Speaker 1: The Fan dot com.
Speaker 2: That's espnfan dot com and check out the Bryce at
Bryce giveaway. Click on it, enter your name and your
chance to win five hundred dollars to Bryce Cannon National
Park and stay at Ruby's Inn.
Speaker 3: This is Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel, and it's time
for the Cougar Beat getting the dish from the local
reporters that cover Cougar athletics.
Speaker 2: Welcome back Cougar Sports. One of three nine ninet eight
point three ESPN the Fan. I've been triital broadcasting from
our Vanderwilth Studios vanderwel dot com. Make sure you get
all that free Q and A no obligation doing vest
Q and A with our tax more Wealth Advisors certify
financial planners. Nobody does it better than band or Wealth
at his time for little Cougar be going to welcome
in a Cougar Sports insider and pontificate and discuss BYU
Athletics being basketball, bou football, and all topics pertaining to
Boa athletics. It's going to be brought to you by
or Throw Pros of Utah and American Fork. What do
we doing Arthropros We distribute orthopedic and sports medicine supplies.
We want to brace up those needs, those ankles, those risks,
those elbows. If you're an offensive or defensive line, in
your best uh, the best medicine is preventative medicine. So
announce of prevention is always, uh the best way to
approach the trench warfare game. If you've been even playing
without bio mechanical supports on those nasel tinkles, those risks,
those elbows, come on into orthropros. We got a great
buy one, get one free deal going on right now
for all you offensive and defensive line. But protect those joints,
those compromise joints in the trench warfare game, and you're
gonna you're gonna spend a few hundred bucks, no doubt
about it, but you're gonna save thousands on the back
end by not having to go to the doctor, not
having to get the MRIs and X rays, et cetera.
Because we've got your protective preventative medicine is the best
medicine callege today eight O one, four hundred five through
and eight. That's eight to one, four hundred five through
and eight orthropos of Utah orthropos of Utah dot com.
Let's get out to the hotline. Welcome in Double D
the Daily Heraldi and Darnel Dixon.
Speaker 1: What's up, double D Well.
Speaker 4: I am currently sitting on my back porch in this
seventy plus degree weather and doing a live or with you,
and it's fun. It's good. I got what little work
to do to clean it all up, but it's looking
good so far.
Speaker 1: It's we feel blessed hashtag too blessed to be stressed.
Speaker 4: There you go, love it?
Speaker 1: Man, Hey, what have you been working on over the day?
They heard? What have you been publishing?
Speaker 2: What have you been talking about on your platform over
the last twenty four to forty eight hours.
Speaker 4: Yeah, mainly obviously b YU men's basketball, and I think
mission accomplished at the Big twelve tournament, had a couple
of wins, showed well against Houston, showed some progress and
coming up with an identity for this team without Richie Saunders,
which was a problem a few weeks ago. I think
that they did what they needed to do and as
they prepare now and rest up and recharge for the
NCAA tournament, I think they're in a decent position.
Speaker 1: Love that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they hit quota, right, mission accomplished. You said they
hit quota for the Big twelve tournament. Now, what is
quota for the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 4: Yeah. All we know about the NCAA tournament is it's
about matchups. Sometimes you have a good matchup, sometimes you
don't have a good matchup. And as probably the number
six seed, you're going to play an eleven which could
be from a power conference, that could be a good
team from mid major. You just never know. Excuse me.
Last last year, you know it was from a mid major,
and the year before that was a mid major. So
you know, it looks like they're maybe going to pick
up that kind of situation because they are competing on
both sides of the ball now very well. I could
see them getting out of the first weekend two weeks ago.
I wouldn't have said that. I would have said they're
they're mayby, maybe they're one and done. Maybe they win
one and lose the second. But I just didn't see
how they were going to get out of that first weekend.
Now with some of the changes they've made the defense,
simplifying things and bringing in some energy with with you know,
guys like I mean Boop and guys like Calexi on
offense and Dominique Umandi on defense. They're they're providing a
little bit more hope that this this team can get
themselves out of that first weekend back to the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's uh.
Speaker 2: I mean I feel like like a month ago, a
little after a little more than a month ago, like
before Ritchie's injury, Like we kept on hearing how they
they found their identity, Like, hey, we feel like we
found our identity. I was not buying it. I was
not buying it at that time. Now they're saying we
found our identity. I'm buying it, right, That's how I feel.
Are you buying it now?
Speaker 4: Well more than then? And you know, one of the
things that Kevin Young's talked about is, you know some
of the dark times that they've gone through. And I
think the darkest time was three and a half minutes
in the second half against UCF at home, thirty six points.
I was like, where in the world does this team
think they're doing? How can they possibly be this bad?
It didn't make sense. They've been able to recover from that,
and so now I'm buying it a little bit more
than I was previously. I think that again, they've found
some things that work defensively. They're getting that effort on
both sides of the ball, and that will get you
a long way. And they're you know, they're not going
to play a big twelve team in the first two
rounds of the NCAA tournament. And that's a good thing
because it's a grind and teams know you really well,
and the way the game's officiated is unique, and so
it's a nice break for all teams, but for BYU
particularly to match up against somebody else.
