Say Something | NFL Draft ‘24 | College Hoops | YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
Today’s tune is Say Something by Timbaland featuring Drake. After Kendrick Lamar last Monday, we’re back on the early Drake features in chronological order. This song came out on November 3, ‘09, and was on Timbaland’s album called Shock Value II.
Oops… these aren’t the lyrics. This is Say Something by Great Big World and Christina Aguilera. Must have been one of the good-for-nothing idiot interns working here. Forgive my Northern Attitude, but he’s getting canned.
Old-school Drake featured on a chorus hook, that will take you back to the Yankees last winning a World Series.
Timbaland starts the song with the theme of trading his senorita for work.
Drake was only 23 years old at the time of the tune and was already the talk of hip-hop. Jay-Z told Timbaland that he should work with Drake. "His tone. I love his tone. Jay-Z kept telling me, 'Yo, man, you gonna wanna get in the studio with this guy named Drake. I'm telling you. He's the next cat.' I'm telling him, like, 'Whatever you say. [If] he's the next cat, he's the next cat.' His tone is ridiculous right now. I love his tone." Drake references his mother’s basement a fair amount because that’s where he started writing raps.
Honestly, I wasn’t a fan of the show Californication. I thought it had maybe a good season or 2 but it did not need 7 of them. Writers really aren’t all that interesting.
There we go, now we have The Talented Mr. Ripley for Thursday’s Critiquing the Critics. Phew! I didn’t have a movie in mind yet.
Ouch, this song is a bit mean, but I guess this was the tone that Timbaland and Jay-Z saw something in. These bars were colder than the Tri-State over this past weekend.
The Great Big World’s rendition of Say Something is better, for the record.
Moving on to the Mock…
Starting this week, I’ll throw in a few Mock Drafts featuring the Jets, Giants, Dolphins, Chargers, Jaguars, Patriots, Eagles, and Cowboys. I picked these teams because they are my friends & family's teams they root for. It’s also a quarter of the NFL so it’ll feature plenty of potential NFL stars of tomorrow.
Joe Alt is from North Oaks, Minnesota. In ‘23, he was a Notre Dame captain and unanimous All-American. He finished his career at Notre Dame starting 34 games in a row. This past season in South Bend was one of their most prolific offensive seasons in school history, as Alt was the blindside of the Notre Dame offense that averaged 39.1 points per game. At 6’8” and 315 lbs. Alt has the combination of size and quickness off the line that you can’t teach.
In my Mock, the Patriots miss out on the Top 2 QBs and decide to stick with Mediocre Mac for another year.
Dallas Turner is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was named a Roll Tide Captain this past season as a junior on the team. In ‘21, Turner made the All-SEC Freshman team as he ended up with 8.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss. He followed up last year as a sophomore in ‘22 with 8 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, and 9 QB pressures. With Will Anderson gone, Turner took a step into the role as the Roll Tide’s premier pass rusher. He was named a consensus first-team All-American and SEC Defensive Player of the Year in ‘23 as he racked up 10 sacks with 14.5 tackles for loss. He possesses the right combination of speed and power to do so, let’s see if Nick Saban gets it out of him this upcoming season.
While the San Diego Chargers could draft another WR for the 743rd year in a row, Turner could one day replace Joey Bosa’s contract and learn from Khalil Mack.
Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton is from St. Petersburg, Florida. He was named a team captain for ‘23. In ‘22, his 5.5 sacks and 14 TFLs led the nation’s #1 scoring defense. He also tied the national lead in QB hits (19) and pressures (59). As a result, Johnny Netwon was named All-Big Ten's first team by the coaches and media and Academic All-Big Ten. He returned in ‘23 to have another monster year, becoming the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year - just the 4th Illini in school history to win the award. Newton racked up 52 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, and 4 blocked kicks. Johnny is the son of Jervon and Jovita Rich. He also has 4 brothers named Jervon, Jerquan, Jerjuan, and Jershaun. Jervon & Jerquan played football at West Florida, while Jerjuan plays for Toledo. Once his football playing days are over, Newton would like to design and build cars.
