Blue Raider Podcast | 07/24/2026

[00:00:00] This is the Blue Raider Podcast on WG&S. Presented by Gold's Gym of 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.

[00:00:22] Welcome back to the Blue Raider Podcast. Today's episode, we're going to be recapping this week's Conference USA Media Days. Coach Derek Mason, quarterback Roman Gagliano, and punter Ashton Logan went down and talked all things Blue Raider football ahead of this upcoming season. So we're going to be recapping a little bit about what happened down there, and of course, all the Conference USA releases that came along with it.

[00:00:47] We've also got some news on the Lady Raider side of things, not just basketball, but we have also got some golf, softball, off-season recruiting news that is certainly worth diving into today. But before we get into it, I want to remind you to make sure you're following the Blue Raider Podcast on all of our social media outlets. We're on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and of course, our live stream today over on YouTube.

[00:01:12] And if you do want to join into today's episode, you can call the studio. Our number here is 615-893-1450, and our producer here will take your call. Like I said at the very beginning, talking about Conference USA Media Days this week, there's really a lot to dive into what took place.

[00:01:30] One thing that's always big about this week, and championships, as I've said in years past with basketball or even baseball, a lot of people take stock into preseason awards or preseason watch lists. I always take it with a grain of salt. It's good to see where your program aligns with the rest of Conference USA. Also to see where the rest of Conference USA views MTSU in their eyes of competitiveness.

[00:01:58] And I guess it goes really without saying that they're really overlooking MTSU this year, whether for better or for worse. But it is important to take stock in that. But the preseason watch list was the first thing to drop. This was on Monday. And the way that Conference USA does it, Conference USA does a lot of things different than the rest of the NCAA.

[00:02:21] In particular, how they handle football, though, as opposed to a traditional preseason all-conference list where they just list the best quarterback, the best running back, the best wide receiver. They like to highlight five players from each program, and then they do put it into a preseason first-team list. However, they want to go about it where they highlight five players from each program. So at least everyone is getting some level of recognition. Well, for the Blue Raiders, they had exactly five.

[00:02:50] To name them in no particular order, offensive lineman Reese Tripp, who was the Minnesota transfer this incoming year. You've got place kicker Dominique Bourgeois, who's the D3 transfer coming in this year. Cornerback Jason Hardy, another transfer. Wide receiver Cam Lacey. And then defensive end Reggie Johnson, who are the two returners that did make that preseason watch list. So that group collectively, Cam Lacey, Reggie Johnson didn't really surprise me.

[00:03:19] Even Dominique Bourgeois didn't surprise me because we know how talented he is. He was a D3 All-American place kicker. What did surprise me, though, was offensive lineman Reese Tripp and cornerback Jason Hardy. Jason Hardy got a lot of praise from us in our G5 Hive preview going into this year at the cornerback position where that defensive backfield is going to need a lot of help. But Jason Hardy was one of those guys who you thought would be a mainstay, really had proved himself at a lower level, now getting the call-up to Division I at MTSU.

[00:03:48] So I'm not necessarily as surprised by him. But Reese Tripp, going into this season, we didn't really know, and we still don't really know, what this offensive line looks like from top to bottom, left to right, if you will. Reese Tripp was, I guess, shoot in as an offensive tackle whenever I was writing up my preseason preview for this team. One of the larger guys on this team, and obviously was a highly sought-after recruit when he was picked up at Minnesota.

[00:04:16] Didn't play at Minnesota. However, when you ship a Big Ten guy off to Conference USA, I think he's going to stand out on paper, and that's probably why he received the honor of being on the preseason watch list. Now, I don't know how the conference goes about selecting their watch list because you still have to select five players.

[00:04:37] I'm sure in some capacity, MTSU does some sort of marketing, or they might even throw out some nominations, and then the other nine teams select from that list. But for Reese to make it, I think it says a lot for, I guess, you've got one player set up to be on that offensive line, and the tackle position is one of those that is certainly up for grabs this offseason. So I praise for him as well as for everyone else.

