August 9, 2017 • 45 mins
Doug explains why UCLA QB Josh Rosen is misguided when talking about the difficulties of balancing school and college football. He says Spike Lee is another example of people who they are helping Colin Kaepernick but actually hurting the possibility of getting signed by an NFL team. Plus Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson joins the show and talks about his career in the NFL and his expectations for his former team, the Chargers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio. Man, we have a great show for
you today. We have a Hall of Famer led Danian.
Tomlinson will join us next hour in the show. Uh,
we have Clay Travis will join us in the third
(00:22):
and final hour of the show. We'll talk about his
sit down with Johnny Manzel in Costa Rica of all places.
And we'll talk with the man the Myth, the Mullet.
Mike Gundey, head coach of my alma mater, top ten
team heading into the season, the Oklahoma State Cowboys head man,
will join us in twenty minutes here on the Doug
Gottlieb Show. But before we get to that, let's get
(00:42):
to the comments made to bleacher Report by Josh Rosen,
who was the number one quarterback in high school football,
started right away at U c l A. Was injured
last year team only won four games, had a minor
shoulder surgery that kept him out of the end of
last year, and what everyone seems to be talking about
her Uh these comments he made to bleacher Report. He
(01:07):
said he was asked up. You got a chance to heal,
maybe catch up on school, Rosen, don't get me started.
I love school, but it's hard. It's cool because we're
learning more applicable stuff in my major economics, not just
prerequisite stuff that's designed to filter out people. But football
really dnse my ability to take some classes that I need.
There are a bunch of classes that are only offered
(01:27):
one time. There's a class this spring I had to take,
but there's a conflict with spring football. So so football
wins out? Was the question? Well, you can say that. Um,
The question was, so the reality is student athletes play.
So that's the reality for student athletes playing at a university.
I didn't say that, you did. Look, football and school
don't go together, they just don't. Trying to do both
(01:49):
is like trying to have two full time jobs. There
are guys that have no business being in school. They're
here just because of the path of the NFL. There's
no other way. There's the other side that says, raise
the SAT eligibility requirements. Okay, the s A T requirement Alabama.
See what raised the s A T requirement Alabama? See
what kind of team they have? You lose athletes in
(02:10):
the products in the field suffers, and so anti sports
and college guy goes boom, godly college football player, parents,
Ivy League educated. He knows you don't. But actually he
just contradicted himself, and he just walked us down a
path to which the point could be made very simply. Look,
(02:30):
I'm a former student athlete, a former pampered student athlete
who went to both Notre Dame in Oklahoma State. I
can tell you definitively Notre Dame is a much more
difficult school. It is not even close. I love my
own lot. I had the greatest time. I was a
much better fitted Oklahoma State than I was at Notre Dame.
Some people fit better at Notre Dame. And it didn't
have to do with the academics, um. It just had
(02:52):
to do with feel. I wasn't a private school kid,
and there was seventy students undergrad when I was a
note day. Most people think that There Dame is a
huge school. It was. I think it's nine thousand now. Uh,
there was over twenty students. I think it's twenty five
thousand now At Oklahoma State. I like the bigger field
to it. I liked a little bit more relaxed academic
(03:13):
um threshold for getting in. I felt like I was
surrounded by the best and the brightest at at Notre Dame.
But I did feel like there was a certain entrepreneurial
spirit at Oklahoma State, a certain Hey, we came up
with nothing, and we're gonna try and make something and
have a good time at the same time. But but
(03:34):
but one of the points that I learned in college,
and I learned frankly at both places, is there are
plenty of students that hold jobs to try and pay
their bills in college. And you know what, it's really hard.
It's really really hard. And guess what, Josh Rosen's not wrong.
(03:54):
Football is a job, and he's paid far more handsomely
for his job then he could ever be compensated outside
of the world of football, considering his skill set and
what he could earn if he was working a full
time job. Oh yeah, by the way, it's forty hours
a week. At twenty hours a week, excuse me on
the field, Sure, there's some other things you have to
(04:15):
do and taking care of your body. Remember, you have
free academic support. You get to hand pick the classes
that you want in order to succeed, and it's harder
to hide kids at at U c l A than
it is at some other universities. Just is. He even
points out that at U c l A, if you
wanted to graduate in three years, he could go to
a sociology degree, just get his degree, which a lot
(04:35):
of guys do. It's still a U c l A degree.
And one of the things that he'll I think he'll
learn is and getting the degree he opens up plenty
of doors. But he's smart enough to know that economics
is he wants to start his own business at some point.
He wants to understand that. But this idea that because
it's really really hard and because there's some juggling that
takes place, that somehow they don't fit together is just
(04:58):
about the most childest thing you can say, which is
fine because in all candor, he's a child. Yes, when
I was two years old and I was in college
and things got really hard, I was like, man, this
is not fair. But then as you're you're an adult,
you take pride in that. You're like, you know what,
(05:19):
it was really hard. My wife worked full time when
she was in college. She worked in a place called
Christians University Spirit, and she was also the nanny for
the couple that owned Christ's University Spirit at the same time,
and she didn't earn enough there to even make a
dent in paying for college in Oaklhom state at the
time wasn't particularly expensive for in state tuition. Look, if
(05:40):
you want to sit here and come with me and
go like see, he's just proving it correct. And everyone's
taking the quote about Alabama about how it's easier to
get into Alabama than it is at u c l A.
And that's why Alabama gets better football players and running
with it. Um, there's some legitimacy to that. I don't
think that's an illegitimate mark. And everybody he's pointing to Stanford,
and Stanford gets to pick from the top of the
(06:03):
top of the deck academically, and they've been able to
create a culture. They have kids from mostly a lot
of them are from two parent homes, kids that are
that are good students, that want to work hard, and
to be completely honest, I think U c l A
is harder to stay in than Stanford. Is harder to
stay in. Stanford's harder to get in. U c l
A is harder to stay in both schools are very
(06:24):
difficult to get in, although the academic requirements are less
so for U c l A student athletes. Well, the
reality is my brother and sister went to USILA. You
can tell me I don't know anything about it, but
that'd be wrong. My brother was at cal Berkeley for
six years an assistant coach. You could ask me and
be like, you don't know what you're talking about. I
actually don't exactly know what I'm talking about. So he's
(06:49):
not wrong in that you lessen the requirement of Harvard
in basketball, lessened the requirements in order to get in. Now,
what they do at Harvard is in in basket. In sports,
in the IVY League, they have what's called the academic Index,
the IVY League Academic Index, and the index is like
a score they give you based upon your g P
A and your s A T combined and your incoming
(07:12):
recruiting class has to have has to pass a certain
threshold of the index. And so what Harvard did when
Tommy amerker Uh took over was they got smart. They
started recruiting because there's no scholarships, although they do have
scholarships now, if your parents make used to be seventy
grand or less. Now it's like a five grand or less.
You can get full kind of Uh it's not grant aid,
(07:33):
but you can get full um coverage for everything you do.
You're like, you know, don't end up coming out of
pocket for it. So it's like scholarship, not scholarship anyway. Uh,
what Harvard started doing was and they still do this,
They recruit five or six guys that can pay their
own way that our four point seven you know, the
(07:54):
S A T student athletes, and then they get a
couple of kids that have in the three point five's
still high academic achievers, but guys have had no chance
to get into Harvard on their own and would bring
down their academic index. They balance out the two and
that's how they've been able to recruit better student athletes
at Harvard than they've ever had before. That's how basketball
has won so many IVY leagues. They lowered the academy
(08:18):
the entrance standards, which, by the way, is probably the
least discussed benefit of being a student athlete. You get
access to a club that without sports, you would have
no chance of getting into. My guest would be sev
of U c L as football, and maybe a higher
percentage of basketball players would have no chance of getting
into u c l A, zero zero chance of getting
(08:40):
to u c l A if not for the fact
they played a sport, which is fine, Which is the
whole idea of sports, the whole idea of having uh,
you know, like diversity shouldn't just be diversing in terms
of color, skin, diversiting in terms of background, in terms
of skill set like this is I think this, I
think it's a good thing. But like, let's like kid
our else Josh Rosen, like, plenty of guys at u
(09:03):
c l A that shouldn't necessarily be at u c
l A in terms of what they've achieved academically, and
yes they do. Everybody looks at it as I'm going
to the NFL. But just because you look at at
it like that doesn't mean that's the reality you take.
Every kid thinks they're going in. One percent of the
kids actually end up making it. That's the reality of
(09:25):
collegiate athletics, especially at the high major level and football,
the high major level. In basketball, think about the math
to it. There are three and fifty plus Division one
men's basketball schools thirteen scholarships of peace, there are thirty
first round draft picks. How many kids are really going pro?
And then there are what seven rounds to the NFL
draft thirty two teams. Think of the math there. Then
(09:47):
remember there's eighty five scholarships per team a Division one teams.
You do the math how many kids are and how
many kids that are drafted actually making a team. So
they're there because of the path the NFL. It is
a path to the NFL, but it's also a path
to a professional career, to an education, to a degree
which allows you to teach, allows you to coach, allows
(10:08):
you to be um, allows you have greater opportunities in
the business world. You go to school thinking, hey, I'm
gonna be here for three years and go pro. That's
what they all think. Then you get there you're like, well,
maybe that doesn't happen, but I gotta look at another path.
But I don't dispute that it's really hard. It's two
full time jobs. But between in state or out of
(10:33):
state tuition, between what you get and the benefit you
get in terms of admissions, the benefits you get in
terms of academic support as well as athletics support. You
get the best trainers, the best facilities, the best coaching
money can buy. And then you get the best academic
support possible, especially the higher level that you play at.
(10:53):
Oh yeah, and you never come out of pocket. You
get cost of attendance. Guys that come from uh tough
backgrounds get grants as well. You have money in your pocket.
