Big Matchups in Area HSFB, Injuries Impacting Longhorns O-Line, and Buzz Building for Texas WBB

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
We're in on Thursday, or on the Thursday, we had
Bill Belichick with us, he would say, Or on the Thursday,
or on the Thursday, we're on the Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
We're onto getting you ready for the weekend. Good afternoon,
Welcome to.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
The program here on Sports Radio AM thirteen under the
Zone and where you can always also also listen to
us for free on the iHeartRadio app. My name is
Craig Way. Glad to have you with us this afternoon.
Thank you for joining us. And us of course includes
the producer Jay Carmon, who is getting ready for a

(00:41):
big weekend of his own, right.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
You got a lot going on this weekend, you.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Know, a little less than usual, but still a lot.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
Football Tomorrow night out in bass Drop, and then I'll
be helping work the postgame production here on thirteen under
the Zone with the Third and Longhorn guys after the
Texas at Kentucky game.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Okay, all right, So yeah, there's stuff going on before
we get to the actual weekend, and we hope that
we can help you arrive at the weekend appropriately. We
have several items to get to on the program coming
up a few minutes. We're gonna visit Roger Wallace, my
broadcast partner in long run football talk, some Texas Athletics football,

(01:20):
men's basketball, head SEC media days women's basketball as well,
so we'll visit and and of course they have a
pretty big high school football game tonight, because now we're
to the point where we have crested the halfway mark
of the season for high school football, so now becomes

(01:40):
the real stretch drive for postseason positioning teams challenging for
district titles or in the case of the matchup BS tonight,
two schools fighting to make sure they stay in the
thick of the fight of the playoffs. And Roger will
join us to talk about that about their live telecastle
I have on KBVO tonight inconceivable this hour, and then

(02:03):
in the next hour we're gonna have some fun. Vick Schaeffer,
Texas women's basketball coach, will join us. I had the
opportunity to MC their welcome back celebration last night and
it was a lot of fun, big crowd on hand
for that. And they've got a couple of games coming.
The Orange White Scrimmage is this Sunday afternoon at four o'clock,

(02:25):
and then they have two exhibition games that follow over
the next eight days. After that, they have a game
a week from tonight is the exhibition opener for Texas
women As they'll play Love a Christian.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
They're gonna play.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Two really good programs in their respective divisions, Love a Christian,
and then a week from this Monday, Texas Women's University,
one of the better Division two programs in the country,
will provide the opposition. So they have a couple of exhibitions.
So we'll visit with Vic Shaffer. We'll talk about this
team that he is putting together, the roster pieces that

(03:06):
all coaches hope at this time of year will translate
into developing real team chemistry and a chance to defend
at least their share of, if not out win it
outright the Southeastern Conference championship, their preseason number four in
the polls, and try to go beyond that. So Vick
will have it. In the three o'clock hour, we'll visit

(03:28):
with coach Schaefer. In the four o'clock hour, we're going
to hear from Long Worn's head coach Steve Sarkisian. It's
the final media availability of the week for Long Worn football,
and so we'll hear from Sark from his media availability
this morning, which he does every Thursday via Zoom, mainly

(03:50):
for the local media. Some regional media and a few
national names get on that, but it's mainly a local
Zoom media. So we'll have that comments from coach Sark
that's coming up in the four o'clock hour. Other topics
about there is a Thursday at NFL football.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, I know it's exactly scintillating the matchup the Steelers
and Bengals, but who knows. It is AFC North Division.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
We'll see how the Bengals do with Joe Burrow at
quarterback again the second time.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
And Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
I wouldn't say he's reinvented, but I would say he
has remodeled his game a little bit to fit what
the Steelers need from him. Early on, he's been pretty effective,
and it's not just what he was accustomed to doing
in the earlier days, a lot of deep, deep downfield throws.

(04:44):
This has been more of the screen game, a more
of the short and intermediate game for him, and it
looks like he has adapted to it nicely and the
Steelers are thriving as a result of it.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
And I think what we learned from his time with
the Jets, especially post Achilles injury. If you force Aaron
Rodgers to throw on the move, if you blitz him
and make his life difficult, he is not the Aaron
Rodgers that we have come to know anymore. And the Steelers,
I think I've made that adjustment wisely, getting the ball

(05:15):
out a lot quicker.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
True enough, all right, And then of course there's baseball
going on though, will be plenty of baseball today. The
first of two games starts at five o'clock this afternoon,
as the Nation League Championship Series has shifted to the
West Coast. Now it's in Los Angeles for at least

(05:36):
the next two games and would be free. That's if
Milwaukee can win one of the next two, because the
Dodgers hold a two to zing lead having won both
games in Milwaukee, and so it'll be Game three tonight.
In case you're wondering as a Dodger fan, I was
certainly wondering this as well. When you've been watching the

(06:02):
Dodgers play, you've noticed that even though they're doing well,
and even though they swept Cincinnati in the Wildcards series
and then as the lower seeded team took three out
of four from the Phillies to get to the NLCSN
and won the first two games in Milwaukee for the Brewers,
They're doing this largely without almost any offensive contribution from

(06:27):
showe AO. Tony really struggling at the plate now. He
is scheduled to be the Game four starter tomorrow for
the Dodgers, but he has really struggled, just two for
twenty five with twelve strikeouts since the Wildcard round. He
did have a seventh inning RBI single the other night

(06:50):
on Tuesday Night that snapped. They hit the streak of
fifteen at bats, the longest of his career, and so
the question is coming out now to him, is being
the two way player a little bit too much?

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Right now? The playoffs?

Speaker 1 (07:04):
You pitched Game one pitch well against the Phillies, and
you're due to pitch Game four tomorrow. Is this whole
two way player thing and the work you got to
get done on the side with your throwing as well
as you're hitting, is it taking a toll on you?

Speaker 2 (07:15):
He said through his interpreter.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
I don't necessarily think that the pitching has affected my
hitting performance, just on the pitching side, as long as
I control what I can control. I feel pretty good
about putting up results on the hitting side. Just the stance,
the mechanics, that's something that I do. It's a constant
work in progress. I don't necessarily think so it's hard
to say. He had two home runs against the Reds

(07:38):
in the wildcard round, but against those three outstanding lefties
for the Phillies, he went zero for thirteen against seven strikeouts,
with seven strikeouts against Christopher Sanchez, haesus Lozardo and Rangers.
Suarez and the Brewers tried to follow a similar similar formula.
Aaron Ashby opened Game one o toany was able to

(07:59):
draw a walk there. He faced another lefty reliever and
Jared Kanecky grounded out. Game two, he singled off ash Mean.
He struck out against another lefty reliever, Robert Gasser. Of
his forty plate appearances in these playoffs, twenty two have
come against left handers. He's reached based just three times
against him. So he has struggled, But the Dodgers continue

(08:22):
to find other people. Tay Oscar Hernandez, kyk Hernandez, those
guys who've gone to Mookie. Betts has drawn some walks
when Otani has been intentionally walked, so that kind of stuffed.
So anyway, that's the game this afternoon at five o'clock.
That's on TBS, Dodgers and Brewers Game three, this one
from Los.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Angeles from Dodgers Stadium.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Then tonight at seven point thirty, Game four, as they say,
the always pivotal Game four in the best of seven
series between the Blue Jays and the Mariners. It has
become a pivotal because the Blue Jays bounced back, woke
up and just drubbed the Mariners last night in Game three,
thirteen to four. So Mariners still lead the series. They

(09:05):
won the first two games in Toronto, but now it's
two games to one and Max Scherzer's going to the
mound for the Jays tonight, so that'll be interesting to follow.
That's coming up tonight. Well more on that on baseball
coming up. But up next we'll visit with Roger Wallace
talk some long horn football in high school football when
we continue on thirteen under.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
The zone of the Iart Radio app game.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Glad to have you with us here on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred the Zone, and please, as always to
be joined by my broadcast partner on long Horn football
and also long Corn baseball, and certainly helps us out
also on long Worn men's and women's basketball at Roger Wallace,
who for his day job is the sports director at

(09:43):
kate x AM. I'm trying to remember. It would be
silly to ask you if you'd ever been to the
state of Kentucky. You grew up in the adjoining state
across the Ohio River.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
So did you spend a.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Lot of time in Kentucky when you were growing up
and younger and all that?

Speaker 5 (10:01):
You know, Craig, I was a couple of years away
from being a UK kid.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
Really.

Speaker 5 (10:07):
My dad was a professor at University of Kentucky and
then he got the job at Miami University shortly before
I was born. I have a brother and a sister,
both born in Lexington. That's a long way of saying no,
I haven't spent much time there. Went there with women's basketball,
and I drove through Lexington many years ago on the
way to Knoxville for an NCAA tournament, but spent very

(10:29):
little time in Lexington.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
So you haven't been inside of Kroger Field or what
used to be called Commonwealth Stadium back in.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
The day, I have not.

Speaker 5 (10:39):
I tried to get inside rupp Aerna when we were there,
but I could get as close as the concourse and
they wouldn't let me in because the women don't play
at REP.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yeah, yeah, you went up there to call that one
and I was up for baseball would keep Morland back
in May, so neither of us had been in that stadium.
But I would have to imagine your take on all
of this is that this football team must feel pretty good,
not only about what they accomplished, but I guess kind

(11:09):
of getting back on track. And I know you had
a conversation visit with Sark today about being able to
you know, get in the right moving in the right
direction just in time for two true road games.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
Yeah, and I think what he's hoping is that they're
buying what he's selling, and that's you know, wipe away
Oklahoma and build on Oklahoma because he made no bones
about it. Last week was a different week, especially with
the rivalry combined with what happened at Florida. Then the
celebration that's not a normal celebration, that's not a normal

(11:42):
postgame celebration like any other game. And then you know,
you got to get right back at it. For a
Kentucky team that you probably look at them and go, okay,
twelve and a half point favorites, they are zero to
three in the SEC, and then you dive a little
deeper and you realize, okay, they played old this really
closed at home and they're only SEC home game, and

(12:04):
they certainly have some weapons. And then you just go
in the night game SEC Texas's first ever visiting. Like,
I'm sure you're thinking it's gonna be quite a battle
Saturday night.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 6 (12:15):
You know.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
The other thing that comes to mind in looking at
the matchups of these these two teams, one is that
the Texas offensive line really stepped up, did the job
that they had to do last week there and they're
still not completely healthy, not completely I would say, a

(12:37):
you know whatever lean mean, fighting machine in other words,
all connected, but they were last Saturday. Now they don't
have Cole Hudson on the field. We know that from
the injury reports. So Connor Robertson's gonna step in there.
And then there's been this just a variety of other
guys who've been asked to step in be backups to
go into the rotation. Nick brook certainly comes to mind.

