Speaker 1: Perspective.
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three nine at ninety eight three ESPN, No Fan, You're
listening to Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel, and it's time
for a cruping the Cougar's and inside look at the
latest news on the recruiting trails surrounding Cougar Athletics.
Speaker 1: Brother Ban Kruger Sports one of three nine ninety two
point three ESPN The Fan. I've been grittal broadcasting from
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to sustainability. It news time for Little Kruit and the
Cougar slash Camp Kalani reports. We're gonna welcommitt a Cougar
Sports inside or someone that's been interviewing and watching and
uploading all the videos on the highlights of Camp Killani
and then get who perspective also on the recruitment and
some of the young bucks that are going to be
showcasing their abilities during camp call. It's gonna be brought
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if sands or butts about it. I got Cameron Jensen,
former bou great by my side. Let's get on the
line with Casey Line quiz AbuI Sports Illustrated Casey? How
you live in Hey?
Speaker 3: What's up? Guys?
Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Always a pleasure, always a blessing, talking ball
with your case. So let's start off with a little recruiting, right,
So how would you evaluate? You know, we got a
lot of new facers, the transferportal players and then the
true freshmen that are coming in return. Missionaries as well.
From what you've seen thus far from the newcomers, the
new faces, the transperportal freshmen, the transported players, the freshmen,
and then the return missionaries, what has stood out to
you amongst that group?
Speaker 3: I think, first and foremost, you can go down the
list of transfers and probably expect most of those guys
to contribute right away. You know, we'll see how the
depth chart along the offensive line irons itself out. But
I expect at least a few of those guys up
front to be starters. I know they brought in three,
but I would expect at least one or two of
those guys to be starters. And then beyond that, you've
also got a ton of brand new true freshmen that
are already enrolled and participating in spring camp. I think
that's become a little different from BYU classes in the past.
Perhaps like four or five years ago, I would say probably,
you know, seventy to ninety percent of those signees would
leave for two years and serve missions. But now we've
seen it the last couple of years where it's about
a fifty to fifty split, and that's the case this year,
so about half of BYU's record class is enrolled, and
of the signings that will play right away, all but
one Antonio Johnson, are enrolled and participating in spring camp.
So I look at whenever you're trying to see where
a true freshman can find playing time, it's a matter
of not only talent, but opportunity as well. Right, So
if Jake Resloff was on the roster last year, then
bear Bachmeier doesn't have his breakout freshman campaign, assuming you
stays healthy. So as far as opportunity goes, I think
the opportunity at wide receiver is wide open given the
departures of Chase Roberts and Parker Kingston, and then pair
that alongside some of the really talented players that you
brought into the room, namely Jaron Poula, Legend Glask or
Terrence Serry on guys like that. So historically, really talented
wide receivers have been able to find their way to
the field early in their BYU careers. And so I'm
keeping an eye on that room in particular.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean a Rod He's very hesitant to talk
about the newcomers because the transfer portal, right, and the
tampering tamper gate in provo. When you heard a Rod
state that earlier this week, he doesn't want to. He's
reluctant to, you know, to to highlight. Let's actually tune
into it. Let's listen. What did he exactly say about
potential tampering of his young rising stars.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean going tracts twice, but there's a lot
of good players in that room, and those guys will
step up. I'm very confident about that. And you know,
Casper did some good things today, and we've got some
some young players that are doing some good things. I'm
a little reluctant to comment about young guys though, because
then people will start tampering with them before before the
next portal windows. So I'm just gonna not I'm not
gonna say nice things about the young guys anymore.
Speaker 1: He goes on, like I think it was Sean Walker said, well,
you know there isn't a spring portal wing. He's like, yeah,
that's right. But when you heard that, Casey, what was
your reaction, what did you ponder? What did you think about?
Speaker 3: Well, the transfer portal has taken another thing away, apparently.
