Speaker 1: Thucol Macknis So March is right around the corner and
the Cougars are written the metal of it. It's time
to talk to some college basketball, a lot Cougar sports
with Ben Cripple.
Speaker 2: We welcome back to Fugure Sports.
Speaker 3: Here on a three nine and ninety three ESP and
the fan Ronald the three and nine. We were here
holding it down for Ben Cripple.
Speaker 2: Got Brett always bringing the hammer by my side as well.
Speaker 3: Gonna get into a little basketball discussion, going to discuss
a lot of stuff about this BAYU men's basketball team.
Gonna take a different approach. I look, I love talking hoop.
You guys know I love talking basketball.
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 3: I'm the basketball guy. Ben has given me that ropes.
I love talking about it. Getting Jonathan Tavnari on. You know,
we've had Anson Winder on former b AU greats. We've
had h Tyler before. Still trying to you know, uh
get TJ. Look, this BAU basketball program has has shocked
the world in my opinion, and they it started with
Mark Pope. I know a lot of people might look
at that differently, but it started under Mark Pope when
no one thought that they would be be good.
Speaker 2: They went, I think was fifth or sixth in the
Big twelve.
Speaker 3: And then Pope got hired and the staff dispersed, and
everyone thought the sky was falling. Chicken little who wasn't lying,
and maybe for a second it wasn't. Then lo and
behold here comes, you know, the bearded dragon who unfortunately
had to shave his beard in Kevin Young and said, look,
I'm preparing to develop young men for the NBA. And
that's what he did, the top ten lottery pick. And
now you got the number one recruit in the twenty
twenty five class. So you have the number one Euro,
you got the number one high school guy who's going
to be the number one pick in the twenty twenty
six NBA class maybe excuse.
Speaker 2: Me, the NBA draft.
Speaker 3: And then you also had the number one Juko. Just
a phenomenal of that. But he's an even better person.
And look, I know a lot of people feel sometimes
that Kevin Young is just business. But this is why
I tell you, guys, watch the cut. You watch the cut.
Kevin Young is leading to the discussions, he's leading the prayer.
It's like, I love to see this from Kevin Young.
And it goes back to what President Rees announced. He says, Hey,
we got a great man, but a great follower.
Speaker 2: First and foremost of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3: And sometimes that can get overlooked when you know you
have a very intense and serious personality and you're about
your business and your action.
Speaker 2: But that doesn't take away and.
Speaker 3: Getting to know Kevin Young just over these last two years,
I see a lot of Christ and that man more
than I think maybe some other people might not have
the opportunity. So I'm just very grateful to be able
to do that, you know, and cover this team. And
we're gonna break it down with the guy who does
the fan experience for him. He gets to see the
team a little bit more, maybe more than I do
interact with them. But we're gonna discuss that Dawson Baker,
you know, unfortunately it will be out for the rest
of the season and has a decision to make on
his future. But it felt like, you know that fans
and people forgot about Dawson and shout out to the
top king, but he was delivered a stack of letters.
I don't know how many it is, and I'm gonna
have to have a guy on the line and tell
me how many letters that he got, but they wrote
him love letters, thank you message especially around the holidays.
A great light the world from the BYU Rockets. This
is this was great to do to be a to
do that and show Dawson some love, and I know
Dawson definitely felt the spirit and it blew up over
social media as it should have. Guys, But this basketball segment,
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dot com. Let's get out to the ESPN, the fan,
the hotline. I don't want to make them wait anymore.
I've made them wait a little bit I have none
other than Joel Marry, the manager of the fan Experience
and Marketing for the bou men's basketball team and manager
of marketing analytics.
Speaker 2: Joel, thanks for joining me today. Brother.
Speaker 4: Hey, absolutely, Ron'm excited to chat with you and chat
with Tigernation.
Speaker 3: Tell me how all of this came about, because I
saw it a couple of weeks ago. I was very intrigued.
Great thought process by you and the rock board just
who resually came up with this idea to write Dawson Baker.
And you're gonna have to tell me how many letters
is that, because that's a thick stack of letters that
dB got.
Speaker 4: I was gonna say it was a healthy stack and
credit where it's due, because you know, Cougar Nation really
is always excited to you know, share the love that
they have with players. And in fact, that's where it
started was the staff had been getting kind of fan mail,
which isn't very common. There's not like a mailbox necessarily
for you know, players or staff, but they some people
seemingly found the address and started kind of sending some
some good wishes and well wishes to Dawson and so
they In fact, I was approached by the staff to say, hey,
can we make this, you know, bigger if we do
it all at once and kind of have all of
the fans you know, kind of the word I've been
using is love bomb Dawson, And so that's kind of
the genesis of it was, hey, can we do this
all at once? And we luckily had a great opportunity
on the concourse at the Merritt Center what we call
the fan zoned to kind of host that. So you know,
we had fans just take a quarter sheet of a
piece of paper. So yeah, it had to have been
easily four or five hundred of those little pieces of
paper that they were able to write a little note
to him and give him, as you know, their best
wishes as he goes through a pretty grueling process right
with his knee injury and a lot of isolation, I'm
sure is what it feels like. Obviously he's got a
great support team and good professionals to help him get
back on his feet, but you know, I'm sure that
that's the lonely process. And so the thought was, hey,
how can we you know, kind of give Dawson a
love bomb? And in fact, we did do it over
two different games up on the concourse. Pregame is where
we did it and when we did it. But it
was an awesome opportunity just to kind of say, hey,
here's a big stack in that hour that you know,
the rocks waiting for the game to start, and for
general fans who are you know, walking the concourse, give
him a chance to you know, share some love to
Dawson directly. And it was especially good. I thought to,
you know, have it captured, you know, show the reaction,
because sometimes we'll have things like that that are you know,
fan facing, but are intended for the players that sometimes
it's like is he going to ever really see the
output of this? You know, is he going to really
read my letter? And so it was really fun to
see that, like you said, kind of blow up and
you know, have people realize, hey, that actually made it
to him and it made a big difference for him
and for his family that's supporting him and help him
not feel as lonely in the in the recovery process.
