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I want to talk about some college football bou football
in this segment. It's going to be a bronze you
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Speaker 2: Jared, how the heck are you, buddy good?
Speaker 4: Thanks for having me again.
Speaker 3: Man, Always a pleasure, man, Always have pleasure talking ball
with you.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know a couple of the topics that we've broached
over the last I don't know, three or four days
prior to the weekend.
Speaker 2: Uh, I want to broach him with you.
Speaker 3: RB two is a question that we're gonna hopefully find
out or get closer to finding out during springball.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: You got Tooni Moa. You have you know a number
of guys right now. Devon ecka young buck looking to
make some Hey, Preston Rex has been a favorite amongst
some because he's got some past catching ability. You've talked
with me about a little bit about what he brings
to Jovessa Mooney, Joe de Mooney. Jovesa de Mooney really
came on strong with his seven tots in the pop
tarch Bawl versus Georgia Tech. And you know, there could
be others that step up. There could be a new
name that steps up after spring. But where you stand
right now in the RB two conversation, who you're most
likely to bet on right now to become RB two
behind l J.
Speaker 5: Martin, Well, absolutely shut him. It would be that would
be the favorite for the number two spot. I mean,
you look back at some of the tape of him
when he was healthy, and he's a tough dude to
bring down, and he has got size. Uh, he's got
the ability to really fill in the gaps, you know,
when LJ is tired or lj's you know, needs a break.
Speaker 4: He does that well.
Speaker 5: I also think that that Preston Rex is going to
add to the mix. I think that there are certain
plays and certain downs where I think he is very
very good with his speed on the outside, with his
ability with this knowledge of defense and playing so much
of that as well, and so I think he adds
to it. You can't count out to Javesa de Mooney
just because of how well he played in the bowl game.
You know, you he's gonna get his his reps in
the spring and and and it's always fun to see
these new freshmen coming in. So other than his game
tape at Lehigh, I don't know. I'm interesting to see
what the speed does you know, as a freshman coming in.
Is he going to be able to be up with
the speed? Is he going to be able to lay
the hits and make the moves. He's quick, he's fast,
and and and I think he's got a bright future.
So I do think we do have a pretty good room.
It'll be interesting to see who stands out, you know, who,
who really steps up and and and and shows how
competitive they are this spring and and but that's the
best part of spring ball, man. It's the unknowns and
the unknowns and then the ability to go in and
compete and earn that spot. I always tell you, man,
it's the most fun part of football, in my opinion,
is springball.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Look, I love spring ball.
Speaker 3: I think it's the time to prove yourself and to
uh maybe turn some heads, get some more reps, have
some more opportunities.
Speaker 2: And RB two is one of those. RP two has
got to be one of those.
Speaker 3: And and you hope that somebody steps out, uh, steps
up in the the absence of a true RB two
right now, because like you know, and when Lj's out,
you know, and it bears a little bit you know, limited.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it hurts. It got a little if, It got
a little if.
Speaker 3: In our run game and our play action was awesome
this season because we had a run game. We had
a quarterback and a running back that looked they were
the they were the Centaurs, they were the bear tars.
Speaker 2: They were uh.
Speaker 3: They they were heavy loads to bring down and they
were scatty and and fleet of foot as well, quick
and and explosive and physical. And that's what led to
a fantastic play action game and intermediate intermediate passing it which.
Speaker 2: Based the question, Uh, even before.
Speaker 3: The Parker Kingston news, we were concerned about a wide
receiver one. Parker was going to be the favorite to
be a one thousand yard receiver. We haven't had many
of those historically and b WAU football history. Parker was
on a trajectory to become that. You know, aside from
the legal issues, I've said this consistently. May the truth
be unveiled and may justice be wrought and served in
all these things right and from on all sides, in
all spect spectrums.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it will happen in these cases.
Speaker 3: I don't think always truth is unveiled and unferraled to
all to consume. And I don't know if justice is
always wrought in these cases. But I hope that's what
occurs going forward. But let's just take football for a moment.
What do we do now in that wide receiver room?
Are we as confident as you know? And we were, like,
you know, moderately confident in our wide receiver corps, But
we're like, it'd be nice to have a Kiel and Marion,
It'd be nice to have an Austin College.
Speaker 2: It'd be nice to have a Dax mill And type.
Speaker 3: Of player that Darius Lasher was a wide receiver one
for us.
Speaker 4: We don't.
Speaker 3: I don't know if we have that. Everyone thinks maybe
Kyler Casper could be that guy. Maybe Reggie FRISHCNNET, Uh,
maybe it's somebody else. But how you how are you
feeling right now about the wide receiver room.
Speaker 5: Well, they're all athletes, they all can play ball, and
we just need to get reps. You know, we need
to see who comes in and stands out. I mean,
Tannakook could come in and be that guy. You know,
you just don't know right now because the majority of
the guys that that are in there haven't got the
reps in order to prove themselves. So it's gonna take
I'm sure they're throwing a lot with Bear. They're starting
to get that feel they're getting more reps. Most of
these guys didn't get a lot of reps with Bear
because they weren't ones and twos last year, you know,
and Reggie got in towards the end of the season.
Speaker 4: I think Reggie's great. I think he's gonna he's gonna
turn a lot of heads, you.
Speaker 6: Know, I I yeah, it's it's you hate going into
it with with with the negativity that's kind of come
across the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 4: But guys have to step up, you know. It's the same.