Speaker 2: Double d Darnell Dixon here on your Utah ESPN Radio
Network talking to Cougar Beat and some Cougar basketball. What's
been most impressive to you over the last maybe three
or four games from BYU basketball. What's stood out to
you specifically that makes you out the mystic more optimistic
than you were.
Speaker 4: Well, one of the things that has stood out is
I think AJ has gotten better over this last couple
of weeks and Rob's gotten better. They had to get
because of without Richie. They had to take more of
the offense on them. But I think AJ is rebounding
a little better. I think Rob is is kind of
focusing a little bit more on the defensive end. It's
tough for him because he's he's six to one and
he's scaredy, but he's often guarding guys three or four
inches taller than he is, and that makes it difficult.
And there were times when he was I think, really
lost defensively where he wasn't really putting in the effort.
But I think he is now, So that gives me
a little bit of optimism. And again the guys I
mentioned Alexi COASTI is he can shoot the ball, and
you know, he had a bad game in this in
the second round game against West Virginia went oh for six.
He came back in the next game and he hit
some some some some good shots, and he had a
little bit of problem with turnovers. He's a young player
or have some of those ups and downs, but I
think he's provided a spark offensively. And Dominic Diamande, I mean,
we've heard about him being a great athlete. There was
a time when he was projected as a lottery pick,
and so you know he's had to learn some things
at BYU's and BYUS level and and since level. But
he's been playing really well and staying within his game,
and until yesterday, Kennard Davis Junior had put last three games.
Before yesterday, he'd been averaging seventeen a game, and coming
up with a third option offensively is kind of a
muss for BYU since Richie is gone. So those are
the reasons why I think they found some things. And
Kevin Young has talked about how basically three different versions
of this team that he's coached. There was the team
that he thought he had and he had a couple injuries,
and then the team that with Richie and Richie got hurt,
and so that's, you know, a lot to take in
if you're a coach on that staff, having to change
things up so dramatically three different times in the season.
But I think they've found something and they're confident, and
that's another big part of it is they're confident going
in to the NCAAM.
Speaker 2: Darnell Dixon, The Daily, Heraldi and Double D here on
your Utah ESPN Radio Network talking some BYU basketball. Camp
Killani's well underway as well. Two weeks in, plenty of
storylines to peruse and discuss. Where do you stand with
the Camp Killani stories coming out thus far?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 4: One of the things that stood out to me is
these guys understand the assignment. They know that they need
to win the Big Twelve Championship and they need to
get to the playoffs, and I think they believe they
can even with the changes they're going to have to
make because of guys who have moved on and graduated
and whatnot. They are going to hold themselves to a
high standard. And that's great if you're a BYU saan
that you want that team believing that they are good
enough to get there. They were good enough to get
to the playoffs last year, but as we've found out,
there's still plenty of prejudice against BUYU and their schedule
and their style of play or whatever it happens to be.
And so you know, maybe maybe they can lose one
game next year and get to the playoffs, but they
certainly can't lose two, because we found out this year
that's not possible if you're BYU. It's possible with your
other teams, just not BYU. So they have some hills
to climb, but they are certainly capable of putting forth
the season and gives them an opportunity to meet their goals.
And you can see that work taking place. I love
what Kelly the Thing is doing. I think his energy
is really going to invigorate that defense and maybe take
it to another level. That would be great because we
know what a great job Jay Hill did and with
with Kelly doing his thing, the Kpop Demon Hunters should
be pretty good.
Speaker 1: This year, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: Capeop the Demon Hunter is uh trying to make this
defense or maintain a top twenty five defense, and it
looks like he's on track for it. The defense has
looked good so far during Camp Kolane. He's got a
ton of talent that returns in twenty twenty six, and
so I'm very much intrigued to see what happens with
that defense going forward. Darnell is, is this BYU football
team built to obtain to earn another double digit win
season three consecutive seasons. It hasn't happened in a long
time where you get double digit wins. Last time was
in the two thousand and six through two thousand and
eight seasons.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's tough. I mean, this is not an easy
proposition for any team to continue to be excellent, and
playing in the Big twelve is ramp things up. You're
playing better teams each week, and you know they open
with U tah Tech with should be a win, but
then they jump right into the conference play with Arizona
and so it's a tough gig and they know that
getting Notre Dame in Profo is going to be a
lot of fun. I'm sure there'll be lots to talk
about that week. Is the Irish after about twenty years,
finally decide to show up in Provo. We'll see what
happens there. But they're putting the pieces together and that's
bringing back a starting quarterback is always the best place
to start, and they're doing that, and so a lot
of other good returners at positions, and they I feel
like they've filled with some holes with some transfers and
some new players. They didn't go overboard, though, And as
you look at the landscape of college football, you see
programs bringing in a lot of the different guys. There's
a couple of teams in the Big twelve that are
practically replacing their entire roster and that's going to be
really interesting to see what happens at places like Iowa State.
But by using a good spot, I think they have
enough retention with some good young talent coming in from
other places, and they're they're in a good position.
Speaker 2: Darnell is I know, we haven't talked a whole lot
of baseball.
Speaker 1: It is firing up now.
