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and eight. That's eight to one, four hundred five through
and eight, or through PROSI utah Athorprosivvieutah dot com. Let's
talk about the ticket saga. Now, this has been occurring
over the last two years as BYU has made its
transition from independence into the Big twelve. With that has
come I think a higher expectation, a higher scrutiny, more
eyeballs on BYU than there has ever been before. And
with that conference a ffiliation, there's more money coming in,
but there's also a change. Unfortunately BYU fans, what we
didn't get to really experience was conference affiliation without ANIL
and transfer portal. I'm sorry, I really am because and
I feel bad for the athletic department too, because they
didn't get to experience it from an organizational design standpoint.
You have twenty years for Utah's, it was like fifteen
year head start, right for all these other schools with
TV revenue, really it's probably been about like twenty five
years of like glory and filthy Luke or just funneling
into their athletic departments and they would overspend and be
in the red and they would just build up these
behemoth stadiums with the extra money. Because remember they weren't
giving that money to the student athletes. They weren't given
the twenty million in payroll to the city. It was
all facilities, it was all infrastructure, it was all organizational design,
it was all personnel. They would just hoard it all.
They were forced to give more food finally, because like
you have football players like starving going over to Little
Caesars after practice and they don't have any food, so
they go get a five dollars pizza, you know what
I mean. Like, they started to give him additional health
care after they were done. They started to guarantee scholarship.
They were forced into this, but I feel bad to
a certain degree that by you didn't get to really
enjoy the filthy lucer like some of these other organizations have.
They got a head start instead as soon as me
while you got into the Big twelve, what happened NIL
Transferportal was already there, and so you had to start
figuring out creative ways. Yeah you got extra money and
that's great, but that extra money had to start going
to whom your payroll players. I mean so like I
remember talking with Tom Homo about this at Big twelve
media days like two years ago, and he's like, look,
it's the right thing to do. We have to take
care of our student athletes. But you can kind of
see in his eyes, like, man, it would have been
kind of nice to have that for like the organizational design,
maybe upgrading Lavelle, maybe upgrading all these facilities. Right anyway,
I think they're figuring out creative ways to do it,
and they will with an eventual upgrade at like level,
which that's what we're talking about here. But you have
to have levell be a more than a football stadium.
It has to be a edifice of learning as well,
and activities for.
Speaker 3: The university multi use.
Speaker 1: It has to be a multi use facility, put some
concerts in there. It is already a concert facility right
but in order to probably to convince of the higher
ups the board of Trustees, it has to be a
multi use facility. Can't just be a football facility. And
there's actually virtue in the fact that the Athletic Department
doesn't own the IPF or the or the or Levell
Edwards Stadium, because now you can probably access the border
trustees if they approve of it into some multi use.
The issue at the IPF has been, you know, to
a certain agree that intramurals kicks us out when we
want to get some extra working. I don't want to
get too far into but anyway, Matthew Greenley, the reason
why we're bringing this up, Matthew Greenlow. Green Hall says,
will any BYU sports media cover what's going on with
the handling of season tickets. It's big time football and
b lawyers responding to the market, but it also feels
like they're abandoning longtime fans. For those that don't know,
there's a new structure. It's essentially going up to bid
and it's all merit based on investments. So corporate sponsors
and individual donors that are Cougar Club members. You know,
the more they invest in the program, the better tickets
selection they get. Okay, So and they have put caps
on that you can't It used to be like we
can probably buy like fifty tickets with your life. You know,
it would kind of undermine everybody behind them. And there
could still be some of that going on. We don't
know for certain, but this dropped. I want to say
this news dropped earlier this year or even late last year.
It said this was the twenty twenty six Buay football
season tickets selection process. There's an interest form, there's a
sleep seat selection process and they go into it right.
Interest in BUA football season tickets continues to grow as
we look ahead to the twenty twenty six home schedule,
highlighted by a matchup against Notre Dame and a strong
slate of home opponents, with the demands expected to be high.
This page outlines what fans, donors, and sponsors can't expect
as season tickets selection process approaches, including timelines, priority order,
and how access is determined for high demand game now
realize on the on the west side, there has been
like institutional like donors that help build elevate, you know,
renovate Cougar Stadium to the Lavelle ed Roots Stadium, and
they had like the only way to circumvent that particular
institutional clause with their season tickets that is like in
perpetuity is if there's like a restructuring renovation that qualifies
to oust them. But at any rate, I think those
guys are still safe. But there have been people that
have had tickets for fifteen, twenty, twenty five, thirty years
and they're being booted because they're not high level Cougar
Club donors. So Kilane, you know, gave a message we
have the best fans in the world and I can't
say enough to thank you season ticket holders for all
you do. You guys create the amazing atmosphere in Leveelo,
every stadium each home game, sharing on our team. Let's
go Coops now. The reason why this message is important
and Matthew's message is important is just because you're selling
tickets early to more corporate sponsors and high level donors
does not mean you're going to fill the stands. Okay,
that's the cave yacht here.
