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Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel and it's time for a
creuton the Cougars and inside look at the latest news
on the recruiting trails surrounding Cougar Athletics.
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Nobody does it better than Beaterer Wealth. If he's time
for a little cruit and the Cougar's got to talk
and b WAU football recruiting and uh what they were
able to obtain.
Speaker 1: The the twenty twenty six class.
Speaker 3: Why maybe we should be more optimistic about BYU football
than BYU basketball for the future. We'll discuss that in
the segment Cruit and the CRUI is going to be
brought to you by orthroprosof Utah orthorposof Utah dot com.
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functionality contents Today, we can build out your insurance or
you can utilize an HSA F S a car. Let's
get out to the hotline. Welcome in former on campus
BYU Recruiting Coordinator. He's the host of the Utah Prep
podcast as well as the president of Prep Worm prep
worm dot com.
Speaker 1: We got Moose Bingham on theline. Moose, Hey living Ben,
I'm living great.
Speaker 4: I haven't heard from you in an age. Oh my
sunning Day's coming gone, and I've got it talking about
some of these recruits.
Speaker 3: I know we didn't get you on when we should have,
right at the peak of signing day, but we're like, hey,
we got to rehash, we got to rekindle the recruiting
fire of Moose Bingham and get them on to discuss
the twenty twenty sixth class and beyond.
Speaker 1: So appreciate you hopping on number one. Give us an update.
Speaker 3: How are things in your world with your family, with work,
et cetera.
Speaker 4: It's tough.
Speaker 5: Then.
Speaker 4: I'm living in Florida. I get eighteen holes in a day.
I need to get you out here. I mean, my
golf game is getting better and my ten is getting immaculate.
So life is good for me right now.
Speaker 1: I'm glad. I'm sure.
Speaker 3: I'm sure the move was as the move been good
for work as well, with preper warm and all the
other things you do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we've got about forty colleges on right now, so
it's really really fun. I mean, I'm going to a
couple of a SEC colleges tomorrow actually, so I get
to see what everyone's doing all around the country. It's
a blast.
Speaker 1: Ben, love it man.
Speaker 3: Well, glad you're doing well. And for those that don't
know what is prep worm, how do you do? How
would you describe prep worm the software as a service
that helps college football teams and high school football teams
navigate the day to day operational duties and efficiencies of
a program.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So we're in all in one CRM that allows you
to have a one stop shop for all of your recruiting,
roster management, equipment management, messaging, everything under the sun so
that your team can run good and that you can
do what you want. And that's coach. So we help
teams all over the country. I don't know if I
can say them on the air, but we have teams
in every major people conference love that.
Speaker 1: Man, Well, glad you're doing well.
Speaker 3: Let's break down these b YU twenty twenty six signing class.
You know there's as it's a trifecta. You have your
freshman class, right that comes in. Some of them serve missions,
some of them are immediate players. You have your transfer
portal class, and then you have your return missionary class.
Speaker 1: Where do you want to start off first, Boos.
Speaker 4: Bingham, Let's start with the initial freshman signing, then go
to the transfer portal and then we can talk about
the kids coming in.
Speaker 1: Okay, perfect, Okay, so let's go with this freshman class.
Speaker 3: Then I thought it was a great class, really solid class.
One of the best in BYU football history, no doubt
about it. And obviously rider lines with the headliner. You
have Adam Bywater, Bob Mulitalo, Brock Harris, Taygatchi, Lopetty Mowala,
Jaron Pula, Kennon Pula, all four star players, which guys
really stand out to you. I don't know if Boh's
ever signed this many four star players.
Speaker 4: No, BYU has never come even this close. When out
of the BYU, if you got a top fifty class,
you're like, yeah, let's go oh with this class. If
you've got two four stars, you're like, we're knocking it
out of the park, b Yu. Right now we have
won two, three, four, five, six, seven eight. I feel
like Lebron James in Miami talking about championships right now
when we've got four stars on the line and each
one brings something to key right your lines. He's that
keystone recruit that you try to get that bring me
everyone else in Adam Bywater super underrated, he played tight
end at Olympus and it was just get open, and
he did and he played awesome. And then he played
linebacker on the other side, where he's gonna settle in
at BYU six four ten pounds. He's taller than his
brother Ben, and he is a rugby All Star. He's
the one to ask to do so much. When he
focuses in on what he needs to do, he's going
to be dominant. Bob Louis Talo, he played o line
for one year and I was like, what a mistake.
Whoever's telling him to do this? And then I watched
him play and I said, what a genius move, getting
Gary Page teaching you how to play offensive tackle, and
then I think he gets knocked inside. Bob Bobe Talo.
He could start here and be a welcome addition to
the VYU. Brock Harris heading on a mission. But if
he wasn't, I think he'd be the number one tight end.
I went to the under Armor All American Game practice
in Orlando. I watched Brock Harris and he was a
standout each and every day. He's like this stupid offensive
coordinator here likes to run ten personnel like he should
be running eleven or just have that one out there.