Speaker 2: They did get their first win five to two of
our Cincinnati And we did discuss years ago, like when
BYU got their invite to the Big Twelve, which teams
would struggle the most in the Big Twelve, and we
all concluded it would be baseball.
Speaker 1: Is this the year that they.
Speaker 2: Kind of get over the hump and start winning and
they're on the on the win side of the five hundred, right,
They're on that winning side of the ledger, if you will,
rather than being on the losing side in Big Twelve play.
Speaker 4: I don't think it's this year. I think they still
have a lot of work to do with the pitching.
They hired a new pitching coach this year to try
to facilitate some of that. I went to their first
home game they played cal Baptist, and in that three
game series, cal Baptists scored like thirty six runs, had
fifty hits and eight or nine home runs. Cal Baptists
from the whack and I was just kind of shocked
that it was that bad. Now, the opener against Cincinnati,
they got a good pitching performance and won that first game.
They're down four to nothing in the fourth today, So
I just don't think there's enough on that pitching staff
to allow them to get over the top in the
Big twelve and win more than they lose. I think
they're still going to be fortunate to hit about five
hundred conference play, which may or may not be enough
to get them to the playoffs, which you know, the
conference tournament, but they're still a ways off. They can
hit the ball, They've got guys they can hit the ball,
but it's always going to come down to pitching at
the BYU's version of the launching pad, and so far
this year the pitching has been better. They've lowered the
ERA from about seven or eight to about five or six,
so they're working in some good parameters. But I still
think there's plenty of work to do.
Speaker 2: You have work to be done, no doubt about it.
Darnell Dixon, the Daily Heraldian. We are getting into kind
of off season high school, you know, and some of
the recruiting that goes on during the off season, right
and you know.
Speaker 1: Are there are there particular players.
Speaker 2: Right now in the state for the twenty twenty seven
class that you're keeping an eye on during the recruiting
process to see where they're, how they're developing, where they're
going to be eventually committing, because we're getting to we're
getting closer to that time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Ben, I'm kind of wrapped up in spring sports
right now. I haven't really given a whole lot of
thought to the class of twenty twenty seven yet. It's
you know, you Te's got a good reputation for having
good players, and they they definitely put, you know, some
good good guys on BYU system this year. There are
some good coaches out there, and I think that there's
still you know, the Nils trickling down a little bit
to this area, and there's guys that are transferring, and yeah,
we'll find that all out.
Speaker 1: But I still feel like, let me give you, let
me give you a few names, let me give you
a few names.
Speaker 2: I know you haven't been casting your gaze at it,
but like Body Sparrow, Caysville, very intrigued by him, Ian Aloisio, Timfeud,
these are all guys that are being recruited by Byu.
I think even you know Jennal Guilford junior, I mean
he was at Skyridge. I don't know if he's going
to be finishing his career at Skyridge or if he's
heading out to Michigan for his final season.
Speaker 1: It'll be intrigued interesting. There another big recruit.
Speaker 2: That Jay Hill is targeting, Peyton Higginson at a Salem
Utah big safety athlete Diesel Dart at our corner of canyon.
There's some good football players locally in the twenty twenty
seven class that I'm intrigued to see where they end
up and how their recruitment goes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm from heard of most of those guys that
you're talking about. Nobody really jumps out at me yet,
Like like we're in this class with Kennon Callaway from
Orum being one of those guys, and Lopetty Wulla who's
in spring camp right now. That guy's dominant. So I
don't see any bitter like that yet. But you know
this time of year when guys are in passing leagues
and going to camps and things like that, they start
to make some of that improvement and they start to
get some attention. So I think over the next few
months we're going to see quite a bit of that,
to see guys that are starting to make a name
for themselves nationally and starting to get recognized.
Speaker 1: Double D The Daily Heraldi and Darnell Best Way of Sports.
You what you do, how you do it.
Speaker 2: For all of our listeners that love hearing from you,
love reading you.
Speaker 4: It's good to be on the program. Then, Haroldexter dot
com is the place to go and and follow me
on x at.
Speaker 1: Darnell writes, boom, shuck a luck at Darnell.
Speaker 4: All.
Speaker 2: Yeah, be careful of your hot takes on baseball too.
We want you to get in trouble.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't want to get anybody mad at me.
Speaker 2: I Ever since that that reprimand, I've noticed you haven't
been as fiery on Twitter. I was that a deterrent
for the hot takes on on Twitter? Did you do
you step to take a step back?
Speaker 4: No, it was not. In fact, I was sparring with
a couple of Houston fans today.
Speaker 1: Really.
Speaker 2: Yes, Oh my goodness, Grace, I gotta get over. I
gotta go get over to your feed right now, Darnell writes,
and see you see the sparring. See this verbal jousting
from the Daily LA.
Speaker 4: You know they're they're they're upset or they're they're trying
to be superior about how b Way fans are complaining
about officiating and how I'm sure Houston would never complain
about officiating. You say, you know AJ got twenty three
throws like Kevin Jung said he should have. I'm sure
they would never mention that at all.
Speaker 1: Never never. Oh, this this one got this tweet. Actually
this drives coaches.
Speaker 2: Ray AJ has the rebound, Houston rakes his arm, the
balls loose, no call basket for Houston. On the other
n BA, he simply competes for a rebound gets smacked
with the foul. Consistency is the great bane of officiating.