Speaker 3: I mean tuck to Nebraska.
Speaker 4: They have a somewhat like years of a sellout streak
and they get half Field Stadium, but.
Speaker 3: They still list sellouts.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, they're listening sellouts.
Speaker 3: But because they haven't, they have some donors that just
buy up the tickets.
Speaker 1: They're buying up the tickets, and those don't always get sold,
they don't always get trickled down, they don't always get
handed off. These are busy corporate sponsors. These are busy people.
And if b Wall's not winning, if it's not exciting,
if it's not exhilarating, if it's not really this value
add to them form a business standpoint, then they don't go.
So that's where you're gonna get into a sticky, sticky
situation here by ousting the tried and true, loyal, strong
and true. But essentially the seat selection process, if you
are a season ticket holder for the twenty and twenty
five Seaton will automatically be assigned a selection time and
it will be communicated to you via email. If you
had held season tickets in twenty twenty even wants to
join or upgrade your Coogon club membership, you can do so. Online,
et cetera. If you were not a season ticket holder
for twenty and twenty five season, but would like to
be assigned a selection time, fill out the interest form.
How is my selection time determined your Coup Club or
corporate partner membership level? So the more you spend, the
more you invest, the higher the level. Right, and there
are thresholds the number of priority points you have within
your membership level. The general public will select after Cougon
Club and corporate sponsors have selected with their priority points
their tickets. Now, the problem is, I don't even know
if it got to the lowest levels of the Cougar
Club before these things were all sold out. No, they didn't,
they didn't, Okay, Obviously, The Coup Club is the official
booster organization for bu Athletics. Your donation helps pay for
bo athletics expenses, including student athletes, scholarships, recruiting expenses, and
funding the facilities and programs associated with each of the
least twenty one athletic teams. The Krup Club is the
strongest avenue for individuals to earn season ticket selection, priority
ticket pre sales, and other promotions. If you are interested
in joining the Coup Club, then you can, you know,
become a donor, et cetera. So pros and cons of this, Yeah,
give me your pros and cons of what this situation
in some of the hullablu that's occurring within Cougar fandom.
Speaker 3: Well, so it.
Speaker 4: Makes sense what they're doing, because if you donate a
lot of money, you should be rewarded for that.
Speaker 3: Like, there's gotta be some way.
Speaker 4: There's got to be an ROI, there's got to be
something that b why you gets back to you. So
that makes sense. But the problem right now is you're
losing out. I think there's a potential to lose out
on future generations of BYU fans because, like, let's let's
let's break this down a little bit.
Speaker 3: Not even all of the donors are getting tickets to
these games.
Speaker 4: Like there's people donating to the program who can't get
a ticket to this game. Now there's a ton more
fans who can't donate but maybe could go to a
game that aren't getting tickets because they're just they're gone. Yeah,
and so you what really makes a fan of Bayu
fan is the first time you attend to b Whyu
game and you're in the stadium and you feel the
magic of level Edwards stadium that creates lifelong fans. Seeing
on TV's fun being in the stands is what makes
a fan. And if there's all these kids, let's say
there's there's kids of these of b WYU families that
you know.
Speaker 3: You're you're living a normal life.
Speaker 4: You don't have excess money that can't go to these games.
Speaker 3: Now, guess where they're going to go.
Speaker 4: They're going to go to University of Utah football games
and they're going to become Utah fan.
Speaker 1: Do you think they're just gonna automatically just go to Utah? Well,
I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't think it's automatic, but it's like, hey, I
have an opportunity to go to a college game. I
think there's going to be some who go to that
environment and like it. Like they they do have a
good game day environment up there, and I don't know
if it's as good as b Why. You's like, I've
been to both of the very different environments. But I
think you're going to lose out on some BYU fans
in the next generation because the ticket allotment just isn't
trickling down very well. And I think there should be
some talk about maybe do we add some seats to
the stadium. Yeah, I mean you're not gonna be able
to add seats until you do an entire redesign, right
and you're you're five to ten years out from that.
