October 9, 2025 • 32 mins
Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks are joined by longtime friend of the show Jim Nagy to discuss his transition from Senior Bowl Director to General Manager at the University of Oklahoma (00:00). Jim shares insights on the Sooners’ recruiting process, his roster-building philosophy, and the challenges of navigating the transfer portal. Plus, he breaks down quarterback John Mateer’s impressive blend of talent and leadership. Finally, DJ and Bucky weigh in on the state of college football and why NIL has made roster-building tougher than ever. (24:46)
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's up, everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Welcome to move the sticks.
Speaker 4 (00:09):
DJ Buck with you, and we have our good friend
Jim Naggy, the general manager at the University of Oklahoma.
Join us, Jim, anything going on this weekend? Any plans?
Speaker 5 (00:18):
There's a whole game on Saturday. We'll see how that goes. Yeah,
just a little something.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
How the heck have you been? Man? Let's start.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
First of all, we'll get to the game, a huge,
huge game coming up this weekend in the SEC, but
we wanted to catch up with you and just see
how you've enjoyed this transition, going from running the Senior Bowl,
doing a phenomenal job there after a long scouting career
where we became friends, to taking this leap here into
this whole new world as a GM at Oklahoma.
Speaker 5 (00:43):
Yeah, guys, it's been awesome. It's something I never thought
I would work in college football. You guys probably never
thought you would work in college football. But you know,
when they started paying players and putting value on players,
our skill set kind of fit. I just never saw
our skill set fitting in college football, but but here
we are. It's been Uh, it's been awesome. It's been awesome.
(01:05):
It's been a really busy seven months, I think since
I think we're at the seven month point here. But yeah,
every day is a new day, learning a lot. I
knew a lot of the guys on the staff, I
mean old enough now. I scouted a bunch of the
guys on our coaching staff, about half the staff probably,
But no, it's been it's been great.
Speaker 6 (01:23):
Coach venables has been great.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
Just put a great staff together on the scouting side,
you know, hire ten guys and uh, you know, just
trying to earn the coaches trust every day, build that,
build that relationship, build their trust.
Speaker 6 (01:36):
But yeah, it's been, it's been. It's been a lot
of fun so far.
Speaker 7 (01:39):
What's been the biggest surprise in terms of the difference
in working in college compared to being in an NFL landscape?
Speaker 5 (01:47):
You know, Buck, I thought I was coming into this
job with my eyes wide open.
Speaker 6 (01:50):
I really did. But there's things that always surprise you.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
I would say probably the biggest thing was, uh, that
everyone in the locker room talks and uh, you know
has grown men like I would never ask either of
you guys what you make for a living without you know,
expecting to get punched in the face. But this is
a different generation and uh, you know, they share a
lot down there, so uh, you just got to know,
you got to know whatever you're you're paying the players like,
(02:16):
it's gonna get it's gonna get out in the locker room.
So you know, I heard I heard a head coach
at media days in the summer talk about how he
lost his football team last year and because of you know,
some of those dynamics, some of the upper classmen found
out what some of the younger guys were making and
kind of threw the team out of whack.
Speaker 6 (02:33):
A little bit.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
And I have a responsibility to the coaching staff who's
built an incredible culture here in Norman in my role
not to do that. So that's probably that's probably been
the biggest thing.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Jim, is there been an opportunity for you to uh,
you know, have an impact on a personal level with kids.
I mean, I know it's a whole new landscape and
these guys are getting paid and it's different. But one
of the things you always heard from guys who worked
in college versus the NFL is like, you know, hey,
we can have an impact on on the person as
well as the player in this environment. Is that opportunity
Does that still exist in college?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Absolutely?
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Absolutely, and especially in a place like Oklahoma. I mean
that's what we know that there's certain things that we
can sell here that other schools maybe can, and there's
there's certain things other schools.
Speaker 6 (03:16):
Sell that we can't, but we can sell. The development.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
In just pouring into these players, coach Venables is huge
into developing the whole person. In Lake Dawson, another one
of our former scouting friends, Lake says, Hello, By the way,
that was a big.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
Draw to get Lake leave to leave the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 5 (03:34):
Quite frankly, I mean he he wanted to come down
to the college level and help affect, affect these young guys.
Speaker 6 (03:40):
You know.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
He you know, he walked the same path as you did,
Buck from college to Senior Bowl to the to the NFL, and.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
And that's something Lake wanted to do.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
So Yeah, since we got here in March, I had
a lot of different conversations, you know about the NFL.
And then on a daily basis, I said, at lunch
with these guys, you know, see him out of practice,
see him over the weekend. So yeah, a lot of opportunities,
But like with this year's senior class, all these draft
eligible guys, we'll get through the season then I'll probably
pick up that way. But they've come to me about
(04:09):
you know, agent selection and draft process. There's been a
lot of those questions so far. And then really just
trying to help the young guys with the transition to college,
because that's that's really a difficult thing.
Speaker 7 (04:19):
Hey, I'm really appreciative and excited for Lake Dawson joining
you there. You talk about walking a similar path. Not
only did we play together at the Senior Bowl, but
we also were together in Seattle where it helped him
get on board or whatever. So it's kind of great
to see him make that.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Transition and think about the transition.
Speaker 7 (04:35):
I got to ask you, man, because you know, you
spend so much of your time looking at college guys
getting ready for pros. Now you're a mix of looking
at guys in college getting ready to jump into portal
and high school guys. Like, how do you cast your
eyes when you have such a wide range of skills, talents, ages,
(04:55):
all that other stuff. It just seems like it'd be
a very difficult task to kind of cast your on
the right level.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
Yeah, it has been. It has been a change watching
the high school stuff. I mean, my my son played
high school ball a couple of years ago on mobile
and obviously watched him. But you guys know, I mean, Buck,
you coach Djun's play, it's a different animal. So you know,
just depending on what parts of the country, if you're watching,
you know, a ball in California or Texas or Florida
like some of these really good high school football states,
(05:24):
it's a little easier. But I always boil it down
to this way, guys, you know, from a just from
a scouting perspective, I mean, you focus on the athlete,
You focus on the movement, the explosion, you know, all
the things that carry over. Then you look at instincts.
You know, instincts are instincts, right, Do they have a
feel for the game. Can they find the ball?
Speaker 6 (05:42):
You know?
Speaker 5 (05:42):
And then and then play and then uh, you know,
play style, you know, like motor, motor.
Speaker 6 (05:47):
Tempo, physicality, violence.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
We're trying to build a long, violent, fast, urgent football team.
So so those things carry over. Those things transcend the
level of competition. And I kind of look at some
of the high school guys, guys when you're looking at,
you know, some of these you know, not great high
school football playing states. It's like watching small school college tape.
It's like watching Division two guys, Division three guys, and
(06:11):
they have to dominate, they have to stick out immediately,
they have to uh, you know, kind of have that
man amongst boys quality to them.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So that's that's it.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
But yeah, it's certainly certainly has its challenges. It's certainly
different than watching college tape. Projecting to the NFL.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Yeah, man, your eyes, your eyes are working on three
different levels. Man, that's uh, that's incredible, Uh, Jim. One
of the things we've talked about a lot on here
this last year has been kind of a theme and
and looking at a background on players and character and
football character and those things.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
And we've kind of come up with this phrase.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
We just talk about having a high care factor when
you're bringing guys in, whether it is the portal, whether
it's a high school kid, what are ways you can
go about learning what their care factor looks like.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Yeah, it's really similar guys to what what we did
when when we were in the NFL. Just sitting across
from McKinnon at you know, asking him about why he
does this and what's important to him. And that's the
great thing about getting these guys on campus multiple times
because you're kind of, for lack of a better phrase,
you're kind of peeling back that that onion every time
and getting a little deeper into who the person is.
(07:14):
And to me, that's critical. You know, we saw it
in the NFL that when you get those guys in
as rookies and they've got a lot of money in
their pocket for the first time and a lot more
time on their hands.
