Speaker 1: Is something special for you.
Speaker 2: It's time for Cougar Sports one, part of Utah's ESPN
Radio Network.
Speaker 3: Here's your host, Ben Critical.
Speaker 4: Cougar Sports one O three nine ninety eight point three
e SPN the Fan. I'm in Trital broadcasting from the
road Home the road Home dot org.
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the road Home the road Home dot org got a
great show for you as always here on your Utah
ESPN Radio Network, and I want to delve into all
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us at ESPN The Fan. Tons of content to get
to as we roll through all the news and notes
of the day. Why don't we fired up ESPN the
Fan starting lineup so I can introduce you to my
co host and the rest all the star start cash
joining us for this Friday, December nineteenth edition of Cougar Sports.
Speaker 5: My right hand man, our architect of the show.
Speaker 4: He's behind the glass up in Salt Lake City List.
Speaker 5: Welcome in executive producer Ronald Good three man Weaver. What's up, Ronnie?
Speaker 3: What's up? Happy Friday?
Speaker 6: Everybody a happy basketball game as well, which we'll do
later on after the show is over. But enjoy this
weekend while the last, folks, because you're gonna be tired
after next week. Those of you that have kids, Christmas,
the holidays are here, so hopefully you get to enjoy
a little bit of time off, you know, before you
hit it hard for two days of work and then
you spend a bunch of time with family traveling.
Speaker 5: No dabt about it.
Speaker 4: Be safe out there, and remember what this season is
all about. It's Christmas, Baby, and it should be centered
on the birth of frist I believe, and also doing
what he did as he ministered onto the children of men.
Ronald is by my side. Shout out to Brett. Always
in a hammer on the social media. Let's check out
the rest of our ESPN the ban starting line up,
Bear Bachmeyer, you're starting quarterback purportedly healthy and strong. He's
practicing and he may be a little bit limited. I
don't know if we really got a conclusion on that,
but essentially Clonnie told us earlier this week that Bear
is full go.
Speaker 5: He's bawling out.
Speaker 4: He's ready to represent the why at the at the
pop Tards bawl so Beart Bachmeyer. We'll get to Bear
bachmeer sound. What does he say about his health status?
How's the ankle? Will he be full go for the
pop Tards Bowl. We're gonna get into that in the
nitty gritty well. Welcome in Blaine Anderson to talk about
some stats, some college football stats at two thirty.
Speaker 5: Don't miss that.
Speaker 4: At three zero five Britain Day, Cougar sports insider and
CEO of Odion Menswear. We'll talk to a little recruiting
with him as well. The recruiting class was something to
behold in twenty twenty six? What does it mean for
the future of BYU football? J? T. Wistersil locked on
Yutes at three thirty to discuss the end game for
Kyle Whittingham. Where will he end up and why that?
At three thirty the former BYU whack Defensive Player of
the Year, the eventual head coach for the University of
Utah after twenty years of leading the Utes, he still
has some juice left in him.
Speaker 5: He told the media yesterday.
Speaker 4: I still have that competitive fire and he wants to
continue to coach.
Speaker 5: We'll see where he ends up.
Speaker 4: Four h five double d the Daily heraldy and talking
some BYU basketball. At four thirty, we'll get into some
Isaiah Glasger commentary. IG's got a very difficult decision in
front of him. Will Isaiah Glasger enter the NFL draft,
Will he ender the portal or will he decide to
re sign and come back and be a BYU Cougar
in twenty twenty six?
Speaker 5: What do you think will happen.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna put that poll out there and get your thoughts,
your commentary today here on your Utah ESPN Radio network,
here on Cougar Sports.
Speaker 5: So that's our show.
Speaker 4: And then at the end of it all, guys to
hand the mic over to Ronald the three man Weaver
from six to seven pm. If I'm not mistaken, we're
gonna take you all the way up to tip for
this g YU men's basketball game tonight. So we do
got to talk some hoop, get a little scattering report,
get to know the phone later on in the show
as well. So all that and more here on your
Utah ESPN radio network. Let's get into the nitty gritty
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Speaker 4: Bear Bachmeyer has been in the news this uh. Post
regular season, he became a true freshman All American by
per two four seven Sports yesterday, it was it was
well deserved.
Speaker 5: I felt like though, I felt like he should have got.
Speaker 4: A little bit more love, right, I felt like he
should have got a little bit more hyphe Uh. It
just it continues to feed into maybe our persecution complex
as BYU fans and media members that cover the team
on the daily when you see, uh, you know, not
enough love to those that merit the love on the
gridiron well ver bachm had a great season six two
two twenty. Right, he's not two twenty, He's about two
thirty five baby. Two thousand seven and eight yards through
the air, fourteen touchdowns through the air, six iron ts,
pretty good QBR, pretty gosh dang good passing efficiency with
sixty four point two percent completion percentage. He also ran
for five hundred and twenty seven yards and with one
hundred and forty six carries three point six yards per
carry with eleven tuddies. He was dangerous in the red zone,
as some BYU fans like to call it the blue zone.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 4: But uh Number forty seven addressed the media yesterday to
tell us a little bit about his health and how
he's trending towards the Bowl game.
Speaker 1: Let's tune in the How how you feeling going in
Dewlevans last year a week and a half of fovon in.
