Speaker 1: All start to it. You to present. Off the bench
is what we have been waiting for. The hype is over.
Speaker 2: Off the bench, if the fitch, now here's Jacob Hester, all.
Speaker 3: Right, welcome back in it is ot b here on
this Thursday morning, always our pleasure to catch up with
our next guess is our guy Joe Sloan l s
U offensive coordinator coach?
Speaker 4: What's going on? How you doing?
Speaker 5: I'm doing great, I'll do it.
Speaker 3: Doing fantastic, you know, sitting up here getting excited for
the football season already in May, because that's what we
do here in South Louisiana. I know you've got like
one more welcome party. I think what eighteen players may
be coming over the next couple of days. And then
I'm sure you're excited because you can finally Okay, here's
the team, here's who it is, and let's go to work.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you know, we'll add the last few pieces,
you know, just kind of as a change in college football,
probably after I guess real the COVID, you know, seemed
like after COVID kind of started that a lot of
our guys get here in January, which is which is
which is nice to spring? Actually gets to get you
a chance to really see.
Speaker 4: What you got.
Speaker 5: But I think we'll get a couple more pieces of
excited to get a few guys in you know, Philip
and JT to two young guys, can't wait to get
him in here and see what they can do and add.
Speaker 1: Them to the group.
Speaker 3: Coach, we were talking about, you know, the depth on
this team, and you brought veteran players out of the
portal that were there in spring practice. But one of
the cool things for me, like when I went out
to spring practice, the guys that were already here weren't
just going to give the job up, Like there's some
real competition. Like even though you brought in really good
players out of the portal, it was kind of cool
to see everybody say, you know what, like we're all
fighting for this job.
Speaker 4: We're not going to just lay down.
Speaker 3: And that competition in spring practice, at least from what
I saw the couple of days I was out there,
like it was heightened more so than I've seen in
a long time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you know, that's the thing when you
when you when you lose some guys who have been
kind of solidified starters and you have some really good
guys in your program, and then you know, maybe add
some different pieces from different places.
Speaker 6: And.
Speaker 5: There's just an opportunity where there's no day no one
has this job locked up. You got the opportunity to
go out and then prove who you are, show what
you're what you're all about. And it's about the consistency
day in and day out, taking your talent and put it,
put it in, putting it to work out there on
the practice field. So I think you saw a lot
of guys doing that, right. He's got work hard year round, uh,
for those type of opportunities, and if you're recruiting the
right guys, that that's what's gonna curve, that's what's gonna happen.
Speaker 3: Coach, I big was that bowl prep for the offensive line,
cause they got fifteen practices and Miles Frasier like he
stuck around. He almost felt like a coach right there
on the field with him, and it just felt like
such a valuable experience for those players. And then Coach,
they go out against a good Baylor front and they
played really well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I thought that was massive. I mean, you know,
we won't make this morning about the bowl games in
college football nowadays. Right, But but I think that the
you know, the benefit of it was you had a
lot of our a lot of our current team right
out there playing together, which I think was huge, right,
and especially from an offensive front standpoint, Like you talked
about you know, guys, you know, we've had we had
four guys who started here for a long time, so
there wasn't necessarily that many opportunities for different different times
to play. And I think some of those guys got
some really valuable playing time in a in a in
a big game, right against a really good opponent, and
that kind of experience just to be able to take
a breath going into game one, I think is huge
for them. And I think they proved a lot, right,
I think they proved a lot with how they performed.
Speaker 3: Now, Coach, last year, very explosive offense, nineteenth in total
offense in the entire country. But every offense is going
to be a little bit different, So like, how would
you describe the personality of this year's offense?
Speaker 4: Is it? Is it speed? Is it power? Is it versatility?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 3: And then I know that thing is still being built
a little bit, but based off what you saw in
the spring, like what are you expecting maybe moving forward?
Speaker 5: You know, I think I think as you look, I
think we're definitely going to be We're definitely a fast offense,
right We're we're we are. We have speed all over
the field, and I think the the important thing will
be is to be able to use that to our
advantage to create to create you know, misdirection and create
a create issues for the defense. And I think that's
where that's where we're going to start. I think what
we've done a good job of, and really with trade
Asenbauer and those guys, is.
Speaker 6: Having the ability to create some different.
Speaker 5: Formations and do some different things and and some of
the different pieces on offense to use in multiple ways
to get different looks.
Speaker 4: To the defense.
Speaker 5: And I think our guys really bought into that to
be able to add, you know, to maybe some of
the things that we've already been doing, which I think
will be really exciting.
Speaker 3: Now, Coach, when you say different formations, the I formation
is still available.
Speaker 4: If you want to use it.
Speaker 5: I know we need to get you out there.
Speaker 3: Hey, I'll have to teach them how to do a
three point stance, though I'm not even sure they would
know how to do that anymore.
Speaker 5: Coach, Hey, you never know, you know what we the
touchdown pass to trade as an evulgan. We were in
the eye formation, right, that was it. Now we threw it.
Speaker 4: That's okay, Hey, I don't care if you throw it.
