August 7, 2025 • 38 mins
Former NFL offensive lineman Ephraim Salaam and FOX Sports Radio Weekend host Aaron Torres are in for the guys, and they explain why it's hard to take Archie Manning's comments about Arch Manning's NFL future as a total certainty, tell us why they have no problem with schools like Texas Tech using NIL to propel themselves to the top of the college football world, and explain why they're optimistic that Travis Hunter will be able to play both ways in the NFL. Plus, the Odd Couple Crew debates the Las Vegas falloff in this week's edition of Shop Talk.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:25):
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Speaker 3 (00:30):
Welcome, hen everybody, hour two. This is the Odd Couple,
Fox Sports Radio, kelvin Washington, Rob Parker out, Eric Torsi
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we get off air. All right, he from so Busy
(01:18):
Day in the NFL. By the way, if you've missed
any of our conversation about Rashaun Slater, we'll reset it
on about an hour from now. You can also catch
it on the podcast. But college football is coming too,
and a little bit of an interesting story came out today,
So obviously heading into the season, coaches Pole dropped this week.
The Texas long Horns are the number one team in
(01:40):
the country, and of course they have I think the
guy that everybody is most intrigued to watch in college football.
That is Arch Manning, the nephew of Peyton and eli
son of Cooper Manning. Why we are talking about Arch
Manning today is because he is the Heisman favorite. Texas
is the preseason number one team in the country. But
(02:01):
if you're an NFL team hoping a draft Arch Manning
in the twenty twenty six NFL draft, you may have
to think again. Archie Manning, who of course is his father,
our grandfather, excuse me, was interviewed this week for Texas
Monthly and asked about the idea of Arch essentially being
a one and done starter starting this year, going to
(02:23):
the NFL, because of course this is his third year
of college football. Archie Manning, about his grandson, said, quote,
Arch isn't going to do that. He'll be at Texas
in twenty twenty six. What do you think you from
I mean Archie Manning. You know he's convinced his grandson
will be there. I got takes, but go ahead, I
(02:43):
want to give you the floor.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I think it has a lot to do with number one,
the money Archie is making, arch is making, and number two,
you don't want to let the cat out of the bag.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Of course to potential.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Sure, So you don't want to just be like, no, no, no, no,
he'll be because if he is slated, if he has
the type of year people are expecting him to have,
and he's slated as a number one pick in the draft,
I can promise you he won't be in college next year.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Outside of that, yeah, I mean, what's the harm in
saying is what you don't want to do is say no,
he's going to the league and he doesn't have the
type of year that everyone is anticipating. And you got
to remember, he hasn't played a lot of college football.
He's been there three years, going on his third year
(03:43):
and he hasn't really played, so we don't even know
the type of player he is. So to put the
type of pressure on this young man by saying, oh, no,
we're here for this year and then we'll head to
the NFL before he's even started a season in college football.
(04:04):
I think that's a smart thing to do for his grandfather.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, this is almost like the reverse LeVar ball, like no, yeah,
we're going from right, yeah, yeah, no, you know, listen,
I saw this come across the news today, and certainly
it's something we should be talking about. But it's the
right like, it's just it's the right thing for everyone,
right is. I think we're all smart enough to understand
(04:28):
if Arch Manning takes the world by storm in college football,
wins the Heisman, maybe wins a national championship, and he's
definitively ready, then he will go and he should go.
Let me say this, I think it's actually one of
the cool things about the NIL world that we live in.
Nil is not perfect. We're gonna get to another NIL
topic here in a few minutes. But players now don't
(04:51):
have to rush the process. And yeah, and I know
Arch is a unique situation with his family set up,
and I don't think financially he's hurting. But if he
even if he's good, but he doesn't feel like he's ready,
he doesn't have to rush the process. He's going to
make plenty of money in college. Now, to be clear,
the difference between a four year guaranteed contract and one
(05:13):
year of NIL, those are two completely different things. But
I do think this is a cool part of NIL
is that you don't have to rush the process. If
you're not ready, you can come back, you can stay
in school. And so I get why Archie would say this,
but I also think that you know, we'll see what happens.
But I think this is the cool part of NIL
is you don't have to rush the process and even
(05:35):
worry about it this time.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
No, I think it allows players to actually grow into
one to being professionals and being able to come into
a league, whether it be basketball or football, come into
the league ready and prepared to play. I think it's
really going to show its head on the college basketball
(05:59):
land because now the onus of being one and done
is kind of diminishing. Now you have outliers, the Cooper Flags,
the Duke Trio who decided to leave after their first year.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
But all right, you know it made sense, right, that
makes sense. But if you're.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
If you're at Illinois and you're one of the you know,
leading the NCAA and scoring and you're making you leave
Illinois and next year you can go to Kentucky and
they pay you six million dollars, right opposed to going
and getting drafted maybe early second round, late first round
(06:45):
in the NBA. Yeah, I think I'm going to Kentucky
on a bigger stage. Sure, six million dollars in my pocket.
Developed more so, now maybe I put myself in the
conversation of being a lottery pick in the NBA draft.
I like that aspect of it because now guys don't
feel like I have to go now yep, and then
(07:06):
you get to develop more than one thing. I don't
like football basketball, not so much in football because you
gotta be there three years. You're stepping into an arena
and you're playing against grown men. Yes, like there's a
rookie like Cooper Flag is going to be playing against
a forty one year old Lebron James. You see what
I'm saying. And so now it's like, oh, this is
(07:29):
the two different spectrums, completely different spectrums in terms of ability, age, strength,
all of those things. And so players staying in college
a year longer, developing longer. I think bo'swell for the
league's both ways. So much so not to get off topic,
(07:53):
but as a father of an AAU player, an eleven
year old. Okay, so my son's eleven, he's a young
eleven going into the sixth grade.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
I was told, oh, no, you can have him repeat
fifth grade, so he'll be twelve going into the sixth grade.
And I'm like, no, he's tested gifted, he's we're not
going to slow his scholastic endeavors down for athletics.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Just not gonna happen.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Oh, by the way, I graduated from high school at sixteen.
It's okay, it works out. Sure, And so you we
watched the uh this past the last not this weekend.
The weekend before, we watched the middle school Championship series
and Anaheim. My son was playing in the fifth grade
division of that, and I was watching the eighth grade
(08:41):
game and these kids were catching lobs and dunking out.
So I'm I'm sitting next to one of the dads,
I'm like, what grade is this? It's eighth grade. Wow,
there are two kids on one team who were fifteen.
There were everybody fourteen, fourteen, and fifteen year old eighth
(09:04):
graders going into ninth grade. So you're fifteen years old,
going into the ninth grade, meaning you're nineteen when high school.
That is criminal. Yeah, I don't like that. I'm not
a fan of that. But what happens is eighth grade
(09:24):
is the year where they hold basketball players back. Sure
they do eighth grade twice and football as well. They
really do it in football because now you can go
to college nineteen twenty year old freshman and physically you
(09:45):
have a leg up on a seventeen, eighteen year old freshman.
I think it's a travesty. I think fifteen year old
shouldn't be playing with thirteen year old. Sure, it's dang.
I definitely don't think a nineteen year old should be
playing with a fourteen fifteen year old varsity basketball in
(10:08):
high school.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
That's crazy.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Think about this, If you're fourteen years old and you're
good enough to make your varsity team and you're playing
against a team that has three starters that are nineteen Yeah,
are you kidding me?
