Speaker 1: Ellie Lakers try to stave off elimination tonight, as do
Speaker 1: the Houston Rockets. The NBA playoffs roll along with two
Speaker 1: really good games tonight after a bunch of great action
Speaker 1: last night. I was on television last night at ten
Speaker 1: thirty five on KMYU, also streaming on kutv dot com.
Speaker 1: We call it five Questions with Spence, even though last
Speaker 1: night was eight Questions with Spence.
Speaker 2: I needed more time to be filled.
Speaker 1: And Dave Fox joins US live and studio after ditching
Speaker 1: us yesterday.
Speaker 3: Hello Dave.
Speaker 2: Oh sorry, we had a little station sports meeting yesterday.
Speaker 2: But thank you for pivoting and allowing me to come
Speaker 2: into This is rare because normally I'm here and then
Speaker 2: you come there and right he's just the opposite, So
Speaker 2: now I can steal all your material.
Speaker 3: No, all good, But last night was fun. Thanks for
Speaker 3: having me. Of course, my guy Timmy writing the questions
Speaker 3: as he does.
Speaker 2: All the time. He is just great.
Speaker 1: He is the best. He is the best. All right,
Speaker 1: Where to start? Where to start? Where to start?
Speaker 3: Today?
Speaker 1: NBA playoffs, I've been fun, But for the third straight
Speaker 1: year there's no playoff basketball in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Speaker 1: You know, I was thinking about this because they referenced
Speaker 1: the Detroit Pistons have not won a home playoff game
Speaker 1: in seventeen years.
Speaker 3: Ultimately, we're pretty spoiled.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how many you know, how many spring basketball exciting
Speaker 1: events that we've had over the years, even though it's
Speaker 1: been three years. You know, it's it's important to remind
Speaker 1: jazz fans that markets go through this.
Speaker 3: We just don't go through it very often.
Speaker 2: Well, and if you talk about the grand history, Detroit
Speaker 2: has had some pretty good years too.
Speaker 3: That's just for a long time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, It's has been a really really long time. And
Speaker 2: I mean I can go all the way back to
Speaker 2: ninety seven, ninety eight. How much fun was that. It
Speaker 2: was just phenomenal to be a part of that. But
Speaker 2: you're right just to be involved, to say you're a
Speaker 2: playoff team, to not be stuck in the lottery in
Speaker 2: a bad position, it means a lot. It just granted,
Speaker 2: a lot of teams go to the playoffs. I get it,
Speaker 2: but still, if you're a playoff team, you're a playoff team,
Speaker 2: and that says something. It's funny because I was looking
Speaker 2: at the NHL lotteries, is I think it's been announced
Speaker 2: as Monday, and the odds on Utah getting a number
Speaker 2: packer zero. They can't happen because they're so far down
Speaker 2: the lottery. So that's when you're kind of stuck in purgatory.
Speaker 2: That's not really where you want to be. So at
Speaker 2: least this year, Spence, the Jazz are in the best
Speaker 2: position they've been in in quite some time in terms
Speaker 2: of the hope for getting a lottery a number one pick.
Speaker 3: Yeah, fourteen percent chance.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, speaking of Detroit and knock on Wood, last year,
Speaker 1: the Pistons had the worst record in Pro basketball easy,
Speaker 1: and they fell to five, which is the Jazz floor.
Speaker 1: They cannot fall past five. We have recent precedent though
Speaker 1: of it happening. So unfortunately that is not the play.
Speaker 1: Because if Cooper Flag is Jazz Man next year, a
Speaker 1: couple of things. First of all, then we can start
Speaker 1: understanding exactly the direction the Jazz are going to take,
Speaker 1: because people ask me all the time what are they
Speaker 1: gonna do, and I'm like, well, I don't know, and
Speaker 1: I probably will not even have an idea until after
Speaker 1: we know where they're drafting. But if they draft one,
Speaker 1: and if they get Cooper Flag, then we have more
Speaker 1: of an idea of what they're going to do coming up.
Speaker 1: And also we will no longer be in a purgatory
Speaker 1: like NBA National. People will start paying attention to the
Speaker 1: Jazz again because nobody has done that at all this year.
Speaker 2: Well, and they get Flag and then they add Jannis
Speaker 2: and then you're talking about ten.
Speaker 3: Look at you.
Speaker 1: So it's on now. I have to believe that. First
Speaker 1: of all, Milwaukee will not trade him. The only way
Speaker 1: it happens is if Yannis says that's enough, Okay, he
Speaker 1: would have to ask for it.
