Speaker 1: Sports with Ben Gretel at its time for the Cougar Beat,
getting the dish from the local reporters that cover Cougar athletics.
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first cleaning. Let's get out to the hotline. Welcome in
double d Donell Dixon of the Daily Herald, the Daily
Geraldi and how artdal double d Well.
Speaker 2: Happy holiday to you, Ben and everybody else there at
the station.
Speaker 1: Hey, we appreciate that. And big Cougar roar to you
and your wonderful family this holiday season doubled. We've been
delving into all the nix and grannies, all the news
and notes coming out of Brigham today. I want to
ask you this question. Right we're in transfer portal season.
It's it's untimely for many out there there as you
prepare for bowl games, there's opt outs. Guys are choosing
to go to the draft. People are getting into the
portal and shopping themselves. Agents are everywhere. Look, it's chaos,
let's be honest. College football chaos, college athletics chaos. But
what would you say to this question. Has the new
college football landscape of nil in transfer portal and even
to a certain degree, kind of this revshare model that's
coming into play now, has it been more beneficial, more
detrimental or has it been neutral for BYU athletics or
BYU football let's not just BA football in particular.
Speaker 2: Well, then you asked me that question, you know how
I'm going to answer, right, I.
Speaker 1: Don't know how you're going to answer it. I have
no idea, because like, what's the for BA football specifically?
Has it been net benefit, net positive, that negative or
net neutral?
Speaker 2: I would say net positive for BYU and specifically and
for other teams they've also, I mean, if you take
a look at even Texas A and M what they've
done under the current system. They've went out and got
themselves at one of the best defenses in the country
and now they're playing in the college football playoffs, so
I think it worked on an individual team basis in
many cases. But you know me, I'm concerned about the
future of the sport that I've loved over the year
in college football and and you know college basketball as well.
You know, I do a lot of research now as
I'm preparing for some Big twelve basketball previews, and the
number of players I see on rosters who have been
to three or four different universities is shocking to me. Still,
I have a hard time dealing with it because it
is a university and they're initially signed as a student athlete.
I know we all hate that term, necessarily because the
NCAA uses it at nauseum every time we cover something,
But they are supposed to be student athletes. And I
don't know how anybody that is focused on their athlete
career and moving from place to place and they've been
to four different university already can be advancing in their
degree in any way, shape or form, and so there
they're not so individually, I think there's some real issues
with what's going on, and the repercussions of those decisions
are going to happen when they stop playing the game,
and that could be pretty harsh for a number of
athletes who come to the end of their road and
they don't have a college degree from all of that
opportunity that they had. And that's what, you know. I
hope that more and more athletes take advantage of the
opportunity to get an education to do something beyond playing
the sport they love, because you get single minded and
you want to train and do that. And You've talked
often about the difficulty of being excellent in everything when
you're trying to be a college athlete, and I don't
think this makes it any easier with all of the
movement that's going on and all the money that's out there,
and it creates a very difficult decision. And I'm not
saying it's not a tough decision for athletes to this
night to go somewhere else. I just think it complicates
things in a way that is going to be difficult
for many individuals to overcome.
Speaker 1: How's that, Yeah, So this is what I would I
would retort. I think you bring up some really good points.
I think there's a lot to take in there. I
think for the last you know, sixty years or more,
STV revenue has been pouring into universities. The finger pointing
needs to be number one, pointed at the adults that
were running the program in an antitrust way, in an
illegal way, taking advantage of the workforce, and not actually
providing the fair market value to the student athlete. Right
does that make sense? Like the adult look at all
the universities and how much money they just had, and
they took advantage of these guys, and so the market
pendulum swing right like, it's swinging really aggressively in the
opposite direction. It'll come back to center as all free
markets do. But right now we're seeing the pendulum swing
because of how corrupt the adults were running the organization
and getting rich off of the lifeblood of these programs
have been over the last sixty years. So it's just
swinging right now. So it's there. Those are the people's
I point the finger at them more than I do
the student athletes right now.
Speaker 2: Well, absolutely, and the system has you know, was broken
for a number of years before this started to happen,
and we all know that the ball committees and those
who ran the ball were getting rich. Universities were getting
rich to players were getting a PlayStation. I mean, it
makes sense that there should be some revenue sharing in
that regard. The athletes were being taken advantage of, and
I understand all of that. I just feel like they
broke this thing loose without any idea of how they
were going to make it work in an important situation,
and so we're seeing a lot of those repercussions of
things that don't work. The Bowl system is dying because
teams are going, nah, we're not going to go bowling.
