This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
fourteen fifteen, powered by Nova Insurance Services. Make sure your most prized possessions
kat z R two SAD and I Heeart Radio Station. Hey, good afternoon,
everybody. Welcome to you on the ball here in Fox Sports fourteen fifteen.
I'm Steve Rivera, You're Jay Gonzoz. Welcome to Thursday Show. Then
it looks like Dustiel Tucson became a little bit bigger today. Well certainly,
Um it's it's a little brighter, hotter can get brighter, not harder,
a little brighter. For I can't take it for some things, um,
you know, for football, Arizona football, for Arizona Athletics in general,
for Jet Fish certainly, um, you know, on the by the because
of the decision of an eighteen year old kid. Right, no, no,
no, you are funny you bringing it up because we didn't talk about
this. So one of our buddies text me about an hour ago. Now
headed to the doctor, and he says, well, what are you gonna
listen to him say? Come on, really, you're twenty year old year
old, fifty year old man, sixty year old man sitting by the edge
of your seat waiting for the information of a seventeen year old kid. I
know it's important, but really, Steve, I was saying that to myself
all the way here, because you know he did he had the program came
on at two o'clock. I was gonna I didn't know if he was gonna
come on at two o'clock. I leave my house at two o'clock. I
had YouTube on in my car. Now, mind you, if I'm not
doing this show, I'm not. You know, I'm waiting for the announcement,
but I'm not. I'm probably not watching unless I have absolutely nothing to
do. But you know, being that, you know, watching this and
just watching this program, and how much attention these grown ups, hey,
these kids, and how much of a business it is, and you realize
this is a really big deal. No, I'm not diminishing that because you're
because you're right, it is and the future of potential recruits coming in.
I get it. I get it. But I know when I was seventeen
years old, I wasn't worried about what other seventeen year olds were doing.
You know, it was throwing It was throwing me back to having to find
you know, follow up. But you know, on the one hand,
it was like, Okay, I'm I'm on the way in while I'm watching
this. Um, you know, I'm going back and forth between being a
fan and really wanting this kid to come to Arizona and then being you know,
having a show and just Okay, what are we going to talk about
if he goes to Oregon, or if he goes to an Notre Dame,
or if he goes to Tennessee. What do we say, right because he
didn't come, you know, do we get you know, are we pissed
at him? Or do we just say, hey, he's going to you
know, he's going to the big decision he had, he had he had
three other great places to go. Now he's picked Arizona, And so what
does that mean? And it means a lot of things other than above and
beyond the fact that Arizona looks like they got a really good player. Totally
get it, totally get it. And here we are and we're referring to
go ahead, Elijah rushing the six five sixty six, two hundred fifty.
I saw two hundred and fifty pounds. He says, two forty on his
Twitter feed, somebody says he's two thirty, kind of like the Victor Webbaniona
thing. But he's a six six edge rusher. He's the number one ranked
player in Arizona, the number eight ranked player in the country, and the
number one edge rusher in the country. Arizon has never gotten a guy like
this, Right, Gronk was not that guy. T Mac who up to
now was the highest rated recruit, was not that guy. Um, none
of the other guys we had, you know that, the Arizona guy in
the past. You know, Michael Bates, Mike Chasca, go back to
Mike Dawson, go you know all these guys. None of those guys were
here. So what does that mean? Well, we don't know what it
means to play. That's the first thing I said coming in. But before
that, it means a lot of things. Even before he gets you in
the next year, it means a lot of things. No, the bottom
line, he's coming here. We'll see. You know what it's gonna make
me do, which I have no problem doing. Spending some time on a
Friday night at South or Salary, right, play to see what the fuss
is about. Yeah, Well, they played a bunch of his highlights in
you know when you when they play the highlights, you always see the best
players. But he's he's a man among boys. And so we'll see what
that looks like. You know that was as a junior. See what that
looks like as a scene, you know, speaking of we're gonna have his
head, head football coach Eric Rodgers is going to join us here in about
ten minutes. Uh, coach Roge, will you know tell us from his
perspective, you know what he thought, what he saw? Um, you
know, is Eric Rodgers happy that his guys are you know, going to
Arizona? Right? Or does he care? I'm sure he cares in one
way or another what he probably wants for his guys who land in the best
place for them. But you know, does it you know, is it
a bigger deal to him that his guy he's putting sending guys to Arizona and
hopefully making the Arizona program much better. Yeah, So we'll see what it
means to him, means the south Point. There's a lot of a lot
of moving parts here in a lot of different ways. Right. Congratulations to
Jed to Uve, to fans, to to Elijah, Russians, you know
to his brother Cruz, who's you know, who's uh you know here at
Arizona. You know they're gonna get to play together, watching the watching the
press conference. Um. Uh. Russian said that his brother being here was
a big deal. It meant a lot to him. Um. So you
know a lot of things that Jed Fish and his staff did in there,
uh to make this happen. You know, Uh, I don't know.