Speaker 6 (07:24):
You know, the guys that could manage that transition if
they if they had.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
The maturity to do it, if they had the care
factor football was really important to them. Now we're having
to deal with that at this level. And you know,
it was an issue for NFL guys, you know when
there were twenty two twenty three transitioning out of college.
And now we got you know, kids having the same issues.
You know, with a lot of money in their pocket
and a lot of you know, time on their hands
and being away from home for the first time.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
I mean, it even makes it more complicated. So we
got it.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
We have to get the person right. You know, we've
talked about it on the show before the three of us.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
Oh, you know, when you really get a player wrong.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
And going back in our in our scouting times, the
three of us, I mean, I feel like we've all
missed on the on the person more than we've missed
on the player. I think that the tape is the
easier part of the evaluation to you know, figuring out
how the person is wired.
Speaker 6 (08:09):
Is the harder part.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
And then you know, again for us, just in Oklahoma,
I'll speak specifically to how we're looking at this thing.
Speaker 6 (08:17):
It's not it's not just the player anymore. It's also
the family.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
You know, there's there has to be stability in the
home because this transfer portal is really easy to jump into.
And I don't care what the family structure looks like.
Speaker 6 (08:29):
I don't.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
It's not you know, it doesn't have to be two
parent or single parent. It can be grandparents and give
me an at and uncle. But there has to whatever
that looks like, there needs to be stability there. So
we're not only looking at the at the players now,
We're we're also looking into the family structure.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
You know.
Speaker 7 (08:44):
It's fun to as you talk about like looking into
the family structure, and I just remember now, we can't
really say it because hr concerns. Remember we just talking
about when you get here, who's coming with you, Like,
who's the support system around you?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
All of those things.
Speaker 7 (08:57):
But it was a big part of trying to figure
out who the player is and who he could be
in your building. I'm fascinated about what you're talking about, DJs,
talking about the care factor and those things. How many
times do you have to get them on campus before
you really get a feel for who they are? Unlike
the thirty visits and all the stuff that we kind
of restricted on at the NFL level, What does that
(09:19):
look like now as you're dealing with college players and
high school recruitsing those things?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 5 (09:25):
I mean again, that was a big selling point for
guys coming to Mobile because I would always tell players like,
these scouts have been coming in your buildings for forever
trying to find out about you. But this is you
only really have that, you know, February through April timeframe
to tell your own story and let the teams get
to know you and then the big scheme of things.
That's a short period of time, you know, and we're
(09:48):
kind of dealing with the same thing here. So if
we can get him out here, you know, for a
fall visit, get them back in the spring for a workout,
then get them for an OV. But this whole recruiting thing,
and I'm certainly new to it, there's a lot there's
a lot of people in college football that can speak
to it more than I can. But it seems like
it's getting accelerated, and these guys are one to make
up their minds earlier.
Speaker 6 (10:08):
So again, I get that we're recruiting players.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
You know, everyone says that talks about the NFL, you
know this is an NFL model, and it's not because
we're not drafting players. There's a difference, And I certainly
get that we have to recruit the players they have
to choose us. But at the same time, I mean,
we can be selective as well. You know, we can't
just bring guys in because they want to come to Oklahoma.
They have to be the right fit. So I don't
(10:33):
know if there's a certain number, Buckey, but but when
they're on campus, we've got a big enough staff. That's
the great part of our new structure is that we've
got ten full time guys on the scouting side and
they're not just evaluators. The way we put the staff together,
and I think Lake Dawson is a great example, Like
Lake's not just sitting in an office watching tape every day.
Like he's got a lot more value to owe you
football than that. I mean, when we get families on visits,
(10:56):
it's crazy. We're like the parents' age right now. So
we're like Lake, Lake and I are relating with the parents.
And we've got some younger guys on the staff that
can relate more to the players. But but you know,
it's it's that's a really important part is to get
these guys on campus, and we have enough manpower. We
have a lot of different people spending time with these
guys on each visit, and and we do a lot
(11:16):
of preparation before we guys, before we get players to
come in. Michigan was probably the biggest recruiting weekend in
the history of Oklahoma, at least in recent recent memory.
We've got a big weekend coming up at Old Miss
here in a couple of weeks, and we talk about it.
We have a strategy for each player that's coming in
and who's meeting with him, and who's spending time, so Yeah,
it's a collective effort, and then you got to download
(11:38):
just like you were. You know when you sit in
draft meetings and talk about, you know, who picked them
up from the airport, what was that exposure? Like, you know,
like we we we have that broken down so as
many people that can get in front of these kids.
It's not just the position coach, it's not just the coordinator.
It's not just myself or coach menibles. It is truly
a collective group effort. And then we we try to
see where we land on the player. Hopefully we're seeing
(11:59):
the player all the same way.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Yeah, you can tell this is something that's very thought out,
very organized, very detailed, which is basically the NFL coming
to the collegiate level and taking that model.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
That's fascinating to me. I was looking at your schedule.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Obviously a huge game we'll get to in a second
here coming up with Texas Oklahoma.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Doesn't get any bigger than that one.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
But I was just looking at a Jim, You've go
South Carolina after that, and then it's number four Ole,
miss number twelve, Tennessee number eight, Alabama, number fourteen, Missouri
number eleven, LSU.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
How much now that you're in it.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Now, you're in the SEC gauntlet and you're getting an
up close personal view. How challenging is it for all
these teams when it is just one after another every
single week.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Well, there's certainly no Saturdays off, you know, there's no
get right week when you're in the SEC. Really, you know,
I look at look at the schedule for some other
conferences and there's there's a game in there, and we've
had We've had a couple, you know, early in the
year where we can kind of you know, we had
Michigan and then a break and then Auburn. But from
here on out, it is you got to show up
every Saturday and put your best foot forward.
Speaker 6 (12:59):
So to me, in that sense, the SEC is is
very much like the NFL.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
You know, I've read the whole you know, on any
given Sunday thing for the NFL, it's certainly I think
it applies to the SEC any given Saturday. We're seeing
what Vandy's doing this year in the program that Clark
Lee's building.
Speaker 6 (13:14):
So yeah, there's there's never a Saturday off.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
You rattled off where all those teams are ranked, It's
going to be a dogfight, you know, similar to the NFL.
Those those NFL games come down to like three or
four plays every Sunday, And we had a close game
against Auburn here at home a couple of weeks ago.
I think we're gonna be in a lot of those.
I think we're gonna be in a lot of those.
And we we love our veteran football team and guys
that step up in big moments like our Mason Thomas
(13:36):
did against Auburn in some big spots, we think we
have the guys to do that.
Speaker 6 (13:40):
But but yeah, it's it's certainly the word gauntlet has
been thrown around a lot in the local media here.
It is it is certainly going to be a gauntlet.
Speaker 7 (13:49):
You know, you've been a super Bowl champion at the
NFL level, so you understand what championship caliber team looks
like at at the pro level. But now that you're
at the collegiate level, uh to change at all in
terms of you we're thinking about building the ideal team
where we just talk about the marquee spots being quarterback
and left tackling those things. Is it different in the
(14:09):
college game in terms of how you have the stockpile
of talent where the blue Chippers need to be on
the positions on the chessboard.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
I mean for us, Bucky, I mean, we just have
our philosophy and the positions we value. You really do
have to take a roster building look at this thing
similar to the NFL, and you can only you can
only invest in certain positions. And it's not to say that,
you know, if there's a player at one of our
spots that maybe we we don't value as much. If
we're in a position to get a really good player
out of high school that we wouldn't or in the
(14:40):
portal to take a shot there and go after that player.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
But yeah, we're gonna build with the guys up front.
We're we're much improved on the offensive line this year.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
We've got a young left tackle, we've got a transfer center,
we've got a transfer right tackle. And then on the
defensive side, I mean, we go, I mean, we go
are too deep? Is really really competitive? You're it's really
hard to build competitive depth in college football right now
with the portal and really get guys to buy in.
