Speaker 1: Stats. Let's talk about stats. Ben Kreval and his team
of former players and eight signers give you the latest stats,
data and analytics that are trending in the world of
Cougar Sports Stats.
Speaker 2: Welcome back Cougar Sports. One of three nine ninety eight
point three ESBN the Fan. I've been prettal broadcasting from
our Batterwell Studios Batterwell dot Com. Get on a free
q and a no obligation to invest QNA with our
tax mart Wealth Advisors, our certified financial planners. Nobody does
it better than Blaine Anderson and his crew NFLPA Certified
Financial Planner as well. We're gonna talk about l J.
Martin stats in this segment. One of the best single
season single seasons in BYU rushing history in my opinion,
especially when you consider the totality of rushing yards, receiving yards, touchdowns,
yards per carry, and you look at the strength of schedule,
what by who's been up against this season, and it's
truly a monumental season. We're gonna talk some stats about
l J. Martin in segment. It's got obviously brought to
you by Batterwealth Banterwealth dot Com. Get on that free
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Speaker 3: Of the year.
Speaker 2: It's getting into you know, Q four. We're getting into
that that final month. You need to sit down with
your tax mart Wealth Advisement team at Vanderwealth as well
as your CPA and navigate how you can save money
on your taxes at the end of the year. It's
not what you make, it's what you save and invest.
Let your money work for you rather than you always
working for your money. Let's talk about stats with the
star of the show.
Speaker 3: Today.
Speaker 2: We got BYU running back RB one LJ Martin on
the line.
Speaker 3: LJ, how that g are you buddy? Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 4: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Always a pleasure, always a blessing. Talking ball with you, LJ. Look,
I know when you got to BYU, you probably had
a vision of what you know, you wanted to accomplish
and what you've ultimately accomplished up to this up to
this point has been tremendous. What did you envision for
your self from a productivity standpoint when you arrived in Provo?
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I just I always had a dream
of just you know, trying to be the best running
back I can be, and you know, just giving myself
myself was trying to going to the NFL, so you know,
coming down to Provo, I just wanted to be the
best player I could be. I didn't know what that
was gonna entail or what it was going to turn
out to be, but it's worked out pretty good so far,
and I'm glad with what I've been able to do.
Speaker 2: Man, you passed up a legendary Cougar this season. In
this last game versus Texas Tech, you passed up Luke
Staley for total rushing yards in a season. You passed
up Jamal Williams as well from his two thousand and
thirteen season. Jamal, I believe in twenty thirteen, I think
he had approximately, you know, right around that twelve hundred
and thirteen hundred yard mark. What does it mean to
be considered one of the great BYU running backs and
BYU football history, surpassing the likes of Luke in a
single season in Jamal in a single season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean that's amazing. I mean you I came in,
you know kind of like looking at those guys and
you know, hoping to be like them, and just to
be in the conversation with them, just to it would
be mentioned like alongside their name. It's pretty awesome, man,
it's just a blessing.
Speaker 3: Well, you also passed up your coach. I don't know
if you know this.
Speaker 2: In two thousand and seven, Harvey Unga had two hundred
and forty four carries and one two hundred and seventy
two yards. He also had thirteen rushing touchdowns in oh seven.
He was our bell cow back back in my day
over twenty essentially twenty years ago. You're sitting at just
around thirteen hundred yards. We have two hundred and seventeen.
So you had less carries two hundred and seventeen yards,
and you have eleven touchdowns. Now get you gotta eclipse.
You need at least two more three more touchdowns to
end the season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's gonna be a tough one, but it's pretty
cool to be able to I'll do my coach. You know,
he kind of taught me all this tricks. I guess
that's a little hag, but you know, it's cool, and
you know, he always it's funny because when I first
came in, he was like, yeah, you're gonna be good.
You're gonna be really good. You're gonna be better than me,
you know. And I heard this stuff, and you know,
you just kind of go about it. I didn't really
believe it at the time. And you know, like just
to have a season like I did and be you know,
like pass him in rushing and stuff like that, it's
pretty awesome. But it's not everything. You know, He's just
trying to win the games and just trying to continue
to be as great as I can be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what type of impact have has Harvey had on you?
