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Speaker 1: It's the return of Sun Belt Billy and he's reflecting

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on his time when he was in Cajun Country. We'll

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talk about it here on Raging Rundown. What's good, ladies

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and gentlemen, and welcome into another episode of Raging Rundown.

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All Cajuns all the time. I'm your guy, Ja Marcus Fitzpatrick,

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but you know you can always call me fits. And

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in today's episode, we are in New Orleans for Sun

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Belt Football Media Days, the first of a two day

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event here on Wednesday, July the fifteenth. Tomorrow, on the sixteenth,

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the Raging Cajuns will take center stage. They'll actually take

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the main stage first, but we as the working media,

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have different one on one slots. We'll get a chance

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to talk with head coach Michael Desimo, Launch Winfield, and

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also George Jackson, so that'll be fun. But in today's episode,

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we will be discussing a little bit about some a

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blast from the past former Raging Cagun's head football coach,

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Billy Napier. For those of you that for some reason

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as a Cajuns fan, don't know who's the coach before

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Michael Desimo, or maybe you're a new fan, under the

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Desimo era. Before Mike Desimo was promoted in twenty twenty

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one at the end of the twenty twenty one season.

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The coach before him was Billy Napier. He spent time

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at UL from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty one. In

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those four seasons at Louisiana, he compiled a forty and

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twelve record. He went seven to seven his first year,

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eleven and three, ten and one, twelve and one, and

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then won the Sunbelt Championship in that twenty twenty one season,

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the first in program history, and then the New Orleans

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Bowl at the end of the season was actually the

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first game that head coach Mike Desimo led the Raging

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Cajuns in as the official head coach of the program.

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Leading into his time there at UEL, he had been

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in oc at Arizona State in Clemson and also had

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worked as a receivers coach at Alabama, so he was

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under the Saban tree. So at the time, that was

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a slammed up higher for them to add to their program. So,

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because you know it's a two day event, I decided,

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how can we localize this, How can we make this

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something that has a connection and you know. Ultimately it

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pointed back to him because after he left UIL, we

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all know how it went. He went to Florida. He

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spent three and a half seasons there. He was fired

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in the fourth season after seven games, and after being fired,

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he became the primary target for James Madison. Once Bob

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Chesney made it clear that he was going to UCLA

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after they won the Sun Belt made it to the

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College Football Playoff, he went to UCLA. Billy Napier becomes

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the coach, so he re enters the Sunboat Conference and

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I had a conversation.

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Speaker 2: With him one on one.

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Speaker 1: It was about a ten eleven minute conversation and I'll

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link that down in the in the description of this episode.

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But I have four cutups that I want to discuss.

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The first one is kind of an obvious one, which is,

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you know what went wrong at Florida. You know, you

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get there and you have a lot more resources than

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what you had in your previous stop.

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Speaker 2: And that's not a knock to Uel, It's just it

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is what it is.

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Speaker 1: And I wanted to know, you know, we've heard a

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lot of from other outlets what it could potentially be,

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but I wanted to hear it from the man himself.

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So I asked coach Napier, what was it outside of

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just not winning games? What was it was it that

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kept him from staying at Florida and ultimately them not

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being able to achieve their.

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Speaker 3: I have to do better, you know. I think ultimately

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it's a head coach's responsibility every part of the organization.

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Speaker 2: So as a leader, there were parts.

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Speaker 3: Of our systems and process that we didn't We weren't

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good enough, you know. So I think you regroup, you

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learn quite a bit. The key is to take that

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failure and try to use that. I think it's helped

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me kind of reframe my priorities a little bit. But

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we're better because we had that experience, and I do

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think we left it in a better place. I think

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most of our you know, my fellow coaches out there

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would say that. So we were close, but that doesn't count.

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So I think we'll get a chance to reboot the

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computer here, go back and attack this thing at JMU,

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and I'm really excited about that.

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Speaker 1: Closing doesn't count. Is that's tough, you know. But ultimately

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things did not work for him at Florida, And like

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I said, after being fired, after what was his final

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record leaving there, He finished twenty two and twenty three

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in Florida six and seven, season five and seven, and

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then eight and five and three and four in his

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final campaign twelve and sixteen.