While I don’t necessarily think the D-Line is the G-Men’s main area of need, they did give up the 7th most points in the NFL, and their 34 sacks this past season were tied for 4th worst in the NFL.
Brock Bowers is from Napa, California, so he must know a thing or two about wine. He had one of the best freshman tight end seasons of all time in ‘21 as he won the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award. I had no idea that Shaun Alexander had a college award named after him either. Remember he was on the Cover of Madden ‘07 and then the Madden Curse completely ended his career. It was either that or the 370 carries Seattle gave in ‘05 that took a toll. Anyway, back to Bowers, the Georgia TE followed up his 56 catches for 882 receiving yards and 13 TDs campaign as a freshman with 63 catches for 942 receiving yards and 7 TDs. Bowers won the ‘22 John Mackey Award which goes to the Nation’s best TE. This past season was Bowers’ most difficult as he faced some nagging injuries that he was able to power through. He still caught 56 passes for 714 yards and 6 scores, becoming the 1st back-to-back winner of the John Mackey Award in college history. While he may not be the largest TE at 6’4”, he may be one of the more explosive once he makes the no-fun league.
The Jets may not need a TE, but it’d be kinda cool to have a Kelce/Kittle type.
Ga'Quincy “Kool-Aid” McKinstry was given his nickname by his grandmother shortly after his birth because his smile reminded her of the Kool-Aid Man. McKinstry donned the Crimson Tide red so the name still plays and even earned him a Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deal with the drink company. In ‘22, McKinstry returned to his starting spot at cornerback in year two while also handling punt return duties and earned All-SEC First Team as a defensive back by both the AP & the league coaches. He also received second-team All-SEC for his punt return duties. As a punt returner, Kool-Aid averaged 15.8 yards per return, good for second in the nation and tops in the SEC. In his first 2 years, McKinstry has had 2 career INTs and 18 pass deflections. He didn’t get an interception this year but that is because teams knew to stay away as Kool-Aid earned 1st Team All-American honors. We’ll see if McKinstry can be Nick Saban’s last great CB at ‘Bama to dominate in the NFL, joining the likes of Marlon Humphrey, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Trevon Diggs, and Patrick Surtain.
Adding Kool-Aid would give the Jaguars’ defense a lock CB component they haven’t had since Jalen Ramsey.
Taliese Fuaga (pronounced Tall-ee-s-a Foo-ah-gah) is from Tacoma, Washington. He chose Oregon State because “it was the best fit for me and my family.” During the COVID year of ‘20, Fuaga got his feet wet with 4 games as a freshman. In ‘21, the 6’6” tackle saw action in 10 games and made the PAC-12 Academic Honor Roll. Last year in ‘22, the Polynesian product started in all 13 games where he dammed an effective Beaver offense to 396 yards per game overall and 196.5 on the ground. Pro Football Focus really liked Fuaga’s strong play as they graded him an 80.8 overall with a 79.6 run block. He should be able to get plugged into an offense’s right tackle position and play right out of the gate in the NFL. He has excellent power and a quick first step, perfect for tackle in the NFL.
Fuaga would be the perfect fit to block Tua’s blindside after he inks his nice large QB contract.
Rome Odunze is from Las Vegas, Nevada. In ‘22 he was an All-American 3rd Team, All-Pac-12 First Team, and made the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll. Last year playing with Michael Penix shaped Odunze’s breakout season on the college football scene. He had 75 receptions for 1,145 receiving yards and 7 TDs. Odunze led the Pac-12 in receiving yards and was 2nd in receptions per game. His 1,145 yards were the 5th most in Washington single-season history and 75 receptions were 7th most in school history. Odunze at 6’3” runs a 4.3 40-time with a freakish ability to go up and get the ball while only having 3 drops in ‘22. This past season, he was somehow even better, as he set a Washington record for receiving yards with 1,640. While being named captain in ‘23, he had 92 catches to go with 13 TDs. Rome Odunze was a huge reason for Washington making it to the CFB Championship.
While the Eagles may not need a WR, Rome Odunze would be too tantalizing of a talent not to add to Brown and Smith.
