Speaker 1: Sports on k od O Probo k U D d
h D two one oh three, nine ninety ninety eight three, ESPN,
The Van stream Us Live on ESPN, Thevan dot Com.
The clackness of marches right around the corner, and the
Cougars are in the middle of it. It's time to
talk some college basketball on Cougar Sports with Ben Cripton.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Bankrugar Sports one of three, nine ninety eight
point three ESPN The Fan. I'm Betfittal broadcasting from Lar
vander Walt Studios, vanderwaltht dot com. Get all that free
Q and A no obligation to invest Q and a
with our tax Martwalt Advisors sort of five financial planners.
Nobody does it better than vander Wealth and he stop
for a little college basketball on Cougar Sports, recapping the
b a Man's basketball's season and also talking about all
these McDonald's All Americans that have come through BYU and
the story behind it. I said earlier this week, I mean,
you always had six McDonald's All Americans in their illustrious history,
and I'm like, dude, in the nil transportal era, these
guys need to be getting all you can eat, uh,
year round. McDonald's given to them for becoming in a
McDonald's at least like one item on the menu where
they can go by any time and they themselves they
can pick up a free one, a little free by,
a mcflurry, a fry, an egg, McMuffin, a mcgriddle right
their their health staff doesn't banish. I mean, all I'm
saying is, you know, and maybe this is a catalyst
for change within the McDonald's menu to make it a
little bit more healthy, to make us athletes more strong,
right isn't that you gotta nurse and strengthen the body,
and you know McDonald's hasn't always done that.
Speaker 3: Let's be honest.
Speaker 2: I mean the fast food, you know, realm of things
is not always the healthiest and doesn't always make you
the strongest.
Speaker 3: But uh, I do want to talk about that.
Speaker 2: We've had six six McDonald's all Americans and BAU basketball.
He's we got one of those guys on the line
right now. We're gonna welcome him in. It's to be
brought to you by our good friends over at Dental
pros of Utah Dental prosof Utah dot com. If you've
been told you need a filling, a crown, a rooking out.
All I'm asking you to do is get a second
opinion at Dental Pros of Utah and American Fork. They
utilize the best biolometic techniques. These are minimally invasive techniques
to rebuild your teeth layer by layers. Het don't have
to settle for fake teeth later on in life. All
I'm asking you to do is to choose Dental pros
of Utah. Gimme the role, give them a shot, let
him educate you on bioometics. That's Dental Pros of Utah
Dental Prosofutah dot com. All right, let's get out to
the hotline. Welcome in McDonald's All Americans. Six foot eight
ballers shot collar out of Brighton High School in Salt
Lake City. We got number forty one. Garner meets on
the line. Garner, how that car are.
Speaker 3: You, buddy?
Speaker 4: I'm good? How are you doing? Man?
Speaker 3: Living the dream? Man living the dream.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you showing up, showing out for us today. How
does it feel to be one of six McDonald's All
Americans in BOE basketball history?
Speaker 3: Got Garner?
Speaker 4: You know it's kind of surreal. It's been twenty six years,
but whenever I see these lists come out, specially these
last two years with AJ and now Branch, it's a
guy and I see those and I see my name
on there, and I kind of think of that Sesame
Street song that you know, which one of these is
not like the others, but but still just an honor
and and it was a great experience, you know, when
I was a young kid to have that opportunity.
Speaker 2: So it's great, yes, indeed, Like, did you get anything
for being a McDonald's All American or was it just
like give us some of the perks of being at
McDonald's All American back in the day.
Speaker 4: All right, so back they to your to your earlier point.
We did get a little send off party at the
kind of local McDonald's of your choice, So that was
one of the things. And during the kind of week
long festivities, you had the opportunity they did a banquet
and they present you with a McDonald's All American ring.
I don't know if they still do that, but that
sits in, you know, my office proudly displayed, and that
was presented to us that year by John Wooden, which
was truthfully kind of one of the highlights TIA that
week was to meet and interact with him, you know,
the coach.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the greatest coach all time, John would What was
that experience? Like articulate that for us?
Speaker 4: You know, he talked to you know, there's a banquet
with the families and there was all the players from
both East and the West team. And you know the
thing about Coach Wooden was it wasn't just about basketball
with him and when he got up and he spoke
and it was about life. It was about the life
lessons that you can learn through basketball, and that that
was kind of part of his winning formula. I just
always stuck with me, and you know, ever since then,
i'd you know, be kind of kind of a student
of Coach Woulden, read a lot of his books, and
you know, I just think he is, like you said,
probably the greatest coach arguably of all time in college sports. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Truly a remarkable human on and off the court, did
it the right way. He had a lot of time
though that he brought in to UCO. You know, and
you know, I mean there's plenty of talent.
Speaker 3: Man. It's hard to lose when you have so much talent.
Speaker 2: Like that, but definitely the greatest coach all time in
basketball history. So when you look at like these, we
had kind of the glory days of like the eighties
and seventies when we had a bunch of McDonald's All Americans,
and then you're smack in the middle right like, hey,
you're a McDonald's All American. And there was kind of
like a revitalization in the Steve Cleveland era. It was
like a rebuild mode where we were getting back to
the NCAA tournament. You were a big part of that.
And now we're in the modern era you're seeing aj
and Bruce Branch. The third is this kind of an
awakening if you will? Is this a re I mean,
this is a new era of BAU basketball. This could
be the glory days back at it. You know, just
going into like the seventies and eighties, those elite eight
runs with Danny Age, et cetera, with all these McDonald's
All Americans that bring in it. Give me your prognostication
and projection on how BYU basketball is going to be
turned out in the years to come.
