Speaker 1: Eric Weddle on a Tuesday, you went happy Tuesday, man,
Speaker 1: How you doing doing?
Speaker 2: Great?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 3: Great to be on football seasons officially over, So now
Speaker 3: I can turn the page, you know, as the retired
Speaker 3: has been. My calendar year goes off to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: So I'm ready to move forward and get onto the
Speaker 3: next season. We are all ready to be champions. That
Speaker 3: goes for the utes, it goes for the RB Broncos,
Speaker 3: it goes for the future NFL Super Bowl winner.
Speaker 1: How you liking the coaching thing now that you've been,
Speaker 1: Now you've got a little bit of a sample size,
Speaker 1: not just a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: How you liking the gig?
Speaker 3: It's good. It's good and able to keep myself challenged
Speaker 3: per se, be still be around the game, still be
Speaker 3: around the kids. Able to get back and teach teach
Speaker 3: young young men to be real men in the in
Speaker 3: the real world. And that's something I try to pride
Speaker 3: myself on them instilling those traits and routines and what
Speaker 3: that looks like. So it's a daily, a daily challenge
Speaker 3: for myself to give back to these kids, and I
Speaker 3: enjoy it.
Speaker 1: Is it what you expected? What are the things about coaching?
Speaker 1: Football that have kind of caught you a little bit off.
Speaker 3: Card, Well, I appreciate coach as much more as a
Speaker 3: coach than I did as a player's first and foremost man.
Speaker 3: The high school, there's so much that goes on behind
Speaker 3: the scenes. Like you think of college coaches and NFL,
Speaker 3: and they do a lot, don't get me wrong, but
Speaker 3: nothing compares to being a head high school coach. And
Speaker 3: you're the trainer, you're the strength coach, you're the academic advisor,
Speaker 3: you're the psychiatrist, you're the everything in between. And so
Speaker 3: there's a lot goes on outside of the actual football
Speaker 3: x's and o's, and so I didn't realize how much
Speaker 3: that that had been doing. But I do like having
Speaker 3: an impact on them outside of football because most of
Speaker 3: my kids are just going to go off to college
Speaker 3: or go in the rural world, and and I'm trying
Speaker 3: to prepare him for that.
Speaker 2: Tell me about your boy, what kind of player is he?
Speaker 1: And is there a chance we could see him playing
Speaker 1: college football here in Salt Lake City.
Speaker 3: Gosh, he's he's he's got a chance to be a
Speaker 3: good one. You know. He played played this year as
Speaker 3: a freshman and started at safety all season and really
Speaker 3: worked hard to give him a chance over the spring
Speaker 3: in summer of last year, to give him a chance
Speaker 3: to compete, and he did it, took it and ran
Speaker 3: with it. And then the second half of the year
Speaker 3: started a quarterback for us and really took us to
Speaker 3: the next level and then took that spot. And now
Speaker 3: it's exciting to know where we are as a program
Speaker 3: with the players and knowing we have a quarterback for
Speaker 3: the next three years and build around that. And uh yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean I I tell people he's got a chance
Speaker 3: to be a program builder, to take a program the
Speaker 3: next to New heights, because he has that in him.
Speaker 3: He has a factor. So I hope, I hope that,
Speaker 3: uh he'll be able to play college football. He has
Speaker 3: all offty goals. Where that will be, I don't know him,
Speaker 3: just along for the ride and help them guide him
Speaker 3: along the way, you know.
Speaker 2: Isn't that interesting?
Speaker 1: I have a I have a son who's about to
Speaker 1: turn twenty three, and he has moved on uh and
Speaker 1: now is making his way through the world in the
Speaker 1: in in in the area of actually working full time
Speaker 1: after he finished school. He's living in New York and
Speaker 1: he's working full time and you know, it's funny, Eric,
Speaker 1: Like when they're born, as their parent, you feel like, Okay,
Speaker 1: they're going to be this, They're going to be that.
Speaker 2: I'm going to send them this direction.
Speaker 1: I'm an influence and then all you want to do
Speaker 1: is see them smile. You just want to see them happy, right,
Speaker 1: and like, it's so, so, what's the process been like
Speaker 1: watching this young man grow up and now seeing him
Speaker 1: becoming this prospect?