Speaker 9: Yeah, feeling good, feeling prepared and teams looking good.
Speaker 1: Uh, Colin, I said, didn't take long to get over
the disappointment of the big front channity each your game.
How have you guys kind of re energize this team
going in the boneme?
Speaker 9: Yeah, well obviously I was. You know, it was a tough,
tough loss, but uh, you know, we understand what's at
stake with the bowl game and uh, you know the
momentum going into next season as well. So uh, we're
just we're just focused on on h on this game.
Speaker 5: And that that flipped the page mentality.
Speaker 10: Bear, When did you start practicing again after the injury
in the board game.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I've been been out here and uh yeah, uh
slowly increase in uh in the in the reps and yeah,
feeling good.
Speaker 1: People talk about motivation for these.
Speaker 4: Okay, so what is the mechanism of the injuries? I
went back and looked at it and I sent it
over to a number of my orthos, my sports met
docs and asked them, Hey, what does it look like
from your vantage point?
Speaker 5: I'm looking at like these and I'm talking with.
Speaker 4: Foot and ankle guys for the particular injury because they
maybe see it more often than other traditional the knee, shoulder,
hip or thos. And it looks like a high ankle
sprain we have had. We even had Brady Papinka hop
on and discuss the high ankle sprain.
Speaker 5: And you look at the body type of Bear Robald.
Speaker 4: When you see the lower extremities of Bear, right, there's
a lot of musculature right, There's a lot of tendon
and I mean he looks like he's he's pretty thick
jointed too. I mean it takes a lot of torque
to to ultimately disrupt a ligament attendant or muscle right like.
Speaker 5: I mean, he's a thick dude.
Speaker 4: You went up against some thig dudes as a rugby player.
Speaker 5: It's hard to like, you.
Speaker 4: Know, I know that guy's three hundred and thirty pounds
at Texas Tech defensive tackle, but it's crazy to me
that he came back so like that. That gives me
at least some optimism that it was just a grade one.
If it's a grade one mild sindismosis injury, it's you
can look it up sindismosis, sindismodic injury.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 4: You're looking at two to four weeks before you can
return to play. I had a Grade one okay, high
ankle spray and I got back in two weeks.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 4: Air Force two thousand and seven, I had a Grade
one high ankle spray and I had an external rotation
issue with contact and I got back in two weeks.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 4: And I'm a defensive back though, so like foot and
ankle stuff, I mean your health, your foot ankle healthy
is a priority.
Speaker 5: You don't have.
Speaker 4: Foot ankle healthy, it's hard to get back on the
field and play better than your backup, especially at corner safety.
Speaker 5: You can get away with it at corner.
Speaker 4: It's a little bit tougher whenever you're playing any sort
of even zone based coverages, but.
Speaker 5: Definitely man coverage.
Speaker 4: So you're looking at two to four weeks if it's
a grade one, and that's what I think. This is
a grade one sinnismosis, ligament stretch or tear because he's
been able to gradually get back and and I can't
remember what his verbage was there, but he's like, yeah,
I've been working in What what percentage do you think
bear Bachmeyer is at right now?
Speaker 5: What percentage do you think he's gonna be at kickoff?
Speaker 4: With the the Orlando Pop Tarts Bowl on the horizon
just a week away.
Speaker 3: I think eighty percent is what it'll be at.
Speaker 6: Look, I think it's anytime you have an injury being
and you have to practice on it, you know, do
any type of movement where you're just not off of
it completely, that's gonna take a step back now.
Speaker 3: Eighty percent is better than you know, no percent, But.
Speaker 6: I believe he's probably my opinion, I probably believe he's
sixty percent. I've had a high ankle sprame, you know,
and you know you feel it. It definitely affects you
moving and doing what you want to do. So I
think that's what he feels at now, because maybe he
can't run the way he wants and he still needs
to heal up a little bit more. Now he has
a couple of weeks removed from it, you know, just
about so I think by the time kickoff, eighty eighty five,
I think it's gonna be close to get to that
ninety one hundred because you know, you really can't be
that dinged up, and it's it's a foot in. How
Baar is able to you know, really execute his game
is in the run style. So I think by the
time kickoff is, I think he'll be at a higher
eighty five percent, which is still really good, but I
think he definitely might be limited of how they use
him in a run game because you don't want to
get him beat up too bad.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you're right.
Speaker 4: I think we're looking at more like a more severe
grade one here where you know it's gonna take him
like four weeks to feel completely healthy. I don't think
he's gonna bee hundred percent, but he'll be able to play.
I wonder how much of the QB run game will
be implemented. You look at the second half of that
game versus Texas Tech. He ran a little bit, but
he was not the same. How much will he be
involved in the run game. How will that impact the
ability of l J.
Speaker 5: Martin.
Speaker 4: I got some actually good news today about LJ. I
think his Draft Garrett grade is gonna come back in
between that kind of that fifth sixth seventh round Mark,
And we discussed this yesterday with like Puoka's rookie deal,
and you look at some of these other rookie deals
if you're if you're a guy that's on the fifty
three man, yeah, you can get paid pretty well.
Speaker 5: But depending on which state you're in.
Speaker 4: And maybe we talk about with Blaine about that with
income tax, you know, you're making maybe five hundred thousand dollars,
which everyone's like, oh my gosh, it's a lot of money.
