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his life, his family, and talk some college football with him.
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Speaker 3: While all looking very good and doing great work out.
Speaker 2: There, let's get out to the hotline. Welcome in my guy,
Ryan Hancock, former BYU great quarterback and Major League Baseball pitcher,
still throwing in the mid nineties these days, aren't you?
Speaker 3: Ryan?
Speaker 4: I actually highly dit that I've actually had a pretty
busy last couple of months.
Speaker 5: I just actually got out of about three weeks of
rehab after a seven disc fusion, which yeah, but I'm
feeling great. Actually, you're gonna be able to tend the
football game this this weekend.
Speaker 4: But yeah. I over the years, no traumatic injuries.
Speaker 5: I just had slight back issues that used to be
able to be handled by you know, epidural shots and such.
And then about five years ago, my body wasn't having
it anymore and and I started more serious back uh treatments,
and nothing worked, and so all I was left with
was the fusion and just got that done right before Halloween.
Speaker 4: And but I'm loving it right now.
Speaker 5: As far as if you could imagine that heavy of
a surgery, I'm doing great though. I'm actually surpassed my walker,
so I don't even have to use a walker anymore.
And uh got a wedding coming up here, and about
four weeks or so, my daughter's getting married, so I'm
gonna be actually needing to pick up a suit over
at Odeon, So I'm going to use your discount.
Speaker 3: Man, let's go. We'll take care of you.
Speaker 2: I know we've said so much about it there at
Odeon Min's where Odio min'sword dot com.
Speaker 3: Glad you're recuperating and recovering.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, you've been able to watch this Cougar football
team from the comforts of your couch. Then the last
few weeks you what have you liked about this Cougar
football team down the stretch.
Speaker 4: All I've liked one thing.
Speaker 5: I know you want to talk a little bit about
a Rod, but it's pretty.
Speaker 4: Amazing the way that you see.
Speaker 5: I've seen the team and especially the offense in particular,
kind of take steps every week to improve and kind
of add more to their game every week. I know
we've had some hiccups with you know, some injuries along
the way, so.
Speaker 4: We kind of had to change our game plans a little.
Speaker 5: But it's absolutely amazing the perfection with the way that
a Rod has especially brought on, brought Bar along and
and added more to you know, his responsibilities. And you
just see the team grow and it's like they've their
their confidence has grown as it's gone as well. These games,
these close games are gonna help them down the road,
and it's just really exciting to see how strong this
team has become.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's it's special. Look.
Speaker 2: A Rod I think deserves a lot of credit here.
He's a Broyal semi final loost. I believe he was
just named to it Yesterday's the top. It's just a
coach in college football because of his efforts.
Speaker 3: I think sp plush has.
Speaker 2: B YU is the top twenty five a top twenty
five offense in efficiency ratings and rank games. How would
you evaluate the the orchestrating of this offense under a
Rod the architecture of the offense for BYU.
Speaker 5: Well, it's it's kind of interesting because of course it's
you've been a b Yu fan for years.
Speaker 4: You want to see him blow it up.
Speaker 5: You want to see him just knocked out four hundred
yards passing and just be able to score at will. However,
that's just not wasn't in the cards with a freshman quarterback,
and a Rod saw that, and he just made sure
that we did enough every week, added enough to our
game every week that we were going to be able
to pull out wins.
Speaker 4: And it's just the way.
Speaker 5: That the team is comprised of. They're they're comfortable and
closer games. Now, if if he were to let it
open and let let Bear, you know, throw forty passes
a week, he may not have been able to retain
the confidence that he has. So I've had utter confidence
in what a Rod has done. Really, it's it's absolutely
perfect the way he's brought Bear along, and so I
love the way the offense has come along, and I
mean the pieces are perfect with LJ controlling the game
and Bear also being able to run the ball, and
just the just absolutely amazing the way we've.
Speaker 4: Not turned the ball over.
Speaker 5: You never would guess that going into a season with
the true freshman.
Speaker 2: You're a connoisseur of quarterback play. What have you liked
about Bear Blackmeyer this season? What stands out to you
about Bear?
