Latest news with #TheHardCount
USA Today
31-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Ohio State wide receiver gets Heisman prediction going into sophomore season
It's no shock that Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is already landing on preseason awards watch lists. He recently landed on the Maxwell Award Watch List, which is given to the player judged to be the best in the country. Given Smith's phenomenal freshman season, it's no surprise to see him on this list. It also won't be a surprise to see that some experts are predicting Smith to take home college football's most coveted individual award, the Heisman Trophy. On3's JD Pickell and host of The Hard Count has logged his prediction for Jeremiah Smith to become the seventh Buckeye to win the Heisman. That prediction not only says a lot about Smith but also what he feels will come from presumed starting quarterback Julian Sayin. If Smith is to win the eighth Heisman in Ohio State history, he will need a competent quarterback to get him the ball. Pickell is clearly all in on Sayin as plug and play. In fact, Pickell feels so strongly in the duo, he has Ohio State making it back to the national championship game. However, he would stop short of predicting back-to-back championships for the Bucks, having them fall to the LSU Tigers. Pickell has LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier finishing as the runner-up to Smith in the Heisman race. Those are some lofty expectations for the Buckeyes, but nothing that is out of the realm of possibility. If things play out the way Pickell sees it, this will be an overwhelmingly successful season, especially with the number of NFL draft picks the Buckeyes lost. Let's be honest, nothing outside of a win over Michigan and a national championship will be good enough for most og Buckeye Nation. It's a long season, and Ohio State has a tough road ahead. That road starts in just about a month when Texas comes to town for the season opener.
USA Today
23-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
College football expert believes the Oklahoma Sooners need John Mateer to be great in 2025
The Oklahoma Sooners need a bounce-back season in 2025. OU went 6-7 overall in head coach Brent Venables' third season last year, which included a 2-6 league record in their first season in the Southeastern Conference. They've retooled the offensive side of the ball to go with what was a strong defense in 2024. Although they were picked to finish 10th in the SEC, there are a number of analysts, like Josh Pate, who believe they are a top-10 caliber team. Now, the Sooners enter Venables' fourth year and their second year in the SEC, needing to prove the naysayers wrong after the disappointment of 2024. They'll face a challenging schedule that includes home games against Illinois State, Michigan, Auburn, Kent State, Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU, as well as road games against Temple, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. Of course, Oklahoma's schedule also includes the annual Red River Rivalry matchup against Texas and the neutral-site Cotton Bowl in Dallas. OU has to deal with one of the toughest schedules in the country this year, but the Sooners have made plenty of moves this offseason to improve on the product they put on the field last season. J.D. PicKell, who covers college football for On3 Sports, has been vocal in his opinion this offseason that Oklahoma will be much improved in 2025. However, he said this week on "The Hard Count with J.D. PicKell" that he believes OU needs a few things to go right this year to have the kind of success Sooner Nation is used to. PicKell's biggest need for the Sooners this year is for new starting quarterback John Mateer to have an excellent season. PicKell has reason to believe that will happen, given Mateer's relationship with new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle. It's night and day different when it comes to how stable they are and and what you can actually look at from playing games in the college football world on Saturdays and how you feel about it. You're not forecasting. You're forecasting to the SEC to a degree, but you're not forecasting if John Mateer can play D1 FBS football or not. You were a year ago with Jackson Arnold. You were a year ago with your offensive line and your offensive coordinator. You're not right now. You know Arbuckle and Mateer work well together. - PicKell, - The Hard Count PicKell went on to elaborate that Mateer, who was brought in by Venables and his staff to be the difference offensively, has to, in fact, be the difference-maker at the QB position they hope he is. The Sooners didn't have anything near that at QB in 2024, which is a big part of the reason why Mateer now resides in Norman. PicKell stated that Mateer has to be able to make the plays that win Oklahoma games in the fourth quarter in the SEC. Another "need" that PicKell outlined for the Sooners this year was a top-tier season from their defensive front-seven, especially on the defensive line. He believes that OU needs that group to be at their best in the biggest moments, just like Mateer needs to be for the offense. With bringing back the majority of your defensive line, that has to show itself in the biggest spots against those teams. Like, in the 'big dogs' tier of college football, you've got to have the big boys on the defensive side; and they do, but I want to see them play like it in those spots. - PicKell, The Hard Count Although the Sooners lost plenty of veteran talent, leadership and production on defense this year, especially in the front seven, they returned and retained plenty of good players as well. Guys like R Mason Thomas, Gracen Halton, Kobie McKinzie and Kip Lewis will now be counted upon to be the building blocks of the Venables defense in 2025. PicKell also stated that the 2025 Sooners must understand and embrace the weight of what it means to be playing football at the University of Oklahoma, something he thinks may not have been extremely present in 2024. Because at a place like Oklahoma, a 6-7 season isn't going to cut it. The expectation is to compete for championships. PicKell believes this year's team may have a better understanding of what it means to play at the University of Oklahoma. PicKell believes this year's team has an extra confidence and swagger to them that might have been lacking a year ago in Norman. He also feels strongly that Oklahoma will be far better this season than they were last season. Sooner fans are hoping he's right. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @Aaron_Gelvin.
