UA Next Camp, Spring Ball and the Mailbag

Okay, man, let's talk shop and okay, hopefully they got the mom to tune out so I can tell you to get jewelry with Zayl's mother's day specials up to 50% off

It's a no-brainer

Exclusions apply for details visit zayl.com slash promotion dash terms dash and dash conditions

Let's be honest by cannabis shouldn't be complicated sketchy or low quality

That's why I want to tell you about mood dot com that's m-o-o-d dot com

Moved ships federally legal cannabis straight to your door no medical card no hassle and here's the kicker

The quality is better than anything you'll find in your local dispensary

Yeah, I said it. Rather. You're into edibles concentrates flower or just looking to explore

You'll find it all at mood

And it's not just a variety that makes them stand out every product is sourced from small American-owned family farms that care deeply about what they grow

It's cannabis you can trust delivered discreetly

And ready to elevate your mood and because you're a listener you get 20% off your first order

Just head to mood dot com. That's m-o-o-d dot com to get started

Welcome back to in the zone the VIP podcast for you zone dot com this I'm Sammy Moore joined as always by

the

I had an adjective and it does it just disappeared

Dan dance with me as always you got her right it on a post-it note

I should have written it on my whiteboard

If you if you could see my whiteboard right now of all the things that I have to do

It is very long it is a very long list right now

It's that time of year, but

Dan we're back. It's been you know a week and a half almost two since we last recorded it's been

Crazy times for both of us. We've had so many things going on um

But we're back. So how are things in Danland?

I'm thinking look

It's always a good day in Danland as long as you know we're above the ground

So yeah, but look so I got a question for you, Sammy is

Is interviewing 17 prospects tomorrow on your to-do list on your whiteboard?

Um, I mean in fairness you don't have to talk to all 17

Just it's not but it should be but I think the reason why it's not on my whiteboard is because

I just know I have to do that at the underarmor next camp

Yeah, so tomorrow's the underarmor next camp

every

Major prospect in Utah for the

In 2027 and 2028 classes with the exception of Peyton Higginson who is visiting Michigan this weekend

and Ujila Wolf Graham who is visiting Oklahoma this weekend

uh

Are going to be in attendance and competing so it should be fun. Plus

Utah commit jack Henderson the the number one player in the state of Idaho

for the class and

A bunch of others, but we'll see Teofano we'll see um

uh

We'll oh geez just Bodysparrow um

And I know that like Utah is a super long shot with him, but nonetheless

What we'll get to see him and a lot of others so it's gonna be better than like I said

We have 17 kids that we're gonna be trying to talk to about where they're at in their recruiting process

That may or may not result in individual stories, but we'll be after it plus networking with them

The national writers across 24 seven and the other services

So it's it's going to be a good day. We're going to get a lot of intel on

on recruiting and where it's sad especially for the local kids and

um

We'll be able to to scout and see some kids and and and look like last year's underarmor next was awesome who we we saw

Matali Benjamin

Ligary Mitchell

Um, I talked to Celeste Moa for about 50 like 10 15 minutes that

What's whatever at this point now um who else was who else was out there um

I'm trying to think the kids that you taught landed. I think the two biggest ones because that was when we first heard

Smoke that Ligary was possibly flipping from I from Boise State to Utah. That's when we first had heard rumors about that

Yep, and it's funny because it didn't come from him like I talked to him and he he he was like, yep

I'm committed to Boise State. I am locked in and we talked to somebody else that was like not so fast two weeks later

He's a you

Matali at that point expecting it

Matali at that point also was committed to Minnesota. Yep, so

Yep. Yeah, that came a little bit later. He he was shown up

Uh, uh at football games left and right so uh, he's also gonna like I've the last couple of spring practice

I've noticed him there

So he's been around the program even though he did not graduate early

That's awesome. Yeah, now he's gonna be able to come in in the summer and start getting his body right and look

probably isn't gonna play uh this fall just based on um on

You know what happened in the spring and who's there and we'll talk about that in a minute of course, but uh

But yeah, just uh

He's a guy that's got so much potential like and you just can't

Like he's a logistics a

You can't you can't coach that so so I'm really excited to see what

Jordan gross can do with him and I'm more excited to see what Greg Argus can do with him because he's uh

He's a big kid with a big frame

Um, and he was able to use that in high school. He's gonna need to get stronger. Look at that does that's not spent that's not

um

That is not a criticism of him specifically like everybody needs to get stronger when they make that leap kelvin

Obat needed to get stronger still does um and we'll talk about that in a minute too

But uh, but yeah, he's a he's a kid that I really excited to see him remake his body

Spend that year getting D1 ready and I think that next year like look if he can make progress and dial in

He's a kid to pay attention to

Yeah, so just some some quick hit names of guys that will be at underarm or next that will have eyes on have you taught ties um

Ian

Hello, see iso. I hope you see oh yep he'll be there

Someone that I think is kind of under the radar, but I would not be shocked to see get a Utah offer at some point in the recent in coming weeks

Is Kemper Castro defensive and out of haramon

Um, you know L.A. Iono the offensive tackle out of haramon is another kid that could get a late offer

He look he's got the frame and we'll get a closer look at him

But you know his programs are starting to kick tires on him. Yep diesel dart will be there

He's talked a lot about Utah in the last couple of weeks

Titan is on obviously he's committed to be with you

But it's still going to be good to get some eyes on him see how he plays

Jacoba Doyle offensive lineman from Washington

He just announced he's going to be at practice today on Friday

He'll be at the camp tomorrow and Saturday as well

major offensive lineman prospect in the west like probably top 10 in the west easily

Like Washington is very much after him. You see L.A. is very much after him

I think you see starting to kick the tires

So it's nice to get him on campus. Sorry for interrupting. No, you're good. I'm fine with you sharing your little thoughts

Caleb hauled out of Syracuse

He's one of those more under the radar guys that Utah's offered Christian handshaw the tight end from american fork

Everybody wants him everybody wants him

He's been a lot he's been at a lot of big 10 schools recently. So it's going to be interesting to see how that one shakes out for him

Jacks. I struggled to say his last name

wide receiver from Davis

Jack's eye will call him

I the first star

Jack's four stars

I need to work on it. We'll give him a mobster name. He's jack's four stars. Yeah

Shane Johnson offensive lineman out of mountain ridge

She is another one that's kind of under the radar that I could see people kicking tires on

crew Jones the

Oklahoma commit

I'm trying to see you all it's Camden LaPaudi the Michigan the Michigan commit obviously will be there as well

Jonah Maile the running back from Skyline that Utah has has had shown interest in this uh the cycle

Sam Nagata who also was it practice yesterday and has been at quite a few practices this season the Oregon commit

That's one that I'm going to be kind of watching kind of close

um

Rice Palipoy the quarterback from Corner Canyon. He was it he's been at quite a few practices this year as well

Yeah, Utah is looking for a quarterback and so

We'll probably talk about that on a subsequent episode

I have a theories as to what's happening and why there aren't a lot of really

Concrete names

Yeah, yeah

Will Rasmussen the corner from Oram will be there

Omarian Sanders from Skyridge the wide receiver. He's another guy that's been on campus quite a few times

That I wouldn't be shocked to see Utah offer late if I remember correctly his dad played safety for the youths

Bodysparrow as you previously mentioned

um fully vaca vaca puna the

Linebacker defensive end wherever you want to put him

Technically, he's listed as corner canyon on our website, but this has him listed at temp view

Uh, oh cool

Let's see that was

Steeler Wesley who just got an offer of 2028 kid. Yeah, I was about to get in the 28 kids too

So yeah, some of you taught how

How cute vaya is uh, I think there's a hunter last year. He's a kid that has a chance to be a four star

And he was at Utah's junior day last year tk savory out of west high school defensive lineman Evan Mac the cornerback at 2027 cornerback out of

He's a four-star kid out of california Utah's offered him

um

And he's from the same area as a kid that is very highly on our radar a certain, you know six-foot five inch wide receiver that

That we know the youths are high on

But yeah, like it's it's a good list. There's there's going to be there's going to be 200 kids there

Yeah, from the 2027 2028 2029 classes

We weren't even planning on making this a segment look at that look at us look at that

There's a couple I want to mention in 28 as well that I know Utah's high on

Titan McNeil the tight end from Washington

But a law schools are pushing for him

Eli Mortensen was a game last year and he was also at underarmor next last year and he was really good last year as well

Eli Mortensen from skyridge. He's another one in the 28 class that I know Utah's show in some some love to know

Isu Fueilife the offensive lineman from or um

Yeah, no I still follow his is uh he's legit like look that orm offensive line is going to be nasty this fall

And even better the next year with tao fauna or sailfall a there's another kid that's on like they've got maybe

Maybe 3d one kids maybe maybe more on that line. They're going to be massive and

I would love to be a running back behind that line

TK savory the defensive lineman from west will also be there. He's an element Utah

Part of that select group that was invited to junior day for that are 2028 kids

There was only a select number of kids that were invited to that one and he was one of them

He's out there

Yeah, he's gonna be a big time recruit. Oh, yeah

At least hey at least it's not supposed to be as hot as it was last year

So chances are I will not sunburn my scalp this time. So oh, it's gonna be sunny and cold

So the worst case scenario is you'll freeze all day and still get sunburn. Yeah, yeah, I'm still gonna wear a hat

So if you see yeah, I'll be there and we'll be there and it's gonna be fun

I had a there was a lot of things that there was a lot that

That went oh another player that we talked to I met last year when I was there Adam by water

So it's a really good relationship with Adam through his whole recruitment process

Yeah, I yeah, we know where he's signed. He's still a pretty good kid. He's a very good kid

Against them where he's signed and frankly, it was really close a lot closer than a certain blue fans would be comfortable knowing

Yeah, that's the thing is like if

There's some kids that were at that under armor next camp that maybe Utah didn't sign

But Utah was very close to getting with quite a few of them

And frankly that kind of thing matters more now at least look there's it's it's not quite the the horseshoes and hand grenades argument

but

Frankly with the transfer portal if you're making a strong

Impression on a kid if you're building a strong relationship on a kid

And you know, you have reason to believe that they can still play

That's it's gonna open doors. We're gonna see look we saw a little bit

You know over the years before the transfer portal was like a big deal

But where kids that would visit Utah sign with a bigger program and decide that you know, I made a mistake

You know, I want to I want to come back

You know, we saw that a lot and we're I think we're gonna see it more

Well, I mean, we we saw this cycle, you know

Marcus Wimberley was someone Utah was going after out of high school

He didn't come to Utah. I went to Oklahoma. He's back

Eli Reed

Another one that Sharif almost had in his grasp, but then he went to Kentucky

So it's like you're starting to see that and I think this honestly proves why

You talk keeps their relationships open as long as they do because you'll see some schools that as soon as a kid commits somewhere else

They're like hey cutting contact. We're not talking to you anymore. You're dead to us basically

But Utah does a really good job at keeping the contact open with these kids

And it has it's been beneficial like it's it's paid off like I'm not I'm not saying that Wimberley and Reed are gonna be like

Stars this season. I mean Eli has the potential to be really good

but

It's those relationships matter and like if someone was like that like Adam Baywater was to go into the portal at some point

You know Morgan would be on that phone calling him up seeing if he wants to come to Utah. Yeah

Most likely. Yeah, well and really look it's part of what fuels the coach Scali and his emphasis on culture

The best example I can think of this a name from the past that a lot of you pans probably haven't thought of but Kylie fits former defensive end

He it was Utah and UCLA down to the end when he committed to UCLA

The legend is that like he called Morgan like like almost in tears

You know having to let him down that

That Utah wasn't it and he very quickly transferred you got to UCLA

Saw it wasn't it very quickly transferred to Utah

And was a very very good player for the youths for several years and but a lot of that was about the relationship and about the culture and and that that

The Scali had been implementing on the defense at that point and and

um

Yeah, like so it's it you know it's kind of you know one of the many data points that led to you know this emphasis that we're seeing and and

It was interesting to watch how that evolved through and I know I'm kind of a violent left turn here from recruiting the culture

But it plays into to all of this right

It was interesting to watch it evolve over the spring

It was interesting to see how the players were and look they were they were loose

They were fun. You've they're all of the interviews that we did in the media scrums are available online

You can watch those you can read you know if you read it that's great if you watch it you can see

You know the the non-verbal stuff and you can hear the tone of voice and the other things that

Communicate certain things that words don't necessarily communicate and so we saw we saw

How this team is evolving already and taking on the personality of its coach and there's still an expectation of toughness

There's still an expectation of excellence in a high bar

And there's also a looseness that we haven't seen whether that translate to wins. I don't know we we won't know until the fall, but

I have a

Hypothesis that I am I'm waiting to see how it plays out. I think it will

I think this team is going to play a lot better than the pundits especially the national and regional ones

Are going to give them credit for and I think it's because of this culture piece and so but so kind of tying a bow in it

Sammy it's it's back to what you were saying about you know

Developing the establishing the culture developing their relationships

Making sure that these recruits have enough exposure to it. So if they don't choose Utah

It's certainly going to make an impression especially if the school that they actually choose

Doesn't actually turn out to be all that for them

Well, and also like kind of building off that that what you're talking about about Scali is there was a quote from Jackson Benny

His presser on Thursday that really really really stood out to me

um when he said that

He said it's he has Scali has so much energy and I think it's one thing for a coach to say bring the energy and whatnot

