Speaker 1: It's on ko v O Provo k U d d
H D two one O three, nine ninety eight three
ESPN The Band stream us live on ESPN, theban dot com.
What's going on in the world of Cougar Athletics Here
from players, coaches, and experts on all the latest happenings
with the Cougars.
Speaker 2: Welcome Back Cougar Sports one of three, nine ninety eight
point three ESPN The Band. I've bet Frital Broadcasting from R.
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and notes of the day, as well as talk about
Game Day mans Health. We got Layanallo, the owner operator
of the Pleasant Grove location. Laye, how that heck? Are
you man? Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3: Good. I'm doing good then.
Speaker 4: Kind of a cold and dreary day here, but trying
to just stay warm inside.
Speaker 2: Much needed moisture though we needed this moisture. We need
the high desert in which we live. Many we are
grateful most definitely for the moisture. You mentioned cold. Mentioned cold,
and I want to talk coop with you. I kind
of previewed it a little bit, but there was a
tweet I thought it was hilarious. About fourteen hours ago.
I woke up in the middle of night, you know,
due to unexpected circumstances, and I was like, I can't
go back to sleep. I'm just gonna go on Twitter.
Like that's that's what you do, right, I see what's
going on? Tour Trey Alexander tweet quote tweeted, Uh this
West Coast College sports guy that was featuring war remort
War Memorial Stadium, Laramie, y Owming And like, I played
it at Laramie, Wyoming. Cameron, you you played there? How
would you? How did you? Cameron Jens in November? You
played at night in November? And lem, why would you
describe that? Because, like, I mean, Lane just said it's
cold here? How cold was it?
Speaker 5: Well? Our plane got struck with lightning on the way there.
It actually like it did, but I guess that happens. Oh,
that was miserable. It was windy at our hotel, the
hotels out in the middle of nowhere. That cold night
game it was it was. It was not fun. Yeah,
I was not one of my most memorable experiences. But
we got but we were bull eligible after that. Okay,
what you was that so fine?
Speaker 2: I think Lavelle once said it's better I would rather
lose and live and probe with than than win and
live in Laramie. What an iconic quote that was. But
check this out. So Trey Alexander quote tweets this featured
post of War Memorial Stadium, and there's actually some good
photos here. I actually got to play at Laramie in
the daytime. It wasn't as cold. It was a little
bit windy and blustering, and I had to run out
the flag and so that was a little bit difficult.
But this is what Trey said. And I want to
get your reaction to this lane. The lieutenant damn, the
lieutenant Dan said, ask him why is it so bad?
Trey Alexander b way defensive back replies, there are no good,
good hotels within like an hour of the school. The
food out there is terrible. The visiting locker, remember the
visiting locker really small. Is the size of a small
that shin stand and we were sitting knee to knee.
Plus it's wyoming. Have you ever been out to War
Memorial Lane? Have you been out to Larai before?
Speaker 4: I've been to Laramie. So I drove through Laramie years
and years ago, and it was during the middle of
winter and it was quite blustery. I have never been
to a game out there, but I have to be
careful what I say. One of my neighbors is actually from.
Speaker 3: Laramie, and I love it.
Speaker 4: However, I have heard the horror stories of playing there,
and I love that quote from Lavell.
Speaker 3: Such a funny, funny quote, it right, that said it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Lavell said it once upon a time.
Speaker 3: It was so fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just a great one. Yeah, we need a little
levity before we start talking about this BAU basketball team
prepping for Texas Tech. We hope we pray fingers crossed,
everyone praying fast for a victory over the Red Raiders
so that we you know, we're not having to send
out welfare checks for all of Cougarnation quite honestly, because
they're in dire straits right now. They're mentally and emotionally fatigued,
as with all the losses. But give me your purview,
give me your from your purch what you're seeing from
this Boa basketball team. Why has everything gone awry with
this hoops team?
Speaker 4: I mean it's it's what everyone else has said, right,
it's the injuries. I think this team was built very
top heavy, and the supporting cast just isn't up to
par with what we've had in years past, and so
we're asking guys that probably weren't going to have a
lot of playing time, we're asking them to do a
lot more than what they anticipated doing, right, And so
I honestly think that's what it is. It's the roster composition,
it's the injuries, and hopefully it's something. I mean, we
have to give some grace to Kevin Young, Right, this
is only the second ever roster that he's put together
at the college level. The first one even last year,
he had a very abbreviated time to actually put something together.
To really give them, you know, give them some grace
and hopefully we learn from this in the future.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope that they figure it out right the
construction of uh, I think you bring up the best
point here. Like I do feel like yu fans is
it's gotten like worse down the back end of the schedule.
