Speaker 1: But joining me now.
Speaker 2: Did a great job on the broadcast, one of the
Speaker 2: best to ever do it to Utah Staties, a Super
Speaker 2: Bowl champ. Robert Turbin on the Drive on a Thursday, Robert,
Speaker 2: how you doing, man.
Speaker 3: Hey, what's up man? I'm doing great. Thanks for having
Speaker 3: me on.
Speaker 2: I appreciate the time. So give us an update on
Speaker 2: what you're doing now. It seems like you're really busy.
Speaker 2: Like I said, you really go to the broadcasting stuff.
Speaker 2: How busy does that keep you? And what else do
Speaker 2: you have going on?
Speaker 3: Well, I appreciate that very much. It means a lot.
Speaker 3: You know. I started calling games for CBS in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty two, and you know, I've just done my best
Speaker 3: to try to build from there. My first year I
Speaker 3: did eight games, and last season I did eleven, and
Speaker 3: this year I've got a full slate of thirteen, including
Speaker 3: the Conference USA championship game at the end of the year.
Speaker 3: So not looking too far ahead, but certainly excited about
Speaker 3: that and all these opportunities. I'm doing a little bit
Speaker 3: of what you're doing as well, a radio action with
Speaker 3: Serious XM. I've got two of my own shows, and
Speaker 3: one of those shows being the Tailgate show NFL Radio
Speaker 3: Channel eighty eight every Sunday morning at nine Eastern times.
Speaker 3: So I'm obviously I'm in California, so I got to
Speaker 3: be up early and get you know, got a big
Speaker 3: cup of coffee to get the energy right to be
Speaker 3: fired up to do that. You know, still affiliated with
Speaker 3: the Seahawks and work about a game a month for
Speaker 3: their broadcast and uh and yeah, man, you know, just
Speaker 3: just trying to build my broadcasting career as much as possible.
Speaker 3: The last thing I'll say is you're in Sacramento where
Speaker 3: I live now ten or thirteen CBS, I'll do I'll
Speaker 3: do postgame analysis for them in regard to the forty
Speaker 3: nineties and Raiders, just because that's the market here in
Speaker 3: this in this region of California. So it's been a
Speaker 3: fun ride, man, and just doing my belt the best
Speaker 3: to build it every year.
Speaker 1: All right, man, good stuff, good stuff.
Speaker 2: Well, best of luck, and if you ever want to
Speaker 2: hop on to get some reps, of course, I always
Speaker 2: would love to interview a former Super Bowl champ.
Speaker 1: So you have a home here.
Speaker 2: But I wonder, Robert, what your impressions were last week
Speaker 2: of the Utah Utah State game, and specifically what you
Speaker 2: saw from Utah's young quarterback to the true freshman, Isaac Wilson.
Speaker 3: Well, I think Isaac showed that he's certainly going to
Speaker 3: be the future for Utah at quarterback. Now, you know,
Speaker 3: I know, like Kyle Whittingham, is big on competition, so
Speaker 3: he certainly won't be just handed the keys to the
Speaker 3: car when that opportunity positions itself. He'll have to earn it.
Speaker 3: But he certainly displayed a lot of good things against
Speaker 3: Utah State last weekend. And I think the best part
Speaker 3: about his game, you know, outside of the physicality that
Speaker 3: he brings, you know from a throwing standpoint, being actor
Speaker 3: and stuff like that, but you know, I thought, hey,
Speaker 3: his ability to be able to fight through adversity was
Speaker 3: a thing that stood out to me. You know. It
Speaker 3: wasn't like he played great against Baylor the week before
Speaker 3: when he got his opportunity, and it was a little
Speaker 3: bit of a slow start against Utah State, but he
Speaker 3: overcame that and you really saw him in the pocket
Speaker 3: look left, pump, fake, come back right, throw the ball
Speaker 3: on time, accurate, and he just started doing that throughout
Speaker 3: the entirety, well not the entire game, but mostly in
Speaker 3: the second half. But you started to see a lot
Speaker 3: of it really that back half of the second quarter
Speaker 3: where he just boom a little shoulder shake that touchdown,
Speaker 3: he threw the money parks in the end zone. He
Speaker 3: completely faked out Ake Larson with just a little slight
Speaker 3: pump fake to the right, I mean just a little
Speaker 3: shoulder and then boom came back to his left and
Speaker 3: was on target to money Parks in the end zone
Speaker 3: right there for the touchdowns. So just seeing those things
Speaker 3: developed throughout the game was the most impressive part. Think
Speaker 3: he's got a really blad future.