You have to say that from a recruiting standpoint, Arizona's for real under under
fish. Right, the question is how long? How long will it be?
Right? How and where do you go from here? Right? Right?
Well, other things, we're gonna have the coach on at three fifteen
and we're gonna have Matt Murdeno on to talk about all this from rival going
home, going home yesterday, um and finding out that a sue we've we've
already acknowledged UVA has done a pretty good job recruiting, right, A issue
has done better as of now. Yeah, they're ranging, well, this
will pop them up above Arizona. So let's talk. We'll talk to Mordeno
about that. Where everybody stands right now today after this decision. Yeah,
you know something like this, you know, moves it moves you up,
moves you up the list. Um, but uh, you know, we'll
see, we'll see what you know, what happens there. Um, I'm
looking at uh at the two four and not at four seven at Rivals,
which is the the service that Matt Mordeno works works for, and I don't
I'm looking down the list and I don't see rushing even in the top twenty.
So we'll see what they where do they have it? But um,
you know, certainly, you know, Arizona's gonna hang their hat on him
being the number eight player in the country according to two four seven Sports.
But it's you know, Steve without going overboard on on what this means.
Um, you know, look, Tennessee gets guys like this all the time,
or a game gets guys like these all the time. To put in
perspective, Oregon gets guys like these all all the time. You know,
for Arizona to get this guy, it means a lot in terms of one,
is he a five star four Stream, He's a five He's a five
star on Rival. Okay, so I think he's a four star on i'man
a five star on two four seven twenty four seven. I think he's a
four star on trying to find him. So, so is this the first
one they've ever had? First five star ever? Okay, Mac was a
four. Let me start this over again. I thought they they've got the
kid who the kid from Florida was one, right or for four? The
kid who who came came and spent that day. I think he was a
four. Okay, here I just found rushing his number fifty seven on Rivals.
He's a he's a four on Rivals. Um. But you know,
just a lot of times, you know, where they decide to go has
something to do with you know, with their with their thing as well.
So we'll see. But in any in any regard, you know, on
paper, yeah, is rated and so you know what has that opened the
door to for Arizona? Right right? But is it you know, all
of a sudden it's okay to go to Arizona if I'm a five star guy.
Well, it reminds me of in in a weird way, because of
New Basketball, how Sean Elliott changed the direction of Arizona basketball. Go even
before that with the first number, when Luke the first Pricdonald's you're here you're
hear the story of when they're walking out of McMillan's house when he told him
he was committed to him. And I can't I don't know who the coach
was that would have been with him, probably Scott Thompson. I'm guessino um
and uh if And he and Luke said to him, I can't believe we
got Craig McMillan, right, And Craig McMillan getting a guy like Craig McMillan,
you know, made it okay for a guy like Sean Elliott. You
know, we come to Arizona and then as and then as you go up
you know, up the road, up the path, you know, guys
like you know, Mike Bibbie, you know, Damon Stodemeyer, all those
you know, all those guys, uh you know, and then you know,
later on and then even into the Sean Miller here. So it makes
it okay. You know, it's to to to you know, to go
to a place like that. And and that's what Arizona gets out of this
that it wouldn't got that those other schools don't get, because those other schools
get guys like this off. So I just think that. Uh you know,
so Brian Peterson has this. He said this eleven minutes ago. Uh
twenty seven two for seven sports sports port blah blija. Russian would be the
highest rated player to sign with Arizona, but not the highest highest to commit
to the Wildcats. Maybe that was that was the the table kid. Who
was that guy for it was here for like a week and he was a
five star dB. He wasn't even a weekend. Yeah, I remember,
I remember that his mom said, no, you're not going, They're not
going there. I remember the look on her face when he when he said
he was going to Arizona. I don't remember. He did it during that
All Star football game, and it was like I knew he wasn't, Like
what are you doing? Yeah, I knew he wasn't coming, but yeah,
no, this is this is great, great for for for Jed.
We'll see what happens. Now. We've got another year to wait for him.
Yeah. Um, you know he'll sign in November December, whenever that
signing period is probably and so Jed can't even talk about him publicly. Nobody
did tweet about him. He just no, not my name. I'm sure
he put a cactus. Yeah, he put yeah, and then then they
don't know. You're right, he just put a cactus. Put a cactus
that's dancing. And then you know, but can't you can't mention him by
name. That's against the rule. Takeover resets. Yeah, I wonder what
he's talking about. I wonder what he's talking about. But this is you
know, this is cool and you know, um, you know. It
goes back to that article that we talked about from The Athletic yesterday. I
don't know if you had a chance to read it, and anybody out there,
if you, if you get a chance, uh, find somebody.