Speaker 3: Man, you guys hit out of the park for sure.
I swear I feel like you guys, you don't miss
a beat down there. Ay BYU Athletics.
Speaker 2: That's for sure. No, his reaction was.
Speaker 3: It caught my attention, honestly, and I mean my wife
was the one that pointed out, was like, did you
see this? And I said, see what she's like? Did
you see that? She's like Dawson Baker like got notes?
And I said, no, how did I miss that? And
then I went to social media. I was like, oh,
my goodness, like and just his reaction. I know he
gave the reaction, Hey, thanks to rock, you know, but
take me a little bit more behind the sly. I
don't know if you've had a chance to talk with
Dawn of how he felt, because the reaction was genuine,
just like the one of him in the locker room, right,
he didn't know that. I feel like he's been on
the highlight of these these videos, which is awesome. But
just take me behind the scenes of how Dawson was
because I feel like that made me emotional in a
moment as just a person, right and just a fan
of the game of basketball, and I know that probably
had to make Dawson emotional as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know. In fact, I very fortunately had the
chance to take the elevator with him outside of the
Merritt Center that day, and it wasn't you know, I
wasn't like, you know, cherry bombing them waiting to say
hi to him on the way out, But it just
worked out, which again was really fortunate for me. I
don't always see the payoff of, you know, those kind
of interactions that we try to prepare for. But I
was really humble to be in the elevator with him,
and you know, he's got his crutches, had some nice
shoes on. In fact, President Reese was in the elevator
and gave him a shout out for a shoe game,
which Dust's always had a strong shoe game. But we
were able to take the elevator up and on the
way out, I said, hey, I heard you got some notes,
which again I tried to play it off a little bit,
you know, almost play dumb for a moment, but I said, hey,
you got some some fun notes from the fans, and
he goes he kind of had a little tear in
his eye and was just said, hey, you know that
really really means a lot. It's a it's a long
road ahead, but it was really cool to see individuals
with their names on a little piece of paper saying
something to me. As an individual because you know, I'm
sure he knows that there's you know, there's support, and
you know, social media can certainly you know, people post
and comment on the post rather that say hey, you know,
we wish you the best. But it's really fun to
see it in the handwriting of a you know, six
year old kid or a longtime Cougar club member that's
been at games forever. So he was really grateful and
in fact, his wife was there as well, and you
could kind of tell that she was grateful as well,
which is a really cool interaction. So you know, can
be able to see the interaction in the moment when
you know, Richie walks up and says, hey, these are
from the rock and from the fans was its own
payoff moment for sure. But then again being able to
walk out with him and just wish them the best
myself and say, hey, it's the least we could do
on our staff from the fan experience side, to just
express our gratitude and use the platform that we have
to you know, make a personal touch for him, which
is really humbling. Again, he was very emotional and you
could tell as a very genuine, uh gratitude moment for him.
So again really humbled to even experience that and kind
of get lucky on the way out that that I
got to walk out with him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and look, Joe, we talked and we talked about
the interview and prep you. I I didn't think I
was going to get that response. I had no idea
you had the opportunity to be on the elevator, you know,
you know with him, I was shooting in a dark
hoping you would and that that that's very touching that
you are to experience that, And thank you for sharing that.
Of the behind the scenes always you know are important
to me. We only see things that face value. Social
media can only tell us so much, but we really
don't know what's going on behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: So thank you for that.
Speaker 3: That moment you get b yu, you guys, and you
guys were able to light the world, you know, for
Dawson Baker and his family. I know that he will
he will cherish that. But I want to go back
to behind the scenes. Get to know you a little
bit better. Tell us about you know, your role. You're
the manager of the fan experience in marketing for men's basketball.
You're the behind the scenes guy I see you all
the time. I know you're busy. I don't get to
talk to you as much, but you got a lot
going on.
Speaker 2: Just take us through.
Speaker 3: What did the day in the life is like for
you for a normal game day for bou basketball.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, it's a really it's crazy that I get to
call us my job. I'll admit it's really fun because
I prepare, you know, as early as I can for
a given game. And what's interesting is the two kind
of parts of my job are marketing and fan experience.
And some people may say, well, isn't it the easiest
job ever to market a team like this? And in fact,
I tell the guys in the once kind of the
first meeting of the year, I'm invited in to kind
of describe what I do, and I just say, hey,
you guys make selling tickets really easy, so thank you.