We don't want to play, you know, in order to
game regardless because their objection was we didn't make the playoffs.
But there are a lot of teams who decided, now,
we don't really want to go through with that, and
so that creates a vacuum for the end of the season.
What are these teams going to do when they've gone
bowling all this time? And I know with b YU
would go to various bowl games, they'd either break even
or lose money. So you can see how why would
we want to continue to do that? You know, your
weigh the option, Well, we get to have extra practices
for our young guys. It's a fun activity for the
at b YU, for the players, and their wives, you know,
to go on a vacation at Christmas time, make some money,
do some things, you know, get get some gifts and
that sort of thing. It's just the system is so
busted that I don't know what they're supposed to do
with it. And you can't take advantage of the players
like they were, but you also have to give them
some direction on how to move forward. And I don't think,
as you mentioned, don't think the adults in the room
are doing that very well.
Speaker 1: Donald Dixon double d the Daily Heralding and talking some
Cougar Beat topics of the day here on your Utah
ESPN Radio Network, Brought to you by Bresa Cleaning Services.
Bresa makes it a breeze to keep your house clean.
Get seventy dollars off your first cleaning at Bresa Cleaning Services. Darnell,
I know you covered the BYU men's hoops team, and
I know you're looking at this roster like there's too
many mercenaries on it. But has it been pretty fun
to watch? You know? I mean, look, BYU basketball is
possibly going to be a two seed in the NCAA tournament,
maybe possibly figures cross hopefully a one seed something they've
never done before.
Speaker 2: Oh, they're definitely fun to watch. And I had to
kind of rick call when by You played Spacific the
other night. You know, they obviously played each other when
both teams were in the West Coast Conference, and the
expectation for BYU to beat every team in that league
other than Saint Mary's and Gonzagara regularly made it very
difficult for the Cougars to play the Pacifics and Pepperdine's
and Santa Clairs of the world, because you just didn't
think there was any possible way the Cougars could lose
those games. And when they did, the sky was falling
and they were probably you know, what was the problem.
Why couldn't they do it? And they've they've gone so
far from that team that that program that played in
the West Coast Conference. It's it's incredible to reflect on.
You know, they've got the number one high school recruit
on the team and they're playing games at Madison Square
Garden and against I mean, their schedule was really good.
They're right around seven or eight I think in net
rankings right now, just exactly where they wanted to be
based on how they decided to operate and get their
schedule going the Lack game where aj Debonsa and Richie thunders.
Speaker 1: And you know the Rob Robert.
Speaker 2: I mean, they put up sixty nine points and they're
the best trio possibly in the country. I think that
they still have a lot of work to do in
developing a good rotation with the bench and that that'll
come up. But as they head into Big twelve play
and a couple of games, they've got a couple left
against what I used to call what they used to
call in boxing. Tomato Cans just got teams that you
can beat up. And it's that time of year where
they're you know, they just finished their finals and they
want to get everybody healthy and all that. So this
allows them to do it. But it's been fantastic to watch.
I think Kevin Young has has put together a really
good team, and the team is very different from last
year's team. You know, you take what you want to
build with, and he's put this team together and he's
had to sustain a few losses with you know, Dawson
Baker and they picking's getting hurt and gone for the season.
But this is the team he wanted and they're definitely
producing on the floor. They put seventeen thousand or roughly.
I mean, I know they announced sold tickets, but you know,
sixteen or seventeen thousand dollars for our seventeen thousand fans
for a weekday game is just incredible to me. I
remember going to BYU games during Christmas break and there'd
be you know, five or six thousand. So the introg
levels there. The fans are going to show up wherever
they go. They're heading into a really good league. Again,
the Big twelve is just a monster and bway your
fans need to be prepared. They might lose a few games,
but this is a really good team that is still
finding out what they do best and the coaching staff
still figuring out how to make things work. But so
much talent on this team and so much that they
can't accomplish this year.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the Big three. Uh, something that Ronald and
I are gonna have to debate maybe later on in
the show as we prepare for our Little Cougar Sports
basketball pregame show. But uh, you mentioned the Big three, AJ,
Richie and Rob. What's what are some other big threes
that in by U basketball history that like that are
comparable to this crew right now. I mean you have
the Gimmer maybe uh uh, you know Brandon Davies do
you put you know, Jackson? Emery is the third you
know as a three on three squad, Like, who's gonna
be able to is it? Danny Ainge? Great Kite and
Fred Warbers? Could they stick it to this squad? The
goat Danny Ainge? Who could who can win? Who could
beat that aj Ritchie and Rob Wright trio in in
their prime in b YU basketball history.