Has there been like a nugget some sort of teaching,
a mentality that has given you a competitive advantage in
order to surpass your your coach a little bit in
that in that single season rushing total.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean he's done a lot for me. I
mean he he pretty much. I didn't know a whole
lot of football. So when I first got out here,
you know, I just knew when you get the ball,
you gotta score, you know, And you know, I was
able to read some stuff, but he really took the
time to help me like read defenses, understand what they're
trying to do and how I'm uh, how things are
probably gonna play out, So I'm just being around them
more and just learning learning the game through them. It's
just helped me a lot. And you know, it just
kind of opened my eyes and I feel like you
really saw it this year.
Speaker 3: LJ.
Speaker 2: Martin on the line that says, let's talk about stats
segment currently. Uh, Statistically he's uh, he's got the seventh
best single season, uh, single season as a running back
or quarterback, and then in totality he's top ten in
rushing yards in BYU football history.
Speaker 3: So pretty impressive work, LJ.
Speaker 2: And Uh, it's it's awesome to see, you know, your
progress not only as a as a runner, but as
a receiver. You've got targeted a lot in that Texas
Tech game. You got a lot of touches running the
ball and then also receiving the ball. And I know
that your skill set has always been has been pretty diverse,
but it's it's fun to watch kind of that that
whole package come together. Your pass pro, your pass catching,
off tackle inside the tackle box. What does it mean
to you to be an all purpose a complete back.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it means a lot to me. You know,
I just want to be a complete football player. You know,
so that just comes to blocking, running routes, receiving, just
doing everything. So just being able to have the opportunity
to have a coach a robber call plays for me
to be able to catch in the past game and
running the ball and touch the ball as many times
as I can. I mean, it's really awesome and you know,
I've been able to make it the most of it
so far.
Speaker 2: How tough was that Texas Tech defensive front? Obviously you've
had a tremendous amount of success this season.
Speaker 3: Tech is built a little bit different.
Speaker 2: How does the Tech defensive front compare to other defensive
fronts that you faced over your career.
Speaker 4: They're probably the best I've seen, you know, and they're
just really good. I mean, they're really active. They got
guys that can move up front. And I felt like
we did we did a pretty good job this last
time we played, and we did a decent job. But
you know, they did make things harder for us. You know,
it was they got back there sometimes. You know, it
was a little bit more competitive in the fact that
they got us a couple of times, but we were
getting them too. Just you know, we couldn't We just
weren't able to get them more than they got us
unfortunately that time. But you know, they were a really
good d line and you know a lot of those
guys are gonna play on Sunday, so shout out to them.
Speaker 2: Did you try to convince a Rod to give you
a few more like wild cougar direct snaps going forward?
Speaker 3: You know, as you as you finish off this season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't want to do a little bit more
wildcat direct snaps, you know, just and for him to
allow me to throw the ball. This was something we've
been trying to talk about, you know, because I did
play quarterback in my middle school and freshman year of
high school, so.
Speaker 2: You a point guard too, you know, how to distribute
that exactly.
Speaker 4: I was like, we could just go far words and
if nothing there, I could just take off. So you know,
I've been trying to convince them, so we'll see. We'll
see if we'll be able to get it done.
Speaker 3: But you know, who knows, keep fighting that good fight.
Speaker 2: It's okay to get in the coaches here and let
them know you're you're confident and you can help. You
can help move the sticks and make place for him.
Speaker 3: We got LJ.
Speaker 2: Martin on THEL like Cougar Sports, ESPN the fan. Look,
this is a new era, right We're getting towards the
end of the year when transfer portal and NIL and
bowl games and championship they all converge right into one
and it could be pretty stressful.
Speaker 3: How have you been able.
Speaker 2: To navigate the new NIL world with this new found resources? Uh,
you know, newfound success. It can be a little bit overwhelmed.
Who have you leaned on? How have you navigated the
new NIL world?