Speaker 3: I read this this morning. It blew me away.
Speaker 1: So the past ten playoff games for Milwaukee, Jannis is
Speaker 1: averaging thirty two points, sixteen rebounds, and six assists, and
Speaker 1: they're one and nine in those ten games. And it's
Speaker 1: their third straight year they've lost in the first round.
Speaker 1: So it's it's a little bit like so when Lebron
Speaker 1: left Cleveland the first time for Miami, they burned his jersey.
Speaker 1: He came back to Cleveland, won a championship, left for
Speaker 1: Los Angeles and they celebrated it because he got them
Speaker 1: their championship. Yannis won a title in Milwaukee's right, so
Speaker 1: he can kind of do the thing where it's like, look,
Speaker 1: I gave you everything I had, won your title, but
Speaker 1: now it's time for me to move on. The question
Speaker 1: is how much of that will be his decision as
Speaker 1: far as where the landing spot is, because Milwaukee's not
Speaker 1: going to trade him, and I'm sorry, Giannie is not
Speaker 1: gonna be like, hey, they've got great snow in.
Speaker 2: Utah, so my guess he is not a hockey guy.
Speaker 2: Got hockey time up there. So uh that that's a
Speaker 2: really good point. And it's getting back to what you
Speaker 2: said about uh Lebron Jannest. Like you said, he has
Speaker 2: the title. I think that changes your mindset to a degree.
Speaker 2: You never stop the pursuit of getting titles, but at
Speaker 2: least he has one. You look over the careers have
Speaker 2: stocked on them alone. They were fantastic. Never got a title,
Speaker 2: but they wanted it. In that granted, free agency and
Speaker 2: demanding trades wasn't quite as prevalent as it was back then.
Speaker 2: But uh, it went bad quickly when and when I
Speaker 2: don't mean bad, but I mean once though they had
Speaker 2: those two runs, then it was like off off the cliff.
Speaker 2: Few years later, Carl's in l a and and John
Speaker 2: retires I don't know how uh Joannis will continue to be.
Speaker 2: Maybe he really loves Milwaukee. He's got his title, and
Speaker 2: he says, well, I'll just I'll ride this out. But
Speaker 2: that team, that team does not and I think you'll
Speaker 2: agree with me here, that organization isn't even close to
Speaker 2: being title connectors, especially with the problems now that they
Speaker 2: have with Damian Loward. I think they put a lot
Speaker 2: into that basket. And who knows what his situation is
Speaker 2: going to be. That's tough injury to come back from
Speaker 2: at his age. So yeah, well we'll see what kind
Speaker 2: of patients Jannis has. But we would welcome him here
Speaker 2: with open arms in our wonderful community. Take him up
Speaker 2: do some snowboarding if he would prefer. I'm happy to
Speaker 2: take him up to Alta and put the boards on
Speaker 2: and you know, do some surfing in the summer whatever.
Speaker 1: NBA players are not allowed to do that, well they
Speaker 1: can are not allowed to do that. And yet Malone
Speaker 1: who got to drive around on Harley all the time,
Speaker 1: Well he wasn't.
Speaker 2: Supposed to, but he did, but he did.
Speaker 1: You know, I was call him alone, but no, I mean, look,
Speaker 1: even with Dame, we saw where their ceiling is, and
Speaker 1: at times it looks pretty good, but they're not close
Speaker 1: to competing with Dames, so they're mile away without him.
Speaker 1: Game won't be on the floor next year until probably
Speaker 1: the spring f at all. But he's under contract for
Speaker 1: two more years at about one hundred and twenty million,
Speaker 1: a lot of money. So Milwaukee's in trouble and Phoenix
Speaker 1: is in trouble. There will be teams that will be
Speaker 1: moving on from star players. Kevin Durant will be traded,
Speaker 1: Giannis will be traded. I just think the Jazz have
Speaker 1: probably three years too late, but they finally have accepted
Speaker 1: their fate and they're gonna play this long game thing.
Speaker 1: I don't think, like I don't know that Danny Ainge
Speaker 1: will ever utter the phrase big game hunting again. I
Speaker 1: just think they've leaned into this long term play and
Speaker 1: we'll see if they get Cooper and then they go
Speaker 1: from there.
Speaker 2: If I can circle back to yesterday's show, and I
Speaker 2: listened to your show every day, so your NBA guess not.