Speaker 4: Well, look, I certainly love what Kevin's done. He's helped
raise the profile of the program, and I think he's
showing a light on on what BYU has to offer,
not just his basketball program, but as a community, as
a school. And you know, the institution itself and kind
of what it stands for. And I think you know,
AJ and some of these others, I think they see that.
I think that they realize that you come to BYU
and if you embrace BOU for what it is, you'll
be embraced back by millions of people and you're going
to have their support and their fandom. And not only that,
but you've got a great coaching staff that can give
you the skills that you need. And we're now in
a conference that's going to facilitate, you know, that kind
of a profile that the top players are looking for.
So my hope is it does continue and that this
just becomes kind of a landing place for a lot
of the top talent. I think it's got that potential.
Speaker 2: Yeah, give me an eval of what you saw this year.
What did you like and what did you dislike? What
would you like to improve upon?
Speaker 4: Uh? Yeah, you know one watching Aj, I mean that
was a generational type performance that we saw from him.
I loved watching his personal development from the beginning of
the year to the end where he really kind of
became a leader of the team, and some of the
individual efforts he put up were just some for the ages,
So it was fun to be able to watch that.
I'd love, obviously to see us as avoid the injury
bug like we did this year. I think with Richie
and Dawson in the lineup, we would have probably had
a much different outcome at the end. So that one's
hard and one that I'm certainly sensitive too. I struggled
with injuries for the vast majority of my career, so
that can be a tough one and it can certainly
affect the chemistry of the team and the confidence of
the team too, especially when you lose a leader like Richie,
so you know, staying healthy, maybe a little bit more
depth in that six seven kind of two or three
guys coming off the bench. I'd love to see us
shoot more consistently from outside the arc. Some of the
most you know, dangerous BYU teams have been that dual
threat where you've got the ability to tack the room,
but you're also just assassins from the outside. I didn't
feel like we had quite that much of a threat
beyond the arc this year, So I think, as you're
filling in the gaps, that would be what I would
be focusing on. But you know, Kevin knows this game
far better than I do, so I'll leave it to him.
Speaker 2: Well, you have pro style, you of collegiate style basketball,
and look, these guys are coming to Bay because they
want to be prepped for the NBA and maximize their
earning potential in the NBA and be able to make
that transition in the NBA.
Speaker 3: Yegor Deming did it right.
Speaker 2: You saw yeg Or have his ups and downs as
a basketball player at b YU. It was a pro
Scott scheme. He looked really good actually in the NCAA
tournament and then transition into the NBA, became one of
the best three point shooters in the NBA, one of
the best rookies in the NBA. So AJ's going to
do the same thing and he's probably going to be
on his way to winning an NBA championship depending on
where he ends up. Right, But the offense became stagnant
at times and it was ugly at times. That ball
got sticky in that high pick and roll situation. Is
there a balance right between pro style half court sets,
pro style offense, and just getting like higher percentage shots
that aren't so forced and aren't so contested, and that
Aj had to dribble like, yeah, like fifteen twenty dribbles
just to get a shot up, and it'd be nice
to get a few easy buckets for him as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would hope that there's a balance. I mean,
I think the goals, Yes, I understand for these players.
We want to provide a platform that, like said, will
attract the best players, and that means that you're going
to prepare them for the next level. But I think,
you know, I read some of that. I can't remember
if it was coach Young that said this, but basketballs
for the fans, and you want to see wins, and
so if there needs to be an adjustment to facilitate
kind of the college style basketball and to get the
wins when they count, then I'm all for that, and
I think it would actually really be a good thing
for the players in the program and fans all together.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I'm just looking a little bit at these
these recruits that buy is bringing in for the next year,
specifically Bruce Branch that we've been talking about but also
Dean Rooker both play the same position, both can shoot
the three really well. You know what it's like to
come into BYU as a heralded recruit. What kind of
pressure are those two facing coming into BYU. Do you
expect big things from a guy like Dean Rooker who's
a local guy, but he's the four star versus the
five star Bruce Branch?
Speaker 3: What's that like?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think I definitely had a little
different experience coming in with the spotlight, and there is
pressure that comes with that. I think coaches have to
actively manage that. These are young kids, you know, and
and and I think though that there's there's also something
to be said for just having good internal competition on
the team, where nothing's given, everything's earned, and just keeping
people hungry. So I don't actually my hope is that
Dean and and Branch will we'll be able to play
off each other, that they'll actually drive each other to
be better, and that we'll see and get more out
of them as a result of that. And I think
if you can keep that at a healthy level, it
can benefit a team, and they can actually help each
other transition into the college game and in the next level.
Speaker 2: Garner meets former b YU great ball or shot collar
here on your Utah ESPN Radio network talking to some
BYU basketball and what the future looks like for BAU
basketball in this nil transfer portal world in which we're
living in. Right, you look at the teams you played
in and like, you know, you're like, like, what would.
Speaker 3: Have happened year over year?
Speaker 2: Right, Like, let's talk about like how it would set
you up for your your future? Right, And you had
a great you had a great career oviity, you had
some injuries, et cetera. And you guys want a lot
of basketball games and uh, the education of your cd
W with phenomenal. But like, what do you think an
additional million dollars would have done for you? Would it
have ruined Garner meads when it had upended you know,
the work ethic, the blue collar nature of you and
your trajectory as a as a great holistic, well rounded
human being, or would have been a benefit to you
to maybe solidify yourself in the in the corporate world,
et cetera.
Speaker 4: Oh, that's a that's a good question. And my wife
and I we we do laugh sometimes kind of in
our more candid moments and be like, man, what it
would have been like?