Speaker 3: But I think I don't know how.
Speaker 1: Quickly you've already filled in the sides with corporate sponsorship deals.
So like the northeast end zone is a corporate sponsorship place,
the south west side is byu TV. Okay, I think
the northeast sorry, the northwest side and the southeast side
are like standing room only areas, so you could fill
in some with standing room only. There are more like
stadiums now that have standing room only and you have
to go to you're just just stand you're just standing around.
You're just at the top somewhere you find a spot
where you can kind of lean over and watch. It's
kind of like at the baseball game. You know, you're
out in like the in the field in the field
right at a at a spring training game, standing room
only and there's kind of like bar spots and you
can go get a drink and kind of just stand
and walk around. So you can do it that way.
You can do some standing room only, but you're not
getting any seats there. And with the standing room only ticket,
that's kind of intriguing because if your your theory is true, right,
and the people don't show up, corporate sponsors and donors
maybe don't show up mid season or if a cold
night it's rainy, I don't I don't want to go
get wet, you know, these hoity toities, right. Uh. Then
the standing room only, it's like, well, they're there, no
one's sitting in those seats. You go sit in them,
you go sit down, you know. And it's like the
security guy at the top of the ey was like, whoa,
you know, come on, come on, you know, let them
go sit down there. The donor he can move these
seats if if they end up showing up in the
second half whatever. So this is ann issue, yes, but
I think, as in all things, you have to you
have to adopt, you have to adopt a new policy
and see what happens and then react accordingly. And right
now they're in the mode of monetization. They're in the
mode of maximizing the dollar, maximizing because look, they have
a they have potentially twenty million dollars that they have
to take from their TV revenue money and they have
to give it to the players. So they're looking to
fill those gaps in order to continue to stay competitive
with their payroll. If you can't say out of one
side of amount, like hey, I want I want cheaper
tickets and then be but we wouldn't want to pay
the players. Yeah, right, you can't say that either, and
you and they do you want to pay Kilania a
fair wage too? Do you want to pay the coaches
of fair wage too? Right? Like, there's an element here
where you are booing up the infrastructure of your players
and the personnel that are running the program on the daily.
Speaker 4: Well, here's where I'm coming from, is I think there
is a solution to the money of Like you said,
there would have to be some major structural changes to
Levelbert Stadium if.
Speaker 3: You're going to add seats.
Speaker 4: I I agree to that, and that's gonna cost a
lot of money. But I think, like, in my opinion,
the way to do that is to make it corporate sponsored.
Speaker 3: Like like, for.
Speaker 4: Example, if you have one of your corporate sponsors, it's like, hey,
if you help us pay for this, we're gonna name
part of the Stateium, like it's a Levelbert Stadium, but
it's like it's the section, it's the student the student
section sponsored by Crumble or whatever, you know, the Crumble.
Speaker 1: Rock Crumble cookies.
Speaker 4: Like it's not it's not like it's not sexy, but
it gets the I think it gets some money in there,
and I think you get some it's a creative way
to get some more donations towards that type of thing.
Speaker 3: I mean, the only.
Speaker 1: Opportunity here is, in my opinion, is standing room only.
It's either renovate and renovate soon or standing room only
for now. You're not gonna elevate, like, they're not gonna
be able to add seats all of a side. They're
not gonna be In fact, they were reducing seats. They're
giving more chair backs, they're giving more high priority seating
so that you can sit in a little picnic bench
like a circular bench. Yeah. Like, but that's what I'm saying.
They're reducing bench seats that were taken up by traditional
fans at you know, fifty sixty seventy hundred bucks a
game or whatever it was that they were buying them at.
Now it's it's more than that, right, but they were
they were able to afford for the season, maybe at
most one thousand bucks for the season, right, and now
those are being whittled down. Fans are getting fatter, Okay,
they're not getting any skinnier, and they're complaining about leg room,
and they're complaining about with so with that. Because of that,
they're reducing seeding and they're putting more chairbacks in there,
and and so like we you know, we we'd be
able to fit more people in there if we were
all a little bit more skinny too. So we got
to take that for what it's worth. I'm not trying
to attack anybody. This is not an assault on on
on on how much adipost tissue everybody has. Okay, I'm
just saying, like, these are these are real issues. Like
there's enough feedback being given to the people that to
the people at EYU saying like, hey, we want more
comfortable seating, and they have the money, but right they're
the ones that are investing too. I do think to
your point, the loyal, strong and true, the individuals that
are willing to bring their kids at nine o'clock at night,
you know, even though there's Sunday school tomorrow morning at
nine am, and they're like, we're doing it because we
are loyal strying. I know fans that drive up from
Ice Canyon, baby, and they've been doing it for decades. Yeah,
and you know what I mean, they're driving four hours
from the day. They're driving up from Saint George to
the game every Saturday, and it's an affair. It's a
family affair. No matter what time the game is it
kicks off, they're coming. Are they getting priced out because
of this? Maybe?