Look we can catch too.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 3: Obviously, like you know, talking to offense, talking what you
did last year, talking about what maybe it's going to
look like this year, I would assume like it just
makes it so much easier when you walk into a
meeting room and number thirteen sitting there, and and Garrett
was so good a year ago obviously, and look, any
new start is going to have some growing pains. But
even like when there was like a tougher stretch for him,
I don't even want to call it a tough stretch
because I thought he played so well a year ago,
but a tougher stretch, like he still found his way
in the end and finished the season strong. So what's
it like with him coming in from year one to
year number two? We always talk about it at that position,
that's like the most important jump from year one to
year two, even though he had a really solid year
number one.
Speaker 5: Yeah, No, I think I think that's the key thing, right,
And he and I have talked a ton about this.
Speaker 6: He was as.
Speaker 5: Prepared as he could be, had developed as much as
he could possibly develop in order to be prepared to play.
And then there's experience and development you have to get
from play, right, And there's some situations that happened in
the season that that now he's aware of how those
things transpired, you know, within the way he plays the game,
and then practicing and prepared year round to make sure
you can avoid some of the negatives right and highlight
your strengths. And I think that's what he's doing. He's
been able to really watch and dive into every bit
of his film from the last year and now right
take that into spring with with having a really good
plan on exactly what he wanted to improve on and
what we want to do him to improve on in
all the different facets of what we do. And I
think that's what you know when you watch him really
from January up until springball, That's what he did. And
then we always kind of reset during springball and say, Okay,
this is what's really getting better, this is what Okay,
we need to adjust and maybe shift our focus or Hey,
let's look at our footwork here, or let's look at
what we're thinking about here. Something else may be rare
to say a little bit, but I think you just
see a calmness and an understanding every day of exactly
what he needs to do. And I think that's the
that's the piece that experience brings you that hard to
have until you actually play, because playing you know, situational
football and different things that happened, they just as much
as your practice, all those things don't come up right.
So I think he's really dove into him and I
couldn't be more excited about him and what he's done.
And then the way he's shown leadership, I think that's
carried over into his leadership and just a consistency day
in day out of what's to be expected, and I
think that's carrying over to the other guys.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and and coach, you start talking about, you know,
what he's done, but also like what he has this
year working with him, and last year the receivers were
really really good. But then you get those guys, you know,
most of those guys back this year, and then you
add two guys through the portal, and I truly believe
Aaron Anderson might be one of the most underrated players
in the country. Like when people talk about the LSU receivers,
like he should be the name that everybody talks about.
He was the leading receiver a year ago. Like this
feels like one of the most talented rooms in the
country and one that's still trying to figure out like
what the pecking border is going to be. But because
everybody's like worthy of getting playing time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think, well, I mean, I think a lot
of guys are gonna get opportunities to help this football
team win, compete for a championship. Right, That's and that's
what that's what you want. That's what our full focus is.
Guys being their absolute best to help us have a
championship offense, right, to help to help our football team
win a championship. That that's the key, right and that
and that's the way they're looking at it. I'm excited
about all the different guys I think. You know, you
talk about Aaron, you know the way that he's taken
from you know last spring, right, he was kind of
a unproven commodity going in and he was competing with
a lot of different guys and where was he gonna
fit and took advantage of some different opportunities and then
really took off from there. But I think you see, uh,
just a different eraand this offseason and how he approaches
every day, how taking care of his body, how he's
attacking practice. I couldn't be more proud of being vocal.
I mean, he's been he's been awesome, So it's been
fun to see. But there's so many guys in that
room that I think are are going to have great
years and Nuss has done a really good job of
kind of working around and working with all of them.
And I think this summer, you know, the spring was
huge force and the summer will be big for us.
But I couldn't be more excited about the talent, me speed,
and all the different types of players that we have.
On the primer.
Speaker 3: Catching up with LSU offensive coordinator Joe Sloan here on
OTB coach, let's talk about the best position, the running
back position. Obviously, Kayden Durham last year, what he did
and he was look, he was banged up, but he
still fought through it and he had a really good year.
One of the better freshmen in the entire SEC regardless
of position. You're also you mentioned one already, but you're
bringing in some young players and Caleb obviously still there
as well. So it's a it's a young room, but
it's a very talented.
Speaker 5: Room, it is. And you know what Kayden was able
to do last year, and.
Speaker 6: For just maybe.
Speaker 5: The the public, you would just see, Okay, Kaden's the freshman,
and you'd treat him like any other freshman him.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 5: And you watch him and you go, oh wow, he's
doing doing such great things for a freshman, for a
true freshman. But I would add this, I mean, he
didn't get here until the summer.
Speaker 6: And you know so.
Speaker 5: Many of so many freshmen in college football today early
in role right, and he was a he was a
track track star at Dunkenville, So he finished out his
track season and came over in the summer. And what
he was able to do and pick up in the summer,
Harry Over, I think it speaks to really one the
program he came from, but how he handles himself mentally
and and how he carries himself his maturity. Uh, But
for a true freshman in the SEC to go out
and play the way he did and play through some
of the different injuries he was dealing with. Yeah, he was.
