Speaker 1: This is something special for you.
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You's always here on your Utai ESBN Radio Network of Friday,
January nine edition of Cougar Sports.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you tuning in, chiming in.
Speaker 3: W'erever gonna be tuning in and chiming in from on
this beautiful Friday afternoon afternoon along the Wasatch Front.
Speaker 1: It is truly glorious. It is beautiful. I put the
trash cans.
Speaker 3: Away this morning, and the sunrise was coming up over
that eastern washsat Front. And I sometimes when I am
in the mood for the beauty of the earth, for
the beauty of the earth, I'll take a stroll around
the Coulda sac and go nice and slow. Sometimes I
bet you Ronnie's seen me do it before, and I'll
just have a long, hard look at American four Canyon
and just take it all in. And I'll sometimes take
a picture on posting and I just get overwhelmed with
gratitude for living here in the great State of Utahs
and Arizona.
Speaker 1: Boy, I did not have the mountains. I did not
have the mountains growing up.
Speaker 3: I had a lot of hot you know, summers and
fantastic winters down there. Not a whole lot of snow, obviously,
just the the frost sometimes on the grass. They're in
the great State of Arizona. But truly a beautiful site
this morning and into this afternoon. As we've got beautiful snow, we.
Speaker 1: Got moisture, baby. And as we know here along the
Watah Front.
Speaker 3: Our pioneers, our forefathers, they have prayed for moisture since
the beginning of this, this inception, this when since Brigham said,
this is the place we've been praying for the moisture and.
Speaker 1: We finally got some here in the valley. So appreciate
the moisture. Grateful for the moisture, grateful for the beauty.
We got a fantastic show. If you're grateful for Cougarnation,
tune it in today, and grateful for all of these
Cougars not only committing to be retained on the roster,
but cougars now that are committing to BYU from other schools.
Speaker 3: We're gonna delve into all the mixecraties, all the news
and notes coming out of Brigham. Make sure you keep
us tuned in on that one oh three nine FM
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Speaker 1: And also, I know a lot of you guys.
Speaker 3: You guys, put your kiddos to bed, put your eternal
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Speaker 1: Got a fantastic show for you.
Speaker 3: Let's fire up ESPN the fans starting live up and
I can introduce you to my coach and the rest
of the star Start of Guts Jointing is for a
Friday January night, the edition of Cougar Sports coming in
hot with all manner of hot takes and commentary. Ronald
the three man weaver behind the glass in Salt Lake City.
Speaker 1: What's up, Roddy up?
Speaker 4: Yes, Ben, I have definitely seen you taking the walks.
Speaker 1: It is glorious.
Speaker 4: The wife and myself have also taking the walk as well.
I was a little nippy, but she's gotta put your
big coat on, which I see you doing. But the
summer is really when it's the best, right and watching
that sunset and then getting up early at sunrise, you
can't beat it. So you haven't had the chance to
watch it over American four cannon and.
Speaker 1: Go up it.
Speaker 4: I invite you to because yes, in Chicago we have
a lake, but we don't have mountains.
Speaker 1: No you don't. You see.
Speaker 3: You gotta enjoy the beauty of the earth around the
Wazasz Front. And I appreciate Rodney showing up, showing out
today for a Friday.
Speaker 1: Edition Cougar Sports.
Speaker 3: This also welcome to that show, Brett always bringing the
hammer Hammertime show.
Speaker 1: What's up? Hammertime? Ben had some breaking news. I love.
Do we need the breaking news? Yes? You know what
Ronald hit the breaking news. I can almost guarantee that
by you will in the.
Speaker 3: Playoffs going to you, Yes, all right, Breaking news Bronchi
by Ortho, Frozen Utah and American Morgan hitush up today
if you need any orthopedic or sports medicine device use
or frozenne dot com Bren what's the breaking news?
Speaker 1: Heather Dinnich this morning on Get Up on ESPN. My
sense in talking to sources is there's more momentum now
more than ever to go to a sixteen team field,
possibly as soon as twenty twenty six, if SEC Commissioner
Greg Sanki and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Pazziti can agree
to it, and right now that stalemate still exists. Those
two men have the bulk of control over the future format.
The deadline is at the end of the month in
order to change it if they are going to If
they cannot agree, it will stay at twelve for now. However,
what do we know sitting here on a Friday morning.
We are in a third straight year where the Sea
yes excluded for the National Championship, which means Greg Sankie
is sitting how in the world am I gonna get
more teams? Into the national Championship. Well, so even when
I had five teams, I still couldn't dominate the Arsenal Championship.
So now I have to move the playoff to sixteen
teams so that I can have a better chance. Heather Dnich,
who was basically the unofficial spokesperson for the Collegetball Playoff Committe,
is saying there is more momentum now than ever to
move this thing to sixteen teams, which, if you'll remember,
that would have been good enough for bou to get
into the playoff this year and would have been good
enough for them to get in last year. So BYU,
good news for them and anybody else really, who's in
college football who's been snubbed because the SEC has a
stranglehold on this committee.
Speaker 5: Texas, Michigan, USC being That's all I can think of.
They just want to keep extending they've been to fit
their narrative. But it ain't gonna happen. It ain't gonna happen. Well,
it's gonna be expanded. Yeah, yeah, there's no doubt. I
remember this was December sixth, just about a month ago.
