YouTube page or the

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