WEBVTT

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The following is a presentation of Playfly
Sports Properties in Michigan State Sports Properties.

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Well a pleasant, good evening till
you find folks out there and Spartan nation.

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Shit. It is Tuesday, March
fourteen, twenty twenty three. I'm

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your host, Jason Strayhorn, along
with my co host Otis Wiley and Jayu

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choot Choo Collorick. This is Sparta. Thank you for tuning in today.

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Don't forget to hit the like and
subscribe button. Doesn't cost your thing,

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but it helps us out a whole
lot. And don't forget to subscribe to

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all of our social medias. Here's
how to do that. Thanks for tuning

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in to This is Sparta. MSU. Interested in hearing more from us,

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to head to our link tree for

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more information. Help us grow our
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Tell your friends and family to do
the same. Have an idea for

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a future episode, let us know
in the comment section below, and now

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back to the show. Hey gentlemen, so how are you guys doing this?

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Fine Pie Day's National pizza Pie Day. That is, it's not pizza

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pie. Tell me how it goes. No, No, I know people

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celebrate with actual pies, but it's
really about just pie. How you guys

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been, I've been good. I
didn't get a chance to get pie pie.

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I did see some of that grand
Traverse pie uh in in the office,

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but I did not indulge in the
sweets three point one four? Yeah?

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How long? How far can you
take that out? Though? Like,

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come on, you're all college graduates
here. I'm just saying, I

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I'm just, first of all,
this first time we know they celebrated pie

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Day. I'm just be honest with
you. I don't even this is the

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first time. It's like, yeah, AnyWho. I did get pizzas,

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but they were squares from jets,
so I got jets too, but it

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was Sorry. What I can't wait
for is, uh what is it Thursday

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that stone cold Steve Austin day three
sixteen? I thought or from the Bible

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that to make goodness guys. I
mean, we do have a jam packed

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show today, guys, we do
have a special guess that it should be

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coming with us making his way from
down in Texas. But before we get

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into that we have some sad news
to report. Susie Merchant had to step

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down as women's basketball coach. Guys, Yeah, Susie has did has done

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a lot for our program, specifically
for our obviously female student athletes. She

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has been a trail blazer and supporting
young girls who may be battling with you

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know, confidence and just their identity
or et cetera. And she had,

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you know, a great impactful program
that happens, you know, every year.

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It caught empower her and so sus
Susie has been very very good for

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Spartan Nation and a lot of a
lot of student athletes and a lot of

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players that went to the w n
B a from from her, from her

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two legs or from her leadership.
And so it is a bittersweet standpoint of

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her retiring, but one thank you, coach for what you did for the

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Green and White, and hopefully that
you stay around and continue to do some

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good work. But thank you for
what you did for us in the time

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being. Yeah, Otis said it
best, you know, she she was

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great for the program. She came
in when when we were there, you

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know, so that tenure has been
there a long time. Uh, talking

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to anybody that's played for her,
you know, there's nothing but love and

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admiration, uh for her. She
you know, developed these young ladies.

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Uh. You know some of them
went on to you know, for their

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career in the w n b A
and continue to play afterwards. But you

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know they come back, you know, to the program. She injected life

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into that program. Thank you,
Coach Merchant for what you've done for the

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Green and White and continue to carry
that flight for the Spartans. The question,

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she'll definitely be missed. You know, this is a person that would

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always light up a room when she
was around. You see her smiling and

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all that. So we really hope
you rest up and are able to come

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out someday to a basketball or a
football game so we can all show you

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the love that you deserve. Coach
Merchant, thank you for all your service

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and everything that you've done. Definitely, the program from Michigan State women's basketball

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was in a better state than it
was before she got here. Thank you,

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Coach Merchant. Shifting gears over to
the women's gymnastics program, I mean

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they're just rolling, guys. They
had a nice win over NIU this weekend.

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Yeah, big one for the Spartans
women again. You know this was

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actually senior night here and you know
they went out and performedtinue what to to

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catapult themselves into the NCAA's congratulations to
the m s U Women's Gymnastics. Yeah,

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I me and the family had a
pleasure of going out there last weekend

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where it was it was breast cancer
wearings wear pink and uh, the atmosphere

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is electric. Man. It makes
all the all the kids that are in

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attendance, you know, are dancing
and someone will go and you know to

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the opposite end, you know how
like back in when you were young,

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and you know, I'm not gonna
watch it. I'm just gonna start flipping

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and dancing and cartwilling. And so
my daughter definitely went and did a bunch

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of million. She probably did a
million cartwoders and ran across that track a

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couple of times. And she still
didn't take a nap after we were doing

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it. I thought it was gonna
be a success. Uh success, She

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still didn't take a nap. But
yeah, like you said, uh,

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the girls are doing do a phenomenal
man. They getting prepared for postseason NCAA

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tournament. So yeah, we'll look
forward to you know them at the big

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Championships, and we'll keep you guys
updated when when we get those results.

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It's right, Big Ten Championships coming
up this weekend. A lot of tournament

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action happening for women's gymnastics and also
for men's basketball as they hit a record

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twenty fifth straight NCAA tournament appearance.
That's incredible. Buy Coach Tom is a

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man. It's power and continuity in
a coach with with what's happening nowadays,

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you know, you make you You
will only get probably too three or four

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years of coaching now and if you're
not winning right away, you know it's

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the next man or next women up. So coach coach Coach Tom and coach

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O has done a great job year
and year out. You know, it's

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always those teams that we don't think
have the grit or the the talent to

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go far, go far, right, Like we think about that Minneapolis run

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and Final four, you know we
had we didn't have that squad which I

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thought we was gonna have when we
had the Valentine's and Gary Harris in the

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world, Like I thought that squad
was gonna go and then we had Miles

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Bridges and all them. I thought
that whole squad was gonna go. Uh,

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but coach gets those guys going for
this turn up specifically, so hoping,

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hoping we get to Columbus and we
don't show like we showed up Chicago.

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You because you use like the conference
tournament ain't it's not Uh is worthless?

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It is worthless. Listen is worthless? Ye look at that series.

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We're the same that we were going
in and coming out same. I guess

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the first round is worthless too.
Then, no, the first round is

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not worthless. You want That's why
we're gonna be sprouting, ready to and

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bushy tails and ready to go.
We better win. That's what I got

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your lifts of gods is I like
our draw. I like our draw here.

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You know, I think you know
playing USC you know, first game,

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it's a big game. But but
you got but you got marquess tough.

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Now we got there. But you
know, smart and smart man that

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man can coach, and man is
one thing he can do. He will

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coach. But he doesn't have twenty
five n c A appearance of straight NCAA

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appearance, I might add, let's
look at the video from when that moment

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actually happened Friday and Sunday. The
spark I don't know, man, too

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cool to school man, it's almost
twenty five times just not expected. Now

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it's mag thing. I know we're
gonna get more into it on on Thursday's

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show before that, but you know, right now, I'm gonna start cultivating.

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Start the callouts to the guys like
Joey Hawsers, the the guys that

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are, you know, the seniors. You know, this is the opportunity

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to make your markets and cement yourself
in Spartan basketball. This is your opportunity,

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So get yourself mentally ready for that. And also too, I'm gonna

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call out coach Izzo as well.
You know, I've seen what you say.

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Oh this is go ahead, go
ahead. I've seen a lot of

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buzz on social media people want coach
Izzo to put the suit back on,

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you know, to coach on the
sidelines to say it's been it's been lucky

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when you or the suits. You
know, ever since he stopped wearing the

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suits in a tournament, we haven't
made as deep of runs. So I'm

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a superstitious guy, so I'm in
on that. So throw the soup back

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on coaches. Yeah, that's negative. Train the yeah, yeah, trade

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in the comfort for superstition, maybe, coaches or subscribe to that. I

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don't know. Can you send him
a DM on his Twitter? Oh he

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doesn't have social media, doesn't He
doesn't have that, you know, So

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I don't know. Maybe maybe maybe
not. But you know, guys,

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we want to break down a lot
of this spring football action, but it

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doesn't make sense not do that with
our special guests. Before we bring him

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on the show, Let's listen to
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All right, gentlemen, now for
the moment we've all been waiting on.

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You know, man, it doesn't
need much introduction. In Spartan Lore,

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guy who spent ten twelve years in
the NFL second round draft pick of the

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Saint Louis Rams got out a big
arm, was drafted in Major League baseball

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before he came to Michigan State.
A great guy and a great teammate and

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a recruiting class guy of mine.
Tony Banks joins the show. Welcome,

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00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:58.960
this is Sparta tone. Hey,
hello, gentlemen. I have to know

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to get on this pod cast.
Man, oh man, we love to

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have you. We were so excited. What's going on? We're talking about

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pie? Pie? Man? What's
going on? Yeah, let's talk about

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pie for a second. Three point
one? What like? How far can

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you take that out? I mean, I don't know who can think?

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I can't go past three point one? Four? What about you? Tony?

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That sounded like a Saint Louis area
code to me. Man, big

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facts. Man, how you doing
Man? I'm doing well. Man,

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I'm doing well. Just trying to
I'm approaching fifty, so just trying to

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fight that off as best I can. Man, what they say, uh

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I five? The time is undefeated. He's on us all how much juice

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I drink? You know it don't
help that age? You know, month

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next month? Yeah, Oh,
we gotta be invited to the big birthday

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celebration. So where the big fight. What's up? Where are you at?

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00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:05.000
Man? Man, I'm my son's
going to believe. So I'm just

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gonna be here in Dallas. Man. I'll get it in my own way.

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You know, I was playing on
going to Vegas, but you got

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all my friends are broke. Man. You know that ain't no fun.