Rock Harris is a mismatch. He's a great blocker. I
think he's insanely underrated because he's been doing the exact
same thing for so long. Ty Gotschi, he's the same
way stick six to twenty five. He had some lights
to add, but he's a top ten player in this
entire class. Well, Pete Miwala, coming in from Davis to
Orum watching him, he would take over games. I'm pretty
sure he had thirty sacks and they didn't count as sacks.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 4: There wasn't a player in the state that could stop him.
And he is a kid that I think could get
knocked inside be a disruptor from a three tench And
then my two favorite twins on the team now, Jaren
and Kennan Pula. My goodness, Kennan, we all remember the
Sports Center top catch, but Jaren pulla consistent He's phenomenal,
great receiver. I think both these kids are massively underrated,
and I think there should be more four stars in
this class. Between you and me, honestly.
Speaker 3: It's an impressive class, no dad about it. And Jack
Stanner is a borderline four star. Terren Serian borderline four star.
You have so many great players in the class. An
underrated player I think in this class is actually Braxton Lindsay,
linebacker at Arkansas, a significant amount of P four offers
and borderline four star. I think he could be a
plug and play guy. He's not a mission first kid.
He's coming in immediately to compete.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I really like Bradston. For me, the most underrated
player in this class is kawey Akana. He was a
four star and they knocked him down and I had
some words with some raiders. I said, hey, if you
don't want to do the job right, I'll come in
and do it for you. That kid's before star. It's
not a border line five start. And they're like, oh, injuries.
I'm like, do you know who helps had injuries? Who
can Nakua? And you guys all flight at him and
now he's the best receiver in the NFL. They're like, well,
but and then you just know that Kawa a Kona
when he gets back from his mission, he's a dude
that's gonna take it by storm. I think he might
end up as a linebacker or a safety, but he
can do it all. That's a kid that I'm super
hyped to watch.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like that breakdown. Kabi a Kana, very versatile
and uh, you know, if you're looking at the kids
that are serving missions, first, is he a player or
is there another player that you would say, Hey, this
kid could actually compete and play this season for BYU.
Speaker 4: So besides the four stars, all of them could come in.
The guys I'm interested in are honestly on defense, probably
Matthew Mason coming in from Faith to Lutheran, the safety
six three one ninety kind of hand picks by Jay
Hill coming in, and I really like matt I did
a full breakdown on YouTube on him, being like, what
is this kid and why are we not talking more
about him? I did that before he even had offers.
And then the next kid, Davon Ekka. I mean, I
love our running backs. RB one kid's a stud, but
I don't know who RB two is gonna be. And
I think Devon is just good enough that he could
come in and take that spot. And I love that
he's already in school, already competing, and he's a kid
that can get it done. He's like a fine line.
He's just getting better with age.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Devon Eka has been training with Jamal Williams and Luke,
Jamal's trainer, and so look, if anybody could step up
and maybe take a spot, we'll see what happens in springball.
Speaker 1: But it could be Devon Eka.
Speaker 4: I think it will be, and I don't think we're
going to have a lot of reps from our RB
one there. Honestly, Davon's gonna come in and he's going
to surprise a lot of people, great hands out of
the backfield right at eleven five. He reminds me of
Jamal a lot too, because Jamal coming in he wanted
this heralded dude that you're like, oh, that's it. I mean,
he was a low rated player than aj Moore and
coming in he was kind of an accestha. Honestly, Davon ecka.
He's the lowest rated kid on this list, and I
bet that eats at him each and every day. He's like,
I'll show you how great I am.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think you're Ryan.
Speaker 3: He's got a little chip on his shoulder, looking to
make some hay and uh maybe make an impact his
first season. We got Moose Bingham on the line talk
and some recruiting here on your Utah ESPN Radio network.
Speaker 1: A couple of things I want to get to.
Speaker 3: There's a uh, there's the missionaries are always intriguing to me.
You don't always have high expectations for missionaries, right, What
should be the expectation? What's like the the standard for
return missionary as far as like when they're going to SEEPT,
how they're going to SEEPT. Is there anyone that's coming
home from a mission that you're like, Okay, we got
to keep an eye on this young man. And I'm
looking at like the missionary list I want to say
it is, uh, let me let me.
Speaker 1: Break this down.
Speaker 3: I think owen Borg linebacker, Matthew Frederick tight end, Blake
Lowe linebacker, Jet Nelson wide receiver. Two we Pututau offensive line,
Adney Reid defensive end, David Tungi Lanu defensive tackling, and
Enik Watson quarterback.
Speaker 4: Oh you know what, I like a lot of these guys,
but the one I really love is Adney Reid. And
you're like, everyone's like, who's he? He went to Australia
with his dad on his dad's mission and didn't play
for Spanish Fork came and took an official visit and
then went right on his mission. But adne red he
has a world of experience with six five two fifteen
when he laid in on his official visit. But he
has a phenomenal lineage, and lineage is school and all.