Speaker 2: Man that I don't know if there's anybody that could.
Speaker 1: What about a Sean Bradley. Sean Bradley's a tough cover.
Sean Bradley before the mission, you know, when he was healthy,
you know what I mean? That dude what it was
at Emery High School. He's running the floor like a
gallopings of raft and he's just dunking on fools, you know,
off of one foot. That dude was a That dude
was a beast. You know what about Sean Bradley. I'm
trying to think of who played with Seanda in that era. Yeah,
Kent Robertson in that group.
Speaker 2: Russ Larson was with that group. That was pretty good.
I think, you know the the like I keep thinking
of duos too, like Kyle Collinsworth and Chase Fisher. I
think Noah Hartstock was part of that group. So there's
there's a you know, a group there, and like you
mentioned Jimmer and Jackson Emery and and Brandon Davies. But
I'm not I'm pretty sure there's never been a threesome
like we've seen a trio like we've seen with this group.
There's been some great duos and and some teams, you know,
over the years, even Dave Rose teams that they put
good teams on the floor and they had opportunities to
win NCA tournament games and stiled just short. Is probably
because they didn't have a third option to go to
when you think about some of those great teams that
they had. So so the fact that there are three
options offensively that can go off at any time, and
AJ likes to say defenses have to pick their poison,
you know, do they want to double a j He's
such a good passer that that's going to provide lots
of opportunities for others to make baskets? Do you focus
on keeping Richie from going off? How do you get
the ball out of Rob Wright's hands. He's the one,
he's the point guard. He's got in the van of
all time. And then you see someone like toddim Russ,
who went off the other night, you know on Alexi
Coasts had a game where he made four or four
from three. So their five five three pointers from I
think five or eight how we finished. But uh, there's
just so much for teams to have to defend. And
I do think that it's defensively has gotten better that
will carry them a little further maybe than they went
last year, because I thought, you know, they gave up
something like fifty three three pointers in three tournament games
last year. They can't do that and expect to get
any further in the tournament. But I think they've gotten
better defensively. Keva Keda is as big and strong and
active and as effective as any post BYUS ever put
on the floor in terms of getting things done other
than scoring. He can score a little bit, He can
rebound and score. He gets that little jump book, but
he's just touch a rim protector and a rim runner.
Those two lobs that Aj threw to him against Clemson
just back to back man. They ran that play perfectly
and it's just a great pass and the finish by
Keva and then he practically takes the backboard down. They
have to stop the game, which ended up being a
really good thing for the Cougars because they got a
chance to rest and they were only playing starters really
in the second half. So those guys and then Cannard Davis,
who didn't have a very good shooting night, gither and
I expect him to bounce back. But this team has
what it needs and they're really going to be tested
in the Big Twelve. There's I mean, Arizona's terrific, Iowa
staters are really good, Kansas is getting better, Baylor, all
those good teams in this league are going to test them.
But I'm excited to follow this group and see how
they finish out.
Speaker 1: Double D Donald Dixon and a Cougar Beat brought to
you by Bresa Cleaning Services. Brisa makes it a breeze
to keep your house clean seventy dollars off your first
cleaning service. Double D. Did you see after the win
over Pacific the ad of Pacific And by the way,
I love Pacific because my grandpa actually attended Pacific once
upon a time. In their dental program. I believe back
in like the the fifties. Shout out to Grandpa Webster,
Rest in love, rest in peace, the greatest grandpa known
to man. But Adam Tsore says, tough one for Pacific
men's basketball tonight, good scheduling, lesson for the future in
this funny money age, We're in no point in playing
this game at all. You're not even playing a basketball team,
just walking bags of cash.
Speaker 2: Your reaction, Yeah, it was pretty funny to follow the
comments on that. Wanted to see him backtrack once he
went on there. It probably isn't appropriate for an ad
to say something like that on social media, and he'd
probably learned that lesson. We'll see next Steve. Maybe it
makes those comments later everything else, but we all know.
I mean with with the non conference schedule for teams
that are in the top ten or top twenty, they
all schedule this way, and you schedule like I mentioned
Tomato Cans and they get a big payday and you
get to kind of stretch your legs and rest guys
and kind of experiment with things. That's just how college
basketball works. And Pacific is one of those teams that
have to play some by games during the course of one.
Speaker 1: Hundred thousand dollars, Right, they took that one hundred k
they took. Yeah, they could give it back right.
Speaker 2: Right, they could, And they need to have that for
their because they don't have the kind of budgets that
a lot of programs do at upper levels. So it's
a necessary evil, and it's not fun for these teams sometimes.
