Speaker 1: They'll back this, so marches right around the corner and
the Cougars are in the metal level.
Speaker 2: It's time to talk some college basketball on Cougar Sports
with Ben Crittle.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to your sports one of the Green nine
ninety Fight point three ESPN the Phantom and for the
broadcasting from our Vanderwelth Studios, Batterbelt dot Com. Get on
that tree, q and a no obligation to invest QNA
with our tech smart Wealth Advisors certify financial Planners. Nobody
does it better than our good friends at Betterwealth Batterwell
dot Comedies. Time for little college basketball talking to rehash,
re and convene with former b YU rate and talk
some bou basketball to celebrate the win over the University
of Utah and more. Here on your UTI ESPN Radio Network.
Going to be brought to you by rubisn rubies in
dot com. If you want to have an experience that
you've never had before, If you want to explore the
wonder of the West, head on down to Bryce Kinnon
National Park and make sure you're staying at rubysnrubisn dot com.
You can hike, bike, razor and horseback ride through the
hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. Stay at the comfortable lodgings of
Rubies and you can get a delicious brunch, breakfast all
you can eat meal before you go out and explore
and engage in all the wonderful activities that Bryce Canyon
can provide.
Speaker 4: Don't go to the mouse.
Speaker 3: Head on down just about three and a half or
four hours away from Utah County, just southeast from here,
and explore the wonder of the West, and make sure
you stay at rubisn rubisn dot com. The general manager
Big BAYU Fan shout out to Lance Siren. He wants
all the bau fans heading down to explore the wonder
of the West.
Speaker 4: Let's get out to the hotline.
Speaker 3: Welcome and former BYU great ballers shot collar. We got JT.
Jonathan Tabnari on the line. JT for three. How the
heck are you, buddy?
Speaker 1: You know I was driving back from Phoenix. I was
in Phoenix this weekend for a sashion of the Adida
circuit for my boy. And as I drove back through
flag Staff and Page and actually drove through Bryce Canyon,
you didn't stop at I stopped at Ruby In and
I said, hey, I need to see the manager. Do
you know Ben Critter? And he said Ben who? And
I said Ben Crittle? Yes, the end, d Yu. He said,
I don't know who Ben Crittle is, but I know
who Jonathan Tabernari is.
Speaker 4: Who was this man? Who was this manager you speak of?
What is his name? I need to go reintroduce myself.
Speaker 1: Half of that story is true. I'm gonna leave. I'm
gonna let you decide which part has not. Ben.
Speaker 4: Did you really stop by Rubies though? Did you stop
by Bryce?
Speaker 1: I did drive by Bryce, but I did not stop
at Ruby's.
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, Well, dude, you gotta let me know
when you when you want.
Speaker 4: To head down there with the fam. We'll get you
hooked up. You know, we'll take care of you. JT.
Speaker 1: I will say. I will say this, Ben, I needed
to go to Phoenix. That is true. We were there
for the Adida Circuit. Were actually the number one team
in the country, India Adida Circus. Right now, we're sixteen
and one and absolutely killing in the seventh grade division.
But it was the first time in my life, Bend.
I actually drove through at Beaver. We turned left and
we went through Peguige and Mary View, Order View and
page flag Staff, and I felt like I was at
Disneyland at cars Land Bend because that wasn't Yeah, yeah, exactly,
Ben and Bright Canyon. I mean, honestly, Ben, you know,
Kirie and I were talking about to be able to
get out and go over there and hikes and you know,
outdoors fun stuff, and obviously knowing that we have a
connection down there with BUYU at Ruby's in and so
what a beautiful place, and definitely excited to get out
there this summer.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's crazy. You bring up a really good point.
Speaker 3: I always say, don't go to the mouse head on,
head on down to Bryce Canyonnational Park. If you love
cars World, if you love Big Thunder Mountain. That's the
inspiration from whence it came. That's Bryce Canyon at Disneyland.
All they did, oh Disneyland is just copy the Wonders
of the Earth and bring them all and remake them
there at Disneyland.
Speaker 4: So check out Bryce Canyon. It's the real deal.
Speaker 1: J T.
Speaker 3: Speaking of real deal, the BYU basketball team gets there,
gets themselves a nice victory at the Huntsman they moved
to what fifteen and one. How big of a win
was that for the BA Cougar basketball team.
Speaker 1: You know, I gotta tell you, I think it was
a solid win. You know, in this day and age
where people are putting way too much emphasis on style,
points and pointing for rainshow and points spread, I just
don't get it, Ben, you know, like I truly don't
get it. Now. I get the spread, and I get
covering over and under.
Speaker 5: But like I you know, in the media, and.
Speaker 1: You know, like YU was dalk two spots and the
top twenty five, they fell to eleven after a win.
How does that make sense? You know what I mean?
Like that's crazy to me. And so do all you
did what they were supposed to do. They went into
an environment that you know, can we just for a second, man,
forget about the rivalry when the huntsmen's center expect the
way that it was. It's a top twenty five venue
in college basketball. And but that's the problem, right, it
never happens like that. That's a different conversation, a different argument.
