Lead Fox college football analyst Joel Klatt makes the call for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: What are this season’s most compelling storylines?
A: I think the first one would be the hype and expectation for Arch Manning, having never been a starting quarterback, at least for an extended time in his career, and yet here Texas comes in as kind of a consensus No. 1 team, and a Heisman favorite, and the expectation of that last name is enormous, with what his uncles were able to do, and the program that he plays at. I cannot wait to be at the forefront of that story Week 1 for the Ohio State-Texas game. … The second one is the depth of college football. This is my 11th season now calling our lead game, and there’s never been a season in my 10 previous where I felt that there were this many teams that could potentially win the national championship. I legitimately feel like there are nine, maybe 10 teams that can win the national championship — and in previous years, in particular just prior to COVID, and maybe ’21 and ’22 as well — I would have said that that number was two or three, max, most years because of the structure of college football. … And then, the third one is Ohio State losing so much from what they had last year and what we’re gonna get from a program that has been really incredibly consistent for really its entire history, but certainly in the modern-day era, and so many new faces, and in particular at quarterback [Julian Sayin]. You can make an argument that the two most scrutinized positions on the field in our sport overall are the quarterback at Ohio State and the quarterback at Texas.
Q: Which coaches are under the most pressure?
A: There’s coaches that I think are under pressure as it relates to a hot seat, and then there are coaches that are under pressure to achieve at the highest level. Let me start with James Franklin at Penn State. I don’t think that the expectations in Penn State have been this high in a long time. A lot of people, including me, think that they can win the national championship. I had them No. 1 in my preseason poll, and for a program that largely has come up short in particular in big moments and in big games, games I would call matchup games, that’s a significant amount of pressure. The next guy I would say is [Alabama’s] Kalen DeBoer. It’s not just tough to follow Nick Saban, but then to go out there and have the season that they did, I think there were a lot of fans that look at Kalen DeBoer and say, “OK, well let’s see what you do in Year 2 now,” and they’ve got a tough schedule, they’ve gotta replace their quarterback, and a lot of people are gonna be looking at Alabama and seeing whether they’re still truly one of the elite programs in the country or if they’re gonna take a step back, and the heat can certainly pick up on Kalen DeBoer. And then the next guy I would say is Brian Kelly at LSU, and more specifically because of Notre Dame’s success under Marcus Freeman — both on the recruiting trail and on the field playing for a national championship last year whereas LSU has largely underachieved under Brian Kelly. The narrative at least was that Brian needed to leave Notre Dame in order to compete for a national championship. The fourth one would be Lincoln Riley at USC. I think that kind of speaks for itself — they can’t be 7-5. He’s gotta have a quality year or else they’re gonna be highly upset.
Q: Other than Arch Manning, who are the most compelling players to watch?
A: I think the best player and the guy that I like watching the most is [Ohio State WR] Jeremiah Smith. I’ve been accused of being hyperbolic, but he really is the best player I have seen covering this sport. The other guy that I think is significantly important to the season is [QB] Cade Klubnik at Clemson. If he plays well and up to his potential, he not only could lead them to a potential national championship, but play himself into the No. 1 slot in the NFL draft. I would add Drew Allar at Penn State. A lot of the same things I said about James Franklin I could say about Drew Allar — very talented, has come up short in the biggest games and yet a lot of pressure there as he comes back with a lot of talent around him to up his level and take them to the next level.
Q: Is there a comp for Jeremiah Smith?
A: I think Julio Jones is a good comp for him. He’s just more developed at an earlier age as far as the polish of his ability as a wide receiver, and I think the best is yet to come for him. I have heard rumors that he has put on weight and become faster and more explosive, which should be scary for everyone.
Q: How many first-round draft quarterbacks could there be in this class?
A: That’s always so difficult to say. I think we all feel like we know prior to the season, but I would just remind people that we had no idea prior to Joe Burrow’s final year the type of quarterback and run he would have, and Baker Mayfield very similar and maybe even Kyler Murray similar to that. People didn’t know about Patrick Mahomes before his last year in terms of draft stock. If they all play well, I think we could have four or five first-round quarterbacks. I think that the two guys I look at kind of at the top of that would be the potential of Cade Klubnik and Garrett Nussmeier [LSU]. Garrett Nussmeier is an incredible player, I think he is a guy that could easily lead LSU to a potential conference championship and maybe lead LSU on a deep playoff run. I would say that the conference with the deepest stable of quarterbacks, maybe not all NFL guys, but is the Big 12. I look at Rocco Becht at Iowa State, I look at Avery Johnson at Kansas State, I look at Sam Leavitt at Arizona State. … There’s a number of guys depending on the years that they have, you never know what the NFL projections could be.
