Speaker 1: Off the Bench with Jacob Hester and Matt Flynn.
Speaker 2: Okay, here we go where.
Speaker 1: The plays get broken down and science gets denied.
Speaker 3: To come off the bitch.
Speaker 1: Hour two of Off the Bench Live from the Raising
Kine Studio.
Speaker 4: Welcome in our number, our number two here Monday edition
of Off the Bench. Taylor Sharp, Alondra Villarrial Brex and
Rizzuto hanging out with you here on this Monday morning.
We talked a lot of l Shue Baseball and our
number one and rightfully so, I mean there were dominant
moments over the weekend, the three game series against Milwaukee.
They will take one the Kent State Golden Flashes tonight.
We'll recap all of that tomorrow and I speaking of
what's coming up here in the next two hours. At
eight thirty four, Relship pitcher Patrick Coogan is going to
hop on the show. We'll get his thoughts, a former
player what he saw from the Tigers in the opening weekend,
and of course of Devin Snow in our normal nine
to fifteen spot. We'll have weekend winners at nine am.
We'll get to all of it right now, though. Zach
and Naggy, who covers LSU for SI This is actually
something he put out a week ago was a graphic
of offseason workouts for your LSU Tigers and it was
broken down by position groups of their top speed and
Jabari Mack true freshman twenty two point two miles an
hour he was topped out at He was second on
the team behind Philip rad who was twenty two point seven.
I really hope Jabari Matt can be a difference player.
Like when you look at what he did, he was
a he was a big time player at Destrahan and
that's been an LSU factory for years. I mean, think
about some of the guys that came out of Destrahant.
All three of the Jefferson brothers, so Jordan, Ricky and
Justin John Emery came out of there. Glenn Logan's from there.
I mean, there's so many guys out there that you
could name that came out of desh Ran High School
that were big for this Yellowship football team. He's six one,
he hovers around two hundred pounds. He was a four
star coming out of high school. This is a guy
that if he could have a really good offseason, who knows,
I mean he can, he could potentially make an impact
right away. And I know people laughed at oh, Wayne
Kiffn's only going to bring in wide receivers. They're gonna
play seven on seven on offense. But you have thirteen
receivers between the portal, you have one returner in Philip Wright,
and you have three high school guys. Wayne Kiffin last
year played about six or seven guys that had I
think he had six hundred six guys that had four
hundred yards more receiving and no player with a thousand,
So they spread the ball around a lot.
Speaker 2: So we think about it.
Speaker 4: If you have five, five, ver six every day receivers,
you're really only too deep that point. With thirteen guys
and maybe a couple to spare, why can't Jabori Mac
be in that number. Like we know about the transfer
portal guys that are coming in, Everyone's excited about Jase Brown,
Jackson Harris was super productive at Hawaii. Winston Watkins comes
over joins Lane Kiffin after showing flashes as a freshman
last year at Old Miss. You bring in Trey Wilson
from Florida, and I get it, Like you go look
up the stats for Eugene Wilson. Nothing's going to jump
off the board at you. But he played with Graham
Mertz and DJ Lagway where his two quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna give Trey.
Speaker 4: Wilson a little bit of a pass as far as
uh not having the eye poppy numbers. He's a guy
that was a high recruit. When he got there. People
in Gainesville loved him. I mean like Chris Dorrian's raved
about him, Tebow's raved about him. I mean, anybody connected
to that Florida program has had good things to say
about Trey will I think he's gonna fit in here.
So we know Wilson, Harris, Jason Brown. I mean those
guys are going to play. We got that. But what
about the younger guys. Why can't Jabari Mac be one?
And even outside of Jabari Mac, I think all three
of these freshman wide receivers you brought in have a
chance to be really good.
Speaker 2: You look at Braylen Allen.
Speaker 4: I mean Braiden Allen was a three star from LCA,
just down the road in Lafayette. He was the he
was actually committed to Lane Kiffen, him and Corey Barber,
who will get to in a minute. He was committed
to Ole Miss with Kiffen. When Kivin got the job,
Kivin immediately flipped him lshoo. So this is a guy
that Lane's had his eyes on for quite some time.
And you can see why. The athleticism is there. Forty
three catches, seven hundred forty one yards, eleven touchdowns, but
on defense thirty four tackles, two interceptions, also had a
defensive score and returned to punt for a touchdown in
twenty twenty five. The athleticism is there with Braidon Allen.
He's a little bit longer of a receiver. He needs
to put on a little bit away, but I mean
the potential is there. And again that's a guy that
Lane Kiffin targeted early on and liked him so much
that he's like, I have to bring him with me.
Speaker 2: Tell a shoot.