Speaker 5: It's like basketball, as all say, people get hurt, you know,
next man up and who's ready to fill the shoes.
Somebody's going to there. There's got to be guys that
come in and do that. And I can't wait for
the competitiveness of springball to bring out the best in
some of these guys. And I think we have guys
that can do that. I think Kyler Casper is going
to do very well. Uh just in talking to him
and his his physicality in football, what he wants to do,
what his goals are. And but somebody in that receiver
room has to step up and and become that guy.
Speaker 4: You know, who is going to step up and be it?
Speaker 5: I'm not sure yet, you know, it's it's and it
could be week by week, but I think somebody's gonna
come out as the alpha in that room and become
the top dog, and everybody is going to be It's
kind of like that when we had the quarterback battles
and you always just like who is it.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be a parent who is that guy?
Speaker 5: Typically And just like last year, Bear became that guy
and he earned a spot.
Speaker 4: And I think a receiver is gonna step up.
Speaker 5: And show that he is that alpha and we're going
to be excited to see him play. I'm telling you
some of these freshmen coming into our outstanding athletes, you know,
it's hard to put a lot on the shoulders of
a freshman but as we've seen, look at Malakai Toni.
Guys should shouldn't even have been a freshman, right, he
should have been a senior in high school and he dominated.
You know, I'm not saying we have a Malachai Tony
on the team, but do we You know the Pula
Twins coming in. These guys are incredible athletes, and they're
not five foot seven like Malachai Tony.
Speaker 4: These guys are. These guys are lengthy.
Speaker 5: If they can be physical, if they can block, and
they can get open, they're going to get the ball.
We could have a shocker of a wide receiver room
this year with some of these young guys that just
come in and ball out. And it used to be
where you're like, ah, the guys a freshman, he's coming in.
Most freshmen don't have a shot. At least when I played,
it was very rare that you had a freshman just
come in and.
Speaker 4: Just take over the team.
Speaker 5: Today's world and the amount of private coaching these athletes
like you look for Margin Hooks.
Speaker 4: One of my old teammates, right, Margins.
Speaker 5: I love Margin and he is put together the absolute
top dogs and the wide receiver groups across the nation. Right,
you watch some of these guys. I was watching one
of his guys running yesterday. He's a twenty nine graduate, right,
His routes unreal, like two steps in and out of
like comeback right, just none. And so the amount of
training and the skill set that these guys are coming
out of high school with, it's just it's a but
what if.
Speaker 4: We would have had that kind of training, Ben, you know,
I mean think about it. I barely had a receiver
coach in high school.
Speaker 2: You know that.
Speaker 5: He just happened to play receiver in junior college and
so he was our receiver coach.
Speaker 4: Right, these guys.
Speaker 5: Are now being coached by the best of the best,
and they're starting in like sixth grade, seventh grade with
one on one coaching. So I think they're coming out bigger, stronger, faster,
and with skills that we were still learning. I would
even say as a sophomore in junior in college, I
was still learning some of the off the ball press coverage,
how to get away from guys. And these guys are
just separating, you know. So it's different, you know, And
so I do feel like we could have a freshman
step in there. I really, I really want to see
Tana Koua do something, do something this year. He's he's
got the biggest mouth of anybody on the in the
receiver room. Every play, his mouth doesn't stop talking. And
I wanted I want him to have the opportunity to
back up that mouth a little bit, you know, and
because I think that's fun. You know, it's fun to
get out there and be aggressive like that. But then
it's even even and morphone when you back it up.
Speaker 7: We could play.
Speaker 2: Give me an example.
Speaker 3: Of a major injury or roster attrition that occurred that
ended up creating a BYU hero a BYU baller. Right Obviously,
the low hanging fruit right now is bear Bachmeyer j Retslow.
That was a roster attrition and bar Bachmeer steps up
and does something that I mean, he was the highest
rated true freshman quarterback in college football for PFF. That's
a little let's talk about stat segment brought to you
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quarterback Tanner Magum. After Taysom Hill went down in twenty fifteen.
Let beg you to a nine game season, nine game
win season with an opportunity to beat Utah in the
in the Vegas Bowl in twenty fifteen, and he had
a great year. I mean he threw for over three
thousand yards, nine wins as a true freshman, two game winner,
Hail Mary's one versus Boys, you stay one versus Nebraska
at Nebraska, he became a baller in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2: Now he regressed. There's some issues.
Speaker 3: He had mental and emotional issues, and he just he
lost maybe some competitive fire and edge, and maybe the
supporting cast wasn't as good, etcetera. You can make all
these excuses, but like in twenty fifteen, he was a baller.
But you know, is there a defensive player, Is there
another offensive player, a wide receiver example that you can
think about from your time or you know, as you've
been a fan also watching from Afar that you can
point to and say, hey, this was a major injury
or a ross attrition that occurred and ended up creating
a BYU baller.
Speaker 4: I'm drawing a complete blank on that. Yeah, I think
I'm running back to all these injuries and all these.
Speaker 2: People because a lot of times.
Speaker 3: Many times you don't get your opportunity until an injury occurs.
Ritchie Saunders goes down with an ACL injury. Doesn't have
to It doesn't have to be a football example either,
sure right, It could be a bastball example where you
know someone is sitting there in the wing, not getting minutes.
All of a sudden you give him the minutes and
they take the baton and they rise to glory and
fame because they were ready for the moment. The moment
wasn't too big for him. They had prepared and all
they needed was an opportunity. All they needed was a
chance to be featured and get the volume or close
to the volume that that that former player had received.
