Speaker 1: I'll start to it. You want to present off the bench.
Speaker 2: This is what we have been waiting for. The hype
is over.
Speaker 1: Off the bench.
Speaker 2: I got to come off the pitch.
Speaker 1: Now here's Jacob Hester you and welcome back.
Speaker 3: Aga In.
Speaker 4: I re number two of OTB one O four five ESPN,
Baton Rouge ninety four to seven ESPN and Alexandria and
eleven thirty am the Tiger up in the Port City.
Going to be joined now by my guy LSU defensive
coordinator Blake Baker coach.
Speaker 3: Always a pleasure. Hope you're doing well.
Speaker 4: Hope the daddy duties this morning went well also because
I know for me, anytime I get thrown into that role,
I don't do it as well as my wife.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I appreciate it, man, I'm glad to be on
but yeah, I struggle with it. I have a the
utmost most respect for moms. You gotta take their kids
around while their dads are working all days. So but
it went well, it went well. I appreciate you asking.
Speaker 4: Yes, and you know now it's kind of like the
calm before the storm for you because you get a
little bit of time. But as we all know, like
all the new players, most of them already on campus.
That's just the way it kind of works out now,
and then the ones that haven't gotten here yet, they'll
be here very very soon.
Speaker 3: So is this kind of like that last time that
you get.
Speaker 4: A chance to maybe do some of those things before
it really gets started.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, Like you said, I think between Friday and Saturday
we have eighteen eighteen more guys coming on campus, so
we still have one or two coaches out on the road.
There's still some high schools finishing up with some spring games.
But yeah, this is absolutely kind of the last chance
to get your ducks in a row before June starts.
You know, June people always think that's that's the lightest month,
but it's really quite opposite. Between camps, official visits, trying
to get your own players ready for the season is
quite a busy month.
Speaker 4: So coach, when you have veteran players that are going
to be coming into the program and they're also going
to get here, it's not just high school guys in
that number, and anytime you take a place you're out
of the portal, that's the veteran player. Like you're counting
on that person to help you in the fall. So
what's the process like for those players compared to maybe
the high school guys because they have been through the process,
They have been through an offseason, they know what summer
school is all about. Like from the football sided thing though, like,
how do you make sure that they kind of integrate
themselves into the team knowing that you're probably going to
need them in the fall.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you know, Coach Blunt does a really
good job integrating them right away into the veteran group
when it comes to lifting and running. And then as coaches,
you know, like you said, they've usually played a lot
of football, they're experienced, so you're moving at a quicker pace.
From an installation standpoint, like we get a couple hours
a week with our guys in the month of June,
but usually you meet with those guys kind of separate
and catch them up to speed really quick. With a freshman,
you know, you might be staying on day one install
for one or two days, where you know, it's basically
like taking a mini mester. I guess that's probably the
best way to put it in an academic sense.
Speaker 4: So, coach you and I have talked about this before
and we've talked about it on the show before you
come you take over last year, and the defense certainly
looked different, and you know, it was in the hundreds
before you got here and finished. I think total defense
was somewhere in the fifties. So you made a big jump,
big improvement. But as you look back, like, what's something
that you still want to continue to work on this
year as you try to you know, even you know,
get to top thirty, top twenty, whatever that goal is
for you defense in the country, knowing you made such
a big step last year.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think anytime you go back and you look
at yourself, Scott and what can you do better? Just
from a holistic standpoint, I think we've got to continue
to understanding how to leverage the ball from all three
levels of the defense and then ultimately tackling especially on
the third level. And I think when you look at spring,
we tackled live pack with much more this spring than
we did last spring. And I'm sure that was on perpose,
but I think we got better at and we still
have a ways to go. But that's, you know, from
a fundamental standpoint, a holistic standpoint, that's the number one thing,
number two thing, is. You know, even though we have
a lot of new transfers, we still have a lot
of guys that got a lot of reps last year
for us, so they understand the scheme and how you
fit into it, you know, certainly much more than they
did in year one. So I think you're going to
see a natural improvement from that standpoint as well.
Speaker 4: Coach, you are some of those guys that maybe they
were younger players last year, but they were out there
on the field that you're kind of counting on to
be the guy to kind of be the general, to
be the voice of reason there on the field, the
guy that gets everybody in the right spot, the guy
that gets everybody fired up, and the guy that you
know also himself can bring it on the field.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think, you know, you got to start with
with having Harold Perkins back. You know, I think it
was the third game he got hurt, but he's just
a natural leader for us. He brings a lot of energy,
So definitely excited to have him back. Some of the
younger guys, you know, when you look at that freshman class,
Dominic McKinley, Ahmad bro Deshaun Spears, Devon Keys, PJ. Woodland,
Gabe Rellaford. That's a good group of freshmen that played
a ton of Stamps force last year. So it'll be
interesting to see, you know, and like we you know,
continue to talk about we integrated with some transfers, and
you know, we talk about, you know, before we bring
in any of those guys, the number one thing our
job is to do is to bring competitive depth. And
so I think you're going to see some guys step
up from a leadership standpoint and just from a competitive
depth standpoint that maybe we're kind of fringe guys for
us last year.