Speaker 5: I would say number one is his recognition of how
important it is not to turn the ball over.
Speaker 4: The kid doesn't.
Speaker 5: I mean, we've seen a few force passes here the
last couple of weeks, and he's he's still learning, and
we've seen that as he's throwing the ball downfield, but
I mean really marginal for what could happen if you
were throwing forty passes a game.
Speaker 4: But you know, I've been absolutely.
Speaker 5: Impressed with the way he's been brought, brought along and
the way it's gone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's Uh, it's always fun to watch, you know,
a young quarterback just thrive under a a great coaching staff.
And look, I think there's, uh, there's a debate that
that I've had with certain fans that or maybe a
Rod headers like, hey, well, the only reason why Boy's
offense any good because of Bear. And it's not because
a d Well, you don't you don't get Bear unless
you have a Rod at b A.
Speaker 3: That was his gem.
Speaker 2: He's been wanting Bear Blackmeyer at BYU since Bear attended
a camp in like ninth grade. He's kept in contact
with Bear for a long time. That's a long game
recruiting effort from a Rod.
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, And shoot, that's not something the common uh
fan would would have known.
Speaker 4: I didn't know that.
Speaker 5: I actually when Bear's name first popped up, was like,
you know, that sounds intriguing.
Speaker 4: He's probably a pretty good player. I mean I had
absolutely no idea what was in store for us.
Speaker 5: And you know, uh Ad has been able to, for
lack of a better word, exploit how where his talents lie,
you know, and he was probably a little little raw
still to be to be throwing the ball you know,
mid to deep on a regular basis. And so instead
he set him up with.
Speaker 4: With a lot, a lot of.
Speaker 5: Short passing, short screen games. And you see people just
going nuts because they're like, you know.
Speaker 4: That's a Rod's stupid short past stuff. Where why can't
we go downfield.
Speaker 5: But it's what worked best for us, and they had
confidence that that was what we needed the way we
needed to grow and we need to kind of build,
you know, build confidence that way. And when you step
back and look at the picture as a whole, I
mean it's really a piece of art by a Rod.
Speaker 3: No doubt about it.
Speaker 2: Ryan Hancock, former by you, great quarterback, talk to so
BYU football, by you coming in at number eleven in
the College Football Playoff poll, still not.
Speaker 3: Getting the respect they deserve.
Speaker 2: It seems their strength of record or six of the
country strength of schedule is a borderlin top twenty five
strength of schedule. There are one lost team at a
power for conference. Why is it that BYU is not
in the top ten there are three two lost teams
in front of them.
Speaker 5: Oh, it's just the same thing we've battled all these years.
It's just pretty much a lack of respect. I think
we've built up. I mean we built If we hadn't
had the last couple last year we had last year
wouldn't have been as good as it is now. It
is extremely frustrating to, you know, see them comparing us
to these two loss teams and have them talk about
teams and give them all these lists of excuses as
to why they're not in the top ten, like a
team like you know, like let's say Miami or something.
It's it's it's extremely frustrating because you could make all
those our same arguments and then some for BYU.
Speaker 4: However, you know, for.
Speaker 5: Some reason, I think it's definitely not being in the
Big ten or the or the SEC. They're gonna, you know,
push those schools as much as they can, and it's
just frustrating to see how actually those stupid preseason bowls are. Yeah,
that's the most that's the most frustrating thing of the
whole situation.
Speaker 4: You know, we we were punished.
Speaker 5: Because because Jake didn't pan out for us this year. Personally,
I think that ended up being a huge blessing because
I think we would have to have another loss if
if Jake was with us. Not not to say take
anything away from him, but Bear has just been absolutely perfect,
and you know, it's it's extremely frustrating, but you know,
I'm just at the point now where we've kept our
destiny in our own hands.
Speaker 4: You know, when and move on.
Speaker 5: That's what we've done, and we put ourselves in the
as good a position as we can be in.
Speaker 4: And you know, I fully expect us to.