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No, no, no, no. I want somebody to pay for my

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birthday. You know, shot.
I need pay for my shot. So

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00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:31.840
we're talking about so your career,
when you got to the NFL, you

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00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:35.480
ended up retiring. We're going to
go back in time for a minute,

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00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:41.480
but right now we're in Houston,
the Dallas area coaching some football with a

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00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:46.200
high school team. Yeah yeah,
yeah, I uh. I kind of

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evolved into that, you know.
And during my playing career, I wanted

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nothing to do with coaching on any
level. Most of my playing experience had

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00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:56.120
been in the NFL. Didn't play
high school till my junior year, went

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to Juco, then went to Michigan
State. So I saw all these coaches

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spending so much time in the office
and basically living in their office, not

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knowing their kids. And I come
from at least me and my dad were

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always really tight, so I always
envisioned myself being very close to my son,

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so I really didn't want to coach
until I started coaching him at a

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young age and all his buddies and
I tried to set myself up to where

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I could coach him in high school
and it just kind of worked out that

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way. So now we're still going
through that. Man oh Man, Yeah,

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Hey, which high school, Tony. I was in Dallas at SMU

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for a few years. But what
part of Dallas are you around? You

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00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:39.120
might not know. I just finished
up at Greenhill. I'm about to accept

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another job at another private school.
But it's Greenhill School, which is academically

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the top co ed school in the
state, really expensive private school, but

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their football program has been down,
and my ego told me I could turn

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their program around in no time.
And little did I know that soccer players

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and lacrosse aren't always do football players. So I got the coaching bub you

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know, I freaking love coaching.
I love impacting kids. I passed up

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a couple opportunities to go in college
and pro to coach because you know,

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I got divorced when my son was
with five years old, and it was

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really important to me to be around
you know. So fortunately him and I

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are really close, even after me
coaching him last year, which can be

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you know, I thought it would
be awesome, but you know, I

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00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:34.039
guess it's not always awesome when you're
coaching any kids. So but I still

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really enjoy it. We'll talk about
Duce for a second. So Duke is

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00:16:38.759 --> 00:16:41.120
just some What position does Duce play? I've seen it looks like he's about

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00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:45.759
tall as you now. Yeah,
yeah, he about six for approaching two

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hundred pounds. He's a quarterback too. Man, He's always wanted to play

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quarterback. I sometimes I tried to
push him to other positions because, man,

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I tell you what, playing quarterbacks
got enough anxiety when you're the guy,

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let alone when you're your son's the
guy. You know, that's that's

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even more stressful. So but he
loves the position. He's a town and

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kid and a little further along than
I was at his a. So we'll

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see how it goes. Yeah,
so, you know, talking about the

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coaching side of things there, let's
just go back you know, three four

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years ago, how the game has
evolved and through the recruiting side of things,

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and you know, colleges coming after
kids and different camps and everything that

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they have to go with go to
Like how do you take that as a

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coach and try to keep you know, like someone like your son and the

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guys on your team grounded while you
know everyone's trying to tell him how great

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they're to come to my school.
Well, I've had to kind of change

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my thinking because you know, I'm
still from the old school. You got

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to play well on Friday night and
then they come, they come knocking on

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your door. Whereas now you know, you can get involved in the camp

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circuit early. You can be seen
on seven on seven where if your team

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doesn't throw the ball much or whatever, you can you can kind of uh

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show your skills in that arena.
Or if you're not playing for a great

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program, you can have other avenues
to get recruited. Whereas, you know,

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I fought it for a little while, like I tell my son,

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like, you know, you know, it shouldn't be all about the camp.

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You got to play well on Friday
night. You got to go ball

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out on Friday night. Then all
that stuff comes, which there needs to

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be a healthy balance of all that. Yeah, it should be a healthy

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balance of about nim deals. I
was like you know you got a ball

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out on Friday night. Person,
you know, we always always, you

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know, I'm gonna get it.
When I get an nil deal, I'm

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like, well you in Texas,
you got you can't even do that in

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high school. So as far as
I know, I don't know. So

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uh so. So he's got big
dreams and I just wanted to help him

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as much as I can. Look
at someone, look do Revise says?

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Are you as tough of a coach's
nick? Coach? Save it? Uh

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all my quarterbacks? I am man. I think you know, now,

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I think it might be healthier for
my son to get away from me and

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senior year oh man, yeah,
yeah, I mean Gary Tank will level

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like, well, you know I
responded to tranquil. You know, I

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responded to that getting cussed out and
all that because that's the family environment I

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grew up. My mom rarely said
any words other than four letter words,

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you know, so I was used
to getting cussed out and and Gary TRANKI

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sparked me that way. He's been
my favorite coach, even though all my

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years in the NFL. If I
got coached by Trank, I probably would

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have had a better NFL career because
he wasn't scared of me. You know,

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in the NFL, when you're starting
quarterback, everybody scared of coach it

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right, you don't like me.
If he don't like me, I'm getting

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fired, you know, whereas uh
I wanted to be coach TRD so mm

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hmm. Yeah, speaking of that, you were originally coming out of San

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Diego area, right, say Diego
area, and then about saying ocean side,

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Man, I ain't no where from
rival. It's all six nine love

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a little, you know. Yeah, but you originally were in the baseball

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world, talking about that different from
the baseball world that you were in in

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basketball. Then you end up playing
football later. Well, I grew up,

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even though I was a baseball and
basketball kid, I grew up loving

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just quarterbacks, just people that threw
anything, you know. So, and

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all those guys, the Marinos,
the Lways, all those guys that I

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grew up watching, they played baseball. Now it's such a specialty position.

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Like my son doesn't play baseball.
I train a ton of quarterbacks that don't

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play baseball, which to me is
a disadvantage. You know, there's there's

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so many things that you can learn
from throwing a baseball that will help you

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throw football. But now everything's such
a specialty deal. You know, you

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play one sport, especially here in
Texas where football is like a religion.

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You play football. You shouldn't be
playing anything else. It's all like it's

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a full time deal, which I
don't always agree with. But you know,

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these kids in Texas, and my
son is included. He that's all

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he wants to play. He wants
to play m Yeah, hey, let's

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play a little baseball, didn't he
Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's still

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a couple of sprinkled in there.
But then you gotta go, like,

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I don't know what my homes high
school was, but I went to a

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small high school. So the coaches
were just excited that I was coming out,

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even if it was I'm coming to
basketball a few games late because of

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football. I'm coming to baseball a
few games late because of basketball. They

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were just happy for us to be
out there. So now I trained quarterbacks

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where there's a ton of coaches like, no, don't play baseball, Like

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some of them don't even want them
to run tracks. Wow. Yeah,

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So let's uh, you know,
get into you know, the whole the

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quarterback thing here. And you came
from an era where there was a stigma,

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especially being a black quarterback. You
know, there was that stigma on

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it. Hey, you know,
they're not smart enough to play the position.

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And then we you know, fast
forward to nowhere we have two black

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quarterbacks started in the Super Bowl.
There. What's your thoughts on the evolution

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of that and how colleges are tailoring
their game to the athleticism of these African

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American quarterbacks. This is what a
lot of people don't understand about the quarterback

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position the NFL. So when I
came out, I was being compared to

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Randall Cunningham. I was athletic,
I like to run around, but as

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soon as I started smelling the NFL, it was like if you moved around,

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if you tried to run, you
didn't know what you were doing.

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You were playing playground football. And
the year I came into the league,

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Randall Cunningham was basically kicked out of
the league, like he deserved to be

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in the league, probably still starting
because he was just a year or two

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removed from NFL Offensive Player of the
Year. But he worked out for the

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Rams before they drafted me, and
they chose to sign Steve Walsh, who

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was I ain't trying to offend anybody. He couldn't throw it from here to

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the screen man, you know.
So he was a smart guy, but

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he couldn't physically do these things.
So that's why I played as a rookie

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because he was just he couldn't do
the physical part, you know, and

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they just signed him to a ton
of money and Randall's on the street.

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So I always tried. In the
back of my mind, I was like,

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Okay, I'm approved. I scored
high on the Wonder leg. I'm

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approved to these NFL guys. I
don't need to run around. So I

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went to the combine, ran a
four to seven, and nobody cared.

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If you went a four to three
back, then nobody cared other than they

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were going to ask you to play
another position. Tommy Fraser was asked to

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play another position in my group.
He came out my year. Now he

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wasn't a quarterback, but he at
least deserved a shot after all he had

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done in college. So I'm really
excited about today's game that you know.

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Now you got the Anthony Richardson's blowing
the doors off the com line building and

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people are excited. Whereas when I
came out if you were a quarterback and

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you put up those kind of numbers, nobody really care, right man.

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Happy to see that it has evolved
a little bit. You know you're thinking

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about, you know, when you
came in to Michigan State under George Perlis,

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Right, you talk heard you talk
about, you know, the pressure

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trying to save his job. You
know, I remember coming in ninety four

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too. You mean you soup Amp
Campbell in that class, and uh,

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you were coming in from a it
was was it a Juco? Yep?

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Yep, you came in from Juco
and I mean you just had to I

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just remember how I mean, your
arm, dude, it was ridiculous.

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I don't think they had any kind
of arm talent like yours. Since you've

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been here, to be honest with
you, and I saw a lot that's

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true. You don't know now you
know it's real. So I remember.

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He So, what was it that
attracted you to Michigan State over schools that

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you know, like close by?
I think U c. L A Is

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one the ones that was top on
your list for sure. Well. UCLA

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made a couple of coaching changes.
Homer Smith went to Alabama Rick Neuheisel,

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who had been recruiting me since high
school before I went to go play baseball,

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went to take the head job in
Colorado. And honestly, man,

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George Perlis came into my living room
and you know, in the hood in

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southeast San Diego, and he shook
my hand like he knew me my whole

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life. Man. He was so
comfortable in our tiny little home, man,

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and and I could picture myself playing
for him. He also told me

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some things that you know, at
the time, I wanted to play football.