Speaker 3: LJ?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I lean on my parents, you know, just listening
to my dad and my mom and just you know,
they kind of told me to not not make things
about money, you know, like, of course you want to
get what you deserve and stuff like that. But and
then I'll be all, you know, it's it's about like
what you want to accomplish, and for me, being in
the NFL, that's what I want to accomplish. So the
end result can't be can't just be money. And you know,
I got to continue to work hard and just be
at the best place that develops me. And that's why
I've been at here at BYU for so long, since
they do a great job of developing players and just
making things easy. And it's been real fun.
Speaker 2: It can be a little bit overwhelming to have, you know,
newfound funds though, And it sounds like you've discussed it
with mom and dad and and uh and discuss Hey,
how do we want to navigate this.
Speaker 3: It's not all about money.
Speaker 2: You want what's fair for you obviously, but uh, you know,
when you got this new money in your bank account,
how did you navigate that? Did you just put it?
You're putting it in savings? You just say, hey, mom
and dad, what do you guys thinking we should do
with this?
Speaker 4: Yeah, we started investing a little bit, you know. We
just put it like in a S and P five
hundred fund, I believe, And just did that for now,
you know, because I'm not I'm I'm not too far
into that investing stuff. And my parents their work, they
know a little bit of stuff about investing, so we're
not too big into it. But we just did that
for now, and you know, just trying to save as
much as you can, because I mean, you know, this
is a great opportunity to make some money and set
you over for the long run.
Speaker 3: So yeah, no doubt about it. Let's welcome into the show.
Speaker 2: NFLPA shortify financial planner Blaine Anderson. He's on the line
as well. Blaine, You've consulted with a lot of student
athletes over the years about how to invest in where
to invest. What are some of the common questions that
student athletes pose to you in those kind of those
consultative evaluations of how to invest, where to invest, why
to invest?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, thanks Ben.
Speaker 5: It's the pleasure of being on and listening to the
conversation here with LJ.
Speaker 4: When it comes to some.
Speaker 5: Of those early steps, a lot of it is just
putting together a plan, being intentional and thinking about tomorrow.
I think it's neat to hear what LJ had to say.
As far as you know, it's not all about money.
We that have been in the business world, that have
worked know that it's a byproduct of good hard work.
But it is something that oftentimes is necessary to help
us get by, to provide opportunities for those around us,
and to certainly free up time. And so one of
the things we talk about most is just planning for tomorrow,
starting to understand the power of compound interest, the importance
of spending less than you make, and even if you
can sacrifice a little bit now that it can provide
tremendous long term benefits. And one of the things that
we emphasize a lot is we talk about the difference
between let's say a rich person versus a wealthy person,
and a rich person can work hard to make money.
A wealthy person works hard to have that money work
for them, and so that's where we want to get
to and that's what we're trying to accomplish. And then
of course, as you know, it's just combining tax and
investment and the state planning and all those things under
the Certified Financial Planning umbrella that put together a comprehensive plan.
So it's neat to work with younger folks, but people
that are thinking about tomorrow and whether you know the
old saying the best time to invest was twenty years ago,
the next best time is now. And so it's just
applying many of the principles around finance and investing, and
these guys all do a great job of it. It's
neat to see.
Speaker 3: You know, we got LJ.
Speaker 2: Martin on the line as well as Blaine Anderson Bantererwealth
Banterwealth dot Com. Blaine this season when you watch LJ
run when you've been watching them run and catch and
do his master his craft on the football field. For BYU,
what stands out to you? How would you describe LJ
as a as a running back at b YU.
Speaker 3: What do you like about his game?
Speaker 2: Do you have a maybe a highlight of particular play
that you just you just say you lean on You're like, man,
I'll remember that.
Speaker 3: That's like emblazing in my mind as a fan.
Speaker 5: Yeah, a few things. First of all, I like even
hard or LJ mentioned it about just being a football player.
That's what's cool, I think, especially out of the running
back position, that's what you need as a football player.
Speaker 4: And even hearing you.
Speaker 5: Guys talk about his relationship and mentorship that's come from Harvey.
In knowing Harvey and as a friend, I know that
the greatest compliment you can give a coach or a
teacher is that they teach their students or their players
to go on and be better than they are or
than they were. And hearing Harvey say that early on
that LJ was going to be and is doing more
than he did, I think is a true compliment to Harvey.
