CHAMPIONSHIP MINDSET: Will BYU Football DELIVER a Natty to Provo? Andrew Gentry Declares BYU Capable

Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of The Lockdown Podcast Network.

Thank you for being here, because your support means everything.

And if you're looking for another way to support the show that you love, while getting

something awesome in return, check out the Every Day or Club.

You get ad free episodes of your favorite lockdown show, access to a members-only group chat

for fans of your team, and you can even jump into the national chats and talk about

whatever's happening across the league.

Tap the Every Day or Club link in the show notes to learn more.

If you didn't know it, there is a current member of the BYU football program that has a

national championship ring.

We were saying, well, there are guys who won the 1984 national championship, Jake, no,

no, no, no, much more recent than that.

Andrew Gentry is a gentle giant, probably a good term for him.

He gets after it on the football field.

BYU starting right tackle really had, I thought, a very solid season a year ago, especially

considering when he transferred from Michigan, there were concerns about the long-term health

of his feet.

He had had some foot injuries, and the question was, would it be able to hold up for the

entirety of a season?

Well, he played 14 games for BYU last year, and I think firmly established himself on the

NFL draft radar.

And he's coming back for what is expected to be his senior season for the Cougars.

And he has got a lot.

He hopes to accomplish in his time remaining as a BYU Cougar.

And it's kind of a crazy roundabout story, because remember, this is a guy that served

a mission, at least part of his mission, in Oram, Utah.

And you'll hear him talk about this.

There is a famous meeting, a famous photo of him meeting up with then Michigan head coach

Jim Harbaugh at the Ducanos at University Mall in Oram, where he solidified his decision

to go to Michigan.

Now, you want a national championship trophy there?

Well, let's just put it this way.

This conversation kind of centered, he and I, talking about what he hopes to accomplish

as a BYU Cougar, and all just not very the lead here.

He wants to win a natty.

You have played at a championship level before.

What is your confidence level, the BYU, you can be at a championship level this year?

Super high confidence, you know, I think looking back on spring and looking at the competition

that we had and the guys that are in this in this program, we have the pieces that we

need.

It's something that I'm super confident in because, you know, we may not have as many

five stars listed on our roster as the Alabama's, the Ohio State's, or whatever, but that

Michigan year, we also didn't have the most five stars in the Big Ten either.

And really, it just comes from a sense of culture and Colonies and a phenomenal job of

instilling culture in us and providing a championship culture for every member of this team.

And then, to build off that, it's like buying from the dudes.

And I think every single guy has a lot of buying on this team.

And guys are ready to work.

They work really hard in the spring, had a really good spring, a really competitive spring.

And that's just gonna spring ball us into the summer and that's gonna spring ball us

into the fall camp.

So, if looking at it from a perspective from the beginning of April, I think we have all

the pieces in place that we need to be on a championship team.

Now it's up to us, right, to really buy in even more, to work as hard as we can, to come

together as a team.

And then, once that season rolls around, come August, September, then I think the only

team that's gonna beat us is us.

I go on various podcasts and radio shows around the country and they always talk about

culture and clonies to talk it.

Can you define what sets this culture apart?

Yeah.

I think the biggest thing that comes to mind is, Colony always preaches love and learning.

Yeah.

And, you know, to kind of define that, right, we talk about love, that everything that

Colony does, everything that we do comes from a place of love.

Whether that's a love for the person, right, Colony has a lot of love for the players

for each of us, but also a love for the game of football, right?

I think the way that we play football is because we love to play football.

And when you love to play football, it's easier to go out every day and to grind.

Because it's not easy.

It's not the easiest thing in the world to grind, especially when August rolls around and

fall camps going and it's 100 degrees out here in the Utah heat.

But when you love the game of football, you're just playing a game, right?

And so it comes from a place of love, but then also learning as well is we're constantly

trying to learn, we're constantly trying to get better.

And even Colony is a head coach, he's constantly trying to learn, constantly trying to get

better as a coach so he can make us better as players.

And so I think that's really what sets this culture apart.

Is that it really does come from love and learning because I think everybody in the

country preaches it.

And when I was on a championship team in Michigan, we preached a lot of the similar things

and we lived it too with Coach Harbond.

And now I see a lot of those same things coming around with the fines of championship team.