And that's again, I think what what our roster looks
(15:08):
like looks like right now is indicative of what coach
nnables and the staff have done here. I mean, this
is not you know, when I took this job in March,
this team was coming off a six and seven season,
and when I came in an interview, it didn't feel
like a six and seven building at all. And then
we got into full we got into spring practice in
fall camp, and I'm like, yeah, this isn't a six
and seven roster. So we we we legitimately go too
(15:31):
deep across the board on defense. So I really like
how we're built on both sides of the ball. And obviously,
you know, like just like the NFL, you need to
have a quarterback and uh, you know John Matteer. So
far this year in Michael Hawkins last week, we've got
really good play at that spot so far.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Tell me about Matier and I'm not gonna I'm not
going to do the Hey, let's get a detailed breakdown
on his health. What's his status, like just a healthy job, mateer.
What does he bring on the grass as well as
in the building.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, I appreciate you for.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
Not asking about the current situation, but no, John, John's
awesome man. Seriously, like we scouts come through every day.
I talk to those guys he's got another year left
after this year, we'll see what what he wants to do.
He is hyper competitive, so you know, I would expect
you know, I know he expects to win a lot
of games this year and for the team to have
(16:21):
great success. And I think that matters to him. I
think he wants to leave his mark here at Oklahoma.
But but man, he's he's been unbelievable. You guys know
how hard it would be to come in as a
transfer quarterback and win the team over and uh, that
did not take very long at all. And I think
the great thing about John is he's got a he's.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
Got a he's he's got.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
A genuine quality about him that everyone buys into. Like,
I guess the best way to say, he connects with
everyone on the team. There's not a certain group of
guys like he could go into any position room and
click with all those guys. And that's not many quarterbacks
have that nowadays, at least the ones that I've come across.
He's got a really cool ability to connect with with
(16:59):
guy and they buy into him. And then and then
you get him on the field on game days and
he's just hyper hyper competitive. You guys, see that on
the tape, you see it on the highlights on the weekends.
I mean, he is a real dude. He's got kind
of a throwback quality that way. There was a lot
of Baker Mayfield comparisons in the off field, just in
the off season because of his play style, and you
know he's got some of that to him.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
But yeah, I tell.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
All the all the scouts like there's there's there's no box.
He doesn't check. When it comes to the makeup part
of it. He's in the building all the time. He's here.
I mean he's here first one in, last run out,
all those cliches, he's all that stuff. And then the grittiness,
the toughness is off the charts. And then just his
ability to lead guys and guys follow him. That's a hard,
(17:43):
hard quality to find it. He's got it.
Speaker 7 (17:47):
You know. I have to ask you, Nandy, we're talking
about the robbery and those things, Like I've always believed
there's some special rub being at a blue blood place,
a place that has a lot of tradition. How have
you wrapped yourself into the lore of Oklahoma Sooners football?
Speaker 5 (18:03):
Well, yeah, this is there is a reason why I
jumped at this opportunity. I'm really grateful I had the opportunity,
but jumped at it because again, it is a special place.
There's not many places like ou. You know, we all
park under the stadium every day, but I park out
front in front of the Switzer Center at least once
a week because I want to walk by those.
Speaker 6 (18:25):
Trophies every day.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
There's seven National Championship trophies and seven Heisman trophies downstairs.
Speaker 6 (18:29):
And we had we had the nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Team with the bos and all those guys back for
the forty three Union of the National Championship over the weekend.
And I told that group that I said, guys, you
built this thing like you guys are Oklahoma football and
you're what.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
We aspire to be is a program, And so I
told them.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
I intentionally walk through the lobby of the Switzer Center
just to remind myself because I think we all get
in our daily grinds a little bit and uh, you know,
kind of lose sight of things I want to. I
want like a weekly reminder of where I'm at. So, yeah,
it's really it's really a special place. I wanted to
go somewhere where there was no limits and went at
the highest level. I got spoiled working for some good
teams in the NFL, so just wanted to go a
(19:09):
place where we could win championships. And you can certainly
do that here.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I got to tell you this story.
Speaker 7 (19:17):
So mag Brown was Barry Switzer's offensive coordinators. I think
maybe when Troy Aikman was there, and he said, the
one thing that he learned from Barry Swisser was how
to design a bowl ring. And he said in the office,
Barry swiss used to keep all of the bowl rings
in like a little ten cigar box, and every day
he would have to figure out which.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Ones he would wear on the thing.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
And so when you talk about going by those trophies
or whatever, it makes me think about Coach Brown saying
the one thing that I learned at Oklahoma was how
to design an exemplary bowl ring. So you get a
chance to see all of the hardware on a daily
basis at the Swissess Center.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
That's cool.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
I never knew that Mac was with Barry Switzer. That's
an interesting combination. I would have liked to have been
in there.
Speaker 7 (20:00):
Yeah, I think, man, I think Coach Brown was there
when Troy Aigman was there when they were trying to
transition to the eye and Aikman gets hurt and then
Barry goes back to running the option and away they go.
And so yeah, he said, he's just you talking about
Coach Swisser and just the unbelievable confidence and ara that
he had.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
And I think now to.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
Think about putting seventy plus points on people running the wisp, Bawn,
it's kind of crazy. That speaks to the talent that
was an ou that you could beat people to sleep
running the ball on every play.
Speaker 6 (20:32):
So let me jump in on this.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
So this eighty five team that we just honored, Troy
Aikman was the starter to start the season, So think
about that, a future number one pick. He goes down.
You guys will remember this name. We were kids. I
mean I was eleven years old.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
Remember Jamail Holloway, real Holloway. Yeah, freshman, true freshman comes in.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
Everyone probably thought the sky was falling that Troy Aikman
got hurt. Jamail Holloway, true freshman comes in and leads
him to a national championship. And I'll tell you what,
Coach Switzer still believes that we could run the wishbone.
Wishbone would work in today's football and he could score
seventy points.
Speaker 6 (21:07):
We've had that conversation.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
He said that. He says that all the time. He says,
I believing.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
All the time that hey, the first major college with
elite athletes that ran the wishbulle win a national title.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
He swears by it, he says all the time.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
So I had I got had to get up and
speak in front of that group on Saturday and just
doing a little research. So here's the difference in college
football now. That Oklahoma team had eighteen running backs on
the roster. We have six on the roster right now,
and they only had eight wide receivers.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
And they call him blockers there, Jim that what at
that time, they're not called wide receivers. They were called Yeah,
oh that is fantastic. Last one for me, just out
of curiosity, Uh, what is your busiest day of the week.
I'm just curious about the the flow here. So your
busiest day of the week, and like what does that
day look like? Give us a little breakdown of someone
(22:06):
that's in your role in a program like this. Give
me give me a busy day and what that could entail?
Speaker 6 (22:14):
Monday's definitely the busiest.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
I mean, Sunday, we come in and watch the tape
from the day before, download as the staff that way,
get with the sports performance team after they've seen all
the players and go over the injury stuff, injury report
and what that's going to look like for the upcoming week.
But then Monday it's just heavy meetings, you know, heavy
staff meetings with coaches, our scouting staff. Yeah, Monday, mondays,
(22:39):
I feel like I'm in meetings from eight am till
about four pm and then try to get a workout
in and then get back in, watch a little more
tape and head home. But yeah, Monday is definitely the
busiest day in season at least.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Yeah, yeah, all right, all right, neg ahead of you,
big game.
Speaker 7 (22:56):
I hate to say, like you and I go way
back to our time with the Packers, and I've always
been like the biggest fan.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I support you wholeheartedly.
Speaker 7 (23:02):
But now we're rivals because my daughter is at the
University of Texas. He's a freshman. I forgot and so
now so now it's personal. So now so now as
a as a as a Longhorn parent, I have to
throw up to hook him.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
On Saturday, and it pains me. We're sitting on the
opposite sides for the first time ever. But yeah, I
think we're sarking them.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
You better rethink that, man, You better rethink that. If
Texas were to win, tuition is probably going up, man,
So you better you better rethink that strategy.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Look, it can't get much higher, like like like like,
it's like sugar on top. I mean, what are we
talking about when it comes to well Buck.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
If it were any other week, I would congratulate you
on your daughter because that.