Speaker 4: Kiffen has a certain mode of guys he likes to
put into his offense and clearly thinks Brad now and
fits that well. Which brings me to the last freshman
wide receiver. Then we have, for lshoot Corey Barber, four
star wide receiver from Trussville, Alabama, and he was actually
a five in some services. Nan Corey Barber had a
heck of a finish to his high school career. As
a junior, seventy four catches fourteen hundred yards eighteen touchdowns.
Last season, sixty eight catches eleven hundred yards, fourteen touchdowns.
Corey Barber is a stud. He's got the size, he's
got the production. You go watch the guy's tape. He
can do a little bit of everything. He could run routes,
he's got good hands, he's got the size. When Ulosu
flipped Corey Barber to me, that was one of the
biggest Like Lane Kiffin's really coming in and making an
impact right away out of the high school guys. I mean,
we knew, you know, Lane Kiffin, the portal king. We
knew he was going to bring in big time players.
May hell, he brought in Sam Levitt, Prince Will Luman, Miellen,
and Jordan Seeden. That's the number one quarterback, the number
one ed rusher, and the number one left tackle. We
knew what he was going to do in the transfer portal.
But when Corey Barber flipped over from Ole Miss and
followed Lane Kiff and Lsu, that's when it clicked, at
least for me, because I think Corey Barber out of
the three freshman wide receiver we're talking about, I think
Corey Barber has the potential to be the best of
those three. He's got size. I mean, he's over two
hundred pounds right now, he's over six feet tall. And
you saw his production that I just laid out. I mean,
twenty six hundred yards over thirty touchdowns. That guy can
play and that's just the last two seasons of his
high school career. Corey Barber is a really, really good
football player, and I think Ellish's lucky to have all
three of these guys. So, I know there's been a
lot of talk about the big name transfers, and I
get it, the transfer portal era. You know what these
guys can do. You've seen him do it, like I've
seen Jace Brown play at Kansas State. I know he's
an athletic guy. You look at what Jackson Harris did
and you're like, oh, nine hundred yards at ten touchdowns
in only twelve games. It's really good production from a
guy on the college level. Trey Wilson has SEC experience,
Winston Watkins has SEC experience. You're so concerned with those guys,
and rightfully so they've done it here at this level
that you kind of forget about the high school guys
a lot of times. But look, Jabari Mack obviously one
of the fastest guys on the team already, and for
what it's worth, Corey Barber seventeen point five miles per hour,
so not the speed of a Jabari Mac, but I
mean he's going to make an impact for you, no
question about it. Jace Brown third on that list, Jackson
Ara's fit, so I mean, you get the point. A
lot of these guys have big, big time talent. Before
we take a time out, speaking of guys with major speed,
harlem Berry this offseason. Look, you saw him last year
four hundred and ninety one yards on one hundred and
four carries, so little over four yards per carry. That's
something that Jake talks about here a lot, because you know,
even though the running game wasn't good, Cayden Durham over
four yards per carry, Harlan Berry over four yards per carrey.
Harlem Berry has been one of the fastest guys on
the team across offseason workouts. Twenty one point nine miles
per hour. That's impressive. I mean, you look at Cayden Durham.
Durham twenty one point five. Both of these backs for LSU,
whether it's Durham, whether it's Harlem Berry, I think you
brought in some good backs. Dylan Jones from Wisconsin comes in.
I mean you have five running backs. Barry and Durham
are obviously going to be the featured guys. They're going
to headline that room. But whether it's a receiver, whether
it's a running back, this offense has a ton of weapons.
Speaker 2: And you can see what Lane Kiffin's doing.
Speaker 4: He's prioritized speed, he's prioritized athleticism. It was something that
I brought up, like anytime Jake er Matt were like, hey, Tylor,
what's this receiver we just signed. At one point, like
all of these guys had averaged double digit yards per
catch outside of Trey Wilson, which again Florida quarterbacks couldn't
throw the ball down the field, so that's not on him,
but I mean Jase Brown, Jackson, Harris guys like that,
Like they were averaging sixteen seventeen yards per catch, all
of them across the board. Lane Kiffin definitely had a
vision of what he wanted to do, what he wanted
to accomplish and he's done that. I mean, he's put
together playmakers on the outside, Guys with speed, guys with versatility.
You just saw it there with the freshman wide receivers,
Braylen Allen. It's been committed to Kiffin for quite some time.
Corey Barber, he also flipped from Ole Miss LSU and
then Jabari mac Louisiana native from Destrahn. And I just
broke down earlier all the guys that had come out
of that school, the number of athletes you have at receiver,
at running back, around a guy like Sam Levitt, You've
got to be super excited for what this offense can
do coming up here in twenty twenty six. All Right,
we'll take a quick time out. When we get back.
