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Speaker 4: All right, so everyone was wondering, like, Okay, BYU didn't make.
Speaker 3: It to the Sweet sixteen. Okay, they made it to
the Sweet sixteen last year. You know what's the key
to success? What's the key to get to the sweet
sixteen and make that a consistent, bar consistent goal and
a realistic goal for the future. I think Spencer Lytton
pontificated on this earlier today on BA Sports Nation.
Speaker 4: Let's see what he had to say about this.
Speaker 5: Jason, remember when BYU won nine consecutive games to close
out the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five regular
season plus the Big Twelve Tournament. They won nine consecutive games,
including at Arizona, at Iowa State, beat Iowa State in
the Big Twelve Tournament, worked up to a six seed,
then got through VCU and worked Wisconsin scored ninety points
against Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
You know what was the common theme there?
Speaker 6: BYU had shooters all over the floor. They had seven guys,
seven that shot thirty five percent or better from the
three point line. Richie Saunders at forty three percent, Trevin
Nell just a hair under that mowit mag You want
to talk about a critical piece. The Bruce Bowen of
BYU basketball that year in the corner play defense made three.
Speaker 5: He shot thirty nine percent. Dallen Hall shot over thirty
five percent. Dawson Baker shot thirty eight percent from the
three point line. What's crazy is Yegor Gellman as good
of a three point shoot in the NBA as he
is now. He didn't shoot over thirty five percent, but
he in that stretch run he did. He did he
found a shot bound his shot late in the season.
You need a bunch of guys.
Speaker 3: You need a bunch of guys, You need a supporting cast.
So the supporting cast was not there this this season.
Speaker 4: Well, he didn't have.
Speaker 3: Enough specialized skill sets that complimented each other.
Speaker 4: I think is what we're getting at here.
Speaker 3: You need complimentary skill sets that accent and support each other.
They can't all be same similar, they can't all be
scores with the ball in their hand.
Speaker 4: Some guys got to be catching shoot guys. Some guys
got to.
Speaker 3: Have a well rounded skill set for defense and rebounding
and the ability to to you know, create for others,
et cetera. So I get all that, and you want
to see the cohesion and chemistry and the cultivating of
a good team. The get old, stay old mentality. We're
seeing that with teams like Iowa State right now that
are less talented, you know, and star rating, but have
that continuity of care. They get old, stay old, still
enduring in this new nil transferportal age. But Ronnie, your
thoughts on that and how optimistic are you that be
what you can not only get back to the tournament
but actually win some games next year?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean I'm optimistic they can get back to
the term. I think this was just an unfortunate down
year ban I think for BAU basketball because of the
injuries and because of maybe not scouting the team the
right way or guy's not stepping up. It's two fold, right,
And even if you know they did pigeonhole Canard. You know,
Kevin took accountability. Canar was still out there. You have
to go still and play, even in the role that
you're in, even if it's not the best in half effort.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 7: So there's there's different things. So I think that's the
one of them. But I mean, numbers don't lie, right,
you know, Spencer qualifies these numbers. You know, when you
say you have seven different guys that shot thirty five
percent or better from the three point line, that's that's tough.
Speaker 4: And I mean again he.
Speaker 7: Goes over to what you said, there's a lot of experience, Richie,
Trevin what like Trevin five years, Richie four years? What
five years? That's that that's tough. And I think what
Kevin needs to do is this. If you're gonna go
get the one and dones and highlight them, Ben, no problem, right,
But the shooters need to have three or four years
of college basketball experience. Now, whether that means you bring
in a record and you let him develop, you bring
in a Brooks bar back from a mission or whatever
that may be, or you go get a guy that's
experienced in the portal. He needs to have experience of
college basketball to be at to shoot the three and
then play defense. If he does not do that, then
I'm gonna be honest, I think he will continue to fail.
You can't just build a talent to roster and then
say go do it because look at Kentucky. They built
the roster based off of talent. You know it's great,
and you know they paid a lot for it and
it was fantastic. But that talent can only take you
so far. This is not the NBA, this is college basketball.
Coaches can do this when ag is getting double forty
feet away from the basket bin and they can be
physical and they're fouling, and you're yelling at the ref
and the ref's ignoring you.
Speaker 4: You can't.