You stay in usually the best dorms, albeit u c
l a's dorms have always been a notch below many
of the other state schools. Josh Rosen telling the world,
woe is me. I'm an athlete who wants to be
(11:16):
a student, but it's really really hard. Hey, dude, that's
anybody who holds two full time jobs, anybody, and these
oh it's more than twenty hours. We were eating together, Like,
come on, dude, you were gonna eat anyway. We were
playing video games together. I love it U c l A.
(11:38):
Guys complaining about you realize LA doesn't start school until
like October. Just this is the problem with reporters, Like
they don't fact check any they don't know anything. There
in the trimester system. U c l A has a
great benefit all these guys. They get if meals aren't provided,
they get per diem so you get a little extra
cash in your pocket. Hey, and right now, all you're
(12:01):
doing is playing football up until school starts. In school
at U c l A starts later than most places
because a lot of schools in the Western United States
are actually on the trimester system. Oh, it's really hard.
There was a class that wasn't offered, Like one class
wasn't offered, and football procrudes you from doing that. Um,
I'm gonna call bs on that happening most places because
(12:22):
most places offer all classes online. So I like Rosen.
He's really smart, but he's one of these guys that
kind of too smart for his own good. He's talking
out of his rectum at times. And though it's his perspective,
and I value his perspective because I think he's going
to be a good NFL quarterback. The idea of Hey,
(12:44):
he's taking down the entire system because he said football
in school are hard. Nobody said it was easy. Oh
is that easy? Be sure to catch live editions of
The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three pm Easter
noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. Docalmen State starts the year ranked eleventh in
(13:05):
the country and is a definite threat to make the
college football Playoff for the first time ever. Head coaches
My Gundy. He joins us on the Doug Gotlick Show
here on Fox Sports Radio. Coach, how are you doing good?
We're on about practice nine and I had some good workouts.
It's been unusual here. I'm sure you don't. You hadn't followed,
(13:26):
but the weather has been in the in the low eighties,
so uh, players are are loving that. But they're having
a lot of fun. We've got a great group, very mature.
You know, you've been around enough athletics to know how
how much difference it is, how much different it is
when you have a team that's very mature. They take
care of themselves and get ready to play. We just
(13:46):
kind of got to get out of the way. You know.
It's funny. Actually, my father in law and mother in
law drove out with my wife from Oklahoma about a
week ago, and they try, you know how old people
are in Oklahoma. They tracked the rain because of his garden,
and he was like, man, we got rain, couple. I know,
there's a tornado and Tulsa a couple of nights ago,
scary stuff. Thirty people hurt. So yeah, I have been
following it. You finally get the beautiful indoor facility, right,
(14:07):
You got these unbelief and now you you don't actually
need it for the first couple of of the season.
You mentioned this group, Um, you haven't obviously played against
live bullets, live competition yet. But compare it to some
of the other teams that you thought could be special
at the end of the season. Where are you now
as opposed to Weeden's last year? Where are you now
(14:30):
against Zack Robinson's last year? Where are you in comparison
to those teams? Doug Real close? Um, Mason Rudolph, our quarterback,
has has had a really good off season and and
through the first nine practices he's I think he's made
more improvement from the bowl game to now than he's
made in any of his years, which he should just
(14:51):
due to experience. But he's handled all the publicity very well.
He's really driven and focused, and the team is following him. Um,
We've got tremendous skill at the wide receiver position. We've
got eight guys that we could put out there at
any time, and we trust them. Of those eight, I'm
(15:12):
going to guess at least three are going to play
in the NFL at some time in the next three
or four years. We've got um a mature offensive line.
We added the the graduate transfer from cal that that's
fitting in very nicely. And at the running back position,
we've got three guys that are battling to back up
(15:33):
Justice Hill and Um they're doing very well for for
the early part of camp. Defensively, we're similar because we
don't have a player that everybody's gonna say just dominates,
but we have a lot of speed. I think they're
really fast and playing in our conference, it's it's just
(15:53):
so important that you have speed to cover from from
sideline to sideline and they need to force turnovers. Um,
we've got a great partner. UM, we've got cover units
on all of our special teams. UM, we have a
new kicker because we finally lost Ben Grogan after four years.
So that's really where we're at. The comparison of Weeden,
(16:15):
Jiar and Zach Robinson year years is very very similar.
All right, let's talk about Mason for a second look.
Last year incredibly productive twenty eight touchdowns, four interceptions, over
four thousand yards passing, but the flaws to those of
us who paid attention on a weekly basis, there are
times in which he battles with accuracy issues, and there
are times in which, especially when there's weather, when now
(16:38):
the sudden that you have no idea where the ball
is going, Like, how can you? How can you? Let's
let's start with the accuracy. Um, how hard is it
to work through making a quarterback with the strong arm,
a true kind of pocket passer more accurate in an
off season. Well, what you're saying is exactly right. Those
are the two areas that that he came up short
last year. And the first one is he would he
(17:01):
had a couple of games where in the first half
he just wasn't very good, and it's, you know, you
kind of scratch your head, you know, it's it's you
know the basketball scenarios. You know, you've got a guy
that's a good three point shooter, and then he gets
in the game and after the first half he's over
eleven and you're like, well, why is he over eleven? Well,
in his situation, he tried to do too much, and
(17:21):
he tried to rush things with without having the ball
and controlling the ball, and as I turned it to him.
He got out of his box, and he has to
play within his box. He has to use his strengths.
Last year he did that in a couple of games.
And then against Oklahoma, we played in in poor weather,
(17:42):
but I honestly think he let that get to his head.
He wanted to win that game so bad and he
let the weather frustrating because he's he's a worry ward
from the from a standpoint that he wants everything to
be perfect. He wants to win and be so successful.
He's so driven, and I think he let it get
(18:04):
to him and he was frustrated. We had a lot
of throws Doug in that game where we were going
to chunk it down the field like a bunch. I'm
talking probably times, and it didn't completely take us out
of it. But if it's coming down in its wet,
I mean, you know, you just can't throw at his
accord down the field. He got really frustrated even before
(18:27):
the game, and I think he learned a great lesson.
But that's what's happened to him last year on those
two cases. See, it's it's interesting because there have there
have been people that have been critical of you. Well,
why didn't my Gundy throw the ball downfield? Like way,
There's there's more to it than just you know, coach
Gundy didn't want to throw it downfield. But to me,
and again this is more of an educated fan than
than an expert that watches every day of practice, I
(18:49):
feel like those two losses, um, those two, the Central
Michigan loss and the Oklahoma loss, should set you up
for more success this year. Mike Gunney, the head coach
of Oklahoma State joining US rank eleventh in the country.
Many people think they're a threat to not just win
the Big Twelve, but to get to their first college
football playoff. Like the Central Michigan helps you with so
many of these returners because now they lock in more
(19:11):
when you play Tulsa, when you played Troy on the road,
because remember Central Michigan and the Oklahoma one motivates uh,
those star players to just let it all hang out,
uh and not be as tight in a bigger game.
Is it is it fair that there's going to be
Usually there's not as much carry over year to year,
but because of those two losses, there may be more
carry over from last year to this year. You're right again,
(19:34):
and and what happens. Here is the frustrating thing when
the season is over is you look back on it
and you say, we could have won every game. I mean,
we really could have won every game, and so that
that is should I should have won the should have
won the bailther game. We turned the ball over twice
inside the forty going in and and you know, book regardless,
(19:54):
we didn't win. You know how that is the other
teams probably saying the same thing. But when you look
at it on paper, you say, hey, we could won
every game last year. So that means that that we're
in a group which I would say, you know, the
top twenty teams in the country give or take what
would have an opportunity to do that. Things go well,
don't turn the ball over. But the Central Michigan game
keeps you focused. And then the the the players that
(20:21):
come back from last year that went through what you're
talking about, you know, they just understand it. They realize
the importance of preparation and every week and you know
the comment that you know, I heard the same thing
all the time, why didn't we just throw it deep more?
You know, against so calm and I've never said anything
(20:41):
about it, but you know, our plans to throw it
deep twenty five times, but when when the ball is
not coming out of the quarterback's handwell, and there's not confidence.
I mean, I'm not the smartest guy. I mean, I'm
not going to throw it down there a bunch and so, um,
all of those things that you said are are true,
and um, you know that's the interesting part about a
college football season. You know, you just hope that some
(21:03):
of those things fall in place for you as a
team during those big games. Still got the Arkansas waterfall
go and still have to still have the mullet, and
you've you've kind of turned the corner a little bit,
I mean not a little bit, like you've become this
personality to which we saw maybe from less at times
at l s U. From from Pat Jones of course,
of course coach to you at Oaklahoma State. We saw
(21:24):
it from Steve Spurrier maybe later in his career, some
at Florida, but also a lot at South Carolina where
there's a and I don't know whether it's because, uh,
you're the longest tenured coach in the league, was because
you finally got the salary that you rightfully deserve, or
whether the respect you've gotten nationally. It just it feels
like there's a comfort level to where you can be
you like, this is the real you in with the media.
(21:46):
Where does that come from? I think what you said,
all right, You you get to a point in your
career where you you're settled. I feel settled where I'm at.
I'm comfortable with the way that our administration has made
a commitment to the higher staff that we have, the
sixty employees that are in this building. Um, you know,
I essentially have, you know, have a contract set up
(22:07):
here that that should last me through the time that
I feel like that I'm not ready to do this,
don't have the energy to coach anymore. And when you
get to that point, if you do something long enough, UM,
I've started to realize that there's so much of a
time commitment and such a commitment from our players bodies
(22:27):
to play this game that it needs to be fun.