Speaker 8: I don't have a single one I was I was
just thinking a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah I went down. It was short lived because he
got injured.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but how good was it? What was the game?
Speaker 7: Okay?
Speaker 4: Yeah, when when he came in and just you couldn't
take him down? His potential man, and it was like, yeah, yeah,
I think that's a great one.
Speaker 5: That that's one that had to everyone can relate to
right now and we want.
Speaker 4: That back, We want that back.
Speaker 2: This year.
Speaker 4: So yeah, let's go uh yeah, I don't have one
off the top of my head. I think that.
Speaker 3: Look, I don't think it happens all the time. You know,
it doesn't happen all the time. But like there there
are there are times, right there are there are opportunities
to uh to showcase your ability. I think this this
is one of those opportunities right within the wide chival room.
Speaker 5: It is it is, and there's it's gonna take some
somebody's gonna step up and do it.
Speaker 4: You know, somebody's gonna be that guy.
Speaker 5: And it would be great if we got two or
three of them, you know, two or three of the
guys step up and become just really good.
Speaker 8: Bruce Mitchell's another one. Just think oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah went down and Bruce came in.
Speaker 2: And Brucey became he was really good all big twelve.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna put that out there for Cougarnation to
chime in on, because uh, you know, they'll they'll delve
into the archive, they'll delve into they they're going to
be pulling up in the nineteen eighties and you know
when Mark Wilson went down and Jim McMahon stepped up.
Speaker 2: That's what they that's gonna be. They're gonna be delving
into there.
Speaker 3: But I'm also looking for, like positions outside of quarterback
is what I'm looking for here, and and I'm thinking of,
you know, of of major injuries. I mean, quite honestly,
in six and seven when I was playing like we
we the reason why we were good is because we
really didn't have that many major injuries.
Speaker 2: Like they stayed collectively pretty healthy.
Speaker 3: I think you can say the same thing for the
eighty four season, like they stayed really healthy.
Speaker 2: I talked to Robbie Bosco about it. They just didn't
have any major injuries from key players.
Speaker 5: Played on grass too, Yeah, you know, so I think
there's to be said with the playing fields that we
were able to play.
Speaker 2: On about practice and game which is grass.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we played on grass, and grass is forgiving. Yeah,
And I think that a lot of.
Speaker 5: The soft tissue injuries are coming from, uh when you
cut and and in some of this turf and it
doesn't give like a normal grass field might give and
cause some of those injuries. But in fact, I did
just talk to a friend of mine, an old teammate
from RIXS that played. We were stay Jimmy Atkins and
so Jimmy, Jimmy is running with business.
Speaker 4: They do all the turf.
Speaker 5: In fact, they might be doing the turf on the
indoor practice field at by US. So I asked him
today about that. You know, what's what's the difference in
this turf? And they are now they've come out with
a new turf that actually is more forgiving. It's no
no more of that uh of the the rubber pellets
all over. It's a whole different deal with a padding
that those pellets. And there's gonna be some lawsuits down
the line. I feel like that. Yeah, I mean it
was I think that what they're developing now should be born.
And you notice it in a lot of the NFL
teams as well, and and a lot of these soft
tissue injuries and and but I think when you talk
about injuries and you go to the basketball, it's gonna
be really interesting to see who steps in and takes
over that that spot, uh and and fills those shoes
in the basketball. I had a question for you, do
do you know? I was thinking about this today. Is
there a limit of games that a red shirt can
play in basketball?
Speaker 4: As similar to football. Is there somebody who's.
Speaker 5: Red shirting currently on the BYU basketball team, it would.
Speaker 3: Be kJ Perry, But I think he's I think he's
he's injured too, I think is he. I don't know, Ronnie,
he correct me if I'm wrong, But I think kJ
Perry is also not healthy enough to play, and they
had him slated as a red shirt right away. I
mean that's the thing like basketball's cursed. I mean right
Ay Pickens foot an ankle out for the year, Dawson
Baker knee out for the year, Berti Koslowski out for
the year, Richie Saunders knee out for the year, Xavier
Stton out for the year. I think kJ Perry has
also been been, you know, been deemed.
Speaker 5: But can they can they play a certain amount of
games and still hold their red shirt like the you
can in football.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean there's a certain amount of games. I
can't remember what the threshold is. I can do a
little bit. It's like it's probably like a third of
the games or something like that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it'd be interesting to see if anybody is, if
they're able to bring anybody back.
Speaker 3: But well, that's it. It's February and you.
Speaker 4: Would think at this point if they if they were
able to, they could play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. So I just don't see it happening.
Speaker 3: What they got, Yeah, what they got, I think the
only individual would be kJ Perry and uh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I no point to burn that. Yeah, I just
don't think so shout out to to val Hale.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he brought up Mark Wilson, you know in his
eric stepping up and uh and say val.
Speaker 4: Hale, so why don't you bring up Chris Hale? Remember
remember Chris is touchdown.
Speaker 5: Okay, I don't know if that came off an injury,
but he came in and got that amazing touchdown.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was such one of those blazing fast young
men that one.
Speaker 4: Of those from Aura.
Speaker 5: I wish I could have been in his shoes for
that one catch in that game.
Speaker 3: But he also mentions Ryan Hancock too, Ryan Hancock coming
off the bench.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's what I'm saying, like, more often than not,
you're seeing like an injury to a quarterback or there's
some player attrician and it's a quarterback that steps up,
a backup to become a hero.