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I wasn't worried about going to school. He was like, come play

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football, major in football. I'm
like, that's what I wanted to.

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I want to. So I got
brothers who are students, you know,

333
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great students and doctors and architects.
But that was never me. My dad

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00:25:49.799 --> 00:25:55.240
did a great job with us.
But I was that knucklehead kid that was

335
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easy to go to the league or
bust. But you made it I did.

336
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It's a good thing because you had
that talent. Now you know you're

337
00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:04.640
talking about Pearls. I remember,
Yeah, he was smooth. I was

338
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with the Super Bowl rings from the
Steelers era. I mean, Purlis was

339
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that guy. The next year,
your senior year. Yeah, we go

340
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from George Purlis to Nick Saban.
Now talk about the difference in coaching between

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those two. And I tell people
now, like I'm so happy that the

342
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transfer portal wasn't a thing back because
me and and all those guys that George

343
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:36.559
Purlis had recruited, we were all
talking about transfer, you know. Unfortunately

344
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I didn't because like playing for Saving
and Gary Trankle as my offensive coordinator who

345
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came from the Cleveland Browns with Saving, really was the reason I was able

346
00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:52.119
to play early in the NFL because
I got taught that pro system and coach

347
00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:56.119
Saban as you know, Jay that
the attension of detail is just ridiculous when

348
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it comes to that guy, and
I needed those things. I was kind

349
00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:03.400
of care free Cali kid who thought
I could throw it over a mountain like

350
00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:08.319
Napoleon Dynamite, you know. So
I needed some structure and I needed a

351
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guy with that pedigree to tell me. I mean he told me early.

352
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Coach Steven told me Early, hey, you got a chance of play in

353
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the NFL. And coming from him
like he was fresh out the NFL,

354
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I'm like, okay, all right, well this guy, you know,

355
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he didn't have the credentials he has
now where you just believe anything he says.

356
00:27:26.200 --> 00:27:30.039
But he had that aura. He
wasn't a lovey dove coach like Perlis

357
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and some of the other coaches I
played for, but he shot you straight,

358
00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:36.799
you know, if you could play
at that next level, he was

359
00:27:36.839 --> 00:27:41.640
gonna get you ready. So with
that transition that you talk about that and

360
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I think, you know, Otis
and I we can fit into that because

361
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we went from a transition from a
coach up from John L. Smith who

362
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was kind of you know, loose, loose around the edges, you know,

363
00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:56.160
training camp, wouldn't even have to
stay in dorms, you know all

364
00:27:56.240 --> 00:28:04.759
week. Yeah, and then coach
D'Antonio comes in and it's like, what

365
00:28:04.920 --> 00:28:08.599
I have to stay in the dorm
senior year, I'm just staying and I

366
00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:12.079
have to room with someone I don't
know, a DV, you know,

367
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and you know my team not a
shot at you, oh, because you're

368
00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:22.440
DV. I did room with TKS. It was a DV. So you

369
00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:25.119
know, it was just like you
know, those things there and I get

370
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what you say with the if the
transfer portal you know, was there,

371
00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:32.920
you know, because that thought came
across everybody's you know, am I gonna

372
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fit into this system here? You
know, am I gonna be you know

373
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their guy? Yeah, you know
kind of thing there. So that mentality

374
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that you had there, and how
did that transpire to the NFL when you

375
00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.200
go there, because you know there's
always coaching changes year and a year out,

376
00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:52.960
coordinators, position coaches, head coaches
and everything. How did that transpire

377
00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:56.960
for you? I got that foundation
from coach Saban and his staff. So

378
00:28:59.079 --> 00:29:03.839
once I had that foundation of a
professional offense. How it's called the verbage,

379
00:29:03.240 --> 00:29:06.960
how you get in and out of
the huddle, Like even though it

380
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was only one year, I mean, I'll just rolled into the NFL like,

381
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Okay, this is I've done this
before. The verbage might be a

382
00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:15.240
little different, but I've done this. This is all stuff that we did

383
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at Michigan State. I changed protections, I audibled in the better plays.

384
00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:26.000
So I was ready, you know, as ready as I could have been

385
00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:29.119
at the time, because at the
time, there weren't very many rookies starting

386
00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:33.440
back then. You know, Steve
McNair got drafted the year ahead of me.

387
00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:37.079
He didn't start till year three,
so I was I was starting before

388
00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:41.640
him. You know, even though
I was drafted later and so those things

389
00:29:41.640 --> 00:29:45.920
didn't happen that often back then.
But it was because of that foundation that

390
00:29:45.079 --> 00:29:48.839
all teams I played for, and
there's a lot of them, that I

391
00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:52.960
was able to transition pretty smoothly.
I knew what to learn first, you

392
00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:56.119
know, I was coming in.
I was learning protections. You know,

393
00:29:56.160 --> 00:30:00.160
past concepts are all everybody runs the
same stuff, man, other than you

394
00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:02.519
know, a little wrinkle here or
there, a little tag here and there.

395
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But I had all that. I
had the concepts down. I just

396
00:30:06.039 --> 00:30:10.799
needed protection is usually the first thing
the quarterback needs to learn, like who's

397
00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:15.759
not blocked? It's usually pretty important. Once you get through that, everything

398
00:30:15.799 --> 00:30:22.000
else for me was was fairly easy. Yeah, so talk about we've all

399
00:30:22.039 --> 00:30:29.000
had that pleasure of transferring coming in
from you know whatever, the high score

400
00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:33.039
Juko and then getting into the Green
and White, and that first game running

401
00:30:33.039 --> 00:30:37.279
out that tunnel, like talk about
like that first time, won't run it

402
00:30:37.319 --> 00:30:41.400
out there. My first time running
out the Michigan State Tunnel was a Notre

403
00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:47.079
Dame. But I had just stunk
it up the week before at Kansas for

404
00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:49.200
thirty or something like that. I
was I was throwing the ball into the

405
00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:53.519
stands. I pumped up. You
know. We should have won that game,

406
00:30:53.640 --> 00:30:57.559
hands down, but we ended up
losing I think by three or maybe

407
00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:00.960
a touchdown or something. And would
have won that game. But then we

408
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:06.279
go Notre Dame the next week and
we jump out to an early league.

409
00:31:06.920 --> 00:31:08.680
You know, coach left me even
though it's just my second game in their

410
00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:11.599
offense. He lets me, you
know, audible, get to line of

411
00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:15.480
scrimmage and do some different things.
So we really played well in the first

412
00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:19.160
half. I scored my first college
touchdown against was my first college touchdown was

413
00:31:19.160 --> 00:31:22.000
a run versus Notre Dame because like
I said, I like to run around

414
00:31:22.039 --> 00:31:26.200
back then. So it was electric. Man. I had never been a

415
00:31:26.279 --> 00:31:29.359
part of une like it. You
know, in high school. I went

416
00:31:29.400 --> 00:31:32.680
to a small high school. Even
at homecoming, he just got you know,

417
00:31:32.839 --> 00:31:36.799
one hundred people or something and Juco. Nobody comes to Juco games,

418
00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:48.160
so it's all parents and girlfriends you're
trying to avoid, you know, allegedly.

419
00:31:48.759 --> 00:31:52.440
So you know, coming from you
know, I was, I was

420
00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:57.000
out of state coming to Michigan State. Jason was and Otis was in state,

421
00:31:57.079 --> 00:32:01.119
so he lived it a little bit. We had to learned a little

422
00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:07.440
bit about the ms U U of
M rivalry. When did that When did

423
00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:10.480
that start becoming embedded with you?
I had to learn that too, man,

424
00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:14.440
my first time obviously, my first
year in Michigan State, we played

425
00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:21.839
go at to Michigan and we lose
against uh Todd Collins and Tyron Wheatley and

426
00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:25.599
all those guys, and we battled, but they were just deeper than us

427
00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:30.480
who were a little overmatched by the
end of the game. So when I

428
00:32:30.519 --> 00:32:35.480
started developing the discuss for them,
you know, just the aura they had

429
00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:37.720
on the field. You know,
at the time Michigan State we were,

430
00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:43.400
we were guys in Michigan didn't recruit, you know, so we kind of

431
00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:46.240
took that personal. And you know, my best friends were you know,

432
00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:51.559
Mussim Mohammas and the Ike Greeces and
the Reggie Gardner and all those guys who

433
00:32:51.559 --> 00:32:54.680
were you know, had a little
chip on their shoulder. So it was,

434
00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:58.359
uh, it was eye opening to
say the least. So after we

435
00:32:58.480 --> 00:33:01.799
beat them my senior year, and
I don't even know if this is true,

436
00:33:01.880 --> 00:33:06.279
but in my eyes, they didn't
want to shake our hands. You

437
00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:10.960
know, That's just how I took
it. So like the discuss for Michigan

438
00:33:12.079 --> 00:33:16.000
still to this day is on high
alert. You know, I grew up

439
00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:20.440
on the usc UCLA ribery. You
know, I didn't really get down with

440
00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:22.880
the Michigan State Michigan other than watching
the Lorenza. Why I carried the ball

441
00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:28.960
forty times a game from time forty
times? Tell them forty times? Yeah,

442
00:33:29.079 --> 00:33:32.359
fifty three one time? I mean, because before you know you touched

443
00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:37.640
on it. What was your favorite
game as a spartan, Oh, the

444
00:33:37.640 --> 00:33:40.359
Michigan game, I send you for
sure, No matter what I do,

445
00:33:40.839 --> 00:33:45.039
like anytime I go back, that's
all anybody talks about, you know,

446
00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:50.519
the drive and all that. And
after playing as long as I did,

447
00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:54.720
like having that warm and fuzzy feeling
when I go back to the Lansing in

