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David, Welcome back to our Zoovia
show. How you doing not bad?

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Guys? You all today. It's
been too long man, good to hear

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your voice, and certainly a lot
has changed since we last talked. Let's

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start with, obviously, what has
been front and center with this very successful

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athletic program, and that is Don
Staley. What she has built there.

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Man, they ran the table.
What a season it was and women's basketball

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in general with the emergence of you
know, Angel Reeson, then Caitlin Clark,

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but at the end of the day, it was Don Staley and that's

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very talented, very I would say, together team that got it done.

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You chronicled this team. How amazing
was that season? Oh? It was

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incredible. I mean, going into
the year, you knew that they had

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some talent, because it's not like
they were just destitute of the ladies that

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left. They knew that they had
a lot of McDonald's All Americas to depend

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on, but and a lot of
them had played. It's just you don't

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lose your entire starting five and not
feel it in some way. So you

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know, I was there around on
some of those preseason workouts. I heard

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a lot of what was going on
and it was just like, oh man,

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this could be really rough at the
beginning until everything jails. And I

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even wrote it and said, look, you know, you lose the start

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and starting five that mostly had been
together for four straight years and could finish

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each other's sentences, You're going to
look a little rough, especially against this

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non conference schedule. You know,
they're probably gonna get their butts kicked a

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few times to go thirty eight.
Oh, I mean, it's just incredible

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with a new starting five to beat
everybody you play and then beat the shining

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beacon of the sport in Katelyn Clark
in the national championship game when that was

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the only team that beat them last
year. I don't think you could write

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anything anything believable that would be better
than that. I mean, it was

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truly a storybook season. And all
credit to Don Stealey, who, you

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know, somehow, despite sixteen years
here still finds a way to keep getting

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better. Part of believe, sixteen
years that makes me feel old. Dave,

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I know you agree, Tra I
know you agree. And Dawn,

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you know, look she was very
emotional and understandably so after another championship.

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How if you could go inside the
mind of Donner, if you ever talked

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to her about this when you have
that pressure cooker. We saw the Patriots

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go through this a few years ago, undefeated, undefeated. Was there a

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mounting pressure to keep that going or
was it a little bit different with this

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team knowing that I was on the
prize for the championship? How did they

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maintain their poison focus? Did that
ever come up in the press conferences?

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Just your perspective on that. Anytime
it would come up in the press conference,

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she just kind of brushed aside.
And to the players, they honestly

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did not care about being undefeated.
That was never a goal. It was

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never a goal of last year's team. It was just a case of go

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win the next game you play.
So I think the youngsters on this team

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took that to heart and said,
don't talk about being undefeated, because there

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were some veterans on that team who
said, yeah, it's true a special

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until you're not anymore. So just
worry about winning the next game. So

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the players were fine and dawn.
Of course throughout thirty eight games it was

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like, yeah, we don't talk
about that, that doesn't matter. You

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know, all the stuff you're supposed
to say. But sixteen years. I've

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been covering her, guys, sixteen
years. I've never seen her cry never,

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but as soon as the horns sounded
on that game, she was crying.

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And of course she asked about it
afterwards, she said, yeah,

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because I was feeling all that pressure
of saying, this team has taken you

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to another undefeated season and now it's
for the national title against the only team

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you couldn't be last year, and
she's feeling all that pressure, like I've

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got to get this done for them. So when they finally did, all

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that weight was lifted and she just
broke down, and it was quite frankly

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amazing to see one because of how
shocking it was, and too because it's

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like I knew it because all the
time you said no, no, I

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don't think about going on to of
course she thought about it. Oh good,

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She would never ever ever say it, but I always got the feeling

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like she wouldn't have minded if they'd
lost a couple of those Yeah, you

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know, Dave, you've heard coaches
talk about this before. Some have even

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said, hey, we got that
loss out of the way, now we

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can relax and go play. I'm
a firm believer that you got to win

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in front of you go get it. And I love the fact that don

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Staley has such great command and such
a great presence with her team. To

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that end, David and I have
to ask this very hack radio question,

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but I'm going to try to do
it in a professional and a thoughtful way.