They actually remind me a lot of each other with
their playing styles. I remember watching Harvey and he was
one of my favorite running backs to watch because of
his power style running. He always lowered the shoulder and
always fell forward, and that's something that we've seen with
LJ when it comes to maybe even some plays. It
must have been that UCF game, that final game of
the season where LJ just grinded in.
Speaker 4: And play out.
Speaker 5: I think he was probably at least what they were saying,
banged up a little bit, but he certainly didn't show
that on the field. And so that'll be something I'll
always remember about watching LJA and his style of play.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: That that, speaking of let's talk about stats. That was
probably one of the best single game performances from a
running back or quarterback running the football in BYU football history.
I put it as a top five performance from a
from a rushing output standpoint.
Speaker 3: LJ.
Speaker 2: Let's revert back to you, like, what do you recall
that that UCF game, Because I think, look, you look
at the opponent, you look at you know, the kind
of the situation. I also look at like the Cincinnati game,
like I kind of look at that one as like
the LJ. Martin game on the road where you kind
of haw did to had to put it, put the
maybe the team on your back a little bit. What's
been your favorite game, your single game performance that you
lean on, Bakery, That was my favorite game all.
Speaker 4: Time right now, I'll probably say that Cincinnatti one. Just
look at back at that. You know, it's pretty cool
just to be able to carry the ball that many times,
and you know we kind of got into that four
mini mode and we were able to finish it off
with the touchdown, and you know, everyone knows we're gonna
run the ball and all I was still able to
get pushed and they were creating holes and I was
able to run physical and still get yards. And you know,
that just shows like what we were able to do
as offense this year. And it's that was probably probably
my favorite one by far. And you know, just just
going out there having fun, just touching the ball that
many times, just playing football. I mean, it's it's that's
my that's my favorite game by far.
Speaker 2: I would say, yeah, it might be of tyler Ils
year to thirty two carries, two hundred and twenty two yards,
six point nine yards per carry, two touchdowns. You had
three receptions, forty four yards and then a handful of
pass pro reps as well a lot of contact that
gave you took How sold was the body after that game?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah, I was pretty tired. We were coming back
home from the flight. Started cramping on the plane and
you know, so I had to get some foods. Yeah,
it was.
Speaker 3: It was a bit.
Speaker 4: It was a struggle for a plane ride, but you
know it was it was fun. I wouldn't want to
play any other way, you know, just I mean it's football,
you know, just being able to touch the ball that many times,
just out there having fun with the guys. And yeah,
you're just out there with the guys and they're feeling
it and you're feeling it and we're just all out
there having fun. It was really fun to them.
Speaker 2: Have you had, you know, apart from Harvey obviously being
a key mend where his Jamal Williams come back, Tyler
Rale's year, you know, these uh, these running backs that
have had success in the NFL recently, have they you know,
mentored you at all?
Speaker 3: Have you have you developed a relationship with those guys
at all?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I talked to Tyler someone when he first when
I first got out here. He kind of just him
here and hearing him talk about Harvey and what he
thought of him. You know, it kind of made me
made a believer and you know, wanted to come out here.
And then as well as Jamal, well he came back recently.
Uh so he probably he's been a lot around a
lot more this year, and uh, you know, just talking
to him, he's always on this year, he's been on
the sideline a little bit, you know, just giving me
tips and pointers. So he's been helping out at a
time too. So yeah, just those two guys and you know,
they've just been doing a great job and just kind
of giving me little tidbits and uh, just little pieces
of knowledge so I could be a better running back.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: What's the what's the best words of advice you've gotten
from Tyler or Jamal that stood out to you in
this process over the last couple of years.
Speaker 4: I would say just being consistent in the work and
just enjoying it, you know, just enjoying your time, just
playing football, just making it fun, you know, because I
feel like now people try to make it the job,
you know, they try to make it where you get
money out of it, but you know, if you just
go out there and have fun with it and just
enjoy yourself, like everything else will come. You know, honestly,
that was a bigest advice.
Speaker 3: Great advice.
Speaker 5: L J.