448
00:33:54.799 --> 00:34:00.359
East Lansing is pretty cool, Tony. Something you just brought up some special

449
00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:04.400
He's talking about the drive. Let's
look at the last drive of that Michigan

450
00:34:04.440 --> 00:34:09.159
game in ninety five. Right here
he banks in the shotgun, drops to

451
00:34:09.239 --> 00:34:15.119
throw steps up, fires right sideline
hat. It's gonna be rolled a good

452
00:34:15.159 --> 00:34:22.519
catch. How close can you get? Did they pick it up on fourth

453
00:34:22.599 --> 00:34:28.760
down? Yes? Tony Banks from
the shotgun A is twenty five, stepping

454
00:34:28.840 --> 00:34:31.199
up with time over the middle for
Scotty Green forty forty five. Scotty Green

455
00:34:31.239 --> 00:34:37.360
in midfield, Scotty Green down at
the Michigan forty nine. Tony from the

456
00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:44.760
shotgun, stepping up to throw,
fired at his tap Dad caught falling down

457
00:34:44.840 --> 00:34:49.960
by Mason. That's a great grab
at the twenty five yard line. Wotson

458
00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:54.079
tempt it, but Derek Mason cradle
it and pull it in. Tony Banks

459
00:34:54.119 --> 00:34:59.639
to throw with time. Mal Rose
to his right, fires deep looking for

460
00:35:00.519 --> 00:35:07.519
I got im cut touchdown. Touchdown
starts Tony Tonight cheer for the score twenty

461
00:35:07.599 --> 00:35:13.559
four to go. He went topside
for twenty five out of a great scramble.

462
00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:23.000
All I can see is he had
all day back there, which wasn't

463
00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:30.159
typical if not those days. Yeah, you know, we were on the

464
00:35:30.199 --> 00:35:35.079
field a lot of the offense that
day. Michigan's offense didn't do anything,

465
00:35:35.239 --> 00:35:38.039
so Brian Greasie and that offense didn't
do anything. So I think their defense

466
00:35:38.159 --> 00:35:40.800
was a little tired, and we
ran the ball decent on him in the

467
00:35:40.840 --> 00:35:45.840
first half, like we probably had
thirty more plays than they did. You

468
00:35:45.880 --> 00:35:51.280
saw that one with Charles Woodson what
he barely tipped the ball, but yeah,

469
00:35:51.400 --> 00:35:53.519
deg basically came down with it on. Yeah, when Michigan people tell

470
00:35:53.559 --> 00:35:57.559
that story, Oh the ball went
right through Charles was no he no,

471
00:35:57.719 --> 00:36:05.760
he didn't know think your tip on
it? No, it didn't. Man

472
00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:09.599
like walk us through those that that
drive like calls right like signaled like I'm

473
00:36:09.639 --> 00:36:13.760
assuming that you can play that thing
like like the back of your hand.

474
00:36:13.760 --> 00:36:22.639
It up. It was me,
man, a battery situation. Right.

475
00:36:22.760 --> 00:36:29.199
Let's talk about the young George voice
though, like you heard did that?

476
00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:35.280
It was blah and Larry Surnic in
the background, just like he did at

477
00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:38.679
the other Michigan game twenty years later. That's crazy, man, I just

478
00:36:38.679 --> 00:36:45.440
think that's me screaming like somebody who's
having a coronary. It is Larry cern

479
00:36:46.159 --> 00:36:50.800
He was doing it back in ninety
five and he did it in fifteen.

480
00:36:52.719 --> 00:36:57.480
Great, dude, right straight where
you were on the field snapping at that

481
00:36:57.519 --> 00:37:00.320
time or not yet. No,
it's on the signline like I was.

482
00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:04.519
Actually, so that's my red shirt
here, red shirt here. So the

483
00:37:04.559 --> 00:37:07.480
ball I remember that that tip passes
right in front of me on the sideline.

484
00:37:07.519 --> 00:37:10.239
So I was like you, like
I was a little young, you

485
00:37:10.280 --> 00:37:13.159
know, but those are the best. Those are the best. Though,

486
00:37:13.159 --> 00:37:20.960
when you red shirt and you know
you and gonna play you, yeah you

487
00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:27.079
did? It was so cold man, right right right? You know what's

488
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:30.679
funny though, Let's let's talk about
this is this is how bad it was

489
00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:37.320
if you red shirted or was a
walk on. Coach Coach Smith will put

490
00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:44.760
you in the stands yo with your
parents, use your use your own tickets.

491
00:37:45.079 --> 00:37:51.480
That's how it is now though.
No, yeah, well you're talking

492
00:37:51.599 --> 00:37:54.679
like really like injured. I didn't. I don't. I haven't heard that

493
00:37:55.079 --> 00:38:00.280
everyone doesn't dress. Oh if you
don't dress, you and the fans so

494
00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:06.039
now they go, they go,
they just kick it at home. Oh

495
00:38:06.159 --> 00:38:09.559
man, Now that's that's a way
though, right, No home too.

496
00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:15.400
I've seen a lot of dudes dressing
last season. No, we don't dress

497
00:38:15.400 --> 00:38:21.639
one hundred and ten dresses like the
like the league. He dresses like five.

498
00:38:22.039 --> 00:38:24.199
I think he dresses seventy five.
But yeah, you don't, you

499
00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:28.639
don't. We'll get all those details. We want to bring him on the

500
00:38:28.639 --> 00:38:31.320
show those to find out that.
Yeah, but yeah, otis that was

501
00:38:31.360 --> 00:38:35.239
a great, you know, great
question that you're asking about, you know,

502
00:38:35.320 --> 00:38:37.599
breaking down that drive. You know
for the listeners, Tony there,

503
00:38:37.639 --> 00:38:43.559
you know what was the mindset?
What was the plays and everything? Is

504
00:38:43.599 --> 00:38:57.960
that big deuce? That's big?
Okay, what's up? Duce man?

505
00:38:58.519 --> 00:39:02.519
He've been as fartan since birth?
Yes he is? Oh man, dang

506
00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:08.880
I was asking before you got jumped
off, was everyone knows those plays like

507
00:39:08.960 --> 00:39:13.559
the back of their mind, like
you can play that drive like nobody's business,

508
00:39:13.639 --> 00:39:16.239
but like walk us through or Spartan
nation listening here and who or who

509
00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:22.920
will two? And then later walk
us through that. I had some studs

510
00:39:22.960 --> 00:39:27.360
on offense, man, so our
confidence on offense was sky. I had

511
00:39:27.400 --> 00:39:31.280
missed I think four games with a
high ankle spring that year, and we

512
00:39:31.320 --> 00:39:34.760
struggled through some of those four games, and even when I got back,

513
00:39:34.800 --> 00:39:37.519
I couldn't move around like I wanted
to. But I mean, Scott Green

514
00:39:37.719 --> 00:39:43.519
was an absolute monster. Move Sin
and Derek Mason all got involved on that

515
00:39:43.679 --> 00:39:46.159
drive. NIGEA. Carter, who
originally we thought he was going to be

516
00:39:46.159 --> 00:39:51.360
the best receiver of the crew man
moved in, and Derek Pson ended up

517
00:39:51.360 --> 00:39:57.760
having the double digit years in the
NFL and had great careers. So but

518
00:39:57.800 --> 00:40:00.880
I do remember that was a drive
that was over one hundred because we had

519
00:40:00.880 --> 00:40:05.719
a fifteen yard unsportsmanlike penalty and we
really tried to shoot ourselves in the foot.

520
00:40:05.760 --> 00:40:08.880
I think that's what made it fourth
and eleven and h. D Mas

521
00:40:08.960 --> 00:40:13.639
just stood a great job. I
don't know if the ball crossed the marker

522
00:40:13.679 --> 00:40:17.239
with his feet did when he did
that little great and I'll take it man,

523
00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:22.480
I'll take it man. That was
And that was another thing when we

524
00:40:22.519 --> 00:40:25.639
talked about how quarterbacks have changed,
like that was a route, the outside

525
00:40:25.679 --> 00:40:30.320
comeback, that eighteen yard comeback on
the sideline. That was how quarterbacks were

526
00:40:30.440 --> 00:40:35.519
judged if they could be a starter
in the NFL back then. Now offenses

527
00:40:35.599 --> 00:40:39.000
don't even have that in their offense. They don't throw those outside routes anymore.

528
00:40:39.679 --> 00:40:43.079
Now it's all back shoulder. If
you're throwing stuff on the sideline,

529
00:40:43.119 --> 00:40:45.920
it's not an actual comeback. I
mean there's still a couple, but what

530
00:40:46.320 --> 00:40:51.199
we were judged on back then is
totally different than what those guys are judging

531
00:40:51.239 --> 00:40:54.280
on now. Yeah, I want
a whole question before ju because he liked

532
00:40:54.280 --> 00:40:59.960
to ask all the dang questions.
Now, the question would be for me,

533
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.920
he would be in all those throws, what was your progression on all

534
00:41:04.920 --> 00:41:07.559
those throws, because I mean you
sitting there boom, I've seen you a

535
00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:09.119
couple of times, Pauls and have
to make a little movement. But like,

536
00:41:09.519 --> 00:41:12.960
what part of the progression of each
of those throws were you in.

537
00:41:13.239 --> 00:41:15.760
Well, you see, like the
throw to Scott Green, they playing deep

538
00:41:15.840 --> 00:41:19.760
zone and if you hit Scott Green
on a checkdown, he could do damage.