But he's a kid that I think can come in
and dominate. He's just got a world of potential. And
that's the kid that I'd paid to say. Hey, he's
already lived away from home. He has a great base,
he has a great support system. He's not going to
be shaken being at BYU. He lives in the mission
field for two years before he went on his own mission.
And I think he's just an outstanding human being. And
I love the Reed family. Gab Reed is just a
He's a man among boys in the greatest sense, and
his sons are taking after his footsteps.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you're spot on, and he's going to
be a nice was I kind of like Enick Watson.
He's a quarterback to uh, you know, a player. I
think you're looking for someone to back up Bear, the
Bear Bachmeyer, the Bachmeyer of Bear, and many are leaning
towards tracing Borget. I'm like let's see what this uh,
this uh freshman could do. Kind of an unheralded freshman.
He was at in Coconino County and flag Staff through
his junior year and then American Leadership Academy for his
senior year. Played well at American the Leadership Academy. He's
got a good arm, good athleticism. I think he's an
underrated player. Could could Enick Watson maybe uh be the
backup to bear Bachmeyer this season.
Speaker 4: Do you know what's crazy? I actually think he could
so Enich coming in believes that he'll be the starter
at YU sooner rather than later. And I love that.
Like you talk to the kid, he's he's borderline cockey,
but he's a hunt percent confident. He's like, I am
the dude. I played at a LA, I've been trained
by some of the greatest quarterback coaches that have ever
gone through BYU and he's like, I'm the next man up.
And who's to say he isn't come in, do what
you need to do, and let's see what you got,
young man. Spring ball is gonna reveal a lot about him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what are your storylines actually heading into spring ball?
Before we get back to some of this recruiting talk.
Speaker 4: Oh, I'm always watching the kickers and the snappers.
Speaker 3: I mean, oh, okay, that's interesting because we did talk
about the competition. You're replacing Will Farron, Garrison Grimes, and
potentially Sam Vanderhart. That doesn't that doesn't make us feel
real good about the the potential productivity and efficiency of
our special team.
Speaker 1: Shunit uh No.
Speaker 4: But there's some great kids coming in. You've got Ian
Sanchez in there, You've gotten my fias Don, You've got
Brody Legatt coming back from his mission. Between the those three,
I love it. I'm like, let's go, let's see what
cream rises to the top, because that's what happened with
our kickers and putters the last few years. And if
push comes to shove with Punter, we can always go
to Australia and find a kid from down under, maybe
a friend of Abbey Reid. Say, hey, who do you
know down there that can help us out. Let's get
on the horn. B Yu just signed a long snapper
from Snow College. They're ready to compete in those positions
and see what cream rises to the tall. So I'm
always keeping an eye on special teams because after watching
the Super Bowl. We know who the real people's MVP was.
It was a kicker for Seattle. I don't care what
anyone else says. He was five for five and a
maculate during the game.
Speaker 1: He was pretty much to thank good.
Speaker 3: Let's discuss the transfer portal class for twenty twenty six.
Roger Sally O Paga, Javin Williams, Zach Yamauchi, Kadi Uluave,
Jake Clifton from Kansas State, Kyler Casper, Oregon Junior, Seya
pop Few and then Walker Lions.
Speaker 1: Who stands out to you there? What do you like
about this? Uh? These nine acquisitions? Bett, we got it.
We're back.
Speaker 3: Maybe transferportal class Roger Saliapaga, Javin Williams, Zach Yamauchi, k
Dou Lawave, Jay Clifton, Kyler Casper, Junior, Sea Packy Fenu
and Walker Lions. What stands after you about the transferportal
class for by U?
Speaker 4: Do you know what? I love this whole transferporting class. Honestly,
we've got a plan through a four start. Let's start
with them. You know Walker Lions, he is an absolute sud.
It was the worst kept secret him coming to b
y U. I see a lot of Carson, Ryan and
him and even more. He's a little longer than Carson,
has a really good hands, Maybe needs work, comes blocking
a little bit, but I love Walker Lions Zakilmucci. This
kid is a stud too, six three hundred and twenty
five pounds. Hear the tree. We're not worried about grades
from him. He is an absolute dog woof, woof. And
if we need to sure up our offensive line hockey
f now we miss once, we miss twice, but third
time is the charm to get the four star out
of Washington Hockey. He is an absolute stud. I love
this kid and our MTRO line. There's a couple of
bullies right there. And when you add junior Seatos in
the mix, the Mountain from Mountain Ridge six five three
twenty five, you've got a three headed monster right there
that's ready to road grade for our amazing quarterback and
running backs. Then you add Kate love it. What's better
than one kid from Mountain Ridge? Ben who katulambe coming
in from the way of cow. He was a tackling
machine for the first couple of years. You're just like,
nothing can stop this kid. Have a little bit of
a dip, but he's gonna have a huge boost from
Jake Clifton as well. Jake Clifton coming off a mission,
he was an LDS player out there. Now BYU's got
a chance to have him in on the edge. Jadd
Williams stun coming from the FCS level. Loves the kid
a lot. He's actually just kidding coming from Mississippi State.
