April 26, 2022 • 60 mins
Steve Smith Sr. returns to the University of Utah for the inspirational story of Utes linebacker Devin Lloyd, who led the team to its first Pac-12 title in honor of two beloved teammates killed by gun violence. Steve is joined by NFL 360 producer Trent Cooper to talk about his the story came to be told, and why Steve was the perfect person to tell the story.
“Devin Lloyd | 22” premieres on the Emmy-winning “NFL 360” Tues 4/26 at 9pm ET on NFL Network. (You can also see the feature on NFL.com, NFL Youtube, FB, Twitter and IG.)
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at
production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Steve Smith Senior and I'm Little John, and this is
cut to it. Good do it, Good do it. Let's
get down to do it. Good do it. We asked
the questions you always want to know, but no one
(00:23):
ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard about it,
then we're about to let you. Now it's all. I
have a special guest of friend, a collaborator, show runner
(00:43):
of the NFL Networks Emmy A winning original series NFL
three sixty, Trent Cooper. Welcome to the cut to a podcast.
Oh I hear the applause. They are artificial appause. Here
a body of producers. Fantastic, Thank you for the warm welcome.
(01:04):
Excited to be here, by Well, why are you so
excited to be here? Gus Man, you said, collaborator, We
got a big collaboration. Our latest. We've had a few
good ones. This is our latest. Uh, it might be.
It might be my favorite piece ever that that NFL
three sixties ever done. I just giddy about this piece.
(01:27):
You and you and I got to work together. It's
coming out today. When this thing airs, which is Tuesday,
uh April. It's coming out on all platforms, uh and
it is called NFL three sixty Devin Lloyd and we're
(01:48):
we're gonna chop it up about that. Huh. So let's
let's jump right into it. What is the premise in
and what's the premise of NFL three sixty. Look, NFL
three sixty is NFL Networks premium storytelling brand. So these
are the deep, deep stories that are human interest stories
(02:13):
that happened to be set in the world of football,
but they they really kind of unpack, uh, some some
bigger issues and things that that we that we always
say are bigger than football. And I know that you're
your show, your podcast is very much in the line
with that as well. You know you guys are you
guys are working to kind of figure out who the
(02:33):
guy is behind the jersey and that's what we do
or girl or girl or girl or girl. Uh yeah,
we gotta look at both sides of the coin. You
just can't look at it on the heads. You gotta
look at the tail, absolutely absolutely, So that's what we do,
that's what you do. That's why we love working with
you on NFL three sixty the show, I get to
(02:56):
brag a little bit. We Uh, we just found out
last week that we have we are leading the entire
sports industry and Emmy nominations with twelve. That is more
than the Olympics, which is hard to do. Uh as
long as I've been in this business, the Olympics have
just steamrolled everyone to be able to get more than them.
(03:17):
As a big deal, We're more than double our primary competitor,
which is uh, ESPN E sixty. And your producer, Brian
will say, don't ever mention the name of your competitor
when you're on. There's a lot of people, not just Brian,
there's a lot of people. I say, you never, So
why did I do that? I feel ever give you
(03:38):
never give people free advertisement, right, except that we had
double the Emmy nominations of that other entity, which makes
me very proud and happy. Why is why is the
Emmy winning something that needs to be on the tie
(04:00):
those of of series or or shows or you know, documentaries.
What's their importance of that? I think it just I
think it just kind of helps your your audience understand that, hey,
this is this is something that that that is that
people are recognizing and that we need to you know,
we need to take seriously and we were in for
(04:22):
something great. You know obviously it's it's uh, it's making
some noise in the industry and let's let's let's pay
attention to this is like when you know you'd be
all pro or or or you'd be um, you know
all start. You know, just just makes people, you know,
take notice, which is cool. And honestly, it's really good
for for morale with our team because you know, his
(04:43):
team is working eighty hours a week and just killing
it and for them to get that kind of recognition
just makes me happy for them and us and you
and it's just cool. So how how does a so?
How does it? How does it cooper decide on which story?
(05:07):
There's an NFL three sixty? But how does something get
green light? Yeah? How does something to get green land?
And how do you guys even come up with the
concepts or thoughts like take us, take us inside, take
us inside of the mission, you know, the mission statement,
just the vision board of the NFL three sixty. These
(05:31):
are the people you have to meet, the stories you
have to hear. These are the stories that are bigger
than football. And the standard is really really high for
what gets green light for a couple of reasons, we
don't do that many of them, right, I mean, how
many times have you called me and said, Hey, I
got an idea, let's do something, and I'm like, man,
we would truly answer that or lie a couple I
(05:54):
remember you called me. You call me like four in
the morning, and Steve, do you realize I live in
Los Angeles, US. You're calling me at four in the
morning with an idea. I wouldn't wear that. I was
on the West Coast. I'm sorry, Oh my god, I
was on the East Coast. I forgot. But I love this.
I love this question because it it's at the heart
of everything we do. Right. So, the standards really high,
(06:15):
and we have a team. It's a small team, eight
to ten people who are working on you know, wearing
different hats and working in different capacities. But everyone is
responsible for development, which means that you constantly have to
be looking for our next big story. And it could
be something that was that we found a year ago,
(06:36):
it could be something we found last night. There's pitch
meetings weekly. Sometimes a production assistant who was a year
out of college uh, it gets hot and sells three
pitches in a row. When I say sell that I'm
making any money. But these things get green light, and
it's a really proud moment when somebody brings us an
idea to get three let Uh. Sometimes an agent brings
(06:58):
us something. Sometimes it's just something that that I've seen
or you know, the my boss, the guy that Headstar Department,
Dallas Hitchcock, is you know, stuff that he's seen or heard.
So they come from everywhere. Um and this one. Uh
So basically, you know, once a year is the NFL
Draft and that is just an awesome time of year
(07:20):
for us because we love our NFL Draft special Uh.
We love finding what we you know, we take a
lot of pride in finding what we think is the
best story in this year's draft, the best story. That's
the story that everybody should be standing around their water
cooler talking about. We found it, and we we want
to believe that we told it in a way that
no one else I would think to tell it. So
(07:42):
the artistry and craft and how we tell stories is
a big deal to us, but finding that story is great.
So so this particular one came to me from our
writing consultant. Uh and and my my good buddy who's
worked with us forever. His name is Phil Guidry, and
he pitched it a couple of months ago and we
liked it and he kept pitching. Finally just kind of
hit me, yeah, pitched you how many how many times? Well,
(08:09):
you know, we're in season, so we're busy doing other
but we're also hearing draft pitches. So you know, he
probably pitched it six weeks before and we we we
we we said, oh, that's a great one. Put it on.
Put it over here for a minute because we're focused
on the Super Bowl and Black History Month and all that.
But we know when it's draft time, we're gonna that
that's gonna be one we love. So so he probably
(08:32):
pitched it right around the time Utah was was winning
the Pack Throwel Championship, and um, he saw it first
and brought it to our attention. And so we're gonna
tell your audience what this pitch is now so they
can they can have some context here trying to get there.
But you know that's all right. You want you want
me to drive this bus, so you want to drive
(08:55):
you know what. I'm just honored to be here. Maybe
I'll just im I'll say last say lest my night,
senior old say lest Yes, yes, listen, I I love
this role that we have right now because you've directed me,
you've produced me, you've angled me, you've made you the
(09:18):
man that you are today. That's that would be my
mom and daddy, my mom and daddy my wife. After
after those, there's track Cooper. Okay, you almost can put
us in the same sentence. But but I'll take the
second and sence. Listen, you could bring a horse to water,
but you can't make him drink, Okay, but you damn
(09:40):
sure sure can put some salt in his mouth and
make them pretty thirsty. This is role reversal. Today. You
get to three sixty, you have all the team, the
eight to ten, and they're constantly pitching concepts ideas given
a text textual understanding of these young men come that
(10:07):
are going to be drafted, and you know, there's what
three something guys, there's gonna be thirty five the forty
guys drafted here in draft because of all of the
madness of the NFL, and we have a top ten
draft pick who's coming out of a school that generally
(10:29):
there's not necessarily always have this caliber of player. Devin Lloyd,
linebacker from the University of Utah, my school. He's going
to save that your school part for the end of
the pitch because that's what made it. That was the
cherry on top for us. But let's should we get
(10:50):
into what the pitch is. Absolutely, let's get into the pitch,
all right. So here's Devin Lloyd. He after his junior season,
which is COVID year. After his junior season, he could
have come out in the NFL Draft probably, you know,
a lot of people thought he would have been a
first rounder, might have been a second rounder. He was
a top prospect in that on that on those draft boards.
(11:13):
And he makes a decision to go back and uh
and play his senior year, and and that gets everyone's attention.
But the the why behind that decision is what's really
what's driving this pitch, and that is that they had uh.
(11:34):
You know, this is a school that has has never
won a Pack twelfth championship before. He wanted to win,
helped lead that team and have that experience with and
for his brothers. But the bigger part of that story
is that they had tragically lost. They're superstar freshman running
back Tied Jordan's who in a COVID shortened season, had
(11:57):
lit the college football world on fire and had shown
the world that holy cow, Utah has a dude playing
running back, that this could be a Heisman candidate. This
guy has he has it all and and on top
of that hell of a kid freshman and he's a
hell of a kid with the biggest smile you had
(12:17):
ever seen, and just is transforming this this this program.
That kid is tragically killed Christmas night of six days
after their last game of the season. That oh, by
the way, he had succored three touchdowns and led a
thirty h point come back, the most electrifying game of
(12:41):
the year. So so this kid is tragically killed. It
was a accidental discharge of a firearm. It was an accident.
Uh you know, somehow he shot himself and and he dies,
and it devastates the Utah football program, particularly the leaders
of that program, the entire community. And you I was
(13:04):
an alumni. I was, you know, it was the middle
of COVID, so I was I was working from home,
uh in my makeshift studio at the house on air
doing a pre show and uh, all Wartsy says, check
(13:27):
your phone. And usually on you know, he usually doesn't
tell me to check my phone, he says. Producer, He says,
check your phone. I don't, I don't, I don't. I
know you haven't seen it. So just check your phone
and and behold text message from the a D. Text
(13:48):
message from uh Jeff Rudy, text message from from my
son Peyton. It's true that you can't believe it. Oh no, um.
And so we had a break and I called some
people and they said, it's true, uh kid that everybody
(14:10):
loves that kind of represents hope for the entire organization
has been killed. And now our guy, Devin Lloyd, the
All World linebacker, decides he's going to come back for
his senior season and and they want to win a
championship and they want to do it in honor of
thy Jordan's. So that's the first leg of the story.