The New Orleans Saints have some big time decisions to
make in terms of bringing back veteran players. We'll talk
about who they will and won't bring back here on
the other side, on off the bench, Off the bench,
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Speaker 4: Welcome back in Monday edition of Off the Bench, Taylor SHARPIY,
whether you're sitting in for jcap Heser at Matt Flann.
They are all for the Mardi Girl Holiday, hanging out
with the kiddos that are out of school. So Rosse Jackson,
who rights for us at Louisianasports dot Net, put out
on an article on Friday talking about the NFL free
agencies coming up. But the Saints have a few deals
currently on their roster that are set to avoid the
day before the new league year. So the Saints will
have four veteran players that they have until March tenth
to get new deals. And I just want to go
through and see who they could resign. Who they wouldn't
first name up Taysom Hill for me. Unfortunately this this
is going to be a note and it's hard for
me to say because Taysom Hill has been my favorite
Saint for a number of years, but I think it's
best for you to move on from Taysom Hill and
look compared to last season, he was relatively healthy here
like in twenty twenty four, Taysom Hill played eight games.
He had two hundred and thirty nine yards rushing.
Speaker 5: He had.
Speaker 2: One hundred and eighty seven received six total touchdowns.
Speaker 4: This year, he played in thirteen games, but his season
still ended early due to an injury. Now Mickey Loomis
has said it's not a particularly substantial injury, but it's
another injury. Nonetheless, coming off a season where his production
did not live up to the usual expectations, I'm etionured
he played in all thirteen games, but it wasn't great.
So when you look at what Taysom Hill did on
the season, fifty two carries, one hundred and fourteen yards,
one rushing touchdown. That's two point two yards per carry.
That is by far a career low for him. Taysom
Hill's career yards per carry is five point two. For
the New Orleans Saints did point out just how effective
he's been here in the Black and Gold. You just
didn't see it this year. He's thirty five years old again,
coming off of injuries back to back seasons. I just
I just think it's time to move on from Taysom
Mill and again, that's tough for me to say. The
next two names on this list are absolutely yes, his
for me, the first being Cam Jordan. Yes, you bring
back Cam Jordan. I understand that he's an aging veteran
and there's people out there that want to say that
Cam Jordan's lost a step. Kim Jordan turned back the clock.
Speaker 2: This past year.
Speaker 4: He had ten and a half sacks. That's the most
he's had since twenty twenty one. He's a veteran presence
in that locker room. He is a great leader on
this football team. And if you can get a veteran friendly,
our team friendly veteran deal for Cam Jordan, then you
bring him back.
Speaker 2: I mean he played.
Speaker 4: Cam Jordan hasn't missed the game since twenty twenty two.
He's played in seventeen games in twenty thirty, twenty four,
and twenty five. They gonna mentioned ten and a half
sacks this year forty seven total tackles, fifteen tackles for
a loss for Cam Jordan. Again, best season he's had
since twenty twenty one. I just think you have to
bring back Cam Jordan. And then that kind of leads
straight into the next player, which is de Mario Davis. Absolutely,
you bring back de Mario Davis. He was healthy this
past season. And he's still super productive.
Speaker 2: I get it.
Speaker 4: You have a thirty six year old middle linebacker in
the NFL. Normally that doesn't sound ideal, but I don't care.
He's played all seventeen games this year, and in the
seventeen games he played, he missed a total of nineteen
snaps on the year. That's basically one defensive snap per game.
Not only is he healthy, not only is he productive,
he does not come off the field for you. Also
get this, the last two years he's been in New Orleans.
This season one hundred and forty three tackles. That's a
career high for de Mario Davis, and his career high
before that was one thirty six, which yeah, that happened
in twenty twenty four. So the past two seasons in
New Orleans, he said career totals in total tackles his
career highs. He had half a sack this year, two
sacks a year before. He's never gonna be a big
time sack guy. I mean, he's played the league fourteen years,
he has forty five sacks total. He's your middle linebacker.
He's not a guy you asked to rush the passer
a lot. So I mean again, it's a lot like
Kim Jordan. I hear a lot of people say, oh, well,
you know you have an aging guy in the middle
of your defense and it hasn't been up to up
the par He's what they say, he's lost step. Cam
Jordan's lost the step to Mario Davis has lost his step?
Speaker 3: Have they?
Speaker 2: Because the Mario.
Speaker 4: Davis in twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five at
the two best years of his career, and he did
so at age thirty five and age thirty six, So
I don't think he's lost a step. And everyone wanted
to talk about Chase Young in the offseason, Oh, you
signed Chase Young. Oh what kind of production are you
gonna get from him? Cam Jordan on the.