[00:05:06] Now, the other topic at hand that is released along with Media Days, Conference USA does their own patent-pending bowl confidence index, where most conferences would just do a media bowl, where all the media within the conference and coaches would go out and vote who's going to finish first, who's going to finish second. They make their own ranking first through 10th.

[00:05:31] Well, Conference USA essentially gives every school two votes, one to the head coach, and I believe the second one goes to the SID, or I guess the school has the allowance to give that vote to whoever they want. I believe it has always gone to the head SID for both of those programs. So with that being said, each school gets two, you get 20 total votes. What they do with this vote, though, is will this team make a bowl game, will this team not?

[00:06:01] You get a yes or no question. And so based on those votes, that's how Conference USA aligns their preseason rankings. So as opposed to just having a preseason favorite, they just have teams that are 100% confident that they will make a bowl game. If that wasn't confusing enough for you, hopefully I can dumb it down a little bit.

[00:06:21] But according to the 10 teams and the 20 votes in Conference USA, there's 100% confidence that Jacksonville State, Liberty, and Western Kentucky is going to make a bowl game. That means all 20 votes said yes. Now where does that pertain to MTSU? Well, the Blue Raiders finished ninth in Conference USA in this vote with just a 15% confidence rating. That means of the 20 votes, only three picked MTSU to make a bowl game.

[00:06:47] If you're doing math in your head, two of those were likely from MTSU. So I'm curious to know who that outlier vote is that had the vote of confidence for MTSU to make the bowl game. But in comparing this to the rest of the conference, they did finish ninth. And to finish out that list, like I said, Jacksonville State, Liberty, Western Kentucky were 100%. Kennesaw State, you're defending Conference USA champions, got 85%.

[00:07:15] Delaware, 75%, who returns the most production of anyone in Conference USA. And I believe they're top 10 in all of college football in terms of returning production. So they're at 75%. FIU, their second year with Coach Willie Simmons, they're at 60%. Now there's a pretty big drop-off because six of those teams are over the 50% threshold.

[00:07:40] Missouri State at 35%, New Mexico State at 20%, MTSU at 15%, and Sam Houston at 10%. Presumably their own two votes getting them to 10%. So there's a pretty steep drop-off from FIU at six and then Missouri State at seven. Now, as I said, championships are not won or lost in the preseason poll. But for better or for worse, the conference is looking at MTSU as someone that is in that bottom tier of the conference, along with New Mexico State and Sam Houston State.

[00:08:10] Which, to this point, I've always said that those two are the most winnable, if not winnable, games for MTSU this year. But I think I learned a lot listening to this week's Media Days with Coach Mason, Roman Gagliano, and Ashton Logan. A little bit more insight, which is what the value of Media Days in late July before they return to fall camp.

[00:08:34] But that's why it's valuable for media members and fans alike to kind of get some insight into how you do feel about this season. And I always take it with a grain of salt because coaches are going to do coach's talk. They're going to say things are great, things are going well, and I don't expect anything less from Mason or from Tyson Helton or from anyone talking about their team. Of course, you're going to go into the season thinking that this is going to be a great year. You feel great about where the team is at, all of that.

[00:09:04] However, I did appreciate Mason. I think there's a level of honesty with himself, and there's a level of honesty that Roman Gagliano brought to the panel as well that I think is a breath of fresh air. I'm not saying that it's always been smoke and mirrors, but it is nice to have your coach

[00:09:25] and your starting quarterback addressed the issues that a lot of fans have been talking about for the last two going into his third season. Some of the things that he said in that interview on ESPN, I just took apart a few of them. But one thing that he did say was that last year specifically wasn't a talent problem, but it was a chemistry issue.

[00:09:51] I don't say what you will about Coach Mason. He always does talk about how important the culture is, and I certainly 100% agree with that. The talent problem, again, if it's a talent problem, you could always point the finger at, well, it's been recruiting, it's been this, it's been that. But everyone has to deal with the same recruiting loopholes, hurdles that you have to jump through in today's sport, especially in college football.

