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I let's talk some college football on Cougar Sports with
Ben Crittle.
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More details at espndefan dot com. College Football Conversation here
on Cougar Sports. What's happening in Cougar Country?
Speaker 1: Now? I know it's basketball.
Speaker 3: Season, and I know we just finished up a fantastic
NFL season. The Super Bowl was lackluster though. It was
maybe one of the more boring super Bowls in recent history.
Now there's been plenty of boring super Bowls in in history,
there's no doubt, but in just recent history it's it's
been pretty good. We've had some great games, we've had
the underlations, the back and forth. This game was a
defensive struggle, and we all know defensive struggles. No one
likes the pitchers DoLS in baseball, notrely that like the
pitchers duels, the defensive duels in foot ball. But so
you know what happened last night. It was unfortunate, right,
it was unfortunate on many levels. The true Super Bowl
actually occurred. You know when the Rams were playing, and
Puka Nakula was going off and Stafford the MVP was
going off.
Speaker 1: That was the true Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: But kudos to New England, gritty, tenacious. Just a shout
out to Kiris Tona. He had himself a day as well.
Thought he played well. The defense for New England looked good.
And so the season is done and you know, we
can move on to I guess the college basketball world
and college basketball season.
Speaker 1: But let's talk some Cougar football.
Speaker 3: We have about a few weeks prior to springball. What
will the storylines be in the twenty twenty six Camp
Koalani springball?
Speaker 1: Do you think Ronald three man we.
Speaker 3: What are some of the key question marks we need
to have answered in springball?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I think the biggest one being a couple of them.
And look, I don't want to go off too much
on a diet track because we'll be talking about in
probably three weeks, but I think the biggest one.
Speaker 1: Turn yourself up. Just just a hair of Ronnie?
Speaker 4: Is that better now?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Just yeah, just a little bit.
Speaker 4: Okay. I think the biggest thing, the biggest storyline is
gonna be obviously running back number two l J. Martin
who's behind him Ben? I think that's the biggest thing.
Devon Ekka, how has he looked? Because Baron LJ were
running Ben and that's the biggest thing. But they can't
take that type of beating like they did. I know
Lj's the running big Toeve offensive player of the year.
Everyone wants to know who RB two is ISONI MO
gonna be healthy, like everyone wants to know that. I
think that's the biggest storyline. And I know people are
gonna say, Ronnie, but what about Bear? And you know
here two we know that the development is gonna come.
We know it's gonna happen, and putting in the in
off I think people are gonna be looking at that.
I think the second story line is how are the
additions of you know, Walker Lyons, how is that with
losing Carson round we saw what he was able to do.
Robert Telly a pot of a second like how does
he look as well? So the tight end room, I
think is gonna be another storyline that people want to
look at. And in another storyline that I'm going to
be looking at, how to the three offensive line? And
look how the the you know the additions that you
brought in because you lost guys to whether that be
the nfl A graduation. How do those guys look so
pretty much summering up overall this running back depth RB
two obviously you know it's going to be the tight
ends and the new editions of transfers, the offensive line
and being then QB two. I think that's going to
be a big one. I mean, we know we when
we know we see with Byu with Bear, but what
does Boyu have behind Bear? Is it going to be
tracing borget is k Enan Watson pushed for time? I
think those are going to be the top four storylines
that you look at.
Speaker 3: One of the intriguing storylines for me, and I know
BAU fans hate talking about it, but we have been
We have created a bit of a specialist pipeline. We
have been really good on special teams since I would
say twenty twenty during this era, this twenty twenty Kalani
Shatake era, which I believe is at I think he's
probably the second best era in BAU football history. I
think it's right there with that five to twenty eleven era.
Speaker 1: It's right there head to head.
Speaker 3: One of the key components to this that the winning
ways of Brigham in twenty twenty and through twenty twenty
five has been special teams. We have been really good
as a special teams unit. Remember Jake Oldroyd is the
all time leading score in BYU football history.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: We've had great punters as well, remember Ryan Rico. Okay,
NFL punter Sam vander Hart has been good. Will Farren,
you're replacing him. I think many times in football you
take for granted the long snap, the place kick, the punt,
You just do how many turnovers have we created over
the years with are you know since twenty twenty in
our punt coverage.
Speaker 1: It's been it's been kind of insane. Okay.
Speaker 3: And we've been really good on kick cover as well.
So I'm looking at this and saying, Okay, Will Ferron's
one of the few guys, okay, one of the few players,
one of two players in fact, that got invited to
the Senior Bowl.
Speaker 1: Do you realize that, like, do you realize how special
that is?
Speaker 3: If you're a Senior Ball invite, you are an elite
college football player. It is very difficult to, I believe,
replace elite.
Speaker 1: Specialists.
Speaker 3: And that's what Will Farron was during his career at BYU.
Now did he have a few misshaps yea, as all do.
But looking at the percentages, okay, Will was good. Sam
vander Harr also was very consistent the last couple of
years the transfer from PITT. Remember he was a P
four starter at PITT before coming to BYU and being
a multi year starter at BYU. Punter, unique punting style,
OSTI style. Right, he was good. So you're looking to
replace Will Farren and Sam Vanderharr right now, okay? And
and maybe vanderhr gets another year. He very well could,
but it looks like his eligibility could be up. But
place the waiver. See if the NC double A is
feeling gracious, is feeling a little bit generous, that could happen.
