Blue Raider Podcast | 07-10-2026

[00:00:00] This is the Blue Raider Podcast on WG&S. Presented by Gold's Gym with Tennessee. It's your all-access pass to everything Middle Tennessee sports. Game recaps, player spotlights, and the latest from the heart of Blue Raider Nation. Now, here's your host, Jake Bolden. Welcome back to the Blue Raider Podcast. Happy to be back in the studio after a little brief break.

[00:00:30] Along with the holiday, I hope everyone is doing well. Today's episode, we're going to be highlighting some more signees to the Football 2027 classes. They added three more guys since we were last on an episode. In other news, Conference USA also released their schedules for the upcoming basketball season. So we're going to be highlighting some things there. And then, of course, our final segment, we always love to dive into our mailbag of questions,

[00:00:55] talking all things Conference USA, NCAA, and how that relates back to MTSU. But before we get into our first segment, I want to remind you to make sure you're following us on our social medias. Our account is AppliatorPod. We're on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and of course, YouTube, where we are live streaming today. And a big reminder, too, that we are also on all of your streaming services over Saturday mornings. Today's episode will be re-uploaded there for you.

[00:01:25] So if you missed any of today's episode or previous episodes, make sure that you're subscribed over there on all of those channels so you can consume all the Blue Raider podcasts throughout this offseason. If you want to join today's episode, of course, our number here at the studio is 615-893-1450. And our producer here will take your call. Now, into today's episode, like I talked about two weeks ago before our 4th of July weekend break, we were talking about football and their signing class for 2027.

[00:01:55] I was pretty critical last week or two weeks ago about the sheer number of players that they had signed. Prior to this recent slew of players, there was only six guys signed, the fewest in all of Conference USA in terms of the 2027 class. But giving us an update over the last two weeks, we've got three new guys. And really, it's a pretty impressive group, especially whenever you compare them back to where these guys had previous offers

[00:02:23] and where they apply to this team now. So going over those guys, you got local talent from Brentwood Academy, Lex Baskin, wide receiver, six-foot wide receiver, 170 pounds. He's listed, according to Red Zone Tennessee high school recruiting, as a top-10 wide receiver in all of Tennessee. And I think more importantly, though, you fought him off on the recruiting trail from in-state G5, G6,

[00:02:50] however you want to label it, power Memphis, who's been the best G6 in the state of Tennessee. And he also beat out Conference USA opponent Liberty, which, again, not to go without saying that they have the most money in Conference USA. So out-recruiting anybody in Conference USA is a job well done. But more importantly, someone like Liberty, I think is great. And you're keeping home talent home, something that Derek Mason really hung his hat on in his first recruiting cycle, and he's really continued that and back to it a little bit in this recruiting cycle as well.

[00:03:19] But another local guy that they also signed was a place kicker and punter, Peter Hagee, out of Father Ryan High School up in Nashville, four-and-a-half star, according to the place kicker punter recruiting services. So it's a nice addition. Mason always seems to be adding one of those every signing class. And then lastly rounding out this trio is Jaden Johnson, a running back from Stevenson High School down in Stone Mountain, Georgia. That's north of Georgia.

[00:03:47] Listed at 5'10", 205 pounds. Another guy who listed as a three-star, but more importantly, from MTSU's perspective, fought him off a lot of other, I would say, high G6s like Liberty and App State who were on his list. So someone that really was a late bloomer in high school. But I think him getting added to this class just kind of, again, is a good addition

[00:04:11] because you are clearly doing something right in the space when compared to teams like Liberty and App State who have a good, I would say, piggy bank for their NIL budget, assuming that's what they're using to get a lot of high school kids. And circling back to the news that was in June was the 5-for-5 getting brought to the table for the NCAA and going into effect this upcoming year and how that affects recruiting, particularly for G5, G6 schools.

[00:04:38] How do they attack the high school recruiting stages? Because now redshirt doesn't mean anything. You're not necessarily bringing people on to have them redshirt and then get your four years. Now you could tilt, I guess, technically, in a way, redshirt with these guys, anticipate sitting them out their very first year. But now with that five-year running clock, every season matters. And so you're definitely going to be wanting guys that can contribute to your team pretty quickly.

[00:05:06] And so this class, back to the conversation of where this team falls in Conference USA, again, I was very critical two weeks ago about where this team was within the scope of Conference USA, the few assignees. They're still in that bottom tier as far as quantity. But I would argue that the quality is one of the best in Conference USA. According to On3 and Rivals, this class is third in Conference USA in terms of their average rating per assignee.