And in the market sitting side, my mindset pivots a
lot to you know, how do we now have season
ticket holders using their tickets? So that's kind of at
least one thing that is heavy on my mind, and
you know, improving the usage of tickets, So that's a
big part of what I do. But the true game
to game preparation that we do is really regimented on
some sould. Inventory is a big part of things that
we do. So in fact, even as listeners here, you know,
a quick shout out at the stat of the day
was brought to you by a blank In fact, I
run through the same things. So I prepare for the
in game entertainment portion of the game from you know,
doors open till about fifteen twenty minutes or so after
the game concludes. Basically, anything that's between the whistles or
really outside of the whistles is what I get to
work towards. So that's the you know, the timing of
the intro video with the sheet falling and the music
and the lights and all those sorts of things, in
addition to during timeouts, the breaks where we have a
chance to you know, run a half court shot by
a sponsor or, you know, do a Light the World initiative,
which we did technically unsponsored but certainly aligned with BUYU,
which is a big thing I wanted to push over
the last few years. But so yeah, my entire job
is to entertain the fans and particularly do that in
a way that helps the environment of the game be
conducive to that home court advantage that everyone wants and
everyone luckily talks about when they think about the Merritt Center.
So you know, trying to think, Okay, we have, you know,
handful of things that we have to do before the
end of the game, and we just went on a
ten oh run, and so what I'm going to do
is actually let the energy you ride a little bit
longer and kind of push my script aside and you know,
kind of mold things as they go, which is a
really fun part of it. So, you know, I know,
Coach Young says all the time that each game has
a new life or a new story behind it, which
is surprisingly very true of what I do, because there's
different times where can those runs that we go on
or I just want to live in those moments and
still get the things done that are paid for, but
then allow you know, kind of flexibility for that and
realize too that I have the kind of the levers
if you will, to help kind of squash the energy
of the other team if they go on a quick
six to zero run. You know, how can I help
our fans and the team, you know, kind of let
that be a quick burn and then move on to
the next thing and reignite our fans in a positive way.
So that's at least kind of the high level of
what we do and what I get to do and
I can call my job is to try to build
the environment such that the players can feel the energy
at the right time. Perhaps the other team cannot feel
the energy at the right time in hopes of having
a great home court advantage in the Merritt Center.
Speaker 3: And you just get a bou fans new life and
you might have put a name just target on your back.
So if one of these teams Arizona comes up here
on atal run, they're gonna need you to kill the
momentum to do that to Swim and Bye's favor. I'm
totally I'm totally joking when I say that, But that's
that's good to know about that I've experienced. Look, i'm
a media member there, but I've enjoyed every part of
the atmosphere from the sheet drop to the half court shot.
I do have to ask this, and I need to
let you go in a little bit. But I was
told by you know, the better three force, I need
to ask this.
Speaker 2: I don't want to do this. I told her.
Speaker 3: I said, I rather Joel hook up me having a
half court shot, you know, trying to bring some money
to the family. But I was told by the Better
three Force, you're ever gonna have that baby crawl again
because we got a little one. And she's like, oh,
that would be fun. And I was completely vetoing it.
But you know, sometimes you just stop arguing because you're.
Speaker 2: Not gonna win.
Speaker 4: Hey, I feel that for sure, But yeah, in fact
it is. It is one that we will have and
in factor's a kind of some new elements to it
that we're always trying to enhance those types of things too, right,
kind of make it feel a little bit more like
a broadcast for those kids and have a little bit
more wow. So that, to my understanding, it actually has
been sold, so we should have a few of those
baby races coming up.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm definitely gonna have to talk to you. She said,
you're gonna ask him about this and we're gonna make
that happen. It was like, I don't like to be
in the light. I just want to sit up in
the seat. She's like, it's happening. We need to have
her do it. Just started crawling everywhere and she's giggdy
about it. So I'm like, okay, so I will get
home safely tonight. I won't sleep on the couch because
I asked the correct question in.
Speaker 2: The right way.
Speaker 4: Uh, very well done, you know you.
Speaker 3: Know all about that. I'll get you out of here
on this, Joel. Just take me through BYU Athletics and
BYU as a whole. What is meant to you as
a student. You know your job well when when you
were a student. Obviously Fu's just got baptized. I think
that speaks proudly to what the BYU mission statement is.
And it happened after he left BYU, not during his time,
and someone who is completely of a different faith, and
you know you felt like embodied the mission statement at
b YU.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely. In fact, I was listening to the segment prior
and I was humbled enough that in fact to be
at the baptism just yesterday, which I was really humbled
for the chance to be there, and it was really
to that point kind of encapsulate all that. You know,
He's one of many examples of just people that live
life in a way that just like brings light to
other people. And it was you know, not surprising to
see that he would bring what he you know, his
experiences in life and his personality and just add that
to the light of the Gospel and what BUYU itself
and the church stand for. And so that's one thing that, Yeah,
your main question is, you know, that alignment that I
can have in my role is what I strive for,
you know, with the mission and aims of BUYU in
general as the university. Same with within athletics. You know,
we harp on it as a team a lot and
I kind of drive it into my team's head a
lot of you know, can we be aligned to the
best of our ability and really be honest with ourselves
because we want to just be the best version of
ourselves in what we do and the interactions that we
get to have with our fans. And again, you know,
fous is a great example of that. Where from his
freshman year, which is actually my first year in this
role working with basketball, you know, I've seen him grow
both as a basketball player but as a person even more,
which is why it was such a humbling opportunity to
see him, you know, dressed in white and being baptized
and then you know, directly after being confirmed a member
of the church and receiving the priesthood immediately in fact,
and just to think, hey, he's the light that he's
already shared in my life and in even my wife's
life and others that know him. It's the Gospel is
just going to add to the light that he already has.