They haven't had as much grace for the season ending
injuries because the effort hasn't been there. Like fans are
willing to give grace, right, as long as there's a
fervent effort of trying offensively, defensively, reboundingly, right and that's
the issue right now. It's the lack of effort. It's
the body language collectively as a team. And you're a fan,
you're a contributor. We all buy tickets, we all show up,
you know, Cougar Club and all that stuff. Like you know,
as a fan, isn't that what drives you a little
bit crazy and you begin your your patience where stand
if the effort's not there?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, And I think it comes that like we can
place blame on the coaching. I mean, obviously they take
a percentage of that blame, but I'm not sure there's
a guy on this roster who is holding the other
players accountable. I mean to some to some degree, you
can say that Richie potentially was doing that before the
injury happened, but even then, like, I don't know who
who the guy is this year. That's like kind of
rallying the troops, is it? Aj?
Speaker 3: Is it Rob?
Speaker 4: I have a hard time believing that it's well, I
have a hard time believing it certain players, but it's
it's I wonder who is that player who's trying to
to rally the troops now to get through the remainder
of this regular season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know if they have somebody. I think,
I don't know if they really can lean on anybody
think is trying the best that he can. You know,
I don't know. I'd have to lean in on on Ronald.
I think I saw like a video post pregame. Uh
you know, I think the night before this last game,
and it was like Rob Wright, kJ Perry, Xavieran State
and aj Debonsa. They were playing this like this hand
karate on air game where you have to like turn
or like you miss, and and so like bau fans
see that it's on TikTok or it's on Instagram, and
they're like, these guys don't care. These guys don't care.
They're playing games before a big game. They don't care.
And then you see the lack of effort, like you know,
and you wonder, like, you know, money is a big
thing here. Okay, So money is is a driving force
right now in the college athletics game, and you wonder
how sustainable it is. You We thought for a moment,
with the house settlement and these universities being capable of
allocating twenty million dollars in payroll to the team the players,
that this would we're kind of put a cap on it.
We wouldn't have like this like arms race not so fast.
That's not what happened. Collectives are still chipping in pay
rolls for basketball teams, like you're like, you know major
basketball teams. I mean it's ten million plus now it
and it's going to continue to go up eventually, right,
Like donors may get donor fatigue. Do you think that
will happen or do you think they'll continue to just
throw cash at these uh, these universities and try to
figure out some sort of tax deduction along the way
with it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean that that's the component right there that I'm
less familiar with, just understanding what the incentive is for
some of these like super high donors. Why why they're paying,
like what's in it for them? But I do think
that like if the product that they're putting out on
the court isn't delivering, yeah, they're gonna look for other
other means or other other ways to get those tax deductions.
Like you can't think that like they're going to be satisfied.
I mean, first of all, these are people who have
excelled in whatever field of life they're in, and so
if they see something like like some of the stuff
that you were talking about and just a poor basketball product.
Speaker 3: You have to.
Speaker 4: Assume that eventually they're gonna be like, yeah, I think
I'm gonna hold off this year. I mean, we're seeing
that with other schools in the area.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And this is the thing, are you are we
seeing a little bit of lack of effort from players
around the country because they are getting paid and that's
all they really set out to do is get paid
rather than win. They're getting paid, then they may they
like winning, but they don't hate losing. Are we seeing
a little bit of that? Uh uh? That that that
that I don't know, that element of the game showcasing
itself even at a at b YU right.
Speaker 3: Now, potentially.
Speaker 4: I mean it's it's hard to say. I think that's
more of a case by case basis with some of
these athletes. But I think that there absolutely are players
out there who couldn't have ever dreamt of making a
million dollars in college or or whatever. And for those individuals, yeah,
I mean we see it all the time. Even in
the NBA. You see a guy get his first major
contract or whatever, and all of a sudden he disappears
into the you know, into the abyss, and you never
see him perform at the same level that he did
when he was like working towards that contract. And for
some of these athletes, they know, like you know, they
might not project to the next level or whatever, and
so they're kind of just like enjoying their times, you know.
But like I said, you can't make a blanket statement
across all players.
Speaker 3: I think that might be.
Speaker 4: True for some if it's I don't know if it's
true for some of the individuals on our team. But
I mean, one thing's for sure is we're obviously struggling,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: Lane, tell us a little bit about you know, maybe
we got to send this be with your basketball team
into game day, men's health, maybe they got low te
maybe that's know I'm kidding.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't.
Speaker 4: We don't mess with any of that stuff. We let
the athletes they work with their traders and all that
kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: But we do we do want to see guys, right.
Speaker 4: We we we at a certain age thirty thirty five forty,
guys start getting older, right, and we have a lot
of services to help them, whether that's look better, perform better.