If you don't have a subscription to Athletic, find somebody who does and read
the article about Arizona staff recruiting not just Elijah Russian, but recruiting at South
Point. And again the fact that at six o'clock in the morning on the
first day the coaches could be on campuses, the entire Arizona football coaching staff
was at South Point. And what do they get out of They got these
two guys. Let's not forget Will Hike, the kid that that committed last
kiw on the will had committed and was on our show couple weeks ago or
last week. You know, they've got you know, the book ends of
the south Point defensive line. You know, Javier has a nice photo of
both of them. I'm not sure which the switch, but they're pretty big.
Russian is the bigger guy. Okay, okay, he's a big boy.
Um so again what what the meaning of this for Arizona is bigger than
the meaning of what it would be for sure of course. Of course,
so you gotta start. You gotta start with one right, right, You
can't win them all unless you start with one right And here's the one.
Or as like my brothers my like my brother likes to say that Elijah Russian
just grease the skids for more players to come in. Yeah, runway more
plays, like you think, if it happens, if it, if it
happens, so uh and and well right now we can think that it might
happen. Um someone else sensed that there could be another guy coming here pretty
soon who's just that as good. But yeah, so um so, as
one another guy said, it's kind of like you said, it's pretty bright
and two sons day and and you know, and then again I hate to
I to go back to the bedside of this. But now it really makes
you wonder, what the hell Kevin Summlin, what the hell right? You
didn't even try? No, that was really you didn't what the hell right?
And again maybe you probably don't get him. Anyway, we'll make him
tell you know, yeah right, sure, well it's like, well,
you see what happened to dictome me when that happened. You know, he
did really work really well chase the big timers and didn't get and didn't get
him. Yeah, but still but you know, but you got this guy,
as I say, two point two miles from your office, take a
shot, right, take a shot. Sure. So I'm gonna I'm gonna
screw to break. I'm gonna listen to his his press comp at least gonna
announced this. I guess he was on his phone doing it. Okay,
we'll come back with the coach. We're gonna come back with uh with Eric
Rodgers and Elijah Russians coaching. Just talk about how all this went on.
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on the iHeartRadio WAP, this is I on the Ball with Steve Ribera and
Jay Gonzalez on Box Sports fourteenth fifteen. Hey, welcome by twining the ball
here Fox Sports ten fifty. I'm Steve j. Now on the phone,
we'd have coach Eric Rogers of Southpoint, cathlic How you doing, Coach,
I'm doing great. How you guys are doing. We're doing well. You
should be kind of very happy on cloud nine ish, uh with your with
your kids going good places to something. Must be very happy for you.
Oh. I think this is a very special day, There's no doubt about
it. I think, uh, just the family, Elijah, I'm so
excited for them. Honestly, I'm really excited for the University of Arizona.
UM. I think it's uh just in a tremendous, incredible experience that Elijah's
been through, but for him to play for the hometown crowd now is spectacular.
Coach, so uh, Steve and I we uh read a portion of
that article that you were quoted on, quoted in the Athletic talking about the
commitment at South Point me not just to Elijah, I think, but to
the your entire program at the you know, at the at the very beginning,
how much does that go into what a guy like Elijah or or uh
your other player uh will high you know when name these decisions. How big
of a deal is that for them? Well, I think it is a
big deal. I mean, you're going to build a relationship. Obviously,
this all starts with the relationships that you build with coaching staffs all over the
whole country. And for some of these guys that are these premier recruits,
they're they're talking to coaches every day all day and you're building a relationship,
and you have to feel comfortable, you have to feel at home. But
when you can have that relationship and it's right in your backyard and all of
a sudden, those coach, that coaching staff with the University of Arizona,
Coach Fish and those guys have done a tremendous job of making Elijah and Kiona
feel at home, making them know how much they care. That's a word
that I think it's you know this place sometimes and it's how much do you
care? Do you really care? And when you show people how much you
care, obviously, I think then good things happen. And that's what's just
happened for the University of Arizona. They've done a great job of showing those
guys how much they care about them and now they're gonna they're gonna get to
go play for the home town teams. So and you have two kids doing
that, which very makes you probably very proud of that too. But let
me ask you a dumb question. When did you know or did you know?
Yeah, I've I've kind of known a little bit, but um,
you know, this was This was not and it wasn't a home run in
a sense that it's gone kind of up and down. There's been different teams
that have been at the forefront throughout this whole process. I mean, it
was Florida at one minute. I think it might have been Miami at one
minute. It was Oregon at one minute, it was Notre Dame, it
was Tennis, there was they were all kind of in the in the front
seat, if you want to say, at different points throughout this whole process.