I don't know why it's at SCS, Sorry, FBS. Mississippi
State has put out a lot of good dudes. And
he's six five, does it all? And Rogers Cielataga and
Kyle Casper are your two catching amazing one to tight
end ones the receiver. Kyle Casper reminds me a lot
of a Niche Matthews or Nick Kurtz Nix foot six,
two hundred twelve pounds. I loved having those two on
the team where it's like sea ball, get bawl thrown up.
Your porter is not gonna catch this six foot six,
two hundred twelve pound human being that has length to
dunk and length to pick the ball out of the air.
And Rogers Cielataga I called a lot of his games.
I remember his sophomore year. It was bountiful versus Orum,
and I went up to Orum called his game and
it was him one on one with our safety, and
I was like, these are the two best kids on
the field, and DYU will have a roster if they
can get both of them. And now we have both
those guys in the Royal Blue of Provo, Utah.
Speaker 1: So a lot of twelve personnel this season.
Speaker 4: You think, oh, my goodness, and nothing makes me happier. Heck,
let's throw in thirteen personnel, bed I don't mind that
any bit.
Speaker 3: Let's go Moose Bingham ladies and gentlemen, Moose. Best way
to support you, what you do, how you do it.
Appreciate you hopping off for a little cruit in the
cougar segment.
Speaker 4: Oh just follow me on Twitter at Moose b ninety.
Let me know how wrong I am with my ratings.
I'm sure they're gonna come out soon. I'll start getting
after it. Let me know why your kid is the
greatest and I can't wait to see what our amazing
coaches do with these young men.
Speaker 3: Let's go Moose Bingham ladies and gentlemen. Thanks so much, Moose.
I always appreciate our time together. Thanks for talking to
some Crewton the Cougars.
Speaker 4: I love you, Ben, can't wait to see you on
the links.
Speaker 1: There you go.
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Speaker 8: This is a one oh three, nine and ninety eight
three ESPN Sports Center updates.
Speaker 6: And what was a busy weekend for Cougar sports. We
start with the headliner and men's basketball number eight. Houston
came to town Saturday night and defeated BYU seventy seven
to sixty six. A j Dea Bonsa scored twenty eight
to lead all players. The only other Cougar and Blue
to score double digits was Rob Right. The third was seventeen.
On a positive note, Houston only turn to BYU over
six times. That is the least amount of turnovers Houston
is forced.
Speaker 5: All year up next for BYU as.
Speaker 6: A homecoming for rob Right in the third when they
faced Baylor Waco on Tuesday. We women's basketball is also
defeated over the weekend in the Little Appril where they
lost to Kansas State in Manhattan seventy seven to fifty two.
That was the third least amount of point BYU scored
all year. They host Iowa State in the nation's leading
scorer in Audi Crooks Tuesday at seven o'clock in the
Mariana Super Bowl. Last night, Kyris Tonga was credited with
a tackle in the Patriots twenty nine at thirteen loss.
Speaker 1: He was the first two go to.
Speaker 6: Play in the Super Bowl was twenty twenty three, when
Fred Warner played with the forty nine ers. The recap
the rest of the weekend. YU softball went one and
three over the weekend, with a win over Murder Day
in the NFCA lead Off Classic. Men's volleyball completed sweeps
of Lincoln Memorial in Harvard. Men swim and dive lost,
while women's swim and dive beat Utah and their final
meet before the Big Twelve Conference champions. Gymnastics scored a
one ninety six point nine to seventy five to beat
Southern Utah, which was their highest scores in twenty twenty four,
and women's tennis won both their competition over the weekend
in besting argumentsas State Memphis two teams are in action
today as women's golf it is in Arizona for the
Thunderbird Classic and men's volleyball faces Mayor Mount in Massachusetts
at four o'clock. I'm Cameron Clark and this is Ben
York esp and the fan. Here are sports enter updates
brought to you by Wherelodgrand dot com.
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for ESPN the Fan in store. One of the questions, right,
I've been asked time and time again to say, Hey,
what is this defense gonna look like under Kelly Papina
as the defensive coordinator. What is it that he's gonna do?
How was he going to execute it? Are we gonna
have a drop off? Is he gonna be as good
as Jay Hill? All of them are valid questions. I
love the conversation, I love the debate. I love the
questions that come from Kugarnation and Uh, I think you're
gonna see you heard you hadn't heard Kelly on BA
Sports Nation. We're gonna try to get him on the
show as well this week, try to get some inside
and commentary, maybe piggyback off of the questions that BA
Sports Nation UH was asking about the future of this
Bayu defense. Uh, but I'm very optimistic, extremely optimistic about
the defense.
Speaker 1: Going forward with Kop at the helm. He's definitely earned it. Uh.
Speaker 3: Let's talk a little bit about the future of this
defense under k pop with a former BYU great super
Bowl champion.
Speaker 1: We got Brady Papinka on the line. Brady, how that?
Speaker 4: Heck?
Speaker 1: Are you buddy?