(14:33):
Now that that alone is probably enough to get this
thing Greenland, because that's killing. I mean, come on, I mean,
this is what leadership is, right, be selfless and go
go uh go, try to do something bigger than yourself
with your brothers, for something bigger than all of us.
It's one of those stories that people make movies out
(14:57):
of that that hadn't really happened. You know, he didn't
really sacrifice that. And the caveatough to Devin Lloyd coming
back is I spoke to some scouts heading into I
spoke to some scouts a couple of weeks ago, and
(15:18):
I asked what was Devin Lloyd's prospect as a junior.
He said, he's pretty good. I said, well, why is
he a top ten today compared to what he was
a year ago? They said, because everything that Devin what
(15:38):
we call is a weakness, right, his lack of ability
to share, blocks, his his his his ability to recognize
things defensively fast enough. They said, everything that was a
weakness that was on his his scouting report coming out
(15:58):
if you came out, he actually worked on every single
one of those and turn him into positives. No mastered
his craft. Mm hmm. He mastered his craft, which made him,
which makes us we make which makes this story even
(16:19):
sweeters for a kid who was a unfinished product, he
actually went back and start chiseling and working on himself
through all through all the things that possibly probably people
would say, why should you work on it? You know,
you got your team just lost one of your superstars,
(16:40):
young kids. The best time, the end is now, and
instead he took the He took the road let's traveled.
You have a decision to make at the end of
your junior year to declare for the draft. I had
just passed away, and deep down in my heart, I
(17:03):
just felt like staying for another year and accomplishing everything
that I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to come back
and help them win that championship. We've never won a
Pack twelve championship. He didn't come back to better his
draft status. He came back to twin and Pack twelve championship.
(17:26):
You know, he talked to the guys that he was
gonna go to war Withood. He liked, dude, this is
my plan. I'm coming back because I want to do this,
this and this. I want to win. And he wanted
to win that Pack twelve. Right, So consider what we
what we've just pitched. Act one a three acts story.
Act two is the start of the season, which was
(17:48):
is the last college football season. Um, you know, yep,
six months ago, six months ago. Uh. They they have
one of the things they're doing to honor Ty Jordan's
they have a first ever Thy Jordan Memorial scholarship at
the school. University is funding and the team and the
(18:08):
leadership of the team get to vote on who would
who would be the the winner of that scholarship, and
they pick a kid named Aaron Lowe. Aaron Lowe happens
to be from thy Jordan's hometown. They played high school
football together. But more importantly, he embodies everything Ty Jordan's embodied,
which is is this this ridict work ethic, this competitive
(18:33):
fire burning desired to compete and win. And then on
top of all that, he has that same larger than
life smile that lights up the locker room. You know,
the reason Ty came no Utah was because of air.
Because Aaron, Aaron's a year two older. Yes, he was
making a big brother figure to Tie. So Aaron gets
(18:57):
this scholarship and it just feels right right, and everybody,
of course Aaron gets this. And and one of the
things Aaron does to kind of honor Tie and to
just you know, set this thing in motion is he
changes his number to twenty two, which is the number
that that Taie war So now he's wearing Ties number.
(19:19):
He's got the scholarship, Uh, you know, the let's get
back to football, right. So so they have a big
win in week four of the season and uh, and
some guys are celebrating the big win. They're going into
a bye weeks and you know in college, you know
you go to a little house party. Crazy. Let's set
the stage though, because I think it is something that
(19:41):
we've missed. Ties last game is again to Washington State,
and this was the game. He scored three touchdowns, they
came back from seven halftime deficit, had thirty eight unanswered points,
most of them were his, and they finished the season
(20:02):
on this incredible high. So here we are a year later,
also playing wash quh wazoo. What we're gonna call it
this time they blow him out. They blow out washed
doors off of the Devin Lloyd's on fire of that game. Um.
By the way, he had a ridiculous senior year. Like
(20:23):
they said, he didn't have a bad game. He just
every day, week after week. So some kids go to
a house party and uh, something happens. It ship gets
out of control and Aaron Lowe is shot and killed.
So now the kid that embodies the spirit of Thy Jordan,
(20:43):
it's wearing his number. That that literally runs onto the
field each game, rock and a flag and ties number
to honor Tie has now also been killed in a
matter of how many months, nine months later, I mean
tim months later. You're talking about two guys, two guys
(21:05):
from the same neighborhood, at the same school, trying to
do the same things, both tragically die by gunfire. So now, Steve,
you've probably got another text, right, got another text. And
(21:27):
it's crazy because in his Texas you won't even believe it, y,
I mean I it's hard to even talked about. I
wouldn't I didn't go through it. But it's just you
know this, these kids represent hope and and it's bad.
It's horrific to lose one, then to lose two. And
(21:48):
you know you, I love you in the piece and
by the way, this is you know you guys can
see this piece today. You can go to NFL dot
com forward slash NFL three sixty. You can see it
right there. You can see it on TV tonight on
on NFL three CC. But but Steve talks to the
head coach, UH Kyle Whittingham, and and Kyle says, you know,
(22:14):
we were so devastated that we thought are we going
to cancel the season, Like, how do we how much
more can we put our kids through? Can you imagine that?
Can you actually canceling a college football season halfway through
because the kids are so devastated and heartbroke? Yeah? I can't.
I can. And here's why. The reason I can everything
(22:37):
that we've went through in the last couple of years
just as a society. Right. And and here's the part
that you know we didn't get into on the NFL
three sixties just because of time. If you go back chronologically,
this is this Pack twelve decided they weren't gonna play.
But yeah, you had kids like ty Aaron oh Devin
(23:02):
Lloyd who they're going into their junior year and they're
told come to school. Then they told, well, we won't
go to school. Uh, come to school. Well they're canceling school.
So you have families and and I know this because
just having ties to the school. I remember talking to
them when they were talking to UM officials at the
(23:25):
University of Utah, and they were saying they literally had
kids that their parents just came to drop them off
and they were told that they got to come back
and pick them up. And the school had to help
some of these young men and women because a lot
of these young men and women, their parents spent a
(23:47):
lot of money that they didn't have getting them to college.
And now you got to pack them up. And then
they come back in in November and they have to test,
They have to have fourteen days of isolation in the
in the in the hotels. Then they come back and play.
They lose the player right after that, Jordan's passes. Now,
(24:12):
these young men who, let's be honest, as as as fans,
we don't really look at them as human beings. We
look at them as our superheroes, and all of a
sudden are superheroes. Now there's a chink in their armor.
They're human, They're they're not even human. They really are
what they are, which are young men who are trying
(24:35):
to figure out life. And in this case, you know
you want to go behind the jersey. These are young
men that light up the locker room. These are the
two guys you can't lose. These are the guys with
that that that that bring the love and the hope
and the joy and the smile and they just make
everything better. The joy makers in football, there's energy takers, yes,
(24:59):
and full ball. There's tone setters, but you rarely hear
about it. Joy center and tie and air we're joy centers. Man,
that's different when you're talking about football. That's usually not
words to associated football players. Right, you know you've got
(25:22):
your ship talkers. Never heard almost one of them is
on the call with me. But no, man, Joy listen.
Energy giver not energy taker. Joy is that's what we
need right now, especially in that year. And to lose
both of those guys, it's just ridiculous. And so here's
(25:42):
a here's a program that was as devastated as as
any has ever been. And there was a turning point. Uh.
Aaron Lowe's mother, just a day or two after the death,
made her way from Texas to Utah and she spoke
to the team he loved. I don't know. That woman
(26:16):
is strong. She came in and she just told us
to keep on going. That's what Aaron would have wanted.
You know. That sort of gave Devin Lloyd and the
other leaders of the team, because there's a great leadership
group there wasn't just Devan, but the other captains and
the team permission to to to kind of put this
(26:38):
in a place where that they that they could could
move forward. I mean, the coach says, we're never gonna
get over this, but we're gonna try to get through it.
And they basically used this as fuel and they went
on a run, a historic run where they just whipped
ass and and destroyed the Pack twelve, and they made
it all the way through UH and end up winning
(27:00):
that Pactrol Championship playing a team that you generally don't
beat twice in a row, Oregon, who's kind of had
their number. Oh yeah, I mean two years a couple
of years before that, we needed to beat Oregon to
get into um the college playoffs in and you know, hey,
(27:24):
he's in the league now, justin Herbert. So it wasn't
like it was just right, it's pretty good right out.
He's all right right, doing pretty darn good. So that
listen that That is as clean a pitch as I've
ever heard for NFL three six. I mean, you hear
that if you gave that pit and we just gave
(27:44):
the twenty minute version, but if you gave the nine
version and an elevator, you'd see somebody's face light up
and they go, when's that coming out? I love cut
to it. And I love it even more when you
download us and subscribe, and you can follow us on
(28:05):
social media too, Smithy where where at? That's at? Cut
to It on Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut to
It Facebook? Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr? What
about online? And you can follow us at cut to
It podcast dot com where you can buy merch and
you can subscribe to this wherever you listen to podcasts.
(28:27):
I got all my answers questions. Um, yeah, I got
all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother,
cut to a podcast dot Com. So here's the here's
the kicker, and I'm happy to give away some of this,
but you have to watch this, like, I'm so proud
of the way our team put this together and it
(28:47):
just goosebump city and I have to shout out you
taught football? Yes you do, so you taught football. Is
not only Steve's alma mater, but they are are producing
partners on this, so they you know, they were there
the whole time filming as this was happening. So they
very generously gave us access to their footage and then
(29:09):
when we came to town, they open doors for us
I'm tiny man. I've been doing this a while. I've
never been treated like this by by a university like
they just made sure we had everything we needed to
tell the best story we've ever told. And part of
all of that is because of your relationship with them
and the respect they have for you. And I just
(29:30):
want to thank you for that, because you you trusted
me with your relationship and they trusted you, and it's
just it's just a cool thing that happened. But huge
props to them. There's a lady there named Maddie Ford
who put her heart and soul into filming this you had.
They have their own docs series all the twenty two
(29:50):
forever that you can see on YouTube YouTube that very
much supports what we've done. But anyway, so, uh, here's
the kicker. If if that pitch wasn't an off. You
know our boy Devin Lloyd, who goes to places that
you know emotionally that you can't imagine. He leads, Uh,
he dominates. They get what they need to get done
(30:14):
in honor of Tie and Err and he's right at
the heart of it. M v P of of the
Pack twelve Championship Game and the Defensen blah blah blah,
every award you can get, all American. So now it's
time to go to the NFL. Right, and and you
finish your college season, and a couple of months later
you gotta go to the NFL combin and and and
at the combine, you you don't get to pick your number.
(30:37):
It's not that kind of thing. They just they start
pulling numbers out of a box based on probably alphabetical
or something, and they hand him a number for him
for the combine, and and what's the number? Two? Baby two?