Speaker 6 (23:54):
Is that is a great academic school.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
But not not this week. Maybe.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Hey, this has been fun nags. Everybody shooting, not just us.
Everybody will be watching this weekend. It's really one of
the great traditions in college football, one of the great matchups.
I can't wait for it and excited for you to
experience it firsthand. Here man, we appreciate your time, appreciate
your friendship.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Yeah, I appreciate you guys. It's amazing.
Speaker 5 (24:18):
I'm so fired up for Saturday because the only two boat,
the only two really big rivalry games that I've never
been to is a scout We're ou Texas and Army Navy.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
So oh wow, Wow, first time.
Speaker 5 (24:29):
I'm getting on. I'm checking one off the list. So yeah,
we can't wait. Heading down here to Dallas here in
a little bit. But appreciate you guys having me on.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
This is fun. It's always a lot of fun. But
great to see you guys.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
You're the best buddy. We'll be watching. We'll catch up soon.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
Okay, take care guys.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
All right, buck Well, there he goes. Great conversation with
our good friend Jim Naggy.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
There.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Interesting job, man, That's why I'm just kind of curious
of like some of the behind the scenes and what
that looks like. Man, it's again, I think you asked
the question that I was thinking of too, is man
training your eyes on high school kids? After being in
the NFL space for so long and even at the
Senior Bowl, you're looking at the best of the best
of college football, and then all of a sudden, now
you're watching a seventeen year old kid trying to project
(25:13):
what he's going to look like in three years.
Speaker 7 (25:15):
I mean, in a weird way, DJ, It's it's like
my life going from watching an NFL game on Sunday
coming back to high school practice on Monday, and just
like the start differences between just the skill level.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
And those things. But I think for him and Lake
and the rest of that staff, it has to be.
Speaker 7 (25:31):
An unusual situation, right because your eyes have to go
all over the gamut in terms of looking at guys
that are getting ready to go pros because they want
your advice about what do you think my draft stock
is going to be? To then in the portal trying
to build a championship program, to now the recruiting process,
and trying to project out how a seventeen eighteen year
old kid is going to advance over a four or
(25:53):
five year run. That is a lot to joke when
he talks about a ten man staff, that's man, that's
a lot.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
And we didn't get a chance to.
Speaker 7 (25:59):
Talk about like working together with the head coach in
terms of building the ideal team that the head coach once.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I mean a lot of different challenges when it comes
to it.
Speaker 7 (26:09):
But I'm excited to have so many friends of ours
that are in that business because we talked about it
like four or five years ago that we knew it
was heading that way. But man, I don't think any
of us saw us so at exploding like has exploded now.
Where the collegiate game is literally like minor league NFL ball.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
So one of the things I want to get your
thoughts on as someone who is a coach, how would
you handle what he referenced on there with players sharing,
they share all their information. You can't stop them from
doing that, so you know what players are making. He
referenced one coach saying he thought his locker room kind
of fell apart when some of the older guys found
out how much the younger guys were making. But if
you're going to stand up in front of the room,
(26:53):
you are the GM at a blue blood program and
you got to get up in front of the room
and try and cut that off at the past. What
would your message be to the team about that that
specific thing?
Speaker 7 (27:02):
One. I think you have to be transparent, and I
think is very similar to what Jimmy Johnson used to say. Hey,
we're gonna treat everyone fairly, but we're not treating everyone equally.
And the better to performance into production, the more the
pay is going to be.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
But I think you have to get in front of it.
Speaker 7 (27:17):
What I would like to do is kind of have
a rite of passage, try and put all of the
guys that come in the young guys kind of like
a set system where the older guys are rewarded and
make the young guys earn their.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Keep before we pay them. So if you won't get them,
I've heard that.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
I've heard coaches said, look, our program is going to
be incentive based, like, once you perform, we will pay you. Well,
guess what, a kid's got an offer for a million
bucks coming in the front door. He's not going to
buy that.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
I just think I just think it's hard from the
chemistry of the locker room. If you have like a
freshman who hasn't proven it making whatever, Like, I just
think it can kind of do it. So like my take,
I would try and do it that way because I
think it's really hard. If you pay the the high
school recruit a million dollars, then he shows up and
he doesn't look like a million dollars.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
That happen every It's going to happen in every building.
I just don't know how you even get in the
game with the four with a high four star or
a five star talented kid and you need talent.
Speaker 7 (28:14):
I get it, and I guess I guess it depends
on where you're at. But I think also you remember
you talked about the care factor. Yeah, when you're at
a dependent on where you are, when you're at Ohio
State or whatever, like, you still want it to be
as close to the ball as it can be in
terms of like, hey, let's a competitive environment.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
So whatever you make, you make.
Speaker 7 (28:31):
But the people that play here are the people that
earn the right to play. And I think it's a
unique trick. I think you have to be able to
like build it out. I'm not envious in anybody because
without a salary cap, I mean, it is the wild
wild West when.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
It comes to acquiring players and trying to put it together. Whatever.
Speaker 7 (28:49):
I don't envy any of these teams, and I do
believe that's why you can see a situation where two
years ago Florida State was at the top of the world,
and then last year they're struggling because the inequities of everything,
like it is a.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Chemistry experiment with a lot of money being thrown at
to players.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Yeah, I almost think the because I thought about that, Like,
what would your answer approach be. You still want to bring
in talented players, so you're going to have some younger
kids who are making more than haven't proven anything, and
you're going to have some younger kids come in who
don't end up being very good, and they're going to
look like, well, if that guy's making that, I should
be making this. I think that you have to get
the team in the room and say, guys, we we
(29:25):
did what we needed to do to get all of
you in this room, and some of you came in
making more money than others. It will have zero impact
on who it plays, zero impact on who plays. And
these are the dollars like, these are the These are
the quarters. Like the money that we're talking about out
but it seems like a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
But these are the quarters.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
The dollars are what's off into the NFL and off
into your professional future. So we got everybody in here
that we could and as you perform and play well,
you will be rewarded for that. But there are going
to be some guys who come in making more or
less than others. But if you keep your focus on
handling your business, two things, you're going to play and
number two, you're going to get opportunities to make the
(30:01):
real money in the future. So don't get too caught
up in what this money looks like for the younger guys.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
You know what it sounds like.
Speaker 7 (30:08):
What you just sound what you just said sounds a
lot like what Pete Carroll used to talk about when
he was in Seattle when they had to make Russell
Wilson the starter even though they paid Matt Flynn a
ton of money. Hey, what we pay you is the
cost of doing business. When you play is old school football,
where you have to earn the right to be able
to do it. But I think it's a very transparent conversation.
(30:31):
I think if you're transparent with the players and everyone
knows what the rules of engagement are, you have a
better chance of keeping the team together. I think is
when you're operating in secret and no one knows. I
think you have to put it out there, like you said,
and everyone knows, and those who are okay with it
are going to be in your program, and those who
aren't aren't for you.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
But I think you have to be okay with that
kind of approach.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
The other thing, I don't know how you could even
do it. I don't know what the rules are on this,
because I don't think you can do I don't think
you can do performance based like contracts, not that I
know of, but one of the things I was thinking of. Man,
it'd be easy way to raise money if you went
to some boosters and said, hey, if we win ten games,
everybody on the whole team gets a bump, you know from.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Where they're Yeah, you know what I mean. It's kind
of like you're building that.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
Hey, at the end of the day, let's try and
get this together and we're all gonna be rewarded.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Yeah, Like if you.
Speaker 7 (31:17):
Put some team based incentives and you do some things
like that, Like yeah, I mean, look at DJ I
think some of those things haven't an opportunity to work.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I think you have to be creative. I think you
have to find a way to do it within the rules.
Speaker 7 (31:29):
But yeah, there's a way to handle this because obviously
there's some people that are.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Finding a way to get it done. You know, Yeah,
no question. All right.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
This was a fun one. Great to catch up with
our buddy Jim Naggy. Looking forward to watching that big
time game Texas Oklahoma. I didn't get better than that.
