Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
On Friday afternoon about five o'clock, we'll start our pregame coverage.
UTSA and FIU will play in the SURT Pro First
Responder Ball on Friday night, starting at seven. Corey Brooks
is the voice of the Panthers. Tell me about this season.
I haven't really paid a lot of attention to FIU
this year, and all of a sudden, the seven and
five team and a great season in Conference USA.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
What was the secret sauce this year?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Well, the secret sauce on the field was the guy
who's been here for a minute, and Keanoen just been
absolutely electric and Panther fans kind of knew he had
that in story's hometown. Guy went to school at Miami
Central and has run hard from day one, and baby
was able to translate that this year in a really
meaningful way. That obviously drove the Panther offense and he
was the USA Offensive Player of the Year as a result.
(00:47):
But overall, it's in renewed energy with first year head
coach Willie Simmons being able to bring a fun but
very hard working mentality to this team, and it's shown
even in their losses for the most part, down the
stretching Conference USA play. They're fiercely competitive. You look at
the two teams that played for the Conference USA title,
Western Kentucky and Jacksonville State. FIU beat both of them,
(01:09):
including going to Western Kentucky beating them pretty soundly. So
it's a group that's playing their best football right now
comes in a very good time as we get ready
to head in to Friday night talk.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
About Willie Simmons and how he has kind of resurrected
the program as well. You need a dynamic coach and
then you need a an administrative staff that's willing to
go along with that. We've experienced that with Jeff Traylor
at UTSA.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
What's Willy been like.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Well, it's exactly right, Andy. It's that synergy between all
three parts, right, Athletic director Scott Carr, head coach Willie Simmons,
and the new president Fyu Janette Nunez all committed to
making this thing work. And that's exactly what's happened. Willie
Simmons has put together a staff that is Florida first,
which exactly like coach Trailer, Right, these are the two
states you want to recruit. FIU wants to recruit Texas.
(01:53):
UTSA wants to recruit excuse me, IFI, you wants to
cruit Florida. UCFA wants to recruit Texas. These are the
spots where talent comes from. You identified that exactly what
coach Traylor did, and each has really locked in on
that recruiting area, developing that talent pipeline, and all the
while creating a place that guys want to come to
because at this end of the day, it's recruiting, so
(02:14):
you have to be able to sell that program. It's
exactly what both the road Runners and the Panthers have done.
It's been a really fun year. Guys have resonated with it.
It's a really strong class coming in of both high
school junior college players plus whatever happens in the next
three weeks, and that's going to be what happened.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, it's the what if thing? Is it? Who are
you going to be able to keep?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yep, that's what we're all trying to figure out at
this level. That's the name of the game.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
All right, it's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
This thing is called the first respondable because we're all
going to have to respond to guys opting.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Out absolutely all right, let's you know you mentioned that
you got this Florida Texas thing going. I look at
i fi u's roster and it's littered with Florida players,
and obviously Utsas is the same with Texas players. Does
anybody ever talk about the Florida Texas high school football
rivalry when two Florida Florida and in a Texas team
(03:01):
play each other.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I do, so that's at least one. But it's always interesting,
right because these are the two spots that are really
going after each other for the single greatest developer of
high school talent. And sometimes you can break it down
by position if they want to get into the nitty gritty.
Texas tends to have some of the better alignements, some
of the better quarterbacks, the skill position guys out of
Florida tend to be better, and it's always that competition
(03:24):
of back and forth. So yes, I think it's kind
of maybe unspoken. Guys don't maybe talk about it as
much in their day to day, but there is definitely
that connection of we want to be the state of
high school football, and Florida has kind of that natural
built in athleticism coming from the muck, as we say,
and rising all the way to the top. And of
(03:44):
course we know the resources that are put into high
school football here in the state of Texas, they tend
to produce a pretty good play.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, sixteen million dollars stadiums going up to seventy and
eighty million dollars stadiums for five high school games.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
That's kind of strange, a little bit different, and that's
not the case in rural Florida, so different in that regard.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
All Right, talk about the offense and key on Jenkins. Jenkins,
what does he do so dynamic that makes the offense go?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
He want's a really really good escape artist and I
think people when they first look at him they think
dual threat, and that's not what he really wants to do.
He is a pure passer of the football. He's the
guy who the last few years, coming into this year,
has rewritten record books of longins receivers and now this
year it's a much more spread out attack, so you
don't have that one guy who's gone well over one
(04:30):
case lost a Alex Perry has done a really really
good job as the wide receiver one. But Kewan's very cerebral,
He's very escapable. He does a nice job of making
the decisions that need to be made, and alongside it,
Joe Pezanski, a guy that's played a lot for FYU,
may very well go in this bowl game. We'll see.