Speaker 7: The ref's not gonna de officiating's not gonna change.
Speaker 4: You need to adjust.
Speaker 7: Always say this has been when you're playing in a game,
I would tell my teammates, don't yell at the official
for not calling something. Get over that, adjust to what
he's not calling, and let's go win the game. If
you just want to keep pushing your narrative like they
hold all the power, the zebras man they got everything,
so hopefully that is what they look at in the
offseason is okay, where would the deficiencies what you need
to do because when you look at a twenty four
to twenty five squad, experience three point shooting and numbers
don't lie in Therefore, the wins.
Speaker 9: Backed it up.
Speaker 7: So hopefully they get there. I think Kevin Young's a
smart guy. I think he'll be able to figure that out.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Look, I'm always optimistic about this Cougar Cougar basketball team,
and I hope they can just stay healthy next year.
That's what I hope for more than anything. Just address
the injury issues. Address that the semi contact non contact injuries,
to see if you can diagnose and.
Speaker 4: Treat that to your best.
Speaker 3: Ability is always your availability when it comes to team sports. Now,
speaking of team sports, the best team sport that has
a lot of attrition but not I mean knock on
Wood hasn't had a whole lot of attrition over the
last couple of years since doctor Skyler Main Holby Claws
and Ryan Phillis and Brett Mortsen and the crew just
have been able to oversee the health and strength of
this BAYU College football team. We're gonna catch up with
Kevin mcgobrid later on in the show. I had a
one on one interview with him, getting to know the
tight end room. You're not gonna you're not gonna want
to miss that. I think it had five oh five
is we're gonna be playing that my interview with him,
So stay tuned, don't go anywhere. But he was miked
up recently up his tight ends, and it's a good room.
There's a lot of new faces, a lot of young faces,
a lot of tenure faces, and some good talent, no
doubt about it. Let's listen in as Kevin Gilbright coaches
up his tight end room during springball.
Speaker 4: Let's go. Let's go.
Speaker 9: Tight ends.
Speaker 4: There we go, tight ends, There we go.
Speaker 8: Elbows are tight, my thumbs are up right, my eyes
are up right. And now from here, I'm pounding my
arches right.
Speaker 9: I'm not leading them, not pressing. I'm lifting and pounding
my arches.
Speaker 4: Set done.
Speaker 9: Good work, go work and work good.
Speaker 4: Get the clans of the ground, call.
Speaker 8: Good, good with the eyes on a good jacob, Hey,
that's it. Good walk those excellent can.
Speaker 4: Jump cut the hands up, hands all right.
Speaker 3: So like the number one I feel for you know,
the social media guys. One of the reason why I
want to play this is because I feel that it's
cool to get people miked up, right, and they wouldn't
say it's kind of a cool thing. You know, it
gives them a little b way. You fans want the
insider knowledge. They want to see how they're coaching it right.
You still have to get this thing curated right, so
like he get the sad or done something, or he's
gonna you know, he's gonna coach up how he normally does.
Speaker 9: Right.
Speaker 3: But at the same time you're at the you know,
you can let your emotions get away from you real quick.
You could say or do something.
Speaker 4: You know what. It's gonna be curated on the back end.
Speaker 3: But in any rate, you probably get a little bit
nervous though with the mic on right, would would you
get a little nervous coaching up?
Speaker 4: You know with the mic?
Speaker 3: You know, oh man, I got to be a little
bit more judicious, got to be a little bit more calculated.
Speaker 4: You gotta be.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you just don't want to give any fluff. You
want to be actually you know, you want to be
you want to be transaction. You want to be actually
given give it something at me that's meaningful.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you don't want to get overboard with it,
but anyway, I'll say this much, Kevin Gilbride is a
positive vibe. Kevin Gilbride is a really good coach and
the tight ends tight end room is lucky to have
him right now, and right now he's.
Speaker 4: Trying to bring along. Look like there's two things that
he's doing. Number One, he's.
Speaker 3: Trying to get Roger Saliapaga and Walker lines up to
speech schematically, technique, wise alignment, assignment and ultimately execution. So
that's like a number one priority. The secondary priority is
bringing on these young bucks to add quality depth Jacob Nye,
Wills Undel, Noah moyaki uh and others. And Kea Need's
kind of another tenured savvy vet, good forotball player, good
tight end SOFPT last year. I think he's up to stuff,
he's up to speed, he'll be fine and a.