Speaker 2: Martin here on ESPN the Fan, talking stats, talking his
h his season. Now you got a bowl game? Uh,
the the the pop tarts, boor In Orlanta. What's what's
your mindset like preparing for the bowl game? Do you
plan on playing in the bowl game for BYU?
Speaker 4: Yeah, still trying to get some stuff figured out, but yeah,
I mean right now, you know, we just got to prepare.
We got to whoever's usually whoever's most excited to be
there is going to be the one who wins. So
you know, it's it's another opportunity to play another game,
get a twelve win. So we're really excited. You know,
it's a blessing. I mean, I remember two years ago
we weren't even in a bowl game. You know, our
season was done pretty quick. So you know, it's just
a blessing to even be in a bowl game and
just going out there having fun and making the most
out of it. It'll be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how special is it to have back to back
eleven and two seasons with an opportunity to get twelve
wins for you and your teammates.
Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, that's amazing, especially after my first year
out here. You know, it's just you know, you believe,
but for it to actually happen, it's like, it's pretty amazing,
you know, just to be able to be consistent two
years in a row. When when have back to back
scenes like that, it means a lot, and you know,
we just can't be happy with the result, but you know,
they just kind of use this motivation, you know, and
it'll give the other guys motivation going in next year.
You just you know, want to wanting to sustain that
that standards.
Speaker 3: Yeah, LJ. Martin, Ladies and gentlemen ology.
Speaker 2: I know you're still kind of navigating figuring stuff out.
Let me let me put a theoretical out there. The
dream is to go to the NFL. And we all
know you're an NFL running back. There's been many that
have said, hey, he could. He's a top five running back,
he's a top ten running back. He's a top three
running back in college football. You're the Big twelve offensive
player of the year. What's going to go into maybe
the decision to either take your talents in the NFL
or to come back. And you know, let's say the
donors they're, hey, we want to you know, we want
you to come back, and they're going to be aggressive
and trying to retain you, et cetera. What is that
process going to be like for you to maybe you know,
make the right decision for you and your family.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of praying, but it's
also just gonna be you know. I always just you know,
when you think of getting drafted to NFL, you always
think of you know, just don't you know, being in
the green room and you know, go into that first
round or like you know, just being there and you know,
being an early pick. You know, So it kind of
just depends on what I land. So, like, you know,
I've been saying if I'm if I'm like, it just
kind of depends where, Yeah, I'm projected, you know, if
I could go like day three, I mean, shoot, I
might just you know, like just come back next year
and you know and try to up my draft stock
and try to get it as high as possible. But
if it's pretty high, like right now, and you know,
where it's like, yeah, you could go day two for sure.
Then you know it's something I think about where it's like, oh, yeah,
I'm gonna go you know. Yeah, so just yeah, it
just it just kind of depends. I just want to
give myself the best opportunity to go out there and
just you know, fulfill my So that's coming back next year,
and you know, if I'm hearing like I could help
my draft stock for next year if I come back
another year and you know, I can really improve it,
and they're talking about I could be go go early.
You know, I'll definitely consider coming back a lot more.
And yeah, so just things you got to think of,
just wondering. So yeah, it's gonna be a lot of
praying and just listening to others what they gotta.
Speaker 3: Say, no doubt about it. Take it all in.
Speaker 2: As you've mentioned, you're enjoying the process. You're enjoying the journey,
and uh, you got great people around you to support you,
advise you, and consult with you.
Speaker 3: So lean on those people that you trust and love
the most.
Speaker 2: Man, it's been awesome watching you run and tote for
Tuddies Man, one of the best running backs ever come
through BYU. We appreciate you hopping on for let's talk
about STAT segment.
Speaker 4: LJ oh yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3: All right, We'll let LJ go as well.
Speaker 2: Blaine Anderson, we appreciate you joining us as well, and
let's talk about STAT segment. Brought to you by Vanderwelth
Vanderwealth dot com. Get on a free Q and A
no obligation to invest Q and A with our tax
mort Wealth Advisors. Blaine Anderson, NFLPA Certified Financial Planner. He
can agent support you your quest for financial stability and sustainability.
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