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Speaker 2: There.

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Speaker 1: The sec after that, he was given a second opportunity

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to become a head coach, So he goes from UL

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to Florida to now James Madison becoming a primary target

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after Bob Chesney did well for the Dukes. You know,

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we've seen what James Madison has done. And I know,

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obviously this is a raging Cajun show and we're gonna

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get into that in a second what coach Napier had

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to say about UL. But ultimately we've seen James Madison

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be at the pinnacle of this conference. They've won the

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Sun Belt. Since they've come in, they've won the Sun Belt.

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Kirk Signetti came in and did a phenomenal job. He

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got the job at Indiana, wins a national championship. Bob

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Chesney comes in and wins the Sun Belt. They go

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on to reach the College Football Playoff, ultimately losing, but

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then he gets the UCLA job. So it's been a

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hot bed for coaches and so I asked coach Napier,

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what was it that truly drew him to James Madison

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and ultimately came to fruition for him wanting to take

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this job.

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Speaker 3: I think the big thing is the alignment that we

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have with our administration. We have great leadership President Jim Smith,

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and then obviously our ad Matt Rohan, is a rising

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superstar in the profession. So my conversations with them, I

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talked to a lot of the coaches that had worked

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at James Madison in the past and some of the

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coaches that competed against JAMU. So my kids are fourteen,

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gonna be twelve ten this fall, and then I couldn't

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imagine being away from the game, right, So I love

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building teams and it just was it fit. A lot

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of discernment went into that, a lot of prayer, but

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it has blown me away. Six months into it, I've

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just been really impressed with the place.

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Speaker 1: So you could really see that the coach Napier is

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excited to be able to take over the Duke's program

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and it'll be interesting to see what comes out of it.

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The Sunbeilt Coaches poll also came out and we're going

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to talk about that a little bit later. Before we

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talk about that coaching, Apier and I discussed his old

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stumping ground, his first love, his first opportunity to be

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a head football coach at the collegiate level, and it

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was a very telling conversation because he had nothing but

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positive things to say. It was a very good bit

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of answers that he gave to the questions that I

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gave him. And I have two cutups that I want

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to play for you. I'm gonna do that when we

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come back here on Raging Rundown. Hey, guys, thank you

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so much for tuning in to another episode of Raging Rundown.

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We're going to get back into the action in just

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a second, but before we do. If you are watching

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this on YouTube, please do me a favorite. Please like

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this video, share it, and leave a comment down below,

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but most importantly, make sure you subscribe to the channel.

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If you're listening on podcasts, please follow the podcast feed,

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rate the show, and leave us a review because that's

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going to help us get in front of more Raging

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Cajun fans just like yourself. So the moment a lot

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of you've probably been waiting for. You may have even

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skipped a lot of the first half of the episode

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to get to this point, what was Coach n Apier

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saying about the rageing cagents, Like I said, he spent

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four seasons there and he had high praise for not

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just the way things were running the organization, but the

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community and how he felt about the people and how

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they helped him to gain, you know, a little bit

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of moxie and a good feeling about himself as a

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head coach to give him confidence before he headed to Florida,

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And so I asked him how he felt about UL

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since he had left, and how he had felt they

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had been doing from the outside looking.

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Speaker 3: At well, I think I just gained a lot of

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confidence in our system, in our process. Has met a

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lot of great people. I think you learn you're only

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as good as the people you have around you. We

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had it all. We had President a d we had

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people behind the scenes supporting the program, We had phenomenal

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assistant coaches. The entire organization from top to bottom was rolling,

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and we had a lot of good young people that

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you look around at where those guys are at these days,

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there's a lot of talented people in that building. So

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our players were phenomenal so for me, you know, that

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culture that we built there were searching to do that again.

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I thought we were close at Florida, came up a

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little short, and now we get to start over and

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try to do it again. So I'm looking forward to

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that challenge for sure.