Speaker 2: Other side with ten and a half sacks.
Speaker 4: I'm not saying long term deals here, but if both
of these guys want to come back and the money
makes sense, you absolutely bring them back because they mean
a lot to your football team, not just on the field,
and the on the field was really good for both
of them, but in the locker room you need leaders.
Tyler Shock, everyone wants to joke that he's twenty six
years old, He's still a rookie. He was still at
his first year in the NFL. Kella Moore was a
first time head coach. It's veteran voices in the locker room,
like Cam Jordan, like de Mario Davis, like Taysom Hill.
If you will, to a little bit lesser extent, there
can be leaders on this team that are the voices
in this locker room that will help out a rookie quarterback,
a first year head coach, and I get it. Keller
Moore and Tyler Shark they're going into year two together,
but they're both still new to this whole starting quarterback
head coach Kamba.
Speaker 2: Why not let Demrio?
Speaker 4: Why not let Cam Jordan come in and continue to
be those leaders, provided that they do want to come back,
and I have no reason to believe that they don't.
They should want to come back. They are both perfect
fits in New Orleans. City of New Orleans has loved
both of these guys. I mean, both these guys are
fan favorites. I bet if you go into the Superdome
next year for a football game, if Cam Jordan comes back,
the ninety four jersey is gonna be very popular in
the stands. That's gonna be one of the biggest ones
as far as a number of people wearing it. People
love Cam Jordan, Mario Davis, He's been a stalwart on
this defense for a number of years. The last name
that Ross mentions is Foster Mora. Now, Foster Morow hasn't
done a ton you know that'll show up on the
stat sheet. He's not one of those stats stuffer guys.
But look, he's been a nice veteran voice, a vocal presence.
He's from the city of New Orleans. I mean he
played at Jesuit High School. Again, Ross mentioned right here.
While the stats wearing eye popping in twenty twenty five,
his contributions in protection, the run game, and as a
leader could be worth the reinvestment for a manageable deal.
Foster Mora had seven catch ups for fifty nine yards
no touchdowns this past season, but that's he's not going
to be receiving tight end. That's what you have Juwan
Johnson for Tyler Schuck and Juwan Johnson had a good
connection later in the year. You bring back Foster Morow
for a lot of the things I just mentioned. With
the Mario Davis and Cam Jordan, their veteran presence, their leadership,
they're good locker room guys, and look, I'm all about
bringing back these guys. I'm not saying throw money at
any of them. It needs to be a manageable, team
friendly deal. But if Davis wants to come back and
Cam want to come back, you give them a contract
as fast as you can, because they're studs and they're
still really good players on this team. As well as
Foster Moro goes, yeah, I'd welcome him back. He's been
nothing by all accounts, but a great teammate and a
great locker room guy. And you need somebody to block
in the running game. Your running game hasn't been good.
You run blocky hasn't been good. Can Foster Morrow help
in that area? I think all three of those guys
are yes. It's the Mario Davis and Cam Jordan absolutely.
Taysom Hill, on the other hand, like I love Taysum,
He's done a lot for this franchise, I just I
don't know what his role is on this team going
forward at his age, with his injuries, and how much
you'd potentially have to pay him now. Again, as far
as the team friendly deals, if Tayson wants to come
back on a minimum deal. I'm good with it, but
you can't extend to give him a big top deal
just due to all the injuries that he's had. Speaking
of to Mario Davis, another article on Luisiana sports dot
Net that Ross Jackson puts out does mention that he
believes that the Chicago Bears are actually the biggest threat
to sign to Mario Davis and pull him away from
New Orleans if a team actually did. Obviously, former Saint
said coach of Dennis Allen, the defensive coordinator there and
their defense, you know, it was shaky. You know, a
lot of Saints fans poked fun at the hiring of
Dennis Allen. And I mean, yeah, they were in twenty
third in scoring defense twenty nine and total yards allowed,
but they were number one in the NFL with thirty
three turnouts. If you can have a stud veteran linebacker
in the middle of that defense at twenty three is
going to go up, that twenty nine is gonna go up.
You're gonna start to move up to the higher spots
of total defense because I think Tomrio Davis makes that
big of an impact. That was a defense that had
a lot of young players on it. They could use
a veteran presence like that. Again, they were really consistent
when it comes to taking the ball away, inconsistent everywhere else,
but they knew how to get a good turn of
You plug in the veteran like the Mario Davis, that
would be worthwhile, I would think for the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 2: And as far.
Speaker 4: As their cap situation goes, they sit at five point
three million overage, you know, right right around where the
New Orleans Saints are. But with a few restructures, they
could be right in the game to spend some money.