[00:10:18] But I guess Mason more so than others because we always talk about that gap year where he didn't coach football. He has to kind of reinsert himself back into those circles. I thought the talent was pretty good last year. But I'm surprised to hear him say that he would put more weight into the chemistry being the problem and not necessarily the talent. That part I do take issue with.

[00:10:42] However, he does feel like he's weeded out some of the bad to that chemistry issue. He feels very confident where this team is this year. He says that year three is different, which, again, I fully anticipate every coach there to say, well, this year is different. Unless you're Western Kentucky or Kennesaw or Jacksonville State, you hope nothing is different. But if you go three and nine for the second consecutive year, year three, it better be different.

[00:11:08] But he said, Coach Mason said that with this group, he feels that there is a level of accountability. He still has some of these young guys that he did recruit in his first year that have stuck around. Obviously, he had a lot of young faces that got to contribute late in the year last year. I think that level of continuity does pay dividends like we're going to potentially see with Delaware this upcoming year.

[00:11:33] Even schools like Jacksonville State who have some level of returning production that's going to lead them to success. So I think addressing that, hey, we do have the continuity in our favor this year. We do have guys like Roman who had a heck of a finish to the year that he's going to be our starting quarterback this year. We are bringing back guys like Cam Lacey, like Reggie Johnson. Yes, we lost some along the way, but we're still bringing some keystone pieces to this team. I think addressing that.

[00:12:03] And then something, too, that Roman said when asked about this upcoming season and finishing on a high note, his words were, he's tired of losing, and it's part of his job, his responsibility to help flip it. I thought it was admirable, one, to address the elephant in the room. You're right. You've won six games in your two seasons here. I'm tired of losing. Well, Roman, as a starting quarterback, has a winning record at 2-1.

[00:12:31] And really, he had a heck of a game in his one loss against Western Kentucky. I like a quarterback that has a little bit of juice to him, that has a little bit of drive to him. It's like, hey, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. It's not just that I'm the starting quarterback this year. It's that I want to win football games. And if I have to pick this team up by their bootstraps and carry it myself, because now, although I'm a sophomore, junior, or whatever they want to listen to me, now that I'm the starting quarterback of this team, it is my responsibility to get us out of that hole.

[00:13:00] And I can respect that. Hopefully, you know, that turns into wins for this team this year with that level of attitude, because I hope that as your quarterback, that should have a trickle-down effect. I don't think Nick ever lacked talent, and Roman certainly has plenty of it. But Nick was always the general, if you will, kind of a stone face. He did all the things right, more robotic. Roman, as we've addressed many times, is more of a kid.

[00:13:26] And his play style, I think, is admirable from the aspect that it's still a game to him, but it's a lot of fun when you win football games. So I hope that this attitude that he brought to the media is, hey, I'm tired of losing. It's my job now to flip this. And so I think that that's a great line from Roman. And hopefully, you know, that's something we can lean on into the season when talking to Roman. And, of course, our preseason when we go to fall camp, I'm happy to talk to Roman about those kind of things.

[00:13:53] But something else, too, that was said a lot from Coach Mason was the tagline close games. They were 2-4 last year in close games, in one-score games. And then at Conference USA, they were 1-4. So de facto, if you were able to swing all of those, that's four more wins in your favor. You're looking at a seven-win football season, which those are his words, is that we could have won seven football games last year. And he's 100% right.

[00:14:19] There's no opinion in that. If you flip the score, you win seven football games last year. Now, back to my original point, is it a talent problem or a chemistry problem? Well, if you think the chemistry problem is fixed, then maybe you can flip those one-score games because that's going to be vital to any success this year. I think this team is, on paper, more talented. At least there's more experience. There's more proven experience on this team than what he had last year.

[00:14:48] So year three was a turnaround for Mason in Vanderbilt. I sure hope that his third year here in Murfreesboro is a turnaround because losing four one-score games is a start in the right direction. But now you've got to start to learn how to win when you're ahead or win when you're behind, much like we saw what they didn't do at times last year. But when we come back from the break, we've got a shortened show tonight, so it's going to be one more segment. But when we come back, we're going to be talking about some Lady Raiders recruiting offseason stuff. You're not going to want to miss it.