Speaker 4: All Right, Coach, you got to ask you about our
guy wit Weeks. I saw him, I think it's probably
like two weeks ago, and I was like, hey, my guy,
like where yet?
Speaker 3: Are you ready to go?
Speaker 4: And you know, he gave like the I'll don't worry
my guy, I'm gonna be out there. And I was like,
all right, well, good, we I need you out there,
Like where is he at right now? And I know
obviously in the bowl game we were all I mean,
I'm calling the game, Blake, and I'm like holding my breath, like,
oh my god, do not let that be something that's
going to keep him out. Thankfully, it wasn't you know,
he still had to go through you know, an all
season where he wasn't out there.
Speaker 3: Where's we're at right now?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I think we're all holding our breath.
I honestly thought it was a knee when I walked
out there on you know, just because saw him got
been back. But all things considered, it was the best
case scenario. You know, he had a clean break and
his deltoid ligament ended up tearing that and that's that
was kind of what probably made him miss spring. But
I actually see him every single day. I'm I'm down
there trying to get the shoulder right, and he's much
more further ahead than I am. He's doing really well.
I mean he talked about you know, yesterday he was
at full speed doing football drills and more than anything,
it's just a fatigue standpoint as far as the next day,
you know, getting over that that suit, and that's just
from using all those muscles and ligaments again. But he's
he's he's dang near one hundred percent.
Speaker 4: And not just with I mean, obviously now you gonna
have three weeks brothers on the team, but like West
weeks is somebody like that. That's all like at the
end of the year, and I know he had to
kind of be careful. He wanted a red shirt. He
was battling some injuries. But that's somebody that's not just
you know, going to be a special teams guy. Like,
that's somebody I know that you don't mind putting out
there and you're going to have some tough decisions when
it comes to that room, like in a very very
good way, but like that's somebody that I don't think
people appreciate, you know what West Weeks can give you
on the field.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Wes was a guy you know, even going after
last spring, you know, two springs ago, I sat him
down and viewed him as a starter and he was
honestly competing with Greg Penn for that starting role. And unfortunately,
you know, did get banged up, but ended up working
out in our favor, you know, as far as being
able to red shirt him and having him back. But
he had an outstanding spring you could tell early on
in spring, just kind of even in bowl prep, knocking
some of the rust off. But he's back to where
he was pre injury last year. So you know, when
we talk about tough decisions. That's it's it's a good thing.
You know, last year we didn't necessarily have a lot
of tough decisions to make from a depth standpoint, and
all guys got to understand when you have really, really
good depth, it's not a bad thing to only play
fifty snaps instead of having to go out there and
play eighty. Especially, you know when when you talk about
the longevity of the season, you know, with a college
football playoffs and whatnot.
Speaker 4: Catching up with LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker here on
OTB a new defensive line coach there for your defense
and somebody that we all know very well, but I
know as a teammate. And Kyle Williams one of the
most intense human beings that you can be around. I mean,
I love listening to Kyle talk getting guys fired up.
He did it for us way back, like in two
thousand and five. What is it like being, you know,
having Kyle back. I know you have a relationship with
Kyle before he got here as well. What's it been
like seeing him kind of integrate himself as a d
line coach?
Speaker 5: Now it's really been seamless. I mean, it's really been
quite quite impressive when you talk about, you know, all
the intricacies of college football, just not you know, exus
and O's in. The coaching part is the minimum as
far as you know, the adjustment, but the way he's
picked it up and recruiting, the way he manages his room,
he's really really impressive. And the one thing that I
love about Kyle is, you know where you stand. He's
he's pretty. He's pretty much a straight shooter, and I
appreciate that. And I think he's done an outstanding job
with our defensive tackles, and I think they're enjoying being
able to get into backfield and make some plays and
doing some things differently. And you know, you take a
little bit from everything, you know, a little bit of
everything from each coach you've had. But I can see
those guys really gravitating towards the style of play that
we want, and he's doing a fantastic job for us.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I was actually going to ask you that because I know,
like every coach, you're going to like a different type
of body type and different skill set. But it does
feel like the one that Kyle wants and having conversations
with him, knowing the player that he was with what
you're trying to get done on defense, like his coaching style,
but also like kind of his mentality and when he
was a player and what he tried to do. It
does feel like it aligns really well with what you're
trying to get done on defense.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that was one of the first things when we
sat down and kind of talked about this this job opening.
You know, he talked about how the NFL has changed
over the years, and that's really kind of when his
career took off. When he wasn't necessarily being a two
gap defensive lineman or or a defensive lineman that's holding
offensive lineman off linebackers and he's able to use his
speed and quickness. You know, that's what the game has
evolved to and that's what we want here, and that's
what he used the game as. So it's a it's
all married up really well.