Speaker 3: Feel better.
Speaker 4: And so if you're if you're thinking to yourself, hey,
that sounds a lot like me. I after lunch, I
take a nap every day, or I'm just not feeling
the recovery after the workouts like I once did.
Speaker 3: Come in.
Speaker 4: There's lots and lots of different services that we provide
that help you be your the best version of yourself
or feel younger again. And it typically it starts with
just a routine blood test. So come in, get that free,
a lab work done, see where you're at, talk to
us about your goals, and we'll figure out a game
plan for you.
Speaker 2: Give them a call, set up appointment. You get VIP products,
VP service, VP discounts. Whenever you mentioned myself or ESPN
the Fan, my guy Lane Alo, thanks so much, Lane,
appreciate you hopping off for a little world to b
YU Sports.
Speaker 4: I thanks done, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Man is always a pleasure, always a blessing talking about
with Lane Alo. Go in there, get back into the game,
ladies and gentlemen. Any thoughts Cameron Jensen about kind of
the state of college athletics. We thought that the house
settlement would would would put us in a good position
payroll keeps going up. You know, we thought that would
be a cap It is an arms race, There's no
doubt about it. And then furthermore, we when you see
maybe lack of effort as a fan, as an investor
of the program, maybe you're investing in nil, you're kind
of supporting an aiding in that that payroll. That may
get you to retract those funds and you may look
for other possible tax deductions. L that's whey, rather than
allocating it two guys that don't seem grateful for the
filthy luker that you bestowed on them.
Speaker 6: No, it's already happened.
Speaker 5: I remember Troy Aikman would donate to UCLA and he said,
I donated the guy transfer, you know, and he said,
I'm not doing that anymore now we don't have a
transfer problem. But I think that does you know how
the team performs. And I thought he made a great
I'm gonna kind of do a tangent. Bind made a
great point on who is the guy holding him accountable.
Speaker 6: On the team. I believe that was Richie.
Speaker 5: I think k Young's tried to get aj and Right
to take that role, but that's just not kind of
who they are at this point, and so I think
there's I thought that was a great point he made.
But then going in with this money, Ben, Yeah, I
mean that's just human nature. You're getting paid and it
doesn't matter if you win or lose. That's you know,
that's a motivation. Obviously you want to win, but you
made a great hate to lose. There's a big difference
to that, and so I think it does create a
little bit of complacency with it.
Speaker 6: At the same time, though you're still a competitor. It
doesn't matter.
Speaker 5: You know, the greats are competitive no matter or how
much is going in their wallets or not. And so
there is that passion in that that you want to see.
But it is an interesting dynamic. I can't even imagine
Van playing and getting the checks these players are as
wild going back to our years, what that would have
been like for us and how would would that have
affected in certain ways because it wasn't there a scholarship.
Checks were fairly enough to get us get us through
the first of the week of the.
Speaker 2: We were living big with our nine hundred dollars checks.
Speaker 5: You know that included rent and food every We weren't
getting all the free meals. We couldn't get free meals.
Speaker 2: No free meals, Yeah no, And I think the like
compliance would come in everybody, no meal, don't take anything
from fans or donors or routes.
Speaker 6: We couldn't even work football camps.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you couldn't. You couldn't work Yeah, these like extracurricular
jobs and stuff like that.
Speaker 6: So it's a different world.
Speaker 5: But I think the greats compete and you don't want
to do it, but yeah, it's it's it's a unique
that I'm still wrapping my head around looking at what
these kids are making and how it how that implements everything.
Speaker 2: Did you agree though the pendulum did need to swing it? Did?
I wish?
Speaker 6: I'm not.
Speaker 5: I'm like I it did need to and I'm glad
and I'm not one of those Oh I wish. It's
just hard for me to understand as a player what
that would have been like at that point in our career.
So yeah, I think I'm glad it did. I'm so
happy because I know what it does to your body
and what the players are doing and the value that
they're creating in a lot of ways for the university,
and then that value needs to be shared with those
that are creating it. So I'm a big advocate for it,
but it's still hard for me to comment on it
like that.
Speaker 6: What would that have done to change?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 6: So?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean what would you have done with the money?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 2: What do you think you would have done with the money?
Speaker 6: I don't know, you don't know. I again, yeah, I'm
a saver, you know that bad.
Speaker 5: I would have bought a probably car Like these guys
go down to practice, I see a lot of my raptor.
There's a lot of raptors out there. I'm like, man,
it's it's a look. This wasn't the car lot when
we were playing. I'm like, this is an NFL.
Speaker 2: A lot of scooters, a lot of like some bikes,
some bikes, uh, some used four cylinders.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm seeing all these raptors that.
