Sports Files with Greg Gaston - Aug. 29, 2013

(female announcer) This is a production of WKNO - Memphis. Production funding for "Sports Files" is made possible in part by.. Today on "Sports Files" a distinguished panel will help me preview the S-E-C College Football season. ♪♪♪ Ready or not, the 2013 college pigskin season kicks off tonight with more than a dozen games including a big S-E-C clash in Nashville as Vandy hosts Ole Miss. The last seven B-C-S champions have come from the S-E-C and two time defending champion Alabama goes into this season, the consensus choice to make it eight in a row. So what can we expect to see from the S-E-C in this final season of the B-C-S? Here to lend their expertise is award winning journalist from the Commercial Appeal Ron Higgins, former college coach and the man behind the terrific website coachingsearch-dot-com, Pete Roussel, and Mid-South Radio Personality, Shawn Arnell. ♪♪♪ Ron, let me start with you. What is the one team with the biggest question mark going in to the season? Boy, I'll tell ya what. I mean armed with Malzahn, you don't know what you're really gonna get. You know he has players familiar with the system from a few years back. I mean quarterback-wise, it's really iffy, which is why there's like a four quarterback derby right now. So you don't know what you're going to get. But you know the system you're going to get. But you don't know how fast it's going to be. pete, you got four new head coaches in the S-E-C with Bielema, Jones, Stoops and Malzahn. Which coach in your opinion do you feel will have the most success right out of the gate this first year and then long-term? Yeah, I think Butch Jones at Tennessee with what he's done with talent acquisition and his first signing class and the enthusiasm. He's gonna have a significantly different brand of football in Rocky Top this year. I think you'll see a different -- a much more well-coached football team. And I think over the long haul, it will be between Malzahn and Butch Jones. I think when you couple the coaching staffs, you know, you take a look at Butch Jones and he was able to bring so many guys from Cincinnati and they're familiar. This is their third time together. They know how to do it. They know how to do it quickly. I think that'll really benefit Butch Jones. And then Malzahn, you can't ignore the staff that he put together with the likes of Ellis Johnson and Rhett Lashlee and all the veteran S-E-C assistance. Shawn, we've been talking during the off season ad nauseum about Johnny Manziel and Texas A and M. And unfortunately, it's been off-the-field issues with Johnny. Let's talk about on the field. Last year, Heisman Trophy winner. Do S-E-C defenses catch up with them this year or is he still going to be the player that he was last season in your opinion? You know I'm sure Pete as a former coach will attest to this with the improvational skills he brings to the table is something I don't think he prepared for. So how do you prepare for that? How do you seem like that in practice during the course preparing for a team like A and M? If teams can do that defensively, more power to them. But I think that's the "x" factor that Johnny brings to the football game is that play breaks down, he can capitalize on a knee lean. He makes up the hamp of his legs. The mobility factor, Greg.. I think he'll be contained at times. I don't think he'll put the numbers he had last year. But then again, he is such a great football player. He's tough to stop. Ron, I would imagine that some of it last year was he hit the S-E-C by surprise. But then again, he has mad skills that Shawn alluded to. But do some of the defenses catch up with him this year? Well I think a lot of them will try to play him like.. I mean Florida played him that way in the opener. A couple of times have played where you don't fully rush it. You kind of rush it contained and you hope that your past defense holds up well. And so basically, you do flush in from the pocket but you don't over run. And it's almost like you're rushing to this invisible force field and wait. And hopefully everything gets covered up behind ya. And then he starts running rather than flushing him. Because when you flush him, that's when you have trouble. That's when it's like this big jail break and you're totally out of position. They want to kind of contain it and kind of play gaps and make sure that, you know.. Let's keep him in front of us. And until he makes a break, let's don't flush him. Pete, I know you instruct down at the Manning camp. So you see some of these great quarterbacks. If you had the pick of the litter, Manziel, Murray of Georgia, Mettenberger at L-S-U, McCarron at Alabama, who's your preference? Well I would take AJ McCaron. You look at the track record and how he's played in the big games. You go back to last year at L-S-U. Two minute drill late in the game. I think they got it with a 1:37 left. He looked like Peyton Mannings, you know, running that two minute operation. But the guy, Greg, that I'm really interested to see how he does this year in his progression is Zach Mettenberger. He's so talented. He's got the best arm in all of college football. There's no question about it. Under new offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, I want to see how his maturity develops on and off the field. And let's see if he has a much better year with Odell Beckham Junior. Beckham was down at the Manning camp for a day. And I tell you what. He really, really impressed me. He looked.. I'll put it this way. I've seen five-year veteran N-F-L recievers that didn't have the foot work, the body lean, the speed, the route running, the ability to cut off on a dime like Beckham. I think he's in for a really, really big year as well. I'll ask this question of all of you starting with Ron. The one team you're most excited to see this year in the S-E-C? Oh, that's a good one. Uh, I guess I'm probably gonna go with.. Yeah, I'm going with Georgia because they came so close last year. And Murray seems like it's been there forever. And I know they're rebuilding their defense. But they were so close last year. I'm kind of excited to see if they can get it done finally. They've been, you know.. I think we're just taking a lot of heat for the years. I think he's a really good coach. And last year, you know, they came within five or six yards of getting the ball in the end zone and they would have probably been the title game. So I'm kind of interested to see what Georgia does. And that conversely, South Carolina also because I just like Spurrier so much. And Clowney's such a force. And I like to see Spurrier win a title somewhere else to kind of prove that, you know.. His title with South Carolina will be treasured by him probably more than the stuff in Florida because.. Yeah, that Georgia situation may be the biggest question on the field this year. Can they finally get over the hump and beat Alabama? Shawn? Kentucky! Just kidding. [laughter] Um, you know what? I think this Ole Miss story line, guys, is very interesting to me. This big time recruiting class coming in, how they adjust.. And Ole Miss is the type of football team, they could be better this year than last year but not have the record to show for it. So to me, Ole Miss is an intersting story line. Pete? Yeah, I think Ole Miss, too. I mean it's going to be really interesting to see how Dave Wommack utilizes the talent that they've kind of brought in with the new signing class with Nkemdiche and some other guys. They've got depth, you know, on the defensive line. Not a lot of teams have that across the country. They can really go too deep, especially defensive end. It's going to be interesting to see if they have a package kind of like the New York Giants used to have where they had three defensive ends on the field at the same time where they can rush Channing Ward, CJ Johnson and Nkemdiche at the same time. I think Ole Miss ought to have a really good third down defense. That's going to help their overall team. Ron, earlier this month in the Commercial Appeal, you wrote about the.. It's a bit of a controversy. With the no-huddle offense in college football specifically meaning S-E-C. Malzahn, Freeze, they love it. They want to run it. Nick Saban, not so much. Bret Bielema was vocal about it at S-E-C media days. Your take on it? I think every coach is trying to get an edge in. And if it's in the rules, it's okay -- it's okay. I think that it's a fine line for officials. And I think what they'll stress, the officials, is let's make sure that people.. If there's a substitution offensively and when the defense can make a substitution, let's make sure they're set before we allow the centerman to snap the ball. I think they want to make it as fair as possible. I saw games last year where guys where, like, running on the field, running to position, when a ball was snapped. And I think that's when coaches go crazy, like, you know, that's not fair. But you know if offense is in sub and defense is in sub, let it roll. I mean, you know, it's a battle of fatigue. Have your guys in shape. I mean a few years when L-S-U handled Oregon, I mean, L-S-U went through, I mean, just massive. In the spring and in the fall, just massive having their defense down the field forever just to handle the pace of the game and they handled it. So it's something you've got to kind of train for, get ready for. And you also have to be very, on the side line, very organized with your substitutions. When they do substitute, you gotta get guys on there quick and be ready. Pete, you're a former coach. Would you echo those sentiments? Yeah. You know the thing no body really talks about is.. And a year ago, Alabama ran 65 snaps a game and they win the national championship. If people talk about Gus Malzahn going up tempo and trying to get 80 snaps a game but when they won the national championship with Malzahn as the offensive coordinator, they averaged 67 snaps per game. And I think that's one of the things that Hugh Freeze has done a great job of is knowing how to help your own defense slow it down when you gotta slow it down. You can't always go up tempo. And you know that's the fine line. And sometimes the head coach has got to make the call. If he's not calling the plays, he tells, through the headsets, tells the offensive coordinator, "Hey, we gotta slow it down a little bit." But you know, like Ron just said, you know, I think you're gonna see referees this