But he shows by example you can tell that he will die for this program

I don't know anybody else that's more dedicated to anything than coach Scali and I mean it and I totally mean that

So when you see from your fearless lead when you see that from your fearless leader. It's compelling and you want to follow him

That

That also speaks volumes to what how this team is feeling about Morgan at and in the helm and I think that you know

You're if leading by example is a big thing and teams take on

The like teams reflect how their coach behaves to a certain extent and I think that this is one of those things where I honestly think that

Morgan's high energy and his just his like

His go go go. I honestly think it's going to help because you know those these guys are they're flying around

They're doing what they need to do they're they're getting to a ball and Morgan

If this is not to say that Morgan's soft on him like we have heard Morgan's not soft on these guys

One bit like he does not let subpar play

Fly like he if you're not playing up standards. He will let you know

And so I think that that's something else that like needs to be addressed is like it's very like the culture is very different

And I think we as as media can feel it

I think fans are starting to feel it with the added like content we're seeing from the from the team

It's changing times are changing and I honestly I like it like is it going to translate to wins again tbd

But from right now I

I like it's I always liked going up to football practice

But it felt so much different this spring and it was something that I I really liked and I really enjoyed

Yeah, and well and yeah to your point

Look, there were absolutely times in the spring where scally

Would tear into his team if the standard was not being met it was not just

Kumbayon happy go lucky

These guys taking seriously look there was less yelling than I

Probably have ever heard at any practice and in terms of the the

And like look there are certain coaches that still do it, you know mark a tuya. We'll get after his guys

Specifically braie

Specifically, they have a unique relationship. It's uh, it's it's like their their relationship is

Is almost founded on giving each other crap. There is a deep love between those two though. They like it's it's not

Yeah, yeah

A tuya knows that braie's got greatness inside of him and he gets after him and braie gives it back

But he does it in a way that's not disrespectful

And so there's definitely a back and forth between the two and uh, it's it's kind of fun to watch and look

There's only a couple of guys that could pull that off. Oh, yeah

It's a very select number at this point

Yeah, and look away could pull it off as well, but uh, but he's that's not he's more

Jokey, I think uh

I don't know, it's very

Ways very like way knows when to be serious, but way also has such a like a funny sense of humor

Yeah, he's way is awesome like his vibe is just great. I love talking to him

I I feel fired up when I talked to him. He's just got a great energy about him

But yeah, anyway back to what I was saying

Where I got a sidetracked my I guess my ADHD meds have not kicked in yet. We all Dan. We always get sidetracked

I don't know what you're saying. It's what I do. It's like I said. This is the ADHD podcast

Yeah, this is the youth zone podcast sponsored by ADHD

That's we're gonna bounce around and if you can't follow us, sorry

Yeah, well, it's it's how it is um anyway

Back to the the the whole vibe and culture thing vibes don't win football games

We know that we really do and it's interesting like

The things that we've been seeing in my eyes are

Really positive in terms of of the how the team has developed the progress that we've seen over certain guys

Look, I just ran a piece today about the transfers coming in for the defense and and man

It sure looks to me like Utah hit on a vast majority if not all of them

And some of them will wait longer than others like Nick Brown and who is way better than people expect them to be

You know wimbrally who who

You know, he's a he's a red shirt freshman. He's got time right and it's a loaded safety room

So even if he doesn't make an impact this year that doesn't mean it's a bust

Like not by a long shot

So but it looks like they they've hit on their transfers. There's a lot of things are positive

And but you know positive vibes don't win football games

And so they've got to prove it and that's still very much

Where I'm at with this team. It is very much a show me

Attitude

I've got reasons to be optimistic about how they'll perform in the fall and

Reasons to believe why they can be good

But we're just not going to know it. We also saw certain things and some of them we can report on some of them not so much

That's

That's

You know are definitely need to be cleaned up

in terms of

Execution on on the offense and some of that's getting the cohesion in the offensive line

Gap control and the defensive line and things that you would expect at this stage of the process

Would still need to be cleaned up especially if it's not a super veteran team with a lot of guys coming back as starters

Which is the case that it's about half and half so

There's a lot of reason to be optimistic and

They absolutely need to prove it

Well, that's the thing is like my thing is if we were seeing these the issues that we have seen if we were seeing them in fall

I would be a little bit more concerned

But considering we're what six seven months out from the season starting

like I

I'm not as concerned

Because there's time you know may as going to be very pivotal. It's going to be very critical for a lot of guys especially on the offensive line

It if they come back from their may break looking

even

40% better I'll say 40% better than what they look like right now

I think that the confidence at least my end goes up a little bit more

and I know 40% is not a lot but

It's something it's progress instead of regression. That's the one thing that is key for this Utah team as a whole

Over the next couple a couple of months. Is there needs to be progress made whether it's in the weight room whether it's in the film room whether it's

In the playbook there needs to be progress and not regression

Yeah, I'm I'm absolutely with you

That was a hard quote. I just came up with too. I'm like thinking about that. I'm like oh progress not regression

Dang you should write for a living or something. That was fire. I love it

um anyways

Dan do you have any more thoughts about this random segment we've just had

Now let's dive a little bit more focused and deeper into spring football

So let's take a break and then come back for tuck spring perfect. Let's do that

Okay, welcome back from our very short break um

Dan spring football talk to me. What's going on? I mean it happened

It's not over yet. It's not over yet technical tomorrow's practice. Is it today or tomorrow? It's Saturday morning right before the 22 for you

Thing yeah, by the way um

If you're listening

Come come out to it. It's gonna be cool. It's in the practice facility

I think hopefully people know where that's at check social media. They'll be posting stuff

I was gonna film a little thing to walk like like walking through showing people where to go and I

Didn't get to it the other day. So oh well you'll you'll figure it out. You're all smart people. You're subscribers here

Maybe hey, maybe maybe I'll be there. I don't know

Yeah, I might be there too. We'll see uh, we're uh

The crewton is is taking precedence, but yeah anyway one more practice left

largely look I think that

That Utah they accomplished most of their goals

They got a lot of the offense installed

They were definitely working on fine-tuning things

They haven't officially named who that starting five offensive line will be

But we know who the top six maybe seven candidates

For the starting spots will be and I think that

Personally, I'm pretty comfortable with any of the seven

any of them uh, so so

That was a big question that maybe didn't get answered, but they're definitely trending toward an answer that will be

Acceptable come season start the defensive line looks much better than I anticipated

And once again still work to do but there are three solid candidates for starting a defensive and which gives you a rotation

They'll get a fourth when Paul gets back from injury and they've got

six detacles that could play and this detackler room is much better than it was last year

Much better from a talent perspective from a size perspective from a strength perspective and they lost some good players

Well, and that's the thing is I honestly think the defensive tackle room is head and shoulders above what I thought they were gonna be at

When we headed into spring

Like if I had to redo my glass half empty glass half full now that spring is over

defensive tackle would now be half full

It would be half full because I think there's so much there's

The stuff that jai did this this spring was impressive the stuff that you know

Carson and poop who have done the spring Lucas samsula. Oh my gosh

Insane Jamal Wallace

Yeah, like Wallace is a guy that I you know and even look I probably didn't convey it very well in the in the article that I wrote about those guys

But yeah, Moe is a

Jai Moe is is is a load. He's and how how often we talked to

offensive lineman and

They just mentioned how hard he is to block

for you if you didn't read the article

Look last year reading the article. That's the first question. I mean that is a good question like shame on you start reading um

John will probably shun you

Shun the unbeliever

I

Anyway, uh, but if if if you didn't know jai moe last year was the

led all of

FBS defensive tackles and one-on-one win rate so he's

Incredibly he's only six foot and and that six foot's right and two 90s about right is what it looks like from him

I mean he's not the biggest defensive tackle in the room, but he is

Difficult to block and and the opposite thing luca or Luther Ellis

Talking about lucas samsula and how hard he is to move and he said look the biggest piece of feedback

We have for lucas is that his pad levels too high and even when his pad level look low-man wins

I'd like that's a thing in football low-man wins even when his pad level is too high. He still

Isn't moved in the run

In the run block so you know, I think that and and he said something similar about jam Wallace right where

Is a guy that can run and will run sideline to sideline and and has amazing get off and then once again a guy that he hasn't played a lot of reps

He's a senior, but he hasn't played a lot of reps and so he's somebody that could come out and know where and and it wouldn't

I wouldn't be shocked if jam Wallace and jai moe were the two starters

I might be a little surprised, but it's not out of bounds and they're not going to decide it until well in the fall camp

You know between them poop who looks better

Carson looked amazing. Yeah, Carson looks like a ready to be a breakout star

For the record Keith Olson told me that poop who's set alone is the toughest defensive lineman to block. So

You know, that's not for nothing

So yeah, it's a good defensive tackle room. I'm very bullish on them. No

They don't have as many reps as maybe fans would like to see and so there might be some growing pains, but the size is there the versatility is there the

The skill set is there. I think especially with Utah, you know, Utah's defense is at its best when the defensive tackles are gap control and holding their assignments and

You know as as

Scally and swan and the rest of them say you know holding down their their 10 square feet around them and

and

I think that this is a group that can do that that they can control gaps that they can eat up blocks

They can free up the linebackers to make plays and it's a good linebacker core

I mean there's four guys that I think you fans can be really excited about

Safety's are deep the corners really came along and they look it was dicey at the beginning of camp

But they have really come along and scooby's gonna do what scooby does

I think he'll be better as a senior and he played pretty well last year and

Really excited about you. I really excited about Bobo excited about rock

I think that they've got some guys excited about um

Uh-oh

If jc you have nays. He is the one. I think I said I was like number four transferred from

Auburn but his name was escaping me. Yeah, jc

And and look um if you haven't had the chance

Sammy's gonna run a story on it

watch

Sharif Shah's

media interaction

From this Wednesday

About how he's describing his corners

A look Sharif tends to be really harsh on his guys, especially in interviews

You know like they haven't done nothing yet, you know kind of thing and

That was not his tone

He talked about the growth he talked about guys buying in about the need for them to just do what he says to do

And we're starting to see it and jc was a guy that he he singled out

As that as somebody that's gonna take on a role. Is he gonna be a starter?

I don't know probably not based

Possible but but based on what we saw but like look when they're in their base four three where they need a single big corner

He's their guy when they when they have a matchup where they need a big physical corner that's got speed

He's their guy and and and it's just like the detackler room. We're seeing

A group of guys that we don't know the starters are going to be but you see the tools you see the depth you see the versatility

And I think that they're going to be able to feel the pretty good unit and even maybe you will stand a little bit of injury

And I feel that way about the tackle. I feel that way about corner and I had

That no way would I have thought that prior to the season. I feel that way about wide receiver

Can I say something about the defense before you move over to the offense? Please

Jam is deceivingly fast

Like for a guy of his size. He shouldn't be as fat. It shouldn't be as fast as he is like

I remember there's been a couple of times when we've been at practice and Jam Wallace has

gotten speed like he has gotten down the field

He is so deceivingly fast and then like Lucas my big thing with Lucas is he talked about

Two weeks last week the week before I can't remember when but he talked about how he prides himself on stopping the run

And being somebody that plugs holes and makes it hard to run the ball and

He passes the eye test on that front he really does and well look

I think we should stick with the defense a little bit more and then we'll move over to receiver in that but look

You know staying on the defensive line

Lance I thought looked really really good

He's bulked up some he's

He's definitely taking a leadership role in this defense and you hear you hear Lance before you see him

Yeah, absolutely

Cash Dylan

He's looking better than he did a year ago. I don't know if like the light bulb has gone off for him to

Be who I think he can be I don't know if he's all the way there yet

I think that he's definitely laid a foundation in the spring and we might if we see another leap over the summer

I

He's a guy I want I think he has a denim to be a john Henry daily type

I really do I think he can be that good. He hasn't been that good in games yet

And he and he'd be the first to tell you

I think that he's got it in him

So if he continues to make that leap like that's something and then you know

We talked about you today in the in the article we talked I I wrote about you today in the article

impressive

I

Impressive

You know cloud look pretty good and and he's a guy that you know, I don't I wouldn't expect him to get

Starter reps, but he's a guy that you can put in there and you can trust especially in situational football

I like what's happening at defensive and the fact they've got three guys and then once again

We didn't see any of Paul and he's he's been hurt and hopefully he's fully healed by the fall and

Because he's a guy that you know was in the mix last year and

He's he's been snakebitten a little bit and I'd love to see him be able to finish his career

Strong and come on and surprise everybody, but

So I'm I'm bullish on the defensive end. I we talked about linebackers. I love what we're seeing at linebacker

You know jano is jano

Tray Reynolds looks like he's ready that he was playing really good football at the end of the year last year

Looks like he's picking up where he left off

Cyrus Polu is going to be a problem

Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, like get ready for number zero

Buy your paulu stock now. Yes. He he is going to be a problem also buy your Ellis stock right now too

Yep, exactly and you beat me to it

It was going to be the next thing out of my mouth lies Ellis and they're using him in different ways

Sometimes it's sideline the sideline stuff sometimes it's in past rush

And he and he's a guy that can look he's not quite big enough to be like a full-time ed rusher

But he's got ed rush skill sets like I I wouldn't be surprised if you know he basically

You know eventually develops into you know another version of like a clone of jona

You know at some point he I think that he's he's got

That potential in him from a frame perspective, but right now he's looking good at linebacker

They got four linebackers that you can trust

I'll make an argument for five who it's the fifth

Tason read

You're absolutely right. We did see a lot of Tason read um and I would make an argue it

He came on the last few weeks. Yeah, yeah, I would make an argument. I would say like you for sure have four in

John O'Tray

Cyrus and Elijah Ellis's nickname is toee

Not like T.U.I. like the Polynesian spelling, but to E like it's

Like double E, but they call him toee like those four I think are you're clear cut for but I do think that

Uh read is like

Like very close to like there like not there's a gap between him and Ellis, but I think he's pushing for that fifth spot

look I

well and

That's a good reminder brock from the way moana right like he's a guy we saw a lot of as well and

You know, I think he needs a little bit get a little bit bigger

um

but

You know, he he played some pretty significant reps last year and as a true freshman and

And you know, he's gonna continue to grow as well so that look that linebacker him is good and you know

We didn't see a lot of the freshman, you know, legary or um or pits and once again, we didn't see everything so you know

We just because we didn't see it doesn't necessarily mean anything

But you know, it's it's a good room and they've got some development pieces in there

And they've got some guys that we feel like can be stars

And then you you go back a level and then you look at the safety room and good night, you know

Rabbits starting to get healthy. He's starting to move around and he's got talent

He was going to be the starter last year. There's no reason that he can't do that this year

Nate Richie is

Is looking better than he did last year, I think

Nate Tillman has made a major leap and he is in the conversation and Jackson Benny might be a star

So it like it's almost like Jackson Benny will be a star. Yes. You're correct. Yeah. Thank you. And I deserved that correction

Yes 100% and they're almost and many fullers coming on and

They're almost to a point where it's a problem of how do you get these guys on the field like it's great

They can withstand the injuries and but how do you keep guys happy?