Speaker 5: But guys, you can make way more than.
Speaker 4: That if you stay at by You can't LJ what
type of what type of money is LJ gonna make
if he comes back to BYU.
Speaker 5: And I know there's a lot.
Speaker 4: Of people out there that don't want to talk about,
you know, fair market rates and what these players, uh
should or should not be paid. But these are donors
in corporate sponsors, Okay, realize that are paying for these
players to represent Brigham Young University. It's not the church,
it's not BYU as an institution.
Speaker 5: Remember BYU athletics.
Speaker 4: You get to play in their sandbox, okay, and they
get to eat what they kill.
Speaker 5: As I've said many.
Speaker 4: Times, no ties or offerings uh fast offerings are being
given to these football players, so don't get it twisted there.
They're not so the corporate sponsorships, the the nil collectives.
They may say, LJ, you're coming in with your draft
rate at six seventh, fifth, sixty seventh, maybe even practice
squad depending on you know where you're getting picked up
and and what availability they they need from you and
how good you are.
Speaker 5: And I'm being optimistic, I think with that five to
six round.
Speaker 4: I don't know if he's a second day guy, and
so if you're getting more more of those that third
day type of eboil LJ told us, And we may
have to play that sound again today like he's like,
I'm gonna evaluate it all and then figure it out
if BYU is willing and capable.
Speaker 5: And when I say b y once again, it's the
the the donor base.
Speaker 4: If they're willing to offer him a million dollars as
an independent contractor W nine, there's a lot of tax
advantages there to take.
Speaker 5: In the million and then offsetting some.
Speaker 4: Of your tax exposure through a strategic wealth management and
WELP advisement opportunities.
Speaker 5: Does that make sense? Running it may?
Speaker 4: It's a lot better you know, to take that seven
to fifty to a million, and it could be more
than that to retain him at BYU and he comes
back in two thousand twenty six. How great would that
be for BYU if you get Bear and LJ back
in the backfield in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 6: Yeah, look, I mean what they did this year, you
just have to think, and I want to go broader picture,
right Ben, because they can't do what they did this
in order to win a big to a conference championship.
But getting those two back, then adding the likes of
a Devon Ecka, adding maybe another guy or two from
the portal bin that and Sioni Molla coming back healthy,
that helps you, now right, that helps?
Speaker 3: So that's gonna add.
Speaker 6: So yeah, getting lgback will be a big portion, especially
if that if that draft grade bin is between fifth,
six or seven, that you can up that comeback for
next year and that you wouldn't make more until your
next contract and you can get drafted out in a
third or fourth or second or fourth that you come
back for a year, you can make seven figures. Absolutely,
you take that. That's why you go test it, see
what it is and figure it out. And then you
come back because right now in the Landstepe of college
football band, like you said, it's ninety nine these independent
contracts that these twent athletes can get, it's beneficial and
better actually to come back for one more year than that,
you know, And Pukah's different. You know, Puka's signed a
deal that's gonna be make him the highest paid wide receiver.
That guy's an anomaly. You can't say, well, I'm gonna
be a pooka the cool you could be. You could not.
That's different. But even Puka, I feel like if you
were in this day and age is a seventh figure guy.
So I think to your point, getting LJ back with
Bear would be great and the depth that they add,
and LJ definitely deserves it to me, the donors that
are out there that are listening to people, if that's
what the decision comes to LJ. Martin Ben, I'm gonna
say it right now, this is me being declared of
is worth a million dollars, He's worth seven figures.
Speaker 3: I think he's that guy. He proved it this year
and look he's come close.
Speaker 6: Been having a thousand yard seasons to me in the
last two years, even before this one, if he stays healthy,
if you go look at the numbers, he's only three
or four games away where if you would have been
in what could have happened. So I think this is
a guy that's definitely earned his paper. We'll see what happens.
But at BA you got him back. That'd be huge
for the Cougars going in the next season because not
really an RB one right now on this roster.
Speaker 5: Love that. Let's get back to the bear Bachmeer sound.
Speaker 4: And by the way, before we do that, want to
remind you guys tomorrow we're gonna be having a warehouse sale.
If you're looking for last minute gifts for that special
BYU fan in your life and you want a great
deal on the best bait lightn to peril in the business,
We're gonna be at the Royal Army warehouse sale tomorrow
in Pleasant Grove, December twentyeth, ten am to four pm,
five to twenty seven West State Street. That's five twenty
seven West State Street in Pleasant Grove. Sweet one oh six,
Sweet one O six up to fifty percent off BYU
licensed to Peril at.
Speaker 5: Royal Army Royal Army dot com.
Speaker 4: All right, let's get back to Bear Bachmeyer, your starting
quarterback for the Popcards Bowl.
Speaker 1: You know, non playoff type games. What is the motivation
for this game?
Speaker 9: I mean we just we just like that fun. I mean,
we just like to play with our brothers on the field.
And and uh, I think that's kind of self explanatory itself.
And and as as to why and how much we're
motive motivated to play this game, how far.
Speaker 2: Percentage are you at Hew twice?
Speaker 5: Would you say?
Speaker 1: Ninety?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Getting there?
Speaker 9: Yeah, feeling good?