Speaker 2: Dave mcmanimum Tim McMahon, and he brought up an interesting
Speaker 2: point in the same subject in that no, there's no
Speaker 2: chance Kevin Durant's coming here but the Jazz could be
Speaker 2: a facilitator in a deal that involves Durant somewhere. They
Speaker 2: already have been with Phoenix once before, right, and you
Speaker 2: know you kind of got into the whole, you know,
Speaker 2: is there another year of tanking? And I think you
Speaker 2: both kind of agreed that if you get Cooper Flag,
Speaker 2: you don't necessarily have to go into a full year
Speaker 2: of tanking, if I if I heard that correctly. But
Speaker 2: the temptation to try to add debansa is great. But
Speaker 2: Spence one are the odds on getting the number one
Speaker 2: pick two years in a RUW.
Speaker 3: It doesn't happen much. And you know, I do, I
Speaker 3: do think.
Speaker 1: There is a chance that if Cooper Flag is here
Speaker 1: in Salt Lake City, the Jazz decide, and may have
Speaker 1: already decided that their timeline starts now, That's what I think,
Speaker 1: and their timelines to get to the Cooper flag. And look,
Speaker 1: the draft class next year, and you know, people analyze
Speaker 1: the draft day to day for a living in a
Speaker 1: way that I don't. But the draft class next year
Speaker 1: is thought to be every bit as good as the
Speaker 1: draft class this year. And so we love you, Lowry,
Speaker 1: but you're about to turn twenty and even a guy
Speaker 1: like Walker Kessler's agent a little bit, which sounds hilarious
Speaker 1: to say, but if you get Cooper Flagg at eighteen,
Speaker 1: and I remind everybody every time I bring up Cooper Flag,
Speaker 1: he turned eighteen three and a half months ago. He
Speaker 1: reclassified and should have been a senior in high school.
Speaker 1: So it's like Trevin Nell's what twenty seven like, you know,
Speaker 1: so he is not some season college basketball player. He
Speaker 1: should have been a senior in high school this year.
Speaker 1: He's a young eighteen. So there is part of me
Speaker 1: to believes the Jazz have already done their calculation and
Speaker 1: they're saying, if we get Cooper, our project starts now
Speaker 1: with him.
Speaker 2: But I don't know about dismissing Kessler yet, He's not
Speaker 2: that much older.
Speaker 1: I'm saying, I don't think anybody would be safe if
Speaker 1: they get Cooper Flagg probably.
Speaker 2: And Lowry right is even more. And then you go
Speaker 2: down the line guys like Jordan Clarkson, done, John Collins.
Speaker 2: You know, maybe they would have traded Jordan if they
Speaker 2: could by now. Yeah, well, no, I don't know, may
Speaker 2: not be, it may be part of the facilitation of
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant we'll see where that all goes.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what's beneficial now with both Clarks and
Speaker 1: Collins is now that we enter the final year of
Speaker 1: their contracts. So if another general manager you say, okay,
Speaker 1: that money does expire. Instead of trading for John Collins.
Speaker 1: Last year, gms are saying I don't want to trade
Speaker 1: for John Collins because I'm paying him twenty six million
Speaker 1: dollars next year. But now this year you're saying, okay,
Speaker 1: that comes off the books. It's expiring, so we'll make
Speaker 1: that deal.
Speaker 2: So forget about big game hunting and think more about
Speaker 2: the we use the word again, the facilitating things that could,
Speaker 2: in a roundabout way benefit the Jazzy because they have
Speaker 2: a lot of other assets to deal with. Hey, did
Speaker 2: you call any of Jackson darts high school football games? Several?
Speaker 1: So he turns out to be QB two in the
Speaker 1: NFL draft process, which I think is pretty interesting.
Speaker 3: You know, starts at USC, goes goes to miss.
Speaker 1: Brian Dayball, who was Josh Allen's offensive coordinator in Buffalo,
Speaker 1: trades back into the first round to take Jackson.
Speaker 3: What sort of NFL player do you think he's gonna be?
Speaker 2: I think he's gonna be a really good one when
Speaker 2: I the games. I still remember his first game. I
Speaker 2: think we called one of his first games at Corner Canyon.
Speaker 2: And remember he played three years at Roy and we
Speaker 2: actually called a few of his games there. But he
Speaker 2: wasn't showcase there the way he was at Corner Canyon.
Speaker 2: You know, Eric Kerra just turns out the quarter there.
Speaker 2: And the two things that caught me. One he was
Speaker 2: incredibly accurate with his passing. But when he took off
Speaker 2: and ran, I mean he ran like a running back.
