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I'm your host, Jason Powers here in Tampa. A little bit of
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as we wrap up our college football season. Got a good episode for you
tonight. We got two guests. We're gonna talk to coach Jim Levitt.
We're gonna break down the semifinal matchups with the upset of with TCU beating Michigan
and then we have Georgia coming back to beat Ohio State forty two forty one.
We're also gonna talk to Kevin Brockaway from the Gainesville Sun. We're gonna
talk about Florida's signing day, the recruiting class, the transfer portal, a
lot of guys coming in and out of the Florida program throughout the year.
We're going about the bowl game a little bit, a dubious streak that was
extended, and just some general thoughts of the Florida football program as we enter
the offseason and such. So we talked to coach Levitt on Monday prior to
the Monday night football situation unfolding. So we did not talk to coach about
the the cardiac arrest situation. Would have been a great to talk to him
concerning handling that as a head coach. But we did talk to Kevin a
little bit about some of that as well. So you will hear Kevin Brockway
comment on that, and then we'll be like to say, we'll give you
a good preview of the championship game coming up on Monday night in Los Angeles
at SOFI Stadium, TCU and Georgia and such. I think you'll enjoy the
podcast. So enjoy the podcast. Coach Jim Levitt coming up, and then
Kevin Brockway to wrap up the Florida football inside of his podcast. Remember,
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of the Powers On Sports podcast in the Florida Football Insiders podcast, I'm your
host, Jason Hope everybody had a safe and happy New Year's even New Year's
Day. We are recording this as the first podcast of twenty twenty three,
so thanks for finding us. There's podcast presented by BIFO Bradies here in Tampa
the corner of Bush Boulevard and Himes Avenue. For all of your sports viewing
and catering needs, definitely check out BIFO Bradies. As we head to the
NFL Playoffs and the College football title Game, We're back with coach Jim Levitt
again. Coach, Happy New Year. I hope you doing well. Happy
New Year? It was you know, I lived down around Harbor Island area,
and I walked down to Jackson's on New Year's of course all Illinois sing
at the Weston Hotel right there, Kay, and had a great time.
Fireworks are unbelievable. Unbelievable. Then just walked back to the house and I
had had a nice two years. It was you know, not too you
know, went out very late, just went so fire worse went back home,
which is probably good. And it's about it. There was a lot
going on down your neck of the woods on New Year's Eve. I was
down there for just a little bit and there was a lot of people and
a lot of stuff going on. Oh, you know, the game today
will be interesting because you know Brett Bielima head coach Illinois. I coached him
at Iowa when he was a walk on defensive end, and I was a
graduate assistant with Hayden Frye, so I used to yell at Bill him all
the time. And then Bill Snyder's son, Sean Snyder, is the especially
in coordinator of Illinois, who I know very very well. And then certainly
I was very close to Mike Leach on Mississippi State and how devastating that as
you know, and Mike and I were has spent an awful lot time together,
and he offered me a DC job at Washington State where he was at
in Mississippi State, and we talked at length about different things, but um
and then and then through all the things I went through a South Florida,
he went through a Texas Tech. We must talk for two months almost every
night in the phone, so it'll be very easy to see the emotion in
Raymond James to day with Mississippi State coming out and obviously honor and coach Leech
and just uh as well, you know, as much as they want to
win this Bowl game. And again on the other side of that, you
got to bel him up who again, you know, and I'm sure probably
um, you know, it's tough. He's he's probably gonna be without a
couple of his big players because of opt outs and stuff like that. So
that'll be interesting to see how that how that just unfolds, and the emotion
in the building and all that stuff. It's always hard when you get these
opt outs. You know, it's just, you know, it's so different
then I'm back when I first started coaching or playing or whatever. The you
know, it's just not the same because you don't know what teams are gonna
show up Now these playoffs, most of the players are gonna play in those
games. But these Bowl games, there's just so many players that aren't playing.
And you can't blame them if they know their first second, third round,
you know, first second round for sure, why would you play?
You know, all you're gonna do is, you know, if you get
a chance to get hurts. You know, it's not like the old days
where you're you're the loyal to your teammates and all that, and that's uh
yeah, I'm still big with that. But you know, the stakes are
not as high on those other Bowl games, you know, and it's just
it's just different. Yeah, I mean, back then people used to play
Bowl games to try to impress the pro scouts and the scouting and all that
stuff. Now it's just a different world with the combine and all the pro
days and all that stuff. The one situation I do want to comment on
that was impressive to see. You saw the Alabama guys Bryce Young, Will
Anderson playing for the Alabama and the Sugar Bowl and they played really well,
and they really they really uh took a two Kansas State in the second half.
Bryce Young and Will anders have both played for most of the game and
played really well. You know, an Alabama of course they've got. It's
just a different situation and they probably worked for those guys and making sure they
got insurance policies, correct, because you can get those insurance policies you know
before those games and um, you know Savans just he's got things set up.
There's so many different things to protect those players, right that all colleges
can do and should do, and we'll do, you know as far as
uh uh the ones that really know what's going on. So I'm sure they
were protected. Yes, no, do no doubt about it. There's there's
no doubt. All right. Let's get to the two semifinal games. We
had two probably the greatest two semifinal games we've ever had in the in the
college football playoff. Michigan goes down to TCU fifty one forty five, and
then Georgia with the dramatic fourth quarter comeback, beats Ohio State forty two forty
one. Let's start Michigan TCU first. Just your general thoughts of the game.
Again, to me, it was a game about missed opportunities for Michigan,
especially early in the game. They had some opportunities and they weren't able
to cash it. It's your general thoughts of the football game. Well,
the one I wanted to really watch TCUs defense against Michigan's offense with the run
game, because when you run to three three defense, one of the areas
that people will talk about as far as the weakness is the run defense.