Speaker 2: And it's and it's an immediate thing.
Speaker 3: It's a and at least right now, you have an
off season to plan for it, right, you have an
off season with Parker. It's like, Hey, Kyler, you're going
to be that guy. Hey, you're gonna be that Cody Hagen?
Are you going to be that guy?
Speaker 4: You know, Cody's got all everything? Probably that guy. Yeah,
everything there.
Speaker 5: And I think I think the one thing with Cody
that I saw he's super fast, super quick, great hands.
I felt like he just needed to be more physical, right,
He got more. He got physical around a little bit.
I mean, granted he come up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but he's got to put on some some lean
dust match right right.
Speaker 5: It's either But to me, the physality of football is
you're either physical, well you're not, right, And some guys
are physical players all the time and some guys are
more of a finesse. But he kind of comes across
more of a finesse. I like to see the receivers
that have a physical side to him that it's just
I'm gonna go out there and rip this guy's head.
I'm blocking this guy, I'm gonna rip his head off.
As a receiver. A lot of us, as receivers, don't
have more of a finesse, like I'm gonna get in
the guy's way and I'm gonna make.
Speaker 3: Sure you he's a floater though, And by that though,
I'll give you my analysis of this, Like I've bodied
up enough human beings in sport and to know whether
it was wrestling, basketball, football, If you have light bone
structure and you have a lot of tendon, you you're
a You're a floater. You blied and you get knocked
off pretty like I remember running against guys that were
faster than me.
Speaker 2: They were floaters.
Speaker 3: If I could knock them off the route in that
initial five, they just never get back up to that
the top end speed they can. I can reroute them
through hand placement, through hitting the wrist. Their floaters. And
it's like, if you like the reason why pukin the
Coup is so good at contested catches, you know, he's
a pretty he's he's not like overly big, you know,
or like and I'm sure in the weight room he
probably pushes good weight, but he's not like a weight
room guy.
Speaker 2: But he's so dang.
Speaker 4: Dense aggressively attacks.
Speaker 3: But he's dense, dude, he is, He's thick, his lower
he's got a he stays grounded through contact because his
body weight is probably mostly in his lower half, so
he he fights through contact a whole lot better than others.
Speaker 5: But you could still be fit. You could be a
floater and still be physical.
Speaker 3: How many floaters do you know that we're we're like
truly physical though, give me an.
Speaker 5: Example that was their game, wasn't that? But if you
add that to your game, But it's mental. I think,
I think the physicality of football has so much mental
to it and a lot of a lot of the
floater kind of.
Speaker 4: But they're trying to avoid contact.
Speaker 3: Well, it's like, to me, like a good example of
like how physical would Deshaun Jackson. Maybe physical enough, but
that guy was so freaking fashion couldn't touch him. So
like even like you have to be so fast, Cody
has to be so fast that he can't be touched. Parker,
to his credit, became like I felt like he kind
of got early on his career was more of a floater,
but then he was able to fight through contactcause you
got more dense. So like I think, I mean, Cody's
got to get more dnse in the lower half. He's
got to put on and and some of that could be.
Like it's almost like body building type of lifts in
conjunction with your pliometric lifts, because you have to put
on some lean muscle mass through bodybuilding ecentric concentric loading.
Speaker 5: Get a penalty, Go get a penalty, Go go go
take somebody's head.
Speaker 4: Can I can I jump in there?
Speaker 3: I don't know if I don't know if Cody's ever
gonna be that Like physically, he's you know, he's more
likely to become a DeShawn Jackson type. I'm not saying
he is DeShawn Jackson, you know, with quickness and speed
and and being fleet of.
Speaker 2: Foot, like Regie Bush was not overly physical.
Speaker 3: He's just so freaking fast and quick like in college,
like he just couldn't be touched. But when you get
him like he was overly physical, would like fight through
a whole lot. So but yeah, I mean, look, I
want we all want Pukahs, we all want Austin Collies.
Even Dax Milne was just a body guy. You throw
them all and he knew how to position his body
where the depend he could fight through some good contact
and that's why he became a punt return in the NFL.
Play Yeah, Faishika Hema was not fast. He was extremely
quick and fought through contact. Right, Ronald, you wanted to
chime in real quick.
Speaker 9: But yeah, I just wanted to say this like I'm
running out of it. I don't want to does not
excuse us the wrong word. But things for Cody because
been having played rugby, they took Cody dudes and they
would go in the offseason, they come back. I'm like,
oh goodness, greatious, Like they would turn in the Parker
like fixed so and that's what. Like we had Sam Roberts,
who's a guy that was like one of the fastest
track dudes. Like that dude, the muscle he put on
and when he kept his speed and started moving. So
I'm like, I don't know what Olympic Cody needs to do,
but if he wants to come to me with the gym, like, bro,
you gotta eat six thousand calories and you gotta lift crazy,
because that's the thing. Once he gets muscle, then it'll
become like what you know, PK and other fast guys
Deshaun wa But he can't just maneuver like you. Benny
poke him and he falls over and it's like gotta
be you gotta be physical. He's got to do something.
And that's where I think Jared's points of I like
taina cool because physical puts on the muscles. So we'll see.
But I would like to see Cody Hagen. They got
some guys in this room. But you gotta put on
the muscle. You gotta put it on.
Speaker 4: Yep, yep, I agree with that.