So all of a sudden, the tech start lightening up.
You're never gonna believe this. They did Devon's rocking the
(30:58):
twenty two, which is the same number. Tie War stand
over Aaron War and dude, if you go to a
Utah game, two is at the absolute center of everything
they do. Now. It is their heart, soul brand. They
have a motto of mantra called better. They want more effort,
more love, more passion and every single thing they do.
(31:20):
And it's not just the team, the entire university, the
entire city has bought into it. It is a movement
and for that too, organically mystically, divinely inspired whatever you
wanna call it for that for Devon to have that
number is just goose Bump City. And that's your third act.
(31:42):
So that's our story. Um, you gotta see it, you
gotta feel it, you've got to experience it. And Steve,
you know, the cherry on top for us is that
holy ship. This is Steve Smith's alma mater. This is
personal to Steve. He knows this better than any of us.
He went through it in his own way, and it
(32:03):
was just a joy for us to be able to
get you to lead this story, to go back and
be the correspondent that drives the narrative, that does all
the interviews, uh, and that helps us shape the story.
And I gotta tell you my favorite piece of that
is your contribution to the overall theme and the visuals
(32:25):
of it. You said to me on the phone, just
so much to talk about. I love this ship. This
is why I love podcast because you could just Yeah,
I couldn't wait to call you. I couldn't wait to
call you on a Saturday morning saying hey man, we
want to do this and we want to do it
with you because we hadn't talked yet and it was
really early on a Saturday, and I remember texting you
(32:46):
and I wrote this long ass text and I almost
hit sin and I was like, I'm just gonna call him.
He always calls me early. I'm just gonna call him.
I was up and and and so I erased the text.
I hit call instead, and you answer the phone saying
what do you got for me? I know it's got
to be good if you're calling me this early. And
(33:07):
I was like, dude, I think this is the best
story in college football, and it is uniquely yours to tell.
No one else in the world can tell it. And
when he was when you were telling me this, I
am walking around the house right as you're telling because
you're You're like you're telling me, and I'm like, okay,
(33:27):
Like I'm sitting there, like because I just finished working out,
so I still have my still have my pre workout.
I still have my pre workout going in my veins,
so I'm like, my my my skins still tingling. So
I'm like, oh, okay, shoot, all right, let's go. So
he's pitching me, telling me all this stuff, right, He's
(33:49):
telling me all this stuff. So now I have to
tell the story on my end because you don't know
what's going on at the house. My wife is like,
what are y'all who? First of all, she else, who
are you talking to? It's a little bit of profanity, right,
And I'm like, I'm just out of love, and I'm
like okay. So I'm walking around and I'm like, right
(34:12):
and something. I'm I'm lathering up, like I can go
work out again. And as he's telling me, you know,
he's kind of filling me out and trying to get
me hey, you only you can do this, I'm like okay.
And so he just trenches, goes and goes and goes,
and I love it. And I said, okay, you you're
(34:35):
ready for me now? Yeah. He goes, well, what do
you have? I said, well, if we do it, first
of all, I'm only gonna wear Utah stuff. So let's
just get that out the way, right. We have a
long history of me telling you what what I want
you to wear, yes, he does. We have a long history, well,
a long history of trick telling you know, don't wear
(34:55):
the hat, No, you can't do this. And I'm like okay, right,
and so he's like, I said, first of all, I'm
wearing all Utah stuff. So let's get that out of
the way right now. Are you cool with it? That's right,
let's rock the you yeah, and then he goes. I said, however,
it all must be on the campus. I don't know, Trip.
(35:20):
When we get off the phone, I will call Utah
and I'll get this ready. Now. I would give Trent credit.
Trent has been doing this a long time. Trent, how
long have you been in the game of doing production
like this? I've been messing around for twenty eight years? Okay,
twenty eight years. How twenty eight years. Let's just let's
(35:40):
round it up. Let's go thirty in thirty years. It's
not that much. Sorry, making myself older than in twenty
five years? And you should edit that out and make
it fourteen years. The young man's business? How many? How
how many times have you listened to talent over promise
(36:06):
and significantly under deliver? Be honest, Um, it does happen.
You know what it is? Man? Is is like a
lot of people, UH feel burned and they don't want
to they don't want to use their because all of
you guys have this incredible influence because you know, you
were who you were in the league. You have the status,
(36:29):
you have the relationships, and a lot of times it's
the opposite. You guys use your influence to make stuff happen,
and then you on the other side, the other guys
don't deliver, and you feel like, well, I'm never doing
that again. But you and I have like this trust.
You know, you know, if you vouch for me, I'm
gonna deliver, and if I vouched for you. I learned
(36:51):
that very I learned that quickly. Yeah, so we're you know,
we we have that. But and so we he said.
I said, all right, so what do you need? I say, okay,
and then I start remember I started producing, Hey, we're
gonna have We're gonna have mountains, right, He's like, And
then I'm trying to get off the phone as big
(37:12):
as before. You start laying out to many ideas that
I gotta deal with. Yes, He's like, well, I was like, man,
they got a great mounds of schools right here. You know,
let's do this, I said, but hold on, it has
to all be filmed on the campus. Well, I'm not sure.
I think you know, we'll work it out. When I
and I told you, I told him, I told Trimp.
(37:32):
When we get off the phone, I'm gonna call you
VERSU of Utah. I'm actually gonna call the A D
and we're gonna make this happen. Trey has that Okay, Well,
I mean I figured you'd call him it's Saturday morning
at seven am, or we really call him this guy
at seven am. So then I got a at Taxed
at seven ten am that says are you available for
(37:53):
a zoom in fifteen minutes? I'm like, what time is on?
Are you at? This is a Saturday. So I jump
on this zoom and I figured it would be Steve
and one of his buddies from Utah. There were nine
people on this zoom. There's like a D, the president
of the school, and they had a football and I'm like,
are you guys, is this like some board meeting that
(38:14):
you're normally having? Just had me jump on it to
steal an agenda item. This is all for us because
on a Saturday morning, because one of the things that
we do do at the University of Utah, and this
is bragging on my school. It is not a destination place.
(38:37):
University of us Tall is a place where they developed
they enhanced teach technique because it's cold, right, is Mountainee
High elevation. And when you think of Utah, you don't
think of football. They don't have a perfect They only
(38:59):
have a h a basketball team. They you know, the
last great basketball team it had a had a mailman
in it, right, John Stockton called Malone, Brian Russell. It
did not have You know, when you think about football,
you don't think about the University of Utah. And so,
(39:19):
by the way you are now, you are now and
so and so when it was an outstanding season, Devin
Lloyd gets m v P PAC twelve Player Defensive Player
of the Game Pact twelve Championship after a hundred All
Americans and also goes down to Los Angeles and not
(39:44):
and for the first time trent a hundred and five trips,
we finally win at the Coliseum. And so it's with
this opportunity to whoop up on usc U c l
A Wazoo, let's leets messed around and beat Oregon twice.
(40:07):
Tw Molly, we would like to use the word molly
wap on the West Coast. Yeah, I got a new
favorite team. Man, I'm in We're going out there and
sold me and I just said, I said, true, you
just got to make sure you follow through. We'll follow
through on our end. Get on a zoom call and
it was outstanding. Yeah, and so try you when did
(40:32):
you go out there? When when did you fly out
to really start doing it? Well? So I know you guys.
One of the cool things about this is we can
talk a little bit about process because people love to
hear how things are made. So there's yeah, there's the pitch,
and then there's the thing that to multiple things are
(40:54):
happening simultaneously as we prepare for a shoot. So we're
there's just logistics out of Lazoo, figuring out how to
get who where, what are we doing, where are we
doing at locations? All that crap that's born. Then there's
all these interviews. Who are we going to talk to
to tell the story and what the heck are we
gonna ask? So you and I have this process where
(41:15):
I'm like, hey man, I want to stop if you're
thing and you know you asked the questions, but I'm
just gonna give you sample questions. You're gonna give me
a sample question you can make your own. Let me
tell you, it's never the truth with Trip when it
comes to writing the questions everything's bullshit. I'm working you, twin,
(41:38):
I'm working you right now for the next piece of
good do it, good it. Let's get down to do
it good. Hey Gerard, why did you get that T shirt?
You mean this thing? Oh yes, I got it from
cut to a podcast dot com where we have exclusive merchandise.
Shout out to our guys at seven or four shot.
But yeah, you can go on by with T shirts
(42:00):
subscribed to us wherever you listen to podcasts. One of
the things that sets us, sets us apart is our
visual storytelling. I mean this in my own um inflated,
but it's the truth. Is the truth because I hate
to use the word, but it's the devil is in
(42:21):
the details and and the details that NFL three sixty
uses and does is they allow the stories and the
visuals and images to tell the story on top of
the people and the storyline. Like you never are your
(42:42):
mind and your heart. In NFL three sixty, I believe
is never resting. There's never a low period because even
if they're someone is not speaking, yeah, there is a
vision that's showing you what we're trying to get across. Yeah, well,
listen your piece on Darren Waller. I gotta just detour
(43:05):
for a second here. If anybody hasn't seen that piece yet,
this is a piece that Steve did a year and
a half ago. It was actually two years ago. Well yeah,
but okay, fine, So it was it was shot a
while like it was shot before COVID and then it
you know, we did more shooting. We released that was
nominated for an Emmy last year. Didn't win. I can't
(43:27):
believe it didn't that. It's so good. That's why, because
we beat ourselves because they knew was gonna be up
in them. They didn't. They were trying to hold me back. Man.
So Steve, Steve does this piece with one of our producers,
Julian Gooden, and it is so well done on Darren Waller,
(43:51):
and it is so revealing and so personal. I've never
seen a sports feature cut that deep. And that's that
kind of goes. This is me propping you up a
little bit. So put your ear muffs on. But like
when Steve talks to an NFL player, it's different. It's
just different than when a regular correspondent does, or a
producer like me, Like they the level of respect they
(44:16):
have for you based on who you are what you
did in that league and the fire in your heart
and the level of passion that you played, and you said, listen,
I'm four ft tall, but I'm gonna whoop everybody's ass.
And you watch these players, it's just different. Man. When
(44:36):
you talk to them, they just the level of respect
they have. It's like truth ser so. But here's the
difference though that I think I have to I appreciate
the credit, but I also have to get know. I
called you four ft tall and you didn't say that's unbelievable.
Did you not hear that we're editing that out. No,
you're keeping his name. You talk about the respect that
(45:01):
people have for me. I think the respect they have
for me is because also quietly, I'm just I'm I
have I'm damaged goods just like to I think that's
one of the biggest That's one of the coolest things
that I have to do, but is giving me an
opportunity to sit with these men, these young men, and
(45:21):
we just get to talk about who we are and
what we've been through. When I look back at this
piece on Devin Lloyd and what happened surrounding the Utah
football program, like your your contribute your performance in this.