[00:05:33] Now, the volume is low, and I understand that numbers probably work in their favor in that category. However, if quality over quantity matters to you, I think this group is very talented. And as we've seen in this class collectively, it's sprinkled about. But on the offensive side, you've got two wide receivers now with Baskin joining Rempel, another Nashville guy from Lipscomb Academy. You've got a quarterback in Hudson White. Now you've got your first running back in this class with Jaden Johnson.

[00:06:02] So you've covered a lot of your skill position guys. I forgot about Aiden Ashlock at tight end as well. So you're covering a lot of your skill position players early on, those guys that I would say would be a priority just as you want to add guys every year to those certain positions. Because I think collectively these guys will not play early on. However, these are highly coveted positions in the recruiting space.

[00:06:27] So getting guys who I think are good for your level and still beating out teams that are in your conference, I think this is a great start. On the defensive side is where I was mostly impressed with going. They went out of state for their defensive guys. Josh Eccles is a top 100 linebacker out of Buford, Georgia, who they got 6'2", 10. Super impressed with him and his style. George Harris, a safety out of Miami, Florida. Tavares Ward, another guy that had SEC offers a safety out of Miami, Florida at 6'2", 190 pounds.

[00:06:57] So if quality over quantity is important to you, which I would think it is, even though I was hesitant on the lack of signings relative to the rest of the conference. But all these guys I think are really good and have the ability to, I think, make an impact on this roster sooner rather than later. Because if you are just going to fill your roster with just bodies, I mean, that may not be the best result as far as guys getting on the field as quickly as possible,

[00:07:25] truly turning over that development. So going into year three for Coach Mason, I did make the comment on the G5 Hive guys when we did our preview with MTSU. Year three for Coach Mason up at Vanderbilt was his best year. That was the year that he finally turned the corner after the years with James Franklin. So I think that this is an important year, not only for the product that he has this year, but this signing class,

[00:07:52] I think maybe slowing the pace at which the recruiting has taken place. It doesn't always necessarily mean apples to apples as far as success goes. But I do think you want to be a little bit more choosy. I think you do want to take your time with the recruiting process because he is getting to that point in his contract, that five-year contract that he signed. He's at the halfway point at this season. So I think you'd certainly want to start taking a lot more, I guess, appreciating the recruiting process a little bit more

[00:08:21] as how impactful these guys will be because in these first couple signing classes, we haven't seen a lot of those guys necessarily get on the field and make impacts. Now, this is only his third year, so this is the year we're going to start seeing those recruiting practices from two years ago come to fruition. Is he hitting on these guys? Is did he miss on some of these guys? This year is really the year that's going to be proven. And so it is interesting to see that approach change this year as far as how many guys, how many bodies he's getting.

[00:08:51] Also, his geography and recruiting has changed this year. So there's a lot of, I think, questions as far as how well did Mason do recruiting in that first year come to fruition this upcoming season. So getting back to the topic at hand, I'm finally changing gears back to immediate names, those kind of things, guys that could make an impact for this upcoming season. I don't know about any of the guys that I listed today. The running back room is already very young.

[00:09:18] Jaden Johnson is talented, but that running back room is really young, and they're only going to get better. Baskin, a wide receiver, I think is the most talented wide receiver over him and Rimpel, the wide receiver from Lipscomb Academy. So he's a little undersized at 6'1", but he's very talented, very athletic. So I think you could be surprised, but I still think that a lot of these high school kids will use that first year for development.

[00:09:45] But I wouldn't be stunned to see Baskin kind of get some opportunities, particularly maybe at special teams as well. So I'm excited for this class, and it's going to continue to grow as we get closer and closer to the season starting where it will really slow down and then maybe pick up near the end of the year when we start seeing a lot more invites as the high school season winds down as well. But I highlighted those last week, so bringing it all together to nine total so far for this 2027 class,

[00:10:12] which is well off the pace from last year, but there's still plenty of time. And other football news to kind of wrap up our first segment here. If you didn't hear this week, Conference USA did announce their Hall of Fame class of 2026, and MTSU's own quarterback Brent Stockstill will be inducted into the Conference USA Hall of Fame. Well-deserved. I mean, if you don't know the career and the lore of Brent Stockstill, very briefly, top 10 Conference USA in passing yards,

[00:10:42] touchdowns thrown, completions, completion percentage, all of those of which he leads MTSU's record books, as well as leading MTSU's record books in yards per game at 277 yards per game. He was a 2014 Conference USA freshman of the year, also was an All-American freshman, and then all the way up to his final season with Coach Stockstill in 2018, getting Conference USA MVP,

[00:11:08] as well as leading the Blue Raiders to a division title that year, and then losing in the championship game to UAB. Obviously, a lot of feelings behind that one is probably a championship that Brent Stockstill should have won over that four-year, I guess technically a five-year, but a four-year starting career. A guy that absolutely probably deserved to cap off his career with a championship. But I also thought, too, interesting to kind of keep tabs on where Brent is today.