And we'll see look manny where we saw them in special teams last year

We're gonna see one special teams again

He might be a year away from being a serious contributor, but look they're losing two seniors

three and and and Benny's, you know, he's a junior and he he might be NFL worthy. So they

There's there's opportunity and this is a good year for a guy like Wimberly or a guy like manny

To really make the case for themselves next year and then Sammy like the the most important thing with the safes

What's the number one thing that coach Adam said they worked on in spring they are working on tackling

Everybody's no tackling everyone's everyone's celebrating. It's listening to this podcast right now

Open field tackling and he said there has been improvement. So Utah fans. You got your wish

That area of emphasis. Look, there's a problem last year. It was

Well, it it was really the thing that kept Utah from being look they were a very good defense last year

You know very good defense and and I don't care

You know the the but what about fans like I don't care. They were a very good defense. I don't care what happened with Kansas state

I don't care what happened with Kansas

And but it but it was the tackling that kept them from being

From moving from very good to great and

It was it was a tackling that made Kansas and Kansas state happen

Well, there's also a tackle that gets missed versus BYU that could have changed the tide of the game, but

All less that one go. Yeah, from one of the safeties. Yeah, look. He's not here anymore. Don't don't want to speak ill of the

Departed but

Because he was a good he was a good you for three years and yeah to your point

Miss tackles

Really plagued this defense and so if they're able to even fix even to a 10% improvement from last year

That's going to be meaningful

Um, I'm going to share some thoughts on the positions that you kind of you talked about really fast uh

Linebacker big thing for me that also stood out, you know, you did you mentioned pits

Pits the big thing that no, I noticed again. We didn't see a lot of him, but his he is a unit

He is massive like if he can put a little bit more weight on like he is going to be probably one of the bigger guys

Bigger backers that Utah has rolled through

Great. Yeah, he's still on the skinny side like yeah, he's big. He's skinny and he's big skinny. It's weird

Um, but uh

Yeah, you're absolutely right like he could have a frame to to bulk up to the end

Yeah, um, which is where he played in high school. So it's it's not something completely foreign to him

Um, those that's my take on those on the line. That's something you just I just noticed about press and I wanted to mention but with safety

Odom even said that he's been mixing and matching the different kind of combinations

He's rolling with in every practice because of how many guys he has and what types of

Settility he has so he said that sometimes he has

Both the Nate's out there sometimes he has rabbit and Jackson sometimes he has you know rabbit with tilly like stuff like that

He's mixing and matching and trying to find what is best for certain situations which I

Honestly really love. I think that is something that could be the Utah's advantage because let's say

I'm not and this is just this just me hypothesizing. I'm not this is not actual truth of what I saw at practice. Let's say

One of the safety is is not the best in

Ace a dedicated run down which you know that there's going to be those situations where you know it teams going to run the ball

If you have a safety that's not out there that can stop the run

But somebody else can I think odom's going to be smart enough to pull that safety out and put a new one in if you need your two best

Pass coverage safeties out there. I think odom is going to not be afraid to you know mix and match these guys because again

It goes back to what you said Dan like there's so much talent, but there's only two spots

And so I think that's something with that I was really encouraged with what talking to odom is that he fully admitted that he has a wealth of talent

He also fully admitted that he's willing to

Use some different combinations and people are you seeing to try and help the team in in different situations

So he said that yeah sometimes rabbits running with the two sometimes

Jackson's running with the two's but at the same time the the reps come out to be the same amount if you're on the two's or if you're with the ones

But it doesn't mean that they are a two or a one. It just he's mixing with combinations to see what works best

Yeah, and the bottom line is and you're 100% right on all of this

The bottom line is

This is a good a good problem for Utah to have in the sense that you want

Open competition. I mean, yes, it's true that

The surefire starter expected star, you know, there's look Jonno's a guy that could be that you know

Trays a guy that could be that

Rabbits a guy that might be that but he's still coming back from the injury

But uh

Yeah, there's you don't have a lot of those on this defense just yet

maybe scubi but

But the level of competition that we're seeing and the the ways that these guys are pushing one

one another is

Is pretty impressive in it and I think that it's gonna lead to much much better outcomes in the fall and

It's look we're not gonna see it get settled until Idaho or maybe even Arkansas or maybe even after that guys are gonna

I really have to bring it not only just through fall camp but every single week and work and talked a lot

especially over the last week and a half about

We're gonna learn who these players are

in May and in June and July and and and it's a really good point

You know, it's it's easy for a player to come in and be motivated for a spring practice

You know, they see the opportunity everybody's doing the same thing the schedule is set for them

They've got school they've got football they've got you know from a practice from film from whatever

It's all set

Come may they're on their own

And they've and they've got to work on things themselves and develop and so coach Scali has been talking about

We're gonna see who really wants it in May and June we're gonna see how serious

People are about these position battles in May and June are are they doing the things they need to do to get stronger to get faster to

To get their bodies right to stay healthy even things like like Scali was talking about sleep

Are they sleeping enough are they is there nutrition good enough and those two things factor heavily into

Injury prevention in particular and so

It's gonna be fun to watch this so yes the battles are fierce

Yes, there's some talent and we're gonna start to see guys separate themselves and the the important piece of that is happening in the next

45 days

Um

I'll you've shared your thoughts on corner. So I'm gonna do some rapid fire thoughts about corner um

Scooby

Scooby is as I think Scooby is finally at that point where

I the light bulb went on last year for Scooby, but I think the light bulb is now consistently on for Scooby

It's not flickering because there were moments last year or it would start to flicker

He it the light bulbs on fully and I expect big things from him this season. I think Scooby is is in a great position to be

One of the more stat like one of the more

Lockdown corners in the big 12. I think that's that's my take on Scooby

I am very very very interested

In seeing how the other outside corner spot and the nickel spot develop over the next couple of weeks

Because heading into spring. I honestly thought it was going to be

Scooby one outside corner spot

Eli read on the other outside corner spot and Bobo Chanel at nickel that has been turned on its head in my opinion

I honestly think now you have Eli or Bobo outside and nickel is gonna be between rock

and nick brown

Yeah, I mean Morgan talked about nick brown and how he needs to get stronger and bigger like he's just really slight

And that's gonna be the it's not a talent if he doesn't see the field this fall

It's not because he can't play it's because he's not big enough. Yeah, but if he can't if he doesn't then you're gonna see

JC back in the slot. You're also gonna see JC playing outside

I wouldn't be shocked if JC's backing up Scooby at some point

But again kind of like safety

Sharif mentioned that there's gonna be certain guys that are called on to do certain things in certain packages

so you might honestly

You might see a package with

multiple like some sort of combination of Scooby Bobo

And Eli out there you might even see Scooby JC and somebody else out there like there's gonna be different ways that that Sharif plays with this and

My thing is is Sharif is one of those coaches that I don't have

Concerns about when it comes to developing guys

Figuring out who is the right guy to play in what situation because Sharif has proven time and time again that one

He knows how to find good talent and two. He knows how to put guys in the best positions to succeed

Whether or not the light bulb turns on and they start figuring things out and they start doing what Sharif asks them to do

That's a whole another question, but I don't have concerns about Sharif

I also I

Go ahead. I also just think that

There's so much talent. There's so much versatility

There's a lot of things that are different about this corner room than in years past

How many teams can say they have a six foot three guy playing nickel

Not a lot

And if rock if that's the job that rock does like that's gonna be

Pretty and that's gonna be pretty fun to watch because you know usually your your your guy that the nickels ending up

Ended up covering as your is your slot receiver. So it's five ten five eleven six foot six one guys

Rock has an insane

Like radius so he is a he's a pbU magnet

Like he has such a wing span that he can get in there and just knock balls out the height advantage is gonna be it

Is gonna help you talk there's there's so much to like about the corner room and I

Honestly, Sharif one of the things that should sit out to me about Sharif is last year at this time

He was talking about how he needed his corners to start drinking out of a fire hose

And he didn't say that this year

He said that he actually trusts guys, which is hard to do for him. Yeah, that's massive for this group

Especially with only bringing back three guys from last year

Yeah, and look the the biggest thing and and and Sharif talked about it on Wednesday

Too many PIs too much grabbing too much holding and too much doing it, you know outside

Yeah, if you're gonna hold the guy you gotta get your hands in the numbers right and and too many guys

Not doing that kind of thing so there's definitely work that needs to be done

And and that's gonna be one of the differentiators as as they start to to

Develop the pecking order is, you know, are you a guy that do you have to grab and hold and and

And be you know a PR king to do the job or can you do it without it and look

Last year in the big 12 and the year prior that what we've seen is they definitely allow corners to be a lot more physical than any other

League and in college football like I don't know the definition of passing a appearance in the big 12 and

If that remains the same then that's gonna be less of an issue than it is

Right now, but it's it's definitely something that will need to be addressed will need to be addressed through fall camp and the other thing is

The one name that you didn't mention and we didn't we saw some of him we didn't see enough of him in my opinion

but somebody that Sharif Shaw called out in terms of

of being

Maybe a surprise or or or or a guy that really really improved is Earl Parker, you know, no corner transfer and

You know, he's gonna be in that mix as well

And and what does that look like but he was starting to make plays and and Earl

From a personal perspective. He's one of my favorite kids. I've talked to in the last

Decay these amazing in terms of his attitude and his mindset

He is he's the perfect you from that perspective and the youths are gonna have one more juco corner

Join in the summer

So I mean the room and the room is not done. It's not the cake is not baked and there is we're gonna see what that looks like

but definitely things that need to be answered

but the the ingredients are there and to your point Sammy

it's

There's a reason to be optimistic and that versatility is awesome. It's not something that we've seen

The last couple of years at least

Okay, I feel like we've addressed all the defensive positions

Let's take a break and then we'll do offense and then we'll jump in the mailbag. Love it perfect taking a break

Okay, welcome back

Let's talk while the offense

Dan you led the charge on the defense. So I'm gonna leave the charge on the offense just

Um, people are like, Dan, stop talking. We want to hear Sammy

Actually, nobody would say that ever, but anyways

wise

offense

Where should I start? I'm gonna start with quarterback. I'll start with quarterback

Devon and bird, you know, we also we got to talk to Ryan Gunderson for the first time on Wednesday, which was very fun

Uh, he's a fun. He's an interesting character. Um, but he's awesome gun. These awesome. Yeah, it was fun

What respected by football people. Yeah, so

Devon and bird I think the obviously there's been a lot of focus on

progressions getting through progressions doing a lot of things that NFL

Scouts coaches want to see out of these guys

Um, and there are moments where you know bird I I gotta give a moment to bird

His deep ball is probably one of the best deep balls I can remember

It is so beautiful and he puts it right in the bucket. Oh

chef's kiss beautiful, but

Midgiven also I if I remember correctly you said that bird

Has throws probably one of the best balls on the move that he's ever seen

Which also pretty encouraging when you're gonna use a lot of like

motions RPOs stuff like that in an offense like I know midgiven's gonna do

Um, but yeah, so those two they're I will say there were bumps

There were there have been bumps with the quarterbacks, which is to be completely blunt with you

I expected it's where I knew offense or both these guys

There's a lot more that's being asked of them than in previous years

Um, so there were issues, but

I am a big fan of getting the issues out of the system now

Rather than having those get those issues out of the system when it matters meaning fall camp

actual games

But

I liked what I've seen from the two of them, you know

Devon is just is is Devon Devon's doing what Devon does bird

I already talked about his deep ball. He still is also very electric when carrying the ball like there's a lot to like and I