He was pretty pretty dynamic. So I can't wait for
you know, just a for him to stay be able
to stay healthy throughout the year. Uh and what kind
of what type of runner he could be week in
week out when he's feeling a little bit better, because
I mean I thought he was already already outstanding last year,
but keep bringing so much to the table. He's able
to slash and be people with speed. He's also able
to drop his pats and be physical when he needs to.
You know, they go all the way back there. That
run vers afterland on third. Now, when he split the
I mean he hit, he hit the gap and when
he split those two defenders down the field, you know,
it was that was that was a pretty That was
a pretty impressive run. There's not a lot of guy
countries do that. So I couldn't be more excited about him.
And then you know the different guys, I mean, Caleb,
Caleb had a really good spring and Harlan Berry watching
the cutoffs yesterday, you know, the last few days of spring,
he did some really good things and I know he's
you know a lot of growth goes into this summer
coming off that he knows what's expected. Now, he knows
what it feels like. And I think, you know, I
think we'll have a great august out of him. So
couldn't be more excited about all of them, including j
T getting in and getting rolling. And I think we
got a lot of different pieces right that they can
carry the football and do different things. And that's that's
gonna be the challenge, right is getting the right gay
as the ball into certain situations and letting them go
make plays, right, because that's that's the key. We've got
to go make players. We're gonna break tackles, uh and
and make it close with plays. That's what's course points
We're gonna put in those guys hands and give them
the opportunity to do that.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And then I love the diversity you talked about quickly
there with the tight ends and like bringing in multiple
tight ends, you know, one from Oklahoma, one from A
and M. And you know, I've caught up with some
of their former head coaches just to ask them about them,
and then they love them as players, and now they're
here in Baton Rouge. And then you've got a unicorn
in trade as Green, So like even those players are
going to be able to add value certainly catching the football,
but in the run game as well.
Speaker 5: I mean with Bauer and Donnie who came both came
in from different places and played a lot of football
to add with trade as you know, just their ability
to to create really a lot of different issues for
the defense where they can you know, all of a sudden,
they can get down on the edge, right, they can
flex out and are athletic and can create matchup issues
on the perimeter. You know, think there's you know, the
opportunities are in list for those guys, and I think
a lot like what we you know, had did with
Mason in the past. But I think just with trade
does his growth you know, obviously Bauer coming into his experience,
Donovan's experience, but then tredes his growth coming from his
freshman year to sophomore year. And I think you got
to see a little bit of most of that as
the year went on, right and especially in the bowl game.
That that creates opportunities, right, opportunities to to challenge defenses
and make them do different things to where you can
attack them. And and we'll use those guys to the
to the fullest.
Speaker 3: All right, last one coach before we let you go,
we do appreciate the time. Somebody that you and I
both know very well has joined the l s U
coaching staff coaching defensive line. Kyle Williams, who I'm sure
you've you know, run into a time or two when
you were both in rustin Louisiana. I mean, have we
seen the fiery Kyle Williams that we all know and
love yet on the practice field man.
Speaker 5: The three from the three one great? Uh, Kyle's been outstanding.
He's he's you know, he and I got to be
friends when I was when when when I was up
to tech and and kind of when he was really
retired at the end of his career back back home
a little bit. He's what a fantastic human being. I mean,
just a great person, great teacher, outstanding motivator. You know,
he's in it for the right reasons and he's all in.
And you know, for somebody who's accomplished all the things
that he has in this game, then you know, to
get into coaching and and be all in and you
never know it. I mean, he's just he's humble, he
gets after it. And he has so many, so many
stories and Soon's experience to share with those guys and
pour into him. And I think he's been a huge
addition to our staff. He's been a huge edition to
our players and and I think that will show right
in the fall. I think he'll in critical moments. But no,
he's he's been. He's been fantastic. And if you know
Kyle uh, just a great personality, great person and that fire,
that fire shows up, There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I look that that is someone I've heard give
a pregame speech when we were both at LSU.
Speaker 4: I've played against him in the NFL.
Speaker 3: I would just tell anybody just make sure that you're
on Kyle's good side, because my man was intense and
always ready to go. Cannot wait to see how that
translate to the LSU defensive front.
Speaker 4: Coach. You're the man. We appreciate your time as always.
Speaker 3: I know you've got a busy kind of schedule with
all these new players coming in. It's never really an
off time, certainly in the month of June, so we
certainly appreciate you hopping on with us.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, Jay, I appreciate you, and good luck with your
new co host.
Speaker 3: Coming in right with the way you said that, I
think you have a feeling like everybody else.
Speaker 4: Coach.
Speaker 3: We set the line on him showing up at three
and a half, so he's supposed to be here five
days a week. The line right now has set it
three and a half. Will Matt Flynn, are you taking
the over or under?
Speaker 4: Coach?
Speaker 6: Oh? Is it nice?
Speaker 5: Is there nice weather outside?
Speaker 3: Let's say it's perfect. If it's perfect weather, do you
still go over the weather under?