But my gosh, they did a really good job and I was impressed with
it. I think they had to show their hand a little bit by dropping
the safety down a lot earlier than they normally would, right, And that's
why Michigan, you know, got some big plays passing. But what was
amazing was inside the five yard lock. Yes, and you know, first
they get two two touchdowns off pick six. You know, that's just the
room mistakes by the quarterback. And you got to give a quarterback a lot
of credit because he hung in there and he kept balling and fighting. And
you throw you're in the you know, semifinals, a championship. Throw a
couple of picks. You know, you're not sure your quarterback's gonna you handle
that, But he kept it. Shows his resiliency and his toughness. I
mean, they were down six, they had a chance to win at the
end, even though there's no time when the clock. But I was impressed
with the overall defensive basically got it well or five hundred yards offensively, but
they couldn't get it in inside the five and right, you know, the
one play was there's no way that wasn't a touchdown for Michil. Yeah with
you, I don't understand how that's not a touchdown. I think the officials,
you know, said I was a touchdown, But how in the replay
booth do they say that one a touchdown? That's wrong. I'm just telling
you. Yeah, they messed up. They missed on that one, and
look what Look what happened because of it, you know, And that's why
you say you never give up, you know. And they they fumbled them,
you know, they they slid the hand off through the the upback,
you know, the fullback, and they fumbled it. And um, are
you are you a fan in these big games to put the ball in guy's
hands that are not used to handling that fullback he's a linebacker by trade,
he comes in for goal line stuff. Or would you rather put the ball
and the guys that are used to handling it, you know, your power
back whatever it is, whoever that is that. I was a little surprised
they put a guy in the game they handled the ball that wasn't It's not
used to doing it very much. Well, when you look at the replay,
it looks like the quarterbacks slid the ball through there. I don't know
that exchange. You know, maybe maybe he's supposed to grab that ball,
right. Jim has done that in the pass. You know, he had
a linebacker at Stanford that he played at fullback as well, and he you
know, I think Jim tries to outthink people on that stuff, and obviously
he's gonna have to live with um some of the decisions that remained that game
offensively, because you know why you do that reverse pass, the Philly special
on the first drive drive of the game, you get cute. We talked
about it last week that teams will open up their playbook and pull out all
the stops. To me, if you're Michigan, you're known for running the
ball. If you're gonna if you're gonna go for it there, pick your
one or two best running plays behind your All American offensive line and go run
the ball at him. Yeah. I was really surprised by that. I
didn't understand they end up having more success for the quarterback running the ball at
the end of the game. You know, I guess TCU but it was
beyond I don't know. I know right now he's kicking himself. I'm sure,
you know, why do we do that? I don't know, he's
and Jim will take that stuff personal and he'll he don't he had a real
shot at this whole thing. And you know it's hard, you know,
at the brutal as the brutal ending years. TCU is a good team.
They were able to run the ball, uh, you know pretty well,
which is and then they've got the big receiver that is really hard to match
up. You know, I was a D coordinator SCVU was Sonny last year
we played TCU, so I had lined up against that receiver and I lined
up against that quarterback and all we end up beating TCU at TCU, right,
but it was, um, what a challenge, and we end up
playing really good defense in the second half, especially fourth quarter. But you
know, I didn't think we were a better team than TCU. We just
won the game. But I don't know, it's you know, who's really
the better team. I don't know who's a better team with those two teams.
I mean, Mischi made sny mistakes. It was it was one heck
of a game. But for me, Michigan to keep fighting and battling was
impressing. It was It was the hard part of that game if you're Michigan
is you could never get all the way back. You always were down four,
seven, eleven, twelve, right then you got to eight. You
could never finally get over the hump and take the lead. And you know
this, it's just you. Sometimes your kids just run out of mental energy
to do that when you're constantly behind the entire game. They got burned a
couple dischomatically for you. Michigan got burned twice on zero blitzes. They went
full blown zero blitz You missed one tackle and it's off to the races.
And TCU went off the races. I think a seventy five yard touchdown on
a zero blitz on third and six or seven. Yeah, they happened twice
in a game that you know, and you can always second guess that,
but you know they probably ran a bunch of zero. They were trying to
make the big play, you know they were. And you know that's the
defense that's given up thirteen fourteen points a game for the whole year, right,
and you know what a great job their decordinator did. But you know
you're gonna have some calls you make that you know, they're tough. You
know. I was kind of surprised it went zero in the middle of the
field or on the other side, you know, but man, they were
trying to get that ball back. And you know, TC's got a good
offense. They've got some good players, running backs, good receiver, quarterbacks,
good with a run game. To the run game of Duggan is always
a factor for them, right And you know the quarterback of Michigan, you
know, I had a lot of yards rushing, but yeah, you know
you're gonna you know, I know the DC. You know, I'm sure
he feels like he didn't do well. You know, gave up almost five
hundred yards, and you know a lot of points. Of course, fourteen
points are on the offense. Hick six is right, you know, And
and what happened? What happens this coach? When you're down twenty one to
three, you can't be as patient with the running game, which is your
bread and butter. The physicality of the game, it's hard to wear out
TCU, and I thought TCU held up pretty good physically in the trenches.
Yeah, they really did. You know, it's um you know, it's
just a year of TCU. They go and they did some really good things
for transfers in the portal, and they had a lot of people back,
you know from um, you know, a year ago, and you know,
TCU just hit here. They've won all the close games this year.