Speaker 4: Coach a couple more here, and we always appreciate the
time any maybe younger player or a player that didn't
necessarily go out there and start twelve games a year
ago that in spring practice you were very impressed by
and maybe that you want to feature more and you
were pleasantly surprised. In the spring, You're like, hey, we
got to find a way to get this player integrate
with maybe some more first team reps.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think uh PJ. Woodland had an outstanding spring.
DeShawn Spears. You know, I've been very vocal about there.
There was nobody harder on DeShawn Spears than me last year.
And that's just because of the potential that that young
man has. And to see him starting to really break
through this spring, not only from a tackling standpoint, physical standpoint,
his leadership out on the back end, he had a
really outstanding spring. Those two guys in particular, you know
Devon Keys he either starting our last four games. I'm
challenging him from a leadership standpoint, and then gave Reliford.
Gabrelaford had an outstanding spring. He he's one of those
guys when we talked about competitive depth. Uh, He's not
gonna lose his reps just because we brought him three seniors.
You know, he's up this game. The work that he's
put in in the weight room, he's changed his body,
he's really worked on his flexibility. But those are those
are three guys in particular, I can see really taking
a bigger role this season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you mentioned Spears there.
Speaker 4: It does feel like blade like that that safety room
is going to have a bunch of guys young, old,
everywhere in between, and there's going to be, you know,
some opportunity for those players. And again, doesn't matter how
old you are, where you came from to earn some
playing time. Like is that maybe like the most open
room as far as hey, we're not naming anything. Y'all
got to go out there and get the job done.
Then we'll name some starters.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, absolutely, when you look at like you said, there's
a great mix of old and young. When you went
to Jardon Gilbert, you look at aj Halsey, you know,
those those two guys playing a lot of snaps, and
you got Toviano. He's kind of bounced around on the secondary,
but I thought he had a really good spring to
Shaun Spears as a young guy. You know, man sore
can go back there to Marcus Cooley, he had a
really good spring who's a sophomore. So I think that
room is really improved from personnel standpoint here in the
last six months, and I cannot wait to see them
on the field and we talk about you know, like
I said two minutes ago, is it's not about you
know when when we talk about competing, man, we want
to strive together. Like it's not pitting one at one
against the other, like let's make each other better. And
I think those guys.
Speaker 2: All have that mindset a couple more.
Speaker 3: Coach, I lied to you earlier.
Speaker 5: Sorry, Oh you're good man, you got you got a
tough job now than uh. T Bob left you man
three hours by yourself.
Speaker 3: Man, Oh, I appreciate that.
Speaker 4: And I gotta I gotta give coach a shout out
because we were at the ball field together on Saturday
and I'm like, yeah, I'm solo for the next two weeks.
T Bob Christian belled on me. Flinn's not coming in
until June the second, and Coach you were the man.
He's like, yeah, hey, I got you. Just let me
know anytime. And so I do appreciate it because it's a.
Speaker 5: Lonely desk, you know, yep, I hear you. I don't
know how you do it.
Speaker 4: A lot of coffee, Oh, a ton of coffee. I've
got like three in front of me right now.
Speaker 3: Hey.
Speaker 4: Any Actually, I want to ask you this before I
get to that that last one today end up being
like a total meathead show. And I said that in
some people are like, wait a minute, you can't call
these people meatheads. Will you please explain to the people,
because that's what I am. We had Bobby carp Yeah,
we had Bobby Carpenter on earlier Ohio state linebacker, total meadhead.
We got Mikey Matuk baseball player version of a meathead coach.
Speaker 3: You're also in that category.
Speaker 4: Can you please explain to the people that that is
a term of endearment.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, you know, it's it's quite the compliment. It means,
you know, it's uh, you kind of you kind of
do what you told and do it at one hundred
miles per hour until you hear stop. So I find
it is quite the term of endearment.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you hear stop and then three seconds later you
actually do it. You might get a fifteen yard or
you're hoping you don't, but you might.
Speaker 3: Right, exactly right, Oh.
Speaker 4: I know you said you got the busy schedule. I mean,
we're not going to be able to get you anywhere
with the family, are you like me? So first week
and the kids are out. We've got a tournament in
Bruce Sard, Louisiana and Crowley, Louisiana. That is how we're
going to spend our first weekend out of school. Are
you in the same boat or do we get a
chance to maybe get some time away from sports and
just enjoy family before you get rid.
Speaker 5: Of I'm like you were. I believe we're headed to
ham in Louisiana. So I learned real quick that that
baseball in South Louisiana is pretty serious, so a lot
different than some of the other places I've been, but
my boys are enjoying it. So yeah, we don't really
get any time away until July.
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, yeah, Hamm and USA. There you go.
I'm headed to Crowley.
Speaker 4: You're you're headed to him and there, And good luck coach.
You've got a great team, y'all's coach. Shout out to
coach Ladd coach, my son's one of the best that
there is. And so best of luck this weekend. And
I appreciate you hopping on with me for fifteen minutes
since t Bob was a bad teammate and left me early.