Speaker 5: Perfect weather? Under? If it's cold and rainy? Oh, you know,
maybe maybe.
Speaker 6: I'll go with the over.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's fair enough.
Speaker 3: And the hydration company comes into play when you start
talking about the weather too. That's that's actually really good
insight there. Okay, we will see, but we're excited about it,
so we appreciate a coach.
Speaker 5: Absolutely can't wait. You're looking forward to the summer with
these guys. They're ready to get after it and go
attacking this fall man, go tigers.
Speaker 3: Absolutely there he is offensive coordinator Joe Sloan good enough
to join us here. And and you heard when he
asked the question, he knew he knew exactly what we're
all thinking. But Hey, Flynn was supposed to be here
yesterday at nine. He showed up at like eight fifty eight.
Very proud of him. He's supposed to be here tomorrow
at nine. If we get the same eight fifty eight,
that means that we're moving in the right direction. So
we'll see if Flint can actually get that done. All right,
we will take a break. We do have Jay Johnson
joining us at eight thirty, so about twelve to fifteen
minutes from now. But when we come back, let's maybe
recap some of what Joe Sloan talked about with the
LSU offense, and we'll do it right here on OTB
top the bench.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 3: Something that I am very excited to continue on with
here on OTB is Rous's because, like it is the
go to place for me, certainly was for T Bob,
but like I always was there trying to get the
gift card from T Bob because I shop at Rows's.
He did give me a gift card. It was a
whole situation. He scratched off too many numbers, but we
did find a way. It actually had money on it.
But look, you should go to Rous's. It's almost Memorial
Day weekend. And you know what that means. It is
time to fire up the grill and build a better burger.
With Rowse's Market Now, you can grab that eighty percent
lean ground b for just three seventy seven pound with
the Rouses Market Value pack. You don't want to miss
this deal. Rous's fresh pork sausage is only three ninety
nine a pound. I mean there's so many different things.
They still have crawfish as well. I mean, you truly
can get everything done right there at Rows's.
Speaker 4: Go check them out. Rouses is the place to be.
Speaker 8: Welcome back to off the bench.
Speaker 1: She says.
Speaker 3: Usually though, all right, welcome back in OTB an R
and B Thursday as we do here on the show.
Speaker 4: Cassie, what would what would you consider R and B.
That's going to be interesting, I know, like.
Speaker 7: Cause I mean my favorite Usher, Okay, I speaking.
Speaker 3: You just became one of my favorite p in the building. Okay,
all right, Usher for the rest of the day. I think,
although this is a hit, that's a job. It's a
good job.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was a pool because like I forgot about
this song until literally just now.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so sometimes I gotta like dig real.
Speaker 4: Deep back here. So Cassie.
Speaker 3: I covered the super Bowl for Serious six M and
we do this show super Bowl as a channel, super
Bowl Radio, just for the week, like a pop up channel.
And I get to host that and it's a lot
of fun get to catch up with like all these
incredible actors and musicians and just interesting people. But Usher
was playing the Super Bowl two years ago, and they
told me I was getting Usher.
Speaker 4: Over like in person, like over and over and over
and over again.
Speaker 3: I'm like, let's go fired up absolutely, like I've built
for this, like I have burned this man CDs and
passed them out like nobody's business.
Speaker 4: And he was running late.
Speaker 3: I did get to zoom interview him, but I didn't
get to interview him in person, so like it at
my heart, yeah, like built myself up all because it
was the last day too, so.
Speaker 7: Oh that was gonna be like the grand finale.
Speaker 3: So I go, I got zoom Usher, I didn't get real.
It's not it's not it's not the same. So but
I'm glad you said that answer. It's a great answer.
So we'll continue on with Usher. I want to tell
you about trash Rangers real quick, because Memorial Day, right,
So what does that mean for your trash pickup. Well,
there's not gonna be any delays in service with Trash Rangers,
so we want to make sure we get that out there.
All routes will run as normally scheduled on Friday and
on Memorial Day, so enjoy the holiday.
Speaker 4: Trash Rangers has the trash covered.
Speaker 3: That's like a service again, Like you're not gonna get
anywhere else. Everybody's gonna shut down completely on Memorial Day,
but Trash Rangers going to be.
Speaker 4: Out there helping you out. All right.
Speaker 3: We do have Jay Johnson joining us here coming up,
and I'm going to go ahead and text him because
I was supposed to send him a reminder. Is six
minutes a reminder is that like, hey, you're coming on.
Speaker 7: I mean, if he gave you like the time yesterday,
like he was like, yeah, I can come on a
eight thirty and you remind him right now, I think
it's okay. Also, do we really think Tea Bob was
reminding him within an hour or so or whatever?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 7: Yeah, getting five minute text messages.