Speaker 3: Always a pleasure talking ball with you, Brady, Like like
ever since the change, Right, everyone's you know, everyone's concerned
about losing Jay, which you know we do reason we
all love Jay. He was a fantastic coach and we
wish him well. Gennaro was a loss. Uh, but everyone
asked me, Hey, Ben, what what type of defense is
k pop gonna be running? What is it gonna look like?
What is it gonna feel like? What type of play
caller will he be? Give me your your eval And
I know, look, I'm asking the big brother here.
Speaker 1: You're you're as familiar.
Speaker 3: With Kelly's strengths as you are with these weaknesses. Uh,
you've watched it up close, you've watched it from afar.
What type of defense do you think Kate Pop's gonna
be running next year in the years to come?
Speaker 5: Well, I mean the biggest thing is you're you know,
Kelly is not a guy that's gonna be delusional.
Speaker 1: Here, right.
Speaker 5: I mean, he's looking at this like this defense for
the last two years has been really good, I would say,
you know, very almost to the point of being a
dominant defense. And there's no reason to change that, you know,
especially when you got guys they're all coming back that
can build off what they've done previously. That's to me
one of the most viable things because in my career
I was always asked to do something different almost every year,
from when I was the freshman in college all the
way to my last year in the NFL, which was
a twelve year spand and it was hard. It would
have been really nice just to be able to stack
years one on top of another. You know. You hear
John Beck talk about that a lot, even in his career,
where you know, you just like to be able to
just grow on what had been done previously. And so
when you take all about it too consideration how good
they play, and then a lot of guys going back
to the show success in the same kind of seam,
there's no there's no reason to try to change it,
you know. And then then at the same time, the
final decision of this defense comes down to money, you know.
And then and that's also why Gary's there to be
the kind of the guys have been through this whole
thing to keep them true to what they do, because
it's really good. The principals ended up really good their sound.
They got some really good change up in nuances that
on a week to week basis game planning wise, were
really good. And the really good because they're complicated to
the DTA excuse me, they're complicated how they are perceived
by the offense, but from the defensive perspective, they're quite simple.
So they have the illusion of complexity, you know, and
if you look at any strategists like that's like the
perfect sweet spot where something to you can look, you know,
really complicated, but it's really a simple adjustment here, and
that's what you go for. So, uh, the base is there,
the infrastructures, they're sure. Kelly's probably gonna have some more
of his signature involved in that, which you know, i'd
imagine to be some of the Broncos stuff, you know,
the cover six, Cover four, you know, some of the
Traps Cover two kind of stuff maybe, But that's pretty
much it. And and by the way, all that stuff
compliments already. What BYU does you know with the single
Stafey stuff, I mean Cover six. As you know, Ben,
you ran that for how long?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 5: You know, you were prop.
Speaker 1: And we ran it. We ran a ton of Cover six.
I was like, I got.
Speaker 3: I was like, I tried to mix up my alignment
every single time we called cover six. So I was like,
so they don't I'm like pressing one time, I'm playing
at eight, acting like a four four across and other
times and there coming down with a snap. I was
I was trying to give different looks at different times
for certain Yeah, but I bring up.
Speaker 5: That because and again I don't know if he's gonna
actually do it, but it looks a lot from a
quarterback standpoint, you can make Cover six look a lot
like Cover three in post course corner stuff. And then
you think, oh, I got we got the seams. If
we get them, you know, in a specific formation, we
got some weaknesses, but all of a sudden they shift
to six and those weaknesses aren't there anymore because it's
a compliment to Cover three. So you have that, and
it's a really strong run defense, you know, with the
with the split safety look and a split with split
safety concept too, So it's it's a nice comment. Maybe
it's something they do and that would be that would
be the extensive that I imagine it would go. But
like I said, if if you're smart, like Kelly's really smart,
you know, look, this has been working. You're gonna keep
doing what's working until it doesn't.
Speaker 1: Work anymore, no doubt.
Speaker 3: One of the things I've also brought up is is this,
I don't know if we've had as much talent on
the defensive side as we've had over the last couple
of years.
Speaker 1: And it continues to look like it's going to improve.
Speaker 3: The clay is good an artists into each good clay,
and so a good artisan with good clay, it sounds
like it's going to be. I'm pretty optimistic with all that.
You know, the talent that Byu has in the in
that locker room, well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the and Kelly said it, I believed
is one of his interviews where he hits a theme
of competition, and I think that'll be really fun because
as you get more and more good players, more and
more of them are deserving to play. But there's only
a love of spots, right, and so that just creates
an internal competition to where guys are going to be
more caught up and competing in terms of making plays,
which I think is the ideal scenario where you want
your kids to be is you want them to compete
against each other and the scoreboard is making plays versus
worrying about the opponent, because the opponent usually should just
be nameless face boss, it's just it's just there. But
to go out and be like, man, I got to
go out and make some big plays today to get
more plays or to keep you know, the hot hand going,
that's a healthy place to be because when everybody's doing that,
it's an internal synergy that takes everybody's level play to
a whole new level. And if you have enough guys
to pull that off and that the coaches can be
disciplined and you don't have to be a jerk about
it from a coaching standpoint, where you're you know, you're
pulling guys out every time they make a mistake or
every time the other guy makes some plays. You're you know,
you're not all of a sudden benching the other person,
but you're you're letting them know, like, look, you know,
if you do get in a rut, we have somebody
here that can come in and make plays. And then
at the same time, and this is what it's going
to be challenging for Kelly and this the staff is
you have to be able to fit these guys in.