539
00:41:19.800 --> 00:41:23.519
Man, that little tweeter white full
back slash tailback, he could get

540
00:41:23.519 --> 00:41:25.519
it in. Man, I'm telling
you, put the ball in his hands,

541
00:41:25.519 --> 00:41:29.760
he could get it in. And
Uh. Then the one where d

542
00:41:29.960 --> 00:41:34.639
Mace caught that one on fourth and
eleven, that's just uh we called that

543
00:41:34.760 --> 00:41:39.079
nine to eighty nine. I think
backs cross and that's it's basically verticals inside

544
00:41:39.119 --> 00:41:43.760
with backs running crosses, and then
you got comebacks outside and if you get

545
00:41:43.960 --> 00:41:47.360
any kind of coverage where there's no
help over the corner, then you got

546
00:41:47.360 --> 00:41:51.119
a chance to one on one over
there where there's quarters, one, three,

547
00:41:51.199 --> 00:41:53.719
whatever. And uh and that's what
I saw. And I ended up

548
00:41:53.719 --> 00:41:59.079
throwing it a little late actually,
but uh, fortunately, like like straight

549
00:41:59.119 --> 00:42:00.480
said, I had a had a
pretty decent arm, so I could get

550
00:42:00.519 --> 00:42:05.639
it out there pretty quickly. And
U and then the one in Nigeria that

551
00:42:05.719 --> 00:42:08.239
was just a broken play, which
is what quarterbacks got to be able to

552
00:42:08.239 --> 00:42:12.400
do today, you know today,
yesterday, you know, last year,

553
00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:15.760
ten years ago. You had to
be able to make some plays off script.

554
00:42:15.239 --> 00:42:19.400
And that's Nigia gave me a chance. I knew if I threw it

555
00:42:19.440 --> 00:42:22.079
over the top, he'd run out
of room in the end zone, so

556
00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:24.159
I had to back shoulder it,
and you made a great play, man.

557
00:42:24.199 --> 00:42:28.559
I remember the celebration like it was
yesterday. Man, guys jumping all

558
00:42:28.559 --> 00:42:31.000
over each other, and I was
that Cali kid. I just acted like

559
00:42:31.079 --> 00:42:37.079
I did it there all the time
to the sideline, let everybody else celebrate.

560
00:42:37.199 --> 00:42:39.840
Which now when I look back on
my career, I regret that.

561
00:42:40.039 --> 00:42:43.880
You know, I was coached to
kind of, you know, never show

562
00:42:43.920 --> 00:42:47.280
my emotion. But I think when
like when I showed my son highlights of

563
00:42:47.280 --> 00:42:51.039
me, especially in the NFL,
it looks like I'm not having any fun

564
00:42:51.079 --> 00:42:55.039
man, when I'm just having a
blast inside, you know. So I

565
00:42:55.159 --> 00:43:00.280
encourage him to show his emotions while
also not being emotional. You know.

566
00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:04.559
Yeah, like I was gonna say
on that on that whole series there,

567
00:43:04.599 --> 00:43:07.519
my favorite play was the checkdown to
the back, you know, being a

568
00:43:07.559 --> 00:43:10.880
former, you know, because a
lot of quarterbacks, you know, they

569
00:43:10.920 --> 00:43:15.159
don't realize they always wanted to think
that, you know, the you know,

570
00:43:15.239 --> 00:43:16.679
you know, you don't eat an
apple the whole bike, one bite

571
00:43:16.679 --> 00:43:21.000
at a time, you know.
And as my grandpa people would say,

572
00:43:21.159 --> 00:43:29.719
you never go broke taking talking about, hey, you know you never eat

573
00:43:29.760 --> 00:43:35.760
a chicken. Way, But the
question, the real question, Tony.

574
00:43:36.199 --> 00:43:38.559
So after that game, it was
a big win. You know, I

575
00:43:38.679 --> 00:43:44.119
was dually some sensations that night.
Things were good, man, things,

576
00:43:46.599 --> 00:43:52.960
the life, life seemed right.
At the time, I was already you

577
00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:58.159
know, living it up anyways.
But after that, I mean I didn't

578
00:43:58.199 --> 00:44:00.119
have to pay for any meals.
I forget the was it lew and Harry's,

579
00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:04.320
Yeah, it be my spot,
man, I go there. I

580
00:44:04.360 --> 00:44:07.360
never had to pay for anything,
Like, we didn't get no NIM money

581
00:44:07.360 --> 00:44:13.159
back then. But I definitely frequented
the spots, the food spots that let

582
00:44:13.159 --> 00:44:16.039
me eat for free. You know, those went up after that game,

583
00:44:16.440 --> 00:44:22.840
you know, so that whole environment, man, was just different than anything

584
00:44:22.920 --> 00:44:25.159
I could have asked for. California, Like if I'd have went to UCLA,

585
00:44:25.559 --> 00:44:28.760
I wouldn't have been in that environment. You know, Like one of

586
00:44:28.760 --> 00:44:31.679
the things that drew me to Michigan
State when I took my trip is these

587
00:44:31.719 --> 00:44:35.960
guys are getting after it, man, even though they ain't all going to

588
00:44:35.960 --> 00:44:37.719
the NFL, they all working like
they're going to the NFL, you know,

589
00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:43.000
whereas that UCLA man, they want
to be rappers, they want to

590
00:44:43.039 --> 00:44:45.000
be actors. You know, I'm
like, this is not what I need.

591
00:44:45.039 --> 00:44:47.280
I need some casts a lot of
fire to me. And it was

592
00:44:47.719 --> 00:44:52.840
such a blessing to have the team
we had and then ended up saving coming

593
00:44:52.880 --> 00:44:57.320
in and you know, moves in
still one of my best friends and friendships

594
00:44:57.360 --> 00:45:02.360
that last a lifetime without question,
man, you know, thinking about how

595
00:45:02.400 --> 00:45:06.840
things were then and then how things
are right now. I mean, I'm

596
00:45:06.880 --> 00:45:09.519
sure you follow the Spartans, You've
always followed Michigan State football from AFAR and

597
00:45:09.599 --> 00:45:13.599
you go to bowl games. I've
seen you in some bowl games, which

598
00:45:13.639 --> 00:45:15.039
is great. You know, we'd
love to have you back maybe for the

599
00:45:15.079 --> 00:45:19.119
spring game if schedules. Yeah,
yeah, this is gonna go to the

600
00:45:19.159 --> 00:45:22.719
Michigan State camp this summer and yeah, okay, yeah for sure perfect.

601
00:45:22.880 --> 00:45:25.000
I mean, so like what we're
doing, what we're gonna do now is

602
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.679
like you're gonna help us with this
the spring outlook for mel Tucker and the

603
00:45:29.719 --> 00:45:31.239
staff, you know, because they've
you know, they coming off for eleven

604
00:45:31.280 --> 00:45:35.360
two. They had a great year
with Kennath Balker the third. Then they

605
00:45:35.360 --> 00:45:38.159
have a disappointing five and seven season
after a lot of injuries and we we're

606
00:45:38.159 --> 00:45:45.119
hearing a chemistry issue so and health
obvious health issues. So this week,

607
00:45:45.400 --> 00:45:50.440
this past week, this week yesterday
actually mel Tucker had a press conference and

608
00:45:50.480 --> 00:45:54.519
he talked about the outlook for this
season of this spring football season. He

609
00:45:54.559 --> 00:45:59.320
talked about like competition at every position, it's going to be open at the

610
00:45:59.400 --> 00:46:05.199
quarterback position. You know, you've
got a chance to see what peyton Thorn's

611
00:46:05.199 --> 00:46:08.480
progression has been. I think we
talked to Drew Stanton, he talked about

612
00:46:08.480 --> 00:46:13.599
that as well as a former mister
stay quarterback. How do you look at

613
00:46:13.800 --> 00:46:19.920
Drew peyton Thorn and the guys who
are challenging him right now and Noah Kim

614
00:46:20.039 --> 00:46:23.639
and kateen Houser. Well, I
like to tell quarterbacks now, no matter

615
00:46:23.639 --> 00:46:29.679
what level, you know, you're
basically a point guard, right so point

616
00:46:29.719 --> 00:46:34.119
guards that can get their shot off
anytime they want aren't always the best for

617
00:46:34.159 --> 00:46:37.880
your team, you know, so
when you're a guy that sometimes Peyton Thorn

618
00:46:37.960 --> 00:46:40.760
relies on his legs, you know, he's not Michael Vick or anything,

619
00:46:40.880 --> 00:46:45.519
but I think when you have that
in your pocket, you don't play the

620
00:46:45.599 --> 00:46:51.400
position maybe as structured as you should
to start the play right. So I

621
00:46:51.400 --> 00:46:54.079
think if he continue to grow in
that area, then that makes your mobility

622
00:46:54.159 --> 00:47:00.960
even more dangerous. Right, So
that's something that and talk to, you

623
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.239
know, back to when D'Antonio was
still the coach and his staff, like

624
00:47:04.280 --> 00:47:07.679
they started going away from like the
drop back guy. I had a guy

625
00:47:07.719 --> 00:47:12.920
in Texas here that I was really
high on ended up going to Virginia and

626
00:47:13.000 --> 00:47:15.280
I thought it would have been a
great fit for Michigan State. But they

627
00:47:15.360 --> 00:47:20.880
wanted a guy that's a dual threat. And you know the problem today,

628
00:47:20.920 --> 00:47:23.920
I trained a lot of quarterbacks too
here in the metroplex in Texas, and

629
00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:30.119
everybody claims to be a dual threat. But if you don't do one exceptional,

630
00:47:30.239 --> 00:47:34.320
that's not a dual threat. You're
just you can't do either. Really

631
00:47:34.320 --> 00:47:42.440
well, I'm trying to figure out
what year was that and who was her

632
00:47:42.519 --> 00:47:52.719
quarterback? Yeah, I'm not gonna
say anything after maybe, like Connor Cook,

633
00:47:52.800 --> 00:47:59.280
that's when we started looking for different
types of quarterbacks, true story.