Speaker 4: This entire time.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna say, hey, sending you a reminder about seven
to ten minutes from now. That feels better than like
five minutes, and it could be five minutes, but okay,
he already wrote back, so he's ready. Okay, Like that
was the thing Coach was like adamant about whenever I
was talking with him, like, yeah, we're going you know,
te Bob's lee I told I actually told Jay, probably
before I told anybody. Yeah, So the Little lug Nuts
went out to the box that time. You know, that
was a couple of weeks or may month ago, gosh,
I don't even remember. And so Jay's you know, very
cool and talked with the Little lug Nuts and gave
him the good word, and so I stayed after and
we were talking. I was like, yeah, t Bob's leaving
and blah blah blah. Here's like who we're thinking about
maybe replacing him with or whatever. He goes, yeah, man,
love that guy. Love coming on the show, but like
you're taking over, right, And I was like yeah, like
I'm going to be the host, And like I thought,
why is he asking that question? You know, He's like, okay, well, good,
Well I know you'll actually shoot me a text before
the day of.
Speaker 4: He's like, I know you'll reach out like beforehand.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So like he was pretty adamant, like, hey, I
love coming on, but like, just give me a little
heads up.
Speaker 4: So yesterday I was talking back and forth with him,
so we're good.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and he answered really quickly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I said seven to ten minutes when I really
meant like four. I just felt like seven to ten
felt better.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know, if you say seven to ten and you
go four, like, I don't think he's going to think anything.
But if I have said, hey, we're coming to you
in like two three minutes, then he would have called
me t bob.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, we don't need that.
Speaker 3: We're trying to be responsible here, not that Tea wasn't responsible.
Speaker 4: We're trying to be responsible and on time. Ish.
Speaker 7: I still say he's not responsible. He was trying to
get all his stuff together to get the real to
leave the next day.
Speaker 4: I know. I'm not trying to throw a straight to
my guy. We love our guy.
Speaker 3: But if there was one thing that he needed to
improve on, maybe it was some structure in some things.
Speaker 4: But yeah, he does, that's true. He's very self aware
of that.
Speaker 7: Nick Underhill, Oh.
Speaker 3: Nick, He's like, we don't talk any indoor, we can
go straight to the ball. I'm like whoa, whoa. I
know I was like that that felt unneasy, uncalled for.
If you don't like Star Wars, I don't either, but
my god, all right, Joe Salon was on with us
in the last segment. A lot of great stuff there,
and we'll recap maybe more later on. Certainly, like want
to get some thoughts from Flynn whenever he comes back
in tomorrow. One thing I did kind of take away
before we get to Jay Johnson. Uh, he mentioned like
different formations and he mentioned the tight ends a couple
of different times. That leads me to believe and it's
not a surprise that LSU was going to use twelve personnel, right,
they are going to use two receivers, two tight ends
in a running back. That's twelve personnel, and they are
going to try to establish the run game. Now I'm curious, like,
if they go twelve, is it going to be Bower Sharp?
Is going to be Donovan Green? Where's trade as Green
fall into that? Will he be out wide? Like you
can get creative with the players that they have, and
Bower Sharp is somebody that look LSU fans don't remember
him for the trick play pass that he threw and
threw an interception right. Remember him from the tight end,
and he's a really good player versus A player can play,
Y can play f but Donovan Green Okay, So I
I hand up like when he transferred in, I didn't
know a whole lot about him. So I started to
do a deep dive and actually I called Jimbo Fisher
because Jimbo recruited him. He played for Jimbo at A
and M, and he played more for Jimbo than he
did for Elco.
Speaker 4: And I was like, okay, what's going on here?
Speaker 3: And Jimbo just said, look, the off changed, you know
what he was really good at. They kind of went
away from He's like I wouldn't have done that because
he was talking glowingly about Donovan Green's like he plays
a freshman for me, like he was a guy that
we put on the field immediately. And I can just
tell you being in Jimbo's offense as a freshman when
your head's spinning, because it's not easy.
Speaker 4: It is not an easy offense.
Speaker 3: Now, it got me ready for the NFL, but when
you're a freshman, it's not easy. The terminology and the
concepts and all the things that you have to know.
So the fact that Donovan Green knew Jimbo's offense and
played a ton as a freshman, that lets me know
kind of where he's at as far as his mindset.
And I absolutely can see Sharp and Green in the
game together twelve personnel, maybe trade as Green is one
of the receivers, but again, you can get creative, you
can move those guys around, and it tells me LSU
going to try to tack running the football downhill maybe
a little bit more. Last year they were a team
that tried some diversity, they tried some gap scheme. Runs
didn't work out like I think a lot of us
thought it would, certainly, you know, through the air. And look,
Kayden dorm had a great year. It's not like he
was a I think it was a freshman All America.
I know his freshman All SEC. But that's somebody that
still had a great year. It's not like LSU was
like awful at running the football. It's just something where
they were so good throwing the football you wanted to
marry it with a better run game. And something like
twelve personnel with those two tight ends tells me there's
more point of emphasis to go downhill, run right at
the defense and try this offensive line. I do think
also like is better probably right now in the run
game than they are in pass protection, where last year
it was pass protection and not the run game. So
you could see a couple of changes there. And when
you start talking tight ends in twelve personnel, that's usually
you know kind of where that conversation goes. So certainly
something to pay attention to as we get ready for
fall camp coming up here in a couple of months.