[00:15:18] 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. This is our final segment today.

[00:15:46] We've got a little shortened show because the Braves are coming on for their pregame show this evening. But thanks to you for sticking around. We've got some recruiting news, talking women's sports this last week, and we'll dive into that and much more. But first, I want to remind you to make sure you're following the Blue Raider Podcast on our social media outlets. We're on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and, of course, our live stream today over on YouTube. And don't miss our re-upload tomorrow morning of today's episode.

[00:16:14] So if you missed segment one, don't worry. We'll re-upload tomorrow morning anywhere that you listen to your podcast. We're on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and, of course, we have the re-uploads on YouTube where you can just re-watch the whole show yourself. So don't forget to follow us there so you don't miss any of those. And, of course, if you do want to join into our final segment here, our number is 615-893-1450, and our producer here will take your call.

[00:16:43] I preface this section about some recruiting news for our women's sports, and it's a little bit everywhere, so you're going to have to bear with me for this final segment because there's a lot of, I think, cool storylines that go amidst all this. One that I really left off a couple weeks ago, and I feel sorry for never really completing that circle, was Mayan Cohen, who competed at the FIBA U-20 Eurobasket over in Europe this summer,

[00:17:12] and they finished up play two weeks ago. She was going into the Final Four last we spoke, and she actually helped lead the Israeli team all the way to the championship. Where they did ultimately end up falling to France by just seven points in that finale. But a big round of applause, a pat on the back for Mayan Cohen, incoming freshman for the basketball team. She averaged 13 points per game, shooting almost 40% from three,

[00:17:40] and really that number was a lot higher early on in the tournament. Kind of fell off there late as far as shooting from three. But she finished third on the team in scoring average with two of her teammates, one of which who plays for Miami, Florida, and the other one who plays at Purdue. But being a top three scorer over on the U-20 circuit in Europe, playing against the best players at your age at this time, it's commendable.

[00:18:06] So I'm super happy to put a bow on that for her and the Israeli national team being runner-up. And my understanding is she will shortly, if she isn't already on campus, she will certainly be here for the fall semester. So I'm really excited here in the next couple weeks to tune in to Matt Insel and staff, learn a little bit about how their offseason's going. And of course, I'm told that we're very short distance away from the release of their non-conference schedule.

[00:18:33] Much like I prefaced a couple weeks ago, that you're going to have some returning faces. There's going to be a lot more enticing home games this year. They're going to be a new opponent here and there. They also obviously are going to be doing a new neutral site tournament where they're going to be playing some good competition as well. So exciting to get that news. And hopefully again in the coming weeks, we will have head coach Matt Insel join the show.

[00:18:59] On the note of women's basketball, another storyline on the women's recruiting side of things, softball offered Layla Downs-Darden. Now, the reason I bring her up and tie her into basketball, she picked up an offer for softball. However, months ago, she also had an offer for women's basketball at MTSU. And what's interesting about Layla and looking at some of her recruiting profile

[00:19:24] is that she is, I guess, looking out for these dual offers to go play multiple sports because MTSU was not the only school that had offered her, I guess, dual opportunities. I think most recently she was offered by Illinois-Chicago to do both. Now, Layla is highly sought after more so for her basketball prowess. She was the BCAT Basketball Player of the Year for Class 1A at McEwen High School.

[00:19:53] I mean, and she can score basketball. I mean, she nearly scored 1,000 points just this one season alone. And she's listed, I don't know if I said this, listed as a class of 2027. So this is her senior season she's going into. Listed as a combo guard. I think she's 5'11", 5'10". Just going to be a great wing scorer for this team, a great ball handler. So she sought after more for her basketball prowess. She holds offers to Liberty locally to Belmont.

