Lead Fox college football analyst Joel Klatt makes the call for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.<\/p>\n
Q: What are this season\u2019s most compelling storylines?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: I think the first one would be the hype and expectation for Arch Manning<\/a>, 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<\/a>. \u2026 The second one is the depth of college football. This is my 11th season now calling our lead game, and there\u2019s 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 \u2014 and in previous years, in particular just prior to COVID, and maybe \u201921 and \u201922 as well \u2014 I would have said that that number was two or three, max, most years because of the structure of college football. \u2026 And then, the third one is Ohio State losing so much from what they had last year and what we\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n Fox Sports\u2019 Gus Johnson, left, and Joel Klatt prepare for a game in 2021. AP<\/p>\n Q: Which coaches are under the most pressure?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: There\u2019s 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\u2019t 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\u2019s a significant amount of pressure. The next guy I would say is [Alabama\u2019s] Kalen DeBoer. It\u2019s not just tough to follow Nick Saban<\/a>, 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, \u201cOK, well let\u2019s see what you do in Year 2 now,\u201d and they\u2019ve got a tough schedule, they\u2019ve gotta replace their quarterback, and a lot of people are gonna be looking at Alabama and seeing whether they\u2019re still truly one of the elite programs in the country or if they\u2019re 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\u2019s success under Marcus Freeman \u2014 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 \u2014 they can\u2019t be 7-5. He\u2019s gotta have a quality year or else they\u2019re gonna be highly upset.<\/p>\n Q: Other than Arch Manning, who are the most compelling players to watch?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: I think the best player and the guy that I like watching the most is [Ohio State WR] Jeremiah Smith. I\u2019ve 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 \u2014 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.<\/p>\n Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith (4) scores a touchdown ahead of Oregon defensive back Kobe Savage. AP<\/p>\n Q: Is there a comp for Jeremiah Smith?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: I think Julio Jones is a good comp for him. He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Q: How many first-round draft quarterbacks could there be in this class?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: That\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019t 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. \u2026 There\u2019s a number of guys depending on the years that they have, you never know what the NFL projections could be.<\/p>\n Q: Is Arch Manning a combination of Eli and his grandfather, Archie?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: (Laugh) People ask me like, \u201cWho\u2019s he more like, Eli or Peyton?\u201d and I always say, \u201cNeither, he looks like his grandfather.\u201d I think that he\u2019s his own player, and unfortunately we\u2019re gonna always compare because of the lineage that he has.<\/p>\n Q: His grandfather has said he\u2019ll probably stay in school for another year. What if Archie\u2019s former team, the Saints, were to get the No. 1 pick? Do you think that might be tempting for Arch to come out?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: (Laugh) That would be interesting. Those are things on the bingo card that you would just love to see, right? Whether that\u2019s this year or next.<\/a> 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\u2019ve been patient and they\u2019ve allowed for development, and I commend them for that. They didn\u2019t transfer when Quinn Ewers stayed, and they\u2019ve 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 \u2026 and so I don\u2019t think that they\u2019re gonna be in any rush to enter the NFL, and I think that\u2019ll be more important than who\u2019s got the first pick.<\/p>\n Q: Who are your Heisman favorites?<\/strong><\/p>\n 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, \u201cMan, he could win the Heisman Trophy.\u201d I think it\u2019s 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\u2019t do it, I know he\u2019s the odds-on favorite, but it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Arch Manning leads the No. 1 team in the country. AP<\/p>\n Q: Underrated coaches?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: There\u2019s so many. \u2026 The first one that I would say is Kyle Whittingham [Utah], and maybe he\u2019s 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. \u2026 Chris Kleiman at Kansas State is an underrated coach. Jedd Fisch is a really good coach at Washington, and he doesn\u2019t get mentioned really ever at the top end. A lot of people don\u2019t know this, but Washington\u2019s got the second-longest home winning streak in the country to Georgia. They get all their toughest games at home.<\/p>\n Q: Who are the most impactful transfers?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: When I look at John Mateer at Oklahoma<\/a>, 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\u2019s a guy that I think could have an enormous impact on what we see this season. \u2026 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\u2019s a good chance that they\u2019ll take the next step and they could potentially win the national championship.<\/p>\n Q: Why do you believe Bill Belichick will be successful at North Carolina?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Outside of Clemson, it\u2019s a league where the middle of that ACC, I just don\u2019t see teams running away and being tangibly better than North Carolina. \u2026 Bill Belichick is the greatest situational coach in the history of the sport, period. If they\u2019re 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\u2019m bullish on what Bill Belichick could do at North Carolina for that reason<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n All eyes will be on Bill Belichick this season. AP<\/p>\n