Speaker 1: Oh, I see what you did to hear? Oh yeah,
that was great.
Speaker 2: That one didn't come across my feed. I'm ticked off
about it. And I didn't see this one.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, I don't. Maybe you're not following me.
Speaker 1: Ben i am oh I followed the Daily Heraldian. I
follow him.
Speaker 2: That one just didn't pop up across my feed. I
don't know why, but I'm ticked off about it. That
was really good. Look like how many free throws?
Speaker 1: Look?
Speaker 2: Kay said that he should have been at the line
twenty times versus Houston agreer disagree.
Speaker 4: Well, here's the thing I was thinking about ben is
and and Kevin did mention too. One of the things
you do want to do against Houston is you want
to compete with the possessions. You wanted to be similar
in number of possessions, and that's hard to do with
Houston because number one, they are a great offensive rebounding team,
really really good. Last night, they were plus nine on
offensive rebounds, So that's nine extra possessions they got. Now,
they're not going to score on every one of those,
but their extra possession means you don't get the ball right.
So that's one reason. The second part of it is
the way the game is officiated in the Big twelve,
the way game last night was officiated. Houston benefits from
that because they are a physical, explosive, athletic defensive team,
and they're really good at being physical and not getting
kous called. Do I think aj should have twenty free throws? No,
maybe a twenty, Maybe he gets another four or five.
Maybe maybe Rob gets three or four more. All of
a sudden. You're talking about seven or eight more points
in a three point game with two minutes left. It
could make a difference. It definitely could. B Yu needs
to be better at not fouling and making it obvious,
I guess, but certainly Kevin Young was upset that a
few of those weren't called. And I would say that
that another thing about the NCAA tournament is hopefully be
what he doesn't get big twelve reps and then we'll
see if AJ get some of those calls. He wasn't
getting twenty three throws for maybe not fifteen. Yeah, I
think that definitely earned some of those.
Speaker 2: The Daily heraldy in himself love you appreciate chick, great
stuff as always, Double D.
Speaker 1: We'll catch up me again soon.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you too, have a great weekend.
Speaker 1: All right, buddy, there you go.
Speaker 2: That's double D Darnelle Dixon And that segment was brought
to by Orthropos of Utah Orthorposovutah dot com. If you're
an offensive or defensive lineman, break up those knees, those ankles,
those risk those elbows. The best abilities are availability and
preventative medicine is the best medicine. Spend a few hundred
dollars on prevention rather than thousands of dollars of post
injury and possible surgical care when you don't utilize preventative medicine.
With Orthropos of Utah, we distribute don Joy debraces, don
Joy ankle braces, don Joy Risk and elbow braces. They're
the best in the business. All of the college teams
in the NFL players use them as well. You'll see
don Joy across all of the bracers because they are
the best in the business at preventing injuries and providing functionality,
low profile, functionality and movement for your athlete. College today,
make an appointment eight to one, four hundred five through
and eight. That's eight one, four hundred five through and eight.
Orthroproso Utah Orthroposovutah dot com. Don't go anywhere Cougardation. We
got a player profile coming up next.
Speaker 5: Big injury firm. Read about the results we've obtained for
our clients. In the end, we are confident they will
come back to us and hire.
Speaker 1: Handy in Handy and Handy and Handy. You're not just
another number big firm experience, small firm attention.
Speaker 3: This is a one oh three nine ninety eight three
ESPN Sports Center updates.
Speaker 6: Starting once more on the court More on that minute.
BYU men's basketball team lost to the second seat at
Houston Kickers last night, seventy three to sixty six, a
debut boss of once again led byuns scoring with twenty
six points in his ninety three points over the tournament,
says the Big Twelve record from most points scored in
tournament history. With the lost, ba's next game will be
in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
Neither Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Portland, organ Buffalo, New York, or Greenville,
South Carolina. Election Sunday will take place this Sunday at
four o'clock Mountain time. The women's selection show will take
place right after at six o'clock. In the latest bracketologies,
the men's team was listed as the number six seed
and the women's team as the first team out. Back
to more news on and with the court as Big Twelve,
Commissioner Brett your Mark made the following statement yesterday after
the last game of the night. He said that after
talking with the remaining coaches, that quote in order to
provide our student athletes with the greatest level of comfort
on a huge stage. This weekend, we will transition to
a hardword court the remainder.
Speaker 4: Of the tournament.
Speaker 3: Quote over on the diamond.
Speaker 6: BA Baseball would in game one of Big twelve Play
and currently set to top the standings as the only
team to win a game in conference play. They defeated
Cincinnati five to two yesterday with a scout from the
Detroit Tigers and attendants taking notes on Bau starting pitcher, Garrison,
and Sumner. Game two of the series is today at
three o'clock and the series finale is tomorrow at one.
On the tennis court, men's tennis opened a Big twelve
Play yesterday with a four to zero loss against seventeenth
ranked Arizona, and women's tennis came from behind to eat
Cincinnati four to three, also yesterday. Is first reported by
BYU student newspaper The Daily Universe. Former All American four MICHAELA.