This is the time for them to build on the
eleven and six sies and they had last year. If
you think you got the coach and the quarterback in place,
and your quarterback's under a rookie deal, you do whatever
you can and bring in whatevery veteran, whatever veteran you
have to to put around them to make a run
at this thing. I know that the city of Chicago
is starving for a championship. They haven't had one in
such a long time. They haven't even been relevant in
such a long time outside of this season. Can you
build on the eleven and six, the Mario Davis could
be a big opportunity to do that, and for what
it's worth. Greg Allman on Fox Sports, he is he's
already predicted that he believes the Chicago Bears will steal
the Mario Davis away. So I mean he thinks that
whether the Saints want to keep him or not, the
Mario Davis would ultimately sign with the Chicago Bears. I
have a little hard time believing that if Davis wants
to come back, New Orleans can't find a way to
make it work. I think that if he went to
the Bears, it would be because he's just he wants
to get out of New Orleans, wants to go try
and chase the title and try to win it. Now,
are there better places to try to win a title
than Chicago traditionally? Yeah, but again, you saw what Caleb
Williams did year one under Ben Johnson. I can only
assume that that's going to get even better. So we'll
see what happens there. But a couple of veterans to
keep an eye on as the March tenth deadline looms closer. Right,
will take a quick I'm out on the other side
of this break former Lshue pitcher Patrick Coogan joins us
on the other side, kind of get his thoughts on
what he saw on the opening weekend as LSU took
on Milwaukee won all three games.
Speaker 2: We'll talk to him next year on off the bench.
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Speaker 4: Here on this Monday, we're gonna work on a hooking
up with a former LSU pitcher, Patrick Coogan here in
just a second. LSU did take down the Milwaukee Panthers here,
which first off, if you've seen the Milwaukee Panthers logo,
my god, it looks like a rat that is not
a panther whatsoever. If you have not seen that, please
go look it up. If you watch the game, I'm
sure you did. It was it was all over the TV.
But they'll take on the Kids State Golden Flashes tonight.
We are actually three and oh on the season and
I'll break that down. But right now, let's go out
to the phone line. Bring on former l SU pitcher
Patrick Coogan. Patrick, how are you this morning?
Speaker 6: I'm doing well, Taylor, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4: Man absolutely wanted to have you on because you know,
all the talk going in was, okay, how's Case and
Evans going to look as this ace on the staff
potentially you got Cooper Moore, got the Saturday Star William
Schmid on Sunday. We'll start with Case and Evans first,
what'd you see from him on Friday.
Speaker 6: Well, I saw a little bit of kind of what
everyone expected, you know, come out there, very dominant, you know,
struck out a bunch of guys coming in. And then
the the issue potentially was, you know, how would he
adjust to be become a starter, you know, and how
would that look? And so I think he's still gonna
have to navigate through that a little bit because it's
different with a starter's mentality than than coming out of
the bullpen and just emptying the tank one time through
the order. He gonna have to to understand how to
how to hold back some pitches to get guys out,
you know, the second and third time through the order,
and that takes a bit of an adjustment. Anytime ago
a guy goes from a you know, empty the tank
reliever to to the starting uh, the starting staff. It's
it's it's a mentality shift. And you know, I think
that that one that that he's got the ability to make.
But if he can't, he just slides back into the bullpen.
And is that you know all American type believer that
they have and L s U just cycles up through
their their rotation because they've got all the depth in
the world to fill that spot.
Speaker 4: As far as the Saturday and Sunday go Cooper Moore,
we kind of knew he was going to be a
starter in this rotation at least to begin the year
in some capacity. And then William Schmidt on uh on Sunday.
What did you see from both of those guys that
you liked well?
Speaker 6: Cooper more was you know, kind of ads advertised. You know,
not a lot of people knew a lot about him
coming in. They just yeah, I think we all heard
whispers of how well he was doing and uh man
that he'd delivered. It's it's fun to watch him pitch.
He attacks his own goes right after right after guys,
he had you know, a number of strikeouts and a
limited number of pitches, which is you know, as a
former pitcher, that's impressive for me to watch, right and
you know, you think of a high strikeout number that's
going to really tally up the pitch count and you know,
jeopardize your ability to lengthen out a start. But he's
able to do it really efficiently, throws throws a lot
of strikes, and you know, it was it was fun
to watch. And then uh, you know William Schmidt was
William Schmidt yesterday, and you know, I think that's that's
a compliment, and it's it's also you know that that
that next gear I think everyone's waiting for him to
kick into. You know, he he's got just electric stuff,
you know, the type of stuff that scouts dream about, right,
and that's why I was so highly heralded coming out
of high school and happy to have him on the
staff here. But it's that next gear that we're really
waiting for, and it's the ability to land a first
pitch breaking ball right and to get them off the heater,
because you know, if his only ability is to throw
a heater for a strike early in the account or
a swing and miss type breaking ball, then those guys
are just going to sit on fastball until they don't
have to write. And that's why you saw the early
solo home run, as that guy was just sitting all fastball.