And the only way it can be fun is if
they feel like that I'm being myself and I'm being
fun and I want our team this year to enjoy,
to have fun, and to cut it loose. And um,
they know how to prepare, they know how to practice
(22:49):
they know when to turn it on and when to
turn it off. But I want them to take chances.
I want them to cut it loose, and I want
to have a lot a lot of fun. And I
think as a leader, the only way they'll do that
is if the guide it's watching them every day. He says.
It's okay. Um, last year you struggled early in the
year to run the football. You mentioned the offensive line
has improved, and of course you have Justice hill Back.
You lost Chris Carson, who is doing great stuff with
(23:11):
the Seahawks. I know he's blowing people away with with
how talented he is. How confident are you that, forget
about early in the year or when you're playing some
of the big twelve teams that don't do a great
job at stopping the run in the important games the
Pittsburgh game on the road, the Texas game, the Oklahoma game.
How confident are you that you're gonna be able to
run the football when it matters the most. I feel
good about our running game. We we have to establish
(23:33):
who are cowboy back's going to be. Last year we
had jar winning beach and they were fantastic. Those guys
are really good in our running game. Um, We've got
some young guys, um that are working at that position,
and we need to establish those guys. But if you're
you're better up front, and in Justice Hills a year
older and he's fifteen pounds heavier, we should be better
(23:56):
run the football than we were last year. Can I
be honest with you that that South Alabama game scares
the hell out of me? Right? It reminds me you
went on the road Detroit a couple of years ago
and South Alabama on a Friday night, You're going down
to Mobile playing on national TV. That's the biggest game
they're ever going to have in Mobile out you know,
and that that's why who who is the assistant coach
who agreed to that deal? Well, you know they beat
(24:18):
Missisippi State last year in yeah, and um uh you
know that that's just one of those things. And you're right,
you know, you you can act like that, you don't
look at that and and kind of go up a
little bit in your throat. But um, when you go
on the big stage in an environment where um, as
you said, it will be the biggest game they've had
(24:40):
and maybe for years there, uh, you know you're going
to get the best from everybody, not just the team,
but you're going to get the best from the crowd
and all involved. So we'll certainly have to be prepared
for that game. Last thing, Um, there's talk of you
guys competing obviously for a national championship. You talked about
how you're You've told me for years how your team
is built. You changed the scholarships for d fense, forty
(25:00):
one for offense, and of course trying to recruit as
much speed because of the way how spread out the
league is. Your team seems to be built to win
the Big Twelve, But is it built to win a
national championship because other other conferences play different style of football? Um?
How how accurate would be the thought that, yes, you
can win the Big Twelve, but matchup wise, it may
(25:20):
take the right specific matchup to win the whole thing. Well,
there's some truth of that, and I think that when
we get into postseason play against teams from other leagues,
if we're matched up against a team that is more
physical upfront, Um, at that point, what we we have
(25:41):
to come up with plans on both sides of the
ball where we don't just bang our head up against
the wall. I mean going into a game. Um, you
know for example that you know the team that's dominated
people defensively the last three or four years has been Alabama. Well,
if you play then you might have to throw us
seventy times to try to find a way to win.
I mean, you have to go into the game with
a plan to win based on who it is. And
(26:03):
we would have to evaluate that before we play those teams,
because there are teams that that would be on our
schedule at some point, even if it's in the playoffs,
that would be more physical than we are upfront based
on the way we play in this league. So then
you would have to overcome it with some finesse and
speed and doing some things that would be a little
bit different than what to be a little unaccustomed for
(26:25):
a traditional football team right now. Less, those are the
first world problems that would mean you'd win the Big
Twelve and win the Big twelve, first Big Twelve championship
games since the league went to ten, and and you
you take, you take that opportunity if you present itself. Well, look,
I can't thank you enough for always joining me. I
look forward as a lum to the Tulsa game. On
Fox Sports one on the thirty one. Get back out
(26:45):
there and keep those guys healthy. Right, Hey, Doug, always
going to be what you thank you. That's my gundy,
the head coach of mild Modern, Oklahoma State ranked in
the number eleven in the country. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Doug gott Leaves Show weekdays at
three pm Easter noon Pacific. So Spike Lee tweeted out.
Lie said on Twitter he didn't organize the protest, but
he supports Kaepernick and quote his stance on the injustices
(27:06):
in the United States. Here's, by the way, here's how
late to the party, Spike Lee is. Colin Kaepernick has
said he's no longer gonna kneel, no longer gonna kneel
because he thinks progress has been made. Kaepernick donated over
million dollars of his salary to organizations trying to right
the wrongs of the civil rights of the civil rights
(27:28):
movement that continues in the country. Right, So Kaepernick, by
not by saying he's not gonna kneel, has said, like, hey,
all those injustices, there's progress being made, Like we're good.
That's not really what he's saying, really, what he's saying
is I think that's what's keeping me out of the league.
But this, to me is one of those law of
(27:48):
unintended consequences, whether it's the Civil Rights Group with it's
Spike Lee. The more you make a big deal and
supporting Colin Kaepernick as if he's been wronged by the NFL,
the more the NFL is going to be pissed and
they're gonna say to them. So this is what one
GM told me last week. Hey, I got no problem
we signed him. I don't he doesn't want to be
a backup. He wants to be a starter. We don't
(28:09):
need a We don't need a starter. We could use
a backup. But what happens when you cut him? Will
there be protest? Will you lose part of the locker room?
When you lose the whole locker room? Because it will
be a complete poop show when you cut him. And
when you have a rally, a civil rights rally to
support a guy when he's hired, all of these guys,
this is I coached the team in Israel. I told
(28:29):
you guys that, and um I had thirteen players because
one player got hurt, we added a player while we
were there, and I can tell you want to come
on coaches perspective, Look, I know what I'm doing, or
(28:51):
I thought I know what I was doing, And I
definitely knew what I was doing more than the parents
know what they're doing, right, And I had two parents
come up to me and talk to me repeatedly about
playing time for their kids, and their intended consequence was
they wanted their kids to get more opportunity, more playing time.
And I tried, and I tried as hard as I
(29:14):
could because I had a parent. My dad was a
former college basketball of course coach, a long time AU coach.
Like he had a he had a lot. I mean
he for over fifty years. He was involved in the
game of basketball, and he played basketball to walk on
in college. Like this guy knew more who forgot more
hooped than any of these parents remembered. My dad was
still the parent that would talk to the coaches, and
(29:35):
so I I understood and felt where they's it's just
true love for your kid that you only want to
help them by talking to the coach. Hey, let me
just tell you my kids really good and he could
fit in and most of them didn't even talk about
their kid they were just like, Hey, your bench is
really good. You should think about using your bench more.
Hey doesn't your kid come out the bench? Yes? He does. Right,
(29:57):
these guys can really play. Like, I get it, I
understand what you your your intended purpose of the conversation was,
but the unintended consequence was as much as I tried,
I couldn't help but hold that against them. Right, So,
maybe not consciously, but subconsciously, because you didn't want to
say you didn't want to play a guy and then
go like, well, I only played him because his dad
(30:18):
said something to me. I want to play him because
he earned those minutes. That's exactly the same thing. What's
gonna happen with Kaepernick where there I guarantee that somebody,
somebody's gonna lose a quarterback like man, i'd love to
bring him in. There's gonna be protested if we cut him,
like I can't have if we work him out and
it doesn't work out, Like, I don't want to cut
him and have protests like it's just not worth it
(30:39):
to me the backup quarterback. There's other guys we can
bring in that fit better and that we know what
personalities and it's gonna cost us less in terms of
social impact, and we're just not worth it. The intended
consequence is clear. They just want Colin Kaepernick to get
a fair shot. Man the two US and thirteen, he
(31:00):
nearly won a Super Bowl and though his team couldn't
win the past couple of years, last year statistically he
had a good bounce back season and finish up strong.
And whether or not you think he's great or even good,
I don't think it's unreasonable to think he's better than
many of the backups in the in the NFL. They
just wanted to get a fair shot. Spike Lee just
wants to bet a fair shot. But dude, I'm telling
(31:23):
you the unintended consequences all these gms and presidents and
owners and even some players like no thanks, I don't
want that circus coming to town. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app. Ladai and Thominson was
a three time first team All Pro, a three time
(31:44):
second team All Pro. He was the m v P
in two thousand six. He was also the v the
NFL's Man of the Year. In two thousand six. It
was he was a no doubter. When somebody goes like, hey,
what about old Yes, he was in you could take
you could point a whole poke holes in current warners,
five year absence from being a starter in the NFL.
(32:05):
You could poll holes in why did it take Kenny easily?
So long? They're all hall of famers, But there was
one guy to which anybody who paid attention watching him
play during his uh, during his was it eight seasons
in San Diego or his season with the Jets, you
knew that it was a hall of famer, And then
on top of it, he delivered a hall of fame
worthy speech. And now he works for the NFL network
(32:27):
kind enough to spend some time with us LT Ladini
and Thomason joining us on the Doug Gottlip Show. How
are you? I'm doing well, Doug? How are you? My friend?
Good man? I know you put a lot into that,
like that was an incredibly it was a beautifully crafted speech.
Your tie was magnificent, like that was there was a
lot put into that. Um okay, So when you came
out of it, how did you feel about how you personally?
(32:49):
Did you know? I felt I feel really good about it. Um,
of course, you know, there's a lot of preparation go
into it. You know, things are changed around in the speech.