I've said it once and I've said it. I'll say it again

This is probably the most comfortable. I felt about a Utah quarterback room in a long time

Like there and there's a lot to like with those two and I asked Gundy about

Mike Johnson and Kane archer and what they need to do because you know to be honest

We haven't seen quite a lot of them this spring and for good reason

There's no there's no quarterback battle

There's no quarterback controversy that going on right now

So we know who the one and the two are but with Kane and Michael it's getting them used to things and having things start to slow down

teaching them, you know, the fundamentals and the basics and stuff but

overall

Please with the quarterback room. I don't see any concerns

Right now with that group, but that's my take on the quarterbacks. Yeah, and before you move on

I'll just chime in oh, I was gonna let you talk about quarterbacks and then I was gonna jump to the next

Yeah, I know that's a good way to do it

But yeah, when you and when you mention issues

What we're talking about is you know consistency stuff small things and we

We would see

You know two amazing throws and then a couple questionable ones and and and not even a lot like a questionable

That leads to turnovers and stuff like that just but some of it was timing issues some of it was

Blocking issues, you know, there there are a lot of different things that would lead to something like that, but um

There's run balls

Yeah, exactly

Yeah, there are definitely things that that need to be cleaned up a little bit from both bird and from dev

The one thing that I really love and look there was a poster that was on the board that was able to watch the scrimmage

We of course were not but they talked about the command that dev showed and the nice thing about that it was

Right after what was probably dev's roughest practice from our observation and so the fact that he had a

A practice where he did a lot of really good things and there were a couple of things were like, oh man

He just looks a little off today and he come back and he follows that up with a scrimmage where he's

Commanding and dominant is a very very good thing. So I I don't think that

There's any reason to to be concerned about the quarterback

at all

And I think that they're going to get really high level play

From both of those guys and at different points in the season. We're going to see some interesting things from both of those guys

And there was a nice

um

There was a nice foundation that was laid in spring those two in particular talking about May the importance of May and June

Making sure that they are masters of the playbook that they

Really didn't understand and something that Gundy and and and McGiven talked about is the dev is really

He dove into that playbook

And was maybe even ahead of schedule in terms of what you would expect

By the time the spring was done and in his mastery of it

So I think we're going to see some special things from him. I think we're going to see some interesting and fun things from bird

and

I

It's going to bowed well for Utah this fall and then set Utah for next year and

I'm excited to see what it looks like. I do think that

That

Sammy to your point, you know that with the way that the passing game runs the option routes the the the RPO stuff that they're doing

It requires good decisions from the receivers. It requires good decisions from the quarterback

And the the more that they have it down before fall camp starts the better this team is going to be

yep

We're going to i'm going to jump to running back

High confidence in this group. I want to say

uh

Wayshan. I hate using the phrase muscle hamster

But that's the first thing that pops into my brain when I when I watch Wayshan

especially because he was already

pretty

Stout when he came in last year, but he got bigger this offseason and bigger in like a good way

Um, he did say that he still needs to slim down a little bit to like get to his ideal like playing weight and stuff

But that's something that

I'm pretty sure Argus will get him figured out in a couple of weeks

So he'll probably ready to go by the season

Wayshan has I already know that people have said that Wayshan's a good pass catcher

He is

But he has gotten so much better. He has gotten a lot better at that. There has been some moments where I have watched him catcher ball

And I said

Why is he not playing wide receiver? Because he is he has the he has the hands

He has a catch radius. He has the body control to make these good plays

um

Bray has to be Daniel Bray has to be one of the best

surprises of spring football for me at least um

He was kind of a scrawny little kid when he came in last year and he has also bulked up

But he has not lost his

Burst his speed any of the things that made him so dangerous last year

And I was talking to someone else on the beaten

Bray does this thing

And I noticed it very very clearly a couple practices go. If his hips go in a certain direction

His hips just lead the rest of his body where he needs to go and he his cut move

Is one of the most lethal I have seen in a while for a Utah player

But he's looked great

Morgan's called him out a couple of times which I think is also highly encouraging

We've talked about his his relationship with Atuaya and just the back and forthness of it

um

You can usually I think every practice we'd been to we heard Atuaya yell Daniel at least once

um and not because of like it was sometimes it was something as stupid as like

Finish your run or

Like hold on to the ball or something like that like it was not anything like bad like it wasn't like he

Missed a block or anything like whatever but um

Steve Chavez Soto

Really good in pass pro

Really really really good in pass pro um

I think him and Washon are probably going to be your one two when it comes to pass blocking running backs just from my

Educated guess just based on what we know about those two um

He needs to work on catching the ball

But good news is that he was really good at it in high school

But just not doing it when he was at San Jose state last year just kind of led to that skill kind of

Getting a little rusty so I fully expect him to take that step forward

We saw some good things from Matiaki before he got hurt which I can talk about because Atuaya said it in his presser

um and then the last one uh when Marcus Bell which

He also is he I think he's going to be special. I really think fam's going to be special

Um another one that that Morgan said needs to work on catching the ball

But then Morgan in the in the following week says that Bams just been out there catching the ball like on the jugs machines

Just doing anything he can to get better at catching the ball

He's still a freshman

He had moments where he thinks he has a hole and he tries to get to it and the whole closes before he can get there

Like he still needs to work on his vision. He still needs to you know

Bulk up just a little bit but not a lot

But those are that's I'm confident in the running back game

I think that you know if they can all they all spend a lot of time on the jugs machines this summer

I think that this running back room could be

Another very important piece of the puzzle

Yeah, I've got a high degree of confidence in the backs that we we saw what way Sean can do last year

We saw glimpses of what break can do last year

SCS is is is going to be solid the fact that that Hilo showed

As as much promises as he did before he went down with an injury

Um

Is is a great thing and so yeah, I you it's it's it's a room that I've got a lot of confidence in and I and they should make a splash the question is going to be

You know where the reps going to be distributed

Is is a way Sean going to be on the field enough to get to a thousand yards this season. I think the answer to that is yes

I think it's a reasonable expectation and I

You know, it's going to be interesting to see how they are in short yardage and who they use and how they use guys

Especially, you know like Hilo can be a short yardage back SCS can can do some things from it from a short yardage perspective

And you know, but he's got these exact same sizes way Sean too you five ten two oh five they're both five ten two oh five

so um

You know, or is it hunter Andrews is it is it's you know something else is it just dev like

It's it's going to be interesting to see how they handle short yardage. It's going to be interesting to see how they handle the workload

But it's it should be a really strong group. Yep. I agree

Um, we're going to move to a wide receiver

which

Uh, I don't know how to adequately say how

Please die out with what with the wide receiver room this spring

Um, I know people are going to drag me and say like well, why would you say that you say that every year

I honestly I feel even more confident now

That this is probably one of the more talented wide receiver rooms you toss had in ten years

And I said that before camp and I'm sticking to the guns now that I've seen it with my own eyes were there issues

Yes, but the issues were not the glaring issues that we saw last year like coaches yelling catch the ball

That was not an issue this year

Yeah, I I don't think that we saw very many flat out drops

The only one I can think of is BP dropping a ball in the end zone because he tried to one hand grab it

Oh, that's true. Yeah, and then Devon and everyone were yelling at him used two hands

Yeah, he got he got he got torn into a little bit for that which is valid. I'll give him that one's valid, but

I have a lot of confidence in this room

So as like probably more than

I think I would have had just looking at the roster

BP has had some really great moments

Kyrie has had some really great moments Kyrie's speed is something that has not been

talked about as much as it should he is also

Blazing fast

Here for that

Ricky Johnson

People were kind of like when he came in by stock

By your Ricky Johnson stock right now for him on that one

Creed has been doing what Creed needs to do like he is he's he's

Creed looks good like he's picking up where he left off in the fall which I think is

Improved player on the team in my opinion. He could be you could make an argument for that honestly

um, but I think

The touchdown Larry is touchdown Larry. We know what Larry Simmons does Larry Simmons is doing what Larry Simmons does

The biggest

Surprise in this room has to be the play of Nate Johnson

Nate Johnson

Has something has has flipped a switch in his head

And he looks like a whole different person. You know like how last year he would do a lot of catching the ball with his body

That's that's gone

That's gone. He has insane but like body control. He has great hands

And I honestly think Nate is also going to be a sleeper for a high contributor on this team next this fall

he just has

The speed he's proven now that he has the hands

So I'm I'm I'm here for it. I'm here for the Nate Johnson. I'm on the Nate Johnson train again. So

Jump up jump on board with me if you'd like

Yeah, he's look he's got a proven in games when when the lights are on and when there's pressure

um and

But yeah, he's a guy that you know I

I still wonder why he didn't get more reps than he did last year same thing with Creed

both Nate and Creed and no surprise they're looking like the bet the most improved players on the team and

and

Their guys that probably should have gotten more run than they did a season ago and

for whatever reasons they didn't but

Yeah, the the question for me a wide receiver is less about are there enough capable guys

and more about

Are they going to perform when the lights are on and and are they going to make good decisions when income in terms of

of

When when they've got an option route or something like that or are they going to be in the right places and then

And play football and trust their instincts. I I like coach bump as a coach

I think he's really really good and at what he does and he's got that room

dialed in and the competition is really heavy and and yeah look I I'm

Holy on board with you for Ricky Johnson. I he's going to make plays

That's not so a name I would have called out prior to spring camp happening

But we're going to see him this fall. We're going to see we expected Kyrie we expected

Braden right and and

They're they're going to get their run and and the fact that you know nates an option and creeds an option and you know

Larry's going to get his run and and with Ricky and and we didn't mention zip either

I forgot about zip and we saw zip plenty and and he's

He's going to be in the mix and and you know, what does that look like from a rotation standpoint and who's going to be able to get out there and and some of this is definitely

What are the difference makers? Well, we know these guys can run routes

We know that they can catch the ball and coach bump talked about that like you better be able to catch the ball

You're a college wide receiver

That's not what's going to get you on the field what's going to get you on the field is how are you a blocking? You know is it is it is it

How are you in playing without the ball like how are you attacking your the routes that you're running how

You know all of those types of things are are going to be what really determines who we see on the field and who we don't see on the field

We've already established that these guys can catch and there are six or seven of them that can be trusted in that

So what are they doing for the other things the little things to make this team better and

It's it's going to be fun to watch how that plays out. So it should be a good group. I'm not ready to

Know to say that you know, it's the best group in a certain amount of time just yeah

I really do want to see it on the field

But there once again reason to be optimistic and reason to believe that these guys are going to give dev

Better weapons than he had a season ago and I firmly believe that and you know includes a

Fantastic tight end that's now in the big tan a tight NFL tight end and in the receiver that

That's

played punched well above his weight

I

And and I think Utah's got better talent more talent more options and so can these guys

Do those things that they need to do and can they be great in the scramble drill?

That's going to be really really important. I'm also interested to see how to bias factors into this

Yeah, yeah, he didn't he didn't play the series

He's been hurt and

can he come in and and and

blaze a trail for himself that would be awesome if you can look by all accounts

He's a good locker room dude and you he's a guy you want on your team and if he doesn't play

That's great, you know, I mean not great for him. He wants to play but from a from a team perspective

It is what it is and it's going to be interesting to see what what he can do

Um, we're gonna let's you have any other wider receiver thoughts or should we jump to tight end?

That's up to tight end

tight end uh, I

I'm

This is weird. I'm TBD on the tight end still. I think Noah Benny is gonna get his I think he's gonna be

Consistent. I don't but I think the I don't think he's the clear cut like option one

Like and because you know like in years past when the Utah passing game it revolved all around the tight ends

I think because of the talent that they have in the wide receiver room

Benny is not going to be option one which should help it will open him up for a little bit more things if if teams are keying it on VP

Shoals Nate guys like that

I do think that Noah is going to be good. I think Noah is going to do what he needs to do Jackson even talked about it Jackson said that he made a drive saving play

Um at practice on Thursday. So there's

Reason to believe that Noah is going to be good. I'm not gonna say that he is going to be

Brandt Keithy Dalton concade

Dalin Bentley level of good, but I he's going to be

Good enough that it helps the team

I would love to be surprised. I would love to be surprised and and have Benny just go off

But and this is the one where I'm kind of like well if I all wait until I see it type thing

The rest of the room the unique guys is what we'll call them

Also bear Fisher. I'll mention bear Fisher in passing as well because he also has had some good moments this the spring

Very interested to see how he

Factors into the rotation and stuff this this this fall because he has size and I think that's something

That you talk and use to their advantage, but

How is he in the playbook how is he in past pro how is he in run blocking? There's a lot of things that need to be figured out with him

The unique the unicorns of the room is what I will call them hunter Andrews semi-Telonga and Cione Motipuaka

It first of all is so great to see hunter back out there

I know there's a question about his injury

I don't know what it is. I know it was a leg injury as all I can know

I don't know if it was an ACL or

What it was but I know it was a leg injury

For him but it was great to see him back out this spring, you know

He had he has some fun

There's some fun things that you talk and do with him whether it is in like you mentioned down the run game

The past game

Wildcat situation stuff that we've seen with him before how is he going to factor in is gonna be so fun to watch

But then we have our beloved rhinos

Our beloved rhinos of semi and Cione

Dan I know you have been campaigning for semi to get multiple touchdowns per game

But it only has to it can only come versus BYU and we know that there was in one scrimmage where he scored two touchdown

So you did get your wish to a certain extent

but

I

Love the idea of these two because now that we know that they're catching the ball

There's a lot teams can't just key and be like okay

The rhinos are in that means they're running the ball. It's like no

You need to be ready that they can catch the ball and they can run and they will run you over semi trucked

Somebody I can't remember who it is. I want to say it was tre or was it cash?