(13:01):
We may even see one or two guys. Sark kind
of hinted this to me last night. We may see
one or two guys who get in the rotation on
Saturday night on the offensive front that we haven't even
called their names this season. So, I mean, I guess
that speaks to the confidence he has from what he

(13:21):
sees on the practice field that whoever he's going to
put out there can be productive well.

Speaker 5 (13:26):
And I think what we saw with Nick Brooks from
Florida to Oklahoma speaks to the fact that these guys
need a chance to grow, whether it's in practice or
live reps. But yeah, I think at this time of
the year we kind of dismiss practice as anything other
than getting ready for the next game, getting looks from
the scout team, as Sark says, getting the plays they

(13:48):
like in the plays they don't like out But to
your point, I think it's also still about growth and development,
not number knowing when your numbers called. I mean, suddenly
James Simon went from all we'd like to get him
and touches to oh, he's probably going to get some
touches because Jarrett Gibson decided to step away, so they
only have three running backs full time running backs on

(14:10):
scholarship right now that they'll roll out there on Saturday.
So yeah, he says it every years, Craig and I
don't know if we buy it, but he tells his
guys they better be ready. And I think we're seeing
another example of that.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Well, and the other thing.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
It'll be a spoiler alert for Long Worn fans who
tune in to Long Run Weekly. Tonight, Chad Scott, the
running backs coach, was on with us and they both
acknowledged that they might need more out of Ryan Niblett
in the running back position. He said, he's in the
running back room now, and of course he's in every room,
isn't he with pump returns and receivers.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
He was a dB in the spring.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
I mean, Ryan Niblett's kind of the kind of what
the X factor guy.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
Yeah, no doubt. Now he's in the backfield. I think
you expect him to, you know, maybe be a motion guy,
maybe a screen guy, an occasional handoff. And then today
is starting zoom talking about Michael Terry, the freshman from
San Antonio who has been working scout running back. So
he's not sure if he's gonna be ready for any
kind of reps in a ball game. But that's another name,

(15:11):
big name recruit waiting his turn, and all of a sudden,
he's a guy being mentioned. Is maybe they could get
him ready towards the end of the season if haven't forbidded,
if they have any more attrition.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
The other guy.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
The other thing I was going to bring up about
this matchup that's kind of flying a little bit under
the radar is Kentucky's quarterback Cutter Bowley. He's a red
shirt freshman, and it's almost like he's being described as
a kid in his first year in the program and
it's not, but it is his first year as the

(15:44):
bona fide starter. He had a couple of starts, just
like arch Manning did last year, and he got into
the game against Texas and was ten of eighteen for
one hundred and sixty yards. Last year, that got in
the start against Louisville after that. So Mark stubke'ss this guy,
and when we were visiting with Tom Leezer played by
play Force history, he kind of almost compares him to

(16:07):
well Lifter's I guess you know a better way to
describe it, I guess he just says he's he's kind
of laid back surfer dude, kind of you know, a
lanky guy, and and not much seems to bother him
a little bit, but he'll be an interesting watch on
Saturday night.

Speaker 5 (16:26):
Well because of what he did here, I'm sure they
like the fact that he's had a little success. And
it's funny because last year when Kentucky came in, I mean,
Texas blitzed them. And I've got some friends that I
used to work with here that are now in Lexington
and they said one thing that came out of that
ballgame is they think they found their quarterback. Now. It
wasn't quite as smooth and that assent as they had

(16:47):
hoped from the Texas game on out. But yeah, to
your point, Zat Calzada, who's been around the block and
including his stuff in college station, started the first two
ball games and now now Bully is their guy. So uh, yeah,
he's a big guy. He's had a little success against Texas.
I think Texas wants to build on what they did
to a much more nimble job materier and that's really good.

(17:07):
After Saturday.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, and what I was looking for was the way
it was described to me by Tom Leach.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
And then I countered with this is kind of.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
A poor man's hunter, Lawrence, a guy who's lanky, tall,
kind of has longer hair. Not much seems to bother
him and goes out of it. And and some of
those guys, what does they used to say about the
triumph of the uncluttered mind? Those things like that. Guys

(17:36):
go out there and just play and let it rip.

Speaker 5 (17:39):
I think every quarterback to a certain extent, or every
coach to a certain extent, wants their quarterback to play uncluttered.
And you know, I think maybe we're seeing a little
bit more of Arch Manning doing that as well as
he he progresses.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
No doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
Visiting with Roger Wallace from k x A N and
our long Horn Radio Network broadcast partner, Okay, I want
to I want to talk a little bit of high
school football with you, because you have a game tonight
that that if if folks looked at it and just said, okay,
it's a couple of two and four teams that are
winless in district play, they kind of walk away from
it and not really think that much about it. But

(18:16):
This is the time of year that I start paying
a great deal of attention to because of the possibility
of what can happen for teams trying to jockey for
playoff position. Anybody that looks at eight five A Division
one is going to see that the two teams that
are unbeaten in that district are Georgetown and Eastview and
they play tomorrow night, and that's a that's a big

(18:37):
game in the computer says it's a pick them.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
It likes them much.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Then you've got Cedar Park and Belton are both two
and one in the district, as is Leander. Okay, Cedar
Park is playing Glenn, who is winless in the district.
Lake Belton is playing Leander. And then you've got the
game that you have Rouse and Chaparral. Both teams are
two and four, both teams are zero and three. It's
kind of an elimination game, a play off to stay

(19:01):
in the playoff race, isn't it.

Speaker 5 (19:03):
Yeah? And I think they're pretty drastically different. Oh and
three rows has been right there. We had them last
Friday night on Archaic same plus game and it was
a two point game. Maybe it wasn't that close with
Georgetown they cut it to two. But they're two and
four and they've been outscored by a total of eight
points this season. So they've played some tough ballgames, they've
lost some tough ones. They beat Liberty Hill in Week two.

(19:25):
They've had a top heavy schedule in the district. But
I think, you know, it might come down to I
think they have East View still as the one big hurdle.
If they can, you know, get by that one, I
think I think they'll take care of business. And I
wouldn't rule them out at oh and three still making
I think it would be their seventh straight trip to
the postseason.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Well, you're right, because after tonight's game, they certainly have
a winnable game at Leander and and by the way,
the computer does like Rows significantly tonight. But playing at
home now, they're they're they're playing their home games at Gupton,
aren't they this year? Yep, they moved there this year
away from Bible, so they're playing at Gupton. So after that,

(20:07):
they played Leander and that will be at Bible, then
they're at Eastview and then they finish at home against
Glenn and those are all winnable games. So you're right,
they just can't afford to slip up. And he and
Josh Ban's teams are usually very well prepared anyway. And
this Chaparral team, which is kind of a new kid
on the block, haven't been around very long. I won

(20:30):
a couple of games early, but like you said, it's
a little bit different Owen three. Look when you look
at Chaparral as opposed to Rouse, isn't it.

Speaker 5 (20:36):
Yeah they are, And like you said, they're in the
fourth years of varsity. They're coach Tyrone mccraig came in.
He's in his second year, but he's like in his
as he says, one point five because he came in
July before the twenty four season. That's almost unheard of
to be a head named a head coach in July
before a season. So yeah, he's just trying to get
his footing with that program. We've seen in Central Texas

(20:58):
so many score and they can do it and hurt it.
They can become competitive in a short amount of time.
And I'm sure he thinks they have the resources and
things like that, but I think they're just a little
bit under man. I mean, Logan Morgan is a London
Morgan Rather's a really exciting quarterback from Rause kids headed
to Navy. He's fearless and he can do a lot

(21:19):
of different things. They've got some players, and they've got
some weapons on offense and Cheaperral's have a tough time
slowing them down tonight. I'm sure you know they're chomping
at the bid after that to three, starting district play
to get after it.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
Roger, I know you kept track of this as well.
We keep track of what's going on in the other
playoff races. In twenty five six A is going to
be kind of crazy in a mess and what a
great job Scott Hermis has done and McNeil to have
them in position that's going to be one of one
of the ones to watch. And then, and you've heard
me talk about it, thirteen to four A Division one

(21:52):
where LBJ is obviously the team to beat, but Taylor's
kind of turned it season around. They're three and four overall,
but they're three and zero in the disc. They're off
this week and they have this huge game next week
against East Side Memorial who's two and one in the
district and probably has a good chance to beat Northeast
and if they beat Northeast, then uh, their one went

(22:15):
away from for sure getting into the playoffs, if not
getting into it anyway, that would be one of the
stories of the year. What if east Side, which has
been had so many difficulties and even as recent as
two or three years ago we were talking about whether
they would even score a point in the season. Now
they're on the verge of maybe making the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (22:35):
Yeah, and we see that with the ID teams that
you know traditionally are down and part of is just
the numbers game. They have a hard time getting enough numbers.
And you even see at the six d A level with
a program like Aikins that you know they started out
four and oh that match their their highest win total
in school history. Now they have made the playoffs with

(22:55):
four wins before, but yeah, certainly that's the case there.
And uh with east Side, pretty cool, pretty cool story there.

Speaker 1 (23:02):
Big game also with Liberty Hill and Flugerville. That's that's
that's the one I would be calling if Texas had
a home game, but since we're on the road, our
friend Ted Emerck will call it on victory. Plus, that's
a big game here because bow teams, as you've seen,
can get the ball up and down the field, and
bow teams can give up some yards and points.

Speaker 5 (23:24):
No doubt about it. And you know, we had the
Conley Liberty Hill game and and Liberty Hill it was
kind of the ultimate slot Ta game. They or ten
touchdowns on twelve possessions. The other two possessions they fumbled
and they didn't throw a pass. So that's, you know,
kind of a blueprint maybe to the extreme. And Cole
Taylor obviously likes to throw it on just about every

(23:44):
down for Flugerville, and they'll, like you said, they'll move
the ball as well. Problem with with Liberty Hills when
they get rolling, it's kind of like arena football. You
just got to get a couple of stops. You got
to brick Serve a couple of times because they are
so relentless with that offense. But yeah, I think I
think they might ring up a few points in that
ball game.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
And one other team I want to ask you about
because you got them next week, and you've got a
pretty interesting matchup next week, Anderson against Hayes. And for
folks who don't know what Anderson's undefeated, they're six and oh,
they're four and oh in the district. They're probably gonna
go to seven oho and five and oh because they're
playing Cedar Creek this week and they're probably gonna be ten.
And then you got Hayes, who's two and two in

(24:23):
the district and they're kind of in that that that
muddy part. They are three and one, three and two,
two and two, two and three. Uh, those teams that
are in there trying to sort their way through it.
And Hayes has a big road trip to play at
College Station, which is trying to turn its season around
as well. They're only three and four, but they're three
and two in the district, and that's gonna be a

(24:44):
huge game for you next week when Anderson takes on Hayes.

