Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's a Friday morning when about seven thirty eight, let's
link up with the sports editor the Grand Forks Tom Miller.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Morning Tom, Good morning guys.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
More Happy birthday, Yeah, happy birthday Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yeah, twenty six. I finally made it.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Tell you what I know how, I know how you're
able to go about your business these days? You you
pretty much are like a twenty six year old still so.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, ye, so spry.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yeah, here we go yesterday. No action on the fields,
uh for practice in regards to you indie football, but
the countdown remains on. In trying to get ready for
Game one against Kansas State and the Wildcats at Bill
Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, A little apple of Kansas
(00:52):
and yeah, what what? What are some of the takeaways
right now? I you know, I in the spring, I
thought the defense looked a little clunky because I felt
like they were trying to learn a lot, and they've
almost felt like the offense was just you know, be
able to you know, be able to get up on them.
Now it seems like the defense when I watch very
(01:15):
quick to react, very you know, running to the ball
really well, are they starting to maybe turn the corner
with kind of understanding and being able to just play
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, I think there's there's uh, you know, some guys
being a little bit more comfortable in their spots. You know,
there's they've they've tried a bunch of different corners opposite
of Ben at Walker and you know, true freshman Grant
Nolan seems to have really made a ton of strides there.
And there's uh, you know, some guys that are relatively
(01:45):
new to their roles that that were factors last year
but are maybe gonna have to be asked to be
a little bit more this year, like a Avery Scott
and Johnny will Shire, you know, Pierce Parks or I'm sorry,
Payne Parks. Isn't a isn't a new role as a
as a starting linebacker and wearing the communication helmet on
the defensive side because now you can not only the
(02:07):
quarterback but also a linebacker can to communicate with a
with a coach pre play this year for the first time.
And so that's that's falling on paying Parks and so
that's new and there's a lot to adjust to an
in fall camp. And I think some guys are developing
a little more confidence as we go here Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
On the offensive side, the quarterback battle continues on and
and I don't know that you've reported anything that I
haven't seen. It seems like even when I come out there,
some days one guy makes a few more plays maybe
down the field that their ball is where it needs
to be, you know. Other days it's another guy. And
so they haven't necessarily said, you know that this guy
(02:50):
is going to be the starter, because I still think
they're trying to figure out who's got the best body
of work, who may go and grab it, because it
really depends on the day, And that's base what you
can conveyed in your daily observations.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, you know, there there could be some level of
gamesmanship right where you there's no real point in naming
the starting quarterback sometimes, you know, why don't you let
Kansas State wonder about it. I also think that there's
no gamesmanship necessarily happening right now because it, like you said,
it changes by the day. And I think, you know,
(03:25):
there's there'll be three four practices strung together, and I think,
boy Jerry Kaminski is starting to look like a confident
quarterback that's taking the reins. And then there's three or
four days where Simon Drumfo clearly has. You know, there's
something special about the way he galvanizes the team when
when he hits on a big play, that sideline erupts
(03:46):
differently than when anybody else HiT's a big play. And
I think that matters. And then and then Javance has
the biggest wild card skill set. You know, does this
staff feel like they they're gonna want to lean into
their strength and and run the football and the quarterback
is going to be a primary part of that. That
(04:06):
might lean towards a a avanced playing time, And I
would I would be stunned if we see just one quarterback.
I knas state I think this thing, I think this
thing needs uh I hate to state it this way,
but I can't think of any other like it needs
live bullets to to determine who's the who's who's the
(04:27):
best option there right now, I don't know if you
can truly get a sense for it anymore in practice,
Like there's some things you can learn, no doubt, but
at the end of the day, how you escape pressures
and you know, how you perform when the lights are
on makes it a different battle. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, do you think that's in some ways hard to
to prepare. It wouldn't be better to have the guy
the guys so you can do the things in practice
that he's going to be doing instead of you know,
this guy than that guy, than this guy, then that guy.
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, yeah, and I you know, I think if there
is something to gain by clearly defining your number one quarterback,
it's to make sure that he's the one making the
throws to b J Fleming and Kyden Dennis, who are
probably going to be the top two wide receivers, that
he's the one handling the snaps from the guy who's
going to snap it to you every time. You know,
(05:27):
you're you are going to hit a point in Paul
camp here where that's going to have to be important
all the way to like, yeah, when you're walking through plays,
you're gonna have to walk through them, you know, especially
if especially if if you would enter down playing Javans,
you know, I think that's probably would then look like
a different plan of attack than that. You know, if
(05:48):
it's Jerry or Simon, you're probably going to feel and
look very similar to what you've been looking like. So
if you're if you're gonna go in that Javant's direction,
You're probably gonna have to pretty soon here start working
through a different part of your playbook.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I would think one of the things I mentioned to
Coach Berg that I've noticed in the times I've been
out to practice that I would like to make sure
that I have more of a sigh of relief on
this as we move forward, because last year I didn't
talk about it as much. Two years ago I talked
about it quite frequently. But I have noticed in practice now,
granted they're moving guys in and out, guys that are
(06:26):
more familiar doing it on every snap basis, but I
have seen a few snaps at feet not where they're
supposed to be, and that's just so disruptive of trying
to make sure that you're able to make something out
of a play for either no yardage positive yardage, but
more often than not, if you have a snap that's
not where it's supposed to be, that is so disruptive
(06:49):
to having down in distance on schedule. And we've seen
that in the past a couple of years ago, how
disruptive it was. Just seeing it a few times in practice,
it gets me a little nervous, That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure you remember at Boise State,
former center kid Bout got the I would say you
got the yips because I never I never saw that before,
and I don't know if we really saw it too
much after, but it destroyed the timing of you know,
the whole Tommy Schuster to bow Belquist dynamic when when
Tommy's got to start a play, you know, uh, playing
(07:26):
defense almost trying to trying to corral that. And and
that does happen in practice from time to time because
it because practice, the practice setting is such a time
to toy around with combinations on the offensive line and
when you you know, you probably don't want your starting
center or your backup center to be making that snap,
(07:48):
but you're often going to see that in a case
where you've got the third or fourth center, uh snap
of the football. But yeah, some recent practice year, they've
they've experimented a bit, let's say, at center, and it's
not always pretty. It's kind of funny. It's been the
center has been missing left and right where usually I
feel like it's it's short or high right. But it's
(08:12):
been a very odd, odd stretch here where the center
keeps missing, uh missing wide. But it's also kind of
fun when Javansk gets a wide snap and he starts
creating on his own. That's kind of when he's at.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
His best, right.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
And I didn't want to specifically point out because as
you mentioned, they they put in a lot of people
to kind of see like, if we have to go
to somebody, we got to know kind of what they're
capable of and stuff like that. So I don't want to,
but you know, I just I call that scar tissue
for me in regards to uh, you know, from from
a couple of seasons ago where we had shoe tops,
(08:45):
you know, having to dig it out out of the
dirt and stuff like that. So you know, that's just
a situation of me reverting back to, oh boy, I
don't want to see that happen too much again. But
you're exactly right, they're trying to find out, Okay, who
else can we go to if there were to be injuries?