But like that was a tough place to play. I
don't care about Utah and if they're good or bad,
that's a rivalry game. And so Byu did what he
was supposed to do. Terrence Brown's gonna look incredible and
BYU blew next year, and uh, you know, like it
was just a great game. And you know, Richie Thing
rebound and aid offensive rebounds, Robert Wright sealed the doo,
Aj did his thing. Keba was a monster, you know,
And it was a fantastic game. I met with blocks
and rebounds and so so it was a great win
for BYU.
Speaker 3: It hasn't happened all that often recently. BYU has struggled
to get wins at the Huntsman Center.
Speaker 4: Why use that?
Speaker 3: Why is it that Utah plays their best game versus
b WHYU there there at Hudson Center the best game
all season?
Speaker 1: It seems, well, so one is the rivalry game right,
Two the gym is actually packed. All the other games
just look sad, and you know, like I just I
truly feel this, Ben, And I have a question for you,
because you've been covering the rivalry a little bit more
closely than I can, regardless if it's basketball or football.
But I have a question for you. This is not
a dig at Utah or a Utah and their fence.
My question for you is if all of the other
non BYU games you can hear a needle drop at Huntsman.
Why is it that the BYU game matters so much?
Is it because a lot of Utah fans are actually
BYU haters?
Speaker 4: I think there's gonna be some truth to that. Yeah,
I think.
Speaker 3: I think certain segments of any fan base right are
gonna hate certain UH individuals from the the opposing fan
base right.
Speaker 1: For you then becomes why is it that ninety nine
percent of BYU games are seventy five eighty percent plus
sold dow or not so dow a capacity. Let's put
that way. Seventy five eighty percent are a capacity and
at the Huntsman Center, ninety five percent of their games
are at fifteen percent think opacity? Why is that?
Speaker 2: Man?
Speaker 3: I mean that's something probably university, the University of Utah
is trying to figure out. I don't think they've been
able to figure out. I mean that once upon a time,
the Majeris era like that thing was sold out and
they were winning, and and and a winner is going
to attract fans, right, we want to go to games
in which our teams are.
Speaker 4: Winning, uh and and and.
Speaker 3: Look, Utah football attracts a lot of fans. They actually
have fans up there and they they sell out for football,
why aren't they selling out for basketball? Uh, it's unfortunate
that that that's that's where they're at right now. And
when they do show up, it's because b YU is
coming to town and it's their biggest game of the season.
Speaker 4: That's what we know.
Speaker 1: And then so you know, like I look at that
and you know, like it was just it was a
great atmosphere watching on TV. I had, you know, a
couple of TVs turned on watching again game.
Speaker 2: It was electric.
Speaker 1: Talking to a lot of my media member friends and
and a lot of all their friends that were at
the game, they were ecstatic to be there. And so,
you know, I just don't understand why that fan base,
that community, they just don't buy into what what the
you know, the BUYU program is selling and uh, you know,
credit credit to Alex Jensen Trore having their boys ready
to go. Some of their players looked really good. Chance
Brown clearly heading shoulders above everybody else. You know, I
forgot his first name, but Dawes who was related to
Derek Dawes that played the bu yudas you know, definitely
it was a big presence. Their other big was really
good the lefty shooter and the other shooter were good,
you know, so like it was a great competitive and
fun game, and you know it was created for a
great al was here and uh, you know BYU is
two and one conference, which is a huge thing to do.
Speaker 3: THEA is fifteen and one. They are one of I
think only a few. They may be the only team
that has five quad one wins. They're only lost to
Yukon on a neutral court, and they have two quad
two wins. They are trending in the right direction. What
has been the best win of the season and why
for you?
Speaker 1: So, I'm probably gonna say Wisconsin, right because that was
a top twenty five team at the time the YU
played them by you beat them by thirty weave, I
think that they were up like thirty two or thirty
three at the time. You weren't. That game sounds about right,
That sounds about yeah right. I was at that one
and so like just a completely smack against them, and
and that team actually went to Michigan number one or
number two Michigan and actually won over the weekend. Yep,
So like a massive win right now for Buyu obviously
playing at the Garden against Clemson. Uh that was just
a highlight win, you know, kind of like a cherry
on the top. But at this point, Ben, you know,
like every win in the Big twelve is just important.
You know, like they got they got big games this
week coming up, right, do you you? They? On Wednesday
they play at home and uh, you know, with a
great matchup against TCU against he was eleven and five
coached by a guy the recruiting in high school, Jamie Dixon,
was actually at pit when I was being recruited by him,
and uh, they had a couple of sweet sixteen runs
over there, and uh, you know, uh and the Tulsen's
boy Canner plays for TCU. Now he's also getting a
nice bag of nil money. And so it's just, you know,
winning in the Big twelve is hard. Winning on the
Big twelve on the road is hard. Having a winning
streak in the Big twelve is even more difficult. And
BYU has a great opportunity, you know, winning winning on
Wednesday to then go to Lubbock on Saturday for an
incredible matchup with Texas Tech.