Speaker 5: Show up and have a ton of confidence going into
I mean, I don't want to overlook this Saturday, of course,
but I think we're gonna roll into Austin with a
boatload of confidence and I think the team is absolutely
gonna be jacked.
Speaker 3: Let's go Ryan Hancock here on esp of the fan.
Speaker 2: Ryan, if b YU is gonna let's say they get
the win over you see up, let's look forward. We
can do that because we're not in the locker room. Yeah,
we take on Texas Tech again. What do you want
to see change? And maybe offensive or defense? I don't
think you changed the defense game plan. Let's talk about
special teams. In offense, they didn't show up. What do
you want to see change now versus Texas Tech the
second go around in Arlington?
Speaker 5: Well, I just want to see them CUS match blow
for blow with them.
Speaker 4: We absolutely can do that.
Speaker 5: Little mistakes put us behind the eight ball last time
we played them, And yeah, you're right, it's interesting to
see how like special teams, how it's been such a
strength for us and it kind of faltered us last time.
I'm sure We're gonna be extremely sharp there. And actually,
I wouldn't be surprised if we really open up the
playbook a little bit more. We haven't seen a Rod's
typical bag of tricks the last you know, a few weeks,
and I'm I'm kind of wondering if he's thinking, you know,
let's let's really hold on to our best trick stuff.
And I think we might pop something on on Texas
Tech in the in the championship game.
Speaker 4: I think that's kind of a.
Speaker 5: You know, it's a great opportunity to to maybe catch
them off guard. So you know, I I I think
we're going to be a different team that we were
last time against Texas Tech. And you know, I think
we're gonna we're gonna definitely give them a game.
Speaker 2: Ryan, It's uh, you know, I look at this college
football ranking system, right, and I'm enumerating tenants that are
contributing to this right. Obviously, the preseason rankings they always
cast a shadow on productivity and resume in the season.
Speaker 3: The teams that strom high get race.
Speaker 2: Teams that start low have to overperform just to be
taken seriously. Obviously, Alabama Notre Damn benefit from that. As
long as well as others. TV money, geography and Morgan
sized matter more than anyone likes to admit. We know
that bigger brands viewers more coverage or respect. That keeps
the likes of even Texas who could beat Texas A
and M. They that could push them into the playoff, right,
like and USC Oregon. You never know what would have
happened there soon. USC and Oregon could have been in
the top ten together. Right, Conference perception isn't equal. The
committee clearly times the Big ten sec quality their wins
and quality losses. Right, it's always a quality loss whenever
they lose within their conference. Right, and that brand equity
has been built over the last fifty years, in my opinion,
and those brands, those brands I think were built through
nefarious ways. The bag men of an age by gone
is no longer because everyone can have.
Speaker 3: Bag men there.
Speaker 1: Like.
Speaker 2: That's why texts Tech is stop five, right, That's why
by using the mix, that's why SMU got.
Speaker 3: In after getting a death ynty in the.
Speaker 2: Eighties for doing whatever their neighbors were doing. You got
also the component of November momentum. It's now carrying an
enormous weight, right, now it's all about momentum, like, well,
they're playing a lot better that head to head early
in the season, Miami got utter David don't matter, It
don't matter anymore.
Speaker 3: And then uh wi.
Speaker 2: And then the other component here is, you know, not
enough P four versus P four matchups, maybe enough data
points to really to really kind of give you a
comparative analysis, a true objective study of just how good
these conferences are against each other. But even then, like
they're undermining right there, undermining that November those P four
versus people matchups with November momentum.
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, I mean the frustration, I mean, I I
can't even watch the talking heads when they bring that
that stuff up, because all their talking points, the way
that they carve them to fit an sec or you know,
for some reason Miami, I mean they're acc but for
some reason they're that that brand name, you know, but
like Notre Dame, you know, all those all those schools,
like they get the benefit of those those talking points,
and then they sit around, sit there and turn it
exactly opposite for you know, b Yu and even Utah,
like come on, it's just it's it's ridiculous, but it's
You're right, it's awesome to see us starting to steal
those players that that create that depth and and and
iil is just you know, been awesome for that. I
still think there's obviously going to be changes made to
that whole system. I think it's just going to be
a work in progress. But for the time being, we're
taking full advantage of that and the depth shows.
