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August 22, 2025 14 mins
Former UTSA football player turned media member, Darrien Starling, joins the show.
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
It is a week away from the start of most
college football games, although there are a few that are
going to start today, including the well they got games
starting tomorrow. The one in Ireland is the big one
with Iowa State and Kansas State. But everything gets underway
for real next week. UTSA is going to be at
Texas A and m Texas is going to be at
Ohio State, and lots of college football discussion coming up

(00:27):
next week. He was one of the original seventeen at UTSA.
Darien Starling played for Larry Coker and the original Roadrunners
back in the day. He's now writing for Sporting News,
among other things. Darian, good afternoon. How's it going in
your world these days?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Everything's going great, man. I really appreciate your having me
on all right.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
I want you to go back to twenty eleven and
even before that, when you decided to play football at UTSA,
and remember where you were and what UTSA has become. Now.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
In your wildest dreams, did you think it would happen
this fast?

Speaker 2 (01:01):
I definitely didn't see it happening as fast as it has.
I definitely had. They sold us on a big dream
to get us to commit to come down to San
Antonio and start the football program. But we knew right
from the beginning that it was sort of a taunt
in order to make some of the big accomplishment that
they've had at this particular point in time. So seeing

(01:24):
where they've come now and where they are now, I
didn't I thought it would take twenty years for UTSA
to get a conference championship and those sorts of things
and actually be a big time player in G five football.
So it was really excited to see.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
He wrote an article in Sporting News recently about how
UTSA can win the conference, and winning the conference considering
what also happens in the non conference, may get UTSA
in a spot where they could be in the college
football playoff.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
What do you see with.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
This UTSA team that makes you so excited about that possibility.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, I think it's continuity. Right when you look at
the offense, they were turning about eleven spots from last
season's offense, and I think that's important, especially at that
quarterback position. When you look at the rest of the
American Conference, a lot of their opponents are usher need
new quarterbacks, right. That's going to take time for those
guys to build chemistry with the new receivers that they'll
be throwing to, an offensive lineman going to have to

(02:22):
come together and understand how to really protect that quarterback
and UKSA does not have to do that. Then when
you also look at UTSA schedule, it's just in their favor, right,
UKSA under Jeff Trailer is twenty nine and three at
home and they hadn't lost the home game since November
of twenty twenty three. So you take that into considerations,

(02:43):
and you look at ucsa's toughest games on the schedule
from a conference standpoint, both of those games that are
at home, and I'm talking about the games to get
tu Wlane an army. So to me, it's a really
clear pathway to a conference championship appear if they take
care of business at home. So I think UTSA, with

(03:04):
that continuity they have on offense, they have a really
good shot to make some noise this year.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
The twenty nine to three record, and I don't know
how many Roadrunner fans realize this, but I think it's
Clemson and Ohio State are the only two schools that
have a better home record in the last five years
than UTSA does. It's been great for the Roadrunners. But
even when you played the atmosphere and the noise in
that building with less people than we have now, even

(03:29):
though you had the record for the first game, talk
about what that Alamodome atmosphere is like for a player.
I know what it's like with I mean, my ears
are ringing after the game and I'm wearing a headset
for seven hours. So talk what it's like as a
player when you're in that atmosphere in that building.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh, it's incredible. I mean, it just gives you so
much energy. Right, Like I did get the benefit of
like those first few seasons when football and like San
Antonio was really behind it. So we were planning for
those thirty plus thousand fans almost every week. Right in
those first few games, that was like fifty thousand. Then
we had a big time forty thousand of the game afterwards.

(04:07):
It was just huge. Man, it's electric. It screws up
the opposing offense, you know, timing and their calls and
things like that, and it's just a huge help. And
I don't think fans realize sometimes how big of an
impact that they can have on a game, just bringing
that energy, because it creates the momentum for the home

(04:28):
team with UTSA, and it makes it tough on the
opponents that come to the dome. So it's a huge,
huge benefit and it was incredible being able to be
the beneficiary event whenever I was there.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
Darien Starling's joining us.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
He played for UTSA with the original teams back in
twenty eleven and the years after that and writing now
for the Sporting News. Jeff Trailer is one of those coaches.
And I think you experienced this a little bit with
Larry Kocher, although it was kind of in the twilight
of his career. Talk about having a coach like Jeff.
I'm not sure how much you've gotten to talk to
him and get to know him, But to me, I'm