I guess that's commentary from a Rod to ay Rod's
credit I think historically he has done a pretty good
job of singling out players and giving some real information
from his interviews. It's not just coach speak. So I
think if you look back at his track record, you
know he spoke very highly of l. J. Martin as
a true freshman. He spoke very highly a bear. He
has given some real tidbits throughout the years. So if
that's another thing that the transfer portal has taken away,
then that's a shame. But it's a real threat.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: I don't know how much teams are tampering because of
media quotes. I don't know that, but tampering is a
real thing, and especially when you have a really talented class,
you'd like to keep them around and keep them in
the program. So I understand the sentiment. But there is
no spring transfer portal windows, so it's gonna be a
while before teams can start tampering.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a I thought it was gonna say. I
know it was a little chung at tongue in cheek,
but I thought it was funny. Nonetheless, I mean, look,
the young bucks are very, very talented, as you mentioned,
and these new faces that are kind of on the rise,
We've delved into it a little bit today and it's
exciting times to be a Cougar. From a talent level standpoint,
how would you compare the talent the depth present day
on this Cougar football roster to when Kalani started back
in twenty sixteen or even and let's say twenty twenty
or twenty twenty one, like you'd had some good NFL
guys there draft picks. I mean, there's a reason why
you you won eleven and ten games, respectively. How does
the roster maybe compare to that initial era that and
then that midway point for the Kalanie era.
Speaker 3: Well, certainly compared to the start of the Kalanie it's
elevated far above that, you know it. There was a
core of guys that stayed around for Kilani's first year
and that led to the twenty sixteen season. But once
those seniors graduated, you know, we saw what was the
twenty seventeen season. I mean, you could say there were
maybe some cultural problems on that team and things like that,
but at the end of the day, there was just
a talent deficiency and that led to, you know, one
of the worst seasons of the last fifty years, so
byus in a much better spot, I think, especially depth wise.
This is probably every year that BYU continues to recruit
better and better, the depth will get better and better.
You know, you will have four star recruits or highly
coveted three star guys that had a bunch of offers
that are second, three string, third string, or even four string.
And that probably wasn't the case even just a few
years ago. As you mentioned in twenty twenty and twenty
twenty one, those teams had some real high end talent
guys that are still in the NFL today, But once
you got behind that first layer of defense, it wasn't
nearly as deep as this roster is today. I think
there was a quote from Mario Christobal at Oregon when
he left for Miami about, you know, his decision to
leave Eugene and return home to Miami, and he said,
I feel okay about leaving Oregon because that program is
in a good spot. The most talented players are on
the roster are young guys, and I think looking at
this roster today, you can say something similar about BYU's roster.
You know, it's not black and white statement, but for
the most part, a lot of BYU's most talented guys
are still really young and just matriculating into the program.
If you pair that alongside some of the you know,
proven stars that are gonna have you know, NFL futures
like LJ. Martin and you know guys like k dou Lave,
I think that's what's really exciting is the momentum continue
to build and they can take maybe even another incremental
step this year, which will be hard to do. They
did go eleven and one, but there's the potential to
do that and then take some of this young talent
in the program and just to can continue building on
it in twenty seven and beyond.
Speaker 1: Casey Lund quiz BAYU Sports illustrated here on your Utah
ESPN Radio Network little the Cougar Slash College Football segment
brought to you by our good friends at Dental Pros
of Utah Dentalprosifutah dot com. What other storylines have you
been maybe addressing on your platform and reading into during Campkolani.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Unfortunately, as you know, we haven't had too many
opportunities to see things in person. But with that being said,
I think just the progression of Bear Bachmeier has been
just probably second to the wide receiver rotation, but that's
right up there at the top. Bear played so well
as a true freshman. But if you can compare where
he was against Georgia Tech to where he started against
Portland State or even that Stanford game where he was
just so clearly, you know, doing things that were limited
within BYU's offense, it was very measured what Aaron Rodgers
was giving him. Now that he has a full year
of starting experience and a full off season, he looks,
you know, a little slimmer. To me, I think he's
changed his body a little bit. And I'm really interested
to see the progression of Bear Bachmeyer because last year,
in those games against Texas Tech, the offense was the deficiency, right,
And I think if bear Bachmeyer is able to make
some key improvements in certain areas, I think bau has
a really really good chance to repeat last year's success,
if not built on it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, many like the off season conversation for regarding Bear.