Speaker 3: Probably?
Speaker 1: Maybe probably. And those are the loyal, strong and true
that are showing up, not the ones that are like, oh,
it's sixty degrees out, it's too cold, my fingers are
gonna be pros. Oh my gosh, No, I have to
bring in my my, my, my rain boots for the
I don't want to wear my rain boots. There's they're
they're uncomfortable, They're uncomfortable. There's a lot of no.
Speaker 4: But I mean to your point, in order to expand,
you do need a renovate. But I'm looking at like,
look at the stadium. It looks it will happen, guys
that there there renovation.
Speaker 1: There will be a renovated. It's not gonna happen. I mean,
I don't.
Speaker 3: It's not gonna happen in the next five Bro, You're.
Speaker 1: Gonna have to You're gonna have to completely No, what
you're gonna have to do, Like, this is what would
have to happen. So you have intramural fields over there, right,
So this is what you have to do. You're gonna
have a parking issue with this if you want to,
You're gonna have to build a new stadium. And that
new stadium is going to have to go in where
they're the parking lot. Parking lot is probably and so
you're gonna have to be building that stadium and you
know as a couple of years, Yeah, you're gonna do
be billing and you're gonna have a parking issue during
that time.
Speaker 3: Well I think, look, so it would be what you'd
have to do.
Speaker 1: No, this is what you have. This is how you
sequence it. You build a high rise structure on the
intramural fields. Okay, where it's a parking that's the first
thing that goes in. Why you're building, Like you know, this.
Speaker 3: Is like an I don't even plan to get back
at the intermural.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying like, and you gotta be kind of
because I don't know how long it's gonna take to
build this. Is it gonna take you?
Speaker 4: I mean it's taken. Kansas has a two year plan. Yeah,
a brand new, really nice stadium. I honestly think I
think BYU fans would take two years of a parking
headache for a nice, bigger stadium.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. It's it's gonna have to be.
It's gonna be a parking headache while you're building because
it's gonna probably take two years or so.
Speaker 4: I mean, the University of Utah has a massive parking
headache and they make it work every year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, the kid, Yeah, you're parking in the neighborhood.
Speaker 4: I mean, try to get place, a mess, trying not
to get towed. Somehow they make it work every year.
I think, BA, you can make it work for two Yeah.
Speaker 1: All right, Well we were kind of get into other
things in this segment, but we went all in on
on the tickets scandal. Strong word. Oh anyway, but that's
your world at BOU Sports. How many amongst you I
asked the question earlier today, how many amongst you in Cougarnation.
I've been impacted by the season ticket selection process the
last two years. Please tell me your stories below. David
Lumberg chimed in ben season ticket older for two plus decades.
I've had a good run with great memories with the
reseating arrangements of the rock got put into our seats.
I'll admit I don't don't donate much to cugar clubs,
so that pushed me away down the renewal list. I'll
use the money to go to a road game. Matthew
green Hog, who you know, went after me or he said,
you're a good man, crittle for asking this to your followers.
My parents have had the same season tickets since your
senior year. Shout out to Matthew and the fan for
showing up since two thousand and seven. This year, despite
being Kog club members, when they went to buy tickets,
they were all sold out. I guess they aren't at
the right giving level. I mean, it's hard, man. It
becomes a competitive, competitive process, right, it really does. And
I feel for them, Like, look, I buy tickets every
single year or two, so my intern and I do
it for business, so some of my clients can go
over there, some of my you know, my friends and
family members can go there and then my interns right
here at or sports and so to have a spot
because we don't we only get a few, uh press passes,
and we can't like have like five press passes. We're
not going to do that anyway. So it's a tough situation.
And uh, I do think it's good to move forward
and then you may have to retract a little bit
after you make this very strategic decision that the b
A eighty has has made.
Speaker 3: But no, I do like standing room only as a
short term solution.
Speaker 4: I think that's a that's a great way to get
some cheaper tickets out to the fans that love b
Yu to go to one game a year and and
let their kids be b Way fans too.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, we could just have like now that we
have drones and like you know, we're flying drones over
a little bit like your drone. Yeah, you get a
ticket to fly, you're like flying the drone over your
covering it just like covering.