Speaker 5: Hey, you know, I think I ruffle his feathers when
you ask me if here was a poodle, so kind
I kind of feel bad for you.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, oh, you were right, T Bob, you're
a poodle.
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, he was actually probably out there interviewing for
bar still talking about he was sick. Man.
Speaker 4: Oh, no doubt, that's it.
Speaker 3: Clip it.
Speaker 4: Send it to T Bob Ultimate Poodle. T Bob Aver, Blake,
you're the man. I truly do appreciate you helping me out,
feeling some time here, giving us great insight to the
LSU defense.
Speaker 3: And uh you said open invites, so we'll catch up
again soon.
Speaker 5: Yep, absolutely, man, I appreciate it. Hesse, I'm going all.
Speaker 3: Right you as well.
Speaker 4: LSU devis coordinator Blake Baker and all jokes aside. Man,
I do need to brag on Blake because we do
see each other a ton at the baseball field and
his son is in the same age group as Memphis,
and so we get a chance to chop it up.
My man is like, very involved, and it's great to
see that these LSU coaches can, you know, go out
there and do their work but also enjoy family time.
But I was talking with him, I'm like, yeah, I'm
gonna be solo for two weeks, and then we got
Flynn coming in on June the second, and he's like, hey,
I got you, let me know next week I will
pop and so during a very busy time. Because he
said it, over the next two days, those players are
going to start to come in high school freshman all right,
guys out of the transfer portal. So we certainly appreciate
Blake for hopping on with us and clip it. The
Ultimate Poodle was definitely interviewing for Barstool when he said
he was sick. Blake said it, we believe it more
Otwo B when we come back here one oh four
to five, ESPN, Mopter Ben Steve, Bob is gonna be
so mad.
Speaker 3: But you know there's nothing he can do about it now. Nothing.
Windy City boy, we love you too, all right. Go
to get Gordon dot com.
Speaker 4: Get Gordon dot com is the website Gordon McKernon Injury Attorneys.
And right there on the homepage you can have a
chat bottom right corner.
Speaker 3: You see it up there.
Speaker 4: If you're watching this on YouTube, that is going to
pull up any question, any concern you might have. But
a lot of different things you can do on the website,
Get Gordon dot com. You can see what they can
do for you in the courtroom, what they've already done
in their greater Baton Rouge area, as well past client
results on the homepage. If you want to see what
they're doing throughout the state of Louisiana in your local community,
go to social media. It really doesn't matter, like all
them is gonna be at Good Gordon. That's gonna be
the handle and to see, you know, what they've got
going on. And I say throughout Louisiana because that's where
they are there, top to bottom, east to west, everywhere
in between. So if you want to get in contact
with them, you're area code in Louisiana fall about eighty
eight eighty eight eighty eight, Good Gordon and get it done.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to off the bench, slide.
Speaker 6: Away, I.
Speaker 7: Way all right, looking back O TV one, O four
five ESPN Baton Rouge, some great comments inside to buy
you four chat.
Speaker 4: Of course we're having a little fun there with Blake
Baker at the end. And he did call T Bob
a poodle for being out sick a couple of weeks ago,
and they said, well, actually, maybe he's the ultimate poodle
because maybe he was talking to barstool while he said
he was sick, and maybe that did happen, And Joey said,
because we're talking about T Bob, he might poop in
your parking spot.
Speaker 3: Hey, Joey, you're my guy.
Speaker 4: But we know that we've been there, We've done that,
that's already happened, been through the car washed twice. The
worst part about it is the more and more that
we go down and we're not gonna go pull it
right it is, and a laundra keeps getting the tea
and and sends me the tea, and it gets worse
and worse and worse.
Speaker 3: And then the fact that we know who it is, like.
Speaker 4: I feel like more needs to be done, Like he
needs to come out in front of guaranteed media. He
can get like on a megaphone and just like apologize
to everybody that had to see what he left behind
because it was an emergency, okay, but in that state
of emergency, what there's multiple places like McDonald's sonic dumpster
behind that you could have You could have right, Okay,
you couldn't help it. You had a countdown, you hit
triple zero. It had to happen. Cool, pick it up, right,
pick it Pick it up at least like, Okay, you
had an emergency, dude, I mean, I mean you you
got fully undressed in broad daylight in the middle of downtown.
Pick it up, like if you were in it's just
a sane mindset and you weren't what we thought you were.
Speaker 3: Just pick it up. Like, man, dude, I'm so like
I had to go, it had to happen. Just pick
it up.
Speaker 6: My thing is, it's just such insane behavior that I
can't even wrap my mind around, like the thought process, you.
Speaker 8: Know what I mean, Like I don't.
Speaker 6: I can't put myself in this person's brain and be like, Okay.
Speaker 8: I get it. I understand.
Speaker 3: I can't either.
Speaker 4: I just I can't not with the other options that
were available. And again like at the very bare minimum,
no pun intending, because there was bare ass like you
should pick it up because you knew what you were doing.