I mean I actually feel bad for teams on occasion
and go out and play you know, Iowa State and
get beat by fifty or BYU and get beat by
forty five. That can't be fun for the players. And
they know why they're playing that game, and they have
to believe going in, Hey me, we might be able
to hold with these guys. And we saw Delaware, you know,
jump out on BYU. And Delaware's probably a two hundred
plus net ranking team, so things can happen. But I
think this ad probably learned this lesson that he's not
going to be making those comments again online. The best
response I saw was they're not walking bags of cash,
they're dunking, shooting, blocking bags of cash. Because those are
good players. But BYU is just playing the game. BYU
is following the rules in their program the way that
all the other programs used to and not tell anybody
they were paying the players. And so the Cougars are
doing what they need to do to be competitive and
to be excellent.
Speaker 1: Darnell, you know this is it's a new era of
college athletics, a new era of college football, college basketball.
Do you feel like, I mean, you're an Olympic sports guy,
are we seeing an improvement across all sports? Though we're
seeing it. I've seen parody in college football. I've seen
parody in college basketball. Even we've seen teams elevated to
new heights because now they can do what the SEC
schools in the Big ten schools and some of these
other schools have been doing for years, which is cheating
and paying their players in liquid cash bag men type
of funds. Now everyone can do it and it's proper
as legal. You know, are we seeing some parody and
is there a benefit on the Olympic sports side as well? Well?
Speaker 2: At least initially, I see not parody in Olympic sports.
I see a bigger disparity between the top levels and
the other levels. I feel like it really depends on
how much your athletic department and your university are willing
to put money forward their Olympic programs, And a lot
of the discussion with all of this has been there's
going to be schools who are going to say, you know,
we're just not going to field these Olympic teams as
many as we used to. We're going to cut programs
so we can keep spending money on the money making sports.
I haven't seen that from BYU yet, but I think
I have seen in sports like women's soccer and women's volleyball.
I think that there are some universities who are really
out ahead in terms of how much they're paying their athletes.
And I can give this example. I was doing a
women's basketball Big Twelve preview and are going through each team,
and there are so many teams whose leading scorer is
a transfer, and you know, why would they leave, Like,
for instance, of the girl who played at Notre Dame
that's now at TCU eleven mile, why would she leave
Notre Dame for TTU. Well, there's probably lots of reasons,
but I would say you'd have to consider that she
was paid an offul lot of money to go do that.
Not a lot of the universities and willing to put
that much money toward an Olympic sport that doesn't make
a ton of money for the university. So we'll see
that play out over the next few years. But again,
I see more of a disparity between the top and
the bottom in Olympic sports than than I have in
previous years.
Speaker 1: Let me miss this, darn, I'm going to pivot over
to football because the college football cartel, the cabal, the oligopoly,
it's still rain in front there. I was. I was
reading up on psyops recently. Are you familiar with with
psychological op psyops at all?
Speaker 2: Not really?
Speaker 1: Okay, well, there's a couple of signs that you're living
in a syop where you're experiencing a syop. I thought
it was very interesting, and you know, I think there's
a little bit of a college football syop going on.
You see a lot of the talking heads, right, the
power brokers of the media world, all saying the same
thing at the same time. Have you noticed that at all?
Maybe maybe Kirk Herbstreet, Nick Sabin, Josh Pate, Joel Klatt,
Paul Finebaum, you know what I mean? They all say
the same thing, and so I thought it was interesting, Like,
you know, there's certain signs that you're in a bit
of a syop, if you will. One of them is
that the media all say the same thing, they all
echo the same thing. It's almost scripted, right, and it's everywhere.
It's like, and if you go against it, your ostracize,
you're attacked. Right. So let me ask you this. I
gave you a few of those names, right, Which college
football talking head is the most compromised, bought and paid
for by the college football cartel the cabal? Is it
Joe Klatt? Is it Kirkirbstreet? Is it ex Saban, Paul
Faibas or Josh Pate.
Speaker 2: It seems to me that most of what I'm reading
online is Kirk Kurbstreet takes a lot agreed, and he
says he's not. I mean, he knows what the what
the noise is. It's an interesting observation, Ben, And certainly
we saw that play out during the college football playoffs
because pretty much every single talking head was not talking
about by U, regardless of what their resume was, which
in many cases was better than teams they were talking about,
and VYU was being left out of graphics of teams
that were supposed to be in the same area and
had similar resumes and wins. So you know, it does
does lend itself to conspiracy theory ideas we all tend
to pairt what we read and see and and what
what we what we think doesn't always enter the equation
and we just well that that makes sense. Maybe I'll
just say that. Or are they being told by the
upper management that this is what you have to say
or want to not do they not want to appear
that they're not towing the company line. I don't know,
I mean, it's it was. It was mind boltling to
a lot of people, including me, that b YU was
not being talked about as legit. And what's interesting is,
you know everyone just said, well, you need to play
better against Texas Tech, and that was really true by
you had played closer in those games and not them conceded.