Speaker 1: So how important would be to get a twelve get
three something this program hasn't had in twenty five years?
Speaker 9: Only Yeah, it feel really good and and uh you know,
I know, I know, uh we're we're attacking practice and
so we're yeah, we we want to get that twelve
win and but but we just we just want to
go out fun and go play with play with our brothers.
Speaker 1: This would be your first ball game opportunity. How much
what do you expect you just to call? The festivities?
Speaker 9: Yeah, uh looking forward to Christmas and in Florida and
uh yeah we usually go up to my grandma's but
uh yeah, well we'll be out in Florida and and
uh celebrating Christmas there, so just just really excited and
and also just having that that time with the boys
will be fun. Teen year man, I just think the
the love that that we have for each other, and
and me coming in as a freshman, I never felt
as an outlier or any other freshman like we we
we can talk to the fifth year, senior, senior, and
and that's just the brotherhood and and the camaraderie that
we have and in the culture that's instilled here at
the OU.
Speaker 11: Talked to Hank it all about what it's like playing
in bowl games.
Speaker 10: Does he lean on him at all for that?
Speaker 5: I actually actually haven't.
Speaker 9: I just uh just talked to talk to to the
guys and obviously we played the album Bowl last year
and they said it was it was just a surreal time.
So just cherishing every moment and and yeah, hope hoping
that's really fun.
Speaker 1: Are you a big Disney kid growing up? Probably gonna
go to Disney World?
Speaker 5: I don't think.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean I wasn't. I wasn't too far from Disneyland.
I think I only went one time, but uh, yeah,
I watch a lot of Disney movies and so yeah,
I'm really really excited for that is Moana Disney, I think, yeah,
Molana or Maui one of those.
Speaker 5: I hope the Jordan tax defense.
Speaker 3: Where are the things that's.
Speaker 2: Happened in attack?
Speaker 9: Yeah, they they got a great scheme, they got great players.
I mean they held Georgia at sixteen points. You know,
they good good to the pressures as well.
Speaker 7: So we did.
Speaker 5: We just gotta be ready.
Speaker 10: Yeah, pop tarts ball in the a couple of years
that it's been around, has a little bit of application on
the years football. Guy, are you aware of starting the
kind of the band tags, the nationally viewpoint and a
lot of people to the team. I think they're kind
of calling those the people's national championship, a lot of
money kind of the games.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I understand the lineage of the bowl and and
you know it's it's it's a it's a really fun
time and a really great bowl. And so I'm just
really looking forward to it and and yeah again just
playing with my brothers.
Speaker 1: How important are these practices? Is you carry a momentum
into spring ball?
Speaker 9: Yeah, they're really important. I mean, yeah, you can think
about it as spring ball, but just I mean we're
practicing for for for this game, and and so we've
got a mind on this game.
Speaker 11: Have you been able to accomplish some extraordinary things?
Speaker 3: It's a true freshman.
Speaker 1: What have you learned about yourself maybe this past year
or just about the college games?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think, I mean, I I think it just
kind of goes back to how it was raised and
I knew I could play it just I think it
was as a testament to the team, the coaches and
and yeah, I mean just people around me and making
me better.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 9: So it's just it's been a great season. But you know,
we got we got one more game.
Speaker 5: Any other questions for Bear, thanks so much?
Speaker 4: All right, So a couple of things, A couple of
little nuggets there. Number one, he was very hesitant to
declare percentage. She's getting up there, getting up there, right,
So look, if he's at ninety percent prior to kickoff,
I'll be happy because that means he's still he's gonna
be able to be taped braced. Give him a little
bit of toward all that's an anti inflammatory, right, Maybe
give him a little light of cane injection, because it's
not going to you know, impact him, it's not gonna
you know, this guy kind of worsen the condition, and
he's back and he's playing, he's gonna look pretty similar
to what he was prior to the injury. So I
think that's one element there. Once getting like leaning into
his you know, one of those final questions, great, great
question by g Man discussing you know the things learned
and and and where he leans on and and you
know where his success stems from, obviously family, and that's
what makes like his love okay for the game, the
first question that he answered right and how he's getting
up for the game BYU loves Ball Colony says, this
team loves ball. Bear Bagmer loves to play ball. It's
a it's a game that they grew up playing. It's
for fun. And yes there is some financial incentive as well,
but it's not all about just making that cash money.
You gotta love the game. You gotta love your teammates,
you gotta love who you're representing. You have to have
a foundational why about what you do and how you're
gonna do. And it just can't be the filthy loop,
can't be just be the Benjamin's okay. So all of that,
you know from those sound bites, legit believe that Bear
is going to be the leader for BYU for the
next three or four years. Man Like, it makes me
optimistic about the potential future b YU football. Knowing that
Bear is gonna that just completely aligns with BYU and
Kilane culturally. And even if you if you've listened to
there's an interview with Bear Bachmeyer and I think Tiger
Bachmeyer discussing the alignment that they.
Speaker 5: Have with b YU at a as a as.
Speaker 4: A high level football program, highest level football program with
faith and academics combined with it and the right culture.
So it makes me optimistic about the future, is what
I'm getting at Ronald three man Weaver, I think you
would agree with that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitely do.