Speaker 2: And how do you balance that?
Speaker 1: Because you it's a tree, You're in a tricky spot,
Speaker 1: it's a tricky dance.
Speaker 2: You're a coach, but you're his dad, Like, how do
Speaker 2: you balance that?
Speaker 3: It's not easy, if I'm being honest, Last year was
Speaker 3: hard at times, never being able to show affirmation to
Speaker 3: your son because of the optics and people being negative
Speaker 3: towards it. So it was hard at times, not not
Speaker 3: gonna lie of coaching him harder than anybody else, being
Speaker 3: so hard on him, and then not being able to
Speaker 3: pat him on the butt when he does good because
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say I was worried about it, but just
Speaker 3: trying not to add extra pressure on him, which he
Speaker 3: already has the world on his shoulders. And it's been
Speaker 3: like that since since he was a little kid because
Speaker 3: of whose dad was. So he's he's mentally tough for it,
Speaker 3: and he's he can handle it. I just wish she
Speaker 3: wouldn't have to and at this point of his life,
Speaker 3: but he's running with it, and you know, it's it is.
Speaker 3: It is a tough dynamic and and you know, I
Speaker 3: coach him and love him as much as I do
Speaker 3: every other kid. So I don't lose sleep at the
Speaker 3: end of the night of what people think or say
Speaker 3: about him. He's going to get what he gets on
Speaker 3: what he does on the field and off and how
Speaker 3: he treats people, and how he leads and how he works.
Speaker 3: And at the end of the day, he when he's
Speaker 3: the hardest worker, he performs at a high level than
Speaker 3: everybody else. And that's what he's going to be judged on,
Speaker 3: not by who his coaches.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: No, Well said one more thing here, because I am
Speaker 1: genuinely curious. We talk often and we've had you on
Speaker 1: to talk about this quite a bit. With the changing
Speaker 1: landscape of college football and how NIL has changed recruiting,
Speaker 1: how it's changed the game, how it's changed the way
Speaker 1: you have to operate, how much of that Eric, if
Speaker 1: any at all has spilled over into your day to
Speaker 1: day with high school stuff, well.
Speaker 3: It's the dynamics have definitely changed, and being a high
Speaker 3: school coach, I feel like high school kids are getting
Speaker 3: the short end of the stick on a lot of
Speaker 3: these cases, whether it's recruiting, whether it's transfer, portal, whether
Speaker 3: it's JC rule, if it sticks, how that's going to look.
Speaker 3: The bottom line when it comes back to it, is
Speaker 3: the high school kids are getting the short end of
Speaker 3: it all where I think they should get more opportunities.
Speaker 3: I don't understand why we're enabling kids that weren't good
Speaker 3: enough out of high school giving them more opportunities to
Speaker 3: take scholarship or take chances away from high school kids
Speaker 3: that deserve it. And a portal kid, you know, most programs,
Speaker 3: I've got to believe that they still build and develop
Speaker 3: and culture means something, right, You're not trying to revamp
Speaker 3: your whole entire roster every year with transfer kids that
Speaker 3: need a plug and play. Hopefully you still rely on
Speaker 3: those high school kids to build your roster. But I
Speaker 3: don't know, man, I just think that I'd rather have
Speaker 3: a kid that I've been building and developing over the
Speaker 3: last year or two than a kid that is leaving
Speaker 3: a program for reasons that I may not agree with.
Speaker 3: Whether it's money, whether it's more opportunities, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I'd rather pour into the kids that
Speaker 3: I have.
Speaker 2: Do your do your kids? Do your you know the
Speaker 2: kids you coach?
Speaker 1: Do they have any frame of reference for just how
Speaker 1: good you were? Or do you have to send them
Speaker 1: to YouTube and say read my article.