He's probably never seen ninety eight ninety nine in his life,
but he's swinging as hard as he can because he
knows the heater's coming down the middle at some point,
and so he ambushed him. And so William Schmidt's next
step that he has to be able to take is
locate a breaking pitch early in the count. That keeps
those guys on, so they just don't jump ship and
you know, try to try to launch one into the
you know, onto the railroad tracks on him.
Speaker 2: Patrick Kruegan our guest right now, former LSU pitcher Patrick.
Speaker 4: As far as the bullpen goes, I mean, it almost
seemed like everyone outside of Zach Cowen performed really well.
But I said a little bit earlier in this show,
I'm not concerned about Zach cow when he was excellent
for you a year ago.
Speaker 2: I expect him to bounce back.
Speaker 4: But as far as the bullpen guys, like, let's start
with with Devin Sheeron and Gavin Gidrey just because we
haven't seen him in over a year due to injury.
Would you what you make of those guys in there
first outing back in a while?
Speaker 6: Well, I'll tell you, I feel like we need like
maybe two more segments just falling the bullpen alone, right,
I mean, it's an embarrassment of riches, it really is,
how how good and talented these guys are. And look,
there's another game today and there's still a couple of
names that we haven't seen yet, right, I would guess
that Jadan Nuke gets to start today and you'll see
see you know, Danny lock and Meyer. DJ Primo has
been around forever. He's as you know, good as a
left handed arm as as there is out there, you know,
And then I guess we'll see, you know, repeat of guys.
Maybe we see Gavin Gidry again, just to kind of
test his durability. But Devin Shearing, Oh my goodness, that
that's that is electric stuff. It's just nasty, right, and
it's it's an easy and and this this makes me
embarrassed to say that that's an easy ninety nine, right,
Like it doesn't even look like he's exerting any effort
and it just explodes out of his hand. You know
that that people people aren't just born like you know,
like those people just don't show up on campuses. So
the fact that that he's able to be here and
playing for the Tigers, and guy, we feel like we
were robbed last year of him with the with the
knee injury. But he's going to be He's gonna be
something to watch because his stuff is just unworldly. And
and look, there's three or four other guys we could
name that better exactly like them. These guys are just
aliens that landed on LSU's playing it right.
Speaker 4: Uh, Patrick Coogan joining us right now? Patrick, I do
you want to get into the lineup a little bit
as far as the position players go in just a second,
but before we move on from pitching, you mentioned a
little bit earlier like, hey, if case It Evans can't
work out as a starter, you could just move him
into that bullpen roll where he was so excellent for
most of the year. Cooper Williams is a guy that
a lot of people were thinking, Okay, you'll have case
and Evans, you'll have Cooper Moore.
Speaker 2: Who will be that third guy? Will it be Schmidt?
Will it be Williams?
Speaker 4: If they do have to move case and Evans into
the bullpen, could you see maybe Cooper Williams sliding into
one of those starting roles.
Speaker 6: Yeah? I think he was, you know, kind of that
fourth candidate to be a starter, and and it was
kind of up in the air. And so like the
last probably the last weekend of of Innsquads where Schmid
kind of won that race. If you will, I do
feel like there there's a sense of comfortability with having
uh Cooper Williams in the bullpen. I think the staff
you know, really likes his his ability to come in
and shut the door kind of in those middle innings
if if need be, and he can extend out in
that reliever's role, right, so you don't have to you know,
cash in your bullpen too early. But uh, you know,
I do think he translates really well to the start
of rotation. So that's to be seen. Like, don't get
don't get me wrong, I am not advocating one bit
for a change with case and Case and Evans. My
point is just that we know how elite he can
be out of the bullpen, and if if the conversion
to the starting role doesn't work out for him, it's
gonna be just signed for l SU because they can
they can take that blow because of the depth they
have not only in the ability to sub in a
new starter, but to absorb of him into the bullpen
and had that work on the back end.
Speaker 4: Patrick want to switch from pitching to to offense here
right now. I mean, you know, when you look at
the lineup, you knew who Zach York was. He had
hit a bunch of dingers over there at Grand Canyon,
and it's funny, you know, his first swing off the
bat of the season ends up halfway into the right
field bleachers for a home run.
Speaker 6: But how perfect was that? By the way it was?
Speaker 2: It was it was awesome.
Speaker 4: I was talking about it earlier, you know, I had
I was leaving work because it was the early first pitch.