Speaker 6: The future is you know, it's bright and the alignment
these guys are perfect right from BOU and I know
that maybe Tiger's role hasn't maybe been what people would
thought would be, but I had the chance to see
Tiger coming out of practice and talk with them, and
these are guys that want to be here like their
fittest culture in this mode. You know, I shouldn't say,
but they fear right and you wouldn't think honestly that
they were any different, you know, if you were to
go talk to them, and I think, look, there was
a group of media members they did a good job
of asking, you know, as you know, what advice would
they give to them being And I bring this upthing
because it's always an ethnicity race.
Speaker 3: Culture always matters to me. Other people might not care.
Speaker 6: And I don't care if necessarily if people don't want to,
but it matters to me, like them being you know,
Asian American, like playing at Byu, Bear being one of
the first Asian American quarterback, like that matters. Telling that story,
telling people that hey, you can accomplish the sas fit
in the mold, that sets the president and the foundation
for the next kid down the line that sees Bou
and I go back to this. If you say it
doesn't matter, what about the kid in the stance and says, hey,
here's my twin And they put up on the screen
and Bear puts a why up right. That's influence, that's impactful,
That showcases the culture in the world and lets people
know that hey, I can thrive and I can sell
and I can be.
Speaker 3: A part of this. I also belong to Byu.
Speaker 6: So I love that love that they're leading it during
something that's phenomenal, and you know, you hope he's ninety
five percent Ben, because if he's ninety five percent, that
Joe there's the tech defense is going to get really pushed.
Speaker 5: Guys, we live from the road Home the road home
dot org.
Speaker 4: If you'd like to give back to those in most
need at this time of the year, head on over
to the road home dot org and you can donate
your monetary donation that way. Or if around the house
you have nonperishable food items, you have hygiene items, you
have lightly used clothing or blankets, drop them off at
any one of the road Home locations along the Wassats Front.
Tis the season to be giving. Because we have been
given much, we too must give. Let's give back to
those in need at this time. The road Home is
the best place to give right now, as they are
housing those that are homeless and during the holda seas,
you need a home, you need a hearth, you need warmth,
and that's what we provide here at the road Home.
Eight oh one, eight one nine seventy three hundred. That's
eight one, eight one, nine seventy three hundred. The road
Home dot org. It was great breaking down Bear Bachmeyer commentary.
We'll be back with our question pull to day end
of the day, and also we're welcoming in Blaine Anderson
of band or Wealth to talk a little bit about
the strategy behind either go into the NFL. Right, you
look at what a practice squad player is making in
the NFL two hundred and forty thousand dollars as a
practice squad guy. If you don't make if you don't
make the fifty three man roster, okay, and that can fluctuate.
Some weeks you may be on the fifty three man roster,
but sometimes you may be on the practice squad. So
if you're on the bubble, you know you're a fifth, sixth,
seventh rounder, you're not guaranteed that you're going to be
a fifty three man guy. Even if you do make
that fifty three man roster for the entire year. Let's
say you know you're looking at one point four million.
Speaker 5: You could be taxed on half of that.
Speaker 4: Do you take you know, the seven hundred thousand, okay
tax income, or do you take the million that you're
being offered to stay in college football as an IC
as an independent contractor what's better and why. We'll talk
with our tax smart Wealth advisor Blaine Anderson. Coming up next,
This is Cougar Sports on one oh three nine ninety
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Speaker 5: We're gonna talk stats in this segment.
Speaker 4: We're gonna welcome in our tax mort Wealth Advisor, our
certified financial planner NFLPA Certified financial Planner, Blaine Anderson. And
this segment's brought to you by Banterwealth Bantererwealth dot Com.
Get on that free Q and A, no obligation to
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Speaker 5: Today, Let's talk stats with Blaine Anderson. Blaine, how the
heck are you?
Speaker 11: I'm doing great. Merry Christmas, Ben.
Speaker 4: Merry Christmas, Happy holidays. Appreciate you joining us. I have
a question for you. I know, we we we We're
gonna go into a number of different topics here today.
But I've been evaluating recently the Puka Nakua situation. Right,
Pooka's balling out last night. He had himself a night.
Poka Nakua is arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL.
The crazy thing about this, okay, he is on his
rookie deal. It's a four year deal worth four point
one million dollars with the Los Angeles Rams. I think
you probably know a little bit about California and how
they tax you know, people, and uh, you know the.
Speaker 5: Income tax, et Ceterably, half of that.
Speaker 4: Is going to to federal in state taxes. So he's
maybe taken home what four hundred and eighty thousand something
like that. What would you guess to make there after
all the taxes that he's having to pay.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised at all. He's at least
thirty seven percent marginal bracket and then the state of
California is another ten percent. So yeah, he's probably seeing
net about half of that.
Speaker 4: Okay, so we're see in half half of that, So
it begs the question.
Speaker 5: He was a fifth.
Speaker 4: Rounder out of brig Up, fifth round pick one hundred
and seventy seventh overall. Obviously he never saw the practice squad.
The practice squad players make like two forty, right, and
sometimes they may be called up to the fifty three man.