Speaker 1: It very well could.
Speaker 3: Full of shirts. Was the player that he's the backup
punter right now? Okay, so he would be replacing Sam
vander Harr. He did get a look did not look good.
Remember he kind of buckled under the pressure a little bit.
He he muffed it a little bit. I don't know
if you guys remember, but he dropped the football and
didn't kick it.
Speaker 1: He was on the ground. I can't remember what game
it was, Yeah, it.
Speaker 3: Was actually the TCU game. I think it was the
TCU game in fact. So he did have one punt
for like forty one yards and then on this second
attempt kind of muffed it. So look like he's young,
he's talented, and as you recall those that tune into
the show consistently, he's the reason why land and Rico
ended up at Utah State in my opinion, Now this
is just my opinion. Okay, Landon Rico was a pretty
good kicker for BYU. He ended up at Utah State,
the younger brother of Ryan Rico, six foot, one hundred
and seventy five pounds, sophomore out of Veradell, Washington. He
had sixty eight punts for Utah State, averaged forty two
point nine yards per punt along of sixty three.
Speaker 1: That's pretty good. So they must have really liked, you know,
full of shirts.
Speaker 3: Now, granted, some people can say, well he left so
he could be punter number one, and there's probably some
credence to that as well. But you know, you know,
he's still young, he's an underclassman, didn't have to go elsewhere,
you know, to go and punt. He probably could have
got some looks this year because Sam Vannero had his
ups and.
Speaker 1: Downs at any rate.
Speaker 3: So I'm looking at this and I'm like, Okay, what's
the situation in the punting room. Okay, in the punt category,
and are we going to see a drop in punting
capabilities and.
Speaker 1: Flipping the field? Okay?
Speaker 3: Field position battle is something that BYU has won consistently
over the last few years. From twenty twenty, you know
to present day. I think we've been pretty guys staying good.
Now the placekicking, what's going on with the place kicking.
Matthia's done. He's gonna be the number one placekicker in
spring ball. Matthia's done, has been on the team now
for a few seasons, has been the backup.
Speaker 1: Now, remember.
Speaker 3: Just a couple of seasons ago during spring Will Fair
and Matthia's number.
Speaker 1: Going head to head.
Speaker 3: Okay, they were going head to heead and it was
a close one. Will Farann ultimately ended up winning the battle.
He's got a huge leg. This is a solid leg
as well. Uh, and they were able to, uh, you know,
solidify that Will was going to be the guy for
the future.
Speaker 1: But Matthias has been good, easy as good.
Speaker 3: As Jake Oldroyd was in his prime and Will Farron
was when he was at his best. To be determined,
but Ian Sanchez freshman number two kicker in spring camp,
someone to keep an eye on. And then also Brody
Laga has returned home from a mission.
Speaker 1: I believe or will be to returning home from a mission.
And yeah, so.
Speaker 3: He'll he'll be He'll be back soon. Brodie Laga, big kicker,
big time leg. He'll be a scholarship kicker for the
twenty twenty four class. Watch out for Brody Laga. Now,
I'm always a little bit concerned, you know, young bucks,
young pups, you know, coming in and becoming the starting kicker.
Speaker 1: This is this is high level football, This is Big
twelve football.
Speaker 3: This is this is all eyes on you, the stars
and the lights are right okay, and it is uh is,
it's very intense. So I'm I'm always a little bit
concerned about, you know, the young true freshman coming in
and earned the job. But he's definitely got the talent,
no if answer butts about it. So also along with
these uh these kicker competitions that are occurring, the punching
competition that occurring, we're also replacing a long snapper. Okay,
we're replacing a long snapper. So you got a you
got a couple of situations here. Raydon Heinz was just
acquired from Snow College. Uh and so can't wait to
see what he can do. I mean, he's been down
there as a snow College badgel. I have to get
Zach Erickson maybe online. Tell us what Raydon Heinz brings
to the conversation, brings to the competition there as the
long snapper. But it is I always I have a
I have a a rule of thumb. You need to
have a scholarship punter or to scholarship kicker or to
and a scholarship long snapper. He just you need specialists
that are getting paid in these positions because when we
haven't had that, we've had some issues. We've had in consistencies.
Now every once in a while, you hit a diamond
of the rough, right. Jake Oldry was a walk on
initially earned a scholarship after game winners and big kicks.
Obviously when he was coming home from his mission. I
think he was our play checker and punter for a minute.
He was very good. He was very versatile. Very few
have been able to placekick and punt at the same time.
Jake was one of the few. Now eventually he just
specialized in place kicking and he was fantastic.
Speaker 1: Had a little bit of a.
Speaker 3: Drop his final season, but overall still leading scorer.
Speaker 1: All time and I believe BYU football history.
Speaker 3: So Justin Enna now he's the full time special teams coordinator.
My eyes are on Justin and springball to see what
he does with this special teams unit.
Speaker 1: I'm not concerned about it.
Speaker 3: I just think it's a I think it's a very
much more pivotal coordinating then you think it has been kugarnation.
