Speaker 1: Is Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel, and it's time for
the Cougar Beat getting the dish from the local reporters
that cover Cougar athletics.
Speaker 2: Welcome back Cougar Sports one of three nine ninety eight
point three ESPN the fan I've been for the broadcasting
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Speaker 3: Welcome in.
Speaker 2: Kevin Reynolds of the Salt Lake Tribune. Kevin, how the
heck are you?
Speaker 3: Man? Thanks for joining us?
Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3: How are you doing? Fantastic man?
Speaker 2: Hopefully you had a wonderful weekend and got a little
R and R N. I know it's probably busy for
you putting out pumping out content. It's twenty four seven,
three sixty five. For all the rioters out there is
sports never sleeps. What have you produced for us at
the Solid Tribune recently?
Speaker 3: Brother?
Speaker 4: Yeah? BYUI is just I think we've been writing a
lot about the transfer portal cycle and what it kind
of means and what it signals. The BYU retained pretty
much everybody that was significant to this team from twenty
twenty five and then goes and ads, you know, arguably
the best linebacker in the transfer portal cycle. What that
means and what that says for Kilani's staff and the
resources that they have, but also on this chase that
the Yu's on to close the gap with Texas Tech,
who also made you know, a lot of strides in
the transfer portal, and then obviously uh looking at at
the hoops and seeing what a kind of a a
week means when you b Texas Tech or sorry TCU
at home and then lose to Texas Tech. So it's
kind of the big the big things for working on.
Speaker 2: How How crazy is it, uh that that b yu's
retained pretty much all of their key contributors now, Shape,
Brian Strather, Max Alford both are were key contributors to
b YU, but they also are both coming off of
ACL reconstructions like knee injuries or surgery. They're both in
the portal. They're uh, they they may both end up
at Michigan. I don't know if Shape Riot Strauther has
committed yet, but we do know that Max Alfred is
heading to Michigan. Tadan Beasley I think ended up at
us F and others have ended up at like Utah State,
et cetera. Special Teams contributors, Marcus McKenzie, uh, et cetera.
But what does it say about this Cougar football team,
Cougar football program, that they haven't really lost anybody of import.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, it makes me think of the story back
from twenty to twenty two. That summer, the summer before
BYU went to the Big twelve Kilani and the staff
had Jackson Bowers, Walker Lions, Hunter Clegg and a couple
of other four star guys on campus for pretty much
their their marquee recruiting weekend of that cycle. And back then,
I mean when they got two guys to sign who
were four star guys out of that weekend and not
Walker Lions who ends up at USC, not Hunter Clegg,
who at the time committed to Utah, it was a
cause for celebration. I thought this for the staff of
saying like, oh, you know, the fact that you can
get two out of four, two out of five guys
who come in a weekend who are really high profile
recruits shows that how much it's grown. And fast forward
to basically this last transfer portal cycle and you're seeing
now all of those guys, Walker Lions comes on, Hunter
Clegg obviously slips from BYU and instead of going to
Michigan are flipped to BYU and instead of going to
Michigan and following j Hill, he returns to BYU. And
so now you're looking at a what kind of used
to be a dream scenario for BYU in terms of
recruiting and times when I think BYU didn't think four
or five stars for four four star guys would come
on in one cycle. Now you're seeing the accumulation of
that guy staying, guys signing, guys coming from other schools
to come to BYU, and obviously most importantly in this class.
You know, you're seeing Bear Bachmeers and L. J. Martin's
the reigning Big twelve offensive player of the Year, come.
Speaker 5: Back to BYU.
Speaker 4: And I think it's for two reasons. One, there's a
track record. Now Kilani doesn't have to really sell people
on a vision. You kind of just have to look
at the president. Say BYUS twenty three and four. Over
the last two years, they went to a Big twelve
title game, They've beaten Utah three times in a row.
You know, the idea that you're selling somebody on the
future isn't necessarily the case anymore. I think to some
degree it is always in recruiting, but you at least
have something on paper and some success to show in
the Power four and what you're chasing in the College
of All playoffs. And then the other part, which I
think is pretty evident, is is resources. I mean, you
see teams in the Big twelve all the time, whether
it be Cincinnati losing their quarterback to Texas Tech, whether
it be anybody in the Big twelve. You know, looking
at an SEC or Big Ten team, a lot of
those teams are pillaged for talent every single year. And
by U's been in that case, in that kind of
in that boat a little bit before. In past years.
You look at Keila Marrion going to Miami and playing
for national title, like they definitely lost the key playmakers.
But this time, you know, they had the money, they
had the resources, and they had the track record to
retain everybody. And I think that's a show of how
much this program has grown. I still think they need
to make strides in a one big league like the
Big twelve. You know, you've got to beat Texas Tech.
But this is a completely different conversation than we're having
in twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three, and honestly even
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in the in a unique and singular direction is
b YU football and BAU basketball. What do you chalk
it up to? You know, what are the pie chart
of credibility?
Speaker 3: What is it about?
Speaker 2: And I think they're doing it in different ways b
YU basketball and b YU football.
Speaker 3: To degree, they're doing it in different ways.
Speaker 2: Obviously, b why you didn't BOU football didn't go out
and get Kellen Kellen Moore or you know, to to
to to lead their their football team, right, that would
be maybe the equivalent on the football side of things.
Speaker 3: But what do you what do you make of it?
Speaker 2: Like when you kind of sit on your perch and
see what BOE football, BOE basketball is doing right now. Uh,
it's a kind of a golden era of BYU athletics,
it seems.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean it's just a completely different world than what
we saw, and I think it's different for both teams.