But I think it just came down to this entire community. And I'm
gonna tell you this, This entire community rallied behind the University of Arizona and
supported them in making sure Elijah stayed home. And I think that just speaks
volumes to our community and where we live. And I'm just extremely proud of
being a two sons. Well, when you when a player like Elijah,
you know, top recruit, one of the top recruits in the country is
being recruited, what kinds of things are is he bouncing off of you?
Or that you've had others right, what kinds of things are they bouncing off
you? What are they asking you? What kind of advice are they asking
for? And what are you offering to them to help them make sure that
not necessarily that they go to Arizona, but they just that they make a
good decision for themselves. Well, I think, you know, it kind
of goes back to what I remember my parents teaching me when I was a
kid, and that's the old you know, here's the pros and here's the
cons. You put them on a piece of paper and you start writing down,
you know, here's the schools and then here's the things that are most
important to you. What do you value the most? Name them, mark
them one through ten What do you value the most? And then your rank
each school and you put a one next to the one that gives you the
most. If it's family, culture, if it's education, if it's a
big city life. You know, there's all those different things that you're looking
at when you're picking a college. And I think for Elijah, we did
that. That was kind of what came down and just putting those all on
a piece of paper, um, and then just evaluating and and kind of
again taking those relationships and then finding out that you know, I think what
it really boils down is you can't take away what it means to play at
home in front of your family. Yeah, I was gonna say so.
I mean there were there had to be a number of things. As you
say, you had to write down pros and cons. What do you think
were the main things, maybe three, four or five things that you're aware
of that were most important to him. Well, I think it was playing
in front of the hometown crowd and the family. I think it was.
I think it was the coaching relationships, It was the Again, there's a
phenomenal education that you can get at the University of Arizona. Um, it
was that family culture. The facilities are there. Um, they've got everything
that you need to win. Um. And so I think that's that's probably
what it all boiled down to. And don't forget the other kid will h
obviously, what are you guys creating over there? Well, i'll tell you
what. I just our defensive coordinate and I were just talking one minute ago
and I said, hey, don't mess this up. Now you could think
of so um, it's special. We're excited. We can't wait for this
fall. M are just our whole team in general. We've been working our
butts off all summer long. We've got they've had this week off and then
we come back for four hard weeks and then we put helmets on and go
to work. So um, it's the season is going to be upon us
before we know it. I think Elijah stated in his speech about how he
wants to put Southern Arizone on the map, and that's what he's doing.
And so we've got a lot to uphold. You know, on paper,
it looks great, but we've got to go out there and execute and play
football. On Friday, nights. It's funny you bring that the thing that
you said up earlier. But all of a sudden, you guys are better
coaches, or you better be, or you better be or does make us
look good? Does so so? So you guys have a season to play.
These guys. Okay, you've got all this, uh, all this
excitement of this, of these their commitments, and now you got to you
still gotta go out there and play. Um, you know, what's what's
the message to the guys to make sure that you know, as no pun
intended that, to keep their eye on the ball, this ball. Yeah,
no, no, no, I think you nail then. And I
think, honestly, that was a big reason why both boys wanted. Uh
both these young men wanted to commit and commit now. Um, they are
very very focused on our football season and being the best teammates they can be,
and so they wanted to get this out of the way and they just
want to play football now. Um, they don't you know, the recruiting
trips to travel, all that stuff's done. We're locked in and and and
I think our whole team's rallying around them. They've been tremendous leaders, both
of them. Um, and I think that for us, it's just we're
locked in now on playing football and getting ready for our home opener against a
great Marana Tiger team. So so, coach, I'm not too sure sure
I should know this, but I don't. How long have you been at
some point? Uh? Two thousand two was the first year I started coaching
with somebody we know have been there forever. Um And let's uh nah,
I'll ask this question so you can do whatever you want with it. Uh.
The previous coaching staffs have taken a lot of criticism for not recruiting local,
didn't even go out. Uh. It must be refreshing to you for
you to see this happening now. It's uh yeah, No, I mean
it's I really have embraced the relationship with coach finishing his coaching staff. I
think it's he's done a tremendous job of opening up to me, and I've
done the same towards him. And that's it is. At the end of
the day, it's a two way street. Both people have to communicate.