Greg Sankey went on to the SEC network.
Speaker 3: Okay, and you know they got five in which was
completely a worst half, so stupid.
Speaker 1: And he said this, this is so, this shows you
just how how corrupt. How it's either corruption or it's
just incompetence, Like it's one of the two.
Speaker 3: Like you're either like you're either part of that cartel
and you're like, I will not give up my power.
I will not give up my my oly gopical power, right,
my cartel, my cabal power, or you know you're just
you know, incompetent.
Speaker 1: And you tell me which one of this is. I
don't know.
Speaker 3: He was asking not for five, not for six, but
for seven teams to be included in the College Football Playoff.
Listen to him as he pontificates on this with Marty
and McGee.
Speaker 6: I think we'll see a quality football game with two
teams and how high quality wins.
Speaker 1: One of them actually won a game.
Speaker 6: The best win on the record this year is Alabama's
win over Georgia at Georgia, the third ranked team in
the nation. Because one and two have no losses, so
I focus on the opportunity and I think their participation
in the College Football Playoff is clear, but we're gonna
have to see what happens today. I actually think we
deserve seven in. I think the seven teams that are
in the top fourteen, half of the top top fourteen
teams are from the SEC. That's an indication that this
league is different. The expectations are different, the competition is different,
and the rewards should respect.
Speaker 1: Each of those elements. It just means more in the SEC,
more cheating, more ways to just keep it in house
is what they want.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, they're going to be pretty aggressive in the
expansions that they can continue to get five teams in.
But you hope that the data right. You hope that
the bowl games right that where they have to face
a power for football team that over the last three years,
you pull the data from the last three years, it
doesn't look too good for the SEC. Yes they have
fallen from grace. Yes they still have good football teams. Obviously,
Ole Miss did not get blown out by Miami. Miami
barely got into the College Football Playoff, though barely by
the skin of their teeth, all because Duke. They wouldn't
be in realize Miami would not be in the College
Football Playoff had Virginia beat Duke, and that was a
close one by the skin of their teeth.
Speaker 1: They beat Virginia, so take it for what it is worth.
Speaker 3: Obviously, Miami is a really good football team, very talented
football team.
Speaker 1: And well coached by coach Crystal Ball.
Speaker 3: But when you take all the data into account, it's
hard to make any positive argument for the SEC getting
more than like three teams in this year, more than
three teams in who should have been left out? Should
Oklahoma and Alabama have been left out as an eight
to nine seed? Did Oklahoma deserve to be in?
Speaker 1: Alabama definitely deserve to be in because they beat Georgia
and they played in the conference championship. All time, all time, Alabama,
there's no one who hates Alabama more on this planet
than you are, an SEC guy. You grew up in
the SEC. True, But if it's if it's between rooting
for the SEC or rooting against Alabama, I will root
against Alabama. They ruined my childhood and my adulthood. I
hate Alabama more than any single person on the face
of planet Earth. Alabama deserves to get in because they
played in the conference championship. I mean they deserve to
get more than Miami, because again, Miami was not even
good enough to play in a conference championship that had
Duke in Virginia. So do with that? Which will I mean,
obviously Miami's proving that they're good enough now, but if
we're talk about who should, the problem is the system
is not really set up perfectly. Which yeah, it's like
our third year of our second year of doing a
twelve team, so like, yeah, we'll get better at it.
But it's not a perfect system, right, Yeah, you want.
Speaker 3: To give the competitive advantage to those that won football
games in the regular season, and they get to play
on their home field too, not in neutral settings, et cetera.
Unless you're gonna go tournament style right with regions, and
you're gonna be playing like in Orlando and in in
Vegas for like a tournament style like a morning game,
afternoon game, etcetera. So it would be cool because then
you can buy a ticket and probably get into both games.
Speaker 1: It would be pretty cool. It'd be a pretty cool thing.
Speaker 3: But let me give you a little breakdown here before
we welcome in everybody else to the show. Conference Bowl
records through Fiesta Bowl. Now, the ACC is nine and four,
the Big Ten is nine and four. The conference you
essays four and three, America is five and four, Big
twelve is four and four. I believe MAC is two
and three, SUNBLT four and six. SEC is four and ten,
and by the way, one of those was against themselves.
I believe that they got to win Mountain West two
and five. College fotball playoff records ACC three and oh
shout out to Miami Big ten three and one, SEC
three and five. American is on one, Big twelve oh one,
Sun Belt own one two wins and losses in SEC
versus SEC games. So that's kind of where we stand
right now. And yes, the SEC has fallen from grace
and it is great to see everyone coming to the
realization that I came to well over a year ago
when I started to tell you, look, the SEC wants
to expand and just play themselves.
Speaker 1: They're they're expanding in this.
Speaker 3: They're trying to justify just playing themselves so that they
can ultimately get it more teams into the playoff off
of the brand equity build over the last twenty five
thirty years.
Speaker 1: That's what they're doing. That's what they're doing, and that
is their intent. That is it and they're saying, well,
we produce this many championships and we've produced this many
NFL guys and YadA, YadA, YadA.
Speaker 3: But that was built off of, as I told you yesterday,
car dealerships in the South, that we're willing to pay
what a low six figure income to these individuals.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
Speaker 3: A five figure income for a defensive end in the
SEC at the time over the last twenty five years.