Speaker 3: That would mean insane.
Speaker 4: Anyway, someone's drone ran out of that it, oh my god,
fell down to the thirty five yard line.
Speaker 1: And let's go to break. That segment was brought to
you by Orthropros. Orthroprosifutah dot com. What do we do
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know we were talking football today, but March madness is
still here and the madness is upon us. Check your
bracket on the ESPN Thefan dot Com website ESPN The
Fan Million Dollar Bracket Challenges.
Speaker 2: Brought for the college football teams you care about, wins, losses,
and everything in between. We talk it through on one
oh three nine and ninety eight three ESPN The Fan.
Just like the Cougar football team, Ben Krittle was built
not boring, and since two thousand and nineties built himself
into the go to source on the radio and online
for all things Cougars. This is Cougar Sports with Ben
Crittle on.
Speaker 1: One O three nine and ninety eight three ESPN The Fan. Yeah, Buddy,
Welcome back Cougar Sports one O three nine ninety eight
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of Utah Dentalprosofvieutah dot com. All right, let's get out
to the hotline and welcome in. It looks like from
the pro day and the combine performs the most athletic
long snapper coming out of the two thy and twenty
six draft class. We got former B one you long
snapper specialists and a former tight end at American fork By.
He's not just a loxat. He was a tight end
once part of the time. We got Garrison rhymes on
the like Garrison. How the heck are you, buddy?
Speaker 5: I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me on a pleasure of blessing
talking ball with you today. Number one, kudos man. What
a pro day?
Speaker 5: Man?
Speaker 1: I you know the the the number that came down
from b YU on their laser time. I think it
was a four five two that they clocked you at.
That is blazing fast for a long snapper. How would
you evaluate your pro day? Brother?
Speaker 5: I think it was good. I mean obviously, you know,
I think God's blessed you with the talents to be
able to perform how I did along with you know,
my staff at you I uth phenomenal like Skyler Mayne
to st all them got me right. But like I said,
I think I think I performed well. Obviously, with the coaches,
the dad and growing up in that environment, it's hard
to feel satisfied about everything, but sure, you know I
think I did well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, congratulations. A lot of work, a lot of heart,
the blood, sweat and tears, a lot of coaching by dad,
a lot of coaching by coaches throughout all this time,
and the culmination to a degree of your collegiate career.
Now moving on to the NFL, tell us a little
bit about the offseason. Then once you got done with
the season. What a tremendous season. It was a twelve
and two year? Was it everything? Real quick? Was it
everything you hoped for when you arrived at BYU? When
you came out of the portal and ended up at
bay You came from Baylor, you had success there, you
had a great experience. But was BYU everything that you
would hoped it would be in that one year?
Speaker 5: Yeah, No, it was. It was awesome, truly a blessing,
kind of a homecoming, you know, like you said, went
to high school year seven or eight of my high
school teammates were on the team. I knew coach Kilani
and a lot of the other coaches from when my
dad was here, So it's super easy transition. And then
obviously having a very successful football year two makes it
all worth it too, And it's just such a fun
thing to be a part of. But you could be
down you know how many points at halftime and not
doubt that you're gonna win. Those are the fun seasons.
So yeah, it was truly a blessing, great staff, awesome environment.
So yeah, it was. It was great.
Speaker 1: Well, we're grateful that you're a part of a monumental season.
Tell us what happened at the end of the season,
what did you where did you go, Where did you
start training, What were the goals, how did you need
to improve, et cetera.
Speaker 5: Yeah, obviously, for a specialists it's very different than a
you know, say a skill position. They can go to
one place and kind of get all the training they
need there for me, and and you know, a specialist position,
there's so many different coaches that have little things that
you can take back with you. So I would travel
a lot. I went to Arizona for a showcase type
thing and then that was with coach Donner, and then
I flew to Orlando and had a showcase there, and
then I went to Frisco for the East West game
and that was cool experience. I was there nine days.
Speaker 1: And then.
Speaker 5: I also had a coach that lived in Frisco that
I went and saw a few times, and then obviously
trained for combine up after that, and then came back
and got ready.
Speaker 1: For probeck so pretty quick. I mean it goes by fast.
But did you feel like you made a lot of
progress in that time? Did you learn a little bit
more about yourself? Did you refine your skill set?
Speaker 5: I did? I mean, obviously, you know, coming for a
long snapper, I don't think that any you know, rookie
will be fully prepared for what the next level brings.