Speaker 3: JT for three Jonathan Tavnari talking BLAU basketball here on
your Utah ESPN Radio Network.
Speaker 4: If Wisconsin's the best win, where.
Speaker 3: Would Utah be ranked? I mean, it's still I know
it's a quad to win, but it's your rival. If
you lose that game, is it a big deal? You
lost it last year and still made it to the
Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 1: I'll probably say that the Utah win right now. You know,
I'm going over this catcher right now, and I probably
put that win. You know, it's definitely better than Holy Cross,
better than Delaware. I don't think it's better than Miami, obviously,
not better than Dayton. And then I'll probably say that
that win was aside from the top twenty five wins,
and in the Medicine Square Garden game, I'll probably put
that win up there right now. As they go through.
Speaker 5: Conference and you know, they have to be the good.
Speaker 1: CCU game to play.
Speaker 5: Then they play at Kansas, who's.
Speaker 1: Not ranked anymore, you know, and then in February they
play Baylor. Colorado is off to a great start. UCF
is a solid team this year, and so you know,
is that going to be a top five win for
b Are you? Absolutely not? Right? But I would dare
to say that after it's all set and done in
the regular season, before postseason starts. I would say that
aside from the top twenty five wins wins, and you know,
that win will probably be, you know, the buy sixth
or seventh best win of the season.
Speaker 3: Jonathan Devon r Alright, let's talk a little bit about
the Utah game. The Todd King was balling rob right,
the third kind of took over things in the at
the end of the game. Obviously, aj gets a ninth
i think ninth consecutive twenty point game.
Speaker 4: He's one of the best scorers.
Speaker 3: In UH in college basketball, and he may end up becoming,
at least from a single season standpoint, the best scorer
all time in b YU basketball history.
Speaker 4: I don't know, we'll see how that plays out.
Speaker 3: But what stood out to you about the Utah win,
specifically from the BAU.
Speaker 1: Side, Well, so, you know, I think let's start with
the with the with the break three.
Speaker 5: Let me give a little bit of credit to my buddy.
Speaker 1: Jerem Jordan and Jackson Payne. Break three is really good.
I voted for the three knee fights. My wife suggested
the three kings. The trimple combination is also really good.
The by you know, the b YU Trinity is up
there as well, and uh, you know, we got we
got some we got some bangers over here, right, and
so but you know, the brig the Brig three, Robert
Wright was clutched fifteen points in the first half, eight
in the second. Six of his eight points came down
to clutch in the last four or five minutes of
the game. I thought he was surgical, right, Richie, just
the heart of a lion and being able to fight
and keep fighting and end his career with a win
at Utah aj living up the moment and then throwing
the you down, you know already become he's already a
fan saver. And then you know he is definitely, uh,
he is definitely one of those guys that live in
a moment, and throwing the you down as he goes
to the tunnel just becomes an instant classic. Outside of
the break three, I would say, Keva and the pullback
dunk right reminisce a little bit of Joie Child's fast
from TJ. Haws. And then you know, impressed with how
Cunard played defense, very very impressed without am ed Adua
Amed Beatle is coming along fast, and so you look
at that. It makes exciting for what they have. Still
wish Mahilo was better at shooting. Still wish he was
more aggressive looking to shoot. Same thing with you know
all I say probably is the biggest disappointment aside from
the injuries, right, A lot of us expected out of him.
Tyler Maruss remains an incognito for me, right, I mean,
I feel like he's passing up a lot of shots
and uh where I totally believe the b YU team,
the BYU coaching staff. Definitely I would appreciate for him
to be a little bit more aggressive. And so to me,
that's the one thing that's missing on this team. It's
a foe man that can spread the floor, right, and
we've had some great ones at b YU. Michael Smith
probably the ultimate you know, spread the floor in terms
of being able to be aggressive. But he was such
up your scorer that he might have conflict with the
big three in terms of getting touches. Right, someone kind
of like me, kind of like Noah Hartsock that's very
defensive minded. You know, had uh Steven Rogers that came
after my senior year. He had been a little bit
you know, more healthy and and a better shooter. You know,
someone like Zach Sallya's that would be like perfect for this,
you know, for for this, and so to me that's
what that's what this team is missing, but an incredible
team effort.
Speaker 4: Nonetheless, the missing pieces.
Speaker 3: Can we develop those pieces even though they haven't shown
up just yet?
Speaker 1: Sorry? Ben, that cut off? Can you repeat the question?
Speaker 3: Can you meant you mentioned the missing pieces right now?
Can b why you developed those pieces with the that.
Speaker 2: They have no?
Speaker 1: No, no, what you see is what you get at
disappointing time. We just need to hope that you know,
the Big three stays healthy and uh you know that
also Keba stays healthy, Abdula stays healthy, and that those
other guys can come in and just give you know,
I think that in all honesty, if you know, on
a basketball game, you have about two hundred minutes every game, right,
each player can play, each player can play forty minutes.