And it's just so humbling to think that again, not
only am I doing this job that's fun and really
entertaining and engaging and dynamic, but I get to do
it at a place where if I align myself well
with the principles of the Gospel and the university, it's
going to even have a bigger impact on those that
come into the arena, and it can hopefully leave having
a great experience, hopefully having seen a lot of wins,
and hoping to come back at future times. So get
humbled to have the chance to call this my job
and think about it a lot, and and and try
to just do my best to be my best and
share that light the best that I can.
Speaker 2: Well, you've been sharing that light.
Speaker 3: You do a great job, and you're portion with the
with the basketball team. I've told Anna Metcalf, your colleague
as well. Phenomenal job with football. I'm always in impressed.
We'll have to talk of off record, but I love
the new additions that were added, uh you know that
will be added for conference play for basketball. I love
the new additions for football of the field. You know,
the all of it is great, and you guys have
truly earned by I think others and you know, I
pull other media members of this day for football and
basketball say those are some of the best. If not,
that's the best atmosphere to come to in the Big twelve,
number one and in college athletics that they enjoy their
time in provo. So you guys do a great job.
Please coop up the good work. But before I let
you go, I got to give you the pitch. What's
the best way? You know myself? The listeners, the people
that download the podcast and that are tuning into the
show right now can support you what you do, how
you do work, and they maybe follow you on social
media ad to get all the updates.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely well, thanks for the chance to do so.
Maybe even at a higher level, I'd encourage people to
give BYU fan Experienced our team's account a follow that's
where you can learn about themes of a game or
giveaways or you know, fan zone related things, and that's
just BYU fan X, which is FA n e X
short for experience, but then just personally on X. My
handle I suppose as it's called is Marion m a
ar Io n Underscore Joel Underscore thirteen, product of twenty thirteen,
Class of twenty thirteen. That is from high school, which
is where that came from, but yet available online. Always
open to feedback and experiences from fans, because again, if
I can even understand one person's experience a little bit
better and improve that and multiply it time over time,
over time, my job gets a lot better and everyone's
experiences get better too. So be sure to drop me
a line if there's ever any suggestions, and we take
them seriously too, so no hesitation.
Speaker 3: Look, I graduated in April, Joel can my class last year.
He does take the suggestion seriously. I've had a chance
to talk to him, but now that I'm outside, I
see all of it coming to fruition, trust me, So
give him a follow today on his personal account at
marian Underschool Joel Underscore thirteen, and then also followed them
at you know BYU fan.
Speaker 2: X as well.
Speaker 3: Look, you gotta follow this guy, the marketing and data
nerd per him, not me. He was born in Colorado,
but he was built in Provo.
Speaker 4: That's exactly right. It takes a chance to be on of.
Speaker 3: Course, thanks Joe brother, I'll let you go, man and
late Mary. Christmas to you and the family, and happy
New Year two year as well.
Speaker 4: Man. Hey, likewise, thanks so much. Gokus, Okay, I'll let
you go.
Speaker 2: That was Joel Marion. Love to have Joel on discuss.
Speaker 3: I wanted to take a different angle guys of bu
basketball and highlighting Dawson like the world. Happy holidays to everybody,
Merry Christmas. Look, I am a big advocacist the gospel.
Jesus Christ changed my life forever I am. I'm a
convert to the church, and I've seen how it's blessed me.
One of the reasons I met by he was to
surround my I sell by these people. So whenever I
hear stories and see these things, I love to highlight them.
Speaker 2: But we gotta go to break.
Speaker 3: We gotta get to Jerem Jordan on the flip, don't
go anywhere you touch the am dollar. Might it might
not be christ Like, it might not be like the word.
I might juda choppy in the throat, but it's only
two minutes, two minutes a word from our sponsors. Don't
go anywhere. Jerrem Jordan on the flip in the Little
Cougar Beat. You're listening to Cougar Sports one O three
nine ninety eight three ESPN.
Speaker 1: With Ben Krettle, and it's time for the Cougar Beat
getting the dish from the local reporters that covered Cougar
athletics and welcome back.
Speaker 2: To through your Sports Here on one O three nine
and ninety eight three ESPN.
Speaker 3: The band Ronald the three man Weaver here rhtt always
bringing the hammer by my side, filling in for Ben Crittle.
Don't worry, don't go anywhere. He'll be back in the
next segment with Brady Papinka. Here a momentary, but before
I have the airwaves to destroy all manner of havoc.
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Fan hotline once again and welcome in one of their
co hosts for BATV Sports. He does also play by
player for volleyball. He's done it all. He wears many
hats over there at BAA TV. We got JJ Jordan.