You have to have scheme flexibility, scheme creativity to get
your talent on the field. And the eleven best guys.
People don't realize your eleven best guys need to be
on the field, but your eleven best guys change per situation,
and so that takes scheme creativity, takes a situational recognition,
takes you know, record should have understanding how you're going
to defend an offense. And those are the challenges that
this dass is going to be confronting, and I'm sure
it's one they're looking forward to. And because it's fun
from a schematic standpoint, and so this is this is
really good. You know, to have enough horses in the
barn to so to speak, to where you can do that.
You can run a lot of different schemes. You could
have that interial competition going and then at the same
time have that challenge of how do I find a
role for everybody, because you can't just abandon guys. You know,
there's guys that are probably you know eleven A, you know,
when you're talking to your eleven mes guys when it's
a you know, tough running team that you're playing against
versus other teams that maybe spread you out throat. Okay,
maybe they're you know twelve thirteen. Well you got to
still be able to help them to be incorporated in
the team and help them incorporated into the scheme, but
not ask them to do something that's outside of the willhouse.
So those are all fun challenges that these these coaches
are going to be dealing with. And you're right, it's
a good buy product because it shows that you have
a slut talent. Relatively speaking, I would say you're correct.
There's more talent than we've been been seeing it be
like you in a long time. And the recruited class shows
as much, and the status shows you know, the being
able to pay player shows and so that's uh, for
surely's new reality that these guys are dealing with. And
like I said, it's it's the challenge is the scheme, flexibility, creativity,
and understanding situations.
Speaker 3: Brad Vinga here on your Utah ESPN Radio network talking
to BYU football and the future of b YU football
here on Cougar Sports. Brady, when you look at the
h the acquisitions via the portal, we see a couple
of linebackers Katie lave j Clifton one from CAL one
from Kansas Kansas State. You look at three offensive lineman
Pockey Finow, Junior Sia and Zakiyamauchi al from p or
one two from P four programs, and then Junior coming
from Utah State, Kyler Casper, a wide receiver from Oregon.
Two tight ends Roger sally Apaga from Oregon and then
Walker Lyons from uh from from USC and then Javin
Williams Mississippi State. What stands out to you about the
transferportal class and the guys that are going to make
an impact this next season, Well, what.
Speaker 5: I liked about it is we fortify our offensive line
because if you're just for example, looking at offensive line
from a death standpoint, performer standpoint of last year, you
know you're not losing a ton of guys and you're like, man,
we're good, and so there could have been a tendency
by Kwannie and the staff to be like, oh, we
don't need to really be aggressive, and they were the
complete aufste which is like, man, that's exactly how you
have to do. You have to basically fortify your your
your your up your front.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 5: I like to have seen him maybe be more active
in our defensive tackle spot, but that maybe shows what
they think about some young guys, because we do have
a bunch of young guys there too that are that
are growing and developing. But uh, but yeah, I think
every year you're always looking to fortify your fronts, no
matter what you have coming back, no matter how well
they're performing, because that, to me is the foundation of
what by football flavor, and that's the foundation of just
football overall. You got to have a really good front
I can control the line of scrimmage and then uh,
and then offensively, it was a priority to get man
de man beating offensive weapons. So you know that the
big wide receiver cast for is last thing's cast for correct?
Speaker 1: Yeahs wide receiver from from Oregon.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean that's a that's a guy right there
that basically you're I mean, he's he's very similarly built
to uh Man, just the names. What what was our
other really tall light receiver.
Speaker 1: Very very recent, Mitch Matthews.
Speaker 5: There is Mitch. It reminds me a lot of Mitch,
but he has a little bit more I would say, flexibility,
body control at the top of the route. And so
he's the guy that if you're going to try to,
you know, play us Manda Man like Texas Tech was
doing against us in that championship game and we didn't
really have a man beater, you know, somebody that makes
you think twice about playing Mando Man that's hard. You know,
he's the guy that's gonna help that. Also, the two
tight end editions you mentioned are right in that Willhouse. Also,
is there meant to be mixed this match? You know,
matchup nightmares for these defenses again, making it to where
as a defense, you've gotta double think or think twice
about whether or not you're gonna run man to man
and when.
Speaker 2: We can do that.
Speaker 5: In addition to having our quarterback or in any game
like we had with Bear, and then just our overall
running game in general, that really puts the defenses in mine.