You shouldn't leave the evidence behind. And now like guarantee
had to make the awkward phone call to be like, hey, hmm,
your employee did this, And I would have loved to
been on the other end of that call when they
told him and tried to explain it. I'm sorry he
did what it had continue to go like into detail
what happened.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I feel like we should have got Landing on here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we probably should have. I don't know. If you
want to come on, Yeah, if you're listening, come on up.
Speaker 8: I told Landed Yester.
Speaker 6: I was like, we mentioned you on this show this
past week, way more times than we have any other time,
because he didn't let you in the door, and he
was the hoe for it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, it's true.
Speaker 8: True.
Speaker 4: I'm actually glad he didn't let him in the door,
but I'm just mad he pooped on my car.
Speaker 3: Daniel says, Cassie must be so confused. I don't think so.
Speaker 4: I think everybody, Castie, everybody like in this building kind
of knows what's going on.
Speaker 8: So you really think Taylor didn't tell her about this?
Speaker 9: Oh no, Taylor told me right away as soon as
he got as soon as he got the text when
it was it' on Monday. Yeah, that like somebody pooped
in the parking lot. He was like, oh, I'm running
downstairs go check it out, like I know.
Speaker 4: Like he couldn't like hen and then spread the picture, Yeah,
into everybody I was.
Speaker 6: So mad that he sent us that picture, Like I
actually was genuinely mad that he sent that pick.
Speaker 4: Like you know the old meme where like the kid
looks like he's about to like just explode, right, He's
sitting in his desk Like that is Taylor. Once he
finds out any information, like anything that he thinks can
be a take, that is how he reacts.
Speaker 8: Yes, like red in the face couldn't.
Speaker 4: Help, but he probably like immediately like went to the
bullpen there.
Speaker 3: It was like, oh my god, you're not gonna bully.
What happened?
Speaker 8: Literally?
Speaker 10: Probably, he said Moose went with him, So Moose, as
much of a sicko as he.
Speaker 3: Is, Moose went with him.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think Moose has on oversize jeans today for the
pick again, again, where what is your brand? That's their look?
If you were asking them, they'd be like, I bet
Hester has a hoodie and a hat on, and I do.
We're going head shots today in a hoodie.
Speaker 3: And a hat.
Speaker 8: I love it. Yeah, I don't know what I'm gonna wear,
but we'll figure it out.
Speaker 3: I mean, don't don't be bougie.
Speaker 8: I'm not gonna be boogie.
Speaker 4: I mean show up to what like typically you'll wear
like a vintage like T shirt and like.
Speaker 2: Some my.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but mine are like cool baggy.
Speaker 3: Like yours are cool baggy.
Speaker 4: That's not like you went to Old Navy and got
somebody else's jeans by mistake and put them on.
Speaker 8: Mine are meant to be baggy.
Speaker 3: Just the puddle at the bottom just drest me crazy.
Speaker 6: There was a puddle on my jeans the other day
because of well, because of.
Speaker 3: Wait what.
Speaker 6: You're not gonna be a finish, because I like, if
T Bob was here, this would go in a completely
different direction. But there was my neighbor's pipe burst and
nobody's came to fix it yet. So there's basically like
a lake in the and it's like the runoff is
going on the sidewalk.
Speaker 8: So I was wearing those jeans I'm talking about the
other day and it got.
Speaker 6: It got the bottom of my jeans all way. Sorry,
I'm looking at the chim People are wild.
Speaker 4: But yeah, you're lucky here, so lucky yeah, because he's
a poodle. As we found outding to Blake Baking Major Energy.
Did you get a parking spot of your house or
is the range Rover takeover still there?
Speaker 8: The range rovers are still there. I need to exit
out these columns. But the range rovers are still there,
but they're a little better about it.
Speaker 6: They started parking two of them on the side, so
now I only have to deal with two where yes,
so many of.
Speaker 8: Them, and I don't understand why I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't get it either, LC State Farm inside the Bay.
Speaker 4: You four chat, Jake. We got a little Cooper Road
and named Shreveport in hats. Shout to the Cooper Road.
Shout to the Cooper Road. And if you know about
the Cooper Road, you know about the three to one great?
And if you don't, sorry, I don't know. Actually actually
hunts from Streeport. I'm not sure he knows about Cooper Road.
Speaker 6: There's I don't know what Cooper Road is, but there's
no chance Hunt knows about it.
Speaker 3: There is zero chance that he does. And that's not
a shot Hunt, that's just facts. All right. We are
going to step away.
Speaker 4: Did not plan on that being the segment, but I mean,
once you know, you get cheeks on hood, you got
to share it. We're gonna come back with LSU Baseball
legend longtime MLB player Mikey Matuk to break down LSU
Baseball SEC Baseball tournament, and we'll do it right here
on o T.
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to off the bench.
Speaker 4: Slip inside, y'all, don't you know your mine?
Speaker 1: I'm at it.
Speaker 4: All right, Welcome back in OTV here on a Wednesday morning.
Very excited for our next conversation. LSU baseball legend Mikey
Matuk joins us.
Speaker 3: Now, Mikey Man, always a pleasure. Hope you're doing well.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great, man. How are you doing? Good morning?