I think with basketball, I think you definitely can look
at the amount of resources they put in and also
Kevin Young and getting NBA experience. I mean, I don't
care how many resources you had. I don't think if
Kevin Young doesn't exist or the NBA connections don't exist,
I don't think you see aj Debonza or Rob Wright
come to b YU. It's because I think that's a
unique kind of pitch that b YU basketball has on
top of the incredible amount of resources. But for Kawani staff,
I think it's a little bit of a different approach
because I think and I think, if football has to
be I don't think you I don't think there is
a quick fix of there is you know, obviously at
the quarterback position. If you went and got a Brandon
Sourcee or whoever the equivalent is, you know that text
of text going after maybe you can make that argument
that it's the equivalent of an Aj de Bonza, you know,
at the quarterback spot. But by and large, I mean football,
you just need so many guys to be good. But
I think retention is much more important in in football
than it is in basketball. Reloading is really really difficult
in football. When in basketball, I think you know, if
you if you can land three or four guys, two
or three guys sometimes depending on how much you know,
different they make. I think you can you can be
an empty tournament team. But in football that's the case.
And also we're seeing death become a huge factor in football,
Like when you're looking at the Texas Tech games. I mean,
look at the depth. The difference in depth I think
is a big deal. And do you have starter caliber
players coming in when guys are injured? Like do you
have an answer when l J. Martin is hurt? And
this year the answer was no. I don't think they
have an answer, and I think we're still going to see,
Like what BYU's answer is to alleviate some of the
pressure on LJA Martin. But I think you know, with basketball,
I think it's going after the highest end of players
and it's because of Kevin Young. But I think with football,
a huge part of it is retaining guys and developing guys,
and you only have the development of luxury. I think
in this kind of world that NIL is in is
if you have the resources to retain guys, otherwise they
will leave. And for now be why you have that
answer this cycle.
Speaker 2: Kevin Reynolds here on ESPN the fan representing the Soally
Tribune talking to BYU Athletics in a Cougar beat.
Speaker 3: Brought to you by orthropros of Utah orthropro of.
Speaker 2: Utah dot Com. College Football Championship game is tonight, Indiana
versus Miami. Both of these teams, you could say, hey,
they relied on the transfer portal, they relied on going
out and acquiring talent via the portal, but Miami was
at the top of the bidders, buyers and money allocators
via the portal.
Speaker 3: I feel like this is a bit of culture versus.
Speaker 2: Cash in the free market that they're living in. Not
to say that Indiana didn't go out and buy some players.
I think they they did. They went out and acquired
some good football players via the portal, but Miami definitely
was at the top of the food gat How do
you see this game kind of culture versus cash?
Speaker 3: Do you think that's an accurate depiction? Do you think
it's something else?
Speaker 4: Well, I think Indiana probably. I mean, I don't know
Indiana well enough, but reading everything that's been written about Indiana,
including from you know, guys like Chris Kim Ronnie at
the Athletic, you know, it just felt like to me,
at least, it was it was targeted guys in the
transfer portal where maybe they're not at the top end
of you know, they're not number one on the transfer
portal list. It's not going to be all you know,
Carson Becks or whoever. It is the biggest name in
the portal, but it's guys that they had experience with that.
James Madison had a lot of production at the Group
of five level or the SCS level, and I think
that's the way to and I think that's the way
to go. I think for a long time, the conventional
wisdom in college football was like, if you don't have
the four and five stars, you're never going to make it,
make it to the national championship. You're not gonna be
able to compete with the Ohio States and the you know,
Miami's of the world. I guess in some ways, but
you know, I think production matters, and I think we're
seeing that. I think we've seen that to a certain
degree at BYU too. It's like in football at least
is production does matter at the lower levels and you
can get really good, productive players. I think hell and Marion.
I know he's on Miami now, but I think he's
an example of that. He didn't come from the biggest school,
I mean, Yukon, but he was productive at Yukon and
he comes to BYU and he was extremely productive here,
and he goes to Miami and he's been he's been
pretty good there, at least in this playoff run and
the last few games, So you know, I think that's
my takeaway is I don't know how much of it
is culture. I don't know how much of it I
don't I don't know if Indiana you can just say, oh,
they didn't have any resources. I think they did, but
I think using the resource as well, and maybe not
having the biggest war chest, but at the same time,
going after guys that you that you are very certain
what they can do and how they fit into in
a particular system, which it seems like Indiana is very
good at.
Speaker 2: Indiana's a unique team. Who do you think Winsor's game?
I know Indiana's a favorite. I think last time we
checked through was about eight and a half. I don't
know if the spreads changed at all. But do you
think that Indiana comes away victorious versus Miami the Hurricanes tonight?
Speaker 5: I do?
Speaker 4: I mean, I think Indiana's destroy every single team that
they've gone up against. I thought Oregon was going to
be much harder of a challenge beating a team twice
particular team as good as Oregon. You know, how many
How many times do you see that not only do
they win, you know, they the game is over by
halftime or maybe even the first quarter. So I think
Indiana comes out with this. And I have to say,
like just from a football, you know, college football perspective
and watching college football, even if I don't know the
ins and outs of Indiana's program, to me, it looks
like it's one of the most well coached teams. I
think we've we've seen it a long time. You know,
they just don't make mistakes, and I think Miami makes
a lot of them. And so we'll see, we'll see tonight.
But I just don't think Miami can get away with
some of the mistakes they've made and have been making.
I mean, look at the beginning, even I know it's
a long time ago, but look at the mistakes that
cost them the SMU game, in the Louisville game. And
we've seen what Indiana does when teams make even just
with little the slightest errors, and those become you know,
twenty point leads very clickly for Indiana.