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I think, Dawn, and Look, this is no slight on any

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NBA coach. She has that type
of command where she transcends and you've seen

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this shift. Anyway, she could
coach an NBA team as well as just

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about any coach on this planet,
I do believe, because the respect factor

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she has universally. But I'm assuming
from what I understand, she has no

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interest in leaving Columbia. Well,
that's that's correct. Now she has interviewed

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for NBA one NBA head coaching job, She's had some contact about some other

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ones. I think he's very happy
here. She's very established here. She

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has said very clearly she has no
interest in coaching men's college basketball the NBA

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for the chance of breaking that glass
feeling of being a woman to be an

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NBA head coach, I'm sure that's
appealing, but it also has to be

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a perfect situation and Dawn knows that, you know, you can recruit your

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uster in college, you can't do
that in the pros. She's also smart

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enough to know that how much control
do you actually have as an NBA head

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coach? I mean we're talking right
now, Brownie James is going to get

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drafted so he can play with his
dad. I'm like, I mean,

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how does a GM and a coach
put up with that? Like? Well,

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because they have no control. She
was interviewing with the Blazers a few

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years back, soone's like, do
you think she'd take it? I'm like,

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listen, it's great she got an
interview, but there's a big difference

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between interviewing and being offered. One, I don't think they're going to offer,

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and two, I don't think she'd
take it if they did. Because

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what's the most thankless task in America
besides being a sports writer, being an

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NBA head coachy? Thing got to
listen to you, you know, I

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think that she could do it and
do it well. She would get them

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to but it's it would be tough
taking over a bad team to make it

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competitive. Yeah. I often think
about the Hornets that they just got coach

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Lee from Boston I think Don made
a business decision on a lot of fronts

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to say, you know what,
it's appealing. I could make history and

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and and break that ceiling. But
I've got a good thing going here,

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and I agree with you. To
go to men's college hoops would not be

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a good idea because the women's game
was so amazing this year. Look and

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look, I'm coming from a place
of somebody who generally just tuned stuff out,

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not because it's men or women's soccer, hockey sometimes women's basketballs and men's

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college basketball. But I was compelled
so much by Cardoso in this team down

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the stretch all you know what happened
here right in our backyard at Von Sicor's

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with that wild melee and some of
the key shots that were made. They

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really captivated. But let's not forget
David Klneger, a posting caurer. How

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about La mont Paris. I know
they lost the first round, but man,

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they had a hell of a season
in the SEC and they're set up

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for success, I think for a
pretty good while here. What a great

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season it was for the men's program. Oh, it's absolutely terrific. Man,

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another one that came out of nowhere. I mean, of course you

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in me talking to assistant coaches and
other people around the team after last year,

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when you knew that it was just
going to be bad because they had

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no talent. I said, well, you know, what are we looking

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at this year? And they said, man, we're so much more athletic,

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We're going to be so much better. And I said, you want

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eleven games last year? Wouldn't you
have to be right? What are you

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talking about here? Like fifteen games? I mean, what what do you

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what? Yes, So you had
to look at it and see that when

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you build from the transfer portal,
it's always you know, kind of the

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crapshoot. Yes, you can get
talent, but all those guys can get

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along with each other. And he
found the right mix of guys. Two

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guys who had played in state ball
here in South Carolina, Talon Cooper who

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was from here, and then BJ
Mack who had played at Watford. And

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they came in and said, we
just want to get to the tournament.

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That's what we want to do.
And you had enough holdovers and some really

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good freshman talent also from in state
and Calinmary Boyles. It said okay,

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let's do this, and they got
a few wins under their belt, they

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avoided any of the bad non conference
losses. Always heem dogged this program under

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Frank Martin and all of a sudden
it's like, hey, they're winn an

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SEC game. So it was tremendous
year, tremendous accomplishment. I mean,

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I would say he did the best
coaching job of anybody around here at dulnot

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Doll thirty eight. Yeah, it
was so much fun back in Colonial Life

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Arena again to have that excitement back
for men's basketball. And now comes the

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next challenge. You got to make
it consistent. You gotta have consistent success,

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because that's what eluded Frank, That's
what eluded a lot of coaches around

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here after Frank maguire of just trying
to get a consistent good basketball teams.

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New look team this year. But
he's been getting a lot more talent in

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here. So we'll see how I
go. Yeah, doing all the things

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he needs to do. Dave,
I've always said South Carolina is a basketball

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state. Here we are with Clemson
and the game Cocks on the women's side

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and men's side just dominating, and
the football side look disappointing season overall for

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the game Cocks. I think when
we analyze this team coming into last season,

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we had you on the show.
If I'm not mistaken, you're a

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pretty pragmatic guy. We looked at
this pretty realistically and said, there's going

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to be not necessarily a linear jump
from year one of year two. There

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will be some growing pains. Spencer
Ratler I thought had some good moments and

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as a product of that, he
and his wide receiver mate Xavier Logett were

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drafted. Let's talk about these two
guys first. First of all, Xavier

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Logette what he brings to an NFL
team. I talked to Shane Beemer last

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week and of course he's saying his
praises. And the first time you heard

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Xavier Logett speak, you never told
us that about this David. I found

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this out when he was drafted by
the Panthers. He's a charming man.