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Right? Like I was, ay going into my junior year
at nineteen years old at San Diego State.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Wow. And so that's where NIL is.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
That's where the just youth athletics itself is skewing to
holding kids back for their physical attributes, but no one's asking, well,
what does that do to them scholastically? Like what, you're
gonna repeat eighth grade? What if you got all a's
in eighth grade, you're gonna stay back and do eighth
(10:58):
grade again?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Sure, that's crazy to me, Like, whoa what if you
don't make it to the NBA. Well, there's an interesting
twist that leads into the next story, which is, now
you get to college a little bit later, but the
most money you might ever make as an athlete is
as a college football or basketball player. We have an
interesting twist on that at another college football program. We'll
(11:23):
discuss that next. Aeron torres E from salam In for
Rob and kelvin Washington. This is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 3 (11:42):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your throat.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Every day.
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Speaker 3 (12:15):
Welcome back, everybody. This is the odd couple. Fox Sports Radio,
Rob Parker kelvin Washington are out. Eric torres E from
salam filling in for the guys. By the way, you
and I will be in tomorrow as well. We will
looking forward to it. We will have the Cleveland Browns
game to react to. So a lot going on in
the world of sports. It's starting to ramp up with football.
(12:38):
Speaking of football, just a minute ago, we were talking
about the interesting scenario with arch Manning. His grandfather Archie
Manning said, do not expect him to enter the draft
after this year. He will be at minimum. Ah, I guess,
I guess he's only got two years up, but he'll
be a starter at Texas for multiple years. Well, I
bring it up. We were talking about the idea of
how now with nil players are not forced to kind
(13:02):
of rush the process whatever. But there was an interesting
other story in the world of sports where Texas Tech.
Of course, Texas Tech a few weeks ago they got
a commitment from the number one offensive tackle in high
school football going into a senior year, player named Felix Ojo,
who committed to Texas over Ohio State, over Texas, over
(13:24):
a bunch of other places. I was telling you during
the commercial break, Arnie Spanier and I actually had his agent,
Derek Shelby on our show that night, kind of broke
down the decision whatever. But the genesis of why the
commitment was made was that Texas Tech was kind of
willing to offer him in this nil era guaranteed money
(13:45):
for more than one year. So why are we bringing
up Felix Ojo, a player in the class of twenty
twenty six. It is because earlier today La Damian Geiton,
he is the number one player in the class of
twenty twenty So a player who is only going into
his junior year, but he commits to Texas Tech, number
(14:07):
one player in America from Georgia. And I'll tell you
what you know, Ladamian Guiton says, you know all the
typical things. It was a family situation. I didn't commit
let's see here. What did he say The best thing
about the visit was feeling at home. I just wanted
to get away, try something new. But obviously the insinuation
is that there is probably nil involved. There is nil involved,
(14:31):
but probably Texas Tech was willing to make promises that
maybe some other schools were not. Ephram I would just
ask you nil era different time, Texas Tech, you know,
frankly getting players that they probably wouldn't wouldn't have in
a different era. Do you have any problems with these
players being guaranteed money?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
So young? But then I think to take it a
step further, any problem with the school like Texas Tech,
with very little to know real history to speak of,
clearly using their NIO resources to maybe get players that
they otherwise wouldn't have in a different year.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
No, and I think it's I don't have a problem
with it at all. And I think it's smart. I
think it's smart for you to offer someone stability and
a three year deal opposed to a one year. We'll
see how it goes. Like some of the other bigger universities,
the Texas is in Alabama's, possibly the Georgia's, the teams
that can really afford to pay large sums for a
(15:30):
year and renegotiate. If you are a Texas Tech are
a team of that stature and you want to get
a five star recruit and players of that caliber, you
do have to guarantee your money. You have to get
outside of your comfort zone and make sure you can
(15:51):
the player sees the benefit of being their long term
opposed to a one year rental. I think it's the
smart thing to do. I think it's the only thing
because if Texas is offering this and Texas Tech is
trying to offer the same thing for one year, where
is the kid going. Yeahs out of Texas or Ohio
(16:14):
State or Michigan or any of those you know, true
blue blood teams in college football. But Texas Tech says, hey,
we'll sign you to a three year deal, allow you
to come in, get acclimated, you'll be paid. You can
turn into this thing and you're here and we can
(16:36):
that helps us build around you as well. Yeah, you
take that deal. You take that deal all day, because
there is a chance you go to Texas and you
don't beat out the guy in front of you and
they decide that they want to go a different direction.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
After our first year. Well, and that's the thing. I
don't think a lot of like casual people have kind
of wrapped their arms around with college sports now and again,
your son in the early stages of kind of that
that era where he'll be recruited is like now it
almost makes sense to go somewhere where you can play
right away, because if you don't, you're either gonna have
(17:13):
to red shirt, you're gonna have to transfer down and
your this is now. You know, Listen, athletes for years
have said, this is a business decision. This is a
this this is that. It really is a business decision, right,
is that if you want to be a three and
done in college football, you now have the opportunity if
you go and you don't play as a freshman. Listen,
(17:36):
you've negotiated probably more contracts than I have, certainly certainly
higher stakes than I have, but you have no leverage
going in a year two where this kid goes to
Texas Tech. Maybe he would have gone He's from Georgia,
so let's assume he would have gone to George out
of high school. He doesn't play well. Now I'm trying
I'm not trying to be a jerk. He ain't getting
a raise in year two, and all of a sudden
he goes to Texas Tech. I assume the presumption is
(18:00):
that he will have the opportunity to play right away balls,
right away whatever, and then that just increases over time.
So so I think that's part of it too, Is
it's cutthroat both ways. Is that everybody talks about the player. Oh,
you know these players, they'll enter the portal after one year.
Coaches will kick you to the curb too if you're
not good enough. And I have no problem with with
(18:21):
where things are. I'll let you. I have a couple
of other thoughts, but I, you know, take that wherever
you want.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
No, I think it's it's the new don and then
the new era of teams that aren't at the top
of the the marquee being able to compete yep, and
get players out of college at that So AJ Debonza,
who's the number one UH recruit coming out of high
(18:50):
school this past season.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yep. He goes to b YU. Sure, yeah, not Kentucky, right,
not Duke, not North Carolina, not Houston, not any of
these teams.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
He goes to BYU. Sure, I believe he's making six
million dollars and that will be a one year, a
six month rental. Sure he'll be done with school and
college in March. The end of March, he'll be done.
(19:27):
And so how does by you get him? And not
Kentucky are anywhere else? Like you got to be able
to compete there. Now, there was some familiarity with the
new head coach at BYU when he was an assistant
at the Phoenix Suns, aj Debondes's favorite players, Kevin Durant.
(19:50):
So they're all these different angles programs and coaches are
using to entice these kids. But the money is the
thing that seals the deal. Now, if you can take
him and say b Yu says for him, he knows
he's going to college for one year, just like Cooper
Flagg did the year this past season, I'm not staying right.