We tend to focus on the offense of the defense
and not the special teams. I think there's a reason
why Justin Enna is not coaching a position group, but
he's he's coaching only the special teams. All eyes on
the entire team with Justin Ena there at the special
teams coordinating. Help, let's go to break, guys, please don't
go anywhere more to get you. On a beautiful Monday,
February night edition of Cougar Sports. But that was a
Cougar Football college football segment talking Tom Kilani Shatake spring
Springball Camp Koalani right around the corner, not too far away,
just a few weeks away. That segment brought to you
by our good friends Post Malone and jelly Roll. They're
ending their stadium tour at Rice Ecles Stadium on July
twenty eighth and Bryson Bianoute. They want you to go
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to win. All you gotta do is like the Post
Malone and Jelly Roll post and tag your concert buddy
to be earned to win, or.
Speaker 5: Visit us at Authorprosivutah dot com.
Speaker 2: This spring, the best college baseball program in Utah is
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Speaker 1: The ESPN the Van app.
Speaker 2: If you are listening to Cougar Sports and it's time
for a Cougar byte that Ben Criddle breaks down the
latest sound bites from Cougar Athletics. Wow here on one
O three nine at ninety eight three ESPN the Van.
Speaker 3: Welcome back Cougar Sports. One of three nine, ninety eight
point three Sbon the Fan. I met Trital broadcasting from
our Banter Wills Studios, Vanderwell dot Com. I'm getting a
free q and a no obligation doing vs QNA from
our tax mort Wealth advisors certify financial planners. Nobody does
a better bandered wealthy. He's not for little cougar byte
getting get in some some cougars in the pros as well.
Talking to super Bowl, how Cairostonga played and uh what
ultimately happened in this game?
Speaker 1: It was, It was ugly.
Speaker 3: It was not a fun game to watch us unless
you love pitchers news, unless you love defensive execution. All
of the the individuals that I was watching the game
with were bored out of their mind. I'm a defensive
player and even I was bored at times. But there's
always something to take away from the schematics the execution
of a game, and you got to check tape as well.
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you VIP products, VIP service, VIP discounts. What happened in
the Super Bowl, it was a picture's tool, There's no
doubt about it. Essentially, the Seahawks are dominated the game
in many ways, dominated the line of scrimmage, and they
were able to I think impose their will for more
to the game.
Speaker 1: Now, that did not necessarily turn into touchdowns.
Speaker 3: That turned into a plethora of place kicking opportunities, right,
and so the Seahawks they did it through special teams
and defense. In their offense look solid. They look solid.
Let's be honesty. Now, New England's defense is one of
the best in the NFL as well. This was a
defensive battle. That's why the over under was so low,
and I think it stayed on the under. One of
the things that I would say I was disappointed in
regarding the Super Bowl, Okay, and I understand Drake May
did not make us Hay did not lead the Patriots
to a seventeen win season by running the football. I
was disappointed though that in the second half, with how
they struggled throwing the ball and running the ball, why
they didn't include Drake May in the run game. I
think there was one step one lack of foresight. It
was that Drake May, in order to win a Super Bowl,
had to be utilized in the QB run game. Up
to that point, right up to this this season, Drake
May was tremendous. He threw for a ridiculous amount of
yards ninety four eight point nine yards per throw or
per reception, thirty one touchdowns and only eight ironts.
Speaker 1: So it's very difficult, Okay, this is constructive criticism.
Speaker 3: Very difficult to go away from what you've done so well.
But the Seahawks defense, the depth, the talent and the
scheme that they employ they have they make you change
your ways.
Speaker 4: That defense is elite.
Speaker 3: The only thing that I would say constructive lead to
the New England Patriers is that Drake May should have
been more involved in the run game and if they did,
if he was, they probably would have been in this
game late into the fourth quarter with a chance to
win the game. Drake May remember versus Denver in order
to win it. Do you know how many times he
ran the ball? Okay, in the postseason, when Drake May
is running the ball, they were a better football team
in my opinion. Versus the Chargers he ran ten times
for sixty six yards versus Denver ten times sixty five yards.
He only ran the ball five times versus Seattle five
times for thirty seven yards everything seven point four yards
per carry. Now, many of these are scrambles. Some of
them are tucking runs with the pocket collapsing. If you
pepper in a few QB design runs, Seattle will have
to account for the run game.
Speaker 1: And remember, Drake May's a big body.
Speaker 3: It's not like he's you know, six foot one, two
hundred and five pounds. That man is six four five
and he can run like Drake is not the ultimate
dual threat quarterback by any means. But I want to
say he was fairly impressive at his combine.
Speaker 1: Did he run the forty?
Speaker 3: I mean, he looks plenty quick, plenty fast. Okay, Uh,
you know, I felt like they underutilized him there and so,
uh it is what it is, Seattle congratulations.
Speaker 1: I will say I have seen an uptick.
Speaker 3: Of individuals in the National Football I always said that
the National Football League is much more Christian centered, even
like you know, from a from a religiosity standpoint, and
you know they it probably leans more conservative as well
the NFL does from a player standpoint. You have a
lot of players stepping up to the mic and coaches
preaching of Christ, speaking of Christ. And you know what,
Kyris Tonga, former BYU defensive tackle, was one of those
guys leading up to the Super Bowl. So I will say, like,
I don't know if you saw this, there's a special
I sent you. I sent you a sound bite as well.