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Speaker 1: A lot of good feelings there talking about how he

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felt about the program once he left it. I only

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got an opportunity to cover coach in Apier for one season,

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and it was kind of a weird time because we

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were coming out of COVID, so all of the zoom

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interviews or all the interviews we were doing post game

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during the week and all that were over Zoom and

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we didn't start doing in person interviews I think until

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like week eight or so, so I didn't get an

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opportunity to feel just as much of you know, what

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he was like in person, but from a cultural standpoint,

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we saw what that team looked like in twenty twenty one.

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The Levi lewis Is, the Montreal Johnson's, the Amani Bailey's,

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the Lorenzo mccaskals, the Zion Hills, Eric Garr, you know,

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Trey ass who would eventually move on and is now

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in the NFL. Like They had a ton of talent

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around that program, and I think some of that residue

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that he built here is still there on this team.

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Speaker 2: We talked about it in nauseum.

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Speaker 1: The roster that you have currently Lunch Winfield at quarterback,

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Sheldon Sampson and wide receiver Brent Gordon Junior, who is

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a superstar cornerback. You have a ton of that still

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in this program. It's just in a different age. You

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factor in in IL, you factor in the rev share,

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your factor in the transfer portal. It's a little bit

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different how things are are looking. But I think what

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coach Napier did and he basically handed the keys to

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coach Dez. But then after that they changed the rules

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of the road, you know, the way that you have

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to drive, and so coach Dez has been put in

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a position where that first season obviously wasn't good six

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and seven and they were trying to work through some things.

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Twenty twenty three was once again a six and seven season,

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but you had quarterbacks to go down. Zion Chris came

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in was your starting quarterback at one point, and you

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willed your way to do it. Twenty twenty four was

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the Sunbelt championship season, they get there, they go ten

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and two, They had a ton of experience, but again

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the injury bug bites you once again. Last season, the

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injury bug once again biting you, and you.

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Speaker 2: Fall in six and seven.

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Speaker 1: And I know that a lot of that doesn't matter.

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That is a factor in there, and I know it

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may sound a lot like excuses, but it just is

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what it is. So now the expectation coming in is

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to have some of this experience that you have coming

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back offensive pieces and then on the defensive side of

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the ball, and being able to try to build off

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of that and ultimately do what you want to do,

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which is to win a Sunbelt championship and try to

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find a spot there in the college Football Playoff and

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compete on one of the biggest stages in all of

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the sport. The final thing that me and Coach Napier

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talked about that I want to play for you was

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how he felt about coach Dez. Before coaching Napier got there,

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Coach Dez was on the previous staff under Mark Husbeth.

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Before that, he was coaching at the high school level,

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Essential Episcopal Catholic of New Iberia, and all of those

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things like that. So when the transition happened, Coach Napier

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kept him on the staff. He eventually became the tight

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ends coach, co offensive coordinator, and all of those great

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things like that, getting him an opportunity to be able

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to game plan called plays, help to establish the play

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calling and all of those things like that. And that's

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ultimately why I think he was named the guy outside

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of also him being a ul alum, him being from

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New Iberia, being about as local and as as Cajun

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as you can possibly be. And so I asked Coaching

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Apier about coach Dez and what he thought he has

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become as a head coach, and he's what he had said.

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Speaker 2: He's incredible.

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Speaker 3: You know, he's one of the young superstars in our profession.

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It just happens to be occasion, you know, and be

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from the hometown and be a former legend there as

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a players. So you know, they've they've done a nice

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job with a high school evaluations and recruitment, and I

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think that, you know, he's got to continue to fight

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to retain players. The community has got to step up

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and support him in that regard. They know what to do.

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He's a great coach. And they've got a good staff,

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so they're gonna have a good team this year. You know,

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they're they're one of the sleepers in this league in

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my opinion, and you watched their take from last year.

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Their their close. So this quarterback they have coming back

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is a problem. And I think they played really good defense,

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so they're gonna be tough to deal with. And I'm

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excited to see how they compete this year.