634
00:48:00.079 --> 00:48:05.440
You know, looking at what mel
Tucker talked also about was the different levels

635
00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:08.800
of development because you know, we
obviously are a team now who really focuses

636
00:48:08.840 --> 00:48:14.119
on the transfer guys. This is
something that we didn't have we played Tony

637
00:48:14.199 --> 00:48:17.880
and now there's a big influx of
transfer guys in a nice mix of high

638
00:48:17.920 --> 00:48:22.000
school freshmen that are coming in along
with the guys who are already here.

639
00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:24.119
Here's what mil Tucker had to say
about that. But we have guys,

640
00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:29.400
we have guys going in the spring
ball and there there are different stages of

641
00:48:29.480 --> 00:48:35.840
development and that's something that we that's
the reality of the situation. Like I

642
00:48:35.880 --> 00:48:38.679
said, we have you know,
new midyear guys. You know, we

643
00:48:38.760 --> 00:48:44.079
have guys coming in with you know, they may have some deficiencies. That

644
00:48:44.199 --> 00:48:45.679
guy might have a shoulder, he
may have an ankle, he may have

645
00:48:45.679 --> 00:48:50.360
a need. We might have a
freshman is coming in and he's got the

646
00:48:50.400 --> 00:48:52.760
skill set, but he hasn't you
know, he doesn't have the strength yet,

647
00:48:52.840 --> 00:48:59.239
and so we have to be very
mindful and very deliberate and uh,

648
00:49:00.440 --> 00:49:05.280
and relentlessly focused on you know,
how we match guys up in practice.

649
00:49:08.360 --> 00:49:13.519
All right? So yeah, the
words from coach melt Tucker there like Tucker,

650
00:49:13.559 --> 00:49:15.519
by the way, I love coach
Tucker. Yeah, a great,

651
00:49:15.559 --> 00:49:19.119
great guy, great coach. Like
thinking about today's world, like how do

652
00:49:19.159 --> 00:49:22.920
you manage all the different skill sets
and people are you know, where they

653
00:49:22.960 --> 00:49:27.280
are in the development along with the
personalities, Like what do you think mel

654
00:49:27.360 --> 00:49:30.400
Tucker's Well, I think it has
to be almost like an NFL mindset.

655
00:49:30.519 --> 00:49:35.280
You know, these these transfer portal
guys, they're like free agents, right,

656
00:49:35.360 --> 00:49:37.239
so if they can help your team
right away. Similar to me as

657
00:49:37.239 --> 00:49:40.920
a JUCO quarterback, I wasn't going
to a to a school where they wanted

658
00:49:40.920 --> 00:49:44.920
me to sit for a year or
two. You know, I had uh,

659
00:49:45.039 --> 00:49:46.239
I had two years to get it
in and I didn't want a red

660
00:49:46.280 --> 00:49:50.639
shirt. I had already played a
year minor league baseball. I was trying

661
00:49:50.639 --> 00:49:54.039
to I was trying to get paid. So I think that's how you got

662
00:49:54.039 --> 00:49:57.679
to look at it, and you
got to try to do what's best for

663
00:49:57.719 --> 00:50:00.760
your team for the here and now. But this is something that I've noticed

664
00:50:00.760 --> 00:50:04.480
when it comes to the transfer port
when it comes to quarterbacks. Like when

665
00:50:04.480 --> 00:50:10.079
I was at Michigan State, every
quarterback on that roster had just accolades out

666
00:50:10.079 --> 00:50:14.280
the Union, right, they were
player of the year in their state.

667
00:50:14.400 --> 00:50:19.039
They were this guy the Gatorade.
You know. All this. Now with

668
00:50:19.159 --> 00:50:23.480
the transfer portal, it's really hard
to even keep two quality quarterbacks on your

669
00:50:23.559 --> 00:50:28.880
roster because if a guy thinks that
he should be playing, he's getting in

670
00:50:28.920 --> 00:50:32.119
the portal and he's going anywhere humanly
possible where he can play. So that

671
00:50:32.159 --> 00:50:37.320
has really changed the dynamic in my
opinion, when it comes to the quarterback

672
00:50:37.360 --> 00:50:43.039
position, especially where it used to
be such a competitive room. Now I

673
00:50:43.079 --> 00:50:45.920
take my son to go watch this
in U spring practice. My son's like,

674
00:50:45.960 --> 00:50:47.800
man, the backup's terrible. Man, I can play over him right

675
00:50:47.840 --> 00:50:51.800
now. He's a sophomore high school, you know. So it's just that

676
00:50:51.880 --> 00:50:58.239
kind of deal where it's hard to
really keep everybody happy while also doing what's

677
00:50:58.280 --> 00:51:00.280
best for your team. So I
don't know, these coaches, it's definitely

678
00:51:00.280 --> 00:51:07.119
gotten harder, guys, what about
you. Listen, I'm out here,

679
00:51:07.159 --> 00:51:13.000
I'm listening to a breakdown because I'm
like, hey, look, sometimes the

680
00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:15.880
way he's breaking it down no more
than me, right, now because because

681
00:51:15.920 --> 00:51:21.039
I'm thinking, I'm thinking, like, yes, we finally answered the call

682
00:51:21.800 --> 00:51:25.480
to everybody's questioning behind the scenes,
but even like probably internally, it's like

683
00:51:27.039 --> 00:51:31.639
this should be an open QB competition
room. I feel like every position other

684
00:51:31.719 --> 00:51:37.679
than QB historically has always been open
room competition. It's always been like best

685
00:51:37.679 --> 00:51:42.360
player is going to play. Like
I had to make sure every year I

686
00:51:42.440 --> 00:51:45.239
wasn't taking a step backwards because I
knew that it was young guys sitting there

687
00:51:45.280 --> 00:51:49.719
waiting. I mean, you got
guys coming in every year, so but

688
00:51:49.840 --> 00:51:53.119
for quarterbacks, it just seemed like
they had a lot of room to just

689
00:51:53.199 --> 00:51:58.519
mess up. I mean, yeah, it was a long leash. And

690
00:51:58.599 --> 00:52:00.800
he was like, all right,
I'm a I'm a shorten the least versus

691
00:52:00.800 --> 00:52:04.679
you know what, get your mind
right. We'll put the next man in

692
00:52:04.719 --> 00:52:07.400
and see what he can do,
and then if he signs with the first

693
00:52:07.440 --> 00:52:12.960
string lineman, then get this man
a shot. And so now it's gonna

694
00:52:12.960 --> 00:52:16.519
be interesting. I think it'll be
just like we have that QB competition with

695
00:52:16.960 --> 00:52:22.000
Kirk Cousins and Keith Nilly. I'm
in the spring game, like it went

696
00:52:22.079 --> 00:52:27.920
down to the last mint second where
he had to throw a hill Mary and

697
00:52:27.920 --> 00:52:30.159
you know score you know, with
that point system. But it's gonna be

698
00:52:30.159 --> 00:52:36.400
interesting seeing how the pressure of I'm
no longer QB one for two years.

699
00:52:36.440 --> 00:52:39.920
It is open and you need to
come with it because these other guys have

700
00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.719
been putting in work and they're ready
to like they are ready. So it's

701
00:52:44.719 --> 00:52:49.199
gonna be interesting how he plays it. Yeah, I agree with you.

702
00:52:49.239 --> 00:52:52.559
Otis one hundred percent there. I
think you know, I hope, you

703
00:52:52.599 --> 00:52:55.159
know, like to coach Tucker's point, I hope it is a true open

704
00:52:55.280 --> 00:53:00.920
competition for the quarterback position. There. I hope it is, you know,

705
00:53:01.159 --> 00:53:07.079
true true, true. And then
all the checking now in the back

706
00:53:07.199 --> 00:53:15.000
right exactly, that's all beautiful play. That was a beautiful place. You

707
00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:21.800
couldn't drawn up any better got it
into. Yeah, here's a question for

708
00:53:21.880 --> 00:53:25.320
you, when is the last time? Because I I have vivid memories because

709
00:53:25.400 --> 00:53:30.280
I had to always come from the
deep third to come intact when it was

710
00:53:30.280 --> 00:53:34.840
a half back draw. I haven't
seen a half back draw from our squad.

711
00:53:35.320 --> 00:53:38.760
You know, you know, you're
right. We we just tossed out

712
00:53:38.760 --> 00:53:45.079
the drum playing Yeah, like bro
like that is. Yeah, we didn't

713
00:53:45.119 --> 00:53:50.880
last year. We better because because
but that's the thing though, we couldn't

714
00:53:50.880 --> 00:53:53.559
really because we were inconsistent and throwing
the ball this year, so you didn't

715
00:53:53.599 --> 00:53:59.760
really have that, you know,
like the defense didn't think like, okay,

716
00:53:59.800 --> 00:54:02.239
you know we're they're gonna throw the
ball. You know they're gonna run,

717
00:54:02.400 --> 00:54:06.800
so you couldn't you couldn't put them
on their heels like that. And

718
00:54:07.239 --> 00:54:10.559
but you know, I think the
last two years we haven't truly ran a

719
00:54:10.639 --> 00:54:15.599
draw play. And running a draw
play for one the running back that's one

720
00:54:15.599 --> 00:54:19.840
of the best things because you have
the backers they're taking their take, you

721
00:54:19.840 --> 00:54:22.360
know, taking their steps back because
the quarterbacks coming up like it's a pass,

722
00:54:22.639 --> 00:54:25.000
you know, go looking boom boom, boom, and then give you

723
00:54:25.039 --> 00:54:30.880
the ball. DB's are you know, in their back pedal and then they

724
00:54:30.880 --> 00:54:36.079
have to come up and then you
see that that one on one with otis

725
00:54:36.159 --> 00:54:39.559
coming down there. And all I
know is I'm seeing in my thought process

726
00:54:39.559 --> 00:54:45.159
that dB is gonna come chop my
knees. He's coming for the absolutely absolutely

727
00:54:49.599 --> 00:54:53.719
me. But straight To used to
be in there. Really it was like

728
00:54:53.760 --> 00:54:59.880
the red seed parts and he always
he always did he always did his like

729
00:55:00.760 --> 00:55:06.119
exaggerated side steps like boom, open
up and you're he's just you. You

730
00:55:06.159 --> 00:55:12.039
can tell he's dancing like oh it's
boom. Yeah. I remember those,

731
00:55:12.079 --> 00:55:15.039
man, some concussions, some not. But that's why I had to start

732
00:55:15.039 --> 00:55:19.159
going to the thigh boards knocking him
down. Do that every day in practice.