Speaker 2: We're seeing some of the preseason way too early, preseason
polls drop on three just put out theirs. They put
Bleay at number thirteen heading into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3: Do you think that's too high, too low, or just
about right?
Speaker 4: You know, I think that's about right. Like I don't
think I put them in the top twelve yet, you know,
I don't think they're a lock playoff team, just because
also I don't know how many teams the Big twelve
gets in, and I don't think BYU is at least
on PAP for the Big the best team in the
Big twelve right now, I'd still say that's probably Texas Tech,
particularly with how well they've done in the transfer portal
this cycle and adding to what they already had. So
and they're going to upgrade the quarterback position, which was
arguably probably their weakest link this year I thought was
the quarterback spot, and definitely kind of exposed that I
thought in the playoffs too, so soortly we'll be an
upgrade there and so because of that, I think thirteen
is about right, just kind of on the outside looking in.
And the question I have is there's a bunch of retention.
I don't think you're going to have too many questions
out l J. Martin or you know, a lot of
the other questions that we had last year at the
quarterback spot. There Bachmeyer kungback. But what does this defense
look like under Kelly Papanga versus J Hill? Is it similar?
Does Kelly Popinga get you know, as much pressure on
the quarterback as J Hill got this last year finally
kind of breaking through the stacks? What does that look like?
Because I thought Jay Hill, I thought he did a
lot of things well. I thought he was a very
good play caller. And I'll I'll be interested to see
what Kelly pa does this year.
Speaker 2: Kevin Reynolds Sally Tribune here on your Utah ESPN Radio
network for a Cougar Beat, brought to you by Orthroproso
Utah arthroposovuta dot com. If you look at the acquisitions
that BWAU football has picked up via the portal, there's
only nine of them.
Speaker 3: They're like one of.
Speaker 2: Like five teams with less than ten. And many of
these teams are, you know, high level programs, Georgia, I
think US Seas in that mix, Notre Dame. Very few
teams have I have stayed under that ten ten player
roster for the transfer portal. Two of them, though, are
tight ends. We've seen three offensive lineman. You've seen one
or two strategic linebacker additions. When you look at the
nine players that b YU has acquired via the portal,
what stands out to you with their strategy.
Speaker 4: I think it's what you said. I mean, this was
a clearly the top priority. Coming off of the eleven
win year or twelve years or twelve a year and
winning twenty three games in the last two years, the
top priority was definitely a retention and keeping the guys
who won all those games in the building and obviously
keeping Bear Bachmeyer in the building to grow and develop into.
You know, we'll see what he can become. But you know,
the thing that stands out to me though, is Walker
Lion because I think you needed to find a replacement
for Carson Ryan and Carson Ryan I don't think. I
don't know if he was the best player on Blay's offense.
I think that was probably LJ and then probably Bear.
But at the same time, I don't know who's more
important than Carson Ryan because we've seen this offense when
they have a pass catching tight end and what that
kind of does, and how much Bear seems to really
rely on Carson Ryan. I think He's probably made the
argument that Carson Ryan was bear Bachmeyer's favorite target this
year and when things got tough, he went to him.
And in years past, pretty much since I've been here,
the first three years BYU, since Isaac RETX, have they
really had this reliable tight end pass catching option and
this safety valve. I don't think they had that for
Jake rest Left. I don't think they had that all
the time for Keyton Slowvis or the end of Jaron
Hall after Isaac Gretch got hurt. I mean, look at
twenty twenty three or twenty twenty four where they're putting,
you know, moving Keanu Hill to tight end and kind
of trying to mix a match, and they really just
didn't have a pass catching option. So I think Walker
lines having him kind of in theory Sun kind of
seamlessly as a as a pass catching guy who can
take that take on that role, I think does a
lot to open up the offense. And then the other
part I still think, well, we don't necessarily have an
answer on but I do think you're probably going to
need a wide receiver to emerge who's a deep threat
or at least a playmaker. I think they really missed
that this year with that Phila Marian and Darius Laser.
You know, Chase Roberts kind of played that role a
little bit. Parker Kingston's good, but he's not. That's not
necessarily his strengthness or at least what Darius and Kwan did.
So I'm interested to see, you know, who that person emerges,
because I thought that was the thing missing in this
offense a little bit. And we'll see.
Speaker 2: With all of the dominoes that have fallen here in
the state of Utah, Sing Kyle Uh kind of ushered out,
and you know in in the head coach and wedding,
Morgan Scalley taken over, Jay Hill and and general to
be Yu. That's part of the domino effect. You know
who's who's been more impacted by these these changes? Would
you say Utah or BYU?
Speaker 4: Thus far, I think it's Utah. I definitely think it's U.
Speaker 5: Tih.
Speaker 4: I mean, they lose essentially their entire offensive staff and
they have to bring in a new offensive coordinator and
hire a new defensive coordinator because Scaley gets elevated, and
you know, I think, don't get me wrong, I think
j Hill leaving BYU is a huge question mark and
something that definitely needs to be answered because he just
did so much. I mean, obviously the associate head coach,
but he was a very good recruiter. He was instrumental
in a lot of the recruiting momentum. I thought of
getting guys like you know, stars in this defense, Solidus
Otsula and other players to flip from Utah to BYU,
and I think that was very important before they were
winning games, before they were truly winning in the Big twelve,
to turn the tide in recruiting, or at least have
BYU punching in the same weight classes U, which they
they weren't for so long in that decade of independence.