Maybe we're going to play that here in the Cougar byte.
We'll get that in. It's testimonies of Christ of all
these players. Okay, they came together pregame, testifying and essentially saying,
look like, I'm more than just a football player. I'm
more than just the guy that you see on the
grid iron.
Speaker 1: Let's listen in.
Speaker 4: We're in here.
Speaker 1: You'll spread the word knowing that that's bigger than football.
Speaker 6: By I'm here on this stage today and be able
to shine line on others and get them to follow
Jesus Christ is what your gop.
Speaker 1: I'm here to do.
Speaker 4: Having Jesus to rely on is why I am who
I am today.
Speaker 1: Jesus has given me the ability to just stay levelheaded.
Speaker 4: My faith that Jesus has meant everything to me. It's
really my foundation. It's my rock that keeps me steady.
Keeping my eyes on the Lord helped me flock out
of the noise and in trust in Him. And you
know his way is the best way. And you know
Jesus loved that. Wouldn't be where I am Without God,
I wouldn't be in this position.
Speaker 1: I'm grateful. I give him all the glory. I know
I wouldn't be anywhere without God.
Speaker 4: No matter what happens in my career, I know I'll
be all right because of this. It's the only thing
that can truly fulfill us.
Speaker 1: To Jesus Christ.
Speaker 4: It's not the money, it's not my accomplishment, it's it's
not anything else but only Jesus.
Speaker 3: Look, I'm seeing a and I've talked about this a
lot over the last year. Or two in college football
and the National Football League, players wearing their faith on
their chest. They go to the mic postgame and they
give glory to the man of bone. They give glory
to God and.
Speaker 1: Their Lord, savor Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3: I think it's it's refreshing because for how long, for
how long has it been somewhat of a hiss sin
a by word? You know, you couldn't speak about faith,
You couldn't speak about religion, couldn't speak about Christ. I
love to see this and and.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Kiris Tonga.
Speaker 3: Also, Kiris caught up with Brandon Jutta the Desrat News
in preparation for the Super Bowl, and Kirius commented on
his role and the role that the LDS faith plays
in his life. Check out the full story there at
the Deserrat News, but here's some comments from Kiris Tona.
Speaker 4: There's everything to me.
Speaker 6: I think that's who I am, and that's hopefully that's
hopefully something that I can be like when someone looks
at me, it's not just a football player. For Christian
man and a good man, and my faith is everything
to me. Has taught me a lot and I'm still
learning but still growing Uh, the fact that I have
and knowledge that I do have, it's very comforting to.
Speaker 4: Know, especially a time like this.
Speaker 6: So but yeah, I love my faith and uh yeah.
Speaker 3: Big part of his life obviously, Kiris Toga buring his
testimony prior to kicking off the Super Bowl. He had
a couple of nice players in the Super Bowl walking
back offensive lineman, creating disruption getting into the backfield.
Speaker 1: Uh. He's a huge part of the success and he's
a big part of that success.
Speaker 3: Of that New England Patriots defensive front. And they are talented.
That is a good defense.
Speaker 1: Uh, they just fell a little bit short versus the
best defense.
Speaker 3: Uh the I guess this team, Patriots team fell a
little bit short versus the best defense in the National
Football League. That's your Cougar byte, guys, brought to you
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Speaker 2: You are listening to Cougar Sports with Benkriddle and it's
time for a Cougar Insider report. Now, let's get that
proprietary inside scoop on Cougar Sports from Critle.
Speaker 3: Welcome back Couger Sports one of three nine ninety eight
point three ESBN the fan. I've met Brittal Broadcasting from
our Vatawealth Studios matawell dot com. Get on a pre
Q and a no obligation to events Q and A
with our tax more Wealth Advisor Certified Financial Planners. Nobody
does it better than band or Wealth at Building wealth
for your future. It is stop for a little Cougar
inside report. We want to give you a few nuggets
u Kicking off the week here on a beautiful Monday
edition of Cougar Sports is going to be brought to
you by Big O'tires at American Fork if you're looking
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at Big O Tires at American Fork. All right, let's
get into a few nuggets regarding this Cougar football team,
shall we. I know BYU basketball is, and I'll give
you a little nugget as well as it pertains to
basketball here momentarily. But let's start off with a little
bit of football insider knowledge. What will this Cougar football
team look like in twenty twelve, six and beyond? Many
BYU fans Okay, as we've pulled them over the last
two years, seeing the investment, seeing the resource allocation and
it being somewhat lopsided. Let's be honest, over the last
two years with basketball being seemingly the priority. Okay, why
getting a big ray or getting a big h You know,
I would say dollar amount allocated to him, and it
was merited. I mean, he was one of the highest
paid assistant coaches in the NBA, one of the best
in the business.
Speaker 1: Know his answer butts about it.