You you constantly you know, taking stuff out, adding things,
and and you know, I just I felt like it
was everything that I wanted to say, you know, and
(33:10):
to the point where, um, it was weird because when
I got off to the stage. Man, I'm not afraid,
I'm not ashamed to say I cried for ten to
fifteen minutes. I couldn't, you know. It was just something
that overwhelmed me at the time of what I had
just did and how how proud of of myself I
(33:33):
was for doing that. And yeah, so it took me
a while to get myself together afterwards. I mean, look,
the most powerful part to me was you talked about
your great great great grandfather George, who came over to
the came over as a slave and was given the
name Thomlinson. Why why did you choose? Uh? And I thought,
and for people who missed the speech, we'll tweet it
(33:54):
out to be available online, how to kind of live
in portuity. But you you also took the path of
of of what it meant to change that name from
somebody else's name that was given to him to now
a name that your kids that you carry with such pride.
Why why did you choose to include that as a
portion of your speech. Well, when the Football Life was done,
(34:16):
my story on NFL network, um, I had so many
great responses to people just when I was out in public,
of all races, Doug, you know, it didn't matter what race.
People came up to me and said, you your football
life inspired me. It really did. And I was so
proud to learn that about you. Well, you know, I
(34:39):
felt like if it inspired them in that way, then
this was my opportunity to to say more about it,
to challenge America, you know, because my story is not
much different from the next man's story on both sides,
the white side of the family and the black side
of the family. And so that, you know, it was
the perfect opportunity. What better way to have that type
(35:02):
of platform once in a lifetime, opportunity to really say
what was on my heart, you know. And you also
said about how look, football is a microcosm of the
real world and that you have so many different cultures,
different races in that locker room. Having been a basketball player,
experienced that exact same thing. Athletes I think look at
race far differently. But then you know, with the Colin
(35:24):
Kaepernick angle of it, he of course being of mixed
race background, being adopted, uh in how he was brought up,
and now trying to represent I don't think just representing
black culture, but just trying to represent, um a side
to our culture which feels as though, uh the police
have have have wronged especially black people, and that's caused
(35:45):
kind of a side discussion which is bled into the
football discussion. And should he be on a football field.
I think people want to correlate what you said to
the Kaepernick thing. How would you differentiate the two. Well,
it wasn't about that on sleep Um. It was more
so about the responsibility that we have to each other
(36:09):
because this country is the greatest country in the world
and and so many other nations look to us. That's
why I said, you know, for all nations to follow,
we should represent ourselves because we have so much diversity,
so many different cultures, and this is the country that's
that's the only country like that, and so at the
(36:31):
end of the day, we should want to be be
be a life for all nations to follow I was
just simply giving you my story that's parallel to a
lot of people's story. Really had nothing to do with
with Colin Kaepernick. I thought, I thought you did in
fantastic fashion. Lady and Thomason's the NFL Network Analysts is
(36:51):
one of six Hall of Fame analysts on the network. Um,
you are the last really San Diego Charger to go in.
I mean, Philip, probably it's a point will go in,
but but it'll go in as an as an l
A Charger kind of leaves you in a weird Like
I know, people in l A. I loved watching you play,
but l A Charger fans were not necessarily San Diego
(37:12):
Charger fans. What's that like to be the guy who
represents the team that no longer exists. Well, I tell you,
it's uh, you know, you know, it's weird. But at
the same time, I guess it kind of makes me
special because I am beloved by so many San Diego
fans and it was evident of their support at the
(37:34):
Hall of Fame. So many San Diego fans were out there,
and like you said, it wasn't it wasn't l A fans,
It was San Diego fans that was there to represent
and to you know, support me, and so it is
a bit weird, but you know, to be the last
it's like, hey, you know, I'm gonna be beloved, I
(37:54):
guess for you know, for eternity. Hopefully if you could
go back and change one thing about your career, what
would be just winning the championship, you know, but you
can't change that, Like, is there like you know, I
think I thought, Like I watched The Football Life on
Sunday morning and it talked about when you're in New
England and you made the bold decision, You're like, look,
I'm not I'm not right. My backup is better than
(38:15):
I am. Um. You know, Like, I don't think you
could have personally changed the play calling the next year
when you lost to the Patriots, Like what you personally?
Is there anything you personally would have changed? Uh? Not really, No,
I don't think there's anything personally I would I would
have changed, because you know, I prepared myself every offseason.
(38:36):
You know, I made sure that me personally, I was
in the best shape of my life. You know that
I that I did everything possible so that I could
be my best for my team. And so when I
you know, at the end of the day, when I
look at it, I think I did it the right way.
So there's there's nothing that I would personally change. It's great.
I mean, like, look you when you you leave the
(38:57):
Hall of Fame ceremony saying I left it all out there,
just like you left your career saying I left it
all out there. Like that's that's a life. That's a
that's a life well lived through which you when you
live with no regrets, isn't it that? That is? That's true? Absolutely,
and I think you know it's um. You know, for me,
it was always something that you know, to to do
(39:18):
it the right way. That was important to me because
I realized, Doug that I did represent a lot of
people that that helped me get there. And so um
to say that, to be able to say that both
on and off the field, man, that that's you know,
I think that's the way it should be done. You
you always handle yourself with class. With Grace Zeke Elliott
(39:39):
seen as everyone says he's a good kid, but there's
been a bunch of little things and it's only been
a year and he's playing, uh in a bigger market
with the Dallas Cowboys. You grew up in the state
of Texas. You understand that the playing for the Cowboys
is different even than playing for the Chargers in San Diego. Um,
if you had a conversation with Zeke, how it go well,
(40:01):
I think you know at this point, physique, it's all
about surrounding himself around the people that's gonna make him
become a better professional. And yes, we all allow our
young players to be kids and to have fun and
to express themselves in different ways, you know, But but
it's a fine line between you know, doing that and
(40:24):
also getting in trouble with the law. For example, Odell
Beckham Jr. Does it to me, you know, even though
people say, oh, he needs to mature, let's give him
time to He's broken no laws, he's done. He's done
nothing wrong, and so that's okay. We're okay with that. Now,
(40:44):
on the other end of it, it's guys that are
young but make mistakes and get in trouble with the
law that brings a bad light on the entire National
Football League. We understand that. And so in this case,
it's all about just now starting to say, you know what,
I realized the responsibility I have let me start to
surround myself with with guys that can help me become
(41:07):
a better professional. Who's the most like you that's playing
in the NFL. Wow, that's a really good question. Uh.
I think it would be a guy like David Johnson. Honestly,
even though he's probably um a little bit bigger than me.
He you know, that offense, he's gonna touch the ball
(41:29):
about twenty times. I should say, run the ball at
least twenty times in that offense and then get another
file that Tim catches out the backfield. But in that offense,
he has to run up inside, which I had to
do a lot. You know, I consider myself truly a
perimeter player, but in my offense, I had to run
up the middle quite a bit. And it's the same
(41:51):
with with David. So, you know, I think he's most
like me just because of everything that he's asked to do.
And uh, you know, when you look at his his
agility and how how he's able to get it in
and out of the hole, I think we're quite similar.
Levan wants to be paid like a running back and
a wide receiver. No one knows more about catching the
(42:11):
ball out of the backfield than you do. Um, how
do you think that negotiations gonna go with Pittsburgh wanted
to be paid like both Well, he should be paid
like one of the top football players in the National
Football League. I don't care what position. He's a guy that, um,
you know, demands the respect of the highest paid football
(42:32):
players in our league. In my opinion, whenever you have
a dominant player, you have to pay him as such.
And I don't care what the running back market says.
There's nobody in the National Football League right now like
Levian Bell. The only thing is he's missed fourteen games
the last two years. I get that, and and they
haven't done well when he's been off the field. Look,
(42:53):
I think he's awesome, but it's really hard to go like, yeah, dude,
we're gonna compensate you. But you know, you're you're you know,
you're one thing away from being suspended for a long
time or you know, I'm not. He's not fragile. He's happened,
but he has gotten hurt. Yeah, I get that. But
he's still a young man as well, and so he
has a lot of football left to play the way
he runs his style trust me. You know, I can't
(43:17):
say this obviously as as a matter of fact, but
the way he runs, he's not going to be a
guy that continues to get hurt. He doesn't take big shots,
you know what I mean, Like the way they use him.
He's not going to be a guy to get beat
up and and take a lot of shots and just
get worn down. So I wouldn't worry about that part
too much. And listen, let's you know, Leban also has
(43:39):
to prove that he's learning this lesson off the field.
So that's something that's that's you know, it is up
to him. Last thing, I want to go circle back
to the Chargers. The l A Chargers. Now, Uh, Philip
struggled last year holding on the football. It's not usually
his problem. And obviously, look they've had offensive line issues.
Keenan Allen has been hurt the last two years. UM,
and so there were other issues that have that have
(44:00):
the funneled that team. What's your sense though, of how
much Philip has in the tank. Does he have another
great year or a couple of years in him? I
absolutely think so. I'm not just saying that because I
worked for the owner, UM, having seen Philip you know
this offseason, seeing seeing how a bit of a shape
he's in, seeing him throwing the football on his arm,
(44:22):
is still lies. Um. I do think he still has
another two or three good years left in the tank.
And you said it right, Doug. It was all about
the offensive line. You know, the pressure that that he
was under, and we know Philip wants to stand in
the pocket and deliver the football. The other thing is
when you lose so many weapons and you're the goaln
(44:45):
that offense, you're almost forced to press at times because
you've got to keep up with people. And that's what
that's what happened with Philip. If his if his um
talent around him, why receivers Melvin Gordon, guy like this,
stay healthy. I expect him have a big here alright,
NFL Network, which day and Thomason of course an Analysson
(45:06):
carries Week one preseason games starting tomorrow tomorrow seven thirty
pm Eastern with the Texans versus the Panthers. He now
has his own gold jacket, his own bust, which has
that mean mug on no smiling on the already talking
about Dan Patrick. I love the idea. You didn't like
the way it works with the smiling. It looks much
more realistic with with the normal your normal face. Congratulations LT,
(45:27):
it was a magnificent speech. Can't wait to see on
the TV side. Always a pleasure. We Ladani and Thompson
the last San Diego Charger to be inducted into the
Pro Football Hall of Fame.