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Well, yeah, he's terrific.
And I spent a couple of years down

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in the PB region when I first
got out of college, working for the

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Morning News newspaper in Florence, South
Carolina. So have such you covered Mullin's

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school in their community. So when
I heard him talk the first time,

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I'm like, man, that's Mullin's
right there. You didn't tell it.

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It's not there. The Kloniger radar
went off. That is Mullin to the

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core. So I was used to
it. Of course, you know,

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everybody just flipped over it. But
I just saw seventeen out there catching nine

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routes and you know, bowling people
over like Deebo Junior. And all of

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a sudden he comes in and I
cover the Panthers. So is as much

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shocking to be their draft night.
I'm on the zoom call around midnight,

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and uh, I get the first
question in and I asked him about Hey,

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coach, Beamber says, you know
your physical presence much like Deebo.

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What do you think you bring to
just a stupid question, the radio guys

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asked, And that voice, and
I can't even clown it. It's just

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dulcit. I could go to sleep
with that voice. Man. I put

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it in. It's my rint on
at night Man's And he's a trinsic kid,

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yes, you know it comes from
Really it could have been a very

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different result for him, because you
know, he came up rough. Both

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his parents passed on he was still
in high school. They never got to

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see him play in college, and
you know, for four years here at

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USC he was basically anonymous. He
did catch the game winning touchdowns against Vanderbilt

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for Shane Beemer's first SEC win,
and that was notable, but other than

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that, I was like, Eh, this guy's always potential and no production.

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But after he caught two touchdowns in
the Gator Bowl to end the twenty

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two season, he was saying,
Hey, this is just the start.

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You know, it's a bowl game. I'm like, yeah, sure,

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I hear that a lot, but
there's eight months to go before you can

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actually prove it. I damned if
he didn't. He came out there and

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he said, just throw the ball
up, I'll go get it. And

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he had one of the best seasons
ever by a wide receiver around here.

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And once the Panthers traded up into
the first round, I was like,

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they're gonna take him because I know
from talking with Panthers Fokes and I was

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like, he really is impressive.
And I said, yeah, they need

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help all over the field. That's
one way to address it right there.

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So guy that can go up and
get it, he runs Chris Brown.

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He can be over the middle of
a field receiver if you don't want to

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send him down Tod. So He's
a guy that I think has set up

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for a lot of success and he
deserves it, you know. Just a

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fantastic young man, fantastic kid.
You know, I'm I'm a forty nine

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Ers fan, so i can't cheer
for another team, but I'm certainly hoping

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that Xavior Lygid does well well.
Breaking news. Do you know who your

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first opponent is this season? Have
you seen the schedule? I do,

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indeed, And you know all those
Jets fans, and I know a few

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of them, I've just said,
come get a taste. Come on,

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Aaron Rodgers. It's gonna be a
bad homecoming. We're gonna put you in

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the darkness. David Connegher noted forty
nine Ers fan, How did we not

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know that? And of course he
just broke the news here in front of

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us here it's going to be Jets
forty nine ers to open the seasont in

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San Francisco. How about the uh? And yeah, Javon Kinlaw, former

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South Carolina, a South Carolina in
state guy is with the Jets now.

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He got picked up with the Jets
this year, So hey, who knows?

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I was kind of looking forward to
saying, John, see Aaron Rodgers

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go to it, but now he's
playing. Thank you. Well, you

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know, Aaron, Let's hope he
stays healthy enough for seventy five seconds.

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And that was a rough start to
last year. Hey, Spencer Radler,

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here's the thing about Lagett and Radler
together. When I watched these games last

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year, David Cloneger's our guests from
the posting Courier covers the game, cocks

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the offensive line, we understand the
issues, and Coach Bamber and I even

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had some conversations about this on the
air a couple of weeks ago. And

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what made things all the more impressive, I think, for not only Radler

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but Lagett at twenty yards to catch
nearly at times, it's the fact that

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there was so little protection, so
little time for to settle in. I

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guess by the grace and mercy of
his legs he was able to extend now

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and get you in trouble, but
just Rattler on his own. I think

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dal Loggins and Beemer agreed with this, and I think he was being sincere

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helped his progression in terms of being
able to see the NFL game. Now,

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I don't know what you think about
that, but that's sort of what

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scouts have told me that he benefited
from that he goes to the Saints,

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I believe fifth round. What to
make of Spencer Ratler here, Dave,

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Well, it's frankly amazing that Spencer
had the season that he did, considering

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the game Cocks had no running game
and not much protection in front of him.

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It really is amazing the production he
was able to do. But it

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was one of those that where Dowell
worked with him and said, I realized

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you got that mental clock ticking down
in your head when you take the snap

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and say okay, three two one, do something and get rid of it.