Some other really good games on the schedule this weekend
as well. It's a good weekend of college football.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
We're back tomorrow with Randow episode.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
We appreciate you here on move
Speaker 5 (31:52):
The sticks, scents puts the open s
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's up, everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Welcome to move the sticks.
Speaker 4 (00:09):
DJ Buck with you, and we have our good friend
Jim Naggy, the general manager at the University of Oklahoma.
Join us, Jim, anything going on this weekend? Any plans?
Speaker 5 (00:18):
There's a whole game on Saturday. We'll see how that goes. Yeah,
just a little something.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
How the heck have you been? Man? Let's start.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
First of all, we'll get to the game, a huge,
huge game coming up this weekend in the SEC, but
we wanted to catch up with you and just see
how you've enjoyed this transition, going from running the Senior Bowl,
doing a phenomenal job there after a long scouting career
where we became friends, to taking this leap here into
this whole new world as a GM at Oklahoma.
Speaker 5 (00:43):
Yeah, guys, it's been awesome. It's something I never thought
I would work in college football. You guys probably never
thought you would work in college football. But you know,
when they started paying players and putting value on players,
our skill set kind of fit. I just never saw
our skill set fitting in college football, but but here
we are. It's been Uh, it's been awesome. It's been awesome.
(01:05):
It's been a really busy seven months, I think since
I think we're at the seven month point here. But yeah,
every day is a new day, learning a lot. I
knew a lot of the guys on the staff, I
mean old enough now. I scouted a bunch of the
guys on our coaching staff, about half the staff probably,
But no, it's been it's been great.
Speaker 6 (01:23):
Coach venables has been great.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
Just put a great staff together on the scouting side,
you know, hire ten guys and uh, you know, just
trying to earn the coaches trust every day, build that,
build that relationship, build their trust.
Speaker 6 (01:36):
But yeah, it's been, it's been. It's been a lot
of fun so far.
Speaker 7 (01:39):
What's been the biggest surprise in terms of the difference
in working in college compared to being in an NFL landscape?
Speaker 5 (01:47):
You know, Buck, I thought I was coming into this
job with my eyes wide open.
Speaker 6 (01:50):
I really did. But there's things that always surprise you.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
I would say probably the biggest thing was, uh, that
everyone in the locker room talks and uh, you know
has grown men like I would never ask either of
you guys what you make for a living without you know,
expecting to get punched in the face. But this is
a different generation and uh, you know, they share a
lot down there, so uh, you just got to know,
you got to know whatever you're you're paying the players like,
(02:16):
it's gonna get it's gonna get out in the locker room.
So you know, I heard I heard a head coach
at media days in the summer talk about how he
lost his football team last year and because of you know,
some of those dynamics, some of the upper classmen found
out what some of the younger guys were making and
kind of threw the team out of whack.
Speaker 6 (02:33):
A little bit.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
And I have a responsibility to the coaching staff who's
built an incredible culture here in Norman in my role
not to do that. So that's probably that's probably been
the biggest thing.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Jim, is there been an opportunity for you to uh,
you know, have an impact on a personal level with kids.
I mean, I know it's a whole new landscape and
these guys are getting paid and it's different. But one
of the things you always heard from guys who worked
in college versus the NFL is like, you know, hey,
we can have an impact on on the person as
well as the player in this environment. Is that opportunity
Does that still exist in college?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Absolutely?
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Absolutely, and especially in a place like Oklahoma. I mean
that's what we know that there's certain things that we
can sell here that other schools maybe can, and there's
there's certain things other schools.
Speaker 6 (03:16):
Sell that we can't, but we can sell. The development.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
In just pouring into these players, coach Venables is huge
into developing the whole person. In Lake Dawson, another one
of our former scouting friends, Lake says, Hello, By the way,
that was a big.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
Draw to get Lake leave to leave the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 5 (03:34):
Quite frankly, I mean he he wanted to come down
to the college level and help affect, affect these young guys.
Speaker 6 (03:40):
You know.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
He you know, he walked the same path as you did,
Buck from college to Senior Bowl to the to the NFL, and.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
And that's something Lake wanted to do.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
So Yeah, since we got here in March, I had
a lot of different conversations, you know about the NFL.
And then on a daily basis, I said, at lunch
with these guys, you know, see him out of practice,
see him over the weekend. So yeah, a lot of opportunities,
But like with this year's senior class, all these draft
eligible guys, we'll get through the season then I'll probably
pick up that way. But they've come to me about
(04:09):
you know, agent selection and draft process. There's been a
lot of those questions so far. And then really just
trying to help the young guys with the transition to college,
because that's that's really a difficult thing.
Speaker 7 (04:19):
Hey, I'm really appreciative and excited for Lake Dawson joining
you there. You talk about walking a similar path. Not
only did we play together at the Senior Bowl, but
we also were together in Seattle where it helped him
get on board or whatever. So it's kind of great
to see him make that.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Transition and think about the transition.
Speaker 7 (04:35):
I got to ask you, man, because you know, you
spend so much of your time looking at college guys
getting ready for pros. Now you're a mix of looking
at guys in college getting ready to jump into portal
and high school guys. Like, how do you cast your
eyes when you have such a wide range of skills, talents, ages,
(04:55):
all that other stuff. It just seems like it'd be
a very difficult task to kind of cast your on
the right level.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
Yeah, it has been. It has been a change watching
the high school stuff. I mean, my my son played
high school ball a couple of years ago on mobile
and obviously watched him. But you guys know, I mean, Buck,
you coach Djun's play, it's a different animal. So you know,
just depending on what parts of the country, if you're watching,
you know, a ball in California or Texas or Florida
like some of these really good high school football states,
(05:24):
it's a little easier. But I always boil it down
to this way, guys, you know, from a just from
a scouting perspective, I mean, you focus on the athlete,
You focus on the movement, the explosion, you know, all
the things that carry over. Then you look at instincts.
You know, instincts are instincts, right, Do they have a
feel for the game. Can they find the ball?
Speaker 6 (05:42):
You know?
Speaker 5 (05:42):
And then and then play and then uh, you know,
play style, you know, like motor, motor.
Speaker 6 (05:47):
Tempo, physicality, violence.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
We're trying to build a long, violent, fast, urgent football team.
So so those things carry over. Those things transcend the
level of competition. And I kind of look at some
of the high school guys, guys when you're looking at,
you know, some of these you know, not great high
school football playing states. It's like watching small school college tape.
It's like watching Division two guys, Division three guys, and
(06:11):
they have to dominate, they have to stick out immediately,
they have to uh, you know, kind of have that
man amongst boys quality to them.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So that's that's it.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
But yeah, it's certainly certainly has its challenges. It's certainly
different than watching college tape. Projecting to the NFL.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Yeah, man, your eyes, your eyes are working on three
different levels. Man, that's uh, that's incredible, Uh, Jim. One
of the things we've talked about a lot on here
this last year has been kind of a theme and
and looking at a background on players and character and
football character and those things.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
And we've kind of come up with this phrase.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
We just talk about having a high care factor when
you're bringing guys in, whether it is the portal, whether
it's a high school kid, what are ways you can
go about learning what their care factor looks like.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Yeah, it's really similar guys to what what we did
when when we were in the NFL. Just sitting across
from McKinnon at you know, asking him about why he
does this and what's important to him. And that's the
great thing about getting these guys on campus multiple times
because you're kind of, for lack of a better phrase,
you're kind of peeling back that that onion every time
and getting a little deeper into who the person is.
(07:14):
And to me, that's critical. You know, we saw it
in the NFL that when you get those guys in
as rookies and they've got a lot of money in
their pocket for the first time and a lot more
time on their hands.
Speaker 6 (07:24):
You know, the guys that could manage that transition if
they if they had.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
The maturity to do it, if they had the care
factor football was really important to them. Now we're having
to deal with that at this level. And you know,
it was an issue for NFL guys, you know when
there were twenty two twenty three transitioning out of college.
And now we got you know, kids having the same issues.