They'll get a little pay raise, but their minimum is
essentially to forty. He bangs the question, do you take
a rookie minimum contract, Say, for instance L J. Martin,
he's a fifth, sixth, seventh rounder, Say he doesn't get
a grade a Day two draft grade and so that
puts them probably in that bracket of these these rookie
deals that are a million dollars a year roughly. Okay,
depending on where you're drafted, right, it's gonna determine how
much tax you're gonna pay. These are things you've discussed
with some of the players that you represent, the people
that you represent. Is it better than to stay in
college represent a place like BYU. Let's say you make
I don't know, seven hundred and fifty k, or let's
say you make a million, but you're a W nine
for that year as an independent contractor what's the better
thing to do? Is it to take that rookie minimum
contract you're and take the chance of where you're getting
drafted and the taxes that are associated with that, or
do you take a seven hundred and fifty k W
nine or one.
Speaker 5: Hundred or one million dollar W nine instead? What would
you say?
Speaker 11: Yeah, well, I think more than ever, this is a
complicated decision and even something worth debate. Years ago, of
course it wasn't even a question. But like for example,
talking to LJ when he was on the show and
joined me for one of these segments recently, he talked
about it being a dream of his going to the NFL.
I can understand that it's tough to place the value
on it. But if you get down to just the numbers,
being a big fish in a small pond, and I
know BYU feels like a big pond to us that
are here local, but in the grand scheme of things,
it's a small pond, and a player like LJ is
a big fish. And now where they can make the
kind of money that they can and do at seven
hundred and fifty thousand dollars range versus going to the
NFL and making a couple hundred thousand. But if you
go to a state like California or Massachusetts, New York
to pay a lot in state taxes, now Florida, Arizona, Nevada,
some of these other states where there's not a state
income tax, that might make a difference. But the bottom
line is I would say, unless you're a first or
second round pick, I would be tempted to play and
stay my senior year. And I think hopefully that does
keep guys like LJ. Martin if they can put off
going after their goal, which was at professional From a
number standpoint, I think a great argument can be made
that third round and below staying enjoying some of the
benefits of nil from the dollar standpoint, make a lot
of sense. The only thing I would throw out that
maybe the NFL guys have even more than the college guys,
could be more of the endorsements and some of the
brand deals and the other things that they do. I mean,
we do see Puka doing a lot with Little Caesars
for one. I know I've seen him on some other commercials.
I bet he's making more there than he is even
with his NFL contracts.
Speaker 5: No, that's intriguing.
Speaker 4: But you have to be a pooka, right, I mean
he's you know what I mean, you have to become
a puoka by year three on that rookie contract.
Speaker 5: You gotta be balling out.
Speaker 4: You have to be one of the premier players either
in the market you're in, right, You're gonna get market deals, right.
Speaker 5: If you're in LA.
Speaker 4: I mean that helps him, right because he's a because
he's in a big market. You go to a smaller
market made you're gonna have to go local deals rather
than maybe national deals. So that's an of intrigue, Like
when when does it benefit what's the threshold, right.
Speaker 5: Do you think let's say a practice squad guy.
Speaker 4: Okay, say a guy has an eligibility left and he
could come back and make you know, five hundred thousand
as an independent contractor, or even two hundred let's say
it's two hundred and fifty thousand as an IC or.
He goes to the NFL and he's probably a practice
squad guy making that same rate, but he's having to
pay taxes on it immediately. What's the better route there
if you're kind of that practice squad guy, but you
can make you know, two hundred thousand or so in
college football?
Speaker 11: Yeah, Well, as an NFLPA advisor, we've done a number
of webinars, and especially around the combine and the rookie camps,
we were involved in a number of trainings around the
rookie contracts, the practice squad contracts. And I'll tell you
based on what I saw, I would rather be a
big fish in a small pond to have a senior
year at a college with the opportunity to participate in
revenue share in NIL than I would practice squad NFL guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I'm right there, And you can take an
insurance contract out right. So if you're coming back, you're
going to get an insurance type of policy to protect
your right if you do get injured that final season.
Speaker 11: Correct, Absolutely, absolutely, and a lot of guys do that.
They're expensive, but that does give a little bit of protection.
I think a lot of it is something I remember
that LJ said, and that was just that playing in
the NFL was part of his dream, and I'm sure
that's a big factor with it all. But if you
if you have some of that perspective and you know
your outcome or at least where you're at. You mentioned
some of these NFL guys that may have a year
of eligibility that to me, I would rather take a
year of college and now with the opportunity to earn money.
It's a whole different landscape and a whole different decision.
Speaker 4: So as a as like, let's say I'm a I'm
a student athlete here, I'm an athlete student with a
I create an LLC. I'm gonna have a million dollars
coming in this year with my deal. You meet with
CPAs all the time, and you you have these these
forums where you're you're representing your client and they have
their CPA there what are some of the tax mart
wealth things that you can do in that year to
maybe offset some of your tax exposure. If you're bringing
in seven hundred and fifty to a million dollars and
fifty thousand to a million dollars in a year.
Speaker 11: Yeah, well, like you mentioned, when you have an ll
year a business entity set up, we'll go and set
up a retirement plan with that business entity. And especially
if you have very few employees, we even set up
pension plans. They're called defined benefit plans or cash balance plans.
They're way more advanced and way more opportunity than like
a four to oh one pay But that's a way
to put a lot of that money that you received
now into a tax deductible tax deferred account and an
investment account. We do other types of investments we've talked about,
whether they be oil and gas or even in real estate.