(05:05):
sixty one years old and I want to run through
a wall for him. Sometimes there's just certain coaches that
have that ara that that's what you want to do
and as and are very relatable to players.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Of course. Man, he's a great, great coach. I've I
got an opportunity this summer. I came down there to
the to the spring game or not spring game, sorry,
the last practice of their spring to watch their scrimmage,
and I got an opportunity to talk to him for
a little bit one on one, and like even just
that conversation, just hear and how passionate he is about

(05:39):
UTSA and the plans that he has going forward to
what he wants for the program. It's just huge, man.
So I can tell that just being around that the
players love him. All the former players that I've talked
to who's played for him had nothing but the best
things to say for him. So even just listening to
him talk on you know, any type of interviewer whatever,

(06:00):
he's on the radio doing his own show, He's just
someone that just it just feels like you can relate
to everything he says. Right, So I think I hope
that he stays for a very long time because he's
he's some specialist.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
All right, You did not get the benefit of nil
and revenue share and all that. Your thoughts on the
players now getting that, and as a player, I know
we talk about this as fans and coaches talk about this.
That further the competitive nature of things. There's got to
be some kind of rules in place in the future
which are not there now. But how do you weigh

(06:37):
that out with you know, the perspective of what that
money can do for you as a player when you're
in school, and then also making it a fair playing
field for everyone.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, I'm definitely happy that the that the players are
getting paid now. It would definitely helped if I was
able to benefit from that because we didn't have anything
at that time. But yeah, I mean, listen, I definitely
think they need to find some sort of balance, right
because one of the things, one of the I think
things that are that's huge right now is like the
transfer portal too, and how that impacts what players are

(07:09):
gonna play. So you got all these kids moving around
is having an impact on just their schooling in general.
I think the money situation is good, but like, yeah,
they it probably does need some kind of guardrails as
long as it doesn't cap someone's urning potential. So yeah,
I like to see them build some sort of structure

(07:29):
around it to not only protects the schools, but the
athletes too. Right, they still need protection because they still
get taken advantage of their promises that they get that
you know, once they get to some of these schools,
they don't get paid what they thought they were gonna
get paid. So there's just there just needs to be
a little bit more organization around that entire thing. But yeah,

(07:50):
I don't, I don't. I am not in favor of
athletes hey getting capped, but yeah, it needs more guardrails.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
All right, I'm gonna take it back on memory lane
here because the first game you won. The second game
was a disappointment against mc murray. But one of the
things I remember about that first road trip is there
were guys on that twenty eleven team that had never
been in a plane before, and it was kind of
a unique experience because you know, at the time that
was I was, you know, in the forty eight, forty

(08:20):
nine years old, whatever it was. But I can it's
kind of hard to know that there's a lot of
kids and a lot of people that have never experienced that.
Take us through some of those kind of stories and
some of your memories from that original group back in
twenty eleven.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, I was actually one of those kids who hadn't
killed the plane before. So yeah, first that first road trip,
that was my first time on the plane. Yeah, it was.
It was hilarious because all of the guys were just
making fun of making fun of people like me. I
remember one of my teammates Morcilla's Mac. Yeah, it was
mas I remember. I remember like turnning around and looking

(08:58):
over my shoulder and he was heaving in a paper bag. Yeah,
right before takeoff. Right, So yeah, it was a fun experience. Man.
Like we were on planes a lot, but like in
that first year, there was definitely a lot of scary
guys in the beginning get on the plane for the
first time.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
When Larry was hired to be the coach, I thought
it was the perfect hire because it gave the program
instant credibility. There's a lot of programs that had started
are transitioned to the FBS around that same time or
a few years before. I think Western Kentucky moved up
a level, Charlotte moved up a level. Lots of teams

(09:37):
like that, but they didn't have a coach that had
won a national championship and probably should have won another one.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
Talk about the.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
Era that he had on that team and the impact
that he had, and you all knew where he'd been
and knew about the Miami Hurricanes and his success there.
What that meant to the program and to the seventeen
of you guys had started it.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, I mean it was insane man. I think I
always tell people this story, but I mean, when coach
Kocher comes to your house for a recruiting visit, you
don't tell that man. No. But it was a couple
of teams that I was considering at the time, but
whenever they did my, you know, official in home visits,
I was just like, Yeah, I'm not saying no to

(10:16):
that guy. He showed you.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
Did he show you the National Championship ring?

