Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth

At his father’s funeral, Brent Brennan asked the room two questions. Who in here did Steve Brennan ever buy an ice cream? Every kid’s hand went up. Who in here did Steve Brennan ever buy a beer? Eight hundred hands went up. That’s not just a powerful eulogy. That’s a blueprint. I sat across from Coach Brennan in Tucson this spring, and it hit me fast. This isn’t a coach who learned relationships f...

Some people talk about the climb. Jim Mora lives it. Every job. Every challenge. Every program down on their luck handed to him with a handshake and a good luck. He doesn’t flinch. He leans in. And he loves it. Coach Mora grew up in Seattle with mountains everywhere and vistas saying, can you get there? As you might imagine, he never stopped answering that question in the coaching profession. I’ve...

Two years ago, the Pac-12 had two members and a whole lot of doubt. Teresa Gould had something else. She had conviction and a vision. In two short years, Commissioner Gould built back a team of 30 who raised their hands and stayed while navigating a rebuild that nobody had a roadmap for. And she did it while trusting her team and leaning on her 36 years of experience in college athletics. Now the...

Some quarterbacks earn their scars. Some have them handed to them. Either way, they’re part of the path. This week’s episode of Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth is with a QB who knows that better than most - Demond Williams Jr of the Washington Huskies . Demond heads into year three at UW with a chance to be one of the most dynamic players in America and in my eyes, is the most challengin...

Byrum Brown carries himself like someone who’s been tested and chose to come back better. The Auburn quarterback sat down with us at the Elite 11 Finals in LA, and what you notice first is the presence. Not the stats. Not the ranking. The presence. That presence joined today’s episode of Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth , fueled by our founding sponsor 76, keeping you on the GO GO GO so y...

Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele grew up on the shores of Ewa Beach, Hawaii. He was a three star recruit who showed up at the Elite 11 and became a legend in the 28 year history of the premiere QB event in football. At every turn JSK took the opportunity he was given and never looked back. He shared many of those in today’s conversation, fueled by our founding sponsor 76, keeping you on the GO GO GO so yo...

It’s been a big day in college football with the Brendan Sorsby eligibility conversation so Todd Blackledge and I had to go LIVE on YouTube to have a thoughtful conversation around his case. We also dive into the Big Ten vs. SEC debate — and what the Big Ten gets wrongfully dinged for — Elite 11 takeaways and what stood out most this year during the QB camp. We also analyze Bryce Underwood's devel...

Bret Bielema has been in the room 18 times as a head coach in the two biggest conferences in the game. This year, the room was Big Ten spring meetings in Southern California. Head coaches, athletic directors, commissioners, all in the same space, hashing out the future of the game. And what came out of Terranea this year was one the entire sport was anticipating — a playoff expansion debate that i...

College football has changed forever. Not just because athletes can now earn money, but because 18, 19 and 20-year-olds are suddenly being asked to make decisions that most adults still struggle to navigate. That’s why this conversation hit different. Welcome to the latest episode of Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth , fueled by our founding sponsor 76, keeping you on the GO GO GO so you n...

There’s something refreshing about watching a quarterback bet on loyalty in an era built on movement. That’s what stood out most to me after sitting down with Noah Fifita on the latest episode of Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth , fueled by our founding sponsor 76 — keeping you on the GO GO GO so you never miss a beat. Noah has become one of the defining faces of modern college football,...

While no one is practicing this week in major college football Todd Blackledge and I sat down to reflect on our Road Trip this past spring in the Big Ten . In today’s Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth podcast we explore the conference that has crowned the last three National Champions and this past December, welcomed four new head coaches. And for the first time on this podcast we went LIV...

I’ve known Jedd Fisch for a long time. So long that when I walked into his building this spring, I didn’t just see a head coach in year three — I saw the same guy from 2019 sitting outside his home in Hermosa Beach, pulling out notes and asking, what do you think of this? Back then, it wasn’t a job. It was a vision. I remember him walking me through it — how he’d structure a program, how he’d comm...

I’ve known Dan Lanning for 15 years. We’ve had a lot of conversations over that time. So going into this one, I didn’t want to hit the same notes, didn’t want to discuss the topics we’ve covered before and hoped to stick to my lone rule during interviews: "ask questions I don’t know the answers to.” That wasn’t easy, but it was a blast to prepare for and it started with something I was almost emba...