Speaker 1: That's how they did it, guys, and no one else
was able to do it.
Speaker 3: Maybe we just couldn't figure out. Maybe we like to
abide by rules. Maybe there was there were certain things
that we weren't privy to in the bag Man liquid
cash game, and.
Speaker 1: Or maybe the NCAA and the power brokers in the
ESPN to find no one wanted to be a whistleblower
in all of it. Anyway, We don't know everything of
why it happened, but we do know that it happened,
and we will not allow We will not sit by
and allow the SEC to leverage anymore going forward, their
brand equity that they build through Bagman in the South,
through car dealerships.
Speaker 3: Over the last twenty five years. I'm telling you we're
not no more. We're taking a stint shoot even Johnny Manziel.
Do you remember his conversation with coach Kevin Sumlin. Kevin,
Someone's like, hey, we're gonna find a way to pay you.
Speaker 1: Was it a milli?
Speaker 3: It might have been a million to get per Johnny
Manziel to retain him for an addition here rather than
going to the NFL. I don't know if you remember that.
He went on record in his documentary about that. At
any rate, we got a great show for you.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned.
Speaker 3: We're gonna get delve into all the BYU commentary today.
It's gonna be fantastic, gonna Gloriou's gonna be wonderful. Make
sure you're keeping us dialed in on your one of
the three nine ninety eight point three f M Dow.
We're gonna get into k y uh sound here we are?
We are we doing Kevin Young? Oh, we're gonna okay,
We're okay, We're getting into Walker Lions commentary here in
the in the nitty gritty, So we'll get to that
here momentarily. We'll welcome in Lane Allo of Game Day
Menchell for a little insider report. Uh anyway, Casey Lund
quiz Will Snowden gonna be joining us from Alpha recruits
Blaine Anderson and Tiger Bachmeier on the back end. All
that and we're here on your Utah ESPN Radio network.
Let's get into the nitty gritty brought to you by
our good friends at Complete Circuit Electric, Complete Circuit Electric
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Taylor today. He's going to do it right. All right,
let's get into some nitty gritty Walker Lions who had
been prognosticated promulgated as a one hundred crystal ball to BYU,
the four star tight end out of USC. He's coming
to Brigham Young University. Uh, tight end you at BYU
is back in.
Speaker 1: Business, Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 3: Carson Ryan had a fantastic season. Carson Ryan statistically had
his best season of his career. He's gonna get a
chance in the NFL now. The six foot four and
fifty pounder ended up tallying forty five receptions, six hundred
and twenty yards thirteen point eight yards per.
Speaker 1: Reception, and three touchdowns.
Speaker 3: And he was on the field a lot, blocking, multifastted,
wholelistic human being on and off the football field. Carson
Ryan transformed the BYU offense and BYU as an entity,
as a football program, as a university.
Speaker 1: I think transformed Carson as well.
Speaker 3: And he wished probably he came to BYU a little
bit sooner, and we wish he would have been at
BYU sooner as well. Walker Lion's gonna follow in his
foot footsteps. And remember Carson Ryan up to that point,
before arriving at BYU, had accumulated roughly the same amount
just slightly.
Speaker 1: Less, okay, like thirty receptions, five.
Speaker 3: Hundred or so yards, maybe a little less than that,
and four touchdowns in his career, kind of similar to
where Walker Lions is coming from at USC prior to
his arrival at BYU six foot four, two forty.
Speaker 1: Five, that looks similar.
Speaker 3: Right at USC, the fourth Star has tally checked us
out twenty six receptions, two hundred and fifty nine yards,
ten yards per reception, and two touchdowns, so slightly less
than what Carson had had aggregated in his career leading
up to his jump to b YU. I foresee the
same similar If Walker can block, if he's willing to
put that hand in the dirt and be a full
fledged Okay, multifaceted tight end, in line, in flex, then
he's gonna see the field and he's gonna have equivalency
of productivity. You gotta be willing. Everyone gets on a
rod about, you know, utilize the tight end. Guys, pull
the stats. He used Isaac, especially when Isaac was helthy,
Isaac Rex healthy, Isaac Rex before the ankle injury. That
dude was getting targeted. That dude was on the field
a lot, getting a lot of targets. But like everyone said,
well the Dallen Hooker didn't get enough targets, didn't get
I get it.
Speaker 1: He transferred, He went to Colorado State, went to the
NFL for a season. Now he's retired.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would have loved to have maintained, retained Dallan
Hooker tremendous talent.
Speaker 1: I get it.
Speaker 3: But when you're healthy and you're willing to do both roles,
block and run routes. If you can be in line
and flex, if you can stock block, you can block
defensive ends, Okay, then you're gonna see.
Speaker 1: The field a lot.
Speaker 3: In this offense, you're gonna be targeted, just like Carson
Ryan was, Just like Isaac Rex was when he was
prior to his injury. So guys, your reaction Brent always
bringing the hammer hammer time.
Speaker 1: Walker Lions, the four star.
Speaker 3: Tight end, the brother of Ryder Lions, Brider Lions, is committed.
He's been called to serve. He's gonna be serving one
year LDS mission before returning. He wants to throw some
tuddies to his brother Walker and hopefully he gets that opportunity.