You have five players, that's two hundred minutes. I would
say that, you know the break, the Big.
Speaker 5: Three would play one hundred minutes.
Speaker 1: And you would hope that non Big three minutes would
if they could somehow be under one hundred every game,
you know, between ninety if by a miracle of heaven,
they could be under ninety to preserve them, that would
be incredible. But if that's not possible, I would probably say,
you know, keeping those minutes at you know, between ninety
and one hundred would be perfect. And then also if
you could make that the non big three points, that's
a big one, non big three points would be above
above thirty every game. If it could be thirty five,
then you could see that. Okay, something is brewing here.
But the way this team, the way this team is
built right now, there's not a whole lot of production
coming from you know, anybody not named AJ and Rob
and Richie, you know, and I would say Kaba too,
but not not much coming from anybody else at this point.
Speaker 3: Obviously the Big three they've they've definitely produced a lot
of points and you need them to stay healthy. I
have a question from a listener here. He said, did
JT just infer that he was defensive minded? I think
many think that JT was all about the three point
shot in offensive production.
Speaker 4: What would you say to that question?
Speaker 1: Go look at defensive wind shares and who is top
five and BYU.
Speaker 4: History boom the data.
Speaker 1: So hey, men, lie, women lie. Numbers don't lie. And
so what I can tell you is when he comes
to defensive wind shares, you know, like I don't remember
if I was like four or fifth, but I'm definitely
in the top five. I know that because I was
talking to Chris Miles and Kyle Collinsworth the other day
and we were we were talking about exactly this, and
it was like, you know, all of the all of
the records and good team, and I remember, now we'll
spark this. John Rothstein said, twelve win streak is the
longest in program history. John, you need to go read
a book or google the internet because the eighty seven
eighty eighteen got off to a seventeen and oh star
my senior year, we got fifteen straight wins when I
volunteered to come up the bench and became the first
six minute the year in program history. And so yeah,
so like it's you know, go look it up. I'm
not making it up. I am one of the best,
one of the best defenders in BYU history when he
comes to winds Share. So so talking about.
Speaker 3: Jat bringing the data, bringing the numbers. Stats, don't lie,
Jonathan Tabnaari, ladies and gentlemen always breaking it down. Nobody
does it better up some breaking news here on the
recruiting front for football real quick if I may, And
this is this is big for Michigan fans, not so
big for Utah fans. This one hurts as Ron or
excuse me, as Brandon Gurney says, shot.
Speaker 4: Through the heart.
Speaker 3: Celessie Moa, a four star wide receiver, has entered the
transfer portal from the University of Utah, so he could
be ending up at Michigan with his brother Ice.
Speaker 4: We'll see how it plays out. Yes, indeed does it?
Speaker 3: Does it feel good to see Utah's football players, you know,
de commit enter the portal and and go elsewhere?
Speaker 4: JT Are you petty like that?
Speaker 1: So I gotta tell you I'm not petty like that.
I am patty when after games they come in and
start attacking me. I mean, Ben, if you look at
my Twitter, my ex timeline, I was nothing but complimentary
about their team, about the arena, about their fans, doing
a game until some dude comes to me and says, Oh,
you don't know you're talking about And at that point
I'm like, I'm being positive, Like I like that fifty
cent meme, like what you're met at me for like
I'm being complimentary and you said that, and at that
point I'm like, listen, my guy, let me, let me
put you on your place. And at that point I
become patty. But you know, like I you know, like
I don't care like you know, Utah, I'm such a
lover of the state of Utah. The state of Utah,
I means so much to me. I'm a firm believer
that I want Utah basketball to be good because that
elevates the elevates the visibility in the entire state. And
so like when Utah football is really good and BYU
football is really good, that's great for the state. Every
single time that Utah is good, they show shots of
simple square. It's a great missionary tool. And so like,
I'm not petty unless someone pokes me the wrong way,
and then I don't have a filter and I don't
know when to stop. It's kind of like my wife
makes the perfect example. Sometimes I get really mad at
my kids right because they did something wrong, and she
relates this to a little fender bender, and I go
above and beyond, and instead of just leaving a defender bender,
I pull out a baseball bat and I go like
the little you know in between fights mode on Street
Fight Street Fighter and I just destroyed a card you
remember that? And then yeah, like that's what I do,
like I and so I don't know when to stop.
And so if you poke me and I'm like okay,
sounds like I has to put you back on your place.
And that's when I go nuts.
Speaker 3: My guy, Jonathan Tavanaar Ladies and gentlemen, JG. I always
appreciate our time. Brother, Thanks for hopping on for a
college basketball segment.
Speaker 1: Always in Forever go Koog's.
Speaker 3: Boom Shaka Laca. That segment brought to you by rubies
In rubies In dot Com. All of you guys like
to go down and see the mouse. You like to
write big big thunder and go on the cars land rides.
Why not go to the place that inspired it all
the red rock formations of Bryce Candon National Park. That's right,
it's truly a wonder of the West, and it's it's
what Disneyland was inspired and essentially copied in there disney World,
in their Disneyland.