Colahankloff has been hired on as part of Jen Rockwood's
women's soccer staff. She will have the role as director
of player Development. The remaining events happening this weekend go
as follows. The men's and women's track and field team
will have competitors in ten different events over the two
day NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Beginning today, softball
will be down in St. George playing three games in
the Trailblazer Classic against Omaha and Utah Tech. Number twenty
four women's gymnastics will take on number fourteen Clemson.
Speaker 5: In the final meet of the regular season.
Speaker 6: Number seven men's volleyball will take on number eighteen Stanford
tonight and tomorrow night. Women's tennis will be hosting West
Virginia tomorrow as the men's team hosts of Oklahoma State.
I'm Cameron Clark and this has been your ESPN The Fan,
Cougar Sports Center Update Broughts.
Speaker 3: With Ben Krittle, Go Cougars to miss around the Ward,
which Jordan Bianucci on Utah's home of Major League Baseball
one O three nine and ninety eight three ESPN The Ban.
Let's get to know the Cougars student athletes get a
player profile segments here on one O three nine at
ninety eight three ESPN The Ban.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to sports one of three nine, ninety one three.
As being the fan, I've been middle broadcasting.
Speaker 2: From our Vanderwilth Studios, band or Well dot Com get
on a pree Q and a no obligation to invest
Q and A with our tax more Wealth Advisor Certify
Financial Planners. Nobody does it better than band or Wealth.
It is time for little Player profile segment. Gonna get
to know Raider de Mooney, the six for one and
ten pounds safety at a provo Utah tim Few High School.
He's going to do senior year. I can't believe it's
already banned. I mean it's rapidly just passed us by.
Shout out to Uncle Jack and Shaley his parents. Remember
Jack de Moody works at Bay as the director of
Football Relattions and played safety WUA from nineteen ninety three
to nineteen ninety four, and love and appreciate Uncle Jack.
By the way, Raiders major right now is experienced design management.
He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ
the Lattery Saints in San Francisco, California. Cousins of teammate
Jovesa De Mooney and cousin of Utah linebacker Levanni de
Mooney loves to play pickleball, speaks tongan overseas Sunday school
lessons in his local congregation. He was a three star
recruit per twenty four seven Sports Rivals in ESPN. He
was an invite to the Polynesian Bowl and ready the
number forty one.
Speaker 1: Recruit in the nation by twenty four to seven Sports.
Speaker 2: He was Utah's five A Defensive MVP and Region seven
MVP as well two time Utah five A All State
first team selection as well. Recruited by Utah, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Oregon,
Oregon State, Washington State, Stanford, Arizona, Utah State, and of
course Mississippi State. So really good football player. This segment,
we're gonna get to know them. Ronald the free Man
Weaver was able to catch up with them. It's gonna
be brought to you buy or good friends at Primo
Golf Premo Golf Apparel dot com. If you have not
tried on Premo Golf apparel joggers, you need to. You
need to try out their quartersips, you need to try
out their blade polos, they're hoodies, their hats, all of it.
If you're a golfer and you have not tried on
Premo Golf apparel, just do it, Okay, just try out
one of their items. Utilize the ESPN coupon code get
fifteen percent off your order. I'm always giving deals, always
giving you the deals there.
Speaker 1: Check it out.
Speaker 2: Primo Golf Apparel Premo golf Apparel dot com. They have
all my manner of great golf gear that you can
wear like in the business setting too. I wear them
all the time. I love repping them. I think you
will as well. You wear them on the golf course,
you can wear them off the course. It's a great
Saturday leisure where as well, moisture, wicking, cozy. You know,
you get the range of motion, flexibility with it. It's awesome.
And Phil Mickelson on High Flyers, they've combined forces with
Premo Golfer Parol locally owned nationally know now Premoglferparel dot com.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to it.
Speaker 2: Ronald the three man, we were catching up with Raider
de Mooney b what you safety?
Speaker 5: All right here with BYU Safety Raider de Mooney Raider
Just let's go back to the pop tarks ball that moment. Everything,
twelfth one of the season, just everything leading up. How
did that feel to end the season on the victor?
I know you guys left out of college football playoffs
not the way you guys wanted to end the season.
Speaker 7: It felt good obviously, you know, knowing that we were
so close to making the playoffs again second year in
a row. It was a good feeling to go over
there and get the win and kind of make a
statement for the next years to come, you know.
Speaker 8: And so it was good.
Speaker 7: But ultimately, our goals are higher and the standard is
higher for ourselves.
Speaker 8: And our team, and we want to be in that
playoff next year.
Speaker 7: And so I think it it was a good feeling
and it was joyful, but at the same time, it
was motivating for us to continue to strive to make
that playoff.
Speaker 5: Talk us through the Kelly Papinka Center. Obviously at j
Hill the switch happened. What's Kelly Papinkas standard been.
Speaker 7: Like, oh, yeah, it's been great. I mean, I think
the standard the standard is the same. You know, we
want to win football games and we want to do
it within the culture of BUYU and Coach Pop has
came in and and helped us, helped us to understand
the importance of the culture here at b YU, and
you know, it's always good to have familiarity. Coach Pop
is such a great coach for us, and we've been
with him, or at least I've been with him throughout
my whole college career, and so just it's been awesome
to learn from Coach Pop, but then also learn from
other coaches as well.