Q: Is Arch Manning a combination of Eli and his grandfather, Archie?
A: (Laugh) People ask me like, “Who’s he more like, Eli or Peyton?” and I always say, “Neither, he looks like his grandfather.” I think that he’s his own player, and unfortunately we’re gonna always compare because of the lineage that he has.
Q: His grandfather has said he’ll probably stay in school for another year. What if Archie’s former team, the Saints, were to get the No. 1 pick? Do you think that might be tempting for Arch to come out?
A: (Laugh) That would be interesting. Those are things on the bingo card that you would just love to see, right? Whether that’s this year or next. I do think that this is a family, and [father] Cooper being at the head of that, and maybe Archie as well that have a very specific plan, and they’ve been patient and they’ve allowed for development, and I commend them for that. They didn’t transfer when Quinn Ewers stayed, and they’ve waited in order to be the quarterback at Texas and play for Steve Sarkisian. And one thing that I do know that that family, and Cooper more specifically and Archie certainly, and his uncles would know this as well, is that the most successful quarterbacks in the NFL, the ones that go on and win Super Bowls and have the best careers, are the ones that have long college careers as starting quarterbacks and have a substantial amount of experience … and so I don’t think that they’re gonna be in any rush to enter the NFL, and I think that’ll be more important than who’s got the first pick.
Q: Who are your Heisman favorites?
A: My Heisman favorite would be Cade Klubnik, and then the guy right behind him is Garrett Nussmeier. I look at Jeremiah Smith and I just think, “Man, he could win the Heisman Trophy.” I think it’s really tough to win the Heisman as a non-quarterback, and even tougher that last year we had a non-quarterback [Travis Hunter] win the Heisman Trophy. Not that Arch couldn’t do it, I know he’s the odds-on favorite, but it’s so difficult to win the Heisman as the favorite because in this day and age, all the college football media does is they take the favorite of anything and then they just try to poke holes in it.
Q: Underrated coaches?
A: There’s so many. … The first one that I would say is Kyle Whittingham [Utah], and maybe he’s not underrated. I think Kyle is one of the best coaches in the country. All those guys in the Big 12 you could put into this. … Chris Kleiman at Kansas State is an underrated coach. Jedd Fisch is a really good coach at Washington, and he doesn’t get mentioned really ever at the top end. A lot of people don’t know this, but Washington’s got the second-longest home winning streak in the country to Georgia. They get all their toughest games at home.
Q: Who are the most impactful transfers?
A: When I look at John Mateer at Oklahoma, I think that he could have an enormous impact on this season and what the SEC could look like. When you combine their success recently and the conference schedule that they have, Missouri and their quarterback potentially Beau Pribula, who was the backup at Penn State last year, he’s a guy that I think could have an enormous impact on what we see this season. … Trebor Pena was a wide receiver at Syracuse last year, very good player, and he transferred to Penn State. If they improve on that position, there’s a good chance that they’ll take the next step and they could potentially win the national championship.
Q: Why do you believe Bill Belichick will be successful at North Carolina?
A: Outside of Clemson, it’s a league where the middle of that ACC, I just don’t see teams running away and being tangibly better than North Carolina. … Bill Belichick is the greatest situational coach in the history of the sport, period. If they’re even a quarter as prepared as the Patriots used to be for situational football, then North Carolina, I think, will win more games than people expect them to. I’m bullish on what Bill Belichick could do at North Carolina for that reason. He is a guy that believes, even at the NFL level, that most games are lost, and not won. And at the college level, that rings even more true.
Q: Utah, Georgia Tech, Missouri and Washington are your CFP Party Crashers? Are there other sleeper teams to watch out for?
A: I think Illinois is a team that a lot of us have said could be a team that could make a playoff run similar to what Indiana did a year ago. … Texas Tech has spent a lot of money and has a quality roster. Baylor has their quarterback [Sawyer Robertson] back from a year ago, and they played incredibly well late into the season last year. I would throw Nebraska into the mix.
Q: What can Rutgers fans expect?
A: Greg Schiano has done an incredible job of being a sound enough program and team where they don’t beat themselves a lot. The roster is not a roster that you would expect to go out there and win a ton of games and compete for a Big Ten title. But that team always plays above its head, and that’s because I think they’ve got one of the better coaches in the sport. So I would expect Rutgers to have a better season than the expectations that a Vegas would put on them. I think Rutgers could be a team that wins seven, maybe eight games.
Q: Notre Dame?