Those do happen, So I don't want to you know,
put everybody on on you know, alarm or anything like that.
But those are the things that kind of make me
(09:06):
nervous in the little details of practice, do we know?
You know, last year we kind of had the three
headed running back. Is that still what they want to do?
Is it going to be a two back rotation of
Sawyer and and Gavin? What what do we anticipate there, Tom.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, I think you're gonna see three and maybe even four.
You know, I think, you know, obviously Gavin t bart
and Sawyer's sidle will be a big piece. But I
think there's a role for Xavier Lee the transfer from
Sacred Heart, And I might be saying his name wrong,
it might be Xavior Lee, But I think Xavier provides
(09:47):
a little bit of what they missed with Isaiah Smith
in terms of can do it both. You know, I
think Gavin is obviously a hammer between the tackles and
Sawyer's a home run threat outside the tackles, and I
think they kind of missed a guy who can do both.
And I think that's a little bit of what Xavier's
skill set is. He looks really comfortable catching the ball
out of the backfield. Now, Gavin and Sawyer have seemed
(10:10):
to take some strides in that department. I thought they
looked good, but I but I do think that that's
where Xavier is going to be a big part in
the you know, whether it's the screen game and swing
game check downs. I just think that's maybe where he
fits in, and then and then the dark horse here
and especially it would be it would be meaningful if
there were an injury at one of those three guys,
(10:30):
which there almost always is, you know, through the course
of the season. The next man up is Charles and
I'm gonna butcher his last name too. Gosh, you guys
are putting me on the spots running back pronunciations, But
I think it's Charles lang Gama on, a true freshman
running back out of Maple Grove who has this uh
(10:54):
this load of the ground skill set that like it
reminds me of otis way a little bit of like
I think he's going to be really hard to bring
down and that's just so hard to like fully understand
again until you see it live. You know, I've got
a base understanding of what he can bring, but now
(11:15):
I'm kind of like, Okay, I want to see this
in a game. What does this really look like? So
I think he's a candidate to at least play in
the four games that you're allowed to maintain your red
shirt and maybe an injury dictates more than that.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Well, and like I said, I too when I've seen him,
he just has a good sense of balance just just
almost a second. It's not that he's thinking about it.
It just is who he is when he's in tight spaces.
I mean, that's you could just see it when he
when he's in there. So that's encouraging and exciting to
know that there is a youngster that could possibly even
(11:47):
factor in. Of course, in today's day and age, Hey,
if they only play in four games, they'd still keep
the shirt basically too. So there's that part of it too. Hey,
we've got everybody up and running on both sides of
the river with their preseason camps in high school football
as well. Do we get games next week?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Is that happening?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Gosh? What day is it? Today?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Friday? We're talking about extreme Yeah, we're the race. We're
racing this on on Friday tonight. But I'm almost thinking
we'll pretty soon get games going in the state of
North Dakota, maybe next week or something like that.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I just I just typed out our entire fall master
schedule and I can't recall if it's this Friday, or
you know, if it's a week from today, or if
it's two weeks from today, but it's right around the corner.
It starts with a doubleheader at Cushman. I think there's
a game at four and seven that that opening uh
opening nights that'll be uh. Red River's gonna look brand
(12:38):
new to me. And Central got some reason too. They
got some young guys who gained some experience last year,
so you know, be uh might be a couple of
teams that could be competitive in Grand Forks. Won't be
won't probably won't be the year that red River had
last year, you know, going twelve and one or whatever
it was. So, but but I think the two Grand
Ports schools should certainly be competitive in that middle class.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Yeah, no doubt about it. Again, there's always the hope
for those programs where they're located at now, and you
mentioned Central maybe have some guys that took some lumps
that will utilize that, and red River maybe sometimes a
little refresh and renewal gets everybody excited for their opportunities.
So that's exactly right on that as well. But yeah,
(13:21):
I thought maybe it's this coming week for the state
of North Dakota. I wasn't for certain, but I'll have
to double check on those schedules as well. But Tom,
thanks for dropping in again. A happy birthday to you.
Hopefully you have a good weekend ahead, and we'll talk
to you again next week because then we'll only be
a week away essentially from basically getting a brand new
Undy football season underway. So thanks for this, have a
(13:43):
great week ahead.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Okay, absolutely good to chat with you guys. Take care
all right.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Tom Miller the sports editor of the Grand Forks Herald,
and we appreciate him dropping in with us on Fridays.