How you doing brother?
Speaker 6: Hey, Ron and Bret? What's going on? How are we doing?
Speaker 2: Hey?
Speaker 3: We are doing fantastic, phenomenal day today. Hopefully you all
had a merry Christmas in the household.
Speaker 2: Take me through that.
Speaker 3: What are the Jordan family traditions that you guys do
on Christmas?
Speaker 2: Even Christmas?
Speaker 6: I think for like everybody where we open a present
on Christmas Eve. My in laws do this super fun
game that's called the penny game. So there's a bunch
of like, you know, gift wrapped up that you don't
know what it is. It could be like five bucks,
it could be like just you know, some candy, and
everyone starts with like fifty pennies. We did eminems this year,
Like that's super fun. You know, you get some junk,
you get some good stuff get trade kind of like
a different white Elephant gift, but yeah, it was good.
And then one of our kind of over Christmas break traditions,
do we watch all three Lord of the Rings typically
all in one day in a row extended, which is
like the whole day. We're breaking it up. This year
we have a one year old. It's a little harder,
but watch a lot of football, eat a lot of food,
and just hang out.
Speaker 7: Man, that's incredible, Jerrem, that you guys do that all
in one day.
Speaker 5: Is are the Hobbit movies saved for a separate day.
Speaker 6: Then that's a separate kind of situation. You know, we
for a minute there we're doing every other year. But
I was like, we got to go with the og
like been doing it since, you know, early two thousands.
So we'll get that in there somewhere. I think it's
the twenty five year anniversary coming up here in the
twenty six so apparently they come back to theaters. They
kind of Megaplex has been showing them and those are
the best. That's my favorite trilogy of all time. I've
read the books a bunch of times. I'm pretty nerdy
about that. I love them.
Speaker 7: I honestly love anytime someone has a holiday tradition that's
like not holiday specific. So like at my house we
watch we usually watch like The Spider Man's for Christmas,
just because I'm obsessed with those have nothing to do
with Christmas, really, so I feel.
Speaker 5: You on that.
Speaker 7: I do want to ask you one other, non really
BYU related question though, before we really get into it.
Speaker 5: I saw you retweeted this. I saw this on Twitter.
Speaker 7: Lincoln Riley had some comments about Notre Dame saying, hey,
they weren't willing to play us anytime, anywhere, any place,
and that just made me feel validated as a BYU guy,
because I think there's a lot of people who feel
that BYU's apprehensiveness towards Notre Dame not being willing to
play us at home and only being willing to play
us in the Shamrock series is a little one sided.
But now Notre Dame is saying, oh, yeah, no, we've
had the same experience where they maybe didn't want to
come to our crib, and now BYU and USC are
kind of united in these back to back repeat offenders.
Speaker 5: On behalf of Notre Dame.
Speaker 6: There was a report that it had more to do
with which months they were going to play unless on
kind of you know, the home and road situation. But
I'm glad that it worked out because once BYU had
Cale Camsell, you thought, man, who's gonna fit in there?
You could argue that's the best game on the schedule
next year, and then Marcus Freeman says, you know, hey,
I'm running it back. So okay, they keep that continuity.
It's a great game, it's a great program, and I
know that they've taken a bunch of shots and deservedly,
so you can't be elitist and just take your ball
and go home. NBO wins the Pop Tar Bowl and
blah blah blah. I think it's gonna be awesome. It
speaks to the fact they get one home, one road,
which it always bucks me when they say a home
and home. I'm like, it's not two home games, it's
one home, one road, Like, why is it? Why are
you taking it's too home? It's not that Jared, where
where byus at? I'm weird like that. It speaks to
where boys at that you know they're on they're in
a space where they're a power team and they've been
one of the most successful programs for the last fifty
years in the last two years. And so if you
can win a game like that and you have a
similar regular season to what you've had the last two years,
you should be in the playoff conversation. Especially a Bear
and LJ return. You always should be a preseason top
fifteen team. And then the climb's not as high. They're
up there with the butt near the top of the mountain.
Just keep winning and then you can fall a little
bit if you lose a game like that or in
league or whatever. But like a ten and two BYU
next year should be in the mix for a college
football playoff Berth if they have a win against Notre
Dame in provo.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're not wrong, Jerem, and I think that's why
it's good to schedule this game. A lot of people,
you know, look, Brian Santiago, typically after you to be signed,
getting it done, getting the home in a way, but
getting the home first and then getting the AA a second.
This deal could never be signed if you were going
to do away than home. I don't trust, as we've
been saying. I've been joking the quitting Irish well to
go on the road to South Bend first and then
come back to Provo.
Speaker 2: They've duck BYU.
Speaker 3: Defens can be happy finally got their game, but bou
didn't duck out of the Pop Tarts Bowl.
Speaker 2: Get that twelfth win.
Speaker 3: Jerem first time since two thousand and one, I believe
what does that win do for the program going into
the offseason.