I mean talk about blowbots. Both of those games were
close in third quarter and then things just kind of
fell fart. So they did play them well for two
and a half quarters in both situations, but final score
indicated that the game was not close, and so that
was the overriding element and data point that these guys
argued whenever by was brought up, Well, look, they got
beat really badly by Texas Tech, even though Texas Texas
the number four team in the country and has maybe
the best defense in the country. Those other data points
that BYU had advantages over the other teams didn't matter
because of what the eye test told them. So you know,
they tended to pair it exactly what they knew they
they'd seen, so b why you kind of could have
maybe changed that narrative a little bit with closer games.
But when you're not being when you're not being graded
or compared fairly in that idea, then you know you
have limited number of opportunities to change their mind.
Speaker 1: Darnell Dixon the Daily Heraldi and nobody knows it better. Darnell,
what have you been writing about over the Daily Herald
that we can read right now?
Speaker 2: Well, a lot of basketball. Obviously, you wrote something about
the scheduling. I had a long talk with with the
coaching staff BYU, with Chris Burgess in particular. This just
happened before the Seaton started and talked about the scheduling,
and I've kind of seen it play out over the
course of the non conference schedule. They wanted to make
it kind of like what Arizona did last year, because
by you finished higher than Arizona the standings, had a
better record, but because of NET, Arizona got a better
NCA seed. So that's what B why you kind of
patterned their schedule after, is what they saw Arizona and
other Power Conference teams did to bring their NET ranking up.
And you just mentioned when we started the show, B
why you could be a number two seed. And that's
a lot of schedule work as well as the work
on the floor. So that's something I wrote about. Got
the women's the Big Twelve basketball preview going in tomorrow
and then next week of course the men's Big Twelve preview,
and man, it's just a load. There's some great teams
really looking forward to seeing BYU against the Iowa States
and Texas, Texas and Kansas, and you know, the Big
Twelve is just a great, great conference. And I really
liked then that. You know, once we started playing in
the Big Twelve, they started having posting news conferences with
the opposing coach love. They never did, never did in
the West Coast Conference in the month West Nope, I
mean occasionally, like when you went to the conference tournaments.
They do that, but not regular season games. And I
love to pick the brains as some of these coaches
from the Big twelve teams. They're great coaches and they
have a lot of interesting things to say, and so
I'm looking forward to that as well.
Speaker 1: Darnald Dixon. Ladies and gentlemen, Donna, we sleech you, We
appreciate you, We love you. Great content. I want you
to do some due diligence on this syop in the
college football world. See what you can find. Brother.
Speaker 2: Okay, you have a great weekend, Ben.
Speaker 1: He said, okay, but he acted like he's not gonna
do it. That that that's exactly He's like, Oh, we
don't oh donkey, he said, Man, come on, let's go.
Let's get into syops. They're real guys, that's our segment.
Is a Pokemon it is not. I'm sure there's probably
some syop power, uh you know, illustrated by or you know,
emanated by one of those pokemon's anma people things. Anyway,
I'm not sure, but uh, Darnell, love and appreciate you, man.
Thanks for propping off.
Speaker 2: All right, see you later.
Speaker 1: There you have it. There, you have it a little
UH Daily Heraldian for you here on your Utah ESPN
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Road Home to the Road Home dot org, it is
time to get to know Isaiah Glasger, how he's doing,
how he's recovering, how he's bounced back after the Big
twelve championship loss to Texas Tech. At what his plans are,
what's the situation with Isaiah Glasker. He became a star
for bu in that at that second level at the
linebacker spot last season, had a good start start the season,
got a little bit deemed up, and then has started
to play up to his potential over the last few games,
I think, But still he's been riddled with some lower
extremity injuries this season, and you wonder, okay, is he
coming back to give it one last shot? Is he
going to the NFL or will he enter the transport
to see what type of market rate his true market
rate is in free agency. We're gonna discuss that here
on your Utah ESPN Radio, Nework, and it's gonna be
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done today. All right, let's get into some IG conversation.
Isaiah Glasker Ladies and gentlemen addressed the media earlier this week. IG.