In the summer of 1999 my Dad and I drove from Pennsylvania to Indiana, stopping at almost every college along the way. The goal we spoke of on those highways: find a place to play college football. The goal we never spoke of but was the underlying dream: earn a scholarship to Notre Dame . While that never happened, I did play and coach against the Irish. But the truth looking back was that driving...

Draft week always carries a certain energy. You feel it in conversations, in locker rooms, in the quiet moments between reps. It’s the anticipation of what’s next. For some, it’s the culmination of a lifelong dream. For others, it’s a reminder that time keeps moving. When walking into the Woody Hayes Athletic Center with Todd Blackledge, that energy was there. Welcome to this weeks Y-Option: Colle...

Years ago my Dad and I walked the Camino de Santiago , one of the worlds most spiritual pilgrimages stretching across Portugal and Spain. Somewhere along that journey, he shared a line that has stayed with me ever since: “Humans are made to move…and we move through things.” I found myself coming back to that thought last week, driving along Midwest highways with Todd Blackledge. And after watching...

Talking to quarterbacks and those that help build them is one of my passions. And today’s conversation on Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth is a deep dive into that position with Seth Wickersham. Seth wrote the best-selling book, American Kings, A Biography of the Quarterback . In a sentence: it’s the best QB book I’ve ever read . He combined years of interviews, insights and experiences a...

There are a handful of conversations each year that stay with me. Today’s conversation with Dr. Michael Gervais is one of them. I’m excited to share it with you while we’re on spring break in Japan as a family. And to those who sent recommendations on where to go and what to do, thank you. We’ve been loving it. Dr. Michael Gervais is one of the leading high-performance psychologists in the world,...

Last week a clip of USC practicing in 2008 went viral and a few friends sent it to me. Watching it brought me right back. Every rep felt like your position was on the line. Every drill had juice. And what stood out most was that everyone welcomed it. It was competitive, it was fun, and players thrived in it. Today’s Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth podcast, fueled by our founding sponsor...

Spring football always tells you something if you’re willing to listen. I found myself in Lincoln, Nebraska for a quick trip to learn about this years team. I flew in at 5am, got a great cup of coffee at The Mill Coffee shop, walked to the stadium, spent a few hours around the program, and headed back home to hang with our sons. And the 24 hour down and back to a true blue-blood program was insigh...

Welcome back or welcome to THE PROCESS, a limited series within Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth , hosted by myself and Rhett Kleinschmidt . This series exists for one reason: to study how high performers actually live. Not what they post. Not what they say at a podium. What they do when nobody’s clapping. The first 5 conversations delivered in powerful ways: Mark Jackson , Peyton Manning...

One of my college roommates is heading to Canton . That sentence still feels surreal. When I first met Larry Fitzgerald on his visit to the University of Pittsburgh, I had no idea I was meeting a future Hall of Famer. I just knew he had presence. Not hype. Not ego. Presence. When he arrived at training camp, the coaches quietly pulled me aside and asked me to help him learn the offense. What I did...

The offseason is when football gets quiet enough to actually see it. In my recent Substack collaboration with Cody Alexander of Match Quarters, we didn’t just talk trends — we talked about the hidden language of defense, and why it’s still the hardest side of the ball for most people to truly understand. Offense has a few common dialects. Defense is a thousand little ones. The same concept can be...

There’s a certain kind of coach you can spot from a mile away. Not because of the headset or the scheme or the postgame soundbite. But because of the energy — the tone in the building, the way his players talk about the work, the way the staff carries itself on a Monday, the way the program feels when the season is done and the scoreboard is no longer speaking. Tim Plough is that kind of coach. We...

College football doesn’t really end anymore. The clock hits :00. The trophy gets handed out. And almost immediately, the sport gets loud again. Portal moves, litigation, coaching changes, CFP debates and more. Oh, and by the way, we’ve also got a Super Bowl coming up with Seattle vs. New England. ( Hello Elite 11 finalists Sam Darnold and Drake Maye ) With everything seemingly happening all at onc...