Your contribution in it is very tender. It is not
(45:42):
it's not the Steve that we see on Thursday Night football.
This you actually let this, You let these guys tell
the story without sort of inserting yourself into it. In it,
you kind of checked your ego at the door and
just let let this unfold in the most tender, understated way.
(46:04):
It was. It's really lovely to watch you in this.
P I just think it's I think he killed it
and in a very unexpected tone. And can I tell
you why? Very very happy with it. Can I tell
you why? And I'm I'm getting emotional thinking about it
that I never told you. The only reason I went
to University of Utah there was a guy named Demetrius Posy.
(46:26):
The year before Fred Grays recruited him at Santa Monica
Community College. And when they were recruiting Demetrius, that's how
they saw me. Demetrius commits to the University of Utah.
Unfortunately he did not make it there because he didn't
(46:47):
get his grace together. I follow my big brother to
University of Utah the same way, except he never gets
his grace together, so he does it actually make it
to the University of Utah. I go on to get
drafted by the Carolina Panthers. In my second year. I
(47:07):
get a phone call from at the time Robert Taylor
Rested soul our head coach who had been there since
nineteen seventy seven until he passed two thousand and eight.
From Robert Taylor. He calls me and says, Demetrius dies
m on his way driving from San Diego to l
(47:31):
A fell asleep at the will, crashing past. The only
reason I was going to the reversal of Utah, well,
other than the option free college, is I was following
my big brother, a guy who took me under the
(47:52):
his wings. And if he wouldn't have got that opportunity,
I wouldn't have got my opportunity. And so for me,
you know, it was very much understood. And sometimes we
only get places because of other other people, right, which
(48:15):
is at the heart of this man. Todd Jordan is
not at Utah if it isn't for Aaron and same
thing and for those guys to to be lost. And
then you know, we think about Devin, what if he
didn't come back, What what does happen to this team?
You know, I don't know. I mean, you know, he
Devin didn't do it all. It's a team. You know,
(48:37):
I didn't. I didn't make this piece by myself. It's
my it's you, it's my my boy. Johnny Oh, the
editor who's amazing, has done all of our our big
pieces the last few years. It's the kid that shot
this thing. I would say he's fifteen years old. He's
probably twenty five now, but he's might be the best
photographer in our business. His name is Dakota Deal. So
(49:00):
so look like team, team, team, right, So so here
it's not just Devin, it's all those team captains, all
those kids. But what if Devin doesn't come back, I
don't know. I mean that dude was the heart and
soul of what happened in that locker room and in
that in that season. And people need leaders, man, people
need leaders And I think, if that's my takeaway from
(49:22):
this piece, you know, I dig humble leadership. That's that's
a I learned that term from when we worked on
the Pat Tilman project. They said when they when when
they're looking for kids for for Tillman Scholarship, they're looking
for humble leaders And that was pretty cool. What's a
humble because you think leader is the guy that's yelling
and screaming and all that. Man, humble leadership is what
(49:44):
Pat Tillman was. Uh and that to me, that's what
Devin Lloyd is. And Uh. I love to find those stories,
find those people and then shine a light on it
because we need more dudes like that. And Devin is
a great kid. We're excited about his you know, Thursday night,
(50:06):
he's gonna go call it early and let this dude
transform a locker room. Let him let him go, you know,
mess around and have a fifteen year career. I mean,
he is a he is a special kid, and I'm
excited about you know, his ability to carry on this
legacy of tie and air and it's going to follow
(50:28):
him into the NFL. It's gonna follow him forever. And um,
he didn't ask for that, but it's happened, man. And
hopefully it does a couple of nice things for for
the school too, because it's about time to school gets
a little uh, a little more recognition and notoriety. It's
(50:48):
a it's a great piece. It's the emotional piece, super emotional.
We've done some emotional pieces. This is right at the
top of the list. You're gonna cry, You're gonna get
goosey um. But yeah, I did a great job, and
I really appreciate you doing it and the trust, and
you know, I look forward to doing whatever we're gonna
(51:10):
do next year. I'll find another one. As crazy as
you say, trust, I was gonna tell you I appreciate
you trust in me. Cool. Well, that's earned my man.
For the first time, I told you can't wear that
hat flipped up. Remember so our our first job five
years ago, Steve's first ever feature. We went to uh Foxborough,
(51:35):
the home of home of the New England Patriots. Interview.
You're interviewing this Brandon Brandon Brandon Cooks who just from
Oregon State. He did not go to Oregon. And Steve
is fresh off the boat and he says to me, Hey, listen, man,
I want to get really good at features, and I'm
used to being coached up. Just you know, tell me
(51:57):
what I need. Don't don't beat around the bush. Just
you need to give me it. Give me some tough love,
tell me I can handle it. And I said, okay, great,
you can't wear that hat the hat the way it's
flipped up. You look like an idiot. You said that exactly.
You look like an idiot. You look like an idiot.
And you said, I'm gonna wear the hat. You told me,
(52:18):
you told me to tell you want to be coached up,
your tough love, tough love, don't wear the hat, used
to Trent all due respect, this is my thing. I'm
wearing the hat, alright, fine, And I'm on the phone
with my boss. I'm like, it's difficult, man, It's just difficult.
I told him not to wear the hat. Wearing the hat.
So we get home and people start looking at the
(52:38):
footage and there's just like this this ground swell around
NFL network going Steve Smith is rocking his hat. Whose
idea was it for Steve Smith to wear that hat?
I'm like, that was my I was like, I'm like, Steve,
you need a thing. It's like your it could be
your thing, right, I need a thing. Let's Paul, is
(53:00):
it right there? You want to know the best thing
about what you just said. You never heard your story,
did you? When they when they that was war that
was in my deal, not in my deal. Like it
was in my deal. I said, if I'm not wearing
a suit, I'm wearing a hat, but when I'm wearing
(53:21):
a suit, don't worry about it. I will I will
not wear a hat, but if it's not a suit,
don't ask me, don't request. I am wearing the hat. Yeah,
nobody showed me your contract. So what did they do
after I signed? I get back to Charlotte. We're excited,
(53:43):
they say. The NFL network says, hey, we don't have
a problem with you wearing hats, but just k you
wear an NFL shield hat. I said, send him. They said, okay,
I have every color with the NFL shield hat, but
in this piece, you're rocking the Utah hat. But the thing,
(54:06):
it's not the hat, it's the flipped up bill that
I was, you know, my you know, because I have
no style. I was. I was going, I don't know
about that flipped up bill, And suddenly the flipped up
bill is the coolest thing in sports. I've been wearing
this flipped up bill since like oh six. I go
back and look at I actually went back and looked
at pictures. I used to outwear the visor with it
(54:30):
backwards flipped up. I wore it upside down, was flipped up.
I always had to flipped up hat, and so several
people have said, man, will you just lose the hat?
And I looked at him square now like I looked
at you. Nope, no, smile hard, no, no, you would
have fought me over that. We would It would have
(54:50):
come down the blows. I don't know, because I didn't
think it was really a blow worthy. It's not blowworth.
I didn't think we needed to fight over my hat
since technically it was my hat. All right, let's do
some selling, man, I'm always selling. Where can we see
this feature? Man? We can see this tonight? Is it tonight?
(55:12):
We can see this feature at nine eastern tonight, NFL
three sixty on NFL dot Com, No, NFL network. Let's
watch it on TV. You can watch you can watch
it on TV at nine o'clock NFL network. But wait
a minute, podcast or forever. So what if they're watching
this pilot? You know what's the date? It's It's April
is April twenty six, nine pm eastern, NFL three sixty
(55:37):
on NFL network. If you're listening to this later, it's
NFL dot com, slash, NFL three six, NFL YouTube, Facebook,
and Twitter. It's everywhere anywhere you consume NFL network digitally,
we got you cover. How about Melissa's arc who hosts
(56:00):
his who hosts NFL three six. He does an amazing job.
She's back on the sidelines for Sunday Night Football, and
that's the day that's the biggest show in sports. They
pull a huge audience. And what does she say. She says,
I'm only coming back if I can still do NFL
three six. So she's still jamming with us and doing
(56:21):
Sunday Night Football. That's a that's pretty cool. That's that's
part of the Steve Smith school of don't forget where
you came from. You although she came from she came
from Monday night Football, John Man. So I can't really
use the Steve Smith don't forget where he came from
philosophy on it. I can tell you she's awesome. Three
(56:44):
sixty three NFL three six. He does a hell of
a job, and just telling the stories of graphics not
doing everything, not not oversaturated in the market with everything
every week, doing it where you just just give them
a little bit of taste of great quality and then
down the back and give them thirty forty more days
(57:07):
to think about what's the next we're gonna look like
right part of that because our budgets so small, we
were doing more. We had a bigger Now I'm kidding.
I like it too, man, It's it's a good Listen.
Nothing gets watered down when when you start trying to
do too much and too many, it's not special in it,
and you start to lower your standards. You start to
(57:27):
lower your standards because you're just you're just looking for
any story in every story. But when you when you
you're mass produced and stuff. Yeah, when you don't mass reduced,
you get to like this. You get to put it aside,
stew on it and go it is it worth it?
And how do we make it graphically? Textually? How do
(57:50):
we make it worth it? How do we make people
sit here? And let's be honest, people are sitting down
watching television anymore, so you have to really make too. Yeah,
I really appreciate you, and I appreciate the school, and uh,
I can't wait to share this with people. So thanks,
(58:11):
thanks for having me on, and we'll give you a
little little behind the scenes to send this audience off with.
This thing is recorded Friday before the Tuesday it comes out,
and we're not done with the piece yet, So I
got I got an edit base. He's still you guys
are still up. They've sent me two different edits. Yeah,
(58:32):
but you know what, we got one percent better in
the last thirty six hours. And this is this is
why I make my living off the last one percent.
Where do you see the last one? Well on Tuesday
when I watch it, and you better be better. M Eastern.
Don't be messing up the time zone and people are
gonna flip on and then they're going to be watching
the rerun of the Bucks Rams game. Yeah, we don't
(58:56):
want to I PM Eastern Tuesday. Well appreciate it. Yes, man,
thanks you. Let's do this again. Absolutely. You are a
unique person. You are well worth it. You are competent
and most of all, your lovable. I'm Steve Smith Singior,
(59:18):
I'm Gerard Little John and this is cut to It.
Cut to It with Steve Smith singor That Is Me
is a production of Cut to It LLC, Balto Creative Media,
The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio. For more podcast
from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
(59:41):
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows
from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith, SINGR co
host Gerard Little John, talent and booking manager Joe Fusci.