Speaker 3: But I've pulled the fans and in time and time again,
BYU fans have stated to me, I'm more optimistic about
the future of BYU basketball than I am of b
YU football. All of a sudden, okay, with a four
game losing streak, I've had those same conversations, and I
know recency bias is big, but what they're realizing, what
BA fans are realizing, is this culture, cohesion, continuity. Many times, okay,
in college sports can outplay and win against talent. That's
what I think football in particular. Right You wonder, does
be why you need more talent in football to get
over the hump? Some people believe that, but I think
that tenure, that buy in, that cohesion and culture, the
buy into the culture and the buy into development, is
going to be able to supersede the acquisition of mercenaries,
the acquisitions of talent, and the dollar bills that you
spend in basketball.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering what.
Speaker 3: The next step is for BYU basketball, right, Like who
did you lose? Your lost Dallent b Why you got
Dallen Hall probably should be on the roster, right, would
have been beneficial to have them?
Speaker 1: Who else did you lose? Foos? He's a guy that
was tenured.
Speaker 3: A BYU guy, a BYU dude, bought in from the beginning,
developed and was a fantastic basketball player for BYU, an
all timer in my opinion as a big You lost Trevin,
now you lost Trey Stewart. These are all BYU guys, right,
Guys that got old stay old. They were in the
system for a long time, the BYU system. It doesn't
necessarily have to be the same coach. They just have
to be bought into the Brigham way. So when I
asked you this question, Ronald, what are you more optimistic about?
And what does the next step right? Once AJ's a
one and done, right, you wonder if Canard comes back?
You wonder if some of these guys that have eligibility
they come back or is it another rebuild, reload, the
mercenario type of approach to the portal in basketball, Because
I'm not seeing a whole lot of the BYU guys.
They did retain Brody. He's got to get healthy. You know,
Dawson's trying to get another He's trying to get a waiver,
he's trying to come back.
Speaker 4: I understand that he's already approved to come back for
next He's approved.
Speaker 3: He's approved, So that's official. So Dawson's gonna come back.
Hopefully he's healthy. Remember he's gone through his fair share
of injuries. Hopefully he gets back he's hundred percent. But
are you more optism about about football? Seeing them retain everybody, right,
the stability, the coaching staff, the buy in from the
coaching staff. Uh and and you're yeah, you're allocatting more
nil to them, but they're not necessarily the highest bidders
in the NIL world, in the NFL, in the nil
college football world. They retain and they acquired various strategic acquisitions.
Which one are you more optimistic about right now?
Speaker 4: This is a tough question because I mean, the short
answer right now is obviously football with what they retained, right,
with their coaching staff and what they did. But they're
gonna lose a lot of talent going into the twenty
twenty seven to twenty eight season. And you know, you
don't know what guys, you're even gonna get back after
this season. So the short answer right now is football,
I think, and what they have. And I know a
lot of people are gonna say, well, killine is a
long term extension. You just you don't know. I mean,
you don't know if with Ryder coming back, if that's
gonna be a for sure thing. You have no idea,
right Ben. So I think short answer like the next
like five years, if I had to bank on it,
I would take football. I think long term basketball just
because of the shorter games. Eventually these as long as
you know, I think, as long as both head coaches
football and basketball, that they have a chance. But basketball
is just it's less to like manage and it's less
guys like not every year, you're right, But when's the
next time there's gonna be a deep draft class, Ben,
next year's not gonna be a deep draft class like this,
Like that's one of the reasons why BYU I think
is struggling, not just with this debt, but look at
all the freshmen they're playing against. I mean, Kingston Fleman's
NAC junior, Darren Peterson, the kid at Iowa State, you
turn everywhere in the Big twelve and it's a top team. Honestly,
it's it's it's ridiculous. Arizona would coed Pete Brayden, Burris H.
Bradley like, I mean there's draft picks up the Wazoo,
beIN up and down the Big twelve, and this draft
class is phenomenal. But I mean, you have a chance
to get Tyrin Soolks. I don't think he'll come to BYU,
but you have a chance to get top pick in
top talent. But I think for basketball, they're gonna have to,
you know, get guys like Dawson Baker, the Brody's, the
Dean Rukers, the will Open Charles. You're gonna have to
keep around the local products to mix in because it's
not gonna work the one and done. They just it
doesn't work that way. Why did Houston go to the
national championship. They had a six year senior and Juwan
Roberts Like, you have to have guys like that, And
you know, I think Kevin Young is a smart man
to figure it out, and he's accomplished so much in
just two years of being the head coach. But I
think right now with the next five years of football
because I think they have they have the most momentum.
I know people are gonna say I'm crazy in saying it,
but I just think the retention, Like, if you can
do that with what you have with this roster band
and coming back, what can you do with the years
to come? That has to give you confidence? Now you
have to do it. But I mean with what their
recruiting band, with what they're bringing back, and then the
kids that are on missions that are gonna come back
and play the bron Harris is the Rhyiners Swanson's. I mean,
I really like what Kolani has in place. So I
think right now the next five years, I would say
football because of the culture, but I think long term
basketball as long as Kevin Young's dead coach. Now if
he leaves, that's off the table. I just think it's
less to managing basketball, and it's easier to catch that
on a given day than football because you're still gonna
have Texas Tech and you're still gonna have to meet
other teams, come to college football playoffs or in basketball,
you get a top you know three seeding band, you
go on a good run, you know you're there. But football.
I mean, you're always gonna meet the Alabama's, the Georgia's.