Speaker 6: I think it's massive And honestly, if the UA had
lost that game, it's it's not a huge deal like
it it would have stunted to kind of end the
season two losses, and now we're talking about this team
kind of like ninety to two thousand and one, where
it was like, oh, amazing start to finish. Not one
of the all time great teams, but I think they're
the fourth best team Boas ever had, given the fact
that you have eighty four, ninety six, eighty three, and
then it's probably this team because they played a power
conference schedule. They went twelve and two. They beat everybody
not in Texas Tech. It was nice to beat a
team with Tech in the name. They'll play Utah Tech
next year, you know, so all kinds of texts, but
it was great and it's a bigger deal to return
Baron LJ than it would have been to win the game.
If you can do all of that, that's good. And
all indications right now are pretty positive that Lj's probably
coming back. He has yet to announce his intentions, but
it sounds like he probably will, which is great news.
And Baron LJ coming back does more from Boy's preseason
ranking than the game against Georgia Tech.
Speaker 3: Would you said coming back, I'm gonna rip off the
band aid, Jerem.
Speaker 2: You know what it is.
Speaker 3: There's a coach that might not come back. You didn't
think coaches I guess can come back because Marcus Rueman says,
let's running back. But there's a certain coach named j
Hill that is reportedly could be pulled a high likelihood
of going to Michigan and going to join Kyle Whittinghams
former you know, coach.
Speaker 2: What could that do to the program.
Speaker 3: Just your thoughts on everything going on right now with
the b yu's coaching staffs.
Speaker 6: Yeah, certainly if j leaves, you know, and he is
at some points, it's not like you're just going to
keep it forever. It's too good. If you're if you're
a good coach, you probably bounce. I mean, it's not
a it's not a calling, it's not a stick president
for ten years as the DC. Although I wouldn't mind that,
you know that.
Speaker 3: We should we should write that it's a contract, right,
we should write that in the contract.
Speaker 6: Benifests all those in favor. I I raised my hand, man,
let's go.
Speaker 2: I agree, I raise my hand as well.
Speaker 6: He he's really good and this would be an incredible
opportunity for him. Uh, you know, it makes total sense.
You know, if someone comes and perhaps doubles your salary
and you increase the exposure being in Michigan. I mean,
that's a top five job in college football. That that's
school Like, come on, it all makes sense. And to
go to Weaver State to Michigan in three years is
quite the ascension. And Jay has paid his dues and
it's his time and he reunites with Kyle like it
all makes sense. It's all good. And you know, be
always bigger than one defensive coordinator or one offensive coordinator
or frankly even one head coach. You know, and if
Kloni had taken the Penn Stage job, Jay Hill would
be the YU head coach undoubtedly. So Jay's in a
good spot. Wherever he goes, because he's a great person,
he's a great coach, and if he bounces, I think
there are five candidates of note, three internal, two external.
The internal would be Kelly Pepanga, Justin Ana, and Gernaro Gilford,
and then the external would be Sean Neuwall, who was
kind of Sean and Jay Hill were the top two
names when Jay was hired. And then one that Spencer
brought up today that I was interested in it is
Justin Wilcox, former Oregon d C cow head coach, let
Go and Berkeley. He could be interesting. I'm not hearing
reports of that. Just kind of spends his opinion there,
but I would think that Sean Neuwa would probably be
your leader in the clubhouse. So we'll see who Boi
goes with. And we're kind of just waiting on the
official news, like all the indications of ports conversations behind
the scenes public layer that Jay's going to get that job,
But as of last night, and I double checked just
a few minutes ago, I was told that he is
not alerted coaches or players that he is officially taking
that job or got that job quite yet. So we'll
see when and if that happens. But I would love
nothing more than for j Hill to tweet out the
Leonardo DiCaprio gift with a family safe, you know, text
on it that he's coming back. But I don't actually
believe that that would happen.
Speaker 5: Jerem.
Speaker 7: Speaking of coordinators, something I found really interesting when diving
into this Georgia Tech game and the Pop Tarts Bowl
was bou played two games this year without l J.
Martin while having a true freshman quarterback, and those games
were Iowa State and Georgia Tech. Iowa State, which he
got injured at the beginning of that game. And we
know how vital LJ was to the past game. We
know how vital he was obviously in the run game,
being your number one running back. What does it say
to you about obviously Bear Bachmeyer, but I also think
Aaron Roderick as a coordinator in terms of what he
was able to do with this offense.
Speaker 5: You say, hey, hey, we're going to tie one hand
behind your back.
Speaker 7: You don't have LJ, who is basically half your offense,
go ahead and win both of these games.
Speaker 5: What does that say to.
Speaker 7: You just about the football intelligence and how Aaron Roderick
was kind of able to make things work despite it
not being a perfect situation.
Speaker 5: With Georgia Tack and Iowa State.
Speaker 6: I don't understand the a Rod haters. He's developed three
quarterbacks and the guys that have had NFL contracts. One
was the top two pick. I mean, he knows the
game and he knows what his player strengths are. Second,
you know, last three quarters against Iowa State, they had
to check out the game plan. Their game plan was
the rush of three hundred yards. They had to suddenly
chuck it. They throw for three hundred Yeah, in this game,
you know you have no l Jerricione, You're gonna be
limited With Enox and Joe Bessa. They were good when
they got the ball. Bearer then tweaked his vehy cool
early in the first quarter. It's like, oh my gosh,
We like, how are they going to manage this? Bar
throws for three twenty five. I mean, that was an
incredible performance. He understands what the situations are and byu
you know, in that second half, cranked it up, especially
in that fourth quarter. Another comeback made it happen. In
the past game, Carson Ryan had his best game as
the Cougar that uses a tight end, so that rhetoric's
kind of gone right, and hopefully there are more tight
ends that come in here and have years like that.