Speaker 4: There you go see the real deal.
Speaker 3: Uh there at Bryce Candon National Park, and make sure
you're staying at Ruby's in rubies in dot com. Let's
go to break but don't go anywhere. Still plan it
again to as we talk little world of BYU Sports
with Brady Papinka coming up next. This is Cougar Sports
on one of three nine ninety eight point three ESPN's.
Speaker 1: Coming here for players, coaches and experts on all of the.
Speaker 6: Three esp The band that's for the broadcasting from our
Vanderwalth Studios Banderwell dot com. Get on that free DNA,
no obligation to invest, Q and A with our tax
smart wealth Advisors Certified financial Planners. Check it out at Bantererwealth,
Betterwell dot Comedy ss not for the Little world of
BA Sports. Gonna welcome in former b y U Great
Super Bowl champion Brady Papinka.
Speaker 4: Discuss some of these football news are notes b YU.
Speaker 3: By the way, a little breaking news here brought to
you by our good friends at Utah Protective Films Utah
Protective Films dot com. Head on over to Utah Protective
Films dot com and hit up Jared Bledshow. Jared Bledshoe,
former boy wide receiver is the best at executing on
car wraps.
Speaker 4: That's right, your paint protection.
Speaker 3: Film window tens as well as Chrome Delease, Utah Protective Films,
Utah Protective Films dot Com. Little breaking news Utah State
transfer offensive tackle Junior Sia has signed with BYU per
Pete Nakos of on three and Rivals. That's a nice
pickup for b YU. Also Crystal Ball of Pockey Fenale.
The transfer from you dub the offensive gord will be
a reg I think it will be a sophomore reger freshman.
He's got some experience as a starter on the interier
offensive line and in the Big Ten. Pockey Faw would
be a fantastic acquisition as well. But Junior Cu six
foot six, right sophomore, three hundred and eight pounds and
was really good for the Utah State Aggies this year
just committed to the BYU Cougars.
Speaker 4: That makes uh I believe two.
Speaker 3: Officially Zach yama Uchi from Stanford UH He's committed to BYU,
a product out of Bishop Gorman, multiple starts under his
belt at Stanford with with I think he's got three
or four years of eligibility as well. Left uh so
Zach yama Uchi and uh Paki Fina could be on
the docket as well as Junior Sea let's talk some
BYU football in the world, the BYU sports with Brady
papinga beat pop, how you living brother.
Speaker 2: Not man always gonna jump on buddy. Sounds like we
got some good action into the transfer portal. That's fine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, BYU is going to be a
much more strategic than than others. I think when you
look at their transfer portal acquisitions, I mean they're up
to four with a potential five right now. They've lost
eleven guys, uh, but they haven't lost any like key starters.
Speaker 4: Max Alfred and Tavion Beasley and Sonny.
Speaker 3: Tuala are the three that I'm like, ah that that
counter is an't even Marcus McKenzie.
Speaker 4: Uh, those guys kind of hurt.
Speaker 3: But BLA is gonna be probably different and singular in
the sense that they don't allow a whole lot of
of attrition and they're looking for specific UH players in
the portal. How would you describe how would you describe
BYU's recruiting efforts and retention and acquisition in the new
era of the transfer portal era?
Speaker 2: Well, I think they invest emily in developing, so it
reminds me of with the Green Bay Packers. You know
because the Packers you can you can basically get your
draft class into your building and you got it locked
in for three years, right, you can't really get free
agents coming into Green Bay. And so green Bay is like, hey,
we're gonna draft and develop. And what they realized and
the and the Steelers realize this too, is that when
you do that, not only do you get to keep
guys under your program and see a year over year
improvement as drastic because they're stacking year on year on
year and they're not having to go to another position
or another place and reset. And then on top of it,
there's a loyalty factor that's built into that too, because
it's like, Yeah, these guys believed in me. What I
see with THEYU it's coming from a different place because
guess what, Provo is a desirable place to go if
you compared it to Ains, Iowa, Lincoln, Nebraska, Manhattan, Kansas.
I can name a number of other places. Promo is
a sweet place. Provo Ormon is a really nice place
to go. So I don't think the OEO is a
problem getting guys there, but I believe the reason why
they want to keep as many guys possible and the
guys that are there want to be there is first,
they enjoy it. Bannie creates a very enjoyable culture to
play football at and his coaches buy into it. And
then on top of it, it's extremely competitive, so you
get to do the very thing which you love, which
is compete playball. And then at the same time you
get to do in a place that's desirable to live in,
which is Provo Utah or them. And then on top
of it, you do it in a way to where
the culture is built and where it's fun and you
want to keep doing it. I mean, there's not a
surprise as the last couple of years they've been in
bull games and we've done well relatively because guys when
they're going into these extra practices where there's really between
quotations not allowed to play for it, they don't care
because they love the game, and that's because of Fannie
being there. And then that also is because they're having
this desire to want to improve, because they're seeing the
year over year improvement and they want to keep pushing it.