Speaker 2: Some beaters, some beat trucks. Everyone could hop into the
back of the beat like the beat trucks, like those
like toyotas that don't have they have they got the bed,
but they don't have like the cab.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I mean they're making more than a
lot of the coaches are. And it's yeah, and I
know they probably have resources around Hey, you know, this
might not be what you get paid every year after
you get done playing, but.
Speaker 6: Let's be smart with it. Yeah, no doubt, but it's
a great thing.
Speaker 3: Then.
Speaker 5: I think it's a great thing, and I think it
needed to is bound to. I wish it would have
happened sooner. Yeah, you know, around around two thousand and
one two. I thought it would have been a great
year for that to be implemented.
Speaker 2: It would have been great, Like yeah, I mean, I
mean I if I looked at you know, hours allocated.
I looked at it at one point and I said, like,
what is the scholarship in in monetary value?
Speaker 6: I remember, forget, but you've done that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I mean at the time tuition and granted
b YUS tuition is cheap, but I think it was
around I want to say it was around like twenty
five hundred per semester or something like that, super duper cheap.
But let's like for the the the education you get.
Like I'll do another little mathematical equation on this too,
but anyway, twenty five hundred bucks you know, per semester,
which is great. We did have like food during fall camp, right,
we had.
Speaker 5: Donuts in the morning before fall Campay, there was bagels.
Speaker 2: There's apples and oranges and bananas. You just chose the donuts. No,
I remember there being donuts. I don't remember seeing all that.
That might have been the year after it was all
cars on like chocolate milk, chocolate milk and donuts.
Speaker 5: No, but anyway, I know we did have some meals
and after practice we had after food and so then
and then if you made the travel squad you'd get
fed at.
Speaker 6: Those great by the way we did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was good stuff. But anyways, like I I
looked at it with like, you know, your strength conditioning
and lifting and cardio stuff. You're probably making at BYU
about thirteen to fourteen dollars an hour at the time,
which everyone that's like a student that's working is like, well,
that's a great job. In two thousand and five, that's
a great to thirteen fourteen dollars an hour, that's really good.
You know, it's really good. Now other schools, like if
you had to like three x that with the education
against then yeah, you're looking at you're looking at you know,
sixty thousand dollars you know, value seventy thousand dollars value
for the hours allocated because it was a full time job.
I mean you got to realize too, like all your tasks,
your tasks, You're like, you go to football practice, you
get in thirty car accidents, literally thirty car accidents, you know,
especially if you're a linebacker, running back or an offensive
defensive line and then you'd have to go ahead and
compete in the classroom.
Speaker 6: And by us, no, no joke, man.
Speaker 2: It was you were on such a like like a
mis leveled playing field, you know what I mean, just
weren't there so anyway, Uh that was the the cash equivalents,
so you would have been at like that twenty twenty
five hour you.
Speaker 6: Know, I'm not complaining. We got a SCHOLARGI.
Speaker 2: I guess it was a blast to play your education
that was not the same as the individuals that you
were in class with. It was not no because it no,
it wasn't. It was not the same. It was not
the same. It was like, well, no, you went to class.
I was like, yeah, yeah, but I was not spending
three hours in the library and in the lab because
I was watching film because the back of my name
said Critle on it, and I was gonna go after
play in front of a million people, and if I sucked,
everyone's gonna remember that I suck, and they were gonna
remember that I got an A plus on this test
rather than a B minus.
Speaker 6: You did just enough to kind of get by during
those during the season, you.
Speaker 2: Had to have some come to Jesus talks with your
your your teacher's like, look, there's a lot of pressure
on me this week. Anyway, we'll go to break. Guys,
don't go anywhere. That segment was brought to you by
its Health. Get back into the game at game big
Man's Health dot Com today and mention myself. Ben Crittle
ores in the Fan four discounts. This is Cougar Sports
one to three nine, ninety point three, ESPN the Fan.
Speaker 1: He's a one oh three nine at ninety eight three
ESPN SportsCenter.
Speaker 2: Off Games.
Speaker 7: The Cardiac cous just keep coming back. Down eleven points
early on in the third quarter yesterday, it looked like
the BYU women's basketball team's hopes were shot, but ultimately
in the second half, they outscored the Utes forty three
to sixteen to advance to the quarterfinals of the Big
Twelve Tournament against number one seed TCU. A win puts
them in the NCAA tournament, and with a close loss,
they'll have to wait and see what happens. The game
tipped off today at twelve thirty. The baseball team had
their home opener yesterday. It was down eight to one
heading in the bottom of the fifth when Byu tallied
nine runs in the bottom of the frame. Later in
the game, it was close, but Ashton Johnson struggled on
the mound and gave up the Cougar lead as cow
Baptist came away with the win. Game two is today
at three in the series finale is tomorrow at one.