Speaker 4: Really good blocker.
Speaker 3: The Need name is is a tight end name in
Cougar football history. So you know Spencer Deed was a
former BYU Great so he comes from that lineage. Really
good football family, really good football players, et cetera. So
that's what you have. So he's got two jobs right now.
Bringing you know, the kind of the implementation of the
skill set and the individual talents and abilities of Walker
lines in Rochester Apaga obviously four star talents. Now just
got to get the football like you and the schematics
up to speed, because we've seen over the years the
transfer portal gives us great talent, but the players aren't
always able and capable of getting up to speed. In
order to make an impact. It's extremely beneficial to have
Roger and Walker and Springball so they can get up
to speed, they can have an entire offseason.
Speaker 4: It still blows my mind.
Speaker 3: That Bear was able to integrate so seamlessly in so
little time without Springball under his belt. He only had
the summer essentially and found his way as the starter
for this b Cougar football team. Just pretty monumental performance
on that front. And I know Matt Mitchell, the former
quarterbacks coach for BUYU now at Colorado State, aided and
supported in that. But you got almost matrix in that knowledge.
And so that's a high priority for him because he's
got to get the most out of his tight end
room and there's a lot of pressure on him to
get these tight ends up to speed. But if they're
not up to speed. I do like Kean Need. I
think nol Moyaki is a good football player as well.
He was the first tight end last year to catch
a touchdown pass. So that's that the most recent update
with the tight end room. We'll go to break. Please
don't go anywhere. Oh we got one more clip. What's
the next quip? What have you got for us?
Speaker 7: This is the clip about Bruce Banch excuse me, Bruce.
Speaker 3: Brand Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, let's talk some more hoop
U b y U five star commit Bruce Branch the
third was telling a story.
Speaker 4: I mean this was.
Speaker 3: Uh. He's got like a social media team following him around,
does he not?
Speaker 4: Yes, he does on a percent Think podcast.
Speaker 7: Yeah, like his own documentary series, Like Rob has his
own that follows him as well.
Speaker 3: Okay, so he's got his own YouTube docu series. That's
what this is from b A five star commit Bruce
Branch the third.
Speaker 4: Uh told a little story about how the Rock.
Speaker 3: Was chanting his name, uh behind his commitment to b
YU for the Curas.
Speaker 10: Yeah, when they changed my name, I was trying to
hide a smile.
Speaker 9: I'll bush you a little bit.
Speaker 10: I was asked my Mom, what was the BYU sign?
So I hit the sign and they just all went crazy,
you know what. I was like, Yeah, this is this
is home. I see what's the visits over? It just
just feel like I was to leave a home, so
can't wait to go back. I remember the week before
actually made the announcement.
Speaker 4: Uh, I had a conversation with my mom. I was like,
it's b Yu.
Speaker 10: Let's play as simple. I just I just thought her,
I has remember going answer. I said, Mom has has
got to be b Yu and Cheerie.
Speaker 3: Mom agrees, and whatever Mom says goes. He's Bruce Brandt's
The third said that it was BYU uh and uh
just so he had a big smile on his face
when they chanted his name UH and just loves to
be a part of uh the Yu nation. He I
think he quoted prior to the tip off of Beli's
last game in the round of of or sorry, in
the in the in the in.
Speaker 7: The compassion you can help join us become a monthly
donor and your brain is beautiful dot org or if
you need help, down nine eight eight to speak directly
with the mental health professional.
Speaker 2: Time for keeping up with the Cougars brought to you
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Speaker 4: Welcome back, Cougar Sports. One of three nine ninety eight
point three SBN the Fan.
Speaker 3: I'm ben Drineral broadcasting from our Vanderwealth Studios Vanderwealth dot Com.
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and Blaine Anderson at Lease Stop for a little keeping
up with the Cougar's gonna try to get on the
line with a former Bway great tight end's action in
BWAU football, BAU Springball and what it takes to be
a great tight end in BAU football history. It's gonna
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Speaker 4: So what does it take to be a great tight
end to be wa you football history?