Social media team Wesley Robinson and John Show from Balto
Creative Me You Cut Too. It is produced by Brian
(01:00:02):
Baltaschevic and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrek,
Production coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics
and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it,
then we're about to let you know. It's all
This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at
production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Steve Smith Senior and I'm Little John, and this is
cut to it. Good do it, Good do it. Let's
get down to do it. Good do it. We asked
the questions you always want to know, but no one
(00:23):
ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard about it,
then we're about to let you. Now it's all. I
have a special guest of friend, a collaborator, show runner
(00:43):
of the NFL Networks Emmy A winning original series NFL
three sixty, Trent Cooper. Welcome to the cut to a podcast.
Oh I hear the applause. They are artificial appause. Here
a body of producers. Fantastic, Thank you for the warm welcome.
(01:04):
Excited to be here, by Well, why are you so
excited to be here? Gus Man, you said, collaborator, We
got a big collaboration. Our latest. We've had a few
good ones. This is our latest. Uh, it might be.
It might be my favorite piece ever that that NFL
three sixties ever done. I just giddy about this piece.
(01:27):
You and you and I got to work together. It's
coming out today. When this thing airs, which is Tuesday,
uh April. It's coming out on all platforms, uh and
it is called NFL three sixty Devin Lloyd and we're
(01:48):
we're gonna chop it up about that. Huh. So let's
let's jump right into it. What is the premise in
and what's the premise of NFL three sixty. Look, NFL
three sixty is NFL Networks premium storytelling brand. So these
are the deep, deep stories that are human interest stories
(02:13):
that happened to be set in the world of football,
but they they really kind of unpack, uh, some some
bigger issues and things that that we that we always
say are bigger than football. And I know that you're
your show, your podcast is very much in the line
with that as well. You know you guys are you
guys are working to kind of figure out who the
(02:33):
guy is behind the jersey and that's what we do
or girl or girl or girl or girl. Uh yeah,
we gotta look at both sides of the coin. You
just can't look at it on the heads. You gotta
look at the tail, absolutely absolutely, So that's what we do,
that's what you do. That's why we love working with
you on NFL three sixty the show, I get to
(02:56):
brag a little bit. We Uh, we just found out
last week that we have we are leading the entire
sports industry and Emmy nominations with twelve. That is more
than the Olympics, which is hard to do. Uh as
long as I've been in this business, the Olympics have
just steamrolled everyone to be able to get more than them.
(03:17):
As a big deal, We're more than double our primary competitor,
which is uh, ESPN E sixty. And your producer, Brian
will say, don't ever mention the name of your competitor
when you're on. There's a lot of people, not just Brian,
there's a lot of people. I say, you never, So
why did I do that? I feel ever give you
(03:38):
never give people free advertisement, right, except that we had
double the Emmy nominations of that other entity, which makes
me very proud and happy. Why is why is the
Emmy winning something that needs to be on the tie
(04:00):
those of of series or or shows or you know, documentaries.
What's their importance of that? I think it just I
think it just kind of helps your your audience understand that, hey,
this is this is something that that that is that
people are recognizing and that we need to you know,
we need to take seriously and we were in for
(04:22):
something great. You know obviously it's it's uh, it's making
some noise in the industry and let's let's let's pay
attention to this is like when you know you'd be
all pro or or or you'd be um, you know
all start. You know, just just makes people, you know,
take notice, which is cool. And honestly, it's really good
for for morale with our team because you know, his
(04:43):
team is working eighty hours a week and just killing
it and for them to get that kind of recognition
just makes me happy for them and us and you
and it's just cool. So how how does a so?
How does it? How does it cooper decide on which story?
(05:07):
There's an NFL three sixty? But how does something get
green light? Yeah? How does something to get green land?
And how do you guys even come up with the
concepts or thoughts like take us, take us inside, take
us inside of the mission, you know, the mission statement,
just the vision board of the NFL three sixty. These
(05:31):
are the people you have to meet, the stories you
have to hear. These are the stories that are bigger
than football. And the standard is really really high for
what gets green light for a couple of reasons, we
don't do that many of them, right, I mean, how
many times have you called me and said, Hey, I
got an idea, let's do something, and I'm like, man,
we would truly answer that or lie a couple I
(05:54):
remember you called me. You call me like four in
the morning, and Steve, do you realize I live in
Los Angeles, US. You're calling me at four in the
morning with an idea. I wouldn't wear that. I was
on the West Coast. I'm sorry, Oh my god, I
was on the East Coast. I forgot. But I love this.
I love this question because it it's at the heart
of everything we do. Right. So, the standards really high,
(06:15):
and we have a team. It's a small team, eight
to ten people who are working on you know, wearing
different hats and working in different capacities. But everyone is
responsible for development, which means that you constantly have to
be looking for our next big story. And it could
be something that was that we found a year ago,
(06:36):
it could be something we found last night. There's pitch
meetings weekly. Sometimes a production assistant who was a year
out of college uh, it gets hot and sells three
pitches in a row. When I say sell that I'm
making any money. But these things get green light, and
it's a really proud moment when somebody brings us an
idea to get three let Uh. Sometimes an agent brings
(06:58):
us something. Sometimes it's just something that that I've seen
or you know, the my boss, the guy that Headstar Department,
Dallas Hitchcock, is you know, stuff that he's seen or heard.
So they come from everywhere. Um and this one. Uh
So basically, you know, once a year is the NFL
Draft and that is just an awesome time of year
(07:20):
for us because we love our NFL Draft special Uh.
We love finding what we you know, we take a
lot of pride in finding what we think is the
best story in this year's draft, the best story. That's
the story that everybody should be standing around their water
cooler talking about. We found it, and we we want
to believe that we told it in a way that
no one else I would think to tell it. So
(07:42):
the artistry and craft and how we tell stories is
a big deal to us, but finding that story is great.
So so this particular one came to me from our
writing consultant. Uh and and my my good buddy who's
worked with us forever. His name is Phil Guidry, and
he pitched it a couple of months ago and we
liked it and he kept pitching. Finally just kind of
hit me, yeah, pitched you how many how many times? Well,
(08:09):
you know, we're in season, so we're busy doing other
but we're also hearing draft pitches. So you know, he
probably pitched it six weeks before and we we we
we we said, oh, that's a great one. Put it on.
Put it over here for a minute because we're focused
on the Super Bowl and Black History Month and all that.
But we know when it's draft time, we're gonna that
that's gonna be one we love. So so he probably
(08:32):
pitched it right around the time Utah was was winning
the Pack Throwel Championship, and um, he saw it first
and brought it to our attention. And so we're gonna
tell your audience what this pitch is now so they
can they can have some context here trying to get there.
But you know that's all right. You want you want
me to drive this bus, so you want to drive
(08:55):
you know what. I'm just honored to be here. Maybe
I'll just im I'll say last say lest my night,
senior old say lest Yes, yes, listen, I I love
this role that we have right now because you've directed me,
you've produced me, you've angled me, you've made you the
(09:18):
man that you are today. That's that would be my
mom and daddy, my mom and daddy my wife. After
after those, there's track Cooper. Okay, you almost can put
us in the same sentence. But but I'll take the
second and sence. Listen, you could bring a horse to water,
but you can't make him drink, Okay, but you damn
(09:40):
sure sure can put some salt in his mouth and
make them pretty thirsty. This is role reversal. Today. You
get to three sixty, you have all the team, the
eight to ten, and they're constantly pitching concepts ideas given
a text textual understanding of these young men come that
(10:07):
are going to be drafted, and you know, there's what
three something guys, there's gonna be thirty five the forty
guys drafted here in draft because of all of the
madness of the NFL, and we have a top ten
draft pick who's coming out of a school that generally
(10:29):
there's not necessarily always have this caliber of player. Devin Lloyd,
linebacker from the University of Utah, my school. He's going
to save that your school part for the end of
the pitch because that's what made it. That was the
cherry on top for us. But let's should we get
(10:50):
into what the pitch is. Absolutely, let's get into the pitch,
all right. So here's Devin Lloyd. He after his junior season,
which is COVID year. After his junior season, he could
have come out in the NFL Draft probably, you know,
a lot of people thought he would have been a
first rounder, might have been a second rounder. He was
a top prospect in that on that on those draft boards.
(11:13):
And he makes a decision to go back and uh
and play his senior year, and and that gets everyone's attention.
But the the why behind that decision is what's really
what's driving this pitch, and that is that they had uh.
(11:34):
You know, this is a school that has has never
won a Pack twelfth championship before. He wanted to win,
helped lead that team and have that experience with and
for his brothers. But the bigger part of that story
is that they had tragically lost. They're superstar freshman running
back Tied Jordan's who in a COVID shortened season, had
(11:57):
lit the college football world on fire and had shown
the world that holy cow, Utah has a dude playing
running back, that this could be a Heisman candidate. This
guy has he has it all and and on top
of that hell of a kid freshman and he's a
hell of a kid with the biggest smile you had
(12:17):
ever seen, and just is transforming this this this program.
That kid is tragically killed Christmas night of six days
after their last game of the season. That oh, by
the way, he had succored three touchdowns and led a
thirty h point come back, the most electrifying game of
(12:41):
the year. So so this kid is tragically killed. It
was a accidental discharge of a firearm. It was an accident.
Uh you know, somehow he shot himself and and he dies,
and it devastates the Utah football program, particularly the leaders
of that program, the entire community. And you I was
(13:04):
an alumni. I was, you know, it was the middle
of COVID, so I was I was working from home,
uh in my makeshift studio at the house on air
doing a pre show and uh, all Wartsy says, check
(13:27):
your phone. And usually on you know, he usually doesn't
tell me to check my phone, he says. Producer, He says,
check your phone. I don't, I don't, I don't. I
know you haven't seen it. So just check your phone
and and behold text message from the a D. Text
(13:48):
message from uh Jeff Rudy, text message from from my
son Peyton. It's true that you can't believe it. Oh no, um.
And so we had a break and I called some
people and they said, it's true, uh kid that everybody
(14:10):
loves that kind of represents hope for the entire organization
has been killed. And now our guy, Devin Lloyd, the
All World linebacker, decides he's going to come back for
his senior season and and they want to win a
championship and they want to do it in honor of
thy Jordan's. So that's the first leg of the story.
(14:33):
Now that that alone is probably enough to get this
thing Greenland, because that's killing. I mean, come on, I mean,
this is what leadership is, right, be selfless and go
go uh go, try to do something bigger than yourself
with your brothers, for something bigger than all of us.