Kalen King is from Detroit, Michigan. He entered the ‘23 College Football season as a junior at Penn State with 10 career starts under his belt. Last season he was named third-team All-Big Ten honors by the coaches and media, while Pro Football Focus actually had him All-Big Ten first team. The star cornerback of the Nittany Lions in 26 career games had recorded 53 tackles, 3 INTs, 26 passes defended, 2 forced fumbles, and 4 tackles for loss. In ‘22, King led the Big Ten in passes defended with 21, good for 3rd in the nation. Kalen King also has a twin brother at Penn State and would like to become a sports analyst one day, after playing in the pros of course. This past season in ‘23, King was seldomly targeted but still was named 3rd Team Big Ten.
The Cowboys may want to add another young CB with Stephon Gilmore turning 34 next season.
The Associated Press is not budging on their Top 25 scheduled release date so these rankings get updated later on Monday.
Harrison Ingram is from Dallas, Texas. In high school, he was a McDonald’s All-American who averaged 22 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists per game. His first college choice to play for was Stanford, where as a freshman he became the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. He was a Cardinal for 2 seasons as he averaged 10.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. This is Ingram’s first year at UNC and thus far he has elevated his game. Ingram is averaging a career-high 12.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game while shooting 41% from beyond the arc.
Kyle Filipowski is from Westtown, Orange County, NY, which is about an hour North West from Rockland County, NY, or better yet an hour & half Upstate from The City. Kyle has a twin brother who plays for Harvard, so he might not be the smartest in the family. This Filipowski is a sophomore 7’ Center who can do a bit of everything. As a freshman last year, the Upstate New Yorker averaged 15.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, which led the Blue Devils in both categories of the stat sheet. He can keep a defense honest as he shot 28% from behind the arc. Filipowski was named ACC Rookie of the Year, ACC Tournament MVP, and the Kyle Macy National Freshman of the Year. He became just the 2nd Duke Blue Devil to be awarded ACC Rookie of the Year and ACC Tournament MVP, joining Zion Williamson. So far this season, Filipowski is averaging 18.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game.
Steven Crowl is from Eagan, Minnesota, where he was a Minnesota Mr. Basketball finalist in ‘20. He has now been a part of the Wisconsin program since ‘20-’21 where he didn’t get much playing time. His sophomore season was a different story as he made 33 starts for the Badgers while averaging 8.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Last year, Crowl once again made every start and improved his numbers to 12.1 points with 6.9 rebounds per game. So far this season, the 7-footer is averaging 12 points per game and a career-high 7.8 rebounds. Not only does he have a nice post-up game for the paint, but he can shoot as well, hitting 3s at a 52.2% clip this year.
Great Osobor is from Bradford, England, however, he originally lived in Tudela, Spain, until the time he was 12 years old. While in the UK, he averaged 18.7 points and 11 rebounds per game at a Prep School in Preston. When he came across the pond, Osobor originally played college hoops at Montana State. Last season, he came off the bench for the Bobcats and was named the Big Sky Six Man of the Year as he averaged 10.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. He transferred to Utah State this past offseason and is thus far enjoying his best season on the court for the Aggies. Osobor has been great, averaging a team-high 18.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. He not only has good low-post footwork and strength but the ability to hit from beyond the arc as well (50% from 3). While he may only be listed at 6’8”, Osobor seems to play well above his height as a big man.
DaRon Holmes is from Goodyear, Arizona. He was a four-star prospect and top 50 recruit from high school, the highest-ranked high school recruit to ever sign with Dayton. Holmes immediately started for the Flyers as a freshman as he averaged 12.8 points per game and set the school’s single-season block record of 81. As a sophomore last season, the 6’10” forward was the A-10 tournament’s Most Outstanding Player as he averaged 21.7 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 4 blocks in the A-10 Tourney. He reset the record for blocks with 89 last year. Holmes also had 89 dunks as a sophomore, the most in College Basketball during the regular season last year. This year might just be Holmes’ best year yet as he is averaging 19.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 44% from beyond the arc. Holmes is a human highlight reel, a fun player to watch.
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I called the white jersey-jacket on Friday…Thank you, thank you, you don’t have to say something…