733
00:55:19.360 --> 00:55:22.079
Yeah. Man, Yeah, that's
that's a lot of that's a lot

734
00:55:22.079 --> 00:55:24.480
of man coming at you. You
know, you know from how mean,

735
00:55:24.519 --> 00:55:29.679
how far apart of you, guys. I mean, that's major collisions there.

736
00:55:30.840 --> 00:55:34.800
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The
football that I know wasn't like that.

737
00:55:35.079 --> 00:55:37.400
You know, Tony Man experienced a
little bit of that playing a quarterback,

738
00:55:38.440 --> 00:55:43.480
especially in the NFL where you know, some people can bring it to

739
00:55:43.519 --> 00:55:45.400
you seriously, but like Tony,
you know, welcome back. I know

740
00:55:45.519 --> 00:55:50.480
you have some technical difficulties there.
I'm on my phone now, okay,

741
00:55:50.960 --> 00:56:01.400
it turn it sideways, boom like
that all the way side usually will I

742
00:56:01.679 --> 00:56:07.199
didn't readjust you get good to go. So, so we're talking about the

743
00:56:07.280 --> 00:56:10.760
day's staffs. You know, when
we were there, you know, we

744
00:56:10.800 --> 00:56:15.239
did have Jeff and Sally, you
know, we had coach many but you

745
00:56:15.280 --> 00:56:19.440
know now that they've had they'd have
a more scientific way of looking at things.

746
00:56:19.599 --> 00:56:23.800
And with nutrition and all that.
So Coach Tucker talked about a holistic

747
00:56:23.800 --> 00:56:30.519
approach to roster evaluation for this spring
and going forward. Here's a clip from

748
00:56:30.519 --> 00:56:36.639
that right here. Yeah, we
we we've we've done some things. It's

749
00:56:36.679 --> 00:56:44.840
been a holistic approach with with Rod
or the head trainer, and with Amber

750
00:56:45.039 --> 00:56:51.239
and UH nutrition and then with the
coaching staff and and then also UH coach

751
00:56:51.320 --> 00:56:55.199
Novak and just talking about what what
are you just discussing what are the best

752
00:56:55.239 --> 00:57:01.239
ways to prepare our guys And so
we've we've adjusted some things and UH it's

753
00:57:01.280 --> 00:57:04.719
worked out well for so far,
and we're going to continue to do that.

754
00:57:05.719 --> 00:57:12.239
We're meeting more about it, you
know, we're going over the roster

755
00:57:15.360 --> 00:57:22.440
more often with everyone in the room, you know, talking about discussing what

756
00:57:22.599 --> 00:57:28.079
stages are these guys in, you
know, each individual guy, what do

757
00:57:28.159 --> 00:57:31.079
we think he's prepared to do,
you know, physically as we go on

758
00:57:31.159 --> 00:57:37.039
to spring practice, and we're going
to continue to evaluate that all the way

759
00:57:37.079 --> 00:57:44.000
through. Telling a little different than
when we play back in the mid nineties.

760
00:57:45.639 --> 00:57:50.440
Yeah, well, now it's I
think service if you train everybody the

761
00:57:50.480 --> 00:58:01.519
same way, right, just throw
a workout out there first, couple are

762
00:58:01.599 --> 00:58:07.840
clean back on the end of my
like, nobody was that you did it

763
00:58:07.880 --> 00:58:15.119
on your own. I'll taking care
of you in more particular, and that

764
00:58:16.480 --> 00:58:23.199
oh are we is it breaking up
a little bit? Yeah? Yeah,

765
00:58:24.119 --> 00:58:28.519
I mean I know he was saying
because Doctor Guest talked about that last year.

766
00:58:28.599 --> 00:58:31.280
Darren Spartan dot Com was like,
you know, the dB is not

767
00:58:31.400 --> 00:58:36.079
going to train like the office and
lineman. Like back then we used to

768
00:58:36.119 --> 00:58:40.320
always do the same workout. You
know, it's upper body and hit the

769
00:58:40.599 --> 00:58:45.559
hit the dumbbell station, hit the
hang clean. But like now some of

770
00:58:45.599 --> 00:58:52.079
these is like they touched, but
it's catered their make and their body.

771
00:58:52.079 --> 00:58:55.400
Well God gave them what their frame, it's catered to them. And uh,

772
00:58:57.119 --> 00:59:00.400
you see a difference. You see
a difference into what the make is

773
00:59:00.440 --> 00:59:05.159
on each section or each position.
Uh, you know, DB's looking like

774
00:59:05.800 --> 00:59:09.559
big linebackers, linebackers looking like dns. But it can move. But I

775
00:59:09.599 --> 00:59:15.000
do think from the standpoint of how
conditioned are we is the question because we

776
00:59:15.119 --> 00:59:20.159
had a lot of cramps last season. It was a lot of game like

777
00:59:20.280 --> 00:59:22.400
gas and so you want you wonder
what they're gonna do to the time to

778
00:59:22.440 --> 00:59:27.480
do that? Is that summer,
they're gonna really hit running. But I

779
00:59:27.519 --> 00:59:30.280
haven't seen a world workout, but
I do remember they don't do the gas

780
00:59:30.360 --> 00:59:36.360
and test no more. So that's
one of those things. Yeah. Yeah,

781
00:59:36.360 --> 00:59:39.440
I think you know, to to
what Otis is saying there is you

782
00:59:39.480 --> 00:59:43.639
know, I think last year,
I don't know, I wasn't too sure.

783
00:59:43.840 --> 00:59:46.440
You know, I questioned if I'm
gonna be one hundred percent honest the

784
00:59:46.480 --> 00:59:50.239
strength and conditioning, you know,
portion of it, because I saw we

785
00:59:50.280 --> 00:59:52.519
had a lot of injuries, and
I'm glad that coach Tucker took this head

786
00:59:52.559 --> 00:59:58.679
on in this press conference, you
know, yesterday talking about it. And

787
00:59:58.800 --> 01:00:01.840
because I think that goes into the
training and the conditioning and everything like that.

788
01:00:01.840 --> 01:00:06.079
That's when you know if you're if
you're a well conditioned team, you're

789
01:00:06.079 --> 01:00:08.639
gonna avoid some of these injuries that
you know that could happen if you're not

790
01:00:08.719 --> 01:00:13.119
as conditioned. So hopefully that's an
approach that they take, you know,

791
01:00:13.519 --> 01:00:19.199
and into consideration this season. Yeah. I mean, Tony, you know,

792
01:00:19.519 --> 01:00:21.880
before we let you go, you
know, you still have some records.

793
01:00:22.000 --> 01:00:28.559
I think you still have the longest
touchdown pass in MSU history to NIGEA

794
01:00:28.719 --> 01:00:35.039
Carter against Indiana, right, remember
that I forgot about that one. You

795
01:00:35.079 --> 01:00:38.119
know, we always just beat the
Brakes of Indiana. You know, they

796
01:00:38.159 --> 01:00:45.119
got a little better this year,
though. But uh, before we let

797
01:00:45.199 --> 01:00:46.199
you go, Tony too, you
know, you you had you know,

798
01:00:46.280 --> 01:00:50.519
great stints in the NFL there,
you know, playing for the you know,

799
01:00:50.599 --> 01:00:52.719
drafted by the Rams and then winning
the Super Bowl with the Ravens.

800
01:00:54.159 --> 01:00:58.599
You know, and when it comes
to that, like winning a Super Bowl,

801
01:00:58.599 --> 01:01:00.880
winning a championship, just like every
team, there has to be that

802
01:01:01.039 --> 01:01:06.119
one moment that it's like, this
is the defining moment of our season.

803
01:01:06.199 --> 01:01:09.000
We're gonna win a championship. What
was that moment with you guys when we

804
01:01:09.039 --> 01:01:15.800
won the Super Bowl? Yeah,
well, so I got there ninety nine

805
01:01:15.159 --> 01:01:19.599
and they had never beaten the Tennessee
Titans, right, they had never been

806
01:01:19.639 --> 01:01:23.320
the Tennessee Titans or the Janet Jacksonville
Jaguars. I think it's I guess,

807
01:01:23.360 --> 01:01:27.039
two times a year for four years. So they had been getting beat for

808
01:01:27.079 --> 01:01:30.440
a while. In the year before
we won the Super Bowl, we beat

809
01:01:30.480 --> 01:01:34.400
Tennessee. The year they went to
the Super Bowl and lost to the Rams,

810
01:01:35.039 --> 01:01:37.039
and I threw for you know,
I don't know three fifty and four

811
01:01:37.079 --> 01:01:40.960
touches and we finally beat them to
get over the hump. And then in

812
01:01:42.039 --> 01:01:45.440
game two of the next year when
we won the Super Bowl, we're playing

813
01:01:45.519 --> 01:01:50.400
Jacksonville and I have another big game
and throw five touchdowns and we beat Jacksonville.