All right, not coming in a couple of months, but
coming actually tomorrow in Hoover, Alabama. LSU BA BA Ball
gonna be taking on Texas A and m are the
Auburn Tigers. We're gonna catch up with Jay Johnson, head
baseball coach for your LSU Tigers when we come back
here on O.
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Speaker 1: This is off the bench.
Speaker 3: Hey, welcome I Game OTV here on a Thursday morning,
very excited to catch up with our guy LSU had
baseball coach Jay Johnson here on this show.
Speaker 4: Coach, what's going on? How are you doing this morning?
Speaker 6: Good morning? How you guys doing.
Speaker 4: Doing fantastic and coach?
Speaker 3: I bet like this feeling of getting the double bys
fantastic and great. You get a chance to rest and
you know, maybe hill up a little bit, but I
bet you're chomping at the bit to play some baseball
seeing all these other teams. You just get a chance
to go out to the Hoover met and already, you know,
have multiple games for some of them. Are you about to,
you know, be at your wits end and ready to
play a game or or are you enjoying the rest?
Speaker 5: I think a little both.
Speaker 6: I think it was good not playing until Friday. What
it did is it allowed us to come home after
the South Carolina series instead of it goes straight to Hoover,
So that was great. Players got to sleep in their
own beds. We've got a couple of good lifting sessions
in good practice on Tuesday. We hit the cages yesterday
before we headed over here. But now it's time to go.
Actually went over to watch part of the Florida Will
Missed game last night in person, just to kind of
get my bearings in the tournament and ready to roll.
And I'm sure our players are ready to go.
Speaker 3: So yeah, coach, and you've been in this tournament before obviously,
But there are some changes, like every team now made
the field no longer you know, did the bottom two
fall out? Every team all sixteen were there not double
elimination either, now a single elimination tournament, So, like, how
do you feel about maybe some of the changes they've
had there in Hoover.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think I voted for just so all the
LSU fans know I voted to keep the double elimination
tournament because I know they like coming over here. So
I obviously want to go on the record and say
that I've said that many times. Actually, you know, I
just really coach baseball and not try to worry about
like what I can't control, right, And this was kind
of one of those things. Like I remember we were
going around the room voting on it, and we went
in alphabetical order, and I think I was the second one,
only the second one that said they keep the double elimination,
And so it was clear which direction it was headed.
And so you just you make the best of the situation. Okay,
So what is the best of this situation is We've
had a really good regular season. We have some guys
that we've asked a lot of both on the mound
and in the field, that you know, to get them rested.
And the one thing I will say with this team,
when we have been a little bit fresh and rested.
We have played well, and so I like that part
of it. We had a good, good day yesterday going
over some things and covering some things we needed to
cover here for a little while, and the guys will
be excited Friday night. I will say it's weird when
like there'll be a team or a teams that have
played three games before we've even stepped up, completed three
games before we've even stepped on the field.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no question, it's certainly a different feel. And
coach you mentioned, you know, getting some rest and you've
played better, and one thing you could probably point to
and this is going to sound different because some people think, oh,
older player, they need more rest. Also, like y'all have
a lot of freshmen that have stepped up and been
big parts of why you got that double by And
I can just tell you from when I was a freshman,
when I was a rookie in the NFL, like that's
actually your longest years, like because everything kind of runs
together and you've got all these different things going on
leading into the next step in your journey. So I
would have assume actually those freshman players in line up
in the bullpen wherever they might be that it helps
them as much as it helps anybody.
Speaker 6: No doubt about that. And I think you're right. I
think when you look at you on the position player side,
Derek Carrill obviously played every game, hit towards the top
of the order, plays full speed all the time. So
I like the fact that, you know, for a guy
like him, you get a breather.
Speaker 7: Kate.
Speaker 6: Aaron Beatties really picked us up recently on the catching
thing and done a great job, you know, handling Anthony
Iinsten behind the plate and providing some good offense. Cason
Evans back into the game. William Schmid has thirty innings,
so yeah, and just the mental fatigue of what this
thing is and really what the SEC has become. I mean,
like we talk about all the time, it's kind of
like ten super Regionals and the Survival of the fittest,
and you know, even like looking out on the field
last night, you know it's it was actually good to
see two different teams too, who we actually haven't even played,
and you know, they just went to the same thing.
So that's a common thread. And you know, once you
get past this week, you feel like you do have
an advantage because of you know, surviving that and coming
out the other side of it.
Speaker 3: Coach, one of the things that I appreciate about you
more than almost anything, and there's a lot, the list
is long and distinguished.
Speaker 4: I'll throw that out there.
Speaker 3: But the thing I enjoy the most, I think is
if you're out there, you're playing to win the game.
It doesn't matter who you're playing, it doesn't matter what
day of the week it is. When you're called upon,
you always go full tail, which I appreciate. But like
when you have a tournament situation like this, like what
are the conversations with your assistant coaches? Because sure, you
did get to double by, but I know you, I
know your personality. You're playing a game, let's go win
the game. But do you have any different conversations with
it being the postseason and not the regular season?