Speaker 2: You know, you would have upgraded to a town home
rather than that one bedroom apartment.
Speaker 4: Huh yeah, I mean we lived in a basement apartment,
no natural light coming through the windows. I mean it
was and I you know, I thought we were rich
and I had like maybe five or six grand in
my bank account. I mean, I maybe it would have
ruined me. I don't know. I would have, you know,
made some pretty poor financial decisions. But uh so it's
hard to go back and say I had done it
any differently because I've got a good life. I've been blessed,
and the opportunities that came my way when they came
were I think narrowly tailored for me and the experiences
I need to have. But I hope these young student
athletes that are have good advisors, and that's the thing
that changes, is you're really the team you have to
build around these kids, I think has to be more sophisticated,
and I think they need to protect them in a
way from people who would take advantage of them, and
in ways that you know would be pretty easy when
you've got young kids that trust people probably more than
they should in some instances, and you know, you watch AJ,
he's very polished, and I think that he's had kind
of that infrastructure around him. But I know there's a
lot of others and athletes that don't, And those are
the ones I worry about more than than like the
AJ's and the branches of the world.
Speaker 2: I was talking about the glory days, right, and we're
getting into a new new glory days, if you will.
Money people would say kind of like from seventy eight
through probably like the mid nineties when Frank Arnold, Ladell,
Anderson Rogerie, they were coaching up these BYU Cougars when
you were growing up, right, Like they were going to
NCAA tournaments pretty much every year. It seemed that way
they get, you know, second round games they'd get into.
They got into an Elite eight in the eighties, second round,
first round, second round, first round. There was a lot
of first round one and dons, et cetera. But like
when you were getting recruited, it was a rebuild. Steve
Cleveland had taken over to ninety seven ninety eight in
your high school heyday, when you were becoming a McDonald's
All American. They went nine to twenty one, twelve and sixteen,
and then twenty two and eleven, And you decided to
come to BYU at that time? Why as a McDonald's
all American getting recruited by freaking everybody in the country,
why by you at that time?
Speaker 4: It's a great question. I give asked that a lot.
And you know, I had narrowed down my schools to
really Stanford, Utah, and by U, and you would call,
you know, Stanford had just kind of come off the
Mark Madison years had some really good runs into the
final four, and Utah had the Britton Johnson's, the Alex
Jensen's and I mean they had Hano Metalas and they'd
been coming off what was really kind of a generational
run for them as well. And as I looked at
the coaches, you know, there were rumors that Mike Montgomery
was gonna mention jump to the NBA. Rickma Jerris's health
wasn't great, and I was finding on serving inn LBL
to listen. And part of my concern was continuity. I
didn't I didn't necessarily know who I would be playing
for in those instances. And that's coming from a kid
who look my parents are both University of Utah graduates.
My dad went to medical school there. He actually played
on the JV basketball team for year when they still
had that at university, and you know, my mom did
her nursing there. So I was kind of raised the
Utah guy, but you know, had a few experiences Rick
that kind of also showed me like that he could
be a difficult guy to play for too, and I
wasn't sure I wanted that experience, and and then I'd
be I'd be a miss if I didn't acknowledge the
role that Jeff Judkins played. You know, Juddy was at
one point in time, I think Rick's first assistant, and
you know, through a variety of different things that kind
of went down there, he ended up at BYU as
a director of basketball operations for the men's team, and
Juddy was on each staff. You know, at least back then,
it kind of seemed like they would they kind of
feel what kind of what coach connected with the players
that they were recruiting the most. And Juddy and I
had a pretty good connection, and so UTA had kind
of signed him to be my point of contact through
the recruiting process. And Judge's story stayed consistent the whole
time he's recruiting me, even when he went down to
b YU, and that was, Hey, Rick can make him
a really great basketball player. It's hard to play for
he said at times. And but he says, I'll oversee
your personal development. And he says, and I'll do. I'll
give you the same attention I gave Van Horn and
Hanno and and Doliac. And that was a commitment that
I meant a lot to me from jud And so
when Jed went down to BYU, I remember we went
and got breakfast one morning. He says, well, Jed, what's
the story now? I assume it's going to change and
he says, no, Rick can still make him to a
really great basketball player. He says, but but you still
have my commitment that I'll I'll devote you know, the
time and the energy into your personal skill development you
need to become a great player.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 4: The irony there and all of that is my My
fear about going to Utah and Stanford was in part
the coaching continuity and whether I actually played for the
coaches I committed to. And when I got back from
my mission, jud took the women's head jobs. So I
never actually really got to too much for it said.
And that's not to take anything away from from Steve
and his staff too, because you know, I admired coach Cleveland.
I thought he came in and had a really tall
order uh and and did a lot to bring the
program back to where it was competitive and was a
place where you know, you could recruit good players too. Again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's an increge intriguing storyline. Jutty's uh, I mean,
he's one of my favorite interviews. It's funny you mentioned
Jutty because I think, like my brother in law, Jake
told me a number of times, like you know, Jetty
was pretty integral in his like recruitment too, and ending
up at by U after his mission after playing at
Weaver State, and and then Jetty jumped over to obviously
the women's side of things, but.
Speaker 3: He like he loved, he loved Jutty, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2: And and uh, I always wondered like if Juddy you know,
would have continued to uh, you know, to coach on
the men's side.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he wanted to coach.
Speaker 2: He didn't want to be over ops, right, Like he
didn't want he wanted to be coaching guys. But they
had a pretty good coaching staff. You look at that
that crew, uh of Dave Rose obviously who became the
goat of BAU men's basketball, Steve Cleveland. They had Dave
Rice I think was on that staff. Juddy was on
that staff with Ops. You keep that staff together, man,
you doing some special things.