It's one of those stories that people make movies out
(14:57):
of that that hadn't really happened. You know, he didn't
really sacrifice that. And the caveatough to Devin Lloyd coming
back is I spoke to some scouts heading into I
spoke to some scouts a couple of weeks ago, and
(15:18):
I asked what was Devin Lloyd's prospect as a junior.
He said, he's pretty good. I said, well, why is
he a top ten today compared to what he was
a year ago? They said, because everything that Devin what
(15:38):
we call is a weakness, right, his lack of ability
to share, blocks, his his his his ability to recognize
things defensively fast enough. They said, everything that was a
weakness that was on his his scouting report coming out
(15:58):
if you came out, he actually worked on every single
one of those and turn him into positives. No mastered
his craft. Mm hmm. He mastered his craft, which made him,
which makes us we make which makes this story even
(16:19):
sweeters for a kid who was a unfinished product, he
actually went back and start chiseling and working on himself
through all through all the things that possibly probably people
would say, why should you work on it? You know,
you got your team just lost one of your superstars,
(16:40):
young kids. The best time, the end is now, and
instead he took the He took the road let's traveled.
You have a decision to make at the end of
your junior year to declare for the draft. I had
just passed away, and deep down in my heart, I
(17:03):
just felt like staying for another year and accomplishing everything
that I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to come back
and help them win that championship. We've never won a
Pack twelve championship. He didn't come back to better his
draft status. He came back to twin and Pack twelve championship.
(17:26):
You know, he talked to the guys that he was
gonna go to war Withood. He liked, dude, this is
my plan. I'm coming back because I want to do this,
this and this. I want to win. And he wanted
to win that Pack twelve. Right, So consider what we
what we've just pitched. Act one a three acts story.
Act two is the start of the season, which was
(17:48):
is the last college football season. Um, you know, yep,
six months ago, six months ago. Uh. They they have
one of the things they're doing to honor Ty Jordan's
they have a first ever Thy Jordan Memorial scholarship at
the school. University is funding and the team and the
(18:08):
leadership of the team get to vote on who would
who would be the the winner of that scholarship, and
they pick a kid named Aaron Lowe. Aaron Lowe happens
to be from thy Jordan's hometown. They played high school
football together. But more importantly, he embodies everything Ty Jordan's embodied,
which is is this this ridict work ethic, this competitive
(18:33):
fire burning desired to compete and win. And then on
top of all that, he has that same larger than
life smile that lights up the locker room. You know,
the reason Ty came no Utah was because of air.
Because Aaron, Aaron's a year two older. Yes, he was
making a big brother figure to Tie. So Aaron gets
(18:57):
this scholarship and it just feels right right, and everybody,
of course Aaron gets this. And and one of the
things Aaron does to kind of honor Tie and to
just you know, set this thing in motion is he
changes his number to twenty two, which is the number
that that Taie war So now he's wearing Ties number.
(19:19):
He's got the scholarship, Uh, you know, the let's get
back to football, right. So so they have a big
win in week four of the season and uh, and
some guys are celebrating the big win. They're going into
a bye weeks and you know in college, you know
you go to a little house party. Crazy. Let's set
the stage though, because I think it is something that
(19:41):
we've missed. Ties last game is again to Washington State,
and this was the game. He scored three touchdowns, they
came back from seven halftime deficit, had thirty eight unanswered points,
most of them were his, and they finished the season
(20:02):
on this incredible high. So here we are a year later,
also playing wash quh wazoo. What we're gonna call it
this time they blow him out. They blow out washed
doors off of the Devin Lloyd's on fire of that game. Um.
By the way, he had a ridiculous senior year. Like
(20:23):
they said, he didn't have a bad game. He just
every day, week after week. So some kids go to
a house party and uh, something happens. It ship gets
out of control and Aaron Lowe is shot and killed.
So now the kid that embodies the spirit of Thy Jordan,
(20:43):
it's wearing his number. That that literally runs onto the
field each game, rock and a flag and ties number
to honor Tie has now also been killed in a
matter of how many months, nine months later, I mean
tim months later. You're talking about two guys, two guys
(21:05):
from the same neighborhood, at the same school, trying to
do the same things, both tragically die by gunfire. So now, Steve,
you've probably got another text, right, got another text. And
(21:27):
it's crazy because in his Texas you won't even believe it, y,
I mean I it's hard to even talked about. I
wouldn't I didn't go through it. But it's just you
know this, these kids represent hope and and it's bad.
It's horrific to lose one, then to lose two. And
(21:48):
you know you, I love you in the piece and
by the way, this is you know you guys can
see this piece today. You can go to NFL dot
com forward slash NFL three sixty. You can see it
right there. You can see it on TV tonight on
on NFL three CC. But but Steve talks to the
head coach, UH Kyle Whittingham, and and Kyle says, you know,
(22:14):
we were so devastated that we thought are we going
to cancel the season, Like, how do we how much
more can we put our kids through? Can you imagine that?
Can you actually canceling a college football season halfway through
because the kids are so devastated and heartbroke? Yeah? I can't.
I can. And here's why. The reason I can everything
(22:37):
that we've went through in the last couple of years
just as a society. Right. And and here's the part
that you know we didn't get into on the NFL
three sixties just because of time. If you go back chronologically,
this is this Pack twelve decided they weren't gonna play.
But yeah, you had kids like ty Aaron oh Devin
(23:02):
Lloyd who they're going into their junior year and they're
told come to school. Then they told, well, we won't
go to school. Uh, come to school. Well they're canceling school.
So you have families and and I know this because
just having ties to the school. I remember talking to
them when they were talking to UM officials at the
(23:25):
University of Utah, and they were saying they literally had
kids that their parents just came to drop them off
and they were told that they got to come back
and pick them up. And the school had to help
some of these young men and women because a lot
of these young men and women, their parents spent a
(23:47):
lot of money that they didn't have getting them to college.
And now you got to pack them up. And then
they come back in in November and they have to test,
They have to have fourteen days of isolation in the
in the in the hotels. Then they come back and play.
They lose the player right after that, Jordan's passes. Now,
(24:12):
these young men who, let's be honest, as as as fans,
we don't really look at them as human beings. We
look at them as our superheroes, and all of a
sudden are superheroes. Now there's a chink in their armor.
They're human, They're they're not even human. They really are
what they are, which are young men who are trying
(24:35):
to figure out life. And in this case, you know
you want to go behind the jersey. These are young
men that light up the locker room. These are the
two guys you can't lose. These are the guys with
that that that that bring the love and the hope
and the joy and the smile and they just make
everything better. The joy makers in football, there's energy takers, yes,
(24:59):
and full ball. There's tone setters, but you rarely hear
about it. Joy center and tie and air we're joy centers. Man,
that's different when you're talking about football. That's usually not
words to associated football players. Right, you know you've got
(25:22):
your ship talkers. Never heard almost one of them is
on the call with me. But no, man, Joy listen.
Energy giver not energy taker. Joy is that's what we
need right now, especially in that year. And to lose
both of those guys, it's just ridiculous. And so here's
(25:42):
a here's a program that was as devastated as as
any has ever been. And there was a turning point. Uh.
Aaron Lowe's mother, just a day or two after the death,
made her way from Texas to Utah and she spoke
to the team he loved. I don't know. That woman
(26:16):
is strong. She came in and she just told us
to keep on going. That's what Aaron would have wanted.
You know. That sort of gave Devin Lloyd and the
other leaders of the team, because there's a great leadership
group there wasn't just Devan, but the other captains and
the team permission to to to kind of put this
(26:38):
in a place where that they that they could could
move forward. I mean, the coach says, we're never gonna
get over this, but we're gonna try to get through it.
And they basically used this as fuel and they went
on a run, a historic run where they just whipped
ass and and destroyed the Pack twelve, and they made
it all the way through UH and end up winning
(27:00):
that Pactrol Championship playing a team that you generally don't
beat twice in a row, Oregon, who's kind of had
their number. Oh yeah, I mean two years a couple
of years before that, we needed to beat Oregon to
get into um the college playoffs in and you know, hey,
(27:24):
he's in the league now, justin Herbert. So it wasn't
like it was just right, it's pretty good right out.
He's all right right, doing pretty darn good. So that
listen that That is as clean a pitch as I've
ever heard for NFL three six. I mean, you hear
that if you gave that pit and we just gave
(27:44):
the twenty minute version, but if you gave the nine
version and an elevator, you'd see somebody's face light up
and they go, when's that coming out? I love cut
to it. And I love it even more when you
download us and subscribe, and you can follow us on
(28:05):
social media too, Smithy where where at? That's at? Cut
to It on Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut to
It Facebook? Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr? What
about online? And you can follow us at cut to
It podcast dot com where you can buy merch and
you can subscribe to this wherever you listen to podcasts.
(28:27):
I got all my answers questions. Um, yeah, I got
all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother,
cut to a podcast dot Com. So here's the here's
the kicker, and I'm happy to give away some of this,
but you have to watch this, like, I'm so proud
of the way our team put this together and it
(28:47):
just goosebump city and I have to shout out you
taught football? Yes you do, so you taught football. Is
not only Steve's alma mater, but they are are producing
partners on this, so they you know, they were there
the whole time filming as this was happening. So they
very generously gave us access to their footage and then
(29:09):
when we came to town, they open doors for us
I'm tiny man. I've been doing this a while. I've
never been treated like this by by a university like
they just made sure we had everything we needed to
tell the best story we've ever told. And part of
all of that is because of your relationship with them
and the respect they have for you. And I just
(29:30):
want to thank you for that, because you you trusted
me with your relationship and they trusted you, and it's
just it's just a cool thing that happened. But huge
props to them. There's a lady there named Maddie Ford
who put her heart and soul into filming this you had.
They have their own docs series all the twenty two
(29:50):
forever that you can see on YouTube YouTube that very
much supports what we've done. But anyway, so, uh, here's
the kicker. If if that pitch wasn't an off. You
know our boy Devin Lloyd, who goes to places that
you know emotionally that you can't imagine. He leads, Uh,
he dominates. They get what they need to get done
(30:14):
in honor of Tie and Err and he's right at
the heart of it. M v P of of the
Pack twelve Championship Game and the Defensen blah blah blah,
every award you can get, all American. So now it's
time to go to the NFL. Right, and and you
finish your college season, and a couple of months later
you gotta go to the NFL combin and and and
at the combine, you you don't get to pick your number.
(30:37):
It's not that kind of thing. They just they start
pulling numbers out of a box based on probably alphabetical
or something, and they hand him a number for him
for the combine, and and what's the number? Two? Baby two?
So all of a sudden, the tech start lightening up.
You're never gonna believe this. They did Devon's rocking the
(30:58):
twenty two, which is the same number. Tie War stand
over Aaron War and dude, if you go to a
Utah game, two is at the absolute center of everything
they do. Now. It is their heart, soul brand. They
have a motto of mantra called better. They want more effort,
more love, more passion and every single thing they do.