Speaker 5: Yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 6: I think this is a little bit of a unique
situation where we're not playing till Friday, and you know,
this is important and LSU's had a really good history
in Hoover, and and obviously we want to respect that.
I mean, we treat every game like a playoff game,
which we will these games, but the NCAA tournament is
what our program is about, you know, And so being
you're starting a little bit later in this thing, you
have to pay attention to how we do a couple
of things. And I've likened it to a couple of
years ago. Like I said, taking Paul Schemes out, you know,
with the bases loaded, I would never do that, but
he was at thirty one pitches in the inning. We
were going to need him fresh for the next Friday. Obviously,
you don't want to deal with any kind of injury things.
So we made a move and pulled him out. We
didn't play Tommy White in a game here. You know,
I took Nate Ackenhousen out in the championship game last
year because hey, you know, we had five pitchers we
were really leaning on. He was one of them, and
we wanted to have him available for the next Friday.
So sometimes you have to do those kinds of things
to make sure you're aligned for next week. So there
are some conversations and relate to the players, and you know,
I want to play three games because there's guys that
want to get on the mound, and I think from
a position player standpoint, you know, I think seeing at
bats and staying in a normal rhythm is good. We
do some things in practice that I feel like are
advantageous for that, but still, I mean, I think I
think playing games is the best scenario, and so we're
going to try to play three here. That's what we're
going to do.
Speaker 3: And Coach, how important is it to keep the guys
on the mound on schedule? Because rest is great, but
like how much rest is too much rest?
Speaker 4: And so like how much is that factor into it?
Speaker 3: Like, hey, we got to get k we got to
get Anthony on the mound because like this is kind
of their normal routine and as you know, way better
than we do starting pitchers, like they want to be
all about their routine.
Speaker 6: Yeah, no doubt. That's something that has to obviously be
factored in to our decision making, and you know, we're
very mindful of that because you know, how do you
how do you get to Omaha with this team? You
get to Omaha with this team with Kate Anderson and
Anthony Irons, Like that's that's a huge part of that formula,
and so doing with best for them is the most
important thing. And it's a little bit different for each
guy right now. But like I said, with some of
those position players we've asked a lot out of, and
a couple of the bullpen guys. We've asked a lot
of those two guys, and so I think there's a
healthy balance of keeping them in rhythm, keeping them in routine,
and also very fresh and sharp going into the regionals
next weekend.
Speaker 3: Catching up with LSU have baseball coach Jay Johnson here
on OTB coach, I do want a wax poetic about
Anthony Iinson and just brag on him, and I know
you do as well. But one thing, and so you
and I both have lived in San Diego, California, so
we kind of know the lay of the land. We
know the university's there, we know the baseball it's played there,
and look, it's great baseball. When I was playing for
the Chargers, Tony Gwyn was the coach of San Diego State.
I mean, obviously, like Chris Bryant played at USD, which
you know very well. So Anthony Jinsen being a UC
San Diego guy and to go from where he was
coach and dominant for sure, but for it to translate
like it has into the SEC, no disrespect to You
See San Diego, great university. Let's just say the atmosphere
is a little bit different at their games than it
is in the box or wherever we're talking about in
the sec.
Speaker 4: How impressive has it been for you?
Speaker 3: Because he always feels like he is in the moment,
ready for the moment and nothing gets him off his line.
And just from where he was to where he is,
that shouldn't be the case, but it is.
Speaker 6: Yeah, super impressive. He's had a great season. I don't
think the LSU Tigers could have asked for anything more
to this point from Anthony. And the great news is
he's only getting better as we're going along in the season.
And yeah, it's one of those things like Eric Newman,
the coach at You See San Diego, is actually a
friend of.
Speaker 4: Mine, and is he still friend of yours now? Coach?
Speaker 6: I Well, I mean like here's here's the deal is
like this guy goes in the portal and then it's
like if I don't get him, he's going to Texas
or Tennessee. And so if I don't try to try
to get him, we're not doing our job. And you know,
it's just thank god he did you know, it's I
will say this about Anthony this year, and you don't
really get the portal recruiting thing in any sport, but
definitely baseball unless you're in it. I'm sure basketball is
very similar. As soon as we're done or even while
we're still going here, it's like a forty five day window.
Like if you miss either with getting the wrong guy
or not get the guy that you need, that next
season is going to be hard. And you know we
might have been able to find a way, but I'm
sure much happier with having him in that rotation. He's
an All American slam Dunkle first team All American in
my opinion, and it's been been everything that we want
and thought he would be, and maybe even a little
bit more so I'm glad you brought him up. He
deserves the credit and attention. I think he'ld be very happy,
happy come the MLB Draft, and I think a team
will be really happy. But I'm happy to roll him
out there about five more, five or six more times
for the time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3: And coach, Like all jokes aside were joking, but like
you have a friend that's coaching out there, and if
a player is in the portal, obviously you have to
do your due diligence, but you know, it is a
little bit like speed dating because like you don't get
a chance to know the player like you did in
high school recruiting. So I'm sure it is valuable though,
like if a player isn't a portal to have somebody
that you trust when you ask your opinion of a player.