Speaker 1: I just want the tight end at bou to be
great again. It is great, And let me let me preface,
I love Carson Ryan. There is nothing I wouldn't do
to storm the NCAA headquarters and find a way to
get Carson Ryan another year. I'm so bummed that we
only got one year with him and that clearly UCLA
and Utah missed out on what they had. And I
just I think back to the Isaac Rex times when
like you knew you were just gonna have big, mean
machine at the tight end position, the gazelle just running
down the field making one hand catches against Arkansas, and
I missed going into the offseason knowing, man, we got
a bad at tight end and we have some great
guys in the room, but we don't have a star
at the tight end position. Then we get to look
forward to next year, and I'm hoping that that gets
to be Walker Lions again, guy coming from this other
California school to Byu, who's gonna have an even better
year in his first year at BOU than he did
the year before. Similar to what ul line with Carson Ryan,
it would be awesome to see Walker Lions do that.
It would be even cooler for a couple of years
down the line. Rider and Walker get to have that connection,
which that would be pretty unreal to go from Bear
Bachmeyer to a Tiger Meyer Bachmeyer connection, to a Rider
Lions to a Walker Lions connection. I just thought about
that right now. That would be pretty sweet. Just brothers
playing ball. That'd be a pretty unreal connection. But I
like Romney, Oh yeah, yeah, that's true. The brothers be
catching passes from one another. What I love about this
most though, and Ron and I had this conversation. You
almost had Jaren Hall to It was close. What I
am hoping for Byu is that like serious upgrade I
think offensively, I don't know that. I if I think
about offense and defense in which one I feel like
needs more of an upgrade, I think defense will be okay,
especially when you talk about all the guys that are
coming back. You got guys coming through in the recruiting class,
like boy is gonna be great. I'm sure they'll land
a couple splash transfers, but to me, your splash transfer
needs to come in the BYU pass game. Run game.
I think will be fine as well. Bear Bachmeyer, l J. Martin,
Devon Ekka, and maybe you get a guy in the portal.
But I felt like last year, especially in those Texas
Tech games, as awesome and as Parker and Chase were,
you felt like if they had had one more piece
in that pass game, that that was somewhere that they
felt like if they had that, they would be up
a whole o their tier in college football. So I
love that our first two commits in the transfer portal
are a wide receiver and a tight end, and hopefully
long term the tight end great again at you AU,
I'd love to see it. Next year. You'll have I
believe Anthony Olsen there.
Speaker 3: You'll have Will Sundell, You'll have Noah Muayaki, Cole Clement,
and Kean Need maybe Jacob and I will see if
there's any any mix ups there.
Speaker 1: Ethan Wood will also be in the mix. Obviously.
Speaker 3: Walker Lions will be an air apparent to the Y
one tight end one position right there next to Key
and ned Ken needs a really good blocking tight end
and he has some ability as well. The new Mexico transfer.
But another guy coming off of mission, Matthew Frederick. Maybe
keep an eye on him. How good will he be?
Is he a guy that can come off a mission
and play for BYU? I want to say he committed
back in twenty twenty two and signed in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: I gotta get an update on him.
Speaker 3: I don't know where he's at right now, but I'm like, hey,
is he going to be coming back anyway? We'll try
to keep an eye on that and maybe do a
little bit of due diligence that on him. But the
tight end is back, baby, Walker Lions is back. BYU
has signed USC tight end transfer Walker Lions, and multiple
sources have confirmed was a part of the twenty twenty
three class. He was a top one hundred and fifteen
overall recruit, had twenty catches and two touchdowns for the
Trojans this past season. Can't wait to see what Walker
Lions can do at BYU, and hopefully he can connect
with Ryder after his mission. I think the idealic thing,
right is, can Bear Bachmeyer be a two season and
done go to the NFL? Do you think he's that guy?
Do you think Bear is built to be a two
season quarterback in order to open up that opportunity for
Ryder and Walker to be able to connect on the
football field, brother to brother, keeping it in the family.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think so. And that's not like
a that's not a shot at Bear. I just think
ideally what happens is Ryder comes home from a mission,
hangs out for a year, learns everything, and then plays. However,
in the world of college athletics in which we now live,
everybody wants to play as a freshman, especially those top
one hundred guys. So how that plays out, I don't know.
Maybe Ryder comes in and is somehow better that I don't.
I don't know how that thing works out. It's a problem,
I or not really a problem, but a situation. I
don't really want to think too much about it until
I don't want to cross that bridge until we come
to it. But yeah, it could be interesting to see
how bear does especially in your two Let's go to break.
Speaker 3: That's your nitty gritty Walker Lions four star tight end
transferm USC's coming.
Speaker 1: To BYU, the brother of Rider Lions.
Speaker 3: That nitty gritty segment was brought to you by Complete
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Com mentioned I sent you when you call him, We're
gonna go to break. Coming up next, more Cougar sports
knowledge being dropped. I knew this is Cougar Sports on
one O three nine ninety eight point three.
Speaker 2: Is just like the Cougar football team. Ben Krittle was built,
not born, and since two thousand and nineties built himself
into the go to source on the radio and online
for all things Cougars This is Cougar's Sports with Ben
Krittle on.