And so it's a smart thing to do because the
teams that keep their players, in my opinion, and can
develop them and have year over year retention at the
highest and you're getting that extra year to you know,
you're stacking year after year atops each other consistently. They're
they're going to be the best teams because those are
going to be the teams that are gonna be able to
master their schemes, master their requisite skill sets, and they're
going to be the ones that are gonna play at
a high level of proficiency. These other schools are going
to have to simple if they're in their transport. Honestly,
they're gonna have to simplify their schemes and they're gonna
have to run the resk on a year and year
out basis. That makes you get some guys in there
that just don't take to your schemes as you had
previously and they won't be as good, which puts them
behind a team that's able to retain and like I said,
build that year over year improvement. So I think the
philosophy is sound. I love it, and it comes from
both ends. And this is one of those byproducts where
we at BYU have an advantage because it is unique.
The culture there is right and like I said, probo
just so happens to be a really nice place to
go and live and play your football and go to school.
And and like I said, when you compare that to
a lot, I mean, even like you know, Seattle, it
is a lot nicer than Seattle. Reason is you get
to see the sun Seattle, Oregon, those areas it's dark
and dreary, and if you're good as that, but most
people just aren't. I mean that's just the reality. So
there's there's a lot of things that by are doing.
BYU is doing its leveraging the attractiveness of their school,
which is culture and the desire place to live, and
they're they're gonna get the results. Well, you'll see it
next year. In the year after it's going to exponentially
it really starts to happen. Or do you get guys
that are in there and they have like with Bear
for example, he is going to have the biggest leap
next year in terms of improvement as long as he
stays healthy then he would ever have had if you'd
got in the portal and gone to some other school
like Notre Dame or whatever.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: And so it's a very sound culture. And like I said,
I've seen it personally work very well. That's why you
see a lot of these teams like the Packers and
the Steelers and the Chiefs are another one that they
tend to do well and they've done well over years
because drafting, developing, or retaining your talent leads to a
lot of really good benefits of team buildings.
Speaker 3: We do have some breaking news now in the midst
of it all. Pockey Female the Washington transfer, has committed
to b YU.
Speaker 4: We've had.
Speaker 3: Out of the acquisitions thus far, three of them are
offensive lineman, two of them are guards. We got Zach
Yamauch from Stamford LDS, Kid Pocky Fenw from Washington, and
then uh Junior Sea from Utah State. To tackle your
thoughts your reaction to the news, Well.
Speaker 2: It's what the all you need to go into the offseason.
You're always looking to fort to five year fronts, your
offensive and defensive fronts, whether through recruiting or through the portal,
and you can see that that's exactly where they're putting
their their priority. I would imagine we should be seeing
something come down with more skilled players on the edges
we have. You know, we've seen Ari with Tasper and
Yep with Ryder, Luck older brother, those guys that we're
hoping to come in and be and basically what you
want of those guys you want to make I don't
know if you guys watching any Indiana game. I don't
know if Kid's name, but number I think he's their
big receiver who's six four sixty five. He's a nightmare.
And Manda Man coverage. You want to make defenses, and
today's are especially League defenses has to question do we
really want to play a man's demand, because all you
need is one guy that can absolutely just roy any
Manda Man matchup, and all of a sudden, it puts
doubt in the defensive coordinator you're facing whether or not
they should do that, which is good for us because actually,
if you don't run Manda Man in theory and a
lot of times conceptually, those defenses aren't as strong against
the runs. So I'd like to see, yeah, we can
probably see some more there that on the defensive side,
you know, maybe we'd get some more help, you know,
in the middle of our defense. Not to say the
guys last year weren't phenomenal. I know ten Ton of
Aus is coming back and he's going to be an
anchor there, but we need to still see improvement there.
And then also I would say on the edge of
the cornerback position, always adding guys that can play Manda
man just as much as you want guys that could
beat Manda Manter equally as important. So uh, I think
there's still root for us to continue to add guys
and improve our squad. But yeah, I think that the
number one foundation for on offense is your offensive line,
especially if you want to run the power football game
that we do. And this is right in line with
where the team's mental focuses at, which is really good.
Speaker 3: It looks like kid Ulu Lave could end up at
by you as well. Most recent reports are that Michigan
may not get them. I don't think uc LA is
gonna get him. He wants to maybe possibly come back home.
Kate l linebacker U formerly from here in the state
of Utah. Obviously he has been at Cal for the
last three seasons.
Speaker 4: What do you know about Kate?
Speaker 2: Well, see, that's another area that we've I'd like to
see is improved. Like I said, I thought Sarah last
year was solid. He had some games where he was excellent,
But off the ball backing is going to be a priority.
We gotta have guys that can be tough, they can
line up tough. We gotta have guys that are going
to be the right place at the right time every
day because they're the guys that are ultimately the fillers
and they're the guys that make everybody right at least
in the front and uh and then they connect themselves
to the back end in terms of fitting into the coverage.
Texas Tech I thought was an excellent example of that.