Speaker 2: Sticking with the Diamond.
Speaker 7: The softball team kicked off Big Twelve play yesterday and
was up heading into the middle of the first against
number thirteen ranked Arizona in Tucson. That all change, though,
when the Wildcats scored eleven and there half the inning.
Game two starts today at three, with Game three at
noon tomorrow on the track. Jane Head and Grin and
Tavar Kitchen were named Men's and women's Outstanding Freshman of
the Year in the Big Twelve for their performances this
indoor season. Indoor Nationals begin next week. The rest of
This weekend features a slew of events, including men's tennis
at Boise State, women's tennis at Utah Gymnastics, and at
try meet against Utah and West Virginia on Saturday, Women's
volleyball and exhibition matches against you l V and Utah Tech.
Number six, men's volleyball against UC Mercy today and Jessup tomorrow,
and the Capitol Off Senior I for YU men's basketball against.
Speaker 1: Number ten Texas Tech.
Speaker 7: It will be highlighting Kaiva Cada and Oboskovich, Jared McGregor
and Richie Saunders. That game tips tomorrow night at eight thirty.
I'm Cameron Clark and this has been your ESPN the
Fan Cougar Sports Center Update brought to you by Royal
Army Brand dot Com. With Royal Army Brand, you can
cool Perspective.
Speaker 1: It's the NFL blitzweek game mornings at seven forty five
only on Life sid VA New Chief on one oh
three nine at ninety eight three ESPN. Nope, Fan, you're
listening to Cougar Sports with Ben Kretl and it's time
for crouping the Cougars and inside look at the latest
news on the recruiting trails. Surrounding Cougar Athletics.
Speaker 2: Brog Bat Cougar Sports. One of three nine ninety eight
point three is being the fan. I've been grittal broadcasting
from our vanderwilt Studios vanderwilth dot com. Get on that
free Q and a no obligation to invest NA with
our tax smart wealth Advisors, Certified financial planners. They can
agent supports in your quest for financial stability and to sustainability.
A news time for little cruit and the Cougar slash
Camp Kalani reports. We're gonna well commit a Cougar Sports
inside or someone that's been interviewing and watching and uploading
all the videos on the highlights of Camp Killani and
then get whose perspective also on the recruitment and some
of the young bucks that are going to be showcasing
their abilities during Camp Killani. It's gonna be brought to
you by Dental Proso Utah Dentalprosovieutah dot com. If you've
been told you need a filling, a crown, a rooking out,
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dot com. They're gonna take care of you know, if
sands or butts about it. I got Cameron Jensen former
by you great by my side. Let's get on the
line with Casey line quis AbuI Sports Illustrated? Casey? How
you live in Hey?
Speaker 3: What's up?
Speaker 2: Guys? Good afternoon, Always a pleasure, always a blessing. Talking
ball with your Casey. So let's start off with a
little recruiting, right, So, how would you evaluate? You know,
we got a lot of new facers, the transferportal players,
and then the true freshmen that are coming in return
missionaries as well. From what you've seen thus far from
the newcomers, the new faces, the transferportal freshmen, the transport players,
the freshmen and then the return missionaries, what has stood
out to you amongst that group?
Speaker 4: I think first and foremost, you can go down the
list of transfers and probably expect most of those guys
to contribute right away. You know, we'll see how the
the depth chart along the offensive line irons itself out,
but I expect at least a few of those guys
up front to be starters. I know they brought in three,
but I would expect at least one or two of
those guys to be starters. And then beyond that, you've
also got a ton of brand new true freshmen that
are already enrolled and participating in spring camp. I think
that's become a little different from BYU classes in the past,
perhaps like four or five years ago, I would say probably,
you know, seventy to ninety percent of those signees would
leave for two years and serve missions. But now we've
seen it the last couple of years where it's about
a fifty to fifty split, and that's the case this year.
So about half of BYU's record class is enrolled, and
of the signees that will play right away, all but
one Antonio Johnson, are enrolled and participating in spring camp.
Speaker 3: So I look at.
Speaker 4: Whenever you're trying to see where a true freshman can
find playing time, it's a matter of not only talent,
but opportunity as well. Right, So if Jake Resloff was
on the roster last year, then Bear Bachmeier doesn't have
his breakout freshman campaign, assuming you know, Ja stays healthy.