Yeah, I know, they got beat by Kansas State in the championship game,
but for the most part, they've you know, I mean, how
they how they beat up Cloma State was amazing. How they even got to
where they are, it is remarkable. And here they got a chance to
win it all. You know, but if they can beat Georgia, and
we're gonna talk about that in just a couple of minutes. So tc advances
fifty one forty five over mission, getting out of the Fiesta Bowl. Now
to the Peach Bowl. What a wild finish in Atlanta. Georgia forty two
forty one. Georgia down thirty eight twenty four going to the fourth quarter in
big trouble. I mean, they and they settle for a field goal.
Give Kirby smart credit. He was down fourteen in the fourth quarter and he
kicked a field goal when he could have gone forward fourth and seven or fourth
and eight from the eight yard line. He ends up kicking a field goal
to stay in the game, to extend the game. But just you your
thoughts on the on the Georgia, Ohiouse State game just overview. But like
you said earlier, those are probably the two grands games ever going to a
championship game. I mean, I nobody thought the Georgia Ohio State game was
gonna have the same type of game that the TCU game was, you know
with Michigan, but it did and maybe more. Yeah, I mean,
Ohio State dominated seemed that game throughout. Yeah, And I thought for sure
Ohouse State was gonna win that game and could have with the you know,
they had the Misschiegal. You know, it's I don't know, you know
who's the best team in the country? Is it Alabama? He who ends
up being Kansas State. I said this a number we should go with you,
And then I'm not so sure Alabama shouldn't be in there again. You
know, Kansas two games by four points on the last play of the game
both times, I mean, and Kansas State beats TCU, and here Alabama
gets after Kansas State, right, I just you know, and they say,
oh, you go to twelve team playoffs, it's gonna help out.
Who knows, I don't know. It's all about money anyway. Schematically,
schematically, what did you see about what Ohio State did? Did they isolated
they did they pick on a certain coverage? What did you see schematically from
Ohio State that impressed you or that you didn't think Georgia did very well on
defense? Well, I thought the protection for the quarterback for Ohio State's offense
line did good. Ohio State and that old line is something. You know,
they ran the ball pretty well and the protected a quarterback. And what
the big thing was was there are a lot of deep crossing routes. We
call those race routes or grids. You know, he was calling race routes
when I was with the forty nine ers, called it grid when I got
back in college. Where the we see her basically crosses the entire formation and
it's a deep ball. You gotta have protection. Usually you're gonna have seven
man protection on those, you know, at least six, but biby seven
man protection three million routes and they just outran. You know, it's a
hard when you got protection. It's hard to stop and defend those routes,
and I thought, Ohio State hit those a number of times. And then
the quarterback was able to run the ball when he had to, you know,
which had not been part of his game. Him running had not been
part of his game, and everybody thought that that was going to be an
issue, but he really, his mobility was a major factor in that game
breaking containment. Yeah, I thought so as well. And you know,
I mean, you're looking at two great teams, I mean, people being
in your thought, these are the two probably that we're going to play in
the championship game, and they might be the two best teams, you know.
I mean the talent level, the line of scrimmage on both these teams
right is amazing. But for Georgia just to keep playing and keep on it,
I mean, it says a lot to the coaching staff and the leadership
of the teams, you know too, you know, and Bill Sider used
to tell us that Kansas State always don't ever, ever, ever ever ever
give up, and don't ever give up. Yeah, let's talk about the
fourth string walk on quarterback that's turned into a Georgia legend, A stetson Bennett
kid, just twenty five years old. He was put out. You know,
nobody wanted him to play at Georgia. He just hung in there.
He's not a five star guy. He's probably not gonna be He's not gonna
be a first round draft pick in the NFL. But this guy's grit as
a college football player, in the leadership he shows is incredible. And as
a coach, I know, you know this develop seeing kids develop, seeing
kids getting better over time and just hanging in there is a great trait.
No reminds me a little bit of worth Foot at Florida. You know,
they want a national championship. I believe with him. Yeah, and you
know he wasn't going to play the pros, you know, and this guy
probably won't. This might be his last game ever. You know, somebody
will pick him up and he might be able to hang on for a year
or two, but probably you know who knows. But you know you probably
don't want to count him out. You know, I'll maybe beat my words
in a year or two. But it is remarkable story. It just is.
He's just a football player. He's a winner, and he reminds me
of Mac Growthy, who we had in South Florida. Yeah, and Mac
Growthy the truth of this and Matt. If Matt is listening to this,
he he won't like to hear it. But Wally Burnham recruited him, our
decordinator. And when we talked about Matt, and we knew he was a
good quarterback, but we didn't think he played quarterback. We really took him
as a safety and we brought him in and I mean our staff fee is
me and Wally talking. We thought, you know, we didn't think he'd
have great speed, but we thought he'd be a good heady ball player.
It might be able to play some safety, and we didn't. Central Florida
recruited him and us really came down to just that. And Wally really liked
him a lot. I mean, I liked him. I went and saw
him a bunch. Wally loved him, and you know, I, you
know, I appreciate Wally so much. We end up taking him. And
there's a practice and like the scout team is going against the number one defense
and Matt growth he got back and hit this guinea post, one of the
best throwers I've ever seen to score on our defense. I'll never forget this.
I went to Matt. I said, Matt, you are never going
to play anything but quarterback. I'll promise you. And from then on all
he did was leader team with so many wins. He was so tough.
He was such a heady ball player, such a leader. But his toughness
was remarkable. I'm gonna go off on a tangent, but you gotta hear
this. We're playing a bowl game against Skipholds, East Carolina's team. First
game we first bowl game we won in South Florida. And right before halftime,
Matt came off and he said, man, my leg's really bothered me.