You know, with a lot of money in their pocket
and a lot of you know, time on their hands
and being away from home for the first time.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
I mean, it even makes it more complicated. So we
got it.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
We have to get the person right. You know, we've
talked about it on the show before the three of us.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
Oh, you know, when you really get a player wrong.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
And going back in our in our scouting times, the
three of us, I mean, I feel like we've all
missed on the on the person more than we've missed
on the player. I think that the tape is the
easier part of the evaluation to you know, figuring out
how the person is wired.
Speaker 6 (08:09):
Is the harder part.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
And then you know, again for us, just in Oklahoma,
I'll speak specifically to how we're looking at this thing.
Speaker 6 (08:17):
It's not it's not just the player anymore. It's also
the family.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
You know, there's there has to be stability in the
home because this transfer portal is really easy to jump into.
And I don't care what the family structure looks like.
Speaker 6 (08:29):
I don't.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
It's not you know, it doesn't have to be two
parent or single parent. It can be grandparents and give
me an at and uncle. But there has to whatever
that looks like, there needs to be stability there. So
we're not only looking at the at the players now,
We're we're also looking into the family structure.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
You know.
Speaker 7 (08:44):
It's fun to as you talk about like looking into
the family structure, and I just remember now, we can't
really say it because hr concerns. Remember we just talking
about when you get here, who's coming with you, Like,
who's the support system around you?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
All of those things.
Speaker 7 (08:57):
But it was a big part of trying to figure
out who the player is and who he could be
in your building. I'm fascinated about what you're talking about, DJs,
talking about the care factor and those things. How many
times do you have to get them on campus before
you really get a feel for who they are? Unlike
the thirty visits and all the stuff that we kind
of restricted on at the NFL level, What does that
(09:19):
look like now as you're dealing with college players and
high school recruitsing those things?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 5 (09:25):
I mean again, that was a big selling point for
guys coming to Mobile because I would always tell players like,
these scouts have been coming in your buildings for forever
trying to find out about you. But this is you
only really have that, you know, February through April timeframe
to tell your own story and let the teams get
to know you and then the big scheme of things.
That's a short period of time, you know, and we're
(09:48):
kind of dealing with the same thing here. So if
we can get him out here, you know, for a
fall visit, get them back in the spring for a workout,
then get them for an OV. But this whole recruiting thing,
and I'm certainly new to it, there's a lot there's
a lot of people in college football that can speak
to it more than I can. But it seems like
it's getting accelerated, and these guys are one to make
up their minds earlier.
Speaker 6 (10:08):
So again, I get that we're recruiting players.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
You know, everyone says that talks about the NFL, you
know this is an NFL model, and it's not because
we're not drafting players. There's a difference, And I certainly
get that we have to recruit the players they have
to choose us. But at the same time, I mean,
we can be selective as well. You know, we can't
just bring guys in because they want to come to Oklahoma.
They have to be the right fit. So I don't
(10:33):
know if there's a certain number, Buckey, but but when
they're on campus, we've got a big enough staff. That's
the great part of our new structure is that we've
got ten full time guys on the scouting side and
they're not just evaluators. The way we put the staff together,
and I think Lake Dawson is a great example, Like
Lake's not just sitting in an office watching tape every day.
Like he's got a lot more value to owe you
football than that. I mean, when we get families on visits,
(10:56):
it's crazy. We're like the parents' age right now. So
we're like Lake, Lake and I are relating with the parents.
And we've got some younger guys on the staff that
can relate more to the players. But but you know,
it's it's that's a really important part is to get
these guys on campus, and we have enough manpower. We
have a lot of different people spending time with these
guys on each visit, and and we do a lot
(11:16):
of preparation before we guys, before we get players to
come in. Michigan was probably the biggest recruiting weekend in
the history of Oklahoma, at least in recent recent memory.
We've got a big weekend coming up at Old Miss
here in a couple of weeks, and we talk about it.
We have a strategy for each player that's coming in
and who's meeting with him, and who's spending time, so Yeah,
it's a collective effort, and then you got to download
(11:38):
just like you were. You know when you sit in
draft meetings and talk about, you know, who picked them
up from the airport, what was that exposure? Like, you know,
like we we we have that broken down so as
many people that can get in front of these kids.
It's not just the position coach, it's not just the coordinator.
It's not just myself or coach menibles. It is truly
a collective group effort. And then we we try to
see where we land on the player. Hopefully we're seeing
(11:59):
the player all the same way.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Yeah, you can tell this is something that's very thought out,
very organized, very detailed, which is basically the NFL coming
to the collegiate level and taking that model.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
That's fascinating to me. I was looking at your schedule.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Obviously a huge game we'll get to in a second
here coming up with Texas Oklahoma.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Doesn't get any bigger than that one.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
But I was just looking at a Jim, You've go
South Carolina after that, and then it's number four Ole,
miss number twelve, Tennessee number eight, Alabama, number fourteen, Missouri
number eleven, LSU.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
How much now that you're in it.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Now, you're in the SEC gauntlet and you're getting an
up close personal view. How challenging is it for all
these teams when it is just one after another every
single week.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Well, there's certainly no Saturdays off, you know, there's no
get right week when you're in the SEC. Really, you know,
I look at look at the schedule for some other
conferences and there's there's a game in there, and we've
had We've had a couple, you know, early in the
year where we can kind of you know, we had
Michigan and then a break and then Auburn. But from
here on out, it is you got to show up
every Saturday and put your best foot forward.
Speaker 6 (12:59):
So to me, in that sense, the SEC is is
very much like the NFL.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
You know, I've read the whole you know, on any
given Sunday thing for the NFL, it's certainly I think
it applies to the SEC any given Saturday. We're seeing
what Vandy's doing this year in the program that Clark
Lee's building.
Speaker 6 (13:14):
So yeah, there's there's never a Saturday off.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
You rattled off where all those teams are ranked, It's
going to be a dogfight, you know, similar to the NFL.
Those those NFL games come down to like three or
four plays every Sunday, And we had a close game
against Auburn here at home a couple of weeks ago.
I think we're gonna be in a lot of those.
I think we're gonna be in a lot of those.
And we we love our veteran football team and guys
that step up in big moments like our Mason Thomas
(13:36):
did against Auburn in some big spots, we think we
have the guys to do that.
Speaker 6 (13:40):
But but yeah, it's it's certainly the word gauntlet has
been thrown around a lot in the local media here.
It is it is certainly going to be a gauntlet.
Speaker 7 (13:49):
You know, you've been a super Bowl champion at the
NFL level, so you understand what championship caliber team looks
like at at the pro level. But now that you're
at the collegiate level, uh to change at all in
terms of you we're thinking about building the ideal team
where we just talk about the marquee spots being quarterback
and left tackling those things. Is it different in the
(14:09):
college game in terms of how you have the stockpile
of talent where the blue Chippers need to be on
the positions on the chessboard.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
I mean for us, Bucky, I mean, we just have
our philosophy and the positions we value. You really do
have to take a roster building look at this thing
similar to the NFL, and you can only you can
only invest in certain positions. And it's not to say that,
you know, if there's a player at one of our
spots that maybe we we don't value as much. If
we're in a position to get a really good player
out of high school that we wouldn't or in the
(14:40):
portal to take a shot there and go after that player.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
But yeah, we're gonna build with the guys up front.
We're we're much improved on the offensive line this year.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
We've got a young left tackle, we've got a transfer center,
we've got a transfer right tackle. And then on the
defensive side, I mean, we go, I mean, we go
are too deep? Is really really competitive? You're it's really
hard to build competitive depth in college football right now
with the portal and really get guys to buy in.
And that's again, I think what what our roster looks
(15:08):
like looks like right now is indicative of what coach
nnables and the staff have done here. I mean, this
is not you know, when I took this job in March,
this team was coming off a six and seven season,
and when I came in an interview, it didn't feel
like a six and seven building at all. And then
we got into full we got into spring practice in
fall camp, and I'm like, yeah, this isn't a six
and seven roster. So we we we legitimately go too
(15:31):
deep across the board on defense. So I really like
how we're built on both sides of the ball. And obviously,
you know, like just like the NFL, you need to
have a quarterback and uh, you know John Matteer. So
far this year in Michael Hawkins last week, we've got
really good play at that spot so far.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Tell me about Matier and I'm not gonna I'm not
going to do the Hey, let's get a detailed breakdown
on his health. What's his status, like just a healthy job, mateer.