So as far as opportunity goes, I think the opportunity
at wide receiver is wide open given the departures of
Chase Roberts and Parker Kingston, and then pair that alongside
some of the really talented players that you brought into
the room, namely Jared Poula, Legend Glaskar, Terrence Serion, guys
like that. So historically, really talented wide receivers have been
able to find their way to the field early in
their BYU careers. And so I'm keeping an eye on
that room in particular.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean a Rod is very hesitant to talk
about the newcomers because the transfer portal, right, and the
tampering tampergate in provo. When you heard a Rod state
that earlier this week, he doesn't want to. He's reluctant to,
you know, to to highlight. Let's actually tune into it.
Let's listen. What did he exactly say about potential tampering
of his young rising stars.
Speaker 8: Well, I mean, going tracts twice.
Speaker 2: But there's a lot of good players.
Speaker 8: In that room, and those guys will step up. I'm
very confident about that. And you know, Casper did some
good things today, and we've got some some young players
that are doing some good things. I'm a little reluctant
to comment about young guys though, because then people will
start tampering with them before before the next portal windows.
So I'm just gonna not I'm not gonna say nice
things about the young guys anymore.
Speaker 2: He goes on like I think it was Sean Walker
said well, you know there isn't a spring portal. When
he's like, yeah, that's right. You know, but when you
heard that, Casey, what was your reaction? What did you ponder?
What did you think about?
Speaker 4: Well, the transfer portal has taken another thing away apparently.
I guess that's commentary from a Rod. To a Rod's credit,
I think historically he has done a pretty good job
of singling out players and giving some real information from
his interviews. It's not just coach speak. So I think
if you look back at his track record, you know,
he spoke very highly of l. J. Martin as a
true freshman. He spoke very highly a Bear. He has
given some some real tidbits throughout the years. So if
that's another thing that the transfer portal has taken away.
Then that's a shame, but it's a real threat. You know.
I don't know how much teams are are tampering because
of media quotes. I don't know that, but tampering is
a real thing, and especially when you have a really
talented class, you'd like to keep them around and keep
them in the program. So I understand the sentiment. But
there is no spring transfer portal windows, so it's going
to be a while before teams can start tampering.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I thought it was gonna say. I know
it was a little chung a tongue in cheek, but
I thought it was funny another the last year. I mean, look,
the young bucks are very, very talented, as you mentioned,
and these new faces that are kind of on the rise.
We've delved into it a little bit today and it's
exciting times to be a Cougar. From a talent level standpoint,
how would you compare the talent the depth present day
on this Cougar football roster to when Kolanie started back
in twenty sixteen or even and let's say twenty twenty
or twenty twenty one, Like you'd had some good NFL
guys there draft picks. I mean, there's a reason why
you you won eleven and ten games, respectively. How does
the roster maybe compare to that initial era that and
then that midway point for the Klaniera.
Speaker 4: Well, certainly compared to the start of the Kilanie era.
It's it's elevated far above that, you know it. There
was a core of guys that stayed around for Kilanie's
first year and that led to the twenty sixteen season.
But once the seniors graduated, you know, we saw what
was the twenty seven team season. I mean you could
say there were maybe some cultural problems on that team
and things like that, but at the end of the day,
there was just a talent deficiency and that led to,
you know, one of the worst seasons of the last
fifty years. So byus in a much better spot, I think,
especially depth wise. This is probably every year that BYU
continues to recruit better and better, the depth will get
better and better. You know, you will have four star
recruits or highly coveted three star guys that had a
bunch of offers that are second, three string, third string,
or even four string, and that probably wasn't the case
even just a few years ago. As you mentioned in
twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, those teams had some
real high end talent guys that are still in the
NFL today, But once you got behind that first layer
of defense, it wasn't nearly as deep as this roster
is today. I think there was a quote from Mario
Christobal at Oregon when he left for Miami about, you know,
his decision to leave Eugene and return home to Miami,
and he said, I feel okay about leaving Oregon because
that program is in a good spot. The most talented
players are on the roster are young guys, and I
think looking at this roster today, you can say something
similar about BYU's roster. You know, it's not black and
white statement, but for the most part, a lot of
BYU's most talented guys are still really young and just
matriculating into the program. If you pair that alongside some
of the you know, proven stars that are gonna have
you know, NFL futures like LJ. Martin and you know
guys like k dou Luave, I think that's what's really
exciting is the momentum continues to build and they can
take maybe even another incremental step this year, which will
be hard to do. They did go eleven to one,
but there's the potential to do that and then take
some of this young talent in the program and just
to con continue building on it in twenty seven.
Speaker 2: Beyond Casey Lund Quiz BYU Sports illustrated here on your
Utah ESPN Radio Network, Little Crew, the Cougar Slash College
Football segment brought to you by our good friends at
Dental Pros of Utah Dentalprosivutah dot com. What other storylines
have you been maybe addressing on your platform and reading
into during camp Kolani.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Unfortunately, as you know, we haven't had too many
opportunities to see things in person.