You can outrun that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you wonder.
Speaker 3: Okay, So I'm looking at the bou basketball roster, and
this team very well could be a Sweet sixteen team
or even beyond that. I really hope that it's the case,
even though in the last four games it doesn't seem
like they're trending in that direction. Rob writes a sophomore.
Is Rob Wright coming back next year?
Speaker 1: Right? Is he?
Speaker 4: Is? He just discussion?
Speaker 1: Is he coming back? You know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Like, I wonder. Obviously, Bertie coaslasts he's probably coming back.
Tyler Morass he's he's got to come back, and list
be always gonna push him out. Aj is Donehilo is
a senior, he's done.
Speaker 1: Alexi Costick do they like him? I actually like Alexi.
I think he gets like.
Speaker 4: I like Tyler too, I like Dominique. I like all
those guys.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I like Hadeem. Obviously, it's like.
Speaker 3: Nate Pickens, Uh, he'll redshirt. I guess is in medical
redsher He'll be back. keV is a senior, he's out.
Richie's out. Dominique Diamonde Richard freshman, he's coming back. Dawson
Baker's approved to come back. Canard Davis Junior is a junior,
so he should hopefully come back, right, you hope so?
Zavian Stayton freshman, abdul Achmedy. I wonder how many of
these guys get pushed out.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be something I'm getting at.
Speaker 4: At least three to four. I think we have to
be realistic, right, Ben. I think we can't sit here
and say, oh, yeah, they're gonna keep all these guys
like No, I think Dawson's a lock. I think Nate
Pickens is a lock. Right. I think if you're looking
whether Rob stays or goes, Ben, I think Kevin Young
has learned this lesson of you need dep at the
ball handler position. So I'm gonna say, based on that,
whether you keep Rob or not, Dawson and Nate will stay.
I think they'll go get another person. So I'm gonna
say those guys are both the locks. They have kept
their spot. I think you'll keep Kadeen right because he's
been on the roster, but I mean out of Dominique
Tyler Alexi. Look, I'm being real I'm not even trying
to be rude. I think even Canard. I would hope
Canard would stay, but I think just the way he
shot Ben, I think that I think all of those
guys are gonna be a due to do they get
pushed out, you know, even Xavion. Like I'm being honest
when I said no, people don't think that's crazy of me.
But you have to show up in your minutes, any
of your time. I think I could see them keeping Alexi,
you know, because they want garb deb and he hits
some shots. But Ty on the chopping block, you know,
Dominikis is a bunch of guys been, I think, and
I hope I'm wrong. I hope all these guys stay.
But I think Kevin Young is realizing you need by
you guys. That's why I think Brody's safe, Dawson safe,
uh Nate safe, and I think kadeem safe. I think
those are the only four people you can for sure
say that are safe because I and you don't know
what it's up in there with Rob. I don't know
if Rob stays or goes, but those five I think stay,
and I think on top of that, they're gonna go
and figure out the rest with everybody MB do. Of course,
I think they're gonna keep the shot blocker at the six,
and then kJ Perry there's your seven been so I
think those are the seven that stay, and then outside
of that, I think you're gonna have four guys that
are gonna do. The future will be decided by the portal.
I do believe that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I really wonder how patient we are in developing
basketball players and getting them to buy in to the
ky b YU way, right, Like, I really wonder that because,
like Dallen hall Is is kind of an interesting study
for me. It is Dallen wanted probably more, maybe more
playing time, want to spot, I think, yeah, And so
I understand that he ends up at Virginia and thus
far this season, I think he's had a solid year.
He's played in twenty three games and he started twenty
three games, twenty eight minutes per game.
Speaker 1: He's shooting. It's not like his numbers any better than
what they were at Buing.
Speaker 4: Fact, just wasn't going to get that time. He wasn't
gonna get that time on the cordio Ben.
Speaker 3: Well, Yeah, I mean he got twenty five minutes per game.
So he's getting three more minutes per game and he
has the starter role. Yeah, he's shooting four percent from
the field, thirty one point three percent from the three
point line. So a little bit of a dip there
because he's probably having to be the primary ball handler,
which he is in Virginia, right, And he's not necessarily
necessarily a I mean, he's okay in is in his
shot I think development, but he's not a great off
the bounce score in my opinion, you know, create his
own shots.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's more of a catch and shoot guy.
Speaker 3: And that's probably why he's at thirty one point three
percent from the three point line if he's not getting
set set three point shots. Now he has improved from
the charity stripe eighty percent there, he's got, yeah, he's
got Yeah, he's got three point seven rebounds per game,
four point two assists, are still distributing and rebounding wealth.
At six foot four hundred and ninety seven pound frame,
he's got a good body, uh, body composition, et cetera.
But you know who would help BYU more this year
is what I'm getting at. That's a b YU type
of guy. Would it have been Dallen Hall? Jake Wahlleen
who's currently with Clemson, Or would it be a guy
like Tanner Toulsen at TCU. You know what I mean,
because these are all guys that we're at BYU at
one point that could be role players there, starters or
role players at their respective school.
Speaker 1: I think actually all of them are.
Speaker 3: Actually Tanner's coming off the bas six man though, Yeah,
y six man. I believe he is the starter. Yeah,
he started in twenty three games. So they're starters for
their respective schools at Clemson and at Virginia and and look,
they probably want to be starters.