[00:11:36] He's currently serving as the offensive quality control coach for the Indianapolis Colts. He's been on staff there since 2024. He was on staff before Mason. He was on staff here at MTSU until Mason took over and did not retain Brent, and so he found a landing spot there with the Indianapolis Colts actually as a defensive analyst. And then as of this last season, got, I guess, upgraded, promoted. That's how it's listed on as a promotion to the offensive quality control coach. That's where Brent is now.

[00:12:06] And, of course, a big congratulations to him and the honor of making the Conference USA Hall of Fame. I think it speaks volumes to, for MTSU's sake, for all the outside noise of the Stockstill era, obviously to still recognize someone like Brent. But I always wondered where Brent would be in terms of coaching if all that wouldn't have happened.

[00:12:34] I always thought Brent was going to be a guy that would stick at home, maybe even pass the torch on from father to son being a coach here. But, unfortunately, he's on to bigger and better things. And, you know, with the search of the OC this year, I even thought maybe speculated that maybe even they make the switch back to Brent coming back to Murfreesboro and leading the offense in some capacity, not necessarily being the offensive coordinator. But you lost your quarterback coach when Bodie Reader went to – or I guess Bodie Reader was cut or fired

[00:13:04] before moving up to Bowling Green. But you lost your quarterback coach when Bodie Reader left, so maybe Brent would find a way to fill those shoes. But, nevertheless, back to the topic at hand, congratulations to Brent and his recognition for the Conference USA Hall of Fame. Now, when we come back from our break here, Conference USA just released their conference schedules for both the men's and women's seasons. So, when we come back, we're going to be talking about the breaks that Conference USA cut for both of these programs.

[00:13:32] We've got that and so much more basketball talk. You're listening to the Blue Raider Podcast. This is the Blue Raider Podcast presented by Gold's Gym of Tennessee on FM 101.9 and AM 1450 Murfreesboro, 100.5 Smyrna, WGNSradio.com, and the Blue Raider Podcast YouTube channel. Now, back to your host, Jake Bolden. Welcome back to the Blue Raider Podcast.

[00:14:01] Conference USA released their conference schedules for the upcoming basketball season. We're going to be breaking down that and much more in this segment. But, first, if you're not already following the show on our social media outlets at Blue Raider Pod, we're on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and, of course, today's live stream over on YouTube as we do every Friday at 5 p.m. Don't forget to also find us on your streaming services where we do our Saturday morning uploads

[00:14:30] from every Friday's episodes. If you missed today's, you can always go back and watch it and watch all the previous episodes from the Blue Raider Podcast. Of course, if you want to join into our topic of discussion today, the line is open at 615-893-1450. Like I prefaced, Conference USA did release their upcoming basketball schedule for this season. It's always tough to necessarily say what's good and what's bad for this scheduling and the way they're doing it.

[00:14:58] But one thing that is nice, I will say, now that Conference USA is now to a perfect 10 teams in the conference, that means you only have nine other opponents with an 18-game schedule like they had last year. Or, correction, the men had a 20-game schedule last year. They fought to get that extra two-game swing, which is why we had those awkward games in December, if Blue Raider fans can recall. But now that you have nine conference opponents, you play each of them twice,

[00:15:26] that leaves you with a perfect 18-game schedule, which is exactly what the women did last year. The women, unfortunately, you only get to play seven of those nine twice throughout the year. Then there's two opponents that you only get to play one time. And fortunately or unfortunately, they're on the road or they're at home. Well, for MTSU's sake, not for the women, that is, that one opponent, the opponents that they only played one time was Sam Houston and Louisiana Tech on the women's side.

[00:15:56] It was Sam Houston and Louisiana Tech. And unfortunately, that was very early on in the season. And that was also on the road. And we all know how good of a season Louisiana Tech had winning the regular season championship. And even Sam Houston had a heck of a turnaround last year. Being the oldest team, returning the most production from a season ago, and you had to play them early on in the year, really put you in a bad spot personally. But when you look back in hindsight, it didn't necessarily hurt him. You only had to play the best Louisiana Tech team they've had in a couple years. You only had to play them once.