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio. Man, we have a great show for
you today. We have a Hall of Famer led Danian.
Tomlinson will join us next hour in the show. Uh,
we have Clay Travis will join us in the third
(00:22):
and final hour of the show. We'll talk about his
sit down with Johnny Manzel in Costa Rica of all places.
And we'll talk with the man the Myth, the Mullet.
Mike Gundey, head coach of my alma mater, top ten
team heading into the season, the Oklahoma State Cowboys head man,
will join us in twenty minutes here on the Doug
Gottlieb Show. But before we get to that, let's get
(00:42):
to the comments made to bleacher Report by Josh Rosen,
who was the number one quarterback in high school football,
started right away at U c l A. Was injured
last year team only won four games, had a minor
shoulder surgery that kept him out of the end of
last year, and what everyone seems to be talking about
her Uh these comments he made to bleacher Report. He
(01:07):
said he was asked up. You got a chance to heal,
maybe catch up on school, Rosen, don't get me started.
I love school, but it's hard. It's cool because we're
learning more applicable stuff in my major economics, not just
prerequisite stuff that's designed to filter out people. But football
really dnse my ability to take some classes that I need.
There are a bunch of classes that are only offered
(01:27):
one time. There's a class this spring I had to take,
but there's a conflict with spring football. So so football
wins out? Was the question? Well, you can say that. Um,
The question was, so the reality is student athletes play.
So that's the reality for student athletes playing at a university.
I didn't say that, you did. Look, football and school
don't go together, they just don't. Trying to do both
(01:49):
is like trying to have two full time jobs. There
are guys that have no business being in school. They're
here just because of the path of the NFL. There's
no other way. There's the other side that says, raise
the SAT eligibility requirements. Okay, the s A T requirement Alabama.
See what raised the s A T requirement Alabama? See
what kind of team they have? You lose athletes in
(02:10):
the products in the field suffers, and so anti sports
and college guy goes boom, godly college football player, parents,
Ivy League educated. He knows you don't. But actually he
just contradicted himself, and he just walked us down a
path to which the point could be made very simply. Look,
(02:30):
I'm a former student athlete, a former pampered student athlete
who went to both Notre Dame in Oklahoma State. I
can tell you definitively Notre Dame is a much more
difficult school. It is not even close. I love my
own lot. I had the greatest time. I was a
much better fitted Oklahoma State than I was at Notre Dame.
Some people fit better at Notre Dame. And it didn't
have to do with the academics, um. It just had
(02:52):
to do with feel. I wasn't a private school kid,
and there was seventy students undergrad when I was a
note day. Most people think that There Dame is a
huge school. It was. I think it's nine thousand now. Uh,
there was over twenty students. I think it's twenty five
thousand now At Oklahoma State. I like the bigger field
to it. I liked a little bit more relaxed academic
(03:13):
um threshold for getting in. I felt like I was
surrounded by the best and the brightest at at Notre Dame.
But I did feel like there was a certain entrepreneurial
spirit at Oklahoma State, a certain Hey, we came up
with nothing, and we're gonna try and make something and
have a good time at the same time. But but
(03:34):
but one of the points that I learned in college,
and I learned frankly at both places, is there are
plenty of students that hold jobs to try and pay
their bills in college. And you know what, it's really hard.
It's really really hard. And guess what, Josh Rosen's not wrong.
(03:54):
Football is a job, and he's paid far more handsomely
for his job then he could ever be compensated outside
of the world of football, considering his skill set and
what he could earn if he was working a full
time job. Oh yeah, by the way, it's forty hours
a week. At twenty hours a week, excuse me on
the field, Sure, there's some other things you have to
(04:15):
do and taking care of your body. Remember, you have
free academic support. You get to hand pick the classes
that you want in order to succeed, and it's harder
to hide kids at at U c l A than
it is at some other universities. Just is. He even
points out that at U c l A, if you
wanted to graduate in three years, he could go to
a sociology degree, just get his degree, which a lot
(04:35):
of guys do. It's still a U c l A degree.
And one of the things that he'll I think he'll
learn is and getting the degree he opens up plenty
of doors. But he's smart enough to know that economics
is he wants to start his own business at some point.
He wants to understand that. But this idea that because
it's really really hard and because there's some juggling that
takes place, that somehow they don't fit together is just
(04:58):
about the most childest thing you can say, which is
fine because in all candor, he's a child. Yes, when
I was two years old and I was in college
and things got really hard, I was like, man, this
is not fair. But then as you're you're an adult,
you take pride in that. You're like, you know what,
(05:19):
it was really hard. My wife worked full time when
she was in college. She worked in a place called
Christians University Spirit, and she was also the nanny for
the couple that owned Christ's University Spirit at the same time,
and she didn't earn enough there to even make a
dent in paying for college in Oaklhom state at the
time wasn't particularly expensive for in state tuition. Look, if
(05:40):
you want to sit here and come with me and
go like see, he's just proving it correct. And everyone's
taking the quote about Alabama about how it's easier to
get into Alabama than it is at u c l A.
And that's why Alabama gets better football players and running
with it. Um, there's some legitimacy to that. I don't
think that's an illegitimate mark. And everybody he's pointing to Stanford,
and Stanford gets to pick from the top of the
(06:03):
top of the deck academically, and they've been able to
create a culture. They have kids from mostly a lot
of them are from two parent homes, kids that are
that are good students, that want to work hard, and
to be completely honest, I think U c l A
is harder to stay in than Stanford. Is harder to
stay in. Stanford's harder to get in. U c l
A is harder to stay in both schools are very
(06:24):
difficult to get in, although the academic requirements are less
so for U c l A student athletes. Well, the
reality is my brother and sister went to USILA. You
can tell me I don't know anything about it, but
that'd be wrong. My brother was at cal Berkeley for
six years an assistant coach. You could ask me and
be like, you don't know what you're talking about. I
actually don't exactly know what I'm talking about. So he's
(06:49):
not wrong in that you lessen the requirement of Harvard
in basketball, lessened the requirements in order to get in. Now,
what they do at Harvard is in in basket. In sports,
in the IVY League, they have what's called the academic Index,
the IVY League Academic Index, and the index is like
a score they give you based upon your g P
A and your s A T combined and your incoming
(07:12):
recruiting class has to have has to pass a certain
threshold of the index. And so what Harvard did when
Tommy amerker Uh took over was they got smart. They
started recruiting because there's no scholarships, although they do have
scholarships now, if your parents make used to be seventy
grand or less. Now it's like a five grand or less.
You can get full kind of Uh it's not grant aid,
(07:33):
but you can get full um coverage for everything you do.
You're like, you know, don't end up coming out of
pocket for it. So it's like scholarship, not scholarship anyway. Uh,
what Harvard started doing was and they still do this,
They recruit five or six guys that can pay their
own way that our four point seven you know, the
(07:54):
S A T student athletes, and then they get a
couple of kids that have in the three point five's
still high academic achievers, but guys have had no chance
to get into Harvard on their own and would bring
down their academic index. They balance out the two and
that's how they've been able to recruit better student athletes
at Harvard than they've ever had before. That's how basketball
has won so many IVY leagues. They lowered the academy
(08:18):
the entrance standards, which, by the way, is probably the
least discussed benefit of being a student athlete. You get
access to a club that without sports, you would have
no chance of getting into. My guest would be sev
of U c L as football, and maybe a higher
percentage of basketball players would have no chance of getting
into u c l A, zero zero chance of getting
(08:40):
to u c l A if not for the fact
they played a sport, which is fine, Which is the
whole idea of sports, the whole idea of having uh,
you know, like diversity shouldn't just be diversing in terms
of color, skin, diversiting in terms of background, in terms
of skill set like this is I think this, I
think it's a good thing. But like, let's like kid
our else Josh Rosen, like, plenty of guys at u
(09:03):
c l A that shouldn't necessarily be at u c
l A in terms of what they've achieved academically, and
yes they do. Everybody looks at it as I'm going
to the NFL. But just because you look at at
it like that doesn't mean that's the reality you take.
Every kid thinks they're going in. One percent of the
kids actually end up making it. That's the reality of
(09:25):
collegiate athletics, especially at the high major level and football,
the high major level. In basketball, think about the math
to it. There are three and fifty plus Division one
men's basketball schools thirteen scholarships of peace, there are thirty
first round draft picks. How many kids are really going pro?
And then there are what seven rounds to the NFL
draft thirty two teams. Think of the math there. Then
(09:47):
remember there's eighty five scholarships per team a Division one teams.
You do the math how many kids are and how
many kids that are drafted actually making a team. So
they're there because of the path the NFL. It is
a path to the NFL, but it's also a path
to a professional career, to an education, to a degree
which allows you to teach, allows you to coach, allows
(10:08):
you to be um, allows you have greater opportunities in
the business world. You go to school thinking, hey, I'm
gonna be here for three years and go pro. That's
what they all think. Then you get there you're like, well,
maybe that doesn't happen, but I gotta look at another path.
But I don't dispute that it's really hard. It's two
full time jobs. But between in state or out of
(10:33):
state tuition, between what you get and the benefit you
get in terms of admissions, the benefits you get in
terms of academic support as well as athletics support. You
get the best trainers, the best facilities, the best coaching
money can buy. And then you get the best academic
support possible, especially the higher level that you play at.
(10:53):
Oh yeah, and you never come out of pocket. You
get cost of attendance. Guys that come from uh tough
backgrounds get grants as well. You have money in your pocket.