Speaker 1: But do you think Bay you could have acquired.
Speaker 3: Them with the vision of doing something special too right
and and and also allocating proper resources to them.
Speaker 4: No, because of the roles. I'm gonna straight up say that.
And I think that's why all of them didn't.
Speaker 3: That's why they had to go That's why basketball had
to go out and find because players that were willing
to be role players.
Speaker 4: Yes, because Dallan's getting paid more, Jakes getting paid more,
you know, and Tanner's getting paid more, all for their roles. Now,
Tanner Tilson's probably the only argument you could pay that
guy to be in a six man row. That's it.
But here's the thing, and and look, you have to
maybe say that it's an and I'll go this far
Ben right now until at this point in time February ninth.
I'm not saying for the season because it's not done,
but at this moment in time, Ben, as we speak
on this family home edition of Cougar Sports, it was
a mistake to let the Plain City native go. It
was because guess what those numbers would help, because Kanar
could go to the bench, and then that would help
this offense move because you'd have a guy that can
attack the basket to rob and you have a pass
guy that would help you'd be able to do that,
and they don't have that. And it's just the fact
of the matter. I don't care what no one says.
When I look at the tape, that's what they lack.
They miss and we are having I look at Twitter, Ban,
I trust the fran for Shillis, I trust you know,
the Jeff Borzell. I trust these guys, the Myronmtcalfs that
are seeing this, that have been riding for a long time,
and these coaches that break down the game, that see this.
They've been saying it, and they're saying it, and Byu
was struggling with that, and I think, I don't think
you need both in Yegor's balling in the NBA, so
he had to go Ben. But Dallen Hall could help
this team tremendously, and I think he was on the team.
I even stand, I'll stand. I stand by my take.
I'm not saying that they would have bench Raw, but
in that Oklahoma State game, when the young guy, the
young guard who's talented can't get it done, you've been
able to maybe sub him out, who's having not necessarily
a bad game, but struggling with the ball. You bring
in the guy that's been around a little bit, that
understands the moment, that's a senior that isn't gonna be
the moment won't be too big for him, and he's
gonna be able to slow the offense down, get the
ball to AJ and move guys and go do what
they do. I think they're missing two pieces. I think
they could use Fus and they could use Dallan.
Speaker 3: I think if you had two graduated though, these are
guys that saw at eligibility that you.
Speaker 4: You don't know. Jack has a game though that FUS doesn't,
we might have to have that question. But do they
are they missing a back to the basket big like
that might be a question. I know FOS is gradual,
but I'm just thinking of how it worked with that
second unit, a Dallan and a guy that could put
his back, that has a postgame, I think is what
they're missing. But from what we have, Dallan Hall is
I think the bigger piece out of all of them,
But Tanner is probably their best get because of maybe
an Il allocations and roll. I thought that probably that
probably is who they probably could have added to the right.
Speaker 3: I mean, like my favorite out of these three, with
knowing what we had coming back, it was actually Jake
Qualeen because he's sixty ten, two hundred and fifteen pounds
and he's a stretch four with Is Jake Waaleen better
than Mihilo bucket bitch?
Speaker 1: Yes at this moment, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: So like know what you have and and I think
a strategic acquisition of Jake Quaaleen uh this offseason would
have been extremely beneficial.
Speaker 1: That's my personal opinion.
Speaker 4: So Who's my question is who are we going to?
Who is b are you going to do out of
the starting lineup to put him in?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 3: No, no, I don't know if Jake would would necessarily.
I don't think you have to tell him, hey, you're there,
you're you're a starter.
Speaker 4: But is he going to take that and come off
the bettle?
Speaker 3: No? I think so it depends on how you want
to go about your your starting lineup, right, Like, do
you want shooters?
Speaker 1: Do you want scores? You know, there's obviously uh an issue.
Speaker 3: With that with scoring as well as defense right now
versus high level teams out Granted, we're going to get
his high level teams here, we're going to get.
Speaker 1: Some of the best in the Big Twelve and the
best in college basketball.
Speaker 3: As Brett Hammer brought up, it's like b Will's played
the top three of the top six of the eight
pe pole and if you look at Ken Palm, it's
pretty similar to that as well. So you're playing elite
teams and and it's you begin to nitpick.
Speaker 4: A little bit, Well, that's what we're doing. We're nitpicking
right now, We're totally we're totally nitpicking. We're not We're
doing nitpicking because that's what it is. And look, maybe
Jake does fit and I'd ask you a question because
it's one of your thoughts. But like its positionless basketball,
Hadem is six y nine and Kevin all likes to
being big. Who's to say Jake couldn't be in the
start lineup right? He very well could. It's tough because
I'm gonna say this, all three of those guys could
be utilized on this roster right now and whatever the
role is, and it would help. And that is the
type of depth that you need. And that's the question
for the offseason is do you go get guys like that?
Do you go load up on you know, and maybe
instead of you know, paying between three guys, do you
pay two and then you allocate between two other Like
I hate to go Oklahoma City thunder status been, but
look at the depth they have. I mean, Shay Gill
just doesn't play the other night and they Isaiah Joe,
they got the body after body. You might have to
go there. And I think that's why Houston's been so great.