[00:16:23] But going to this upcoming year, now that you have a perfect square 18-game schedule, there's no more funny business, if you will, for the men's side. No one really loved, I don't think anyone necessarily loved playing, that random mid-December game amidst your non-conference. MTSU, of course, had to play Kennesaw State at that time. And you had to face the preseason favorite, Kennesaw State, who still had Simeon Cottle before it was released that he was, you know,

[00:16:54] taking bets and losing games on purpose and all that. But I digress. No one really enjoyed that. And again, the whole reason that the conference did that, and I think it was lobbied by some of the men's coaches or even athletic departments, that they wanted more games in conference to help boost RPI, net, you know, all that to necessarily get two, make it a two-bed league, which obviously didn't happen. But I always say that playing an extra conference game wouldn't be the route

[00:17:22] to getting a better RPI or a better net or two-bed league. It would be play better non-conference games, which no one wants to do that or pay to do that either. But this year, they all start at New Year's like they have in years past for the women's side, that is. The men actually start on the New Year's Eve, which is the Thursday and Saturday, like they have done it forever.

[00:17:47] They start on New Year's Eve on the 31st, and their second game is on the 2nd. They actually start on the road at Jack State and then at Kennesaw, whereas the women, they did something a little bit different, at least with their opening weekend, where they will begin on the 2nd, which is Saturday, and then their second matchup will be on Monday. So outside of that, that's the only funny business, if you will. But the men, just talking about their schedule in particular,

[00:18:13] they do start the season on the road at Jack State and Kennesaw. And then I think when you're just looking at this as a whole, starting on the road, not necessarily the worst thing, but I think more favorably, you end the season with a 3-game home stretch. They get Western Kentucky on a Saturday, the one game that week, and then their final week of the regular season is at home against Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State. Now you'll notice, I just said they start their conference schedule with Jack State-Kennesaw, and they end their season with Kennesaw-Jack State.

[00:18:42] I don't necessarily love a stretch of that long, not playing a conference opponent. I always think that a lot changes, but it's just something that you prepare for so early, it goes on the back burner for so long, and then you have to re-prepare for it. I guess it doesn't necessarily matter in the grand scheme. The better team is always going to win these basketball games. But I do think that there's a level of familiarity that is nice to have, much like when you play Western a whole month apart, that's always nice,

[00:19:08] where I know in years past, Conference USA had them play each other within a span of 15 days. So it is nice that they at least got that right. And everyone else is similarly spaced out. It's just the Jack State-Kennesaw series are so far apart. And those teams tend to do pretty well. And we know Kennesaw returning off of winning the conference tournament this last year, going to the NCAA tournament, had a good showing against Gonzaga.

[00:19:36] So I think that they're poised to have another good year. I mean, they have one heck of a good coach. But anyways, back to the schedule as a whole, the only weird stretch is because last year, men's basketball also had a stretch where they had four road games in a row. Now this year, their longest road stretch is only by virtue of having that one week, quote-unquote, bye week where you just play your travel partner in Western Kentucky. But they have Western Kentucky, then they go on the road and face New Mexico State and Sam Houston State.

[00:20:05] So that's their only technical road swing. That's three road games in a matter of eight days. But like I said, it is returned to them at the end of the year where they get eight games at home in a matter of three home games at home in a matter of eight days. So being at home too for the last two weeks of your regular season before going to Huntsville. So really you're not necessarily quote-unquote traveling as much when you get to the end of the season. I think that is very advantageous for this team. But highlighting the schedule, what's the most important stretch?

[00:20:36] Where's an area that I think will tell us the most about this team? And early on in the year in your third weekend, you have to go to Liberty and Delaware. I always say that this swing is important. But Liberty more so than any. I think Liberty, despite losing everybody from their team this last year, at least starting-wise, they are replacing all five of their starters from this last year. But that team is arguably the favorite to win Conference USA this year.

[00:21:06] The rest of the league, I think, there's so much replacing talent that's required. Thank you, Transfer Portal, for that. But there's so much talent that has to be replaced on all these rosters that Liberty is always the measuring stick of a team that, with Richie McKay, a team that is always going to be at the top of Conference USA. I do like getting them early and getting them on the road. It is your fifth conference game of the year, but that's always a great measuring stick. And then you actually get the Western Kentucky series, the 100 Miles of Hate series,

[00:21:34] your first game with them is also on the road there in early February. So I like how I would say your harder games are early on in the season, and you're going to be playing those teams on the road. Your home games early are Sam Houston, New Mexico State, FIU, Missouri State. I would say in the tier level of Conference USA, I would regard those on the lower half, anyways, of Conference USA.

[00:22:04] So getting them at home, and then at the end of the conference schedule, you get them on the road. I just think it works really well for the men. I like how it's balanced out for them. But, of course, all that could change. We can go in the non-conference. Liberty could not be good. Sam Houston, New Mexico State could be great. None of this means anything. But we're just off-season topic of discussion. I think that this is a very favorable schedule for the men. And also to throw in there, their non-conference, some of that has been swirling around as of late.