(20:12):
If he's projected to be the number one pick in
the draft and he goes out. And I met the
young man and his father this uh this summer unrelated.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
They're great, great people.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Good to see his dad there with him going through
this whole thing. We were down at the NBA Summer
League and got a chance to chop it up with
him and Kevin Garnett and just listen. It's just no no,
but but I say it to say they're standing in
the room and they're looking at each other eye to eye. Now,
Kevin was who he was, uh, the big ticket and
(20:44):
was drafted out of high school. So the knowledge and
the information he's given to this young man who's about
to embark on a similar journey with the pit stop
in college for a couple of months was it was amazing.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Sure, uh.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
And then have his father there and being a part
of that and what to expect and what you need
to do and how you need to go work out,
and he was asking very poignant questions like yo, you're
working out tomorrow, what like just to see just to
test the water, like where you're working out at Like okay,
I'm gonna pull up right like just stuff like that
to and Kevin if you know, okay, gee, he's he
(21:19):
gonna he's gonna see if you about it now, he
gonna look in your eyes and tell you all you
for real? Are you not? And So just being in
those environments, in those circles for these young athletes coming forward,
because what can happen and in iel is a new
thing but what we will see begin to happen, and
(21:40):
I can promise you this, the guys who are making
this level of money won't eventually get to their expected
left because everybody doesn't have the same mentality. When you're playing,
I like to always say for freedom, and I mean
(22:02):
financial freedom. Sure, when you're playing for that, you're willing
to go to the ends of the earth to get it.
When you get it early, some of the in cases
in high school, get a little bit here, two, three,
four or five hundred thousand dollars in high school rent paid.
If you're old enough, you get a nice little car.
Sure right, family's doing well. You go to the next level,
(22:26):
make a couple million dollars in college.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Now that.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Financial freedom has been achieved a little bit. So what
you will find a players who are extremely talented dip
off a little bit because that hunger has been satisfied.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Well, and let me say, let me piggyback off that
really quick. Is that that is the argument against like
unlimited nil And I'll just be honest, I think it's
total bs. Is that to me? One? First of all,
I hate to say it, but like you know, first
of all, like it sucks if you invest in a
(23:07):
high school player or a college player early in his
career and he doesn't pan out. But one, it's on
the player. If you take that one million in college
and you're and you can't see the four hundred million
you're gonna make in the NBA, that's on you. But two,
I hear this all the time, is it's like, well,
you know, like what you're paying them all this money?
Like what happens if it doesn't work out? And it's like,
(23:28):
I don't know. I see bad contracts hand it out
all the time in the NBA, in the NFL. Why
is it a big deal because it's Texas Tech instead
of the Dallas Cowboys. Like that's something that doesn't make
sense to me. Is like if they give out a
bad contract, whoever's writing that check is either gonna tell
the coach no, not that's not happening next time, or uh,
(23:48):
we're gonna get a new coach or whatever. But like
this notion that it's the worst thing in the world
if you overpay a kid and he doesn't work on
It's like who cares? I see it in the NBA
all the time. I see it in the NFL all
the time. I do think it's part of the fan
readjusting what what is the reality of being a college
student or being a college athlete. But like this notion
(24:09):
that it's the worst thing in the world if you
pay a kid a million dollars and it doesn't work out,
I'm sorry, I don't really, It's not that big of
a thing to me.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
So he's still make tenfold as the university exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
So yeah, and I'll put a bow on it by
saying the aj De Bonsa situation. I know some people
at BYU and they have said, like, the impact that
he is going to have a j De Bonsa long
after he leaves BYU is not even quantifiable. So this
is the odd couple. Fox Sports Radio Aaron Torres and
e from salam In for Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington
(24:42):
coming up from a from future college stars to a
former college star. I want to talk a little bit
about Travis Hunter as he gets set to make his
preseason debut. We'll do that in just a second.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Before we do, though, Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at foxsports radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
Search fs R to listen live.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Thank you very much. How are things with Coveno and
Rich today really cool? Oh? It was a lot of fun.
So you got everyone's got to download the Caveno and
Rich podcast. In addition to the Odd Couple, what do
you guys talk about? Real quick?
Speaker 6 (25:17):
We did talk about Archie Manning, but I called him
Grandpa because it's very confusing to me that he is
Archie and the young one is arch That confuses me.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
He's kind of talking out of his you know what,
like right.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
Now totally, but I do think he I think like
that's the plan right for for arch to stay and play.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
That's the plan.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
Can the plan change? Of course it can't, But I
believe that there's some truth behind it. That there is,
you know. We also talked about just the Las Vegas tourism,
how everyone is saying it's so down and when it
comes to sports in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Oh your face, oh your face? Is that?
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Is that a ten minutes? You can you can continue
to chime in on that. Yay? Love it? I know,
Rob garn Torres, I mean we are what's the show
not Last Chance?
Speaker 4 (26:01):
To you?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
What the hecks Las Vegas? Last Vegas you and I
are to be Las Vegas in like forty years. I'm
just like Rob, you wanna wanna we wanna go to
Circus Circus. Guys, No, we will not be going to
Circus Circus. But ten minutes from now we are actually
gonna talk about that because it's a very interesting topic
that's very near and dear to my heart, and I
know Rob's as well. But in the meantime, this is
(26:22):
the odd couple Fox Sports Radio. Rob and Kelvin are
out Era torres e from salam are in. Do your
summer plans include a new job? Want to work with
an expert in your local job market to find the
right role, just call your local Express employment professionals go
to expresspros dot com and Express never charges job seekers
(26:42):
a feat. And now it's time for Express Pro of
the Week the pro of the week Jaguars rookie Travis Hunter. Saturday,
he'll become the first rookie in NFL history to play
on both sides of the ball when Jacksonville hosts the Steelers. Again.
Congrats to Travis Hunter, who is our Express Pros Pro
of the Week from Just Big Picture. Your thoughts on
(27:03):
Travis Hunter? We know what he did at Colorado All
American essentially at wide receiver and corner. You played in
the league for thirteen years. What do you make of
him attempting to play both sides of the football as
a professional.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Look, I equated it to what Shohi Otani is to baseball.
No one pitches and hits, then an outlier comes and
shows they can do both at a high level.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
But people say it can't be done. Before he shows
he can do.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
It, of course, they wouldn't even approach it. But he
was like, no, this is what I do. I've been
doing it my whole life in baseball. And so you
have a young man in Travis Hunter saying no, no, no, no,
I can play both at a high level offense and defense,
and that's what I want. And he's done it every
(28:01):
step of the way. Now, most of us who play
high school football play both ways. Some of us do
a little bit of it in college. College is more specialized, uh,
And then there are also a couple outliers that do
it Deon Sanders and.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
The pros.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Travis Hunter has shown us that he's a different type
of player. He's shown us that he has the abilities
that most players don't have when it comes to his stamina,
his ability to play at a high level with less
rest than normal people. So you draft him second overall
(28:45):
to utilize those things. Yeah, right, A team like Jacksonville
that needs something, literally needs something. It can't just be
on Trevor Lawrence's showers because we're still waiting for that
to pay out one And so I think it's great
for them and him to go out there and do
(29:07):
his thing until he feels or they feel it's a
detriment to his health. If he can stay healthy and
continue to play at a high clip, then let him
do it. I love it because of what it'll do.