Just it's so different schematically wise. But I think I
learned a lot and I've prepared as much as I
can up to.
Speaker 1: This point.
Speaker 5: For what's to come. But yeah, I definitely learned a lot.
It's more more than what I thought it was, for sure.
But it's it's been a good process. I've really enjoyed it.
And uh, yeah, it's been good.
Speaker 1: Who did you end up going with your agent? And why?
And are there like specialist agents out there that are
are like really good at at placing getting guys drafted,
finding undrafted free agent best spots out there in the
agency world for sure.
Speaker 5: Yeah. So the agent I went with, his name is
Brits Henderson. Him and his dad have a family business
it's called ISA, But him and Don Henderson they used
to represent kind of the the big names like Patrick
Manneley and some of these other big snapper names. But
one of the biggest things that stuck out to me
with him is there's a lot of agents that will
try to make you kind of verbally commit during season
and stuff, and you're not technically allowed to do that,
but everybody kind of does it. And you know, Brooks
was like, that's not how we roll, Like, I'm not gonna,
you know, twist the rules at all. We're gonna keep
it professional. And he was just very honest through the
whole process, which is what kind of drew him to me.
And then I mean, yeah, the thing with snappers and
getting drafted, you know, there might be one every five
to ten years that gets drafted, but it's very rare. Obviously,
you know that's the goal, but I also have realistic
expectations and just want to find the best situation for
me and where I'll be able to succeed at I.
Speaker 1: Mean, what's the landscape light right now for long snappers?
I mean, you got one long snapper on every single
team in the NFL. Is anyone getting old, is anyone
injured right now? I mean, we're going to be able
to compete right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so it's a relatively good year for snappers. The
thing is is, you know, you can be a snapper
and you can kind of get onto a team and
rot there. Like we had one of the guys that
I look up to. He played at Baylor actually, and
his name is John Weeks. He played for the Texan
for the last fifteen seasons and he was on the
forty nine ers this last year and just signed another
year extension. So you know, you can be in the
league for however long your body allows it, if you're
able to do the job at a high level. But
that definitely makes it more difficult to get in. Right,
there's only thirty two in the world, and there's not
any snappers that are on the practice squad, so they're
truly only is one guy per team. So you know,
wherever I go, obviously I'm going to be competing, whether
it's a team bringing in two young guys and I'm
competing against another rookie, or if it's a team that
just signed a you know, a vet, but they're looking
to maybe go younger if the rookie is able to
perform at a high level. So you know, wherever I go,
I'm just getting in the mic right or the right
mindset to compete. But I'd say it's really there's you know,
probably five teams or six teams that will bring on
a new snapper, but I'd say by the end of
cuts and end of preseason, there'd only be one or
two teams that you know, kept that rookie is their die.
So yeah, yeah, yeah, it's tough, tough things to get into.
But you know, like I said, I feel like God
blessing with the talents to be able to do at
the next level. So yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 1: It's funny you bring up Josh John Weeks. You said
John Weeks, right, Yeah, yeah, he So I went to
high school with John. I graduated at oh one, yeah,
Mountain Ridge, and I think he was because he was
a four year later. He trying to think, Well, Richie
and Cognito was my long snapper I think my junior year,
and then I think Weeks was my long snapper my
senior year when he came in as a true freshman.
Because Richie and John were both coached up by Ben Bernard.
He's like a long snapping guru. He was our strengthen
editioning coach and long snapper. I don't know if you've
heard that name, Ben Bernard, but he was the coach
for He was like specialty and in long snapping. So
I had forgotten that John had actually attended Baylor as
a walk on and then balled out. Obviously been to
the league forever. I mean, it's insane.
Speaker 5: He's seventeenth years.
Speaker 1: So it is a sort I think a former BYUH,
a former BYU long snapper and defense end John Denny
with with with the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 5: For like eighteen years.
Speaker 1: Like it's crazy, Like how do you unseat these guys?
You know what I mean?
Speaker 5: I know it's crazy. You you gotta be able to
do everything they want you to do, and if you
can do that as a rookie, then then they'll take you.
But yeah, it's a crazy process.
Speaker 1: Well, with that being said, it's like are you going
to continue? Like, hey, are you going to continue to
long snap? Two three years to say, say, like NFL
doesn't work out this year? Do you keep long snapping
while you're kind of making money doing other things? Right?