I think Jay and the whole staff, but definitely Jay
deserves a lot of credit, and the way those guys
talk about it definitely deserves credit. So I'm not trying
to downplay j Hill leaving. I think it's a big, big,
big deal. But at the same time, when you look
at the totality of it, I think you have to
say Utah was was the more effected team. And not
only that, Utah lost players, not just coaches, They lost
players to Michigan Smithsoden, jj B Tannon. You can go
down the list of guys who were either key playmakers
or you know, guys who had a lot of potential
are John to La. You can kind of go through
the list and b why you really didn't other than
Max Alford. So right now, I'd say Utah is the
more effective group.
Speaker 2: What let me ask you this. We were debating this
on Friday. We were discussing Mark Harlan, some of his actions,
some of the h less popular actions, maybe that he's
he's engaged in. For Utah fans, you know, how are
they feeling about Mark Harlan as their ad You're seeing
kind of the repercussions.
Speaker 3: Are they bought in? Are they sold on Mark Harland?
Do you think?
Speaker 2: I know you're not covering them on the daily on
the bead, et cetera, But you know you're hearing things,
You're seeing things. Are they bought into the head coach
in waiting? Are they bought into, you know, Mark Harland
being their fearless leader for the years to come.
Speaker 4: You know, I can't speak for Utah fans. I don't
know exactly what the feeling is, but just my overall
take on the whole situation, I'd say, is that Morgan
Scalley I think is a very very smart coach. I
think he's been proven to be a very good defensive coordinator,
but he has not been a head coach yet, so
there is already that question mark. And then the other
part is how often do coach in waiting really work?
And I'm not saying Morgan Scalley won't be a good coach.
I think he probably will be a good coach. But
at the same time, like the situation he is walking
into is a lot harder because of kind of the
structure around it, and now Kyle's gone and he's taking
coordinators is a much more difficult situation than what was
supposed to be the case for Morgan Scalley. Like, I
don't think he thought whenever he took over that he
was going to have to overhaul an offense and make sure,
you know, Kevin mcgiven is operating the same as Jason Deck.
And I don't think he anticipated losing as many, you know,
key contributors as he did to Michigan, And I think
part of it was because part of the reason why
it happened, there's a I don't think anyone could have
foreseen what has happened to Michigan and that the job
would be open and that Kyle would get the job.
He wasn't the first choice, he wasn't the second choice.
You know, probably wasn't even the third choice for this job.
So a lot had to happen. I don't know if
anybody could have foreseen that, but it is a very
difficult situation that I think you put a coach in
waiting into. I think it just makes it difficult, and
it did get weird, and I think we were talking
to some of you tough fans last week at the
bau Utah game for this, and I think there are
definitely mixed feelings, and you can talk about how the
way those have come across, like should you be attacking
Kyle Whittingham's family. No, obviously not. But at the same time,
I do think there's mixed feelings on the direction of
the program right now, and I do think there needs
to be at least some calming stability, and maybe that
is Morgan, But it is a very difficult job, a
way more difficult situation than anybody could have anticipated a
first time head coach walking into.
Speaker 2: You don't have to apply on this if you don't
want to. But what's Mark Carlin's lowest moment is it
to give me a break tweet and subsequent role in
his event the eventual disintegration of the PAC twelve. How
about these they stole it from us going to the
press conference post game, but.
Speaker 3: The whole war.
Speaker 2: You can combine walking on to the field and getting
penalized in that moment, purportedly pushing out Kyle Whittingham for
the head coach in waiting or number five calling out
former Sinnes and commits on Twitter. Uh, you know, in
a in a in a in a bit of a
stupor that didn't really make any sense on Twitter before
deleting it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know, I have an opinion on that,
but it it Uh.
Speaker 2: If you erase tweets though, like you know, you know
where what is it there? There probably had to be
some criticism from the admin saying, hey, you should probably
remove that, or maybe his agent did.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know. I was very, very surprised by
that tweet. I'll say I was equally surprised about the
press conference after the buy Utah game, But yeah, I was.
I guess I'll just go with I was I've never
seen an ad do that. I've never seen that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, are we are we getting desensitized to
some of the actions of Mark Harlin because we've never
seen him before. We are because or because from now
we're starting to see these never seen before, you know
what I mean?
Speaker 3: Are we desensitized to it?
Speaker 4: Yeah? So I really don't know, but it has been
since I've been here. It's been quite a few moments
where I was like, Wow, did not see that coming,
Kevin Renolds.
Speaker 2: Best way to support you what you do, how you
do it, and anything you want to tease us with
what content you're going to be putting out there at
the at the trib.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we've got some more bye stuff coming
up for sure, But yeah, that's way the support is.
Go to sl trip dot com and we have a
bunch of stories on all the stuff we're talking about
by U And obviously there's been a good number of
reporting from a lot of people at our newspaper from
on Kyle Whittingham, Morgan Scully and what comes next for
that program too.
Speaker 2: So Kevin Reynolds, Ladies, jem I always love talk ball
with you. I love talking the news and nodes. Thanks
for hopping off for a cougar be keV.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks man, there go Kevin Reynolds. Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2: That segment was brought to you by Orthropros of Utah
in American Fork. What do we do at Orthropros. We
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Speaker 3: Hit us up, call us.
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through and eight. That's eight oh one, four hundred five
through and eight Orthropros of Utah Orthorposofutah dot com. Let's
take a brief time out, let's talk cruting the cougars.
Coming up next, Brandon Hoffman, national recruiting editor for two
for seven Sports, will join us to break down Blau's
recruiting efforts in the twenty twenty six class as well
as the twenty twenty six Transfer Portal Class. That and
more here on your Utah ESPN Radio Network, one of
the three nine ninety eight point three esp.