Speaker 1: One three, nine ninety eight three ESPN The Fan.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Buddy, Cougar Nation, right of the Valkyries, Baby, Richard
Wagner bringing.
Speaker 1: Us back from the break. I feel like we're we're
engaging in a new era of BYU football. Just signed
a receiver commitment from a four star.
Speaker 3: The best recruiting we've done is the retention, the retention
of our roster, the retention of our culture, the retention
of our coaching staff minus j Hill in general and losses,
no doubt, but I think we retained a lot and
uh retaining Gary Anderson, Kellip Papinga and that defensive staff.
Speaker 1: We're gonna hire from within.
Speaker 3: We're gonna get into some soundbites from Kelly Papinga later on,
he caught up with Big Sports Nation. A couple of things,
A couple of gems he put out there are that
Evan Johnson should be coming back.
Speaker 1: We'll get him signed, He'll delivered. Figures crossed would be great.
Speaker 3: Like my hope is that Wesley Johnson is retained as
either an analyst or a graduate assistant, that is, the
brother of Evan Johnson on the staff.
Speaker 1: And that would be a boon for BYU.
Speaker 3: Still to be determined who your Safety's coach is going
to be working alongside Tomorio Warren.
Speaker 1: There's plenty of candidates out there.
Speaker 3: Kelly Papinga stated he had over almost like two hundred
text messages from coaches wanting to apply to coach at BYU.
There's interest goalore at coaching at BYU.
Speaker 1: So we're riding. We're riding baby right at the Valkyries.
Richard von Wagner.
Speaker 3: Richard Wagner is the band of the day and Orders
of the day brought to you by our good friends
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Speaker 3: I like the VP products, VFP ser VFP discounts of
all of our sponsors. Take advantage of the ten percent
off at Royal Army dot com. Couple of questions I've
posed to cougarnation. So if if your entire roster, like
your key position players are all retained. Does that get
you more hyped than any acquisition? You know, name an
acquisition that you want right now?
Speaker 1: Right? Who do you want? Right?
Speaker 3: There's been a Michigan quarterback that has been listed as
a He's gonna take a visit to BYU, right. Is
there an acquisition that's gonna get you more hyped, more
amped than the retention.
Speaker 1: I'd like Dylan Edwards. It's not really feasible or possible
because there's no way he wants to come and be
Robin to LJS Batman. But I would like a nothing back. Yeah,
i'd like I'd like a running back or like well,
the other one i'd really like, again not gonna happen.
I'd love Auburn's Cam Coleman as like just a bona
fide best receiver in the country. But to your question,
the answer should be no. There should be no acquisition
that gets you as excited as retaining all of your players. However,
what you have to understand is we live in a
mean not We we live in a instant gratification type
of world where the news on social media of who
you're picking up in the portal and who you're picking
up recruiting wise, is just frankly a higher dopamine rush
than finding out that all your guys are coming back.
I do think, however, the story of BYU able to
retain all of these individuals, I think, frankly it's the
story of the year right now in the transfer portal
in college football, because you don't see this at any
other program, especially when you have guys who not only
are avoiding going into the portal, there are guys avoiding
going to the NFL. And so it's just pretty unreal
to see all of these guys retained and come back,
and maybe BYU fans feel like, no, this is just
the norm, because BYU is different, but in a weird way.
This also, this almost ties my brain back to when
AJ says going to BYU is more than just about money.
I look at this and I say, you can't tell
me Isaiah Glaster is not being offered by somebody to
hop in the portal. You can't tell me LJ. Martin
is not being offered by somebody to hop into the portal.
And so it really makes you believe that conversation that
it's more about money, because if it was just about
the money. There's plenty of schools who want to go
after guys like Isaiah and guys like LJ and probably
even guys like Bear. The fact that BYU has been
able to retain all of these players, I mean, that's
the story. To me, that's a bigger story than all
of the acquisitions Texas Tech has. That is the biggest
story in the Big twelve in my opinion. It shows
that BYU's built a little bit different. Now.
Speaker 3: I do think Texas Tech, it has a really good culture.
Tell oh yeah, it's a football culture. It's a meritocracy,
it's a faith, family football type of culture. Is the
Texas you know, a true Texas, the non entitled Texas culture,
right like Texas is Hollywood, you t's Hollywood, and it
has been. There's a reason why they have not been
successful until Sark took it over, right because he brought
in a little bit of what he learned in USC
and the follies of it at you dumb, he learned
a lot from Saban, you know, taking that with him.
It's not an entitled culture there right now at Texas.
But I would say Texas Tech really embodies encapsulates the
high school football culture, the faith family football of Texas
that allows you to have continuity, chemistry and good, healthy,
strong culture in a traditional sense.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
Speaker 3: Where yes, they are paying guys, They're they're definitely paying guys,
but they've been pretty strategic about who they're willing to
pay right, who they're willing to pay and who they're
They're they're gonna be strategic and very particularly.
Speaker 1: About who they want to bring in.
Speaker 3: Out of all the players that have been retained thus
far on Biway's roster, who who are you most amped about?
Is it Bear?
Speaker 1: Is it lj Is it Isaiah Glasker? Will it be
schmev Right?