Where does the motivation come from to play in these
extra bowl games? Really?
Speaker 3: Just thought we thought we should have been in the playoffs.
I feel like that's enough of a drivy factor for us,
and I feel like we're gonna be ready for the
bull game.
Speaker 1: So gonna be ready for that Bowl game, he says.
It's just it's another game to play. This is a
fun game. How important would it be to get a
twelve win first time since two thousand and one?
Speaker 3: I would say really super important, just because especially going
against the ACC, it's like people, I feel like people
overlook the Big twelve and how good the talent is here,
and I feel like, if we can catch this win,
then we can really make a difference for the Big twelve.
Speaker 1: So playing for the BYU brand, playing for the Big
twelve brand, amongst other things, right, playing for your own
individual brand as well, what stands out most about Georgia
Tech when you check tape, I.
Speaker 3: Would say just because as a defensive player, I would
say their offense. Their quarterback is a super a well
rounded guy. He can run the ball, throw the ball,
and I feel like we're in for a good competition.
Speaker 1: So Georgia Tech is a good football team. They're well coached,
they got a great quarterback, they have plenty of skill
position players that have athleticism. Okay, and they're actually they're
pretty good about protecting their quarterback as well. Plenty of
great personnel and they're well coached. Ig. Do you feel
like you have something to prove in this game? You
might have been overlooked for the playoffs. Can you make
a statement with this game?
Speaker 3: Most definitely. I feel like we can get a win
right here. We can kind of show the committee what
the Big twelve is really about.
Speaker 1: So gotta make a statement. You got to prove him wrong. Look,
it's about momentum into the off season, about the ball practice,
about the development of the second and third stringers. It's
about celebrating with teams, with your team, your your teammates. Uh,
you're gonna remember that last game, John Beck told us
a story about Jeff Grimes and O six going to
the seniors and say, guys, you will always remember that
last game, that last college football game you played in.
So go out and uh and and and do your
best because you're gonna remember this forever. And uh, I
think that was a wise Those were wh wise words
given from Jeff Grimes to the offense and the seniors
at that time. Uh Ig Isaiah Glasger. Everyone has been
focusing on Bear's ankle. How's your ankle doing it? And
how has this season been for you as you battle
through that?
Speaker 3: Honestly, kind of get banged up every game is kind
of part of the game. And uh, my ankle has
been bugging me since what Colorado? But this off what
week I think we've had we can have baby, has
been good just because allow my body to recover.
Speaker 1: So get that body back on track and recovering and
getting back to one hundred percent. This week off prior
to practice was beneficial for Ig.
Speaker 4: You can I make a comment though, yea, just that
is just tells it. He's they played Colorado the last
week of September. I was there in that in that stadium, man,
I was there in Denver. You sent me out. So
you're talking about what almost four months after, three months
after that, he's been dealing with that and having to play,
like that's a long time to have something like that
bothering you been and you played through injury. So to
still produce this way, to still be, you know, up
on candidate lists for awards like that, that's tough to do,
you know. And the ankle injury, I feel like it
affected him a decent amount, you know, at times, Gurney
said he was a shell of himself. So he just
thought just like, hey, I've been dealing with this since
the last week of September, and that's early part of
the season been that's not on the latter half.
Speaker 1: So this In twenty twenty four, he had seven total,
seventy total tackles, forty two solo, twenty eight years assisted.
He had four passes defended, he has three. He had
three and a half sacks. He had one forced fumble
and three i in tsu and one touchdown. In twenty
twenty five up to this point, a little bit of
a drop off. Sixty total tackles, thirty three solos, twenty
seven assisted, he has one pass deflection. He's got three sacks,
one force fumble, two I in t's and no touchdown.
So you see a little bit of a drop off there,
but not like a ton. But he hasn't been you
haven't seen the progress that you expected coming off such
a remarkable twenty twenty four season, And so you wonder
how does that influence him to go one direction or
the other? Is this his final game as a BYU Cougar.
It very well could be because he's gonna take his
talents to the National Football League. He could also say,
you know what I want to see? You know what
type of you know what type of market rate I'm
gonna get if I go into the portal. I think
that's the less least likely. I think if he if
he wants to play college football, he'll be able to
negotiate something that's fair at BYU and they'll be more
than happy to retain his talents. Know if answer butts
about it. So let's get back to the sound ig.
How important are these extra practices for the team's camaraderie.
Speaker 3: I feel like the camaraderie has always always been here.
I feel like all the boys love each other, and
then we're willing to play for each other. So I
feel like we're just we're excited to get to the
to Orlando.