(31:20):
And it's not just the team, the entire university, the
entire city has bought into it. It is a movement
and for that too, organically mystically, divinely inspired whatever you
wanna call it for that for Devon to have that
number is just goose Bump City. And that's your third act.
(31:42):
So that's our story. Um, you gotta see it, you
gotta feel it, you've got to experience it. And Steve,
you know, the cherry on top for us is that
holy ship. This is Steve Smith's alma mater. This is
personal to Steve. He knows this better than any of us.
He went through it in his own way, and it
(32:03):
was just a joy for us to be able to
get you to lead this story, to go back and
be the correspondent that drives the narrative, that does all
the interviews, uh, and that helps us shape the story.
And I gotta tell you my favorite piece of that
is your contribution to the overall theme and the visuals
(32:25):
of it. You said to me on the phone, just
so much to talk about. I love this ship. This
is why I love podcast because you could just Yeah,
I couldn't wait to call you. I couldn't wait to
call you on a Saturday morning saying hey man, we
want to do this and we want to do it
with you because we hadn't talked yet and it was
really early on a Saturday, and I remember texting you
(32:46):
and I wrote this long ass text and I almost
hit sin and I was like, I'm just gonna call him.
He always calls me early. I'm just gonna call him.
I was up and and and so I erased the text.
I hit call instead, and you answer the phone saying
what do you got for me? I know it's got
to be good if you're calling me this early. And
(33:07):
I was like, dude, I think this is the best
story in college football, and it is uniquely yours to tell.
No one else in the world can tell it. And
when he was when you were telling me this, I
am walking around the house right as you're telling because
you're You're like you're telling me, and I'm like, okay,
(33:27):
Like I'm sitting there, like because I just finished working out,
so I still have my still have my pre workout.
I still have my pre workout going in my veins,
so I'm like, my my my skins still tingling. So
I'm like, oh, okay, shoot, all right, let's go. So
he's pitching me, telling me all this stuff, right, He's
(33:49):
telling me all this stuff. So now I have to
tell the story on my end because you don't know
what's going on at the house. My wife is like,
what are y'all who? First of all, she else, who
are you talking to? It's a little bit of profanity, right,
And I'm like, I'm just out of love, and I'm
like okay. So I'm walking around and I'm like, right
(34:12):
and something. I'm I'm lathering up, like I can go
work out again. And as he's telling me, you know,
he's kind of filling me out and trying to get
me hey, you only you can do this, I'm like okay.
And so he just trenches, goes and goes and goes,
and I love it. And I said, okay, you you're
(34:35):
ready for me now? Yeah. He goes, well, what do
you have? I said, well, if we do it, first
of all, I'm only gonna wear Utah stuff. So let's
just get that out the way, right. We have a
long history of me telling you what what I want
you to wear, yes, he does. We have a long history, well,
a long history of trick telling you know, don't wear
(34:55):
the hat, No, you can't do this. And I'm like okay, right,
and so he's like, I said, first of all, I'm
wearing all Utah stuff. So let's get that out of
the way right now. Are you cool with it? That's right,
let's rock the you yeah, and then he goes. I said, however,
it all must be on the campus. I don't know, Trip.
(35:20):
When we get off the phone, I will call Utah
and I'll get this ready. Now. I would give Trent credit.
Trent has been doing this a long time. Trent, how
long have you been in the game of doing production
like this? I've been messing around for twenty eight years? Okay,
twenty eight years. How twenty eight years. Let's just let's
(35:40):
round it up. Let's go thirty in thirty years. It's
not that much. Sorry, making myself older than in twenty
five years? And you should edit that out and make
it fourteen years. The young man's business? How many? How
how many times have you listened to talent over promise
(36:06):
and significantly under deliver? Be honest, Um, it does happen.
You know what it is? Man? Is is like a
lot of people, UH feel burned and they don't want
to they don't want to use their because all of
you guys have this incredible influence because you know, you
were who you were in the league. You have the status,
(36:29):
you have the relationships, and a lot of times it's
the opposite. You guys use your influence to make stuff happen,
and then you on the other side, the other guys
don't deliver, and you feel like, well, I'm never doing
that again. But you and I have like this trust.
You know, you know, if you vouch for me, I'm
gonna deliver, and if I vouched for you. I learned
(36:51):
that very I learned that quickly. Yeah, so we're you know,
we we have that. But and so we he said.
I said, all right, so what do you need? I say, okay,
and then I start remember I started producing, Hey, we're
gonna have We're gonna have mountains, right, He's like, And
then I'm trying to get off the phone as big
(37:12):
as before. You start laying out to many ideas that
I gotta deal with. Yes, He's like, well, I was like, man,
they got a great mounds of schools right here. You know,
let's do this, I said, but hold on, it has
to all be filmed on the campus. Well, I'm not sure.
I think you know, we'll work it out. When I
and I told you, I told him, I told Trimp.
(37:32):
When we get off the phone, I'm gonna call you
VERSU of Utah. I'm actually gonna call the A D
and we're gonna make this happen. Trey has that Okay, Well,
I mean I figured you'd call him it's Saturday morning
at seven am, or we really call him this guy
at seven am. So then I got a at Taxed
at seven ten am that says are you available for
(37:53):
a zoom in fifteen minutes? I'm like, what time is on?
Are you at? This is a Saturday. So I jump
on this zoom and I figured it would be Steve
and one of his buddies from Utah. There were nine
people on this zoom. There's like a D, the president
of the school, and they had a football and I'm like,
are you guys, is this like some board meeting that
(38:14):
you're normally having? Just had me jump on it to
steal an agenda item. This is all for us because
on a Saturday morning, because one of the things that
we do do at the University of Utah, and this
is bragging on my school. It is not a destination place.
(38:37):
University of us Tall is a place where they developed
they enhanced teach technique because it's cold, right, is Mountainee
High elevation. And when you think of Utah, you don't
think of football. They don't have a perfect They only
(38:59):
have a h a basketball team. They you know, the
last great basketball team it had a had a mailman
in it, right, John Stockton called Malone, Brian Russell. It
did not have You know, when you think about football,
you don't think about the University of Utah. And so,
(39:19):
by the way you are now, you are now and
so and so when it was an outstanding season, Devin
Lloyd gets m v P PAC twelve Player Defensive Player
of the Game Pact twelve Championship after a hundred All
Americans and also goes down to Los Angeles and not
(39:44):
and for the first time trent a hundred and five trips,
we finally win at the Coliseum. And so it's with
this opportunity to whoop up on usc U c l
A Wazoo, let's leets messed around and beat Oregon twice.
(40:07):
Tw Molly, we would like to use the word molly
wap on the West Coast. Yeah, I got a new
favorite team. Man, I'm in We're going out there and
sold me and I just said, I said, true, you
just got to make sure you follow through. We'll follow
through on our end. Get on a zoom call and
it was outstanding. Yeah, and so try you when did
(40:32):
you go out there? When when did you fly out
to really start doing it? Well? So I know you guys.
One of the cool things about this is we can
talk a little bit about process because people love to
hear how things are made. So there's yeah, there's the pitch,
and then there's the thing that to multiple things are
(40:54):
happening simultaneously as we prepare for a shoot. So we're
there's just logistics out of Lazoo, figuring out how to
get who where, what are we doing, where are we
doing at locations? All that crap that's born. Then there's
all these interviews. Who are we going to talk to
to tell the story and what the heck are we
gonna ask? So you and I have this process where
(41:15):
I'm like, hey man, I want to stop if you're
thing and you know you asked the questions, but I'm
just gonna give you sample questions. You're gonna give me
a sample question you can make your own. Let me
tell you, it's never the truth with Trip when it
comes to writing the questions everything's bullshit. I'm working you, twin,
(41:38):
I'm working you right now for the next piece of
good do it, good it. Let's get down to do
it good. Hey Gerard, why did you get that T shirt?
You mean this thing? Oh yes, I got it from
cut to a podcast dot com where we have exclusive merchandise.
Shout out to our guys at seven or four shot.
But yeah, you can go on by with T shirts
(42:00):
subscribed to us wherever you listen to podcasts. One of
the things that sets us, sets us apart is our
visual storytelling. I mean this in my own um inflated,
but it's the truth. Is the truth because I hate
to use the word, but it's the devil is in
(42:21):
the details and and the details that NFL three sixty
uses and does is they allow the stories and the
visuals and images to tell the story on top of
the people and the storyline. Like you never are your
(42:42):
mind and your heart. In NFL three sixty, I believe
is never resting. There's never a low period because even
if they're someone is not speaking, yeah, there is a
vision that's showing you what we're trying to get across. Yeah, well,
listen your piece on Darren Waller. I gotta just detour
(43:05):
for a second here. If anybody hasn't seen that piece yet,
this is a piece that Steve did a year and
a half ago. It was actually two years ago. Well yeah,
but okay, fine, So it was it was shot a
while like it was shot before COVID and then it
you know, we did more shooting. We released that was
nominated for an Emmy last year. Didn't win. I can't
(43:27):
believe it didn't that. It's so good. That's why, because
we beat ourselves because they knew was gonna be up
in them. They didn't. They were trying to hold me back. Man.
So Steve, Steve does this piece with one of our producers,
Julian Gooden, and it is so well done on Darren Waller,
(43:51):
and it is so revealing and so personal. I've never
seen a sports feature cut that deep. And that's that
kind of goes. This is me propping you up a
little bit. So put your ear muffs on. But like
when Steve talks to an NFL player, it's different. It's
just different than when a regular correspondent does, or a
producer like me, Like they the level of respect they
(44:16):
have for you based on who you are what you
did in that league and the fire in your heart
and the level of passion that you played, and you said, listen,
I'm four ft tall, but I'm gonna whoop everybody's ass.
And you watch these players, it's just different. Man. When
(44:36):
you talk to them, they just the level of respect
they have. It's like truth ser so. But here's the
difference though that I think I have to I appreciate
the credit, but I also have to get know. I
called you four ft tall and you didn't say that's unbelievable.
Did you not hear that we're editing that out. No,
you're keeping his name. You talk about the respect that
(45:01):
people have for me. I think the respect they have
for me is because also quietly, I'm just I'm I
have I'm damaged goods just like to I think that's
one of the biggest That's one of the coolest things
that I have to do, but is giving me an
opportunity to sit with these men, these young men, and
(45:21):
we just get to talk about who we are and
what we've been through. When I look back at this
piece on Devin Lloyd and what happened surrounding the Utah
football program, like your your contribute your performance in this.
Your contribution in it is very tender. It is not
(45:42):
it's not the Steve that we see on Thursday Night football.