Speaker 3: A kid that's built really well too, that.
Speaker 2: Big, strong kid, and just a great kid. Beyond that,
Speaker 2: it's just a lot of fun to watch. I love
Speaker 2: him in the NFL, and I think you talk about
Speaker 2: the Giants, sorry about the Jets. You mean to bring what.
Speaker 1: Are you Doing's asking you about the Jets's talking across town? Uh?
Speaker 2: They added Skataboo, So I'm thinking four or five. And
Speaker 2: I'm not a Jet, you know, me and my Cowboys.
Speaker 2: I don't like the Giants. I don't like anyone else
Speaker 2: in the NFCS, but I think there might be a
Speaker 2: nice little foundation there, and that's a team that traditionally
Speaker 2: loves those fans will eat up a running back like Scataboo,
Speaker 2: you know, a strong kid and Dart. I just think
Speaker 2: four or five years from now, that's going to be
Speaker 2: a heck of a tandem in that in that city.
Speaker 1: Do you think Jackson in fact Porter get on the microphone, Oh,
Speaker 1: Jackson Dart NFL prospect juxtaposed to Zach Wilson.
Speaker 4: Good question, And it's interesting you mentioned the corner Canyon thing.
Speaker 4: They've now put out two first round quarterbacks in a
Speaker 4: time span that I'm not sure many colleges around the
Speaker 4: country have. Yeah, I think that Jackson is he has
Speaker 4: a lot more of like the refined stuff that Zach had.
Speaker 4: Clearly a great arm, he could sling it. But Jackson
Speaker 4: seems to really know playbooks well. He seems to know
Speaker 4: pre snap stuff really well, a lot of the stuff
Speaker 4: that I actually think Zach struggled with and with the
Speaker 4: reason although he was great at BYU was not a
Speaker 4: great prospect. Jackson seems to have a little bit more
Speaker 4: of that pocket presence pre snap stuff.
Speaker 2: I think more experienced too, played for Lane Tiffin. But
Speaker 2: I'll circle back to what you said too about the coaching.
Speaker 2: That's a big part of it. So Zach goes into
Speaker 2: a coaching situation where you got a head coach who's
Speaker 2: the defensive guy. In fact, he's back with the Niners, right,
Speaker 2: he's the defensive coach. Again. I just think it was
Speaker 2: a bad situation. And again, I don't mean to fall
Speaker 2: back on the Jets, but they're terrible.
Speaker 3: Yes they are, and I can census.
Speaker 2: And they brought him in and he had to play. Well,
Speaker 2: that's not the case with Jackson dark because they have uh,
Speaker 2: mister unlimited, don't play it, don't play it, Russell Wilson,
Speaker 2: Mister unlimited.
Speaker 1: Right, have you ever heard have you ever heard the
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson mister unlimited? You don't want to It'll ruin
Speaker 1: your day, don't but don't play that.
Speaker 2: Jameis Winston. They have both of them, so theoretically, who
Speaker 2: knows what they're going to do with him, But he's
Speaker 2: gonna have plenty of time to learn if they so
Speaker 2: choose to do that. And I just think it's a
Speaker 2: great situation for him. And may I have a hard
Speaker 2: time saying all this because I'm not a Giants fan
Speaker 2: in any way, but I'm probably going to become one.
Speaker 1: Just because of Jackson Dart. Help me understand what they've
Speaker 1: got cooking at Corner Canyon. Why have they been able
Speaker 1: to turn these kids out like that? Well, Eric, first
Speaker 1: of all, has a great system. Now this isn't just
Speaker 1: sticking a quarterback behind the center, right. The one thing
Speaker 1: that people don't talk that much about. He always has
Speaker 1: a great line, great offensive line. Jackson powers or powers
Speaker 1: Jackson is another great kid who's with the Raiders right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: uh Fee now coming up, he's going to be a
Speaker 1: sensational well in some respects, he's not directly, but their yeah,
Speaker 1: their family.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: He always builds a great line and he has a
Speaker 2: decent defense to go along with it. And you know
Speaker 2: how much that can mean to a quarterback if you're
Speaker 2: not on the field the whole time. So Eric's just
Speaker 2: built a machine out there. They're gonna be good. They've
Speaker 2: got a quarterback this year. Helam and Kasuga, who's going
Speaker 2: to be a senior. Watch out for him. He's going
Speaker 2: to be really he committed to a college. Uh, he's
Speaker 2: still out there. Cool, but he's only going into his
Speaker 2: senior year. So heavily recruited. Uh. And it's it's funny
Speaker 2: because what Eric has built this Corner Canyon at Corner
Speaker 2: Canyon has forced the other teams in that region, and
Speaker 2: I'm talking about like Lehigh and Skyridge and Loan Peak
Speaker 2: to up their game. And now you've got this. It's
Speaker 2: we always me and a lemon. Frank always called the
Speaker 2: sec of high school football in Utah.