So I really liked all of the additions they made
and I'm looking forward to the younger guys too, developing
and becoming you know, household names, which I think is
gonna happen. I think you're gonna see guys emerge, you know,
especially guys that you know, light bulb turns on all
of a sudden, they get more opportunities and boom. Like
last year, you know, we had Body I got really
immersed and was really starting to be impactful, especially at.
Speaker 2: The end of the year.
Speaker 5: And then we had Newcy. You know, Newcy I think,
as long as he can stay healthy. You know, he
had some some stuff he was dealing with, but man,
he was as dominant of a defensive player we had
all year by the end of the season, especially in
that game against George Tech. I mean, he was a
difference maker. So you all you see these guys growing,
and that's I love that about how we're we're managing
our roster byu Is, we're not just selling out to hey,
let's go buy a bunch of talent, although we do.
You know, we talked about these transfer portal guys, but
at the same time, we're heavily investing in draft or
it's not drafting and development, but it's it's recruiting and developing.
There it is. It's kind of like drafting developing, same concept,
but it's recruiting and developing, which goes to show you, like,
if you're able to do that, that's really your your
your mark as a good coaching staff because you're able
to take guys that have the the foundational skill sets
that you want, you're able to develop them into contributors,
you know, dominators. That's that's huge, you know. So yeah,
and then then the on side, then the off the
ball backers. I thought we added toughness, and the big
thing I think we need is we need guys that
could step into if you looked at Texas Tech, because
the Texas Tech I thought had two really good inside
linebackers that they're not going to jump off any you know,
physical trait metrics. You know these guys, yeah, I mean
pretty good, but they're not big and fast, they're not
these hard hitting guys. But what they did, and I
was impressed because I watched it very closely, was they
lined up their defense and they executed precisely. I mean,
I don't know if you guys remember that. I think
it was like a reverse pass with Parker I mean
those guys didn't flinch. I mean they were everybody's in
position across the board, and specifically these backers. So we
get more of that out of our inside guys, because
that's why I think, you know last year there and
by the way, it's how our defense is. It's a
heavy dose defense. You know, they're gonna have a lot
of layers to it. If we can get that to
where our linebackers can line us up, help us execute
at a higher rate, it just want, you know, make
plays where they're supposed to make plays, fit the gaps,
where they're supposed to fit the gas. That right there
is going to take our defense to home a level.
So so I like those. I like those editions, And
like I said, I think I think our off season
so far looks really good. Now you never know, so
you actually go play, you know, guys that have to
go show them. But on paper, we're looking good.
Speaker 3: Let's transition over to super Bowl talk. It was the
grand finale of this season. Many people thought that the
actual Super Bowl was the Seahawks versus the Rams, but
this is a defensive showcase, right, a little bit of
a pitchers duel, if you will, Seattle was in control
for most of it.
Speaker 1: They ended up winning the game.
Speaker 3: Obviously, they are the they are the champions, and congratulations
to them.
Speaker 1: But what did you make of the game. What stood
out to you about it?
Speaker 5: Well, it stood out a bet. It is John Schneider,
the general manager of the shah Seahawks, and I go
way back, man, he was a big reason why I
ended up in Green Bay. He's a big reason why
they signed me to a contract extension and to see
him have success because I know how he wants to
build teams and by the way he builds, he builds
the teams very similar to how Uyu done. He builds
the teams based off the competition. Can I remember one
time he got all drunk. Man, it was funny. We're
at this Thanksgiving party. I've told this many times, Like
I just love telling you about him because it's so
Josh Snider rot this big Giving party and he's he's
a little younger, you know. I think I think we
maybe three or four years apart in age. So we
had some mutual friends and that's why we have this
party together. It is after we had played the Dallas
Cowboys on Thanksgiving back in oh seven, and that was
the game where Brett Farber got hurt. Aaron Rodgers comes
in and just lights it up and everybody's like, Oh,
Aaron's gonna be really good. So we're at this party
and he's just drunk out of his mind and we're
talking and he's yelling right because there's some music in
the background, but he's drunk, and when people drink, some
people they just start yelling, and he just starts yelling
at me. He goes, you know, far from I'm like, yeah, bro,
He's like, we're done with him. He's like, we are
done with that guy. He's like, we got our guy.
And I'm like, bro, you were really talking loud and
he's like am I. I'm like yeah, And I was like,
that's pretty sensitive information about here, man, you know, because
Brett Farber is legendary, I mean you know. And so
fast forward into the conversation and my wife's standing next
to me. He's like, oh, by the way, Brady, He's like,
we're gonna give you a contract extension. I'm like, God,
it's gonna thank you very much for that. I'm looking
at my wife. I'm like, how about that? And then
he's like but but don't don't get He's like, but
don't get sit on your lures. We're probably gonna draft,
you know, so if we get a background your safe
position in the first round, we're gonna pull the trigger.
It's like, we just we just draft football players and
we let you guys decide it on the field, you know.
And I was like, Hey, that's cool. And then Lobo.
Last forward to when we came back to work on
that Monday. I'm getting my pass getting ready to go
out to practice and I hear this this yelling of
my name, Brady, Brady Brady. I'm like, what the you know,
what's going on? I turn around his John and he
comes up to me. He pulls me aside. He goes, Brady,
whatever I said last week, do not repeat. It's between them.