You stay in usually the best dorms, albeit u c
l a's dorms have always been a notch below many
of the other state schools. Josh Rosen telling the world,
woe is me. I'm an athlete who wants to be
(11:16):
a student, but it's really really hard. Hey, dude, that's
anybody who holds two full time jobs, anybody, and these
oh it's more than twenty hours. We were eating together, Like,
come on, dude, you were gonna eat anyway. We were
playing video games together. I love it U c l A.
(11:38):
Guys complaining about you realize LA doesn't start school until
like October. Just this is the problem with reporters, Like
they don't fact check any they don't know anything. There
in the trimester system. U c l A has a
great benefit all these guys. They get if meals aren't provided,
they get per diem so you get a little extra
cash in your pocket. Hey, and right now, all you're
(12:01):
doing is playing football up until school starts. In school
at U c l A starts later than most places
because a lot of schools in the Western United States
are actually on the trimester system. Oh, it's really hard.
There was a class that wasn't offered, Like one class
wasn't offered, and football procrudes you from doing that. Um,
I'm gonna call bs on that happening most places because
(12:22):
most places offer all classes online. So I like Rosen.
He's really smart, but he's one of these guys that
kind of too smart for his own good. He's talking
out of his rectum at times. And though it's his perspective,
and I value his perspective because I think he's going
to be a good NFL quarterback. The idea of Hey,
(12:44):
he's taking down the entire system because he said football
in school are hard. Nobody said it was easy. Oh
is that easy? Be sure to catch live editions of
The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three pm Easter
noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. Docalmen State starts the year ranked eleventh in
(13:05):
the country and is a definite threat to make the
college football Playoff for the first time ever. Head coaches
My Gundy. He joins us on the Doug Gotlick Show
here on Fox Sports Radio. Coach, how are you doing good?
We're on about practice nine and I had some good workouts.
It's been unusual here. I'm sure you don't. You hadn't followed,
(13:26):
but the weather has been in the in the low eighties,
so uh, players are are loving that. But they're having
a lot of fun. We've got a great group, very mature.
You know, you've been around enough athletics to know how
how much difference it is, how much different it is
when you have a team that's very mature. They take
care of themselves and get ready to play. We just
(13:46):
kind of got to get out of the way. You know.
It's funny. Actually, my father in law and mother in
law drove out with my wife from Oklahoma about a
week ago, and they try, you know how old people
are in Oklahoma. They tracked the rain because of his garden,
and he was like, man, we got rain, couple. I know,
there's a tornado and Tulsa a couple of nights ago,
scary stuff. Thirty people hurt. So yeah, I have been
following it. You finally get the beautiful indoor facility, right,
(14:07):
You got these unbelief and now you you don't actually
need it for the first couple of of the season.
You mentioned this group, Um, you haven't obviously played against
live bullets, live competition yet. But compare it to some
of the other teams that you thought could be special
at the end of the season. Where are you now
as opposed to Weeden's last year? Where are you now
(14:30):
against Zack Robinson's last year? Where are you in comparison
to those teams? Doug Real close? Um, Mason Rudolph, our quarterback,
has has had a really good off season and and
through the first nine practices he's I think he's made
more improvement from the bowl game to now than he's
made in any of his years, which he should just
(14:51):
due to experience. But he's handled all the publicity very well.
He's really driven and focused, and the team is following him. Um,
We've got tremendous skill at the wide receiver position. We've
got eight guys that we could put out there at
any time, and we trust them. Of those eight, I'm
(15:12):
going to guess at least three are going to play
in the NFL at some time in the next three
or four years. We've got um a mature offensive line.
We added the the graduate transfer from cal that that's
fitting in very nicely. And at the running back position,
we've got three guys that are battling to back up
(15:33):
Justice Hill and Um they're doing very well for for
the early part of camp. Defensively, we're similar because we
don't have a player that everybody's gonna say just dominates,
but we have a lot of speed. I think they're
really fast and playing in our conference, it's it's just
(15:53):
so important that you have speed to cover from from
sideline to sideline and they need to force turnovers. Um,
we've got a great partner. UM, we've got cover units
on all of our special teams. UM, we have a
new kicker because we finally lost Ben Grogan after four years.
So that's really where we're at. The comparison of Weeden,
(16:15):
Jiar and Zach Robinson year years is very very similar.
All right, let's talk about Mason for a second look.
Last year incredibly productive twenty eight touchdowns, four interceptions, over
four thousand yards passing, but the flaws to those of
us who paid attention on a weekly basis, there are
times in which he battles with accuracy issues, and there
are times in which, especially when there's weather, when now
(16:38):
the sudden that you have no idea where the ball
is going, Like, how can you? How can you? Let's
let's start with the accuracy. Um, how hard is it
to work through making a quarterback with the strong arm,
a true kind of pocket passer more accurate in an
off season. Well, what you're saying is exactly right. Those
are the two areas that that he came up short
last year. And the first one is he would he
(17:01):
had a couple of games where in the first half
he just wasn't very good, and it's, you know, you
kind of scratch your head, you know, it's it's you
know the basketball scenarios. You know, you've got a guy
that's a good three point shooter, and then he gets
in the game and after the first half he's over
eleven and you're like, well, why is he over eleven? Well,
in his situation, he tried to do too much, and
(17:21):
he tried to rush things with without having the ball
and controlling the ball, and as I turned it to him.
He got out of his box, and he has to
play within his box. He has to use his strengths.
Last year he did that in a couple of games.
And then against Oklahoma, we played in in poor weather,
(17:42):
but I honestly think he let that get to his head.
He wanted to win that game so bad and he
let the weather frustrating because he's he's a worry ward
from the from a standpoint that he wants everything to
be perfect. He wants to win and be so successful.
He's so driven, and I think he let it get
(18:04):
to him and he was frustrated. We had a lot
of throws Doug in that game where we were going
to chunk it down the field like a bunch. I'm
talking probably times, and it didn't completely take us out
of it. But if it's coming down in its wet,
I mean, you know, you just can't throw at his
accord down the field. He got really frustrated even before
(18:27):
the game, and I think he learned a great lesson.
But that's what's happened to him last year on those
two cases. See, it's it's interesting because there have there
have been people that have been critical of you. Well,
why didn't my Gundy throw the ball downfield? Like way,
There's there's more to it than just you know, coach
Gundy didn't want to throw it downfield. But to me,
and again this is more of an educated fan than
than an expert that watches every day of practice, I
(18:49):
feel like those two losses, um, those two, the Central
Michigan loss and the Oklahoma loss, should set you up
for more success this year. Mike Gunney, the head coach
of Oklahoma State joining US rank eleventh in the country.
Many people think they're a threat to not just win
the Big Twelve, but to get to their first college
football playoff. Like the Central Michigan helps you with so
many of these returners because now they lock in more
(19:11):
when you play Tulsa, when you played Troy on the road,
because remember Central Michigan and the Oklahoma one motivates uh,
those star players to just let it all hang out,
uh and not be as tight in a bigger game.
Is it is it fair that there's going to be
Usually there's not as much carry over year to year,
but because of those two losses, there may be more
carry over from last year to this year. You're right again,
(19:34):
and and what happens. Here is the frustrating thing when
the season is over is you look back on it
and you say, we could have won every game. I mean,
we really could have won every game, and so that
that is should I should have won the should have
won the bailther game. We turned the ball over twice
inside the forty going in and and you know, book regardless,
(19:54):
we didn't win. You know how that is the other
teams probably saying the same thing. But when you look
at it on paper, you say, hey, we could won
every game last year. So that means that that we're
in a group which I would say, you know, the
top twenty teams in the country give or take what
would have an opportunity to do that. Things go well,
don't turn the ball over. But the Central Michigan game
keeps you focused. And then the the the players that
(20:21):
come back from last year that went through what you're
talking about, you know, they just understand it. They realize
the importance of preparation and every week and you know
the comment that you know, I heard the same thing
all the time, why didn't we just throw it deep more?
You know, against so calm and I've never said anything
(20:41):
about it, but you know, our plans to throw it
deep twenty five times, but when when the ball is
not coming out of the quarterback's handwell, and there's not confidence.
I mean, I'm not the smartest guy. I mean, I'm
not going to throw it down there a bunch and so, um,
all of those things that you said are are true,
and um, you know that's the interesting part about a
college football season. You know, you just hope that some
(21:03):
of those things fall in place for you as a
team during those big games. Still got the Arkansas waterfall
go and still have to still have the mullet, and
you've you've kind of turned the corner a little bit,
I mean not a little bit, like you've become this
personality to which we saw maybe from less at times
at l s U. From from Pat Jones of course,
of course coach to you at Oaklahoma State. We saw
(21:24):
it from Steve Spurrier maybe later in his career, some
at Florida, but also a lot at South Carolina where
there's a and I don't know whether it's because, uh,
you're the longest tenured coach in the league, was because
you finally got the salary that you rightfully deserve, or
whether the respect you've gotten nationally. It just it feels
like there's a comfort level to where you can be
you like, this is the real you in with the media.
(21:46):
Where does that come from? I think what you said,
all right, You you get to a point in your
career where you you're settled. I feel settled where I'm at.
I'm comfortable with the way that our administration has made
a commitment to the higher staff that we have, the
sixty employees that are in this building. Um, you know,
I essentially have, you know, have a contract set up
(22:07):
here that that should last me through the time that
I feel like that I'm not ready to do this,
don't have the energy to coach anymore. And when you
get to that point, if you do something long enough, UM,
I've started to realize that there's so much of a
time commitment and such a commitment from our players bodies
(22:27):
to play this game that it needs to be fun.
And the only way it can be fun is if
they feel like that I'm being myself and I'm being
fun and I want our team this year to enjoy,
to have fun, and to cut it loose. And um,
they know how to prepare, they know how to practice
(22:49):
they know when to turn it on and when to
turn it off. But I want them to take chances.