And because I remember Matt Hayward, he was another one
of our long snappers. It was maybe it was him
and Richie Matt Hayward ended up at Glendier Community College
after he graduate waited from Mount Ridge and then after
one year went to USC and won like two national
championships with USC as a long snapper, and then he
was I remember working out with him when he'd come
home in Glendale and he was still trying out for
an additional two years before He's like, all right now,
I'm just gonna move on, So what's the game plan there?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I've I've thought about that. A guy that I
was able to connect with this this postseason. His name
is Zach Triner. He actually did not he played lacrosse
in college and kind of knew how to snap, and
then after college he spent four years training but then
it get on a team and then he just finished
his seventy year snapping in the NFL and he just
signed with the Dolphins just a couple of days ago.
So that's kind of the thing that I'm you know,
I'm trying to decide. I say that it'll come down to,
you know, the time being and what I what I
feel like they're But like I said, you know, I
know that I'd be able to do it, So I
think at least you know, one or two years if
it doesn't work. But in the moment, you know, I'll
just be praying for God's direction and see what I
feel like his plan is. But yeah, i'd say a
couple of years for sure.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And you know, in those couple of years, like
would you like, what is the mindset of maybe the
alternate leagues out there, like the UFL or the Canadian League, Like,
are those viable options for you to be putting out
film and showcasing talent?
Speaker 3: Does the NFL? Do you know if the NFL notices those,
if they if that's a viable way.
Speaker 1: To do that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's definitely possible. I haven't heard of
a lot of those situations, you know, the guy going
to the UFL or XFL then he gets called up.
I know it does happen, and I'm not super ind
to know with all of that, but I think it
would just come down to my situation, what I'm doing
for a job at the time, and because the thing
with you know, NFL is you've got to stay ready
to like if say I get a couple of workouts
and teams like me, but they want to keep their
vet that they have you know, he may get hurt
week four and then they call me and I got
to be ready to go in that week. So that's
kind of the mindset I would have during that time.
But again, you know, playing football is playing football. You know,
I love the game. So if that opportunity arose and
I feel like that's what I was supposed to do,
then I do it.
Speaker 1: Garrison Grimes b Yu, former BLU long snapper, talking some
Cougar Football NFL Cougar's in the pro segment brought to
you by Dental pros of Utah dentalprosof Utah dot com.
You went to the East West Shrine Bowl, you went
to the Combine, You've done your pro day. You know,
how cool of an experience has it been. How enriching
of an experience has it been? To be at the
the you know, the Senior Bowl, Combine, pro Da. I
mean these are all fun spectacles, like competitive environments. There's
a lot of enrichment and a lot of just quartersoll
levels as well. Man, it's stressful, it is, and you know.
Speaker 5: To be honest, I haven't really dealt with stress kind
of like I have this offseason. You know, I feel
like it's easier to snap in front of you know,
sixty thousand fans, one hundred thousand fans than it is,
you know, with thirty two NFL teams watching every snap
taking notes on them. So it was definitely stressful, but
also like good stress, you know, like to be able
to say I'm stressed because the NFL teams are watching me,
like that's such a blessing at the end of the day.
And that's something that my mom and dad have been
able to keep me grounded during. It's just how much
of a blessing it is, and being grateful for every opportunity,
and you know, my dad being a coach. I love competing,
so whether it's at these showcases or the combine or
Pro Day, whatever, it is, like, I'm gonna go out
there and compete and have fun. And that's that's kind
of what it's come down to at the end of
the day for most of these experiences. But now it's
been really fun just seeing like the best of the best,
like the East West game, seeing a couple of my
old teammates that were there, and seeing guys against you know,
other teams that I've played against, all their best players
out there, and then watching them play a game, so cool,
and then same at the combine too, So definitely blessing
to be a part of all of them. Kind of
surreal too, like my younger self wouldn't. I don't know
how surprised he would be. That sounds super bustful. I
don't mean to sound buissful, but obviously that's been my
goal as a kid growing up.
Speaker 1: But it is.
Speaker 5: It is very surreal. It's cool.
Speaker 1: Many blessings to you and your fam. Yeah, what what feedback?
What comments? What coaching? His h his grimy Papa grimey
giving you through this process.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, obviously technique wise, he was, in my opinion,
you know, the best the line coach there was there
is and now he's offensive coordinator. But he is able
to give me some blocking advice because that's the biggest
thing going to the next level is are you able
to snap the ball and then get your head up
click and block a you know, starting NFL linebacker that's
going to be coming through the A gaps, twisting, whatever
it may be. So having him there is just like
a safety net of like, hey, if there's something that
I don't understand, I have a resource easily available right.