Start creating passive income. So having that business LLC or
entity having a ten ninety nine income, put in together
a tax smart wealth strategy, especially where that income is
going to flow. It's going to be heavy in some years,
maybe not others. There's some wonderful planning that can be done.
We even put together a playbook for business owners for
ten ninety nine high income earners and it's part of
our Tax Smart playbook and it's one specifically for business owners.
There's a lot you can do with that type of
setup and arrangement.
Speaker 5: Yeah, now, a great insight there.
Speaker 4: Blaine Anderson, Financial Advisor, Tax More Wealth Advisor here on
your Utah ESPN.
Speaker 5: Ready to network.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of players in college football right now
going through this process and trying to figure out what
the best route is for them.
Speaker 5: A couple other things there.
Speaker 4: New year is on the rise of some entrepreneurs will
want to think about strategically, you know, their income flow,
when and how they take income from their businesses in
the coming year to stay as tax efficient without maybe
limiting growth. Can you share a few insights, maybe a
few strategies around income flow that they might consider right now.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 11: Just in the call prior to us stopping on today,
I was talking to an investor out of Colorado. We
had done a tax observations analysis for him and realized
that he had about eighty thousand dollars realize capital gains
that he could still play with before the end of
the year. So he's We're looked at his portfolio, figured
out where we could sell some investments, free up some
cash flow, keep him in a fifteen percent long term
capital gains bracket, not push him over the net investment tax,
which is an additional unnecessary three point eight percent, and
keep him out of the short terms bracket. So what
we were able to do is free up eighty thousand
dollars in cash, save him ten percent on these transactions
in the sale. And that was just by some planning
and doing a tax observations and analysis. For many of
our business owners, we tell them, hey, let's pay some
of these costs that we know you're going to have
in January now, and let's take some of that income
that we know is coming in January and push it
off to next year. It's a little bit about timing
and management, and yes, we may run into similar situations
next year. But I just had a meeting with an
accountant this week and I heard him say something to
his client that I really liked, and he said, paying
taxes later is always better than doing it now. That
was something that came from him, and that's part of
the strategy and some of the timing that we help
them implement with clients at the end of the year.
Speaker 4: Love that great breakdown, Blaine. Always appreciate our time together.
Always love talking stats with you. For those that are
wanted to maybe hop on a fet free Q and A,
no the case doing best Q and A at the
end of the year.
Speaker 5: What's the best way to go about doing that?
Speaker 11: Yeah. On our website on the contact us we have
a section where you can request a copy of our
tax Smart Playbook and that'll give you some ideas. I
actually was just with on a call earlier this week
with a caller that had got a copy of our playbook.
Incited three or four strategies that he wasn't aware of
if he scheduled a call. I met with him yesterday.
We're gonna hop on again early next week. I'm going
to do a tax observations analysis for him so he
can get some ideas at the end of the year.
But the call really is meant to be about you,
as as a client or as a listener, understand a
few things that are happening in your personal world, and
then give you maybe some spots or some options and strategies.
But you can schedule that call with one of the
members of our advisory team a certified financial planner, and
you can do so at band orwealth dot com. We've
got some good options and have really enjoyed our conversations
with listeners.
Speaker 5: Thank you, appreciate you.
Speaker 4: Blaine Anderson, Bantererwealth Banterwealth dot com. We'll catch you up
with you again soon. Ladies and gentlemen, are live from
the road Home. 'tis the season to be giving, and
those that are in most need along the Watts that's front,
are here at the road Home. Last year, the road
Home server eight thousand people, including two thousand children. Ninety
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call them uh and if you have the ability, please
give eight to one eight one nine seventy three hundred.
That's eight one, eight one nine seventy three hundred. That's
the road Home dot Org. Let's come back. Question Poll
Today coming up next as well as Band of Today.
Speaker 5: What would you do? Ronnie?
Speaker 4: You know you canna you would you take that fit
sixth seventh round spot with a you know, a four year,
four point one million dollar type of rookie deal. I
think that's what Lj's up against right now. He probably
is gonna be a fifty three man roster guy, fifth, sixth,
seventh round. He's gonna be on that traditional rookie deal
because he's not gonna be a day to guy. He
could make anywhere from seven hundred and fifty to if
he went into the portal, he'd probably get more than that.
He'd probably had one point five million on the free market.
It's probably gonna be somewhere between there. What do you
do and why? We'll discuss it on the flip. This
is Cougar Sports on one oh three nine ninety eight
point three ESPN.
Speaker 2: When Ben Krittal isn't breaking down Kobe some amounts of
film on He's belove Cougar football team. He's talking Cougar
sports and he's doing it right.
Speaker 4: Heren welcome back in the Sports one o three nine
ninety eight point three ESBN the ben I Bet Pro
broadcasting from the Road Homes The Road Home dot org
Ti is the season to be giving because we haven't
been given much.
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guys at the end of the year.
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head on over to the Road Home dot org Ford
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ladies and gentlemen. All Right, we're gonna get into our
questions and polls of the day here in this segment.
One of my questions is around the LJ. Martin situation.
So I reached out to a few individuals that I noticed, say, Hey,
what is the market rate for a guy like LJ.
Martin Big twelve Offensive Player of the Year thirteen hundred yards.