Speaker 3: Like these most irreplaceable players, Like even losing like a
guy like Bruce Mitchell could have been pretty devastating to eyu,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Who do you got and why? Yeah? I I think
Trey Alexander deserves a lot of credit, Like he deserves
to be on this list, and the reason he deserves
on the list. I'm sure there's a lot of people wondering,
why wouldn't you say Aljier or Isaiah? The reason Trey
deserves to be on the list is because of something
Kelly Popinga told Spencer and Jerema's Sports Nation today, which
is the second Jay Hill left Trey, Alexander texted coach
Popinga and he said, don't worry, coach, I'm not going anywhere,
and I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure
none of these guys are leaving. Nobody's going, We're all staying.
We're all coming back next year. Trey was actively recruiting
everybody on this team. Now, where any of those guys
are gonna leave anyway, I don't know, but Trey deserves
a lot of credit for do the recruiting, to ask
all of these guys to say, and then then after that,
I think it probably comes down to LJ or Isaiah.
And the only reason I say that is because there
was no part of me that ever thought bear Bachmeier
was hitting the portal like. I don't think that guy
gives a rip about anything that's not ball, and I
don't think he cares about who's trying to get him
to go to another school. He doesn't care about the portal.
I'm shocked he even said that he was coming back,
but he is, and we're grateful. Honestly, to me, I
think it's Isaiah Glasker only because a linebacker who can
move as fast as he can move, who can rush
the way that he can rush, and who can just
do everything on defense basically is so rare. It would
be an unbelievable talent in the NFL. For Isaiah Glasger
to come back is huge, especially because where would you
you have good line but without Isaiah and without Jack,
you'd be in a really rough spot. I think for me,
it's it's it's a big deal for Isaiah Glasser coming back.
Speaker 3: Vic Are you want to chime in on this, because
I mean, you keep on acting, keep acting like you're
gonna talk to me, but then you don't have a
microphone in front of your face.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I gotta go with l J.
Speaker 7: Come on, I mean, you take away LJ from that offense,
and right now, who you have on the on the squad,
you don't really have anybody that's gonna come in there
and and protect Bear. When I say protect Bear, obviously
he's gonna open up the passing game. Like I mean
when I when I heard he's coming back, it's.
Speaker 1: Just they're top ten. Yeah, they're top ten. Well you
do see the.
Speaker 3: The fact that LJ was not available in that Georgia
Tech game, and that uh that bear Bachmeyer was limited
with that high ankle spray and on his left leg,
you didn't really have much red zone running ability. You
brought in McKay you thought he could maybe get off tackle.
By the way, McKay hill said, has committed to Utah State.
Who's running back. That's a that's a good choice for him.
That's a really good choice for him. He's gonna go
be the starter there, no doubt about it. And he
gets to stay home, he gets to stay close to
family and uh probably create a legacy there, like you know,
the prodigal son is returned. By the way, Isaac Wilson
backup quarterback at the University of Utah one. We're starting
quarterback just a season ago under coach Ludwig. He's committed
to the University of Colorado coach Prime. So some two
guys that have similar skill sets going to uh, you know,
two schools that are are close to the Great State
or where they were before, like Utah, Uh not too
far away from Boulder right now, Salt Lake City not
too far away from Boulder anyway. So your your reviewing.
You know, the the retention and you gotta be hyped
like like as I'm looking at the totality abuse, like
obviously Bear and LJ if they were to leave, if
they had not come back, I don't know. I think
some people would have been perfectly fine if LJ went
to the NFL, like, hey, it sucks, right, that stinks
that we lost them. If you lost them to the Portal,
you lost them to another team, that would have really hurt.
Speaker 1: That would have been significant. It's hard to argue with
Bear or LJ.
Speaker 3: But if BYU retains Evan Johnson, a true CB one,
I'm telling you right now, it's hard to find a
true field cover corner that has NFL talent with that
so rarity. In fact, you have probably more wide receivers
that have been produced at BYU that naked in the
league and have success in the league than you do cornerbacks.
Speaker 1: Last one was Michael Davis.
Speaker 3: Michael Davis, And what's crazy about Mike is he wasn't
really that good of a corner in college. Like he
was okay, was like he became a great NFL corner
in the NFL. In the NFL because he was long,
he could run. Remember, he was like a ten to
five one hundred meter guy, similar to Evan Johnson. Now,
I think Mike maybe a little bit taller, a little
bit longer.
Speaker 1: He's probably six', Two evan's probably more like six foot six.
Speaker 3: One but to, me Retaining Evan, johnson As Kelly pepinga
mentioned that he felt like he was coming, back that
he would be retained is. Massive remember the impact That
Jacob robinson. Had Jacob robinson we've. Had we're having back
to BACK nfl corner cb one's that can play in
the league and just great play.
Speaker 1: That is, unique that is difficult to do every.
Speaker 3: Way and you got to give credit obviously To, Gennaro
there's no doubt about. That you, go you want to
give credit To gennaro because he's been there since twenty,
sixteen has been a part of the lives of some
of these cornerbacks that have balled out For. Brigham but,
remember if they're retained and they want to be a
part OF, byu you GOTTA byu as an.
Speaker 1: Institution.
Speaker 3: Credit you gotta Give kilate a ton of. Credit you
gotta Give Kelly pepinga a ton of. Credit, THERE i
get hyped About Evan johnson. RETURNING i can't wait for
that to happen because that changes the way you play.