Speaker 1: So go to Orlando and have a have a blast
with your teammates and have a little bit of camaraderie
off the field as well as far as the future goes.
Have you made any decision, Isaiah Glasker.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's really just up in the air right now.
I'm just trying to wait, just trying to focus on
the ball game and then I'll just figure out from there.
Speaker 1: So okay, so he's gonna focus on the ball game
and then figure it out afterwards. Uh yeah, it's true
or false. But you think he said he's vetting and
evaluating all that right now here, he's negotiating his future
right now.
Speaker 5: I think it depends Ben.
Speaker 4: I think he's negotiating it maybe, but not like heavily.
Speaker 5: You know, there's times when we're all in on something.
Speaker 4: It's like, look, when you're doing work, you're still checking
your phone, You're still distracted at some point by other things.
Speaker 5: It doesn't mean you're not doing the main task.
Speaker 4: You're not saying that you're not all in, but you're
bandwidth is allocated elsewhere.
Speaker 5: You are a little paying attention, so it probably has
come across his mind.
Speaker 4: He probably has had a number, he's probably talked about
it in passing, but I don't think it's more than
you know, ten to fifteen percent. I think he really
is mainly focused on the bowl game. So I think
he has mentioned it and maybe set up a time. Okay,
this is when I want to do it. But after
that it's done and now he's focused on the ball game.
But I don't think he's in hard conversations talking NFL draft.
But I think he has set of meetings and things
and that those are going to be in the work.
So I think he started the process, but I don't
think he's necessarily in the process, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: I'm intrigued. I'm definitely intrigued. I think, guy, he's got
some tough decisions to make, no doubt. What or who
do you consult with in these moments? Coaches, parents, family, friends, agents,
Who do you consult with? Really?
Speaker 3: Just I would just say my family mostly. I talked
to my parents about all the time, and I feel
like this is my best interest is to wait.
Speaker 1: So best interest is just to wait and then go
for That's interesting. Uh So I think it bodes well
for b YU some of those comments that he just made.
Last thing from i G. I assume you guys are
going to Disney World. Where were you at Disney kid?
It grown? Is this Sean Walker's question?
Speaker 4: Oh you think it is? Is Danny Green's of ABC four.
I thought this was no, Sean did not ask any
Disney question.
Speaker 5: Was all business.
Speaker 4: It was Dana Green actually asking about Disney Orlando. All
of those questions been so we didn't have to take
that role that was not shot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like I think for me, like is it are
you a a Disney kid or you were like a
Harry Potter World kid, right now, That's what that would
have been my question. You more, This is a good question.
I like Harry Potter guy, Harry Potter her Harry Potter
World guy. Uh, this is what i G had.
Speaker 3: To say, Like, my favorite movie probably Cars. Okay, yeah, well,
I've never been actually to Disney or Disney World, so
I'm excited for the experience.
Speaker 4: Wait wait, wait wait did he say he said I've
never been to Disneyland or Disney World, so I'm excited
for the experience.
Speaker 5: But my favorite movie's Cars.
Speaker 4: I set that in reverse, so his favorite movies Cars,
Like yeah, but I've never actually been to Disneyland or
Disney World, but I'm excited for the experience. So never
has been been I know crazy, so he's never been there.
But look, my favorite movie's Cars too.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 4: I love one two three, four, Like look that's just
not a four, but love the one two three got
my daughter to start watching as well.
Speaker 5: Really, she likes Monsters, Inc. And Toy Story a little
bit more.
Speaker 4: But look, it's either, like you said, been, are you
more Disney or you more Harry Potter. I think growing
up was up serious, growing up more. I was a
Disney kid. And then once I got the hot like
not even high school, middle school, that weird moment I
transition to Harry Potter, like when I go to these
these parks. When I go, I go to Universal and
I look for Harry Potter, Like I'm a Harry Potter kid.
Now October Halloween comes, I watched the Harry Potter movies.
So it's a good question that you brought up I
am not. I don't think a Disney kid. I'm more
of a universe so type guy Harry Potter.
Speaker 1: So you're you're you're a Harry Potter guy, Harry Potter guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm Nerd Gryffindor and my wife is my wife
is my wife is Ravenclaw, so that that kind of
gives us personality.
Speaker 1: And you and you know, did you test that out your.
Speaker 5: She's the house of raven Claw.
Speaker 4: And I think I think you've never been tested yet.
Speaker 1: I mean, I got my blood tested game day Bett Health.
There you go. I gotta hit my house. My my
house affiliation, Harry Potter affiliation. Uh done as well?
Speaker 5: Do they have Harry Potter credit cards?