I want them to cut it loose, and I want
to have a lot a lot of fun. And I
think as a leader, the only way they'll do that
is if the guide it's watching them every day. He says.
It's okay. Um, last year you struggled early in the
year to run the football. You mentioned the offensive line
has improved, and of course you have Justice hill Back.
You lost Chris Carson, who is doing great stuff with
(23:11):
the Seahawks. I know he's blowing people away with with
how talented he is. How confident are you that, forget
about early in the year or when you're playing some
of the big twelve teams that don't do a great
job at stopping the run in the important games the
Pittsburgh game on the road, the Texas game, the Oklahoma game.
How confident are you that you're gonna be able to
run the football when it matters the most. I feel
good about our running game. We we have to establish
(23:33):
who are cowboy back's going to be. Last year we
had jar winning beach and they were fantastic. Those guys
are really good in our running game. Um, We've got
some young guys, um that are working at that position,
and we need to establish those guys. But if you're
you're better up front, and in Justice Hills a year
older and he's fifteen pounds heavier, we should be better
(23:56):
run the football than we were last year. Can I
be honest with you that that South Alabama game scares
the hell out of me? Right? It reminds me you
went on the road Detroit a couple of years ago
and South Alabama on a Friday night, You're going down
to Mobile playing on national TV. That's the biggest game
they're ever going to have in Mobile out you know,
and that that's why who who is the assistant coach
who agreed to that deal? Well, you know they beat
(24:18):
Missisippi State last year in yeah, and um uh you
know that that's just one of those things. And you're right,
you know, you you can act like that, you don't
look at that and and kind of go up a
little bit in your throat. But um, when you go
on the big stage in an environment where um, as
you said, it will be the biggest game they've had
(24:40):
and maybe for years there, uh, you know you're going
to get the best from everybody, not just the team,
but you're going to get the best from the crowd
and all involved. So we'll certainly have to be prepared
for that game. Last thing, Um, there's talk of you
guys competing obviously for a national championship. You talked about
how you're You've told me for years how your team
is built. You changed the scholarships for d fense, forty
(25:00):
one for offense, and of course trying to recruit as
much speed because of the way how spread out the
league is. Your team seems to be built to win
the Big Twelve, But is it built to win a
national championship because other other conferences play different style of football? Um?
How how accurate would be the thought that, yes, you
can win the Big Twelve, but matchup wise, it may
(25:20):
take the right specific matchup to win the whole thing. Well,
there's some truth of that, and I think that when
we get into postseason play against teams from other leagues,
if we're matched up against a team that is more
physical upfront, Um, at that point, what we we have
(25:41):
to come up with plans on both sides of the
ball where we don't just bang our head up against
the wall. I mean going into a game. Um, you
know for example that you know the team that's dominated
people defensively the last three or four years has been Alabama. Well,
if you play then you might have to throw us
seventy times to try to find a way to win.
I mean, you have to go into the game with
a plan to win based on who it is. And
(26:03):
we would have to evaluate that before we play those teams,
because there are teams that that would be on our
schedule at some point, even if it's in the playoffs,
that would be more physical than we are upfront based
on the way we play in this league. So then
you would have to overcome it with some finesse and
speed and doing some things that would be a little
bit different than what to be a little unaccustomed for
(26:25):
a traditional football team right now. Less, those are the
first world problems that would mean you'd win the Big
Twelve and win the Big twelve, first Big Twelve championship
games since the league went to ten, and and you
you take, you take that opportunity if you present itself. Well, look,
I can't thank you enough for always joining me. I
look forward as a lum to the Tulsa game. On
Fox Sports one on the thirty one. Get back out
(26:45):
there and keep those guys healthy. Right, Hey, Doug, always
going to be what you thank you. That's my gundy,
the head coach of mild Modern, Oklahoma State ranked in
the number eleven in the country. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Doug gott Leaves Show weekdays at
three pm Easter noon Pacific. So Spike Lee tweeted out.
Lie said on Twitter he didn't organize the protest, but
he supports Kaepernick and quote his stance on the injustices
(27:06):
in the United States. Here's, by the way, here's how
late to the party, Spike Lee is. Colin Kaepernick has
said he's no longer gonna kneel, no longer gonna kneel
because he thinks progress has been made. Kaepernick donated over
million dollars of his salary to organizations trying to right
the wrongs of the civil rights of the civil rights
(27:28):
movement that continues in the country. Right, So Kaepernick, by
not by saying he's not gonna kneel, has said, like, hey,
all those injustices, there's progress being made, Like we're good.
That's not really what he's saying, really, what he's saying
is I think that's what's keeping me out of the league.
But this, to me is one of those law of
(27:48):
unintended consequences, whether it's the Civil Rights Group with it's
Spike Lee. The more you make a big deal and
supporting Colin Kaepernick as if he's been wronged by the NFL,
the more the NFL is going to be pissed and
they're gonna say to them. So this is what one
GM told me last week. Hey, I got no problem
we signed him. I don't he doesn't want to be
a backup. He wants to be a starter. We don't
(28:09):
need a We don't need a starter. We could use
a backup. But what happens when you cut him? Will
there be protest? Will you lose part of the locker room?
When you lose the whole locker room? Because it will
be a complete poop show when you cut him. And
when you have a rally, a civil rights rally to
support a guy when he's hired, all of these guys,
this is I coached the team in Israel. I told
(28:29):
you guys that, and um I had thirteen players because
one player got hurt, we added a player while we
were there, and I can tell you want to come
on coaches perspective, Look, I know what I'm doing, or
(28:51):
I thought I know what I was doing, And I
definitely knew what I was doing more than the parents
know what they're doing, right, And I had two parents
come up to me and talk to me repeatedly about
playing time for their kids, and their intended consequence was
they wanted their kids to get more opportunity, more playing time.
And I tried, and I tried as hard as I
(29:14):
could because I had a parent. My dad was a
former college basketball of course coach, a long time AU coach.
Like he had a he had a lot. I mean
he for over fifty years. He was involved in the
game of basketball, and he played basketball to walk on
in college. Like this guy knew more who forgot more
hooped than any of these parents remembered. My dad was
still the parent that would talk to the coaches, and
(29:35):
so I I understood and felt where they's it's just
true love for your kid that you only want to
help them by talking to the coach. Hey, let me
just tell you my kids really good and he could
fit in and most of them didn't even talk about
their kid they were just like, Hey, your bench is
really good. You should think about using your bench more.
Hey doesn't your kid come out the bench? Yes? He does. Right,
(29:57):
these guys can really play. Like, I get it, I
understand what you your your intended purpose of the conversation was,
but the unintended consequence was as much as I tried,
I couldn't help but hold that against them. Right, So,
maybe not consciously, but subconsciously, because you didn't want to
say you didn't want to play a guy and then
go like, well, I only played him because his dad
(30:18):
said something to me. I want to play him because
he earned those minutes. That's exactly the same thing. What's
gonna happen with Kaepernick where there I guarantee that somebody,
somebody's gonna lose a quarterback like man, i'd love to
bring him in. There's gonna be protested if we cut him,
like I can't have if we work him out and
it doesn't work out, Like, I don't want to cut
him and have protests like it's just not worth it
(30:39):
to me the backup quarterback. There's other guys we can
bring in that fit better and that we know what
personalities and it's gonna cost us less in terms of
social impact, and we're just not worth it. The intended
consequence is clear. They just want Colin Kaepernick to get
a fair shot. Man the two US and thirteen, he
(31:00):
nearly won a Super Bowl and though his team couldn't
win the past couple of years, last year statistically he
had a good bounce back season and finish up strong.
And whether or not you think he's great or even good,
I don't think it's unreasonable to think he's better than
many of the backups in the in the NFL. They
just wanted to get a fair shot. Spike Lee just
wants to bet a fair shot. But dude, I'm telling
(31:23):
you the unintended consequences all these gms and presidents and
owners and even some players like no thanks, I don't
want that circus coming to town. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app. Ladai and Thominson was
a three time first team All Pro, a three time
(31:44):
second team All Pro. He was the m v P
in two thousand six. He was also the v the
NFL's Man of the Year. In two thousand six. It
was he was a no doubter. When somebody goes like, hey,
what about old Yes, he was in you could take
you could point a whole poke holes in current warners,
five year absence from being a starter in the NFL.
(32:05):
You could poll holes in why did it take Kenny easily?
So long? They're all hall of famers, But there was
one guy to which anybody who paid attention watching him
play during his uh, during his was it eight seasons
in San Diego or his season with the Jets, you
knew that it was a hall of famer, And then
on top of it, he delivered a hall of fame
worthy speech. And now he works for the NFL network
(32:27):
kind enough to spend some time with us LT Ladini
and Thomason joining us on the Doug Gottlip Show. How
are you? I'm doing well, Doug? How are you? My friend?
Good man? I know you put a lot into that,
like that was an incredibly it was a beautifully crafted speech.
Your tie was magnificent, like that was there was a
lot put into that. Um okay, So when you came
out of it, how did you feel about how you personally?
(32:49):
Did you know? I felt I feel really good about it. Um,
of course, you know, there's a lot of preparation go
into it. You know, things are changed around in the speech.
You you constantly you know, taking stuff out, adding things,
and and you know, I just I felt like it
was everything that I wanted to say, you know, and
(33:10):
to the point where, um, it was weird because when
I got off to the stage. Man, I'm not afraid,
I'm not ashamed to say I cried for ten to
fifteen minutes. I couldn't, you know. It was just something
that overwhelmed me at the time of what I had
just did and how how proud of of myself I
(33:33):
was for doing that. And yeah, so it took me
a while to get myself together afterwards. I mean, look,
the most powerful part to me was you talked about
your great great great grandfather George, who came over to
the came over as a slave and was given the
name Thomlinson. Why why did you choose? Uh? And I thought,
and for people who missed the speech, we'll tweet it
(33:54):
out to be available online, how to kind of live
in portuity. But you you also took the path of
of of what it meant to change that name from
somebody else's name that was given to him to now
a name that your kids that you carry with such pride.