And I said, well, is he be all right? I don't
know, man, it really hurts. We're going a halftime, come out
second half. He comes out the beginning of a third quarter, said,
man, I can't. I have a hard time played a few series.
I had to go with patrol miss. He went in and finished the game
for us. We won. Well, Matt had had a fracture in his
leg. It was it was a fractured leg, and he played like a
quarter and a half on it. Wow, I mean it's the guy was
so tough, you know. So that's what this Georgia quarterback. He's just
tough, he's won't give up. He wills things to happen, and we'll
see what happens in the championship game. Were you surprised at on the last
drive out o House State that they really they didn't really attempt to hold.
I mean, they went for a big play, They got the ball about
the thirty two with about twenty seconds left, and they didn't really try to
get another seven or eight yards, and they end up making the kid have
to kick a fifty yard field goal, you know, basically to win the
game, and obviously it was the kick was no good. Where you're little
surprised at the play calling there the last couple of plays not to try to
either center the ball in the middle of the field or figure out a way
to get five or six more yards. Yeah, I mean it would have
been nice, you know, obviously for the kicker. And you know,
I don't know what the thinking was behind all that, whether they just didn't
want to and they want to give him a chance. So good about the
kicker, and maybe it felt good at the hash that they're on and all
those teams, I don't know all that background. Obviously they should have you
know, because he didn't make it right, you know, but that's just
so hard. I mean, you know, I watched Ohio State play and
even in this game, and I'm still not sure that they're not the best
team in the country. Then were Alabama or Georgia, you know, I
mean I I never I don't know if I would say Michigan or TCU.
But you know, the just a line of scrimmage and the athletes and what
Georgia has and what Ohio State has and what Alabama has is to me is
you know, separate those teams. But Michigan beat the dog out Ohio States.
So and we're undefeated, you know, so you gotta give them,
you know, I don't know, boy, it's tough, you know,
you know, anyone game, right. We talked about that this year,
Yeah, you can, you know, and look at I mean we talked
because we were talking about South Florida at the time, beating Florida, you
know, and we had a lot of one thing you and I talked to
talked about all year about special teams. There were a lot of a lot
of miss kicks in these games. Georgia kids two or three kicks. You
know, you've watched the Clemson game. They missed three kicks. Obviously,
Ohio State missed the kick at the end. The importance of special teams in
these bowl games when you've had thirty days off, that's the part of the
game that gets rusty and doesn't get probably as much work maybe as you think
you need. Your your your thoughts on special teams. Well, it's a
live work. You know that, you you know, you you nobody's getting
this much live work. But that's the thing you worry about with, um,
you know, with the protection on you know, I mean even even
I'm thinking right now, but the game if North Carolina blocks you know,
fe goal by the Bucks, you know, right, um, but that's
that's not we're talking about. But it's hard to get as much live work
as you want, especially on your feud goal your ex point team, because
you don't want to hurt in as linemen because they're you know, they're in
a vulnerable position. Right. I know that all those teams did some live
work. I know that, But you know how much do you do?
And you know when have you had enough? And when you're runn eighty five
thousand with all the marbles on the line, it's different than if you're on
a practice field by yourself with the oh, you're right, it is you
know, and you know there is some time there and yeah, you're concerned
about all kinds of things, but especially teams. You're right, that's one
of the areas that coaches get very concerned about and normally in the practice that's
why they spend most time with, especially teams, because you're so concerned about
it, right, you know, but it does. It's her a lot
of team. You can see it. I want to give it again,
want to give a shout out to Noah Ruggles. Noah's the kicker at Ohio
State. He's a Tampa kid, he went to steinburn Or high school coach.
He's a he's a the Ohio statecareer. But he had a really good
career to Hoise State. Obviously didn't make the last kick, but again,
want to give a shout out to Noah Ruggles. Really good career at Ohio
State. Keep up the great work, no and there'll be more opportunities hopefully
down the road for you. So all right, let's get to the championship.
Coach oh First, first question, you get nine days to prepare.
You got you played this time next Monday night, so you basically get nine
full days. Interesting that both teams will fly back to their place and then
have to fly back to LA because the games in Los Angeles, which is
a long trip for these guys especially, you know, having to travel back
to Texas and Georgia that back to LA. Talk about the preparation these over
the weekend. Would you've given their kids all the way off until probably Tuesday
before you start practicing again. Well, both staffs have already broke down the
other teams. They've already had their gas and their analysts breakdown the other teams
and get everything there. But the coordinators have probably peaked at it a little
bit, but they're so focused on Michigan or TCU or Georgia Ohio State that
they haven't put their teeth into it. So you have to give your coordinators
time. They need two or three days or probably these two days to really
try to put put a good plan together. So you do give your guys
and to travel back. You're going to give them some hopefully they can wrest
on the plane, and you do want to give them a day off.
And then what you want to do is you want to get back right away
to the mental preparation for sure. Okay, you want to get the game
plan out as soon as you can to where you really know what you're gonna
do and what you want to do and what your objectives are. And then
you're on the practice field. You're probably not gonna go full pads at all,
probably just helmets and you know, maybe just uh spider pads or whatever
they call them. Now sure, you know, because you you've had a
long year, bodies are really beat up. You got to get your players
back. They're close to a hardred percent age you can. That's critical.