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But he want scramble to keep him
play alive. He would hang in

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there to say, just give me
another half second and I can get this

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ball off, and he does some
hard hits and still kept getting back up.

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So that by itself was a testament
to what he can do. You

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know, with me, I said, well, at the NFL level,

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I suppose I'd like to see him
a couple of inches taller, but that's

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not gonna you know, that's not
gonna happen. You just got to do

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with what you got. But he
can make all the throws. His football

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i Q is off the charts.
He knows what he's doing. As for

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the reason why I slipped to the
slipt to the fifth round, I know

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a lot of people have some some
uh I guess talking police real quick.

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Rappaport came out with that that report, and Beamer was fuming, and I

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have to say, look, I
know I don't take sides here. I

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covered both programs here in the state. I found that to be just really

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unnecessary. I really found it.
I mean, the fact is, it's

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just a simple fact. I'm sure
that Rapp was just going by what somebody

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told him. I'm like, God, let's look at it here. He

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was never gonna be one of the
first qbs taken, and that's fine.

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But after you take those first four
or five qbs, it's like, now

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you have teams have established quarterbacks and
you don't have anybody who's going in with

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a succession plan like it was with
Brett Farb and Aaron Rodgers, right and

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such. So it was that's why, And it's like, you need other

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guys before you take a quarterback,
so that's what you go get. That's

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was a simple reason it's like,
look, we like you, but you

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can only play one quarterback at a
time, So we really need a defensive

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lineman, we really need a tight
end, we really need whatever. And

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those teams had to take those for
the Saints that okay, now we can

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maybe get some backup in here.
I mean I thought that he'd probably go

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to Denver. I know they liked
him and that that was really basically an

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open competition down there. But going
to New Orleans you can kind of sort

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of say the same thing. I
mean, they're pretty set with their starter,

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and you've always got taysoon Hill.
It's kind of your backup guy's always

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around. He's a guy that will
make the roster, and you know,

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if he's got to be that third
string guy, hey that's fine, hold

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a clipboard for a couple of years. Look, I think he can be

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a starter in this league. And
we've seen guys emerge like Brock Purdy and

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others. We've seen Kirk Cousins come
from later rounds and they all have different

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traits. But you guys I talked
to around say, look that there was

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a bad hand dealt in terms of
the offensive line of protection, the run

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game. As you mentioned, and
honestly, you just get him in a

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new system. You're indoors, you're
in a dome. You can let that

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rocket fly out there with that arm. Let's see how long mister Carr lasted

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quarterback and you mentioned Taysom Hill.
Hey, quickly before I let you go,

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you've been very kind. David kaloneger
to take about twenty minutes with us

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year, a couple of minutes if
you can, on the state of the

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game Cox football program with a changing
quarterback obviously coming up a lot of changes

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on the offensive, Adissa defensive side
of the ball, and Shane Beemer.

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I don't want to use the word
hot seat, but you know every year

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is important and they need to start
turning the corner. Yeah, well,

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first of all, hot seat.
In no way, there's no way he's

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on the hot seat after this year. He overchieved so much in his first

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two years. Last year was disappointing, but I think it was understood as

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a result of injury and just some
other circumstances. So he's fine this year

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unless it's just a complete zero to
twelve something like that. That's for squashing

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that nonsense, because I've been hearing
it NonStop. It's the main thing this

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year is that there's a lot more
for Dowell Loggins to work with. He

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came in last year, knew he
had a fantastic quarterback, but a young

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line and no running game. He
knew that, So it's going to be

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basically kind of the opposite this year. You know, you've got a running

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game, even though Rocket Sanders wasn't
able to participate in spring ball. You

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just hope the guy stays healthy and
you've got guys behind him. That part

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is settled. Offensive line, you
just hope it stays healthy, you know.

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I mean, it's gonna have some
injuries, but USC had twenty linemen

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last year and eleven of them got
hurt. So it can't be that bad,

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you know. I mean just law
of averages says it can be that

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bad. So you are breaking in
a new quarterback and that's always a little

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nervous. But they really like Lenora
Sellers. They like what he can do,

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very athletic, very mobile, and
that can also help out the running.

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So defense, of course, bad
first two months, great last months.

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You have to hope they can find
that right mix being great all the

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time. Uh, you know,
this year, so another murderous schedule.

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You know, you lose Georgia and
Florida and Tennessee off of it, but

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you add at Alabama and at Oklahoma. Oh yeah, and if you like

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iron iron, my friend, that's
how it works in the what is still

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the SEC for now, and we'll
see where we go over the next ten

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years. Uh, it's going to
be a fascinating time. David Kloneger posting

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Courier follow us work there. David, you've been too kind to take some

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time. It's always a pleasure to
catch up with you my men. No

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problem, guys, thanks for having
me