Both people have to you know, respect each other, love each other,
care for one another, and have each other's backs. And I think that's
kind of where we've gotten it to. UM, I was just mentioning earlier
to someone else. UH, coach to Steele and coach Rodriguez, UH and
coach Gibson. Coach Gibson and coach to Steele had two sons that played for
us when they were at the University of Arizona, and we had some great,
great relationships them. Unfortunately, we maybe just didn't have all the players
at the time that they needed a recruit. But UM, you know,
I think it was you know, the Big three with with with with Lathan
and Bejon and Bruno, UM and coach someone. Yeah, he's taken a
tough rap for what happened back then. UM, it was disappointing, I
think in a way, UM, and I think it boiled down to in
that position, it just comes down to, UM, at least make the
effort, making the effort show that you care and you want them if they
choose something else, That's one thing. UM. I think what I love
about what Coach Fish has done is he doesn't care who you are, what
how many stars like. He's going after you. He wants you. And
Uh. He did a tremendous job with t Mac last year getting him to
flip from Oregon and coming to Arizona with Elijah and Keona coming over. Um,
I mean you're getting at the end of the day, it takes talent
to win, and he knows that more than anybody, and that you get
this talent in there, and I think they got a real shot. So
it'll be fun to watch. So when you came on, you talked about
how how excited you are for for Elijah and and you know, and for
the University of Arizona. How much do you want your guys to go to
Arizona? Right? I mean, is I know you're probably advising them,
look, do the best thing for you, but is it special for you
to see them sticking around here and playing at Arizona? Do? I mean,
is that something that you really really want them to do? You know?
For me to be honest, UM, I want them to go where
they're going to be happy. Um. Elijah, the number of schools,
the choices that he had, I sit here and go. I don't know
how I would choose I had. I mean, if I was in his
shoes, I have no idea how I would take a school. Um.
I think when I look at it, Notre Dame like to me, Notre
Dame Stanford. I'm kind of a I'm an academic guy, so like you
know, when I get an offer from a Michigan or a Washington or a
Northwestern, a duke of Vanderbilt, those are the ones that speak the most
volumes to me. Um, you know. But at the same token,
to play for your hometown team and you got your family and all that before
that speaks volumes too. There's there's just nothing like playing playing in your backyard,
right, no question. We talk about this often because you have Bijan
going to Texas and who would fault him? Right? Ransom goes to Ohio
to say, who would fault him? All these other kids going through these
big places, And if I had a son who's whose colleges were chasing him
like that, I'm thinking, that's a tough decision, but I know where
I'm going and no fault, you know, no apologies, no apologies.
But you know, he's also a guy. We talked about this before you
came on, a guy like Sean Elliott who could kind of transcend or or
make things happen here at the University of Arizona because he's a local kid and
his name will be known because God he remember when remember when and when this
kide rushing showed up and change the world, you know, change the program,
and that could happen here. Yep, I remember. It's funny you
bring up Sean Elliott. I was at a game when I was like I
might have been in middle school or like sixth grade at Harrelson Cross Junior High
and I go to se d O High School to watch Choia play when Sean
Elliott dribbles the ball down, throws a pass behind his back and the kid
goes up and dunks it, and the coach bench Sean Elliott for throwing it
behind his back when he didn't need to. I'll never forget it. Taught
me a great lesson just as a little kid watching Sean Elliott play. But
you're right, and now these kids are gonna be able to see, you
know, they come to our games on Friday night, watch Elijah go out
there and make this sack. Do this I mean, and then to go
watch him play at you of a and then I you know, we're going
to cross our fingers and keep him healthy. But he's gonna have a chance
to play on Sunday. So it's it's pretty awesome. It's pretty special in
the terms of the amount of work that a coach has to do in a
recruiting process like this, and you had to you know, not more than
one guy, right, how much of a how much work do you have
to put into this too? You know, follow up with coaches and meet
with coaches and get them information and then get him from it. Is it
fun? Is it hard? Is it all of the above? You know,
in terms of the role that you have to play in this. Yeah,
no, Uh, probably that's a better question for my wife. But
you know, you're right, it's it's Uh, it's NonStop. My phone
rings constantly. I probably get fifty and I but but I have a really
tough day job to my work work, Um, I'm managing forty five projects
at a time, all different stuff any you know, anything from a honeyman
job to redoing a whole roof UM with our system for UH facility service company
here in town. But it's for me, UM. I enjoy the heck
out of it, So it's not work for me. UM. I love
talking to the coaches and building relationships with them. I love promoting our kids
and talking about them. Um. It's a full time you know, just
just the coaching alone is a full time job, There's no doubt about it.
I would love to be able to make enough money where that's all I
had to do, but unfortunately that's not how it's gonna work. So I
just keep plugging away, loving what I'm doing. My family is very very
supportive of me, so that helps. Um. But but it's I enjoy
it. But it's it's NonStop, the text messages, the phone calls,
it's it's all day, every day day there. But it's it's it's part
of it. So I enjoy it, like I just embrace it. Well,
the good thing is your wife still with you, So that's right.
So the who who's next? Who's next? You know we've got uh,
we've got some great ones. Um, you know, we've still got to
find We're gonna find a great home for Louis Cordova. You know, he's
our big tackle. He's gonna play some nose guard for us. Um.