What's the biggest, I guess, similarity between Coach Harbond and Colony?

Oh man, that's a tough question.

You know, there are two very distinct individuals, right?

Neither of them, they're both one-of-one, right?

I don't think either of them is a copycat of anyone.

But if I had to look at similarities between them two, I would say the most is love for

the game of football and love for their players.

I mean, both guys, I don't think I've met two more human beings that love football more

than those two guys.

But then also love for players too.

You know, they both love their players, they cared about their players and they didn't

just say it, but they meant it, right?

They wanted to know how we were doing, they built personal relationships with us.

I mean, you know, Coach Harbond knew me personally, knew my family personally.

And Colony does the exact same thing and honestly, it's pretty rare in Colony football.

I wanted coaches willing to take the time to get to know people individually and personally.

And I feel like both coaches do that.

And so great similarities for both of them.

Quite a little bit, a few miles up the road.

You had a well-conical visit at Ticanos, which in Harbond.

How crazy to think that that happened, you go to Michigan and all of a sudden, things

work out that you're back here in Provo all those years later.

Yeah, it's crazy.

And I talk about this all the time, you know, obviously very firm in my faith and my beliefs.

But I believe that God does everything for a reason.

And you know, for me, during that time of life, I really felt like I was supposed to be

at Michigan.

I still feel like for those three years, I was supposed to be at Michigan very grateful

for my time I had there.

And now to be back in Provo is a dream come true, right?

This is who I grew up rooting for.

I had family connections here.

It's now to be here.

It's surreal and I love playing football here.

And so for me, I just am so grateful and I see God's hand just throughout the entire process

of sending me to Michigan, coming here to BYU, and just really grateful to be here, obviously

such a fun season last year and looking forward to even a more fun season this year.

Basically comments, Desira News said that you believe this often something like be one

of the best in the country.

Why?

You know, I think it starts with Coach Woods and the mentality that he's instilled in us,

right?

And that's to be the best, and to work to be the best, and to constantly improve.

And I think if you look at what we did last year from a statistical perspective, maybe

we didn't quite receive the recognition from an action perspective of the Joe Boar Awards

or the watch list or anything like that, and thanks for that comes with BYU at times.

If you look at statistically, I think we had a really, really good season nationally last

year in terms of, you know, yards before contact and also for SACS allowed.

There's a lot of room for improvement though, and I think this team could be, this offensive

line in particular, it could be a lot better than that in the last year.

And I think now BYU has kind of put ourselves on a national scale.

I really firmly believe that we can continue to build with what Coach Woods has instilled

in us, have continued to work every day, but I was just having great leaders in the room.

I mean, guys like Bruce and Kyle and Sonny and then bringing in some great transfers.

And we've got all the pieces that we need to be great, so now it's up to us to continue

to build together with cohesion.

You know, I've played on some Joe Moore winning offensive lines, and I think the biggest

thing that I noticed with those guys is they were super close as well.

You know, a bunch of dudes that love the game of football, and we're really good at the

game of football, and we've got that, but then also they were really close.

And so when you get out there and you're playing, it's five dudes playing as one rather than

five individuals.

Where have you made the biggest strides in your game?

I would say, especially since I've gotten here to BYU, the biggest strides in my game

have been in my past protection and knowledge of the game of football.

You know, coming out of high school, playing a very run heavy offense, coming to Michigan,

getting played in a very run heavy offense, where you're playing the big 10, it's kind

of running, stop the run.

Put your head down.

Yeah.

You know, a lot of inside zone, a lot of duo, and a lot of power schemes, is kind of what

I was born and raised.

And so coming here to BYU, you kind of needed some adjusting, right?

Even the defenders are a little bit different, the defensive ends and the big 10 are a little

more of those power defensive ends, are trying to stop the run, where I was here in the big

12.

You've got some more speed, guys, obviously the Texas tech, the ends from last year.

And so I feel like for me, it's been, I've had to make a lot of strides in my past protection

for like I've done that.

But also the knowledge of the game, Coach Woods is a really good job of breaking it down

to further than just a base level.

You know, he wants us to start looking at safety, seeing safety rotation, looking at line

backers.

So you're not just seeing the base picture of what the front seven are doing, which

you're seeing the whole picture of the defense.