Defense Kelly pepinga IS q AND a With jerem And
spencer mentioned that one of the benefits of playing or
coaching With Jay hill was that he learned a lot about.
Speaker 1: Man, free which is single high safety and then cover.
Speaker 3: Three so the reason why this is important, is you,
know you get a three high look after the, snap
you can disguise. Things these Are these ARE i call
them pairing. Coverages cover, Two cover, four And cover six
are pairing. Coverages and what that means is you can
show a pre snap read and roll into any one
of those. Three in A cover three And cover, one
you can show either one of those pre snap and
roll into the. Other so it's it's under the guise
of it's it looks it seems, complex but it's. Simplistic
you just have to roll into, it give a pre
snap look and then roll into. It you can play off.
Man you can show a three high look and play off.
Man you can you can show A cover one look
and bail Into cover three if you're if you have
a good quarter, anyway What i'm saying Is it allows
you to just do more and it's not all about
just cover zero.
Speaker 1: Guys everyone's, like, yeah man man coverage all.
Speaker 3: Day, no you want to balance it out and you
want to create hesitancy of the quarterback so that they
don't know exactly What remember When Shiurr sanders came off
the field was talking with drivers AND.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going, On, LIKE i don't you,
know you have no idea like seeing. Ghosts you're seeing, ghosts,
right that's what you.
Speaker 3: Want And Evan, Johnson Jacob, robinson those are the type
of corners that are that are great football, players that
are extremely, intelligent that know how to disguise coverages and
disguise their techniques to be able to maximize efficacy on
the back end of your. Defense SO i get, HYPED
i get, lit And i'm a former, corner, RIGHT i
know exactly how difficult unless you have played the corner
position or try to cover someone that go out there
with your friends equivalency of, athleticism a friend or family
member and give them a twenty by twenty like rectangle a, square,
right like to run around and get open and see
if you can cover. Them someone that you are equivalent
in athleticism, too and they will roast you probably ninety
five percent of the.
Speaker 1: Time they're gonna be they're gonna. Win you give them
five second three to five seconds to get, open they're gonna.
Win they're they're gonna. Win and, like just go and
do it as a test because it's the most physically
athletically difficult. Position AND i believe all of sport like
everyone sayd, well no, Basketball, like, no it's, refined it's.
Speaker 3: Refined, yeah you can screen a little. BIT i understand,
that but it is so difficult to cover in open,
space is very very. Difficult when they have two way,
gos three way, goes they can go anywhere. Anyway Evan
johnson would be a huge boon FOR, byu in my,
opinion be. Massive so we'll get to that sound maybe later.
On but, uh after listening TO k, pop what were
your main takeaways from THAT q AND a with?
Speaker 1: Him just that he's. READY i had a couple of
fans reach out to me and, GO i don't know
About KELLY. Popinga he doesn't really have the, EXPERIENCE i
don't think in order to do this. JOB i, think,
frankly what a lot of fans are feeling is he's
Not Jay, hill which is. Valid he's Not Jay. Hill,
however he is a big part of this. Defense it's
not like he was working on a different project and
he's showing up at work today, Saying, hey where CAN
i feel and how CAN i help with this UNTIL
i get up to. Speed he's been on this project
for a long. Time he's been the defensive ends. Coach
and the takeaway THAT i got from the interview yesterday
was or from today was JUST K pop making me feel, Like,
hey nothing's, Changing it's gonna be. Okay and, frankly the
only REASON i would be concerned is if guys weren't coming.
Back if guys are coming, back If KEANU I, trey
if all follows, out all these guys are coming, back
not solely just because they love the mountains and they
love going To Ranch rito's down there On Center. Street
the reason they're coming back is because they know who
they're playing for and they want to play for, him
and SO K pop coming back it's a big deal
AND i feel really really good about. It he reminds
me Of Jay hill just listening to. Him, yeah he's
a players.
Speaker 7: Coach you know his personality is a lot Like, jay
but the most important is those players love.
Speaker 3: Him, Yeah viig really good. Points one of the gems
THAT i took away from that. Conversation we'll get into it.
Later AS i, mentioned but he was the. Coach when
you're the special teams, coordinator you're addressing the team.
Speaker 1: More than any other.
Speaker 3: Coach you're out in front of him because you're having
to coach up offensive and defensive. Players are creating this
all star team within, reason, right you can't take all the, players,
right you can't take all the, ones but you're kind
of creating an all start team between the offensive. Defense
who are the football, Players who are the wide receivers
that can? Block who are the Defensive who are the
wide receivers that can? Tackle who are the or who
are the defensive backs that can truly run down on
on on kickoff cover or on punt cover and make.
Speaker 1: Tackles are they just cover? Guys you know WHAT i?
Speaker 3: Mean you're you're really trying to find the linebackers that
are more than just just a gap, fillers, Right so
you have to find the right guys and they have
to be coachable and they have to have good FOOTBALL.
IQs so that was one of the things that stood
out to. Me the other component is is the retention
of the coaching. Staff he mentioned all of the defensive.
Guys obviously they picked Up Da Mario. Warreon that was
the first tire that was in a as soon as
they lost G. Right New Year's day essentially is probably
when he reached out to him, said, hey if this,
happens if g, goes you, know we were.