[00:20:22] I think she has an offer to Memphis, Tennessee State. She has the offers to go around definitely at the mid-major level. She plays on Tennessee Flight Silver, which a lot of Matt Insel's recruiting comes from that well or that pipeline, if you will. But it's impressive that she obviously is seeking this dual offer because she got an offer this last week. According to her social media, she spoke with Bryce Brents,

[00:20:49] hitting coach for the Lady Raiders softball team, and received an offer. But she also has quite the softball pedigree. She hit .386 with an OPS of .974 this last year. She helped lead McEwen to a state runner-up finish in the Class 1A softball championship. So I think it's unique. I mean, if you're able – and I don't know from an athlete's perspective if she's able to pull in – NIL is always a topic of discussion.

[00:21:16] I would assume that she's able to pull in multiple streams of revenue from NIL. I don't know how all that works. And if NIL has even figured out how that necessarily can work, I don't see – it kind of feels like it's the Wild West for everybody anyways. But that's unique because obviously basketball runs into softball season because softball starts late February. And basketball doesn't end typically, especially for our women's basketball program. Basketball doesn't end until mid to late March.

[00:21:46] So she would miss – if she was going to play softball, she would miss at least the first month of the season, which for softball they do start earlier than baseball, but they also start conference play a lot earlier relative to the whole schedule. So I don't know – and I'm not – this is also assuming that Layla comes to MTSU, but she goes anywhere that she'll have to run that issue along. But I think that it's unique.

[00:22:12] And Layla is, in my opinion, highly sought after for this 2027 recruiting class because of her prowess in basketball. But if you can tag her along for softball, softball certainly could use all the help that they can get. Now another note for the women's recruiting side. Now we're taking our attention away from high school recruits like we just did, and we're going to be getting into a transfer portal.

[00:22:39] Women's golf this week picked – I know we're digging deep here in the summer season, but we're talking about women's golf. They did pick up a NAIA All-American this last week, which is huge news because women's golf did lose themselves an all-conference player who transferred out to Kentucky. But Sarah Berger, she's going to be a redshirt senior from Dalton State College and NAIA school. This last year she finished ranked third in all of NAIA.

[00:23:08] And more impressively, she had two wins and she had five top three finishes in 2026. But she finished runner-up at the NAIA Women's National Championship. So she is quite the resume from her redshirt junior campaign, to say the least. But golf is one of those sports, in my opinion, that translates well no matter what level.

[00:23:36] Now, if it was a football player going NAIA to Division I, you might raise an eyebrow. But when you're talking about a sport like golf, which is played the same by everybody all the time, that game is going to translate particularly well. So Coach Lauren Wamsley really hitting the recruiting trail hard there. And this women's golf program I think has made a turn for the better under her care. I think this is going into year three for herself. They picked up a team win this last year.

[00:24:04] As I said, Elizabeth got to the Conference USA, all-Conference USA selection, finishing top five of the tournament this last year. They are returning quite a bit of production for that team collectively. So I think that having someone like Sarah Berger added back to this roster, I think is going to prove pretty, pretty good for them. And I don't know how someone like Berger slips through the cracks.

[00:24:27] That has more to do with the new five and five that got released or that got pushed through this summer, granting players eligibility. Now, Sarah wouldn't have been involved in that because if last year was her senior year, you don't get grandfathered in. But that five and five did get pushed through. Now, my final note, and I just thought that this was interesting to end the show on, was that five and five, and the women's basketball program has been pushing out some of their

[00:24:55] meet the freshman or meet the player campaign over on their social media, which is great for people like me who loves to know a little bit about some of these new faces that I don't get to meet all the time, and especially for you, the fans. So I highly recommend you check them out. But I thought it was interesting how some of these players, like Elisa Meyer went on today, and Miss Whitfield, the transfer from Tennessee State, they came on, and I believe their class has changed. And I know that the five for five is going to carry over to them

[00:25:25] because they didn't graduate this last year, so they're not graduate transfers. But that will carry over to them. So it is interesting to see, and back to my discussion with Matt Insul, hopefully the next couple weeks, how does the five for five reflect recruiting? Because now women's basketball, I haven't looked at the roster in a minute, but collectively outside of Maya Kone, who is going to be a graduate this upcoming year, you have the ability to return everybody once again.