[00:22:32] They're going to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse on November 6th, so very early on in their season. And then also announced that they would be facing Auburn in Huntsville, the same place, at Probst Arena, the same place the Conference USA tournament is. They're playing the Tigers there on December 15th, so very late in the non-conference season. So bye games as we always play every year.

[00:22:56] But I've always thought that Coach McDevitt and his team has always performed particularly well in those games. I know Michigan, the second half this last year, got out of hand, but played a really good first half. You played a really good Houston team for a solid 40 minutes. So these are always fun games, and you're able to get Auburn out of Auburn and get them to a neutral site in Huntsville because Huntsville is not far from Murfreesboro. I would even argue that I think Murfreesboro is closer to Huntsville than Auburn.

[00:23:24] And we know how well the faithful showed out for the women when they played Tennessee there three years ago. So hopefully you can get a good contingency of fans down in Huntsville to see the Blue Raiders face Auburn. On the women's side, everything is just reversed. I know that first weekend against Jack State, Kennesaw was weird, but everything is in reverse. On that note, I'm not necessarily ecstatic that the women end the season on a three-game road stretch, but fortunately one of those road games is up in Bowling Green, so it's a near drive.

[00:23:52] And then also the final weekend is Kennesaw-Jack State, so it is the closest road trip that you could have to end your season. As far as the conference goes, the only team that I'm impressed with or I have an eye out for this year is Missouri State. Now that you've lost Louisiana Tech, who had a really good team this last year, they lost a lot of talent in the transfer portal anyways, but you don't have to necessarily worry about them because they're not in the conference anymore.

[00:24:20] So the only team that really catches my eye on paper is Missouri State because they didn't lose anybody from a team that won the conference tournament championship, that is. They were top three in the regular season standings. They were when Lady Raiders were just a half game out from them. So Missouri State is a very talented team. They're going to have the best proven score in the conference this year with Kamen Beckermeyer returning.

[00:24:48] I don't know how she didn't leave through the transfer portal, but that's the only team that I think you pay very close attention to. Liberty will probably have a good team. They lost their best player, Avery Mills, who I don't know if you've heard the news this week. She's at Tennessee. That's where she transferred to. She actually has a knee injury, and she's going to be missing the beginning of the season for the Lady Vols, a storyline to follow for the non-conference schedule.

[00:25:12] But I think collectively you get Missouri State early on the road at the end of January, and then you actually get to return against Missouri State late in the year at the end of February. So as far as that scheduling goes, I think it doesn't hurt or help. I'm pretty neutral on it. But I think getting the road game out of the way first is always helpful because if you can return the favor at the end of the year, I think that's better off for seeding purposes.

[00:25:40] Plus there's a lot more at stake as you get closer to the tournament. But not too much necessarily I'm concerned with as far as the travel schedule because it is a nice 18-game schedule, as I prefaced earlier. Important stretches, I think, again, that early road contest, they go to Sam Houston on their second weekend and New Mexico State. That trip can always be weird and fuzzy. This team is now experienced. I think they've handled that.

[00:26:07] But coming off of opening weekend at home, then you go on the road. You're back in – they may not be back in school, but you're getting back into school. You're on the road all the way out west. Sam Houston's – Huntsville's not necessarily out west, but New Mexico State is way out there. So how do they bounce back with that with a group that is now gaining more experience? And they'll have a year and a half under their belt by this point. So I think it's – how do they get out of the gates early? How do they respond on the road at Missouri State in their fourth weekend?

[00:26:37] That's stuff to be interested in. Wrapping it up, the non-conference, like I said, they will play Tennessee this year. It is my understanding that this is the fourth and final year of that contract that Coach Insel had signed three seasons ago. They started it off with a neutral game in Huntsville, two road games in Knoxville, and then one in Murfreesboro. This last year was that game in Murfreesboro.

[00:27:02] So the only game remaining on this four-game contract would be a road game in Knoxville. So it's my understanding that they would be going to Knoxville this year. As far as the timing of that game, I don't know, but it should be on the docket that that game gets performed and executed this year. I was also told that a lot of their non-conference schedule is going to remain the same in regards to opponents. There's a couple new teams that I can't announce yet, but a lot of the teams that they played this last year, they're just going to be flipping those home series.

[00:27:32] Tennessee State was the only weird one where that was a bye game. We paid them to come down here, but St. Louis, Tennessee Tech, Rice, Southern Indiana, Wichita State, those were all road games last year. Played a lot of road games last year. This year, now they get to return that favor and come home. And the SEC opponent in Auburn, who came to Murfreesboro this last year, we now have to return that trip back to Auburn.