Speaker 5: Take us through that from your experience, obviously, Jill, you
know leaves Kelly gets promoted, Trey Alexander was like calling people,
Kelly said, he was on the phone with people. What
was that like for you?
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, same same.
Speaker 7: I wanted to make sure that, you know, we had
the boys that we needed here and that was going
to be to to retain the team that we had
from the year before, and so you know, going into
my senior year, that was super important for me personally
to make sure we have those.
Speaker 8: Guys come back.
Speaker 7: And I feel like, you know, Coach Pop being being
announced as our DC played a huge role in that
you don't knowing you have someone coming in or not
coming in that's already been here and who loves b
yu and and wants to win, and so that that
was really good for us. And yeah, that was that
was our goal. We wanted to retain the team, and
I think we did a pretty good job at that.
Speaker 5: Definitely don't get a lot of guys back. What is
it like having you know, not just a bunch of
you know, veteran guys back, but you know, the newer
incoming guys as well in the defense?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean you look at the talent that came
in as well.
Speaker 7: There's there's a lot of good up and coming talent
that's going to be making a lot of plays for
b YU here.
Speaker 8: And so I think, you know.
Speaker 7: As a leader now and as a as an older
guys a vet on the team, it's it's our responsibility
to lead them and guide them and kind of show
them the way that we do things here at b YU.
And it's been great to see them to go out
and make plays even their such young careers.
Speaker 5: So, yeah, what's that leadership role been like for you?
Just mentioned as that, you know, the veteran, the senior
guy in the room. Are you much of a vocal
guy personally?
Speaker 7: I mean, honestly, I'm not that much of a vocal guy,
and I feel like I've made it a little bit
of a goal this offseason to be more vocal.
Speaker 8: But yeah, I mean I've been really trying to be
more vocal with my.
Speaker 7: Teammates obviously trying and lead by example, and so I
feel like the guys are the guys are good, and
there's gonna be a lot of good plays and up
and coming players that do well here.
Speaker 5: He said, a lot of a young talent. Who's someone
you'd like to highlight, Uh newcomer whether it be transo
or freshman that's made impact already.
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, man. Obviously, like me being a safety, you
have Kenny Poola come in. He's been making a lot.
Speaker 7: Of plays and he he's gonna be really good, and
so excited for him. And then also a Scofushi has
been looking really good and so he's just getting off
an injury. But there's there's a lot of up and
coming talent that I think is gonna be really good
for this team.
Speaker 5: What does it say about your safety room You have
a guy like Tommy Prass that plays safety and coaches like, hey,
we need Jeed Nickel and then goes and locks it
down at that position.
Speaker 8: Oh yeah.
Speaker 7: I mean he's so versatile as a player. You know,
you can put him in the post, you can put
him in the box, you can put him to guard slots,
and so having that versatility in our room is awesome,
and it helps us to be able to disguise more
with three safeties on the field. So we have a
we have a package with with the three safeties, and
I think it's it's gonna be good having guys like
that who are versatile, not only Tommy, but there's there's
a lot of guys in that room that can play
any of those positions, and so it's been great.
Speaker 5: What has it been like to learn from Tomorrow Warren
new Safety's coach.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's it's it's good.
Speaker 7: Coach Coach Demo works super hard and you know, he
wants us to learn, you know, the defense as well
as him, and so it's been awesome to learn under
Coach Demo.
Speaker 8: You know, obviously I've been under Coach Hill the.
Speaker 7: Past my whole college career, and so seeing different perspectives,
different different ways of people see the game, it's been
good and I think it helps me to learn more
as well.
Speaker 5: What is it like having Kate you know, cal Trance
or Kadu Lava joined the program too?
Speaker 7: Oh yeah, I mean obviously when you get a guy
like that to come in to b YU, obviously we
have to replace Jack coming in I mean Jack leaving
and so having k come in and fill that role,
I think it's gonna be really good. You know, he's
a proven player, he's a veteran, he's played a lot
of football and he's he's done really well. And so
having that leadership, having that type of caliber of a
player to come here to b YU, it's always exciting.
Speaker 8: For us and we're excited to play with him.
Speaker 5: Let's high like you a little bit more. We talked
to Kelly Papeing on our radio show and Kalani mentioned
it to your guy that's been standing out in the
workouts and making place. How spring ball been for you
thus far through two weeks.
Speaker 8: It's been good.
Speaker 7: I think really just just focusing on there's little tweaks
that we've we've done, but it's basically the same defense
that we've been running. But you know, getting that team
chemistry with the new guys, with the younger guys, and
so really focusing on those things have been important for us.
Speaker 8: And then the off season, we knew we had.
Speaker 7: To attack the off season if we want to reach
our goals and you know, make that.
Speaker 8: College football payoff appearance.
Speaker 7: Got to buy into the system, and I think we
have the best coaches to help us do that, and
we just got to trust them.
Speaker 8: And so it's been great.
Speaker 5: If you were able to make plays, don't tell me
who you picked off if you them, but have been
able to make some play so far.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I've been able to make some plays. It's been fun.