Speaker 1: IF you're listening to Cougar Sports with Ben Krettle, and
it's time for creuting the Cougars and inside look at
the latest news on the recruiting trail surrounding Cougar Athletics.
Speaker 2: Welcome back Cougar Sports. One of three nine ninety eight
point three ESPN the Fan. I've done Crital broadcasting from
our Vanderwell Studios Bandwill dot com get on that pre
Q and A no obligation to invest Q and A
with our Taximart Wealth Advisors. Today it is time for
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it looks like a traditional suit. Elevate your suit game
at Odeon Men'swear. Let's get out to the hotline. Welcome in,
Brandon Huffman, National recruiting editor for two four to seven Sports.
Speaker 3: Brandon, how the heck are you?
Speaker 5: Man?
Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us?
Speaker 5: Oh, you know, I was doing better like forty eight
hours ago and I was still in Hawaii. But I'm managing.
You know. I'm in Arizona now, so it's actually warmer
here than it is in Hawaii, So I can't be
too bad. Right. We have the National Chemishibon.
Speaker 3: Valley of the Sun. That's my home state. Baby. I
love a z but Hawaii that's our vacation spot. How
was Hawaii? How was the Paulnesian Bowl? Brother?
Speaker 5: It was awesome? You know, it was one of the
better games, and largely because they made a real emphasis
on inviting underclassroom. So there was over thirty twenty twenty
seven prospects in the game, both the MVPs on offense
and defense for twenty twenty seven. But you also got
to still see a good chug of the twenty twenty six.
I think there are sixty plus twenty twenty six is
in the game. A lot of YU players in that
game as well, So it was a nice combination of
graduating seniors, guys that have actually already enrolled in school
and been there for a week and then came to Hawaii,
and then guys that we're going to spend in the
next year really focusing on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's always fun to see the stars, right
the rising stars that are coming out of the prep world.
And obviously we have the college football Championship on tonight
where you lean and right now, Miami or Indiana And
why I'm.
Speaker 3: Telling you what.
Speaker 5: I was at the Rose Bowl when I watched Indiana
against Alabama, and I was at the Fiesta Bowl, and
I saw Miami and illness, and that Indiana team is
not losing to any one. And I think it's going
to be thirty one to fourteen, which means Miami, congratulations
on the national championship. Because Lee picking Indiana almost automatically
needs it's going to be opposite day. But I'll tell
you that Indiana team I saw against Alabama and then
watching him against Oregon down in whatever that was via
the peach Ble, I mean, they just look like they're
on a complete different level than everybody else in college
football this season.
Speaker 2: Well, like I was looking at the recruiting rankings of
these two teams and like their team cars, I knew
it was coming, you know what I mean, you're looking
at it like, look, I think the team composite talent
score of Indiana was like seventy second. They went out
and got a pretty good transfer portal class this past offseason.
Speaker 3: I want to say it was I want.
Speaker 2: To say it was like top twenty five, but Miami
went top five. I mean it looks like they were
one of the heavy spenders in the tres A portaled
this last go around. From a talent level standpoint, what
do you see here?
Speaker 5: Well, I'll tell you you know one thing that's not
being mentioned nearly enough. And everybody keeps talking about the
composite rankings and how you know how Indiana has such
a good team despite their ranking. Well, you know, they
are very veteran, They're very experienced. They've got guys that
are fifth, sixth and seventh year guys. They've got a
quarterback who has been around, who was talented, who you know,
his story was much travel But you can't knock experience too.
That's one thing in this game, but we also have
to you know, ranted the talent fit and it worked
out exactly how first Segnetti planned, but it also worked
to Mario Cristoball's plan. You know, they had a couple
of games during the season they probably shouldn't have lost,
games that they should have won where they had a
bit more talented.
Speaker 3: Roster, but they lost.
Speaker 5: But Mario Cristobal has his team in a national championship
game because he made it justice. They did what they
needed to do down the stretch, and so I think
this is one of those where, yeah, the rosters made
them very different from a ranking standpoint, but coaching, you know,
Mario Christball has never had a problem with you emulating talent.
His knocket always been can he have those in game?
You know, questions get answered, Whereas Kurt Signetti, nobody ever
knew what he could do at a high level. And
I think the coaching is so overlooked with what Indiana
has done. And while they're they're roster and they not
be full of four and five stars. It's very veteran,
it's very experienced. But more importantly, she gets those guys
to play together schematically, and that's why They've been able
to just blow out everybody pretty much the entire season.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Look, both of these teams are fantastic. Both of them
are very talented, and both of them are are well coached,
and they have good cultures. That's what I would say
about each one of these, uh these teams in each
one of these coaches. So I'm excited to see what
happens in this game. And there's actually there's a bit
of a rooting interest for some BYU fans. Some want
to see Kila marrin their former Cougar ball out and
and then others are like, they just love the Kirk
Signetti story in the Indiana Hoosier stores. They have a
bit BYU fans have a bit, you know, they have
a bit of a chip on their shoulders the underdogs.
Speaker 3: So they're rooting on the.
Speaker 5: Under But let me say one thing on this, and
I think this is actually makes a lot of sense.
This is an outlier, you know, in a sense that
remember it was fifteen years we speaking of Indiana the game,
the team that plays their games in the arena where
hoodis was filmed. Butler maybe it to the National Championship
Game and almost knocked off Duke, and you know you're
gonna have cases like that where the rosters made them different.