It's kind of right between the two quarterbacks right now,
very very similar. Has played a lot of college football,
(04:51):
did so at a very high level at Holy Cross
for coach Chesney, who would then go on to put
JMU in the position there in right now in the
college football playoffs. So a guy that's been really good
coaching has translated that football IQ to FYU. Both these
quarterbacks have done a great job. Of course, it's all
made easier when you've got a guy like kJ Owens
running the football like he is and a guy like
Alex Perry is wide receiver one who is that big safety,
(05:14):
blanket target that just smooths out the process. So much
for whoever's playing quarterback for fy.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
You Cory Brooks joining us. He's the voice of the
FIU Panthers UTSA in Florida and National. On Friday afternoon
and evening, we started five game kicks at seven. Let's
talk about the defense. Teams don't win unless they have
good defenses. I assume FIU's got one.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, there's no doubt about it. And it's all of
that one degree of separation because right at the heart
of the FYU defense, the guy wearing the green dot
is Johnny Cheney, who played linebacker for Willie Simmons when
coach Simmons was the head coach at Florida A and M.
So it's those ties at buying guys and Johnny has
really been the gel at the heart of it. But
across the board, it's a defense that's been very, very strong.
(05:55):
You look at that defensive line, which is really the
reason FYU is playing their best football right now, because
that defensive line is playing it's best football right now.
Dante Anderson has been a turnover generation machine right at
the heart of it. Kegan Davis the heart and soul
of this defense from day one ken and Simmons has
continued to produce olos U Kami Agnloyer. That big DT
doesn't get the numbers love because that's the nature of
(06:17):
the position. But he's done a really, really nice job.
And again that middle linebacker group headlined by Cheney, but
you got Percy Courteney, Josiah Taylor, those guys have all
been locked in high football IQ at the middle linebacker spot,
which is exactly what you want, and the secondary that's
where the fund's going to be because that's where the
opt outs have kind of hit FYU. There's a couple
of really really good players who will remain back there.
(06:39):
Shmir Sterlin is one of the best young safeties anywhere
in America. And then at that cornerback spot, Chaevyon Celestin
has played really, really well. The guys around them going
to be doing some learning on the go here. But
if you had to pick the deepest position coming into
the year for FYU, it probably would have been default.
It's a spot where they're comfortable taking those bodies and
(07:00):
you have that old school next man up mentality.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I was talking to the coaches and players this week
before they left for Dallas, and we talk about bye
weeks and the going into a bye week you want
to win so you don't have the bad taste in
your mouth. And I said, you're about to go into
a thirty six week bye week basically until we play again.
How important is winning for next year? And they all
said it was really important, and for those that are
(07:23):
coming back, as FIU thought along those same lines.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
There's no question. You look at it. FYU hasn't lost
the game in over a month, and so now there's
a massive opportunity to take a huge winning streak into
the offseason. It was the November to Remember for FIU
in which they go for and oh, translating a lot
of belief and a lot of preseason work into that success,
and now it's the best winning streak they've ever had
since the Joint Conference USA. So you keep that momentum going,
(07:49):
you get a Bowl win, which is something that both
programs can count on one hand the number of times
they've done because of the youth of both FYU and
UTSA as football programs, So you get a lot of
eyes on you on national TV. So you get that
part of the momentum. But just taking a huge winning
streak into next year, into what will just be the
second year of Willie Simmons. Yeah, this game matters a lot.
(08:10):
I know there's a lot of national conversation bowl games
don't matter anymore. I think this is incredibly important for
both that FYU and the road Runners.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Well, I think Bowl games matter because at the root
of all of this, these players, at sometime in their
life were playing for fun. It's become a transactional sport.
But at the root of it, some of these guys
are going to put on the pads for the last time.
Basketball players can play a pickup game until they're seventy.
Football players aren't going to organize a pickup football game
with full contact pads much after they finish playing football.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, it's kind of funny how we sometimes forget it's
a game, right that at its core is what the
whole thing is about. And yeah, it's morphed a little bit,
but there's definitely a lot of guys who have been
around this FYU program who have taken a lot of punches,
a lot of body blows, some tough seasons. For those guys,
it's as meaningful as ever for the younger guys to
round them sellbrading those who have put their career, their
(09:02):
literal bodies on the line to get to this point.
It's exceptionally meaningful. And a few opt outs here there,
that's the nature of it, And ultimately it's good for
these guys to be able to get paid and get
the value they deserve. So for the players that are here,
it's still incredibly, incredibly meaningful and it does get overlooked
a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
All right, Corey, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We'll look forward to seeing you on Friday in Dallas
and enjoy your time in Texas. We'll see what happens
Saturday or Friday night when these two teams play.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
You bet I can't wait to be a fun game.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
All right.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
That's Corey Brooks, voice of the FIU Panthers. We've got
more coming up. It's the Andy Everage Show. On the
ticket
On Friday afternoon about five o'clock, we'll start our pregame coverage.