Speaker 8: Ben, real quick, you talked about red shirt games in
basketball year old.
Speaker 2: Oh zero, you can't you can't play.
Speaker 7: Wow.
Speaker 4: Wow, that's that's insane. That's why they want to turn it.
Thanks for bringing that out. Yeah, yeah, you're not.
Speaker 3: Just pulled it up to one minute in one game
that years used.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, that's somebody needs to vote on that one.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You can get a medical you can get the hardship
waiver after playing it more than thirty.
Speaker 2: Percent of the team's games though.
Speaker 3: Okay, so that's where I mean Richie's played games. Riches
out with that, all right, guys. Aw, that's our segment
product services. They're at Utah Projective Films for all our listeners.
Speaker 4: Yes, so give us a call.
Speaker 5: Fifteen percent discount just mentioned Ben krittled esp and the Fan.
We'd love to help you out that color change. We're
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Speaker 3: We're seeing a lot of right now. Who's coming in,
Like what type of vehicles are coming in?
Speaker 5: Well, I mean we have contracts with Tesla, so we
get tons of Teslas who are right next door. We
we get a lot of actually a lot of honey
palisades are coming in. We do a lot of chrome deletes,
and we do the uh it's called the tuxedo. Look
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Speaker 4: I got a nine to eleven in there right now.
And you know, so we get a variety of everything.
Speaker 5: And so if you've got something you want to protect
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earn your business, and we'd love to have you come
in aight.
Speaker 2: Oh one eight hundred and nine seven six seven eight
oh one.
Speaker 1: Eighteen part in Utah's ESPN Radio Network on the Go
by tapping that app, download the ESPN the Fan app
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is Cougar Sports with Ben Kretle, and it's time for
the Cougar Beat. Getting the dish from the local reporters
that cover Cougar athletics.
Speaker 3: Welcome back you your sports one of three nine ninety
eight point three ESPN The Fan. I'm Ben Critinal broadcasting
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Time for Little Cougar Beat gonna be brought to you
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notes coming out of Brigham with our Cougar sports insiders.
They cover the team on the daily, on the weekly,
as I mentioned, and it's brought to you by Ruby's Inn.
And our guest loves rubys In It loves a Bryce
Candon National Park. We're gonna discuss it with him here
on your Uties being Ready on Network Double D The Daily,
Eraldy and Darnell Dixon on the line Double D.
Speaker 7: How you live in Living Well? You know I had
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Speaker 2: Yeah, you got.
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by the fire after the the undulating snowshoeing hikes. You
love going down there with the snow capped hoodoos, don't you.
Speaker 7: Those are some words that I probably wouldn't have used,
but I guess they work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Hey, I'm sorry. Look, these are these are my words,
not Darnell's worlds where it's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3: But uh, you know you love Ruby's Inn and you
love staying at Bryce There at Bryce Candon National Park.
Speaker 2: Why do you love it so much?
Speaker 7: Well as a lot of reasons. I mean, you and
I have talked about the breakfast there are really really
good and those are awesome to start the day. And
I of the non light noise there is there well,
little light noisier the night it's just so dark and
you see stars and it just feels wonderful to be
out in nature like that, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3: Hike, bike, razor, horseback ride to them, hoodoos of Bryce
Caandon National Park.
Speaker 2: He will not be disappointed in the experience. No sensor
butts about it.
Speaker 3: Darnell Dixon, Let's talk some bau hoops by the skin
of their teeth. The bo You Cougar basketball team got
away with one got the dove versus the buffs? Your thoughts,
your comments or what did you see?
Speaker 2: What did you like? What did you dislike?
Speaker 7: Well, they had to make an adjustment on the fly,
and that is losing Richie Saunders in the first offensive
series and then you're down to the big two and
those both of those guys came through with big games.
Aj didn't shoot particularly well, but he had thirteen rebounds
and the six assists, and Rob had thirty nine points.
And that's probably what we're going to have to see
in the last six games of the season. And if
there's anything beyond that in the Big twelve Tournament or
the NCAA tournament, is those guys are going to have
to play forty minutes and put up twenty five to
thirty points every single game. They can't take a night off,
not without Richie out there.
Speaker 3: How does this impact that Richie Saunders loss impact your
expectations of this BLAYU basketball team.
Speaker 7: Well, you know, Ben, what's interesting is when I started
thinking about this and I saw Richie's post on Sunday
that he had suffered in acy elling Drews out for
the year and all the thanks he game. Then people
got online and you know, former players and family and
friends and fans about how much they love Richie and
how much he represents the program and what it means
to be a Cougar. And I started thinking, who does
that now and how important is that today? In the
nil transferport Do you still need those kind of guys?
And I even asked Kevin Young that today and his
answer was kind of like, well, it's great if you
can get them. But this is kind of how I've
understood college basketball in my experience the last two years
with what's been going on. So, you know, I don't know.
And in terms of this season, it's a huge loss,
and I feel like the team was kind of struggling
a little bit defensively, a lot of defensively. Let's just
go over there and say it, even with Richie in
the lineup. Now, without him, they've got one less perimitive defender,
one less experienced defender, and Richie was not a lockdown defender,
but he certainly was willing and was able to guard
well and cause turnovers and get out on the break
and do some things like that. So there's just a
lot of opportunities, and Kevin Young addressed this today for
players to step up and take those roles and do
some of those things. You know, if they felt like
they should have been getting more playing time, well, here
it is and see what you can do with it.