I feel like that's helped my game dramatically too, just being able to have that faster anticipation

of what's coming.

As you look forward to your final season in Cougar uniform, what kind of legacy do you want

to leave?

Yeah, you know, I want to leave of, you know, I want to be one of the best offense line

that's come through here really.

You know, that's a goal that I've set that I want to be one of the best, but I want to

set the legacy too as somebody that just cared for his teammates and was going to willing

to do anything for my team.

You know, I want to be the best.

I want to work as hard as I possibly can to set myself up to be one of the best tackles

that's come through here.

There's a lot of great tackles.

Right?

So I don't say that to put myself on a pedestal, but I say it to make sure that I can work

to, you know, when you represent BYU and you're playing tackle at BYU, there's a legacy

that you carry.

And I want to make sure you carry on that legacy well and with pride.

But then also too, I want to do it from a place where I'm doing it for my team because

I want to win a lot of games this year.

You know, I've been on a team where it's like to not lose a game.

And it's a lot of fun when you play a season and don't lose a game and that's what I want

to do this year.

You don't have to, you know, be sad at the end of any game this year whenever that is.

And so I'm going to do whatever I can to do that and, you know, want to bring that national

championship back to Probe more than anything.

You know, I don't care about the personal accolades, but if we can come back with a national

championship, that's all that matters.

Second ring would be pretty nice, I'm sure.

Be pretty sweet to get one of Michigan and one of Probe.

That's for sure.

Last thing for me, I've asked all your other teammates, I've talked to you about this.

Why do you wear the number that you wear?

You know, kind of, you know, nothing really in particular.

When I was in high school, I got brought up to varsity as a freshman.

My brother had worn 74 in high school.

And so I kind of wanted to be 74, but 74 was taken.

And so the next closest number was 75.

And so I wore 75 and then kind of fell in love with it as a freshman, so carried it.

My four years in high school when I came into Michigan, 75 was open.

So I wore it again and when I came to BUIU was open again and so now it's kind of stuck.

My brother actually, he switched his number later in his career at BUIU to 75 as well.

But now it's kind of become that family member.

So, you know, I'd like to say I started something I really didn't, but, you know, the way

that it worked out, I liked the number now.

So, yeah, I kind of feel like it's part of my identity.

There you have it.

A big thank you to Andrew Gentry for taking the time and big thank you, as always, to

BYU athletic communications for arranging the interview.

And if Andrew Gentry can lead BYU to a national championship this year, yeah, you'll go

done as an absolute legend.

There's no doubt about that.

And yes, he's got the family connections to BYU as older brother JT, played for the

Cougars and it's kind of funny as he mentions how things work out after he kind of originally

spurned BYU at a high school, spurned them in the transfer portal when he decided to go

to Michigan.

And now, finally, he's a BYU Cougar and that championship pedigree in that experience

he's got.

He can speak to the guys around him on this football program and they all kind of have to

sit up and pay him.

He's got the hardware folks.

He's got the national championship ring.

So I don't necessarily think that he's like flashing it all the time, but hey, if you

need to make a point, there are a lot worse ways in college football than to flash a national

championship ring and say, I know what I'm talking about here.

So we'll see how it all goes.

I really am excited to see how BYU football fairs this fall.

I think they have got a whole lot of potential in them.

I've talked about it a lot on this podcast.

The fact that there went over under win total was eight and a half.

It just seems just incredibly low and I would if you're so inclined, he's smashing

me over.

But I think the bigger point is this team's loaded with talent.

They know they're good.

Now they go out and prove it once again with an even bigger target on their back than they

already had a season ago, but they made it to the big 12 title game this past year.

Now they want to break through.

Hopefully win a big 12 title, play in the college football play often as Andrew Gentry mentions,

win a national title and I would be all in favor.

All of that happening for the BYU football program.

But a big thank you once again to Andrew Gentry.

And we'll see how it all plays out on the grid iron and not too long a time.

We've made it to April everybody.

So it's coming.

It's still a ways off, but it is on its way.

We are under I think it's 140 days now away from BYU football kicking off the season.

So it's coming faster than you might think, but it's still just a little ways off.

But cannot wait to see the Cougars back on the grid iron this fall.