As soon as I'm getting on the interstate, I hear
it on the radio and like I audibly laughed just
because I'm like, how perfect is this that happen?
Speaker 6: Like I heard somebody yell, oh, yeah, I'm in the
middle of nowhere. I heard somebody, and I was like,
that's Jacob Hester. He's cheering so loud. I just heard
him cheering for the big body guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 4: You know we were talking Jay's first National championship run
back in twenty three. You know, you had a Riley Cooper,
you had a Kate Beloso, like you had these big
buddy guys, and I guy Jake, He's been he's been
asking for more of them for quite some time, so
I'm sure he was happy about Zach Yorke.
Speaker 2: But another guy I want to talk about.
Speaker 4: They went yard this weekend, except dard Ar you know,
he was in a battle with Braden Simpson and Tanner Reeves.
It's kind of a three headed rotation all throughout the
fall scrimmages at second base.
Speaker 2: I thought he was awesome this weekend. What'd you make, Supt. Dardar?
Speaker 6: Your assessment is spot on? He was awesome, you know,
And how cool is it? You know you can I
don't know if you've heard any of his interviews, but
I've caught a few of them, and the just the
genuineness and how proud he is to play at LSU,
Like you can't help but cheer for a guy like that,
Like he always wanted to be here, you know, didn't
quite get there coming out of high school. So he
goes and plays at Kansas State, I believe, and has
the opportunity to come back and play for the team
he's always wanted to play for. And to see him
have so much success right of the gate man, it's
just it's just a guy that you you you cheer for,
right But I mean, don't get don't get me wrong.
He has every ability to play. Like you see that
swing and it is violent and when he gets a
bats of ball, you know, it goes right and and
you know, I think I think what the issue potentially
was him And while he wasn't named the definitive starter,
is he struggled with the glove a little bit, right,
and so I think the offense is going to be
there for him. It's it's his ability to you know,
maybe play a position that he's uncomfortable with, whether it's
second base or third b And I don't mean uncomfortable,
just not used to playing, because that's that's his opportunity
to play for l s U. But man, I tell you,
just hear his his voice and how excited he is
to be here and then to see him with the
success he had, it's just a feel good story. And
I love it for local kids that can, you know,
come to l s U and have success that it's
fun for me as a former player getting to watch him.
Speaker 2: What'd you think of Jake Brown over the weekend.
Speaker 4: I mean, he's a guy, you know, he's been in
the program for a long time, hasn't really been that
every day starter, but it looks like he solidified.
Speaker 2: That's bun right field.
Speaker 6: He's the guy you know I remember playing and we
go play against Mississippi State or the old miss or stuff,
and you're like, gosh, dang, this guy's still here, you know,
like it just seems like he's been there forever. And
I mean that in the best way possible. And for
Jake Brown, that just means for him that he's comfortable.
You know, there's not a whole lot that can happen
in the game of baseball or a game of college
baseball that Jake Brown hasn't seen at this point, you know.
I mean, he looks and feels like an old soul
out there, just you know, kind of that coach on
the field. He's just got you know, the low heartbeat,
the low pulse, ice water run through it, you know,
whatever cliche you want to use it. But oh, by
the way, he's really good too. It hits the Grand
Slam yesterday, I think he had two home runs yesterday.
And it's just always a good swing to the ball
he takes, you know, very mature professional at Bassie. He
rarely swings at balls out of the zone, you know,
and I know for a coach, you know, it gives
it gives Jay a whole lot of confidence to have
that calming presence, that older presence, the you know, the
mature approach in that line up, not only when he's
at bat, but to help with the with the newer guys,
to say, hey, look here, here's what to expect in
the SEC. And so it's almost like you get an
extra coach on the staff with with a guy like
Jake Brown and oh, by the way, he puts up
kind of like all American numbers and is a really
good player.
Speaker 2: Patrick.
Speaker 4: Before we get you out of here, one more, you
mentioned you think Jade Noodle'll probably get the start tonight
against ken State, whether it's a pitcher or position player
or somebody we haven't seen yet.
Speaker 2: Who are you excited to see tonight?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 6: You put me on the spot. God, let me go
with the chalk answer. I want to see news. You
know he's got really good stuff. You know we've seen him,
but like, what does it look like a year later
with another year under his belt? God, I feel bad
for giving you such a chalk look.
Speaker 4: Sometimes chalk answer is correct, right that that's why they
call it the chalk answer.
Speaker 6: Like, let me let me give you I'll go wild
card for you. And this is a complete guest. Let's
go with Jack Rutgers to start and get two knocks tonight.
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it. Uh, I like it.
Speaker 4: We like a bold prediction here on OTB. Patrick, thank
you so much for hopping on with me. Man, you
were awesome. I appreciate the time.