I feel like they went you know, beginning of the season,
we talked about them being possibly a Final four team.
I don't think they were that even when Richard was playing.
At this point of the season. They had that four
game losing streak, but I still had confidence that Kevin
Young would find a way to get these guys playing
their best ball at the end of the season and
give themselves an opportunity maybe to make it another run
in the NCAA tournament. Now without Richie, that makes it
even more difficult. They've got six games left in the
regular season. Looking at that list of teams, yeah, I
have a hard time finding any more than two or
three wins in there, and then they might win a
game in the big twelve and get themselves up to
twenty two or twenty three wins. You know, I think
that's probably gonna put them in the six to nine,
maybe even ten range, depending on on what games they
lose as an NCAA tournament seem And that's definitely a
lot less than what we thought this team had the
capabilities to do.
Speaker 3: Darnald Dixon the Daily guaralden here on your Utah ESPN
Radio network and a Cougar Beat brought to you by
rubies End rubies in dot Com. Darnell, who's the most
likely to step up and finally, you know, make an impact?
Speaker 2: That's you know, that's a role player right now?
Speaker 3: With Richie gone, more opportunities, more minutes will be bestowed.
Speaker 2: Upon a few.
Speaker 3: We'll see who is found worthy of those minutes and
who produces. But who's your who's your likely person to
maybe bet on right now?
Speaker 7: Well, they don't have a ton of really amazing options.
You know, they obviously have some season inding injuries previous
to Richie. I feel like Tonnard Davis Junior and even
Kevin Young mentioned him today as somebody that you know,
he's kind of turned into us, uh, just kind of
a standstill shooter, and he's really got more skills than that.
He can take the ball to the basket and have
some moves that way. So I expect to see Cannon
Davis give a few more opportunities to create from his spot.
I think they need to give Kadean Boop as many
minutes as they can spare because of his energy and defense.
I think Alexi coast it showed that he's not afraid
of taking a big shot, and that was a huge
shot he made, you know, time against Colorado and just
taking it, I mean he was gonna shoot it as
soon as he kind of you could tell in very
quick release. He didn't hesitate, and that's good to see.
So I think there's some some right spots, maybe not
super bright, but at least you see the potential there
for some of these guys to step up time. Moruss
hadn't played at a bunch of games, and he was
the first guy off the bench when Richie got hurt.
So you know, Tyler hit a couple of threes and
he plays hard defensively. So there are some of those
are the players that I look at as guys that
have an opportunity to get more minutes, get more opportunities
to show what they can do and make themselves a
big part of whatever finished this is for BYU.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm leaning like I'm leaning a Lexi coastick. I'm
an a Lexi costic fan, Okay, and not everyone's h
not everyone's on board with me here.
Speaker 2: And you know, I've heard from a number of different
people like, hey, he's just he's just not good.
Speaker 3: He's not consistent, he doesn't look good enough practice, and
obviously there's a reason why he doesn't get minutes in games.
But I think I think he's my guy right now.
That's who I'm riding with. Tyler Maruss has been a favorite.
You know, some people are are still bought in that
they think Mahilo could come around. Some are like, hey,
Cannard Davis, he's the one that's getting almost forty minutes
a game.
Speaker 2: Like he's gonna figure it out.
Speaker 3: Offensively, he's already a good defender, he can be a
good rebounder.
Speaker 2: They feel like he's going to step up in a
big way.
Speaker 3: And maybe it's a it's a conglomerate of all of
these guys that that step up and lift where they stand.
But right now, man, I hope it's a Lexi. I
guess I'm rooting for Alexi because I just think he's
got the purest shot out of all of them. I
think he's got he's got a quick release, he's got
good size, he's got good athleticism in my opinion, and
we need guys that can actually hit a shot a
standing three and I love his pure stroke right now.
Speaker 2: I think he can be a guy.
Speaker 7: Yeah. And one of the problems that Alessi's had this
year when he's gotten in is that he picks up
fouls pretty quickly and on the defensive. You know, he
comes in off the bench and he's got two fouls
in the first five minutes of the game. That puts
himself in a bad spot because then they got to
take him out and try somebody else Offensively, for sure,
he's got a great stroke, he's quick off the floor,
and he's confident, I think in a shot. But where
he needs to improve is to play defense well with
his feet, not pick up fouls, and not have to
exit the game so quickly. I also think it's important
that we kind of follow and this has been really
interesting to me too, is Kip Kada His production has
fallen way off on both ends of the floor, and
Kevin Young told us he has a hand injury. You see,
he's got a couple of fingers taped together. And you know,
there were games earlier this season in the non conference
where after the game, I was like, man, kid was
like the best player on the floor of that game.
I mean, he was impacting it defensively, rebounding, blocking shots,
he was getting Ali dunks, he was rebounding, just a
really impactful player. I mean, just haven't seen that for
the past couple of weeks, and we're seeing a lot
more Abdullah and that in the game playing that center
position back down the stretch against Colorado, it was all Abdullah,
I mean camp it didn't even play the last probably
twenty minutes of the game. So I would like to
see him get back into that form because I would
really help BYU if they could get a defensive presence
and a rebounding presence that Cave is capable of. But
if his injury is such that he can't, then that's
going to fall on Abdullah, and it's going to fall
on other guys to you know, come in and play.
You get those rebounds.