It'll usher in a new group of athlete, which I'm
sure in baseball more kids now watching show, hey do
(29:28):
what he's doing a thousand home runs and also a picture,
they'll now stop being so specialized. So both of my
kids play baseball as a baseball coach, and I know
at the age of thirteen, if you can really pitch,
then you do less batting practice and more specialized pitching practice. Okay,
(29:50):
because that's the trajectory you're on. Sure, right, You're not
going to go and throw out your arm or your
shoulder or like you're going to now take those times
to really hone in on your pitching skills. Sure, well,
now that'll be a little bit different. We're gonna pitch,
you gon hit, And of course in college guys can
hit and pitch, but as starts to taper off, especially
(30:12):
when can get into the minor leagues. But what it'll
do is it usher in a new situation for athletes
to lean into their athleticism and their abilities.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Yeah, I'll just put a ball on it by saying,
you know, one, first of all, it's easy to forget
this the reason Travis Hunner ended up at Jackson State
with respect to Jackson State and Dion, it wasn't just
it wasn't just to be historic and commit to an HBCU.
It was because Dion was the only one who thought
he could do it at the college level and was
the only one that was willing to give him the opportunity.
(30:43):
And so it's like, we've been through this cycle and
the only other thing I would say is you know,
I'm with you from the perspective of I guess what
I would just say is they said it couldn't be
done at the previous level. Obviously it's going to be
a challenge. But if Deon Sanders thinks it can be done,
(31:05):
even at the pro level, because obviously Dion has been
very vocal about that. You know, I had a buddy
on staff last year at Colorado. You may know him
Damian Lewis and Damian Lewis. I don't know if you
played with him him. He was the d line coach
of Colorado last year. I remember talking to him about
it and he was like, I've never seen anything like it.
But just because no one ever did it doesn't mean
it can't be done. If other dudes in the NFL,
(31:26):
including you who played in Italy for thirteen years, say
that it's at least worth giving him a shot and
then we'll figure it out from there, I don't feel
like I'm the person to say that it can't be done.
So Travis Hunter making his debut Saturday, maybe we talk
about this a little bit more tomorrow. We got three
hours and I'd be curious more for your perspective. But
Travis Hunter, of course will make his debut against the
(31:47):
Steelers on Saturday, and he is our pro of the week.
Tell you Whatddy from when we come back we will
switch gears. It's shop talk and as we discuss, we
got to talk Vegas. Things aren't bad. But are the
things are not good? I should say? Please? Are they
as bad as Alex Teischer makes you think of?
Speaker 4 (32:08):
There?
Speaker 3 (32:09):
And we'll discuss it a.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Welcome back everybody, Fox Sports Radio. This is the Odd Couple.
Eric torres E from salam In for Rob and Kelvin.
For forty years, ty Iraq has been helping customers find
the right tires for how, what and where they drive.
(32:43):
Ship Fast and free backed by free Road, has protection
with convenient installation options like the Mobile Tire Installation tiraq
dot com the way tire buying should be. It's time
for shop talk. Ain't nobody's nothing to bombs up?
Speaker 4 (32:59):
You know that you were talking about whoever, whatever, whatever
you want to in the bush.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
You know it's shop talk.
Speaker 7 (33:06):
I'm trying to shop talk here in the Odd Couple
secon when we talk about something happened outside.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Of the world of sports.
Speaker 7 (33:10):
This week's topic is a personal one because I'm supposed
to be in Vegas tomorrow but that trip got canceled
for undisclosed reasons. Yeah. Apparently, though it might be a
blessing in disguise, because every report, news outlet, blogger you
see says that Vegas sucks now too expensive, it's it's empty,
it's not fun like it used to be. Tores, you
still go regularly. I know you're big fan of Vegas.
(33:32):
Your thoughts on the whole situation.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Well, I wanted to bring this up because I was
curious actually for Rob Garris's perspective, because you go seemingly
as often as I do. Tourism is down, and I
think the perception is like, oh, Vegas isn't cool anymore.
I just think it's gotten crazy pricey, you know, Listen,
(33:54):
I think I think I'll say this. I think the
whole thing about sports betting and like, oh, you could
just bet from your phone. I think that's the most
overrated nonsense ever. I just think it's really expensive. I
think I'm also a bad person to ask this because
I do like going to Vegas. That's kind of my
like little get off the grid for a few days.
I don't golf, I don't ski, so I just go
to Vegas and gamble a little bit. But I'm curious
(34:18):
for other people's perspectives. I mean, from you could start
Vegas tourism down, big deal, little deal, no deal. I
think the demographic is getting younger.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
So when I was in my twenties and thirties, we
going to the club, We're doing all of these things,
we're gambling. This generation isn't doing that. Yeah, this generation
not going to sit at the tables and gamble. They're
not going to stand in line to go to a club.
Like they're very few. Like the club life outside of
(34:52):
a you know, a Marquee DJ or something like that.
There used to be clubs everywhere in Vegas off the strip,
like they'd be a little We were passing by buildings
that used to be clubs. I was just in Vegas
a couple of weeks ago. My wife was like, Oh,
I went to a club there. Now it's like an
office building.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Right.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
So this whole thing of the club life and all
of that in Vegas it's just missing this generation. And
that's the driving force now outside of I know for
a fact, like my nephews who are twenty, you know,
four through thirty, my little sister. They're not going to
sit at tables and gamble like I enjoyed going to
(35:33):
play a little black jack and so on, will of
fortune slot machine and just hanging out, going to the
club and all that.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
They can care less.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
There's less physical social interaction in this day and age,
because of social media, because of dming, because of the
there's a lot of anxiety when dealing.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
With people face to face to face. It's crazy, like
that's a real thing.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
And you got to remember, we got a whole COVID
generation going on, and so they've missed out on graduations
and proms and things like that. So now they're in
their mid twenties and they're like, I'm not about to
go sit in the club, and I don't know, I'm
not doing that.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
I can barely confront someone right like that.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
That that has a lot to do with because you know,
outside of your standard gamblers, Vegas was a young person's
in paradise.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
That's just what it was. Mazi. I still think you're
pretty young. But you talk about this and rich.
Speaker 6 (36:41):
Thank you, So I think you guys are I think
it's a lot of it. I do think gambling is
a part of it, that you can gamble from your
phone wherever you're at. Because when I turned twenty one,
I was like, I can't wait to go to Vegas
and gamble. I had never done that, and sit on
a roulette table and go to a slot machine. I
couldn't wait to do that. And I did all that.
But I think like vague, I guess everyone kind of
like what you from a saying a little bit too.
(37:04):
I can go to a club anywhere now, I think
like going to Vegas used to be like I'm gonna
go do all these things that I can't do anywhere else.
Now you can do it all. And there is anxiety
that one. People don't know how to be around each other,
and it is pricey. The resort fees, Get out of
my face. I want to charge the park. Get the
out of my face.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
You gotta remember valet used to be free at every casino.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I know what.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
It was free at every casino because they wanted you
to come in.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
Well, how about this with sports betting. Used to get
a drink ticket, you put down a ten dollars bet,
here's a ticket, get you know, have fun, chill. I
think it's the price is more than anything. I think
the younger generation is different, Rob Garrett, really quick. We
gotta get your take really quick.
Speaker 7 (37:43):
I think from some of the guy who hasn't been
in Vegas in twenty years, I was just there. The
issue is not generate. The issue is that it's priced
everybody out. They're building everything for the whales overseas, the Asian.
You know, guy's betting a quarter million a hand and
not the dude.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Down the street.
Speaker 7 (37:58):
I'm betting five dollar owders to play black jack because
they're like, no, we don't care about you no more.