So most of the work is going to be two things. Do a little
bit of running, you know, as soon as you can, as soon
as you get your back to run them, run them a little bit um
and and makes your linement or running enough because your receivers and dbs are gonna
they're gonna run a lot anyway. Uh. And then and that also helps
kind of just get your body back and get them in the film room,
watch really study the team you're gonna face. And then, um, most
of your works you're gonna be with scout teams. You know. Now you
as the head coach. As your coordinators are doing their work, as you
as the head coach, are you're gonna call your buddies in that conference and
say, hey, give me two or three things that they really like to
do formationally or blitz package or red zone stuff. Is that where you're gonna
kind of make some your your phone calls to your buddies in the in the
business that are that maybe play against Georgia, play against TCU to just to
get a couple of nuggets. Those phone calls were probably already made last week.
You know, the four teams left and depending on who you know,
one team would they have calls about you know, two other teams right,
and those calls already were made. I'm sure, Um, are there going
to be more calls made? Yes? And yes I would Um, you
know it's cold people you trust, you know to kind of get an idea,
but you know, those calls are already made. And if you're you
know, hopefully you're analysts. That's why these guys, a lot of these
at these analysts are are some retired great coaches that know what the hell they're
doing and they're probably really helping with putting those plans together and and if you've
got some really good analysts, man, they're worth their weight in gold.
They really are because they you know, these guys have been around a long
time. You know, George's got them. Yeah, I know a couple
of guys, and certainly all these staffs, man, they here a high
power staff. You've got analysts, big time analysts that are there, and
they're really really gonna help that process. Well, you know, TCU is
gonna take the David Versus Goliath attitude. Nobody in America thinks TCU can win
a second huge game like this against the big bad bullies of Georgia. How
do you if your TCU, if your Sonny dikes, how do you approach
this emotionally and mentally with your guys? Do you do you play up there
the where the David versus Goliath or you just say, you know what,
damn it, we're as good as they are. We're as good as they
are. We just played Michigan, who's got one of the best run offenses
in the country, and we basically handled them. And you know, George
is gonna have to play up to our level, you know, and you
know we're we've got explosive players all over the field. You know, our
defense is different than what they've seen. Um, you know, I don't
think anybody in TCU you get to this point. So I don't know if
there's a David versus Goliath. The thing that I'm going to be excited about
TCU is I'm more towards the West coast than Georgie. Is I'm at least
getting Georgia out of the southeast put them all away out LA. I'm thinking
they ain't gonna be easy for them. You know, that's a that's a
that's a long way from one coast the other coast. And um, I'm
hoping that. I'm hoping that's gonna have a factor. And I'm and they're
they're you know, they just got done playing you in Atlanta, you know,
home game and home game that you know. I I think TCU you're
gonna have. I think it's a little bit of an advantage, you know,
where you're located and getting out to La. Well, the will the
Bowl game require them to be there a certain day? Will will they wait
till the weekend to travel or do they have to be there probably by Wednesday
or Thursday? For media stuff? Well, most boat games will give you
options, you know, where you can come in one day or the next
day. Okay, you know, with whatever your team is, I don't
know. I would imagine and I don't know this, but I would imagine
they'd have an option of staying what extra day or coming in. I imagine
each team's gonna have They're gonna have a certain day you have to be there
because there's certain festivities that you're media day, all that stuff. But I
will bet that you'll you have an option of getting in one day or the
next day. And uh yeah, I don't know what each coach is gonna
want to do as far as that goes. Now, are you gonna prepare
that? I mean, I know, obviously the ultimate you're playing for a
national championship, and I get it as a coach. The danger is that
are you over Can you over prepare for a game like this? Or do
you try to stay in the same routine as a coaching stab that you've done
all year long, or do you say, you know what, I don't
give a damn, I'm staying up all night long whatever we gotta do.
Well, you know what, you know, I think that you probably try
to stay in a routine that you can. You know, I coached the
Super Bowl and we had two weeks to prepare for um, uh you know
from the Ravens, and I'll not forget my scouting report for the linebackers was
sixteen pages, but it was but it was mostly you know, some drawings
and some it wasn't just all you know, the worthy Ai Tat Willis and
of Marble Bowman and those guys. You know, but uh, you know,
it's hard to keep it exact routine and you can within your system,
but you know, it's a championship game. You're going out to LA.
There's different geographically, but as much as uh much of the same routine you've
had, you know, with your strength staff and those people you're gonna keep.
I want the best question. I'll get you out here. Talk to
talk to the audience and the fans and other coaches that are listening. Talk
about the thrill in the in the in, the adrenaline and the anxiety or
whatever all the things combine when you're in a winner take all championship game,
whether it's an NFL playoff game a game like this where it's a national championship
game. Just talk about the this is what you do coaching. This is
why you're in this profession, right coach? I mean the thrill in the
the intensity and the adrenaline and the and uh, you know, the winner
with the winner take all scenario of a game like this, you know.