USA Today
12-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
College football analyst argues that USC and Notre Dame must continue to play every year
College football analyst argues that USC and Notre Dame must continue to play every year The past few weeks have certainly been a tense time for the future of the USC-Notre Dame football rivalry. The Trojans and Fighting Irish have been rivals with one another for nearly a century, and have faced off every year but one since World War II. However, the two schools do not have an agreement to extend their rivalry beyond 2026, and right now appear to be at an impasse over the future of the series. On a recent episode of his national college football show "The Hard Count", J.D. Pickell of On3 argued that the Trojans and Irish must continue to play each other every year, regardless of the potential consequences. "This is an incredibly short-sighted approach to say, 'well, it might hurt out chances of making the playoff, so therefore we're gonna take a step back,'" Pickell said. "That's not what this is about. "When you go to USC, part of that whole deal is you are playing Notre Dame . . . that's how this thing works. That's college football. There are certain things that are just part of the equation when you sign up to go to a certain place. "I think [USC's] brand in itself is phenomenal. Same thing for Notre Dame . . . but I think that when you play your rival—especially with a rivalry of this stature—you get more juice when you play Notre Dame. You get more juice when you play USC." Pickell makes a valid point. USC and Notre Dame have been playing each other for almost 100 years. The rivalry is woven into the fabric of what makes college football what it is. The expanded playoff, on the other hand, has been around for less than 12 months. To end a century-old rivalry over concerns about a new postseason system goes against everything that college football fans love about the sport. Hopefully, the two schools will see the light, and they will be able to work out a long-term extension to keep the series going beyond next year.
USA Today
03-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
On3 analyst thinks John Mateer shares similarities with No. 1 overall draft pick
On3 analyst thinks John Mateer shares similarities with No. 1 overall draft pick When the Oklahoma Sooners landed former Washington State quarterback John Mateer in the transfer portal last December, it was a massive win for head coach Brent Venables. After a 6-7 season in 2024, OU knew they needed an upgrade under center, and they got one with the portal's top overall player. On3 Sports college football analyst J.D. PicKell, who has been very complimentary of the Sooners this offseason, was at it again this week. He appeared on "The Paul Finebaum Show" where the host, ESPN's Paul Finebaum, asked him about Mateer's impact in Norman in 2025. PicKell likened OU's new starting QB to the No. 1 overall pick in last week's 2025 NFL Draft, Cam Ward. "Oklahoma, to me, I think will make the most impressive leap from what they were last year to this year," PicKell said. "This time last year Paul, if you talk to people close to Miami, they were beating their chest telling you, 'Hey Cam Ward is a dude. Cam Ward is gonna be a dawg this year.' They weren't tippy-toeing around it, they weren't saying maybe he'll be good. They're saying the same kind of thing right now around John Mateer in Norman, Oklahoma. So I'm not saying he's gonna win the Heisman Trophy, I'm not saying he's gonna be the number one overall pick, but the way they speak about John Mateer, the confidence they speak about John Mateer with, I'm very, very excited to watch him continue what he did in Pullman, Washington with Ben Arbuckle running the show in Norman." Of course, there's precedent for what Sooner Nation hopes Mateer can do this year. After all, Ward played in Arbuckle's system for one year at Washington State in 2023 before transferring to Miami for the 2024 season. Even with the step up in competition, Ward shined with the Hurricanes. He became a Heisman Trophy finalist and was selected with the top overall choice by the Tennessee Titans last week. Now, Sooner fans hope that Mateer can replicate that formula. He'll have the benefit of having Arbuckle in his ear again after a breakout 2024 season with the Cougars. Oklahoma brought in both Arbuckle and Mateer to try and fix a broken offense. PicKell also told Finebaum that in looking at Oklahoma's schedule, he believes that the Sooners could have the best quarterback in the stadium in up to 10 of the 