We care about the big the big money.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Oh justin Vegas. Vegas is not doing well. Fox Sports
Radio Odd couple is one hour left
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure
to check us out live every weekday from seven pm
to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd Couple
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Speaker 2 (00:25):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Welcome, hen everybody, hour two. This is the Odd Couple,
Fox Sports Radio, kelvin Washington, Rob Parker out, Eric Torsi
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Eastern time SA match. If you missing missed any of
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(00:52):
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Couple wherever you get your podcast, and you'll find today's
full show and a best of version posted right after
we get off air. All right, he from so Busy
(01:18):
Day in the NFL. By the way, if you've missed
any of our conversation about Rashaun Slater, we'll reset it
on about an hour from now. You can also catch
it on the podcast. But college football is coming too,
and a little bit of an interesting story came out today,
So obviously heading into the season, coaches Pole dropped this week.
The Texas long Horns are the number one team in
(01:40):
the country, and of course they have I think the
guy that everybody is most intrigued to watch in college football.
That is Arch Manning, the nephew of Peyton and eli
son of Cooper Manning. Why we are talking about Arch
Manning today is because he is the Heisman favorite. Texas
is the preseason number one team in the country. But
(02:01):
if you're an NFL team hoping a draft Arch Manning
in the twenty twenty six NFL draft, you may have
to think again. Archie Manning, who of course is his father,
our grandfather, excuse me, was interviewed this week for Texas
Monthly and asked about the idea of Arch essentially being
a one and done starter starting this year, going to
(02:23):
the NFL, because of course this is his third year
of college football. Archie Manning, about his grandson, said, quote,
Arch isn't going to do that. He'll be at Texas
in twenty twenty six. What do you think you from
I mean Archie Manning. You know he's convinced his grandson
will be there. I got takes, but go ahead, I
(02:43):
want to give you the floor.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I think it has a lot to do with number one,
the money Archie is making, arch is making, and number two,
you don't want to let the cat out of the bag.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Of course to potential.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Sure, So you don't want to just be like, no, no, no, no,
he'll be because if he is slated, if he has
the type of year people are expecting him to have,
and he's slated as a number one pick in the draft,
I can promise you he won't be in college next year.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Outside of that, yeah, I mean, what's the harm in
saying is what you don't want to do is say no,
he's going to the league and he doesn't have the
type of year that everyone is anticipating. And you got
to remember, he hasn't played a lot of college football.
He's been there three years, going on his third year
(03:43):
and he hasn't really played, so we don't even know
the type of player he is. So to put the
type of pressure on this young man by saying, oh, no,
we're here for this year and then we'll head to
the NFL before he's even started a season in college football.
(04:04):
I think that's a smart thing to do for his grandfather.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, this is almost like the reverse LeVar ball, like no, yeah,
we're going from right, yeah, yeah, no, you know, listen,
I saw this come across the news today, and certainly
it's something we should be talking about. But it's the
right like, it's just it's the right thing for everyone,
right is. I think we're all smart enough to understand
(04:28):
if Arch Manning takes the world by storm in college football,
wins the Heisman, maybe wins a national championship, and he's
definitively ready, then he will go and he should go.
Let me say this, I think it's actually one of
the cool things about the NIL world that we live in.
Nil is not perfect. We're gonna get to another NIL
topic here in a few minutes. But players now don't
(04:51):
have to rush the process. And yeah, and I know
Arch is a unique situation with his family set up,
and I don't think financially he's hurting. But if he
even if he's good, but he doesn't feel like he's ready,
he doesn't have to rush the process. He's going to
make plenty of money in college. Now, to be clear,
the difference between a four year guaranteed contract and one
(05:13):
year of NIL, those are two completely different things. But
I do think this is a cool part of NIL
is that you don't have to rush the process. If
you're not ready, you can come back, you can stay
in school. And so I get why Archie would say this,
but I also think that you know, we'll see what happens.
But I think this is the cool part of NIL
is you don't have to rush the process and even
(05:35):
worry about it this time.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
No, I think it allows players to actually grow into
one to being professionals and being able to come into
a league, whether it be basketball or football, come into
the league ready and prepared to play. I think it's
really going to show its head on the college basketball
(05:59):
land because now the onus of being one and done
is kind of diminishing. Now you have outliers, the Cooper Flags,
the Duke Trio who decided to leave after their first year.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
But all right, you know it made sense, right, that
makes sense. But if you're.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
If you're at Illinois and you're one of the you know,
leading the NCAA and scoring and you're making you leave
Illinois and next year you can go to Kentucky and
they pay you six million dollars, right opposed to going
and getting drafted maybe early second round, late first round
(06:45):
in the NBA. Yeah, I think I'm going to Kentucky
on a bigger stage. Sure, six million dollars in my pocket.
Developed more so, now maybe I put myself in the
conversation of being a lottery pick in the NBA draft.
I like that aspect of it because now guys don't
feel like I have to go now yep, and then
(07:06):
you get to develop more than one thing. I don't
like football basketball, not so much in football because you
gotta be there three years. You're stepping into an arena
and you're playing against grown men. Yes, like there's a
rookie like Cooper Flag is going to be playing against
a forty one year old Lebron James. You see what
I'm saying. And so now it's like, oh, this is
(07:29):
the two different spectrums, completely different spectrums in terms of ability, age, strength,
all of those things. And so players staying in college
a year longer, developing longer. I think bo'swell for the
league's both ways. So much so not to get off topic,
(07:53):
but as a father of an AAU player, an eleven
year old. Okay, so my son's eleven, he's a young
eleven going into the sixth grade.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
I was told, oh, no, you can have him repeat
fifth grade, so he'll be twelve going into the sixth grade.
And I'm like, no, he's tested gifted, he's we're not
going to slow his scholastic endeavors down for athletics.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Just not gonna happen.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Oh, by the way, I graduated from high school at sixteen.
It's okay, it works out. Sure, And so you we
watched the uh this past the last not this weekend.
The weekend before, we watched the middle school Championship series
and Anaheim. My son was playing in the fifth grade
division of that, and I was watching the eighth grade
(08:41):
game and these kids were catching lobs and dunking out.
So I'm I'm sitting next to one of the dads,
I'm like, what grade is this? It's eighth grade. Wow,
there are two kids on one team who were fifteen.
There were everybody fourteen, fourteen, and fifteen year old eighth
(09:04):
graders going into ninth grade. So you're fifteen years old,
going into the ninth grade, meaning you're nineteen when high school.
That is criminal. Yeah, I don't like that. I'm not
a fan of that. But what happens is eighth grade
(09:24):
is the year where they hold basketball players back. Sure
they do eighth grade twice and football as well. They
really do it in football because now you can go
to college nineteen twenty year old freshman and physically you
(09:45):
have a leg up on a seventeen, eighteen year old freshman.
I think it's a travesty. I think fifteen year old
shouldn't be playing with thirteen year old. Sure, it's dang.
I definitely don't think a nineteen year old should be
playing with a fourteen fifteen year old varsity basketball in
(10:08):
high school.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
That's crazy.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Think about this, If you're fourteen years old and you're
good enough to make your varsity team and you're playing
against a team that has three starters that are nineteen Yeah,
are you kidding me?