UTSA and FIU will play in the SURT Pro First
Responder Ball on Friday night, starting at seven. Corey Brooks
is the voice of the Panthers. Tell me about this season.
I haven't really paid a lot of attention to FIU
this year, and all of a sudden, the seven and
five team and a great season in Conference USA.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
What was the secret sauce this year?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Well, the secret sauce on the field was the guy
who's been here for a minute, and Keanoen just been
absolutely electric and Panther fans kind of knew he had
that in story's hometown. Guy went to school at Miami
Central and has run hard from day one, and baby
was able to translate that this year in a really
meaningful way. That obviously drove the Panther offense and he
was the USA Offensive Player of the Year as a result.
(00:47):
But overall, it's in renewed energy with first year head
coach Willie Simmons being able to bring a fun but
very hard working mentality to this team, and it's shown
even in their losses for the most part, down the
stretching Conference USA play. They're fiercely competitive. You look at
the two teams that played for the Conference USA title,
Western Kentucky and Jacksonville State. FIU beat both of them,
(01:09):
including going to Western Kentucky beating them pretty soundly. So
it's a group that's playing their best football right now
comes in a very good time as we get ready
to head in to Friday night talk.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
About Willie Simmons and how he has kind of resurrected
the program as well. You need a dynamic coach and
then you need a an administrative staff that's willing to
go along with that. We've experienced that with Jeff Traylor
at UTSA.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
What's Willy been like.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Well, it's exactly right, Andy. It's that synergy between all
three parts, right, Athletic director Scott Carr, head coach Willie Simmons,
and the new president Fyu Janette Nunez all committed to
making this thing work. And that's exactly what's happened. Willie
Simmons has put together a staff that is Florida first,
which exactly like coach Trailer, Right, these are the two
states you want to recruit. FIU wants to recruit Texas.
(01:53):
UTSA wants to recruit excuse me, IFI, you wants to
cruit Florida. UCFA wants to recruit Texas. These are the
spots where talent comes from. You identified that exactly what
coach Traylor did, and each has really locked in on
that recruiting area, developing that talent pipeline, and all the
while creating a place that guys want to come to
because at this end of the day, it's recruiting, so
(02:14):
you have to be able to sell that program. It's
exactly what both the road Runners and the Panthers have done.
It's been a really fun year. Guys have resonated with it.
It's a really strong class coming in of both high
school junior college players plus whatever happens in the next
three weeks, and that's going to be what happened.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, it's the what if thing? Is it? Who are
you going to be able to keep?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yep, that's what we're all trying to figure out at
this level. That's the name of the game.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
All right, it's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
This thing is called the first respondable because we're all
going to have to respond to guys opting.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Out absolutely all right, let's you know you mentioned that
you got this Florida Texas thing going. I look at
i fi u's roster and it's littered with Florida players,
and obviously Utsas is the same with Texas players. Does
anybody ever talk about the Florida Texas high school football
rivalry when two Florida Florida and in a Texas team
(03:01):
play each other.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I do, so that's at least one. But it's always interesting,
right because these are the two spots that are really
going after each other for the single greatest developer of
high school talent. And sometimes you can break it down
by position if they want to get into the nitty gritty.
Texas tends to have some of the better alignements, some
of the better quarterbacks, the skill position guys out of
Florida tend to be better, and it's always that competition
(03:24):
of back and forth. So yes, I think it's kind
of maybe unspoken. Guys don't maybe talk about it as
much in their day to day, but there is definitely
that connection of we want to be the state of
high school football, and Florida has kind of that natural
built in athleticism coming from the muck, as we say,
and rising all the way to the top. And of
(03:44):
course we know the resources that are put into high
school football here in the state of Texas, they tend
to produce a pretty good play.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, sixteen million dollars stadiums going up to seventy and
eighty million dollars stadiums for five high school games.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
That's kind of strange, a little bit different, and that's
not the case in rural Florida, so different in that regard.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
All Right, talk about the offense and key on Jenkins. Jenkins,
what does he do so dynamic that makes the offense go?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
He want's a really really good escape artist and I
think people when they first look at him they think
dual threat, and that's not what he really wants to do.
He is a pure passer of the football. He's the
guy who the last few years, coming into this year,
has rewritten record books of longins receivers and now this
year it's a much more spread out attack, so you
don't have that one guy who's gone well over one
(04:30):
case lost a Alex Perry has done a really really
good job as the wide receiver one. But Kewan's very cerebral,
He's very escapable. He does a nice job of making
the decisions that need to be made, and alongside it,
Joe Pezanski, a guy that's played a lot for FYU,
may very well go in this bowl game. We'll see.