Speaker 1: Do not say Frank Stam on this radio show. You
Speaker 1: and Alemma and the other you can say that adultce
Speaker 1: no no, and the bald weird dude. How you can
Speaker 1: put that the bald weird dudeh thank you.
Speaker 2: Uh. And in fact, this year, I've already got our
Speaker 2: schedule done. We're going to do a lot of games
Speaker 2: out of that involved those four teams because they're just
Speaker 2: so good. But that's what Eric has built there and
Speaker 2: it's it's just going to continue. They're really good. He's
Speaker 2: got a quarterback you probably don't even remember, Devin Brown.
Speaker 2: He's on Ohio State's roster right now from a couple
Speaker 2: of years ago.
Speaker 3: So good. He's got he's got it going on there. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just, uh, it's impressive.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this, did uh did Jackson transfer
Speaker 1: from Roy to Corner Canyon to play for Eric was
Speaker 1: likely exactly right.
Speaker 2: He played three years at Roy, going into his senior year,
Speaker 2: and he had the blessing of the Roy coaches. Fred
Speaker 2: Fernandas was the head coach and and he knew he
Speaker 2: had something special, but he didn't really have the offense
Speaker 2: or the team to really exploit that. And he goes
Speaker 2: to Corner Canyon and Spence. Within weeks he's getting offers
Speaker 2: from all over the place, and of course he landed
Speaker 2: at USC and if they had not had a coaching change, actually,
Speaker 2: I mean, what do you expect that that's gonna have?
Speaker 2: But when new coach comes in, he brings his quarterback
Speaker 2: with him. He was pretty good and he's with the
Speaker 2: Bears now. But he he uh, he instantly was being
Speaker 2: recruited everywhere. Best move he ever made. I'm not sure
Speaker 2: where he'd be at now if he had not made
Speaker 2: that move to Corner Canyon.
Speaker 1: Was there?
Speaker 3: I mean, this is a silly question.
Speaker 1: I'm sure Utah would have liked Jackson Dart to play
Speaker 1: for them, Like, what was there any conflict?
Speaker 3: Did he just simply want to go to s C.
Speaker 2: I couldn't tell you this inner workings other than Cam
Speaker 2: Rising was there at the time and made it a
Speaker 2: little bit of a he was young that the title
Speaker 2: kid too Well, well, he came and went in a hurry.
Speaker 3: I mean, was there.
Speaker 2: He's still playing somewhere.
Speaker 3: I think he truly was there, not much of a need.
Speaker 2: I think that the issue because the same issue with
Speaker 2: Zach Wilson if you go all the way back, remember
Speaker 2: Zach originally committed to Boise State and then made the
Speaker 2: move to BYU, which turned out great for him, but
Speaker 2: they end up with Isaac Wilson, and you know, we'll
Speaker 2: see where that goes. But I've you know, you look,
Speaker 2: I mean, hindsight's twenty twenty o cold look at Obviously,
Speaker 2: if the youths could do it over again, they would
Speaker 2: have loved to have Jack. He was great in Mississippi
Speaker 2: and that's and the rest is history. Now he's off
Speaker 2: to the NFL and we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1: Is it any sort of an indictment or concern that
Speaker 1: Caleb Loner was the only ute drafted and there were
Speaker 1: zero BYU players drafted. Yeah, BYU teams had a really
Speaker 1: good season in the Big twelve.
Speaker 2: No NFL guys and no other ute NFL guys. That's
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, and that was one of my five
Speaker 2: questions for us yesterday because I thought the same one
Speaker 2: of your eight questions, sorry, one of my eight questions.