year, uh, do a little bit better job, be more conscientious of, "Hey, is the defense set?" Not just being on the field and getting the substitution patterns rotated but, "Hey, are they ready to play?" Shawn, let me switch topics on you. The big change in college football, not just the S-E-C, is the targeting rules, which could lead to an automatic ejection from the game. Is there going to be a whole heck of a lot of controversy and will it be early and often? You know this rule is weird to me because, again, you get ejected. They can review the ejection but the penalty still stands. Exactly. So I think that's where it's going to get crazy with the replay booth and what have you. But yeah, somebody every year.. There's a person made an example out of a new rule. Okay. And it never, never fails. So I hope it's not on the fourth quarter. I hope it's not at a crucial part of the game. I mean these coaches and players and fans work too hard, spend too much money for to come down late in the fourth quarter, Greg. They throw it out there. You just hope it happens early in the game where it can't affect the outcome of the game. Ron, I'm all for safety precautions but I have a feeling we're going to have a lot of controversy. What do you think? Oh, absolutely. There's going to be somebody. And if you look at the replay, they need to make sure.. I mean, like, when they say that the Clowney hit bowl game was illegal, I have a problem with that. So do I. You go with your helmet up. Your helmet sides not down. You hit a guy right in the chest and the momentum carries you up a little bit and the helmet pops off. I mean I'm looking at this thing like they should make the calls mostly in the secondary when you see guys just.. They're not even trying to break up the ball. They're trying to take a guy's head off. I mean that's where this thing should come in to play. I mean I would hate to see, like, a defensive end get tossed because, uh, you know, he basically runs through a quarterback and his helmet has to happen to hit the guy that wasn't targeted. But that's just the way it happened. And that guy gets tossed. I'd like to see what, you know.. If Carolina's in a tight game with Georgia and Clowney gets tossed like early in the fourth quarter and it's a tight game, what happens then? They've got to be really careful with this rule. Alright, here's one for all three of you guys. Who takes the biggest fall in the S-E-C this year from a year ago? Pete? Well, uh, I don't want to say Mississippi State and I'm thinking that's what a lot of people would lean to. I think Mississippi State is going to surprise some people this year. I really do. With a senior quarterback, veteran defensive line, a new defensive coordinator is going to bring a totally different mindset. Don't want to say Mississippi State. I don't know if Auburn gets back to where people are thinking right away in the first season. I'll say Auburn. Ron? Boy, there's not much leeway in this. I'm going through teams in my head. Florida? Maybe so but I thought Florida was overrated last year. Uh.. I thought I'd never say this in my entire life, that this would come out of my mouth. Vanderbilt.. Vanderbilts overrated. It's like things you'd never say in your entire life. Vanderbilt is overrated. Now I think.. I think partly because.. I really think the off season stuff with the players you've got tossed.. Right. That's really.. That's affected James Franklin and staff more than people will lead on. I think it really bothers them because they just don't do that at Vanderbilt. You don't expect that of Vanderbilt. And I think it bothers them. I've had people come to me already and say, "You know, Ole Miss and vandy.. "That's a huge game for both teams." I'm saying, you know, if Bo Wallace's shoulder stays in one piece, Ole Miss is gonna win that game by double digits because I just think Vandy's -- not overrated but I just think they're not right. Yeah. We'll see starting tonight with that game in Nashville. Yeah, I gotta piggy-back off Ron because -- Look. They have arguably one of the best receiving cores in the S-E-C. You know, quarterback situation -- question mark right now, too. But again, past histories suggest they can not sustain this level of success this long. So by default, I would say Vanderbilt. Yeah, I think no body's talking about Kliff Kingsbury and the impact that he's had leaving Texas A and M. You know he had a great relationship with Johnny Manziel. But thing about A and M is they've got a new offensive coordinator who's never called plays before in his career other than the bowl game a year ago. And, Greg, the difference between a great offensive play- caller and a great offensive coordinator is just four or five play calls a game. And Clarence McKinney, I'm not saying he's not gonna do a great job. I just think the margin of error.. And when you couple that with a really young, inexperienced quarterback's coach in Jake Spavital.. A bright guy but, uh, really young coach. I just don't see A and M coming close to the 11 wins they had a year ago. Alright, gentlemen. Predictions time. We have about three minutes to go. So a minute each. Ron, start us off. East-west winner? The S-E-C champion? And does the B-C-S champion