Speaker 5 (24:47):
Yeah, no doubt, and you know, full transparency, we have
exercised some flex moves with our schedule because we make
our schedule basically in July, and clearly, the way teams
and the way districts might look in July, it's gonna
be a lot different in September and October. So appreciate

(25:08):
schools working with us and being able to change. And
that's one of the games we flexed into. You know,
Hayes is kicking themselves with that loss to Hendrickson on
kvd O several weeks ago. They were in control and
that one pretty good, and then Hendrickson got him. I
lose forty one to forty and you just rattled off
the record. That's obviously a huge swing game right there.

(25:29):
So that's a big one. We have Vista Ridge Huddo
down the stretch, which you look at twenty five six
a as you said, and hudder. We thought, okay, they
were three and oh, but you know who they played.
Then they went and beat Round Rocket home. So now
I was sitting at four and oh. And then we
closed with what we think is going to be a
really good one Anderson and Weiss at the field. So
we have a heavy dose of Caleb Crenshaw and that

(25:50):
Anderson offense that is sitting pretty but they've got some
tough ones ahead.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
You get to see the alpha and the omega of
Anderson this season, right starting with what used to be
the Taco Shack Bowl, the Shoal Creek showdown against McCallum,
all the way back in week one there at the
end of August, and then see them in week eleven,
their tenth game of the regular season, and how that
team And you know this as well as I do.
These schools like Anderson, and to a greater extent, schools

(26:18):
like the ones we talked about about the East Side
or some of the other ones are clearly affected by
the health of the team and the total numbers in
the program. And at least so far, it looks like
the Trojans have been able to stay relatively healthy.

Speaker 5 (26:35):
Yeah, that's always one of the first questions. You know,
I'm sure you do the same thing, especially early in
the season. What are your numbers like? And Donald Hatcher's
done a great job of really building those numbers at Anderson.
That's a program that said struggled over the years competing
at the whatever level, whether it was five A or
six A because of the numbers game. Now they got

(26:57):
some good fortunate over the off seats in with the
additions of Caleb Crenshaw and Jaheim Riley, outstanding players at
LBJ and those are two huge players for Anderson. But yeah,
you're right, staying healthy and having enough depth and and
that's why we ask them about the middle school and
coaches are so quick to talk about the numbers in

(27:17):
the middle school program because that you know, they're always looking.
That's their idea of recruiting, right, is what do they
have coming up through the pipeline in middle school? And
Anderson has done a really good job of building up
those numbers.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
I'd be remiss if I didn't ask for your thoughts
on Lake Travis at Dripping Springs tomorrow night.

Speaker 5 (27:34):
I'm fascinating with that one. And you know Drip's answered
every call, right every time? Okay, is this a week
they're going to get beat? But uh, what's a computer say?
I would I would say it's a coin flip and
maybe wrong.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
Close to a coin flip. If the computer likes La
Travis by three?

Speaker 5 (27:51):
Okay, yeah that makes sense. Yeah, he likes names. Are
they strictly on the data?

Speaker 1 (27:57):
It's strictly data from what I've been told about it.
It's whatever's fed into it. This is what it's spitting out.
So I guess we'll find out. Hey, I appreciate the
time at seven o'clock tonight for the telecast.

Speaker 5 (28:08):
Right, great, thanks Greg? Thanks?

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Y you bet? All right?

Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, it is tonight on KBVO and it's a battle
really for playoff positioning, as Ralphs will be in action
against Colleen Chaparral that game at Gupton.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
Second hour of the program.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
You're on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone here
on a Thursday afternoon. Craig Way, alongside the producer Jay Carman,
glad to have you with us. Jake will be stepping
in the host of program tomorrow as I travel to Lexing,
Kentucky in advance of Saturday nights game between the Texas
Longhorns the Kentucky Wildcats. I will try to see if

(28:57):
I can drop in and this with you.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
I'll be in the air for most of the time because.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Hold on, you're not going to pull a Kirk kurb
Street for me.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
What the heck, Craig, No private plane start with that.
In fact, not only is it, no private plane got
to go through Charlotte.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
I've heard, uh.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
So you got to do that.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
So by the time I get on the ground all
that kind of stuff, it'll be in the four o'clock hour.
But hopefully I can pop on and hop on there
for a segment.

Speaker 4 (29:24):
Yeah, we're leaving a spot open for you towards the
end of the show.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
Okay, uh. Questions on the text line. As always, we
offer up the text line to you. Text the word
Texas follow by your question or comment to eight one
five three zero. So you text the word Texas follow
by a question of comment to eight one five three zero.
Standard messaging in data rates maying apply. Somebody said, Craig,
did you ever speak on the fact that Roger Wallis

(29:48):
was college roommates with Uve Blop?

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Yes? I did.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
In fact, I did it pretty recently, that he and
uveabd and and I think at least at last Jack,
I have to ask Roger this.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
I think Uve lives in Wimberley. I think he still
lives in Wimerloo.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
The former Indiana Hoosier's center played for the Dallas Mavericks
and other NBA teams, so yeah, they were they. I
think they had a suite, a dorm suite with three
other guys, and Uve was one of those guys. He's
also knows Dan Docketts really well too, because he was

(30:22):
playing around that time, and then an assistant coach and
all that kind of stuff. So anyway, yes, I did
know about that. You said, we had a question on
the streaming line, somebody.

Speaker 6 (30:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (30:33):
As always, if you're joining us on YouTube, Facebook or
x and you leave a comment, we can bring you
into our conversation and Seth wants to know the kicker.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
Is that going to be a problem for the Horns.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
By kicker, Seth, are you meaning the kickoff guy because
Mason Chipley's the kicker. But but you're talking, I'm sure
you're referring to Will Stone leaving the program. Remember when
Stone was out of the back problem on I think
the UTEP and Sam Utip and Sam Houston games against
I think it was Mason Shipley handled the kickoff duties

(31:12):
and without any problem.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
You will hear.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Long Worn's head coach, Steve Sarkesian speaks specifically to that
because he has asked about that if somebody else is
a candidate. But it sounds like it's definitely And I
think it was Kirk Boles who asked him that. So
I I would venture to guess that they feel pretty
comfortable based on what sark was saying about Mason Shipley

(31:38):
handling the kickoff duties as well as the place kicking duties.
So Mason Chipley is the kicker and they have him.
But I think you were referring to the kickoff guy
and that was Will Stone. But he is he has
left the program, as says Derrick Gibson, and Sark was

(31:58):
asked also about that about the running back spot. You'll
hear sarks comments about all of that coming up at
the four o'clock hour. Coming up here in a few minutes,
we'll talk women's basketball with Vic Shaffer. It's always fun
to visit with Vic and talk about what's to come
for the coming season.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
They ed their welcome back celebration in front of a
packed house last night, and we'll get his thoughts on that.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
They have six thousand, two hundred and forty six season
tickets sold. That's an amazing number for any women's basketball program,
let alone University of Texas. And I think I made
the comment all I am seeing that this will be

(32:44):
my twenty ninth season coming up in the play by
play chair for Texas women's basketball. It's my twenty fifth
on men's basketball, football, baseball. But I actually began when
I first moved down here. They needed somebody to do
the women's games, and so while I was the analyst
on the games with Bill Schoening, I was doing play
by play on the women's games as well, and so

(33:07):
I was able to able to do that, and that's
part and parce of whyat it works out for me
to be able to handle both during the course of
the ensuing seasons. When I moved into the play by
play role for men's basketball, to continue to excuse me
to continue to do the women's games, because there's a
lot of staggered games between men, so especially in conference,

(33:31):
because women play a lot of Thursday and Sunday games.
The men play Tuesdays and Saturdays and occasional Wednesdays and Saturdays,
that sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
So it works out pretty well.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
And then on the times when there are some headed conflicts,
and there's a.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
Few every year, Roger Wallace steps right in and does that.
And that's why I said when I welcomed Roger on
the last Hour, I said, not only my broadcast partner
on long range football and some baseball games when Keith
Morland is unavailable, Roger also fills in for me women's
basketball games. Like, for example, Roger, when I have to

(34:05):
go to Maui, I have to go. I get to go.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
Yeah, when I am scheduled to go to Maui right
after the Arkansas game for the three games of the
Maui Invitational, Roger will step in for me and call
the women's games in Las Vegas at the Legends event
there where they're going to play Nashley Rank UCLA, and
then they're gonna play the either Duke or South Carolina.

Speaker 4 (34:32):
So yeah, and the only the only other South Carolina
game on the schedule for now is when the Longhorns
go there. Yeah, but remember last year, Craig, they played
what four times?

Speaker 1 (34:44):
Four times? They lost in Colombia in January, came back
a month later, beat them at Moody, then played them
in the SEC Tournament final, lost, and then then played
them in the final four. So I don't think it
would necessarily shock anybody if that happened again. If they
wound up playing them four times, and the fourth time

(35:05):
could be this tournament in Las Vegas, that would not
count as a conference game.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
That's just the way that would be, all right.

Speaker 4 (35:11):
Yeah, we do have a home at home, by the
way with LSU. That's why yep A season ticket holders
another looking forward to that one.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yeah yeah, in North Carolina coming in for the sec
A SEC Challenge. There's that game they played Baylor in
Fort Worth at Dickey's Arena. We'll get Vic to talk
about all that because he's coming up next, we'll visit
with the Texas women's head coach right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app
Here on sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone Craig

(35:38):
Way alongside the producer Jake Herman, and glad to be
with you. I mentioned I had a lot of fun
last night. It was a pretty busy day.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
I was over.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
In the Moncrief New House Complex. Over there, we were
recording Longhorn Weekly with coach Sark which Harrison night at
seven o'clock and we do that from five thirty to
six thirty. And as soon as it is over, I raced,
I mean the proverbial bat out of hell to get
to the other side of the stadium there on the
North End Zone Club for the women's basketball welcome back celebration,

(36:12):
and it was a celebration of packed house in there
to hear from to meet the Texas women's basketball team,
and also to hear from the head coach who joins
us now in the hotline, head coach Pick Schaeffer is
with us now. I appreciate the time. I know it's
an incredibly busy time for your guys. And you said
something last night.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
I didn't.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
I didn't realize that you kind of had a little
bit of a shift change with regard to your practices
and things of that nature. And that happens sometimes when
you have a new head coach on the other side,
being Coach Biller in this case, how has everything gone
with the retooling and reconfiguring of things like.