It centered around two touch subjects in my opinion, the
body mass, you know, the the you know, they want
him to maybe trim up. Some people want him to
trim up and or lean out rather you can still
stay like in that two thirty five range whatever, he's
maybe playing at two forty, But it's got to be
muscle mass, not the atiposts. I will say, like, when
you're running as much as he is, you need a
little bit of protection and sometimes a little bit of
ada post tissue around them joints. It does aid and
support in that, and also a little weight game. You know,
he sometimes has throwers. You can gain a little bit
of power, but you always want muscle more than fat obviously.
And then the other one was like just arm strength, right,
just arm strength in general. They just want to see
elevated arm strength and where is that gonna come from?
And I think they coincide with each other. So how
much improvement do you think you're gonna see in those
two arenas from Bear in twenty twenty six?
Speaker 3: Yeah, on the first one, I think we've seen progress already.
I mentioned it early Bears looking different to me, and
he's only been in BYU's program right now for you know,
two months. Really the gains are mostly made between springball
and fall camp because that is, you know, a four
or five month window as opposed to a two month window.
So I think he's well on track there. As far
as arm strength, man, it's it's hard to know because
he's he came in as a really big kid. Like
you said, he might be slimming down instead of adding weight.
So I am interested to see where his arm goes.
Just as far as arm strength, like I said, we
haven't had many chances to see them in person yet,
so I think that's something that we'll learn throughout camp,
but certainly that that's an area where he could grow.
And I think he excelled with some of those intermediate
throws last year, but there there's definitely room for growth
as far as those throws beyond you know, twenty twenty
five yards. Just a little more arm strength and a
little more accuracy. And if he can do that and
you pair it up with you know, his ability to
take care of the football make those intermediate throws, then
you could have a complete quarterback alongside one of the
best running backs in the country.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Barry's listed right down the roster six two two
thirty and so that's where he currently sits per the roster.
That's not always accurate, but that's where he currently sits.
So he may have trimmed up a little bit. Let's
get into a recruiting news and note, I know there's
like not a whole lot going on on the recruiting
front with new acquisitions, but there was a PWO that
committed two way athlete, James Clifford committed as a PWO.
Tell us a little bit about James Clifford and his position,
his impact. What do you got for us on that front.
Speaker 3: Yeah, James Clifford is interesting because, as you know, the
walk on spots have kind of dried up in college football.
Where there used to be forty opportunities per roster, now
depending on the school, it could be you know, anywhere
from ten to twenty. So whereas we used to see
PWO classes that range from ten to fifteen guys, now
it's you know, two or three. So the PWO offers
that go out today are a little more significant than
they used to be. So he is a California native.
He was a first team All All Region or All
Conference selection on both sides of the football. So he
played tight end in defensive end. It's unclear to me
where he's going to play at BYU. I think depending
on the situation at those positions, he could probably end
up at either one. But he is the younger brother
of David Clifford, who was on By's roster in twenty
twenty four and then he left to serve a mission.
If you remember David Clifford, David actually turned down scholarship
offers to walk on at BYU. He had scholar offers
from Arizona, San Jose State, a handful of Mountain West schools,
and he opted to walk on at b YU instead.
So BYU family. He's a dual sport athlete, plays basketball,
kind of an interesting player. He's six foot seven, so
huge frame, a lot you can do with that, and
he's had a lot of success in California. So there
is still a kind of a need to fill out
every spot on the roster. Colony has talked about that
since he got to BYU that an important part of
developing depth is recruiting every spot that's available. So interested
to see where he ends up. But as far as
pwo's go, I think he's up there is one of
the more promising ones. He had opportunities to walk on
at Oregon and USC and pick BYU.
Speaker 1: Love that great breakdown from Casey lundquiz Casey we invite
everyone to follow you on x and read all your
content at b yuside best way to support to you
what you do, how you do it though, give it
a little pitch to cougarnation.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can find our stuff on sid dor com,
slash Callers, slash b yu. Read all this stuff there
and then as camp you know, rolls on, we'll have
some more content coming out on Twitter and on on
the website. So any support is greatly appreciated. Love it.
Speaker 1: And one last thing, who's you're projected MVP of Springball
on the defense and m VP of Springball on the
offense right now? I know it's early. I know it's early,
but you're maybe way too early prediction on those MVP spots.