Speaker 2: You got it.
Speaker 5: Thanks too.
Speaker 4: That was former l s U. Pitcher Patrick Coogan. All right,
we'll take a time out. We get back. We're closing
out hour number two next here on, off the bench,
Off the bench, all right.
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Speaker 1: Two thousand and seven Champs Purple and Gold to the core.
This is Off the Bench with Hester and Flynn, Baton
Rouge's go to for all things Louisiana sports.
Speaker 4: Welcome in final segment at were number two here on
a Monday edition of Off the Bench, Taylor show up
here with you. I was not a two thousand and
seven national champion. I was in the building, though, is
maybe we can count that. I was told Jaco and Matt.
Out of the three New Orleans national championships, I've seen lsuplay,
and the only one I went to was the only
one that they were actually playing in on the field. Alandra,
I almost watched Traders yesterday.
Speaker 2: I just need somebody. I've found like a couple of
people that I can talk to you about. Like I
may my sister start watching, so now I can talk
about it with my sister. But like, I just wish
I had people to like discuss this show with because
it's just so good.
Speaker 4: I made the effort. So I had kind of a
busiest Sunday morning. Yesterday, we get home, I put it on.
The baseball game had just ended, so it's I don't know,
four o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker 2: I put it on. I get the first like ten
minutes in.
Speaker 4: Guys, I fell asleep, and like I am notorious for like,
so don't think I didn't like it just because I
fell asleep. Like, I'm notorious for putting something on and
falling asleep ten minutes in.
Speaker 2: Uh, I did that.
Speaker 4: I made the effort. Uh old but old boy that
hosted he's got some energy. Allan, Yeah, Alan, I remember
him from Spy Kids? He uh yeah, he ran the
was it the Thumpkins on Spy Kids? But guys, new season,
Love Is Blonde dropped your boy watched the first two episodes.
Speaker 2: It was awful. It was terrible.
Speaker 4: So Braxon, Love Is Blind is like my that's that's
my thing, right. I'm not gonna watch any of the
other reality dating shows with my wife, but Love is
Blind I will just because I think it's so ridiculous.
I like to ultimately watch these couples be like, how
come this didn't work out? We've known each other for
six days and got engaged. I can't believe that the
logistics weren't right. But I got a bone to pig
because at the end of the first episode, like a
Landra loves Drama, she would have been all over this.
At the end of the first episode, they tease what's
gonna happen coming up? And it's this girl like screaming
at this dude through a pod. Okay, like she's screaming,
she's crying. They had to remove her, like they removed
her I don't know, from the show or whatever. So
I'm like, Okay, well, I'm gonna watch another episode now.
Didn't play it, so they teased it for the next episode.
Speaker 2: Wasn't in there. So what am I gonna do tonight?
Speaker 4: Well, probably watch another episode to see I just want
to see that one part.
Speaker 2: If you don't know Love is Blind.
Speaker 4: So like they're in two pods, they date each other
through a wall, and they get engaged without ever actually
seeing each other. Then they ultimately meet, Then they move
in together, meet each other's families, then decide if they
want to get married or not. I know what you're thinking.
You shouldn't propose unless you know you want to get married.
It's about the point Brixton not relevant in this particular show.
But yeah, it's I watch it for the for the outrage,
like it's it's it's my shameless one that I that
I watch. Everybody's got there one thing, you know, this
is this is my one thing. It's not good until
after they get out of the pods and they start arguing,
and then the one guy's like, oh that girl's way
better looking than the one I picked. Let me go
over there to her, you know, and then the the
one he's engaged to actually gets mad. But uh yeah, disappointed, disappointed.
First two episodes of Love is Blind. Uh not what
I had in mind, but we'll see. Also, guys, I
made the purchase. We're doing Scream on scene tonight instead
of Mystery Movie Monday. Tickets have been purchased, so uh,
I'll give you an update on that tomorrow. Do I
think the movie is going to be terrible. Yes, yes,
I do think it's going to be terrible. Am I
still gonna enjoy it? Yep, that's me.
Speaker 2: I'm I'm easily pleased.
Speaker 4: Okay, look that's going to do it. For hour two
of Off the Bench, we talked a lot of baseball.
Hour number one, we just had Patrick Coogan, former LSU
pitcher on. We took the little LSU football in Saints
our number three. We are gonna have our weekend winners
at nine am. No, Devin snow Dev is a bit
under the weather, if you know what I mean. We're
gonna move him to tomorrow and then we'll talk LSU
women's basketball since we didn't get to that in hour
number one. So all that coming up and more, stay tuned.
We got one more hour left here on a Monday
edition of Off the Bench.
Speaker 1: Off the Bench