Over The Middle With Jeremy Crabtree

The 'silly season' is over and now it's time to get serious on the recruiting front. On3.com's recruiting experts Gerry Hamilton and Chad Simmons join Jeremy to break out the crystal ball and give you a peek behind the curtain in what may lie ahead in the next few weeks. Plus they'll break down some of the new coaching hires around the country and how these coaches may or may not be a good fit for their respective programs.

A wise coach once said: "It's not about the X's and O's, it's about the Jimmys and Joes". Pure and simple, Players win championships. You can't out-coach recruiting. One program that has taken this idea to fruition has been the Georgia Bulldogs. Jake Reuse of Dawgs HQ joins Jeremy of as they look at how coach Kirby Smart has changed the culture in Athens. What's his secret? What has Kirby done differently? How huge has Nick Sabin's influence been?

As most people know that follow recruiting Arch Manning is the #1 quarterback prospect out of the class of 2023. He could be a generational type of recruit. The burning question is: where will the son of Cooper and Grandson of Archie play his college ball? While Clemson, Georgia, Ole miss and Alabama are high on the list, the smart money says he may go elsewhere. Recruiting expert Gerry Hamilton of on3.com joins Jeremy to ponder these questions. They’ll discuss the impact of name, image and likeness and the marketing power that arch could produce making him very wealthy before he even signs an NFL contract.

When most people think of the Kentucky Wildcats, they think of a ‘blue-blood’ basketball program. Well, this year their football team is unbeaten at 6-0 and will play the #1 team in the nation this Saturday in Athens as they take on the Georgia Bulldogs in what could be one the biggest game in school history if they pull off the upset. How exactly have the wildcats turned things around? Nick Roush from Kentucky Sports Radio joins host Jeremy Crabtree to tell us how they got here.

A trend that is impacting the world of high school recruiting unlike anything we've seen before is highly recruited players opting-out of their senior seasons. The #4 ranked player in the class of 2022, Evan Stewart of Frisco Liberty in Texas is the latest to follow this trend. What does in mean for the future of recruiting? Charles Power, Director of Scouting and Rankings for On3.com is here to break it down.

It's hard to believe that Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) has no formal training in graphic design. Tipton has turned his passion for art into a full time job as he is the go-to guy for creative cutting edge social media recruiting graphics for top basketball talent. Tipton Edits is a heavy hitter when it comes to impact on the recruiting trail while cultivating an Instagram following of over 200,000 people. His clients include: Shareef O'Neil, Michael Porter Jr., Lonzo Ball, Ben Simmons, Dereck Lively II and Ross Nelson just to name a few.

Week two in the world of college football brought seismic changes. After a shocking loss to Stanford, USC fired Coach Clay Helton. What lies in store for the once mighty Trojans? Who may be next in line for the top coaching spot? Find out as Jeremy welcomes Erik McKinney from 'WE-ARE-S.C.'

It seems there is an app for almost anything these days and, guest what, there’s now an app to help athletes negotiate the world of ‘Name, Image, and Likeness’. Blake Lawrence, CEO and founder of opendorse joins Jeremy to give us a peek behind how his app helps student athletes market their brand, secure endorsement deals and generate revenue through social media. More than 55,000 athletes are already users of this innovative product.

Host Jeremy Crabtree tees up the 2021 season premiere with National Recruiting Analyst Gerry Hamilton from on3.com. They'll take a look at the new world of NIL (name, image and likeness), recruiting in the Lone Star State and a preview of on3.com's new recruiting database. All that and more plus a preview of Yurview's opening weekend of high school action.

This has been the strangest recruiting cycle in history. For recruiting reporters like Adam Gorney, flexibility has been the key to understanding and keeping up with the ever-changing landscape. How do you rank players when some schools didn't even have a fall season? When will kids be able to make campus visits? How has Zoom changed the world of recruiting? All this and more this week as we wrap up the high school season.

Todd Bradford joined the Oklahoma State staff in November of 2019 and serves as director of recruiting. Bradford served as linebackers coach under Gundy at OSU from 2005-07 and has also held coaching positions at Wisconsin, BYU, Maryland and Kansas, among other stops. Included among his 28 years of experience in college football are seven years as a recruiting coordinator. He recruited eventual All-Americans Markelle Martin and Grant Garner to Stillwater, in addition to All-Big 12 performers Jamie Blatnick and Ugo Chinasa. Bradford attended Southern Utah, where he graduated in 1986 with a degree in physical education/geology. From 2011-16 he put his geology background to work by holding leadership positions in the oil and energy business. The move to private business was made in large part to bring him closer to his mother, who was sick at the time. He got back into coaching when he served on David Beaty’s staff at Kansas for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, but returned to the oil and energy world in March of 2018

He's had to rebuild a program from ground zero up to being a ranked team while putting players on NFL rosters. Now, Rhode Island's Jim Fleming has had to try to maintain his success in the Covid-19 area looking at a late February start. The always jovial coach Fleming gives us a FCS head coach's perspective this week while the Rhodie Rams continue to try to stay in the public eye during a historically quiet fall for 1-AA football.

When the city your school is located is one of your biggest recruiting weapons and you can't have in person visits, how do you overcome such an obstacle? That's been one of the challenges that Tulane's Wes Fritz and the coaching staff located in New Orleans have had to deal with during the Coronavirus. Plus a look at the Big 10 startup and updates from around the country.

Iowa was one of the first states to commit and say "We're playing high school football this fall". The result was a large number of elite recruits moving to the state in order to play. But what about the transfer rules? Matthew Bain of the Des Moines Register fills us in on the slippy-slope regarding exemptions to the transfer rule and how exactly Covid may or may not fit in.

The football world was treated with another about-face last week as the PAC 12 announced the will also begin play in November for an abbreviated season.. Arizona's Cody Moore joins Jeremy on his broad background and approach to recruiting, even during a Pandemic as the show goes on.

The MAC was one of the first D1 conferences to put a pause on football because of Covid. Well, not so fast. Akron Zip ILB coach Oscar Rodriquez, Jr. tips his hand in this Pod interview as he tells of what's happening with a possible restart in the MAC come October. Plus the impact of the extension of the recruiting 'dead period' and more.

When your brand is Michigan Wolverine Football, the name speaks for itself. But when travel is limited even your good name gets put to the test. Plus, your conference made the decision to pause football for 2020, so you have no live games at a storied stadium to show-off to potential players. Michigan's Matt Dudek gives his twist on how Coach Harbaugh and the mighty Wolverines are overcoming Covid's recruiting challenges.

When a campus visit is one of your strongest selling features, how does a director of recruiting overcome travel restrictions during Covid-19? KState's Taylor Braet gives us a few answers, plus a special look at the man behind the 'purple shoes' and his creative recruiting techniques.

It goes without saying that Covid-19 has turned the world of football recruiting upside down. ESPN's Tom Van Haaren Jr. joins host Jeremy Crabtree as they discuss some of the creative ways both players and schools have negotiated the current lay of the land in high school and college recruiting.

Jeremy tees up a special edition of Over the Middle with a special guest from Brent Musburger's VSiN as they break down the upcoming NFL draft.