Speaker 3: But with that being.
Speaker 4: Said, I think just the progression of Bear Bachmeyer has
been just probably second to the wide receiver rotation, but
that's right up there at the top. Bear played so
well as a true freshman, but if you compare where
he was against Georgia Tech to where he started against
Portland State or even that Stanford game where he was
just so clearly, you know, doing things that were limited
within BYU's offense, it was very measured what Aaron Rodgers
was giving him. Now that he has a full year
of starting experience and a full offseason, he looks, you know,
a little slimmer. To me, I think he's changed his
body a little bit. And I'm really interested to see
the progression of Bear Bachmeyer because last year in those
games against Texas Tech, the offense was the deficiency right,
And I think if bear Bachmeyer is able to make
some key improvements in certain areas, I think BA has
a really really good chance to repeat last year's success,
if not built on it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, many like the off season conversation for regarding Bear.
It's centered around two touch subjects in my opinion, the
body mass, you know, the the you know they want
him to maybe trim up. Some people want him to
trim up and or lean out. Rather you can still
stay like in that two thirty five range whatever. He's
maybe playing it too, but it's got to be muscle mass,
not the atiposts. I will say, like, when you're running
as much as he is, you need a little bit
of protection and sometimes a little bit ada post tissue
around them joints. It does aid and support in that
and also a little weight game. You know, he sometimes
has throwers. You can gain a little bit of power,
but you always want muscle more than fat obviously. And
then the other one was like just arm strength, right,
just arm strength in general, they twenty see elevated arm
strength and where's that gonna come from? And I think
they coincide with each other. So how much improvement do
you think you're gonna see in those two arenas from
Bear in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4: Yeah, on the first one, I think we've seen progress already.
I mentioned it earlier. Bear's looking different to me, and
he's only been in BYU's program right now for you know,
two months. Really the gains are mostly made between Springball
and Fault Camp because that is, you know, four or
five month windows as opposed to a two month window.
So I think he's well on track there. As far
as arm strength, man, it's hard to know because he's
he came in as a really big kid. Like you said,
he might be slimming down instead of adding weight. So
I am interested to see where his arm goes. Just
as far as arm strength, like I said, we haven't
had many chances to see them in person yet, so
I think that's something that we'll learn throughout camp, but
certainly that's an area where he could grow. And I
think he excelled with some of those intermediate throws last year,
but there's definitely room for growth as far as those
throws beyond you know, twenty twenty five yards. Just a
little more arm strength and a little more accuracy. And
if he can do that and you pair it up
with you know, his ability to take care of the
football make those intermediate throws, then you could have a
complete quarterback alongside one of the best running backs in
the country.
Speaker 2: Yeah, bearr is listed right down the roster six two
two thirty and so that's where he currently sits per
the roster. That's not always accurate, but that's where he
currently sits. So he may have trimmed up a little bit.
Let's get into a recruiting news and note, I know
there's like not a whole lot going on on the
recruiting front with new acquisitions, but there was a PWO
that committed two way athlete, James Clifford committed as a PWO.
Tell us a little bit about James Clifford and his position,
his impact. What do you got for us on that front?
Speaker 4: Yeah, James Clifford is interesting because, as you know, the
walk on spots have kind of dried up in college football.
Where there used to be forty opportunities per roster, now
depending on the school, it could be you know, anywhere
from ten to twenty.
Speaker 3: So whereas we.
Speaker 4: Used to see PWO classes that range from ten to
fifteen guys, now it's you know, two or three. So
the PWO offers that go out today are a little
more significant than they used to be. So he is
a California native. He was a first team All All
Region or All Conference selection on both sides of the football,
so he played tight end in defensive end. It's unclear
to me where he's going to play at BYU. I
think depending on the situation at those positions, he could
probably end up at either one.
Speaker 3: But he is the younger.
Speaker 4: Brother of David Clifford, who was on By's roster in
twenty twenty four and then he left to serve a mission.
If you remember David Clifford, David actually turned down scholarship
offers to walk on at BYU. He had scholarship offers
from Arizona, San Jose State, a handful of Mountain West
schools and he opted to walk on at BYU instead,
So BYU family. He's a dual sport athlete, plays basketball,
kind of an interesting player, foot seven, so huge frame,
a lot you can do with that, and he's had
a lot of success in California. So there is still
a kind of a need to fill out every spot
on the roster. Colony has talked about that since he
got to BYU that an important part of developing depth
is recruiting every spot that's available. So interested to see
where he ends up. But as far as p wo's go,
I think he's up there is one of the more
promising ones. He had opportunities to walk on at Oregon
and USC and pick BYU.