For me, you know, and all I can do is the only experience
I can talk about coaching in a Super Bowl and um, which is pretty
big. The uh I remember before the game scene Beyonce because she was gonna
sing, you know, at halftime. Yeah, and I can remember,
um, these kids that were singing, and how I went up and talk
to these kids before the game right wherever we came out. Other than those
kind of things, when the game started, nothing changed for me. Okay,
it was yea, you want to win this game? And the best
I remember feeling like the best thing I could do to be relaxed and not
to be uptight in too, because for me, Vic Fangio was a decordinator
and he made calls. I'm the one to talk to Pat Willis or I
either did it through you know, through the mic, or or through signals
hand signals. But I just wanted to make sure that I relayed the right
things and that I that the justice I had to make for those guys was
good. And I just wanted to make sure as a coach that I was
as relaxed as I could be. Did not want to be too tight because
it allows you to really really important to me, it allows you to think
clear. When you're relaxed, you can think clearly. You don't get I
don't say desperate, but you don't do stuff that's not a character from a
call perspective and things like that. Probably, right, well, that's just
how I thought. You know, I wasn't the head coach. I wasn't
Jim Harball, right. You know, I wasn't a decordinator when I was
with the forty nine ers. I was a coaching linebackers. But you know,
I mean, the game came down to the last play of the game,
and we've already talked about the horrible call the official made on the we're
still looking for the flag coach, you you you need to look back to
that play. I remember it. I watched it. I remember the play
in the end zone with crap Tree. I remember that the guy wrapped his
arm right around crap Tree. It was an easy call to me, so
anyway, But you know, you want your guys to play at the highest
level they can play. You want them to know. I think it's so
important to have them not be too tight and words that line. How do
you do it? That's you know, that's a good question. And the
last thing is officiating that that could be a factor in this game. These
are gonna be officials that haven't refereed these conferences this year most likely it's probably
gonna be a neutral conference officiating crew. So again, you hate to say
it, and these are the best of the best the officials, we get
it, but it's still the officiating can can play a role in these games
and how you coach it and how you adjust after a call that either like
or don't like a prime example, and do you remember the TCU game with
them, was it the spearing at the end? Yeah? Yeah, the
no call overturned it. You tell me if you're being consistent and we've seen
that call a few times, that was called ye. And if you put
up that same play with some that are called not called, I'll promise you
they missed that call. His head was down, he's hit with the crowd's
helmet right through the other guys helmet. Yeah, and I believe strongly that
they just felt like I think it wasn't about the play. I think they
realized that they the TCU won this game, let's just move on, and
they would have had to object the kid for the half of the next game.
That's the other part too. I find it hard to believe that those
talkSPORT weren't going into mind of the person that how to make that call,
right, because I'll promise you that's gonna be brought up and they're gonna show,
they're gonna show calls of, you know, of the same thing that
was the other that was the other way. Right, we'll coach, great
work, I really appreciate it. Enjoy the week, Enjoy the championship game,
and uh we'll maybe we'll talk one more time next week after the championship
game to wrap up the college football season. Great job, coach. We'll
see you next week. Okay, all right, sounds good. Have a
great week. Coach Powers on Sports and Florida Football Insiders podcast will be right
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So Beefs for all your catering needs and your sports viewing pleasures. Were welcoming
in Kevin Brockway. He's been with us several times. When these from the
Gainesville Sun covers the Gators, we're gonna talk a little recruiting signing class transfer
portal. We're just gonna get a little update on the Gators and such a
welcome back Kevin, Happy new year here. It's happy to hear. It's
good to be back. It's the usual and good to be back in Florida.
Yeah, yeah, I know. You were up in New York and
join the little holiday festivities. How is New York For those who have never
been during the holidays, give us a sense of New York City in that
area during the holidays, Well, you know, say Rockefell our Center.
It's always fun in the tree, you know, it's a very festive atmosphere
there in the city. Um, Christmas in the city is certainly exciting.
But you know, I think Christmas weekend it was bitterly cold. It was
down to Lake zero to Greece. I know it's cold here in Florida too,
right, And then uh, you know, warmed up a little bit,
um a couple of days afterwards. I was able to venture down the
city and do that kind of stuff. But just good to be home a
family. It's where I grew up and uh, still have a lot of
ties up there. And most importantly, you didn't get stuck at an airport
with all the travel issues, did you. No? No, I didn't
go Southwest. I went Delta. So I was very fortunate and uh you
know that that worked out. That worked out pretty well for me. Very
good. All right, So we're we're recording this on Tuesday morning, obviously
with the events on Monday Night football with Damar Hamlin Kevin, have you ever
been in a situation and an event where a players collapsed in any kind of
manner like happened last night at all? I have not, but I do
know, you know, a couple of years ago, I obviously watched that
Florida Floord State game when Kyante Johnson collapsed in Tallahassee, and it was eerily
similar in a lot of ways. And it's amazing to think two years ago
that they actually resumed playing in that game. When you when you when you
look at what happened last night, and I'm canceling a Monday night football game,
um with with Keyote situation obviously, and he was in uh, you
know, critical condition for what seven or eight days in a hospital up in
Tallahassee. You know, thankfully he made a full recovery and he's playing basketball
again, not a Florida but a Kansas State obviously. UM. I don't
think Florida would medically clear him Kansas State did. I mean, that's another
issue. Um. But he's he's doing okay, you know, and he's
he's playing well and he's following his dream. And it will be interesting to
see if Hamlin makes a full you know, recovery, if he decides to
play football again, and if he does, um, you know, certainly,
there'll be a lot of factors that go into it. But definitely a
scary scene last night. I was watching it live. Nothing that you want
to see on TV. When you have an ambulance rush after the field,
and you could just see how distraught the players were right emotionally and how hard
it would be to get especially in the sport like football, to get charged
back up for a game. I think they eventually did the right thing.
Maybe they shouldn't have done a little sooner. No, And you and I
are old enough to remember Hank Gathers. That to me, that was what
came into my when I first saw all the distraught distress on the field.