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Oh? Absolutely. He definitely came in. He had it on
his finger and he was like kind of preaying that around.
But I mean, listen, like, he definitely had aura, he
had swag, and he was just somebody who knew winning. Right.
I think one of the things that we appreciated the
most from him was just hearing him whenever he told
stories and gave us life lessons. He was talking about

(10:42):
guys that was on that two thousand Miami team that
won that that won that championship, right, And whenever you
hear it, you hear some of these big names that
played for him, and the Andre Johnson's of the world,
all these types of these big, big time football players
who were legends and Hall of famers and things like
that you listen right, and it's motivating, and it's you know,

(11:03):
it's it's just so much gravity around his presence, and
you know how even the coaches and the staff and
stuff respected him and how they treated him. So it
was huge having him there. And I think that's one
of the reasons UTSA is worth at today because he
injected that first bit of momentum into the program, into

(11:23):
the city, and the other guys have carried the torch.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Darien Starling joining us on the program, UTSA player the
first a few years of the program. What are the
bright spots of the I think this was part of
your time here as well. It was season three when
the Roadrunners played Oklahoma State in the Dome and you
didn't win the game, but they didn't you didn't get
pushed around. I think it was they scored in the

(11:47):
fifties and UTSA scored thirty five or thirty eight, something
like that. And to see a young team take on
a power five school at the time and Big eighteen,
our Big twelve team at the time in that building
was great. Now UTSA has got to go on the
road to play Texas A and m what from Obviously

(12:08):
it's a different situation, different time all that, But what
do you tell players what you've experienced when you were
a heavy underdog playing in environments like Kyle Fielder in
the past dk R.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
You know what, man, if I'm be honest, we were
in a completely different situation, right, Like we we hadn't proven,
you know, proven to ourselves that we were like good
enough to even dream of upsetting the team like that, right,
I mean, we didn't think that at the time. And
I'm just thinking about hindsight, like we were We didn't.
We didn't. We just didn't have some of these experience.
We hadn't reached these highs. And I look at this

(12:43):
Jeff Trailer led team and they've done some big things.
They've won championships, they have that pedigree. So it's a
different type of situation. Is whenever I do my show
on Wednesday's Love on YouTube, a lot of folks have
this belief that you see as they can go in
and shocks to argue, right, And I'm not necessarily on

(13:05):
that road, but like UTSA coming in with an offense
that already had some continuity, They're probably going to score
some points. And I guarantee you Jeff Traylor is telling
his guys like, look, we cannot only go out there
and put up a good performance for ourselves. But you
just never know any given football game, anything crazy can happen.

(13:29):
So I actually think that this is a situation that
he's probably telling this guys, hey, we can go find
a way to pull off an upset here. And I
think there's not a lot of situations in Utsa's like
history that we can go in and say that confidently.
But like, you know, I guarantee you coach. Trailer's coaching
those guys to go out there and win.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
All Right, he said, you got a YouTube show on
Wednesday nights. Tell me about that and where people go
to watch it.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
Yeah, you could just search my name Darian starting on YouTube.
I do a live UTSA show on Wednesdays on my
YouTube channel. So just type in YouTube slash YouTube dot
com slash Darien Starling and yeah, you'll see me there
live everyone there sixteen.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Awesome, Darian, thanks for joining us. We'll do this again
down the road sometime soon. Appreciate your time and birds up.
It'll be a fun season.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
For the Roadrunners first, So thanks Andy.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
All Right, that's Darian Starling, former UTSA player or part
of the original seventeen. This is the fifteenth anniversary of
UTSA football and those original seventeen or part of a
lot of the memories that UTSA is putting on, whether
it's fifteen year celebration. All right, let's talk to Jerry
Jones and what he's had to say about Micah recently.
You'll even hear from Jerry next on the ticket
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