What does he bring on the grass as well as
in the building.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, I appreciate you for.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
Not asking about the current situation, but no, John, John's
awesome man. Seriously, like we scouts come through every day.
I talk to those guys he's got another year left
after this year, we'll see what what he wants to do.
He is hyper competitive, so you know, I would expect
you know, I know he expects to win a lot
of games this year and for the team to have
(16:21):
great success. And I think that matters to him. I
think he wants to leave his mark here at Oklahoma.
But but man, he's he's been unbelievable. You guys know
how hard it would be to come in as a
transfer quarterback and win the team over and uh, that
did not take very long at all. And I think
the great thing about John is he's got a he's.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
Got a he's he's got.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
A genuine quality about him that everyone buys into. Like,
I guess the best way to say, he connects with
everyone on the team. There's not a certain group of
guys like he could go into any position room and
click with all those guys. And that's not many quarterbacks
have that nowadays, at least the ones that I've come across.
He's got a really cool ability to connect with with
(16:59):
guy and they buy into him. And then and then
you get him on the field on game days and
he's just hyper hyper competitive. You guys, see that on
the tape, you see it on the highlights on the weekends.
I mean, he is a real dude. He's got kind
of a throwback quality that way. There was a lot
of Baker Mayfield comparisons in the off field, just in
the off season because of his play style, and you
know he's got some of that to him.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
But yeah, I tell.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
All the all the scouts like there's there's there's no box.
He doesn't check. When it comes to the makeup part
of it. He's in the building all the time. He's here.
I mean he's here first one in, last run out,
all those cliches, he's all that stuff. And then the grittiness,
the toughness is off the charts. And then just his
ability to lead guys and guys follow him. That's a hard,
(17:43):
hard quality to find it. He's got it.
Speaker 7 (17:47):
You know. I have to ask you, Nandy, we're talking
about the robbery and those things, Like I've always believed
there's some special rub being at a blue blood place,
a place that has a lot of tradition. How have
you wrapped yourself into the lore of Oklahoma Sooners football?
Speaker 5 (18:03):
Well, yeah, this is there is a reason why I
jumped at this opportunity. I'm really grateful I had the opportunity,
but jumped at it because again, it is a special place.
There's not many places like ou. You know, we all
park under the stadium every day, but I park out
front in front of the Switzer Center at least once
a week because I want to walk by those.
Speaker 6 (18:25):
Trophies every day.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
There's seven National Championship trophies and seven Heisman trophies downstairs.
Speaker 6 (18:29):
And we had we had the nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Team with the bos and all those guys back for
the forty three Union of the National Championship over the weekend.
And I told that group that I said, guys, you
built this thing like you guys are Oklahoma football and
you're what.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
We aspire to be is a program, And so I
told them.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
I intentionally walk through the lobby of the Switzer Center
just to remind myself because I think we all get
in our daily grinds a little bit and uh, you know,
kind of lose sight of things I want to. I
want like a weekly reminder of where I'm at. So, yeah,
it's really it's really a special place. I wanted to
go somewhere where there was no limits and went at
the highest level. I got spoiled working for some good
teams in the NFL, so just wanted to go a
(19:09):
place where we could win championships. And you can certainly
do that here.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I got to tell you this story.
Speaker 7 (19:17):
So mag Brown was Barry Switzer's offensive coordinators. I think
maybe when Troy Aikman was there, and he said, the
one thing that he learned from Barry Swisser was how
to design a bowl ring. And he said in the office,
Barry swiss used to keep all of the bowl rings
in like a little ten cigar box, and every day
he would have to figure out which.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Ones he would wear on the thing.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
And so when you talk about going by those trophies
or whatever, it makes me think about Coach Brown saying
the one thing that I learned at Oklahoma was how
to design an exemplary bowl ring. So you get a
chance to see all of the hardware on a daily
basis at the Swissess Center.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
That's cool.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
I never knew that Mac was with Barry Switzer. That's
an interesting combination. I would have liked to have been
in there.
Speaker 7 (20:00):
Yeah, I think, man, I think Coach Brown was there
when Troy Aigman was there when they were trying to
transition to the eye and Aikman gets hurt and then
Barry goes back to running the option and away they go.
And so yeah, he said, he's just you talking about
Coach Swisser and just the unbelievable confidence and ara that
he had.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
And I think now to.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
Think about putting seventy plus points on people running the wisp, Bawn,
it's kind of crazy. That speaks to the talent that
was an ou that you could beat people to sleep
running the ball on every play.
Speaker 6 (20:32):
So let me jump in on this.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
So this eighty five team that we just honored, Troy
Aikman was the starter to start the season, So think
about that, a future number one pick. He goes down.
You guys will remember this name. We were kids. I
mean I was eleven years old.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
Remember Jamail Holloway, real Holloway. Yeah, freshman, true freshman comes in.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
Everyone probably thought the sky was falling that Troy Aikman
got hurt. Jamail Holloway, true freshman comes in and leads
him to a national championship. And I'll tell you what,
Coach Switzer still believes that we could run the wishbone.
Wishbone would work in today's football and he could score
seventy points.
Speaker 6 (21:07):
We've had that conversation.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
He said that. He says that all the time. He says,
I believing.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
All the time that hey, the first major college with
elite athletes that ran the wishbulle win a national title.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
He swears by it, he says all the time.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
So I had I got had to get up and
speak in front of that group on Saturday and just
doing a little research. So here's the difference in college
football now. That Oklahoma team had eighteen running backs on
the roster. We have six on the roster right now,
and they only had eight wide receivers.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
And they call him blockers there, Jim that what at
that time, they're not called wide receivers. They were called Yeah,
oh that is fantastic. Last one for me, just out
of curiosity, Uh, what is your busiest day of the week.
I'm just curious about the the flow here. So your
busiest day of the week, and like what does that
day look like? Give us a little breakdown of someone
(22:06):
that's in your role in a program like this. Give
me give me a busy day and what that could entail?
Speaker 6 (22:14):
Monday's definitely the busiest.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
I mean, Sunday, we come in and watch the tape
from the day before, download as the staff that way,
get with the sports performance team after they've seen all
the players and go over the injury stuff, injury report
and what that's going to look like for the upcoming week.
But then Monday it's just heavy meetings, you know, heavy
staff meetings with coaches, our scouting staff. Yeah, Monday, mondays,
(22:39):
I feel like I'm in meetings from eight am till
about four pm and then try to get a workout
in and then get back in, watch a little more
tape and head home. But yeah, Monday is definitely the
busiest day in season at least.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Yeah, yeah, all right, all right, neg ahead of you,
big game.
Speaker 7 (22:56):
I hate to say, like you and I go way
back to our time with the Packers, and I've always
been like the biggest fan.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I support you wholeheartedly.
Speaker 7 (23:02):
But now we're rivals because my daughter is at the
University of Texas. He's a freshman. I forgot and so
now so now it's personal. So now so now as
a as a as a Longhorn parent, I have to
throw up to hook him.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
On Saturday, and it pains me. We're sitting on the
opposite sides for the first time ever. But yeah, I
think we're sarking them.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
You better rethink that, man, You better rethink that. If
Texas were to win, tuition is probably going up, man,
So you better you better rethink that strategy.
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Look, it can't get much higher, like like like like,
it's like sugar on top. I mean, what are we
talking about when it comes to well Buck.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
If it were any other week, I would congratulate you
on your daughter because that.
Speaker 6 (23:54):
Is that is a great academic school.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
But not not this week. Maybe.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Hey, this has been fun nags. Everybody shooting, not just us.
Everybody will be watching this weekend. It's really one of
the great traditions in college football, one of the great matchups.