That was my first ault was Hank Gathers back in nineteen ninety at Loyal and
Merrimount. A little different situation because we knew he had already had a had
some kind of issue prior to that, but still to see a guy just,
you know, collapse on the court like that, and obviously in Hank
gathered situation, he did pass away, you know it just that's that was
my first alt was Hank Gathers nineteen ninety. Yeah, yeah, no question,
And I do remember that too, and I remember, you know,
obviously the warning signs beforehand and everything, and it was it was obviously a
terrible situation for everyone involved. Of course, you know, Bo Kimball with
a tribute. You know, she pot the left hand and everything, and
it was it was really a sad story. But the team came together and
me to run to the Elite eight. And Hank's memory absolutely no, that
was a tremendous, tremendous year. And uh yeah, he said, Hank
Gathers and Bo Kimballman were just and again if you know, if you didn't,
never know who can't gather but look them up. All American leading led
the country and that the year I passed away led the country and scoring and
rebounding at Loyal a Merrimount kid was a beast. And yeah, there's a
great thirty for thirty on Loyal Merrimount that if he can on Earth, I
would definitely recommend watching. Absolutely. All right, let's get to let's get
to the Gators here. Let's do a quick review of the bowl game situation.
The Gators losing the Las Vegas Bowl thirty to three, not a very
good result obviously for the Gators. To me, the interesting thing was the
Gators take a late field goal late in this game to extend a little known
streak of never being shut out. Tell us about the streak and the extension
of the streak. There was there any backlash for that. You know you're
doing that. They lead FBS. I think it's four n thirty five or
four nd thirty six Streek. It goes back to nineteen eighty eight, Auburn
in nineteen eighty eight, So if you think about that, that's you know,
thirty we're going on what thirty four thirty five years without being shut out,
and I mean really spammed in the spurer and so forth and everything.
I remember was it a couple of years ago they played FSU and they got
a safety I think under Jim mcaway in the streak, which it was just
kind of crazy if you think about it. They didn't score an offensive point,
but it was still not the shutout streak. So I mean, it's
been closer a few times, and certainly it was there. And you know,
it's interesting because Adam Mahalak missed the long field goal early in that game,
and then they were kind of near inside ten and they got pushed back.
They got a couple of negative plays, a sack and everything. Try
As Napier after the game, I said, well, you know, if
it was a little closer, would you have gone for the touchdown, and
he said, yeah, exactly right. He goes, you know, fourth
and twenty four, you know, fourth and goal from the twenty four.
One of the odds, you know, you bring Mahalic out there and you
kick it. I think it would have been interesting to see if he would
have played it differently if he was inside the ten yard line. But there
was some backlash. I know Kirk Kurbstreet said something on the area called it
embarrassing, and uh, I think I saw an o Hi Oregon State fan
on Twitter saying that it's it's kind of like a baseball coach calling for a
bunk to break up a no hitter, right, Yeah, I meant it.
Being that it was Napier's first year, I wonder if at the moment
of he was all that was going on, if he even knew, or
if somebody had to come up and tell him, hey, Billy, this
is an important streak here. We need to we need to figure kick a
field goal here late in the game. I wonder if that was even mentioned
to him by somebody on the sideline. Well, I don't know, you
know, it's it's pretty prominent in the media notes too, so I don't
know if he reviews the media notes or all, so he might if he
reviews it every week. I'm sure he's aware of it. But it was,
like he said, one of those situations where it was it was dangerously
close, you know, and I was tweeting about it during the game,
and it was. It was because it looked really dire there with Jack Miller
at quarterback, and you know, obviously they were tremendously short hand. I
think it just shows, you know, a lot of fans really were,
you know, on Anthony Richardson for much of the season was inconsistent up and
down. But you know, be careful what you wish for. People were
talking about benching him for Jack Miller and Jan getting the uh you know,
and uh, you know, you kind of sew how the offense function without
Anthony Richardson. It didn't look at at all all. Right, before we
talk signing Signy Dane transfer portal, just give give the audience a sense of
after year one a billion napier, what is the sense in Gainesville and kind
of central Florida about where they think things are going. Obviously, um,
you know, it wasn't record wise, it wasn't fantastic, but they had
some moments where they played really well and and then you know, obviously they
beat Utah earlier in the year, so just get give the audience a sense
of what the Gator Nation thinks. Year won't post your one billion Napier.
Yeah, I just think a lot of inconsistency because you know, they beat
Utah and they beat South Carolina too, who turned around right and beat Clemson
right and uh, you know, back to back Tennessee and Clemson. So
that just tells you that, you know, when they when Florida was that
it's best they could play with anyone. I think the problem was they just
weren't at their best all the time. And you gotta wonder if that's coaching,
if that's just lack of depth. They're key injuries strut the course of
the season. I think the fans are, you know, they want to
give Napier a chance. It's gonna be an interesting year two to see if
what kind of progress they make, how they address a quarterback position. I
mean, they they've picked up obviously Grant Merch from Wisconsin and have one of
the top quarterback recruits coming in and Jane Roshata. But I think that it's
it's gonna be, you know, another season where you know you're gonna have
to build build depth, and you're gonna have to show a lot of improvement
defensively too, because that's what really you know, let the Gators down during
the course of the season, giving up forty or more points to four different
opponents during the season. I mean, there have been a lot of transfer
guys coming out of Florida leaving Florida. Is that is that by designer?
Is that just I mean, is that kind of Billy's way of weeding out
the weeding out the roster a little bit or just give us a sense of
you know, because there's a lot of names you've heard entered the portal coming
out of Gainesville. I think there were a few guys they want to come
back, but the majority of them were just kind of like, you know,
hey, look, we wish you well, but you don't fit into
our plans. And I think, but I think when when Billy Napier came
into Florida, he just kind of thought, you know, I'll give some
of the players I inherited a chance see what they're like. Evaluating them.
But you kind of saw during the course of the season, Napier went prominently
with his guys, you know, Montrell Johnson, the running back, Trevor
Et and the true freshman Shamar James. A lot of guys that he recruited
played prominent roles. Of Cyrus Torrance, Uh, you know, obviously was
an impact player and arguably probably they're their best player, most talented player during
the course of the season. So you know, and you're gonna be losing
those some of those guys too, especially you know, a lot of people
are talking about Anthony Richardson, but I believe the Osiris Torrance loss is going
to be a big blow the offensive line, and they're gonna need to address
that, you know, certainly in the portal and in developing some guys too.