Speaker 3: I try not to bring up my playing days because
Speaker 3: most of them could care less. And you know, a
Speaker 3: lot of my kids play. I think, I think in
Speaker 3: the grand scheme of things, a lot of these kids
Speaker 3: are not. They don't really love love, love the game
Speaker 3: like we love the game growing up, and they'd rather
Speaker 3: be doing a lot of this stuff. So I'm just
Speaker 3: trying to keep them in the program more or less
Speaker 3: than explaining what really it takes to get to the
Speaker 3: next level.
Speaker 2: Fair enough, all right, moving over now to the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Here's what I wanted to ask you right out of
Speaker 1: the gates when I saw you on the rundown today.
Speaker 2: How does your life change when you win that game?
Speaker 3: Shoot? For me, it didn't change anything really, Uh, you know,
Speaker 3: my my personal life didn't didn't change at all. Who
Speaker 3: talked to me, who doesn't talk to me. The only
Speaker 3: thing really that change is on my resume, a super
Speaker 3: Bowl cham and uh you know that carries weight when
Speaker 3: you're when you're thinking of uh, you know, accolades and
Speaker 3: conversations of who's better and this and that. But at
Speaker 3: the end of the day, it's I am the same
Speaker 3: guy and just trying to be better each day and
Speaker 3: help out along the way. But you become you're you know,
Speaker 3: you're in the fraternity. I'm not trying to, you know,
Speaker 3: lighten it. I'm I'm grateful that I was able to
Speaker 3: be a part of that and have an impact on it.
Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, it wasn't It's
Speaker 3: not going to change who I am per se.
Speaker 1: So when it comes to Jalen Hurts, I found the
Speaker 1: narrative and conversation surrounding his play just a little hard
Speaker 1: to understand, quite frankly, Eric, because it felt like the
Speaker 1: Eagles had leaned in to this rushing attack because they
Speaker 1: have a generational back at a great offensive line, and
Speaker 1: when they were allowing Jalen to throw it all over
Speaker 1: the place, a couple of years ago Super Bowl, he
Speaker 1: went over three hundred yards passing, and you know it
Speaker 1: was clear that Steve Spagnola was going to take away
Speaker 1: Saequon and so it really was on Jalen. I thought
Speaker 1: he really answered a lot of questions your takeaways from
Speaker 1: what was a very convincing Super Bowl win fifty nine
Speaker 1: with Philly taking care of Kansas City.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you know, I mentioned this the week's
Speaker 3: prior you look at the you know, if you if
Speaker 3: you ranked the top twenty players in that game, I
Speaker 3: probably would say fifteen thirteen to fifteen or Eagles players.
Speaker 3: So when you take a side, put aside everything else
Speaker 3: from coaching to schematics to this, and that Philly had
Speaker 3: the better team and the more talented roster at most
Speaker 3: positions he could say outside of quarterback. And maybe you know,
Speaker 3: Chris Jones is probably the top five, you know ranked
Speaker 3: player in that game, maybe top three. So when you
Speaker 3: see how the game unfolded, I said, it was either,
Speaker 3: in my opinion, it was either going to be a
Speaker 3: blowout victory for the Eagles or a close Chiefs win
Speaker 3: with the help of the refs and coaching and everything
Speaker 3: else in the middle, and it worked. Out, which I
Speaker 3: had a huge smile on my face just seeing defense dominate,
Speaker 3: having the line of scrimmage, the importance and emphasis on
Speaker 3: the bigs, and really controlling the line of scrimmage, getting
Speaker 3: after the quarterback was really the difference in that game.
Speaker 3: And playing great defense in physical tackling the physical nature
Speaker 3: of what football is and what it needs to be
Speaker 3: and not turning it into flag football. That's why the
Speaker 3: game was won, not all this other stuff that people
Speaker 3: may be talking about.
Speaker 1: Was there something because prior to Sunday, e Ed Mahomes
Speaker 1: was eight and zero against Vic Fangio.
Speaker 2: Was there something?
Speaker 1: Was there something specific they did to confuse him or
Speaker 1: was it just kind of as you outline the way
Speaker 1: they went about their business or getting pressure and making
Speaker 1: sound tackles.
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's it's a combination of some things.