Speaker 6 (36:49):
That, Yeah, good morning or a good afternoon. Thanks for
having me, Craig. It's you know, it's been different morning
workouts after and afternoon work out. You don't quite have.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
The total.

Speaker 6 (37:03):
Ability to you know, recuperate and rejuvenate, and so that
Tuesday and Thursday morning practice is typically you know, you've
got about an eighteen hour recovery period versus a full
twenty four hours if you go you know, two to two.
So it's different and probably won't ever do it again,

(37:25):
but I really wanted to try it just to help
with some of the crowding issues that Coach Miller and
I might have trying to both work out in the
afternoons in you know where we don't ever get in
the moody very much, and when we do, I don't
want to not be able to get in there or
I don't want to practice at six o'clock at night

(37:46):
or six thirty at night, you know, And so I
just tried it to maybe accommodate him a little bit,
and the same time sif it will work for.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
Us, and it just you know, it is what it is.

Speaker 6 (37:58):
I've never done it before, probably they won't ever do
it again. But we've made the best of it and
we'll figure it out the rest of the semester.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
You touched on something.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
I've been meaning to ask you this for probably two
or three years now, and I keep forgetting it and
ever come around to. But this really brings it front
and center for me. And this is a question I've
had a lot of fans ask me about practice and
the difference between practicing in your practice gym and practicing
at Moody. You have a wonderful practice gym, as we

(38:28):
know that, but I also know coaches field, there's nothing
quite the same as getting on the floor of your
whole arena and shooting at the baskets and your home
arena and that sort of thing in the.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
Backdrop and all that.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
How different is it for you to have your team
on the floor in the practice gym there in the
BBR as opposed to being on the floor at Moody.

Speaker 6 (38:51):
Yeah, it's just way different, Craig. I mean, we don't
play games in the practice gym. The depth perception is
the main thing you're trying. You know, a home court
advantage is not a home court advantage unless you're able
to practice on your game floor. And the crowd is
always nice to play in front of when it comes
to being able to play in front of your own folks,

(39:13):
but you know, you've got to make shots, and you've
got to get comfortable with the gym and the surroundings
and the floor and that kind of thing, and so
you know, it's just it's problematic when you can't get
in there to do that.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
And so.

Speaker 6 (39:31):
You know, from from our perspective, especially shooting the basketball,
you've got to be able to that depth. Big deal,
and and so you know, we make the best of it.
But at the end of the day, it's why I've
done what I've done with trying to practice at least
a couple of mornings where I'm not either not being

(39:54):
able to get in there. If in fact we can
get in there, which we haven't very much in October,
but if we can just trying to keep my kids
from having to practice from six point thirty to nine
at night. I mean that's not really healthy either. So
you know, again it's it's just part of it, and
you know, just trying to figure out the best way

(40:16):
to navigate it. And so we we we're okay, We've
made We've tried to manage it the best we can.
But it's just I tried something different, and it is
what it is.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
Talking basketball here with Vic Shafer, Texas women's head coach
here on thirteen hundred the Zone. One thing that I
think probably makes what you and what your staff had
done even all the more amazing is that in the
going in the six years here, I can't remember, and
I and you correct me if I'm wrong, I don't

(40:49):
think you had a completely one hundred percent healthy and
full roster ready to go on first full day team
workhouts for one reason or another, either transfers or injuries
or things like that.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
Am I right about that?

Speaker 1 (41:04):
And and has it kind of been the same way
again basically coming off of the games in Canada where uh,
you know, we're kinda got banged up in there after
starting off.

Speaker 6 (41:14):
So well, yeah, I mean it's it's been I'd have
to go back and look to see, you know, exactly
some of those other years.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
But it does.

Speaker 6 (41:28):
Seem like, you know, whether we maybe signed a high
school kid coming off of an injury and she's not
quite ready to go or full go, or we've had something,
you know, nagging that we had to take care of
at the last minute, and so somebody might not be ready.
But you know, Coach Blair used to always say, you're

(41:48):
never one hundred percent, and you know, it comes down
to what your you know, what your eighty ninety percent,
Is that better than somebody else's ninety or a hundred
and and so you know it it is. It's just
today's climate. These kids play so much in high school

(42:10):
and AAU, and so sometimes they come to us. They
may have had surgery in high school, but when our
doctors look at them, you know, they're like, there's no
way we would clear them, you know, to play right now,
and I can't believe they've been playing, you know, and
so you know that's just all it's it's fine, but

(42:32):
you're right, I'd have to go back and look, but
you know, we we just have to look and see
exactly over the years. But we've certainly had our fair
share of nicks and bumps and all that we've we've
been for. We haven't had too many. We haven't had
too many, you know, big ones. I haven't had very

(42:52):
many big ones in my career. I've been really fortunate
and uh, but every now and then, you know, you've
got to deal with it.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
Yeah, I want to give you a chance to, as
you did last night, to talk a little bit about
some of the new faces for people who don't know
that you do have some new faces, both freshmen and
through the port. I'm the start with a freshman and
get your thoughts on Grace Printer, who is I guess freshman.
It's that old thing about drinking from a fire hose,

(43:21):
and especially from you another if you're from another country
and she's coming in from Dublin, Ireland and having played
for the Irish under twenty national team. How about Grace,
who's your five eight freshman guard? And what you've seen
from her and what you like about having her.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
On the roster.

Speaker 6 (43:38):
Yeah. Like I said last night, I have so much
respect and admiration for these kids that comes so far
from home, and you know, it's not like they're just
going to get on a plane and fly home for
the weekend. You know, her and Lobe, So they're just
you know, just I really admire them. But Grace is

(43:58):
a shooter, somebody that we got in on late, signed late.
Felt like we needed to add to the depth of
our team, especially at guard, and of course, you know,
everybody and their mother thinks we need shooters. So she
was somebody that we really had had searched and done

(44:18):
our homework on and great kid works extremely hard crash
course and you know, everything from learning how to navigate
a campus assize, to learning the speed of the game
at this level, to learning her teammates, to just everything
just being thrown in the fire.

Speaker 4 (44:39):
You know.

Speaker 6 (44:39):
Came over here, got off the plane, Tory picked her
up the airport. I met him at the dorm by herself.
Walks into a dorm room, those sheets on the bed,
nothing on the counter. I mean, she just you know,
she got because we got her late. She was eligible late,
and she had the real work hard and test out

(45:03):
of a few things to become eligible to get into
the University of Texas. So really, again, kid works really hard,
and you know, again, lots of admiration for her and
she just trying to figure it all out. It's a
crash course in life, yeah, and then it's a crash

(45:24):
course in basketball.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
And you mentioned Levisa for folks on Levisa aspring Quach
from Stockholm, Sweden six six sophomore center. You told a
pretty interesting story last night about her a You mentioned
that in a perfect world and the world is anything
but perfect, but if it works out well enough, and
we'll talk about your other post in a minute, that
that it would be ideal to be able to red

(45:47):
shirt her if you could. But the language thing, and
I didn't realize that there might have been a little
bit of a language barrier when you were when you
were coaching her up.

Speaker 6 (45:59):
Yeah, no doubt. But I mean the kid, you know,
she played one year at Florida Atlantic, and you know,
we we uh we're really hoping we can red shirt
and I think it's gonna work out. Uh barn any
unforeseen thing, but uh, you know, great kid man, she's

(46:19):
got great hands, great feet, really smart down there like
she is, she's crafty, uh and and so just uh
hoping like heck, we can get her through the year
red shirted. Then she'd had three years left with us,
and again, wonderful kid. But like I told you last night,

(46:43):
I'm you know, she's been great. She's let me coach her.
Uh and you know there's times I might be talking
to her and coached her and then when I'm done,
she gives me those two thumbs up. I mean she
got it understood, and and and and so again, just
a great kid, great family. The whole family came came

(47:06):
over when she visited, and it's just really really special.
So her and Grace both Lavisa is gonna, you know,
really will be a sophomore, but both of them from
across the big water and good families. Excited that they're
here and hoping like heck we can can get them

(47:28):
to you know, develop them, because I think they'll both
be end up being good players for us down the road.

Speaker 1 (47:35):
Let me get your thoughts on Taya and Breath. Let's
start with Taya Sidberry, who transferred him from Boston College
and played two years there.

Speaker 2 (47:42):
She's been a freshman at Utah. She's from Salt Lake.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
What is it about her once you saw that she
was in the portal that you really really liked about her?

Speaker 6 (47:51):
Well, as you know, we needed four players, you know,
we really had to get at least one out of
the portal, and we were fortunate to get Anne Ashton,
both all time leading scorer in the history of Utah
high school basketball, and she is really I'm really trying

(48:12):
to get that mentality out of her right now in college.
I don't think that's been achieved and attained yet. I
think the kid can really be I think she can
be really an offensive player for us. And I think
she averaged eight point eight at at Boston College. Maybe,

(48:34):
but I think there's more in there and we're going
to really try to get that out of her. And
so in any case, excited that she's here, wonderful kids,
smiling all the time, never has a bad day, works
her tail off. I mean, she's just a great, great kid.

(48:54):
And then Brea from Arizona second team All Big twelve.
I was the number two player in the country coming
out of high school, number one post player in the country.
We lost her. I had recruited her, thought we might
get her, lost her to Arizona, and just you know,

(49:14):
was disappointed, but a part of it. But then when
she went the portal, man I was I was calling
her within minutes and her mother answered the phone. Hey,
coach Shafer. So that told me she hadn't changed her
you know, hadn't deleted me from her phone book, and so,
you know, just again excited about her and again love

(49:36):
her skill set. She got some stuff to her plays
with a little bit of an edge, which I love,
and so really really again excited that she's here. Mom's
a military woman, just retired from the military, actor over
thirty years of service. I really appreciate her. Again we

(49:59):
have a common bond there and that my father was
a bird colonel in the Army and you know, thirty
two years, loved his country and she served hers for
over thirty. So really have an appreciation for that as well. Yeah,
and the other fresh one we didn't talk about was
was Leah Leah Crump from Minnesota, played at you know,

(50:21):
played down in in in Florida at Montbird Academy or
senior year. But great, great player, great size, highest ranked
player we've signed here at Texas. Fifth ranked player in
the country, you know, Justice and Jordan, I think we're
six and seven or seven and eight, but she was

(50:42):
fifth in the country and uh, really just been super special. Yeah,
story bigger size. Yeah, great kid, big size. Hard to
get to her sometimes, like like Booker, but yeah, I
did something really cool. They never had a player do
this until the other day. She is represented by Clutch

(51:06):
Agency and her association with New Ballot Shoe. She's one
of their very select few women's basketball players. I mean,
it is a very select group, and Aliyah's one of
their clients. And Aliyah went down to the high school

(51:27):
here close by what's the name of it, You got.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
The name, yeah, Navarro early college.