Speaker 2: So away from the quarterback position, what else on the
Speaker 2: and we'll get to the Utah State stuff in a minute,
Speaker 2: but what else on the Utah side most stood out
Speaker 2: to you? I mean, they were able to run the
Speaker 2: football with Makai Bernard. I thought Utah State looked pretty
Speaker 2: good early. There was a lot of nervous youth fans
Speaker 2: after that early start from Utah State. But other than
Speaker 2: Isaac Wilson, Robert, what were some of your takeaways from
Speaker 2: watching Utah play last week?
Speaker 3: You know, one of the guys that stood out to
Speaker 3: me on the defensive side for Utah was Cameron Calhoun.
Speaker 3: You're talking about a freshman with not a lot of
Speaker 3: playing experience obviously at the you know, at the FBS level,
Speaker 3: and you know there were some moments in there where
Speaker 3: he got beat. But again, it was just this resilient
Speaker 3: mentality that you saw throughout a number of guys in
Speaker 3: the game. You recognized that Jamiah Vaughn, who was obviously
Speaker 3: the veteran corner for Utah, he was matched up with
Speaker 3: Jalen Royals throughout the entire game before he got injured.
Speaker 3: So that was a game plan for Kyle Waitingham and
Speaker 3: Utah going into the game, and Cameron Holme was gonna
Speaker 3: have to supplement that. But it was gonna be a
Speaker 3: challenge for him because, uh he's just a freshman and
Speaker 3: Utah State like to put the ball in the air,
Speaker 3: and I thought he answered the call really well. So
Speaker 3: he's a guy that stood out to me, uh in
Speaker 3: in that football game. Van Fillinger, I thought, did a
Speaker 3: nice job consistently putting pressure on the quarterback, particularly in
Speaker 3: the second half, getting his hands up and knocking the
Speaker 3: ball down. He's a he's a veteran player. He's been
Speaker 3: around this program a while, but I never got to
Speaker 3: see him play, you know, up close like that. I
Speaker 3: thought he was I thought he was really impressive. And
Speaker 3: so those are two guys that you know, I think
Speaker 3: on the defensive side. And then and then you mentioned
Speaker 3: I mean the run game speaks for itself with Mattie
Speaker 3: Bernard and Mike Mitchell, just their ability to stay with it,
Speaker 3: uh and uh be able to close out games when
Speaker 3: they need to. They've done that consistently so far. A
Speaker 3: little bit a little a little disappointed in Jon Stanley,
Speaker 3: I'll lad, but I visit a kid though, that has
Speaker 3: a great potential. I thought he just had a bat.
Speaker 3: I mean every now and then, he just had a bat.
Speaker 3: You have an off day, and I thought Stanley just
Speaker 3: had an off day. A couple of drops, you know,
Speaker 3: his seat weren't under him, stumbling over his own feet,
Speaker 3: something he wouldn't really see normally from him. But still
Speaker 3: a young player, a lot of potential, and this team
Speaker 3: has a lot of potential to go for in a
Speaker 3: Big twelve.
Speaker 1: So your alma mater looked ready to go early. Obviously.
Speaker 2: Bryson Barnes played down here for a for a couple
Speaker 2: of different years, so you know he knows the scheme.
Speaker 1: He knows the personnel and threw a couple of picks.
Speaker 2: But did you believe early on when Utah State took
Speaker 2: that lead that we were potentially in for an upset?
Speaker 2: What was your what was your confidence lever early on
Speaker 2: when Utah State came out and punched you ty right
Speaker 2: in the mouth.
Speaker 3: Well, I expected that. I expected Utah State to come
Speaker 3: out fast and you know, sort of have this uh
Speaker 3: you know, this energy about them to start the football game.
