Right.

Um, because look, I w- I picked them to go five and seven.

I, I wrote that they could've been a four-win team, maybe even a three-win team.

Like I just, I have low expectations for this group.

There's not a lot of talent.

Uh, on the 24/7 Sports team talent composite, Michigan State is ranked 60th nationally with nine former four stars.

Notre Dame had, I believe, 54 former four stars and a couple five stars.

What, what's the excitement level up there right now?

Absolutely

... college ready, game ready, three down ready.

Now, yeah, I think he's, skill set wise, he's gotta develop a little bit to be a three down guy and that's why we're not seeing him as much.

But when you g- you get him in there, get him in the fire, they all...

Any coach will tell you, you, you learn on the job the best.

That's how you grow the most.

So getting him in there, getting these early reps and everything, he could look way different by, like, the last six games, let's call it.

Yes

But when you had a chance to go back and really dive into what we saw at Spartan Stadium, what impressed you or what concerned you?

Sure.

You know, very impressed by Cam Edwards.

You know, backed up the hype.

I mean, you could see that he was one of those few transfers that had sort of a paper trail to him.

Like, oh, okay, this guy's got some credentials.

So when he came in, you know, he was obviously a notable guy.

So, were the two longest kicks of Boyd's career, and Michigan State was very happy to have him.

Yeah.

Um, that's a, that's a pretty crazy, uh, journey that he's been on, so good for him.

And again, seems like they finally got the right call with him.

The guy I'm really curious about a, a little bit as we get closer is KK Smith from Notre Dame.

Um, he's played a little bit.

They've had some good receivers over there, so when you look at the resume and it's like, oh, he couldn't get on the field and hasn't, doesn't have a lot of production to him, this is true, but they've had some decent receivers there.

He's had some injuries.

Yeah

Yeah.

Um, that's a, that's a pretty crazy, uh, journey that he's been on.

So good for him, and again, seems like they finally got the right call with him.

The guy I'm really curious about a, a little bit as we get closer is KK Smith from Notre Dame.

Um, he's played a little bit.

They've had some good receivers over there, so when you look at the resume and it's like, oh, he couldn't get on the field and hasn't, doesn't have a lot of production to him, this is true, but they've had some decent receivers there.

He's had some injuries.

Yeah

No.

Um, and again, I think if you're, if you're confident you got the guy, you don't let that stand in your way.

Uh, you really hope that he is the right guy, obviously, in that position and that, that you can hold onto him for a while.

But, um, given that they had some previous connections with him from, you know, evaluating him last time, uh, I'm, uh, assuming and guessing that they can, that they had a pretty good determination of, of, uh, that, that, that fit and that potential longevity piece and whatnot.

So a- as long as that plays out, it's really not a big deal.

But again, if you're dealing with this in two more years, that's when you start to go, "Geez, how much money has been wasted-

Yeah

... he's gonna big time people walking around campus or a donor, a student, a fan, whatever.

Mm-hmm.

He's so much more comfortable with us, uh, when, you know, not that that's that important, but, but I think it's a reflection of how much comf- more comfortable he is in probably a lot of aspects.

Um, he's been empowered to lead the team.

I think he's accepted that and ran with it pretty much right away, and just when we see him and talk to him, there's a different sorta...

There's more of a relaxed confidence to him.

Uh, his body language, um, all that, you just detect he's, he's very comfortable being in this position that they're in now.

I thought it was really important that, uh, Sheridan, though, today said things that I've tried to echo all off-season, is that like, look, uh, everybody likes Alessio, everybody knows Alessio, but this is still a young quarterback.

Call him Big Play McCray, and I guess you can have big plays a lot of different ways.

Mm.

And, um, it was really, it was really hard and, you know, j- just a teacher's salary growing up, we had no idea what was gonna happen.

Um, my mother, you know, went to Boston College.

My, my dad went to West Point, so education was always the most important thing, um, to my mother, uh, for us to succeed, succeed.

So, you know, b- but we did, we had no idea how we were gonna pay for school.

I was, I was an athlete.

I played football, so I thought I had...

Mm.