Speaker 3: We'll try to get to Byron rex on the line
number ninety five to six foot two and forty pounds
out a two hundred forty pounds out of Bellflower, California,
came to Brigham balled out. He was a great basketball
player as well in high school and earned letters and track.
Was All Conference two years in football and basketball, All
City and football and basketball, Senior year Athlete of the
Year at Bellflower High School. In his BYU football career,
eighty six receiving receptions. Excuse me, he played in twenty
four games, started I believe twenty two of those, and
then he had I think one two hundred and twenty
three receiving yards, seven touchdowns.
Speaker 4: Became kind of an iconic figure in.
Speaker 3: The early nineties receiving passes from Ty Devmer and others
along the way. So really good football player that knows
a thing or two about ball, and he's created some
great BYU football players that have come through the program.
Isaac the Elk Rex one of the best tight ends
in BAU football history, as well as Preston Rex, who
has been a safety, defensive back and has now converted
over to running back.
Speaker 4: Let's welcome in the former BA great.
Speaker 3: Number ninety five on the football field, but number one
in our hearts. Today we got Byron Rex on the line.
Byron how that are you, buddy, Ben?
Speaker 9: I'm doing great.
Speaker 3: How are you doing doing fantastic? Man, It's it's spring ball, man.
Forget March madness. I'm all about Camp Killani twenty twenty six.
Speaker 9: No, for sure, it's never not football season. Even during
March manage. They get about four days out of the year.
The rest is ours for football, so that only no.
Speaker 4: Doubt about it. You were a hooper though growing Byron, Like, was.
Speaker 3: It tough for you to kind of transition from you know,
I know you had a love for hoops, Like when
did you know you were a football guy rather than
a basketball guy.
Speaker 9: Well, you're every tight end and Dennis Fitt and I
play basketball a couple times a week together. Every tight
end is just a frustrated basketball player. I'm just telling
you right now, all of it. I played Matt Bushman
was supposed to play with us last night, but Matt
couldn't make it down. But Matt plays with us. Obviously,
Dennis and I play together a lot. But we're just
all frustrated basketball players. You happen to play football, and
so the crossover is amazing. The cross training of a
sport is perfect. So if you want to play receiver, well,
really any position. But if you want to play receiver,
a tight end, definitely play basketball. Chase Roberts will tell
you the same thing. Great Hooper as well. So we
played with a lot of the guys and they're all
good basketball players.
Speaker 3: So who's the best former BYU football player at basketball
that you've played with?
Speaker 9: Myself first, and then Fuka would probably be second. Yes,
so we played together. Zach's really good, Isaac can play,
Dennis obviously can play. So people can't play. Don't let
them tell you anything different. Is Dylan and Austin Colley
are not basketball players, Okay, really good, very clear, really
athletes jump out of the gym. No, Austin fancies himself
with Hooper, but not as good as he thinks he
actually is, which which is what makes him great. He
thinks he's better than he actually is.
Speaker 3: A really I thought Austin was was decent. But yeah,
but Dennis is a good player. Dennis is a good
basketball Well, he's got some silky smooth action to him.
Speaker 9: He's very good. Yeah, he's very good. And he always
he's guarding all the ex college basketball guys when we play.
He's like, I'm not Garden. We play with a guy
named Jakho. We play a lot. I think he played it.
I know stay or somewhere, but really good young is
still young, like just finish playing like two or three
years ago. I make Dennis guard him every time we play,
because Dennis only one can handle him. So Dennis is
a really, really good player. But don't tell him I
told you that, and I'll send you video to prove
that I'm better than him. I got it, I got
it on tape.
Speaker 3: Well, I remember how good Isaac was in his heyday two.
You're not getting an he loved Isaac. Yeah, he was
a good hooper.
Speaker 9: No, I think it's different because I thought if Isaac
was going to play, and he raised him to play
basketball just in case, you know, if it wasn't a
football thing, he could shoot it better than any of
the guys that I'm telling you. Now. His ankle has
not done him any favors. But Isaac's the best three
point shooter. I'm talking little guys, big guys. Anything. Zach's okay,
but Isaac can shoot it like nobody's business. So he's
the best shooter. And at six five sixty six, you know,
if he were to concentrate on the sport. Had I
known you've been that tall, we might have spent more
time doing it, but football was an easier route for us.