Speaker 6 (51:34):
Yeah yeah, and outfitted their entire women's basketball team with
New Balance shoes, warm ups, shorts, T shirts. Just an
incredible gesture on her part. Spending time with those kids,
talk to them about leadership. Just off list of her

(51:59):
and I'm awfully proud of her for doing that. I'm
proud that she's here at the University of Texas And
as I told her, she made a difference in young
people's lives going down there, spending the day with them
and then gifting them It's Christmas for those kids, no doubt,
Christmas in October, so really special.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
And by the way, if anybody ask us a new Balance,
you can say, yeah, the same stuff that show a
Otani where I've seen him in the commercials for.

Speaker 6 (52:28):
That well, you know in the wnba Ye Stanford. She's
one of their other select few clients and so it's
it's a very elite group clientele. I mean, Eliah is
one of them, and so again just really I think

(52:48):
it was unbelievable, just such a classy gesture on her part,
and we're so proud of her for doing that.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
The one other newcomer wanted to ask about was Ashton Judge,
you're transferring from Missouri and get you and I know
she was dealing with a little bit of a ten
to night this issue, but you're still pretty upbeat about
being able to get some real good, some contribution from
her this season.

Speaker 6 (53:11):
Yeah, for sure. You know, she came here and played
really well against us. We were you know, I think
we're down seven and a half and ended up came back
and beat them in the second half. But really a
sound kid, sound player, great kid, incredible family, like all
the kids on our team, that can stretch the floor

(53:34):
at the floor. But I tell you she's hard to
deal with if you can post her up on the block,
and she just got a knack, an uncanny knack about
her of getting that shot off, and so excited about her.
I think she scores at all three levels, plays the
game hard, tough kid. She's battled a little bit of

(53:55):
a some maggravation in her knee right now, but I'm
hopeful to get her over that. But uh, just again,
a wonderful, wonderful kid, very highly skilled. Her and Taya
really bring a lot to the table. I'm excited about
both those kids to add to justice at the fore position.
So I think our folks are going to really love

(54:18):
watching her play. Uh.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
Visiting with Vic Schaeffer, I want to wanted to ask you,
you know, because we've we've talked and talked in quite
a bit, and deservedly so about your veterans. But I
did want to get an update from you on kyl
Oldacre coming out of the can of things. She was
very upbeat last night. So no, I'm good, I'm fine,
I'm uh, but but she had to go through a
healing process after that, that that grueling grind playing up

(54:43):
in Canada, didn't she?

Speaker 6 (54:47):
Uh it was it was talking about Bria Kylon, I
was talking about Kyler. Yeah, well Kyla got hurt, you know,
eight minutes into the first game. It doesn't play anymore
after that, and Brea ended up taking the brunt of
that she had to play, you know a lot of minutes.

(55:09):
I think Kyla when she played, she after eight minutes
she had seventeen points and ten or eleven rebounds, and
she goes down with an ankle injury and never just
play anymore. But she's back, she's healthy, you know, just again,
think her and Bray are going to really provide that
two headed monster that I like to have to go

(55:31):
with our great guard play that we've got, and so
excited about about her her senior year. I'm just amazed
at you know, she was at my AM for two years,
averaged four points four rebounds a game, Like I just
can't even imagine how that's even possible that you can

(55:51):
coach that kid to four points four rebounds a game
when that kid's a double double walking and she averaged
almost ten and six for us a year ago coming
off the bench behind Taylor. Are all Americans, so we're
really excited about getting Kyla back. And then obviously Bray
has been super so those two should be great for us.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
The one other person I want to ask you about
and we'll have plenty of visits like we do pretty weekly,
and we'll talk about Madison Booker, we'll talk about Jordan Lee,
and we'll talk about Brianna Preston.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
But I want to ask you one question about Rory.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
And Folks obviously know what Roy Harmon has been through
and how she'd been All American and then had the
knee injury and then came back from it and had
to learn to trust it and to go through that physically,
and she always said mentally she had to learn to.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
When you watch her now on the floor.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
Is it the same or pretty close to how she
was pre injury when she's on the floor of these
days as she was back then before she had to
go through everything she had to get go through to
get that knee back in shape.

Speaker 6 (57:01):
Yeah, I think she's getting there. I don't think she's
back yet. I think she still can can get a
little bit more speed and quickness back. But she's certainly
more comfortable now she's playing without the brace. It's like
I said last night, two summers or a summer ago,
she was training to get healthy so she could play

(57:23):
last year. Since past summer she was able to train
to work on her skill set. And so I tell
you where she's been absolutely fantastic, is is in assists
passing the ball, finding the open player, you know, finding
where Booker is first before she looks for anybody. She's

(57:43):
finding Booker and getting her the ball where she needs it,
when she needs it. And so I think she's really
been good passing the ball and running things. So just
getting her back, getting her comfortable, getting her back being
our best offender on ball. You know, Jordan Lee's kind

(58:05):
of taking that over. I think right now a little bit.
Jordan's really had a great fall. I mean she's she's
been great, and Jordan is gonna be She's gonna be
my next combo guard. I think that I can play
at one or two. I haven't played her at one
any practiced her there a little bit today. The kid's

(58:25):
so cerebral. I just she may be that combo guard
that I haven't had since Sydney Carter. I mean, wow,
she's you know, she's shooting the ball well, she probably
turns it over a little bit more she knows than

(58:46):
I like. But you know, I think again, that's just
that'll come with time. Taking care of the ball. But
I can play Jordan at three positions right now, and
she's so smart and heady. She moved in he had
the three and pretty much handle it. So but she's
really become a great defender, and uh that's that's the

(59:09):
piece that really need her to become. So Rory and
her out there on the perimeter you want to add,
you know, hopefully break and really do a great job
out there defensively like we've seen flashes of. And then
Booker just getting better out there, you know. Uh, she'll
tell you she was uh, you know, really brought a

(59:31):
defensive edge this summer with the US eighteen and she
was proud to do that. Yeah, that is so unselfish
to a fault. I almost have to get on her
sometimes about don't turn that shot down, don't turn that
you know, don't pass that you you passed up a
good look, you know. But that's just the kid. She

(59:53):
just an incredible teammate, very unselfish and and so uh,
I just you know, I'm really we're really blessed to
have these great players. And I would just encourage our fans.
You don't take it for granted, y'all. You don't take
a Rory harm and a Madison Booker. For granted, you know,

(01:00:13):
we're always going to have really good players here, but
those are two hall of famers. Those two kids are
going to be in the Hall of Fame here one day,
and Booker is going to have a chance to be
the all time leading score in the history of the school.
Or he's already set the record for twelve hundred point
seven hunderd assists, something no other player's ever done here.

(01:00:33):
Don't take it for granted, you know. And while they're here, man,
you need to enjoy them. Well no, I am.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
Well, and that's where we're gonna end with us talking
about the chances to see them, because you have this
incredible non conference schedule, But even before we get to
all of that, you have an Orange White game this Sunday.
You have two exhibition games against two programs that are
really good in their.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Division of basketball.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
Love it Christian Texas Women's University, and a chance for
folks to come out and the price is right, it's
as they like to say, free ninety nine. So a
chance to come out and really see the team, and
I know that means a lot to get. With six
two forty six season tickets sold, that's pretty gool deal, Vick.
This is this my twenty ninth year doing the play

(01:01:19):
by play, and I could never have dreamed or imagined
that there'd be over six thousand season tickets sold.

Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
So I know you're very happy about.

Speaker 6 (01:01:27):
It, Yes, sir, what I envisioned when I took the job.
It's just taken me a little bit longer to get
to where we are now. But you know, you look
back on last year. We had several sellouts, especially down
the stretch last year when we were we were trying

(01:01:48):
to win the SEC, and our fan base has been
so supportive and so loving and caring of our players.
And I appreciate that so much. But I think too
our players deserve it. They're fun to watch, they're great kids,
they're accessible. But we're very grateful for our fan base

(01:02:08):
and thankful for the support that our kids get. But
you know me, I'm not satisfied. I mean, a sixty
two and change sould if we could get to sixty
five hundred this year, and then again, if we could
have two three thousand a night walk up, Well, now
you've got a chance to have ten thousand a night,
which in my mind that should be easy in a

(01:02:30):
community of two million, right here close by a student
body of fifty five thousand. Now, there's no reason i'd
come out watch one of the best teams in the country,
watch some of the best players in the country play
right here in the Moody Center. So, you know, get
them ready and to get them functioning at a high level.

(01:02:52):
And I'm gonna do everything I can to do that.
But we certainly do appreciate our fan base and appreciate
all the sport we can get.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
In the afternoon, four o'clock is the Orange White Scrimmage
at Moody Center. Free parking and free admission for that,
and then there's a couple exhibition games a week from
tonight against Lobbock Christian and then Texas Women's University a
week from Monday.

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
Hey, I can't thank you enough.

Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
I appreciate you taking the time and looking forward to
getting this whole thing going again.

Speaker 6 (01:03:19):
Yeah, me too. You really appreciate the opportunity as always, Craig,
thanks again and come see us playing.

Speaker 1 (01:03:27):
That's Vick Schaeffer, head coach for Texas women's basketball. We
have more coming up on thirteen under the Zone. Paul McCartney,
By the way, it is to get back tour he's
got going on right now, and I think he's going
the Alamo Dome next week.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
I'll be in start Fille, Mississippi.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
Are actually at the team hotel in Kopolo, so I
don't think I'll make the concert unfortunately. On the text,
liner Man CB, who is a proud graduate of the
formerly known as Lanier High School now it is Navarro
College Prep, say is bravo Lea Crump So awesome, awesome
she gave to my alma Maters women's basketball team.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
She really did.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
It was great, a really good piece on k x
A n about it. And she got a chance to
go over there and like I said, she was giving
out shoes and workout shorts and T shirts and things
like that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
So that was pretty cool, very nice her.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
To see college football update from Bloomington, Indiana, where Kurt Signetti,
the head football coaches, had success that he's had there,
getting them to the College Football Playoff last year. He's
got them in the top five nationally ranked. So the

(01:04:55):
university wanting to reward him for that, they have reached
an eight year A new eight year contract with Signetti
makes him one of the highest paid football coaches in
the FBS. An annual average salary of about eleven point
six million was announced today by the University. Of Course,
he went ten and two last year, got to the

(01:05:16):
college playoff there ranked third right now six no heading
into Saturday's game against Michigan State.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
But again it is an.

Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
Eight year, ninety three million dollar deal for Kurt Signetti.

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
We'll be back to wrap up hour number two. I'm
thirteen under the Zone.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
Third and final hour of the program here on sports
Radio AM thirteen under the Zone. Gregway with you and
glad to have you with us as well the producer
as Jay Carmon, who's alongside, and our thanks again of
Vic Schaeffer joined us.

Speaker 2 (01:05:56):
Had a good lengthy visit with Vick.

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
If you missed it, you'll be able to hear it
on the podcast page at thirteen hundred zone dot com
AM thirteen hunderd the Zone dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
You'll be able to hear that on the podcast page.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
Coming up in a few minutes, we'll hear from long
wrn's head coach Steve Sarkegian his final Zoom media availability,
his final media availabil ability period for the week. The
next time he speaks on the record with somebody about
that will be my pregame conversation with him about our

(01:06:30):
forty five to kickoff, and then of course we'll know
more about the team and as they get ready for
their next matchup, which happens to be the Kentucky Wildcats.
So it'll be Saturday evening and it'll be Saturday evening

(01:06:51):
in what used to be called Commonwealth Stadium is now
Kroger Field, and it will kick off at six o'clock.
Our coverage will actually began four hours prior to kick
with the third and Long Worn podcast guys. They'll have

(01:07:17):
their pregame program at two o'clock. Then at three o'clock
it is our Long Orange Game Day Program and that
will be.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
Cameron Parker, Mike Hardboll Harge, Mark Henry.

Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
Are they out of the office again on Saturday for this?
Is this one on location again? Their pregame show, the
Long Orange Game Day Show? Is that one on location
this Saturday? I want to say it is.

Speaker 4 (01:07:48):
You know, I have to say I'm out of the
loop on that because I'm not working it this week.

Speaker 2 (01:07:52):
Okay, all right, I'll check it out for you.

Speaker 1 (01:07:54):
Yeah, we'll get it and find out I'm pretty sure
they are and just want to make sure we've got
the right place. I don't want to tell you the
wrong place to go to or the place that it's
not happening, but it that way, I want to make
sure to.

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
Tell you the place that they are going to.

Speaker 1 (01:08:09):
The DJC law injury update for this week comes from
the SEC Student athlete availability Report. For Texas, wide receiver
and Aaron Butler is out, linebacker Jonathan Cunningham is out,
and the long run starting center Kle Hudson is out,

(01:08:31):
So you can expect Connor Robertson to go in and
play at center to being started. They do have a rotation,
but he would be the start there. In the doubtful category,
a CJ. Baxter as the running backstill makes his way back.
In the questionable category, Xavier Fills with me the safety,
Connor Strow offensive lineman, and Marod Watson defensive lineman. All

(01:08:53):
this is questionable for this week. So there and then
for Kentucky, they've got a lot of guys out. Running
back to Wilcox, outside linebacker, Jacob Smith, defensive backnes Seer Addison,
inside linebacker, Devin Smith, defensive lineman Nick Smith wide receiver
David Washington and tied in Elijah Brown, questionable wide receiver

(01:09:14):
Troy s Tolato and offensive lineman Aba Selm. And probable
is defensive back Jaden Smith to get him back this
week for that. So there is your dj C law
injury update from the SEC student athlete availability Report. NFL
football Tonight, Pittsburgh Steelers playing the Cincinnati Bengals, and as

(01:09:40):
far as the Steelers go, the game is in Cincinnati,
and as far as the Bengals go, they're going to
be without defensive end Trey Hendrickson. He's out due to
a hip injury, so that's a big loss for them.

Speaker 4 (01:09:54):
He's hopeful due to a trade maybe possibly well, he's
out due to injury of Amanda can Hope.

Speaker 2 (01:10:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
Also, rookie edge rusher Shamar Stewart Texas A and M
has set to return following that four game absence. He
hadn't played since he injured his ankle in Week two.
Stewart will get significant playing time tonight for that, and
the Bengals also elevated defensive in Isaiah Foski from the
practice squad for the game, so they're trying to snap

(01:10:26):
a four game losing streak.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
Remember we were.

Speaker 1 (01:10:28):
Talking about at the start of the year, Well, the
Bengals aren't off to the start they had last year
when they started zero three and ended up just missing
out of the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
Say, you don't have to worry about it this year.
They're out of the gate quickly. Two and up. They
haven't won since they're two and four.

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
Lost a very important Broadway Joe Burrow.

Speaker 1 (01:10:45):
Yeah, made a big difference there and has since traded
after Jake Browning couldn't get the job done. Through the
trade with the Cleveland Browns, they brought in forty year
old Joe Flacco. So he's out there or we'll be
out there tonight for that one. So that is the
Steelers and the Bengals. Baseball playoffs will resume coming up

(01:11:09):
about an hour from now in Los Angeles at Dodgers
Stadium the Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers, game number three of
their NLCS. Los Angeles has taken the first two games
of that National League Championship Series, so that's and that's
given him a huge boost. Going back home. They're gonna

(01:11:29):
have Tyler Glasstown on the mound. Aaron Ashby will start
for Milwaukee. And that, and then in the American League
tonight it's Seattle Toronto. Seattle's up two games to one
after Toronto one last night. The road game has won
all three games in that series. And Max Schurzer will
be on the mound for the Blue Jays and Luis

(01:11:50):
Castillo will caller for the Mariners tonight. And that's a
seven to thirty start. That one's on FS one. The
Brewers at Dodgers game starts just past five o'clock on TBS,
and it's also on True TV and HBO.

Speaker 4 (01:12:08):
Max So hey, I've got an answer for you on
Longhorn game day.

Speaker 3 (01:12:11):
Yep, Little Woodrow's on Parmer Lane.

Speaker 1 (01:12:14):
See, I knew it was a different place. I couldn't remember,
but I've been to that. Little Woodrow is a lot.
It's a great location there. It's at Parmer and McNeil,
as in just a scosh north of the intersection of
Parmer and McNeil on Parmer. If you're going north on

(01:12:34):
Parmer from say Mopack, it'll be on your left after
you go through the intersection with McNeil. And if you're
coming from the north, say from six to twenty or
further points north, it'll be on there right as you
come down south on Parmer. Great place for it, great
place for it. So if the guys will be out
there from three starting at three o'clock and they go

(01:12:58):
three to five, and then our network pregame is from
five to six o'clock, Roger Wallace and Will Matthews will
join me for that, and that'll be Texas and Kentucky
from Kroger Field, Yes, as in the supermarket chain Kroger Field.

Speaker 2 (01:13:15):
In Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (01:13:16):
I saw the stadium when I went up there to
do baseball back in May, Nice Logan Stadium. They have
some nice facilities there at UK beautiful Baseball Park, which
isn't that old.

Speaker 2 (01:13:26):
It's a few years old. And of course rop Arena
is a standard bearer in college basketball as well. Long
Worn men's basketball play there this year and Texas women
went up there last year and played Kentucky in the
old Memorial Coliseum is where they play those games. And
the Long Worn baseball team does not play Kentucky this year.

(01:13:47):
They played them up there last year, but they do
not play them this year.

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
It's a different look, quite a bit of a different
look with the Long Worn baseball schedule. No LSU on
the schedule, No Arkansas on the schedule, Florida on the schedule,
and as I mentioned, they don't play Kentucky. However, they
have to go to Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Texas A and M,

(01:14:13):
South Carolina and Auburn. I think they go to those
places coming in to UFCU just far Field. And I'm
just doing this off the top of my head that
those five, I know are the road trips in conference
play home series against Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi State, Ole miss.

Speaker 2 (01:14:36):
There's one more if I remember who the one more is,
it's a big one. Well, I know they don't play Georgia,
so it's Oklahoma.

Speaker 1 (01:14:50):
Oh yeah, I'm sitting there scanning the whole the rest
of the deal and trying to think everybody else. Yeah,
Oklahoma and Texas A and M. I think you can
count on them playing them pretty much every year. But yeah,
Oklahoma would be the other one there. So they have
those series at home. Of course they have non conference
heres U See Davis opens their season in mid February.

(01:15:12):
That'll be the first weekend series. Then they have Michigan
State a weekend series after having a midweek game against Lamar.
So they have an eight game homestand to open the season,
and then they'll go to dyk In Park in Houston
for the Astros Foundation College Classic and they'll play Coastal
Carolina National runner up last year. They'll play Baylor. It'll

(01:15:34):
be first time they will have played Baylor since they
were in the Big Twelve with them, and they'll play
Ohio State that weekend. So pretty exciting scheduler for Long
Worn Baseball. Up next Long Worn Football. We'll hear from
coach sark when we continue on thirteen under the Zone
and the IR Radio app. Before we hear from Long
worrn's head coach Steve Sarkisian, Let's see if we can

(01:15:57):
give somebody an opportunity to win tickets to see Alice
Cooper and Judas Priest on the twenty fifth of the
month at the Germania Insurance Amphitheater out at CODA.

Speaker 2 (01:16:14):
So let's see if we can do that. And this
is this is the way it works.

Speaker 1 (01:16:18):
As we've told you, our contest giveaways are done via
our talkback microphone or talkback system here and you do
it through the iHeart Radio app. It makes it very
very easy for you to do that. So here's what
you do. You download the iHeart Radio app on your

(01:16:40):
smartphone if you haven't already done so, you download the
iHeart Radio app and then you'll and it's free and
very very easy to manage. So you download the iHeart
Radio app. Then you search either in your search bar
or the little you know, magnifying glass search ic on.

(01:17:00):
You search AM thirteen hundred of the zone, it'll pop
right up. And what we suggest you do is you
go ahead and put that down as a preset because
it'll help you circumvent some of the more traffic key
areas to try to win tickets on this. So when
you pull up AM thirteen under the zone, you'll see

(01:17:20):
two buttons. One is a white one that's the one
to listen to the program. There's a little red button
with a white microphone that is the talkback microphone. You
hit that button and you can leave us up to
a thirty second message. Any need to take that long
and say I was listening to Craigway show. You're giving
away tickets Alice Cooper and Judas Priest. And the keyword
is and today's keyword is thing. Thing is the keyword

(01:17:49):
for today, So you leave us a message with the
keyword and you'll be entered into the drawing. It's as
simple as that. All right, let's go back to hearing
and here from Loworn's head coach Steve Sarkasian. This is
from his last media availability of the week, Thursday, Zoom
Mediability availability, beginning with his opening comments back on the.