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Right? Like I was, ay going into my junior year
at nineteen years old at San Diego State.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Wow. And so that's where NIL is.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
That's where the just youth athletics itself is skewing to
holding kids back for their physical attributes, but no one's asking, well,
what does that do to them scholastically? Like what, you're
gonna repeat eighth grade? What if you got all a's
in eighth grade, you're gonna stay back and do eighth
(10:58):
grade again?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Sure, that's crazy to me, Like, whoa what if you
don't make it to the NBA. Well, there's an interesting
twist that leads into the next story, which is, now
you get to college a little bit later, but the
most money you might ever make as an athlete is
as a college football or basketball player. We have an
interesting twist on that at another college football program. We'll
(11:23):
discuss that next. Aeron torres E from salam In for
Rob and kelvin Washington. This is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your throat.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Every day.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
sports headlines, accurate statstell you win big at the sportsbook
and all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and
listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Welcome back, everybody. This is the odd couple. Fox Sports Radio,
Rob Parker kelvin Washington are out. Eric torres E from
salam filling in for the guys. By the way, you
and I will be in tomorrow as well. We will
looking forward to it. We will have the Cleveland Browns
game to react to. So a lot going on in
the world of sports. It's starting to ramp up with football.
(12:38):
Speaking of football, just a minute ago, we were talking
about the interesting scenario with arch Manning. His grandfather Archie
Manning said, do not expect him to enter the draft
after this year. He will be at minimum. Ah, I guess,
I guess he's only got two years up, but he'll
be a starter at Texas for multiple years. Well, I
bring it up. We were talking about the idea of
how now with nil players are not forced to kind
(13:02):
of rush the process whatever. But there was an interesting
other story in the world of sports where Texas Tech.
Of course, Texas Tech a few weeks ago they got
a commitment from the number one offensive tackle in high
school football going into a senior year, player named Felix Ojo,
who committed to Texas over Ohio State, over Texas, over
(13:24):
a bunch of other places. I was telling you during
the commercial break, Arnie Spanier and I actually had his agent,
Derek Shelby on our show that night, kind of broke
down the decision whatever. But the genesis of why the
commitment was made was that Texas Tech was kind of
willing to offer him in this nil era guaranteed money
(13:45):
for more than one year. So why are we bringing
up Felix Ojo, a player in the class of twenty
twenty six. It is because earlier today La Damian Geiton,
he is the number one player in the class of
twenty twenty So a player who is only going into
his junior year, but he commits to Texas Tech, number
(14:07):
one player in America from Georgia. And I'll tell you
what you know, Ladamian Guiton says, you know all the
typical things. It was a family situation. I didn't commit
let's see here. What did he say The best thing
about the visit was feeling at home. I just wanted
to get away, try something new. But obviously the insinuation
is that there is probably nil involved. There is nil involved,
(14:31):
but probably Texas Tech was willing to make promises that
maybe some other schools were not. Ephram I would just
ask you nil era different time, Texas Tech, you know,
frankly getting players that they probably wouldn't wouldn't have in
a different era. Do you have any problems with these
players being guaranteed money?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
So young? But then I think to take it a
step further, any problem with the school like Texas Tech,
with very little to know real history to speak of,
clearly using their NIO resources to maybe get players that
they otherwise wouldn't have in a different year.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
No, and I think it's I don't have a problem
with it at all. And I think it's smart. I
think it's smart for you to offer someone stability and
a three year deal opposed to a one year. We'll
see how it goes. Like some of the other bigger universities,
the Texas is in Alabama's, possibly the Georgia's, the teams
that can really afford to pay large sums for a
(15:30):
year and renegotiate. If you are a Texas Tech are
a team of that stature and you want to get
a five star recruit and players of that caliber, you
do have to guarantee your money. You have to get
outside of your comfort zone and make sure you can
(15:51):
the player sees the benefit of being their long term
opposed to a one year rental. I think it's the
smart thing to do. I think it's the only thing
because if Texas is offering this and Texas Tech is
trying to offer the same thing for one year, where
is the kid going. Yeahs out of Texas or Ohio
(16:14):
State or Michigan or any of those you know, true
blue blood teams in college football. But Texas Tech says, hey,
we'll sign you to a three year deal, allow you
to come in, get acclimated, you'll be paid. You can
turn into this thing and you're here and we can
(16:36):
that helps us build around you as well. Yeah, you
take that deal. You take that deal all day, because
there is a chance you go to Texas and you
don't beat out the guy in front of you and
they decide that they want to go a different direction.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
After our first year. Well, and that's the thing. I
don't think a lot of like casual people have kind
of wrapped their arms around with college sports now and again,
your son in the early stages of kind of that
that era where he'll be recruited is like now it
almost makes sense to go somewhere where you can play
right away, because if you don't, you're either gonna have
(17:13):
to red shirt, you're gonna have to transfer down and
your this is now. You know, Listen, athletes for years
have said, this is a business decision. This is a
this this is that. It really is a business decision, right,
is that if you want to be a three and
done in college football, you now have the opportunity if
you go and you don't play as a freshman. Listen,
(17:36):
you've negotiated probably more contracts than I have, certainly certainly
higher stakes than I have, but you have no leverage
going in a year two where this kid goes to
Texas Tech. Maybe he would have gone He's from Georgia,
so let's assume he would have gone to George out
of high school. He doesn't play well. Now I'm trying
I'm not trying to be a jerk. He ain't getting
a raise in year two, and all of a sudden
he goes to Texas Tech. I assume the presumption is
(18:00):
that he will have the opportunity to play right away balls,
right away whatever, and then that just increases over time.
So so I think that's part of it too, Is
it's cutthroat both ways. Is that everybody talks about the player. Oh,
you know these players, they'll enter the portal after one year.
Coaches will kick you to the curb too if you're
not good enough. And I have no problem with with
(18:21):
where things are. I'll let you. I have a couple
of other thoughts, but I, you know, take that wherever
you want.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
No, I think it's it's the new don and then
the new era of teams that aren't at the top
of the the marquee being able to compete yep, and
get players out of college at that So AJ Debonza,
who's the number one UH recruit coming out of high
(18:50):
school this past season.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yep. He goes to b YU. Sure, yeah, not Kentucky, right,
not Duke, not North Carolina, not Houston, not any of
these teams.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
He goes to BYU. Sure, I believe he's making six
million dollars and that will be a one year, a
six month rental. Sure he'll be done with school and
college in March. The end of March, he'll be done.
(19:27):
And so how does by you get him? And not
Kentucky are anywhere else? Like you got to be able
to compete there. Now, there was some familiarity with the
new head coach at BYU when he was an assistant
at the Phoenix Suns, aj Debondes's favorite players, Kevin Durant.
(19:50):
So they're all these different angles programs and coaches are
using to entice these kids. But the money is the
thing that seals the deal. Now, if you can take
him and say b Yu says for him, he knows
he's going to college for one year, just like Cooper
Flagg did the year this past season, I'm not staying right.