Shout out to a certain tight end at USC and
I think he does. I think he does a great job,
and I've really enjoyed kind of what UI does. Does
by you have guys with four to four speed on
the edges and running backs that run four to three. No,
they have LG. Martin who's more of a bruiser. They
have possession receivers and guys who are Brandon Parker is fast,
but like Chase and Parker and Carson and these guys
made it happen. Joe Bessa went for almost seven yards
of carry when he got the rock, and BYU was
good in their power rushers. That means when you have
two yards or less, do you either get a first
down or a touchout. B he was three for four.
So they made that happen when they needed to. And
I think a healthy bear in the system for another year.
As they sophomore, he'll be so versatile, like he can
just open up and chuck it thirty eight times for
three hundred and twenty five yards, Like that's almost you know,
that's you know, approaching ten yards per attempt, which is
a monster number. Or the dude next year is gonna
have some games where he rushes were one hundred yards.
He gained sixty sixty seven this year, so minus stacks dfls,
he was down in the five hundreds, but he gained
almost seven hundred yards. He had a spectacular freshman year.
One of the best developers of quarterbacks in the country
for a Rod And you know, hopefully that continues with
U because I think ay Rod likes Klani, likes Provo,
and he's doing a great job. Man, He's he's right
in the same mold as Norm Chow and all the
guys that he learned from.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he definitely is. He's riding that for sure.
Speaker 3: BYU Athletics and football is at all time, you know,
a great We'll transition to basketball after this question, Jaren,
But I need to finish on this.
Speaker 2: You mentioned it.
Speaker 3: What could a certain USC tight end that's in the
portal do for this program?
Speaker 6: Certainly hope that whoever you alway gets in the portal
that things come in and have a similar output to
Carson Ryan of Okay, you did something there, but we
can use you here, and I think he already does
a great job of Okay, if you're key in need
and you come from New Mexico State, we're going to
use you as a blocker and be effective. Did they
throw a single time to Keen All you, I don't
think so, you know, but with Carson Ryan, they used
the skills there. So you got to go to the
portal and get a guy that's going to be your
main guy again, because you do have some young guys
that are in the mix.
Speaker 7: No.
Speaker 6: Moyaki actually scored the first offensive touchdown of the year
against Portland State, but it wasn't thrown to a ton
After that. I think he caught one ball against West Virginia.
Maybe I'm recalling, and there's some young guns in that
group that could blossom perhaps, but I'd love to see
some death there because in the future you always recruited
that position very well. Highlighted Brian brock Harris of course.
But they've got some other dudes that are on missions,
like Jackson Doman's going to come back from a mission
in two years and be a baller as well, and
the ord kids from Dallas last year. They like Tygetche
They've got all kinds of guys in the pipeline. They
do need an media fix though at that position, and
perhaps it's a certain someone at USC.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's such a bummer to see Carson Ryan go
out on that incredible performance because you're like, dude, we
would like he was incredible this season and your bun
that you don't get to see it again next season.
Speaker 5: Speak of new additions.
Speaker 7: Though, Jerem BYU basketball adds a mid season edition in
Abdullah with his addition and you getting a break, getting rest.
What's your confidence level with this BYU basketball team heading
into conference play on a scale.
Speaker 5: One to ten?
Speaker 6: Uh, like a nine? I think, boy, you played a
really really good non conference obviously had some buy games
at the very air that you can ask the specific
idea about his feelings on that, but it was it
was good to it was good to play a super
tough schedule, six neutral games or away from Provo in
a row. Uh. And then you know you come home
and is feeling good. They'll be well rested. Perhaps there'll
be some rusts in that first exposure at Kansas State,
which by the way, is on CBS. You talk about
exposure for BA football, on ABC and them Men's basketball
on CBS this after Saturday afternoon, prior to my Seahawks
taking down the Niners for the one team in the NFC.
It'll be a fun Saturday, but that there could be
some russ there and you're playing drum takes team and
it's picked twelve now and it all matters. And then
it's Arizona State at home with the excitable Bobby Hurley,
and you know, BA should start strong in conference play.
Hopefully they jump out to a four and oh record,
but who knows. It's tough man and boy is not infallible.
They have arguably the best starting lineup in the country
and then very limited bench right now. I do think
Abdullah Ahmed adds some toughness, some rebounding, some shot blocking.
It's going to take him a minute to get in
the system. He literally practiced one and a half times
before his first game, and then they took this big break.
So he'll get some practices in prior to their game Saturday, obviously,
but it's going to take a sec for him to
have a big impact. I don't know that they'll have
a massive impact. We're kind of hoping he's like a
five and five guy most of the season. Not a shooter.