Speaker 3: I know Cleveland elsewhere and Dave took over.
Speaker 2: But had he just maybe written it out a little bit,
I wonder if he would have been kind of an
assistant head coach under Dave during that time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean maybe in an alternative universe, that would
have been, you know, a really intriguing staff. And when
I love Dave, I if my body had permitted me to,
I would have loved to continue playing and finishing out
my eligibillionunder him to the style of play. And then
if you bring in like a Jenkins into that men's staff,
I mean, that would have been a powerhouse staff for sure.
And you're talking about two of the best humans in
the world too, not just their basketball IQ, but you know,
I just have unlimited amounts of respect for for Rose
and Judkins. Seriously, two of my basketball heroes.
Speaker 2: What were some of the injuries that you sustained, and
like what advice would you give to not only your
your younger self, but to those young basketball players that
are trying to stay healthy while getting it like maximum
reps and development, et cetera. Things that you learned, golden
rules that you maybe learned through the process.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I had this. I kind of had
this mentality of like just push, push, push, and I
think I wasn't as good at recovering or realizing when
I was potentially doing more damage than than good in
terms of like keeping myself on the on the floor.
And you know, when I came back from so serving
the mission, I just I was kind of just gung ho.
I wanted to go on the team was going to
Australia that summer, and I wanted to be in shape
where I could go play when we went to Australia
and really hit the gym hard. And I will say this,
I think the training techniques and regiments have changed. I
felt like when I came home, they trained me like
I was a linebacker.
Speaker 2: Well, you did like working out with Justin and like
putting four thousand pounds on the straight bar and squatting.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I didn't. Actually, and I bulked up. I
mean I was like six percent body fat, two hundred
and forty eight pounds. But I think I lost some
of my agility and traded that for strength. And so
I think, you know, I would have trained a lot
different going back, and I would have probably allowed myself
more time before I really started pushing it hard, because
oh yeah, knowing what I know now about how muscle
and soft tissue works, you know, the muscle can get strong,
but the tens and other things and the injury that
really kind of people ask me, alltency, what was your career?
Describe your career at Baun said, it felt like a
false start. Yeah, And part of it was because immediately
after I got them from the mission, I developed tears
and the abdominal muscles right where they attached to the
pelvic bone.
Speaker 3: And you had like an cubist type of deal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and sports hernia, yeah, kind of like sports hernia
type stuff. And that had you.
Speaker 3: Had any entries in high school at all?
Speaker 2: Garner, Sorry, I hate to cut you off, but did
you have any Did you have any Andrews high school?
Speaker 4: I did. I had a floating bone fragment in my
left knee underneath my pateel attendant. That kind of was problematic.
So I did have that operated on at the end
of my high school that had largely but time I
go for my mission, I wasn't an issue anymore. But
he was fine. But it was this abdominal kind of thing,
and this was a injury. It was really hard to
diagnose at the time that there wasn't very many people in
Utah that were trained to pick up on it. So
when I went into the training staff and it really
got bad in Australia and when I came back, they
just said, oh, it looks like you've got an abdominal strain.
Let's just treat you with some pretty heavy duty anti
inflammatories and then we'll inject you a cortizone as needed.
So I took quartersone injections over the course of my
freshman year. And I remember when the last injection wore off.
It was about two weeks after he played Syracuse in
the and Sibley Tournaments. Ending in line at an Albertson's
there Off University and had two gallons of milk in
my hands and I sneezed and like it felt like
two daggers in my stomach and I dropped. I literally
dropped my knees, dropped the cartons of milk, and was
just sitting there. I think people thought I was having
a medical emergency, and I knew at that point, I
was like, this is more serious than just a chronic strain.
And that's when we went and finally did some memorized
and specialized tests and I flew out to Philadelphia where
I actually had a complete abdominal reconstruction done, and that
just I just never fully recover from that. And then
I tried to come back and play my sophomore year.
I had all sorts of complications where I developed structures
and other muscles that raven over compensate. Tore my quad
muscle that year, and it just became a kind of
this cascading thing where I needed to rest and needed
to give my body a break. And unfortunately, at that point,
when you're on a clock with the withncatively eligibility, the
writing was on the wall, and my wife and I
decided at that point it was time to figure out
what was actually going to put food on the table
for our family and focus on that.
Speaker 2: It's really interesting, like like you're explaining these things. So
I had a sports hernia as well, you know, coming
off a mission, I had gotten bigger, faster, stronger, and
like it essentially ripped up my adductors and lower abs,
and I was able to luckily treat it conservatively through
like about a year of like rehab, like where I
was doing a ton of like isometrics, we were doing
like focal red light modalities, ultrasound, we did like diathermi.
I mean, who knows, you know, you know all I
was throwing everything out we did. Like at that time,
they started implement a stem and grasped in tools, so
they were like literally like scraping my abs and my
adductors to try to like create fibronic tissue overlay and things. Man,
it was it was pretty tough, man. So I know
exactly what you were going through, and yours was probably
even more more devastating than mine. So, uh man, I
wish I would have been that for you, bro, and
I got you hooked up at the pros. I would
have had some nice compression wear for you. I know
how to treat that now, Bro, I know how to
get after it and get guys out back on the court.
Speaker 3: Get them back on the field.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you do. And you've been great over the years,
even since my playing Kurds because I still tend to
push it a little harder than I show the time.
Speaker 3: He does.
Speaker 2: Well, Gonner, always love and appreciate your time and talking
some ball with us today.
Speaker 3: Thanks for hopping on to talk some college basketball BYU.