Speaker 4: Yeah, doing fantastic, man, Just moving right along. It's turned
into a little meathead Wednesday here on the show, which
we love term of endearment and so very excited. Hey,
I said this about you, and this is again, this
is a compliment, you know this. If there was ever
like a meathead baseball player to have on a meathead Wednesday,
it's my guy, Mikey Motook.
Speaker 2: Well, if this makes you feel any better, I had
chess and bys today in my workouts.
Speaker 3: I'm feel good about it exactly. See. I told the
people that and I can appreciate that. Mikey. So again, man,
we are fired up to have you on the show.
Speaker 4: SEC Baseball Tournament time before we get into the nitty
gritty and the Tigers and all that. How do you
feel about the new format? Everybody makes the SEC Tournament
in single elimination.
Speaker 2: So I've kind of been mixed on this. I don't
I didn't really love it at first.
Speaker 8: I don't.
Speaker 2: I said, I don't love everybody making it. I don't
think that everybody deserves to make it. I haven't been
a participation trophy type of guy, you know, and looks
you see so deep. I think if they're sixteen teams,
you know, probably fourteen of those teams you could say
has a legitimate chance of winning games there. I don't
A and M struggling, but they can go and beat anybody.
South Carolina and Missouri obviously they they they've had bad
seasons and I don't think they deserve to be there.
But that's a new format, single elimination. I don't mind
it because it's you know, especially trying to make a regional,
super regional, make a run to o Mall. It allows
you to not really stress your bullpens, stress your roster
more than you've done in the in the during the season,
and so in that aspect, I don't mind it. And
then if you're a top four seed, it allows you
to stay in your same routine as a three game
series type thing, and so I like that part of
it as well.
Speaker 4: I know South Carolina it's a tough conversation and obviously
for you, even tougher with coach Manary, and you know,
I kind of went through this a little bit when
coach Miles took the Kansas job, and it's like, man,
I just I don't know how that's going to go.
It's an uphill battle, and South Carolina season is certainly
over now, and it's just it's like a weird spot
because like, you want coach Manary to do really well.
He was so good to us, and obviously you got
a different relationship with him being a former player with
him there, I just I hated to see how it
went and now like I'm wondering, like what it's going
to look like in the future.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's uh, you know me, I have
a really good relationship. You know, I say that to
a lot of people. The coachman area I've played for
it was a little different than the coaching area at
the back end of his career. And not saying he
was the worst coach, but you know, he was younger
and he was trying to build a program and he
had to do a lot of things when he first
got there to weed out some of the guys that
maybe didn't fit his culture. And uh, you know, if
we had our shower shoes wrong in our locker, we
were running, and it was just that was the type
of that was the type of guy he was, and
I respect that. I was a football guy in my
whole live spot like seeing coached hard, and that's kind
of how he coached me. And so we grew really close,
you know, while I play and especially after, and so
we've become, you know, really good friends. And I talked
to him periodically through the year, and it's been a
bat it's been a grind in a battle for him.
And it's similar to kind of his first year at LSU,
where he had to kind of establish his culture and
establish the way he wanted to go about things. But
you never want to see him struggle. And you know, obviously,
I know getting that one win against LSU was a
probably big deal for him, and I'm glad that they
didn't win the series. But uh yeah, it's hard to
watch him him go through this. But anytime you go
to a new place like that and you kind of
re establish your culture, it's going to be a challenge.
And you know, he I think they announced today that
he's going to be back next year, and so looking forward,
we're seeing how the e regroups next year and see
how they rebound.
Speaker 4: All right, Mikey, let's look at maybe LSU and they're
in a position where they got a double by and
it's a different situation certainly than.
Speaker 3: They were in a year ago.
Speaker 4: Like last year they had to go to Hoover Man,
they had some work to do, and they make certainly
a deep run and it gets them to Chapel Hill
and they almost win that regional there. Like what do
you think like the mindset difference is like when you
go there and you're like, Okay, we have to win
baseball games, like we think we're in, but we need
to improve on our resume. And then you've got a
situation this year where I think even if you lose
coming up here in a couple of days, then you're
still going to be a top eight seed. To like,
what's that mindset like? Because it's two totally different situations.
Speaker 2: Correct, you know, and look, lsh's in a really good
spot this year, but last year, you know, every game
was a must win, or at least the first couple
of games or must wins. And so when you're in
that situation, everybody's available, whether you're gonna throw you know,
and they had to win on Friday. You know, Anderson's available,
Ironston's available, everybody's available, because you've got to get through
that win. If it, you know, it's important to win it,
and uh, you know, pump up your resume and try
to get into the regional This year, you know, it's
a little different because they have the luxury of I
don't want to use the word, I don't want to
use the lott word, but it feels like it's very
very likely that they're going to be a top eight
national seed. And you know, whoever they play on Friday,
win or lose, I don't think it's going to hurt
their RPI. You know, they're going to play a pretty
high RPI team, and uh, you know, I think it
sets them up to where they can continue to the
same or team. You have Anderson throw on Friday, you
have ienson throw on Saturday.