Speaker 3: The crowd was into it. There's a there's quite a
Speaker 3: few a few players who transferred from Utah and who
Speaker 3: are now at Utah State. So I sort of expected
Speaker 3: them to have a fast start. And the other thing too,
Speaker 3: was I mean, think about how the game finished for
Speaker 3: Utah against Baylor. I mean the second half, you could
Speaker 3: almost even when good things are happening, after camp Horizon
Speaker 3: was injured, you could really hear like a pit. I mean,
Speaker 3: the energy was just out of the stadium. The energy
Speaker 3: was out of the sideline. They were able to finish
Speaker 3: the game, but it kind of felt like they just
Speaker 3: sort of squeezed by to finish it and there was
Speaker 3: no energy. So it trickled into the start of Utah
Speaker 3: State where Utah just didn't have the energy there to
Speaker 3: start the game. And we spoke to converting hand before
Speaker 3: and I mean, obviously Utah's never overlooking anybody, but you know,
Speaker 3: it wasn't like Utah State is a team anymore that
Speaker 3: you know, to be honest about it, that Utah wants
Speaker 3: to play year in, year out anymore. You know, they've
Speaker 3: they've moved on to different things and they have different
Speaker 3: aspirations for their program, and so you know, from that standpoint,
Speaker 3: you know, maybe there was some you know, just that
Speaker 3: the slow start. I think maybe some slight overlooking, especially
Speaker 3: with the Big Twelve opening, the Big Twelve coming up
Speaker 3: this week against Hey, maybe looking overlooking the Utah State
Speaker 3: a little bit. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: I felt like Utah was going to sign their stride
Speaker 3: as they did, and sign a way to pull it
Speaker 3: out in the second half. As they did. They took
Speaker 3: the lead before the end of the first half, and
Speaker 3: you know, I felt like it was it was kind
Speaker 3: of going to be their games from there. But I
Speaker 3: do give a lot of credit to Utah State. They
Speaker 3: did get it within seven right before they start of
Speaker 3: the fourth quarter, and so they fought, but Utah was
Speaker 3: just the better team that day.
Speaker 2: You know, Russeul Feizon pulled his best Robert Turbin and
Speaker 2: went for a buck fifteen against a really good defense.
Speaker 2: I wonder what your take is, Robert on why Utah
Speaker 2: staid was able to find so much success on the
Speaker 2: ground against a defense.
Speaker 1: That typically is very, very very good against the run.
Speaker 2: And then what Utah needs to do better coming up
Speaker 2: on Saturday against the guy who won the dok Walker
Speaker 2: a year ago.
Speaker 1: Oli Gordon, That's.
Speaker 3: A good question. I got a chance to talk to
Speaker 3: razull Fazar before the game, and you know, I just
Speaker 3: Toilet said, look, you know, if you want to have
Speaker 3: some success today against this defense, you're going to have
Speaker 3: to attack these guys downhill, north and south. I mean,
Speaker 3: the minute you can get north, the second can get
Speaker 3: more get north, and that is going to sort of
Speaker 3: be the formula for you and this run game to
Speaker 3: have success. And I think he did that, and I
Speaker 3: think this in general for Utah State was able to
Speaker 3: have some success against Utah because they they played the
Speaker 3: game vertical. Utah State, when you watch him, a lot
Speaker 3: of the things that they like to do offensively is
Speaker 3: east and west. It's lateral it's the quick screens out
Speaker 3: wide to the wide receivers down the sideline. Hopefully they
Speaker 3: can make a guy miss and make a make a play,
Speaker 3: you know. Down the fields, it's the edge runs to
Speaker 3: the running back trying to get to the outside, and
Speaker 3: you know, hopefully they're you know, they can beat them
Speaker 3: with speed and and I just felt like that wasn't
Speaker 3: going to do anything impactful against Utah and it didn't.
Speaker 3: H And so because they had a more vertical game plan,
Speaker 3: that felt like, you know, they they had some success.
Speaker 3: So Utah is going to have to really sort of
Speaker 3: you know, shape up a little bit within the middle
Speaker 3: of their defense. I think they're strong on the edges,
Speaker 3: but they were you know, Utah State was able to
Speaker 3: find some success in between the two guards, specifically that
Speaker 3: U taught defense and their defincsive tackles, and so they're
Speaker 3: gonna have to be a little bit more stout, maybe
Speaker 3: commit more you know, people to the box. It's difficult
Speaker 3: to do that against Utah State because you know, they're
Speaker 3: such a spread out team, but you know, if they
Speaker 3: can commit an extra defender in there in the box,
Speaker 3: I think Utah can have a better day defending the
Speaker 3: run against Oklahoma State.
Speaker 2: I know you don't live here anymore, Robert, but I
Speaker 2: am curious to get your take on how connected you
Speaker 2: remain to Utah State and other Utah State alums, and
Speaker 2: what your reaction is and what the reaction is of
Speaker 2: great players like yourself who played here and stay connected
Speaker 2: to the program. About the chaos that ensued and logan
Speaker 2: this offseason, Austin Blake Anderson his job, Jerry Bovee and
Speaker 2: others let go.