Speaker 2: Love that great breakdown from kcy Lundquish Casey. We invite
everyone to follow you on x and read all your
content at BYUSID best way to support to you what
you do, how you do it though, give it a
little pitch to cougarnation.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you can find our stuff on sid dot com,
slash College, slash BYU. Read all this stuff there and
then as camp you know, rolls on, we'll have some
more content coming out on Twitter and and on on
the website, So any support is greatly appreciated.
Speaker 2: Love it. And one last thing, who's you're projected MVP
of Springball on the defense and m VP of Springball
on the offense right now? I know it's early. I
know it's early, but you're maybe way too early prediction
on those m VP spots.
Speaker 4: Okay, a little bit, a little bit more of a
difficult answer for springball because not everyone's playing. But I
would say on offense, I'll I'll give the the answer.
I'll just say Bear. I think I think we are
going to see a lot of progress from Bear. And
while it's probably going to take some time to get
dialed in with a brand new group of wide receivers,
I think I think Bear is going to show that
he still has a lot of room to grow. And
if there's, if there's potential on Bear Bachmeier, I do
believe he's the kind of kid that's going to find it.
He just works so hard and he stays humble, and
he's he's co So I really like his chances to
progress compared to where he was last year on the
defensive side. Uh Man, I'll say falla taus Otawala, I
think he just takes another step this year. I think
he's an NFL safety and he made so much progress
from his freshman year to his sophomore year and now
is his third year in the program, second year as
a starter. I just think you say, you see fall
of touas Softawalla start to look like a day one
or two draft pick.
Speaker 2: Love it, Casey Lunguish, Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for hopping on, Casey.
We'll catch up again soon. We'll see that at practice
and have a great weekend.
Speaker 4: Hey, thanks, guys, have a good one.
Speaker 2: There you go. That's Casey Lungquish. That segment was brought
to you by Dental Pros of Utah. Dental Prosivieutah dot com.
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Any thoughts, any commentary, Cameron Jensen, anything that stood out
to you from our conversation with Casey Lundquish.
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, we talked about it a little bit earlier.
Is just the development of Bear. I think we're all
excited to see that he has the poise, he has
the confidence. We saw things that we don't see from
a true freshman. I'm seeing what does that develop into
year two, because that's not normal. And so his arm strength,
if that improves, if he can make those throws over
twenty five yards, wow, that's a deadly combo. And I
think he should lean up a little bit to make
him a little more mobile. I think towards the end
of the year he saw him get banged up with
the ankle and that really affected the way he likes
to play.
Speaker 6: So I like that.
Speaker 5: And obviously the wide receiver and wide open you got
some young guys filling those gaps. It's exciting to see.
But if that comes together Bear with these new core
wide receivers, I like where we're at.
Speaker 2: He did drag like three uts into the engine at
that size, you know what I mean. So you know,
he we got to give him some credit on that.
You know, we don't want to lean him up too much,
you know, not too much.
Speaker 6: Right, not too much? You want to.
Speaker 5: Way I think for qube getting a little more mobile,
so like to twenty five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that it.
Speaker 6: Could be a little more muscle mass in there.
Speaker 2: Do you think he's Do you think he was two thirty?
Last year?
Speaker 6: It looked like a little bit more than that.
Speaker 2: Man, I thought it was like too forty.
Speaker 5: Thought it was two forty, even pushing over to forty five,
just how we saw him move and.
Speaker 2: It looked like it's a big dude. It looked like
two forty. Yeah, I mean, you know what two forty
looks like.
Speaker 6: I know it. You were like two forty, and I'm like,
that's that's two forty.
Speaker 2: You're like sizing it up. You're like, you're two forty.
Speaker 5: That's a two forty guy. Yo, That's exactly what I did.
That's what I played a man right at forty.
Speaker 2: You're looking at like the calves and legs, the bodies
of me like that's a two forty, two thirty.
Speaker 5: I'm like that, yeah, that's what that's what you want
people to think. But especially after all those meals, man,
you're you know, you.
Speaker 2: Know, there's uh, you know, you get it. You get
injured in games, you know, and get a little dinged
up and you're not doing as much cardio during the week.
Speaker 5: You're eating off, you're and went on. I think he
put on a few extra its every week. He seemed
to be getting just a little bit bigger, bigger. I'm like, Bear,
we gotta slow that down a little bit. Then he
hurt his ankle that but no, you do want to
be big, you know, because he is going to run
to be able to take hits. But I would have
liked to see him a little more mobile. But again,
he had that ankle injury that he had against Texas
text so, but yeah, I like that combo. If he
could lose a little bit, let's still stay big man.
You're bere you're forty seven.
Speaker 2: There's a lean into it.