Speaker 3: Darnell Dixon from The Daily Herald talking some Cougar basketball
here on your Utah ESPN radio network, if you're looking
at the schedule here. I just got a text from
a friend and he says, what if, Ben, what if
BYU only wins one game down the stretch. That's kind
of how he's feelings like by what FM is if
they only win one game between now and the tournament,
some people believing that this is not a this is
not an NCAA tournament team.
Speaker 2: Where do you stand? Double D?
Speaker 7: I think they're an NCAA tournament team. And even if
they'll be what one in five down the stretch, their
net ranking is still going to be pretty fine. They're
still going to be probably even if they lose some
of those games against Iowa State against Arizona, that's not
going to hurt their net ranking. They're going to need
to try to pick up wins against teams like UCF
and Cincinnati. Losses to those teams would cause them a
lock a little bit of trouble. But I still think
they can finish somewhere between maybe twenty five or twenty eight,
somewhere in that range. That's going to get them in
the NCAA Tournament. They're not going to ignore a team
that's that high in the neck. And that's the big
difference between b YU in the Big Twelve and BYU
in the West Coast Conference is BYU with twenty two
and twelve or twenty one to eleven or whatever in
the WCC does not get them into the tournament. You know,
they they probably don't make it. But because they play
in the Big twelve, even when they struggle a little
bit to pick up those wins, they're still playing quad
one on quad two teams, So I still think they're
in a tournament team. And this is gonna give I mean,
Kevin Young said, man, this is this is what I
you know, I've been doing all my life as a coach,
is teams are writing and people writing us off and
having to deal with all these things. And he says
he's energized to try to make this work. And so
the players are gonna feel that, and they're gonna get
an opportunity in the last six games to put something
together where they can maybe put themselves in a position
to win a game or two in the NCAA tournament.
And who knows what might happen.
Speaker 2: Is this basketball team cursed?
Speaker 3: Darnell, have you thought those words in your head after
looking at the injuries?
Speaker 2: Nate Pickens out for the season.
Speaker 3: Uh Dawson Baker after the season, Burgus last gap for
the season, Richie Sunders out for the season.
Speaker 2: Campekeetda has a hand issue. He had a concussion issuear
early saying stating out is this is this billion basketball
team cursed?
Speaker 7: I don't know. Curse is what I'd say. That's what
the fans would say, because you know they're really emotionally
fight into this. I think it's just, you know, you
get bad breaks, and you know Richie has made that
move on the baseline a thousand times in his career.
You know, he drives hard down the lane, jumps back
to pass it back out and he just came down
on the wrong and that happens. And you hope it
wouldn't happen. They Richie, you hope it wouldn't happen this year,
and and you just have to deal with And that's
that's how Kevin Young approaches it. And you know, as
a member of the media, that's kind of how I
have to approach it. And I've been around long enough
to have seen teams that were good that got a
bad break. I mean twenty twenty, you know with with
COVID nineteen, you know, that was definitely a bad break
for a team that look like it could make some noise.
And then the team with Jimmer, you know, with with
Brandon Davies and what happened there, that team looked like
they could maybe make a long run. So I don't
know if bad luck's the bad thing. It's just you
re really have to be good and you have to
get some good breaks in order to get to a championship.
We get to a final four, and he just hasn't
happened for this program, you know.
Speaker 3: So is this team uh uh finally gonna get that
final four monkey off their bat this this year?
Speaker 7: Darnell, It would shock me if that happened. I think
they're gonna give a good effort. I think Kevin Young
and as coaching staff are going to put these guys
to you know, through the rate, We're gonna make them
step up, and they're gonna give some teams some troubles.
They're gonna play there that are ranked per guy. I mean,
they definitely I think I read that BYU has the
seventh hardest schedule in the country. In the next six games,
you know who's number one. So it's it's just this
Big twelve is just a gauntlet and they're gonna be
tested and they're gonna be the best version of themselves
if they get to the NCAA tournament and then everything
starts over and you have a have a shot. That's
all you can hop before. Are they final four team?
I wasn't. I don't think they were at this point
in the season with Richie in the in the program.
I think they were just struggling out way too much
defensively to try to stop the guards. That's the challenge
tomorrow night when they play at Arizona. By the way,
we're sending Brandon Gurney to Tucson cover the Cougars, so
we'll see if we'll see if we get him back.
But a man going out to touch, that's right, and
so uh trying to stop that guard. Line Berry's and
Jalen Bradley Man, those guys ate b Yu for dinner
and lunch and breakfast last time the late so it
was a big challenge and there was a big challenge
every night in the Big twelve. But like I said,
they're just trying to be when the NCAA tournament opportunities come,
the best version of themselves and then you just play
a game.
Speaker 3: Darnell, any other things that have been keeping up at
night regarding this BYU basketball team.
Speaker 2: What have you been writing about? What can you tease
for us?
Speaker 7: Well? Like I did, I said, I did write a
column for tomorrow about Richie and the fact that you
know his kind of player, a guy that's four years
in your program and grew up watching the team and
wants to be a Cougar, and not just in by
US program, but all over college sports. Those guys are
hard to find anymore. And it's because of Nilm's, because
of the transfer portal. And I don't have anything against
those ideas for the individual. I think that it benefits
a lot of guys and it's good that they have
the ability to find the right place for themselves. But
there are some ancillary impacts, and this is one of
them that guys like Richie really hard even in BYU,
are going to be hard to find. Like who, like
I said earlier, who won on our team right now
can provide that kind of perspective that hey, it means
something to go out and play in front of Rocket,
means something to wear this jersey. Who in that program
can say that, Well, nobody on the roster really. Those
are all one or two year guys that are in
the program. Now we've got a couple of guys Bertie Coslowski,
who his mom played at BYU. He grew up in Saltway,
but he's injured, he's not playing and not really you know,
part of that process. And they're bringing in a couple
of guys from KIMQ next next year that have some
good ties to the program. Maybe they'll stay four years,
who knows. But I just I just really lament the
fact that guys like Richie are just hard to find,
not just the b YU, but anywhere in college sports anymore.