Why why did you choose to include that as a
portion of your speech. Well, when the Football Life was done,
(34:16):
my story on NFL network, um, I had so many
great responses to people just when I was out in public,
of all races, Doug, you know, it didn't matter what race.
People came up to me and said, you your football
life inspired me. It really did. And I was so
proud to learn that about you. Well, you know, I
(34:39):
felt like if it inspired them in that way, then
this was my opportunity to to say more about it,
to challenge America, you know, because my story is not
much different from the next man's story on both sides,
the white side of the family and the black side
of the family. And so that, you know, it was
the perfect opportunity. What better way to have that type
(35:02):
of platform once in a lifetime, opportunity to really say
what was on my heart, you know. And you also
said about how look, football is a microcosm of the
real world and that you have so many different cultures,
different races in that locker room. Having been a basketball player,
experienced that exact same thing. Athletes I think look at
race far differently. But then you know, with the Colin
(35:24):
Kaepernick angle of it, he of course being of mixed
race background, being adopted, uh in how he was brought up,
and now trying to represent I don't think just representing
black culture, but just trying to represent, um a side
to our culture which feels as though, uh the police
have have have wronged especially black people, and that's caused
(35:45):
kind of a side discussion which is bled into the
football discussion. And should he be on a football field.
I think people want to correlate what you said to
the Kaepernick thing. How would you differentiate the two. Well,
it wasn't about that on sleep Um. It was more
so about the responsibility that we have to each other
(36:09):
because this country is the greatest country in the world
and and so many other nations look to us. That's
why I said, you know, for all nations to follow,
we should represent ourselves because we have so much diversity,
so many different cultures, and this is the country that's
that's the only country like that, and so at the
(36:31):
end of the day, we should want to be be
be a life for all nations to follow I was
just simply giving you my story that's parallel to a
lot of people's story. Really had nothing to do with
with Colin Kaepernick. I thought, I thought you did in
fantastic fashion. Lady and Thomason's the NFL Network Analysts is
(36:51):
one of six Hall of Fame analysts on the network. Um,
you are the last really San Diego Charger to go in.
I mean, Philip, probably it's a point will go in,
but but it'll go in as an as an l
A Charger kind of leaves you in a weird Like
I know, people in l A. I loved watching you play,
but l A Charger fans were not necessarily San Diego
(37:12):
Charger fans. What's that like to be the guy who
represents the team that no longer exists. Well, I tell you,
it's uh, you know, you know, it's weird. But at
the same time, I guess it kind of makes me
special because I am beloved by so many San Diego
fans and it was evident of their support at the
(37:34):
Hall of Fame. So many San Diego fans were out there,
and like you said, it wasn't it wasn't l A fans,
It was San Diego fans that was there to represent
and to you know, support me, and so it is
a bit weird, but you know, to be the last
it's like, hey, you know, I'm gonna be beloved, I
(37:54):
guess for you know, for eternity. Hopefully if you could
go back and change one thing about your career, what
would be just winning the championship, you know, but you
can't change that, Like, is there like you know, I
think I thought, Like I watched The Football Life on
Sunday morning and it talked about when you're in New
England and you made the bold decision, You're like, look,
I'm not I'm not right. My backup is better than
(38:15):
I am. Um. You know, Like, I don't think you
could have personally changed the play calling the next year
when you lost to the Patriots, Like what you personally?
Is there anything you personally would have changed? Uh? Not really, No,
I don't think there's anything personally I would I would
have changed, because you know, I prepared myself every offseason.
(38:36):
You know, I made sure that me personally, I was
in the best shape of my life. You know that
I that I did everything possible so that I could
be my best for my team. And so when I
you know, at the end of the day, when I
look at it, I think I did it the right way.
So there's there's nothing that I would personally change. It's great.
I mean, like, look you when you you leave the
(38:57):
Hall of Fame ceremony saying I left it all out there,
just like you left your career saying I left it
all out there. Like that's that's a life. That's a
that's a life well lived through which you when you
live with no regrets, isn't it that? That is? That's true? Absolutely,
and I think you know it's um. You know, for me,
it was always something that you know, to to do
(39:18):
it the right way. That was important to me because
I realized, Doug that I did represent a lot of
people that that helped me get there. And so um
to say that, to be able to say that both
on and off the field, man, that that's you know,
I think that's the way it should be done. You
you always handle yourself with class. With Grace Zeke Elliott
(39:39):
seen as everyone says he's a good kid, but there's
been a bunch of little things and it's only been
a year and he's playing, uh in a bigger market
with the Dallas Cowboys. You grew up in the state
of Texas. You understand that the playing for the Cowboys
is different even than playing for the Chargers in San Diego. Um,
if you had a conversation with Zeke, how it go well,
(40:01):
I think you know at this point, physique, it's all
about surrounding himself around the people that's gonna make him
become a better professional. And yes, we all allow our
young players to be kids and to have fun and
to express themselves in different ways, you know, But but
it's a fine line between you know, doing that and
(40:24):
also getting in trouble with the law. For example, Odell
Beckham Jr. Does it to me, you know, even though
people say, oh, he needs to mature, let's give him
time to He's broken no laws, he's done. He's done
nothing wrong, and so that's okay. We're okay with that. Now,
(40:44):
on the other end of it, it's guys that are
young but make mistakes and get in trouble with the
law that brings a bad light on the entire National
Football League. We understand that. And so in this case,
it's all about just now starting to say, you know what,
I realized the responsibility I have let me start to
surround myself with with guys that can help me become
(41:07):
a better professional. Who's the most like you that's playing
in the NFL. Wow, that's a really good question. Uh.
I think it would be a guy like David Johnson. Honestly,
even though he's probably um a little bit bigger than me.
He you know, that offense, he's gonna touch the ball
(41:29):
about twenty times. I should say, run the ball at
least twenty times in that offense and then get another
file that Tim catches out the backfield. But in that offense,
he has to run up inside, which I had to
do a lot. You know, I consider myself truly a
perimeter player, but in my offense, I had to run
up the middle quite a bit. And it's the same
(41:51):
with with David. So, you know, I think he's most
like me just because of everything that he's asked to do.
And uh, you know, when you look at his his
agility and how how he's able to get it in
and out of the hole, I think we're quite similar.
Levan wants to be paid like a running back and
a wide receiver. No one knows more about catching the
(42:11):
ball out of the backfield than you do. Um, how
do you think that negotiations gonna go with Pittsburgh wanted
to be paid like both Well, he should be paid
like one of the top football players in the National
Football League. I don't care what position. He's a guy that, um,
you know, demands the respect of the highest paid football
(42:32):
players in our league. In my opinion, whenever you have
a dominant player, you have to pay him as such.
And I don't care what the running back market says.
There's nobody in the National Football League right now like
Levian Bell. The only thing is he's missed fourteen games
the last two years. I get that, and and they
haven't done well when he's been off the field. Look,
(42:53):
I think he's awesome, but it's really hard to go like, yeah, dude,
we're gonna compensate you. But you know, you're you're you know,
you're one thing away from being suspended for a long
time or you know, I'm not. He's not fragile. He's happened,
but he has gotten hurt. Yeah, I get that. But
he's still a young man as well, and so he
has a lot of football left to play the way
he runs his style trust me. You know, I can't
(43:17):
say this obviously as as a matter of fact, but
the way he runs, he's not going to be a
guy that continues to get hurt. He doesn't take big shots,
you know what I mean, Like the way they use him.
He's not going to be a guy to get beat
up and and take a lot of shots and just
get worn down. So I wouldn't worry about that part
too much. And listen, let's you know, Leban also has
(43:39):
to prove that he's learning this lesson off the field.
So that's something that's that's you know, it is up
to him. Last thing, I want to go circle back
to the Chargers. The l A Chargers. Now, Uh, Philip
struggled last year holding on the football. It's not usually
his problem. And obviously, look they've had offensive line issues.
Keenan Allen has been hurt the last two years. UM,
and so there were other issues that have that have
(44:00):
the funneled that team. What's your sense though, of how
much Philip has in the tank. Does he have another
great year or a couple of years in him? I
absolutely think so. I'm not just saying that because I
worked for the owner, UM, having seen Philip you know
this offseason, seeing seeing how a bit of a shape
he's in, seeing him throwing the football on his arm,
(44:22):
is still lies. Um. I do think he still has
another two or three good years left in the tank.
And you said it right, Doug. It was all about
the offensive line. You know, the pressure that that he
was under, and we know Philip wants to stand in
the pocket and deliver the football. The other thing is
when you lose so many weapons and you're the goaln
(44:45):
that offense, you're almost forced to press at times because
you've got to keep up with people. And that's what
that's what happened with Philip. If his if his um
talent around him, why receivers Melvin Gordon, guy like this,
stay healthy. I expect him have a big here alright,
NFL Network, which day and Thomason of course an Analysson
(45:06):
carries Week one preseason games starting tomorrow tomorrow seven thirty
pm Eastern with the Texans versus the Panthers. He now
has his own gold jacket, his own bust, which has
that mean mug on no smiling on the already talking
about Dan Patrick. I love the idea. You didn't like
the way it works with the smiling. It looks much
more realistic with with the normal your normal face. Congratulations LT,
(45:27):
it was a magnificent speech. Can't wait to see on
the TV side. Always a pleasure. We Ladani and Thompson
the last San Diego Charger to be inducted into the
Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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