Speaker 2: Eight questions. Suspension just doesn't have the same rings, so
Speaker 2: I just hide him in there. But I thought the
Speaker 2: exact same thing. In fact, I had to read over
Speaker 2: the draft and draft by school two or three times
Speaker 2: Saturday afternoon to make sure I was reading this correctly,
Speaker 2: because in a way, there's a there's a bit of
Speaker 2: comedy to it. But on the other side of it,
Speaker 2: good for Caleb, and you've mentioned some of the other
Speaker 2: tight ends that have gone through this. It's it's a
Speaker 2: great story for him. He didn't get overly used on
Speaker 2: Utah's offense last year, but he had a couple. He
Speaker 2: had the touchdown at Utah State and a few other
Speaker 2: big catches, and you will see what he can do
Speaker 2: in the NFL. I don't know what his blocking acumen is,
Speaker 2: but uh, for a pass catching tight end, I think
Speaker 2: it's great. But yeah, when you when you look back
Speaker 2: at the draft, and boy, the NFL draft is eternity.
Speaker 2: We know that. And that's the only kid that was
Speaker 2: drafted between BYU and Utah Jalen Royals course for Utah State.
Speaker 2: Good for him, goes to a great situation with the Chiefs.
Speaker 2: But that's the only kid out of those two schools.
Speaker 2: Is it's I think it's less an indictment on Caleb.
Speaker 2: I have no issue with that, good for him, and
Speaker 2: more of what where are all these other, you know,
Speaker 2: kids that we thought were going to get drafted? But
Speaker 2: you brought up a great point yesterday when we were
Speaker 2: talking about Shadur Sanders. The media's perspective of draft projections
Speaker 2: in the NFL's perspective of draft projections are two completely
Speaker 2: different things. And we learned that, didn't we.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're a talent evaluator for a team,
Speaker 1: you're taught to remove emotion.
Speaker 2: Can the kid play right?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 1: And on the media side, certainly for a network like
Speaker 1: ESPN who's a partner with the NFL and has the
Speaker 1: NFL Draft, their one motivation is to get you to
Speaker 1: watch their TV show exactly, So how do we do that?
Speaker 3: We create a narrative around should our Sanders?
Speaker 1: And we have mel Kuiper lose his mind every five
Speaker 1: minutes about how he made God? And look, I honestly
Speaker 1: don't know if that is Mel Kuiper being sincere as
Speaker 1: a draft analyst or as a TV character. I really
Speaker 1: don't know, because he seemed to be playing it up
Speaker 1: to the camera, like every five minutes, let's go back
Speaker 1: to Mel and he's freaking out.
Speaker 3: Looks like his hair is gonna fall out.
Speaker 1: He did he did he really think should our Sanders
Speaker 1: should have been the number one player drafted? Or is
Speaker 1: he playing up to the audience so you turn on ESPN.
Speaker 2: Well maybe it's a little bit of both. But think
Speaker 2: about this. He had him high on his board and
Speaker 2: he doesn't want to be wrong. It's you know, it's funny.
Speaker 2: I always think about when you look at replays in
Speaker 2: the NFL and the NBA, these officials don't want to
Speaker 2: have to overturn a call because if they do, they
Speaker 2: admit they're wrong. They're wrong. Yeah, but that's what replay
Speaker 2: has created. Well, maybe it's the same situation with with Mel.
Speaker 2: He doesn't want he has to defend, and he over
Speaker 2: defended himself his projections of the draft. When this kid
Speaker 2: who he had highly projected, I think he had him
Speaker 2: as the second quarterback. No, he thought he should be,
Speaker 2: so he had QB one and he drops fifth. Obviously
Speaker 2: he's gonna raise a big stink over it, and boy,
Speaker 2: I think you you hit on it too. There was
Speaker 2: a little bit of theater with that because how many
Speaker 2: times did they go to mel I thought he was
Speaker 2: going to come to blows. At one point, who was
Speaker 2: he fighting with? I can't remember. He was fighting with
Speaker 2: Reese Davis. It Rys Davis. Yeah, when he started yelling.
Speaker 1: About how the NFL gets a wrong a quarterback and
Speaker 1: Reese of course wants to protect the shields, he said,
Speaker 1: stop yelling at the NFL piece.
Speaker 2: So it was really kind. It was really good.
Speaker 1: But that's the point Dave like, as a media member, Okay,
Speaker 1: if you're a media member and you're quote analyzing the draft,
Speaker 1: your whole motivation is to get the most amount of
Speaker 1: people to click on your stuff or watch your show,
Speaker 1: unless you're trying to impress the NFL team because you
Speaker 1: want a job, and there are several media slubs that
Speaker 1: believe they should be working for NFL teams or whatever.
Speaker 1: But you always have to remember, as a consumer, the
Speaker 1: motivation for TV networks is one thing and one thing.
Speaker 1: Only turn on the TV and keep it on the
Speaker 1: TV on our station. As long as possible. You know this,
Speaker 1: that's how you say advertise.