Dinos Drosos is another stud. Nate Spivy. Nate Spivy's a name you've gotta
you're gonna have to keep an eye on. I think he's a big time
player for us. He's gonna be all over the field on offense, he's
gonna play defense. Um, he's probably our best all around athletes. Um
it's so we've got We've still got Quiet and then I mean again, we've
got a number of other kids that are, uh, we've got some really
young ones. Obviously, Noah Bannier getting his offer early from you of Ay,
just at their camp just a couple of weeks ago. And he's just
going to be a sophomore next year. So we've got Javon Wilson, We've
got Sabian Marino, We've got a lot of big Isaac Moyle. These are
all sophomores that are stuts, absolute stuts. And Elijah's got a little brother
coming up right, what's that? And Elijah's got another little brother coming up
right? Yeah, yes, and yes, as a matter of fact,
my son, my son Jake, he'll be a freshman next year, David,
Elijah's brother is going to be a freshman. So, um, it's
gonna be We've got a great I mean, we we have seventy freshman football
players that have signed up to play football this year, so U you know,
and again it just speaks volumes to the success that we've had over the
years, you know, being ranked and number seven team in the state of
Arizona over the last decade, I think that speaks volumes. And now that
to have Elijah, what we're doing. These kids, you know, they
want to come to South Point and we've got a special thing going and we
just got to you know, just keep this thing moving in the right direction.
Coach, don't screw this up. You got I know im. Hey,
I'm trying not alright, Coach. I appreciate your time here. Do
we really do? Good stuff? Good stuff? Thank you, congrats today,
Thank you very very much. Appreciate you guys having me on. Thank
you. Well come on, if you have that was telling you kinda well
yeah, I mean yeah you got. Okay, you got you got all
these players. Now let's let's see what you can do with that. Well.
Good good job, you know, Coach Rodgers, a good job again.
Congratulations to Elijah Rushing and uh you know, and again the big thing,
you know, big picture, this door is swung wide open, fair
zone. Get in there. At South Point. They made some inroads at
some of the some of the big schools, the great schools up in Phoenix,
and so I think that's next. I think that's what I kinda got
a hint that somebody from Phoenix might be coming down there. So it's on
for you know. Uh, I mean, look, Fish, he said
he was going to do the work. Yeah, and he clearly is right
now what's happening? Someone said that was a great interview. Okay, Well,
appreciate coach Rodgers for coming on, and we'll kick the torontomore right after
the breaks. We'll stick around. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan,
you'd know it's been successful for newly forty years. Now. Take a look
back at the Ludolson era. In my new book, Lessons from Loot.
It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players,
coaches, and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who led
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five years as Arizona's beloved coach. Lessons from Loot is an insight to how
he built the program into a national powerhouse. What one email me at Steve
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online today at a team security dot net. This is I on the Ball
with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Subscribe now to
the podcast on the iHeart Radio app Just Surgery I on the Ball. They
welcome back to I on the Ball here Fox Sports fourteen. Cookie Young Steve
Rivera, He's Jacons All Street for about thirteen minutes. If you guys want
to get on in on the conversation, give us a call. Five two
o four one six seventy four forty. It was great to talk to mister
Rogers. Yeah, yeah, you know, there has to be a whole
a huge amount of satisfaction for one of your players. Oh yeah, you
have to be able to have this right, right, right to do this,
to get this level of attentions and bring some credibility, to bring some
ccredibility to your program what you're doing. Um and and then to see these
guys go off, and you know, you hope you'll do something great.
And uh, you know the feeling that that asked me, like you know
your Robinson's coach, how how great you about that? Right? You know,
Well, like we said, like we said as I came in today,
it says, okay, this is the first step of one of many.
Well, actually finished out the career of his high school then coming on
being the player that people think he's gonna be for a year or to come.
You know, this is just a long crack. There's still that part,
right, He's still got to go have a great season. Well you
remember we remember when we covered there was the besttball football back in the late
eighties. The best guy at that time was Mike Shatska. Right, came
in and I don't know McDonald's American or whatever, and and and he gets
hurt right away. So all that work, all that stuff to get him
there and all that is over when yeah, it's gone, it was gone
and hurt. Uh, and so you'd never know. But right now we
know that he's coming here. And uh, Horizon was all giddy. They're
they're giddy for sure, and fans are giddy. Um, you got a
bunch of you know, fans of other teams who are not so giddy doing
the same stupid things. Yeah, he's just stupid, Steve. You know
he Oh, he's gonna suck, or he'll be there a couple of years
and he's gonna transfer it. He's gonna be find out. It's a horrible
place to be. Uh, you know, I hope he gets hurt,
you know, I mean from all of that, it's like, you know,
what if that's your life to crap on an eighteen year old kid or
seventeen year old kid, ever old he is because of a college decision he
made, if it's your life to say I hope he gets injured, or
there was one said he's gonna he's gonna suck and he's gonna end up homeless
and two sons. Really that's where you that's where your life is, right,
that's where you're liking And I'm like, man, and how bad do
you have? How bad things have to be for you to be that guy?