Speaker 4: And man, I think about.
Speaker 5: The way we've kind of finished the season and you know,
sort of limped into a few of these games and
just think, man, what if we didn't have the nil
you know, going into this what if what if we
didn't have the depth that has just allowed us to
make it, you know, through some of these late season games.
You know, it's it's it's it's awesome. I at least
we have that piece of firepower behind us.
Speaker 3: Do you think, b what you gets to the college
football playoff? Ryan?
Speaker 2: If you're a betting man, which I know you're not,
you do not bet. You're not a gambling man unless
you're on the golf. But what do you what do
you make of it? You get a bet on the
coops that make it to the coll football playoff?
Speaker 4: Man, it is just going to be close. These this
weekend's games are gonna matter.
Speaker 5: It's gonna be interesting to see if someone can fall
somewhere in there. I definitely think there's a possibility that,
you know, if we get that win and it's a close,
if it's a well fought game, I think Texas Tech
is going to have quite the resume and arguing arguments,
and you've got to hope that gosh, what's your Mark
doing right now? Like he's got to be out there
in front of people and getting in front of the media.
You know, hopefully we hear something from him today about it,
like gosh, come on, give us some love, Come.
Speaker 4: On your Mark through your job.
Speaker 5: But I think I think Texas Tech and v YU
could definitely do it. And there's there's that small outside
chance Utah could, But but I think it's our best
chance is for us to get that that so called
upset and have it be a good game and we
get the automatic and Texas Tech, you know, they're gonna
have all the the am O too, you know, cry
foul if they don't get picked.
Speaker 2: Hi guy, Ryan, hare cock, ladies and gentlemen, Ryan, best
way to support you. What you do, how you do
it for all of our listeners that are tuning in
today for a little keeping up with the cougar segment.
Speaker 4: Oh I don't know.
Speaker 5: Shoot, if you see me, give me a pat on
the back and maybe a quick little massage because.
Speaker 4: I'm a little bit stiff right now.
Speaker 5: But I'm excited that I get to go to the
game this weekend. And uh yeah, no, it's nothing special.
I not selling stuff anymore, So no, I just say hi.
Speaker 3: I don't know, Hey, we'll say hi. You know.
Speaker 2: I'll ed with this as I look at the former
quarterbacks that are a kin to bear bachmart height, weight
and running ability. Ryan Hancock's my player, cop Baby, you
had a stronger arm. I think you got a stronger
arm than Bear. He may be a little bit thicker
than you. But what did you play at? What were
you two twenty five thirty?
Speaker 3: Where were we at?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I was. I was two twenty five.
Speaker 5: In fact, the first week of my first summer at BYU,
they put me on the weightlifting program and I was
eating training table.
Speaker 4: Nothing compared to what it is today.
Speaker 5: I went from two like two ten to two twenty
in about twelve days, like less than two weeks, and
I was like, I can't be doing this. I'm going
to be turning into a linebacker, you know.
Speaker 4: And but but by the time.
Speaker 5: I played three years later, you know, I I had
put on some extra pounds and kept my speed and
I was going about twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: And shoot, if I.
Speaker 5: Was running an offense like Bears right now, I would
have had no problem putting on a few more pounds.
Speaker 4: She can absorb some blows.
Speaker 5: Man. That kid is an absolute tank, and it's awesome
to see him get out there and just knock dudes over.
He's got to be a huge lift, even though he's
kind of a quiet guy. I think that just his
play gets the team jacked. How could you not when
you see a quarterback just bouncing guys off. I mean,
they really love that kid, and rightfully rightfully so he's
he says all the right things, does all the right things.
Speaker 4: Man, He's perfect for what we needed.
Speaker 2: Ryan Hancock, Ladies and gentlemen, much love to you, man,
Thanks for hopping off for another keeping.
Speaker 3: Up with the cougar segment.
Speaker 4: Thank you man.
Speaker 2: Always a pleasure time, always a pleasure, man. Appreciate you.
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