I'm like, okay, we're good. And uh so, yeah, he's
he's a stunt man. I'm really happy for him. He's
the first general manager to win the Super Bowl with
two different teams where there's zero players on each one
of those teams, different coaches. I mean, he is the
epitome of how you build football teams and he learned
it from one of the greats, Ted Thompson Ron Wolfs. Again,
those agreement packer guys. And so that's my background, by
the way, and how I perceived teams to be built.
You build it off competition, and then you go after
football players. I think so many times. You know, recruiting
wise is the same thing. You get so caught up
with these intangibles are they are they tall? Or are
they long?
Speaker 4: Are they fast?
Speaker 5: I mean, there's certain measurables that ye are minimals, but man,
just get football players. Just get guys who are tough,
have face diversity, and just love to play the game.
And guess what, there's enough scheme flexibility out there, especially
if you're creative to sit those guys in. And I
mean that's how the Seattle Seahawk team is built. And
like I said, I see a lot of similarities with
how we do it at Uyu and it's very validating.
And like I said, I'm really happy for John and
for what he's been able to accomplish.
Speaker 3: Brady, who's your way too early favorite to win the
Super Bowl in twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 5: It's gonna be the Seahawks until somebody knocks him up
to the Tote Bowls. The same with the Eagles last year.
And the Eagles looked amazing, and you know, they have
some issues and allow the Seahawks to be merged. But
I mean, the Seahawks are built to be good for
a long time. I mean that the Russell Wilson trade, man,
they got some good draft picks out of that. I mean,
because I'll tell you, Jarns Stander does not miss very often.
Relatives you're always gonna miss, but relative to the other
teams and how they hit or miss on draft picks.
So they're gonna get some really good rookies in there.
These guys that had the experience this, Ye're gonna grow,
you know. I mean, they're only gonna get better. And
and I'll tell you the biggest thing for Seattle though,
was getting that home field advantage because they are just
a completely different team up in Seattle, Man, when you
got the twelve just rocket, it's the loudest stadium I've
ever been in, and they play at a different pace there.
It's like a completely different team when you play them
up there. And that's you know what they they had
when they were playing the Rams and then the forty
nine Ers, the forty nine Ers, Man it was like
over first quarter and a half. It's like a blitz,
you know. But but yeah, you know, obviously, I know
I always go with the champion until somebody some off.
Speaker 3: There go Brady for pinga ladies and gentlemen, Brady. Last
thing key storylines for springball? Uh, it's it's right around
the corner. Is there one key storyline you're gonna be evaluating?
Speaker 1: Is it QB two, RV two? Is it the defense?
What do you got?
Speaker 5: I want to see how it's managed, because you know,
there's a lot of money right now being paid to
these kids. I don't know if it's a good idea
to do the traditional spring practice where you pat them
up and you have them go out and you hit.
I'm thinking, and it's just I'm curious to see how
it's Kwante has it as you turn this into the
NFL kind of mini camp where you have them go
run around a little bit, work on their schemes, walk throughs,
jog roots, and then just save everybody, you know, save
them for the season. To me, there's no reason to
go put pat these guys up unless they're young. You know,
maybe some of these young guys that because look, there's
bubble guys. Remember now we now that there's roster limits,
there's money, there's bubble bucks. So yeah, maybe with the
bubble guys, you know you're gonna want to go see
hey hours like guys should come back on missions, I
don't know, uh, and just see what they're like a
pads to get idea they we need to move in
different directions because they will, you know. I think last
year we had leave a spring Bear after Spring. So
there is some value in some guys playing. But like
I said, I said, majority of the guys, do not
pat him up. Just let them, you know, get out there,
run around a little bit, let him run through the scheme.
You know, whatever Nuance is Kelly's gonna bring, you know,
that's opportunity for him to do it. It's great for
Bear and Roderick to finally just tail down their exact offense,
which which I'm sure it's a lot like what we
saw in the last part of the season. Uh, but
with more running that now Bear is healthy but still
thrown the ball kind of uh. I mean, I could
see us doing a lot more at times high temple
empty stuff with Bear because he's still a running back,
you know, that's still very similar to if you go empty,
if you have a tight ends like running have a personnel,
he's your other back, you know. But then he has
the option to use the quick game like he did
so well against George Techna. George tech threw everything out
of him and you have it well. So, I mean,
that's gonna be fun to me. Like to see that
offense and evolved this year with these guys having a
full off season and how smart Fair is and how
you know, forward thinking and creative, broader kids and his
offensive stop this that's gonna be exciting.
Speaker 3: Brady always appreciate our time together. Invite everyone to check
out the xpt dot com if there in need of
any gym equipment and or Jim build out. Brady, thanks
for so much for hopping on. We'll get you up
with you again soon.
Speaker 5: All right, my man, I'm a good rest today.
Speaker 1: There you go. That's Brady Pavinga.
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