Speaker 3: Okay, a little bit, a little bit more of a
difficult answer for springball because not everyone's playing, But I
would say on offense, I'll I'll give the EA the answer.
I'll just say Bear. I think I think we are
going to see a lot of progress from Bear. And
while it's probably going to take some time to get
dialed in with a brand new group of wide receivers,
I think I think Bear is gonna show that he
still has a lot of room to grow, and if
there's potential on bear Bachmeier, I do believe he's the
kind of kid that's gonna find it. He just works
so hard and he stays humble, and he's he's coachable.
So I really like his chances to progress compared to
where he was last year on the defensive side. Man,
I'll say, Paula taus Otsawala, I think he just takes
another step this year. I think he's an NFL safety
and he made so much progress from his freshman year
to his sophomore year and now is his third year
in the program, second year as a starter. I just
think you say, you see Faulla taus Otawalla start to
look like a day one or two draft pick.
Speaker 1: Love it, Casey lunnguage ladies and gentlemen, Thanks for hopping on, Casey.
We'll catch up at the end soon. We'll see that
at practice and have a great weekend.
Speaker 3: Hey, thanks guys, have a good one. There you go.
Speaker 1: That's Casey Languish. That segment was brought to you by
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your teeth and your money in the long run. Any thoughts,
any commentary, Cameron Jensen, anything that stood out to you
from our conversation with Casey Lundquish.
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, we talked about it a little bit earlier.
Is just the development of Bear. I think we're all
excited to see that he has the poise, he has
the confidence. We saw things that we don't see from
a true freshman. I'm seeing what does that develop into
year two, because that's not normal. And so his arm strength,
if that improves, if he can make those throws over
twenty five yards, wow, that's a deadly combo. And I
think he should lean up a little bit to make
him a little more mobile. I think towards the end
of the year he saw him get banged up with
the ankle and that really affected the way he likes
to play.
Speaker 3: So I like that.
Speaker 5: And obviously the wide receiver and wide open you got
some young guys filling those gaps it's exciting to see.
But if that comes together, bear with these new core
wide receivers.
Speaker 3: I like where we're at.
Speaker 1: He did drag like three uts into the end show
at that size, you know what I mean? So yeah,
you know he we gotta give him some credit on that.
You know, we don't want to lean him up too much,
you know, not too much, right.
Speaker 3: Not too much?
Speaker 1: You want to what's up? What's want? What's away?
Speaker 5: Five? I think for getting a little more mobile, so
like to twenty five. Yeah, yeah, it could be a
little more muscle mass in there.
Speaker 1: Do you think he's Do you think he was two
thirty last year?
Speaker 5: It looked like a little bit more than that.
Speaker 1: Man, I thought he was like too, I thought it was.
Speaker 5: Two forty, even pushing over to forty five, just how
he saw.
Speaker 1: Him move and it looked like it's a big dude.
It looked like two forty. I mean, you know what
two forty looks like.
Speaker 5: I know it. You were like, to forty, that's that's
two forty.
Speaker 1: You're exciting, You're like, you're two forty.
Speaker 5: That's a two forty guy.
Speaker 3: Yo.
Speaker 5: That's exactly what I did. That's what I played at Man.
Speaker 1: Forty you're looking at like the caps and legs, the
bodies of me, Like that's a two forty two thirty.
Speaker 5: I'm like that, Yeah, that's what That's what you want
people to think. But especially after all those meals.
Speaker 1: Man, you're you know, you know, there's a you know,
you get it. You get injured in games, you know,
and get a little dinged up, and you're not doing
as much cardio during the week.
Speaker 5: You're season went on. I think he put on a
few extra It's every week he seemed to be getting
just a little bit bigger, bigger. I'm like, Bear, we
gotta slow that down a little bit. Then he hurt
his ankle that but no, it's you do want to
be big, you know, because he is going to run
to be able to take hits. But I would have
liked to see him a little more mobile. But again
he had an ankle injury that he had against Texas
text so but yeah, I like that combo. If you
could lose a little bit, let's still stay big man.
You're bere you're forty seven. There's a lean into it.