[00:27:54] So two SEC, potentially, again, none of this stuff is official, but two SEC road games I think is good for this team early on. Battle test them against good competition. And a lot of these mid-majors, like I listed in Tennessee Tech, Rice, Southern Indiana, these are teams that are vying for NCAA tournament bids from their conferences. These are no slouch of opponents as well that I think is great to get those teams' return trips back into Murphy Center.

[00:28:22] So when we return from the break, we're going to get back into our mailbag, as we always do in our final segment of off-season topics of discussion. You're not going to want to miss it. You are listening to the Blue Raider podcast. Next on All Sports Talk, it's the Blue Raider Insider Report with Chip Walters of Exit Realty, Bob Lamb & Associates. Well, good afternoon, everybody. And it's going to be a big weekend in Nashville with folks that have an MTSU connection

[00:28:52] and also a Rutherford County connection. Former MTSU men's basketball coach Kermit Davis will be inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame tomorrow night at the Omni Hotel in Nashville. Coach Davis has spent 16 years with the Blue Raiders and became the winningest men's coach of all time for the Blue Raiders. And, of course, his career was highlighted by back-to-back NCAA tournament trips.

[00:29:18] In two of the last three years, he was at Middle Tennessee, including the gigantic upset of Michigan State. Also, Coach Rick Ensel will be awarded the Pat Summit Lifetime Achievement Award for his work not only as head coach at Middle Tennessee, but, of course, his legendary career at Shelbyville High School, where he won 10 state championships and, of course,

[00:29:43] had the long streak of postseason tournament play as head coach at Middle Tennessee. And, of course, he is also the winningest women's basketball coach in MTSU history. And taking that Rutherford County theme on just a little bit further, former Blackman High pitcher and sometime basketball player David Price will be inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame as well.

[00:30:11] That all goes on tomorrow night at the Omni Hotel in Nashville. Speaking of Hall of Fames, former Blue Raider quarterback Brent Stockstall was named to the Conference USA Hall of Fame class of 2026. That was announced by the league office on Wednesday. Stockstall becomes the fourth Blue Raider to be inducted into the Conference USA Hall of Fame, which inducted its first class in 2019.

[00:30:34] He joins former Middle Tennessee football standout and NFL All-Pro safety Kevin Byard, legendary Blue Raider track and field coach Dean Hayes, and former head women's basketball coach Rick Ensel as MTSU's members of the Conference USA Hall of Fame. Stockstall, the starting quarterback for the Blue Raiders from 2015 to 2018, led MTSU to four straight winning seasons and four bowl games.

[00:31:02] In 2018, the Blue Raiders played for the Conference USA Championship after winning the Eastern Division title. So congratulations to Brent on that. Well, the Conference USA basketball schedule has been released by the conference office, and both for the men and the women. On the men's side, the Blue Raiders have a tough road to hoe early, as they will have to play seven of their first 11 on the road,

[00:31:27] including the conference opener on New Year's Eve in Jacksonville, Alabama at Jacksonville State. Then the Blue Raiders will travel over to Kennesaw before coming home for Sam Houston and New Mexico State. The Blue Raiders do, however, play seven of their final or five of their final seven at home, including a three-game homestand in the regular season.

[00:31:53] That'll be against Western Kentucky, Kennesaw and Jacksonville State. And of course, the conference tournament down in Huntsville. On the women's side, just flip it. It's an absolute mirrored schedule this year. Thank goodness that the conference office finally got something right. The Lady Raiders will play seven of their first 11 at home. And again, Jack State and Kennesaw will lead things off. The Lady Raiders will have to play five of their final seven on the road,

[00:32:21] and that last road trip will be a killer with three in a row at Kennesaw and at Jacksonville State. All right, that's it for today. Everybody have a great weekend. We'll talk to you again on Monday right here on the Big G, WGNS.com. This is the Blue Raider Podcast presented by Gold's Gym of Tennessee on FM 101.9 and AM 1450 Murfreesboro,

[00:32:48] 100.5 Smyrna, WGNSradio.com, and the Blue Raider Podcast YouTube channel. Now, back to your host, Jake Bolden. Welcome back to the final segment of the Blue Raider Podcast. We're going to dig into our mailbag as we always do. But before we do that, make sure you're following the Blue Raider Podcast on all your social media accounts. That's X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and of course our live stream today over on YouTube.

[00:33:17] And don't miss our re-upload of this episode tomorrow morning anywhere that you consume your podcasts every Saturday morning. And of course, if you miss any of these, you can always go back and watch previous episodes. And if you want to join into our final segment here, that phone number for the studio is 615-893-1450. Now, I didn't have the chance because we were talking Lady Raiders basketball before the break about their Conference USA schedule getting released. And even Chip mentioned it there in his minute.