It was somebody he trucked him to get to the end zone and that one touchdown. So I'm I honestly

Very excited to see how this tight-end room looks because it's just there's so many different facets to this room

And there's so many unique pieces that I think can make it interesting and like I said

They're not going to have to be relied upon as of right now. They're not going to be relied upon. It's

They've built out a wide receiver room that has enough guys and has a lot of talent

That should be able to carry the load so the wide rest of the tight ends aren't going to be asked to do as much

Yeah, it's it's it's a group that

I think that the coach Wells has been a really solid addition in terms of

of

Helping these guys from a technique perspective helping these guys just from a pure

football playing perspective getting the offense integrated that sort of thing

I think he's done a pretty solid job

We saw some good things out of Noah Benny

It's it is look we didn't see Monty at all. We'll probably say him in the fall um, but

Yeah, into your point like bear Fisher physically

Looks pretty pretty solid whether he's going to see reps at all is

Entirely dependent on on just how things shake out how the tight end is is actually useful in the offense

But yeah to your point

Hunter Andrews is is a big ex-factor and and

He was not as featured as heavily this spring as he was last spring and that's okay like he's coming back from the injury

I don't think that he's 100% I'd be surprised if he was and frankly they just got him back

Like I don't even think he he was really out there for the first week

Like the last two or three weeks he's been back

Yeah, so and if that's the case then yeah, of course he's not going to be you know running at a hundred percent and and and that's fine

He we know he's a playmaker and and he can do some special things. So if he's healthy

I think he's going to factor into things and into your point about the the the rhinos and we saw them out and we saw them out together sometimes and and

the fact that that

that semi can catch is good the fact that

Motuapuwaka can catch is great

um, and and it does give them

due to your point it gives them some

Some versatility in terms of play calls and and what that can look like and

I'm excited to see what they can do are they gonna put up

More than 500 yards as a total group

I

Hope so um six more than 600 yards probably not I mean if you just look at how the numbers played out last year is a frankly

Uh, it didn't play out that way that last year

Other than you know it wouldn't have if if Bentley wasn't required to be the

Number two receiver on the team

but um

But it's it's an important position and

Uh, I love that I love the skill set versatility. I love the body type versatility and

And I'm excited to see what they do with it and the nice thing is to your point

You know, we've talked about other offensive skill positions already that uh running back wide receiver

Other than blocking and we can see the the ability for these guys

You know Utah doesn't necessarily need them to step up and be massive playmakers

And so it's a luxury at this point and and it's going to be fun to see how it plays out this fall

But once again

not a lot of experience in game

In terms of guys that have a lot of production and so it's it's another

Show me scenario uh when the lights come on can you perform and and that's really the next test

And I think that these guys get are getting themselves ready to do that but

It's gonna it's gonna be interesting

And it's gonna be really interesting to see how

How defenses react to semi

um

Look he is the most talked about player in all of college football for the last week

and

So and he's gonna be somebody that people are paying attention to and

Anything that he does and I wouldn't be surprised at all if we saw against

I know

Him go off for a big long game or something and so and and look it kind of happens every year where one player comes out

To know where and and he's not out of nowhere necessarily

unless

But for the fans aren't paying attention he is but one player comes out and know where makes a couple of big plays in the game and then

and

then

Defenses adjust and we don't see it again that happened with duty Stanley it happened

As you know I was trying to remember I was like who's the running back?

They went to New Mexico state that had like that game with like four rushing or like three receiving touchdowns on the wheel route

Yeah exactly so uh

so

That happens and and and I'm excited to see how it plays out

but I think that the Titan group is better than most people would

Would expect and I think that Utah is going to be set when they want to go into some sort of a

Jumbo rhino

Gorilla package whatever you want to call it

and

That's going to help the running game immensely and the fact that they can throw it a little bit out of it

Is nice is a nice to have

Um offensive line Dan. I'm going to let you leave this one off because you spent and insane amount of time watching the offensive line this year and I

Have spent a lot more time watching

defense skill positions

Stuff like that. Yeah, I spent for I probably spent a good 70% of my time just watching the offensive and defensive line

It's not because I don't care. It was we were just trying to divide and

That's it was the roles that we had agreed upon so yeah, what I care

I love the big guys up front. I do I just I was more focused and I was like

We you go watch the defense and I was like sign me up. I'll go watch the defense. Yeah

Well look the first practice that we got to watch I ice

The it was half inside half outside and I was I stayed inside and and watch Jordan gross cook and

And it was it was fun to see

Just how he instructs and how he works with these guys it the the level of detail the fact that he jumps in and jumps into his stance and he shows them

What it looks like and does it next to them and he adjusts their hands and all that and look

I mean a lot of people will be like well that's coaching. That's what you do and

But I I just I like the fact that he's doing it

And I like the fact that I know that players are listening because we've heard multiple players say look

He lived the life that I want to have and so I'm going to listen to every word that comes out of his mouth and and and we're seeing that

In terms of on the field play. What did we see in offensive line that that we like to look

Zeroy Williams

I am very impressed with what he showed

Keith Olson look we've talked about Keith for a long time super Keith is the man

It's funny. He does not like attention. He does not want attention. He is unassuming and quiet and wants to stay that way

And I think he's going to be Utah's best offensive lineman this year

And I think he's got a legit chance at turning himself into an NFL prospect with a good season

So we'll see what that looks like and if you can do it but but I really really bullish on on Keith

We saw really good things out of Alex Harrison. We saw

Really good things at a solito a MoEI especially towards the end of camp. It was really starting to

To put things together

I Garcia

Absolute revelation. Hey look he was hurt all year. You know, he'd been waiting the wings. He's been hurt

You know, he's coming back. He's playing with a vengeance. He could very well be Utah starter at right tackle

This fall that would not shock me at all said Jefferson look good

Definitely things he's got to pick up things. He's got to clean up

But he's a guy that I think he could put out there kelvin obat looks really good

He's going to be in the mix. You know, we heard Coach McGiven on the radio

Talking about obat playing guard. So I'm not speaking out of school

When I say that. Yes, we saw kelvin playing a lot of raps at guard

and and you know the if there's a chance that he's not a starter

I do think that he's talented enough that Utah's going to try to get him on the field but

But look, I just listed off

You know

A bunch of guys alderman looked really really solid. Um, and so there's there's there's your

What's that can't chemo look good at times. I think I think chemo might have hit a wall a little bit in the middle of practice

he looked really really good early

and

And he was but he was coming along and and he's a look he's a he's still he's a he's a red shirt freshman

And yes, he's a return missionaries a little bit older, but he's a red for sure freshmen like he's got time

But yeah between between Z and and Alex and

and Keith and solatoa who are the four seniors and then you know, you've got said and

and i Garcia and and kelvin obat, you know, there you got seven guys that are competing for those five spots with you know

Reese parameters in there a little bit

You know

Yeah, to your point Sammy chem is in there a little bit

It's going to be interesting to see you know, just how that

um

How that rotation plays out and who they actually go with you know is kelvin obat going to be a starter if he's not a starter

He's the first guy off the bench. He's going to play out a lot of reps same thing with our i Garcia

If he's not the starter, it's going to be just like solatoa last year or Keith also last year

They're going to see the field a lot even if they're not starting. So um, yeah, it's it's

The line is coming along

um

They're clearly not going to be as good as last year. You cannot replace two first rounders on the NFL

Like like Bama would have a hard time with that and Utah is not Bama in terms of the bodies that they've got on the line

um

But they're coming along

There's reason to be optimistic

I expect them to be

You know a solid unit by the time things were said and done whether that happens

Before game six is another story. I don't know we'll see and and even coach gross was talking about hey

I've never done this before so even i'm learning um and you know the fact that he's just being honest about it is awesome in my mind

and i think the future of this unit is is really bright

um

And i've not seen anything that would make me not believe that

But once again, they're going to have to prove it and it's going to be fun to watch

I think you've covered the offensive lines this everything that i would have said um and especially because you've spent so much time watching them this year so

It's about the battle right and this is yet another unit so we we talked about what's happening on defense wide receiver massive battle

Titan massive battle offensive line massive battle these guys want to play their five wide open spots

And these guys want to play and nothing is going to be guaranteed or promise

So they got to go out and earn it and that's a place that you want them to be now

It needs to happen within the first week of fall camps

They can start developing a chemistry and a cohesion between them

But even that starting to to to gel just a little bit. I think they've got a pretty good idea of who those five are going to be minus one or two spots

But um

But

There's there's reason to be optimistic

Okay, yep i agree

Um dan let's take a break and let's get back into the mail bag because i feel like we've talked enough about spring ball and there's some spring ball questions for the mail bag. So let's do that

Okay, welcome back for our final segment. We are at the hour and a half mark. So i hope you guys enjoy our long forum podcasts

Um, we're going to jump right in bowerman says

You both have raved about how players such as wit a more parker and bray have transformed their bodies from your experience

Is this the usual development that happens under elisia or you seeing better results from the new strengthen conditioning coaches

And what are you hearing about the strength and strength staff so far

Yeah, look it happens every year

It's yeah, I'm

What dug a osiah is a very respected

Strength and conditioning coach and

Uh, you know jr salt was working with him

Up and coming guy ex-hute

And so i'm not going to to cash shade on anything with elisia was doing

I do think the august is uh

Man, we're hearing a lot of good things about him

From the coaches of scally

A swan mentioned it

Given as mentioned at times

In terms of how you got guys ready um in that in that winter conditioning program

um and and i'm looking forward to having an opportunity to sit down with him just to to talk about

What he's doing to to get guys stronger to keep them

More injury free that the good news is look we didn't see a lot of injuries

Most of them were

Were kind of minor things we didn't see anything that was like devastating

Season ending it might be the first spring in a while that we haven't seen that i can't remember what happened last year

But uh, you know, it's

We get a few of them um and uh it doesn't hurt that they're not playing the spring game either

And in fact they're finished with contact is it what coach scally said on tuesday that everything else was was was not going to be full contact

so um

But yeah, it's it's to be expected that that you're going to see these guys come in and they're going to be stronger

And we're going to see another jump over the summer. That's the expectation. We're going to see guys

You know, I would not be surprised at all to see a cyrus paul who look different

In july than he did when I talked to him on thursday and so uh and and look and coach scally has talked about the online in particular how

That's critically important that they get even stronger

He's like if you want to push weight on the field you got to push weight in the weight room

So uh

So yes, I don't know if I'm answering the question, but it's it's a thing that's to be expected

We definitely sought with guys

uh and regardless of the strength and condition

Staff is if if if they're

You know, even a little bit competent. They you should be seeing guys getting bigger stronger

better

better appearance in their physique like putting on good weight and the fact that

Injuries have been so much less of an issue this spring

Makes me extremely hopeful that coach argus just got the right recipe going

To to help this team to to stay healthy to get their bodies and their minds right and and be ready for what's going to be a grueling season

Um, next question is also an empowerment. It's kind of along the same lines

We've heard in the past from insiders about issues with the medical staff and how it contributed to the high number injuries

Has there been any changes to the medical staff or changes to their approach

Um, yes is going to be the short answer uh

I don't want to really dive deep into that topic to be honest uh

You may see others do so and

But there has definitely been a shift in philosophy and ways of doing things from

What we've seen in previous years how big of a shift um

I

Heard to say well, I will say this I will say this

Morgan said that they've cut down on soft tissue injuries again

Um, Jackson Benny even admitted that they have haven't had as much injuries this year as they have in years past and he even said like some years

It was a struggle so there has been changes

I just think that this is such like I'm kind of in your boat. I don't want to there's I know there's there's people that might want to dive into this

And that they might have things going on but I'm not like

Things have happened that have changed that I'll look on that that area specifically

Yeah, this answer is going to drive everybody crazy and I get it to their like we'll spill the tea

Uh

We're not I'm it's it doesn't do anybody any good

There's some tea that's not meant to be shared by us but meant to be shared by others

Yes

Believe it is

Okay, next question

North

Northern you 29 says well, Bowerman also asked about 100 answers injury and that's why I said I can't remember who was an ACL and knee ankle something it was a leg injury

I never got a straight answer as to what it is so that's my

Just take it as a leg

Um, and I know that doesn't answer your question, but it was that's

I mean do the math a leg that takes a year to heal

Yeah, do the math

Northern you 29 says do we have a chance with Jalen Cox he hasn't committed anywhere after his visits can chill get him for a visit

I don't know. I know Maryland is for those who Jalen Cox the Colgate transfer

Maryland has started to show interest in him as well

Honestly, I have no clue

Um, like someone said on the running use basketball tracker Steve even said that

Alex and Wes keep things very quiet for a reason

And that's what we've quickly learned

Is that the information we're going to get about what's going on with with prospects is few and far between and it's very selective about what's being leaked and what is not being leaked

for read for a good reason um, I think that

It's a it's an interesting approach. It's a smart approach is basically ninja recruiting year round unlike Utah football where they do select ninja recruiting

Those select kids

It's ninja recruiting 24 seven with the running use and I know that's not a great answer

And I know you guys want all the inside information and stuff and believe me

We have tried we try to get as much information as we can that we can share with you guys on that front but

They're very selective about what gets out so I have no idea what's going on with Jalen Cox

I know he did not schedule it he was not his visit schedule did not have Utah on it to begin with so we'll see

Um, and Northern you also says who are we looking at for center kind of goes back to my previous state

I

Expect the euro edition on that front

But that's just me that's Dan stance, but yeah, it's

That's the thing is where it's it's few and far between to get information and it's for a good reason

So I know it's hard for me to say trust the for me to say trust the process with the running use because of how the last year went but um

We have no choice which choice at this point and also I honestly think that the portal approach this year has been vastly different than last year

They're actually being methodical with who they offer. They're not just offering anybody with a with a pulse right now

um, so yeah

I know that was a non-answer, but I'm gonna give that answer anyways

I'll take it. Yeah

Bowerman says what was the reason for the atrocious run defense at the end of last season?