Speaker 4: If they win.
Speaker 2: Now, I think it is important for them to win
the first game only because it allows the pitching staff
and the lineup to kind of stay in rhythm. Right
you allow you allow Anderson to get his innings and
they get his pitches, and you allow Anstone do the
same thing. On Saturday. So I think winning that first
game is important just for that aspect, just to keep
those guys sharp for next weekend. I mean, we've seen
what happened in Major League Baseball with the UH with
the Seeds, that the LOLd card matchups. Those guys end
up beating the top season next round because they playing
and they don't have that long break, and baseball such
a rhythm game, and it's such a timing game, and
that you know, sometimes too much rest.
Speaker 3: Is not is not good.
Speaker 1: And so I think, uh, you know, to me, look,
they want.
Speaker 2: To go in there and they want to win it.
You know, I talked to we talked to jerrylier in
the week, and you know, every game they play they're
trying to win and they want to win the championship.
But I think the more important thing is making sure
they get at least two games for that deep nine
kind of stay sharp and stay rhythm.
Speaker 4: Catching up with a guy mikey matek here on OTB.
Remember you can catch miked up on YouTube. Go to
YouTube dot com slash micd up to check that out.
Does a great job. Monday, Wednesday Friday, that is six
pm during the week one pm. There at the end
of the week on Fridays, and Mikey, one of the
things that I wanted to ask you about because you
know LSU and where they're at. If they you know,
take care of business, even one game, like it's almost
going to guarantee it. But the difference in playing at
home in the postseason like we saw last year, like
that LSU team by the end of it like they
had found something, but they got to go on the
road they lose a heartbreaker to North Carolina. Just talk
about the differences having a regional and a super regional
inside the Box which just led the nation in attendance
by a lot, Like it wasn't even close compared.
Speaker 3: To going on the road.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's pivotal, you know. I mean, obviously
playing at alex Box, you get the crowd. And I
was been very unfortunate this year because the two big
series that they.
Speaker 4: Had at home, you.
Speaker 2: Had the rain delays and you didn't get the start
to almost ten o'clock, and so, you know, as a
a fans perspective, you didn't get the opportunity to really experience.
As a player perspective, you had you know, it was
still rowdy and it was still you know, still fun,
but it wasn't the thirteen thousand like it should be
in those types of games. And then, you know, so
playing at home and having the crowd behind you obviously helps.
It gives you an extra edge. It's hard for teams
to come in to LSU and beat them. You know,
the magic of Alice Fox is real, and you know
you saw it in the Tennessee game. We saw it
a little bit with Arkansas. You know when it gets
down in the seventh, eighth, ninth innings, those are really
hard house to get when you're playing at home and
the visiting team's coming in. So I think it's extremely important. Look,
LSU has going on the road and played some tough
teams on the road and they haven't won those roads series.
Not saying they can't, not saying they're good enough, they're
not good enough to do it. But playing at home
you get a little bit more leeway and you get
a little bit more room for air because you have
the homes crowd behind you. And I think it's extremely important,
and selfishly I want them to be home all the
way through because you know, that's more baseball we get
to watch.
Speaker 4: Mikel what about the makeup of this LSU team and
to have two frontline starters in Kate Anderson and Anthony
Ainson in the way that they go out there every
single time, they're going to give you a great opportunity
when you look at a regional format, a super regional format, right,
having that as your one two punch is always going
to play. But what are some things like right now
that you still want to see from LSU baseball that
you need to see maybe go up to go up
a notch before they head into the postseason.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I think that's the best one two punch
in the country. You know, obviously Kate Anderson is MOB
drafts have him in the top five overall in the draft,
which I, you know, completely agree with. I think he's
one of the best lessons, one of the best pitchers
in the country. But if you look at Aanson's numbers,
his numbers are better than Anderson. Yeah, he had he
had a sub three e r A and SEC players
a sub three e r A for the year. He's
been as consistent as you can be. And so with
those two guys, I think you can win any any
game on the mounds but then you have to worry
about those Game three can go to a Game three.
Who's your Game three starter? You know, I think with
I think has been very encouraging throughout the course of
the last month has been Chase Shorts. Yeah, it feels
like Chase Shorts is kind of figuring it out. I
talked to his dad a little bit at one of
the tailgates a few weeks ago, and you know, he says,
there was one pitch where he broke off the spider
and he threw it down away and he kind of
threw with some conviction. And ever since that it felt
like he's really finally trusted his arm that it was
fully healthy. And ever since that out and he has.
Speaker 4: Been really, really good.
Speaker 2: A lot of people look at Oh, you're coming off
to Tommy Johns, you know all his lot city's really good.
Speaker 5: Why is it?