Speaker 2: Well, Steven A. Smith did the same thing, though, of
Speaker 2: course very that's very harsh show. Yeah, then that's that's
Speaker 2: his stick for you know in h twenty twenty eight,
Speaker 2: by the way, running for president?
Speaker 3: Would you stopped it?
Speaker 2: So that is stick? You and I don't argue enough
Speaker 2: on them on my TV show.
Speaker 3: Do you want to argue more? We can argue more.
Speaker 2: All that, I'm pretty much a softie and I have it.
Speaker 2: I have this weird tendency to almost agree with just
Speaker 2: about everything you say. Well, I just don't do combative radio. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't think well, and.
Speaker 1: I could be wrong, because maybe if I was more
Speaker 1: like Steven A. Smith, I could sign a one hundred
Speaker 1: million dollar contract. But I don't think people turn on
Speaker 1: the radio to escape from their day to listen to
Speaker 1: two people yell at each other.
Speaker 2: Don't. Maybe I'm wrong, but that was entertaining. Uh, no
Speaker 2: doubt about it. That It's just funny stuff.
Speaker 1: So Caleb, only local player besides Jalen drafted, but only you.
Speaker 3: No b YU players drafted. I'm gonna flip the script
Speaker 3: on you.
Speaker 1: As far as what you asked me last night, and
Speaker 1: I'll just stick with the Utah perspective. We saw spring football.
Speaker 1: We saw Devin Dan Pierre play a lot. We saw
Speaker 1: a lot of hitting. We saw a lot of live hitting.
Speaker 1: I mean I was down there on the sidelines. Well,
Speaker 1: of course, don't touch the quarterback, but I was kind
Speaker 1: of taken back. And I talked to Morgan about this
Speaker 1: after the spring game, like you guys were hitting. He's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we needed, we need some live action. What gives you
Speaker 1: the most confidence the year two in the Big twelve
Speaker 1: for Utah football will be better?
Speaker 2: Okay, A couple of things. First of all, and you
Speaker 2: and I were talking about before the spring game, we
Speaker 2: didn't even think we would see some of these guys
Speaker 2: all that much. And I wouldn't blame Cotton. I wouldn't
Speaker 2: see the past couple of years geez. But and I'm
Speaker 2: going to go back to when I was on your
Speaker 2: show and I did disagree with you. I said, no,
Speaker 2: I think they're going to play him a lot because
Speaker 2: they need to see him. So thank you.
Speaker 3: Where to go.
Speaker 1: To toot your own horn. That's that's good to give
Speaker 1: yourself To circle back and answer your question.
Speaker 2: A couple of things First, of all, seeing him for
Speaker 2: the first time in person, I thought Devin was smaller,
Speaker 2: much shorter and thinner, and you know, it's kind of
Speaker 2: he's a small dude, because Isaac next to him looked
Speaker 2: pretty big. But the way the ball placement I thought
Speaker 2: was really exceptional. There were a couple of passes, a
Speaker 2: couple of corner routes, a couple of sideline routes where
Speaker 2: he put that ball on the money. That's one thing
Speaker 2: I appreciated about too. He already seemed to have a
Speaker 2: great command of the huddle and the team UH three
Speaker 2: for as being as small as he is when you
Speaker 2: see him in person, he really got around well her Now.
Speaker 2: Granted that they can't go full bore, and you know,
Speaker 2: we're going to see what happens in the in the
Speaker 2: fall when he's not wearing a yellow vest, But overall,
Speaker 2: I thought that I don't know how much we really saw,
Speaker 2: and I don't think we saw a lot Spence, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, because they're not going to show
Speaker 2: that in the spring game. But I think it gives
Speaker 2: uh the ute fan some hope for what this team
Speaker 2: might be able to do this year. We'll see the
Speaker 2: main thing they got to just stay healthy. We learned
Speaker 2: that last year. That's a big part of it. And
Speaker 2: some of the main players like Barton didn't play. But
Speaker 2: I'm telling you what, he looks big. He looks like
Speaker 2: a stud. I mean, he's one of these guys that's
Speaker 2: gonna be able to play, you know, defensive line if
Speaker 2: he needs to, moving up from that kind of a
Speaker 2: Micah Parsons kind of position, you know, linebacker and that. So,
Speaker 2: you know, if I'm a youth fan, I'm pretty excited
Speaker 2: about this offense in the direction that's going. I can't
Speaker 2: wait to see it when they could really open it up,
Speaker 2: and you know they're not. It's not as vanilla as
Speaker 2: it might have been. Having said that, it was kind
Speaker 2: of a you know, there was some wide open plays.