So anyway, But yeah, I love the sport of basketball, love.
Speaker 4: It, love it.
Speaker 9: Man.
Speaker 4: Well, were you disappointed in the one and done?
Speaker 3: Were your expectations a little bit higher or were you
kind of liking that, like pessimistic mode when they entered
the NCAA tournament kind of like setting yourself up like
you didn't want to be two disappointed for like, oh,
they're probably gonna be one and done.
Speaker 9: No, it's great about that is. I was so optimistic
the whole season, right, and then one of our guys
gets hurt, and then I was so pessimistic. And then
I like, go into the tournament or the big tout tournament,
right and we would forget. I'm like, I'm back on forward.
We're going and of course at my bracket, I think
I'm in the sweet sixteen on heart alone. And then
as soon as Texas won, I was like, uh, oh,
this big dude is going to give us truck problems,
right because we're not super long. We're very athletic, but
we weren't super long. And I'm like, this guy's going
to give us issues. And I was more worried about
our point guard around the rim being able to finish
with that big inside guard in the rim. So that
was my pessimistic side that kind of came out, and
that kind of played the fruition and then you know,
AJ kind of got tired, which I get, you know
what I mean, like, how do you not get tired?
You was carrying us, But yeah, you know, as soon
as our leader went down, it was going to be
a real tough road to hope, no.
Speaker 4: Doubt about it.
Speaker 3: Byron Reg's former bucket Getter former b YU. Great time
here on your Utah ESPN Radio Network, kind of keeping
up with the Cougar segment brought to you by Odeon
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Speaker 4: Hey, what's been your opinion on Camp Kilani?
Speaker 3: What have you been hearing thus far about how Camp
Killani's going in twenty twenty six springball.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I've had a few discussions with guys around the program,
a couple of coaches, so I'm optimistic obviously, you know,
with Preston's position, you know, LJ not going right, guess
Preston some more reps, so you know, I like that
the young guys or people that maybe aren't at familiar
didn't get as many reps with you know, Bear and
some of the other quarterbacks are getting that opportunity. I
don't think we're who we're going to be. I went
to the first scrimmage, which I thought was great. Kilani
kept the ones and twos up, meaning no tackling to
the ground. Not live, but you know, guys end up
on the ground because that's football, and guys end up
a little bit banged up. But I thought everyone moved
pretty well. I was looking forward to seeing Saliapaga right
the tight end. Yeah, her lions moved great, you know,
from a tight end perspective, and had a good scrimmage.
Actually had a clutch touchdown for him in the scrimmage.
And then I think Bear looks great. Right, he's losing
some weight. I saw Baron Preston came down to Orange County.
I don't know Midgell January sometime, and I was like, oh, okay,
Bear hasn't been doing much here for last month or
so with that ankle. You could tell. But we were
talking to his mom. She's awesome, and she's like, yeah,
they want him down to two thirty five. And he
looks like he's getting close to where that's where his
weight is. And obviously he could probably clutch weight, but
I thought you looked good. The receivers are unproven. I
thought Tay looked especially fiery and good and competitive. The
other guys, I mean, if they looked apart at six
six and six five, you know you you you could
be six five or six six, But you got to
play like your six ten, you know what I'm saying, Like,
you got to just go off. You can't play like
your five ten. So we'll see how that goes. That's
from an offensive perspective. Defense I wasn't paying as much
attention to, although I know coach Pop is going to
get the most out of those guys on defense. I'm
super excited for the tweaks that he'll make to the defense.
So all in all, I'm super optimistic on what we got.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what what do you think Preston brings to the
running back room and his skill set because b YU
obviously looking for you know, depth there. He got playing
time last year and looked good in those in those moments,
looks pretty scatty quick. He had some injury issues last
year that kind of derailed. I think he was running
with the the ones and the two's and fall camp.
Then he had the injury, worked his way back into
the lineup, et cetera. But what type of skill set
does he bring when he's fully healthy?
Speaker 4: Would you say?
Speaker 9: Yeah, good question, man, best ability is a vailed ability.
President's heard that a million times, So we got to
stay healthy there. That's probably one thing that he has
to work on. He certainly is a change of pace guy.