[00:33:46] But just to highlight a player that's coming into Murfreesboro this year, Mayan Cohen, she is currently competing at the FIBA U20 Eurobasket Championships. Basically, a championship of all the European countries that compete. I think it's 16 teams that make this tournament field. And Israel and Mayan Cohen are being represented there.

[00:34:12] And her team actually won this morning at 10 a.m. against Poland and narrowly advanced by a score of 80-79. So, Ms. Cohen and her Israel team is going to be in the Final Four tomorrow morning on Saturday at 10 a.m. Central. They'll be facing off against Belgium. And I thought it was important to highlight her because she's a very big contributor to this team's success. Averaging 12 points per game.

[00:34:40] She's averaging shooting 46%. She's shooting 37% from three. And part of that number has actually fallen because she didn't shoot particularly well from deep in today's game. But still shooting 37%, all things considered, from the tournament. It was a three-game round robin, two. So, that's over five games. And then she even has a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. So, she's been a contributor for this Israel team and wish her nothing but the best of luck. And her Final Four appearance this morning at 10 a.m.

[00:35:10] And then, of course, the championship, which would be, I believe, on Sunday locally. So, I just missed that opportunity to bring that up about her performance. And she is an incoming freshman, if you didn't already know that, for this upcoming season. And I'm told she's the real deal. And it's always interesting how those international players and their play translates overseas here to the college game. And looking at Israel's team, their leading scorer, who is phenomenal in this stage in particular, Raviv.

[00:35:39] She plays collegiately at the University of Miami, Florida, here on the state side. And she is a great player. I think she averaged 14 points per game for the Hurricanes this year. But overseas right now, she's averaging nearly double, almost 30. I think she scored 37 points in this morning's game. She has quite the skill set.

[00:35:59] But averaging 30 points per game overseas versus 30 points per game here in the ACC, like you could at Miami, Florida, doesn't translate that well. But that skill set, I think playing against the best talent in the U20 and that circuit over there in Europe, I think when you compare that to G5 mid-major basketball, I think will translate a lot better. Or at least be closer in comparison.

[00:36:26] So keep an eye on her tomorrow morning when she competes in the Final Four against Belgium at 10 a.m. Other news, talking about Blue Raider baseball, Lane Akers, a guy who finally committed. He's actually going to College World Series participant Troy, a guy that I very sorely will miss. He was an all-CUSA all-freshman this last year, hit .324, 31 RBIs, 20 extra base hits.

[00:36:52] A guy that you look forward to in the infield who especially took a hit with Cooper Clapp leaving as well. You've got graduation over at first base, so thought you could retain Akers. But he's going to College World Series participant Troy, so obviously the best of luck to him. Something else, too, internally I think is important because we've talked about this all season long.

[00:37:16] This last spring was announced that President Stephen A., Dr. Sidney A. McPhee would be stepping down as president in December of this year. They just had their meeting, Board of Trustees meeting back in late June. Didn't have the opportunity to really talk about what came of that meeting. But I think importantly, especially in the landscape of the athletics, is that they're supposed to narrow down their president in October.

[00:37:43] And then they will have a new president hopefully announced. I believe it was in December is when they will make that announcement. That all does tie back into athletics in some regard because, as it has been speculated, that changing president does have a domino effect in athletic departments. Who's going to lead the athletic department? And then, of course, if they do make a change in the athletic department, that could become a domino effect for all other sports included.

[00:38:10] And so, December, the end of football season, there certainly is a lot to keep eyes on and where a president – I don't know how much – I think in a typical sense or in a traditional sense, how much say does a president really have in the athletic department? That's why they have ADs that handle that side of the business. But we all know that Dr. Sidney A. McPhee is very involved in the athletics here and has, I would say, a big say in what does happen in the athletic department.

[00:38:39] But does a new president have, I guess, as much motivation to lead the athletic department like Sidney A. McPhee has? And so, I think that there will be a lot – I think tracking a lot of people paying attention to that news as they get close – again, narrowing that list down in October. How many – does that board of trustee – do they find someone that does put their foot forward with athletics similar to what Sidney A. McPhee has done?

[00:39:07] So, that will be an interesting news line to follow, particularly as we wind down the football season into December, if you can pick up what I'm putting down. So, in other news, I thought it was interesting. The NCAA football game did come out this week. I've been talking about a lot in June as there's so much that swirls around with NIL and everything. And I thought there's a fellow Conference USA school that did something particularly interesting.

[00:39:35] FIU, they did a sweepstakes where they offered the first two people that could win a national championship – again, this is just a video game – but they could win a national championship with their team. And they could provide proof that they did all this, that they would give them two suites paid for for the entire upcoming season. Now, the video game obviously is open to everybody, and I always thought – I do think that the promotion itself is a little odd because so many people can play this game.