They're two backers. They're not overly talented, they don't have
physical traits they're gonna jump off the page. You know
that Rodriguez kid, everybody talks about, Oh he's a you
know what, I don't know because he doesn't have any
special attribute. But is he an NFL Albert player? Absolutely,
probably a sixth you know, sixth seventh round or his
six seventh rounder guy. But the point is is the
reason why they were so good is those guys were
very cerebral. They knew where to be. They were rarely
ever out of position. They knew how to connect the
secondary and coverage to the front. They were able to
fill in the gas in the front and be the
guy to make everybody, right, we need guys like that
across the board. Now, Jack and you know Isaiah have
done that at a high level. But we need to
get better there. Because if we get better there, I'll
tell you what, our run defense will improve drastically, even
more so than it has been, and that will set
up everything coverage, rush and so that that I think
is a nice It's an interesting one because I think
that could be a really good fit for what we're needing.
Speaker 4: Brady Vivega here on ESP and the Fan.
Speaker 3: Kelly uh had some of his first interviews as defensive coordinator.
He was asked what the defense will look like in
twenty twenty six. He mentioned, the defense will be a
little taste of Bronco in there, a little taste of
what we've done last year. I've learned so much, but
the base of the defense will be what it's been.
I'd been idiot to change much of what we're doing,
but there will be little different things here and there.
Speaker 4: But what do you think the defense will look like
next year?
Speaker 2: Well, Kelly, this smart guy, and I know you know
everything that I say. For a lot of people may
be like, well, you're his brother, of course you're gonna
say smart court. Okay, So I'm just gonna be real.
Kell's not dumb. Kelly, he's not dumb. If something is working,
he is going to do it until it doesn't work anymore.
So you're gonna see Arry, I would say, from a
fans perspective that has the basic fun of them on
knowledge of defense, You're gonna think you're seeing the same
defense as you saw last year. Sure, there's gonna be
some nuances and some concepts that Kelly likes, and like
I said that, or like he said that that have
maybe not been implemented that we're with Bronco, and I'm
obviously have the passes off to klawannee uh. But predominantly
that defense is gonna look the same, and it's gonna
be some same kind of multipliplicity element, a lot of
simulated plittes, a lot of pressure by the man. There's
gonna be like I said, I don't think there's any
reason to change, and Kelly understands that, and so I
would say it's gonna look very similar. And then Kelly's
also gonna find ways to put his little spin on things. Man,
He's got some nice little chematic nuances up his belts
that you know, he'll pull out every so often and
I'm like, wow, where are you get there? Really good?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: And that makes a difference. When you've been around guys
like Bronco and Jay and Klawnie and Gary Anderson and uh,
you know, the guys that he was coaching with at Virginia.
You kind of accumulate this stuff over time. And then
also when you watch your offense play against certain defenses,
you pay attention to Kelly's been like that. He's absorbed
a lot of good defensive football and he's not going
to hold anything back.
Speaker 3: What do you think the pitch is right now to
keep so many of the key players here at b YU.
Speaker 4: I mean, he has not lost.
Speaker 3: One key contributing defensive player on this roster, like you know,
guys that they prioritize. You can make an argument for
Max Alford or Tavon Beasley or Marcus mackenzie. I'm willing
to hear that, but I haven't really lost anybody.
Speaker 4: And so what has been his pitch do you think
to keep everybody well?
Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing is that comes down to,
like I initially said, which they like playing at the YU.
They enjoy it. First second, you want to know that
you're gonna do the same thing you did last year,
because there's nothing more refreshing from a player standpoint than
to build year over year. And I can speak to
that because I've played four different positions in my four
years at UYU, and by the way, I don't know
if people realize that I'm the only player in BYU
history to get All Conference at three different positions. I
was a four to three edge guy. In my sophomore year,
I was an odd front edge guy or excuse me,
oddfront defensive end, which is different than the four three
edge guy my junior year. Then my senior yuy has
moved to astball, which all three of those are very different.
And then finally my rookie year, I do something that
I was able to repeat three years that was refreshing,
and then I did something else for another number of
years and then kind of went back and forth. So
it's like from a players stamp, like that was kind
of my niche of always being able to change. But
there's a disadvantage of that because you're not able to
stack years on years of information, and so as a player,
when you're able to say I'm gonna do the same
thing last year I did this or next year that
did last year with all the information now and knowledge
that I had now versus not having before that, that's
really good. I can really take my game to the
next level. And I think I see that, And like
I said, I think the culture of BYU is such
a word that it's just fun. There's no reason to
lead because it's enjoyable. In addition to their projection of
themselves playing at a higher level next year because they're
going to be doing the same thing that were last year.
Speaker 3: Brady Bepinga here on ESPN the Fan talking World of
BA Sports BYU football specifically, but a couple of last
things here, Brady, I feel like, obviously the culture of
Kilane is big, right the fact that Kelly Gary, the
essentially the defensive staff is mostly retained. They went out
and got Tomorrow Warren. I thought that was a nice acquisition.