A: I really like Notre Dame. I did a bit of a deep dive on recruiting rankings, and the level of player that Marcus Freeman has brought in versus what Brian Kelly was bringing in. Marcus Freeman has brought in a player with an average rating of about 91 ¹/₂, almost 92. And if you look nationally, his average in terms of the recruiting rank that he’s pulled in, it would be right around the eighth- or ninth-best class in the country. That’s improved and I would actually say somewhat significantly from what Brian Kelly was bringing in from a roster perspective. Brian Kelly was bringing in a player that was an average recruiting rating of about 90. … That’s gonna be a running game that could be one of the best in the country. … Jeremiyah Love is probably the best singular running back in college football. If they just split those games against Texas A&M and Miami, this is an 11-1 team all day long, and certainly a team that I would expect to vie for one of the top four seeds and a bye in the first round of the Playoff.
Q: Syracuse?
A: As much as I like Fran Brown and what he has done, I think Syracuse is gonna take a bit of a step back. One is that you’re replacing a quarterback that was highly productive [Kyle McCord]. I talked about Trebor Pena leaving, they also lost a lot of other skill position players, and their schedule gets significantly more difficult than what it was a year ago.
Q: What are some must-watch games?
A: This opener [Texas-Ohio State] that we have, I don’t know if there’s been an opener that is this good. I look at that Oregon-Penn State game that’s gonna be James Franklin’s first chance this year to win what I call a “matchup game,” a whiteout game for them. Penn State-Ohio State, same type of a deal. I look at that Alabama-Georgia game as a huge game in the SEC. This one’s also Week 1, Clemson-LSU. I think Clemson is hands down the best team in the ACC. If LSU beats Clemson, and then doesn’t win the SEC, the argument that the SEC is gonna have to get more teams into the Playoff over, let’s say, the second-best team or the third-best team in the ACC is gonna be significant. And then the last one because of what’s happened over the last four years and more in particular last season, the Michigan-Ohio State game. I don’t know exactly what to expect from Michigan with a brand new quarterback [Bryce Underwood], I think that they’re gonna be better than they were a year ago, but as we saw last year, it just doesn’t matter.
Q: Who do you have in your Final Four?
A: Clemson beating Texas, Ohio State beating Penn State and Clemson beating Ohio State and winning the national championship.
Q: Do you like the format this year?
A: I do. I get a bit nervous that we keep tinkering with the postseason, and my fear is that we dilute the regular season, and with straight seeding, my fear is that you’ll get to an SEC and/or Big Ten championship matchup, and you’ll think to yourself, “Well, this doesn’t matter at all, both of these teams are gonna get a bye and be in the playoffs,” and then we lose what has become a marquee game and experience in our sport. The straight seeding should absolutely help in regards to avoid a situation like we had last year where all of a sudden Oregon has to play Ohio State in the second round, meanwhile Penn State, who lost to Oregon in the Big Ten championship game, gets to play SMU and Boise State — that was obviously an easier path. We can hopefully avoid that.
Q: Group of 5 bids?
A: I like Boise, I think that their consistency is always outstanding. Spencer Danielson has done a really good job. James Madison is interesting to me. And then I look at Tulane. Obviously they get Jake Retzlaff in at quarterback. If I had to pick one to go to the Playoff, it would be Boise State.
Q: Conferences champs?
A: Texas, SEC; Clemson, ACC; Kansas State beating Utah [Big 12]; Penn State [Big Ten].
Q: At-large?
A: I think the last three spots in the Playoff are gonna come down to LSU, Alabama, Michigan and Miami. Those last three spots are gonna go to Alabama, then LSU and then Michigan, and I think Miami is gonna be just on the outside looking in.
Q: What do you think of NIL and the transfer portal?
A: NIL is overall a good thing — when it is used for pay-for-play, it is not, and it’s abused by the schools and the collectives. So what we have and what we’re moving into, as long as it can be enforced, which there’s huge question marks about this, but separating out pay-for-play, which is the revenue share and what should be true NIL or capturing the value of your name as a player that has value in his name, I think is the correct way to go. I’ve always been a proponent of Name, Image and Likeness going back to the players. I was when I played. The way that in operation it was handled in the last couple of years was terrible, partly because there was just no guardrails, and how it was thrown upon everybody, it was just so sloppy. So the more guardrails we can have, I believe we’re headed towards a structure that’s solid. What’s more dangerous for the sport and its health is the transfer portal. So everyone just attributes it to NIL. NIL is not the problem. The money players make is not the problem. The problem is that there is no responsibility or obligation from the player’s side for that money, there’s no contract. And there is no contract because twice a year they can become free agents. Well, that’s crazy and asinine and a problem. The inability of coaches to build and retain a roster is more the issue that we’re having. Hopefully we’re gonna get some answers to potentially limiting the transfer portal to one window per calendar year, which I think would be much better. And I’m a proponent of actually limiting movement. I don’t believe players should be able to transfer whenever and however many times that they want, in particular if they’re gonna enter into an agreement with the school for revenue share dollars. That is a contract. There should be limitations on movement just like there are contracts on all of us who have them in any industry throughout adulthood.