Speaker 2: And I know you're on vacation right now, so stay
safe out there or enjoy your time, big cougar or
do you appreciate your time as always?
Speaker 4: Brother, appreciate it? Thanks Ben. Likewise, there go.
Speaker 2: That's Garner Mead so one of the McDonald's All Americans
in BYU basketball history, one of six baller shot collar
and that segment was brought to you by Dental pros
of Utah dentalprosovieuta dot com. If you've been told you
need a filling a ground and root can now get
a second opinion at Dental prose of Utah. In American Fork,
they utilize the best biommedic techniques. Hues are minimally invasive
techniques to rebuild your teeth layer by layer. See don't
have to settle for the fake teeth later on in life.
Choose dental pros. Coming up next, we're gonna talk twelve
personnel with a former BYU tied End who was his
you know, his lightning to the thunder or vice versa
in his twelve personnel sets. We're gonna have it again
rogersilipot dot com.
Speaker 1: If you're looking for spin, try a press release if
you want that true you're listening to it on one O,
three nine and ninety eight three ESPN.
Speaker 3: The Fan.
Speaker 1: Time for Keeping Up with the Cougars, brought to you
by Odeon Men's proudly outfitting young professionals, young adults, boys
and missionaries across the globe with quality suits and apparel.
Find a location near you or Odeonmenswear dot com.
Speaker 2: Welcome back Cougar Sports. One of three nine ninety eight
point three ESPN The Fan. I'm been crinal broadcasting from
our Bantererwilth Studios. Banderwealth dot com. Get on that free
Q and A, no obligation to invest Q and A
with our tax more wealth advisors, our certified financial planners.
Nobody does it better than Blaine Anderson and his crew
at Vanderwealth. Banderwealth dot com. We're gonna get into a
keeping up with the cougar segment. A young man that's
gonna be playing in the alumni game. I stay young.
He's still young in spry, still's got a little bit
bit of bigger and vim. He's still a good athlete,
still got some proper quick twitch, fast twitch muscle fiber.
He's gonna be balling out for the Brigham Young University
fans at the alumni game.
Speaker 6: Hole.
Speaker 2: He stays warm and toasty. We do have a cold
front that he's uh has that he's upon.
Speaker 3: Us here, and we do have precipitation.
Speaker 2: But we've had this before, and this man has played
in many games up in Cash Valley, Cash Money in
the inclement weather, so he's no stranger to it. Let's
welcome in one of the best tight ends BA football history.
We got Moroni Laulu Putu Tao MLP.
Speaker 3: What's up? Bro?
Speaker 6: What's can you hear me?
Speaker 3: You feel? Hey? Loud and clear?
Speaker 4: Bro?
Speaker 6: You sound that's quite the introduction?
Speaker 3: So what like? That's an easy peasy one.
Speaker 6: Bro.
Speaker 3: That ain't that? Ain't that ain't nothing? My friend?
Speaker 6: I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean one of the reasons why I like MLP
is because he was like he was a defensive back
and a wide receiver in high school and then converted
to the tight end room.
Speaker 6: That's right, Yeah, played both ways.
Speaker 7: I think I first got on the radar was Nick Howell,
the defensive coordinator.
Speaker 2: Nick is the one that found you found. Yeah, so,
and what was his pitch to you at the time.
There's no pitch, there's no pitch. It was just hey,
we love you, athlete. I think at the time he
just got guys like Alani Fua, you know.
Speaker 7: So I think he first initially was looking at me
and was like, we could do a lot with the frame.
Speaker 3: And then so he was looking at defense first.
Speaker 6: He's looking at defense first. Yeah.
Speaker 7: I mean I first got on the field as a
sophomore as a corner. I didn't start as receivers in
high school high school, so I started as a corner
and that's where I got all my PT and then
and then I'd rotate a little bit here and there receiver.
Speaker 3: But so you're like, what six two at the time?
Speaker 6: Six three one the twig?
Speaker 3: Oh man, that's great though, man.
Speaker 6: Kind of jarring to look at when I go back
and look at the film. Yeah, yeah, I was until
but yeah.
Speaker 3: It's great.
Speaker 2: It's pretty crazy. Did you play multiple sports though? Were
you more than a.
Speaker 3: Football, basketball, track, football? Yeah, we're kind of getting out
of the air of like multi sport athletes. That's interesting.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: How do you feel about it?
Speaker 2: Like when you're like, you know, cause you have, you
got some boys, you got some kiddo's coming on that.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's still ways away.
Speaker 2: From specializing obviously, but are you gonna kind of make
them like you gotta play all the sports?
Speaker 7: I'm going to try and prolong multiple sports as long
as I can. Yeah too, And that that's kind of
my thought process. I mean I have three boys, yep.
So they're already in like some Muay Thai, mixed martial arts,
they've done some gymnast.
Speaker 3: Because you've been doing some way Thai Yeah yeah.
Speaker 7: Yeah, And and I mean they're young, but I can
already see like they're figuring out their bodies, and I
want to keep that as long as possible.
Speaker 6: I think I think it'll help in the long run.
Speaker 3: That's great names and ages.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I got three so Maroni, junior A, Malachi and
Gid So yes, they're all they're.
Speaker 6: All booking more renees. They keep it in the six
four and two are the ages?
Speaker 3: Man? Ye wait, wait, you're Malachi is four.
Speaker 6: Malachi's four?
Speaker 3: Okay, so my Malachi is four and a half. So
you know, we gotta get begin there. A little Malakai,
A little do you call Kai Kai? I think it'll come.