[00:25:54] And so I think when you're talking about continuity's sake, we've talked about that in the football segment, but certainly with the basketball segment and even carrying over to men's basketball where their team is full of juniors and without going by piece by piece through their eligibility, how does this five for five now affect both of our basketball programs in terms of continuity? Because I know Maya Kone, again, I'm assuming that this is going to be her final year. She's been playing college basketball for six years.

[00:26:22] But for men's basketball, men's basketball doesn't have, again, quickly thinking, I don't think that they have any seniors this upcoming year. So with this new five for five basketball, both of them are set up for a lot of success in the event that they can create continuity and get these guys back on campus for that next year. But that's going to do it for our show today. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Blue Raider podcast. Remember to follow us on social media at Blue Raider Pod,

[00:26:52] on X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. And if you're tuned in to our live stream on YouTube, subscribe so you don't miss another one of our weekly episodes. Thanks to my producer, Jackson Smith. You're 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 and Associates. Well, good afternoon, everybody. Middle Tennessee football single game tickets for the 2026 season

[00:27:19] are now on sale for all six home games. With affordable pricing, convenient parking located just steps from Floyd Stadium and a full lineup of themed promotions throughout the season, there's never been a better time to experience Blue Raider football. The Blue Raiders will play six home games this fall inside Floyd Stadium during head coach Derek Mason's third season leading the program, beginning with the season opening whiteout game,

[00:27:46] Faith and Family Night as well against Murray State on September 5th. Two weeks later, on September 19th, Middle Tennessee will host Nevada for the 44th annual Salute to Veterans and Armed Forces game. The game will also serve as Scout Night and Family Weekend. Conference USA newcomer Delaware makes its first ever visit to Murfreesboro

[00:28:10] on Tuesday, October 13th, as fans can enjoy $2 Tuesday featuring concession stand specials throughout the game. Kennesaw State will visit Floyd Stadium on Wednesday, October 28th for Halloween in Floyd Stadium and winning Wednesday. The home schedule concludes in November with two exciting matchups. Heated rival Western Kentucky visits for homecoming on November 7th.

[00:28:36] That's also Youth Sports Day before the Blue Raiders wrap up the regular season on November 28th against New Mexico State for Senior Day and Education Days. Single game tickets start at just $22 for end zone reserved and $28 for sideline reserved seating and a limited number of chair back reserved seats are also available. You can check that all out at GoBlueRaiders.com slash tickets.

[00:29:06] Middle Tennessee Women's Volleyball has been honored with earning the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award for the ninth consecutive year. The award is given to programs that maintain a year-long grade point average of 3.3 or better on a 4.0 scale. This year, Middle Tennessee Volleyball was one of over 1,400 collegiate and high school volleyball programs that were honored with the award.

[00:29:33] This past season, 12 student-athletes made the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll and eight made the Conference USA Commissioner's Academic Medal List and that one comes with a 3.7 GPA or higher. Middle Tennessee Men's Tennis and Women's Tennis will be hosting the 2026 Wally Tidwell Pro-Am on September 11th and 12th at the Adams Tennis Complex.

[00:30:02] The Pro-Am is an annual event that fundraises for the MTSU tennis programs, raising money for various needs such as rackets, equipment, and live stream cameras. It will consist of doubles matches including MTSU players, coaches, local pros, and alumni, along with local players. The schedule on Friday, September 11th, 5.30 to 6.30, a tennis clinic inside the ATC with MTSU players.

[00:30:31] 6.30 to 8, dinner and drinks on the mezzanine. On Saturday, 7.45 to 8.30 a.m., refreshments and warm-ups. 8 a.m., the ladies' outdoor matches begin. 10.30, men's arrival and warm-up. And at 11 o'clock, the men's matches begin. The full story can be found on GoBlueRaiders.com. All right, everybody. Looks like it's going to be a beautiful weekend. Go out there, enjoy it, and be safe. We'll be back with you on Monday right here on the Big G.

[00:31:01] WGNS. Have a great weekend, everybody. This has been All Sports Talk on WGNS 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.