reside in the S-E-C for an eighth straight year? Uh, I'ma go... Uh.. I'm gonna go, uh, Georgia versus Alabama. And this time, Georgia gets it done. Was it that tough? You had to think about it for a while. Yeah, because I was considering South Carolina a lot. I have no.. In the west, I have no problems picking Alabama. I'll just try.. The Georgia-South Carolina dynamic always goes back and forth with me because, to me, they're right together. And they play early in the year. That doesn't mean anything because it always comes back around later in the year. Somebody drops something. So Georgia, do they win the national championship then if they beat Bama? Did you say Georgia over Bama? Georgia over Bama and they'd probably lose to Ohio State. Ohio State in the finals, in the B-C-S Championship Game. Pete? Well, I don't think anybody's gonna go undefeated in the S-E-C this year. But I do think Alabama and Georgia will meet again in Atlanta for the S-E-C Championship. Don't count out Florida. I really think that Florida-Georgia game is gonna go a long way in deciding the east. But I do like Mark Richt and his group. To get back to Atlanta, I do think AJ McCarron.. I just.. The way that he plays consistently week in and week out.. I just like.. In a one-game situation, I like AJ McCarron over Aaron Murray. And I like Alabama to win it all again. Crazy as it sounds, I got them beating Baylor in the national championship. Baylor? Wow! That would be three-in-a-row, four out of five for Alabama. Man, what's in that coffee? I know. I thought mine was a special sauce. I didn't think they spiked this stuff! Shawn, final word? It's amazing. You know during this segment, Greg, college football season starts tonight. We have not mentioned L-S-U. Isn't that something? How we don't talk about L-S-U at all. I'm not going to say them right now either because I don't think they're going to win the west. But I like Alabama and Georgia, also. Again, what Ron said about Georgia, how close they were last year. I like it. The quiet off-field issues for Georgia, nothing crazy this year. Just going about their business. As far as Ohio State.. Look, I'm an S-E-C guy but, guys, I think Ohio State may do it this year. I really do. So I'm gonan take the S-E-C champ not winning the national championship game this year. Alright. So two don't like the S-E-C champion beating the national champion this year. Pete likes it. I like Bama and Georgia as well. I think Bama does it again. I think it's gonna be tight, Bama and Ohio State. I think Bama wins the national championship. We'res split, two a piece. Guys, enjoy the football season! Looking forward to seeing you guys throughout the next four months as we talk college football. Ron Higgins, thank you. Absolutely. Shawn Arnell. You bet! Pete Roussel, thanks for being with us. We'll take a break. When we come back, our "Overtime" segment. ♪♪♪ (male announcer) Three.. Two.. One.. [buzzer sounds] From the Gridiron to the Links we go for a feature on a very unique golf course. Mirimichi Golf Course is located just outside Memphis and is one of just ten courses worldwide to be honored with certification from the Golf Environment Organization. In addition, it's the first course in the United States to receive official Audubon Classic Sanctuary certification. And to top things off, it's just a fun, yet challenging course. Recently I spent some time with Mirimichi Director of Golf, Greg King, to find out more about this unique place. Well Greg, thanks so much for being with us. It's a true pleasure. Thanks for coming out to Mirimichi today. What makes Mirimichi so different from other courses? Oh my goodness! There's a litany of details. However, Mirimichi truthfully leads the golf industry in being environmentally friendly, environmentally conscious. It all really begins there. Let's talk about some of these detail. The Audubon Classic Sanctuary certificate. First one in the country! Right. So you're setting the precedent out here. What did you guys do to earn that certificate? There's a lot of things that we do. We've got enhanced wetlands. We've got.. We turned what was 300 acres of maintainable, mowable turf that we had to put fertilizer on that was petroleum-based. We had to water it. That's now less than 100 acres out there that is maintained. We've got wildflower areas. We've got the wetlands. We're talking about waste bunkers. It's just turned in to just this beautiful, beautiful sort of playground in which to play some golf. The decision was made, I would imagine, when Justin and his family purchased this golf course, that you were gonna be environmentally conscious. Right. Of the surrounding area. And of course you go back to the Cherokee indians. And the Mirimichi, obviously, is an indian name. So they wanted to keep that in tact and even add to it, which you have done beautifully. Absolutely. You'll never forget. One of the first board meetings that Justin came to, if you will, he said he wanted it to be a world-class golf experience. He wanted it to be public access that everybody could come to and he wanted it to be the most environmentally friendly golf course ever. And we kind of looked at him. Everybody just kind of looked and went, "How do we do