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Speaker 1: Excited to see how they compete this year. And you

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heard him there and that bite giving kudos to lunch

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Winfield that he's going to be a problem. We saw

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what he did in the Marshall game, rallying the team

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back to ultimately getting an overtime victory, and I think

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the conference notices that. You know, I think that again,

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if he is able to stay healthy, the sky is

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the limit, not just for this team offensively, but for

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this team as a whole towards the goals that they

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want to reach. Coach Dais again has been put in

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an interesting situation because he takes over and the landscape

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that it was for coaching Apier is not the same

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that it is for him. That is again not an excuse,

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that is just is what it is. I think that

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now as they enter this season, all of the expectations

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are there for the taking, and it's going to be

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about how well can the players execute, how well can

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coaches scheme to put these players in the best position,

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and ultimately, how do they win one score in close games? Because,

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like coach Napier had kind of alluded to in that

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sound by, they were close and the difference may have

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been players not executing a play, a scheme, or a

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situation where the team is simply out coached. We don't

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know because we're on the other side of things always

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what it is that could be the reason why things

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don't pan out. But with the amount of talent that

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you have bringing back and some of the experience that

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you have across the board as a team, I think

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that a lot of that not knowing and not having

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it or not having execution, a lot of that has

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to go away because you have guys that have been

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on in the program.

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Speaker 2: They've experienced what it's like to play in the Sunbelt.

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Speaker 1: So the room for error is a lot smaller now

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because it's not like, oh, you're a true freshman, Oh

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you've never played before, You've been rotating, or you've been

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a starter, or you've played multiple games multiple seasons. Now

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it's about going out and proving that. The last thing

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that I want to get into the Sunbelt Coaches Poll

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I told you you know, we talked about in the

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previous episode. Phil still put out his poll. But the

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Sunbelt Coaches Poll came out a few days ago and

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Louisiana was picked to finish second in the Sunbelt West.

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So Phil still picks Occasions to win the West, and

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the Sunbelt Coaches Poll has Louisiana picked to finish second

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in the West. Again, here's how the polling is looking.

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It is Troy first, Louisiana, Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Southern

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miss South Alabama, and ULM. Now, in terms of first

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place votes, Troy got twelve and Louisiana got one. So

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I'm about as sure as I can be that one

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very well. Is Mike Decimal fully believing that his team

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is gonna be able to get the job done, And

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that's what the coach is supposed to do. He's supposed

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to believe in his team, and he's supposed to invote

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confidence in them, and then as he pumps them up

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it's their job to then go out and back him

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up with their game. On the sun Belt All Preseason

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Honors Team, Sheldon Sampson again his first team All sun Belt.

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Brent Gordon again his first team All sun Belt. No

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surprises there. We've talked about it multiple times. There's no

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need to go over that again. Second Team, Caden Morrow

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on the offensive line. It's Gerald West on the defensive line.

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So you have some guys there that are experienced and

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that have a lot of star power to them as

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they enter this season. Things are only going to continue

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to heat up as we get closer to September when

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Louisiana will open the twenty twenty six campaign against Lamar.

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Speaker 2: So that's that's gonna be fun.

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Speaker 1: Also, coach n Apier was jokingly saying, I asked him

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my final question to him. I don't have that cut

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up for you guys, but in my final question to him,

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you know, I jokingly asked him, is he rooting for

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Occagion's Duke's Sunbelt Championship game? And you know, he said

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that there have been a lot of group text conversations

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about that, and you know he's hoping that it will

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happen because it'll make him extremely happy to see kind

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of the fruits of his labor that he, you know,

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planted a seat in one place and now what he

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could be establishing here in another place.

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Speaker 2: So we'll see how it pans out.

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Speaker 1: James Madison was picked to win the East and Phil

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Stills Poe and also in the Sunbelt coaches, so a

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lot of expectations for coach Napier. Great guy, great conversation

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with him. Like I said, you can check out that

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full interview I have at linked down in the comments.

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It's on KTC dot com at my day job, and

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so you can go and check that out there. So

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that's gonna wrap up this episode of Raging Rundown. If

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you made it to this point in the video, thank

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you so much. Please do me a favor. Please like it,

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share it, and leave a comment down below. But most importantly,

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make sure you subscribe to the channel. If you're listening,

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please follow the podcast feed, rate the show, and leave

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us a review because that's going to help us get

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in front of more Raging Cajun fans. Just like yourself.

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I'm your guy, jam Marcus Fitzpatrick. We'll see you guys

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next time.