12 games. Only South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers and LSU's Garrett Nussmeier were players that PicKell believed could definitely beat Mateer in an all-out QB duel. That included him taking Mateer over Texas' Arch Manning, Auburn's Jackson Arnold and Ole Miss' Austin Simmons. But PicKell wasn't done complimenting Mateer this week. On his own show, "The Hard Count with J.D. PicKell", he outlined that he believes Oklahoma fans are back to having a QB at the controls that they can trust. "This with John Mateer is not that with (former OU starting QB) Jackson Arnold ... I think that John Mateer and what he is going into this upcoming season is a vastly different story," PicKell said. PicKell went on to explain that Mateer is a much more proven commodity heading into his first season as the starter in Norman than Arnold was a year ago at this time, and that too much may have been expected of Arnold without enough help around him in 2024 under OC Seth Littrell. "Last year Jackson Arnold was working with an offensive coordinator he had never worked with before ... also the offensive coordinator he worked with hadn't called plays since 2015," PicKell said. "That's very different than working with a coordinator that you had success with a year ago, had a top-15 offense at Washington State. Ben Arbuckle, John Mateer, handshake emoji, we're not picking up at the same spot. There's very different jumping-off points there." PicKell also noted OU's 13 percent sack rate a season ago was a huge hindrance to offensive execution. He theorized that Mateer's dual-threat ability would have fared better than Arnold's did in those spots. He also made the case that Oklahoma's better situation offensively contributes to Mateer being a massive upgrade. "We'll see how this whole thing shakes out with, what's the offensive line looking like, and how do the weapons translate and stay healthy, all that is true," PicKell said. "But at a jumping-off point in May, there's a lot more to be confident in, there's a lot more to be secure about than what you had last year with Jackson Arnold .. John Mateer, it's just a very, very different beast." Mateer's arrival in Norman has already been met with plenty of fanfare, and he hasn't even played a game yet for the Sooners. After the way the quarterback position looked last year, OU fans are hoping they can trust again at the most important position on the field. Perhaps if Oklahoma has a really impressive leap from 2024 to 2025, it'll be because Mateer ended up following in Ward's footsteps and turned into one of the best players in all of college football.
USA Today
07-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
On3 analyst thinks this is Oklahoma's best offseason move
On3 analyst thinks this is Oklahoma's best offseason move New Oklahoma Sooners general manager Jim Nagy was, simply put, a slam dunk hire. The former executive director of the Reese's Senior Bowl was a scout in the NFL for 18 years and is helping bring a progressive new structure to OU Football. Following two losing seasons in three years after zero losing seasons over the previous 23, the Sooners have to get better at playing the name, image, likeness, and transfer portal game prevalent in the current landscape of college football. Otherwise, they could fall further behind. Jim Nagy is now tasked with getting the Sooners to the forefront. On3 Sports college football analyst J.D. PicKell, who hosts "The Hard Count with J.D. PicKell", believes that the Nagy hire is OU sending a message to the rest of college football. "This is a move you make when you're looking to the future, when you're adapting to modern college football," PicKell said. "This was a, I believe on paper at least, a home-run hire from the Sooners." PicKell lauded the move, but also said it sends a message that the Sooners are serious about competing in the new era of college football. "You don't go hire a guy who is interviewing for NFL GM jobs, unless you yourself are going to operate like an NFL organization," PicKell said. "If the output you want is to win at the highest level, what does that require? Probably gotta have pretty good players, probably gotta have one of the better rosters in college football." In the sport's new era, buying the best players typically leads to success. Just ask Ohio State. While Oklahoma doesn't have the deepest pockets in college football, they hope that the addition of Nagy can give them an advantage and get them back to the top; back to being Oklahoma. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @Aaron_Gelvin.