I think the other component of retention has got to
be the strength, conditioning, the the human performance element, the
nutrition element, the medical staff as well, keeping these guys
healthy and developing because it's still a developmental sport.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're exactly right.
Speaker 5: Thank you for bringing that up because I.
Speaker 2: Mean, it still goes back to Kilane's culture, because like
the performance everybody knows if they've listened to us over
the years that I was always really critical of performance
training the suit. You know, when Kwannie first came and
the guy did something that was really ingenious. He built
the whole structure hierarchy within the performance training space, and
he hired Kolbe and Tyler basically be the CEO and
the COO one overseas the actual performance, which is a
compilation of taking data and trying to figure out when
the guys are healthy or not. And we've had phenomenal
numbers in terms of injury rate keeping guys ouse over
the last year. And then Kobe's over your physical therapy,
but also are combining that with the training. And then
you have Ryan that's come in and he answers to
both of those guys, So everybody's got to make sure
everybody's staying healthy. And it's turned out to be a
pretty phenomenal organization. And you're absolutely right to me. If
I'm looking at any other school and I'm compareditive to
YU as a player, and let's say have these other schools,
I'm dealing with all these injuries like stoft tissue injuries
or you know, shoulder back, and I can go to
BYU and know that, hey, they've been pretty clean over
the last three years. With this hierarchy of performance training,
I'm not even thinking about the other stuff because health
is the number one thing, and so you're absolutely right.
I would I don't know, I haven't got any inside information,
but I would like to see the numbers on that,
and that would be probably one of the close convincing
and influential bits of information you could share with the
potential recruiter. Say, look, this is the average of soft
tissue injuries or guys that basically are done through the
year on any other team. This is what we faced
over the last three years. We promise you if you
come here, odds are you're gonna be able to stay healthy,
stay healthy, you're gonna get really good. If you get
really good, you can be able to maximize your potential.
That's huge, and so yeah, sorry for not bringing that up,
but that is an absolutely huge selling point for boy.
You to be able to say, come work with the
best of the business, because I don't know of any
quite frankly, that's as good as those guys and that
way they work and having a data profile of every
single player where right now Kobe Styler can pull up
any single player that's on the roster. They have three
years of data on these guys and they can say
exactly where they are based off of a workout in
terms of ready to play and need some work? Are
they fatigued?
Speaker 1: Are you know?
Speaker 2: They can just pull back the whole curtain and give
a big story as to what is going on the inside.
Not many schools that any I'd say, there's a small
amount of the schools that can actually do that. We
happen to be one of them at b YU.
Speaker 3: For those building out a gym, how can they get
a hold of you and get their human performance up?
Speaker 2: Brady PAPINGA Yeah, you can contact me directly at aight
O one three six State one O two. That's eight
O one three six state one on two politechs. We'll
talk a little BYU Football and what we offer out
of the gates is a three design service. It doesn't
matter how big or small the space is. It can
be a room in your house all the way up
to a huge commercial gym. We take those dimensions we
input them into a three D software and we can
make a two scale fly through or three D tour.
We have all these models of our digital models of equipment,
the everything that we offer on our website which is
ww dot XP dot com, and so we're able to
place the equipment in there even before you do any
out of installation. You get to see how it figgered,
the spacing and uh, it's a beautiful thing. It's you
get to see it before it happens, which is what
we're always going for. So contact the eight O one
three six eight one one two if you want to
take advantage of it, and that service is free. It's
our way to.
Speaker 3: Truck Brady peppinga ladies and jenmen. Give McCall s u
up aployment, shoot him a text. Always appreciate our time
talking ball, Brady. We'll catch up with again next week.
Speaker 2: All right, man, go kuks, there you go.
Speaker 3: That was a world to be away your sports little
college football segment, and it was brought to you by
Utah Protective Films Utah Protective Films dot com. Get a
car wrap, get a car window ten and or chrome delete.
You get fifteen percent off. When you mentioned myself or
ESPN the Fan at Utah Protective Films Utah Protective.
Speaker 4: Films dot com. Guys, that's our show.
Speaker 3: We're sticking to a Download the podcast iTunes, Spreaker, Google
play Music, iHeartRadio, Spotify, give us a rating.
Speaker 4: And give us a review. We appreciate it when you do.
Speaker 3: Uh, make sure you're supporting all of our sponsors. Guys,
we cannot do our show without our sponsors, so give
them an opportunity to earn your business today. It's how
we keep the lights on and keep on moving and
grooving and doing the things that you love to hear about.
So it's a great day to be a Cougar. A
lot of great things happening in a Cougar country today. Monday,
January twelfth edition.
Speaker 4: Of Cougar Sports. Shout out to everyone.
Speaker 3: Brady Papinga, Jonathan Tabnara, Sean Walker, Ronald the Three Man, Weaver,
Brett always bringing the Hammer, Vic Ram also, Kevin Young,
Richie Saunders, aj De Bonson. We had a star stutted cast.
It was awesome. Download the podcast. We'll be back tomorrow
as always here on your Utah ESPN Radio Network. One
of three nine ninety eight point three ESPN,