Was it mainly because of an undersized jona lea aia getting pushed around and injured Dallas Valkylai or inexperienced

Freshman dan I will let you take the field. Yeah, so

Jona was not getting pushed around. He was getting too far up field

There's very big difference like jona catches a lot of heat

But he's not catching heat for the right things and frankly all of the uta coaches would tell you that so um

Look, I made some posts in a few of the threads a few weeks ago or I really broke down in in great detail

What was happening specifically against kansas state in a little bit against kansas in terms of

Of why

The youth struggled in their run defense and keep in mind before those games the run defense was just fine

Like it wasn't the best in the world

but it was

It was just fine and and and in the areas where they were giving up rushing yards like since nadi rush for a bunch of stuff

But you know uta shut down their number one player

So like what difference does it make and they won that game by 30 odd points. So um

What I will say is this a big the big problems that were leading to uta's struggles in the run game late last year

Or threefold it wasn't just one thing

There was there were issues in terms of gap assignments and gap controls

So player defensive tackles getting too far up field which would open up a hole behind them

That shouldn't normally be there if they were staying home and just plugging the gap

uh

Sometimes they'd get pushed sometimes they wouldn't

There were some issues with linebackers maybe not filling holes the way that you would want to

But oftentimes it was it was more about you know if the defensive lineman

Isn't holding his gap the way that he needs to it's going to cause a chain reaction behind them

they did things to uh

To

Adjust you know shifting from man coverages

To zone coverages so everybody's got eyes on the football and that sort of thing but um

Or you know bringing extra guys so they would you know do zero coverage

Where like basically the safety was was the was the lone

Layer of defense between the bulk carrier and a home run and

When you look at out like the big runs like Kansas State had what like four or five runs of more than

40 yards and every single one of them

Gap control issue and

The safety was there to make a tackle and miss the tackle and 80 yards later

Kansas State standing in the end zone and

You know Utah coaches are like dude like what are you doing and so I mean that's really

And I'm not meaning to be dismissive and I hope that my tone is is not

Sniied it probably is but but really that's that's

That's what led to it and

It's one of the reasons why we're so bullish on this defensive tackler room look look Dallas was still her played her a lot last year

You know definitely didn't have the season that we expected them to

Leakey played her a lot last year Jonah was a warrior and deserves credit and for whatever reason he's been the punching bag for

A lot of Utah fans and I'm not necessarily singling you out the desk the question

But but I think that's it's been unfair and I think Jonah's going to be a fine player at Michigan and

and

But yeah, that's that's what that was and I think that the defensive tackle room this year is going to be much better equipped

From a depth perspective from a body and physicality perspective from a talent skill set perspective

Frank and I just think they're more talented than Utah had

Altogether last year. So because I I would consider

From what we've the little bit that was certainly Jai Moui

I think is better than Dallas was

Already and and there's reason to believe that samsula and and Wallace can be so

It's I think we're gonna see a much better run defense this fall and if we don't I will be the first to fess up and say sorry guys

I was wrong like I had that dead wrong and I'll tell you why

Where you know, but that's that's the way that we see it. Yep

um

Bill set 12 says who leads a team in sacks this year. I think day and cash have good years, but I'm gonna go with lands

and

I'm gonna take that. I'm gonna take lands

Yeah, that sounds reasonable to me like look lands

He fires off the ball. Well, he's got a good motor

um

We're gonna see a pretty strong rotation between them, but but lands was looking good as a past wrestler last year and

and you know, I don't know that Utah is necessarily gonna have a an eight plus sacked guy like they have the last couple of years

But it wouldn't surprise me if we saw three players with more than four

Mm-hmm evenly distribute it would be fine. We thought which would almost be better. Yeah

Not getting double teams on one guy all the time. Yeah

Don't sleep on on

What's Elijah's nickname again? Do we?

Yeah, yeah, don't sleep on to eat

I was gonna say I was gonna say also dark course contenders would be John O and and Cyrus

Yeah, yeah, I look I wouldn't be surprised if either of those guys got at least three

I say four and a half

That would be especially if that happens. This is a good defense. This is really especially Cyrus

I'm gonna say four and a half Cyrus

Yeah, I that's a tough one

Like I mean, well, I'm being really bullish on Cyrus right now like I am all in the the buyer Cyrus Paul who stocked right now can't

Yeah, look at for me. It's it's all about

How much time is Utah gonna spend in the nickel um, uh, and that's good because I look

Cyrus will play situationally in front of John or or crazy

I'm free at some point. What's that? Who's to say he doesn't jump tray at some point

I could see it happening

I'd be surprised I'm bullish on tray. I think he's gonna have a great senior well

Where do things have happened in the world of football Dan? I mean look I get it and it's possible

But yeah, it'll be interesting to see it play out

This next question. I know you have an answer for and I'm ready for you to answer it

It's from live view it says progress on Ocho signing

um

That we have nothing to report they haven't announced anything and there was a poster that uh

uh

Has a track record of

being

Very much in the know on a lot of things that said that the deal was signed and they aren't announcing it for reasons and

I have no reason to believe that isn't accurate

um

There's look uh the fact that the tribune reported on the new CEO

And they got that because

Well, you know people in the athletic department. We're willing to share the name

So that was in by the way that was a name that I've known for several months now. So uh

And I'm not saying like I told like I knew it and blah blah blah like yeah, yeah, yeah, but uh

There's been a lot of work that's been going on behind the scenes to make this a thing and

My expectation is that it will remain a thing

I wouldn't be surprised if they don't sign the deal until after the uh

The academic year is done um and uh, but yeah, I it's

I expect it to happen

You told me your answer was going to be 10 seconds long. That was longer than 10 seconds. Yeah

I'm not capable of short

Okay, well

This is from MD

I'd like to hear Dan's rant about the PBYU PR and marketing machine

It's been a while since we've talked about BYU on this Utah podcast

And where Utah is at with making similar commitments

Is it in the works are awaiting for Ocho to fix this and hopefully leap frog Utah beyond their BS

I know Dan's air this is Dan's area of expertise and would love to hear Dan go off on what they do well

And why Utah can't step it up and kick them to the curb in this regard

It doesn't sound like it's a lack of money or resources, but more a lack of commitment or maybe I'm totally mistaken in this regard

Just always get the sense that the BYU poor boys it with most every aspect of their operation Dan

Take the mic

Okay, well a couple of things

We'll see if I actually get worked up to an actual rant here. I might have to

Like I like start pumping iron here to get get ready to get

angry

Yes, it is my area of expertise. I've been a PR professional for

25 plus years

And so I know a thing or two about both from a corporate perspective non-profit perspectives start a perspective

I've I've I've worked with organizations from as small as you know a single person founder to

multi-billion dollar multinational companies where I've led global strategic

PR strategies

So I know a thing or two about how this stuff should work. It's not a brag. It's just a

Giving context behind why why I think the way that I think

So there's a couple of different ways to look at this so number one is

And there are a lot of ways to break this down from a

From a marketing perspective. I think that for a long time

Utah's marketing has not been the stellar

Some of that is because they just frankly haven't poured the resources into it or they have not really

been pushing to bring in

expertise and personnel that come from the corporate world that are a little bit more better versed in

more better a little bit better versed in

in

Strat effective strategies

How to how to to drive towards an outcome?

You know that sort of thing and so I do think that there's in the past historically been kind of a provincial mindset

I actually do believe that that has improved under Mark Harlan

For the record so and you know for people that think that man does no right

I do think that that is an area where it has improved is it where it should be not by a long shot

Make no mistake. It is not anywhere close to where it needs to be

But it has improved incrementally. I do believe that the outro deal is going to help that tremendously

for a couple of reasons number one is

Frankly, there's money that's being invested and they're going to expect a return and marketing is going to be critical

And helping them to drive that return. They know they're not just going to be able to do it by

By raising ticket prices and and and and and you know death by a thousand cuts in terms of trying to get

You know the fan base to pay for things that frankly they're just not going to pay for it at some point

They will cry uncle and and it's not going to happen and they're not just going to get it out of corporate sponsorships in

You know the Ken Garf zone and and speaking of corporate sponsorships

The Ken Garf zone and Rysecle Stadium or whatever they decide to do

From a box perspective and a premium seating perspective in in the Huntsman Center as part of that renovation

But so I do think that we're going to see some more

professional and

Esticated marketing efforts when outro comes to comes

to

To be and to start their operations

It's just from a business perspective now

Whether they're going to invest heavily enough it remains to be seen

Private equity does have a reputation of squeezing blood from the stone and trying to do more with less and and certainly cutting marketing dollars and

I don't think that this is going to be one. It's that that's not a universal thing

It is a thing that happens often

But it's not universal and I do think that this is something that an area where they will invest and they should invest

When you look at things from a PR perspective, it's a little bit different so dealing with media and the media relations piece

Well, there there are definitely cultural factors that play into why BYU might get you know quote-unquote favorable treatment

Over over Utah some of that is just the nature of the of the fan bases

BYU's fan base is

Desperate for validation

Desperate to be liked like look at the bootlickers that have just you know just worshiped all of the other fan bases

In the big 12 please like us please like us like that's that's basically BYU Twitter in a nutshell is

Texas tech let me kiss your butt bailer. Let me kiss your butt. We'll give you ice cream

Yeah, we'll give you ice cream so you like us. So you know that we're nice

You know even though you know we'd stab you in the back in in a heartbeat if we had the opportunity to better ourselves

but

That's another story altogether

But but anyway, but yeah, so like this is a fan base is desperate for validation

Desperate to be liked and so when you think about like what the market forces look like so they're gonna

The listenership is gonna happen

To or the readership is gonna happen to those media outlets that

Just put BYU on a pedestal and even better if they've knocked Utah down

We've seen that for 30 years, you know

Vegas talks about it on the board others talk about it on the board frankly. It's been longer than 30 years

You know, but but since you know 40 years ago or when Utah really started to to up-level their athletic department

It's that's definitely been a factor and and at the same time look the you whether it's a budgeting thing or

Whether it's just a willingness factor. They just have not been willing to invest in the things that they need to do from a PR perspective

To kind of turn that tide now is there something that can be done in the local media

I mean probably not I think right now when you look at Utah football there that's s i d staff

They're doing a really good job with engaging with the local media, especially those that are on the Utah beat

They and in this spring in particular. They've been absolutely phenomenal. So Paul Kirk, Keeler, McJunkin like those people

Ryan Goulant, Mike and set Mark and Sarah

Yes, all of them. Thank you. I was about to to call out Ryan and Mark in particular

They've done a phenomenal job. They've been easy to work with they've helped us tell stories

They've helped us identify stories

and and and and and I think that that

That unit is is doing more and I think they'd like to do even more than they do

but they're not necessarily resource for it and

So whether like once again is the budget thing is the willingness thing

What are the other priorities like that I can't say but I it would be awesome to see them do more on that front

I'd especially like to see them do more nationally. So

When you look back at Oregon is a great example

Oregon football in the 80s was a freaking joke

And frankly even in the early 90s they were starting to come up

But they look they weren't they weren't Oregon yet and

It wasn't until the early 2000s and that frankly is the Joey Harrington

Heisman campaign where they

bought the big billboard on time square and everybody was like what a bunch of dopes buying a billboard on time square

Why would you do that? Why would you spend that money? What a waste will look at where Oregon is 25 years later

And well, that's why they did it and there was a long-term plan and strategy

There was consistent investment in the resources and they brought in professionals that knew what the hell they were doing

Now yes, they had the Nike support which helps Utah doesn't have that and so where does that come from?

Well, it's either got to be grassroots or there's got to be people like me that are willing to come in and and

Donate time or expertise or consulting

But that's not something that there's been an interest in in the department

I'm willing to have a conversation if anybody wants but

But it's got to come from somewhere. There's got to be resources coming from somewhere and it's just not happening now

Is that going to change if Mark Harlan's no longer that athletic director?