Speaker 7 (01:18:12):
Road this week.

Speaker 8 (01:18:13):
You know, I hope you guys are getting your frequent
flyer miles here with the with this month of October.
But you know, this has been this has been an
exciting week for us. You know, every week poses its
own unique challenges and its own unique opportunities, and this
is a this is a great opportunity for our team
this week to really grow and show the maturity that

(01:18:36):
that good teams have.

Speaker 7 (01:18:37):
You know, for.

Speaker 8 (01:18:39):
All of last week, as I touched on, we heard
how loud we were, Our backs were against the wall.
We weren't what everybody thought we were going to be.
And we went out and practiced really well. We had
a great sense of urgency. Guys prepared well. It was
a rivalry game. They were really well connected. The sideline
engagement was fantastic last Saturday, and we played well and

(01:19:00):
we won. We had zero turnovers on offense with create
three on defense. Now this week it's the test of
the maturity of the team and can we quiet the
outside noise again of everybody now saying hey, we're great
again and Arches great again and all these things and
focus on the things that helped us play well. And
that's the intent in practice, the preparation, the sense of urgency,

(01:19:24):
the connectivity amongst the team, the sideline engagement on Saturday,
our ability to take care of the ball, not give
up short fields, our ability to play well at the
line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, our
ability to create turnovers defensively.

Speaker 7 (01:19:38):
That's the real test.

Speaker 8 (01:19:40):
And I love the opportunity for our guys because I
really feel like if we can do it again, that's
creating habits and now that becomes the norm of who
we are. And so that's been the message all week.
I think the guys have responded very well. Like I said,
we'll find out here Saturday night what that's all about.

Speaker 7 (01:19:58):
Should be a great environment at Kentucky game.

Speaker 8 (01:20:01):
And then obviously we're looking forward to the opportunity and
you know, so we'll see what.

Speaker 1 (01:20:05):
Happens, all right, Uh, the then the Q and A started,
and I think it was our friend Kirk Bowles from
the Houston Chronicle who asked the first question, and he
was asking about the tight end position, and in specific
Jack Hendries, who had really been a weapon in the
first couple of ball games. Now Sark has made no
bones about the fact he wants to use all five

(01:20:26):
of his regularly active tight ends Jordan Washington, Spencer, Shannon,
Nick Townsend, Amari Winston all for of those guys in
addition to Jack Hendries. So Sark was then asked, you know,
with regard to Jack Indrees, is it by design or
is there going to be more of a concerted effort
to have him back involved again in some critical moments

(01:20:50):
for this football team.

Speaker 8 (01:20:51):
I'm satisfied with how he's contributing. You know, I think naturally,
we're we're we're we've been finding our way as a
passing game. You know, we need him to be a contributor,
probably more so than he is right now. And whether
it's he or Jordan Washington or any of those tight ends,
it's a deep room. But the tight end is a

(01:21:12):
really good friend to a quarterback, and we probably haven't
been friendly enough to Arch and utilizing the tight end
and so creating a few more opportunities there for some
throws to the tight end. I think will be beneficial
for our offense. I think he'll be beneficial for Arch
and obviously for those guys most importantly Jack. You know,
if we can find some completions for him not to

(01:21:33):
where we can continue to move the chains forward and
like I said Staut of some of those third long
situations that have plagued this earlier in the season.

Speaker 1 (01:21:40):
Okay, Next, he was asked about Nick Brooks' development along
the offensive line and did he really see the O
line take as significant step forward in the win against Oklahoma.

Speaker 8 (01:21:51):
I think one is I really felt the intent in
practice with that group. I thought coach Flood did a
great job. I thought those guys were engaged to the plan.
I thought we played fast on the offensive line. I
thought that we were thinking a little bit less attacking,
more fit, and in turn more physical. And when you

(01:22:14):
can do those things, then you can build some confidence
and you can grow. I think the second thing in
the game that I was impressed with was we knew, oh,
you had a very good defensive front, and they made
their plays too. You know, It's not like every run
was a was a great you know, block perfectly, and
every drop back pass was blocked perfectly. But what we
did was show some some mental toughness and some resolve

(01:22:36):
to move on to the next play and not let
the previous play in the harbor. And and I think
Nick is indicative of that. You know, I felt like
against Florida he got a little overwhelmed at times with
one play let into the next and the next and
the next. I thought, I, oh, you week, he practiced well,
and maybe when the play wasn't perfect, he got on

(01:22:56):
to the next play. You know, he has a false
start early in that game, and understandable, first career start
red River Rovaliy, he has a false start. I don't
think he let that negative play linger. He was able
to move on. And that's a good sign for us
that we're able to kind of recalibrate and give the
next play the credit it deserves and focus on all right.

Speaker 1 (01:23:15):
Next, he was asked about Connor Robertson's development, since Connor
will have to step in at center for the injured
Dick Hudson and how long will Hudson be out.

Speaker 8 (01:23:27):
Connor is a guy that again he stepped in in
the Red River Rovaliy I think first series of the
game that year as a younger player, has a start
already under his belt this season. I think one thing
that Connor has is he's got really good rapport with Arch.
They're very close, and I think there's some connectivity there,

(01:23:47):
which is important. The quarterback in the center, he's been
in the system, you know, so there's not a look
or a call that that he can't make. To get
everybody on the same page when you talk about continuity,
it's not like we're throwing a new guy in there
at center. This guy's been in the program, he's been
in the system. He knows all the calls, so we're
very comfortable with him that way. Cole's not it's not

(01:24:08):
some season ending injury, but it is an injury. He'll
be out hopefully, you know, he'll be back sooner rather
than later.

Speaker 7 (01:24:15):
Time will tell, you know.

Speaker 8 (01:24:17):
We have another player on the team who has a
very similar injury who bounced back probably quicker than we anticipated,
so hopefully he's not out very long.

Speaker 1 (01:24:24):
Yeah, talking about Cole Hudson about Cole being out and
Connor Robertson stepping in for him. Okay, interesting question somebody
asked about how does Sark and aj Milwie in specifically
the two of them working so closely with the quarterbacks

(01:24:46):
work on say, off schedule plays, off scheduled drills, if
you will. And in the contrast of how they did
it with Quinn Ewers and how they do it with
Arch Manning.

Speaker 7 (01:25:00):
I'm gonna use Quinn and then I'm gonna use Arch.

Speaker 8 (01:25:02):
You know, Quinn's ability to kind of slide and move
and stay in the pocket and then when he decided
to run, you could tell. And that's the hardest part
for the receiver. With Arch, it's new, you know. And
so is he really scrambling is he not? And then
how explosive is he Is he really moving out of

(01:25:23):
the pocket or is he just sliding kind of through
the pocket. And so part of that I think comes
with playing with the guy, and it sometimes it takes
game reps to see that and to feel that of
the sense that of what that looks like.

Speaker 7 (01:25:35):
But I think all of our guys did a nice job.

Speaker 8 (01:25:38):
And I know I touched on Deandre's touchdown catch, but
he has another third down conversion on our sidelines. That
he adjusts with Quinn. I think Ryan Wingo has a
really nice play. Arch gets flushed to his left and
Ryan kind of slides back and gets a third down
conversion on that. And so again, you know, there's another
play early in the game where Arch is in a
drop back and flushes to his left and DeAndre comes

(01:26:01):
from across the field to get into his vision. So
I think it's a feel thing, but it's also to
your point, a feel with the quarterback of when he's
actually leaving the pocket as opposed to just moving within
the pocket and when's it time to break off your
route and try to get into his vision.

Speaker 1 (01:26:17):
Next was a question about Trey Wisner, and you know,
the guy carried it twenty two times for ninety four yards,
and Sark, he's a little spoiler alert. We have coming
up at seven o'clock tonight, Long Worn Weekly with coach Sark,
and we have the running backs coach Chad Scott on
with us, and they will both tell you that they
weren't exactly planning on Trey to carry it twenty two

(01:26:39):
times in the football game, but he was in a
rhythm and a groove and things were going well. So
we did so Sart this morning was asked for an
assessment of Weisner coming off the injury.

Speaker 7 (01:26:50):
I think he's gotten better and stronger.

Speaker 8 (01:26:53):
You know, coming off of injuries are always difficult. Mentally
is one, but but I think physically is two and
and and am I am I.

Speaker 7 (01:27:04):
Okay to push it? Am I really okay to go?

Speaker 8 (01:27:06):
And you know, I think what he found out last
week is that he's healthy, he's good, he's strong, he's
mentally strong and going and doing those things. And and again,
we know Trey very well, and we know what he's
capable of, and we know the mental and physical toughness
that he possesses. And so but I think it served
as a great example for some of our younger backs

(01:27:29):
in the style of running that Trey runs with and
the physicality, uh and the speed through the whole, not
to the whole, And I think it was very helpful.
And it was very helpful, I thought for Christian and James.
They actually practiced their best week of practice this week
because I think they actually saw the healthy version of
Trey wiser and what it looks like to run in

(01:27:51):
game and then come back and practice and go do
it again this week.

Speaker 5 (01:27:55):
And so Uh.

Speaker 8 (01:27:56):
I'm excited for those two guys as well, because I
think that it sometimes you need to see it in
person to be like, Oh, that's what it takes. That's
how you got to run. Those are the arm tackles
you have to run through. That's the Hey. Sometimes it's
not always about making a guy miss. Sometimes you got
to run through his face and fall forward for two
or three more yards. And when you're a guy of

(01:28:17):
Trey's stature doing that, Man, what am I capable of doing?

Speaker 7 (01:28:20):
If I can start running like that?

Speaker 1 (01:28:21):
One more from Sark and then we'll take a break
and then we'll let you hear the rest of it.
But this, since we're on the subject of running backs,
and with Jarrett Gibson having left the program, the scholarship
backs who are left who are true I use air
quotes around that running backs would be Trey Weisner, Christian Clark,

(01:28:45):
and James Simon.

Speaker 2 (01:28:46):
Those three.

Speaker 1 (01:28:47):
Ryan Niblett is back in the running backs room working
with the running backs, even though he's kind of a
man for all seasons and all purposes since he returns punts,
lines up in the slot as a receiver, kickoff return
stuff like that. But Sark was also asked about that
highly heralded recruit Michael Terry, who came in from Alamo Heights.