Speaker 1: And Nate Dryling, while on a European trip.
Speaker 2: With his wife, found out that he is now the
Speaker 2: head coach as he was at a pub ins in Ireland,
Speaker 2: I believe. So it's just been a bizarre you know,
Speaker 2: five six months up there. What's the thought of Utah
Speaker 2: State alumn Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3: It has been. And coach Nate driling Is has been excellent,
Speaker 3: you know, to be able to step up in here.
Speaker 3: I believe he was in Ireland with his wife, but
Speaker 3: you know, to be able to step up and take
Speaker 3: on this role and this challenge and the kids that
Speaker 3: really responded very well to him. He only one player
Speaker 3: since he took over transferred away from the program, and
Speaker 3: so that lets you know, and tells you a lot
Speaker 3: about coach Nate Dryling, and you know how he presents
Speaker 3: himself with the team thinks about him. But I am
Speaker 3: still very well connected to Utah State. I care about
Speaker 3: the university a lot. Obviously it you know, it raised me,
Speaker 3: you know, in a way without the uh you know,
Speaker 3: the coaching and and uh you know some of the
Speaker 3: people that I were able to connect with, some of
Speaker 3: the people who helped me throughout my collegiate career. Uh,
Speaker 3: there's no professional career for me. And so that goes
Speaker 3: from not just people in the football facility, but folks
Speaker 3: who live in Logan, you know, the actual community who
Speaker 3: were always there to lend a helping hand if and
Speaker 3: when needed, whether it was a summer job where there
Speaker 3: was like my car breaking down or something like that.
Speaker 3: I mean, all kinds of examples that I can go through.
Speaker 3: So very well connected. I'm developing a national relationship with
Speaker 3: Diane who's the new athletic director. Jared Bovie was a
Speaker 3: good good friend of mine. I thought coach Anderson was
Speaker 3: an awesome, awesome person, and him and I would talk,
Speaker 3: you know, on occasion. I still talk to my own
Speaker 3: coachy who actually came to sell me up in the
Speaker 3: booth actually at the game. So the connection and the
Speaker 3: love is very strong. It's there. It's unfortunate that all
Speaker 3: of these things and these events happen in the way
Speaker 3: that they did this offseason, but you know, those are
Speaker 3: also things that aren't in my control. But what I
Speaker 3: can control is to continue to support the university the
Speaker 3: best way that I can, and that's what I try
Speaker 3: to do.
Speaker 2: All right, well said, I want to move back over
Speaker 2: to Utah. I want to ask you a question about
Speaker 2: Cameron Rising. You know QB one around here, and you're
Speaker 2: a guy that played at the highest level, and you
Speaker 2: played at the highest level as a running back where
Speaker 2: you had the ball in your hand and very big, physical,
Speaker 2: large men were trying to kill you while you were
Speaker 2: running with the football. So the conversation around here, Robert
Speaker 2: has been now for a number of months, like when
Speaker 2: Cam gets back and what he's healthy. We've heard coach went,
Speaker 2: We've heard coach love, We've heard the coaching staff and
Speaker 2: other people around here saying that they have really done
Speaker 2: everything they can to try to help him understand how
Speaker 2: important he is to them and therefore get out of trouble.
Speaker 2: Is it possible to learn that when you are a
Speaker 2: competitive guy like Cameron Rising, and when you are a
Speaker 2: physical football player like Cam who plays the quarterback position
Speaker 2: with a lot of competitive fire, can you relearn how
Speaker 2: to play that position in order to keep yourself as
Speaker 2: safe as possible. Because we're three games in, he's already
Speaker 2: missed a game and there's some conversation about what's next.