I have reasons to believe yes. I like I honestly don't think he cares at all about PR

And I'd be willing I'd love to be corrected if that's the case and see what the proof points and the evidence is

That says otherwise but from my

Professional opinion and I've got a pretty up close look at what's happening

I'm not seeing it so that but they need to invest they need to make a decision that look this matters

Telling our story matters establishing our brand matters

Getting out in front of more national audiences matter look if you don't like your company

You're keeping in the big 12 well then invest more than the rest of the big 12 and elevate your brand above them

You know, and it's only going to help to get you into the into the p2

Which is the ultimate end goal anyway, so so anyway

So yes

Look, I know that there are conversations happening internally about you know how Utah

Is perceived and treated on the media front

I don't think that there's been a lot that's that's been happening to

To turn that tide whether it's locally or nationally and I do think it's it's more of a it's it's partially attitude and and lack of interest by the top leadership

And it's partially a lack of investment and into resources for the the professionals and running this thing that would very much like to do more

Are not allowed to do more because they're not resourced for it, which is also points to the top leadership

So um, that's how it changes somebody's got to change their mindset somebody's got to change their attitude around it

They've got to invest resources budget into getting this stuff done whether it's hiring people whether it's it's

Advertising whether it's it's doing both and and bringing some professionals that uh that are are really

savvy

And and BYU's done that they they've done it in their game day experience which Utah is far behind we've talked about that

They've done that and they're in their marketing efforts and how they engage with that fanbook base and look

It's an easier fan base to engage in because of the natural cultural ties and religious ties

Between the predominant religion in the state and the school like I get it

I get that they're easier to talk to they're easier to whip up into a frenzy first over certain things and at the end of the day

anything that happens that gives them even

uh

grain of salts worth of validation is going to get

celebrated to the rafters

In that community and so and that's not the case for Utah. It's a

For whatever reason this fan base has decided they need to be the anti BYU and so it's almost like they're harder on their teams sometimes them BYU fans are

But anyway, so yeah, there's my rant. I actually went on it um, but

But those are that are leading into it. Well, you also kind of address the other question

Which is from Bowerman is do the coaches athletic department and admin get it as annoyed as fans as the local media bias against Utah

And their kid gloves with BYU. Also, what does River Riley have against Utah?

You bet your sweet bippy they do

Like uh, they they look they read it

They read it uh, they know it

um

Some of them have personal relationships with reporters and some and past coaches have had personal relationships with reporters and and they've given things to them

Than others, but uh, but it it is something that's annoying because there are stories that that deserve to be told

There are things that deserve to be celebrated the fact that Utah's got two first round

Draft picks in the NFL on their offensive line like cheese

That sure sounds to me like something that might be worthy of a national campaign where you would invest, you know

500 grand in to elevate the school's brand and help with uh recruiting efforts and and and all of that sort of stuff

um, you know

Frankly, why Texas Tech's not doing that with their defensive line prospects and the draft this year is is insane to me and and

But yeah show that you're more sophisticated than then the the the the institutions and brands that you're competing with um and if you have to hustle more than then then get smart about it and invest in it

But yeah, it's yes, they read it. Yes, it drives them nuts um

Is there something that's being done about it

proactively not really and and it probably won't happen and and like once again

I am not blaming the Utah SID staff at all for this

Like you got to be resourced to do that kind of thing and I just don't see it happening

It's not an investment that matters and I don't think Mar Carlin cares about PR. So um, that's that's where we're at

Um, I'll address the Trevor Riley question

Which will be very careful with what I say in this this this part

There is a certain group of former players who feel that

The current state of college athletics, especially with NIL that they're but hurt about it

And they let their but hurt feelings affect

Like put a tint on how they look at things

Um

That's all I'm going to say I think that's a good enough answer that's not going to get me into trouble

Yeah, I'm not going to touch that with a 10-foot pole like Trevor's problem is Trevor's problem. It's not my business

Um, if you don't like him

Thanks for supporting us like we'll get we'll give you the straight skinny and yes, we've got our own

He's got his bias. We've got our bias

But our bias probably agrees with yours. So reward it

How's that for being cynical

Bang um life long you four

Thank you first and foremost for

Using one of your three posts to ask us a question. I appreciate this

I love when people who don't talk a lot on the board start posting. It's a big I enjoy it

Um, based on everything you know, and I've seen to this point as a whole

Do you feel the team is coming out of spring ball behind schedule on schedule ahead of schedule in terms of development towards the upcoming season right on schedule

I would agree if you want to like pretend like position by position. It kind of varies, but big picture on schedule

Yeah, there are areas where they know they need improvement. There are areas where they definitely want to be better

We've talked about some of them already in the podcast, but they're they're right on schedule for where they expected to be

where they plan to be and

It's you know, it's all systems go until um until Idaho

Um, the next question I'll take the charge on

Uh, Jay Whiti SFG you women's basketball question

How many of the departures this year were encouraged by Gavin looking for fewer turnovers and more offense and how many players decisions were based on a disconnect with the head coach

Both to a certain extent some players it was

Wanting a fresh start some players it was more of a hey

This hasn't been working out. Let's see what we can do in the portal type thing, but

I will say I have been highly encouraged by the additions that Gavin has brought in so far

um

Leia Kinesa from Kansas

Probably going to be a

A bench player should come off the bench at that point guard um

Lena Gerardi so excited so excited about her

uh

Philippa Barrios

Super excited about her she was one of the more wanted guards in the portal this year

Olivia Bradley also really excited for her

I think that there's a lot to like with the portal additions they've brought in there's three spots to work with right now

There's a lot of freshmen that I know internally people are really excited about so as of right now

I'm thinking we're net positive

To even with the women's basketball portal just it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting to see what they do with those last three spots

But to answer your question

I could it's it's both to a certain extent

Love it, okay?

You fan galore

A obligatory semi-question how is he handling all the newfound attention? Have you seen him leap and how have you seen his

How have you seen a leap in his ability since last year? What are your favorite parts of his game

Dan if you had to prognosticate semis final stats they're coming this year. What would you say to end up being in why

I want to say one thing and then I'll let you go

Semmy has been like he was joking around with us after practice and he was like yeah, it's kind of it's kind of strange

That I'm like all over twitter and stuff, but also he did joke. He's like I'm trying to get some NIL

I'm trying to do some things and we were joking with him. He should make like semi truck shirts

Which I know Utah fans would be all over if that happened

Just kind of like they were all over the macaiburn art. I play running back shirt when they

Like when he had his whole thing in the Rose Bowl

I think this semi is I think he's enjoying his his his fame to a certain extent

I think he's also just really ready to prove that he can you know contribute to this team

Yeah, I do think that there there is definitely

He's uncomfortable with the attention

He's he is really laid back

And easy-going guy he's he's really he's great, but look

There's the fan fest thing to or not or whatever it is right the 22 forever

Thing that's tomorrow

There are going to be other opportunities to potentially engage with him if you have the opportunity to sit down with him

He's fun. He's he's an easy-going fun guy

I think that the the attention is not something he was ready for look

He's been the most talked about player in all of college football for more than a week

And that's not something that he was necessarily ready for and but he's having fun with it and

You know, I it's my hope that you know, maybe at the mcda football game like

Makes him a load that would be fun

But not that I really play video games anymore. I would be eating that up as someone who plays that video game pretty regularly with her brother

That I would eat that up. I would be every drive throw in the ball to semi every single drive

Yeah, exactly. So

So anyway, yeah, it's so it's been fun to watch

I hope that he's able to get some NIL and capitalize on it and more importantly

I hope that he's able to get some results in the season to help with that now

What does that look like from in terms of like what do I realistically expect you know my the joke is that like

I just want him to give it to give the ball to semi and let him create right?

but

If you look at look at last year and what you touted through the passing game

There are 234 total receptions for for the team

So that gives you an idea of and I expect that it's going to be

Roughly the same. We might see a small uptick. So anywhere between 230 and 260 receptions

To be split out among amongst all the Utah players is is what my a reasonable expectation would be and so if you look at that and how it's distributed

um

You know look last year washawn had 13 catches for 185 yards and three touchdowns

That would be a great season for semi realistically speaking

I wouldn't necessarily expect a lot more uh

Than that

So I think that that's a stat line that would be and even the three touchdowns might be a lot right like what it you know because once again

Our defense is going to adjust what are they going to do to scheme and does that open up something else?

That's just they makes it an easier path to the end zone

But but if stemmy if stemmy had that stat line I think that's a pretty good stat line

And especially given the fact that look that he's just not going to be on the field all the time

There's there's a time and a place for rhino package and so there's only going to be so many opportunities and and realistically

I think that would be awesome

Next question is a baseball question, but it's not like a specific baseball question

Willie you says will texas tech forfeit the game tonight because it's too cold for their sensitive souls

Without a question i would laugh if they did yeah cody Campbell is gonna be like

He's gonna talk to the heavens and say it's not meant to be cold in the in the

The the baseball season don't you know how things run in texas we run the big 12

Yeah, and we run the sky

I have I apologize to anyone we might have offended with our really bad accent. Oh

so

Anyways, that would I would laugh if it if it actually happened that way um

Willality says what does the future p2 semi-pro football league

Uh

Of the top 48 to 60 teams look like our players considered employees

Can they find a way to limit or monitor how nil is handled?

Do they split regional divisions? Do they only play games against each other and the other 60 plus d1 teams for their own league

Is this just for football or would it be for all sports in this new league

Well as long as utas included, I think it looks glorious

But but seriously

Look most of the things that you asked uh, I would answer yes to uh, I think that it would be football or football and basketball

First uh, and they would split split off the rest of the Olympic sports that would stay in the NCAA

There would definitely be divisions. They would they would it would it would look a lot like the NFL and a lot of ways

But more regional and different traditions and that sort of thing

You would absolutely see regulations in terms of you know, whether that's you know collective bargaining agreement for the players or

Or something else like something has to be done to to

You cannot have that kind of a league and the investments in that kind of a league without some sort of

Of rules and guidelines to maintain a little bit of parity

Or at least reward with good well-managed programs over just being able to dump as much money as possible

And so I I don't think that

It's going to come together without something of that nature, but I would expect them to just play themselves

Um, it would still be college football. It would still be a flavor of college football

Uh, you would see a I'd be very surprised if we saw them playing FCS programs or or

If they do play FCS programs, it's probably going to be in the spring with the spring game type thing

Yeah, exactly and uh, and and it's and and that kind of thing is going to change the entire landscape right look the

These body-bag games are are kind of what funds FCS programs

So what does that look like and what does it look like with the decreased opportunities for for various players of programs decide that

They're going to pull out and shut things down. I don't know, but I do think that uh, we're going to see um

You know, I wouldn't be surprised. I 48 I think is small. I think that they're going to probably expand them more because um

There are some headwinds in terms of you know things like these were public public schools

So uh, state legislatures are going to get involved in certain ways like political power is going to be wielded

Um, uh, the way there's going to be thrown around and so there's going to need to be some sort of compromises

They're not going to be able to do just whatever they want to do

Um, and it's my hope that the the powers that be don't throw the baby out with the bathwater and and that they just include the use so that

You can continue for the next 20 years to really don't want to be on the unemployment line

Yeah

Um

This is a fun question Robert you said do you think they'll ever build a crown burger in St George

I don't know important question. I don't know, but maybe we should get crown burger after UA tomorrow. That sounds really good. Oh

Sammy, that's a great that last year we went to redigwana. Yeah, let's go to crown. Let's go crown

But crown burger that's a good idea

Um, meet us you zone meet up at crown burger after the UA next

Which crown burger yes

Why would we go to anywhere other than the OG if we're already down there. I mean, that's true. We will be almost across the street

um

So yeah

We might do that like look out for the board tomorrow if we decide to go there

We might just say hey we're going to be in crown burger in 30 minutes if you want to come say hi

And and see see uh

See how many of you are as deranged as we are um, but uh

Yeah, look um, well look it's it's a family-owned operation, right?

And I think the Apollo burgers are kind of a split from the same family if I remember Apollo crown astro all three all three

Yeah, because it's all kind of similar. They're all similar. Yeah, they're not exactly the same, but they're all similar

But yeah, like I guess we just need one of those amazing

Members of the that amazing Greek family to to want to live in southern Utah and then they can open it up

But for those of you that are down there in St. George a thank you for your service and and be uh

Yeah, sorry. There's no crown burger. Although you do have like my fate my my two favorite Mexican restaurants in

Hermitas, which is awesome

And then there's like a little fast food joint that's kind of across the street from where the best western is on

The bluff street. I forget I

But it's a fast food Mexican place and it's freaking delicious and it's in an old like

Arby's or something like well, and there's I've also heard there's a really good like barbecue place down in St. George too

Oh, yeah, Steve Bartle was talking about that the other day was telling us an amazing barbecue place

And then that is a man that knows his cue so uh, uh, but uh

Anyway, so yeah, you've got plenty of good options, but yeah if if you need to get your crown burger fix

Uh, we'll be there tomorrow maybe

Yeah, yeah, start driving start walking start hitting up and you can meet us at crown burger in the afternoon

Oh my god, okay, the next one is for climbing arrows

Why do you think so many fans on this board are so negative to me?

You tell footballs in a great place lots of things going to be lots of things to do to be ready

But so much optimism about I read a comment from a common poster who says things like last year's offense didn't utilize its strengths

What 40 plus points for games and 11 wins we outgained BYU and lost because we didn't kick vehicles

Tech was just better the one game the offense didn't show up was against us front seven with five NFL guys

Basketballs work in progress. I'm optimistic here too

But all I can see is fans being skeptical or negative you guys have been at this a long time. Can you explain?