Speaker 6: Yeah, no doubt. And it was. It was kind of
an odd situation. I've told this story before. I was
up at the Cape Cod League. I think I was
going to meet with Chris Stanfield, like he'd already gone
in the portal, and then I just happened to go
to his game and Anthony was pitching against his team,
and I was like, holy cow, this guy looks pretty good.
And then I looked at it and I was like, wow,
great for you see San Diego. And I put this
thing back in my pocket. And then when he actually
went in the portal, I'd forgotten his name by that time, honestly,
and then I was like, hey, who is iron said,
when like somebody from Pro Baseball told me he was
going in the portal, and then they said, you see
San Diego, and I was like, oh my god, like,
we better get on this. And then getting on the
phone with him for the first time and just talking
to him, It's like I got a pretty good feeling
about what this dude's all about just as a person.
And then when we brought him on the visit, it
was like, Okay, we have to close this thing. You know.
It was like the movie The Boiler Room, you know
what I mean, Like we have to get this guy
like on board. And yeah, I mean, it's good to
have good resources across the country. The California thing has
obviously really helped us here, you know, with Paul Skins,
her jump Anthony obviously Riley Cooper had played for me.
But yeah, it's kind of cool that the pitching kind
of pipeline from the West making its way to LSU
has been been pretty good.
Speaker 4: For the Tigers, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3: Look as you know, you and I both we spend
time on the West Coast.
Speaker 4: We're now here in Baton Rouge.
Speaker 3: Let's just continue to bring more and more and more,
caulse it's certainly been a nice pipeline for LSU.
Speaker 4: Just like you said, Coach, so hey, you're the man.
Speaker 3: I know today you're trying to get ready for either
of the Auburn Tigers or Texas A and M. We
owe both those teams, so it doesn't matter which one
LSU plays. Looking forward to watching the team play in Hoover, coach,
and we appreciate the time as always.
Speaker 6: You got it, have a great day.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 3: There he is LSU head baseball coach Jay Johnson, always
always good enough to join us here weekly on OTB.
All right, we'll step away one final time here in
our number two. We still got munchies with chef Michael
Johnson at nine to fifteen. A lot still come in
your way, so stay locked into one O four to
five ESPN bet.
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Speaker 1: This is off the bench.
Speaker 3: She got done on the land confession.
Speaker 4: All right, welcome back in TB.
Speaker 3: She got over the l Shue Baseball coach Jay Johnson
is going to have Hunt come in at nine o'clock
kind of break down the SEC Baseball tournament to this
point and what to look forward to with LSU tomorrow
even though we don't know their opponent. And also we'll
be rate him about not paying up on his five
year old bet. You've heard me and coach Jay kind
of go back and forth about you know, living in
San Diego in the West Coast, and I'll tell the
story again. I've told it one hundred times, but it
is always one that look, I'll never forget because like
he impressed me so much. During the NFL lockout, we
couldn't go to our team facility for the Chargers, so
we had to work out at the University of San Diego.
We went to San Diego State a little bit, but
USD was like, very hey, use our facilities, like whatever
you need, basketball court, weight room.
Speaker 4: Field, whatever, and so we went there.
Speaker 3: Well, Jay Johnson was the assistant head coach recruiting coordinator
at the University of San Diego and like he would
have like these players working on the side, and like
he would be working and I'm like, dude, that guy's
a grinder.
Speaker 4: Like who is this dude? I mean he never stopped working.
Speaker 3: Like he was always doing something either on the field,
on the phone, whatever it was. And so like I
find out his name, I talk with him a little bit,
and you know, you kind of forget. And he was
there past, like I was in Denver. He was still there.
But I remember he got his first head coaching job
at Nevada. I'm like, oh, cool, man, that's that coach
that I caught up with in the weight room when
we were at USD. And then like followed his career
and he goes to Arizona he started having all this
success and so, like if you go back and listen
to Whenel she was trying to find a replacement for
Paul menary Man, I was like, please let them interview
Jay Johnson. I honestly didn't think it was going to happen.
He's a West Coast guy. They're gonna get somebody who's
got SEC ties, and I am so.
Speaker 4: Glad that they did.
Speaker 3: They brought him in and now he's won a national championship.
His overall record in three seasons is one, thirty seven
and sixty two. So certainly, you know, appreciate coach coach
J Johnson not only for ways on the field, but
coming on with us every single week as well. So
looking forward to breaking down the Tigers in the SEC tournament.
This is somebody man that you knew, like even as
an assistant, he was going to be a good one,
and love the way he attacks every single game.
Speaker 4: He said it there they're going to do that.
Speaker 3: They're going to be smart about it as well, So
we'll see, we'll see what the pitch counts are. Wants
to keep everybody obviously like on a normal ish kind
of schedule. So I'm look, I'm sure Hunt's already like
figured it all out. He's got the math all done
and ready to go. So again, we'll catch up with
Hunt when we come back. We still got chef Michael
Johnson as well. Stay locked in. It is OTB here on.
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