Live Bet Saturday | August 22, 2026 | Hour 3

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Ben Stevens** (1:00)
This is Live Bet Saturday on VSiN, the Sports Betting Network.
We welcome you back to our third and final hour here on Live Bet Saturday. Of course, the show will continue even after we are gone. It's 6 p.m. Eastern time through the evening. Ours here on VSiN, the Sports Betting Network, Sirius XM Channel 158, YouTube TV, the VSiN Watch app. As you're building your YouTube TV multiview for the remainder of this Saturday, you've got NFL preseason football, you've got Major League Baseball, heck, you've got anything that you could possibly need. You put Live Bet Saturday right there alongside live wagering opportunities galore. And your multiview this week might not have college football in it, but starting next week, it is going to. We are one week away from the start of 2026 in college football, an eight game FBS slate on week zero Saturday. It begins 19 consecutive Saturdays in a row with multiple college football games, just one week from now. So to get you ready for the 2026 college football season, the host of SEC Unfiltered joins us here on Live Bet Saturday on the progressive guest line, Cole Thompson, up and in here on VSiN. Cole, we appreciate the time first and foremost. You're also covering the Houston Texans. Practice pretty hot in H-Town today.

**Cole Thompson** (2:22)
Dude, I mean, you have Marlon Klein who is automatically getting used to just life in general in the United States because he comes over from Germany, and he is covered head to toe in 103 degree heat. He's like, oh yeah, you adapt to it normally. I have been living in this state nonstop for 20 plus years. You never adapt to what is the normal heat down here. You think that it's 105, no, it's actually like 117, and you're about ready to melt like a popsicle.

**Ben Stevens** (2:47)
And Marlon Klein from Germany played his college football in Ann Arbor. That's up in Michigan. He's probably not used to that Texas heat in the summer months. Cole, some big news early on this final Saturday without college football before week zero begins in SEC country. Kaila Naboor has named the starting quarterback for Alabama in 2026
His name, Keelan Russell, in a battle all camp long with Austin Mack, who we saw at Times last year when Ty Simpson was not out there. What should Crimson Tide fans, Crimson Tide backers, college football fans in general expect from Alabama's new signal caller and Keelan Russell this season?

**Cole Thompson** (3:26)
Yeah, number one, I think that this was always going to be the move at the end of the day. I thought it was really interesting that Kailin Naboor, knowing that you had probably about three weeks before you really had to settle in on a quarterback, decided to go ahead and run it with Keelan Russell over Austin Mack because reports had been Mack had been pushing Keelan Russell throughout practice and one day Mack would look like the better starter and the next day Keelan would come on out and deliver. But the bottom line, Ben, is that this is a five-star-plus talent and the second five-star-plus quarterback to come through Tuscaloosa since Bryce Young. He is a top three quarterback recruit all time according to the rivals rankings and he must have shown Keelan Naboor and Ryan Grubb the decision making, the maturity, all the little intangibles that could separate him along with the incredible athleticism that he has that he is ready to take on over SQB1. So when that decision was made, it was clear that they realized he is good to go from week one to be the right option and the player himself is just phenomenal. I got to watch him play in the high school championships down here in Texas at Duncanville and you could see just a super hyper athletic freak that not only is going to be utilizing his arm but also the mobility aspect of things. Ben, the one thing that they did down in Tuscaloosa this year was they completely rebuilt the offensive line. They have seven new players coming on in via the recruiting class, the transfer portal. They have a brand new offensive line coach. They couldn't run the football to save their life last season. I get it. You can say, well, it's Kaylin D'Avore. It's no longer Nick Saban. The standard in Tuscaloosa from the days of Bear Bryant was, you would be a physical team inside the rushing attack. The fact they didn't have that last season made teams more predictable on how to prepare for Alabama's offense. With a guy like Keelan Russell, now you have to be prepared for not only the deep balls, the 60, 55-yard blast down field that will be pinpoint accurate, but you also have to be ready for his mobility aspect of things. This is a quarterback that if he were to hit the transfer portal, which, by the way, unfortunately, we live in a day and age where you will see agents say, sorry, we're just going to sit out this year, go play elsewhere and get our millions. To see a guy like him potentially leave in the off season, I mean, in the middle of the regular season, would be detrimental to Alabama. And to see him have success anywhere else besides Alabama would maybe be the nail in the coffin on the Kaylin Dabour era. But for me, when I look at a guy like Kaylin Russell, you got to feel really good about what his potential is. You are talking about a guy who may be in the running for the Heisman Trophy. Austin Mack is a solid quarterback. It's just that Kaylin Russell is one that's a little bit more dynamic and probably gives the Crimson Tide an opportunity to be a national title threat.