It's kind of right between the two quarterbacks right now,
very very similar. Has played a lot of college football,
(04:51):
did so at a very high level at Holy Cross
for coach Chesney, who would then go on to put
JMU in the position there in right now in the
college football playoffs. So a guy that's been really good
coaching has translated that football IQ to FYU. Both these
quarterbacks have done a great job. Of course, it's all
made easier when you've got a guy like kJ Owens
running the football like he is and a guy like
Alex Perry is wide receiver one who is that big safety,
(05:14):
blanket target that just smooths out the process. So much
for whoever's playing quarterback for fy.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
You Cory Brooks joining us. He's the voice of the
FIU Panthers UTSA in Florida and National. On Friday afternoon
and evening, we started five game kicks at seven. Let's
talk about the defense. Teams don't win unless they have
good defenses. I assume FIU's got one.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, there's no doubt about it. And it's all of
that one degree of separation because right at the heart
of the FYU defense, the guy wearing the green dot
is Johnny Cheney, who played linebacker for Willie Simmons when
coach Simmons was the head coach at Florida A and M.
So it's those ties at buying guys and Johnny has
really been the gel at the heart of it. But
across the board, it's a defense that's been very, very strong.
(05:55):
You look at that defensive line, which is really the
reason FYU is playing their best football right now, because
that defensive line is playing it's best football right now.
Dante Anderson has been a turnover generation machine right at
the heart of it. Kegan Davis the heart and soul
of this defense from day one ken and Simmons has
continued to produce olos U Kami Agnloyer. That big DT
doesn't get the numbers love because that's the nature of
(06:17):
the position. But he's done a really, really nice job.
And again that middle linebacker group headlined by Cheney, but
you got Percy Courteney, Josiah Taylor, those guys have all
been locked in high football IQ at the middle linebacker spot,
which is exactly what you want, and the secondary that's
where the fund's going to be because that's where the
opt outs have kind of hit FYU. There's a couple
of really really good players who will remain back there.
(06:39):
Shmir Sterlin is one of the best young safeties anywhere
in America. And then at that cornerback spot, Chaevyon Celestin
has played really, really well. The guys around them going
to be doing some learning on the go here. But
if you had to pick the deepest position coming into
the year for FYU, it probably would have been default.
It's a spot where they're comfortable taking those bodies and
(07:00):
you have that old school next man up mentality.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I was talking to the coaches and players this week
before they left for Dallas, and we talk about bye
weeks and the going into a bye week you want
to win so you don't have the bad taste in
your mouth. And I said, you're about to go into
a thirty six week bye week basically until we play again.
How important is winning for next year? And they all
said it was really important, and for those that are
(07:23):
coming back, as FIU thought along those same lines.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
There's no question. You look at it. FYU hasn't lost
the game in over a month, and so now there's
a massive opportunity to take a huge winning streak into
the offseason. It was the November to Remember for FIU
in which they go for and oh, translating a lot
of belief and a lot of preseason work into that success,
and now it's the best winning streak they've ever had
since the Joint Conference USA. So you keep that momentum going,
(07:49):
you get a Bowl win, which is something that both
programs can count on one hand the number of times
they've done because of the youth of both FYU and
UTSA as football programs, So you get a lot of
eyes on you on national TV. So you get that
part of the momentum. But just taking a huge winning
streak into next year, into what will just be the
second year of Willie Simmons. Yeah, this game matters a lot.
(08:10):
I know there's a lot of national conversation bowl games
don't matter anymore. I think this is incredibly important for
both that FYU and the road Runners.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Well, I think Bowl games matter because at the root
of all of this, these players, at sometime in their
life were playing for fun. It's become a transactional sport.
But at the root of it, some of these guys
are going to put on the pads for the last time.
Basketball players can play a pickup game until they're seventy.
Football players aren't going to organize a pickup football game
with full contact pads much after they finish playing football.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, it's kind of funny how we sometimes forget it's
a game, right that at its core is what the
whole thing is about. And yeah, it's morphed a little bit,
but there's definitely a lot of guys who have been
around this FYU program who have taken a lot of punches,
a lot of body blows, some tough seasons. For those guys,
it's as meaningful as ever for the younger guys to
round them sellbrading those who have put their career, their
(09:02):
literal bodies on the line to get to this point.
It's exceptionally meaningful. And a few opt outs here there,
that's the nature of it, And ultimately it's good for
these guys to be able to get paid and get
the value they deserve. So for the players that are here,
it's still incredibly, incredibly meaningful and it does get overlooked
a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
All right, Corey, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We'll look forward to seeing you on Friday in Dallas
and enjoy your time in Texas. We'll see what happens
Saturday or Friday night when these two teams play.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
You bet I can't wait to be a fun game.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
All right.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
That's Corey Brooks, voice of the FIU Panthers. We've got
more coming up. It's the Andy Everage Show. On the
ticket
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