Speaker 3: You know, as the great as Mames is, sometimes his
Speaker 3: greatest traits can be why you struggle at times, and
Speaker 3: I think Cam at times always trying to run around
Speaker 3: and make things happen and extend the play hurt them
Speaker 3: in this game because in this type of game, you
Speaker 3: need to understand what the defense is doing, understand those rules. Obviously,
Speaker 3: play calling has an impact on those decisions. But in
Speaker 3: this type of game, you needed to get the ball
Speaker 3: out on time where it needs to go and exploit
Speaker 3: the weaknesses of the defense. And I bring that up
Speaker 3: because I know it could be done, because the Rams
Speaker 3: just you know, should have won that game. And it
Speaker 3: was The reason why is because Stafford dropped back, got
Speaker 3: the ball out and and killed that defense. And there
Speaker 3: was no difference to what they were doing. They run
Speaker 3: the same stuff, but when you hold onto the football
Speaker 3: and your offensive line may be struggling to hold up
Speaker 3: and becomes a recipe for disaster.
Speaker 1: So a couple of angles here from the game. Let's
Speaker 1: start with the Kansas City side of things. You know,
Speaker 1: it felt a little bit like the Tampa Bay Super
Speaker 1: Bowl loss where they couldn't protect Mahomes. So they're gonna
Speaker 1: have to go about their business of making sure the
Speaker 1: old line is dialed in. Maybe they have better health
Speaker 1: at the wide receiver position right out of the gates
Speaker 1: instead of having a wait and add pieces like new Hopkins.
Speaker 1: But what are you expecting Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes bounce
Speaker 1: back next year?
Speaker 2: What do you think it looks like?
Speaker 3: Oh, they're going to be a team that we reckon
Speaker 3: with every single year because they got Patrick Mahomes, they
Speaker 3: got Andy Reid, they still got one of the best
Speaker 3: coordinators obviously on both sides with the Spagnola. So they're
Speaker 3: going to reload. The reality is that they just wann't
Speaker 3: a dominant team this year. They have deficiencies. They can't
Speaker 3: run the football. Defensively, they're really young throughout the secondary
Speaker 3: and in sidelinebacker. So how they need to reload that.
Speaker 3: They got to figure out the offensive line. In my opinion,
Speaker 3: with the Chiefs, You're always gonna have a chance with Mahomes,
Speaker 3: but let's show up that offensive line that you know,
Speaker 3: the right tackle is just just a guy, not disrespecting hum,
Speaker 3: but he's just a good he's a solid player. Let's
Speaker 3: get elite tackles to protect Mahomes. That's that's what I
Speaker 3: would do, and then and then figure out everyone else,
Speaker 3: because if you can protect Mahomes, you'll always have a chance.
Speaker 3: If not, you look, you saw what happened.
Speaker 1: And on the other side, you know, we talked about
Speaker 1: Mahomes at twenty nine and Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: at twenty eight.
Speaker 2: Jalen's twenty six, you had in Saquan's twenty.
Speaker 1: Eight, like AJ's twenty seven, Devonte Smith's twenty six.
Speaker 2: Like yeah, it feels like Eric they have a chance
Speaker 2: to maybe go on.
Speaker 1: Look, I'm never gonna say, like, we just saw how
Speaker 1: hard it is to have a dynasty in pro football.
Speaker 1: I don't know when the next time a team is
Speaker 1: gonna have a chance to win three straight, but it
Speaker 1: feels like the future in Philly should be very right.
Speaker 2: I guess that's how I'll put that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean they've been in the playoffs three years
Speaker 3: in a row. They have an identity, they know who
Speaker 3: they are. They run the football, they play great defense,
Speaker 3: They're physical. I mean they had the biggest, most physical
Speaker 3: old lines, and they've built their team through the draft
Speaker 3: and through the interior old line the line, and look
Speaker 3: at all the draft picks that play on that offensive
Speaker 3: defensive line, which is really impressive. And then they've gone
Speaker 3: outside to get an Aj Brown, to get a Saquon.
Speaker 3: You add pieces here to be dynamic to fill your
Speaker 3: roster in. But the identity of the team in the
Speaker 3: organization is the interior offense and offensive defensive line. And
Speaker 3: they hit a home run on Hurts in the second
Speaker 3: round and kept the belief and to build around him
Speaker 3: and not you know the negativity that surrounds Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 3: I mean, geez, all he does is win. He's a
Speaker 3: great leader, all thinks about his teammates, never makes excuses.