Very bad? But look, you know what, and you know,
Arizona it all levels and as a program in general, it's always been the
place that it's hard to have good things, right, you get some good
things, then they they're good for a while, then they go away.
You know, you gotta you get a player like Mike Chasca Parade all America.
He gets hurt and never materializes. Um, you know, you have
a kid like Rodney Pete grew up here in town, play Little League baseball,
YadA, ya YadA, and he goes off to USC and then comes
here and kicks your ass. You know. Um, you know some of
those other guys that have left from here. You know, fortunately Arizona didn't
ever have to play be Jean Robinson. But you know it's hard for it's
hard for us in Tucson as Arizona fans to have good things. And so
for Arizona to get something like this, you know, people are gonna be
getty and they're gonna be excited and they and they deserve to be And uh
yeah, a lot still has to he still has to get here and he
still has to be good. I don't know how to ask this question because
I've been here thirty five years and I love this place that I really had
a chance to leave, but I didn't. I like this town. Maybe
the callers can help me with this, and you j you've never left.
Um. You talk about Tuson being what it is, right, it's not
La, but I don't want to be La. Right, it's not doubts
anything, want to be what makes this place special that people don't really gift,
if that makes any sense, because there are other cities that are nice.
No, from the outside, you see, the Tucson is Phoenix's baby
brother. M it's hot as hell, will always be right, it's hot
as hell. It's in the desert, it's near the border. But there's
a butt, there's there's a lot of puts there. Yet you know,
you come here, you spend to spend a little time here, spend a
weekend. You know, because Richard talked about this, this is not a
destination place. You get here, right, go come come here, spend
a week here, you know, go to some restaurants, do some stuff,
play some golf whatever. Go to the mountains, right, you know,
you know, go up. You know it's one hundred and ten degrees
down here. You go up to Mount Lemon, It's it's eighty degrees and
it's nice. You experienced the things that matter to us, and then you
go, wait a minute, you know there's something here, right right,
you know, come come in here, come here in March or April?
Are you kidding me? Right right, right, right right, because you
can't compare it to Austin and maybe you can into college town. Yeah,
but Austin has its thing. Uh, Boulder has its thing, right,
you know what I'm saying. You know how many times Ricky Ricky Hunley told
us the story about how he flew in here from Pennsylvania and he got here,
you know, on a nice winter day, and he said, I'm
coming here. This is where I'm coming. Yeah, you know that's you
know, that's what we're talking about. Somebody who comes here and has an
appreciation for that stuff. And okay, okay, So then you say,
well, I can't playing in Arizona. But you know, and I still
remember rich Rod's press conference. He's you know, he said why not us?
Why not us? And and you know he got close, but you
know it didn't sustain it. But you know, it's a place that you
can come and do things. Okay. So I got I got some people
texting me a couple of things from us. One of the reasons it's a
small, big town. I think that's the best thing that because you know,
I was just feelings over the weekend and it's only all almost cost um
uh five six degrees hotter, and you feel it. You feel it,
and it's not comfortable. There's like nowhere to go to cool off. I
went to the ball mild winters. Okay, no traffic like the big cities.
People will bitch about it, but it's not like we bitch about our
traffic. But you know what you tell anybody in La you can get anywhere
in town in half an hour and they're gonna go all take that right.
And of course good food, good arts, and there's entertainment and if you
guess what if you don't like it or same here, you go and you
come back. If you want to go to the beach, you go to
San Diego, you go down to Rocky Point. You know it's not that
expensive, right, It's not a good So you know that's why I asked
the question. It's not San Antonio because it has a lot of the same
things. It's not Albuquerque. Albuque has a lot of the same things,
but it has but it's not too soon, say, you know, I
mean I traveled around a little bit. You know, governing sports mostly.
You know, went to Denver when all the pactof Cities went to Denver,
went to Miami, went to you know, Illinois, went to DC.
UH, went to these places, and always with an eye because I was
a journalist, always with an ie what I want to live here? And
the only two places that I thought I could live were Denver and San Diego,
all right, even Seattle. I really like Seattle, but for a
lot of the gloominess of it. You know, I think I did the
I did the count one time. I think I I spent fourteen days there
all right, covering various stuff, and I think I saw the sun twice.
Yeah, it's like that that. You know, I'm from Tucson.
That I can't I can't do that. You know. I love the Bay
Area, right, take me to Scoma's every day over there, fisherman's work,
you know. But I would never live in San Francisco or in the
Bay. I would never live in La Yeah. I don't know how Willard
Willard does it, but you know I would never live in Vegas. Yeah
right, No, no, you would be you would live that Longe,
right, you know. And and I'm the guy that thinks Eugene is would
be too small for me, and I love, but it would be too
small for me. I feel like there's not enough to do there. It's
a lot like Tucson, it is, but it's a great college stile.