Speaker 6: I mean, friends will probably give him your nickname.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeh yeah it is long. Yeah, but you guys
go on Malacha. Yeah, it's a beautiful name, man, beautiful name,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 3: What convinced you? Who convinced you to play in the
alumni game this year?
Speaker 6: Jack?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Jackson out there back? He said, who's ready to running back?
I enjoyed it. Last year was my first year.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I really enjoyed it, seeing all the guys and
getting back on the field.
Speaker 6: It was fun.
Speaker 7: So and we're coming from Boise Eagle, Idaho area, so
it's kind of becoming a trip, a fun little thing
to look forward to.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I know, you guys made the move up there. I
want to say a couple of years ago, about three
years now, and you were you were in the kind
of the real estate development world. Is what you were
looking at and what you were you were getting into.
I want to say even five years ago, and uh so,
how's the move been and gives a little update on
the corporate world that you're living in.
Speaker 7: Yeah, the move's been awesome. It's been really good for
our family. We love the area that's been It's been
great for us, super good fit. I think it's funny
because myself included, you think of Idaho and it's like
all you think of is East Idaho, like Rex meurt
like that's everyone's perception of Idaho. And so when we
got to you know, the West side, it's completely different,
different vibe, different climate, different everything.
Speaker 6: So we've enjoyed it.
Speaker 7: I'm still in the space, so I'm still in the
real estate development space, specifically land development. I have a
civil engineering side to my company now, so we just
help other developers or landowners develop land so kind of
manage the development process for them.
Speaker 6: And it's been fun. I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2: Naming the company and how can they follow you? Connect
with you on LinkedIn, et cetera.
Speaker 7: Yeah, LinkedIn just my name and then our company's SD Group.
So we're a land development management and civil engineering firm.
Speaker 6: And yeah, it's been good.
Speaker 7: We're we're pretty much all in Idaho now. Treasure Valley,
just trying to stay in my backyard. And we're small,
we're still new, we're still it's a startup, growing and
building to building and still alive, still in it.
Speaker 3: So love it, man, Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2: And then you've been doing some moy Thai. Then somebody decided, like,
did you do any MMA stuff prior to But that's.
Speaker 6: Something I always wish I could have done.
Speaker 7: I think a lot of athletes, especially for wall players,
think the same thing.
Speaker 6: You just can't really get in there.
Speaker 2: I learned the guard in arm barring from my brother
when I was like twelve, because he had gotten into
it so luckily with brothers like you're like and that
he they like like the octagon and like some of
the MMA stuff.
Speaker 3: It was just coming.
Speaker 2: About right, Like it's true, it's still fairly Hoyce Gracie.
Like I knew all like the names of like these individuals,
like so the the the og.
Speaker 3: Jiu jitsu world, Yeah, that's the jiu jitsu world.
Speaker 2: And then but you had some really good moy Thai
guys and boxers and like wrestlers, you know, and Ken
Shamrock and like all these guys that were uh just jacked.
Speaker 6: Yeah, like you know a lot of regulations.
Speaker 3: No, no regulation jack. Man.
Speaker 2: That's some tr t if I've ever seen any anyway.
But yeah, dude, I was. It was something that I
was kind of taught a little bit. I mean, you
grew up with so many brothers, you grew up in
the big family too. It's like you kind of get
into some scuffles.
Speaker 7: Yeah, some stuff you learned a little bit able to
actually get in there and learn it. I mean, I'm
six years out now from from playing, and about last
year I got that itch that I was like, man,
I need something competitive, yes, and pickleball is just not doing.
Speaker 3: It for me, don't you know what I mean, Like, people.
Speaker 7: Don't like playing with me. It's like, dude, it's not
that serious. I'm like, I'm sorry, this is in my DNA.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 6: And so I tried it and I just fell in
love with it.
Speaker 3: Dude.
Speaker 7: I'm like, oh, this gives me that this scratches that
itch that football gave me. And it's competitive and it's
something my joy keeps me shape, gives me something to
work out for. It's hard to just work out for nothing,
at least for me.
Speaker 6: Unless I have it.
Speaker 7: No, Yeah, so I'm like, oh, I got a fight
coming up where I got something to Yeah, it's been good.
Speaker 6: I love it.
Speaker 3: That's awesome.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well Ben bo is like a you know, a
bare knuckle boxer.
Speaker 3: Don't ever do that. That's crazy.
Speaker 6: Shape enjoy it, but I'm not. Yeah, gotta go home
to the wife and the kids.
Speaker 2: Well, what's interesting is, like I thought, once upon a
time we did We've done this maybe I think once
or twice where we have a rivalry like Legends boxing
matches where we pit. It'll be like a corporate sponsored
thing where like there's like corporate entities involved in it
and they're like boxing each other. But then we'll have
some premiere fights where like Riley Nelson boxed I want
to say, oh, man, who did Riley box? He boxed
the former placekicker for Utah who was like an Olympic
skier too.
Speaker 3: No, with Anowski. You look at Riley.
Speaker 2: Brian Keel boxed Bou Anderson, a former Utah linebacker.
Speaker 3: So we need to do this.
Speaker 2: You know you missed it. Oh yeah, man, you can
look it up. It was a Legends fight Andy So
he boxed Andy Fill. We should probably continue. Yeah, Oh,
it totally does because it gets a bunch of fans
out there like, oh well Utah and you know Utah
football player versus b what you football player? And you
do enough marquee fights. There are different weight groups. Yeah,
it's it's pretty good.
Speaker 4: Cool.
Speaker 2: You'd be a heavyweight heavy heavyweight, right because you're over
to a five. Right, A little bit over to who
do who do you? Who do we match you up with?
Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
Speaker 6: Not a lot of people in our class.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm trying to think who you played against during
that time, roughly in the in the in the Holy
War games.
Speaker 6: Yeah, the Holy War Let's see.
Speaker 2: I don't know, say like in my era, it would
have been like me and like Steve Taate or something
like that. You know it's like me, you know too,
two white defensive backs brawling. Yeah, and then in the
fight club, you know, I like it. Yeah, yeah, I'm
just keeping you in mind. I mean I think, uh
you know Jan Jorgensen was it was into m m
A said ye yeah, and uh so we've got some fighters.
We got some fighters in our crew. But gladhow's well
with you? Bayu football? I don't know if you've been
able to get eyes on camp Killane during spring ball.
Speaker 3: Yet did you just get here into the town?
Speaker 6: Just gone to town?
Speaker 7: I haven't been there, but yeah, keeping yeah, keeping this
stuff falling.
Speaker 2: Oh, Cody Barty, you want bron I to fight there? Cody?
Oh yeah, yeah, it'd be a good matchup.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Cody Barton. Is Cody still playing ball?
Speaker 6: Okay?
Speaker 3: Is he still playing balls? He got? I don't know,
is he Let me take a look.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm taking more MLP all day on this one, babe.
Cody's a good football player, though. What did you make
of the of the b A Cougar football season?
Speaker 3: Though?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's He's still playing in the league, so he's
probably gonna he may want to fight still, he may
you know, even be good shape. But twenty twenty five,
twelve and two almost gonna you get.
Speaker 3: To the Big twelve championship game.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is the stuff that you know, we
dreamed about NL nil money Big toal championships on the
knocking on the door of the College Football Playoff.
Speaker 3: I think were you a part of the twenty twenty team?
Speaker 7: Uh No, the twenty nineteen was technically this season, Okay.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you didn't get to be a part of
the they were kind of knocking on the door. They
were c fpff.
Speaker 6: Well, yep, No, it's been fun to watch.
Speaker 7: It's just like you said, it's every fans dream was
like that season, and yet you still have the fans
that are like complaining. You know, I'm like, this has
been the best year and arguably history.
Speaker 3: It really is. Versus the strength of schedule, it's really good.
Speaker 7: So it's so fun to watch, So fun to be
a fan again and just and just watch them do
their thing, and and also see Kilane like because I
was his first year twenty sixteen, twenty sixteen, Yeah, it
was my sophomore year.
Speaker 3: Great year, by the way, Yeah.
Speaker 6: It's a great year.
Speaker 7: And so it just to see how the culture's grown
and the team he's built around them and how dialed
in they are. There's a lot of momentum velocity and
you can see it on the field, you can hear
it from the players.
Speaker 6: So it's been fun to watch.
Speaker 5: Yeah, how have you seen Kilane change and evolve over
time since that first year because obviously, like you're around
him that year. Yeah, like what has what has grown
in Kilani's coaching philosophy since then that you've seen.
Speaker 6: I think the main thing was culture.
Speaker 7: I think I mean any coach, right, they're trying to
figure out who their team is, what their culture is.
And then also how that's actually practically implemented, right, how
the schedule looks, how the systems within the team work,
how your leadership operation works within the team, right, how
do you want to operate as a coach or you
kind of more hands on and more hands off, or
you player led. And so I think at the beginning
it was it was interesting because every year we felt
something different, like we felt him tweaking something. Oh, we're
moving more and more towards the leadership roles of the players,
more and more into the love and learning culture. And
it actually like you could see it visually as a
player from year one to the next year to the
next year. Oh, things are starting to change. Also, he
has you know, a bunch of staff changes those years,
if you remember, I mean there's a new OC every year.
Speaker 6: So that's one of the big things.
Speaker 7: Him finding his people too, right, and and and dialing
that in and.
Speaker 6: It's just man, you can see it just dialed right now.
It's cool to watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you bring up some really interesting points. We were
talking about dynamic duos in the tight end room. I
know you started off as a wide receiver, kind of
like a slot, big big body wide receiver that could
be deemed as a flex anyway. But I saw you
some ISO, I think a couple of deep posts early
on in your career, coming down with some balls.
Speaker 3: Who who's the best? Uh? You know what?
Speaker 2: Who was the the counterparty in twelve personnel settings when
you were at BUYU?
Speaker 6: Oh it is Matt Bushman.
Speaker 2: That's a great crew MLP and a young Matt bush
that's Matt Bushman. Yeah, Matt Bushman.
Speaker 3: You guys are good together. That's a good deal.
Speaker 6: That was a fun That was a fun time because.
Speaker 2: You were more of the in line, but you could flex.
And then Matt was a flex.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I had a couple of pounds on him and
it just fit. It just worked normal that way. And
so I ran a lot of the true why positions,
although we we switched and flip flop, but if it
was twelve typically we'd say he was at the F
so he's in that like you back off offset position,
and I'd run a lot of the Y.
Speaker 6: And I loved playing with Matt because I mean you.
Speaker 7: Get people that take an eye off you to go
worry about someone else and vice versa.
Speaker 6: It just it just works.
Speaker 4: It was fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was kind of pulling up like the best
duo tight end in BYU football history, and I was like,
I was like, I'm pretty sure you crossed over with Matt,
but it wanted to make sure because like he had
some injuries as well.
Speaker 7: That's the most years I crossed over with. We had
a young Dallen Holker at the beginning. So the cool
thing about playing with Matt was it was just the
IQ right, Like we knew going in we could just
give a look or a glance and we knew, or
we could swip switch the drop of the hat in
the middle of the play and be just fine.
Speaker 6: And and so it was fun with Matt in that.