Speaker 3: I mean, shoot, I'd play for that guy in a heartbeat,
Speaker 3: and some of these other guys can't say the same.
Speaker 1: All right, before I say you lose a little Utah football,
Speaker 1: I mean, there's really not a lot going on right now,
Speaker 1: but of course you are Utah Football Royalty. And this
Speaker 1: is the time of year, Eric, where media schloves like
Speaker 1: us like to get into content of way too early
Speaker 1: top twenty five rankings and twelve teams CFP projections and
Speaker 1: you know what's crazy, man like people who do this
Speaker 1: for a living like I don't. I have no idea
Speaker 1: what the Big twelve will look like next year. Tell
Speaker 1: me who you pick to finish last, and they'll probably
Speaker 1: win it, like Arizona State. But the way too early stuff,
Speaker 1: whether they're all leaning on the Utes again as the
Speaker 1: favorite to get this done. What are you hoping to
Speaker 1: see year two in the Big twelve to indicate that
Speaker 1: last year was a bit of an aberration.
Speaker 3: I just want to cus be us, and that's discipline
Speaker 3: team football in all three phases. I don't want to see.
Speaker 3: I don't want to see not U tough football, and
Speaker 3: that means undisciplined, that means penalties, it's it's not running
Speaker 3: the football, it's not stopping and run, tackling like everything
Speaker 3: that we are in our core. I want to see
Speaker 3: Jay regardless of how I mean wins or losses. That's
Speaker 3: just what I want to see because I felt like
Speaker 3: we're getting away from that and I can be totally wrong,
Speaker 3: like I'm not intimate in that sense, Like you know,
Speaker 3: it's only what I saw, and what I saw last
Speaker 3: year was not you tough football. So I want to
Speaker 3: see us get back to who we are playing our
Speaker 3: style of football, our brand of football. We got new
Speaker 3: dynamics on offense with an offensive, new offensive coordinator, coach back,
Speaker 3: and then bringing in these new guys and new players.
Speaker 3: Let's see what they got. I'm not I'm not over
Speaker 3: zealous on anything until I see it, and that's that's
Speaker 3: just my personality. I hope for the best, prepare for
Speaker 3: the worst, and I'm not. I don't know what we
Speaker 3: have until a quarter of the season in and then
Speaker 3: we'll see what type of team we are. So I
Speaker 3: know they're going to work hard. I know coach what's
Speaker 3: gonna lead them. I know we're gonna have a great
Speaker 3: defense to see what the offense is and can we
Speaker 3: beat dynamic on the perimeter? Can we make can we
Speaker 3: generate some big plays in the passing game not having
Speaker 3: to be just twelve and twenty two personnel and hard
Speaker 3: plash and shot plays. Can we just make a guy
Speaker 3: miss right and go run for sixty yards like that's
Speaker 3: what we've been missing. Can we get that? We'll see all.
Speaker 1: Right, my friend, Well, I appreciate the time. I know
Speaker 1: you're a busy guy. We'll set you loose and love
Speaker 1: to get you back on soon.
Speaker 3: Okay, you got any time, guys, Thanks for having me on,
Speaker 3: all right.
Speaker 1: The great Eric Weddle one of the best to ever
Speaker 1: do it at the University of Utah, Super Bowl champ
Speaker 1: with the with the Rams, and spend a number of
Speaker 1: years in the NFL with the Chargers, the Ravens and
Speaker 1: finishing up with the Rams. Always appreciate his time. He's
Speaker 1: doing some high school coaching now where his boy is
Speaker 1: rising sophomore A safety and a quarterback. And I know
Speaker 1: that some of our in state schools have already been
Speaker 1: on his trail. According to his name is Gage Weddle.
Speaker 1: According to Gage's social media, he actually has an offer
Speaker 1: in hand from Brigham Young. I'm not seeing anything as
Speaker 1: far as the utes go, but he is only a freshman,
Speaker 1: so only time will tell