Speaker 4: Because you know, I know you've been discussing, you know,
the Disney.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's not. Do they have Harry Potter
roll at Universal and Cali?
Speaker 4: I'd have to check. I know they have it down
there in Florida, which I've been. That's where I go,
and I have to tell people, you know, guys from
the mid West, Chicago.
Speaker 5: My family every year being growing up is.
Speaker 4: We would go to Disney and then we go to Universal,
you know, up until us about eleven.
Speaker 5: So that's what we did.
Speaker 4: And then when I got older, I could go if
I wanted to with friends or other family members, and
as an adult That's what I've done.
Speaker 5: So we've gone to the Universal Parks. I love the
roller coaster.
Speaker 4: It's funny that new Veloca rapt or whatever roller coaster
that they had in Florida. But right when I started,
I think a year after working for you, they were
test writing and my wife and I went down there
while you were like upside down.
Speaker 5: Oh man. It was a daze.
Speaker 4: And so I'm a Universal guy, Harry Potter guy for sure.
I pulled off the Disney but a little one.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 5: I'll let her make the decision. We'll see.
Speaker 1: I love it. Or Ig Isaiah Glasker. After listening to
that Ronald the three man Weaver, where are you leaning
right now? Do you think Ig goes to the NFL?
Do you think he stays at BYU, or do you
think he goes portally.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be honest, if I really had to pick
right now you're telling me, and after the information that
you gave earlier, you know about it might be fifteen
to seventh round for LJ. We don't know, right That's
tough for me to think that Isaiah would be higher, really,
because AJ had a better year than Ig, was the
best running back in the Big twelve Jacob O. He
guys is the best linebacker in the country that's already
been solidified. So you're not beating that out. Is he
better than Jack Kelly? I think you have to see
maybe Mail Kiper's big board or others. So he might
not even be ahead of his own counterpart there. Granted
different they're asked to do different things, but in the
linebacker room nonetheless, and then he's competing against all the
other linebackers in the country at Ohio State, Texas, A,
and M. So with that being said, after I've gone
on that fifteen second Tangent, I think he has to
come back then. I mean, he said his ankles have
been bugging him since September, and look, it goes in
the nature of nil. Right now, there's no point for
him again, just like LJ. Lose out on money and
you haven't done that. He could come back and make more.
He's gonna be a prime face. He could be a
guy a close upward to seven figures right next year,
we don't know. So I think Ig does come back,
But at the same time, I want to throw this
out there. If he doesn't feel he's getting his market rate,
ben I definitely think looking I don't want to be
a Debbie downer and people are gonna think that I'm
being you know what, Gurney and you know sometimes Jay
Drew did. They think I'm gonna be the ie word.
I'm not gonna say it. He he ended up in
the portal Ben. I think if Heigi doesn't get his
market rate and if they don't pay him, I think
you could see a Keelan Marriyon type situation. I think
Ig would take off if he felt like he wasn't
getting his value in good else. I don't want to
see that happen. But if he came down to it
at the end of the day, the money talks. So
I think he comes back, but he's not getting that
paper to pin of what he wants.
Speaker 5: I think he'll be gone.
Speaker 1: I love that analysis. I agree with you. I think
he's coming back. But look, he was good this year.
I mean, that's a good stat line that you saw
that I just did. Enumerated for all of kugarnation sixty
total tackles, thirty three solo, twenty seven assisted, one pass defended,
three sacks, one for fumble, two I and T's and
Partridge and a pear Tree. Look, heats, he's gonna get paid,
and he's gonna get paid healthily and strongly. Tenders and
Franklin his nil body. Okay, to keep him at Brigham
his uh. I mean, look, legend's there, Legend Glasger, he's there.
We got family in the building. There's nothing more special
than playing ball on the same team with your your
family members. Okay, you're gonna see it. You're gonna see
rider lines and Walker lines. I'm telling you you're gonna
see them playing. You got the mckensey twins. I know
Dom's in the portal now, but he got to experience
it now. He wants to go play ball and he
just didn't see a path to play ball at b
YU in the wide receiver room. I get it. It's okay,
we wish him well. You never know. Dom could come back.
Le Mason Waller could come back. They entered the portal,
they could end up coming back. We'll see how it
plays out. But ig he's coming back. I hope. So
six five to forty ballers shot collar on a South
Jordan Utah, stay home, b B where your feet are
nowhere's better And I don't disrupt the legacy, long term legacy.
I always say this, like your long term earning potential
is greater than your short term earning potential at b
YU period period. All right, guys, we're live from the
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