Speaker 3: Card because you had your injury in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 7: Yeah, had one in twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3: The twenty eighteen was the was that getting rolled up on?
Speaker 6: Yeah, that was Washington.
Speaker 3: In twenty seventeen was that Liz Frank.
Speaker 6: I was Liz Frank before the even the season even.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we didn't get to see that, but two
thousand yeah, twenty eighteen and nineteen yep. Yeah, ye, so
I was looking at it kind of like the stats
of Matt Bushman in twenty nineteen forty seven reception, six
hundred and eighty eight yards and four touchdowns and then
you had nine with one twenty four in a touchdown yep,
and you played in eleven games that year.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that's a good duo right there.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the year prior you had only played in
six games. But Matt, I think Matt ended up having
where was Matt at there? And as far as his receiving,
Matt led the team in receptions in twenty eighteen twenty
nine for five eleven two touchdowns and then in six
games you were trending really well too, fourteen receptions, one
twenty in a touchdown.
Speaker 6: Yeah, a good year that would have been.
Speaker 2: Actually, you play all twelve thirteen games and you know
you're at you're at almost thirty receptions and he's trending
for fifty sixty. That's a really statistically that's like where
you guys were trending at that time. Is one of
the better seasons in Buli football history from the tight
ends and that twelve personal set.
Speaker 6: It was a fun first five six games for sure.
Speaker 2: All right, sorry, I'm bringing up the pass. This is
what we do on radio. And then my knee up
blow down.
Speaker 3: To try to come.
Speaker 2: Oh it's hard, man, this game I can't. I call
football game of attrition right like it just is.
Speaker 6: It's just it's a it's all out war on the
field and physical. It's it's not for the faint of heart.
Speaker 7: And I mean, but but that's what makes it great.
That's what makes it, you know, worthwhile and makes the
memories fun to go back and look at it.
Speaker 3: No doubt you got a yeah.
Speaker 5: Well, we were talking a little bit earlier about tight
ends and running backs, and I noticed that buy us
all time. Great running backs usually have really great tight
ends to go with them, Like you know, Luke Staley
had had a couple of great ones with them, Harvey
and had Dennis Pitta, and Andrew George and and and
I mean you were with Jamal and LJ had Carson
Ryan last year. What role is or if it like,
what is the role of a tight end and how
do they how do they connect with a running back?
Do you guys help take the load off of a
running back. How does that? What's the connection?
Speaker 2: Then?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think anytime you have more weapons on the
field in general, it's gonna help everybody. Right, you just
can't focus. You can't just load the box. If you've
got tight ends that can leak out and make plays downfield,
you can't just focus on LJ or jamal right and
and things like that. I think a tight end specifically
in the run game is super underrated. I think their
impact in the run game is huge. And if you
have a tight end that can block to your point,
it makes running back shops a lot easier. You can
have an extra guy that you bring in the box
that is not also going to bring more guys than
the defensive side in the box, but actually add value
and and and affect the game in that regard.
Speaker 6: So yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 7: And running backs always love their their O line or
their tight ends, right whoever's blockings for them.
Speaker 2: So yeah, okay, I think, uh you know, I will
say that double digit wins in b YU football history
seemingly come when there are two NFL caliber tight ends.
It coincides two thousand and one, Doug Jolly Spencer need
both the NFL guys there's may be a few outliers,
right like you had, I want to say in twenty twenty,
you know you kind of had like Mason Wake in
combination with with Isaac Rex, and Isaac was on the
on the trajectory for NFL until he.
Speaker 3: Dislocated his ankle.
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty one you had you had Isaac Rex and
Dallen Holker right my era, Johnny Harlen, Dan Coats in
six and then you know, like you had like seven,
which was uh, Dennis Pitta, Andrew George so uh, Chad
Lewis Atulamealy.
Speaker 3: You just go down the list, it's like, oh the
double digits. You know, there's just so.
Speaker 7: Much you can do with tight ends, and yeah, to
that point, it just mismatches, mismatches. It helps you win
the game and just to stay unpredictable, like as you
love nothing more than knowing, oh, it's either going to
be this or that, Like I only have to regard
this if it's not that is this?
Speaker 6: So when you have the tight ends that are such
a versatile piece, Yeah, it's.
Speaker 3: Most underrated position of football.
Speaker 7: Well, I would also say one of the most difficult
I know, the corners besides quarterback. I don't bias, but
I don't think there's a harder position.
Speaker 3: To play Titan stuff. Especially you and physically you.
Speaker 7: Block every single person. Ye you're blocking a d tackle
and you're blocking a safety in a corner. You're also
running routes. You have to know the whole route tree.
You have to know all the pass pro So it's.
Speaker 2: A lot you're in space and in your stock blocks
and so you're you're you're you're matching up with some
good athletic guys in the slots.
Speaker 6: Then the next place.
Speaker 2: Yeah, then you got a down block on a Yeah,
you know you're like, holy caw, that guy's.
Speaker 7: Masterlock this three tech right now, let's go run out
of little Patrie m l P.
Speaker 2: We appreciate you hopping on and now uh message the
Cougar nation to come out and support the the the
old heads that they're gonna be playing now in the
alumni game tomorrow.
Speaker 6: Yeah, come come cheer on.
Speaker 7: The old farts are running around a little it's gonna
be cold, gonna be cool.
Speaker 2: Little trip down autographs, man, coming, get into the autographs
and let these guys really soak it up, these former
Boa greats.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, it'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 2: And connect with Moron I. If you're looking at you
know land development, hook up with him on LinkedIn. He
does great work and great stuff MLP appreciate you, man,