I think Lj's patients, like I have an appreciation for
the game. I hadn't had an appreciation for the actual
running back position that I got last year, right, and
watching LJ. His patience is phenomenal. Actually, it's beautiful thing
to watch. He has a good burst, but his patience
and knowing when the burst makes them even faster than
he probably really is, you know, just lining up on
a forty. So Preston's certainly got to work on that.
He does like he could catch the ball, you know,
like a receiver. In fact, that goes with that question.
He had a couple of good catches this week, and
you know he give you all that stuff. So I
think he brings a change of pace to the backfield.
He has to be able to blow backer, right if
you're going to be in there and we're going pass pro, like,
you got to stand up to a backer, and I
thought he did a really good job of that last
year for someone that's two hundred pounds, right, you know,
it's much easier when you're two twenty five or some
of the other guys. So there are definitely things to
work on, and he's in no way satisfied with either
what happened last year or his role, so he wants
to expand that a little bit. But I think working
on his patience as a runner, making sure he's solid
in the past pro game, knowing his assignments. I think
consistency was the biggest issue, and that stands the reason
he's never lined lined up in the backfield, you know,
ever in his whole life except for to come out
in motion. So being consistent because he had flashes, no doubt,
Utah Arizona played a ton against Iowa State and then
here comes Texas Tech, you know, the best defense in
the country, and then exposed some of the things that
he wasn't as consistent as you need to be with.
But he's working on it. I think he's going to
be okay.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, He's got great talent, great football IQ, great ability.
I can't wait to watch him continue to compete in
that running back room. We've been talking a lot about
twelve personnel today and even during Camp Koalani with Roger
sali Apaga Walker Lions. Kia needs in the mix to
really good inline blocking tight end with some skill sets there.
There's a few other guys that are making their way
through the depth chart, et cetera. But what would you say, like,
are are some of the qualities of like a great
tight end and are we going to see a lot
more twelve personnel this season?
Speaker 9: I think with the inexperience a wide receiver at this moment,
I think initially you might see a lot of it,
you know what I mean? And even though Saliapaga and
Lions haven't been in our program, they're gonna have to
pick it up quick. And that'll be the hardest part,
right because Aaron's not going to put up with not
knowing your assignment that that part doesn't fly. I don't
you know, I don't care how talented you are. You
got to know what you're doing there. So if they
can get that part down, that might be our best personnel,
especially with LJ coming back of our offensive line jell
just the way it should. But I mean, versatility is
the name of the game. And I think Walker and
Roger can do like everything, you know, So you got
to be able to block somebody, obviously, got to be
able to you know, get down field, stretch the field
a little bit, patrol the middle, obviously, catch everything. So
there's a lot that goes into playing at tight end.
And if you think about it, they got to know
all the offensive line assignments and this is why I
talk about the mental part of it. And they have
to know all the wide receiver assignments from a passing game, right,
So sometimes if you're an offensive lineman and like, hey
is a runner pass you know, And I'm not gonna
simplfy it that easy, but you know what I'm you
know what I mean. But if you're actually, you know,
a tight end, you have to know both the pass
game and the run game, and that part is usually
the hardest adjustment. But I'm sure Aaron and coach you
will get those guys straight. But I love twelve personnel,
the versatility over the years and Dallen and Isaac and
you know it was gonna be Matt and Isaac there
for a minute soil Matt went down and I go
way back to you know, when Chad Lewis and he
twol Emilia were doing it at the highest of highest levels,
you know, so there's some talent there. I hope they
can take advantage of it, which I'm sure they will.
Speaker 3: Who's your favorite dynamic twelve personnel duo? And b what
you football isturing that tight end row? You can't pick yourself, Okay,
you know you can't do that. But outside of yourself,
I know you're you're number one. But outside of yourself,
who is it and why?
Speaker 9: Well, I mean it's super simple to me. It's he
Tula in Chad. Yeah, and I went all pro Chad
was and he Tula was a twelve year NFL guy.
I mean, yeah, I have to say much more than that.
Before he Tulas and Chad will tell you the same thing.
Before he Tula's injury, he was definitely a top two
round pick. And that's after coming out back from his
mission that injury. I think it was even uncomparable. The
wax championship that he had to when he out his
knee was the like one of the saddest things. And
you know, I watched Isaac in the coliseum blow out
his ankle, you know what I mean. So I see
the sad one, but he two was his way up there.