(01:29:08):
Michael was used all of it. I did a playoff
game last year. I think he played five different positions
in the game. He did running back, he did wide receiver.
He did well if you return, if you count kick
returns in that and maybe punt returns in defensive back.

Speaker 2 (01:29:27):
Anyway, he was all over the field.

Speaker 1 (01:29:29):
And Sark was asked if Michael Terry might get more
reps with the running backs now with Gibson having transferred
out of the program.

Speaker 8 (01:29:40):
Well, we're starting to work with him there. You know,
we knew he knew when we recruited Michael that he
was a really versatile guy. He was a wildcat quarterback,
he was running back, he was receiver, He played even
some tight end, and you know, we just felt like
we had to start him somewhere, and we started him
at receiver, and I think that was a great learning
curve for him. He is now in the running back

(01:30:02):
room and he's been very impressive. He's been playing some
scout team running back for US now for about the
last three weeks or so, so he's been doing it,
but now he's in the room. You know, we'll see
if he's ready for Saturday or not or over time.
But again, he's kind of like Ryan Niblett. When you
can learn all of the offense, now you can become

(01:30:24):
a real weapon in a sense of is he lining
up at wide receiver?

Speaker 7 (01:30:27):
Is he lining up at running back? Is hemotioning in
or out of both?

Speaker 8 (01:30:31):
And then that can create some opportunities for you there,
you know, as we continue to grow his role. So
been thoroughly impressed with Michael. He is a he is
an unbelievable athlete, very smart, and I think he's a
guy that's going to help us as we continue to
grow his role in the program.

Speaker 1 (01:30:48):
All right, we'll hear more from sark coming up when
we continue on sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone
of the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (01:30:58):
What are you rolling this back here? Jake?

Speaker 4 (01:31:00):
Little Nathaniel right lift and the Knight sweats a little too,
and I like called you worry me.

Speaker 2 (01:31:05):
There you go, I like it.

Speaker 1 (01:31:06):
Okay, all right, we continue hearing from Longwort's head coach
Steve Sarkisian heard him talking about the quarterback situation and
the offensive line situation and the running back situation.

Speaker 2 (01:31:19):
How about the block kick situation.

Speaker 1 (01:31:22):
Long Werds haven't had a block field goal or block
punt this year as well, and he was asked about
those near misses, the fact that they're getting really really
close to a lot of guys getting elevated as well,
and what coach Banks does and working with them, and
Sark's thoughts on the possibility of block kicks.

Speaker 7 (01:31:39):
I think watching us on field goal block.

Speaker 8 (01:31:43):
Is a measure of our culture and the effort that
those guys put in because your odds of blocking a
field goal are not very high, right, but the effort,
and it's not just those guys jumping, it's the guys
that are pushing the pile underneath them so that they
can jump to block it. It's the effort of those
guys coming off the edge. And sometimes you don't block
every kick, but you can force a miskick. And our guys,

(01:32:06):
the effort that they put into field goal block, I
just think is indicative of our culture of the way
that they all work at it. And we don't take
a playoff around here, and we don't take that playoff,
whether it's a pat or a field goal, whatever it is.
And so I love that that you acknowledge that, because
that is a sign of our culture and the effort
in which we play the game.

Speaker 1 (01:32:28):
One of the things to come out of last week's
whinever Oklahoma in the run up to the game and
even afterwards, but certainly in a run up to the game,
there was all of this conversation and things written about
the players having to block out the noise, block out
the distractions that were coming off the loss to Florida

(01:32:48):
that were getting heavily criticized. Certainly Arch banning was probably
at the top of a list of people getting criticized,
but the team being criticized as a whole, and you
heard a lot of players said, we.

Speaker 2 (01:32:59):
Just block out that noise. We block out all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:33:02):
Whether they did or not, they went out and played
really well and beat Oklahoma. So Sark was asked today,
how does he know if players like Arch or other
players can truly block out the noise that's coming around
surrounding the program, good or bad.

Speaker 8 (01:33:19):
Well, I think one is to do his habits change
and his did not. You know, he's Arch prepares and
he works at his craft. He's in the building, he's
meeting with coach Milwey, he's meeting with coach Bamonte, he's
doing extra work after practice, working on specific routes with
guys on the on the team of Hey, we want
to make sure we get this right.

Speaker 5 (01:33:41):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (01:33:41):
He's making audibles, he's making checks, he's taking command.

Speaker 7 (01:33:44):
Of the huddle.

Speaker 8 (01:33:45):
So I don't I don't think there's been a sigh
of relief from Arch. I think it's been more of
we got a drill deeper. But but I think what
I've seen is the leadership in him. You know, he's
he's getting more and more comfortable of being a great leader,
being demanded of the guys around him, and the guys
are responding to him. And so I haven't seen anything

(01:34:06):
to tell me any anything else that that he's not
going to be ready to.

Speaker 1 (01:34:09):
Go, which is certainly good news obviously for long wern fans.
The other thing, who's Aspen And you're going to talk
about this in Gosh got back to June, June and
July and August, and those were those mile posts that
I pointed out that were the college football season was

(01:34:32):
getting closer. In the football season overall, whether it was
pro football, college football, or high school football, and the
mile post being like the release of Dave Campbell's Texas
Football Magazine and SEC Football Media Days.

Speaker 2 (01:34:44):
That happened in Atlanta in July. That uh and.

Speaker 1 (01:34:49):
And the Texas Football Magazine normally comes out late June.
It was like right around the first of July when
it came out. And then, like I said, SEC Media Days,
and then there's a big twelve Media Days and all
that sort. Then there was the Texas High School Coaches
Association's annual Coaching School. There was that these were all
mile posts that we were drawing closer to the start

(01:35:09):
of the football season. Once the season starts, then you
just you know, you're rolling off the weeks as the
games are being played. Then you hit another mile post,
and that is after ballgame number six, at least in
college football, because the Logorns are at the midway point
of the college football season, they're four and two overall,

(01:35:32):
they're one and one in the SEC. So they begin
the second half of the next two weeks. This game
and next week are both on the road. This weekend
in Lexington at Kentucky, next weekend in Starkville at Mississippi State.
So with that in mind, Sark was asked about at
this midway mark of the season, everybody sees the players

(01:35:55):
who've really really excelled. And until the Oklahoma game, there's
a lot of cicism about Arch Banning and some of
the other guys how they had not excelled, but anyway,
they were using it as a benchmark. And then in
this point so Sark was asked what would be an
underrated element, an underrated aspect of his team's development through

(01:36:15):
the first six ball games of the year.

Speaker 8 (01:36:17):
Well, I think we're really starting to hit our stride
on special teams.

Speaker 7 (01:36:21):
And I know we have them.

Speaker 8 (01:36:22):
Been perfect throughout the year, but but I really feel
like special teams is a is a weapon of ours,
whether it's with Jack or Mason, you know, punting and kicking,
whether it's with Ryan Niblett in the return game. You know,
we haven't blocked a punt yet or a field goal yet,
but but we're trying. And so I think that aspect
of our team probably quite isn't talked about enough. And

(01:36:44):
I'd say the other thing that that probably doesn't give
enough credit is just you know, our turnover ratio right now,
I think we're plus six on the year. That's a
that's a that's a formula for success for us. We've
got to continue to attack the ball on defense, and
we got to continue to take care of it on offense.
And you know, knock on woe, it'd be great to

(01:37:05):
pitch another shoutout Saturday night.

Speaker 7 (01:37:06):
You know, not having one last week was big.

Speaker 8 (01:37:09):
You're not giving up short fields, you're putting the ball,
You're you're controlling vertical field position.

Speaker 7 (01:37:14):
And so you know, we got to win as a team.

Speaker 8 (01:37:16):
And and those two phases of our game are very
important to us playing the style of football that we
want to play.

Speaker 1 (01:37:22):
And finally, one more from sart I mentioned earlier that
we would get to this because we had someone on
our text line asking about the kicking game. And I'm
assuming even though the Texters said just the word kicker,
I'm assuming that he meant about the kickoffs, because it

(01:37:43):
did come out yesterday that Will Stone is entering the portal,
he's going to leave the program. He was the guy
from Regents who had handled the kickoffs. Mason Chipley had
been handling the placements, field goals, extra points that were
back to back ball games when Stone was out injured earlier.
I think it was U Tap and Sam Houston. It

(01:38:04):
might have been San Jose State and UTEP, and I
think it was U TAP in sam Houston where Stone
was out and Shipley handled the kickoffs as well. So
Sark was asked, is that responsibility going to fall on
Mason Shipley's shoulders or he is he going to look
at someone else possible?

Speaker 7 (01:38:25):
We feel very great, feel very good about Mason.

Speaker 8 (01:38:28):
He kicked off a couple of games for US already
this year, and again I don't I don't know if
he's going to be driving the ball out of the
end zone as much, but he does two things really well.
His hang time is really good and his ball placement
is really good. So he does an excellent job of
pinning the ball into the corner and he puts good

(01:38:48):
height on the ball. And that allows our coverage unit
to cover the way that we do. And we take
a ton of pride and kickoff cover. Our guys get
frustrated when people fair catch it on us. You know,
they want to they're running down as as they can,
they want to tackle somebody. But I think there's there's
a there's a respect to our kick coverage unit. Two
when teams are fair catching balls that are playable and

(01:39:09):
they're not bringing them out. But that is something Mason does.
I think it's his ball placement and the hangtime are
are two aspects of his kickoffs that are that he
does a great job with.

Speaker 1 (01:39:19):
All Right, there's Long Worn's head coach, Steve Sarkisian. The
Thursday media availability the Media Zoom. That's his final media
availability of the week. And then, like we said the
next time that you'll hear him speak in the in
the present, in the here and now. We'll be on
Saturday evening on our broadcast with the Kentucky Wildcats with

(01:39:39):
my pregame conversation with him just inside of two hours
prior to kick and we'll hear his final thoughts on
that prior to the game there at Kroger Field in Lexing, Kentucky. Again,
our coverage begins at two o'clock with the third and
Long Worn podcast guys their pregame program, and then at
three o'clock Long Horne's Game Day from Little Woodrows that's

(01:40:02):
on Parmer right near the intersection of Parmer and McNeil.

Speaker 2 (01:40:05):
That's at three o'clock.

Speaker 1 (01:40:06):
They'll go to five, and then we have the network
pregame show at five o'clock and the kickoff is at six.
We'll be back to wrap up today's edition of the program.
I'm thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.

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