(20:12):
If he's projected to be the number one pick in
the draft and he goes out. And I met the
young man and his father this uh this summer unrelated.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
They're great, great people.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Good to see his dad there with him going through
this whole thing. We were down at the NBA Summer
League and got a chance to chop it up with
him and Kevin Garnett and just listen. It's just no no,
but but I say it to say they're standing in
the room and they're looking at each other eye to eye. Now,
Kevin was who he was, uh, the big ticket and
(20:44):
was drafted out of high school. So the knowledge and
the information he's given to this young man who's about
to embark on a similar journey with the pit stop
in college for a couple of months was it was amazing.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Sure, uh.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
And then have his father there and being a part
of that and what to expect and what you need
to do and how you need to go work out,
and he was asking very poignant questions like yo, you're
working out tomorrow, what like just to see just to
test the water, like where you're working out at Like okay,
I'm gonna pull up right like just stuff like that
to and Kevin if you know, okay, gee, he's he
(21:19):
gonna he's gonna see if you about it now, he
gonna look in your eyes and tell you all you
for real? Are you not? And So just being in
those environments, in those circles for these young athletes coming forward,
because what can happen and in iel is a new
thing but what we will see begin to happen, and
(21:40):
I can promise you this, the guys who are making
this level of money won't eventually get to their expected
left because everybody doesn't have the same mentality. When you're playing,
I like to always say for freedom, and I mean
(22:02):
financial freedom. Sure, when you're playing for that, you're willing
to go to the ends of the earth to get it.
When you get it early, some of the in cases
in high school, get a little bit here, two, three,
four or five hundred thousand dollars in high school rent paid.
If you're old enough, you get a nice little car.
Sure right, family's doing well. You go to the next level,
(22:26):
make a couple million dollars in college.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Now that.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Financial freedom has been achieved a little bit. So what
you will find a players who are extremely talented dip
off a little bit because that hunger has been satisfied.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Well, and let me say, let me piggyback off that
really quick. Is that that is the argument against like
unlimited nil And I'll just be honest, I think it's
total bs. Is that to me? One? First of all,
I hate to say it, but like you know, first
of all, like it sucks if you invest in a
(23:07):
high school player or a college player early in his
career and he doesn't pan out. But one, it's on
the player. If you take that one million in college
and you're and you can't see the four hundred million
you're gonna make in the NBA, that's on you. But two,
I hear this all the time, is it's like, well,
you know, like what you're paying them all this money?
Like what happens if it doesn't work out? And it's like,
(23:28):
I don't know. I see bad contracts hand it out
all the time in the NBA, in the NFL. Why
is it a big deal because it's Texas Tech instead
of the Dallas Cowboys. Like that's something that doesn't make
sense to me. Is like if they give out a
bad contract, whoever's writing that check is either gonna tell
the coach no, not that's not happening next time, or uh,
(23:48):
we're gonna get a new coach or whatever. But like
this notion that it's the worst thing in the world
if you overpay a kid and he doesn't work on
It's like who cares? I see it in the NBA
all the time. I see it in the NFL all
the time. I do think it's part of the fan
readjusting what what is the reality of being a college
student or being a college athlete. But like this notion
(24:09):
that it's the worst thing in the world if you
pay a kid a million dollars and it doesn't work out,
I'm sorry, I don't really, It's not that big of
a thing to me.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
So he's still make tenfold as the university exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
So yeah, and I'll put a bow on it by
saying the aj De Bonsa situation. I know some people
at BYU and they have said, like, the impact that
he is going to have a j De Bonsa long
after he leaves BYU is not even quantifiable. So this
is the odd couple. Fox Sports Radio Aaron Torres and
e from salam In for Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington
(24:42):
coming up from a from future college stars to a
former college star. I want to talk a little bit
about Travis Hunter as he gets set to make his
preseason debut. We'll do that in just a second.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Before we do, though, Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at foxsports radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
Search fs R to listen live.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Thank you very much. How are things with Coveno and
Rich today really cool? Oh? It was a lot of fun.
So you got everyone's got to download the Caveno and
Rich podcast. In addition to the Odd Couple, what do
you guys talk about? Real quick?
Speaker 6 (25:17):
We did talk about Archie Manning, but I called him
Grandpa because it's very confusing to me that he is
Archie and the young one is arch That confuses me.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
He's kind of talking out of his you know what,
like right.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
Now totally, but I do think he I think like
that's the plan right for for arch to stay and play.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
That's the plan.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
Can the plan change? Of course it can't, But I
believe that there's some truth behind it. That there is,
you know. We also talked about just the Las Vegas tourism,
how everyone is saying it's so down and when it
comes to sports in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Oh your face, oh your face? Is that?
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Is that a ten minutes? You can you can continue
to chime in on that. Yay? Love it? I know,
Rob garn Torres, I mean we are what's the show
not Last Chance?
Speaker 4 (26:01):
To you?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
What the hecks Las Vegas? Last Vegas you and I
are to be Las Vegas in like forty years. I'm
just like Rob, you wanna wanna we wanna go to
Circus Circus. Guys, No, we will not be going to
Circus Circus. But ten minutes from now we are actually
gonna talk about that because it's a very interesting topic
that's very near and dear to my heart, and I
know Rob's as well. But in the meantime, this is
(26:22):
the odd couple Fox Sports Radio. Rob and Kelvin are
out Era torres e from salam are in. Do your
summer plans include a new job? Want to work with
an expert in your local job market to find the
right role, just call your local Express employment professionals go
to expresspros dot com and Express never charges job seekers
(26:42):
a feat. And now it's time for Express Pro of
the Week the pro of the week Jaguars rookie Travis Hunter. Saturday,
he'll become the first rookie in NFL history to play
on both sides of the ball when Jacksonville hosts the Steelers. Again.
Congrats to Travis Hunter, who is our Express Pros Pro
of the Week from Just Big Picture. Your thoughts on
(27:03):
Travis Hunter? We know what he did at Colorado All
American essentially at wide receiver and corner. You played in
the league for thirteen years. What do you make of
him attempting to play both sides of the football as
a professional.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Look, I equated it to what Shohi Otani is to baseball.
No one pitches and hits, then an outlier comes and
shows they can do both at a high level.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
But people say it can't be done. Before he shows
he can do.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
It, of course, they wouldn't even approach it. But he
was like, no, this is what I do. I've been
doing it my whole life in baseball. And so you
have a young man in Travis Hunter saying no, no, no, no,
I can play both at a high level offense and defense,
and that's what I want. And he's done it every
(28:01):
step of the way. Now, most of us who play
high school football play both ways. Some of us do
a little bit of it in college. College is more specialized, uh,
And then there are also a couple outliers that do
it Deon Sanders and.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
The pros.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Travis Hunter has shown us that he's a different type
of player. He's shown us that he has the abilities
that most players don't have when it comes to his stamina,
his ability to play at a high level with less
rest than normal people. So you draft him second overall
(28:45):
to utilize those things. Yeah, right, A team like Jacksonville
that needs something, literally needs something. It can't just be
on Trevor Lawrence's showers because we're still waiting for that
to pay out one And so I think it's great
for them and him to go out there and do
(29:07):
his thing until he feels or they feel it's a
detriment to his health. If he can stay healthy and
continue to play at a high clip, then let him
do it. I love it because of what it'll do.