I can't wait for it and excited for you to
experience it firsthand. Here man, we appreciate your time, appreciate
your friendship.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Yeah, I appreciate you guys. It's amazing.
Speaker 5 (24:18):
I'm so fired up for Saturday because the only two boat,
the only two really big rivalry games that I've never
been to is a scout We're ou Texas and Army Navy.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
So oh wow, Wow, first time.
Speaker 5 (24:29):
I'm getting on. I'm checking one off the list. So yeah,
we can't wait. Heading down here to Dallas here in
a little bit. But appreciate you guys having me on.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
This is fun. It's always a lot of fun. But
great to see you guys.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
You're the best buddy. We'll be watching. We'll catch up soon.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
Okay, take care guys.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
All right, buck Well, there he goes. Great conversation with
our good friend Jim Naggy.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
There.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Interesting job, man, That's why I'm just kind of curious
of like some of the behind the scenes and what
that looks like. Man, it's again, I think you asked
the question that I was thinking of too, is man
training your eyes on high school kids? After being in
the NFL space for so long and even at the
Senior Bowl, you're looking at the best of the best
of college football, and then all of a sudden, now
you're watching a seventeen year old kid trying to project
(25:13):
what he's going to look like in three years.
Speaker 7 (25:15):
I mean, in a weird way, DJ, It's it's like
my life going from watching an NFL game on Sunday
coming back to high school practice on Monday, and just
like the start differences between just the skill level.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
And those things. But I think for him and Lake
and the rest of that staff, it has to be.
Speaker 7 (25:31):
An unusual situation, right because your eyes have to go
all over the gamut in terms of looking at guys
that are getting ready to go pros because they want
your advice about what do you think my draft stock
is going to be? To then in the portal trying
to build a championship program, to now the recruiting process,
and trying to project out how a seventeen eighteen year
old kid is going to advance over a four or
(25:53):
five year run. That is a lot to joke when
he talks about a ten man staff, that's man, that's
a lot.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
And we didn't get a chance to.
Speaker 7 (25:59):
Talk about like working together with the head coach in
terms of building the ideal team that the head coach once.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I mean a lot of different challenges when it comes
to it.
Speaker 7 (26:09):
But I'm excited to have so many friends of ours
that are in that business because we talked about it
like four or five years ago that we knew it
was heading that way. But man, I don't think any
of us saw us so at exploding like has exploded now.
Where the collegiate game is literally like minor league NFL ball.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
So one of the things I want to get your
thoughts on as someone who is a coach, how would
you handle what he referenced on there with players sharing,
they share all their information. You can't stop them from
doing that, so you know what players are making. He
referenced one coach saying he thought his locker room kind
of fell apart when some of the older guys found
out how much the younger guys were making. But if
you're going to stand up in front of the room,
(26:53):
you are the GM at a blue blood program and
you got to get up in front of the room
and try and cut that off at the past. What
would your message be to the team about that that
specific thing?
Speaker 7 (27:02):
One. I think you have to be transparent, and I
think is very similar to what Jimmy Johnson used to say. Hey,
we're gonna treat everyone fairly, but we're not treating everyone equally.
And the better to performance into production, the more the
pay is going to be.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
But I think you have to get in front of it.
Speaker 7 (27:17):
What I would like to do is kind of have
a rite of passage, try and put all of the
guys that come in the young guys kind of like
a set system where the older guys are rewarded and
make the young guys earn their.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Keep before we pay them. So if you won't get them,
I've heard that.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
I've heard coaches said, look, our program is going to
be incentive based, like, once you perform, we will pay you. Well,
guess what, a kid's got an offer for a million
bucks coming in the front door. He's not going to
buy that.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
I just think I just think it's hard from the
chemistry of the locker room. If you have like a
freshman who hasn't proven it making whatever, Like, I just
think it can kind of do it. So like my take,
I would try and do it that way because I
think it's really hard. If you pay the the high
school recruit a million dollars, then he shows up and
he doesn't look like a million dollars.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
That happen every It's going to happen in every building.
I just don't know how you even get in the
game with the four with a high four star or
a five star talented kid and you need talent.
Speaker 7 (28:14):
I get it, and I guess I guess it depends
on where you're at. But I think also you remember
you talked about the care factor. Yeah, when you're at
a dependent on where you are, when you're at Ohio
State or whatever, like, you still want it to be
as close to the ball as it can be in
terms of like, hey, let's a competitive environment.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
So whatever you make, you make.
Speaker 7 (28:31):
But the people that play here are the people that
earn the right to play. And I think it's a
unique trick. I think you have to be able to
like build it out. I'm not envious in anybody because
without a salary cap, I mean, it is the wild
wild West when.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
It comes to acquiring players and trying to put it together. Whatever.
Speaker 7 (28:49):
I don't envy any of these teams, and I do
believe that's why you can see a situation where two
years ago Florida State was at the top of the world,
and then last year they're struggling because the inequities of everything,
like it is a.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Chemistry experiment with a lot of money being thrown at
to players.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Yeah, I almost think the because I thought about that, Like,
what would your answer approach be. You still want to bring
in talented players, so you're going to have some younger
kids who are making more than haven't proven anything, and
you're going to have some younger kids come in who
don't end up being very good, and they're going to
look like, well, if that guy's making that, I should
be making this. I think that you have to get
the team in the room and say, guys, we we
(29:25):
did what we needed to do to get all of
you in this room, and some of you came in
making more money than others. It will have zero impact
on who it plays, zero impact on who plays. And
these are the dollars like, these are the These are
the quarters. Like the money that we're talking about out
but it seems like a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
But these are the quarters.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
The dollars are what's off into the NFL and off
into your professional future. So we got everybody in here
that we could and as you perform and play well,
you will be rewarded for that. But there are going
to be some guys who come in making more or
less than others. But if you keep your focus on
handling your business, two things, you're going to play and
number two, you're going to get opportunities to make the
(30:01):
real money in the future. So don't get too caught
up in what this money looks like for the younger guys.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
You know what it sounds like.
Speaker 7 (30:08):
What you just sound what you just said sounds a
lot like what Pete Carroll used to talk about when
he was in Seattle when they had to make Russell
Wilson the starter even though they paid Matt Flynn a
ton of money. Hey, what we pay you is the
cost of doing business. When you play is old school football,
where you have to earn the right to be able
to do it. But I think it's a very transparent conversation.
(30:31):
I think if you're transparent with the players and everyone
knows what the rules of engagement are, you have a
better chance of keeping the team together. I think is
when you're operating in secret and no one knows. I
think you have to put it out there, like you said,
and everyone knows, and those who are okay with it
are going to be in your program, and those who
aren't aren't for you.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
But I think you have to be okay with that
kind of approach.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
The other thing, I don't know how you could even
do it. I don't know what the rules are on this,
because I don't think you can do I don't think
you can do performance based like contracts, not that I
know of, but one of the things I was thinking of. Man,
it'd be easy way to raise money if you went
to some boosters and said, hey, if we win ten games,
everybody on the whole team gets a bump, you know from.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Where they're Yeah, you know what I mean. It's kind
of like you're building that.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
Hey, at the end of the day, let's try and
get this together and we're all gonna be rewarded.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Yeah, Like if you.
Speaker 7 (31:17):
Put some team based incentives and you do some things
like that, Like yeah, I mean, look at DJ I
think some of those things haven't an opportunity to work.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I think you have to be creative. I think you
have to find a way to do it within the rules.
Speaker 7 (31:29):
But yeah, there's a way to handle this because obviously
there's some people that are.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Finding a way to get it done. You know, Yeah,
no question. All right.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
This was a fun one. Great to catch up with
our buddy Jim Naggy. Looking forward to watching that big
time game Texas Oklahoma. I didn't get better than that.
Some other really good games on the schedule this weekend
as well. It's a good weekend of college football.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
We're back tomorrow with Randow episode.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
We appreciate you here on move
Speaker 5 (31:52):
The sticks, scents puts the open s
Hosts And Creators
Daniel Jeremiah
Bucky Brooks
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Dateline NBC
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