Speaker 2: It was fun to watch.
Speaker 1: It really was little concerned about who who Devin's going
Speaker 1: to throw the ball to. So Zach Williams lands at USC.
Speaker 1: According to our friends at two four seven Sports, Utahs
Speaker 1: hosting a wide receiver transfer named Tobias Merriweather, who's in
Speaker 1: town from cal the number sixteen available player in the
Speaker 1: two four seven portal rankings. They've got add wide receiver
Speaker 1: to Dave. Yeah, talked about it himself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he is. But I will say this, there were
Speaker 2: a couple of nice catches made Williams. There's now at
Speaker 2: usc good point. There were a couple of drops early,
Speaker 2: and Kyle mentioned that. In fact, in the first quarter
Speaker 2: there were a few of them and the ball was
Speaker 2: being put right on the spot. So it's weird, though, Spence,
Speaker 2: because it feels like wide receiver has been an issue
Speaker 2: like year after year after a year, and they always
Speaker 2: seem to have plenty of tight ends. But we'll see
Speaker 2: where that goes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we'll always wonder what Dorian could have
Speaker 1: done last year. I Cam was healthy, right, I mean
Speaker 1: there's been some talent, like Tim Patrick's an awsome NFL
Speaker 1: wide receiver to v there's been some talent there, but
Speaker 1: you got to have a healthy quarterback that can capitalize
Speaker 1: on it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And Patrick had that broken leg rough rough time here
Speaker 2: at Utah. But and I remember when he did that,
Speaker 2: I thought, well that this is gonna be a rough
Speaker 2: comeback for him. And he ends up, like you said,
Speaker 2: having a really nice career still playing.
Speaker 1: He got paid by the That's right, all right, Before
Speaker 1: we say you loose, you had a very you have
Speaker 1: a very special guest on Talking Sports tonight by my count.
Speaker 1: Utah men's basketball roster right now has five roster spots left.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I believe.
Speaker 3: So you had a chance to sit with Alex Jensen,
Speaker 3: tell us about it.
Speaker 2: Came in today. It was a lot of fun. Spent
Speaker 2: about twenty twenty five minutes with him. And you know
Speaker 2: how talking sports work, we get maybe eight or nine yeats.
Speaker 2: So we're going to run it in two parts because
Speaker 2: it was great tonight. The first part we talk a
Speaker 2: lot about Alex, his family, the move they just went
Speaker 2: through coming back to Utah. You know, his wife was
Speaker 2: in the performing arts, Natalie on Broadway, that kind of thing. Great,
Speaker 2: great lady. It's funny because he was I was asking
Speaker 2: about so she's, you know, Broadway girl, performing arts, your
Speaker 2: sports basketball? Which direction are the kids headed? And he
Speaker 2: said his two daughters already are headed to basketball? Oh really?
Speaker 3: So yes, don't they only have girls that live three?
Speaker 2: The three girls, well, the third is only three years old,
Speaker 2: so she hasn't made that call yet. Right, So his
Speaker 2: wife's you know, she's not overly I mean, she's not
Speaker 2: there fully supportive of what their kids do, but she's
Speaker 2: still waiting to see if she gets her dancer. We'll see,
Speaker 2: but we talk a lot about about that. And then
Speaker 2: on Sunday night, I'm gonna run Part two and we
Speaker 2: talk a little bit more about basketball. I thought one
Speaker 2: of the interesting things he brought up, and you see
Speaker 2: this with all programs now they're going to the GMS,
Speaker 2: and he said it was really important for him to
Speaker 2: get a GM that is not a coach, literally is
Speaker 2: a GM. And that's that's what he managed to find.
Speaker 2: And that's that's where we're at in college because he
Speaker 2: because he's like he deals with all the money and
Speaker 2: I deal with all the players. Could you imagine that
Speaker 2: phrase five years ago? You know you'd be on probation.
Speaker 2: I was a little.
Speaker 1: Disappointed that Alex didn't contact me about the vacant GM
Speaker 1: job or what are you gonna do? He asked me
Speaker 1: about that. I told him that you're happy where you're at. Okay,
Speaker 1: fair enough. I just try to start my own role.
Speaker 1: Dave ye, heya, great to see. Okay, see great day.
Speaker 3: Fox.
Speaker 1: Tune into Talking Sports tonight you'll hear an interview with
Speaker 1: Alex Jensen