You have to have multitudes of guys that can come
off and do the same thing. And right now I
think they're searching for that. Still.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess how much better would this team be
if Dawson bakerus was healthy? Right, Like, it's hard to
account for injuries. You really much better are we with
Nate Pickens? And did you actually go out and buy
damage goods. I don't know about his injury, but I
don't know if it was sustained prior or during or
you know, after the acquisition, et cetera.
Speaker 4: But it was after the acquisition. I think it was
a couple of weeks before the season. Yeah, so it's unfortunate.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's hard to account for those things. You feel
for this basketball team, there's no doubt they're knocking on
the door. They have to put two halves together. You
can't go down seventeen to twenty points in the first
first half consistently like this, Can.
Speaker 4: I be honest? I think they're two and three in
this stretch, Ben, I I still give them the loss
of the Yukon because Dawson Baker was still there. But
at home when you're searching, Ben, they've gone in the
mud the last five minutes with no scoring. And we
can say this too the game that went into overtime
against Utah, who did they give the ball to the tie?
It same with Baylor, Dawson, Baker, they're missing that production.
They are. You can say what you want, even with
Nate on the floor, one of those two guys, and
defensively it helps to Ben. I don't think they go
perfect undefeated, but I think they'd been able to get
Arizona and I think they'd been able to come with
that Oklahoma State game. And Ben, if you do that
and you lose the Kansas on the road, and you
lose the Texas Tech and you lose to Houston, no
one cares because you beat the number one team in
the country on your home floor in a very close ballgame,
you had a great comeback and need to beat Oklahoma State.
And you're not having this discussion. You're like, all right,
you just got to go get right against Baylor and
went out. But that's not the case. But I firmly
believe that in that stretch of games with a BYU,
they'd have been like two and three or two and four.
And I think that's where veteran guards because Nate's and
older guard right been a lot of college experienced a
lot of minutes. Dawson, a lot of minutes you missed
those minutes you missed that experience. So you're asking a
young guy and Rob Wright to play thirty seven minutes
a night and go get it done, and he's doing
the best he can. In my opinion.
Speaker 3: Jeff Goodman, I want to say this last week called
b YU fraudulent BYU Basketball.
Speaker 1: Are they fraudulent? That's pretty strong verbiage.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we actually played this sound last week. And what
he's talking about is in reference to them being Final four. Yeah,
and I'm gonna I'm gonna agree with that, that that rhetoric.
I say yes in regards to Final Four, but you
also have to take into perspective. They didn't expect to
have these injuries. They expected to have their full roster.
Every other team even with Darren Ben Peterson going in
and out, they have their full line. A lot of
teams have their full lineup Houston, everybody's locked and loaded.
I think b AU might be one of the only
teams been playing right now that had Final four aspirations
that does this hurt? This bad like that has this
many injuries and it's unfortunate, but that's basketball. Everybody goes
through their fresh air. Maybe that's why people keep talking
about depth, but it's a lesson, But yeah, I think
this might be the most injured Final four aspirations team
that I've seen in a little bit been in my opinion.
Speaker 3: Didn't Rostein also say when he came out and evaluated
BYU in the offseason, his biggest question mark was he
said this, When I went to practice in Provo in
the summer, the biggest thing I took away after watching
practice was I did not know if BYU had enough
depth and enough option outside of its primary three guys.
And I think now what we're seeing is that come
to fruition. So you still need a team, guys, not
just three guys, not just the brig three. If you
want to get to get past the Sweet sixteen, get
into an Elite eight and maybe possitively hopefully fingers crossed
a Final four. Get that monkey off our back.
Speaker 1: Guys.
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guy Keith said, big issue, okay, when we're talking about
doallon hall, big issue was money. I'm told Haull got
a lot of money, a lot of money, maybe above
a millie AJ got optionally the money Richie got money.
Speaker 1: Rob got money. Question is is would we.
Speaker 3: Be better getting four guys at at a little less
than what we paid maybe Rob, because you knew Richie
was gonna get paid. You had to pay Richie. He's
a guy, he's a dude, and he's earned it. AJ's
obviously gonna get his. The question is are you better off, uh,
you know, paying you know two guys maybe or three
guys maybe with rather than giving it all to Rob.
Speaker 4: That's what I just mentioned Ben. Thank you Keith for listening.
Appreciate them, always tuned into the program. I said, maybe
don't pay that third guy. You split between two, and
you said four guys, And look, I think that might
be the way next year. I'm gonna be honest. And yeah,
look and we said that been all these guys that
are starting at these other places are getting paid. Wallen's
getting paid, Dallan's getting paid. You're not gonna pay a
guy like that to come off the bench is just logic,
but he might be a factor. The guy that Japan
is the third guy, should that he had been paid
or should you split that up? It's the same thing
that NFL teams deal with all the time, being NBA guys,
should you have gone gotten gone? God more depth, I
don't know, but right now it's not working out. They
still got eight games. We'll see what they do. But
where it's leaning to right now is that you need
to maybe have your two guys, you know, and then
you go pay, you go split it between kind of
like Houston doing. You got Kingston Fleming, you got Snack
Junior