Speaker 1: So give me your thoughts on that, Robert, will you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can absolutely absolutely learn it. If you're intentional
Speaker 3: about learning something, you will. One of the examples I
Speaker 3: can give is Josh Allen, who is starting quarterback for
Speaker 3: the Buffalo Gose. Obviously believe me with d Wyoming, sect
Speaker 3: me if I'm wrong, But you know his early years,
Speaker 3: I mean he was just you know, throwing his shoulder
Speaker 3: head down, you know, wanted to impose his physicality on
Speaker 3: the finners. But when when you watch him now, now
Speaker 3: there's still a certain level of athletics that he plays
Speaker 3: with and it's natural. But when he gets into space
Speaker 3: and he sees defenders, he slides. Josh Allen slides now
Speaker 3: when you watch him, And so if you're intentional about
Speaker 3: playing the game a certain way, of course, you can
Speaker 3: learn it. You absolutely can, and so Cam Rising, he's
Speaker 3: just got to want that. He's got to want that
Speaker 3: for himself. But I can tell you this, if he doesn't,
Speaker 3: this is going to continue to be the result for him,
Speaker 3: because the fact of the matter is, no matter how
Speaker 3: great of a quarterback you are, or how big or
Speaker 3: strong you are training or running back, you don't train
Speaker 3: the same way in the offseason like a linebacker or
Speaker 3: a strong safety. You're not throwing the same type of
Speaker 3: weights around, You're not doing the same type of drills.
Speaker 3: You're not preparing for the same type of physicality to
Speaker 3: endure through an entire football season. Quarterbacks are dropping back,
Speaker 3: they're going through cones, and are flowing the football as
Speaker 3: they should be doing. Therefore, you need to slide. So
Speaker 3: if he's more intentional about having a long career and
Speaker 3: a healthy career, he'll fix this will no longer be
Speaker 3: an issue moving forward.
Speaker 2: All right, Robert, Before I said you loose, you know,
Speaker 2: a big game for Utah on Saturday, as we've discussed
Speaker 2: against Oklahoma State, Vegas has Utah as the favorite to
Speaker 2: win the Big Twelve. The media have picked them to
Speaker 2: win the Big Twelve as well. The Robert Turbin tick,
Speaker 2: what has to happen, generally speaking, for Utah to get
Speaker 2: this done, win the Big Twelve and go to the CFP.
Speaker 1: How does it play out?
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it's a great question obviously. Are you asking
Speaker 3: about just this game against Oklahoma state of the Big
Speaker 3: Twelve in general?
Speaker 1: The Big Twelve in general all season?
Speaker 3: That?
Speaker 1: Like, what has to happen for Utah to win the conference?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, cam Rise is gonna have to stay healthy
Speaker 3: number one, because he is a really good he's a
Speaker 3: great playmaker.
Speaker 1: He is.
Speaker 3: Uh, that's that's gonna have to happen. Secondly, you know, this,
Speaker 3: this running game, this one two punch with Macai Bernard,
Speaker 3: don't continue to be really really efficient. I mean this
Speaker 3: is going to have to be the meat potatoes of
Speaker 3: their offense. Uh, you know for them to have success,
Speaker 3: control the clock and be able to play the type
Speaker 3: of offense that they want to. But this is all
Speaker 3: going to be about defense for me, uh, with Utah
Speaker 3: if they want to continue to if they want to
Speaker 3: win the Big Club this season. Uh. Takeaways on defense,
Speaker 3: being able to get pressure on the quarterback on a
Speaker 3: consistent basis, the combination of those two things and then
Speaker 3: obviously stopping the run if you want to add a
Speaker 3: third wrinkle in there. But the defense is going to
Speaker 3: have to play like a top ten defense in my
Speaker 3: opinion for them to be Big twelve champions at the
Speaker 3: end of the year.
Speaker 2: All right, man, well, good stuff. You want to call
Speaker 2: this weekend? Where can our listeners go find you?
Speaker 1: Coming up at?
Speaker 3: You know what? I'm actually off this weekend. My son
Speaker 3: is turning eight, so we've got a Dragon ball Z
Speaker 3: themed birthday party going on on Saturday. So I'll be
Speaker 3: doing the dad thing this weekend, but the following week
Speaker 3: I will be in Wyoming. Speaking of Wyoming, they'll take
Speaker 3: on Air Force at home and I'll be on the
Speaker 3: call for that one.
Speaker 1: Well, enjoy the dad stuff. I'm telling you.
Speaker 2: Mine just turned twenty three, Robert, so you're gonna blink
Speaker 2: and he's gonna be out of the house, So enjoy
Speaker 2: why you can.
Speaker 3: All right, I will. That's great advite.
Speaker 2: All right, the great Robert Turbin, one of the best
Speaker 2: ever do it to Utah State and won a Super
Speaker 2: Bowl with Seattle. Now he's doing some broadcasting. He's really
Speaker 2: good at it. Hopefully he gets some more opportunities. Is
Speaker 2: on Twitter at Robert Jay Turbin is where you find them.
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