I love. Eugene's getting rains too much, yea, and the East Coast.
You know, it's it is what it is, but there's something.
There's just something here for people. And it's the people that recognize recognize it
that have the best time. So yeah, thanks for the list, mild
winters of course and all that stuff. So yeah, but you know it's
it's, uh, I don't know, an acquired taste, right, it
is, but you have to get to you have to get here to get
that acquire right, you have to spend some time. And you'll hear people
bad mouth and say, well, two sis, it's little. It's a
hick down. You know, it's hill billies and horses, and you know
what, just come here and check it out. I don't know those people.
Horses, I don't even know those people. Even they think of two
sons, they think of old two songs, right, you know, dirt
streets and uh that exactly exactly know they probably do. Yeah, and especially
with the things that have happened in this town over the last few years.
You know, you go downtown, man, there's stuff happening down there.
You know, it's it's some very cool stuff. It's fine. I ran
into a lady whatever last trip I was on, and I had my backpack
on, and it had an Arizona stick around the back and uh or an
Arizona luggage tag on the back, and and the lady goes, oh,
yeah, you still live there. So when was the last time you were
there? She says, two thousand and eight. I said, it's a
lot different. Yeah, it's a lot different. Yes, I said.
She goes, well, you know, we had a really dead downtown and
said, downtown is different. You come to two son, I said,
you, if you liked it there, just come and check it out and
you'll see it. Come back. Yeah, just don't come back now.
Yeah, and don't stay. No, I'm just kidding. That's part of
the part. Well, that's a part of the thing. You know.
We have a lot of people who say, yeah, come and check it
out, but those still don't stay. We don't we don't want you here
for long, which is dumb. But you know it's it's uh, I
don't know. I just feel like you know, you we're a place it's
always fighting to it. Like, as I say, have good things.
So when you get a good thing like this happened, you know, you
get really excited about it. If Notre Dame had gotten Elijah Rushing, it
had gone great, we got another guy, you know. If Oregon got
him, great, we got another guy. I saw the list Oregon.
Uh, somebody put up a list of four and five star recruits this year.
Oregon and USC both have twelve. Elijah Russian would have been just another
guy. Right. No, No, that's a that's a good point,
right, because you're right. That's the funny thing. It's like when love
Love came from North Carolina here and everybody was happy and me, mister mister
negative or mister different Downer, Debbie Downer, everyone's all happy. And I
get that. I'm happy for Tommy and the group. Uh. And I
said, well, North Carolina wasn't too sad, and seeing him go,
they got a better guard coming in. And that's how they felt, right,
That's how they felt. But Arizona had a different feeling because then he
did him right. You know exactly. I know, so I just you
know, look, and guys come here and again we find out how you
know, they come here and they stay. Hi. You're on the air
and on the ball. Well, we got about a minute. I gotta
make it quick, okay, guy, how are you guys? This is
Gabel car boys boys. We got a good recruit and today bear down Ca.
That's a little different tone than yesterday day before. I like you.
Yeah, can I can say two more things? Yeah, real question,
I've got. I've got the Oregan death. Fans are crying right now,
and there's still softys the Atlantic Ocean. And you know for a fact that
deaf fish is doing his work, unlike Kevin Sumlin to basically collect your check
and went to the bar. That's a little too much of a relation.
Thank you, Gabel. You're on top of it all right, Gabriel.
We appreciate it, man, Thank you, thanks, thanks for listening always.
Fresno's never the same without Gabriel. Your free Gabriel Friendsne's Nico. Yeah,
we love you, Gabriel. Appreciate the calls always. So yeah,
So you know again, a great a great day for for Arizona, assuming
you know he's gonna stay that the se as a listener, as a hard
commit I can't I can't think that there's gonna be much that would get him
to to, you know, after all this, to leave his brother and
leave his family somewhere else, especially after the commitment. You know, there
has to be there has to be some stuff, plenty of stuff that that
that Arizona has done to keep him here, to get him here and keep
him here so, you know, and hopefully we get to see him see
what he can do. And again, you still got another year of high
school to play for als, so we'll see what that. But you're right,
I think I'll you know, I'll go. I want to go see
him. Yeah, we'll see what this kid looks at the South Point Miranda
game that opening the game that that Eric Rodgers talking about. That's a huge
game. You know, Mirandos are really damn good. It'll be fun to
go and see a game and see what's going to check that out. Okay,
all right, let's take our break. When come back top of the
hour breaking news. Uh, because we've been so busy with this, I
don't know how much we've got. But there's a couple of things out there,
so stick around for that, and then we're gonna have uh Mad Mordano,
who is going to commit from H Rivals, talk to us about what
some of this night mean as well, so stick around.