So yeah, it's been great.
Speaker 5: Talk about the stray of conditioning staff. You've gotten bigger, stronger, faster.
This group came in a few years ago, and you know,
you the best ability is availability. You've seen more playing
time amongst all of the starting eleven.
Speaker 8: On the defense.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean I think, like I always say this,
I think we have the best strength stuff in the country.
Speaker 8: You know, just the way that they calculate.
Speaker 7: Everything is calculated and everything is a science based and
so having people who know their stuff like that and
being able to trust guys like that, our bodies feel good.
Speaker 8: Like going into spring, I feel really good. Winter was
really good.
Speaker 7: I got a lot, everyone got a lot stronger and faster,
and so yeah, I'm grateful for those guys.
Speaker 8: I'm blessed I got to play under them.
Speaker 5: Are you running with the ones and the twos or
just the ones?
Speaker 8: Right?
Speaker 5: Not just the ones, and let's get into the lighthearted stuff.
Are you superstitious a player? Do you have any you know,
game traditions that you like to do, you know, going
back today's.
Speaker 7: Tempt game traditions At tim Vier, I used to place,
we used to have a superstis. We used to play
spike ball before with Logan Fano Spencer final them.
Speaker 8: We used to have a tradition and then we kind
of stopped that. But I would say game tradition.
Speaker 7: Or superstition, Oh not really, honestly, I kind of just
just kind of just chill.
Speaker 8: I'm a big like just relax on game day, don't
really do a lot, and then I take a nap
at all. I don't take it.
Speaker 7: I don't think you don't take that, Okay, that get me. Yeah,
I don't like thinking naps. I know there is a
superstison that I probably had.
Speaker 8: I got to think of it though.
Speaker 5: That's who I could come back to you. The last
couple of things here with the you safety rated the money.
When you travel, do you have a favorite travel snack
that you like to.
Speaker 7: Eat travel snack? Oh yeah, oh yeah, the gummy jolly ranchers.
Speaker 5: Okay, you can't go wrong.
Speaker 7: With those are my favorite ones, and then they fill
our badgs with snacks in the airplane and so definitely
go with that. And then probably like a Blue Power
Aid Blue zero zero.
Speaker 5: I was gonna say, you can't let the sugargart and
blue not the red. Last thing for me on social media.
You guys last year you were traveling and they said
who could fly the plane?
Speaker 1: It was you.
Speaker 5: You know, I know your brother Dason. I want to
give you a chance to rebuttle. I don't know if
it's a I'm revealing, probably the private messages Dason said
I would not trust him to fly the plane. Went
your a buttle to that because I thought he was
start a little bit of shaite that.
Speaker 8: You know how that guy is.
Speaker 7: He likes to instigate a lot, but he knows when
it comes down to it that I'm more worthy than him.
Speaker 5: So yeah, ready.
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 2: That's Raider to Mooney, some great content. There are a
number of gems. Uh, some of the gems. We can
talk about Ronald any injuries.
Speaker 5: I mean in a in achmatics, Yeah, in a in
a in an interview setting. He said it not me right,
I wasn't I didn't ask for a specific thing, right,
So I mean Raiders said it, but uh said Ace
was injured, right, So I mean, uh, that's why he
wasn't a whole lot, right, Yeah, I mean, and that's uh,
you know that's a that's uh. Look, you want him
to play obviously, been to get reps because you know
this is IG's last year, k Laes last year. I'm
pretty sure. Correct me if I'm wrong. So you want
everybody to be healthy, right, best ability is availability, That's
what you want. So uh, maybe that's why he hasn't
you know, participated, is because of that. But you want
to get him back strong, right. You saw him make
plays last year, Ben, And the depth in this linebacker
room is is great. I don't think we're seeing anything
that people don't know. Jay Hill said it when he
was here, a package with three safeties, right. They've mentioned
that before, and it sounds like that's carrying over. Raiders
said it. I didn't say it, So look, I mean,
then we know what it is. Tommy prasss Folatile Saw
to Alin Raider, Demoni or some of the three best safeties.
And in this room, they make plays. They're very talented.
You can put them in the box they can get
downhill and stop the run. I mean, look, I'm not
surprised if that were to stay. We'll see what tomorrow
Warren does. He's probably gonna tweak a few things in Kelly,
but ultimately, you know he'll have the last say. But
if they do have that band, I mean, you know,
I'm a big fan of TP. I thought he made
a lot of great plays coming out. You know, to
be at a play as a young guy, Raider the
veteran in that room, take on that leadership role. He's
great in the run stopping him. And then you know what,
volatile brings up potential as people starting to think if
he has another year like he did last year, first
round pick right, people are starting to bring it up.
It's a guy that's gonna play at the next level.
So I mean, look, this is why I wanted to
interview Raider the senior, who's calm, cool and collected, very poised,
very great you know in front of the mic, even
some tongue in cheek stuff. I know his brother. I
went to a camp with his brother, so know the
family pretty well. But yeah, Ben, and then one one
other thing I want to point out, how about Ryan
Felli shout out to the strength and conditioning staff. Look, Raider,
besides friendly fire last year that we saw in it
was friendly fire. He's been healthy, he's been very He's
been healthy his whole college career. And that that that
plays the fact to Ben to stay on the field,
to be able to make plays. And look, not my words,
I brought up them. Kelly was on the program, talked
about Raider. Klane talked about Raider. So this is a
guy I think, look like you said, this is gonna
be one of the co captains. There's gonna be a
lot of co captains and number three is definitely gonna
be it. So love, love what I heard from from Raider.