But in this era where you're having the portal so
readily available and for a quick fix process, you know,
Chris Signetti has just ruined the life of every college
coach who is being hired at a school that maybe
didn't have the season at the school that they just
got hired at that they won. And Indiana was a
losing his power for program of all time, and what
he's done is magical. But now every school is going
to expect their new coach to utilize the portal and
have the success that Chris Signetti has done. I think
this guy's one of one. I think this Indiana team
is one of one. And I don't know that this
is going to be the rule rather the exception of
the rule.
Speaker 1: Even moving forward, What makes.
Speaker 2: Jerk Signetti's so good at maybe coaching and even evaluating
an acquiring talent from high school and from the portal
to put himself in this position, Well.
Speaker 5: Again, you go back to experience. I mean, the guy's
in his mid sixties. He's probably been around football for
so long that he's been able to pick up on
tendencies and what he's looking for. He knows that. You know,
you cannot discount the fact that this guy spent a
year working under Nick Saban, was Nick Saban's recruiting coordinator
when he first was hired at Alabama, and you know,
you just can't put a price tag on that. And
I think that's something that you know, people don't understand,
is that him being around the game of football, him
taking lower level jobs and working his way up. He
knew what he was looking for, he knew what he
was doing, and he's had success in every stop along
the way. And again, I think this guy's a unicorn.
I think he is a coaching unicorn and just happened
to be the guy that you know, people waited too
long to hire and now Indiana gets to reap the rewards.
But I don't even know if there's a special soft
you can really describe. I just think this guy is
that much of an outlier himself.
Speaker 3: Love the breakdown that only you can give.
Speaker 2: Brandon Huffman two four to seven Sports here on your
Utah ESPN Radio network, Let's talk BYU. I thought they
did a pretty good job of acquiring talent in the
twenty twenty six class. I think two four to seven
put him at number twenty one overall. With seven four
stars and fourteen high level three stars in the portal,
they've I think, acquired nine guys via the portal. They
sit at I want to say, around forty first in
the rankings. They only have nine guys, which is a
bit of an outlier. Not many teams have stayed under
that ten player threshold. But how would you evaluate the
acquisitions via the portal thus far?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think mean this is where you
go back to you to culture and you talk about
the culture Signetti has built. Well, I was talking built
ten years ago, and now it's about maintaining that culture.
And so you don't need a lot of guys. When
you're signing a class of twenty and you've got returning
missionaries coming in, you get to be very picky on
what you're doing in the portal. And while they only
have nine guys coming out of the portal, these are
guys that I think are going to be, you know,
outstanding additions. I love what I've seen, you know, from
kdul Lobby the last couple of years. The lady was
the Tactful Freshman of the year's season in twenty twenty three,
when they had a quarterback on that same team name
for Nana Mendoza that you might be remembering. You know,
Zach Yamouch coming over from Stanford, who had been at
Bishop Gorman, a a program where he's used to winning
pockey fin now who started I think five games this
year at Washington, you know, was in the midst to
be a starter as a register freshman. You've got Roger Soliyapungo,
you know, who had a touchdown I believe in the
in the Fiesta, are in the Peach Bowl for Oregon,
you know, and he comes home and you know, you
throw in Walker Lions and what he was able to
do as a weapon at USC, and you know it's
hard at USC when you always have the amount of
receivers at a high level that us he has for
the tight ends to get the ball. And now he
goes there and you know, I think it's any you know,
BYU fans were freaking out a little bit about you know,
some of the stuff that came out of the under Armoured.
Speaker 3: Game about Rider Lyons.
Speaker 5: You know, he realizes he's going on a mission and
so that's not going to stop schools from recruiting him.
I think it certainly does help that that Walker is
going to be there for a couple of years. You know,
even if they may not ever really cross paths for
more than a year, that doesn't hurt to have him
be a part of that culture. So Walker lyons talent
on the field. But then it also kind of ties
us loose ends. And then Tyler Caster is a kid
that you know, believe it or not. I saw him
in high school when he was playing at Williams Sfield
High School. Went up to one of the better high
school matches I saw. Benjamin Morrison ended up being a
second round draft pick. We're talking best on best in
that game, and Kyler Caster got the better of him,
just didn't really stay healthy. He enrolled early at Oregon,
actually skips his senior year, got to Oregon, and then
Oregon did a really good job of recruiting receivers out
of the portal, and then they did a really good
job of recruiting young talent who was a little bit
more dynamic. And so Kyler Caster is one of those
guys that just needs an opportunity to get on the field.
And you're gonna get to see you've got the NFL
bloodlines there with his dad Kevin having played in the NFL.
So you know, a couple of known names, but then
a couple of guys that you know were really highly
tile to come out of high school. They just need
that opportunity in Kyler Casper being one of them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's uh, it was an interesting acquisition.
Speaker 2: Like you know, Kirk Saghetti talks a lot about production,
Tyler Casper doesn't have much production at organ, but he's
got a lot of potential.
Speaker 3: Can he be a wide receiver one for BYU this
next season?
Speaker 5: Absolutely? And again, you know this is one thing that
I had this taught last week when I was in Hawaii.
There's one thing to not have production when you're at
a four and eight program, if you're not able to
get on the field of a bad program. It's another
thing to not have production when you're at a school
like Oregon where they have, you know, as good as
a recruiting department as any in the country. They're always
recruiting top five to top seven classes. Remember he was
a part of that first Dan Landing class where they
also were able to hit the port but then they
went after guys like Edam Stewart. They went after guys
that were experienced, very talented players who needed to change
his scenery. So it wasn't like he wasn't playing because
of the talent. Issue was he wasn't playing because there
was more talented older guys. And then they brought some
younger guys that were five stars that I'm going to
re receiver in the country into Korean Moore, you know,
So it was never a challenge is show for him.