I mean, you then when you came to buy you,
you had Cameron Jensen tell you this is how we
do things. Follow me right, m oh yeah, we.
Speaker 2: Had we had great examples of what it took just
a champion.
Speaker 7: Yeah, not just Cameron, but lots of different guys. Yeah. Yeah,
but but those kind of guys are hard to find anywhere,
and Richie was one of those guys, and I know
b Yu will miss that, and they were going to
miss anyway because he's graduating at some point. But I
just I just see the future of the sport being
very different when it comes to guys that are willing
to buy their time and and get better each year.
That's what That's what Kevin Young said today about Richie
is he just paid his dues and got better each
year and now, you know, even an All League player
last year. But that kind of guy maybe doesn't stay
four years anymore. Maybe that that guy that that you
know puts in the effort and starts to get better
decides to go wandering somewhere else because it's so easy
to do anymore. So I I wrote about that a
little bit. Hopefully it won't bump you out too much,
Ben to read it, because I know you you call
me an little kage sword of fart guy.
Speaker 2: That right, well, whoa whoa, whoa whoa. Now that's not
that's not true. You are get off my lawn type
of guy.
Speaker 7: Though yes I am storytimes that's true.
Speaker 2: I'll you gotta admit that. So uh, sometimes you are
to get off my lawn guy.
Speaker 3: What does Richie Saunder's breakout all the time amongst the
best NBA basketball history.
Speaker 2: Do you think you know?
Speaker 7: I haven't. I haven't thought about that that much yet.
I'm still kind of been processing the fact that he's
not going to play for BUYU anymore. I just think
his story is really cool because everything seems to be
in college sports now, immediate satisfaction. I want to play now,
I want scoring points now. I want to get to
the NBA now. And Richie when he came to BUYU,
he had played at Wassatch Academy, had a good stroke,
he played a few minutes here and there, showed some
good energy, and you know, you looked at him and thought, Okay,
he's got some capabilities, he's got some potential. We'll see
how he goes. And then he got to the point
where us as I said, he was a first team
All League in the Big twelve, which is impressive. He
had his moment last year in the NCAA tournament during
the run when you know, he let people know and
people found out that his grandfather invented kator thoughts that
was fantastic, and bau fans love that. They're like, yeah,
he's one of us. Man we loving him. So I
think if you look at him and if you want
a number, I'm willing to start with man, top thirty maybe,
and then do the work my way down from there
and see where I go. I mean, like I said,
I haven't really started comparing things in that process, but
I would say, for sure top thirty, and you could
make an argument for top twenty maybe if you look
at all that stuff. But I just know as a
as a player, the way his fans love him almost
as much as anybody that's ever played the game, it'd
be you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I'm right there with you.
Speaker 3: So I don't In my son's room, I'm very judicious
about what I put up in that room. And he
has a poster of Richie Saunders up in his room, right,
and he's young. I mean, he's watched Boa basketball with
me and things of that nature, and I've always gone
out of my way and say, hey, that's how you
play basketball. To see how hard he works, you see
how high energy. I want my kids to follow Richie's example.
That's why it hurts me.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: I'm a fan of Richie as a human and the
way he goes about his craft, how he goes about
his work, what he does on and off the court.
Always been impressed by him. Uh in all the interviews. Uh,
and uh, you know he's he's the guy that does.
Speaker 2: The lonely work.
Speaker 3: And even Rob Wright in the post game said, hey, uh,
nobody works harder. He's the hardest worker on our team.
Speaker 7: So that to me.
Speaker 3: Is what uh you know, I I I hope that
he's he's been an inspiration enough to get guys to
put in the lonely work when it matters most, which
is right now, really refine their skill set, really refined
their their work ethic, really put in the the late
the late hours, the late night hours, being the gym rat,
as Richie would, in these moments that matter most.
Speaker 7: So yeah, and I also would add that, you know,
we'd all love to be a j De Bonsa and
be six' nine and and super uber talented and, athletic
but most of us have to scrape and work hard
to get you. KNOW i, Mean i'm not saying a
doesn't work, hard but there's a lot of material for
this hurt with, right and he's maybe going to be
the number one pick in THE nba. Draft richie wasn't
going to be the number one pick in THE nba,
draft but he was going to show SOME nba guys
and he still. WILL i can be valuable to you
and your team and we can, win and you're going
to love having me on your. Team and that's where
most of us come, from is we just want to
be a part of something big and something, cool and
we're willing to put the effort. In and that's What richie.
Speaker 3: Issuing, yes, indeed my, Guy Darnald dixon double ed always
appreciate her. Time we you fought everyone to follow you
ON x At Darnell. RIGHTS i love having the hot Takes,
darnell you, know tweet out some hot takes for me
and then make sure you're Reading darnell at The Daily.
Herald subscribe. Today thanks so much to DOUBLE. D all,
right Thanks, ben appreciate. You we'll call that a. Segment
Appreciate darnell. Joanting guess it was brought to you by
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