But those I'm biased. I love both those guys. They
both I played, you know, they were right behind me.
Chad was right right after I came in, and I
think he's one of the greatest men on earth. And
the two is one of my favorite people of all time,
and we played together before his mission. So I'm certainly biased,
but I think probably uh, you know, longevity in the
game proves that I'm probably right with those two.
Speaker 3: Yeah, It's it's true like that one. I mean, look,
I was a part of the Harlean Coats era. They
they had their time in the NFL and Andrew George
Dennis Pitta era.
Speaker 4: That was really good one as well.
Speaker 3: Really, you know what I mean, Like and so, uh
you know that those were great, But you look at
the NFL productivity and it's hard to argue with the
Chad Lewisy two lamely combo.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and there had been great ones and for a
while there you could go back to the late seventies, right,
and you could talk about the Brown with the miracle
catch right in the Holiday Bowl, then you're Gordon Hudson
and then you're David Mills and then you know, you
just go and then you know, I squeeze in there somehow,
and then Christmas before me, and like you just go
down and it mirrors weirdly and not weirdly, not coincidentally,
but it bears the quarterback success right along with it.
It's just like you don't have to you don't have
to go far right back to Harlean, doesn't take Max
to Dennis. Like really, that's no surprise, you know what
I mean? A Zach has Isaac reads the nation in
touchdowns a year. I mean, what you know, his last
year before he goes to the NFL, and you know
it's the second round, Like it's real. It's a real,
like definitive line. When you had a great tight end.
The quarterbacks were always great. If you wig you right,
you can put the chicken before the egg or however
you want to do it. I don't know which ones which,
but they were both mirrors each other all the way
in Bay history.
Speaker 4: No, you're spot on.
Speaker 3: I mean they always coincided and like you get to
ten and eleven twelve wins in almost every single one
of those seasons when you have if you have a
great quarter at an NFL professional quarterback and you get
an NFL professional tight end, you're right there, you know,
getting ten wins. If you got two tight ends that
are that good or they're like borderline NFL guys with
a great quarterback, you're winning eleven games. You're winning ten games.
That's what it looks like as you go down the list.
You mentioned Gordon Hudson obviously, I mean Todd Christiansen. I
know he was kind of like a fullback type as well,
but you know, ended up being a tight end. Chris Smith.
You mentioned him in Tulameae. Matt Bushman. That's maybe a
bit of an outlier, but he was an NFL tight end.
But just didn't you know, he didn't have his senior year.
Remember he got injured in twenty twenty, so it would
have been I think it would have been Bushman and
Isaac that year that that would have been. That would
have been a really good duo between Isaac and Matt Bushman.
I know, Dallan Holker is a young pup came in
and did some good things though too.
Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, no, it was that If you remember they
went to Hawaii and for the bowl game. I can't
remember who they played, but it was Isaac and Matt.
And you know, at the time, Coach Clark, the tennant
coach and Aaron were like, hey, wait watch that duo
next year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, off you go.
Speaker 9: And you know, I'll never forget. I get a call
on a Tuesday or Wednesday and Isaacson tears and I'm like,
I thought, I thought something happened to Isaac. I'm like, okay,
what happened. He's like, yeah, Matt went down. I'm like what.
We couldn't believe it. You know, mad Ha gone down.
So but mattles Right now, MAT's playing basketball with us.
He's such a good guy and it's good to have
him and his wife down here, and like, you know,
he's a happy dude, and I just I love that guy.
He was. He's one of Isaac's best friends. So we
always appreciate what Matt did for the Rex family.
Speaker 4: You kind of consider Neil power as a flex tight
end because I do.
Speaker 9: He's too. He's a better receiver than you think.
Speaker 3: Man, I hate to like, you know, no, no, I mean, look,
he had one hundred and twenty three receive he's six
three and a half and two hundred and twenty pounds.
Speaker 4: I mean that's not a wide receiver.
Speaker 9: No, but he wasn't playing into twenty though.
Speaker 4: He's like, oh, are you sure? Are you sure?
Speaker 9: I'm pretty sure. Hey, Neil probably fattened up about He's
a Laker fan like the rest of us, so he
probably fattened up after the Lakers won the twenty twenty
championship or something like that. But no, I think he
I like like Neil. I love the way Neil is
too smooth for me as a receiver, Like Neil is
underrated as a receiver.