And but I'd say outside of that, the biggest thing
is just mentally and spiritually him being that leader for
me because he's had you know, he's at Wisconsin this
last year, in Kansas year before, and he's had some
a couple of tough seasons back to back, but you know,
his attitude hasn't really changed. She's still grateful for all
the situations he's in and that's just because of his faith.
And that's something that's been able to keep me grounded
during this time of like, hey, you know, if it
doesn't work out, that's okay, That's what God's plan is,
which kind of takes some of the pressure off and
then at that point you're able to perform better. So
it's been great having him in my corner this whole time.
And you know, like I said, it's it's truly a lesson.
Speaker 1: What was your favorite experience while you're at b YU
right this year? Like when you ponder on the enriching
experiences you had in Provo and playing for BYU, what
are you gonna recall when you, you know, take a
take a glass back and revere those times.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think most b YU fans would agree with this,
but my dad was here and I think two thousand
and five, and I was just a young kid at
that time, and we always called, you know, Utah the
Stinky Utes when I was a kid, so from a
young age, from a young age, I didn't really like him.
And then coming back and you know, having that huge
rivalry game at home in Provo that you know, I
was a part of being able to win that game
like that was that was really special. And by our
unit and our team, we're so close and and you know,
the brotherhood that we have. Everybody talks about it, but
it is truly different here at BYU and it was
so fun to be a part of. And I think
that game, you know, it's hard. It's hard to beat
that game. Like obviously there's other games that are fun,
you know, the close ones at the end. The pop
Tard Bowl was so fun, but Utah game is probably
my favorite.
Speaker 1: Such a great game. Fantastic memories, fantastic time. What is
it like when you're if you're going to pitch these
recruits during this process? Obviously you got pitched, You got
recruited to a number of schools. You ended up a Baylor.
What a great school that was educational wise, spiritually, et cetera.
And in football wise, you know, what's the pitch to
come to BYU? Would you say, what's like the marketing
pitch of these recruits that are evaluating b YU over
other power for institutions.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that. You know, a lot of young
guys coming out of high score motivat are motivated by
the money aspect of it, especially now you know nil's
kind of out of control and it's just everybody's trying
to get their bag, everybody's trying to get paid. But
you know, the money can only motivate you so much.
Like as soon as you get into off season training
and you get in the fourth quarter drills and everything,
you know you're going through the heat of it. That
money kind of stakes your mind, right, Like you have
to really you have to really love the game, love
where you're at, and love the coaches that are coaching you.
And I think that's a big thing. Like there's nowhere
that's more beautiful than here in Provo. I mean, the
stadium's right against the mountains. There's a ton of stuff
to do here, it's very you know, family friendly, it's safe.
And then the staff who is phenomenal, Like, you're not
going to find a head coach that's more brought into
football in the relationships than Torontie Stockey. Like he's truly
one of a kind and his fit here is so
perfect a BYU and I think that's why it's so
successful is because the players love him and he loves
the players. That's that's kind of what it comes down
to at the end of the day. And obviously the
football part of it, right, Like you can have all
that other stuff, but you know, the science behind why
we do what we do in the lifting world, and
obviously the positional coaches, all of that feeds into having
a successful football program. And I think the you know
by us on their way to creating a dynasty right now.
And I think that you know, stems from Kalamus Stocky.
So I think that that's that would be my pitch, Tom.
Speaker 1: I think it's a great pitch. I think it's on point,
and it comes from a very valid, incredible source, very
articulate one at Dad Garrison Grimes. Great catching up with you, man,
I'll be watching you. Congratulations on all of your success
up to this point. I think there's a place for
you in the NFL. And I think that that top
end speed. I mean, you're already a great long snapper.
Obviously you're gonna have to get off blocks, et cetera
and weave your way downfield. I think that top in
speed is gonna help and and probably improve your draft stock,
your undrafted free agent stock, uh in this process. So
congratulations all your success man. Uh and uh you know,
grateful that you got to rep the Y your senior year.
We wish you could have had you could have been
here for four or five years though. All right, you
know we lost out on you for a few years.
But he was great having me here in provo. Brother.
Speaker 5: Yea, sir, thank youat catching up Garrison sale over to
your pots for me.
Speaker 1: Always love and appreciate him. All right, man, have a
great rest of your day. Man, thanks for hopping on.
There you go. That segment was a great one. Brought
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out to BATV and Spencer Linton as well as Garrison Grimes.
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