that?" But a lot of research later, we're leading the industry. Does somebody from the Audubon Society or people of that, do they come out here a lot? Do they check up on you? We get recertified every year, too. And it all starts in sort of what we call our natural resource management center where we're truthfully.. We're checking out irrigation that we have that goes to our irrigation lakes and what water comes on to our course. We're going water quality testing. So it's fun. Is it? You've worked at other golf courses before. Right. How much more of a challenge is it keeping everything in check here knowing that you don't want to disrupt the environment and what is natural around this course, while also putting in terrific holes and bunkers and things you've added? Well, initally, early on there's a lot more that you have to do to make things as environmentally friendly as possible. You have to figure out what areas are truthfully in play and what areas you have to work with for your landscape. And then a lot of the Audubon Classic Sanctuary Certification is truthfully at our, again, our natural resource management center where we've got a waste to water system where we wash off our machinery. All that grass and everything that is on a machine after it's been out there, goes through these filters. These microbes get all that. So that water that goes through that system, you literally can drink it after it goes through that system. And that's just one of many spokes on the wheel that we have that help us sort of keep going with those certifications. What's on the horizon? Well, as far as golf goes, you know, Paul Harless and Lynn Harless and Justin, we're sort of working up that ladder of not only competitive events but also, we're looking forward to maybe some celebrity-am or pro-am or that kind of, you know, fun, really cool stuff. Well Justin was associated with the tournament in Las Vegas. And I'm sure he's played in a lot of celebrity events. So I know they have on in Tahoe. You know something of that nature possibly for the future at Mirimichi? You never know. I mean I think it's a natural fit with Justin Timberlake being from Memphis that maybe there can be some great tie-ins with Saint Jude and what's going on with our tournament. I think that maybe we could augment to what they have going on at Southwind with the FedEx-Saint Jude Classic. You have taught an awful lot. You have coached at M-U-S for a number of years with the high school team. And now you're more on the business side of things running this golf course. Do you enjoy what you're doing now really behind the desk? Absolutely love it! I've got a lot of responsibilities that are not only the golf operations side but, you know, have some say in food and beverage. And it's a lot of fun, what I do. I think I always say that i've got the greatest office of anybody I know. You have a terrific staff that instruct and teach. Right. Like Jennifer Jordan, like Bobby Coachran and others. Talk about them because people can come out here, obviously, and learn the game at a first rate golf course. Yeah. Additionally, Justin was really, really excited. And we were talking about growth of the game. That's one of the big driving forces here with our team. Jennifer Jordan, our lead golf instructor, has done an amazing job taking just from the grassroots beginning, an operation. We've got junior clinics, great programming, ladies' clinics, ladies' leagues, beginner clinics. And so she and Bobby Cochran and I, we're really busy, especially this time of year, not only running the operation but trying to help people with their game. Strictly from the golf course side and aside from the beautiful golf course that it is and eveything we've talked about with the Audobon Classic Sanctuary, from the actual challenge of the golf course, how tough is it? Oh, very difficult golf course. It ranks up there from the tips, you know the course rating and slope rating, very challenging. The neat thing about Mirimichi is that it challenges golfers truthfully of every caliber. We've got five sets of tees. Not only the way-back 7,500 yard set of tees but it goes far. So truthfully, as long as you can sort of keep the ball progressing forward somewhat directed, you can do just fine out here. You'll have fun. I know on this land, this acreage way back before Mirimichi, big creek. There was always the issues of flooding. Right. Has that been taken care of or is there still that problem out here if it rains an awful lot? That is a work in progress. We're a whole lot better than we used to be. And that's one of those things that you have to work with and get the blessing from the Army Core of engineers and be very respectful to your neighbors. So we're working through those each and every year and improving what we do. Greg, I absolutely enjoyed talking with ya. Best of luck, continued success. Thank you so very much. Really appreciate it. And that will do it for this week's show. Remember if you missed any of our previous shows, you can see them anytime you want by going to our website WKNO-dot-org and clicking on 'KNO Tonite. Enjoy the kick-off of the college football season, and we'll see you next time. CLOSED CAPTIONS PROVIDED BY WKNO - MEMPHIS.