814
01:01:50.440 --> 01:01:58.800
So those moments where we were beating
teams that we couldn't beat before and

815
01:01:58.840 --> 01:02:02.599
we beat them with not just the
great, great defense was really eye opening

816
01:02:02.639 --> 01:02:06.440
for a whole team. We had
a very We had a lot of vets

817
01:02:06.480 --> 01:02:09.079
on that team, especially defensively.
We had I think that year we might

818
01:02:09.119 --> 01:02:12.920
have seven guys on that defense go
to the Pro Bowl, and they had

819
01:02:13.000 --> 01:02:15.360
all ray Lewis was probably the youngest
one out of all of them. So

820
01:02:17.079 --> 01:02:21.719
you know, you need those aha
moments, whether you're in the pros or

821
01:02:21.760 --> 01:02:24.000
in college, where Okay, we
can beat this team. That means we

822
01:02:24.039 --> 01:02:28.000
can win the division. If we
can win the division, we can move

823
01:02:28.039 --> 01:02:30.599
on. You get your your foot
in the playoffs. In the NFL,

824
01:02:30.719 --> 01:02:34.679
anything can happen. So I was
real proud to be a part of that

825
01:02:35.760 --> 01:02:37.519
winning the Super Bowl. I mean, it took me a while to get

826
01:02:37.559 --> 01:02:43.039
over not beat the guy in that
Super Bowl, But you know, now

827
01:02:43.440 --> 01:02:45.639
like I said, approaching fifty and
it's one of the greatest times in my

828
01:02:45.679 --> 01:02:51.480
life. HM with our question,
Man, I mean, hey, we

829
01:02:51.760 --> 01:02:53.400
normally ask guys to bring out that
ring. I don't know if you got

830
01:02:53.440 --> 01:02:59.559
it on hand somewhere on the spot. You know it's I'm sure it's not

831
01:02:59.599 --> 01:03:04.480
as god as they are nowadays.
This is ridiculous now for sure, it's

832
01:03:04.480 --> 01:03:10.760
still a conversation piece. Don't get
it twist of course, No, Tony

833
01:03:10.800 --> 01:03:14.280
Man, thank you for coming on
the show man. We love to see

834
01:03:14.360 --> 01:03:16.639
up in Michigan State. How about
some of them quarterbacks that he could maybe

835
01:03:16.719 --> 01:03:20.440
spend a little time with a few
of them in the meeting room when you

836
01:03:20.440 --> 01:03:23.280
get up there for a spring or
fall practice. Man, thank you,

837
01:03:23.119 --> 01:03:25.719
you hear us some when you bring
your son to camp for this summer.

838
01:03:27.559 --> 01:03:31.639
Some watch everything that's gonna be June, isn't it. Sometimes it's June fourteenth

839
01:03:31.679 --> 01:03:35.480
is the one we're coming to.
I forget. I think it's June fourteenth.

840
01:03:35.559 --> 01:03:38.719
Yeah, okay, the time of
year. Tony, thanks, ladies

841
01:03:38.719 --> 01:03:46.199
and gentlemen. The audio issues,
but thanks for having me on, Thank

842
01:03:46.239 --> 01:03:50.199
you, thanks for coming on.
Appreciate it, ton all right, Fellas

843
01:03:51.599 --> 01:03:54.880
Tom Banks guys. Hey man,
look, I'm telling you, when you

844
01:03:54.920 --> 01:04:00.119
talk about talent, bad boy right
there had it. He I mean for

845
01:04:00.320 --> 01:04:04.280
sure. I mean you could hear
that ball whistling. I'm talking well off

846
01:04:04.320 --> 01:04:13.320
of the sideline. You could hear
it. Oh man, Like what who

847
01:04:13.360 --> 01:04:17.760
wants to put their hands out on
that? Right? That's different? Yeah?

848
01:04:17.800 --> 01:04:21.079
I saw it. I saw like
I think though, I only saw

849
01:04:21.159 --> 01:04:27.599
one clean catch on that drive because
everything else was like, oh yeah,

850
01:04:27.639 --> 01:04:32.360
we're gonna talk about that. You
gotta embrace down, you're gonna bunt it

851
01:04:32.440 --> 01:04:36.400
now. No, he didn't.
He didn't complete the catch. He let

852
01:04:36.440 --> 01:04:40.559
it go before he hit, you
know, before he got off the ground.

853
01:04:41.199 --> 01:04:44.519
So that was taking Jee is a
great guy, man, a man.

854
01:04:45.280 --> 01:04:48.000
Special things to to Tony Banks for
coming on the show. Uh,

855
01:04:48.159 --> 01:04:53.880
we're gonna cover the pro day,
which is going to be tomorrow. Guys,

856
01:04:53.960 --> 01:04:56.199
there's gonna be a pro day for
Michigan State's gonna be a lot of

857
01:04:56.599 --> 01:05:00.519
NFL scouts in town in East Lansing
chicking out all the players that were at

858
01:05:00.559 --> 01:05:06.079
the combine and beyond. Here's the
participants right here. Yeah, we already

859
01:05:06.159 --> 01:05:13.679
know what our boy Jayden Reed put
on. And uh and uh punter.

860
01:05:13.920 --> 01:05:17.679
Yeah, Bearinger. I mean we
saw that little report that he's clearly the

861
01:05:17.760 --> 01:05:23.559
best that was there. But now
I'm really interested to see how our guys

862
01:05:23.639 --> 01:05:26.000
have been working out in the off
season, because you haven't really been seeing

863
01:05:26.000 --> 01:05:29.239
a lot of noise. Really,
they've been quiet and they've been putting that

864
01:05:29.320 --> 01:05:33.760
work and I'm looking forward to seeing
X being healthy and working out. I

865
01:05:33.880 --> 01:05:39.159
truly believe X has an upside and
playing at the next level. He is

866
01:05:39.199 --> 01:05:43.480
a smart defensive back safety wise,
been in the system for He's been in

867
01:05:43.559 --> 01:05:47.960
two different systems, and so that
should give him something a leg up hopefully.

868
01:05:48.000 --> 01:05:54.280
And then you got KB Kendall Brooks
coming to But I'll be interested to

869
01:05:54.280 --> 01:05:57.320
see how they fare out tomorrow.
But I know it's a lot of nerves.

870
01:05:57.400 --> 01:06:00.760
It's stressful right now, but put
putting the prayers up that that would

871
01:06:00.760 --> 01:06:03.639
be all calm when you warm up
and get ready to get to it,

872
01:06:03.719 --> 01:06:08.880
because it's all about that action tomorrow. It's where they write their stories for

873
01:06:09.000 --> 01:06:13.519
sure, exactly, and you know
the nerves. You know, we can

874
01:06:13.599 --> 01:06:16.599
say this now because we've gone through
you know, the pro day and everything

875
01:06:16.719 --> 01:06:19.960
like that, and it's tougher to
do it. But like, let's just

876
01:06:20.079 --> 01:06:24.079
say the Hayes in the bar now, you know, let your athletic abilities

877
01:06:24.119 --> 01:06:27.239
come out. Some of these guys, Jay Reid, Bryce and stuff.

878
01:06:27.280 --> 01:06:30.599
It's a it's a Swans and come
back to East Lands and interview meet.

879
01:06:30.119 --> 01:06:34.880
You have another opportunity to meet with
scouts and gms that are there, chair

880
01:06:34.920 --> 01:06:40.039
your teammates on these guys here.
You know, a lot of a lot

881
01:06:40.119 --> 01:06:43.239
of talented guys are on that list. You know a lot of guys are

882
01:06:43.320 --> 01:06:45.159
gonna get opportunities, and you know, at the end of the day,

883
01:06:45.199 --> 01:06:47.800
it's not where you're drafted, it's
how long you last in the league,

884
01:06:48.079 --> 01:06:50.840
you know. So I think we're
gonna have a lot of guys on that

885
01:06:50.960 --> 01:06:56.440
list that might not be drafted,
but they're gonna be on an NFL squad

886
01:06:56.960 --> 01:07:00.639
this fall. Looking forward to it, guys, definitely. It's gonna be

887
01:07:00.679 --> 01:07:03.800
an exciting week coming up here.
You know, you have Pro Day,

888
01:07:03.880 --> 01:07:08.480
You've got all kinds of eventing and
you know Miss State men's basketball coming up

889
01:07:08.480 --> 01:07:13.480
on Friday in Columbus, Ohio.
But until Thursday, guys, I mean,

890
01:07:13.559 --> 01:07:16.119
we'll be back and we got some
special stuff going on in a couple

891
01:07:16.159 --> 01:07:20.760
of days. We'll stay tuned for
that. I think that's gonna be a

892
01:07:20.840 --> 01:07:25.119
rap on this show. Guys,
what do you think for Otis Wiley?

893
01:07:25.840 --> 01:07:28.679
Jay? You two true called Grim
Jason Strayhorn, This is Sparta. Have

894
01:07:28.760 --> 01:07:43.400
a good night, God bless and
go green Awa Otis. This is part

895
01:07:43.440 --> 01:07:47.199
of MSU as a combined presentation of
Playfly Sports properties in Michigan State Sports Properties.

896
01:07:47.519 --> 01:07:54.000
The show is produced by Pete Manez
with additional support from Tony Costella Operations

897
01:07:54.079 --> 01:07:59.400
and Social media support is provided by
Alicia Straehorn with support from Cecily Max Brown

898
01:08:00.199 --> 01:08:03.920
on location. Technical support is provided
by a Good Fruit Video. Be sure

899
01:08:04.000 --> 01:08:10.000
to follow our hosts Jason Straehorn,
Jay Ukulchrik and Otis Wiley on social media

900
01:08:10.639 --> 01:08:14.480
to stay up to date with all
the latest This is smartan news. Please

901
01:08:14.639 --> 01:08:17.399
like a subscribe by visiting our link
tree and tell a friend to do the

902
01:08:17.439 --> 01:08:21.239
same. Thank you for your support
and as always, go green.