Yeah, I let you take all that you go because you know I have strong feelings on this and I'm trying to not get canceled right now

Yeah, Sammy

Holds grudges

Will now we'll we'll take up collections to see like we'll do like a betting thing and you can see who we're and she'll she can pocket that money

To see where her grew who her grudges actually are

No, that's not fair. That is not a fair statement. She's like giving me the evil. I we're on video

As we're recording this and she's given me the evil eye and I deserve it

I know if you guys want video of this let us know like I can easily put this out

Yeah, just not this episode

Not this episode. I was eating a salad like for most of it. I was eating apple chips

Yeah, well we're multitaskers man. Okay, okay, okay back on track 80 HD sponsored by 80 HD

Look

It's the way fans are

And in this fan base has got its own kind of unique flavor. I think some of it is informed but or by some of the stuff we were talking about where look there is a

Josh Newman you know like him or not as a reporter

He had some really interesting perspectives. He's a long-time sports reporter. He's been in sports his whole life, you know

And you come you know you grew up in New Jersey

Has been around the country in various stops and so he's seen a lot of sports

And a lot of sports fans and a lot of sports fan bases and one of the things that he has said

And I think he's even said it publicly on Twitter is that he has never seen a market where

So many of the local media like actively cheer for and do favors for and give graces to

A team or program like they do

BYU here and and and of course the BYU fans like had a tizzy fit

Hearing about it because once again they they have this

Insatiable insatiable and insane

Need to be liked and validated at all times and if you don't do that they will attack you and they will attack your character

And all you need to know for proof of that is look at look up my name on Cougar board and see all the horrible things

That a bunch of people that have never met me

Say as an aside, I'm the only one on the beat who has not been on Cougar board and I am proud of that

That's insane Sammy

But look my best friend growing up is a massive BYU fan. We get along great. We can talk sports great

He says that his only vice is that he

He reads Cougar board on the regular. It's like he's like it's the one dirty thing that I do

Which is hilarious and an indictment of that group anyway, but

Every single time my name comes up he will text me

I don't see like what did you say this time?

But but yeah, and usually it's the things I say are benign

Right, but but yeah, unless you're you know, you're you're

stroking their tiny egos

Um and by ego I mean hammer

It's another joke

Bad Dan

Anyway, unless you're stroking their egos like they just freak the hell out and so that leads me back to like so

Anybody that's been in this market for long enough. They're just used to seeing the rival get praised

universally and and their team frankly

studied under a Microsoft

Microscope that may or may not be fair, but is certainly more critical

Then if not outright just negative

Then then the then the treatment of the other school gets and it's a real thing and look BYU fans are gonna hear this and they're gonna

Call me a liar, which they look. It's their favorite thing to call me. That's fine

I put at least I put my name behind things and stand next to it and like you know

Inner anonymous message board cowards, but that's another thing

But as you run you have a message board that people are anonymous on. I know, but yeah

But these people don't call me names

And frankly, they could call me names to my face and I would I would be fine with it, but um

Because whatever

I don't have the insatiable need to be validated by Texas tech fans and Baylor fans

um

And uh anyway, so look it's it's the nature of this fanbase. This is a very long-winded answer

That's probably stupid as hell

But um it's it's it's the nature of this fanbase you get this environment where um

You know every

Failure is magnified every victory is diminished

The rival it's the opposite

And and and the media gleefully does it because that's what makes them the most money

Because you want to engage with the fanbases. Yeah, you praise BYU

And then you you insult Utah because the Utah fans come out and droves to complain

But they still listen so they still make money uh and uh

So it's it's the nature of the base and frankly fanbases are just that way anyway

The they they pick on things they uh they they obsess about things

Um, and that's a good thing. Look, I love it. I love it. It's why we exist and you don't have to agree with me or with Sammy or with with others

Um, you know, you should like have some solid evidence behind why you think the way that you do is you're trying to make arguments

but uh, you know

positive negative

It's whatever like it's but it's why I talk so much about hashtag team fun right like if we're not enjoying ourselves

Why are we doing this um and so my ask is that you support us

And you enjoy yourself while doing it um that's what we're the environment we're trying to create but it's but

It's just natural and and sometimes people forget things. Yeah

Uh, like I get why somebody would say Utah didn't utilize all of their strengths last year

I think that there were times where they didn't I question like they for an offense that scored as many points as they did and move the ball as well as they did like I still question

You know, why did we not see bray in different ways?

Why did we not see more Nate Johnson? Why didn't we see Creed until so late in the season like not makes no sense to me especially when they couldn't get anything going with the receivers

Uh, so it's not like the they're infallible and I think that some of those questions are

um

Valid and I think that the positive things should be acknowledged and then maybe we as a collective can do better at that

But uh at the end of the day we're on the same team and we're here together. This community's awesome

uh

When they complain I get it Sammy and I we've talked about this a lot about Utah hoops like why

I get why there are people that don't have confidence in what's going on with the basketball program and and our hypercritical of it and

look um

You think about trust and how it's earned just to buy from a psychology human nation or nature standpoint

um

Yeah, their trust has not been earned and so why should it be given and I get that and I look I'm probably more on that

uh level than Sammy is certainly like and we don't see eye to eye on everything

And we debate things and um sometimes I give her a hard time and frankly, it's funny because oftentimes when we disagree

She's probably right more often than me

But uh uh there's a few things that I can think of off top of my head of when you said oh this ain't going to happen and then it happens and I just kind of go

Well, yeah, that happens. It's it's it's definitely a a thing and uh and I'm more cynical than she is which is uh

I think that's what about I think that balances is out though like it does yeah

It definitely does and and and look and some of it is aged you know like I'm more than twice your age

And uh, no, not more than I am close to age and uh and uh and and which is there there's nothing wrong with that like young guns are awesome

Uh, I do not regret those people that are on those 30 under 30 lists and uh but but um anyway

Yeah, it's

I'm just rambling at this point and my answer was probably stupid so uh

You know, I like I like Utah fans in all of their flavors even when they drive me nuts and they do like Sammy knows

Like the text we send each other sometimes about certain posts or certain tweets or certain whatever's um

But look, I'm a hashtag team fun guy at heart shami is absolutely a team fun person um and uh and frankly

I think the board by and large is and and people that may want to skew negative or may want to be realistic

About things or or keep their their their their hopes down like they say in Ted lasso the rich one fans

It's the hope that kills you know like I get it. I get where that comes from like

Being brokenhearted as a sports fan

sucks

You know like there's a reason that I will forever want the city of Lexington, Kentucky to burn down

Um, not anybody get hurt of course like move them all out

But but the city in a certain university that lives there you know

Can go into a sinkhole for all I care because of what happened in in March of

1998

So like I get it it sucks when when when you're disappointed and and I do get that

You know, maybe maybe you want to protect yourself from that or whether it's consciously or unconsciously or or or whatever

But um at the end of the day, hopefully we make it more fun for people even if they want to skew negative

It doesn't matter

Hopefully they feel like they have a place and a voice and they make better arguments when they're called out and

Because it leads to interesting debate and people bring up good points and I love that it makes me excited

So anyway, that was that was my PR way of spinning spinning negativity as a as a positive

So yeah, be negative all you want just posted on my site. Please our site our collective site

Yeah, I was like who's

Your site. I was like damn the heck there's no meat. There's no me in there's no eye in you zone

Oh my god

Okay, we're gonna move on to the next question is from food deal more

Aside of oba who could be the biggest impact freshman this year

LaMarcus Bell

Dylan Waters

bold

Bold you look good

Bold I would take that yeah look he's in the mix look I he's not gonna start

But but he's gonna play he's gonna play special teams. I'd be shocked if he doesn't play special teams

um bold

But yeah, bam look bam bells an interesting one um I do think he's gonna play

um

Like how many reps he gets look way sean looks awesome bray looks awesome scs looks really solid

um

If he loops comes back

Which we assume he will

Like there that that's there's five running backs uh that that that are there that uh um

You know, it's it's gonna be

Only one ball only so many reps, right? So that that's that's my only it's the only reason why I might disagree with you on bam bell

Why don't know who else to go with yeah like bare fish or maybe um

If pj talkie talkie can put on weight this summer maybe

Yeah, and that's the thing like talkie talkie

Oh that that might be a good one too, Sammy um uh

I mean Morgan called him a star on the rise so there's that yeah

I I could see them putting him in him in games where they just need him to pin his ears back and and go after the pass or

You can just be a bold on yeah, what was it that in ok said about him what did he say?

He has like the the they call him a cheat code or something

Yeah, yeah the glitch they were calling him a glitch because

Or a cheat code because he just does things instinctively

That you just shouldn't be able to do and so yeah to your point he needs to get stronger

He needs to put on weight if he's got it if he has a great summer

He could be the one. I think it's a good point

But yeah, but I mean those are those are guys an impressed and spring that we're here

Didn't see much of a Gary didn't see much of of Preston um

Well, and because I'm looking at the list right now, so it's oh bot talkie talkie bell pits

Johnson Mitchell waters hinchin

archer fisher

Of the ones that were here for spring and then you have Benjamin Sparks

C.O.A. Pierce that we're not here for spring

Yeah

Foscioli

And Pierce is the jucco guy right

No rowdy rowdy rowdy pierce. Sorry

Um, what do you do? Who's the jucco corner? I keep forgetting his name Brandon Holmes. Thank you

Like that's why I forgot about rowdy. How can I forget about how could you forget about rowdy? You are so excited

Yeah, you were so excited for him shame on you Dan shame what happens. It's what happens. Yeah

Shame shame

Yeah, that's what happens when you have a stroke. I'm just gonna blame it on the stroke. Yeah, that's the default

It is my default and like I do it way more often

It's if you've ever seen the show shrinking and she's like my mom died. That's what that's my that's my coach

It's like that um anyway uh

yeah um

Look hinchin like he was he was starting to do some things towards the end of camp like he might be a guy that we see

On special teams could make a move up the chart

um

But yeah, I look I think that there are a few opportunities for the true freshmen coming in and that's probably a good thing

I'm okay with it

So let's let's let's things up in the air the less things up in the air

I think the better is where I'm at with this

Um, I don't know if sparks could come in and do something as a true freshman

But uh, I'm not gonna hold my breath

I think the off I think we we know who the top 10 are at offends of wine and unless something

Bad happens which knock on wood won't

Yeah, he's the end of the nine or ten slot like um, you know, be the guy that plays 50 snaps

Um, but uh, while they can they maintain the red shirt

Yeah, we'll see but with whatever that rule looks like I

It's it's four games still, but they're trying to move it to seven right

Which is stupid, but anyways, that's not that's not the question we asked

Final two questions are from power man the first one says takeaway recruiting connections

Who's the better coach from a technical standpoint director field or Powell

I will I'm gonna say

Both have their own things

Brecht or field coach Aaron Donald coach TJ Watt got those guys to where they are in the league

But Powell also did a dang good job with the guys he had at Utah

Bradley and I

Trying to think of anybody else like Kylie fits we talked about him earlier and stuff

Those types of guy like each has their own strength and weakness

I want to see how Brecht or field does with Utah with like Utah type players and stuff so I

Hit me back up on that one at the like next year at this time next year

I want to see I want to see what happens on the field before I make a judgment

But if you're talking from just a pure like NFL developmental standpoint

I kind of want to go with Brecht or field just because I know he put watts and and Donald into the NFL

Yeah, it's that's a tough one because look

Um

Lou put a ton of guys in the league and maybe like lower lower caliber recruits even

Um from a ratings perspective look. I think Lewis Powell is is elite at

Evaluation and he's a phenomenal recruiter

Um, I think Brecht or field is a really good recruiter, but I I I'd probably if I had the standpoint

Is Ned get rid of recruiting so you don't even think about the recruiting well

So I'm getting there if I had to stack rink the two I'd probably put Lou just ahead of of coach nooks

um

From a development and a coaching standpoint like I just need to see it. He's been around the block

Uh, there's a reason that he keeps getting hired

Uh, there's a reason that he's been at the places that he has

He's coached some really good players over the years um, I want to see what he's able to do with these guys with Lanston with cash and and

Look, they're they're pretty positive about them and that's what you would expect and and um

But uh, yeah to comparing contrast what they can do

It's it's really hard to say it's until we get a little bit more evidence at the place with some of the same guys

Last question before we call we wrap up this two and a half hour long podcast probably our longest one to date

We got to be quick with this one

Is kufusi the next leki

Um, he has a good chance to be I agree. I'll say that

Not this season he'll be good not he won't be lucky good this year

But he has a good chance to be easy. He's got a chance to be an NFL guy and uh

He's very very talented

Okay

I agree we're gonna put a cap on this one because it's pushing almost two and a half hours

Thank you as always for listening to in the zone podcast. We appreciate your listen your listenership. We appreciate your support

Um, maybe you'll see us at crown burger tomorrow. I don't know

If you're listening to this on like sunday. Sorry. You missed the chance to

You miss crown burger mr. crown burger on sundays. Yep. You missed it. You missed the chance

You'll have to wait until the summer to hang out with Dan and I again, but anyways

Dan

Should we should we keep those cannons pointed southward or should we point them at all those meany mediums?

Yeah, let's

I think southward probably kind of would do more damage. So

Well, let's go you zone cannon brigade

Okay, we'll see you guys in southward and k. We'll see you in the next episode. Bye