He's a well rounded all purpose back, has become fantastic
in the in past, catching pass pro in between the tackles.
Speaker 5: Off tackle, he.
Speaker 4: Can run inside zone, outside zone, you can toss, he
can speed option with him off tackle.
Speaker 5: He is a phenomenal running back.
Speaker 4: And so the market rate that I've gotten back is anywhere,
depending on the school right, anywhere from nine hundred to
maybe one point five million on the free market.
Speaker 5: Okay, And I imagine with Rev.
Speaker 4: Shaer and nil and if he does get a draft
rate that would put him in the fifth, sixth, seventh
round or a high high priority undrafted free agent.
Speaker 5: Imagine he's five to six or seven. Right.
Speaker 4: I don't know if he's a Day two guy just
at with the running backs that could be coming out
this year, but let's say he gets that Day three
type of draft rate similar to Puka.
Speaker 5: Puka is still on his.
Speaker 4: Rookie deal, four year, four point one million dollars. Now,
as Blaine Anderson pointed out, he's got because he's balling
out over the last couple of years, He's got plenty
of endorsements and that he's probably making more money off
the endorsements than he.
Speaker 5: Is off his NFL salary. So you have to take
that into account maybe too.
Speaker 4: But you know, if you're LJ and you're getting a
market rate of as an independent contractor nine hundred to
one point five million dollars as a you know, and
you get to maybe take that home, set up your LLC, strategically,
get an investment, you know, strategy and place, et cetera.
Do you take that or do you take the NFL?
Where you know, if you go to LA, if you.
Speaker 5: Go to a certain state that has high taxes.
Speaker 4: You're only taking about half of that home. What say you, Roddy,
where would you lad?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 6: This has tough, Ben, right, because you obviously want to
live your dream of getting to the NFL. That's the
first thing that's most important when you have aspirations. If
your time is now, you want to go, especially as
a running back. It all depends, Ben. If I'm a
running back, that's tougher. I know I only have a
six to eight year span. I don't know if I'm
going to be a Jonathan Taylor or a Derrick Henry.
Like its an anomaly. You get beat up at that position.
But depending where I'm at, if if I know that
my market rate is seven figures been, if I want
to enter the portal, if I know that I can
talk to BO you and persuade them to give me that,
and I know that I'm not going earlier than the
fifth round and it could even be later depending on that,
then I'm probably coming back for that year and taking
that seven figures to doing it. It has to be
seven figures though it can't be the seven hundred and fifty,
you know, because I think at that point you might
as well just move on. Because you play well, your
next contract would be more depending where you're at. So yeah,
I would take the seven in that FI year, six year,
depending on it, and then set up obviously my LLCB
at ten ninety nine, start to put some money away
and do that and negotiate that and if LJ has
that opportunity or any VA football player, Right, Chase Roberts
was in this situation last year coming back, I think
you should definitely take that opportunity to do that to
do so because it's a great opportunity.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 6: You want to be the big fish in the small pond.
You want to set yourself up for the financial future,
and I think that's the best way to go about it.
Because if you look at a guy like Pooka, if
you're not going to have that impact and you go
to an LA team or San Francisco, unless you're going
Ben to Texas, Florida, you know, maybe Kansas, what is Missouri?
You end up in these big city Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, California.
Speaker 3: Taxes are high, even Washington up.
Speaker 6: There, you know, Ben, you know Oregon like it's those
are the places where it's tough.
Speaker 3: So I would take the fifth year for sure, that's
that's what I would do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I heard some good news earlier today that makes
me believe that b Yu can be competitive here and
maybe he retain the talents of l. J.
Speaker 5: Martin. If you get l J.
Speaker 4: Martin to come back, you get Bear Bachmeyer to come back.
He still has some needs in the portal. You gotta
go in address. You're gonna have to go pick up
a tackle or two. You're gonna have to go into
the portal for some offensive line and no doubt you
may have to go pick up a wide receiver as well.
You know, as far as a tight end is concerned,
you may have to go pick up that four stard.
Speaker 5: Tight end that just entered the poorer portal. Walker.
Speaker 4: Lions defense looks pretty good, you know. I think you
may have to pick up a linebacker maybe or two.
But we have great depth there. Don't get a twist.
We got great playmakers there that can step up in
the absence of Jack Kelly. Still to be determined what
Isaiah Glasker is gonna do. He's got a tough decision
to make as well. Gonna he's gonna receive a pretty
penny at BYU or elsewhere. If he's in the NFL
or if he decides to take his talents to the Portal.
So it would bode well for Brigham. If they were
able to retain L. J. Martin, that would be a
huge get in the off season, the best recruiting get
and retention get of the off season.
Speaker 5: Know IF's answer butts about it. Guys, we're live from
the road Home the road Home dot org.
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Speaker 5: Come on buy, say hello and talk.
Speaker 4: Some ball with me here at the road Home in
Midvale and drop off your donations.
Speaker 5: Today, let's go to break.
Speaker 4: That was our question and poll of the day, brought
to you by Royal Army Royal Army dot Com byu
Swag created by fans for fans. Stay loyal to the
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take a brief time out. We'll be back though. Want
to talk some ball with Cougar Sports insider Brandon Day
coming up next. This is Cougar Sports on one O
three nine ninety eight point three e HPN