Speaker 2: Why is he struggling? And you know, I think what
people don't realize when you come off to Tommy Jones,
not necessarily the fastball that worries the pitcher. It's the
breaking ball that stresses the elbow a lot more than
the fastball. And so I think he saw earlier in
the year he was kind of you know, yanking his
breaking ball. He wasn't really trusting it, and you haven't
seen that over the last four or five outings from him,
So I think he's he's definitely one of the ass
in the hole for us. I don't know if they're
gonna move him back into that starter role, but you know,
for me, I want to see somebody step up and
be a guy that could give you four or five
six innings in that third starter role. And then I
want to see, you know, I want to see Exac Counts.
That count has been great all year. He's had a
couple of rough outings his last few times out, but
I want to see him get back sharp and get
back to where he needs to be. And uh, and look,
some of those other young guys are starting to starting
to kind of grow up. You know. Peter Williams has
been really good out the pin. Lefty, lefty guy. He
seems like he's that first lefty out of the pin
when it comes to a matchup. Jade Knut's been really
good and Matt mc grizzy's really good. So I want
to see those three guys continue to progress because you're
gonna have to rely you can't just rely on one
or two guys. You know, there's gonna be a game
where you're gonna have to rely on your fourth, fifth,
sixth guy out of the bullpen to get you big ales.
And so I think if there's anything that I want
to see more, I want to see him to continue
to see the consistency from those other guys, uh moving
into the tournament into the.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and Mikey last one and again, man, we truly
do appreciate the time.
Speaker 3: What would you do with Cason Evans?
Speaker 4: Like, would you not even like define his role like
in the postseason, because you know he's a freshman certainly
doesn't have a freshman mentality. Would it be a situation
where hey, we're gonna wait, maybe you start a game,
maybe you come in to close the door. Certainly if
you've already used that cowen kind of in that role, Like,
would you just kind of leave him up in the
air as far as, hey, we'll use you when we
need you the most.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's probably the best move. And we
did that a little bit in two thousand and nine
with Lewis Coleman start the season. You know, Coleman would
close the game if he had to, and if he didn't,
we didn't need on Friday or Saturday. He was starts Funday.
Man very quickly realized the day. This guy's gonna start
Friday because he's the best guy we've got. Uh. I
think I think Rankston Evans is gonna be that same
role right now.
Speaker 11: I think if if you have an opportunity to close
the game out on Friday or Saturday, and you've already
used Cowen, I think you're going to use Evans to
get to win if he has if the game's had
an hand a LSU wins, or even if they're losing it,
if you don't want to waste time.
Speaker 2: I think that you may see him on Sunday get
that start. But I think that they're going to use
him out of the bullpen. He's been more effective this
year out of the bullpen in the back end. You know,
when he's coming out to the pin, he's upper nineties.
When he's starting, he's load to mid nineties, and so
I think his stuff plays a little bit more explosively
out of the back end of the bullpen. So I
think you're going to see him that that way. I
think Jay wants to use it out of the pen.
I don't think Jay would rather not start him right now.
Now he will be a starter here at LSU and
you know next year in the year after that. But
for this team and the way it's structured, I think, hey,
if we need him, use them, no matter if it's
in the ninth inning or if it's in the first inning.
As a starter. I think that's kind of the way
they're going to move it.
Speaker 3: Move with him.
Speaker 2: And you know, I love him. I love his competitiveness.
He was a short stop in high school and you
can tell that kind of the way he pitches.
Speaker 4: Hey, Mikey Man, fantastic stuff. As always, we again truly
appreciate the time. So after a nice little workout here
on a meathead Wednesday, So we'll have to do this
again soon.
Speaker 3: Man, We really do appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Man, anytime. I love I love coming on the show.
And you'll do a great job. Man. And if you
talk to Tea Bob Bill, tell my se congratulations.
Speaker 4: Absolutely will do man, We'll get that done. He's a
poodle for skipping out on us, but yeah, we'll get
that done.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, you know what he's he's great at what he does.
He's gonna be missed, but I know you're gonna be
able to take the rains and you're gonna keep rolling.
Speaker 3: Appreciate it, brother, have a good day.
Speaker 2: Man, all right, man you too.
Speaker 4: All Right, the great Mikey Mata good enough to join
us here. Remember checked out check out his show miked
Up on YouTube. That is during the week Monday, Wednesday
and Friday. Monday and Wednesday at six pm, Friday at
one pm. He does that with our boy La Lloyd.
All Right, we will step away. I think actually, like
the person who's supposed to be the new co host
of the show, Matt Flynn, is going to join us
in like ten minutes from now. I saw Laundre's look.
I kind of have the same look, like will it happen?
Speaker 3: Maybe? Kind of sort of.
Speaker 4: We'll see here on OTB off the bench, all right,
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the bench.
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to my mom too, something like something okay.
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Speaker 3: Either?
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than it should have. All right, we are going to
step away. I believe that we do have Matt Flynn
in the building. So first surprise of the day is
that he is here and he's ready to go again.
This isn't like the official start of the new show
or anything. He's normally here on Wednesday. He's got to
take a headshot, so he's gonna pop in say what's up.
We'll make fun of him like we always do, and
we'll do it right here on O T beat off
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