[00:40:03] And if I lived in Montana and I won this sweepstakes, how am I going to get down to Miami, Florida to actually cash in on my prize? I don't think that they're going to do anything about that. But the reason I think that this is an interesting or unique avenue that FIU has taken because, as we learned back in June – or really, we've known for a while, but a lot of that stuff got debunked in June –

[00:40:28] that EA Sports pays out to these colleges based on the amount of usage and royalties that these teams have in the dynasty mode. So for FIU, I would assume they're taking a play out of that playbook that, hey, the more people that we can get to just even participate with our university, whether – if it's just giving them two – if the payoff is giving them two suites, whether they use them or they don't.

[00:40:53] But if we give them these suites and we have more people play the video game as FIU, that in turn creates more revenue. Now, we're talking a couple hundred, maybe even thousand dollars, but the most used team in all of Conference USA a season ago, Missouri State and Delaware, they turned it into a quarter of a million dollars. So it's certainly not nothing to be played in this video game.

[00:41:17] It's so funny how this has all come full circle of playing video games, and now these schools are now getting royalties to get money back, and everyone thought that it was a bad idea that the NCAA didn't allow the licensing for EA Sports. But clearly there's a reason that they withheld for so long because of all this money that they could be making for these universities and for these athletes. But I digress. Getting people to play the game as you clearly can pay the bill.

[00:41:46] I mean, a quarter of a million dollars, that certainly is quite the – I would say the bolster to an NIL budget. Whether MTSU's is healthy or not relative to Conference USA, it doesn't matter. But I think it's interesting that someone within Conference USA has found a new creative way to at least put their name in that landscape with all of Conference USA to get people to play as them. I think it's cool. It's unique.

[00:42:13] And even from the amount of runway they've gotten – that they've gotten on social media, it's gotten a lot of people excited. I mean, they're the only school I've ever seen that has done this thus far, and they have nearly over 1,000 impressions on Twitter for people that have actually, I guess, participated in the sweepstakes, who probably wouldn't have participated if it wasn't for it.

[00:42:36] So I think that it's unique, and in some way it's going to bring more money to FIU, and obviously they were able to say, well, if we give them Sweets tickets, I think it offsets that cost pretty handsomely. So I think it's cool that someone's doing that. Does MTSU respond? Does anyone else in Conference USA respond with something similar? I don't know, but I think it's something that should be explored. And in today's world, if you can find any avenue to make more money that requires nothing on your part, there's no overhead for FIU to do this.

[00:43:05] The video game's created. They've given them their licensing. They just have to sit back and let people play the game. So I thought that was interesting. Final topic of discussion. If you didn't hear, Yahoo Sports is coming out with Fantasy Football now for College Athletics, which there's always been Fantasy Football for College. But it is now covered in all the P4s at a big name like Yahoo Sports, who does NFL fantasy. They do baseball fantasy. They do basketball fantasy.

[00:43:33] So for them to do college football now is a big storyline. But where does this pertain to MTSU? They left out all the G6 schools, which obviously for those of us locally, you've got the group of five guys who were all MTSU alumni who obviously were not happy about this. And I think the biggest argument that Yahoo Sports and those that are defending that decision was that, well, there's just too many athletes. There's too many athletes to keep up with if you wanted to do G5, G6 schools.

[00:44:03] And some might even make – and the other argument is, well, if you have a G6 running back and he plays on a team that would destroy their conference, then his numbers would be swayed because of his level of competition. And to that I would say, well, that's the game you're playing. It's a fantasy football league. So I don't love it, the optics for them keeping it – I guess gatekeeping G6 schools from participating in something like this.

[00:44:30] Again, maybe gambling and college sports haven't mixed very well, as we've seen with athletes getting kicked out and going to jail or having to sit in court because they're throwing games because of gambling. But I do think it's a slight to G6 schools that you can't – that they're not being included in this new outlook for Yahoo Sports. And I'm sure it's before long that DraftKings and all those other ESPN bet, all those come back and have some sort of fantasy.

[00:44:59] But G6, unfortunately, has been left out of that. But that'll do it for today's mailbag topics. That'll do it for today's episode. So thanks again for tuning in to another episode of the Blue Raider podcast. Remember to follow us on our social media, at Blue Raider Pod, X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. And if you're tuning to our live stream on YouTube, subscribe so you don't miss another one of our weekly Friday episodes. Thanks to my producer, Jackson Smith, and you're listening to the Blue Raider podcast.

[00:45:26] This has been all sports talk on WG&S and Big G TV, where we hit every level of the game from the preps to MTSU across Tennessee and the nation. Thanks for tuning in to all sports talk from the Good Neighbor Network. Thanks.