Excited to see him on the field running with the ones.
And then another another gym, Ben keenan Pula. That's gonna
be a guy that's gonna make plays. You saw on
the video that boy you released on they you know,
one of the things that they put out to b
ro he had an interception on Trayson board Gay. So
that's a future guy that you got to look out for.
Four stars coming in from you know over there at
Alone Peak. We're at tim View at one point like Raiders.
So those are my gyms from the interview, and I'll
let you give your thoughts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, indeed, no plenty of gems there and Raiders
expected to do big things this year. I think they're
fully invested in having their seniors and their tenure guys
ball out and those that have you know, been in
the lineup and have proven themselves, and that's what they're
doing right now.
Speaker 1: They're showcasing those guys.
Speaker 2: It sounds like Folla, tels At, Tawila and Raider have
been running with the majority of the ones you have,
you know, Tommy Parassis, Ken and Pula and others with
the two's. Tommy's also I think been rotating in that
three safety that three safety combination at the Nickels spot.
So I think they're trying every way to find the
best eleven and we'll see who that best eleven are,
you know, come come fallball.
Speaker 1: But I imagine we'll see a.
Speaker 2: Lot of Raider, Volatile and Tommy like we did last year.
So great player profile there with Ronald the ringman Weaver,
Oh yeah, what question you got for one question?
Speaker 5: And he said, Keenan Pulla and again he has to
earn it right you know, just like Legend Glasker and
you know football better. Not doing schematics, but I haven't
seen anything. Can you have four safeties on the field
and once? I mean, I don't think it would ever happen.
I'm in a dream world, not trying to be you know,
hyperbolic here, but could Raider, Tommy Follatel and Keenan I'll
be on the field. Someone have to be in the
nickel spot. I feel like for that to happen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's more of a dime package than
for you, right, So I mean you definitely in like
obvious passing situations, prevent situations, you could see that possibly,
but you know, more often than not. I mean, you
know Kins, he's a safety, right, He's a young he's
a safety. So what you would have to do in
that situation if you if you really wanted all those
guys on the field, and you wanted their playmaking ability
and ball skills, you have to rotate Folatile into the
box as a as a linebacker. Gotch you, So that's
how you'd have to do it. You have to put
follow tool as a linebacker, Tommy is as a as
a nickel, and then you have Kennan and Raider on
the back end.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
Speaker 5: That's why I'm.
Speaker 1: Not saying it won't happen.
Speaker 2: I don't know how feasible it is, but I will
say that, you know, Follawtow is the type that that
could play that Isaiah Glasker.
Speaker 5: Yeah, with that length and size and AGGRESSI no, I
asked you because I knew you would know what the
schematic sor. But I looked at that as like, could
this be possible?
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it. Look maybe possibly, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 5: I don't know if it will, but I like the
skill set of those four guys.
Speaker 1: So yeah, Foalawtowl would have to be a linebacker.
Speaker 2: Okay, you'd have to be a linebacker, Tommy at the
nickel spot, and then Raider and Kennon at safety.
Speaker 5: If you're listening, I know you're not, but go ahead,
put on that extra fifteen baby, go ahead?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: What is what is falle?
Speaker 8: What is fire?
Speaker 1: Lemon in ad?
Speaker 5: Right, let's look at it. Give me one second. I'm
gonna pull it.
Speaker 2: Folato what he's weighing right now? I mean, you know,
you wonder how accurate is sometimes? You know, sometimes they
put on weight, they decrease weight. Like if he's at
like two twenty by now he's he's at two fifteen.
Speaker 5: Close, he's close another baby.
Speaker 2: All I'm saying is he puts on another five man.
Speaker 1: We're like ooh LB yes, sir linebacker too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's been sticking h He's been hitting that hit
stick a whole lot this last season and more hit
sticks to come.
Speaker 1: And BYU Football History. There you go.
Speaker 2: That's our segment brought to you by rubys In rubies
In dot Com.
Speaker 1: I love rubys Inn.
Speaker 2: I think you will as well make some memories with
friends and family members down at Bryce Ganda National Park,
the Wonder of the West.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 2: They have so much to explore, so much to do,
and their amenities at Ruby's ann are the perfect.
Speaker 1: Perfect launching point for all of your adventures.
Speaker 2: Hot breakfast buffet included with your stay, indoor pool, hot up,
fitness center, daily housekeeping, pet friendly options on side, general
store and gift shops, Southwestern Rock and Fossil Shop.
Speaker 1: You can do it all down there.
Speaker 2: All the rubies inactivities horseback riding, mountain biking, guided ATV tours,
helicopter tours, the Rodeo down there. I love Ebenezer's Barn
and Grill as well. I love to boot, scoot and
boogie the night away and listening to great music and
eat great food.
Speaker 1: So much to do, so much to see,