Q: What do you think of rookie Giants QB Jaxson Dart?
A: He has so much arm talent. Watching him throw the football, his accuracy, its strength, he understands pace in terms of how to put pace on the ball, take pace off the ball, which in [Ole Miss coach] Lane Kiffin’s offense means that you’re gonna have a ton of success. Lane is so good as an offensive coach that at the college level, he can design and script plays where the quarterback doesn’t have to do a lot in terms of post-snap recognition or reading of defenses. He builds in winners, and for a quarterback, you just have to hit the winners, hit the open jump shot. Whereas at the NFL level, you’ve gotta be the guy controlling all the levers. The coverages are more difficult, they’re more disguised, you’ve gotta read post-snap and be incredibly, I would say, quick with the way you make decisions and read post-snap. That’s gonna be his challenge. The guy that I think he needs to look at and see the type of offense he played in the college level and has now made the jump and had a successful early career is Bo Nix. That’s kind of the model for Jaxson Dart and I would say that’s the ceiling for Jaxson Dart, right? If he can mimic what Bo Nix was able to do then he should have a solid year.
Q: Shedeur Sanders?
A: I’ve always been a big supporter of Shedeur, and it’s not just ’cause I went to Colorado. He is an excellent quarterback in all those things that I was just saying about — post-snap reads, controlling the game from the pocket, being on time and on target, he does all of those things. In fact, if you look at the draft, he was the only quarterback that was really NFL-ready. Now, whatever happened, happened. And for whatever reason is only for the teams to discuss and know whatever happened behind closed doors in terms of his fall. But Shedeur is going to be a quality NFL quarterback, and I firmly believe that he’s gonna be the starter for the Browns at some point this year. And I think he’s gonna have success. People don’t like to hear this, but this kid is an excellent, excellent quarterback.
Q: How will Deion Sanders, Coach Prime, adapt without Shedeur at Colorado?
A: To be fair, we have zero frame of reference. He’s never coached at all without Shedeur, and Shedeur’s never played without his dad. It’s hard to fathom what he’s even gonna feel when he’s out there in terms of watching someone else play quarterback. I don’t think it’s gonna be as important that they have excellent quarterback play as it was the last two years. They had to overcome so many deficiencies on their roster, in particular at the line of scrimmage, that it was incumbent on Shedeur to be great all the time, and even Travis Hunter and some of the skill position players. They’re much better foundationally now as a program. They’re better at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. So I don’t think there’s gonna be as much pressure on [Julian] Lewis or [Kaidon] Salter to be great and carry the team as there was on Shedeur.
Q: Abdul Carter?
A: I think Abdul Carter is only scratching the surface on what he could be. The dominance we saw from Abdul Carter as a pass rusher was really in its infancy last year, which to me, means that he could develop into at the top end, a player that has the impact that Micah Parsons has. He’s a highly versatile player. It wouldn’t shock me at all if we look up in four or five years and he’s one of the top five or six defenders in the NFL.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Winston Churchill, Muhammad Ali, Jesus.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Bull Durham.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Will Ferrell. Nate Bargatze right now is kind of my go-to entertainment.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Emily Blunt.
Q: Favorite singer?
A: Brandon Lake or Forrest Frank.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: The steak tablitas at Javier’s, flour tortilla only.
Q: If you could go back in history and be an observer of one college football game, which would it be?
A: I watched it on TV, but if I could be on the sideline for the ’05 Rose Bowl with Texas and USC … the game that Oklahoma and Texas Tech played with Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield, where there was like 1,200 yards of offense.
Q: If you could go back in time and interview any figure in college football history?
A: There’s so many. I would say Woody Hayes would be one of ’em. Bear Bryant would be another. And it would be more a panel, to be honest — I would want to do Woody Hayes, the Bear and Nick Saban, and sit with those three. … you know what? Maybe they’ll be my dinner guests (laugh).
Q: What was it like for you playing quarterback for your hometown team, Colorado?
A: Oh, it was a dream come true. I was never recruited by Colorado to play football. And so football was an afterthought [to minor league baseball]. When I decided to walk on, I legitimately thought that like, “Man, if I could just put on a helmet and run out behind Ralphie,” which I’ve seen a million times, and was just my dream as a kid. My dad cried when I was a true freshman and I ran out behind Ralphie. I didn’t even play that day, obviously, when I first got there. So actually starting, and playing on the field, was icing on the cake. It was certainly something that I cherish.
