Russ Tanner Loves Barbecue and College Football

Hosts Jim Hardin and Blake Giles visit with former Georgia football player Russ Tanner. They are all amazed that Ty Cummings of West Laurens rushed for 615 yards, by himself. Johnson County, Russ’s alma mater, is undefeated. Georgia has an Alabama problem. How do you explain it? It used to be a Florida problem. NIL and transfer portal has evened the playing field in college football. Roster management is a critical mystery. Russ says you need eight or nine strong players to field a stable offensive line. Has the game been hurt by players getting paid? Russ said the “on-the-field” product is as good as it has ever been, making it the greatest sport in the world. (Russ offers our podcast services for $500,000: send an email if you are interested.) Look how competitive the SEC is. Vanderbilt is no longer a walkover. Jobs opening, and who will get hired. Dan Lanning is not leaving Oregon. How long will Kirby coach? Big-boy reception for Alabama: what are you going to do. No secrets in bouncing back from a loss: go to work. Where is the Auburn offense? Lane Kiffen learning how to be a head coach at Ole Miss, but wouldn’t he leave for the right paycheck? Florida’s had three decades of greatness, surrounded by mediocrity. Are schools going to have to deal with donor fatigue? Texas Tech is an interesting experiment, with a rich portal class. Talent can trump culture. The cat is out of the bag with paying players; there is no going back. No salary cap in the college game. Mark Richt coached three or four teams that would have made it into the expanded college playoffs. People who criticize coaches have no standing to evaluate coaches. Coaches want to win more than fans do. Russ never thought about coaching because he wanted to have a family life. Neither does he feel compelled to be a professional commentator. It took years for David Pollack to rise to prominence. Paul Finebaum says he is going to run for office. Russ has not been invited to be on Relatable, the podcast by his sister-in-law, Allie Beth Stuckey. And how can Arkansas make Bobby Petrino the face of their program again?