It was really just a traffic camd that he got
stuck in.
Speaker 3: Is the crowning jewel of this stragic portal class.
Speaker 6: K lav Oh, no question.
Speaker 5: I mean Kato Lulav is the kind of guy that
you know, he is an easy, early impact guy. He's
coming in. You know, he could have stayed at Cal,
he could have gone to the NFL. He had other
schools that were pursuing him. I know that UCLA was
trying really hard with him because Dick Soto, the former
YU player himself, was his coach at Cal. With the
CODC in Berkeley, Utah was also making a big push.
But I mean kay Do Luav because it was kind
of a later portal entry, he became one of the
most attractive linebackers. You know, the reality is the linebacker
position is kind of in the value position. It's not
going to move the needle, say like a left tackle,
like an edge rusher, like a receiver, like a quarterback
is in the portal. But you still need an elite
linebacker or an elite leadership at linebacker, and if you
can get the player to go along with it, then
that's a kind of a double edition. And I think
that he would have been the crown Rule for a
lot of schools that were pursuing him, But for BYU,
they really didn't feel like they're missing many pieces. You
bring in his experiences, veteran leadership, playing in a conference
that's got a team playing for the national championship tonight.
That is a huge pickup for BYU.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that breakdown.
Speaker 2: Three offensive linemen that they got Zach Yamoucci, obviously Pocky
Final and then Junior Sia. They also went heavy on
the tight ends with Walker Lions and Roger salia Paga.
It looks like they want to go some twelve personnel
this next season.
Speaker 5: I know it's good because I think that the more
versatility you can get in your offense, the more it helps.
The more you can get the ball spread out to
your big receiver, your big tight ends.
Speaker 1: That help.
Speaker 5: And I mean in getting both Roger and Walker, who
are both traditional you know, they're I'm sorry, they're not
your traditional just we're only going to use them in
blocking situations. We want to get those guys involved in
the passing game. That's huge. And I think that both
those guys have the sides, they have the range that
they are going to be absolute weapons for BYU's offense.
And give Bear Backmeier, you know, some guys at the
tight end position to get the ball to. You know,
Walker played i think at every single game this year
for USC except maybe the Bowl game. Roger was coming
along strong at the end of the season. Just happened
to have you know, quite possibly the freakiest tight end
in college football. And Kenyan Sidique, who was the starter
there and he wasn't going to pass him up, you know,
being a year behind him in Kenya see probably gonna
be a first round er. So again, it's just a
matter of opportunity for both those guys. And I think
if you're Bear Blackmayer you gotta be looking your chops.
You got guys protecting me up front, and you have
two really good pass catching receivers at tight end that
you're going to be instituting into that offense.
Speaker 2: Is there anything that BYU needs to acquire? Some people
want an RB two, some people want like a wide
receiver one as well to maybe a great separation they
lost to Quilan Marrion last year would have been nice
to happen this year for instance.
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's no question. And I think you know, when
you look at what was available in the portal this year,
there weren't a lot of elite wide receivers in the
portal this year, and I think part of that is
because what we've seen in the past couple of years,
especially with revenue sharing, is that schools are doing a
better job of locking up they're wide receiver ones. They're
realizing that, you know, a quarterback is the most important
position to yeat. A left tackle is the most important
position after quarterback, ed drusher and receiver. You don't need
to overspend on receivers, but you've got to take care
of those ones that you do have. That Jeremiah Smith,
the Malachai Toni types, and the reality is that you
didn't see a lot of schools wide receiver ones go
into the portal, so you know, if anything, yeah, they
along with one hundred and thirty other power forward or
I'm sorry, FBS schools wanted a wide receiver one, but
those just weren't as available out of the portal this
year as maybe some of these other positions. So I
think when they do, they go and get you know,
two really good tight end one and a half that
will help in that passing game as well.
Speaker 2: Brandon huff been two four to seven sports best way
to support you, what you do, how you do it
For all of our listeners.
Speaker 5: Twenty four seven Sports is the place to go. You
can find me on Twitter at Brandon Huppin on on
Instagram Brandon Hufbon twenty four or two four seven the league,
the portal might v clothes. There's still some guys tying
up for loose ends figuring out where they're going to go.
But hey, we've got junior days, we've got camp season,
we've got numerous I know TJ Woods got to the
line coach for BYU was in Hawaii at the end
of last week at an in home visit with Isaiah Bertola,
who's the number two player in the state of Hawaii.
These coaches don't get any time to rest right now
that they get the whole month of February. Also, coaches,
we have to work you around. You can work for
the rest of January, but be following all the action
because there's twenty twenty seven and twenty eight info going
out right now.
Speaker 2: Love the breakdown, Appreciate you, Behuff, Brandon Huff and ladies
in general.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Thanks so much. Bread There you go,
two four to seven sports.
Speaker 2: Subscribe today, stay up to date on all the recruiting
news and notes around the country, and definitely what's occurring
here in Provo. That's our segment, and we'll take a
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Cougar Sports.
Speaker 3: Here on your one o three nine ninet eight point
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At each time for little Cookars in the pros getting
up to date on all the things happening with these
former Cougars that are bawling out in the National Football League.
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the best Boa license apparel in the business. Royal Army
dot Com. Big Cougar Road to Kiris, Tonga. Cairis had
his first sack of the season for the New England Patriots.