Speaker 1: Trying to figure out THE codc. Role didn't.
Speaker 3: Happen g went With, Jay that's, FINE i, GO i
go out and get Tomorrow, warren but cant check us out.
Speaker 1: Justin enna coming. Back, okay that's big.
Speaker 3: Time, okay you're linebackers coach and he's got coordinating. Experience
you Have Shony pouha now is the assistant head, coach
associate head, coach and you retain him as your defensive tackle.
Coach you didn't lose, him which is. Fantastic Gary, anderson
senior analyst Retained chad Ka Chad kahaha senior analysts retain
now He chad may end up being your edge. Coach
chad HAS i don't know if you've looked at his
Resume no one really talks About, chad but we Were
state defensive LINE oh, five Oh, Way Utah state defensive
line two thousand and nine to twenty, Ten utah defensive
line two thy eleven to two thousand, Twelve wisconsin defensive
line twenty thirteen to twenty, Fourteen Oregon state associate head
coach and outside linebackers coach twenty fifteen to twenty, Seventeen
Boise state defensive line twenty, EIGHTEEN usc defensive line twenty,
NINETEEN unlb defensive line twenty twenty to twenty twenty, ONE
Ucla defensive line twenty twenty. Two he's been a senior
analyst FOR bya since twenty twenty four to, Present, Guys
chad k retention is also. Big who do you think
was coaching Up Jack kelly AT byu.
Speaker 1: In his past rushing? Ability it Was CHAD k as
a senior analyst who's helping him.
Speaker 3: Out so that's big. Time it's massive in my, Opinion
so get, excited. Right those are some of the gyms
THAT i took away from The kapop, Interview and To vick's,
point the person that is most aligned if you're going
to try to look at symmetry of personality and skill
set with that Of Jay. Hill attention to detail, players
coach that loves you up as well as holding you accountable,
right can, motivate can really get after you if you
if he needs, to but with. Love phenomenal. Recruiter NEED
i remind you all the guys that That Kelly papinga
has Recruited Fred, warner k V N, Right, Spencer, Hadley Alani,
fua some of the best, linebackers and look at what
we have right now too in that in that edge,
role in that linebacker.
Speaker 1: Role, Look kelly's gonna be the right. Guy and now
it's it's now.
Speaker 3: Now the next job is for him to go out
and find a safeties coach That Demorial warren is also
in line. With So i'll probably have a running list
LIKE i did last time with the. Cornerbacks i'll try
to put that out over the. Weekend we can debate
it On, monday but over the next two to three.
Weeks that's the next strategic, hire that's the next. Go
you got to find someone That tomrio and K pop aligned.
With BUT i think a lot of these hires any
backfilling of the, positions that's gonna be internal and he
that's the other thing alluded to, loyalty, right who's bought
into our, system who's bought into what we've, Built who's
willing to work to make this the best place to
coach and to play at long term? Vision Obviously gary
has a long term vision of what he wants to
do here AT. Byu kelly's right there, Too. Kelly the
other thing that no one's talking, about you will also
about how Much kilonie LOVES, byu, right how how Much
klonie wants to be the polonies in. Lavel he doesn't
want to go. Anywhere when you're, recruiting you, know if
you're Laying, kiffin you're, LIKE i don't or going to
be next? Year you know, what who's the highest. Bidder
kilani's telling all the, RECRUITS i ain't going.
Speaker 1: Anywhere i'm gonna be here for. Everybody i'm retiring. Here.
Okay the only way that he doesn't is if what
he's not hitting quota year in a year.
Speaker 3: Out it kind of feels Like BYU's gonna be hitting
quota with everything that's being built right, Now kelly stating
is like much of the retention that you're seeing has
to do with everybody wants to play For. Kilane they
want to play for that, culture they want to play
for this locker.
Speaker 1: Room they want to play for this school because it's.
Special it's a.
Speaker 3: Great, positive like, productive synergistic locker.
Speaker 1: Room it just is so it's it's pretty special k.
Speaker 3: Pop going back to my assessment, here you don't THINK
k pop loves by you through and.
Speaker 1: Through, yeah that, man watch the Deep.
Speaker 3: BLUE k pop is, madly deeply in love with the
Byu wigh and anybody that's in sales or in, consultation
you know that you hate selling a product or a,
service or representing a, brand representative anything that does not
align with who you, are like with who you are morally,
ethically or like the.
Speaker 1: Mission of you, know the.
Speaker 3: Organization if there's, incongruency you always have this like, this
this nagging in the back of your, mind in your,
heart the paying of incongruity of your.
Speaker 1: Soul kelly doesn't have that At bway because he loves this.
School he loves the.
Speaker 3: Mission he loves every facet of, it, academically, spiritually.
Speaker 1: Football all of. It he loves the.
Speaker 3: Mission and when you can sell that and be completely
aligned with. It, bro you, Win you, win. Dude you
win when you're when you believe in your. Product and
now he gets to oversee the schematics of it, Too
so he gets to pitch that and have.
Speaker 1: A belief in, that which makes it even more, powerful
makes him the.
Speaker 7: Recruiter, exactly go out and, pitch pitch some something you. Love,
oh they can feel.
Speaker 3: It they feel, It, Bro they fill it in their,
loins in the bosom and the. Plums that's What i'm talking, about.
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