It'll usher in a new group of athlete, which I'm
sure in baseball more kids now watching show, hey do
(29:28):
what he's doing a thousand home runs and also a picture,
they'll now stop being so specialized. So both of my
kids play baseball as a baseball coach, and I know
at the age of thirteen, if you can really pitch,
then you do less batting practice and more specialized pitching practice. Okay,
(29:50):
because that's the trajectory you're on. Sure, right, You're not
going to go and throw out your arm or your
shoulder or like you're going to now take those times
to really hone in on your pitching skills. Sure, well,
now that'll be a little bit different. We're gonna pitch,
you gon hit, And of course in college guys can
hit and pitch, but as starts to taper off, especially
(30:12):
when can get into the minor leagues. But what it'll
do is it usher in a new situation for athletes
to lean into their athleticism and their abilities.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Yeah, I'll just put a ball on it by saying,
you know, one, first of all, it's easy to forget
this the reason Travis Hunner ended up at Jackson State
with respect to Jackson State and Dion, it wasn't just
it wasn't just to be historic and commit to an HBCU.
It was because Dion was the only one who thought
he could do it at the college level and was
the only one that was willing to give him the opportunity.
(30:43):
And so it's like, we've been through this cycle and
the only other thing I would say is you know,
I'm with you from the perspective of I guess what
I would just say is they said it couldn't be
done at the previous level. Obviously it's going to be
a challenge. But if Deon Sanders thinks it can be done,
(31:05):
even at the pro level, because obviously Dion has been
very vocal about that. You know, I had a buddy
on staff last year at Colorado. You may know him
Damian Lewis and Damian Lewis. I don't know if you
played with him him. He was the d line coach
of Colorado last year. I remember talking to him about
it and he was like, I've never seen anything like it.
But just because no one ever did it doesn't mean
it can't be done. If other dudes in the NFL,
(31:26):
including you who played in Italy for thirteen years, say
that it's at least worth giving him a shot and
then we'll figure it out from there, I don't feel
like I'm the person to say that it can't be done.
So Travis Hunter making his debut Saturday, maybe we talk
about this a little bit more tomorrow. We got three
hours and I'd be curious more for your perspective. But
Travis Hunter, of course will make his debut against the
(31:47):
Steelers on Saturday, and he is our pro of the week.
Tell you Whatddy from when we come back we will
switch gears. It's shop talk and as we discuss, we
got to talk Vegas. Things aren't bad. But are the
things are not good? I should say? Please? Are they
as bad as Alex Teischer makes you think of?
Speaker 4 (32:08):
There?
Speaker 3 (32:09):
And we'll discuss it a.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Welcome back everybody, Fox Sports Radio. This is the Odd Couple.
Eric torres E from salam In for Rob and Kelvin.
For forty years, ty Iraq has been helping customers find
the right tires for how, what and where they drive.
(32:43):
Ship Fast and free backed by free Road, has protection
with convenient installation options like the Mobile Tire Installation tiraq
dot com the way tire buying should be. It's time
for shop talk. Ain't nobody's nothing to bombs up?
Speaker 4 (32:59):
You know that you were talking about whoever, whatever, whatever
you want to in the bush.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
You know it's shop talk.
Speaker 7 (33:06):
I'm trying to shop talk here in the Odd Couple
secon when we talk about something happened outside.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Of the world of sports.
Speaker 7 (33:10):
This week's topic is a personal one because I'm supposed
to be in Vegas tomorrow but that trip got canceled
for undisclosed reasons. Yeah. Apparently, though it might be a
blessing in disguise, because every report, news outlet, blogger you
see says that Vegas sucks now too expensive, it's it's empty,
it's not fun like it used to be. Tores, you
still go regularly. I know you're big fan of Vegas.
(33:32):
Your thoughts on the whole situation.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Well, I wanted to bring this up because I was
curious actually for Rob Garris's perspective, because you go seemingly
as often as I do. Tourism is down, and I
think the perception is like, oh, Vegas isn't cool anymore.
I just think it's gotten crazy pricey, you know, Listen,
(33:54):
I think I think I'll say this. I think the
whole thing about sports betting and like, oh, you could
just bet from your phone. I think that's the most
overrated nonsense ever. I just think it's really expensive. I
think I'm also a bad person to ask this because
I do like going to Vegas. That's kind of my
like little get off the grid for a few days.
I don't golf, I don't ski, so I just go
to Vegas and gamble a little bit. But I'm curious
(34:18):
for other people's perspectives. I mean, from you could start
Vegas tourism down, big deal, little deal, no deal. I
think the demographic is getting younger.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
So when I was in my twenties and thirties, we
going to the club, We're doing all of these things,
we're gambling. This generation isn't doing that. Yeah, this generation
not going to sit at the tables and gamble. They're
not going to stand in line to go to a club.
Like they're very few. Like the club life outside of
(34:52):
a you know, a Marquee DJ or something like that.
There used to be clubs everywhere in Vegas off the strip,
like they'd be a little We were passing by buildings
that used to be clubs. I was just in Vegas
a couple of weeks ago. My wife was like, Oh,
I went to a club there. Now it's like an
office building.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Right.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
So this whole thing of the club life and all
of that in Vegas it's just missing this generation. And
that's the driving force now outside of I know for
a fact, like my nephews who are twenty, you know,
four through thirty, my little sister. They're not going to
sit at tables and gamble like I enjoyed going to
(35:33):
play a little black jack and so on, will of
fortune slot machine and just hanging out, going to the
club and all that.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
They can care less.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
There's less physical social interaction in this day and age,
because of social media, because of dming, because of the
there's a lot of anxiety when dealing.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
With people face to face to face. It's crazy, like
that's a real thing.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
And you got to remember, we got a whole COVID
generation going on, and so they've missed out on graduations
and proms and things like that. So now they're in
their mid twenties and they're like, I'm not about to
go sit in the club, and I don't know, I'm
not doing that.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
I can barely confront someone right like that.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
That that has a lot to do with because you know,
outside of your standard gamblers, Vegas was a young person's
in paradise.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
That's just what it was. Mazi. I still think you're
pretty young. But you talk about this and rich.
Speaker 6 (36:41):
Thank you, So I think you guys are I think
it's a lot of it. I do think gambling is
a part of it, that you can gamble from your
phone wherever you're at. Because when I turned twenty one,
I was like, I can't wait to go to Vegas
and gamble. I had never done that, and sit on
a roulette table and go to a slot machine. I
couldn't wait to do that. And I did all that.
But I think like vague, I guess everyone kind of
like what you from a saying a little bit too.
(37:04):
I can go to a club anywhere now, I think
like going to Vegas used to be like I'm gonna
go do all these things that I can't do anywhere else.
Now you can do it all. And there is anxiety
that one. People don't know how to be around each other,
and it is pricey. The resort fees, Get out of
my face. I want to charge the park. Get the
out of my face.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
You gotta remember valet used to be free at every casino.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I know what.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
It was free at every casino because they wanted you
to come in.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
Well, how about this with sports betting. Used to get
a drink ticket, you put down a ten dollars bet,
here's a ticket, get you know, have fun, chill. I
think it's the price is more than anything. I think
the younger generation is different, Rob Garrett, really quick. We
gotta get your take really quick.
Speaker 7 (37:43):
I think from some of the guy who hasn't been
in Vegas in twenty years, I was just there. The
issue is not generate. The issue is that it's priced
everybody out. They're building everything for the whales overseas, the Asian.
You know, guy's betting a quarter million a hand and
not the dude.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Down the street.
Speaker 7 (37:58):
I'm betting five dollar owders to play black jack because
they're like, no, we don't care about you no more.
We care about the big the big money.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Oh justin Vegas. Vegas is not doing well. Fox Sports
Radio Odd couple is one hour left
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