This you actually let this, You let these guys tell
the story without sort of inserting yourself into it. In it,
you kind of checked your ego at the door and
just let let this unfold in the most tender, understated way.
(46:04):
It was. It's really lovely to watch you in this.
P I just think it's I think he killed it
and in a very unexpected tone. And can I tell
you why? Very very happy with it. Can I tell
you why? And I'm I'm getting emotional thinking about it
that I never told you. The only reason I went
to University of Utah there was a guy named Demetrius Posy.
(46:26):
The year before Fred Grays recruited him at Santa Monica
Community College. And when they were recruiting Demetrius, that's how
they saw me. Demetrius commits to the University of Utah.
Unfortunately he did not make it there because he didn't
(46:47):
get his grace together. I follow my big brother to
University of Utah the same way, except he never gets
his grace together, so he does it actually make it
to the University of Utah. I go on to get
drafted by the Carolina Panthers. In my second year. I
(47:07):
get a phone call from at the time Robert Taylor
Rested soul our head coach who had been there since
nineteen seventy seven until he passed two thousand and eight.
From Robert Taylor. He calls me and says, Demetrius dies
m on his way driving from San Diego to l
(47:31):
A fell asleep at the will, crashing past. The only
reason I was going to the reversal of Utah, well,
other than the option free college, is I was following
my big brother, a guy who took me under the
(47:52):
his wings. And if he wouldn't have got that opportunity,
I wouldn't have got my opportunity. And so for me,
you know, it was very much understood. And sometimes we
only get places because of other other people, right, which
(48:15):
is at the heart of this man. Todd Jordan is
not at Utah if it isn't for Aaron and same
thing and for those guys to to be lost. And
then you know, we think about Devin, what if he
didn't come back, What what does happen to this team?
You know, I don't know. I mean, you know, he
Devin didn't do it all. It's a team. You know,
(48:37):
I didn't. I didn't make this piece by myself. It's
my it's you, it's my my boy. Johnny Oh, the
editor who's amazing, has done all of our our big
pieces the last few years. It's the kid that shot
this thing. I would say he's fifteen years old. He's
probably twenty five now, but he's might be the best
photographer in our business. His name is Dakota Deal. So
(49:00):
so look like team, team, team, right, So so here
it's not just Devin, it's all those team captains, all
those kids. But what if Devin doesn't come back, I
don't know. I mean that dude was the heart and
soul of what happened in that locker room and in
that in that season. And people need leaders, man, people
need leaders And I think, if that's my takeaway from
(49:22):
this piece, you know, I dig humble leadership. That's that's
a I learned that term from when we worked on
the Pat Tilman project. They said when they when when
they're looking for kids for for Tillman Scholarship, they're looking
for humble leaders And that was pretty cool. What's a
humble because you think leader is the guy that's yelling
and screaming and all that. Man, humble leadership is what
(49:44):
Pat Tillman was. Uh and that to me, that's what
Devin Lloyd is. And Uh. I love to find those stories,
find those people and then shine a light on it
because we need more dudes like that. And Devin is
a great kid. We're excited about his you know, Thursday night,
(50:06):
he's gonna go call it early and let this dude
transform a locker room. Let him let him go, you know,
mess around and have a fifteen year career. I mean,
he is a he is a special kid, and I'm
excited about you know, his ability to carry on this
legacy of tie and air and it's going to follow
(50:28):
him into the NFL. It's gonna follow him forever. And um,
he didn't ask for that, but it's happened, man. And
hopefully it does a couple of nice things for for
the school too, because it's about time to school gets
a little uh, a little more recognition and notoriety. It's
(50:48):
a it's a great piece. It's the emotional piece, super emotional.
We've done some emotional pieces. This is right at the
top of the list. You're gonna cry, You're gonna get
goosey um. But yeah, I did a great job, and
I really appreciate you doing it and the trust, and
you know, I look forward to doing whatever we're gonna
(51:10):
do next year. I'll find another one. As crazy as
you say, trust, I was gonna tell you I appreciate
you trust in me. Cool. Well, that's earned my man.
For the first time, I told you can't wear that
hat flipped up. Remember so our our first job five
years ago, Steve's first ever feature. We went to uh Foxborough,
(51:35):
the home of home of the New England Patriots. Interview.
You're interviewing this Brandon Brandon Brandon Cooks who just from
Oregon State. He did not go to Oregon. And Steve
is fresh off the boat and he says to me, Hey, listen, man,
I want to get really good at features, and I'm
used to being coached up. Just you know, tell me
(51:57):
what I need. Don't don't beat around the bush. Just
you need to give me it. Give me some tough love,
tell me I can handle it. And I said, okay, great,
you can't wear that hat the hat the way it's
flipped up. You look like an idiot. You said that exactly.
You look like an idiot. You look like an idiot.
And you said, I'm gonna wear the hat. You told me,
(52:18):
you told me to tell you want to be coached up,
your tough love, tough love, don't wear the hat, used
to Trent all due respect, this is my thing. I'm
wearing the hat, alright, fine, And I'm on the phone
with my boss. I'm like, it's difficult, man, It's just difficult.
I told him not to wear the hat. Wearing the hat.
So we get home and people start looking at the
(52:38):
footage and there's just like this this ground swell around
NFL network going Steve Smith is rocking his hat. Whose
idea was it for Steve Smith to wear that hat?
I'm like, that was my I was like, I'm like, Steve,
you need a thing. It's like your it could be
your thing, right, I need a thing. Let's Paul, is
(53:00):
it right there? You want to know the best thing
about what you just said. You never heard your story,
did you? When they when they that was war that
was in my deal, not in my deal. Like it
was in my deal. I said, if I'm not wearing
a suit, I'm wearing a hat, but when I'm wearing
(53:21):
a suit, don't worry about it. I will I will
not wear a hat, but if it's not a suit,
don't ask me, don't request. I am wearing the hat. Yeah,
nobody showed me your contract. So what did they do
after I signed? I get back to Charlotte. We're excited,
(53:43):
they say. The NFL network says, hey, we don't have
a problem with you wearing hats, but just k you
wear an NFL shield hat. I said, send him. They said, okay,
I have every color with the NFL shield hat, but
in this piece, you're rocking the Utah hat. But the thing,
(54:06):
it's not the hat, it's the flipped up bill that
I was, you know, my you know, because I have
no style. I was. I was going, I don't know
about that flipped up bill, And suddenly the flipped up
bill is the coolest thing in sports. I've been wearing
this flipped up bill since like oh six. I go
back and look at I actually went back and looked
at pictures. I used to outwear the visor with it
(54:30):
backwards flipped up. I wore it upside down, was flipped up.
I always had to flipped up hat, and so several
people have said, man, will you just lose the hat?
And I looked at him square now like I looked
at you. Nope, no, smile hard, no, no, you would
have fought me over that. We would It would have
(54:50):
come down the blows. I don't know, because I didn't
think it was really a blow worthy. It's not blowworth.
I didn't think we needed to fight over my hat
since technically it was my hat. All right, let's do
some selling, man, I'm always selling. Where can we see
this feature? Man? We can see this tonight? Is it tonight?
(55:12):
We can see this feature at nine eastern tonight, NFL
three sixty on NFL dot Com, No, NFL network. Let's
watch it on TV. You can watch you can watch
it on TV at nine o'clock NFL network. But wait
a minute, podcast or forever. So what if they're watching
this pilot? You know what's the date? It's It's April
is April twenty six, nine pm eastern, NFL three sixty
(55:37):
on NFL network. If you're listening to this later, it's
NFL dot com, slash, NFL three six, NFL YouTube, Facebook,
and Twitter. It's everywhere anywhere you consume NFL network digitally,
we got you cover. How about Melissa's arc who hosts
(56:00):
his who hosts NFL three six. He does an amazing job.
She's back on the sidelines for Sunday Night Football, and
that's the day that's the biggest show in sports. They
pull a huge audience. And what does she say. She says,
I'm only coming back if I can still do NFL
three six. So she's still jamming with us and doing
(56:21):
Sunday Night Football. That's a that's pretty cool. That's that's
part of the Steve Smith school of don't forget where
you came from. You although she came from she came
from Monday night Football, John Man. So I can't really
use the Steve Smith don't forget where he came from
philosophy on it. I can tell you she's awesome. Three
(56:44):
sixty three NFL three six. He does a hell of
a job, and just telling the stories of graphics not
doing everything, not not oversaturated in the market with everything
every week, doing it where you just just give them
a little bit of taste of great quality and then
down the back and give them thirty forty more days
(57:07):
to think about what's the next we're gonna look like
right part of that because our budgets so small, we
were doing more. We had a bigger Now I'm kidding.
I like it too, man, It's it's a good Listen.
Nothing gets watered down when when you start trying to
do too much and too many, it's not special in it,
and you start to lower your standards. You start to
(57:27):
lower your standards because you're just you're just looking for
any story in every story. But when you when you
you're mass produced and stuff. Yeah, when you don't mass reduced,
you get to like this. You get to put it aside,
stew on it and go it is it worth it?
And how do we make it graphically? Textually? How do
(57:50):
we make it worth it? How do we make people
sit here? And let's be honest, people are sitting down
watching television anymore, so you have to really make too. Yeah,
I really appreciate you, and I appreciate the school, and uh,
I can't wait to share this with people. So thanks,
(58:11):
thanks for having me on, and we'll give you a
little little behind the scenes to send this audience off with.
This thing is recorded Friday before the Tuesday it comes out,
and we're not done with the piece yet, So I
got I got an edit base. He's still you guys
are still up. They've sent me two different edits. Yeah,
(58:32):
but you know what, we got one percent better in
the last thirty six hours. And this is this is
why I make my living off the last one percent.
Where do you see the last one? Well on Tuesday
when I watch it, and you better be better. M Eastern.
Don't be messing up the time zone and people are
gonna flip on and then they're going to be watching
the rerun of the Bucks Rams game. Yeah, we don't
(58:56):
want to I PM Eastern Tuesday. Well appreciate it. Yes, man,
thanks you. Let's do this again. Absolutely. You are a
unique person. You are well worth it. You are competent
and most of all, your lovable. I'm Steve Smith Singior,
(59:18):
I'm Gerard Little John and this is cut to It.
Cut to It with Steve Smith singor That Is Me
is a production of Cut to It LLC, Balto Creative Media,
The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio. For more podcast
from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
(59:41):
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows
from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith, SINGR co
host Gerard Little John, talent and booking manager Joe Fusci.
Social media team Wesley Robinson and John Show from Balto
Creative Me You Cut Too. It is produced by Brian
(01:00:02):
Baltaschevic and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrek,
Production coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics
and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it,
then we're about to let you know. It's all
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