Nice work from New England Patriots defensive tackle the six
foot two, three hundred and thirty five pounder, the former
seventh round pick two hundred and fiftieth overall to the
Chicago Bears. I bet you wish Kiris was on your
squad still, don't you. Ronald the three man Weaver, he
played in fifteen games for Chicago, totaling I believe around
thirty four or sorry, twenty four tackles, had a fumble recovery,
and like three stuffed runs. I think, nice work from him.
But he's been with I believe four teams now in
the National Football League since entering the league in twenty
twenty one. He spent two years in Minnesota, playing in
eleven and fourteen games, respectively, and then went to Arizona
in twenty twenty four and then found.
Speaker 3: Himself with the New England Patriots.
Speaker 2: Thus far this season, he's tallied I believe, twenty four
total tackles, nine solo, fifteen assisted.
Speaker 3: He's got one sack on the season.
Speaker 2: He's got two passes defended in three stuffs like what
I saw from Caius Tonga. Ronald the three man Weaver.
Do you miss him there in Shytown? Number ninety five?
Speaker 7: Anybody that has a good production on along the defense,
you know I'll miss I'll take anything. I just maybe
we should put our defensive players at quarterback at times
because you know, the interceptions look I mean, maybe we
need just all pros from defensive line to linebacker. It's
his secondary because we're just gonna have to hold the
opponent's zero points in order to win games to advance. No,
the Rams are a good team, but no, Kirius has
had a great NFL stint. He was a phenomenal college
football player. But yeah, we can take anybody you know
to stop the run more. I'll do it because we're
gonna need to keep the opposing offense has been to
as least amount of points as possible because it seems
like our offense and our quarterback likes to turn the
football over three times.
Speaker 6: So you know, we need more defensive stops.
Speaker 3: Need more defenses.
Speaker 2: And man, yeah, what did you make I mean, look,
Caleb Williams, obviously I picked the man.
Speaker 6: I did it. You picked the Rams. Look, don't listen
to me. Do as I say, not as I do.
Speaker 7: I even, you know, did a little bit of a
you know, talking with some friends and said, look, I'm
not taking my hometown team. You know, you should buy
me some lunch, you know, and they're like, nah. The
Bears were just like no, Kayla Williams won't He's gonna
he turns the ball over. Trust me, and then on
the first drive. Been watching the game, thirty four yard bomb.
Love it, get into the red zone. Picks like I
told you, guy, like I know my team, I know
my quarterback, I know what happens at the end of
the day.
Speaker 6: But I picked the Rams. I picked Pooka.
Speaker 7: I picked them at the beginning to go to the
Super Bowl when there was no Andy Reid. I said,
this is the time for Sean McVan the Rams to
get in another one. So they head up to Seattle.
But I'm all riding with the poop dads. I'm riding
with the Pooka power. And he converted been three third
downs in the fourth quarter. I was watching great and
it has been no.
Speaker 3: Doubt about it.
Speaker 2: In the NFC Wild Card Playoffs game, Pooka came with
the power over the Carolina Panthers as the LA Rams
beat them thirty four to thirty one. He had ten
receptions on eighteen targets one hundred eleven yards eleven point
one yards per reception, one touchdown long of eighteen. He
also had three carries and fourteen yards and a touchdown.
Guy balled out and then in the NFC Divisional Playoffs
game versus Chicago that went to ot.
Speaker 3: He did more than just catch the football man he
was blocking.
Speaker 2: He's one of the elite blocking wide receivers in the
National Football League. Just does it all for the Rams.
There is a reason why McVeigh and his staff wanted Pooka.
They got the best return on investment in that draft
in my opinion, not too long ago. That was in
the twenty and twenty three NFL draft. And he continues
to ball out in five receptions on ten targets fifty
six yard eleven point two yards per reception.
Speaker 3: He also had two carries for six yards.
Speaker 2: And so shout out to the Rams and Pooka Nakua's
they survive and advanced in the NFL players.
Speaker 7: I'll say it again. I said it on the airways
two weeks ago when the playoffs started.
Speaker 6: I'm saying it now. I said that the O P.
Speaker 7: O T H or whatever it is Offensive Player of
the Year award would come down to this weekend. Did
I not say that this next upcoming weekend? Because I
said it would be the Rams versus the Seahawks. So
Pooka Nakua and Jackson Smith and Jigba, We're gonna find out.
Speaker 6: I think it will be Pooka. But if the Rams
win this game and Pooka.
Speaker 7: Balls out, being that's three playoff games in a row
of phenomenal tape, phenomenal stats, and at that point, I
think he's gonna be the Offensive Player of the Year and.
Speaker 6: That that'd be great.
Speaker 7: That's great for BYU for recruiting Bend going back to college.
Speaker 6: That's great for you know, Cougars and the Pros. This
kid is legit.
Speaker 7: I think he's the best wide receiver right now in
the NFL, and if he wins Offensive Player of the Year,
that solidifies it. Yet alone gets to the Super So
I think all Cougar fans, being that are NFLS fans,
will be watching the Rams and hoping that Pooga gets
to the Super Bowl and brings home their ring.
Speaker 3: Too, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: Go Pooka Gokiris, former Cougars in the Pros balling out.
That's your Cougar's in the pro segment And it was
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We'll be back. College basketball and Cougar Sports coming up next.
Jonathan Tabinari, ESPN The Fan College Basketball Adele is breaking
down the loss versus Texas Tech and what is in
store for the Cougs as they prep get ready for
the University of Utah. In this restaure, what do they
need to shore up? What do they need to get
better at in the build up to that Utah rematch.
This is Cougar Sports on one of three nine ninety
eight point three esp