Give us a sense of from a signing obviously we've had the early signing
day. What was the emphasis for the Gators. Was it offensive and defensive
lineman or was it skill players? Obviously the probably a little boat, but
it was over a major focus that Bill that Billy has has broadcasted to the
media up there that that he really wanted to really focus on well, you
know, judging from at front seven and UH wide receiver, they got a
lot, and they you know, and that was an area they need to
address because you kind of saw the depth at wide receiver when Justin Shorter got
hurt, when Xavier Henderson got hurt at the end of the season. I
remember that Florida State game. They only had about four or five scholarship wide
receivers. And it appears that Ricky Piershaw is coming back. It's not one
hundred percent. He didn't totally commit after the Vegas game, so he's a
piece. I think he needs some guys around him. And it's gonna be
interesting because I am gonna go to the under Armor game tonight down in Orlando,
get a chance to look at some guys like Aiden Mizelle and Andy Jane
and um, they've got some wide receivers coming in to have a lot of
talent, but true freshman you just don't know if you can rely on these
guys right away. And then obviously the biggest question, you know, for
every team in the country quarterback. Obviously, they bring in Graham Murch,
who's got who's a polarizing name if you followed college football Wisconsin. They've got
the highst the big recruit coming in a Rashata, give us a little give
us a little sense of Rashata, what his background is, just people that
don't know who he is. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing him
play tonight. I mean, Pittsburgh California guy obviously, you know, flipped
from Florida Miami back to Florida, so there was a little bit of drama
and his recruitment. But he appears to be you know, he obviously he
signed in the early signing period, so he appears to be uh, you
know, side sealed and delivered to Florida and hell and roll early, kind
of get a jump on the competition. Dual thrink guy. I think he'll
fit Napier system well, the read option well because he can, you know,
do some things with his legs, but they're very I died about him.
And some of the intangibles too. I mean, he led his team
deep into the California state playoffs, so he's got some uh, he's got
some winning intangibles as well. And uh, I'll be curious to see a
little more of him, like I said again, tonight, and uh,
you know, throughout the course of the season. But you know, when
you watch the clips and you watched the film. You definitely see a live
arm. There is here more of a runner. Is he more of a
pocket pat he is? Is he a dual guy or is he more of
a thrower. He's a dual guy. Now he'll he'll, he'll, he'll
create some plays with his legs. I mean, he was the I think
third or fourth rated UH dual threat quarterback in the nation in the class of
twenty twenty two. So he's a he'll definitely you know, fit Napier system
that way. All right, last thing I'll get you out here, obviously
College Football National Championship next Monday night, Georgia and TCU. You saw Georgia
in person in Jacksonville for the cocktail party. Um, how surprised were you
that Georgia got pushed so much by by Ohio State as far as the way
they moved the ball with relative ease and and do you think Georgia will be
able to cover and stabilize TCU? Yeah, I was surprised that the defense
surrendered as many points as they did. I mean, Marvin Harrison junior man,
he was having a field day. And you're talking about guy who's gonna
be playing on Sundays and then obviously he gets knocked down the game late in
the third quarter. That was a big, uh, you know, certainly
blow to Ohio State. Ryan Day called the heck of a game. Um,
but I was surprised that uh uh, you know, George's defense did
not answer the bells as well as as maybe they could have. But you
know, they did lose a lot from that defense last year that was pretty
dominant too, So I mean, TCU Max Duggan is going to be no
picnic. They showed that, they showed Michigan that they're legit and they're for
real. So I would expect another another close game. But I think Georgia
will find a way to pull it out, and the SEC usually does right,
and uh they'll uh they'll be uh, they'll be champions again, back
to back, and you know it'll be it'll be another year where Kirby is
ruling the roost and uh, every nobody else they'll just be waiting for plays
for second place. We'll have a great job. I appreciate the time.
Again, We'll definitely check in as we get more towards March Madness. If
the Gators are making our move here any excitement on the basketball court moving forward
in conference season. Yeah, it's been a really rough first year for Todd
Golden seven and six oh and six against quand one teams, so I haven't
had that breakthrough whin yet, you know. And they get Texas A and
M and Georgia this week. They got to get righted. They're having some
issues, were rebounding, They're having some issues as far as you know right
now, shooting. They're in a pretty bad slump the last two games,
five for forty one from three. But they do shoot better at the O'Connell
Center. So they'll be back home and you got to hope that if you're
a Gator fan, that things turn around a little bit and they figure some
things out, because you know, if they get into a hole here that
I mean. They were very competitive against Georgia top I guess Auburn excuse me,
top twenty five team played very well defensively, So that's something to build
upon. The fact that they went out and they made a tight game,
had a chance to win in the closing seconds and Colin cow Castleton, your
best player, trimbles them all off your foot. You know, it's just
one of those one of those tough breaks. We'll keep up the great work
with games. We'll sun tell them where they can find all your great content
online, Yeah, gettersports dot com or you can follow me at Twitter at
Kevin Brockway g one. That's where I link a lot of my work.
So well. Appreciate the time, Kevin. Happy New Year, Glad you
got to enjoy a little New York City and we'll talk soon. All right,
Thank you, buddy. Appreciate Kevin, have a great day. Thanks
for listening to the Florida Football Insiders Podcast as part of the College Gridiron Coast
to Coast podcast Network. Please remember to subscribe rate in review if you've not
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