He's more of a clean up guy, can finish with
both hands, but he's got some decent skill. If you
are Hadeen, book, you're going to be battling for minutes
there and then xavieron Staton probably is limited in his
minutes because of Amad. Just a little more experience, a
little more ready right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you have to think with him coming in, what's
it going to look like? But look, you need a
guy to backup Caba, no doubt about it. Caba and
Abdullah are going to be the forces x and maybe
needs a little bit more developed Hadeen. Maybe he can
play his troopers the four. You never know, but I
like the rotation of adding of him to the roster. Jerrem,
we'll get you out of here on this. Why is
number three who had that thirty point triple double and
shot out to Miilo? He was going to be a
hated man in provo if he had missed that shot.
Why will aj be the number one pick in the
twenty twenty six NBA draft.
Speaker 6: I just think he's super ready, and you know, I
could see Cam Boozy as being the first pick. Darreon Peterson,
you know, with his hand string. That's a tough situation
for him. I would stink right if Aj or Cam
had that situation. But Aj has already got the NBA body,
already has the length. The only thing that kind of
AJ needs to work on right now, and I've said
this out loud, there are two things. One is he
needs a little more lift on his free throw, a
little more arc. And then two is I want him
to shoot threes a little more. He Cam Buzie has
actually made more threes and then AJ has. At this point,
I would love Aj to shoot a little more from
a distance. I think he's got a nice stroke from there.
He doesn't force it though, He lets the game come
to him, all those phrases. He just plays the game
the right way, and he's cranked it up a notch.
I think second half of Clemson to now he just said, hey,
I need I need to help my team in a
different way. He was kind of at nineteen a game
in December. He went to twenty eight a game. I
mean it was crazy. He's rebounding more, which I know
Ace has told me he wants to rebound way more.
He's likely there's no excuse for him not having ten
every game, and so he's hitting the glass away more,
he's defending at a high level. He's doing everything. He's
the tennis sists obviously a massive fun to watch man.
Joey's never had a player like this. I mean when
they hed Sean Bradley, they thought maybe at some point
he'd be a high draft pick. He goes number two
after his mission, but b y U with an Ajdubonca,
I mean, enjoy every second of this because it's pretty special.
Speaker 3: God enjoyed his special, no doubt, because when he leaves,
what not even leaves after this season, he ain't coming
back unless he's visiting or on making stop buys.
Speaker 2: He's going to be playing on Sundays.
Speaker 6: Although his mom says he needs to get his degree,
so who knows, maybe he will. Maybe he and er.
Speaker 2: Hey fans loveday.
Speaker 6: Back and got his law degree in the off season
with an so go rule it out.
Speaker 3: This is definitely not you know, I think he was
an interview with Kevin Durant saying that they've even worked
out or that for him to get his degree in
that So yeah, he byu education to play ball at
b YU then get a BYU degree. Look, I mean,
for crying out loud, he'd have to get baptized. But
maybe he'll be the next general authority like Tanner Wall
who's got his degree, who is a great football player.
Tanner Wall is gonna be gonna be a state president Bishop.
Speaker 2: You just Keanu Tonavas as well.
Speaker 3: I'll be scoping the guys on the roster of who's
going to have that title, you know, as I look,
so I need to say my daughter dad to.
Speaker 2: Get coached up.
Speaker 6: Michael Ware's got an agree from Boyure in PENNI study too,
So it's all good, everybody.
Speaker 3: In everybody in JJ. Before we let you go, what's
the best way we could support you? What you do,
how you do, What can we find you work?
Speaker 6: The benmo is that continue to watch by E TV,
listen to BYU Radio. We got tons of three in
postgame shows coming up for home Big twelve games. Obviously
bo Sports Nations, But shout out to you guys all
the content creators associated with BYU, whether it be linear, terrestrial, radio, TV,
podcast blogs like I love that we're all in this together,
whether it be the fan or Robbie McCombs on banquish
the Foe or you know, the traditional media. Like everyone's
doing a great job. Continue the great work Ron and
Brett with with Critle and the gang. You guys are
doing awesome.
Speaker 3: Keep it up well, Brett and now we're trying to keep
up the good work as well. And it's very fitting
that you said this, we're all in this together. Very
fitting as uh, you know, we're here talking about that
in the state of Utah. Certain I think musical or
movie was filmed with that with that saying in it
as well.
Speaker 6: No doubt, that's that's right. Shout out East High school man,
let's go shout out before he got on Royds. It
looks like it's totally different, dude. It's so weird, right, it.
Speaker 2: Is so weird. You're not wrong about it at all.
Speaker 6: What happened to.
Speaker 2: Hey kids? This is why we say don't do drugs.
Speaker 3: Obey the word of wisdom and U and your bodyshell,
it shall not pair you shall you shall be cherishable
in that wise word from Jerrem Jordan Jerm. We'll catch
up with you next time, brother, the travel safe man.
Happy New Year.
Speaker 6: Hey love you boys, Yeah, he love you two.
Speaker 2: That was Jerrem Jordan. That was so funny that way.
Speaker 7: Hey, Jared Jordan bringing up Zach Effron on steroids was
not on my bingo card for this interview.
Speaker 2: Nope, never was mine either, but he knocked out a part.
Speaker 3: That's Jerrem Jordan. Guys, we gotta go to break. We
gotta get to Brady Papinka, Bink. Critic will be back.
But that second was brought to you by Recent Cleaning
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