Speaker 4: No, no, no, I get it. But he was the
He was a big bodied wide receiver.
Speaker 3: He would stock block, he would crack, he would run
a lot of those tight end style routes from the flex.
Speaker 9: Yeah, but Dallan, then you gotta put Dallen Holker in
the same sentence if.
Speaker 4: You No, I agree, That's what I'm saying. That's what
I'm saying. Like, I don't know, man, he's a hybrid.
Speaker 3: He's a hybrid wide receiver, tight end. He's a flex
for me, like Johnny Harlean. If you're gonna say Johnny
Harlean was a tight end. You gotta say Neil Powell
was a tight end.
Speaker 9: That's the way they played it. Man, right, Robert coach,
And I was not missing around with an in line block.
And he's like, go catch up football out.
Speaker 3: There, he said, Johnny, we're gonna get We're gonna iso
you on the week's side, flexed out one on one
with whoever they put out there against Jen You're gonna win.
If it's a corner, we're gonna fifty to fifty over
the top. If it's someone like, you know, big or slow,
we're gonna throw a double move in here. And you know,
I mean Johnny, Johnny was more of a receiver.
Speaker 9: No, for sure, that part I agree with, right. And
so I'm not ready to move Neil too far in
and I'm not ready to see Neil far out, you
know what I mean. So I'm just like, there is
that kind of spot. But hey, if you're not lining
up against Texas A and M. It was a top
you know, fifteen team in the nation in the Holiday
Bowl against you know, Quinton Coreott, who was the first
round pick of the Indianapolis Colts, And you're a freaking
tight end, you know, see me for details on that
in the second quarter, and I got a hard time
calling you a tight end. Now, I'm not saying you're
gonna do a good job, because I certainly did not
do a good job of that. But I could certainly
get in someone's way. Speaking to basketball, I could box
the guy out, if you know what I mean, Facebard,
box the guy out. But I wasn't mowing anybody over.
But if you're not lining up with your hand in
the dirt and at least sometime now, hey, if you're
tight in the NFL, you want to you want as
many two point stances as you can get because that's
where the money's at. Ause you put your hand in
during the NFL and they say you no money, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 4: So they're a lot it, you know I just said.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm looking at your height, weight, and the
way you ran routes kind of round me a little
bran keathy, more bran keathy than you were, like a
true in line.
Speaker 4: Now I'm gonna say you couldn't block.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying like you had a little bit of
bran keathy to you there running around you a smooth operator.
Speaker 9: No, I would agree with that. I was certainly a
better pass catcher than I was ever a blocker. But
like Preston, like Preston, like, hey, oh wow, the Rex
kid's a little undersize as I was at tight end.
But wait, hold on, he's hold his own blocking what's
going on here. So it's a part of being the toughness.
But again, if you're not doing that at least sometime now,
Coach Show will tell you. Right, we ran a lot
of draw trap and I'm scooping the backside, which is
not the hardest block that's ever happened. I'm not, you know,
singleing a defensive end, you know in you know, on
power move, so you know, they they set me up
for some success. But I'm certainly you got to be
able to get in someone's way and hold your ground.
And again I'm not suggesting I was very good at it,
but I just appreciate a guy who could do both
of those things really well. And and that's why you too,
La me Lee will freak you out. And you know
what the comp to Saliapaga is the too lame Meite.
Just so you know, from what I've seen on tape
and what I watched to him, that's his comp which
is one of the highest comps you can give a
tight end in BAU history because Etula could do it
all in every single way, including single at d N
and you know, a five to seven tech guy and
hold his own at the line of scrimmage and probably
move it. That's how special that dude was.
Speaker 3: I'm excited, man, Byron, appreciate you. Appreciate you hopping off
for a little keeping up with the cougars. Uh, we'll
catch up again so soon. Thanks for talking to some
ball with me today, laying some knowledge on us.
Speaker 9: You're the best. I always love toggling you.
Speaker 8: Bet.
Speaker 9: I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 4: All right, all right, man, see you soon. Uh.
Speaker 3: That's Byron Rex, Ladies and gentlemen, former b YU great
tight end.
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